It was time to tell her.
It had been much easier than he thought to come to that decision because Clark knew without a doubt that he didn't want to keep secrets from Lois anymore.
He'd never told Chloe about Lex finding the Fortress, or that it had collapsed over them. He never told her about waking up in the caves, with no clear memory of how he got there. And because she wasn't questioning him about it, he figured Lois hadn't said anything to her either; or maybe told her not to mention it.
He hadn't told Chloe because Lois still didn't know the true nature of why he was there and he didn't want Chloe to know something else that Lois didn't.
It wasn't fair and it wasn't right that the woman he'd come to care so much for, and he was still having a hard time understanding how that happened, knew less about him than his best friend.
It was only fair that he leveled the playing field so that Lois knew as much as Chloe did. And then after that, if she accepted him for who he really was, she would always know more.
That was the thing that gave him pause, though. Would Lois accept him once she knew the true nature of his less than earthly origins? Would she still call him 'Smallville' and punch him in the arm when she was at a loss for words or kiss him senseless to a point where his knees were shaking?
She was the only woman he knew who had the power to do that, to nearly bring him to his knees.
He pondered the outcome of his confession as he waited for his mother; Congress had recessed for the remainder of August and she was on her way home. He'd offered to come get her from the airport, but she'd told him that it wouldn't be any trouble to get a cab from Metropolis International.
She'd also told him that she enjoyed the ride because it gave her the opportunity to see Kansas.
He sensed that she was getting more homesick the closer that it came to the end of her term and anxious to be able to come home for good. She'd told him that she wanted to be able to cook meals in her own kitchen again and sleep in the bed she'd shared with his father for all the years that they were married.
She wanted to be able to sit out on the front porch swing with her morning cup of coffee and watch the sun come up. It was something she and Dad had done for as long as Clark could remember. And the startling question came to mind, would Lois do the same thing with him?
She had agreed to move back out to the farm, but she wanted him to talk to his mother first to see if she had any objections. Even though he'd assured Lois that Mom wouldn't, she had insisted. She wasn't going to budge from the Talon until he did.
And knowing Lois, she wouldn't.
Not that he hadn't tried to convince her, and he couldn't help but grin to himself about that. Just a few nights earlier, he'd managed to get her underneath him on the couch and thought he was doing a pretty decent job in persuading her into moving her things in the following day.
But he'd left a small window of opportunity open to let her think about it, and the next thing he knew she was pushing at his shoulders, demanding that he get off of her because she couldn't think straight when he had her the way he did.
'That's the general idea.' He'd admitted to her and had felt his face flush. He was still trying to get used to the idea that he could want her so much and that she couldn't seem to resist him. Then, as much as he didn't want to, he'd done as she asked and gotten up off the couch.
When he'd turned around, he wished he hadn't because Lois' hair was mussed, her face flushed and though she'd protested his proximity, she'd had a dreamy look on her face that nearly had him back on the couch, covering her body with his.
He grinned again because he was the one that had been responsible for that look. Him.
Clark was in the barn, putting down fresh hay in the horse stalls when he heard a car drive up the lane. It had to be his mother and he grabbed for his tee shirt. He put his arms through the sleeves and pulled it over his head before he walked out to meet the cab.
To his surprise, it was Lois' car he saw coming to a stop next to the house and she was chatting away with his mother. Was this why Mom told him that he didn't have to come get her?
"Look who I found hanging around at the airport." Lois smiled at him as his mother got out of the car. "She says she belongs to you."
"Lois." Mom tried to frown and shake her head, but Clark could see how much she was trying not to laugh.
Lois got out and pulled one suitcase, and then another out of the back seat of her car and put them down on the ground. "Make yourself useful, Clark. Take your mother's suitcases inside."
"Make me." He folded his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrows at her as he upped the ante. "I dare you."
"Clark!" He glanced at his mother and she looked absolutely stunned at his boldness.
"It's okay Mrs. Kent; I know what to do." Lois raised an eyebrow of her own before she stepped in front of him, took his face in her hands and kissed him. He caught her around her waist and pulled her toward him, kissing her back and completely forgetting about his mother. He felt her arms wind around his neck and then she leaned back with a smile. "So how about those suitcases?"
"I've got them." He turned toward Mom's voice and saw her walking toward the porch, a suitcase in each hand. "You two were a little preoccupied."
Lois pushed herself away from him. "Nice going Smallville; you let your mother carry her own suitcases."
"Well you're the one who distracted me." He frowned in frustration.
"That isn't what I was trying to do." She frowned back with a shake of her head. "You dared me."
"I didn't dare you to kiss me." And he glanced down at her lips, wanting nothing more than to do exactly that and he smiled. "But I'm glad you did."
"I have to go." She stepped away from his reach. "But your mother told me that I have to come back for dinner."
"Are you going to stay tonight?" Please say you will.
"She already made me promise that I would." Her face flushed. "I guess that means that I'm in your bed tonight."
"I'm not complaining." Then he grinned and her face grew even redder.
"Alone." Lois reminded him needlessly and looked completely flustered.
"I know, but a guy can dream." Clark tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and grew serious. "Because I have."
"So have I." She admitted with a choked whisper and got into her car. She avoided his gaze as she started the engine and as quickly as she could, got her car turned around and drove toward the main road.
She'd dreamed of it? She'd dreamed of them?
He thought about that as he walked toward the house and saw his mother standing just inside the screen door. She opened it as he stepped up on the porch and let him in with a soft smile.
"Mom I want to tell Lois, everything."
Clark blurted out as he walked into the house and was surprised by her calm reaction when he turned to face her. He took a deep breath as he continued, feeling the need to justify his decision to her.
"It wasn't something I would have considered before now because I never thought she'd end up being my girlfriend." He felt his face warm at the admission. He'd never referred to Lois as his girlfriend to his mother before and his face warmed even more when she smiled.
"Sometimes the nicest surprises are where you least expect them, Clark." Mom patted his arm before she walked through the living room and into the kitchen. "And I was beginning to wonder when you were finally going to tell her."
She's going to figure it out, so you might as well say it, Clark told himself as he followed. "I think I'm in love with her."
"Honey, I think it's much more than that if you want to tell her about your abilities." She took his hand. "Because you've always been so careful about guarding your secret."
"I don't want to keep any more secrets from her." He sighed and sat down at the island. "It's the only thing I've kept from her. Well, that and the fact I know Oliver is Green Arrow."
"You might want to tell her about that too."
"Then she'll know that it was me in the alley." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm surprised that she hasn't figured it out by now."
"My guess would be that it was because she never expected it to be you." Mom put a comforting hand on his. "And you did say that she took you by surprise, so you wouldn't have had the chance to really kiss her back."
"She's going to kill me when I tell her." He sighed again.
"Clark, I think you're overreacting." She laughed softly. "Once she gets over being angry with what you and Oliver did, and we both know she will be, she'll forgive you."
"What about the fact that I'm not from Earth?" He frowned.
"I don't think she's going to be angry about that. She'll probably be hurt because you didn't tell her before now, but just explain to her why and give her the chance to adjust." His mother advised. "Once she does, I don't think she's going to see you any differently than she does now."
"Chloe did." He pointed out.
"That's true, but Lois isn't Chloe. And remember, you didn't tell Chloe about your abilities, Alicia showed her." Mom pointed out a fact of her own. "And you're right; she has seen you differently and treated you differently since then."
"And you're so sure Lois won't."
"I'm sure." She nodded. "She'll probably have a million questions for you once she gets used to the idea. She'll want a demonstration of everything you can do because it's in her nature not to believe anything without proof."
"She needs to know that she was at the Fortress when Brainiac forced the LuthorCorp jet down." He added with another sigh. "Add that to the list of things I've kept from her."
"It's time to tell her Clark," She squeezed his hand. "for the very simple reason that you are in love with her and it's not right to keep secrets. If you want her to love you, she needs to know you and that means knowing about Krypton."
"I do want her to love me, Mom." He sighed. "But I want her to love me for me, not because of what I am."
"You don't seem to have a lot of faith in her feelings for you." Mom looked disappointed. "Honey, Lois isn't Lana either, which you already know. She's not going to pretend that your abilities don't exist and that you're not from Earth. She'll just take it as what she likes to call 'more weirdness from Smallville' and love you for the man that you are."
He looked up at his mother and felt his face warm. "Do you think she loves me?"
"She finds any excuse she can to spend as much time out here as she can and she sleeps here every night. You curl up together on the couch to watch television and more often than not, she let's you carry her upstairs to bed." Mom kept smiling. "If that isn't a woman in love, I don't know what it is."
"It's so she won't have to cook." He grinned, but didn't have the nerve to look at her. "Or have to walk up the stairs."
"I'm sure that fits in there somewhere." She laughed. "But not having been around the two of you while these changes in your relationship have been happening, it gives me a different perspective."
"What's that?" He asked curiously.
"She's more content now when she's around you and she seems so much happier." He knew Mom was trying to catch his eye, but he wouldn't let her. "It's almost as though she's found her place in the world."
"Mom." With him?
"And you seem so much more content." She wasn't through yet. "She's always brought out this side of you that no one else has been able to because she challenges you. And she challenges you because she knows you can handle it. And you know something else? You seem so much happier too, having her around."
"Maybe it's because I've finally found my place in the world." He shrugged. "I've never felt that with anyone before."
"That's because Lois isn't just anybody, and I think you've always known that."
"I've always known that she makes me crazy." He laughed, and it felt nice. "These days I don't know if I want to strangle her or kiss her."
"Yes you do." Mom nodded. "And I feel very confident in saying that you don't want to strangle her."
"Are you so sure about that?"
"Clark." She shook her head in disapproval and then took a deep breath. "I need to ask you something."
Clark had a pretty good idea of what it was. "We haven't slept together." He told her and then amended his statement. "At least not like that."
"I'm not sure I understand." She looked surprised and a little disappointed and then just looked confused. "You've slept together, but you haven't slept together."
Nice going Clark. Lois really is going to kill you.
"It's only happened twice and I swear that all we did was sleep." He was a grown man of twenty-one, nearly twenty-two, and he felt as though his mother was about to ground him.
"Why on earth would you sleep with her?" And he tried to stifle a smile as she rolled her eyes; she'd picked that up from Lois. "You know what I mean."
"It wasn't something we planned, it just happened." He wasn't helping himself, or Lois.
"So when you tell me that all you did was sleep, can I take that to mean that you didn't do anything else?" The look of disappointment was back on her face and Clark knew he had to come clean.
"We kissed."
"Just a kiss?" She seemed to be bracing herself.
"The first time it was; the second time, it was a few more." He admitted.
"Whose idea was it?"
"The first time she asked. It was Valentine's Day and we knew that there was something between us. And the second time it was my idea because I knew I was falling in love with her."
"Do you think it's such a good idea then, that she move back out here?" She sighed. "You're going to be living alone together until January and I'm only going to be here for a few days at a time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
"And once she admits that she loves you, and she will, are you going to be able to resist the idea of changing your sleeping arrangements?"
"Don't you trust us?" Did she?
"Do you trust yourselves?" She turned his question back on him. "Love can be a very powerful force Clark, and so can frustration."
"I won't make the same mistakes." He promised her. "Lois means too much to me."
"And that's what concerns me." She pressed.
"Mom, we're not ready for that." It was Clark's turn to reach for his mother's hand, to try and reassure her. "We've talked about it and we know what could happen. But after the last time we shared a bed, Lois told me that if she was going to live here, we couldn't. And you know Lois, when she makes up her mind about something, nothing can change it."
"But you can be very persuasive when you want something, young man." Mom frowned.
"I would never try to talk Lois into anything because it's what I wanted." This was one of those rare moments that Clark felt his own mother didn't know him and he sighed. "She established a boundary and I won't try and cross it. If I did that, I wouldn't be the man you and Dad raised and Lois wouldn't trust me anymore."
"It's not that I don't trust you, honey; I just remember what it feels like to be in love." She let out her own sigh. "But since Lois has set a boundary and I know you'll honor it, I can't really object to her staying here with you."
"Does that mean she can stay here with us, when you come home?" He smiled at her.
"I wouldn't have any objections to her staying on." She smiled back at him. "But you realize that it means you're back on the couch."
"I know." He nodded. "But if my being on the couch means that Lois can stay here, I don't mind."
"Spoken like a man in love." And her smile grew. "You really are in love with her, aren't you?"
He should have seen that coming, and he couldn't resist answering his mother's happy smile with one of his own and his face flushed as he nodded. "I'm in love with her."
"Then you really have found your place in the world."
"Thanks to Lois."
She nodded in agreement. "Thanks to Lois."