Tap. Tap. Tap.
Ana kept rapping her fingernails against the windowsill and her knee was bobbing up and down at lightning's pace. Every couple of minutes she would bite her lip gently then lick it with anticipation.
I am not nervous, she thought to herself furiously. After all the things I've done and seen this should be a piece of cake! I am not nervous.
Clark watched his girlfriend shift nervously. He had to admit he found it all very entertaining, Ana was almost always the epitome of calm, cool, and collected. The very idea the meeting his family made her nervous was very amusing for Clark.
He grabbed her hand and stroked it gently. "Don't be nervous, they'll love you."
"I'm not nervous," snapped the Irishwoman glaring at Clark.
The Last Son of Krypton couldn't stop a smile from creeping up his face. "Sure."
Twenty minutes later Clark pulled up to his old home. Even from the driveway the smell of home cooking and horses filled their noses. It made both Clark and Ana smile, for different reasons.
"C'mon," he said tugging her hands gently as they got out of the rental car. They'd barely made it five steps when a brunette blur hurdled into Clark.
"Clark I'm so glad to see you!!!" Kara exclaimed excitedly giving her cousin a bone crushing hug.
"Hi Kara," replied the Kryptonian man a bit bemusedly. The younger girl turned to Ana and gave her a similar kind of hug, only being very careful not to hurt her.
"You must be Ana. Wow I can't believe my cousin is dating Anann O'Rourke! When I heard I nearly died! Oh my gosh I can't believe you're at my house!"
The redhead smiled and said, "You must be Kara, Clark has told me a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet the famous Brunette Tornado."
Kara looked between Clark and Ana and said to her cousin, "You told her about me? What did you say? I swear Clark if you told her about Camp Eugene I'm going to-"
"Kara honey let Clark and his lady friend come in and sit, it's a long way from Smallville to Gotham," called Martha Kent stepping out onto the veranda. She was a petite woman with a head full of silver hair. Despite sharing no DNA with Clark Ana could see where her boyfriend got his kind eyes from.
"Er…Hello Mrs. Kent I'm Anann O'Rourke," said the redhead sticking out her hand for the older woman to shake.
"Please call me Martha," she replied pulling the blue eyed woman into a maternal hug.
The four of them made their way inside where Ana met Jonathan Kent, who personality wise was an older clone of his son. Both had a strong sense of right and wrong and valued hard, honest work above everything else. The Irishwoman found she liked the elder Mr. Kent very much, he and his son were a breed apart from the men she'd encountered during her lifetime.
They fell into pleasant, inane chit-chat before Kara asked about Ana's home in Ireland.
"I mean it must be cool living in an old castle," said the young Kryptonian, "all the rooms and tapestries and servants and things like that. I know I wouldn't want to go anyplace else."
Anann smiled softly and said, "It is a truly beautiful place, my home, but my shire is small and I am not the type of person that is content with her own little corner of the world. I had the means to travel so I traveled."
"What about your parents?" inquired Mr. Kent, "Surely they must've had some reservation about you and your cousin traveling all over the world with almost limitless resources."
Clark saw Ana bite her lip as she lowered her eyes. Her next words came out softer than he'd ever heard her speak before. "My umm…my parents died when I was very young. Lile and I had a…a nanny of sorts. Tara Brine is her name; I swear we could never get away with anything. The woman has eyes everywhere."
Her voice trailed off and the Man of Steel gave her a reassuring squeeze and a chaste kiss on the cheek. Martha stood up and beckoned to Kara, "C'mon sweetie, let's get dinner ready. Clark why don't you show Ana around the farm until dinner's ready?"
The sun was just about to disappear from the horizon painting the sky a royal purplish blue color. Ana inhaled deeply. "It's beautiful."
Clark shrugged, "It's just Kansas, with all the places you've been I'm sure this pales in comparison with all you've seen."
The blue eyed woman considered his words for a few moments as she ran her hand over the wheat. It was true, she'd see more than anyone else in this world, more than Saoirse and plenty more than Clark. But nothing, no matter how spectacular could compare to this feeling…the uncomplicated happiness of being with someone she cared for more than she'd like to say. It felt…whole being here, in the middle or a wheat field with a mild-mannered reporter and not a care in world.
"No," she said shaking her head, "Nothing's better than just being here with you." Suddenly, fearing the moment had become too heavy gave him a playful push and whispered, "Catch me if you can."
She took off running into the field, her fiery hair streaming behind her. Clark smiled and gave chase, only slowing down significantly to make sure he didn't give anything away. They ran and ran and ran some more as the stars began peeking out through clouds. She stopped suddenly and Clark accidently ran into her, sending her to the ground with him on top.
"Oops sorry," he said looking down at her. He suddenly realized his glasses were sliding dangerously down to the tip of his nose. However that became a secondary concern when he realized what sort of position they'd landed in. She was lying under him in a very vulnerable position, him over her.
"I…umm…," he stammer feeling a blush creeping up his face and neck.
Anann didn't say anything. She merely gave what could only be described as a predatory smile and pulled Clark closer. As they kissed she ran her hands through his hair, pulling him closer than humanly possible.
The stars and the moon were out fully, bringing an ethereal light to the wheat field.
Clark was still trying to catch his breath; he'd never lost control like that before. He'd been with Lois only a couple of times and he'd always made sure never to hurt her in any way. But this time…he hadn't been afraid of hurting Ana. It was almost as if he instinctively knew that she wouldn't break. His glasses had slipped off of his nose and were dangling by one ear, but somehow the strongest man on earth couldn't find the energy to fix it.
During their passion Ana had ended up on top and that's how she was now; completely nude, straddling his naked waist as her red-gold hair tumbled down her shoulders and back. Her hair was a wild mass of curls with various wildflowers tangled up in the silky tresses giving pops of purple, blue, yellow, and pink periodically. Her smile was lazy and satisfied as she traced patterns into Clark's naked chest.
Somewhere in the recesses of his mind Clark thought the Irishwoman looked like some ancient pagan nature goddess. Every line, every crevice of her body seemed to be more sharply defined; as though someone had lifted a screen from his vision so he could see her properly. Her eyes seemed bluer; the ring of silver seemed to seep into her pupils, making them silver too. As the moonlight flickered over head the Kansas made swore swirling patterns flash across the left side of her face for about three seconds.
"We should get dressed," she whispered softly kissing the crook of Clark's neck; "Your cousin and parents will come looking for us soon."
The Man of Steel sighed but knew the blue eyed woman was right. So both of them moved gingerly away from one another and began putting their clothes back on. It took a few minutes for Anann to shake all the flowers of her hair and to get the headscarf back on but Clark helped her.
Ten minutes later they were bombarded by the smell of home cooked food and freshly baked bread filled their nostrils. Martha had prepared a veritable smorgasbord of delicious food including some Irish delicacies in honor of Anann's presence.
"Oh good," said Jonathan as they walked in, "I was just about to send Kara out to look for you two. Come on and sit down, your mom's prepared quite a feast Clark."
"Where were you two anyways?" asked Kara as she as she bit into a piece of chicken.
Clark and Ana exchanged swift glances. "Oh nowhere," answered the redhead airily, "Clark was just showing me the wheat fields."