Jeremy Shane: thank you!
The fallen sky: Aww. I don't want you stewing in anything; but it's nice to know you'd still be willing to read this fic even if something doesn't go the way you like. Thank you!
The funny thing is; Lois's reaction to the Chloe /Lana thing is just my way of showing the readers that I understand the handholding and stuff is 'creepy' as Lois keeps saying; but it is a must. And I don't think Lana 'slipped up' but I can't say more than that. Lol. I keep saying that, don't I? I really hope you're able to enjoy the rest of the story; and the next one.
Dispatcher652: Lol. I hope you're satisfied with what happens in this chapter.
dizzy78:Lol. That's a definite possibility.
DS: No. definitely not trying to kill ya, lol.
annonymous: already done, it only makes since;)
~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~
I try to start walking again, but before I even take half a step, my cousin grabs my wrist and yanks me a little closer to her. She's always had good reflexes; but I'm shocked they still work this well while she's in this much shock. Her eyebrows are nearly raised to her hairline, causing serious wrinkles in her forehead; forget her jaw dropping to the floor; it's sunk so far beneath the earth's surface, it's resurfaced on the other side of the planet; and she hasn't blinked. Not once. And yes, there's the very unlikely possibility that we're blinking at the same exact time and that I'm just missing her do it, but the operative word in that sentence had been 'unlikely'.
I gulp audibly. I haven't seen her like this since she found out Clark's the father of my child, children; and even then, she remembered to breathe.
"Uh, h-her own baby?" Lois finally questions with a slight stammer.
Lana finally looks up from her phone and at Lois, then at me.
"You didn't tell her?" she frowns.
I glare back at Lana. What the hell is she doing? She knows damn well I didn't tell Lois.
"Ladies, I know you two are…well, have you know,…but you do realize that it's physically impossible for you two to procreate right?" Lois jokes; but she's not so much as joking as asking 'what the hell is going on?'
"I mean, there's no way Chloe's the mother of your child," she finishes before adding, "though it wouldn't be hard to believe Clark is the father," under her breath.
I'm sure Lana heard what Lois just said; but she doesn't seem to be offended by it. In fact, it looks as if she's about to agree with her.
"Lana!" I hiss.
"She should know Chloe!" Lana hisses back.
"I should know what," Lois asks. Her voice wavers a little. She's actually nervous.
"Right here? Right now?" I hold my arms out, indicating that we're still in a very public place. In a hospital hall, in fact; with doctors and echoes and such.
"Then let's go somewhere a little more private," Lois jumps in while steering me out the door, through the parking lot, and to the car. Never once did she turn back to see if Lana was behind us or not. She's in 'oh-my-god-shit's-about-to-hit-the-fan' mode now; and Lana was barely important enough to Lois beforehand.
"Private enough for ya cuz?"
I ignore her and get into the car. Lana follows suite; getting in beside me. Apparently she was able to keep up just fine.
Lois gets in right after us, and I briefly wish I'd thought to lock her out. Not that it would've helped me much in the long run; but I need to talk to Lana; alone. I need to figure out where her head's at, and why the hell she's trying to out me to my cousin.
"Well, I'm waiting," Lois turns in her chair; resting both knees on her seat, and her bottom against her steering wheel.
Lana looks over at me and waits for me to explain. Apparently, she doesn't believe it's her place to say anything.
I glare back at her. Personally, I think she should've remembered that in the first place.
"Chloe? Lana? Any day now; either one of you," Lois says as she alternately points from me to Lana.
Lana fishes out a piece of paper from her purse and silently hands it to Lois. Whatever's on it makes her gasp; and that me nervous and curious.
"I don't believe this," she says before shaking her head in disbelief and tossing the paper into the back seat as if it has some kind of deadly and contagious disease. "Nuh-uh. No way…I…you honestly expect me to believe this?"
"No, I didn't expect you to," Lana answers. "That's for everyone else."
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Lois frowns back at her.
I grab at the paper. Yes, Lana is holding it; and Yes, I snatch it away from her.
I can understand Lois's reaction now. According to this, Lana is the surrogate mother of me and Clark's child; which is technically true to a certain extent, but more than unbelievable.
First, Clark and I are newlyweds. It's not like we've been trying over and over again for years to have a child on our own and I just found out that I can't carry one.
Second, it costs to have a surrogate. A lot. Like 'Clark and I can't afford it' a lot. And just because Lana's Clark's ex and is still our friend doesn't mean she'll do it for free. In fact, that probably means she wouldn't do it at all.
What people will be more inclined to believe is that there was some kind of love/affair triangle thing going on between Lana, Clark and myself; and that we both ended up pregnant. The only problem with that is, we'd have to figure out a way of explaining to everyone how Lana isn't the mother once the baby is born.
I guess this is it.
I stare down at the paper some more. I know it's phony, but Lana made sure it looked like the real deal; probably with the help of Luthor Senior. I look toward the bottom. There's Lana's signature, a date that claims this piece of paper is the same age as my children, and the signature of the doctor who allegedly performed the operation. I frown when my eyes slide down even further. I know neither Clark nor I signed this thing, but there they are; our signatures; perfectly forged; which I've got to admit is a little unsettling but not all that surprising.
I turn in my seat a little and openly stare daggers at Lana. I can hear Lois breathe a sigh of relieve. She probably thinks that because I'm currently glaring at Lana, none of this is true. And it's not; the truth is much worse; which is why I'm so pissed off at the woman beside me.
At first, I thought her slip about naming the girl was an accident; but now, because she'd bought the forged document with her, I realize she did it on purpose. That she'd planned on trying to get me to tell Lois the truth today.
And if I'm being honest with myself, that's not why I'm so angry at her right now. I'm just…shocked. She caught me completely by surprise. Never once has she mentioned to me that she thought Lois should know. Never once has she even hinted that she was even interested in what I do or don't talk to my cousin about when the two of us are separated; and now she's sitting there demanding I tell Lois the truth?
I can't do that; and frankly, the thought of doing it nearly makes me cry. Lois is already always worried about me. She watches me so closely, I hardly have time alone. Not even when I'm asleep because sometimes she watches me then too. I know because sometimes when I wake up during the middle of the night; which is actually quite often, I find her kneeling before my bed, head on her folded elbows, asleep.
If she finds out what happened to me, I won't be able to handle the added 'protection'. I'll crack. I know I will. It'll be just like when Clark found out I'd been kidnapped. He wouldn't let me out of his sight. And I just can't take any more of that right now.
It was suffocating.
At the thought of Clark, I do begin to cry. Silently. Not one sob escapes these lips, just the tears fall. I don't really want to cry, so I quickly brush the tears away and look down at my hands.
"Chloe?" Lana sighs before grabbing the hand closest to her. It wasn't easy as I've scooted away as far away from her as possible. Totally immature move, but I don't give a damn right now. I snatch my hand from hers and she sighs loudly.
"Lois can you give us a minute?"
"No," Lois stares back at her as if she's lost her mind.
"Lois, can you please give us minute?" Lana asks again.
"In my car?" Lois scoffs.
"Lois," Lana nearly whispers. "please."
I'm surprised; really surprised when my cousin gets out of her car; slamming her door and takes about fifteen steps in the opposite direction. She keeps her back to us, arms crossed over her chest, silently fuming.
"Chloe," Lana starts almost immediately. "You know your cousin better than anyone else."
I keep staring down at my fingers.
"You know she wouldn't have ever believed this," she says while holding the forged document up to my face.
"Neither will anyone else," I snap back angrily.
"No, but you don't live with everyone else," she reminds me. "You don't have to answer to anyone else."
I stare at my fingers again; refusing to acknowledge she has a point. A very small point; but a point nonetheless.
"Chloe," she scoots closer to me, ignoring the fact that I shrink away from her. "What if Clark doesn't come back before the babies are born?"
"He is coming back!" I nearly yell.
She doesn't so much as flinch before resting a hand on my shoulder. "I know he's coming back Chloe."
She stares at me and I find myself calming down a little. I realize it's not even because the babies are physically connected right now. It's because I can see that like me, Lana sincerely believes Clark is going to come back. "
He always does. Always," she continues. Her words echo my thoughts exactly.
She steals a quick glance at Lois, who is currently watching the both of us before scooting even closer to me and dropping her voice to a whisper.
"Before, when Clark was still here; I was going to keep Lex under until after the birth, after having Clark sign as the father, and after giving him full custody. It was kinda sloppy, I know, but it was a solution.
I frown at her, when was she going to tell me this?
"But Chloe," she says, getting my attention back. "If he doesn't make it in time for your children's birth," she continues. "How odd do you think it would look for Lex Luthor's fiancé to just hand 'her' child over to you? Even if you're husband's the father, legally you'd have no ties to the baby; I didn't have a choice."
Lana holds the stupid paper up to me again. "And like I said, Lois was never going to believe this."
'So you don't have a choice either' I mentally finish for her. It's what she's saying to me without actually saying it.
~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~
A/N: Next post will be Saturday, July 31st.