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To Do before Christmas:
1. Make sure first Christmas with Lana is great ???
2. Make sure mom and Lois have an awesome Christmas
3. Buy Presents for:
- Lana [done]
- Mom [done]
- Kara [done]
- Chloe [done]
- Lois [done]
4. Send Christmas cards to:
- Ollie [done]
- Pete [done]
- uncle Jack [done]
- Maddie [done]
- Ben Hubbard [done]
- Victor [done]
- Bart [done]
- AC [done]
- Jimmy [done]
5. Get a tree [done]
6. decorate the tree [done]
7. Decorate the house [done]
8. buy turkey and chicken for Christmas dinner [done]
9. Make sure Kara's first Christmas is great [done]
~*~*~*~
December 24th
Clark entered the house and quickly slammed the door shut behind him. The weather was terrible and the more the cold stayed outside, the better. He shrugged off his coat and groaned as he registered what was playing. The 'Twelve Pains of Christmas' was just another song meant to tarnish his happy childhood memories – he was sure of it. Even if he did kinda agree with the 'untangling Christmas lights' one. But his mom had only laughed when he'd complained about the CD, sometimes he thought she really did like Lois better then him. He wandered over to the kitchen, pausing for a moment to turn off the heater.
Lois, Kara and his mom were busily preparing Christmas dinner and his mouth watered at the sight of the two pies cooling on the table. He moved closer just as Martha opened the oven and withdrew a baking sheet with cookies and he paused to take in the smell. This is Christmas.
"Hey sweetie, is everything okay?" Martha asked, as she carefully put the sheet down on the counter.
"Yeah, all the animals are fed and watered and in the barn for the night." Clark answered. "Do you guys need a hand in here?"
Martha smiled. "I was just about to start with the chickens."
"Uhm." Kara hesitated as she glanced between them. "I sorta have to meet Jimmy. We were going to watch a movie before dinner."
"Oh of course Kara." Martha answered. "I'd say dinner should be ready around seven."
Kara smiled. "We'll be here." She took off her apron and threw it at Clark as she left.
Clark narrowed his eyes and tried to swap her with it, but she moved out the way with a laugh. "Bye!" she called out.
Clark grinned as he folded up the apron. "What can I do?" he asked.
Martha handed him the bread knife and the cutting board. "Cubes of about an inch." She told him, as she handed him the French bread.
Clark nodded as he moved over to stand next to Lois who was peeling potatoes and cutting them into slices. "How much of this do you need Mrs Kent?" she asked.
Martha glanced at the pot. "Oh that's more then enough Lois, thank you."
Lois nodded and moved over to the sink, rinsing them and putting them on the stove. "What's next?"
For the next half hour they spent preparing two sets of chickens, one to be baked and one that was fried first and then placed in the oven. The bread pudding took a little while to prepare, but the greens were easy enough. Finally Martha drained the potatoes and added them to the chickens to bake.
"Done!" Lois declared as she stretched.
"Dishes." Clark countered and Martha laughed.
"I'm a guest." Lois said indignantly.
"No you're not." Clark said and Lois scowled.
"Fine." She grumbled.
Together they did the dishes as Martha put everything away.
"I think we deserve some pie." Clark said hopefully when they were done.
Lois rolled her eyes. "Typical." She muttered.
"At least a cookie." Clark bargained.
Martha smiled and held out the basket. "One cookie." She warned.
Clark grinned, "Thanks mom."
Lois reached over and grabbed one as well. At Clarks look she shrugged. "They're chocolate chip." She said.
Clark snorted. "Are you sure you don't want our help with the turkey?" he asked Martha.
Martha shook her head. "I'll manage." She assured them.
Clark grinned and leaned over to give her a kiss on the check. "I missed your cookies." He whispered.
Martha rolled her eyes and held out the basket again, but she was smiling. Clark grinned as he grabbed another cookie, before following Lois out into the living room. The tree was fully decorated now and he reached over to plug in the lights. Lois smiled as the tree lit up, and wrapped her arms around herself.
"Is it me, or is it a little cold in here?" she asked.
Clark shook his head. "I turned the heater off." He answered.
"Why?" Lois asked.
Clark moved over to the fireplace. "Because otherwise it gets really hot in here when we light the fire." He explained.
Lois plopped down onto the couch and pulled the afghan from the backrest. She curled into the corner and wrapped the blanket all around herself. She watched quietly as Clark got the fire going and then turned off the lights in the living room.
"Wow." She murmured. With only the lights of the Christmas tree and the fireplace to illuminate the room, it made everything look just a little more Christmassy.
Clark smiled as he sat down next to her. "Like it?" he asked.
Lois nodded as she held up the blanket for him. "It's beautiful."
Clark glanced outside as he backed into his corner. "It looks better when it's snowing outside." He said.
Lois looked at him questioningly and he shrugged. "We used to do this every year." He explained. "Dad would light the fire and turn off all the lights except for the tree, while mom made dinner. She wouldn't let us help because she said that we ate more then we cooked." He chuckled. "Dad would tell me stories while we listened to Christmas music. Real Christmas music." He added.
Lois rolled her eyes at him. "This is Christmas music." She argued. "Do you remember the stories?" She asked.
Clark nodded. "When I was little it was just normal stories, but when I got older he started making them up. He would spend days thinking them out and testing them out on my mom. It drove her crazy."
Lois smiled. "Sounds nice." She said. "I bet they involved farm animals?"
Clark laughed. "Yup. I remember the one he told me when I was thirteen or fourteen. He was trying to subtly give me the sex talk."
Lois threw her head back and laughed. "He did not!" she exclaimed.
"Yup." Clark grinned.
"That is priceless. Please tell me you can retell that."
Clark smiled. "Yeah sure. But then we're putting on real music."
"Hey!" Lois protested.
Clark got up and moved over to the stereo. "If you want to get the full effect then we need proper music."
"Spoilsport." Lois grumbled.
Clark turned off the CD and put on a radio station, before moving back to the couch. "Okay, so the story begins on Christmas eve."
Lois leaned back and listened as Clark told the story. She tried to imagine Jonathan Kent telling an enraptured thirteen year old Clark this story. Making voices for all the characters and waving his arms to illustrate.
She was grinning widely by the time Clark finished the story. "I would've paid money to see your face when he got to the part with the cows." She teased.
Clark laughed. "I was so embarrassed." He recalled. "But then last year… I kinda missed it."
Lois sighed. "Most things are like that." She said.
"Yeah." Clark agreed. "I never thought I'd miss his cheesy stories and bad voices."
"I'm sorry." Lois said quietly.
Clark smiled softly. "I guess it's the tradition of it that I miss. It was something we did every Christmas Eve, just the two of us." He glanced over at Lois. "Thanks for letting me do it again." He said.
Lois smiled. "You're welcome." She said quietly "But if it's such an important tradition, shouldn't you maybe have shared it with Lana?" she asked hesitantly.
Clark sighed. "I wanted to." He admitted. "She went to her aunt Nell's for Christmas Eve, she should be back any minute."
Lois nodded and sighed. Clark watched her for a moment. "You okay?" he asked.
Lois looked at him in surprise. "Yeah, of course." She said. "Why?"
Clark shrugged. "You just don't seem to be enjoying Christmas this year, that's all. This is the first time I've seen you laugh in a while."
Lois fidgeted. "Yeah well, it hasn't been a great holiday season for me this year."
Clark nodded. "Want to talk about it?" he asked.
Lois shook her head. "It's not a big deal. It's pretty lame actually."
"If it's got you upset it can't be that lame." Clark reasoned.
Lois shrugged. "I was seeing someone and it didn't work out. We broke up two weeks ago."
"Oh." Clark blinked. "I didn't know you were dating anyone."
"You weren't supposed to." Lois admitted. "We couldn't really publicise it. It was doomed from the start really."
"I'm sorry." Clark offered.
Lois shrugged again. "Well it's not like I'm the only one who's flying solo. Look at Chloe and Jimmy."
"Yeah." Clark agreed. "I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that. Kara's my cousin, but Chloe,-"
"I know!" Lois groaned. "I feel like I should be pissed at Jimmy, but he's such a sweet guy. And Chloe's the one that broke up with him."
"I'm just worried about Kara." Clark admitted. "Because Jimmy is a nice guy, but he really cared about Chloe and now he's with Kara. She really likes him, but I think he's still hung up on Chloe."
"I don't think he'd do that to Kara." Lois said. "He might still have feelings for Chloe, but I'm sure he told Kara he needs a little time and to take it slow."
Clark snorted. "Kara doesn't know the meaning of the word 'slow'."
Lois bit her lip. "This is not going to end well." She said. "However you look at it someone is going to get hurt. Chloe is hurting now and so is Jimmy. But if they get back together, then Kara gets hurt."
"This sucks." Clark muttered.
"Whoever invented love triangles should be shot." Lois said darkly.
"Yeah." Clark agreed.
"It would be easier if I knew why Chloe broke up with Jimmy." Lois said. "She keeps saying that he didn't do anything, so I can't even be mad at him."
Clark shrugged guiltily. "Jimmy's caught in the middle just like Kara."
Lois sighed. "Great. My cousin, your cousin and our friend."
"Yeah, whose side do we take?" Clark asked.
Lois snorted. "No one's." She declared. "We steer clear of this, because it's just one big, lousy mess in the making."
"But what about Kara?" Clark asked. "She really likes Jimmy."
"I don't know. But this means we still have to be nice to him." Lois said. "Why can't relationships ever be easy?" she lamented.
"I don't know." Clark sighed.
Lois' eyebrows rose. "Okay, I wasn't actually counting you in the 'difficult relationship' category." She said. "I thought things were going okay now with you and Lana?"
Clark slumped down into his corner. "I thought they were for a while. But some things happened recently,-" he hesitated. "It's complicated. I wasn't really myself for a while and then Lana showed a side of herself that I didn't know she had. And it showed me that we hadn't really connected for a long time. But it was when I wasn't – myself, that somehow things were better then they'd been for a long time."
Lois stared at him. "That made absolutely no sense." She said.
"It's complicated?" Clark offered sheepishly.
"I can tell." Lois said dryly. "And her solution is steering clear of the farm as much as possible?"
Clark sighed. "Apparently. It's just been really awkward lately because of that whole – situation."
"Have you guys talked about it?" Lois asked.
Clark shook his head. "Not really. When we got the whole thing straightened out, it was just really hard. Where are we supposed to go after all that?"
"I don't know." Lois said. "Mostly because I have no clue what happened. But I'd say step one would be to stop avoiding each other and actually talk things out. You guys have been dancing around each other for years and now you're finally together. After so many years of anticipation, it's bound to fall a little short to what you've imagined."
"I know." Clark sighed. "I really do. But what happens when we're not even the same people we thought we were?"
Lois leaned forward and squeezed his hand. "Then you figure out if the people you've both become is still someone you want to be with." She said earnestly. "And the first step to figuring that out, is talking to each other."
Clark ducked his head. "You make it sound so easy." He muttered.
Lois smiled sadly. "It's not easy Clark. It's years of dreaming and hoping and trying. You've wanted to be with Lana forever. And you had to watch her with several boyfriends, and then you two get together only to break up, and she starts dating your ex-best friend and marries him after she finds out she's pregnant. You waited for her all this time and now she isn't the same girl she was at the start of this whole thing. Question is: is the girl she is now, someone you can love?"
Clark stared at her. "How am I supposed to figure that out?" he asked quietly.
Lois bit her lip. "I wish I could tell you Clark. But I have a lousy track record with relationships myself."
"Yeah but that's not you're fault. Those guys were just idiots." Clark said.
Lois chuckled. "Thanks. I'm pretty sure I shoulder some of the blame in most of them. But thanks."
They shared a smile when Mrs Kent called out. "Lois? Could you give me a hand?"
"Coming!" Lois answered. She smiled at Clark as she shrugged off the blanket. "Things will work out Clark." She assured him. She squeezed his hand again before darting over to the kitchen.
Clark leaned back with a sigh. He really hoped Lois was right. He wished he could've explained everything to her, but that would be hard. 'The problem is Lois, that an escaped phantom impersonated me for over a week and Lana didn't notice. He was an evil, psychopathic entity that's obsessed with destroying the Planet starting with me. But they were able to relate to each other on every level and she trusted him with things she didn't tell me. She felt closer and more connected to him, then she does with me.' He snorted. That would go over well.
'Silent Night' began to play and he looked around the room. He'd wanted to share this with Lana. This tradition of dimming the lights and telling a self-invented Christmas story. He hadn't had a clue how to go about it, how to explain it to her. And yet he'd effortlessly managed to do it with Lois. No thought involved. It had simply been a natural thing to do. Why couldn't things be this easy with Lana?
In answer, the front door opened and Lana hurried inside. She took off her coat as she glanced around the room. "Why is it so dark in here?" she asked.
Clark sat up and waved at the tree. "Otherwise you can't get the full effect." He said. "What do you think?"
Lana smiled serenely. "It looks wonderful." She said.
Clark nodded hesitantly. "How's your aunt Nell?"
"She's good. She sends her best wishes." Lana answered.
Clark nodded and they stood there awkwardly for a few moments. Finally Lana broke the silence. "I'm going to go change." She muttered and headed up the stairs.
"Yeah." Clark sighed. He turned the lights back on and headed over to the kitchen, where his mom and Lois were putting the final touches on dinner.
"Lana's here." He announced.
Martha glanced u at him. "Oh good, Kara called me a little while ago, she and Jimmy are on their way."
Clark nodded. "I'll start rearranging the living room." He offered. He returned to the living room and pushed back the couch and coffee table, clearing away the space in front of the fireplace. He'd just moved the love seat into the corner when the front door flew open again and Kara and Jimmy entered the house.
"Hey Clark." Kara called out.
"Hey C.K., merry Christmas." Jimmy said.
"Merry Christmas Jimmy." Clark answered. He grinned as he watched Jimmy nervously straighten out his clothes.
"I brought apple cider." Jimmy declared, holding up the bottle.
Clark smiled. "Thanks. Come on, everyone's in the kitchen."
"Hey guys! Merry Christmas Jimmy." Lois said, when she caught sight of them.
"Merry Christmas." Jimmy answered. He held out the bottle like a peace offering. "I brought this." He said.
"Thank you Jimmy, how thoughtful." Martha said kindly. "Well you guys are just in time, because dinner is ready. So everyone grab a plate and pile up." She indicated the food on the counter.
"Where's Lana?" Kara asked.
"Right here." Lana answered as she entered the kitchen. "Hi Jimmy, Merry Christmas." She offered.
"Merry Christmas to you too." He answered.
They loaded up their plates and moved over to the living room, sitting down on the floor in front of the fireplace. "So, can we open the presents now?" Kara asked, as she took a bite.
"Not until after dinner." Clark answered.
"And only one." Martha added. "The others are for Christmas morning."
"Except for me." Lois declared happily. "Because I won't be here tomorrow morning, so I can open both of mine today."
"Cheater." Clark mumbled.
Lois leaned around Martha to stick her tongue out at him. "Nope just fortunate."
They listened to music throughout the rest of dinner, giving compliments to Martha for the amazing dinner, and quickly ate their dessert (blueberry or apple pie) until they were finally allowed to pick a present.
"Well it's easy for me." Jimmy smiled. "I only have Kara's present."
Lois grinned as she took both of hers from under the tree. Clark hesitated as he considered his options. He could either take his mom's present, Lana's present or Lois's. Kara hadn't been able to contain her excitement and had given him her gift two days ago. He caught Lana looking at him from the corner of his eye, and he reached over and took Lana's gift. He settled back down with a sigh and saw her take his mom's gift as her own choice. Martha took his gift and sat back down in between him and Lois.
"Okay," she said. "Open them."
They tore into the wrapping and he carefully opened the box containing his gift. It was a picture album and he flipped through it quickly. It held pictures of him and Lana, from when they were small, through high school and now. Page after page of still shots stared back at him and he forced a smile when he got to the last pages. He knew what it was supposed to be; an album detailing how they'd gotten to where they were. Separate and now together. The last few pages were empty and he knew that it was supposed to be symbolic. He could fill it with pictures in the future of their life together. But the first thought that struck him, was that the empty pages were right. They didn't have a future.
He turned to Lana with a brave smile. "Really thoughtful Lana, thank you." He said, as he leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek.
She smiled brightly at him and turned back to regard her gift. He followed her gaze and took in his mom's present. It was a book on art, everything from Da Vinci to the best modern artists. On the inside cover, a ticket to the Metropolis Museum of Art's annual New Years gala was taped.
"Thank you Mrs Kent." Lana said with a smile. "I love it."
"You're welcome Lana." Martha answered. She turned to Clark and smiled. "Thank you for my gift sweetie." She said.
He grinned and leaned over to hug her. "You're welcome mom." He whispered.
Over her shoulder Lois made a choked noise, and he pulled back to be able to look at her. Lois threw her arms around Martha with a squeal. "Thank you!" she exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"
Martha laughed as she patted Lois on the back. "You're welcome sweetheart." She answered.
Curiously Clark craned his neck to get a look at her gift. It was a book full of famous and inspirational quotes. There was a ticket taped to the inside cover too, and when he focused on it, he could read that it was an invitation for the Senator's debate in January. He smiled fondly. Reporters were allowed at the debate but the lunch afterwards was invitation only. His mom had just pretty much guaranteed Lois an exclusive.
Lois happily leafed through the book. "This is gonna be great for my articles." She declared.
Martha smiled. "I thought you might like it." She said.
"What about my present?" Clark pouted.
Lois chuckled and reached for his gift. "Hold your horses Clark." She quickly tore off the wrapping paper and held up the small box.
"Drum role please." She teased and Clark rolled his eyes.
"I'm gonna take it back if you don't open it." He threatened.
Lois glared at him before opening the box and taking out her gift. He'd actually been out looking for something for Lana, as she was first on his list. But he'd stumbled across this and known that it was perfect for Lois. Somehow without even looking, he'd found Lois a gift, while he'd spent days searching for something to give to Lana. Chloe and his mom had only required a little thought, but in the end he'd found them something too. In the end, he'd made reservations for December 26th at 'la petite fleur', one of Metropolis' finest restaurants. But for Lois it hadn't required a single moments thought and if the look on her face was anything to go by, he'd made the right choice.
It was 2 tickets to the WhiteSnake Tribute concert in Metropolis in February. With as special guests, most of the past members of WhiteSnake themselves.
"Oh my God." Lois muttered as stared at the tickets. She glanced up at him, "You didn't!"
Clark smiled. "Well I seem to recall you mentioning that you liked some of their songs." He teased.
Lois scrambled over to him and tackled him into a hug. "Thank you!" she laughed.
Clark smiled and hugged her back. "You're welcome."
Lois leaned back to stare down at the tickets again. "How did you get these?" she demanded. "They're sold out everywhere! I know, I've looked!"
Clark shrugged. "I have ways." He said mysteriously.
Lois turned to face him and smiled. "Thank you Smallville." She said and he grinned back.
"You're welcome Lois."
~To be concluded
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Reviews are happy thoughts, shared with me.
Again, I'm sorry for the layout. It looks perfect in Word though...
