The proposal - 1

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"NO" Jonathan yelled out firmly.

"We have no other option, Jonathan" Martha replied desperate.

"We do" and he raised his arm to grab his father's shotgun from the top of the corridor's arch.

"No, no…" she muttered following him to the entrance "I won't let you do that, Jonathan…"

"Why not? The bastard deserves a bullet on his head"

"Because I didn't get married with a killer" she shouted.

"I didn't get married with a whore either" he replied provoking her to break down into tears.

He embraced her and whispered "I'm sorry" to her ear. "I didn't mean to say that, I'm sorry" He added.

"We knew" Martha started talking after calming herself down "…that we would have to sacrifice ourselves for Clark's secret one day or another" She broke the embrace but stayed close, very close to her husband.

"But this is an expensive sacrifice" he whispered while her fingers played with his shirt neck.

"But it's the only way" she declared putting an end to their argument "If you kill him, they'll send you to prison and… I don't want you to leave Clark and me alone… we're a family, Jonathan… But if we accept the deal, we'll still be together tomorrow"

That evening, while Jonathan was telling his son his mother would be spending the night at Metropolis with her father; Martha was coming into a fleabag hotel of the city alone, carrying a bag with her.

After midnight, the wheels of a car woke Clark up and he approached the window to see who was coming. A cab had parked in front of the house and his mother came out wearing a long coat. "Wasn't she supposed to come on the morning?" he thought, worried that something could have happened, so he kept looking.

Before the cab had gone, his father came out of the house still wearing the same clothes he wore during the dinner. Clark used his hearing power to listen to them but, they shared no words… Martha stood still on the fresh snow until Jonathan reached her and they melted in each other's arms.

"Don't let me go" Martha sobbed, almost whispering, after they came into the house. "Stay close to me tonight…"

He dried her tears and she shivered… and without saying anything, he held both her hands and took her to the sitting room. They sat down on the floor, in front of the fire place… Jonathan leaning his back on the couch and Martha on her husband's chest; his arms rounding her sweetly and protectively until the day came out and Clark's steps coming from upstairs warned them that it was breakfast time.

"We should stand up" Jonathan told to his wife.

"I wish we could stay like this for the rest of the day"

"I wouldn't have any problem on doing that but if we don't want Clark to learn what…"

"I'll prepare the breakfast" Martha said standing up on a quick move.

"I can do that" Jonathan offered himself.

"No… I… I want to keep myself busy"

Clark noticed his mom was weird, so he guessed she'd have an argument with his granddad last night and that was the reason why she'd came back earlier. After he'd left to his classes, Jonathan went to do his chores and Martha stayed in the house baking some muffins she carried to the van later.

Then he looked for Jonathan to tell him she was leaving. She found him behind the barn, chopping some wood with such anger on every hit that the pieces felt next to her feet.

"Sorry" he apologized leaving the axe on the ground.

"It's ok" she said "I understand how you feel" there was a silence and then she smiled and told him "I'm going downtown to take some baking to the Talon, I'll be back soon"

"Martha, you have all the right to stay home, to lie on the bed, to be upset, angry…" he said "You don't need to show me how strong you are" he said, with his hands showing her the mess he'd done with the wood "We need to get this off our chest"

"I just want to go on with my daily routine" she answered "That's all I need" she repeated like trying to convince herself, and then she left.

…

TO BE CONTINUED…