----Chapter 6
Lois nearly ran up and strangled Clark. He was unbelievable! She's trying to figure out how and where her life went and he's wanting to order Chinese! "Smallville, what the hell are you trying to do to me? Where are you going?" Clark simply turned and walked backwards as he smiled at her, using a finger to beckon her to follow. He turned around again and walked back into the area of the apartment she hadn't been to yet.
Apparently some things never change. He was still just as infuriating as ever, if not in a more confident way. She stood up and begrudgingly followed him. She saw him leaning against a door frame, looking into a room. Stopping a pace behind him, she was about to lay into him when he beat her to the talking punch. "Have you ever seen anything more innocent and beautiful?"
Lois looked into the room and saw Jordan sleeping, sucking her thumb with her legs tangled up in the sheets. She looked back up at Clark, who was more content than she'd ever seen him. It quickly washed away her frustration with him. "Fatherhood suits you, Smallville," she said softly. She looked away from him, to Jordan and then down at the floor. "It's too bad such a little girl is quite possibly stuck with such a useless mother."
Clark stayed silent for a moment. She figured he didn't know what to say, but when she looked back at him he was smirking. He didn't look back at her when he spoke. "I've heard you called many things, Lois, but useless has never been one of them." There was such a belief in his voice that she sighed, knowing he always saw the best in people, no matter who they were. She just didn't really feel she deserved it right now.
"Funny, Smallville, I used that exact line after Jordan called me mommy earlier today."
She watched him walk towards Jordan's bed quietly. He sat down gently, placing one of his hands on her back and making small circles. He looked to be so gentle she was surprised he was actually touching her.
"What can I say, Lo? You're a bad influence on me." He smiled up at Lois, then leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Jordan's head. She stirred a little and pulled her thumb from her mouth.
"Hey sweetheart," Clark said. "Wanna do daddy a favor and wake up?" Jordan's eyes opened and she smiled up at Clark. Her voice wasn't much above a whisper.
"Hi, daddy."
"Hey there. Your mom and I were just thinking about food and we wanted to see what you thought. Are you feeling hungry or are you too groggy right now?"
"Hungry."
Lois thought this a good time to get into the conversation. "We were thinking about Chinese. How does that sound?"
Jordan sat up quickly, a smile plastering itself on her face. "Can we get wontons?"
Clark interjected. "If you were to ask mommy properly, I'll go out on a limb and bet you'll have a better chance of getting those wontons."
Lois would have sworn that Jordan rolled her eyes when she looked back at her. She couldn't decide if it was strangely cute or slightly disquieting that she'd already mastered it. "Mommy, may we get some wontons?"
Lois smiled. She was proud of Clark the her she couldn't remember for instilling proper grammar into their daughter. She shook her head. Supposed daughter. Clark cleared his throat and she looked over at him, and at his look she remembered that she was the mommy. "Oh, right! Yeah kiddo, wontons sound great. I could eat a few of 'em myself right about now."
Jordan sprang up onto her feet and into Clark's arms, hugging herself to his neck. Lois didn't know that anybody liked wontons that much, but hey, at least Jordan seemed to be happy all the time. Nobody wants a sullen child, she figured.
He set her down after a moment and she bounded over to Lois and held her arms out right in front of her and bounced on the balls of her feet a couple times. Lois took this as a sign that she wanted to be picked up and did so. She was immediately greeted by two small arms wrapping around her neck and hugging her for all she was worth.
"I love you, mommy," Jordan whispered into her ear.
"I love you too, baby girl."
A second later Lois's eyes went wide as she realized what she'd just said. Where the hell had that come from? She looked over to Clark, whose eyes looked as wide as hers felt. She hoped she was conveying her confusion over what she'd just said to him, because he was certainly conveying his shock at hearing it.
Apparently that kind of thing hadn't happened previously when she'd forgotten things.
She set Jordan down on the ground again and was greeted with an announcement that the little girl had to go to the bathroom. She watched her march off when she felt Clark come stand next to her. She was definitely classifying this as an uncomfortable silence.
"I've been calling her kiddo all day, Smallville, because it was harmless and I ended up with it when calling her 'kid' seemed a bad idea. Why did I suddenly call her baby girl like it was the most natural thing in the world?"
"I have no idea."
"Oh, that's real helpful. You have to have some information you can give me!"
"I really don't know. What I do know is that 'baby girl' is what you've called her since she was born, and this is the first time you've lost your memory in that time. It's so familiar to Jordan now that I was supposed to tell you that it was what you always called her. You made me promise to have you start doing it again. But nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing from after June 7, 2008 has ever bled through into your consciousness once you've lost your memory." He paused for a second. "I'm not seeing this as something negative, though."
They stood in silence a moment, Clark staring off thinking about what had just happened, Lois feeling uncomfortable in the silence again. She needed something to make some noise, and without music available to her, it fell to her mouth to do it.
"So, where we getting Chinese from?"
Clark snapped out of his thoughts with shake of his head. "Place? Uh, little hole in the wall I know. Very authentic. It's your favorite, actually."
"Well then, those of us that can remember the year 2015 get to call." She smirked at him and started to walk away.
Clark called after her, smirking in return to her back. "Slacker."
Lois didn't pause to think about her answer. "Whiner."
Walking back out to the main area of the apartment, Lois allowed herself a good look around the apartment. While there were obvious differences from 2008, she could still tell what everything was for the most part. The television was flat, but that was becoming the norm as she remembered it anyway, and chairs certainly hadn't changed over the years.
They did seem to have gotten a little more comfortable, though; she sat down in one of the chairs and it basically molded to her shape, which she had to admit was strange yet made sense. They sold beds that did the same, in what she now guessed would be 'back in the day' and whatnot. When she got up, instead of holding the shape of her legs and butt, it went back to the form it had been prior to sitting. She wondered if something like that could get worn out after a few years.
Moving back into the kitchen, she passed the coffee maker and looked at the stove. It looked to be the same as she remembered, which meant she probably still couldn't work the thing properly. The microwave hanging above it looked more or less as she remembered as well, although she didn't think she'd bother with trying out the 'steak' button on it. Popcorn, potato and all those button settings were fine, but what idiot would microwave a steak?
Overall, objects may have been more streamlined in thirteen years to take up less space, but there wasn't really anything that she couldn't figure out a purpose for in the few minutes she looked around. Clark appeared beside her and leaned against the counter.
"You can make a mean mac and cheese now."
Lois frowned. "That's it? All that time and I'm up to mac and cheese? Hell, the stuff can't take more than a snap of the fingers to make now, which just makes me feel even better about it. Learning seems a little pointless since I won't remember anything eventually, but damn..." She trailed off and looked up at Clark, whose smile faltered a bit.
"You, uh, never bother to figure cooking out for that very reason. You do call for great take-out, though."
Sighing, she massaged her neck for a moment. "I never thought I'd be a great cook. I never thought I'd be a good cook, but maybe one that could do something more than zap up some cheese covered noodles. That's it, though? I'm raising a little girl on take-out and restaurants?"
"Well no, not all the time. My mom cooks whenever she visits us and Jordan is at the farm a lot. Being Martha Kent's son has also given me the ability to cook a fair number of things. Jordan loves meatloaf when we get the chance to have it. Oh, and whenever we stay with Bruce, Chloe and their brood, we get top notch food made by their part-time cook. I don't know if that counts as home cooking, though."
"If one has a cook, I don't think it does. Oh, and with your mother, it would be a freaking crime if you didn't know how to cook, Smallville."
He grinned. "And you know how I handle crime... or, well, no you don't."
Lois saw his grin quickly turn to a grimace, which only served to pique her interest further. "The hell are you talking about, Smallville? You end up becoming a cop or something after all those years of having a hero complex?" Watching him sigh, Lois didn't push, but quickly found she didn't have to.
"As it turns out, I tend to lean towards the 'or something' end of the law enforcement spectrum. There's something you need to know, and while I hate to pile things on you so soon, you need to know this. Since it concerns our daughter and unborn baby, knowing sooner rather than later is probably for the best."
