Surprise Return
A couple nights later at the Kent Farm...
"You want me to put on a different movie?" Martha asks Ella.
Ella nods. "Yes, pwease."
Lois shakes her head and laughs. "She's so polite to you...to me she'd be like, now mommy!"
"I seriously doubt that," Martha chuckles, rolling her eyes.
Lois watches as Ella and Martha discuss which move to watch next and Ella settles back down on the couch, curling up with her favorite blanket. Once they choose, Martha starts the movie and heads toward the kitchen.
When Martha joins Lois in the kitchen, she pours herself a cup of coffee.
"You want to talk about it?" Martha asks when she sits down next to Lois at the counter.
Lois stares at her glass of wine and starts to swirl it around.
"I don't really know what to say..."
When she looks up, there are tears brimming her eyes.
"It's hurts so bad, even now..."
Martha reaches out and touches Lois' hand. "I know, sweetie..."
"I mean, all of these feelings came to the surface when I heard his voice. I wanted to love him and hate him all at once."
Martha nods in understanding. Clark had come to see her that same day. Of course, she was extremely glad to see her son, but she knew there were many challenges facing him. Especially with Lois.
"I just need to sort them out in my head and figure out what I'm going to say to him when I see him again."
"Don't think about it too much. It's something you should probably just feel from your heart."
Lois sniffs and nods. "You're right. I'm over-analyzing. Go figure. Lois Lane over thinking," she chuckles.
Martha gives her a sad smile.
"You mind keeping an eye on the Munchkin? I'm going to take a quick walk around and clear my head."
"Of course."
Lois takes her jacket and walks outside. She's drawn to the barn and heads to the loft. Once up there, she grabs the Kryptonian book and sits on the couch. She starts flipping through it and looks up when she hears footsteps coming up the stairs. Thinking it's Martha, she starts to smile.
"Lois," Clark says in surprise. "I didn't realize anyone was up here," he says softly.
She sits up a little straighter. The lump in her throat returns. "I'm um...visiting your mom."
He nods.
He wipes his hands on his jeans when he reaches the top of the stairs. How could his hands feel sweaty? He doesn't sweat.
"Lois...I..."
"Clark," she stops him. "I don't know if I'm ready to deal with this yet..."
"I'm just sorry. I took the coward's way out by not telling you that I was leaving. It's just that, I knew if I had told you that the look in your eyes would have made me change my mind and I needed to leave to go train..."
She takes a deep breath. "I'm sure you did. The world is a better place when you're around saving it, right? I mean, you can fly now so that means you can save even more people."
He looks down at the floor and then looks up at her.
Damn him for looking so good in his blue t-shirt and jeans.
"I wish I had told you who I was..."
"It doesn't matter now," she says, getting up and walking over to the window.
"You're right. It doesn't."
He takes a step closer to her.
"You've moved on and you have your own family now. That's great," he says, unconvincingly.
"How did you..." she says, turning around, a bit surprised at how close he's gotten.
"I saw you the other day. Your daughter is beautiful. She looks like you," he smiles.
She furrows her eyebrows. He really doesn't get it. He doesn't realize how old Ella is.
"People say that a lot. She has her daddy's eyes, though..." she says, studying his eyes.
"Have you, uh, been married long?" he asks, trying to sound interested, but he doesn't want to really know.
"No," she says, holding her left ring finger up.
He feels a bit relieved. "Oh."
"Clark...my daughter is a little over 3 years old," she says, hoping he can do the math and figure it out.
His eyes search hers and he nods, trying to comprehend what she's saying.
"She was conceived just about 4 years ago…."
His eyes get bigger and it looks like he's trying to form words but nothing will come out.
She nods when she realizes that he finally gets it.
