- Chapter 38
As Jeff placed their baby on her chest, Vicki couldn't believe what she was seeing. How had she not known that this little person had been missing from her life? "We have a son," she said quietly as she stared at her beautiful baby boy, her hands gently resting on him. "Our little boy," she said through a little hiccup as she looked up at Jeff. She could see the same tears on his cheeks that she could feel on her own. Listening to their son cry, Vicki thought it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard, coming from the most perfect baby boy in the world.
"Time of birth, 4:14am," she heard the doctor say to a nearby nurse. "Congratulations, you two," she then said to them, but Vicki couldn't look up, couldn't peel her eyes away from her son. "Does he have a name?" she asked, and this time Vicki nodded, but she still couldn't look away.
"Henry. Henry Vaughan Powers," she said, looking up at Jeff. They had finally settled on the first name for a boy the week before, and as she looked down at her son again she couldn't help but feel that it really was perfect. Her son, Henry Powers. She was surprising Jeff with the Vaughan. That had been the name of his father, and Vicki had thought it a perfect middle name. While Jeff had kept suggesting middle names, Vicki had all ready decided on Vaughan, wanting to surprise him with it. He smiled a little more widely at her before leaning over and kissing her on the forehead before doing the same on Henry's little forehead.
"How is Vaughan spelled?" the doctor asked, and Jeff taking care of that as Vicki continued to stare.
"I'm going to take him for a couple minutes to weigh and measure," the nurse said quietly, and Vicki nodded. The nurse slipped her hands underneath him and pulled him away. She hadn't even noticed that the umbilical cord had been cut, she had been so wrapped up in him. God, she had a son. Vicki accepted help from Jeff in standing up, taking it slowly; she was sore in places on her body that had never been sore before, but all she could think about was Henry. Stepping over the side of a tub, she accepted a towel from a second nurse, wrapping it around her shoulders as Jeff helped her walk to the bed. Easing into it, she took a minute to find a comfortable way onto the bed, only to have to get into a position that was less than comfortable to deliver the placenta. And then the nurse was at her bedside, holding a bundled Henry. She placed him in her arms and suddenly Vicki fell in love all over again. "Seven pounds, thirteen ounces and twenty inches long," she told them.
"I love you," she heard Jeff murmur in her ear, and she said it back to him, glancing up to smile widely before she looked back down at Henry. She couldn't get enough of him.
"Do you want to see if he'll nurse?" the nurse asked, making Vicki blink and remember that it wasn't just her, Jeff and their son. "He's more alert and awake right now than he will be later, and it'll help him get a good start." Nodding, Vicki made sure she had Henry cradled in the crook of her arm securely before pulling the cup of the left side of her bathing suit top to the side. It took a few minutes of coaching by the nurse on how to best position him so he could easily latch on and how to recognize that he was rooting around for her nipple, but once he got started he seemed more than ready for a big first meal.
"Wow," she said, trying to watch Henry nurse while also trying to smile at Jeff. "You would think that I would find it strange that I'm my son's source of food, but it's amazing." The amazing qualities of the moment was suddenly interrupted by a contraction, making Vicki close her eyes for a second before it let up. "Ow," she muttered.
"Getting the baby started nursing is also a good way to encourage your uterus to contract so that the placenta detaches and can be delivered," the nurse said as she stepped back over to Vicki's bedside. "Let me know when you start feeling like you need to push." It was only a few minutes later that Vicki delivered the placenta, her doctor declaring that it looked good before going back to writing down notes on her chart.
"I'm going to dry off and change clothes, then I'll bring in Beth and Lois, okay?" Jeff said quietly, Vicki nodding with a smile before looking back down at Henry, who now seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
"I love you, Henry," Vicki whispered, lifting him up to kiss his forehead. She couldn't believe how much she loved him. He was less than an hour old but she loved him more than she had loved anything in her life. "I can't promise that I'll be a perfect mom, but I will always do the best I can, and so will your dad. You're our son, our little boy, our baby. And now you've got me rambling and sounding all sappy," she said through a smile as he blinked at her. "But that's okay. I think a little happy, sappy rambling is in order, because I finally get to meet you, and you're beautiful."
Standing next to Beth on the other side of the hallway, they both stared at the door to Vicki's room. The last time the doctor had gone inside, half an hour earlier, she had told them that Vicki was pushing and that it shouldn't be too much longer, but nobody had come or go from the room since, meaning they were left hanging, without even information. This was not a position that Lois liked to be in, and from the way Beth was bouncing on her toes, Lois could tell that she wasn't too fond of it either. "What are you thinking?" she asked Beth, continuing to stare at the closed door. "Girl or boy?"
"I'm going to fall back on the old wives tale that you carry a girl high because she wants to be close to mom's heart, and you carry a boy low because he wants to be close to mom's girl parts, and then do the opposite. Vicki carried low her whole pregnancy, so I'm saying it's a girl."
"I was leaning boy anyway, and it's no fun agreeing. I got the same vibe from as I felt I gave off when I was pregnant with my son." Grinding her teeth together, Lois decided to throw another topic out. "Over seven and a half pounds or under?"
"Over."
"Same," Lois said. "Hair or bald?"
"Powers babies have a history of hair, so I'll go that way."
"Then I'll go bald, since I think it'll be a boy anyway and my own son was born sans hair." Uncrossing her arms and shoving her hands into her pockets, Lois tried not to start bouncing like Beth was. "Is it just me, or has the definition of 'anytime now' changed?"
"It does seem to be stretching out, yeah." Beth moved away from her spot against the wall and started pacing. "I don't remember being this nervous when waiting for all my friends to have babies, though admittedly I wasn't waiting outside the room. I've always thought of the children of my friends as family, but this is my actual niece or nephew being born."
"Yeah, I assume it's different when it's family involved." Lois didn't get a chance to say anything more than that because just then the door to Vicki's room opened and Jeff walked out, smiling ear to ear.
"I have a perfect, healthy son," he said quietly before getting wrapped up in a hug by Beth, who started squealing.
Lois allowed her eyes to slide closed and her head to fall back against the wall as she smiled. You have a son, Chloe, she thought. I'll watch out for him since you can't. I love you. Opening her eyes again she pushed away from the wall as Jeff approached her, finding herself pulled into a strong hug. "Congratulations, Jeff." He released her, still wearing the big grin as he showed them into the room, and Lois didn't think she had seen many things as peaceful or as amazing as Vicki holding her son, gazing down at him as she murmured quietly. When she finally looked up, after the three of them had watched her for fifteen or twenty seconds, she motioned for them to come closer. She looked utterly spent, but as happy as Lois could ever remember seeing her, or Chloe.
"I want to introduce you two to Henry Vaughan Powers," she said quietly, Lois walking around to the far side of the bed as Jeff and Beth both got close on the other side. "I've been calling him my beautiful baby boy, as he's the most beautiful little thing I've ever set eyes on."
"He is very beautiful, just like his mom," Lois said quietly as Jeff gently scooped Henry out of Vicki's arms so he could give Beth a closer look at him. She almost laughed as she realized that she was calling a baby boy beautiful because he took after his mom. Probably the last time in his life she would do that. She smiled and ran a hand over the top of Vicki's head before kissing it gently. "You did well, Vicki. I'm proud of you."
"Yeah?" she asked, looking up with a smile.
"Of course." Kissing the top of her head again, she couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Sorry about the head kissing, but this is what you get with me as a cousin. My kids have turned me into a hugging and kissing machine."
Vicki nodded as she looked back towards Jeff and Beth, Lois doing the same and finding Beth holding Henry's face close to her. "I think I get that now. All I want to do is hold him close and stare at him, memorize his little features and kiss the end of his nose." She quirked her head to the side but kept smiling. "That last one sounds a lot weirder out loud than it did in my head."
"New babies tend to do that to you. I'm not a rambler, but every time somebody put one of my babies in my arms for the first time I would start rambling like crazy lady. That, and babbling. I babbled for days, talking to them about how much I loved them." Stopping as she watched Vicki yawn widely, she noticed Beth slowly making her way around the bed, bringing Henry over to her. Getting him transferred into her arms gently, Lois fell in love as she looked at his little face, even more than she had when watching Vicki hold him. This was Chloe's son. She might not be present to see him, but he was her son, the same as he was Vicki's and Jeff's, and that meant she loved Henry like he was her own. "Hi," she said quietly, smiling as he shifted then closed his eyes again. "Little guy's had a busy night," she said, looking up, and she could tell that Vicki was fading fast but was trying to stay awake. "I know he's brand new and you want to do nothing but hold and watch him, but you should get some shuteye. You've been through an emotionally exhausting night, and one of you is probably pretty physically exhausted, too. Add in that it's just after 5am and that Henry's peaceful, something that I promise will not last, and it's a good time for a nap." Looking to Jeff, she nodded for him to sit down. "You too, dad. Beth and I will keep an eye on this guy while you guys catch your first parent-length nap. We'll wake you both in an hour to make sure you don't try and start this adventure in a rested state."
"Are you sure?" Jeff asked, but she could tell he was ready for at least a little sleep. He sat down and reached out, taking Vicki's hand into his as they started smiling at each other.
"Yeah," Beth answered. "You two rest. You've got two happy aunts here to take care of things for a little while. Quick tip: you should always take advantage of that." That was all the more convincing they needed and eyes quickly slid closed, leaving Lois with Beth to watch over baby Henry. "Did you and Vicki work through what was bothering her?"
Lois nodded, smiling down at Henry before looking up at Beth. "Turns out there wasn't really anything to work out, at least not on my side. She asked me to be her family, to be her cousin. It's not that she's unfulfilled with being part of your family, but she said she's going to be selfish, that she wants the whole package when it comes to having family. Until meeting this little guy, I thought that would be the highlight of my year, but god... I had forgotten what it's like to fall in love, instantly and unconditionally, and it hasn't even been two years since my youngest was born."
"It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?"
"It really is," Lois said quietly. "You, Henry Powers, are technically my cousin, but I want you to think of me as your Aunt Lois. I love you like crazy, little guy, because you're my family, and family is what counts in this world." Looking up at Beth, she smiled before looking down. "You're going to come to find out that you've got a BIG family on your dad's side and some oddities on your mom's side, but we'll fill you in on the details later. Right now you can just take it easy and soak in all the love coming your way." Crossing the few steps to Beth, she got him transferred into her arms. "I'm going to call Clark, let him know the good news."
"You think he's awake?" Beth asked, though she was staring down at Henry the same as Lois had been a moment earlier.
Lois glanced around the room, making sure no nurse or doctor was still lingering or had come in and she hadn't noticed. "He doesn't require a lot of sleep, and I bet he decided to keep an ear on the city while waiting to hear from me, maybe get some work done if it's a quiet night in the city and the house." Seeing Beth look up, Lois could tell by the look on her face that they had, in fact, told Beth about Clark's heritage. She had thought they would when she'd given them the blessing to do so, something she'd had to confess to Clark afterwards. She had expected him to be exasperated, but he'd understood, resigned to the fact that what had once been the biggest secret in the world couldn't stay that way, at least not as much as he would have liked. She knew he worried that should somebody slip they would become a target, but he didn't want his secret coming between people, which at least gave him some peace, knowing that it wouldn't be something to come between Vicki or Jeff and Beth.
"Thank you for letting them tell me. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to let that information be known , and it means the world to me that you trust me that much."
Lois looked down at the floor, not wanting to confess that she had basically made the decision on the fly, not giving much forethought to the subject beyond that she didn't want Vicki to have to lie to Beth any more than she had wanted her to have to lie to Jeff. "Even if you weren't all ready a friend, and a great in-law that isn't technically an in-law, you're important to Vicki, and that means you're important to us."
"Still, that's going the extra mile, and then a few more miles afterwards." Lois got a few steps towards the door to go call Clark before Beth spoke again. "Hey, are you planning on staying the whole weekend?"
"I hadn't really thought that far ahead, or ahead at all. I came to Gotham to talk and ended up getting a nephew, too."
"Well, if you do want to stay then I'd be happy to lend you a room. I'm sure you can take care of clothes as needed, with a little help from your guy." Beth smiled up at her. "I imagine that has to be a perk of loving him. Had the same thing happened to me as has you, I'd have Chuck driving some clothes to me, or I'd be buying some."
"You don't mind me crashing in your basement for a couple days?"
"Technically an in-law or not, you're Vicki's family and that means you're my family. There's no distinction in my mind. Family is family." Beth grinned before looking down at Henry, starting to talk to him as he continued to sleep in her arms. Lois smiled before leaning down, giving Henry a quick peck on his tiny, beautiful head before walking out of the room, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialing Clark's cell. It didn't take long for him to answer.
"Boy or girl, and how in love are you?" he asked, and Lois smiled as she walked slowly down the hallway.
"It's a boy, his name Henry Vaughan Powers and I am totally in love, Smallville. I couldn't love him more if he was ours." She couldn't help the smile she was wearing as pulled a stray hair out of her eyes. "She may not be here for it, but Chloe makes a beautiful baby."
"Like you ever had any doubts."
"You make a good point, though I doubt I could ever consider a baby related to me as anything but beautiful. The genetics in my family are very good and I love easily. Well, I love babies easily. Took a little more work with you." Stopping at the end of the hall and turning around, Lois started walking back to Vicki's room slowly. "Look, Beth offered to let me stay at her house for the weekend, so if it's not too much to ask..."
Clark started chuckling and Lois glanced at her phone before putting it back to her ear. "When you called me earlier to tell me Vicki had called you her cousin and that you were staying for the birth, I went ahead and called my mom and asked her if she could come stay at the house this weekend. Since we both have Fridays off anyway at least I don't have to call Perry and tell him I won't be in. That was never fun."
"It really wasn't, and thank you, Smallville. I'm sorry to abandon you like this."
"You kidding? I always thought it would be this way once Chloe had a baby, and I thought you'd probably find a way to do it for Vicki, too. Now that she's calling you family, it's the same situation going by a different name."
"Still, I am sorry to bail on you out of the blue. Tell the kids I love them when they get up." Realizing that she had forgotten to ask him about clothes for the weekend, she cut him off as he started to respond. "Oh, and my pre-packed travel bag in the closet! I need you to drop it off for me. I'll text you the address of the birthing center and Vicki's license plate. I still have her keys, so I'll unlock it so you can just drop it in the back seat while doing your thing."
"I'll be waiting patiently for the information."
Rolling her eyes at the sarcasm in his voice, Lois found herself back at Vicki's room, glancing inside and seeing Beth sitting in a chair, cradling Henry against her body. "Don't worry, Clark. You know how much I love to reward your thoughtfulness, and how often I love to do so. If you weren't so good in bed I'd be annoyed at how thoughtful you are, in addition to being thankful. As it is, I'm thankful for the thoughtfulness and the amazing way you make love. I'll see you Sunday night, Smallville. Love you."
"Love you too, Lo."
Walking back into Vicki's room, Lois found that both of the new parents were still sleeping, and also still holding hands, which Lois thought was nice. Making her way to Beth, she found that her fellow aunt was starting to fade, and she couldn't blame her. It was after 5:30am, and she doubted that Beth had slept in any longer than Lois had the previous morning. "Why don't you let me take him. You can go home, maybe catch some sleep, or at least grab a shower and some coffee."
"You don't mind?" Beth asked, standing up slowly as she did so.
"Not even a little bit. I want to tell the little guy about his mom, make sure he knows that he comes from good people." Beth didn't argue, and after getting Henry settled in her arms, Lois sat down in the chair Beth had been occupying.
"I think I will try to catch a few hours of sleep. Not sure I'll be able to, since my girls will be up in..." Beth checked her phone and frowned. "Less than an hour. Yeah, nevermind about the sleep. Shower and coffee it is. You want me to bring you some?"
Lois shook her head. "Thanks, but ever since coffee was used to drug me so I could be kidnapped I've soured on it. If you have any energy drinks I would happily take some of those."
"I don't have any at home, but I'll stop by the corner store and get some. I should be back in about an hour and a half, after I drop Jenny and Liv off at school."
Giving Beth a quick nod, Lois watched her exit before looking back down at the sleeping infant in her arms. "Henry, I have a story to tell you. Your mom's name is Vicki Vale Powers, and she's an amazing woman who will be a great mom. But there's another woman you come from, a woman named Chloe Sullivan, who's also your mom. She's a part of you, buddy, in your every cell, same as your dad. I'm going to tell you about her, and about how much she would love you."
"Don't most women get to go home first after giving birth?"
Lois had to concede that Vicki had a point. Never after she'd had a baby had she been taken to somewhere other than her own place of residence, be it the house in Metropolis or the apartment in Smallville. Had that been foisted upon her, she thought she might have been more peeved than Vicki sounded, though admittedly she might have been too wrapped up in her new baby to have gotten very worked up. With Devon she probably would have welcomed Martha driving her to the farm rather than to the apartment, as she might have felt a little less pressure to do it all herself rather than share a little bit of the load like she had the previous two times with Clark. Her stupid pride had gotten the better of her once at the apartment. Being home with two young children and a baby was a situation that merited taking any help that was offered, and she had taken some, but not as much as she could have. Glancing back over her shoulder at the new parents, who were watching Henry as he slept in his car seat, Lois turned her head back around as she rode in the passenger seat while Beth drove them all to her house. She had conspired with others in their group of friends to have Jeff's car moved to her house and Vicki's car back to their apartment so that they'd had no choice but to ride with her. A devious plan, but one she doubted either Jeff or Vicki was too annoyed by. "Think of this as a crash course in how to let go of your baby for a little while," she said as they turned into Beth's subdivision. "Henry nursed just before we left and you're going to be in a house full of people well versed in changing diapers, so you can take a little while to relax before it's just two parents and a baby."
"I just spent more than thirty-six hours in a birthing center with many different people holding my baby while I was awake and asleep. Pretty much the only time I got to hold him without somebody else asking to hold him was when he was eating, and that's only because I'm his food source. All I wanted to do was hold him and much of what I was doing was handing him off, so I learned how to let go of him quickly. While I appreciate the abundance of love being heaped upon Henry, at some point Jeff and I will have to swim in the deep end, and from what I've been told many times there's no way you can ease us into it. Plus, it would be nice to get some alone time with my son."
"All of what you just said is very true," Beth answered. Lois was glad that she had something to say because she was having a difficult time arguing against letting Vicki and Jeff go home and get some time to themselves with Henry. "However, as Jeff knows very well and should have explained to you before Henry was born, this is tradition, something that has happened for every single baby born into our group of friends. I know that a lot of people came by yesterday afternoon and evening to meet Henry, but we started this a long time ago when Will and Reid adopted Bella, though I admit it was a smaller group of friends at that point. However, it established that everybody gets together, fawns over the baby and showers it with love for a couple hours, and then we release said baby and its parents into the world. We then get together again three or four weeks later and the parents hand off the baby for an afternoon while we all commiserate and remind them that having a baby is, in fact, worth the sleep deprivation, raw nipples and giant bags you have to carry around until they're toilet trained."
"This is why I never had a giant group of friends." Frowning, Lois thought about what she had just said. "Actually, this has nothing to do with why I never had a giant group of friends. That's more me being picky about who my friends are and people thinking that I'm prickly when nothing is further from the truth. Still, I think I'm jumping to the other side on this debate, because if anybody had tried to take me anywhere at home after I had a baby I'd have been liable to throw down." Looking back over her shoulder again, she smiled at Vicki. "I've got your back on this one, cuz."
"Yeah, well, you're in our group now, Lois, so don't think you're exempt from this tradition should you find yourself pregnant," Beth said as they turned onto her street, and Lois scoffed.
"First off, never happening. While Clark is unable to get snipped, I was more than able to get tied. My fallopians are officially closed for business. Second, if it could happen, I highly doubt all of you would fly out to Metropolis for your tradition." Unbuckling her seatbelt as Beth pulled the car into the driveway, Lois popped her door open and stepped out, taking a bag from Jeff so he could help Vicki with Henry. "As a late addition to your group of friends," she continued, watching as Vicki got out of the car with Henry's carrier in hand, "and one who has attended few shindigs where the whole group was present, I think I've joined the Jeff, Beth and Sam subgroup more than the group as a whole."
"That is true, Beth," Jeff said, walking behind Vicki as they made their way to the front door. "Some of us might have gone, but I doubt everybody would have. Though since it's a moot point, I think it's best to focus on the welcome to the world party that's actually happening rather than a theoretical one."
Lois nodded, more than happy to focus on what was happening now rather than what wasn't going to happen in the future. "Vicki, is Henry still asleep?" Seeing Vicki nod as she looked back at her, Lois continued. "I think we can use that to our advantage. As I've noticed a time or two that this group of people is prone to cheering good things, I say we send Jeff in first to warn people to keep it down, and then you, Vicki, take him out of his carrier, holding him and telling people that you don't want to jostle him too much while he's sleeping. Thus, peaceful baby stays in your arms. Now, should picking Henry up wake him from his slumber, you can hand off your crying baby to the first unsuspecting sap you come across, say thanks, and then find and reclaim him once he's peaceful again."
"See, it's that type of thinking that reminds me that I made a good decision in deciding to stake my claim on you as a family member. Excellent, excellent plan." Lois watched as Vicki gently placed the carrier on the ground and knelt down, working for a second before she lifted Henry out of his carrier and got the sleeping baby settled against her body. They all waited a second, and when no cries came, Jeff went inside to issue the sleeping baby warning while they all waited. "I don't remember if I said this all ready, but thanks for staying for all this stuff, Lois," Vicki said with a smile as she gently swayed back and forth while Henry slept against her. "I know that travel isn't the big deal for you that it is for most, but still, I'm glad you're here. And speaking of your travel method, I do have a question about it, which I wanted to ask the other day but got sidetracked by that whole going into labor thing. The Super speed... how does the wind shear, G-Forces or anything else involved in crazy fast travel not tear a normal human to shreds? I've always wondered."
"You know what? I've never asked him or his biological father because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't understand the answer anyway." Off the confused look, which Lois figured was because of the reference to Jor-El, Lois decided to clarify. "There's a place in the arctic... I'll explain it later because it could take a while. Suffice to say, what I know is that at Super speed I'm cradled in his arms, I close my eyes for five to ten seconds and then I'm somewhere else, fighting off some dizziness. I assume it's an equilibrium thing, but haven't looked into it."
That was all the farther their conversation on the topic got as Jeff came back outside. "Okay, everybody inside is forewarned that Henry is sleeping so it will be quiet fawnings and showerings of love, but I can't guarantee that lasts long. It's been, what, five years since the last time we did one of these things?"
"Five or six, yeah. Warren turns five in about six weeks," Beth said before she turned to Vicki. "You and the little guy ready to go?"
Vicki smiled as they started inside. "I think we'll both live through the getting loved on for two or three hours."
Lois was the last one inside, closing the front door quietly before following the others into the house, where she could see everybody and their children gathered together to welcome Henry into the group. As much as she had sided with Vicki, Lois couldn't deny that it was a cool thing to see such a big group of friends come together to welcome a new baby into their lives. She still had trouble imagining what it must be like to be a part of such a big group of friends, despite having been included now since they had lived in New York, though not extensively. It was more difficult to feel like she was a part of the group when she lived halfway across the country, but it was nice to know that whenever she came to Gotham she had friends besides Bruce, and with Vicki's change of thinking, family.
It was a couple hours later when Lois found herself plopping down on a bed next to Vicki in the upstairs guest bedroom, who had just started nursing Henry. Flipping off her shoes, she swung her legs up onto the bed and got herself settled in. "I'm going to say to you what was said to me not long after Jacob was born." Vicki nodded, but didn't look away from Henry. "So, you're a mom."
"That's it?" she asked, looking up from Henry to frown at her. "I assumed there was going to be some advice in there somewhere, perhaps with some dry wit involved."
"Trust me, the statement is profound in its simplicity. It took a little while for me to get it, too." Sucking on her lip for a second, Lois crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at the wall across from them. "On an unrelated subject, I have a few questions about the group of people that is currently downstairs."
"Shoot."
"How did the group of friends come together? And who was whose friend before it came together? My final question is, How many subgroups are there, such as the one that consists of you, Jeff, Beth, Chuck, Sam and Kyle?"
Vicki smiled as she quirked an eyebrow. "Not interested in asking a question with a short answer?"
"You've got time," Lois said with a smirk, using her chin to point at the baby who was attached to her breast.
"A fair point." Vicki exhaled slowly as she looked down at Henry before looking back up, staring at the far wall the same as Lois had been doing. Lois joined her in the act, mostly so she didn't get a crick in her neck while keeping her head turned to look at her. "Okay, so when Jeff and I got married I asked him the same questions, and you're lucky that I wrote the information down and worked to memorize it so I would have an idea of how to navigate through clicks, groups and whatever else I came across. You know who is married to whom in the group, right?" Lois nodded. "Then we're all set there. The group came together when Beth moved back to Gotham in 2011, after breaking up with her live-in boyfriend in Boston. She was the straggler who didn't live in or near Gotham, so her return was the catalyst. She started getting together with all her friends again once she was back and she would also include Jeff, as she lived with him the first two months she was back. Jeff was the same way, including Beth in things his group of friends would do. Naturally their respective groups of friends started interacting, and by the time a year had passed since Beth had moved back to Gotham it was basically one big group."
"And it was a seamless transition?" Lois asked, finding it hard to believe that a big group of people that had been two groups of people had come together seamlessly.
"Mostly, yeah. Will and Reid got Bella about six weeks after Beth moved back and not long after that Richie married Lindsay. Will and Reid had been Jeff's friends since high school, so Beth had known them anyway, but once she was back and they had a baby Beth got really close to them and introduced them to her friends. Now, I mentioned Richie and Lindsay's wedding because Richie was Beth's friend, but he also invited Jeff to his wedding. Also invited, unbeknownst to all involved, was Jeff's friend Erin, who Richie worked with. That was the first happening of integration between the groups of friends that didn't involve Jeff or Beth joining one or the other's group of friends. When Art married Pat in 2012 there had been so much cross pollination that everybody was at his wedding and the group became what it is today."
"So it really did go seamlessly," Lois said, frowning. She had a difficult time remembering the last time in her life anything had gone seamlessly, let alone integrating two groups of people into one big group.
"That's what I've been told by Jeff, Beth and Sam, because I had a hard time believing it, too. The first two are trustworthy sources, but sometimes you need independent confirmation from a third source independent the first two."
Lois nodded. "Of course. That's just smart fact checking."
"Indeed. Now, as to who started as whose friend, let's see... Will, Reid, Erin, Art and Garrett were Jeff's circle of friends while Sam, Donovan, Becky, Richie, Dana and Lily were Beth's friends. As far as subgroups within the bigger group..." Vicki paused and Lois glanced at her, finding that she was fidgeting with Henry, attempting to get him moved around as he wiggled while adjusting her shirt and bra and not having the easiest of times with it. "Sorry, give me a second," she muttered. Lois tried her best not to smile as Vicki attempted to figure out what should go where, remembering when she had been in the same boat. It was a minute before she got everything and everyone where she wanted them. "I know you're supposed to switch from one boob to the other but it's easier in theory than it is in practice. The people who write those things must have more hands than I do."
Lois nodded, going back to watching the far wall, not bothering to hide her smile anymore as she could tell Vicki wouldn't notice. "I'm sure that's it."
Vicki took another minute burping Henry and getting him to latch on to her other nipple before beginning again. "Anyway, subgroups. Obviously there's the Jeff, Beth and Sam grouping. Will, Reid and Beth, too. There's one with all the men from the original thirteen, plus Erin, as they have an annual fantasy football league that started in 2013. I think they do a less formal league that encompasses everybody in the group that wants to play, too, but I zoned out when Jeff was talking about it because, well, I barely pay attention to actual sports and wasn't interested in joining in on the game. I do know that many of them go to a Gotham Rogues game every year, usually towards the end of the season, but they went early this year since Henry was due midseason." Lois wasn't surprised at the pause in Vicki's speech, figuring she had taken a moment to check on her son at the mention of his name. "Um... there's Lindsay, Pat, Helen and Karen, who got close because they all married into the group. They like to try and include me in things because I'm the first woman to marry into the group since Karen did, back in 2014. Not sure if all the men who married in have a similar deal going on but I wouldn't be surprised. Dana, Lily and Becky have always been a close knit trio, according to Beth. They were their own subgroup in Beth's group of friends before the big group came together. Beyond those groupings, I think I would end up listing best friends and that seems tedious."
"Agreed. I'm curious, but not so curious as to try and memorize that much information. Just good to know the ins and outs since I am apparently an official member of the group. Plus, since I can now use Clark to come to Gotham and it not seem weird to you, Jeff, Beth or Sam, I'll get to see my nephew much more frequently." Lois smiled at Vicki, who was nodding. "You have no idea how nice it is that you know about Clark, not to mention that the people closest to you also know. Makes life a hundred times simpler when I don't have to lie about him or something involving his gifts."
"I can imagine that would be a nice break from the norm," Vicki said as Henry stopped eating. "Would you mind burping him for me?" she asked. "I've had to pee for the past fifteen minutes but I didn't want to interrupt him."
"I can say with much certainty that you're always welcome to hand your son off to me when you need a bathroom break." Pulling the burping cloth off Vicki's shoulder, Lois got it set on her own before gently taking Henry and getting him settled on her shoulder. "Have you figured out the best way to burp him yet, or is it still a work in progress?"
"Work in progress. I think the patting works better, but he seems to prefer when I do a circular motion with my hand. Must be more soothing. Back in two minutes," she said as she got off the bed and walked out of the room.
"So, you like what feels good but something else works better for you," Lois said quietly as she started patting Henry's back gently. "I get that. Sounds like something you inherited from your mom, although to be honest preferring what feels better to what works best is a pretty universal human thing. I guess that just means you're human like most of the rest of us, albeit a tiny, bald and exceptionally cute version of one. Let me just say that you're lucky you're related to me, because normally I think newborns look ridiculous, unless they're my newborns. You, though, are as close to being my newborn as one can get without actually residing in my uterus for nine months, which means that you can be nothing but cute, adorable and amazing in my book." Glancing at her shoulder, she noticed Henry burp. Taking a second to wipe off his chin and mouth, she got him resettled, this time with his head resting on her chest before she started doing the circles on his back that Vicki thought he liked. She did a quick diaper check and found that he was dry before looking down at him again, finding his eyes drooping. "It's okay," she said softly, "you can go ahead and sleep. I promise that mommy will be back soon to hold you close and keep you safe from the big bad world." She started humming quietly, going with some early 90's Metallica rather than Whitesnake, as Devon was still the only baby Lois had ever found that liked Whitesnake. Poor kid was doomed to be her clone.
"Sorry, that took longer than I thought but I'm here..." Lois smiled as Vicki trailed off, noticing that her son was asleep. "Wow, you did that quickly," she whispered as she approached the bed.
"You learn a few things after having had three of these," Lois said with a slight nod. "You should go grab his carrier, see if you and Jeff can use this opportunity to make a quiet exit. Otherwise I imagine this thing could stretch on longer than the two or three hours that Beth said it would last."
"Yeah, these gatherings do have a tendency to go longer than planned." Vicki turned to leave the room but stopped and turned back around. "You're not going back to Metropolis until tomorrow, right?"
"That's my current plan, yes."
"I have some stuff I want to show you, some reports and other papers that I think you would find interesting. I would have shown you before now, or at least talked to you about it, except you were kidnapped and then I was trying to come to terms with things."
"Is this the thing you wanted to talk to me about but weren't comfortable doing so in your office because of bugs?" Lois asked, her curiosity thoroughly piqued.
"Correct," Vicki said with a nod as she inched towards the door. "I told Clark about it some when he told me that you had been kidnapped but I imagine it fell on deaf ears, which is obviously understandable."
"How about we do this. Since I imagine you don't want me interrupting your baby time this evening, why don't Beth and I follow you and Jeff to your apartment. We'll make sure the three of you get settled and have everything you need, you can give me the papers, or at least copies of them, and then you don't get an interruption this evening or tomorrow morning if you don't want one."
"A very solid plan. I'll go get the carrier and inform Jeff and Beth as to what's going to happen. And please," Vicki said with a smile as she stopped in the doorway, "while I don't have a cousin in my memories, my Chloe dreams have informed me about having you as a cousin. There are three things I learned from those dreams: life is never as simple as it seems, interruptions by Lois Lane are not something to be wary of, but something to look forward to, and family is important. So please, Lois, interrupt at will. I wasn't just saying it when I called you my cousin. That's who you are, and my son can only benefit from having you in his life, so interrupt as much as you like." Vicki seemed to consider her words for a moment. "I would add a caveat to that about if I haven't been sleeping because of Henry, but in that case I would hand him off to you and go to bed, so I stand by my statement. Interrupt as much as you want."
Vicki walked out, leaving Lois to close her eyes and thank whatever gods may exist for whatever she had done to deserve what was happening. Vicki's son sleeping against her body and Vicki telling her to interrupt whenever she wants because her Chloe dreams told her about how much Chloe had loved her and vice versa. "Thanks for still having my back, Chlo," she murmured before looking down to watch Henry sleep.
Blinking as she woke up, Henry's cries ringing in her ears, Vicki sat up slowly, unwrapping herself from Jeff's arms before taking a second to rub at the corners of her eyes. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she shook her head as she stood, wobbling a little as she tried to wake herself a little more. She wasn't surprised that Jeff hadn't woken up this time; he needed sleep now as much as she had a few hours earlier, when he insisted that she go get at least three hours of sleep after Henry last ate. She had been so tired she hadn't even been aware of what time it was when she had passed out, sleep overtaking her before she could look at a clock. She had been completely out, not even feeling Jeff crawl into bed with her, only realizing he had when she woke up tangled in his arms rather than just being tangled in sheets. Yawning widely, she padded over to Henry's crib, finding her son wailing as loudly as his little lungs would allow. Reaching in, she scooped him up and pulled him close to her body, bouncing gently as she walked out into the living room of their apartment. Sitting down on the couch, she grabbed the television remote and turned on a twenty-four hour news station, not aware of what time it was aside from the fact that it was dark outside. Pumping up the volume, Vicki made sure that he was dry before getting Henry situated on her breast without much trouble, having become extremely familiar with the process over the past...
Frowning, Vicki had to look up at the television to see what the date was, finding it to be 4:38am Wednesday morning. "So, my beautiful boy," Vicki said quietly as she looked back down at him, "I guess that makes you five days old. Five whole days since you officially came into our lives. I knew you unofficially for longer than that, but that was more of an umbilical relationship, and you weren't nearly as vocal back then." Smiling tiredly as Vicki let her eyes close for a moment, she forced them back open, as she didn't want to take the chance that she would fall asleep while Henry was eating. "I love you so much, Henry. I'm so tired that I can't figure out a better way to say it than that, and I know that I say it pretty much every time I hold you, but it's true, because I'm your mom, and it's not like you can say it too much, right? You're a part of me, and nothing can ever change that." Pausing, Vicki looked up, realization coming over the haziness of her sleep deprived brain. "Jesus," she said quietly, looking down at Henry again. "I'm a mom."