TITLE: "The Long Engement" (And long it will be!)

MAIN CHARACTERS: Lois Lane and Clark Kent--DUH!

RATED: T or PG-13 (due to language)

SUMMARY: Lois and Clark have a talk about their wedding date.

NOTE: So, this story will contain about 4 chapters. They won't be as long as my one-shots. It will focus on Clois' LONG engement. ENJOY!

CHAPTER 1: "Deal"

(Post-Smallville)

April; 2014

KENT FARM

Martha Kent was just finishing up making the dinner when her son and her soon-to-be daughter-in-law walked in through the door. She sent them a smile. "Took you long enough."

Her son, Clark, reached her first and gave her a tight hug. "Sorry, Mom. We would have been here earlier, but--"

Martha put up a hand to stop him. "Let me guess? Burning building?"

Lois Lane, Clark's fiancée, stepped in and gave a mocking smile. "Bank was being robbed."

Clark sent Lois a glare. He did more than save people from burning buildings and catch bad guys that robbed banks. However, thinking about it, Clark saw that they did have a point. Those two were the most common in the last couple of weeks. But he wasn't complaining. He'd rather catch robbers than fight off some inter-galactic super-villain any day.

Martha chuckled as she saw her son's facial expression and hugged Lois. "Hello, sweetheart."

Lois hugged her back. "I never notice how much I miss you until I see you again, Mrs. K."

Martha pulled away and lifted a brow. "I hope you mean me and not my cooking."

Lois gave her a mocking look of shock. "But of course not!" She then took a sniff and snapped her head to the stove. "You didn't!"

Martha laughed as she saw Lois head towards the mashed potatoes. She knew it was one of Lois' favorites.

Lois let out a squeak once she saw the ribs as well. "Ma' Kent, I'm gonna kidnap you and take you home. Clark can stay here and tend to the farm." She dipped her finger into the mashed potatoes and tasted it. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Then, she turned to the right and saw the next plate. "Ma Kent's Veggies!" She felt like a kid in a candy store!

"Now that would be a very difficult marriage," Martha said. Then, she turned to her son. "Speaking of which--have you two set a date yet?"

Clark's eyes immediately went to Lois.

Lois turned to Clark at the same time and hesitated a bit. She didn't answer.

Martha frowned. "What's wrong?" she asked as she turned back and forth.

"Um…we haven't actually…talked about it much," Clark tried to explain.

"What? But you've been engaged for almost a year!" Martha was baffled that they had not yet even discussed a date!

Clark took a deep breath. "It's been a bit hectic, Mom. With Gog coming in just recently, it's been difficult to talk about marriage while he was here."

Martha nodded. Her son had a point. Just some months ago, Gog--an old god--had appeared from the future to destroy her son. Gog believed Superman had been the cause of Gog's misfortune in the future. Gog had wanted revenge against the Man of Steel.

Thankfully, Martha's son did not fight by himself. Batman and Wonder Woman had come to his aid immediately. It had been a battle like no other. A battle that had lasted days.

During the battle Lois had been sent into protective custody to Star City where Green Arrow, Black Canary, Zatanna, and Flash kept her under constant watch. She had been put under such surveillance because Gog had come very close to killing her. Since he was from the future, he knew all too well what she meant to Clark and how killing her would be like killing the Man of Steel himself.

Martha remembered that night all too well. She loved Lois like a daughter and when she had learned of Lois' close encounter to death, she had almost had a heart attack. Clark had immediately brought Lois to the farm and it was here that Martha had heard the couple's biggest fight.

Clark wanted Lois as far away from him as possible, believing that being next to him would be the end of her. He wanted her out of harm's way. Lois had fought back, not budging an inch. She refused to let him go.

It was a fight like no other. Martha had never seen her son so angry before. Had never seen him yell so much. But she understood him. He loved Lois like no other. Always wanted what was best for her. And thankfully, Lois felt the same. She was stronger than any of the other girls and women Clark had ever dated. She wasn't one to let anyone tell her what to do. She fought tooth and nails for him. She had yelled back at him that night as well and was determined to keep him within her grasp.

It had taken hours for the fight to settle down and for Clark to convince Lois to go to Star City with the Justice League. The departure had been heartbreaking to watch. Both Lois and Clark were unsure if he'd be able to defeat Gog.

Martha shook away the memory. She didn't want to remember that. It was in the past. It had happened two months ago. And even though Clark and his superhero friends had sent the future villain to the Phantom Zone, Martha skill worried that he would come back for her son.

Lois cleared her throat. She too was remembering. "If the both of you aren't hungry, then I'm glad. More grub for me." Lois took a plate and began to serve herself food.

It took a while for Clark to do the same, and then Martha.

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Late that night, Clark and Lois were laying down on top of the barn, looking up at the sky. The night was quiet and still. Lois snuggled closer to Clark.

She expected him to do the same, but when he didn't she frowned and looked up at him. He had a blank look upon his face. "Clark, what is it?"

He said nothing.

She gave him a little nudge. "Earth to Smallville."

That got his attention. He turned to her. "What?"

She rolled her eyes. "Smallville, if you're worried about Metropolis we can go back." She knew he worried too much. He hardly had a day off and knew that whenever he did, he felt guilty the entire time.

He shook his head. "I wasn't worried."

She knew he was being honest. "Then, what's wrong?"

He hesitated a bit before answering. He didn't know how Lois was going to react to what he had been thinking about. "I was thinking about what my mom said."

The frown returned to her face.

He didn't have to see her face to know she was confused. "About the wedding date. Even before Gog came in, we still hadn't been discussing it." He turned to her.

She had taken a breath and had slightly pulled away from him.

He noticed that she had gotten uncomfortable. "What is it? You don't want to discuss it?"

She looked up at him. "It's not that. I want to, but…."

He waited.

She still said nothing.

"But what?" he pushed.

"I don't think you're gonna like it."

His heart stopped and almost tore in half as he looked at her slightly sad face. "You don't want to marry me anymore." It came out as a statement, not a question. After all that had been happening to them, he was sure that something was going to break her away from him. His voice was small and sounded fragile.

Lois' eyes popped open and she instantly wanted to punch herself for choosing the wrong words. "No!"

However, he didn't look convinced. He pulled his eyes and his arm away from her and looked away, being torn inside.

Lois pushed herself up and pulled his face towards hers again. "Listen to me, Clark Kent." She looked deep into those baby blues as her heart melted for the billionth time. "You are the man that I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want to marry you," she emphasized each word.

They looked at each other for a while. Lois' eyes pleaded him to believe her. It took some moments for Clark to be convinced.

"Then what is it?" he finally asked.

She took a deep breath and prepared her words better this time. "I was kind of hoping for us to have a longer engagement."

Clark frowned and opened his mouth to say something.

She put her hand up to silence him. "Wait. Let me get this out."

He gave her a slight nod.

"The reason why I want a long engagement is because it'll give us enough time--without pressure--to plan our wedding. If we say that we want to get married by this summer, you'll be too occupied with the new villains in town to even focus on anything else. I mean, we've been engaged for only 11 months and look at what's happened. In these 11 months, I've gotten as far as picking out the right wedding invitations and the right cake. And that's it! I've only gotten half of the guest time done. It's been driving me insane because I know there are so many things to get done and all I keep thinking is that you more than likely want to get married as soon as possible. And that adds even more pressure and I feel like I'm running a mile a second.

"But, if we go slow and plan things little by little, we won't feel the need to rush. And if we rush this then the wedding will be a complete catastrophe. We can do bits and pieces here and there and when the day finally comes, we'll be calm and more than ready."

Clark thought about her analogy for a while. She had a valid point. If they decided to get married by the end of the year, then it would feel rushed.

He looked up at her. "How long do you want to wait?"

She bit her lower lip a little nervously. "Well, I was thinking, by the way things have been maybe…July….?"

He thought for a second and gave a slight nod. "More than a year. Sounds good."

She bit down on her lip a little more. "…of 2016?"

Clark came up to a sitting position. "Two years?!"

"It's the best I could come up with! It gives us more than enough time. There'd be no pressure or anything remotely close to it."

Clark shook his head. "It's a little longer than I would have liked."

She nodded. "I know."

He began to think once again. "We could always run off to Vegas, you know," he said with a slight smile.

She chuckled. "I'd like nothing more than that as well." She bent over and gave him a kiss. "But, I'm not sure that'll make Ma' Kent happy. Do you really want to strip her away of that? Plus, Jimmy would be heartbroken knowing that he won't be best man."

He nodded. "You're right. Not to mention how ecstatic Perry has been lately about the wedding. He won't ever admit to it, though."

"And my father would bring down all of Metropolis and think even worse of our relationship," Lois added.

Clark chuckled.

Lois simply smiled. She still waited for what Clark's decision would be.

He saw that she was waiting for him and gave her a small smile. "Alright. 2016, it will be."

Lois wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss.

"I love you," he said as his lips hit her chin.

She closed her eyes and breathed in the moment. "I love you, too."

She knew this was the best decision. But…would Clark be able to last with her this long?

She laughed at the thought. If she hadn't scared him off by now, she was surprised to see what would scare him off.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Alright, so the next chapter will be titled "Parents". I don't think I need to say anything else. LOL! REVIEW!!!