Karrtoonmonkey: Thanks!
Hot chocolate, Roza angel: No problem.
Clois16: thank you, she told Tess Lana's her mother.
Jeremy Shane, batgirl2992, eternal density, JUJUChick16: Thanks!
Wtchcool: Lol. I know but Clark's still there, and susceptible to kryptonite. Thank you. Of course she will, eventually.
IceQueen825: thanks! I think. I don't have any idea of what your last sentence means, but I'm hoping it's a good thing. It probably isn't; but oh well;)
IheartBL: thanks! I kinda had fun…a little. Lol. The Lois-Tess-Jo'an scene was fun. I'm glad you liked it.
Karen: Lol. I'm really glad you said "most people" cause I'm definitely not like normal people, and I am odd. To tell you the truth, I've never read a comic book in all 23 years of my whole entire life. And I barely remember the superman movies. In fact I can only recall two scenes. A bar fight in which Clark got his butt kicked because he'd given up his powers for Lois; and the bar fight at the end where he got his powers back. I don't even know which movie that was.
And I didn't even want to watch Smallville, but my brother begged me for years, literally, until I did it; and I've been hooked ever since.
Nequam-tenshi: Connor?
B. Davis: Lol. You can make it! I hope you enjoy this.
LooneyTLuna: Lol. What is with you people and putting that kind of pressure me. I'm gonna develop some kind of performance anxiety soon. Lol. Hope you enjoy this.
Gigga: of course you are, I would be too;)
Genobeast: maybe just a little.
Sunset: I probably lied. It's probably just wishful thinking because I said it like two chapters ago. I'll finish when I finish; but it is almost over.
~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~
When Clark finally makes it to the Daily Planet to pick up his daughter, he's not ready for her; and by "her" he's not referring to Jo'an. He's referring to Lois. She left him a very graphic text; one that was impossibly affective for being no more than twenty words long.
He's sorry he had to leave her with Jo'an suddenly, but he didn't have a choice. Winslow Schott, the man responsible for the explosion during Oliver's meeting has escaped from jail. No one knows how; but it's more than obvious he had help. Then, to top it all off, he set a hundred toy bombs around the country; all of them in a child's bedroom. Most of the children were in school; but there were a few who were too young to start.
Winslow contacted Oliver; let him know where each one was going to be just seconds before they went off in order to give him a head start. It was a game to him.
It was a two man job; Clark and Bart. It may have been a six hour task, but it went over smoothly. Bart's faster than Clark, but he isn't invulnerable. Easy solution; Bart grabs the bombs, hands them to Clark, Clark gets rid of them.
They only had two or three close calls, but out of a hundred…it could have been a lot worse.
When they were done, Winslow congratulated Oliver, commended him on a job well done, and promised him the next game would be a whole lot more fun. There was no doubt in their minds that Winslow meant it would only be more fun for him; and so much harder for them.
And now Clark's worried. There's a good chance that "task" was not just a game; but some kind of test. Why else would he set up so many bombs so far apart and only give them seconds to get to them. Oliver can't move that fast.
Clark looks around the Daily Planet, but they aren't here. He asks Hank Freeman, a coworker who's head over heels and over the moon, in love with Lois. Everyone knows it; that is, everyone except Lois.
Hank tells Clark that Lois went home already; which makes Clark frown. It's early. Hopefully everything is alright.
But it's not.
When he gets home, and opens the door he can hear them crying. Both of them; well, Lois probably "has something in her eye", or "Shelby's fur is on her clothes."
He goes upstairs and pauses. They're in separate rooms. Jo'an is in his parents' room, Lois is in his room.
What on earth is going on? He wonders to himself.
He goes into his room first and pauses in the door way. Lois is in her pajamas already; and she's lying in his bed. No big deal right? She's slept in his bed a million and two times already.
Her pajamas consist of a shirt and that's it; one of his shirts in fact. No big deal right? She's used his shirts as pajamas a million and two times including last night.
So…what's the big deal?
"Um, Lois?"
Lois sits up with an "I'm not crying," and wipes her eyes.
Clark smiles at her. He didn't say she was; but he's very careful to make sure the smile isn't patronizing. The fact of the matter is that she is crying. It wouldn't be right to tease her.
"I know," he answers before sitting down next to her. "I let Shelby sleep in here sometimes since you share Mom's room with Jo'an now. It must be your allergies" he lies while staring out into the hallway.
"Must be," she agrees quietly before laying back down.
Clark puts a reassuring hand on what he thought would be her back; but she's turned over and so his hand is on her stomach. He moves it quickly, knowing she's gonna yell at him; but she doesn't. She has her arm slung over her eyes and she's still sniffling a little.
"Lois?"
"Hmm?"
"If you go into my mom's room with Jo'an, your allergies might stop acting up," Clark suggests, subtly implying she and Jo'an should probably deal with whatever's going on together.
Lois bites her lip before answering about twenty seconds later. "The door's locked."
'The door's locked? So what? You're more than capable of picking locks.'
That's what he wants to say; but he just asks her "Why?" instead.
No answer.
Gently, Clark pulls Lois's arm away from her face.
"Why did Jo'an lock the door?" he asks her again.
Lois closes her eyes. She doesn't want to look at Smallville. He looks just like the kid. And the kid hates her.
"Lois?"
"She hates me," Lois sighs before pulling her arm out of Clark's grasp and covering her eyes again.
"Did she say that?" Clark asks disbelievingly. There's no way Jo'an hates Lois. They probably just had another silly argument and Lois just thinks the child doesn't like her.
"Yes Smallville, she said it," Lois raises her voice a little irritably.
Clark stares down at her. He can't think of anything Lois could've done to make Jo'an tell her that. If it weren't for the fact that the child seems immune to all of Lois's sarcastic and tough love ways, he'd say it was a disciplinary thing.
"Why did she say she hates you?" he asks her.
No answer; and this time he doesn't push her. Instead he gets up and heads toward his parents' room, shutting his bedroom door behind him.
Lois is right about the door being locked; but that doesn't stop him. The only reason he hesitates is because he's going to have to get a new doorknob after this. He's never been good at locks like Lois and Chloe. It must be a Lane thing.
"Jo'an?" Clark calls as he enters the room.
No answer. But she's definitely here, in bed.
Clark shuts the door behind himself and approaches his daughter. He pauses at the foot of the bed and stares at her. Like Lois, she's lying on her back with her arm slung over her eyes.
"I'm not crying," she sniffs.
Clark has to fight back a laugh. He does pretty well and ends up smiling instead. No, there's nothing funny about little girls crying; but she is so much like Lois. It's almost disconcerting; but it's a little more amusing at times. Like now.
Clark gets into bed beside Jo'an and slings his arm over his eyes. He's decided to take a different approach with Jo'an. Déjà vu is already beginning to set in and he has a feeling the conversation can go pretty much the same way it had when he'd talked to Lois if he approaches it the same way; and he really doesn't feel like going back and forth between his wife and child…er his Lois and…er…he doesn't feel like going back and forth between Lois and Jo'an. He'd rather just nip this in the bud right here.
"What are you doing?" Jo'an asks suspiciously. Clark can hear her remove her arm from her face, but he keeps his in place.
"I'm moping with you," he answers with a tone that suggests his actions are more than obvious.
"I'm not moping! You're the moper. Mommy says so!"
Clark lifts his arm off his eyes and raises a brow at Jo'an.
"Oh, well then I guess it's just Shelby's fur then right?...oh wait, you don't have any allergies….I know! You've got a cold!" Clark exclaims with a snap of his fingers. "But…oh wait; you can't catch a cold…hmmm. Then it must be….you've got something stuck in your eyes?" Clark asks. "Oh wait, you"-
"Okaaay-yuh! I was crying, sheesh Daddy, were ya ever gonna stop?"
"Probably not," Clark smirks before laying his arm across his eyes again and waiting for Jo'an to address him. It doesn't take long. Ten seconds later Jo'an pats Clark on the arms.
"Daddy?"
"Hmm?"
"I want to go home."
Clark's chest tightens. He knows how to get her back; has known for a couple days now. He plans on sending her back, just not so soon. He wants more time with her.
"Can you come with me?"
He can't help but to feel a little better. She wants to leave; but she still wants to be with him.
"Daddy?" Jo'an shakes Clark's arm, vying for his attention.
"No, Jo'an," Clark answers softly. "I can't go with you."
He wishes to god he could.
"Please," Jo'an begs before laying her head down on his chest.
"Do you want to go home because you hate Lois now?" Clark asks, trying to get her to tell him more about the fight so that he can fix it; and so that she'll want to stay.
Jo'an waits a while before answering with a very soft, "she doesn't like me either."
"Of course she likes you," Clark supplies.
"No she doesn't," Jo'an sniffs.
Clark begins to rub her back, offering comfort to the troubled child.
"She's always mad at me, and she never wants me to be by her, and she doesn't like me to call her mommy, and she told Mercy that Lana's my mommy," Jo'an finishes, saving the final straw for last.
Clark can understand Lois's actions. He even expects them; but Lana? Why would she say Lana's Jo'an's mother. Sure, it makes the most sense as he and Lana'd been on and off again for years; and she did go off to Paris for a while that one year; but he doubts that's what Lois was thinking when she mentioned Lana. Does this mean Lois still thinks he should be with Lana? Or does she think that he's still going to end up with her?
He doesn't know why he's a little upset by that. Even he still entertains thoughts of being with Lana; admittedly a whole lot less than he used to; but he can't deny that he's entertained a lot of thoughts of himself being with Lois. Not just him and Lois either; but Jo'an too. He's getting used to the three of them being together. And it always makes him smile when Jo'an says "mommy" and "daddy" in the same sentence; and he and Lois answer their child together. But he keeps the smile on the inside; because he's not so sure of what Lois thinks about that.
"Some of Shelby's fur is still in Mommy's eyes. You should get it out," Jo'an announces suddenly, interrupting Clark's happy thoughts.
"There's no fur in Mommy's eyes Jo'an," Clark answers, understanding that Jo'an is telling him Lois is still crying; and that she wants him to go cheer her up. "You made her cry," Clark adds bluntly; but he keeps rubbing her back to keep the sting out of his words.
Jo'an sits up with a sigh. "I didn't mean to make her cry."
"Well, go say you're sorry, and then I'll send you home," Clark says casually; but secretly he has his fingers crossed behind his back hoping for…
"But I don't want to go yet Daddy," Jo'an pleads.
Yes!
"Okay; but you still gotta say you're sorry," Clark tells her before dropping a kiss onto her forehead.
"Okay," she agrees before hoping out of bed and heading towards Clark's bedroom.
Clark gets up and follows her. He's going to hell for manipulating his child like that. He's sure of it.
He makes it to his bedroom just in time to see Jo'an climb into bed with Lois. Her arm is still slung over her eyes, and she's still sniffling.
"Go away Smallville," she mumbles; but Jo'an isn't Smallville, she's Junior; so she keeps going. She climbs on top of Lois and braces her elbows on either side of the woman's head, while resting her chin in the palms of her hands and looking down at her mother.
"Junior?" Lois frowns before moving her arm around her face and staring up at the little girl. "What are you doing?"
"I'm moping with you," She answers seriously.
"I am not moping. Smallville's the moper. Lanes don't mope," Lois supplies stubbornly
Jo'an raises her eyebrows at Lois; just as her father had done to her just minutes before.
"Lanes don't cry either," Jo'an says simply.
"I wasn't crying," Lois sniffs.
Jo'an smirks down at her mother. She'd just told her daddy that too.
"I wasn't," Lois insist at the knowing look on the child's face. "It's my allergies. Your daddy's been letting that fur ball sleep in his bed."
"Well Lanes don't let doggie fur make their eyes water either," Jo'an answers seriously before wiping Lois's eyes with her finger and then resting her chin in her palms again. "Okay mommy?"
"Okay," Lois agrees with a nod of her head.
"I don't hate you," Jo'an whispers before lying down against her mother's chest and closing her eyes. And when she falls asleep, Lois doesn't make any complaints about the kid's hair being too hot. Not one.
~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~
A/N: next post should be Monday October 11th.