Lois left Lex in a deep slumber, to go check on the girls. She decided to make her first stop at Lexie's room.
She opened the door to find her daughter sitting up in bed, reading 'Seventeen' magazine. Lois could also see, that her movie script was on the bed as well. Lex was supposed to go over her lines with her...
Lois closed the door and Lexie looked up. Lois smiled and walked over to the side of the bed Lexie was closest to, and sat down on it.
"So...any good gossip in that rag?"
"Mom," Lexie chastised, "Seventeen is not a 'rag'. My name could end up in here one day."
"Hopefully not before you are actually 'Seventeen'," Lois replied, taking the magazine from her and setting it near the script.
"Is Daddy coming to rehearse with me?"
"He's a bit tired tonight."
"But he promised!"
"Lexie, can we forget about the movie thing for a moment? I need to talk to you about your behavior tonight. Specifically, how you treated Grandma Martha's son." Lois told her. She tried to tell herself that it did not matter, how well Lexie got along with Clark...but...well...it did. It did to her.
Lexie wrinkled her nose with distaste.
"Oh...HIM!"
"Lexie," Lois said warningly, "you were very rude to him tonight."
Lexie shrugged, but looked properly chastised.
"I'm sorry, Mom."
"Well...honey, I'm not the one you need to say that to. Lucy is going to be spending some time with Clark at his farm. Why don't you go along with her?"
Lexie Luthor looked horrified!
"A farm? He lives on a farm? That's disgusting!"
"No it isn't! It's the farm that Grandma Martha lived on, when she was married to Clark's father."
"Farm's smell."
"Honey..."
"I don't want to go there."
"Lexie, did you know I used to live there?" Lois asked gently.
Lexie's eyes widened!
"You used to live on a farm? But Grandpa Sam said you lived with him on army bases."
"Yes...I did. But before Lucy and you were born, I lived on the Kent Farm, with Clark, Grandma Martha and her husband, Jonathan Kent."
"Oh...why?"
"It's a long story. Grandpa Sam and I were fighting...kind of. But my point is, it really is a nice place, and you might have a good time out there."
"I doubt it." Lexie said, her manner surly.
"Lexie...can you tell me what it is you DON'T like about him?"
Lexie sighed.
"He made it seem like doing this movie was a bad thing."
"Honey, no, Clark doesn't feel that way I'm sure. I think you just misunderstood. He was just worried that maybe you should be in school as much as Lucy is."
"I guess...I just don't see why he was so impressed with Lucy's dumb experiment, over my movie."
Lois knew, that deep down, Lexie was sensitive about not being seen as smart as Lucy. She patted her daughter's leg through the blanket.
"I've known Clark awhile. He would never purposely hurt someone's feelings, okay? I just think you two got off on the wrong foot."
Lexie didn't answer. Lois wanted to ask her if she had known about the rays that came from Lucy's eyes, but decided it was too late in the day for that. And she could see that Lexie was not very keen on visiting Clark on the farm. She stood up.
"Five more minutes on the reading, and then I want the lights out, okay?"
"But Daddy..."
"Lexie, he's asleep. He might not make it in. He's kind of had a hard day." Lois said. It wasn't like she could tell Lexie the truth...that Daddy had had, what HE thought was a bit of good sex, and was now in a deep slumber!
"Because he doesn't like Clark, right?"
Lois frowned.
"Why would you say that?"
"Because he looked at him like he didn't like him. I saw it." Lexie said matter-of-factly.
Lois had no real answer for that. So she decided to ignore it. She bent down to kiss her daughter good night, and felt small arms go around her neck briefly, before leaving it. Lois tucked her in, then turned to walk towards an adjoining door within the room. She looked back at her.
"Five minutes." she reminded Lexie, before opening the door and stepping into Lucy's room. Lois closed the door and looked around. Lucy was sitting up in bed, writing in a notebook. There were schoolbooks on her bed. She looked up and smiled at her mother. Lois smiled back. She knew that some people thought she favored Lucy over Lexie. She liked to think that she didn't, but she knew that she was drawn to Lucy, because there was something about her, intellectually, that reminded her of her late little sister. Lexie had the 'diva' of Lucy Lane in her. Lois had never been too keen on that side of her sister.
Lois walked over to Lucy's bed and took some of the books off, giving them cursory glances. She idly wondered if Lexie had had anything she was supposed to do for her school tomorrow? Why hadn't she thought to find that out?
Probably, because she was so anxious about Lucy and Lexie's reaction to the man that was their real father.
Lucy set her notebook on her nighttable. Lois sat down, and reached out to push some of Lucy's dark hair away from her face. Lucy looked apprehensive.
"I'm sorry."
"About what?"
"About not telling Daddy and you about my eyes."
"Oh, baby, it's alright." Lois said, pulling Lucy into a long embrace. She then set her away from her.
"We will figure this out, okay? And Valencia is gone."
"Clark understood." Lucy said quietly. She would not tell her mother that Clark had the same affliction. She had promised to keep his secret. Of course, she had no way of knowing that her mother knew this anyway.
"I'm sure he did. You like him, don't you?"
Lucy nodded. She then smiled.
"He's nice."
"Yes...yes he is."
"Clark is going to be my assistant. He wants to work on my experiment at his farm. I have never been to a farm. I've been to the stables, but that's it."
Lois smiled.
"Yes, well, it's not quite the same thing, but I'm glad that Clark and you got along so well. Clark talked to Daddy and I about your visit, and we agreed to let you go out there tomorrow, after school."
"Is Lexie coming too?"
"No. She doesn't really want to."
Lucy said nothing to that. Just as Lois was about to say something, she heard loud growling out in the hall! Skippy, the terrier, was pissed about something!
Lois stood up.
"Honey, I don't want you up too late, okay?"
"Five more minutes." Lucy said, holding up five fingers. Lois bent down to kiss her on the forehead, hurried to the door that went out into the hallway, then opened and closed it behind her.
Skippy was in a face off with Lionel...who was NAKED! Jesus!
"Christ, Lionel, do you want to put some clothes on!" Lois hissed. What if one of the girls had seen him like this?
Skippy was standing in Lance's doorway! Lois looked in the doorway, and saw that Martha was comforting Lance, who was in bed. Lois sniffed the air.
"What is that reek?"
"That smell, is coming from Lance's room." Lionel said drolly. Lois noticed, for the first time, that Lionel was holding a pack of white bread, and some kind of peanut butter. Lois walked over to Skippy and picked him up. She then walked into Lance's room. Lionel followed her in and closed the door.
Yeah...Lois thought, the room did reek! But Skippy practically lived in here...even though he was Lexie and Lucy's dog...maybe that was it...though he was bathed regularly.
Martha tucked Lance in and walked over to the two of them.
"Lionel, you make me sick!"
"Martha darling, do you think I like doing this? Do you? We were in the middle of an intimate moment..."
Lois coughed. Skippy yiped!
"When," Lionel went on, ignoring Lois and the dog, "I got a sixth sense that Lance was eating in his room! Look at this dog's beard, Martha! He's been Lance's eating companion for God knows how long! Now this has to stop! I'm sorry, but I am going to have to put my foot down."
Martha walked up to Lionel. Lois stepped back with Skippy.
"And if you don't stop this crap, Lionel..."
"It's not crap, darling. Lance is eating himself to death."
"Then," Martha continued, "I am going to have to put my foot down and deny you any pleasure whatsoever. Are we clear?"
Lois raised a brow. Skippy growled!
"You would deny me my husbandly rights over this? Martha, I am wounded to the quick."
"It's up to you, Lionel. I won't have you abusing our son this way. Now I'm going back to our room. I suggest you follow me there or else this 'punishment' will begin immediately."
Martha then blew Lance a kiss, before leaving the room. Lionel emitted a shaky breath and set the jar of peanut butter down on a table, while allowing the bread to dangle from his hand. Lois set Skippy down, then grinned, as the terrier took the bread from Lionel's hand and ran from the room with it!
Lionel looked at Lois. She raised a brow.
"Don't look at me! I'm not going to be standing in for your wife!"
Lionel gave her a hard look.
"I'm glad we're here alone."
"I bet!"
Lionel looked around and found a blanket in a chair. He glanced over at Lance, who now appeared to be asleep. He wrapped himself in the blanket.
"Martha's re-election campaign is important to her. It's important to this family."
"I get that. I plan to help anyway I can."
"Yes, well your working for your cousin, isn't the way to help."
Lois tilted her head.
"Have you been keeping tabs on me, Lionel?"
"Yes. I've been keeping an eye on everyone and anything, that could ruin my wife's chances for re-election."
"Meaning?" Lois asked in a clipped tone.
"I know you were with Clark before dinner tonight. And I know WHERE you were with him. I won't have this family embarrassed. And whatever problems Lex and I have, I won't have my son cuckolded either."
Lois said nothing, but had the grace to look embarrassed. Lionel moved closer to her.
"You two had your little reunion. Clark has seen the girls and now it is over. I want this family to look like a family."
Lois cleared her throat.
"I know it may not seem like it, but I do love Lex."
"You're right. It doesn't seem like it. Because if you did, then you would have given Lex a child of his own by now."
Lois rubbed the back of her neck.
"Things are complicated..."
"No they are not. It would be nice if we could announce your pregnancy during the primaries." Lionel said coolly.
Lois snorted!
"Why don't you ask your own wife for another baby?"
"I think we both know that Lance was an unexpected blessing already...with both of us being the ages that we are. I don't think I'm asking much here, Lois."
"And the last time I checked a mirror, I wasn't some brood mare! Lex and I will decide when, or if, there will be another child! And keep that blanket tight around you there, before I barf, okay?" Lois snapped, leaving the room. Lionel stared after her for a moment, looked back at Lance, who he suspected was feigning sleep, before leaving the room himself.
KENT FARM
Clark handed Chloe a cup of coffee, which she smiled and took. He then sat down next to her on the couch.
"So...let me get this straight: you left Spike, not because of this Buffy person, but because of another vampire named...Drusilla?"
"Clark, it's complicated. Moving to L.A. with Spike and his crowd...was interesting, to say the least. But...there were the constant vampires...I mean L.A. is just loaded with them. And this Drusilla is an old flame of Spike's. I believe he didn't cheat on me with her...but he was so insistant in helping her...I just got jealous."
"Spike wanted to help his old girlfriend with this thing she stole? You said it was a prototype that Luthorcorp created? And that Lex had sent men to kill Drusilla or something?"
Chloe took a deep breath and nodded. Clark shook his head.
"Chloe, there is a lot you're not telling me here. I can feel it."
"Okay...I was feeling very insecure about this Drusilla...I...I...cheated on Spike...with one of his friends that worked at Wolfram & Hart."
"Oh." Clark said. "So, nothing was going on with Spike and this Drusilla, but you thought there was, and just impulsively..."
"Screwed someone else, yes." Chloe said, standing up. "Clark, forget my mistake here. Spike couldn't, that's for sure. The prototype, was to a mirror. A special mirror that allows vampires to see their own reflections. If Lex is dealing in things like this..."
"There is no telling what else he's into. Or what he's capable of." Clark said solemnly, thinking of Lois, Lucy and Lexie. Chloe could see this. She sat back down.
"I'm sure that Lex would never hurt the girls."
Clark didn't say anything. Chloe peered at him.
"Why do I get the feeling that you're worried about something else?"
Clark sighed.
"Tonight was just quite an eye opener, that's all."
"Obviously, for more than just your meeting Lexie and Lucy for the first time."
Clark looked at her.
"Some of Lucy's powers have begun to develop. And she has been living with this alone. I mean she was too scared or ashamed to tell Lex or Lois. If I had been there from the beginning, then she'd know what to expect. Lexie would too."
"Oh God...what can Lucy do?"
"Shoot rays from her eyes. I have no idea was Lexie can do, but I get the feeling that their powers are either developing slowly, or are diminished."
"Because Lois is human?" Chloe guessed.
"I suppose. I don't know and I need to know. I don't want my daughters to be frightened of their abilities."
"Lex knows about them though?"
"Yeah...he blamed them on the 'meteor illness' that Lana..."
Clark stopped short. It still hurt to say her name. Chloe could see that.
"Clark, surely by now, you know there was nothing you could do for her."
Clark shook his head.
"Chloe, you don't understand. I let Lana's suicide come between Lois and me. I am more optimistic about having Lucy and Lexie in my life, then I am about getting Lois back."
"Because she looks like she's so in love with Lex? Clark, I tricked my cousin into meeting you, for what I would have to assume was a rendevous. She still has some feelings for you."
"I know that. But I was the one that pushed her away in the first place. That and...I don't think Lois is thinking about herself anymore. Kids do that, I guess. Lex can give the girls much more than I ever could."
"Clark! Look, Lois and I have not been as close as we were, in recent years. But I do know she is not about money. She would never stay with Lex because he's rich."
"Not for herself. But maybe for Lucy and Lexie?"
Chloe shook her head.
"From what you told me about tonight, if Lexie and Lucy are calling Lex 'Daddy', then Lois is worried about those girls lives being torn apart. Your mother probably is too. You'll just have to take it slow, that's all."
Clark nodded, but walked over to a window, to stare out into the night. His mind took him back to six years before. It was the day he left Smallville. It was also the same day that Lucy and Lexie, were probably conceived...
SIX YEARS BEFORE
Lois found Clark, staring into space up in his loft, in the barn. He was sitting down, staring out over the farm.
She smoothed down the black dress that she had but on, for Lana's funeral. She still could not believe it. No one could. Especially Clark...and of course, Lex.
Clark turned slightly when he saw her, then stood up. He was not in the suit that she had seen him in, at the funeral. He was now wearing plaid again. Lois looked over to her right.
There were two suitcases sitting there. Lois has not said much to him, since she was let go for Genevieve Teague's 'murder'. Since Lana's involvement came out...since Lex disappeared. Some claimed he had went crazy, when he heard about Lana's suicide and tore up the mansion, before mysteriously disappearing.
And there was that business about Pete Ross...
A.C. had come to the farm with her. He was in the house. Martha had cooked something, even though she did not officially live there anymore. Lionel was in the house as well, along with Chloe.
"Going somewhere?" Lois asked casually. But she knew. She had actually known from the beginning of this ill-fated affair of theirs, that it could not last. Not when Clark had not been completely honest with Lana.
Now look at what had happened. And it was eating Clark up inside.
"I can't stay, Lois...I can't stop seeing her face when I told her everything. She hated me in the end."
"No she didn't, Clark. Lana was just...just..."
"Devastated by the fact that the meteor storm that killed her parents, was my fault! I was the reason she grew up alone! I was that reason. She couldn't stand the idea of looking at me one more day."
"Clark! You're forgetting something, aren't you? She was facing a murder charge too! Maybe that had a little something to do with it."
"You didn't know her...not like I did. That was Lex! Lana would have never run from the law...she would have never let someone else take the blame for her mistakes...Lex did that to her!"
Clark lost it and did what he could not do at the funeral, or when he pulled Lana down out of that shower. He cried, then began to sob. Lois walked over to him to pull him into her arms.
That was when one thing lead to another...again. They began tearing at one another's clothes in a frenzy, knowing that someone could catch them. But neither cared at that moment. Clark just wanted to forget his pain, and Lois, on some level knew that. She knew when she straddled his big body, as sat on the couch, naked, that making love to him, would not keep him from leaving Smallville, or her. But at that moment, Lois Lane had not cared. She had just wanted to be with him.
Lois had lowered herself onto his massive member, and moaned with anticipation, and enjoyment, as it sank deeper and deeper into her. Clark had reached up and gently squeezed her breasts, slightly pinching her nipples. Lois had closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensations Clark's body was giving to her. And the more Clark squeezed, kneaded and kissed of her body, the more Lois's rhythm was interrupted, as she bobbed up and down. But she didn't care, as she could feel her own release, building fast and furiously, and when it hit her, she leaned down in a daze, and kissed Clark full on the lips...
END OF FLASHBACK
"Clark! Clark! Where were you just now?" Chloe asked, frowning. Clark faced her.
"Lois, Lucy and Lexie are MY family. They should be living here with me. Lois should be my wife. And I intend to make that happen." Clark said firmly.
LUTHOR MANSION-SAME NIGHT
Lois returned to her room, still pissed about Lionel's half assed idea. She realized she wouldn't be ticked off, if she had truly thought it was so horrible.
Lex was not in bed. Lois sat down on the end of it, grateful for some alone time with her thoughts. She looked over at the bathroom door. It was wide open, and she could ascertain that Lex was not in there. Maybe a child of Lex and her own, would be the thing to cement their family.
But there was Lex and the 'calling out Lana's name thing', whenever they were together. Still...maybe she had been unfair. Maybe...maybe another child would make her forget Clark, and keep her mind on the family she did have.
Lois rubbed her temples. She KNEW she had been unfair. She wouldn't have made it without Lex, after Clark left...
LOIS'S PARTIAL FLASHBACK.
There were not many people that knew, that she only carried Lexie and Lucy for four months. But it was because of that, and the fact that the girls looked a lot like Clark, that most people just knew the twins were his.
After all, Lana and Lex would have been together when the babies were conceived, if Lois had carried them for nine months.
Lois had almost begun feeling badly, two days after Clark had left. She had begun working for Martha, as one of her staffers. She had been determined to put her all into this job. She had believed in Martha, just like she had believed in Jonathan Kent.
She had been in Martha's office, setting up her itinerary for the day, when she was hit, with what she could only deem a 'tidal wave' of dizziness. The room spun, then accelerated, as she fell to the ground...or so she had thought.
Lex had been walking into the office, back from wherever and looking for Martha, when he saw Lois about to faint. He managed to catch her, and carry her over to a couch, just as Martha, and another assistant walked in. Martha had told the other assistant to go and get some water.
Lois had awakened to see Martha and Lex's anxious looking faces, staring down at her. Embarrassed, she managed to sit up.
"Easy, Lois," Martha said, "you should rest."
"No, I'm fine, really. I just didn't eat anything today."
Lex raised a brow.
"I can understand that. If I had lost two girlfriends, in such a short amount of time, I might not want to eat either."
Martha gave her step-son a dirty look! Lois raised a brow. He was referring to Clark and A.C.. A.C...well...he had kind of seen her and Clark in the barn, but had chosen to confront her then next day. Lois had really messed up with him big time! And she hadn't been able to explain her actions...not that they were explainable.
"Its alright, Senator. So, Lex, back from sulking or whatever the hell you were doing, hey? Too bad."
Lex smiled coolly at her.
"It's nice to see you haven't changed."
"Can't say the same for you." Lois said, standing up. The dizziness hit her again, only more violently! She could hear Martha scream and felt Lex catch her...then nothing...for three days...
END OF LOIS'S PARTIAL FLASHBACK
Lois began to take off her robe. Another baby. Hmmmm.
Meanwhile, Lex was down in Lucy's lab. He eyed her 'bat experiement'. It was beneath his daughter's abilities. She could do much better. She had already done much better.
Lex pulled off some of the tarp, to another experiment of Lucy's. It was Lucy that had invented that 'Vampire Mirror', that would sell like hotcakes in the world of darkness. Vampires, while repulsive, had a lot of disposable income. Luthorcorp would make a lot of money.
He was tempted to pull Lucy out of bed, and ask her to work on it some more tonight, but thought better of it. Still, this crap about going over to Clark's farm, would only interrupt her worktime. Lex would have to put a stop to it.
Lois was the key. Lois would have to somehow be made to see that Lucy's spending time at that farm, would not be good for their daughter. Dangerous, was preferable. He had a plan already in mind.