Thanks again goes to 4ever1 and to Mistressbabette51. Thank you for all your reviews.

The rating of this story has now officially been changed to an M for sexual content. I don't think it would be more than you would find in a romance novel, but don't read this chapter if this offends you or if you are under age. You've been warned!

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It was a crisp evening, but warmer than usual for this time of year. Martha laid out a plaid blanket on the flat portion of the roof and was uncapping a thermos of apple cider. From her matter of fact attitude, Lois knew that this was not the first time she had been up there. The ladder was propped against the side of the farmhouse more for show since no one intended to actually use it.

Jason bounced in excitement as he waited for Superman to fly him to the roof to join his grandmother. Lois figured it was only a matter of time before Clark would be hard pressed to keep up with his offspring.

He was dressed as Superman because they still weren't certain about the wisdom of Clark displaying his powers in front of his son. Jason had experienced a lot of things in his young life, and they didn't know how he would react to the truth. Children weren't known for their ability to keep secrets, but the adults didn't want to actually lie to him either.

Jason was dangerously close to the edge, looking down at them with a perplexed expression on his face. Lois wondered what thoughts were racing through his young mind. She would have been nervous if she didn't know that Clark could easily catch him if he were to fall.

Clark floated down to the ground so that he was standing beside her. His cape billowed gently around him. Clark raised an eyebrow at her in question, a smile playing at the edges of his mouth. Lois stepped forward feeling like they were positioned for a dance except it was expected to step on her partner's feet. She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled up at him unable to keep her expression neutral. He lowered his head down just a fraction closer than necessary and she thought he intended to kiss her. The moonlight gleamed off his dark hair making it blue black in the night.

"Mommy! Aren't you coming up here?" Jason called.

Clark stilled, his smile becoming a bit crooked as he gave her a regretful look. His eyes danced, however. He looked happy, Lois thought. The farmhouse, and the softly swaying tree next to the house became a blur. Lois gasped at their quick ascent to the roof. Even after all this time, she felt awe at his powers.

Clark seemed almost reluctant to let her go, and he steadied her when she stumbled off the tops of his boots. The stars were amazing up here. Martha handed them warm mugs and they sat on the blanket, looking up at the sky. Jason sat away from them. He swung his feet over the edge as he gazed unblinkingly at the moon.

Clark took Lois' hand and said, "Relax, even if I didn't catch him, he'd probably be alright."

"Probably? I feel much better now." She allowing the tension to ease out of her body.

The lines had deepened around Martha's mouth and her eyes were moist. Lois scooter closer to her and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm just being a silly old woman." She glanced her way with a sad smile on her face.

"I doubt that." Lois said. Clark turned his head. He adopted a distracted air, as if he was so distracted by the view, that he couldn't hear them. She appreciated the courtesy just the same.

"I told Ben that I was playing scrabble with the girls."

"Ben?" Lois prodded.

Martha flushed, and Lois got a brief glimpse of what she must have looked like when she was still in her prime. "He's my . . . boyfriend. He doesn't know . . . " she didn't finish the sentence as her gaze settled on Clark.

Clark's face tightened. Lois could see that he found his mother's words disturbing.

Lois nodded, indicating that she understood. They were silent for a moment. "It can't be easy." Lois commented.

"It's better now." Martha patted Lois' hand.

She knew it was because the circle had widened to include them.

The doorbell sounded through out the farmhouse. Martha jumped, her hand going to her heart.

Clark chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Ma. You remember you neighbor Albert? The one I told you about?"

"Oh." Her eyes had gone wide.

Albert stepped away from the front door to peer up at the on the roof. "What are you doing up there?"

"Why don't you come on up?" Lois asked with a smile.

"I'd break my hip trying to go up that ladder." He protested.

She winked at Clark and he smiled in understanding. He swept down and scooped the old man up before he could form a protest.

Albert's eyes almost popped out of his head when his feet left the ground and Lois couldn't help but smile in sympathetic amusement. She wondered if her face had worn the same expression the first time superman had taken her aloft. In her defense, she had been plummeting to her death when that had happened.

"Oh!" He said, as he sank to the plaid blanket next to Martha. She patted his hand with a conspiratorial smile.

"We're looking at the stars." Jason explained. "You can see all gazillion of them."

"It's a good thing that Superman was so nice to help us up here then." Albert said cautiously.

Jason turned to Superman. "Why does everyone call you Superman? That isn't a real name."

The four adults looked uncomfortable as they met each other's gazes.

Finally, Lois answered, "It's kind of like how you call me Mommy. It's how you know me, but I'm not that to everyone am I?"

"Only me." He said proudly. Jason looked satisfied, as if he understood the world now. "That's why Daddy and Uncle Perry call him Clark instead of Superman."

Lois felt her heart stutter in her chest. Her eyes flew to Clark's. Aside from momentarily looking surprised, he seemed pleased that the boy had figured it out. Lois put her hand against her chest and pushed as if by applying pressure she could get her heart to resume it's normal rhythm.

Albert took in their faces, and when he saw Martha's open mouth he began to chuckle under his breath. "What did you expect when his mother is an investigative journalist?"

Lois scrambled to the edge so that she could sit next to Jason. "Jason. What exactly do you mean?"

"It's a secret." Jason's eyes grew large and he covered his mouth with his hand. "I thought you, mommy, already knew. You know everything else."

"Well. . . " How could she respond to that?

Clark and Lois looked at each other before they burst into laughter. Had he just figured it out? He didn't seem particularly bothered or surprised by this knowledge.

Jason looked at them laughing in confusion.

Lois asked, "How long have you known?"

"Oh, just about forever."

"And when did this forever start exactly?" Clark asked sitting next to Jason so that he was bracketed by his parents.

"When you hugged me at that house."

"How could you tell from a hug?" Clark's eyebrows rose. Lois shrugged. If she couldn't tell from a kiss, how had Jason figured it out from a hug?

"You smell the same."

Martha's eyes danced. "Clark! You had better stop wearing cologne."

"But I don't wear any." He protested.

"Maybe you should take more showers then." Lois said with dry humor, then she relented. "He's always been observant, Clark."

"Mommy!" Jason protested.

"What is it?" Lois asked.

"You aren't supposed to call him Clark when he has his Superman cape on."

"That's right. But how did you know, munchkin?" Lois asked.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Daddy. I think you're going to have to explain this to Mommy." He got up to start poking through the picnic basket Martha had left on the blanket. He pulled out a cookie and then seemed to realize that his mother was staring at him. "Can I have a cookie?"

Lois nodded, unable to speak. Clark couldn't keep the grin off his face, and Albert wasn't even trying.

Lois lay with her back against the porch roof and groaned. She closed her eyes and muttered "Kids."

Clark moved away, and she found herself missing his warmth. She opened her eyes and was caught in the vision of countless pin pricks of light blazing in a midnight sky. It was breathtaking. Clark returned almost before she could think to look for him. He had changed back into his casual clothes. Lois took his hand, tugging him so that he would lie down beside her. His body pressed along her side, warming her. Lois lay her head on his chest, listening to the steady thrumming of his heart. Clark brushed his fingers absently through her hair. It was nice. She felt as if all the pieces of her life had finally come together. Lois felt whole.

"Can you see your home from here?" Lois asked.

Martha and Albert were gossiping about the neighbors, teasing each other like long lost friends, oblivious to Lois and Clark. Lois found the sight endearing. Martha appeared relaxed in the man's presence. Jason was singing some song about a pig and a star. She thought it was something he had made up.

"If you mean Krypton, I don't think it's visible to the human eye, but it hasn't been my home for a very long time."

Lois sat up to look into his face. He was searching her face, looking for what she didn't know. "My home is with you." His voice was so deep and rough that she knew he was struggling for control.

She felt unexpected tears spring to her eyes at his earnest words. She blinked rapidly so they wouldn't fall free. She couldn't answer, not yet. Lois grabbed his hand, and Clark held it firmly. There was a look there, that made her heart soar. His eyes were so dark blue that she felt as if she might drown in their depths. He had that look of unstoppable determination she had only seen when he was Superman, combined with a tenderness that made her bones go soft. She shivered, but she wasn't cold.

He tightened his arm around her and asked, "Do you want a blanket?"

Lois shook her head, brushing her lips against his ear. "I want you."

Clark's arm tightened convulsively around her and he was silent for the stretch of two heart beats. "Lois . . ."

She met his gaze and smiled. "I don't mean just physically, although I'd be lying if that wasn't a factor. I want us to be together. You, me, Jason. I want us to be a family."

He smiled in happiness, glancing in the direction of his mother and Albert. They were too preoccupied to take any note of them. "Why, Ms. Lane. Are you proposing to me?"

Lois flushed, and slapped his arm playfully. "No." But then she caught the flash of disappointment in his face, and wondered if she had said the wrong thing. "Maybe. What would you have said if I had?"

Clark kissed her. Lois felt all the blood drain away from her head, she was positively light headed when he pulled back to grin down at her.

"Oh." She said breathlessly. "Can I change my mind now?"

Clark rose an eyebrow in question.

"About the question." She clarified.

His expression cleared. He cleared his throat and then asked very solemnly. "Lois Lane, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

She felt her heart to a flip in her breast. She hadn't known that this was what she had wanted all along, until right now. Lois glanced over at Jason. He was watching them intently. He gave her a thumbs up sign. Clark glanced in his direction and gave the boy a wink.

She gave a small breathless laugh, and then sighed. "It's about bloody time."

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Martha Kent wouldn't stop grinning. The sight was so infectious that the lot of them found it easy to laugh at things that would normally hardly have elicited a smile. Clark smiled at them indulgently.

She had gone into town and had taken Jason with her. Lois knew that she was really trying to give the newly engaged couple some privacy. Jason didn't mind. He was eager to see a real live small town.

Clark had given Lois a tour of the farm, ending in the loft of the barn. They were looking out a small window at the expanse of new, green cornstalks. He gazed down at her and she recognized that look in his eye. It was filled with longing, but it also showed regret.

"What is it Smallville?"

"I wish . . ." he trailed off. "I have something for you." He pulled a small box out of his pocket.

When she only looked at it, he opened it for her. It was a spectacular diamond ring.

Lois gasped. "Clark! This must have cost you a fortune!"

He blushed and said, "Actually, I only had to pay for the setting. I made the diamond myself."

"Ahhh. It's beautiful." She remembered a time when he compressed a piece of coal in his hand to reveal a diamond. She sighed. "You're a man of many talents."

She gave him her hand and he placed the ring onto her finger. They both looked at it sparkle in the sunlight.

Lois shifted so that she was sitting astride him. "Thank you, Clark."

Before he could respond, she captured his mouth in a passionate kiss. He was tense, all bunched muscles coiled in restrained need. She was going to seduce him. He needed to know that he would never hurt her, that their could only be pleasure in the act of making love. She knew if she said the words aloud, he would put a stop to it. She needed him to forget himself.

The feel of Lois pressed so intimately against him was making it difficult for him to form a coherent thought. He wanted her so badly that he wondered if they were deluding themselves into thinking that they could forge a life together. This passion between them could not be denied indefinitely It was unfair to mislead Lois into thinking that they could have a physical side to their relationship. He had thought that she understood that. But from the way that she was kissing him now, he realized that she wanted more between them. How could he deny her? And yet, how could he take that risk?

Lois loved the feel of Clark against her. The hard plains of his chest, the way the muscles in his arms rippled when he pulled her against him. The unconsciously sensual groan that was almost too low to be heard that rumbled deep in his throat when she pressed against him. He was aroused and the knowledge served to heighten her own need.

This couldn't go on. It took every ounce of his strength to pull his mouth away and plead. "Lois. Please. We have to stop."

Not yet. He was too aware, she needed to show him that it would all work out in the end. "Do you trust me, Clark?"

He lost himself in her eyes. There was nothing he could say that would stop her, and his raging hormones sapped his strength. "Lois." He whispered, unable to form a response.

"Do. You. Trust me?"

"Yes." He relented. He could feel her smile all the way down to the base of his spine.

"Don't tell me that you can face down a nuclear missile, but the thought of making love to me scares you?"

His throat threatened to close on him. "I always fear for you."

Lois softened. "One of these days we're going to be laughing about this. When has there ever been an obstacle we couldn't overcome? I love you, Clark. That's not going to change."

It was as he feared. She hadn't accepted the restrictions of their differing biologies. He shook his head.

He desperately wanted to be everything to her, her friend, partner, lover, husband. He wasn't willing to risk her safety. "There will always be a chance that I could hurt you."

"But what a way to go." She sighed dramatically.

"Lois!" Clark was truly embarrassed.

"Sorry, Clark. I just know that you could never really hurt me that way."

"Not intentionally. But making love is about letting go. What if I lost control ? . . .The human body is so fragile."

"You say that your aura protects you and anything close to your skin. I don't think you could get closer to a person than when you're making love. You wouldn't be just pressed against me, you'd be inside me. Who's to say what's possible or not."

He considered her for a moment, a flicker of hope igniting deep within. He cautioned, "What if you're wrong?"

"Trust me." She pulled off his shirt and kissed him. "Let me touch you. I promise you, it will be all right."

He could never deny her anything.

She waited until she saw the defeat in his face. She felt a pang of sorrow for having to push him like this, but it was for the best. They could never be truly happy if she didn't. She began to undo the buttons of his shirt, their eyes locked. She watched as his pupils dilated, his eyes growing dark with passion. He was breathing in short, fast gasps and Lois wasn't certain if it was entirely passion.

"Relax. If you really want me to stop, tell me. I don't want to push you into anything you don't want." Lois said.

"Oh, God. Lois. I want this . I want you. It's just . . ." His blood was aflame in his veins. His heart was thundering in his ears so that he could hardly hear her words.

"Don't think. Feel." Lois insisted.

Clark couldn't think, he certainly couldn't protest. Her hands were causing electrical currents to shoot straight through his body to settle on his groin. He gasped for breath, struggling for a semblance of control. He clutched at the straw pulverizing it to dust, afraid of touching her. It was too much. His control snapped, and he couldn't stay still any longer.

He caught her against him, and pulled her beneath him. He ran his hands up her shirt feeling her smooth skin and the ripe flesh rising with each breath. Clark could smell her arousal and it was like an intoxicating drug. She hissed in pleasure as his mouth suckled her, pulling on the hardened nub through the cloth of her bra.

Lois threw her head back, filled with a frenzied need to get as close as possible to this man. They discarded their clothing, the sound of their harsh breathing filling the stillness of the loft. A cool breeze blew against their fevered flesh and Lois paused to look at him. He was beautiful, and she felt an unaccustomed moment of embarrassment.

Sensing her momentary distress. Couldn't she see how she was affecting him? God, how he loved her. He bent his head and began to kiss the fine white lines on her hips, a testament to giving birth to their son. "So beautiful." he whispered in awe.

He was still powerfully aroused, but he had a moment of crystal clear sanity. He could still be her lover, if he could maintain a measure of control.

She reached out to him, running her fingers through his hair as he continued to move lower. She wanted to stop him, needing to prove to him that they could become one, but when his mouth found the center of her desire, she lost the power of speech. "Ooohh." She fell back.

He ran his hands up and down her legs, and then tilted her hips so that she was open to him. She felt the shock of contact shudder through her. Was there anything he couldn't do well? Oh Lord! She thrashed her head from side to side, helpless to resist the pull of his mouth. She wasn't used to losing control, but she couldn't stop him. The pleasure crested, almost too powerful and too fast for her to anticipate.

"Clark!" She gasped, her body shaking, feeling as if her bones had gone soft.

He pulled her up into his arms, holding her against him. He closed his eyes in relief. It didn't matter that he still ached for her, it was enough to know that he could provide her with release. He rested his forehead against the side of Lois' neck, breathing her deep into his lungs, fighting for control.

As Clark held her still, and she knew that he didn't intend for them to go any further. Lois understood. He was trying to see to her needs with no intent to fulfill his own desires. Lois did not intend to allow this relationship to be a one-sided affair.

She began to explore his body with her hands. He shuddered, but did not protest. Lois needed to feel all of him; she wanted him deep inside of her. Their clothing lay discarded amidst the hay. Lois had a feeling that Clark had not intended for things to go as far as they had. She might never get a better opportunity than this. She kissed him deeply. He groaned into her mouth as she threaded her fingers through his hair.

Before he could protest, she shifted, sinking onto his lap. She engulfing him. He felt so good, filling her so completely. She almost couldn't go on.

He shuddered at the intimate contact, his eyes flying wide. "Oh, God. Lois."

"Shh." she whispered, pushing him back so that he was lying prone. He fell back without protest. They both were reminded of that first night they were together like this. This was better. There weren't any barriers this time.

Clark fought the urge to push hard into her. He had wanted this for so long, never thinking he could ever be like this with her again. He needed more, and he needed to stop. He was tortured by the fear of hurting her, but he couldn't stop even if the barn were to catch fire. He was powerless in her hands.

The feel of him inside her was incredible. She began to move slowly at first, with long deep strokes that made her feel tingling pleasure course down to her toes. It had never felt like this with Richard. This was better than chocolate, better than soaring in his arms, this was sheer heaven.

"I'm not going to break, Clark."

Clark moved without thought, catching the rhythm, no longer able to think of a reason why this was a bad idea. Lois felt so good, it was like finally coming home. He burned, but there was no pain. There was only a mind numbing pleasure. He felt each movement as a shock wave through his system. It was too much, and he lost control. He needed to push into her, to go as deeply as he could. His hands were at her back, and he pulled her down so that he could kiss her. It was a wild, lover's kiss.

Lois gloried in his passionate response. Clark was no longer holding back and if possible, she became even more aroused. He filled her so completely. She clutched at his shoulders whimpering in pleasure with each stroke as he completed her. A warm glow suffused them making Lois feel invincible. She gasped when she realized that they were floating a couple of inches above the ground.

He slid deep within her over and over, pushing hard, but there was only pleasure. Lois could feel colors pulse at the edges of her mind as they moved. His hair had fallen onto his forehead; his eyes watched her as they moved together. She kissed him clutching at his back. She was trying to hold onto the moment, but the sensations had become too sharp and sweet. They cried out together convulsing as one.

He collapsed on top of her, and she groaned in complete satisfaction. Damn, life was good.

She sounded like she was in pain, and he realized what they had done. He hadn't even thought about being careful with her in the end.

"Lois?" He rolled off of her and brought her into his embrace.

She didn't answer. Her eyes were closed, she lay limp in his arms.

"Lois!" He was bordering on panic. "Are you alright?"

She finally found the strength to open her eyes. "Wonderful." She drawled.

"Are you hurt?" He took a moment to scan her and was amazed to see that all of her bones were intact. He had lost control at the end there. He was amazed to see that she appeared unharmed.

"I think I might have broken a nail against your back." she complained.

He laughed, it had a slightly hysterical edge to it.

"Hey. Clark. I told you it would be alright." Lois pressed up to him, hugging him.

He had his hand over his eyes, and he wouldn't look at her. "I could have killed you."

"When are you ever going to learn that I'm always right?" she teased.

He lowered his hand then, and he smiled almost reluctantly. His body hummed in pleasure and under the circumstances, it was hard for him to be too stressed. "I should have known."

"I could feel it there, you're . . .aura. It made me feel as if I could do just about anything." She whispered.

Clark found that his hand was shaking, and Lois took it into her own.

"Thank you for trusting me."

"We didn't use any protection." Clark said softly.

"I don't care." Lois said. "I guess we'd better make this a short engagement." She began to kiss him again.

The thought of more children was a dream he had never even allowed himself to think about. It was intoxicating.

"We'll get back late." He warned.

"Do you care?" Lois asked teasingly.

"Not in the least." He began to trail kisses down her neck.

They didn't return to the farmhouse until after midnight.

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