He smiled at Lois. Even though she looked wonderful in a dress, she also looked uncomfortable. At least she looked at ease with Jason. In the short period of time that she had gotten to know Lilly, it had already made her more comfortable with children or their children anyway.
He laughed when he saw that Jason had fallen asleep. Was he always sleeping? He wasn't the most active baby in the world. He only crawled around when he had to. He was a sweet baby though. He didn't do a lot of crying or babbling but he smiled a lot.
"Actually, I'm kind of relieved that he's asleep. I was afraid that we'd have to keep him from eating bugs or something. Hand me a sandwich!"
He gave her a sandwich and she watched Lilly playing, while she ate.
He knew that Lois was attractive and he'd always known that. He had tried to lie to himself and say that she wasn't but she was. It just took him finding out that she would be his wife one day to realize that he couldn't continue to fight the fact that he thought she was beautiful.
He had originally set out to bond with her to get the children back where they belonged. He was surprised to find that he was really bonding with her and not only because of the children. He had just never taken the time to get to know her fun and charming side but then she had never shown it to him before. He thought he was already falling in love with her, if he hadn't already.
"A bug is going to fly into your mouth if you don't shut it, Smallville. Why don't you eat something and quit drooling for it."
He blushed. She didn't know he wasn't drooling over food.
"Look at Lilly."
"What's she doing?" Clark asked.
"She's making her doll fly. She acts like she's seen it done before. It went through a whole process. When the doll lifted off, she put one arm up and one down by its side and made it leap. Then both the arms and the legs got stuck straight out and the doll leveled out."
"Wow! You think that's how a person would go about flying?"
"I wouldn't go jumping off a skyscraper if I were you."
He wouldn't jump off a skyscraper. He would start with the barn where there was nobody watching. Lilly had given him the formula without knowing it.
"So has Chloe introduced you to anybody yet?"
"What? I don't think so."
"She's supposed to be setting you up with a Lori something. I think she's on a swim team."
"That's nice."
"You're not even paying attention."
"I am too."
"Then what did I say?"
"Chloe's going to introduce me and you're thinking about a swim team."
Lois rolled her eyes and said, "men! Hand me the lemonade."
Clark didn't remember much else about the picnic. It was a happy blur of food, laughing, and playing with the kids.
Clark dropped Lois off at her apartment. The kids were both asleep from all the energy they had spent at the picnic. He had wanted to kiss Lois goodbye. It had been tempting but he realized he was alone in these feelings. She liked him a lot but she didn't love him in a romantic way yet. Why would she? The feelings he had developed were premature and meant for later in their relationship. Jor-El had wanted him to realize that one day he would have a wonderful, lasting romance and a great family but not right now.
This meant that 2 of the 3 tasks had been completed. He only had to figure out his major. He didn't want to figure it out. It would mean not seeing his kids until years later. Lois would probably go back to her own thing without their kids to bring them closer. He wanted Lois, Lilly, and Jason to be his family now. He wasn't going to complete the third task or go back to the fortress.
TBC