Chapter 36

Happy Friday everyone!

Part I: Clark

You are honestly caught by surprise by the call. The last time you heard from Barbara was over a year ago. You smile as you press the accept button.

"Hey," you whisper.

"Hey you," Barbara replies cheerly.

"To say I'm surprised would be an understatement."

She laughs on the other end. "You called last time, I thought this time was my turn."

You chuckle. "Fair enough. How are you? How have you been?"

"Good and good," she says. "Still cancer free."

You sigh with relief. "That's great, Barb. Really great."

"Listen, I plan on going to the city next week. I was wondering if we could catch up. Maybe I could even meet Diana."

As if summoned, Diana emerges from the bathroom, this time wearing a thin grey robe she kept in the apartment.

"I'm sure she'd love that," you say to Barbara on the phone, eyes glued on Diana who gives you a smile before heading out to the kitchen.

Ever since telling her about Barbara, both women have kept a sincere interest in each other, no jealousy from either side. It made you incredibly happy that two out of the three most important women in your life get along.

"How's Rob?"

"He's good," Barbara replies with sincere joy in her voice. "He's attending a lecture in the city. Figured I could come along and stop by."

"I'm glad you called, really."

"Are you sure Diana would be ok with me there?"

"Are you kidding? She's been dying to meet you ever since I first told her about you 3 years go."

Diana, carrying a pint of ice cream, sits down on the bed beside you, offer you a slightly raised brow.

You cover the phone slightly. "It's Barbara."

"Oh," she smiles despite having just placed a huge spoon full of ice cream inside her mouth. "Tell her I said hi."

As if you couldn't love more.

"God, I love you," you tell her before kissing her cold cheek.

"Do you two need a minute?" Barbara says through the phone and you chuckle.

You'd need more than that later.

.o.o.o.o.o.

Part II: Diana

Later that day, you and Kal land in Kansas just before supper. Naturally, Martha had dinner pretty much ready when you got there.

After greeting his mother, Clark immediately went outside to play with Shelby, the Kents' dog. You stayed in, helping her by setting the table.

"So how's everything?" Martha asks as she finishes putting the salad together.

"We're good," you assure her with a smile. "Really good. Once we find a place, things will be even better." You look through the window at Kal throwing a ball for the border collie to catch. "It's too bad we can't get a house with a big yard. I'm sure Kal would love getting a dog."

"He's always liked them, every since he was a little boy," Martha says as she transfers the meat from the pan to the serving dish. "When we lost our first dog, Krypto, he was depressed. They had grown up together and since Clark is an only son, he was his best bud. He only got better when we got Shelby."

Clark had been a lone wolf when he was growing up. For some reason, he was always labeled as weird by the other kids in school. Martha figured it was because he was indeed different from the others. Clark was sweet, caring and gentle, unlike every other child, regardless of the age. Years later, he is still unlike anyone else.

Your sweet mountain of a man.

"Is dinner ready?" Kal asks as he get inside, hair wet with melting snow, Shelby right behind him. He steals an apple from the kitchen table before kissing Marth on the forehead.

"Almost re- Nah!" Martha pats Clark's hand as he tries to lift the lid of the pan with the boiling pasta. "Off."

"Evil," he mumbles as he wraps an arm around your waist and kisses your shoulder. "See how badly my mother treats me?"

"I'm in tears," you say flatly before handing him a freshly peeled carrot over your shoulder, which he takes promptly. "Go clean up."

"Yes, ma'am," he salutes before biting the apple and heading upstairs.

"It still amazes me how fast he eats," you tell Martha, who chuckles.

"Black hole of snacks, that boy. Incredibly fast metabolism."

Ten minutes later, dinner is ready but Kal is nowhere in sight. You head upstairs to his room and find him sitting down on his old bed, a framer picture in his hand.

"Hey," you whisper, leaning against the threshold. "Dinner's ready."

Without taking his eyes of the frame, he replies "Yeah, I'll be down in a minute."

It seems the picture caught his attention as he was midway through changing into comfy clothes, for he's only wearing sweatpants. The sweat on his back has already dried, but his skin still somehow glistens. You move to sit beside him, placing a kiss on his scarred shoulder. You catch a glance JOnathan on the picture Kal has in his hands.

"Did you take that?"

Kal smiles. "Yeah. I was about… 12, I think. It was the first trip dad and I took together. Mom had stayed behind for whatever reason, so it was just the two of us. Mom was never really into fishing so it was a great time for dad and I to bond. Anyways, dad couldn't catch a thing that day. I think I caught 4 fishes," he chuckles. "Anyways, I felt bad he hadn't caught anything, so I told him he could take one of my fishes and pretend he'd caught it." He shows you the frame. "After I took it he said he was proud of me for being the way I was." Kal sniffs and your heart breaks. "I wasn't really doing well in school and kids were bullying me all the time, so to hear him say he was proud…" He looks at you for the first time since you came upstairs. "It meant the world to me."

Tears fall down his face. He hadn't told you the story about this particular picture before and now that he has, you understand why it took him so long. You cup his face and kiss his cheek.

"We should get a copy. Take it to the city with us."

He looks at you with a smile on his face despite his sadness. "Yeah?"

You nod. "Yeah."

Before you can even realize what's going on, Kal has lifted you up by the waist as if you weigh nothing and places you on his lap.

Chuckling, you kiss him, savoring the taste of his lips.

"As much as I would love to keep this up," you begin as Kal kisses your neck.

"Pun intended?" He mumbles against your skin.

"Your mother is downstairs."

He instantly pulls away. "Well, that killed it."

You pat both his shoulders with your hands before getting up. "Good! Cause there will be no funny business while your mom is around."

Kal grunts. "What if I send her for groceries?" You throw a sweatshirt on his face. "Ow."

"It's freaking Christmas."

"Exactly. And I have been naughty."3

You laugh at that, unable to keep your poker face on. "Get dressed, you dork. We're waiting downstairs."

You leave the bedroom as if you hadn't been affected by his kiss.

Lia, liar.

-o0o-