A Summer in Love
Chapter Fifty:
Song used in this chapter: 'Amazed' by Lonestar
Clark and Lois slowly walked up the all too familiar wooden porch stairs towards Joslyn' front door, both of their minds unable to stop thinking about the last time they had stood in this exact same spot all those years ago.
At the time, she had already disliked the woman since she wanted her out of the way, while he had just realized that she wanted more than just friendship with him, but things were completely different now, especially after their conversation with her the night before.
They both had a feeling that tonight was going to be a very interesting night.
Joslyn almost immediately swung the front door open as soon as they had knocked, and smiled, brightly at both of them before she widened the door for them to enter. "I'm so glad that you both could make it."
She lead them up the stairs, and once they were standing in the living room she turned towards them, the smile never leaving her lips. "I was starting to wonder if you were going to make it or not. I know that you two would rather spend your time here completely alone, just like you used to all those years ago, but I'm glad that we'll all have some time to get to know each other a little better."
Clark smiled, softly at her. "We didn't mind stopping by for a little bit."
"Besides, I think we got off on the wrong foot, and now this is our chance to remedy that." Lois added with a soft smile.
A wide smile spread out across her face, but before she could say anything to either of them she heard heavy footsteps coming from the hallway, and glanced in that direction to find her three rambunctious children running straight towards her.
The two youngest children, a little boy and a little girl, who had dark ebony hair and emerald green eyes, pulled on her shirt, dramatically, as they pouted and sulked with tears filling in their little eyes.
"Chris is being mean!"
"He won't let us play in his room!"
Chris, the oldest of the bunch, stepped closer towards them with a completely annoyed expression plastered across his face. "They know that they can't go into my room, and they definitely know that they aren't allowed to touch my stuff!"
She took a deep breath, as she glanced at her children. "Taylor, Melissa, you both know that you're not supposed to go into your brother' room unless he says otherwise." When they nodded at her she glanced at her eldest son. "And you, you need to stop treating your brother and sister like a burden. They look up to you and you know that."
He sighed, softly. "I know, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with it."
"As long as you understand." She glanced over at Clark and Lois, who were grinning at all three of them, and had a feeling that they understood this situation in some capacity. "Chris, Taylor, Melissa I'd like you to meet some friends of mine. This is Clark and Lois."
The two youngest, Taylor and Melissa, glanced up at them, curiously before the little boy took a few steps closer to Clark, admiration lingering in his eyes as he stared up at him. "You're very tall."
He simply chuckled at the little boy, his inquisitive manners reminding him of their little boy. Kaleb was just as curious and inquisitive as this child was, especially when he first came back home. "Yes, I am. I'm sure you'll be taller than me one day."
His eyes widened to the size of saucers before he turned towards his mommy, his hopeful eyes staring up at her, questioningly. "Is he right?"
She grinned down at her little boy, who was more like her than the other two. "Maybe. It's quite possible."
The little girl, Melissa, wasn't listening to a single thing her little brother and this very large man said to each other, instead her bright eyes were locked on the most beautiful woman she had ever seen before, and she took a few steps towards her. "You are very pretty."
Lois smiled down at the little girl before crouching down to her level, and poked her little nose just like she had done to her own son a million times, causing her to giggle, slightly. "Not as pretty as you."
"I like you." She stepped closer to her, and stared deeply into her eyes. "Is your daughter just as pretty as you?"
Her words caused her heart to flutter in hope inside of her chest. It was exactly what she wanted, of course she loved giving birth to, raising and spending every single day with her beautiful son, but she hoped that this time around they would have a little girl that would be just as sweet and romantic as her father, and would be just as smart and fierce as she was. "I don't have a daughter, but hopefully one day I will, and she'll be just as sweet, cute and likeable as you are."
She grinned from ear to ear before she locked eyes with her mommy. "She thinks I'm likeable."
"That's because you are, sweetheart."
The eldest child, Chris, glanced between the two strangers and listened to every single thing they uttered to his siblings, especially the way this man Clark seemed to connect with his little brother, but when the woman, Lois, had spoken to his little sister he couldn't stop himself from blushing.
She was absolutely beautiful, and the way she related to his little sister made his heart flutter inside of his chest.
He quickly looked away from her. "I'm Chris." He glanced down at his siblings, who were staring up at the two new strangers with complete and utter admiration. "Okay, squirts, I think it's time we give the grown-ups some alone time." He grinned down at them, mischievously. "I'll allow you to play in my room if, and only if you can beat me there."
Their eyes widened before ginormous smiles crossed their features, and they took off running towards his room, intending to beat him there no matter what they had to do.
They all chuckled, as all three of them disappeared down the hallway before Joslyn grinned from ear to ear at Lois, knowingly. "I think my son has a crush on you."
"He's young. He'll have many crushes over the years."
Clark scoffed at that. "You would be wrong, Miss Lane, you have ruined that poor child."
She glared at him, playfully. "What is that supposed to mean?"
He grinned over at her. "It means that you have the uncanny ability to attract any man of any age. You did it to me the first moment we met, and now you've just done it to that child."
A teasing glint lingered in her eyes, as she smirked over at him. "Are you saying that I ruined you for anyone else?"
"Damn straight, baby."
Joslyn chuckled at them, and shook her head from side to side. "You two haven't changed a single bit. You still tease other just like you used to. It used to irritate me, but now it makes me happy to see that you still have that playfulness in your relationship."
Clark wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into her side, which caused her to wrap her arm around his waist, squeezing, slightly. "This one keeps things exciting."
"You got that right."
She smiled at them. "That is one of the many reasons I invited you here. I want to know everything about you—"
"Babe, have you seen those troublemaking children of ours?" As soon as he was at his wife' side he immediately noticed two people he had never seen in his entire life before, and instantly remembered that she had invited some old friends of hers. "Oh, you must be Lois and Clark, I'm Joseph. My lovely wife has told me all about the two of you."
Lois smirked at her. "Is that right? Well, we haven't heard a single thing about you."
"I'm not surprised by that. She isn't much of a gloater, but I think I can remedy that." He glanced at the man standing directly in front of him. "Would you like a beer, Clark?"
"Sure."
"Good, because I wasn't going to take no for an answer." He practically dragged him away from the women, intending to have a one on one conversation with him not only because he was curious about him, but also because he wanted to know more about the man his wife had been infatuated with all those years ago.
Joslyn shook her head from side to side, and chuckled, softly at the way her husband stole away Clark from them. "Clark has no idea what is about to happen."
Lois chuckled right alongside with her. "I'm sure he can handle himself."
"I don't know about that."
"You might not remember this about me, but I can also be just as inquisitive as you are, hell, our son, Kaleb, is probably ten times worse than all of us combined."
Her brows rose at that. "Your son? You know, I had a feeling that you had a child."
She frowned at her words. "How would you know that?"
"Call it woman' intuition, but I am quite surprised that you two lovebirds aren't married yet, I mean I'm not saying that it's bad to have children before tying the knot since I did the same thing. I don't know I just always got the feeling that he was the type of man that would want to be married before having any children."
"Oh, trust me that is exactly the type of man he is, but things just happened a little differently than either of us expected."
"I know how that is."
"Honestly, our son was the best thing that happened to either of us."
"Sounds like an interesting story."
"More like a long story."
"I think we need some drinks for this conversation." She eyed her, curiously for a few seconds. "If I remember correctly you enjoyed beer more than anything else, is that still the case?"
She chuckled, softly at her. "I probably shouldn't drink anything. One of us has to be able to drive."
She frowned, slightly at her words, but didn't question her any further on the matter, figuring that she had a pretty good reason for not wanting to drink.
Over the next thirty minutes, Joslyn had told her everything that had happened in her life from the moment they left Estes Park, including how she had met Joseph in college only a few months later, how quickly they fell in love with each other, and the happiness each of them felt when they had gotten married and when their three lovely children were born.
Lois, on the other hand, told her everything she wanted to know from the moment they left Estes Park to the moment they had decided to come back to the place that meant a lot to them, including the fact that she was pregnant, which had made her understand why she wasn't drinking any alcohol tonight. Of course, she had left out all the details about Clark' origins, the crazy ordeal she had to overcome with Lex and Murphy, and how Clark had literally just came back into her life.
It would just be too confusing to attempt to explain all of that to her, and honestly, she didn't want to talk about any of those things, besides this woman didn't need to know about every pertinent detail of her life, only the important things, which mostly included the love she felt with Clark, and all the love they both felt for their son.
Joslyn grinned from ear to ear at her. "Have you told him yet?"
She shook her head from side to side. "Not yet. I wanted to wait for the perfect moment to tell him. We've both been through so much over the years, and when he surprised me by bringing us back here I knew that this was the perfect place."
A frown spread out across her face. "Did I ruin anything by inviting you here?"
"No, of course not, we both wanted to come here, but that doesn't mean I don't plan on telling him tonight."
"Sounds very interesting and intriguing."
She nodded at her. "Speaking of, where did my lovely boyfriend disappear to?"
"My dear husband is probably antagonizing him."
"Well, I guess I should go rescue him, besides he did promise me that he would go swimming with me."
"Oh, yeah, since you practically dragged him into the pool with you last time."
She frowned at her. "You saw that?"
"I was a jealous woman back then, but we're both different now."
"That we are."
All of a sudden, a loud, screeching little girl screamed at the top of her lungs, causing them both to glance down the hallway. "Mommy!"
A soft sigh escaped past her lips. "My job never ends."
"Tell me about it."
"Mommy!"
"That would be my cue." She grinned at her with a mischievous glint lingering in her eyes. "You should probably go rescue that boyfriend of yours. Have fun with that."
"Oh, I definitely will." She quickly walked outside before heading down the wooden stairs in the backyard, intending to find the one man she was searching for, but instead of finding him she noticed a familiar metal gate, and very slowly walked through it only to find the very large and very empty swimming pool.
A slow smile appeared on her face, as the memories of that one night in particular came back to her. They had only been friends at the time, but deep inside they had both wanted to be more—they had wanted to be together, and that night was when their dreams—wishes had finally came true.
It wasn't just the mere fact that they had finally revealed their true feelings to each other that was causing her to go down memory lane or to cause her heart to flutter inside of her chest, just like it did every single time she thought about him, it was the events that occurred before they had even shared their first kiss.
She had been nervous before coming out here to meet him, mainly because she was wearing a bikini, but mostly it was because of the feelings she had for him—the feelings she wanted to reveal to him. After seeing her, she had teased him, relentlessly about him refusing to go swimming with her and the new nickname she had came up with in that moment until he had become completely and utterly fed up with her.
That was when things got interesting, she thought to herself, as she remembered how she had practically pulled him into the water with her.
It was more than exhilarating swimming around with him, but it wasn't the most profound memory from that night. It was the moment they had almost kissed for the fourth time since they had met each other, of course their moment had been interrupted, but in the end they both had received that kiss they had wanted so desperately, and the night only got better from there.
She grinned from ear to ear, as she thought about how they went to 'their' waterfall after that romantic, mind-blowing kiss, and had literally spent several hours just talking about their feelings for each other, which coincidentally was what was going to happen tonight.
Her big plan for tonight consisted of her telling him everything she felt for him back then—everything she felt for him now before she revealed the one thing she wanted to confess more than anything.
She couldn't wait for his reaction.
Clark was standing in the backyard, leaning most of his weight against the fence line, as he listened to Joseph, who had spent the past several minutes asking him question after question about his life, tell him about all the many reasons he was with his wife, how much he loved her and their three children.
It made him smile.
It always made him happy when he heard about other people' lives, but in this particular case it only made him wonder if their life would be anything like the man in front of him and his wife. Would they be married? Would they be extremely happy? Would they have more children?
He didn't know, but he did know that one of those many questions that were rattling through his head would be answered in less than a few hours.
That thought alone caused a thrill of complete and utter excitement to rush throughout his entire body, affecting every single one of his nerves.
A little over ten years ago he had met the woman of his dreams at a time in his life when he wasn't searching for love, in all honestly, he was looking for anything else, but had found his soulmate while being broken and lost.
That was the best thing that ever happened to him.
And tonight, tonight would be about more than him confessing his love to her and asking her the very question he has wanted to ask her for years now it was the night he officially made her his.
He couldn't wait.
Joseph glanced over at Clark, instantly realizing that he was completely lost in his thoughts instead of listening to his long winded story about the love of his life. "Clark?"
He quickly shook himself out of his thoughts, and glanced over at him, knowing that he knew he hadn't been listening to him. "Sorry. What were you saying?"
A soft chuckle escaped past his throat. "It's not important. I was just going on and on about Joslyn and our adorable children." He stared at him, inquisitively. "We've probably talked about everything there is to talk about, including your love life, but I haven't heard much about her personally."
A huge grin spread out across his face. "Lois is a hard person to explain in only a short few words, but I can tell you that she is everything to me, and she feels the same way about me. Just like how you and Joslyn feel about each other. We met in a time in our lives, where neither of us were searching for love, actually we were looking for the complete opposite, but we found each other, and even though we've shared many ups and down over the years we are still as happy as we were the first time we met."
He smiled, softly at him. "You know, they say that the greatest love stories are found within people who were never searching for it."
"They do say that. Seems like we both got pretty lucky on that front."
They both glanced towards the house when they heard someone walking down the wooden stairs, instantly realizing that it was none other than the subject of their conversation, and it was quite obvious that she was searching for him before she found the metal gate to the swimming pool.
Joseph nudged him, slightly. "It would seem that she's intending on making sure you keep that promise you made."
He chuckled, softly. "I guess that means I shouldn't keep her waiting much longer."
"Probably not." He started walking towards the house, but stopped in his tracks, and turned back around towards him. "Oh, Clark, I know that you're excited to take her to your favorite spot in this town, but don't leave without saying goodbye. I would really like to get together sometime, you know, get to know the man my lovely wife has told me so much about; besides I can see us being great friends."
"We won't."
As soon as he disappeared into the house he started walking towards the pool, where he found the woman of his impending thoughts standing near the water, completely lost in thought, and had a pretty good feeling that she was thinking about them—about their past, specifically their past in this one place.
He slowly made his way over to her, quietly before slowly wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her into his chest, startling her, slightly, and felt a smile grace his lips when she melted into him just like she always did when he held her like this. "Now, what are you doing out here all alone?"
She giggled, softly at him before twisting in his arms, and resting her hands on the back of his head, her fingers tangling in his dark ebony locks. "I'm not alone now."
"No, you aren't." He tightened his arms around her body, pulling her even closer to him. "What were you thinking about?"
"You. Us. How happy I was last time we were here, and how happy I am now that we are back."
"And this is just the beginning."
She leaned back in his arms, slightly, and quirked a brow at him. "Mind sharing?"
"Not going to happen, Lo, but I do believe that I made a promise to you."
"You would be right." A teasing glint appeared in her hazel eyes. "At least this time I won't have to coarse you."
"You mean, practically drag me into the water with you, you know, that was very sneaky of you."
"It's not my fault that you can be a little slow sometimes."
He glared, playfully at her. "That is not how things happened, and you know it."
"True, but I think it's time that we relive that particular memory, maybe this time we'll get it right."
A magical and suggestive glint appeared in his aquamarine eyes from her implicating words. "We will definitely be doing things right this time."
As soon as they were both undressed and floating in the cool water they swam towards each other, instantly wrapping their arms around each other. "Now, if I remember correctly this was the very night that I came up with your favorite nickname."
"Don't you dare say it."
She grinned, mischievously at him before leaning towards him, captured his lips in a soft kiss, and whispered against his skin, "Clarkie…"
A low growl escaped past his throat. "You didn't."
"I did."
"You know, it's been a very long time since I heard that particular word, and I'd rather keep it that way."
"That isn't going to happen, Clarkie." She quickly swam away from him, ducking under the water, like that would stop him from finding and catching up to her.
For several minutes they chased each other around in the water until he had her pinned up against the side of the pool, exactly like he had done all of those years ago, and smirked, teasingly at her. "Now, this feels very familiar."
She smirked right back at him. "Maybe this time you won't chicken out."
A low sounding growl escaped past his lips before he crashed his lips against hers, and molded every single inch of his body against hers, as his hands rested on her waist, squeezing, softly. "Chicken out, huh?"
She rolled her eyes at him before quickly flipping them around, so he was now the one pinned against the siding of the pool, using a tad bit of her super speed ability, but hoped that he didn't notice anything amiss. "Shut up, farm boy."
At first, he had been quite surprised that she had managed to flip them around so quickly, but all questioning thoughts came to a complete stop when she pressed her lips against his own, kissing him, hungrily.
He quickly wrapped his arms around her body, his hands trailing up and down her bare back, as her hands brushed throughout his soaking wet hair, her fingernails scraping against his scalp, causing him to moan, softly, which she swiftly took advantage of by slipping her tongue inside of his mouth, tasting him. "Now that should have been our first kiss."
His hands tightened around her body, as he pressed her even closer to him. "I think out first kiss was perfect."
"It was, wasn't it?"
As he stared, deeply into her dazzling hazel eyes, which were staring just as deeply into his own he knew that it was time for them to leave not only because he wanted to be completely alone with her, but also because it was time he took them back to the one place that meant absolutely everything to them.
It was time he did exactly what he had came here to do.
"I want to take you somewhere."
She frowned at him, slightly. "Right now?"
He nodded.
"Where are you planning on taking me?"
"You'll find out soon enough, but I can tell you that it is a very special place to the both of us."
That intrigued her, immensely, and she wondered if he was taking her to the same exact place she had planned on taking him tonight.
Probably, she thought to herself, since that one place held a special place in both of their hearts.
"What are we waiting for?"
They quickly pulled themselves out of the pool, dried off and got dressed before heading into the house, both of them feeling more than a little excited about what was going to happen as soon as they arrived at their final destination of the night.
"Clark! Lois!" They quickly spun around towards the two familiar voices, noticing both Joslyn and Joseph making their way towards them, as they held their two sleeping children. "Are you heading out?"
Lois nodded at her. "There is somewhere we need to be, but it was nice seeing you and talking to you again."
She smiled at her, knowingly. "I'm glad I ran into you yesterday."
Joseph struck out his hand, which Clark quickly shook. "It was nice meeting you."
"It was nice meeting you too."
"Maybe we can all hang out again, you know go on a double date or something before you leave town."
Clark sighed, softly at her. "Maybe we'll be able to come back sometime soon, but tonight is actually our last night here."
Lois frowned over at him, wondering what the hell he meant by that since she had thought they would be staying here the entire time, but didn't bother questioning him about it, mainly because she knew that he wouldn't tell her a second thing, and she figured that this was just another thing he had planned for them.
Joseph nodded at him. "That's a shame, but I'm sure we'll all see each other again soon."
After muttering their goodbyes to the both of them they quickly made their way outside of the house, and he led her to an isolated place, where no one could see them before lifting her up into his arms, making her giggle, as she clutched her arms around his neck. "Up, up, and away, Superman."
He rolled his eyes at her before shooting up into the night sky, and once they were high enough in the darkened skies he slowed down, as he flew them to their destination, both of them enjoying the beautiful views underneath them, their minds going back to the first time he took her flying…
It had been an extremely long and exciting day not only because he had returned home after eight years, but also because he had gained so many things in a short few hours.
He had a son.
That was something he wasn't sure that would ever be possible for him, but it had happened, and he couldn't be any happier about it.
He stared down at the beautiful woman, who had literally made all of his dreams come true, for a few minutes before he crawled out of bed, and tossed on some clothes, as he made his way outside to their balcony, which was connected directly to their bedroom.
His eyes glanced up towards the bright moon, as the cool breeze brushed against his skin, and he curled his hands around the railing, feeling more peaceful than he has felt in a very long time.
It was more than amazing being back home, he thought to himself.
He felt her slender fingers brush across his bare back before he slowly turned around, and pulled her into his chest, as he closed his eyes, her scent overwhelming every single one of his senses. "I'm so happy to be back home."
She pulled away from him, slightly, but kept her arms locked around his body. "I'm happy you're home too, Clark, I waited a very long eight years for this. When you left I felt like I had lost apart of myself, even though I knew you were coming back one day. The only thing that kept me going was our beautiful son." A soft chuckle escaped past her lips. "I remember when Kaleb was about two or three years old he kept asking questions about you, wanting to know every little thing about you, and it only got worse the older he became. I think we visited those caves every single night."
He frowned, slightly at her words. "You took him to the caves?"
"It was the only place I could take him. He felt closer to you there for some reason. Every single night he would place his hand on the wall, as he told you everything that had happened that day. He knew that you couldn't hear him, but it made him feel like you were there with him, and honestly, it made me feel closer to you as well."
Tears filled his aquamarine eyes before he hugged her, as tight as he could possibly manage. "I'm so sorry, Lo, I wish I never had to leave you or our son, but from this point forward we will always be together. Nothing is ever going to tear me away from you again. I think we've had enough of that over the years."
A few tears fell down her cheeks from his words, as she pulled away from him. "Promise?"
"I promise, baby." He kissed her softly, sweetly and passionately. "Come on, we should probably get back to bed. We have a long day tomorrow."
"Not yet. There is something we haven't done since you came back to me, and I doubt we will have a lot of time for it after tomorrow."
A frown took over his features from her words, not really understanding the meaning behind them, but figured that she had her reasons for saying such a thing. "What haven't we done yet?"
She grinned up at him like a Cheshire cat. "You, Mr. Kent, haven't taken me flying yet."
His eyes widened, slightly at that. "Right now? You want to go flying right now?"
"I think it's only fair, I mean I was the person that predicted this, so I do believe that it is my right to be the first person that gets to go flying with you."
"The only person." He corrected her. "I guess you have a point. You were the first person to see my true potential. It's no wonder why you're the one for me."
"Damn straight. You're mine. I'm yours, but right now I think it's time we go on a little adventure."
He quickly super sped them into warmer clothes before lifting her up into his arms, and shooting up into the night sky, loving the way she clung onto him for dear life. When they were several feet above level ground, high above the thousands of cornfields beneath them he glanced down at her, realizing that she was clutching onto him with her eyes closed. "You can open your eyes, Lo."
She very, very slowly opened them, and was completely amazed by what she was seeing.
It was incredibly beautiful, and nothing like she had expected it to be.
"This is amazing."
"It took me a long time to get used to it for reasons you know all too well, but honestly, I love the feeling of being this high up in the sky."
She smirked at him. "Got over that fear of heights, I see."
He nodded at her before an idea occurred to him, and he honestly hoped that she would be alright with this. "I want to try something."
A frown spread out across her face, as she wondered what was going through that head of his, but that question was quickly answered when he slowly dropped her legs, her feet resting on the top of his, while his hands gripped her waist in his hands, and she clung onto him, feeling slightly terrified.
"Are you okay, Lo?"
She nodded, even though she felt anything but alright at this moment in time, but as she glanced around her surroundings her fear started dissipating almost immediately, and she grinned at the beauty surrounding them. "It's so beautiful up here."
"Not as beautiful as you."
His words caused her to smirk at him, as she tightened her arms around his neck. "There's my sappy boyfriend."
He ignored that completely, and kissed her softly and passionately, as they twirled and swirled in the night sky, like they were dancing, neither of them feeling happier than they did right at this moment.
They both pulled out of their thoughts, as he slowly lowered them to the ground directly in the center of a place that meant a lot to both of them.
Their waterfall.
A large, breathtaking smile spread out across her features when she realized where he had taken her, even though she had a feeling that this is exactly where he was planning on taking them. "How did I know that you were going to bring me here?" She shook her head from side to side, chuckling, softly. "It's funny, this is where I wanted to bring you tonight."
He frowned at her words. "You were planning on bringing me here? Why?"
"You're not the only one with surprises up their sleeves."
That intrigued him, immensely, but instead of questioning her more like he really wanted to he didn't, figuring that he would wait until she was ready to tell him what that surprise of hers entailed exactly, besides he had more important things to worry about right now.
For the next several minutes they walked around in circles with their hands intertwined together, as they glanced at everything surrounding them, and noticed a few subtle changes, but all in all it looked exactly the same way it did all those years ago.
She released his hand, as she spun around in circles, feeling extremely happy at this moment in time. "I remember the night we found this place. I think that was one of the best nights of my life."
He smiled at her, loving how happy she seemed to be right now, and hoped that she stayed this happy once he got through this. "It was mine too, Lo, I remember fearing for your safety, but when we found this place I knew that I wanted to take you here every single night. We were both happy here, and I feel more in love with you every single time we came here."
"I did too, Clark." An expression of complete and utter happiness spread out across her face. "Our last time here was filled with so much happiness and love."
"My last memory here wasn't happy, and I definitely wasn't feeling any type of love." He corrected her.
She frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"
"After you left town I came back here before I left, and I was feeling anything but happiness or love."
A soft sigh escaped passed her lips, as she stepped closer to him. "I'm so sorry that happened, Clark, we were both so incredibly happy here, but I ruined that."
He shook his head from side to side. "You didn't ruin anything, Lois, most of our memories here were happy, and I didn't bring you here to reminisce about the sadness we felt during those days."
"Why did you bring me here then?"
"This was the place where I fell more in love with you. This is the place where I felt at peace with you. This is the place where I first danced with you. I brought you here because I want to relive all of our favorite memories." He held out his hand towards her. "Will you dance with me, Miss Lane?"
"She quickly slipped her hand into his. "I'd love to, Mr. Kent."
Every time our eyes meet
This feeling inside me
Is almost more than I can take
Baby, when you touch me
I can feel how much you love me
And it just blows me away
I've never been this close to anyone or anything
I can hear your thoughts, I can see your dreams
They pulled each other close, their bodies mere inches away from each other, as they wrapped their arms around each other, and slowly started swaying to the beautiful music surrounding them.
I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you
They gently rested their foreheads against each other', as their eyes fused together, magnificently, the music ringing in their ears moving their hearts, and connecting their souls together.
The smell of your skin
The taste of your kiss
The way you whisper in the dark
Your hair all around me
Baby, you surround me
Touch every place in my heart
And it feels like the first time every time
I want to spend the whole night in your eyes
They shared a sweet, passionate kiss underneath the moonlight, their bodies pressed together, tightly, as they swayed directly in front of their beautiful waterfall, both of them enjoying the feeling of being back in this one place doing the same exact thing they had done several times in this same exact spot.
Every little thing that you do, oh
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you
As soon as the last notes to his favorite song died in their ears, he removed the headphones, stuffing the iPod back into his pocket before grasping both of her hands in his, and took a deep, deep breath, slowly building the courage he needed for this moment. "Do you know how much you've changed me?"
A frown etched over her features from his words. "Yes, Clark, we both have changed for the better."
"Before we met I was a broken and lost soul, but that all changed when you almost hit me with your car. You made me believe in myself again. You made me trust myself again, but most importantly, you opened my heart in more ways than one. You are the sole reason I am the man I am today. Those three months we spent together was just the beginning. When you came back to me my entire world changed not only because you were finally back in my life, but also because you made me think of things that had never occurred to me before." He tilted his head to one side, and smiled, endearingly at her. "I love you more than anything in this world, Lois."
Tears filled her hazel eyes at his heartfelt words, even though she had heard him say these things to her a million times over again, especially since he has been back in her life, but she couldn't help wondering why he was speaking like this all of a sudden, and honestly, his words were only causing her heart to flutter inside of her chest.
"I love you too, Clark, we've been through a lot over the years, and even though you haven't been by my side for everything you were always with me inside my heart. You are the only man I have ever loved, and I could never imagine loving anyone other than you." She frowned, slightly at him. "But, we've told this to each other several times, so why are you bringing it up now?"
"I'm bringing this up now because I want you to know how much you mean to me." He pulled her a little closer to him, his thumbs caressing the soft skin of her hands. "I might not have known it back then, but I've loved you from the first moment our eyes met that fateful day. We were always destined to meet. We were always destined to fall in love. We were always destined to be together for forever and for always. When you came back to me I started having dreams and hope for a future with you, but then I left, and ever since I returned I've wanted to make my dreams a reality not only because it's what I've wanted for a long time, but also because it would mold the love we have been building for years now."
He slowly knelt down onto one knee, and pulled out a small black box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring he had made himself before locking his nervous aquamarine eyes onto her shocked hazel ones. "You are the woman I love. You are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. You are the woman I want to build a future with. I couldn't possibly imagine living a single day without you in my life—without you by my side. Lois Joanne Lane, would you do the honor of marrying me?"
Lois was completely and utterly speechless when he proclaimed his love for her, but the moment he had knelt down in front of her the air in her lungs had literally escaped from her body, and honestly, she couldn't believe that this was happening right now.
He was proposing to her.
This entire weekend away had been about this one moment.
The tears flowed down her cheeks at an alarmingly fast rate, as she grinned from ear to ear down at him. "Yes! Yes! I will marry you, Clark Jerome Kent!"
The largest grin spread out across his face, as he slipped the ring onto her finger, and quickly stood up before wrapping his arms around her body, pulling her against his chest, his lips pressing against hers softly, passionately and romantically.
As soon as he pulled away from her he rested his forehead against hers, and tightened his arms around her body. "I love you so damn much Lois."
"I love you too, baby. I can't wait to be called your wife."
"Lois Joanne Lane-Kent."
She grinned at him before pulling away from him, slightly. "You sure make in incredibly hard for me to tell you what I need to tell you, especially after a proposal like that."
He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"
"Here goes nothing." She grasped both of his hands, squeezing them, slightly before she rested them on her stomach, which only confused him to no end, and took a deep, deep breath. "You know how I've been sick for the past few days?" At his nod she continued, "Well, there is a reason for that. I really, really hope that your dreams and hopes for our future include another addition to our already perfect family…I'm pregnant, Clark."
His eyes widened to the size of saucers from her words before he glanced down at her flat stomach then back up to her eyes over and over again until her words finally registered in his already overwhelmed mind.
She was pregnant.
He was going to be a daddy again.
She was going to be a mommy again.
They were going to have a little boy or a little girl.
Honestly, that was the best news he had heard in a very long time.
"Y-you're pregnant?"
She nodded her head up and down, feeling a little nervous since she honestly couldn't tell what was going through that head of his, but that changed in a matter of seconds when he quickly kissed her with fervor, his feelings—his emotions radiating out of his body, and she quickly responded to him, feeling more than happy from his excited reaction.
This was the most excitement he has felt in an incredibly long time, of course her accepting his proposal had been exciting, but the mere fact that she was pregnant—that they were going to be parents again—that he was going to be here for everything this time around brought him more excitement and happiness than anything else ever could.
"Oh my god! Lois, I love you so damn much!"
"I love you too, Clark." She pulled away from him, slightly. "Are you really happy about this?"
He frowned at her words. "Yes, of course I'm happy, baby, I love our son to death. He is everything that I've ever wanted, but having another little boy or little girl is only going to make this family more complete—more whole. Why would you think I wouldn't be happy about this?"
She sighed, softly. "Because I wasn't when I first realized I was pregnant. It was only for a few seconds, but I couldn't help thinking that this was the worst possible time for this to happen, I mean, Lex is a major problem, and Murphy could also be a problem as well. I wanted my next pregnancy to be different. I wanted to enjoy this instead of worrying the entire time."
That made complete sense, he thought to himself, but it didn't change anything.
He was excited about this.
He was happy about this.
And, there was no way he would allow anyone to ruin this for them.
He slowly brought one of his hands up to her cheek, his thumbs gliding across her soft skin, as his other hand rested over her stomach, his fingers rubbing exactly where their little boy or little girl was growing inside of her. "You will, Lois, we both will. I promise you that I won't allow anyone to ruin this for us. We are going to enjoy every second of this pregnancy until the day that he or she is born, and if Lex or possibly Murphy attempt to ruin this I will deal with them myself. You're safe now. Our son is safe now, and I'll be damned if I allow anything to happen to our unborn child."
Tears were running down her cheeks like a waterfall from the determination—the love—the protection he portrayed not only towards her, but towards their children, and honestly, that was the only reassurance she needed from him. "We're going to be parents again."
A large grin spread out across his face. "We're going to be parents to a beautiful little girl or a handsome little boy."
They grinned, widely at each other, their eyes connecting and meshing together before they leaned towards each other, their lips meeting halfway, sealing the love—the happiness—the hope they felt at this moment in time.
As soon as their kisses became more and more intense he wrapped his arms around her entire body, molding every inch of her against him before he lifted her off the ground, slightly, and began swinging her in circles and circles, causing her to giggle against his lips.
There was a part of himself that wanted to just stand here with her in their favorite spot in this small-town just relishing in the thought of having another child with her, but the other part of himself wanted to be completely and utterly alone with the woman he loved with all of his heart.
With that thought in mind, he quickly lifted her into his strong arms, surprising her, slightly, and flew them away. Once they were locked in the confines of their hotel room their lips molded together, perfectly, and their tongues danced together, as they very slowly removed every piece of clothing before making their way to the bed.
Their eyes connected for a few seconds, all of the love and happiness they felt for each other resonating in their emotion filled eyes before they wrapped their arms around each other, their lips crashing together, passionately.
As they made love, they took their time with each other' bodies, wanting this moment to last forever—wanting this moment to never end, and relished in the fact that they were engaged—that they were expecting a little boy or a little girl.
The world couldn't be any better than it was right now, at least in their eyes.
Several miles away from the happiness and love that was being attained in the small-town of Colorado, Chloe was quickly rushing down the darkened streets of Metropolis towards the very tall building that housed Watchtower, attempting to calm her never ending nerves, as she made her way towards the several people that were patiently waiting for her arrival, her mind replaying what had happened less than one hour ago…
It had been a very, very long day at The Daily Planet not only because it was her official first day back, but also because her lovely cousin and best friend weren't there to help her get back on her own two feet after being away from that lifestyle for the past two months.
Of course, she had Perry and Jimmy, who were more than willing to give her an extra hand, albeit it would have been so much better if her partners had been there with her, but she completely understood that they needed this time away.
As she was making her way towards her car, intending to get back home as soon as possible to be with her husband and little girl, she heard a familiar cold, cynical voice lingering from directly behind her. "Well, someone is in a hurry this evening."
She stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of his voice, and slowly turned around to face the one man she had hoped to never, ever see again, even thought they had all predicted that this would happen they had hoped that he would stay locked in that hell hole, obviously that wasn't how things were going to play out, which only meant nothing but pain and suffering for everyone she cared and loved with all of her heart.
"Murphy."
He grinned at her reaction to seeing him after all of this time. "Hello, Chloe, it's been a long time, you know, I would have thought that you would have been more terrified, but I guess that having a child changes people. It changed your cousin. She became more ferocious."
The fact that he knew she had a daughter made her skin crawl, but it made complete sense that Lex would be watching their every movement, and even though she was feeling extremely freaked out at this moment in time she wouldn't allow herself to show this man the fear she was currently feeling. "It's called motherly instincts, but you wouldn't know anything about that because you don't know how to love, hell, you don't even have a heart."
"Oh, I have a heart—a heart filled with hatred and desires—desires to end all of your pathetic lives."
She purposefully ignored that, not allowing this man to get under her skin. "I'm not all that surprised to see you, actually, we all expected this to happen, but I am wondering why you're confronting me now, I mean it has to mean that you and your evil masterminds must be getting close to initiating your brilliant plan."
He smirked, devilishly, and took a few steps towards her, causing her to unconsciously step further away from him. "You would love to know what we're planning, wouldn't you?"
"No, not particularly."
"Are you sure about that?" He didn't give her time to respond, instead he took several more steps towards her. "We know that Lois and Clark are not in this lovely state anymore, which kind of ruins everything, but alas we will all get what we want eventually."
They really did watch everything they did, she thought to herself.
"None of you will get the chance."
"Is that right?"
"You should have stayed in that hole, Murphy, not only will we be taking down Lex and Steve, but now you're on that list. We were just going to leave you in that hole we put you in, but since you're back that means I can do what I've wanted to do from the moment you were caught red-handed, you know, when you almost beat my cousin to death."
He glared, heatedly at her. "Your plan was foolish back then. You actually believed that throwing me into a desolate hole would stop me, but as you have learned nothing stops me from getting what I want."
"You would be right about that." She smirked over at him. "We've learned that you don't know how to stay put, which is why when we successfully take all of you down you won't be going into another hole. I have a much better plan for you, the same one that I never got to finish all those years ago." She stared straight into his cold, piercing brown eyes. "I'll be the one that ends your pathetic life."
A loud, menacing growl escaped past his throat, as he lunged towards her, his hands gripping her arms, tightly before he slammed her entire body against the side of her car. "You won't get the chance, love, you and your friends are the reason I've been stuck in two different hell holes, but that won't be happening again, and you definitely won't be ending my life."
She cringed, slightly from the pain, but there was no way in hell she was going to reveal that to him. "You all think you're so clever with all your planning and plotting, but you'll all be mistaken when we inevitably take all of you down."
"You'll all be dead before you even think about making a move against us." He leaned closer to her, his breath brushing across her cheek, as he whispered in her ear, "We're coming for all of you."
She watched him walk away from her, disappearing into the darkness, her heart beating like a jackhammer inside of her chest, and instead of getting into her car she rushed towards Watchtower, calling her husband on the way there.
They needed to know what had just happened, and they needed to know right this second.
She quickly shook her thoughts away, as soon as she entered the main conference room, where every single person she loved and cared about was waiting for her, pacing back and forth in the room until they noticed her, and her husband swiftly walked up to her with a worried expression plastered across his face. "Chloe! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just a little flustered." She glanced around the room, immediately noticing that there was one person missing. "Where's J'onn?"
"He couldn't make it since we need someone on patrol right now." Kara had a frown lingering on her face, as she closed the distance between them. "Why did you want us all to come here? I thought we were supposed to take a little breathier from all of this while Clark and Lois were gone."
"That was the plan, but things have changed."
Bruce frowned at her words. "What are you talking about?"
She sighed, softly at him before glancing at every single person in the room. "The one thing we were all hoping wouldn't happen has happened."
Everyone was completely and utterly confused by her words, while Dinah thought about it for a few seconds before realization dawned on her. "Murphy…"
Oliver frowned, slightly at her before his head snapped towards the woman he loved with all of his heart. "Murphy? He's back?"
She nodded.
"Did you actually see him?" Arthur questioned her.
"Oh, I did more than see him I talked to him."
"What happened? Did he touch you?"
There was a small part of herself that wanted to tell him the truth, especially the fact that she probably had some decent sized bruises on her arms, which wasn't that bad since he could have done a hell of a lot worse to her, but the bigger part of herself couldn't do that not because he didn't deserve to know, but because it would only make him more worried than he already was.
"No, Ollie, I'm perfectly fine. He just threw around the same old threats we've all heard a million times over already." She locked eyes with Kara. "We have more important things to worry about right now."
She nodded at her. "What did he say to you?"
"Nothing that indicated what they're planning. He made it perfectly clear that they were coming for us, but other than that he kept his slimy little mouth shut. They know everything we've been doing. They know about Lizzie, and they know that Clark and Lois are out of town."
Bruce groaned, loudly. "That's just great, but at least we know that they won't be making a move against us until they are both back."
"But, it also means that they are getting close to taking what they want."
Oliver frowned at her words. "What makes you think that?"
"Think about it. Every single time Murphy or Lex revealed themselves to any of us it was either hours or days later that they made their move. They showed themselves not even one day before he confronted Lois at the caves. Once Kaleb was born he showed up at the farmhouse. After we managed to get Kara on our side they both showed up at the mansion and killed Alicia. He didn't hesitate on torturing Lois when Lex kidnapped her and Kaleb. Now, he just revealed himself to me, which means that it could be days before they make their move."
Bart stepped closer to them with an expression of worry on his face. "If that's true—if they are really getting closer to enacting their revenge then we need to figure out what we should do about this situation."
"We should have been doing that all along." When every single person glanced over at Victor with frowns on their faces he continued, "The moment we realized that Lex was free we should have ended this, but now we have to deal with Murphy as well, who is a bigger threat to Lois and Chloe. Lex just wants power from Clark and Kaleb, while Murphy just wants Lois and Chloe dead, and Lana, well she is just an obstacle that they both want eliminated."
Bruce nodded, completely agreeing with him. "You're right. We should have dealt with this when we all realized that Lex was released from prison, but we didn't, and now we need to figure out how to end this for good. It's obvious that prison and desolate islands aren't an option anymore."
Chloe stepped towards him with determination lingering in her green eyes. "What do you suppose we do?"
"We need to take out both Lex and Murphy before they have the chance to touch any of us." Kara answered for him.
"And what about Steve?"
"He really isn't a priority."
"What is your brilliant plan?"
"I don't have one yet, but Bruce and I will figure this out before Clark and Lois return. We all need this to be over before it even begins."
As much as she wanted to figure this out right this second, she knew that Kara and Bruce knew exactly what they were doing, and hopefully by the time the two lovebirds returned they would all know exactly what they needed to do to end this for good. "We need to tell everyone."
Kara shook her head from side to side. "Not yet. We will tell Martha, Jonathon, Lana and Pete everything tomorrow."
She frowned at her. "What about Kaleb? He deserves to know."
"Clark and Lois should be the ones that tell him." Bruce intervened before taking another step towards her. "They will be the only ones that can make him understand."
How right he was about that, she thought to herself, that little boy was so connected to his parents, and he would only understand and accept this if they were the ones that told him.
That thought caused her to wonder about her cousin and best friend, who were probably having the time of their lives right now, and that was all going to change the moment they returned home.
Everything they had hoped wouldn't happen was happening, and all the happiness every single one of them has felt over the past several weeks was about to be shattered into a million pieces.
The next morning, Lois slowly fluttered her eyes open, as the bright sun shined directly into her eyes, causing her to frown, immensely, but her facial expression transformed into one of complete and utter happiness almost immediately when her hazel eyes landed on the handsome man sleeping peacefully next to her.
It was the most beautiful sight.
A slow smile appeared on her face, as she thought about everything that had happened last night, and quite honestly, it had been the best night of her life.
They were engaged.
They were expecting a baby.
They were incredibly happy.
A part of herself just wanted to bask in these emotions—in these feelings forever, and she wanted to relish in the happiness she was feeling with the man she loved with all of her heart, but the other part of herself knew that they needed to get back to reality tomorrow.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard him make a soft noise next to her before she watched, amusingly, as he scrunched up his nose and furrowed his eyebrows together, frustratingly, and wanted to chuckle at the way he was mentally cursing the sun for waking him up, but once his aquamarine eyes met her hazel ones she smiled over at him. "Good morning soon to be husband."
He chuckled, softly at her words before pulling her towards him, and laid a soft kiss upon her lips. "Good morning soon to be wife." He slowly trailed his hands down her body until they were rested on her stomach. "How are you feeling?"
"Well, there isn't any morning sickness, so that's a good sign."
His eyes locked with hers. "I can't believe this is actually happening. You're really pregnant?"
"I'm really pregnant. We're going to have a little boy or a little girl." She rested her hands directly on top of his own. "Which would you prefer?"
A frown took over his features from her words, wondering, slightly what she meant by that, but then he realized what she was exactly referring to. "It doesn't matter to me, Lo, I just want this little one to be here with us."
"Well, you have quite a long time before that happens." She trained her eyes on the ceiling for a few seconds before she glanced over at him. "I think I want a girl."
Her words caused him to remember the conversation she had with Joslyn' daughter the night before, and realized that she had probably been thinking about this from the moment she found out she was pregnant, which rose a few questions in his mind, one in particular. "When did you realize you were pregnant?"
"About two weeks ago."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
She rolled them over, so she was laying directly on top of his chest. "The same reason you decided to wait to propose to me. We both wanted it to be special."
"And, it was very special." He quickly captured her lips in a passionate kiss, and flipped him over before pressing soft, light kisses across her cheek down to her neck, nuzzling her before kissing his way back up to her lips. "You have no idea how happy I am that we are getting married."
"How could I say no?" She frowned, slightly, as a thought occurred to her, and she wondered why she didn't think of this last night. "Clark? Can I ask you something?"
He nodded.
"When did you make the decision to propose, I mean I absolutely love that you did, and I love the way that you did it, but please tell me that you didn't make this decision because you overheard my conversation with Jimmy a few weeks ago."
Figures that that would come up, he thought to himself, before he rolled onto his side, staring down at her, seriously, as he traced a finger down her delicate cheek. "I made this decision when you came back to me all those years ago, but we were way too young at the time, and then when I came back home I knew that it was time. That day at The Daily Planet I overheard your conversation with Jimmy, and it made me wonder if you were really ready for this, but no, Lois, I made this decision long before that."
She grinned from ear to ear up at him. "You have literally made me the happiest woman in the entire world."
"And you have made me the happiest man in the entire world."
They softly kissed before settling more comfortably on the bed together, wrapping their arms around each other, as they closed their eyes, softly, but hers snapped open not even two seconds later when a particular thought occurred to her, and she quickly shot up into a sitting position, startling him, slightly. "Oh my god! We have so many things to do—so many things to plan! The venue, the flowers, the wedding dress. How many people are we going to invite? Who are you going to ask to be your best man? I know that Chloe would love to be my maid of honor, but what about everyone else?"
He chuckled at the pure excitement and enthusiasm that was literally pouring out of her mouth, and honestly, it only made him feel incredibly happy that she was this excited, almost as excited as he was. "Lois…"
She glanced over at him, the words that were on the tip of her tongue came to a complete halt at the way he was looking at her. "What?"
"We have plenty of time to worry about those things. When I decided to propose to you I knew that we would have a lot of things to figure out before we actually got there, but you brought up a good point last night…Lex, Steve, and possibly Murphy are still a problem. We need to deal with them before we even think about our wedding day." At her crestfallen expression he quickly moved closer to her. "But that doesn't mean I haven't already made some preparations."
Her brows rose at that. "What did you do?"
"Do you remember the first time we talked about marriage?"
"Yes, we were only friends at the time, but we were at The Stanley Hotel…" She trailed off, as her own words caused her to have a realization, and knew exactly what he had done. "Is that why you wanted to go back there?"
"Kind of. I did want to go back there because we have a few memories there, but I also had a different reason for wanting to go back. What would you say if I told you that I already had a venue picked out?"
"The Stanley Hotel."
He nodded.
It was a very exciting idea, and it made her heart beat, rapidly inside of her chest, but it raise a few questions, one in particular that she had teased him about all those years ago. "I thought you never wanted to get married in a place like that?"
"Maybe back then I dreamed of getting married in a barn or something like that, but when I fell in love with you, and when I realized that I wanted a more serious relationship with you I knew that this was place was perfect." He tilted his head to one side, slightly, and stared at her, questioningly. "Do you want to, I mean we don't have to I just thought that this place—this town—that hotel would be perfect, but um, we could—"
She quickly pressed her lips against his, stopping his rambling of words, and smiled at him as soon as she pulled away from him. "I think it's perfect, Clark." A frown appeared on her face, as a thought occurred to her. "Is that why you told Kaleb that we would bring him here one day?"
He nodded. "I knew exactly what I wanted weeks before we decided to take this little vacation of ours, but even if we decided that we would rather get married somewhere else I would still want to bring our son here." He placed his hands on her stomach. "And our little boy or little girl. They both deserve to come to the place where their parents fell in love, whether or not we actually get married here."
"You're such a romantic, Clark Kent."
"That's why you love me."
"One of the many reasons." She kissed him, softly. "I want to marry you here, Clark, I want our children to know that this is where our story began—where we began."
"Really?"
"Really." She kissed him softly, sweetly and passionately, which he quickly responded to, and as their mind blowing kisses consumed each other' senses neither of them could think of anything else other than their impending marriage and birth of their child.
One hour later, they were both packing all of their things into his truck, and as soon as they were finished she leaned up against the passenger side door. "You really aren't going to tell me where we're going?"
He walked closer to her until they were standing mere inches away from each other. "Nope. I never planned on staying in this town the entire time. There is one more place that is very special to the both of us, and I intend on staying there until we have to leave tomorrow."
The thought of having to leave brought her sadness, but she knew that they would have to get back to the reality of their lives, and as much as she wanted to stay on this little adventure with him she understood that they had problems back home that they needed to deal with, besides she really, really missed her baby boy.
"Are you sure you can't tell me where we're going?"
"Get it the truck, Lois."
As they were driving down the highway she thought about where he could possibly be taking her, knowing without a doubt that it could only be two possible places, Montana or Washington, and she highly doubted that he would want to go back to the place where they had literally been ripped away from each other for over one year, hell, she never wanted to go back to that place either.
Montana it is, she thought to herself.
That thought alone brought her complete and utter happiness, as thoughts of everything that had happened there came rushing back to the forefront of her mind.
It's where they were reunited.
It's where they professed their love for each other.
It's where their love had become stronger.
It's where their trust in each other had become more absolute.
Being back there brought back so, so many emotions for her, the most prominent one being happiness.
She couldn't wait.
Several hours later, Clark and Lois were walking hand in hand a few miles away from their cabin in Choteau, Montana, the same exact one they had stayed in all of those years ago, and were both feeling very, very excited to be back here.
As soon as they had arrived here they had went hiking, just like they always used to do, the only difference this time was that she had his superspeed ability, which ensued a race between the two of them, and now they were heading back towards their cabin from the very delicious dinner they just had.
It was incredibly lovely that they were able to relive all of their memories, just like they had been doing in Estes Park, but deep inside they knew that they would have to leave in the morning, and they had a feeling that things weren't going to be as happy and exciting as they had been. It wasn't because they didn't miss their family and friends, because they did, especially their son, but it was because they would have to deal with Lex and possibly Murphy when they returned.
It wasn't something either of them were looking forward to.
Lois glanced over at him, and grinned like a Cheshire cat at the smile that was plastered across his face. "What are you smiling about, farm boy?"
He looked over at her, the smile never leaving his lips. "I was just remembering all the memories we shared here."
A teasing smirk spread out across her face, and she wriggled her eyebrows, suggestively at him. "Which ones? I remember quite a few…"
Her words caused him to roll his eyes at her. "That's not what I meant, but those were good times." Once they reached the porch stairs he stopped walking, and turned his entire body towards her, his eyes shining down into her beautiful hazel orbs. "I loved being in Colorado with you all those years ago, I really did, but if I'm being honest with myself this was the place that healed both of us from our heartbreak—the place that sealed our love for each other—the place where our trust and honestly with each other grew stronger."
A humongous grin spread out across her face from his heartfelt words, and she moved just a little bit closer to him. "I think of this town as the place that made our love and trust for each other stronger and ten times more intense. I will always be thankful that we spent time here, even if it was only for a short time."
"I did promise you that I'd bring you back."
"That you did, and not only to Montana, but to Colorado as well." They both walked into their cabin together, giggling, softly at each other, and intended to enjoy the rest of their time here as much as possible.
Later that night, Clark stared down at the beautiful woman sleeping next to him, and rested his head in the palm of his hand, as his mind replayed everything that has happened from the moment they arrived in Colorado to the moment she fell asleep in his arms a few hours ago.
This little adventure had turned out a hell of a lot better than he thought it would, of course he had known that he was going to propose to her, but he had never imagined that she would tell him she was pregnant, and that had been the one thing that made this entire extravaganza better.
They were going to have a baby, and he couldn't be more excited about that not only because it was something he wanted, desperately, but also because he would actually be here every step of the way.
He would be here the entire time their child was growing inside of her.
He would be here the moment their child was born.
He would be here to help her raise their child.
He would be here to witness their first steps, their first words, and everything that would transpire after that.
He had missed that with his son, but under no circumstances would he be missing it this time around.
He would be here for the woman he loved and their little boy or little girl.
Without double checking to see if his lovely fiancé was still sleeping or not he slithered down the bed before he lifted her shirt, gently, his head a few inches away from her stomach. "Hello, little one, I don't know if you can hear me or not, probably not because your not that big yet, but I want you to know that I'm your daddy. Your older brother, Kaleb, never got to hear my voice, but I promise you that you will know my voice before you enter this world. I only just found out about you, but I already love you to pieces, and I'm going to be here for you, for your brother, and for your mommy."
Lois, who had woken up a few minutes ago, listened, as her handsome, romantic and sappy fiancé whispered to their baby, and honestly it was really sweet of him to want their child to know his voice, but she couldn't stop herself from chuckling, softly at him.
His eyes met hers, shockingly. "You're supposed to be sleeping."
"Well, it's kind of hard to sleep when you're whispering to the baby."
Her words caused his eyes to widen to the size of saucers before he quickly moved back up the bed towards her. "Did I really wake you up?"
A loud bubble of giggles escaped her. "No, Clark, I was already awake before you started talking to our little boy or girl." She rested her hands on her stomach. "Your daddy is right, you know, he will always be there for you, so will your big brother, and so will I."
He grinned at her, widely. "Did you ever talk to Kaleb?"
"All of the time." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. "I would tell him about my day and how much I already loved him, but most of all I told him about you."
"You did?"
"Yeah. I would tell him about the day we met, how we fell in love, how much I loved you, and how I couldn't wait for the day you would meet him."
A crestfallen expression appeared on his face for a slit second before it went neutral. "I still regret not being there for you or our son."
She stared deeply into his eyes. "Clark, you don't need to regret that anymore. Kaleb loves and adores you like he has known you his entire life, and this little one is going to know you from the first moment he or she opens their eyes. You won't miss another moment with us ever again. We are a family, and we always will be."
Tears built in his eyes before he kissed her, softly, of course he had known that their son loved him like he had been there through everything, but it didn't stop the sadness he felt from missing so, so much, and not matter what he wouldn't miss a second of this baby' life. "You hear that? We're a family. I love you very much."
"We both love you, and so will your brother." They smiled at each other before kissing, passionately, both of them wanting this moment to last forever, but knew that tomorrow everything was going to change.
They would still feel happiness, but they would have to tamper down their emotions and feelings until they took care of the problems that were waiting for them back home, but for now they would relish in the happiness—love they were currently feeling, and deal with tomorrow, tomorrow.
The next day, Clark and Lois slowly walked into the farmhouse, and were immediately greeted by their rambunctious son, who rushed towards them as fast as he could possibly manage, without using his abilities. "Mommy! Daddy!"
They quickly caught him in their arms, hugging him, fiercely. "Hey, buddy, did you have fun while we were gone?"
He nodded his head, excitedly before a small frown spread out across his face. "I missed you a lot."
Lois brushed away the hairs away from his face. "We missed you too, baby."
"Don't ever leave me again," He muttered before leaping back into their arms, feeling extremely happy that they were finally back home with him again.
"We promise," They spoke, simultaneously.
As soon as he felt like he had received enough affection from them he quickly pulled away with a grin plastered across his face. "What did you do? Where did you go? Did you have fun?"
Martha chuckled, loudly at her grandson. "Kal, honey, one question at a time."
They glanced up, realizing that every single person they loved and cared about were standing in the room with them, obviously they all wanted to be here to greet them back home, which made it a lot easier for them since they had great news for everyone.
Lois glanced down at her little boy, who was very impatiently waiting for them to answer him. "We had lots of fun, Kal, we went to a little town in Colorado and a little town in Montana."
His eyes widened. "You did all of that?"
Clark nodded at him. "It would have been better if you were with us."
"Next time."
"That's right, buddy."
Jonathon glanced between the two of them, noticing the excited expressions lingering on their faces, and could literally feel the happiness radiating off of them in waves. "How about you two tell us what you were up to over the past few days, I mean, you mentioned that you were in Colorado, does that mean you went back to Estes Park?"
She frowned from his words before turning towards her fiancé. "You didn't tell them?"
He shook his head from side to side. "I told them about why I was taking you away, but I didn't exactly tell them where I was taking you."
"Figures that you would keep that little detail to yourself."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at them. "Okay. Enough with the secrecy you two. We want to know what happened."
They glanced at each other, and smiled, knowingly before she quickly held up her left hand, revealing the stunning diamond ring. "We're getting married."
Chloe, Lana, Kara and Martha squealed, excitedly before rushing over to her, and practically dragged her away from everyone else, mainly her fiancé. "Oh my god! It's so beautiful!"
"When did he propose?"
"More importantly, where did he propose?" Chloe added.
Martha chuckled, softly at all three of them, and shook her head from side to side. "Alright. Alright. Let her breath."
She smiled at her, thankfully. "We were in Estes Park at our waterfall, which I have told every single one of you about, we danced underneath the moonlight before he literally poured out his entire heart to me, and that's when he got down on one knee."
Lana and Chloe grinned at her widely before simultaneously saying, "Awwwww!"
Martha quickly grabbed her hands, and squeezed them, softly. "I'm so happy for you, Lois, I knew this would happen sooner or later."
Kara grinned at the woman she saw as her sister, knowing exactly how she was feeling right now since she had felt the same way when her lovely husband proposed to her, but wondered what was really going through that head of hers. "How did you react?"
"I was completely shocked, but mostly I felt extremely happy. I've wanted this for a very long time even if I didn't want to admit it to myself."
Clark laughed, loudly, as all the women literally dragged her away from him, wanting details about everything that had happened before he walked over to his father, Pete, Oliver and Bruce, who were all smiling at him.
Jonathon clapped his hand down on his shoulder, and squeezed, slightly. "I'm glad that everything went according to plan, son."
"It did, and then some."
Pete frowned at his words, but didn't dwell on that for too long. "So? What did you say to her?"
A slow smile graced his lips, as he thought about that very, very special moment. "I just told her how much I love her."
Oliver stared at him, blankly and frustratingly. "Is that all you're going to tell us?"
"There's not much else to say."
Bruce rolled his eyes at him. "Come on, man, we all had different ways of popping the question to our lovely woman, and knowing you yours was probably super romantic and sappy, so we need details."
He shook his head from side to side, and chuckled, softly at all three of them. "Okay. Okay. Fine. We spent the entire day going down memory lane before I took her to our favorite spot in Estes Park, the waterfall I've told you all about. We reminisced before I asked her to dance with me. Once I felt like I had enough courage to say the words to her I literally poured out my entire heart telling her how much she has changed me over the years, how much I loved and appreciated her, and then I simply asked her to marry me."
Oliver smirked over at him. "You are a romantic."
"Shut up!"
Every single one of their separate conversations were interrupted by Kaleb, who had been thinking about what this meant exactly. "You're getting married? Does that mean were going to be a real family now?
Clark and Lois glanced over at each other, hearing the soft tone and the emotion that was laced in his before walking over to their son, and kneeling down directly in front of him. "We have always been a real family, Kal."
"All this means is that we're all going to be much closer than we were before. Nothing is going to change."
"Do you remember when your Aunt Kara and Uncle Bruce got married?"
He nodded.
"It's going to be just like that, except probably a little bit mushier and more romantic because your daddy is a big sap."
"Hey!"
Kaleb chuckled at both of them. "She's right, daddy."
He stared at him with wide eyes, feigning complete and utter shock. "You too? I thought you were supposed to be on my side?"
"I am, daddy, but I'm also on mommy' side."
Jonathon chuckled, loudly at the little family moment before stepping closer to them. "Well, I can definitely say that we were expecting this, and I think this calls for a little celebration unless there is anything you need to divulge to the group…"
They glanced at each other, figuring that they might as well tell them everything before they slowly stood up, and intertwined their fingers together, simultaneously saying, "We're expecting!"
Every single person in the room gasped, loudly, completely shocked by this bit of information, while Chloe and Lana glanced at each other before grinning, victoriously. "We knew it!"
Lois frowned at them. "How did you know?"
Chloe grinned from ear to ear. "Well, when we were talking about you and Clark having another baby you had this expression on your face, which I didn't question because I knew that you wouldn't tell me—"
"And as soon as you left with that lovely fiancé of yours we put our heads together, and figured out that you were probably pregnant."
She stared at them with wide eyes before shaking her head from side to side. "You two are unbelievable. I swear sometimes you can be worse than me."
"They are!" Oliver and Pete immediately regretted their words when their significant others glared in their direction, which only caused every one else to laugh at their misery.
Everyone quickly congratulated them, the entire family feeling very, very excited to have some really good news for a change, but couldn't help feeling like the happiness they were feeling right now was going to change in the blink of an eye as soon as they found out that things had gotten extremely complicated in their absence.
Kaleb slowly walked towards his mommy with a slight frown lingering on his face, and placed his little hands on her stomach. "There's a baby in there?"
She chuckled, softly at him before kneeling down in front of him. "Yes, baby, there is a little boy or a little girl in there."
He scrunched up his nose, in complete and utter confusion. "How is that possible?"
Clark chuckled down at his confused son. "Do you remember when your Aunt Chloe was pregnant?" At his nod he continued, "It's going to be just like that, but instead of gaining a cousin you're going to gain a little brother or sister. Do you want to be a big brother?"
As he glanced in between his parents, he thought about that for a few seconds since he had never thought of this happening before, and that's when a horrible thought occurred to him. "Does this mean you'll love me less?"
They shared a worried glance with each other, both of them figuring that he would have fears such as this one since he has always been an only child his entire life, and knew that it would take a little bit of time before he understood this situation.
Clark quickly lifted him up, settling him comfortably in his arms before he stared directly into his emotion-filled eyes. "This wont change how much we love you, Kal."
"Are you sure?"
Lois slowly stood up, and brushed her fingers down his cheek. "Yes, baby, we will love you and this baby equally. You know how your Aunt Lana and Uncle Pete have both Jacob and Jessica?"
He nodded.
"They love them just the same, and that is exactly what will happen when this little one is born."
"Do you promise?"
"We promise," They spoke simultaneously, knowing that it was going to take more than a promise for him to believe them, but this was a first step.
Martha grinned at all three of them before taking a few steps towards them. "Now, it's time for a little celebration." She locked eyes with her soon to be daughter in law, pointedly. "No alcohol for you."
She chuckled, loudly at that before glancing at Chloe and Lana. "That means no alcohol for you two either."
The smiles fell from their faces, instantaneously before they groaned, loudly, as they remembered their little pact they had made, and honestly wished that they would have taken advantage of that in the past few weeks because now they had to go through it all over again.
Chloe glared at her. "Great! This is just great! I haven't been able to drink in over nine months, and now I have to go through that all over again."
Lana glared at both of them. "You have no room to talk, missy, you got enjoy the thrill of being pregnant, while I had to suffer for all of that time, and now I have no choice, but to continue this sober life. You both suck."
Lois chuckled at her. "Don't worry, Pink Princess, I'm sure you'll get your revenge on the two of us one of these days."
That thought brought a small smile to her face not only because she would love to have another child with the man she loved, but also because she could gloat in their faces when they threw tantrums about not being able to drink.
It was going to be great.
A few hours later, Clark and Lois were sitting on the porch with their son, who was sprawled out across their legs, as he slept peacefully, and honestly, they didn't feel any happier than they did right at this moment.
They were engaged.
They were going to have a baby.
They were together.
They had their son.
Nothing could ruin this moment.
Clark gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her a little closer to him, and rested his hand across her stomach, as he stared down at his beautiful son. "Does he really believe that we could love him any less?"
She smiled down at her sleepy baby boy before glancing up at him. "Probably. He has spent his entire life as an only child, and now that is changing. I think he is just a little confused and scared, but once he meets this little one the only thing that will matter to him is protecting him or her."
"I'm sure you're right." He rested his head against hers, softly. "I really don't want this night to end."
"Let me guess, you don't want to think about or deal with the one thing we have both been avoiding the entire time we were gone?"
He nodded.
Chloe, Oliver, Kara and Bruce glanced at each other, nervously, as soon as they had overheard the last part of their conversation, and even though they understood that they needed this happiness—this hope that they were currently feeling they also knew that they needed to tell them everything that had happened while they were gone.
"Well, that's exactly what we need to talk to you about…"
Lois turned around towards her cousin, and frowned at her words, but it quickly transformed into an expression of concern and worry when she noticed the expressions that were plastered across every single one of their faces. "What happened?"
Kara stepped towards them before glancing down at her sleeping nephew. "We should probably take this somewhere a little more private."
Clark sighed, heavily, as he stood up with his son in his arms. "I'll take him inside." As he walked towards his old room, which was now his son' room when he stayed the night here, he couldn't help wishing that something wouldn't have happened while they were gone, of course he understood that they needed to deal with this Lex situation, and they needed deal with it soon, but he had hoped that they could have had one more night before everything literally fell apart.
Obviously, he was wrong, he thought to himself.
A few minutes later, every single one of them were standing inside the loft, all of them figuring that this was the best place to have this conversation, especially since none of them saw the point of going all the way to Metropolis for this.
Lois glanced at everyone, worriedly. "Alright, you dragged is up here, so is anyone going to tell us what the hell is going on?"
Kara took a deep breath before locking eyes with her. "Murphy is back…"
"Of course, he is." She quickly started pacing back and forth, as she wondered what this would mean for everyone she loved and cared about, of course she had known that this was a possibility, but she had hoped against all hope that it wouldn't come true.
Lex was a major problem, but dealing with Murphy as well was a colossal disaster.
Clark curled his hands into fists to the point his knuckles started turning white when he heard that name fall from his cousin' lips. For weeks he had kept silent about his true feelings—about his true rage from everything that had happened while he was gone, and he had been able to keep his emotions in check for the most part, but this just made all of that come rushing back to him like a tidal wave.
Lex had been the one that had caused his family so many problems over the years, but Murphy was the one that tortured, beat, and threatened the woman he loved with all of his heart—the woman he was going to marry—the woman he had a future with, and that only caused all his hatred and rage to boil up to the surface.
"When did he show up?"
"The other night. He confronted Chloe when she was leaving The Daily Planet."
Lois snapped her head towards her cousin, at her friend' words, and quickly rushed over to her. "What did he say to you? Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?"
She smiled, softly at her. "He just made it absolute clear that they were coming after all of us."
A loid groan escaped past her lips. "If he confronted you that means that they are getting close to taking what they want, which means every single one of you are in danger."
"And so are you." Clark spoke with such confidence and determination, as he stared at her with an unknown expression plastered across his face. "He won't touch you or anyone else I care about. I won't allow him to come near you or our son."
She glanced over at him, immediately noticing the hatred that was lingering in his eyes, the way his hands were clenching and unclenching by his sides, and heard the pure conviction in his voice, instantly going on alert since she knew that expression on his face all too well.
It usually meant he was planning on doing something stupid.
She quickly walked over to him, and forced him to look directly into her eyes. "I know what you're thinking, Clark, but you can't do anything rash, especially when that is exactly what Lex wants from you."
"I don't care! I'm not going to allow either of them to hurt you like they did before!"
"And they won't." She turned towards Kara, hoping that she had something because if she didn't she wasn't sure she would be able to calm down her fiancé like she was able to last time. "I'm hoping that you have a plan."
Bruce nodded. "We've both thought long and hard about this. It's quite obvious that sending Lex to prison and sending Murphy to another desolate island isn't going to cut it this time. We need to end this for good, and we know exactly how we are going to do that."
"What's the plan?"
Kara took a deep breath before revealing everything they had planned out, precisely in their minds. Instead of waiting for Lex and Murphy to make their move against them they would attack first, ensuring that this really would end for good without anyone getting hurt in the process. Clark and Kara would take care of Lex themselves with the crystal from the Fortress, which would send him to the phantom zone, while J'onn J'onzz would erase every single memory Murphy has about any of them before shipping him off to the worst place on this Earth. Steve, on the other hand, was a loose end that they could easily send to prison since he wasn't really that dangerous and wasn't their main concern.
Lois listened, intently, as she explained her entire plan, and knew that it could work, as long as they made their move before Lex and Murphy did, but there was only one down side…her involvement in all of this. They actually expected her and Chloe to not have a single part in any of this.
Well, that wasn't happening, she thought to herself.
"I'm sorry, but do you actually expect me to just sit here while the rest of you take care of them?"
Bruce stared, intently into her eyes. "It's exactly what you're going to do."
She glared at him. "If you actually think that I'm going to go along with this then you have all gone completely insane. This was my problem a hell of a lot longer than it was any of yours, and I'll be damned if I'm just going to sit on the sidelines."
Oliver sighed, softly at her. "I'm sorry, Lois, but it's better this way."
Chloe immediately noticed that she wasn't going to take that as an answer, and quickly stepped in between them, hoping that if she heard her perspective she would go along with this. "Lois, I know that you don't like this, hell, neither do I, but this is the only way we can protect Kaleb. If things just so happen to go wrong you, me, Lana, Pete, Martha and Jonathon all need to be here with him, while everyone else is ending this."
Her hazel eyes met her green ones. "You can't seriously be okay with this!"
"I'm not, but this is the most effective plan we got. You can't stand there and tell me that you wouldn't despise yourself if you weren't here to protect your son. They already kidnapped him once, and have tried several other times."
Clark listened, intently, as everyone bickered back and forth about this, knowing that this plan could work, as long as every single one of them agreed to every aspect of their plan, which included Lois and Chloe staying out of this altogether. "She's right, Lois." As soon as her anger filled eyes landed on him he regretted uttering a single word since he hated it when she looked at him like that, but she needed to understand that she would be better placed with their son instead of with them. "We need you here with Kaleb, but it's not just that, Lois, you're pregnant now. We can't risk Lex of Murphy figuring that out."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you saying that I can't be careful?"
This was getting completely out of hand, he thought to himself, before taking a few steps towards her, and rested his hands on her shoulders, squeezing them, softly. "No, Lois, you are the most careful person I know, especially when it comes to protecting people you care about."
"Then let me help."
"I can't risk that, Lo." He rested his hands against her stomach. "I need you to protect our children and yourself. If anything happened to any of you I would die inside, and would become the man you met all of those years ago. You are the reason my heart beats inside of my chest. Kaleb is the reason I keep moving forward. This baby is my hope for the future. I would become a broken, lost man if I lost any of you. I just can't risk losing the people that mean everything to me."
Tears filled her eyes from his heartfelt words, which only reminded her of the night she had been completely honest with him, and even though she knew that he was right about everything there was a part of herself that still wanted to fight this. "You won't lose us, Clark."
"I will if you are a part of this. I can't be out there protecting our family if I'm going to be worried about your welfare the entire time." He rested his forehead against hers, and stared deeply into her eyes. "Please, Lois, please just this once can you listen to me?"
She sighed, softly at the tone of his voice, and knew that he had a point—knew that she needed to protect their children and herself, especially since Lex and Murphy would only up their game if they found out she had abilities—found out she was pregnant, but that didn't mean she had to like this situation one bit. "Fine. I'll stay with Chloe and Lana here at the farm with our son, but if anything goes wrong, and I literally mean anything I want you to call me."
He smiled at her. "I promise."
Kara grinned at the way he was able to talk some sense into her, and knew that no one would have been able to do that, no one except for the man she loved. "Alright. We need to move fast because if Chloe and Lois are right then it could be less than a few days before they make their move."
Bruce nodded. "We'll hit them before they have a chance to make a move against any of us."
Every single one of them glanced at each other with slight smiles lingering on their faces, at the mere thought of this finally being over, and knew without a doubt that within one week this would all be done with for good.
Later that night, Clark tightened his arms around his fiancé and son, feeling like the weight of the world was literally resting on his shoulders, as his mind went over everything that happened tonight.
They had been so incredibly happy several hours ago, but that all had changed in the blink of an eye, and he absolutely hated that this family and friends had to deal with this, especially at a time in their lives where everything was going so perfectly.
But…
It needed to be dealt with, and it needed to be dealt with now.
As soon as every single one of them understood their parts of the plan, perfectly they had taken their son home, who had woken up while they were discussing this in the barn, and both of them decided that it was best to tell him everything, which had upset him, but he understood that they needed to stop the bad men before they could something to the people he loved and cared about.
He glanced down at both of them, smiling, slightly at how peaceful they both seemed to be in this moment in time, and knew that in exactly two days that peacefulness would be something that they all could relish in for the rest of their lives.
They would stop Lex and Murphy.
They would all be able to move forward.
They would all be happy again.
He tightened his arms around the two most people in his life, hoping—praying—wishing that they could end this very, very soon, so they all could live their lives normally again.
He desperately wanted every single one of them to be happy, and he intended on protecting them, no matter what he had to do to keep the people he loved with all of his heart safe.
I know that I mentioned that this chapter would include smut, but I decided to cut it out since I felt like that particular scene needed a more emotional and romantic approach. This is a much longer chapter than the last two, and a lot of different things did occur in this chapter. The next few chapters will be pretty intense before they become lighter again, which is the ending of this long story.
I hope you enjoyed chapter fifty!
