The sun is shining everyday

Clouds never get in the way for you and me

I've known you just a week or two

But, baby, I'm so into you

I can hardly breathe

-Martina McBride


"Five little monkeys jumpin' on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed."

Jonathan paused and looked over at Emma in her car seat. She gurgled at him, a little line of drool dripping off her chin. She waved Bear-Bear at him, obviously wanting him to continue the song.

"Four little monkeys jumpin' on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed!"

He took a right, off Exit 117, into Metropolis. Saturday had finally arrived. Tonight was his date with Martha. Jonathan's stomach felt sort of queasy, like there was a bunch of butterflies fluttering around in it. Not exactly pleasant.

He looked at the piece of notebook paper he had written Martha's home address on. She lived in the nicer part of the city. You know, one of those neighborhoods where you actually forget that you're in the city?

He glanced down at the address again 220 Washington Street. Okay, he could see Isaiah Street and Levine Avenue, but no Washington. Maybe if he drove down a little bit farther…aha! There it was!

Jonathan turned onto Washington Street. The butterflies in his stomach had turned from a slight flutter to a wrestling match. He glanced over at Emma again, sucking on hr Winnie-the-Pooh pacifier. He'd dressed her in her best play clothes, the denim overalls with the pink and yellow flowers embroidered on them, the little yellow tee shirt, and those pink and white sneakers his Aunt Helen had sent. He had come prepared, to say the least, with an extra change of clothes for the baby, four bottles (two with milk, one with tea, and one with apple juice), about a million diapers, a bib, and a few toys. Oh yeah, he was definitely prepared for anything.

Jonathan cruised past 216 and 218. He felt extremely out of place in this nice neighborhood in his pickup truck. Most of the people his age drove cars that had come out in the last two to five years, if not brand new. Jonathan's pickup was a dark green '75 Dodge, with a huge dent in the passenger side door, where his friend, Ethan Miller, hit it with a three-wheeler the summer before. Not exactly high class transportation, if you know what I mean.

He pulled into the driveway of 220. It was a huge brick house, at least three times larger than the Kent's farmhouse. Even Emma stopped biting on her pacifier for a few minutes to stare up at it. Okay. Now the butterflies felt like they were moving at hyper speed. Jonathan climbed out of the truck and smoothed out his jeans. He and Martha had decided to take Emma to the park (not just any park, Martha had told him, the biggest park in Metropolis) so he had just worn jeans and an old black Johnny Cash t-shirt.

He got Emma out of her car seat and headed for the front door, inwardly coaching himself. Just a girl, she's just an ordinary girl. But that was the problem, Martha wasn't just an ordinary girl, not the kind he was used to dating, anyway. She was special. She came from money, and a lot of it, by the looks of things. Jonathan just wasn't used to that.

He took a deep breath, hitched Emma a little higher on his hip, and rang the doorbell. Thankfully, Martha answered.

"Jonathan, hi." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, surprising the hell out of him. "And this little cutie must be Emma."

"Yeah." He smiled at his daughter, expecting her to hide her face in his shoulder, like she normally did when meeting new people. She was an extremely shy baby. But this time was different. Instead of hiding her face, she reached right for Martha, stretching her little arms out.

"Oh, hello honey," Martha cooed, taking her from Jonathan. She kissed her plump cheek. "She's the sweetest thing I've ever seen."

"Thanks. "Jonathan didn't know what else to say. He was surprised. He'd never seen Emma go straight to someone she didn't know. It had taken Nell well over a month before Gabbie would even let her hold her without crying.

"Come on and meet my family." Martha was saying to him. "My parents aren't home, but my sisters are."

He followed her into a large family room, where a dark haired girl of about thirteen sat watching a rerun of Gilligan's Island.

"This is my youngest sister, Marcie." She explained. "Marcie, this is Jonathan Kent and his daughter, Emma."

Marcie's eyes never wavered from the TV. "Hi." She said.

"Hey." Jonathan glanced at Martha. Was she always so engrossed in classic television? Martha rolled her eyes and led him into the kitchen, where another girl sat. This was blonde and looked to be around sixteen.

"And this is Mariah."

Mariah grinned at him; her face so similar to her older sister's that it was scary. "Hello." She said.

"This is Jonathan." Martha told her. "And this cute little bugger is Emma."

"Sister?" Mariah guessed.

"Daughter." Jonathan corrected.

Mariah nodded. "That's cool."

"I thought you and Tony had plans?" Martha asked her sister.

"We do. Later on." Mariah grinned.

"Oh God. You're not sneaking out again are you?"

"Maaaybe."

Martha rolled her eyes and motioned for Jonathan to follow her. They walked outside, towards the driveway.

"She's going to get in trouble one of these days. Serious trouble." Martha said.

Jonathan bit his lower lip and didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

"Oh Jonathan," Martha looked at him with apologetic eyes. "That's not what I meant. This boyfriend of hers, you should met him. He's so weird. I think he does drugs or something. He creeps me out." She paused. "Should we take your car or mine?"

"I don't care."

"Let's take yours, since you already have Emma's car seat in it and everything."

"All right." He paused. "I can put Emma in her seat…" He trailed off.

"No, let me do it." Martha smiled at him as he held the passenger side door open for her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Martha concentrated on strapping the baby in her seat. She'd never dated anyone with a kid before. Well, she and Jonathan weren't exactly dating…not yet, at least. But they would be, she knew it. Besides, when Marcie had read her horoscope that morning, it had said something about love in the near future or something. Martha wasn't really sure; she wasn't paying all that much attention. She'd been to busy thinking about how cute Jonathan was and good he smelled and…and how he was just perfect. Okay, not 100 percent perfect, but close enough. And this baby was just about the most gorgeous thing she'd ever seen. Of course she was, she looked just like her daddy, didn't she?

"What would you like to eat?" Jonathan asked, pulling Martha from her thoughts.

"They have this really great BBQ place around the corner." She told him. "Me and my friends eat there all the time."

Apparently, this was true, because when they went inside to order their food, Martha spotted some of her girlfriends at a booth in the back.

"Hey, Martha!" A tall girl, with hair so black that Jonathan thought it looked almost blue, called to them. "Over here!"

She sat with two other girls, both blonde, wearing designer clothing that Jonathan knew he couldn't afford, even if he saved three of his paychecks.

"Hi!" Martha called back, leading Jonathan over to the booth. Her three friends gave her an odd look and Martha realized she was still holding the baby. "This is Jonathan," She said quickly. "And his daughter, Emma."

Jonathan smiled at them. "Hi." He said.

"This is my friend, Stacie," Martha indicated to the dark haired girl. "And Paige and this is Christine."

The three girls smiled at him and cooed over Emma for a few minutes.

"Why don't you guys sit with us?" Paige asked. " Jimmy and Shane should be here soon."

"Oh, we can't." Martha told them. "After we get our food, we're taking Emma to the park. You know, like a picnic."

"Oh, how cute." Christine muttered, almost sarcastically. "What is this, Little House on the Prairie?"

Martha narrowed her eyes. "Shut up."

"Who's gonna make me? You?" Christine laughed meanly.

"Cool it." Stacie told her. She slanted an apologetic look to Martha and Jonathan.

Thankfully, their order number was called, so they had no reason to stay. They said their good-byes, got their food, and headed back to the truck.

"What was that all about?" Jonathan asked, as he climbed into the driver's side.

Martha had just finished strapping the baby in. She settled herself in her seat and rolled her eyes.

"It's so stupid. I'm sorry you had to see that. Christine is such a big a bi-" Martha stopped herself from saying a word she didn't really like to use. Jonathan bit back a laugh. "Well, she isn't very nice."

Jonathan snorted. "Yeah, I noticed. What's the deal with that?"

Martha rolled her eyes again. "I dated her brother for a little while last year. Every since we broke up, she's acted like that towards me."

"Bummer."

"Tell me about it. The whole thing's just dumb. Anyway, no one's really that keen on Chris anyway."

"Then why do you all hang around with her?" Jonathan wondered.

Martha sighed. "It's complicated. Our families have been friends for generations."

"You and Emily's families?"

"No. Well, yes, but not just our families. Stacie's family and Paige's, too. There's a few others. It's like, I have to be friends with them because it's tradition."

"Wow. That is complicated and kinda, well…dumb, if you don't mind me saying so."

"No," Martha sighed again. "You're right. It is dumb. But that's the way it is. Turn here." She pointed to the left.

Jonathan pulled up into a parking space near the picnic tables. They chose one and ate their food quickly. It was messy and Jonathan was glad he had gotten something easier for Emma to eat, just some applesauce and some french-fries. He held her on his lap, giving her little pieces of torn up fries and small spoons of applesauce.

When they finished their meal, Jonathan hoisted Emma's stroller out of the back of his truck and strapped her into it.

"Let me push her." Martha said. They walked along the wooded paths talking about nothing in particular. Somewhere off in the distance, someone had a radio turned up loud. Jonathan could catch snatches of the song.

"And I'm gonna keep on lovin' you, 'cause it's the only thing I wanna do. I don't wanna sleep, I just wanna keep on lovin' you."

He reached down slowly and took Martha's hand. She smiled up at him, nervously. They held hands as they walked along, Martha pushing Emma's stroller.

An older couple passed them, the woman pausing to look at the baby.

"What a beautiful child." She told Martha. "Just like her Mama." She winked at Jonathan and her and her husband walked on.

"She thought I was Emma's mom." Martha said, looking after them. "Can you believe it?"

Jonathan shrugged. "I guess." He smiled at her and they walked on.

A few hours later, it was starting to get dark. They headed back to the truck and towards Martha's house.

"We should go." Jonathan said reluctantly. "Em and I have a long drive ahead of us."

"I know." Martha looked down. "Why don't you guys stay at my house?" She said a few minutes later, her eyes brightening. "It would be so much easier on you than driving home so late."

"I don't know…." Jonathan trailed off. It would be a relief, to not have to drive all that way at night, but he didn't want to impose. "I don't want to impose."

"You're not imposing, silly." Martha assured him. "You're my guest. I've had boyfriends stay over before."

Jonathan slanted her a funny look and she slapped her hand over mouth. "That's not what I meant!"

"I know what you meant." He reassured her. He was still hung up on the boyfriend part. She had called him her boyfriend. Did she mean it? Did she want him to be her boyfriend? Or was it just a slip of the tongue?

"Sure." He said after a second. "We'll stay, if you're sure it's all right."

"It's fine." She told him as they pulled into her driveway.

The three of them went inside. Jonathan was nervous about staying there. He'd never stayed in a house so big before.

He glanced around. The house seemed to be nearly deserted, except for the sound of loud music coming from upstairs.

"I forgot Marcie's having a sleepover tonight." Martha rolled her eyes.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, sure." Martha waved her hand. "My parents went to some charity thing, they'll be pouring themselves in bed around dawn." She rolled her eyes again. "Come on upstairs."

They went upstairs. Emma was nearly asleep, so Jonathan took off her overalls and her shoes while Martha made her a small pallet in the floor.

"She can sleep here till you're ready to go to bed, then you can just put her in bed with you, okay?"

"That's fine."

Martha scribbled out a note explaining why there was a strange boy and a baby in one of the guestrooms and stuck it on her parent's door, then she showed Jonathan the guest room.

"I'm going to put my pajama's on, okay?" She told him.

"Okay."

She shut her door and pulled off her jeans and tee shirt. She dug through her drawers, trying to find her cutest pajamas. She pulled out a pair of plaid shorts that Paige had left after a sleepover and an old white tee shirt with a picture of Stevie Nicks on it.

"Okay, you can come in." She called to Jonathan.

He had changed into his pajamas, too. Well, actually he was just wearing his boxer shorts and his shirt, but he still looked cute as hell. Martha sat on her bed and smiled at him. He sat down beside her…and did nothing.

Jonathan didn't know if he should make a move or not. She looked so freakin' cute, sitting there singing along to the radio. This is it buddy, he told himself. It's now or never. Go for it!

And he did. He went for it. Martha was a little surprised at first, but she kissed him back with urgency. She leaned back on the bed with Jonathan over her. She could feel his hand moving over her rib cage and up her shirt, and she gasped a little.

"Stop." She whispered. "Please."

Jonathan sat up quickly. "I'm sorry." He said. "I just…"

"It's okay." Martha told him. "I understand. It's like driving your car on the ice, you know? You know you're slipping farther and farther along, but you don't try to stop until it's too late. And then you can't."

Jonathan nodded and kissed her again. They broke apart several minutes later and lay beside each other on her bed. They stayed that way for a long time.