So, this is going to be more of a Christmas type of chapter and more than likely the chapter after the next will be starting season 9 as I'm pretty sure you can guess what the next chapter will be about. Stay safe.
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Titusville Florida, Dream Space Coast Apartments, One Week Until Christmas
Clark was placing all the boxes away that at one-point hours ago used to hold different types of Christmas decorations. Alicia was finishing placing all the decorations around the house. Clark offered to do everything with his speed, but Alicia had told him, "Setting decorations on the Christmas tree and around the house with those you love is half the fun of it." So, Clark got everything needed out for her and helped when she wanted it in decorating, but for the most stayed out her way and watched over Grace.
They got a fake a tree because Alicia didn't feel like destroying a tree for a couple weeks use when she could get a fake one that could be reused for multiple years. For Christmas, this year it would just be the three of them, but they found that they liked the thought of their first Christmas being just them. They invited April over so that she wouldn't be alone, but April declined saying that she wanted to be alone to reminisce about the past Christmas's with Adam but might drop by is she was feeling up to it.
Alicia was enjoying her time decorating the tree and slowly showed asked Clark, "So what are your thoughts on what we should put on the top of the tree? We have a star, an angel, a bow, and a snowflake." Clark thought about it for a second lying on the couch with Grace taking a nap on his chest and answered back, "I think it's probably between the snowflake and the star." Alicia sent a smile to them as she reached for the snowflake and said, "Great! I really liked the snowflake, so I was hoping you would pick that one." She went up the step ladder and placed the tree topper and came back down ready to to turn all the lights on.
She turned them on and went to take a seat on the couch next to Clark before saying, "I may look like a bloated whale, but that doesn't stop me from making an awesome Christmas tree." Clark started rubbing her belly hoping to feel the baby kick his hand, one of the many wonders Clark had found in recent months and had been addicted to doing, and said, "It looks wonderful, you did a great job with it." Alicia closed her eyes and leaned onto his shoulder, putting her hands on top of his and saying, "You better not peek at your gifts or I will be very angry." Clark gave a chuckle before responding, "I wasn't going to do that." They both sat there lounging around enjoying each other's company.
After an hour of zoning in and out of sleep Clark finally got up saying, "Alright I'm going to head up to the farm and finish up some work there. After that I'll probably head to the fortress for some training. Jor-el keeps saying that I need to embrace my Kryptonian side more in order to unlock my true potential and abilities, but I know that I can unlock it the way I am. I really do think I'm on to something in regard to the whole flying part." Alicia gave a soft kiss before saying, "Well good luck then, we're going to continue with our napping, and we believe in you regardless of what Jor-el thinks and that's all that matters." Clark gave a nod of the head before zooming out.
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Titusville Florida, Dream Space Coast Apartments, Christmas Day
Alicia woke up to the feeling of her bladder losing a kickboxing match and headed to the bathroom. She headed to the living room once she was finished and saw Clark already cooking with Grace in her play pen playing with some blocks. She made her way to Clark and wrapped an arm around him while asking, "Merry Christmas Clark, so what are you making?" Clark turned his attention to her and said, "Merry Christmas hon I've got some croissant quiches in the oven finishing up and I've cooked up some sausages. I also picked up those fruit tarts that you really like from Macsweets bakery." Alicia almost ran over to the box of pastries and started to devour them as she took them with her and made her way to Grace.
She picked Grace up with one hand and peppered her with kisses. Grace didn't even seem to notice as she was reaching for the pastries in Alicia's other hand clearly wanting a piece of it. Grace had a decent amount of her baby teeth in already and they started giving her small amounts of solid food from their own meals. Alicia saw this and took a dab out of the custard filling on her finger and let Grace eat it off of that.
Grace immediately lit up at the taste and tried reaching for more which Alicia obliged by giving her another finger full of the cream. Clark came up to them with two plates and said, "I feel like a bad influence on her now since we're giving her sweets so early in the morning, but on the bright side maybe that will keep her smiling for a couple hours." Alicia received one of the plates as they all head to the couch to eat breakfast and watch some Christmas movies.
Clark finished eating first and went to grab all of the gifts under the tree and placed them on the couch so that Alicia wouldn't have to get up to grab them. As she finished eating Clark got their plates and put them to soak in the sink before heading to back to them to open gifts. They both gave each other a couple of small gifts like clothes and office work materials as they held the most important gifts for last. They both exchanged hand sized boxes and Clark waited for her to open hers first.
As Alicia opened the lid to the box, she saw a bracelet made of white crystal that seemed to gleam regardless of the angle she looked at it. She pulled it out and stared in awe as she said, "It's beautiful, I love it. What is it made of?" Clark placed it on her hand while explaining, "Joe-el was telling me that on Krypton when you are getting married, you're supposed to exchange wedding bracelets, so I made it out of sunstone from the fortress and inscribed the house of el signature in it." Alicia gave him smile and said, "It's wonderful, but shouldn't also have a matching one then?" Clark waved it off and explained, "I would but if I were to wear one it would probably be damaged. Sun stones are very strong, and we're even used for buildings and spaceships or at least that's what Jor-el tells me. They should be perfect for you, but for me I might bang it up a little too much for me to wear one." Alicia gave it some thought, 'I guess I'm not fighting monsters that could destroy planet in my daily life' and gave a nod of understanding before saying, "Okay, I guess that makes sense. Now you should your present." Clark picked up her box and began opening it. He found a gold pocket watch that when opened had a picture of the three of them from when Grace had first arrived, and they went to the fair. He gave her hug and said, "It's perfect." Clark began cleaning up all the wrapping paper including a piece that somehow ended up in Grace's hand and who was trying it eat.
Once they finished cleaning up, they sat back down on the couch and bang watching Christmas movies starting with The Polar Express.
It wasn't until about three thirty in the afternoon they heard a knock at the door where Clark went to open it and found April and Titus her Doberman with a couple of presents. He greeted her and let her in while helping to bring her things in. Clark came back inside to see Alicia showing April her bracelet while Titus was laying next to Grace as she tried climb him. Titus while scary looking was one of the most patient and calm dogs Clark had ever seen and wasn't worried about Grace playing with him.
Clark got a start on dinner for them all hoping to have everything ready around five thirty. Halfway through he got a call from his mother wishing them a Merry Christmas and apologizing for not being able to be with there. He gave the phone over to Alicia and April when Martha wanted to talk to them for a little.
Clark placed the glazed spiral ham on the table which was the last of the dishes that needed to be placed before calling them over.
As they all sat and began filling their plates Clark asked, "Only a couple more months until you guys finish up your work and we head back to Atlanta, so are you going to miss this place or are you just waiting to go back?" April let out a sigh as she said, "So much is going to have happened by the time we get back. I mean we both got married and are going to have given birth while here. I also became a widow here, so I'm ready to leave like a bat out of hell from here." Alicia gave a nod of agreement as she said, "I mean I don't mind one way or the other since both places I've had you guys there." April and Clark sent a smile her way as they continued with their meal.
Eventually they finished their meals and April and Titus headed back home. Alicia was carrying an upset Grace trying to pacify her as she had been crying since Titus left. Alicia kept rocking her while saying, "If we weren't having a baby, I would seriously consider us getting a dog." Clark took Grace off of Alicia to give her a break and replied, "I mean when Grace first came, she did say we had a dog named Krypto that looks like a white lab, but we don't really know when or how." Clark finally got her to calm down and eventually put her to sleep.
They both took a seat on the couch while Clark started rubbing her shoulders as they watched whatever was on the television. During a commercial break Alicia asked, "So what are your plans for when we move back?" Clark thought it over a second before replying, "Well I'll have completed my remaining online courses to graduate, so I guess I'll try applying to the daily planet see if I can get my old job back. Maybe see if the blur is still needed there since Oliver has been taking care of all the major things, but there should be some new crisis that will threaten the fate of the world popping up sooner or later." Alicia gave a hum of understanding while commenting, "If the blur is needed you might want to try changing the colors from time to time to see what really fits you, like maybe yellow or black." Clark let out a chuckle as he never really thought doing that since he liked the red and blue look but thought a change couldn't hurt.
They went back to watching the television as the commercials ended into the late hours of the night. Whenever there was a commercial break from then on, they would discuss different names for the baby as they knew time was winding down for them to make a choice. Eventually they decided to pause the discussion on names until another day as they still couldn't come to an agreement and turn in for the night.