---- Chapter 28

Lois eyed Bruce, surprised at what he'd just said. "Wow, you really have changed. Unless you were quoting something, I don't think I'd have ever heard that phrase leave your mouth back in the day."

"Love and happiness does strange things to us all, Lois."

"I can see that. Chloe really has pulled you back from the darkness quite a bit, hasn't she?"

"She has."

Lois nodded, knowing that she wasn't going to get much more out of Bruce. She still liked his economy with words. She smiled as she watched he and his wife lean into each other a little. The two of them were really happy together.

"Well, not to ruin you two getting all happy with each other, but I am a little curious as to what happened after the so called annihilation date. I barely talked to Clark until... when was Jack born?"

"February 6th, 2014."

"Wow, I can't believe you have a son that'll be eight early next year."

"I can't believe my little boy is going to be that old either." Chloe wiped at an eye as she rolled both of them. "This wouldn't happen if I weren't pregnant, I swear. It makes my eyes far too prone to leaking."

"Right. Anyway, Smallville and I barely talked for four months. How was my relationship with Superman once he and I started speaking again?"

"A little strained," Clark said. "We would talk, but all the give and take that we'd had fell apart and things were more or less the same as they were when you talked to me as Clark Kent at the Planet. The only difference was that you tried to power through with Superman and made no such effort with me as me, almost running away a couple times when I got you alone to talk about what had happened."

Lois winced, but wasn't really surprised. "Yeah, that sounds like me."

"I wasn't shocked, really, but was a little disappointed you wouldn't even try. So I accepted it. I respected the space you wanted because what else could I do? I couldn't force you to do anything, and if I kept at it I would just drive you away further, so I just hoped that one day the tension would finally be gone and we could be friends again."

"It seems to have worked. Eventually, anyway."

Chloe spoke next. "When Jack was born, you both came out to Gotham to visit and help out. I was about sixteen kinds of sick of my best friend and my may-as-well-be sister not speaking because of one bad date. I was sick of it. I didn't want the tension around Jack."

---

"We're here today to unite you two..."

"Chloe, are you trying to marry us?"

Chloe leveled her best glare on Lois, which was made much better by the fact that she'd slept nine hours in three days. Her cousin wilted back a bit into her chair, even going so far as to look sheepish. Clark seemed to have the good sense to stay silent.

"As I was saying, we are here to bring you two together. The tension has gone on for way, WAY too long. I'm sick of it and do not want it around my son." Chloe looked down at Jack, who was nursing quietly. She looked back up at her friends. "I want my son to be happy, and everybody that is around the two of you in this state for more than half an hour is no longer happy."

"Look, Chloe, I'm sorry if you think our tense relationship these days will affect Jack. Around him, there will be no tension, I promise."

"While I'd love to take your word for that, Clark, I trust the two of you to figure out or even ignore your own issues about as much as I trust most of the corrupt cops in the Gotham PD. You say you'll fix it, but you've been saying that for over a month now, which is the last time I sat you two down. So this is it. Either we fix it now, or the two of you cannot be together with Jack."

She watched both Lois and Clark sigh before the looked at each other. Clark was the first to speak.

"Lois, I'm sorry I made everything so tense. If there was some way I could take back that night, I would do it in a heartbeat and take you somewhere else for that date."

Lois sat up quickly, wide eyed. "What do you mean you would have taken me out somewhere else? You still would have asked me to go out on a date?"

"Of course I would have. I had wanted to ask you out since before I left for my trip around the world, but I never did because I didn't think I deserved you and didn't know how I could be with you when I didn't know what was going on in my own life. When I got back, all those feelings came back when you stepped out of Chloe's dressing room at the wedding to see why Alfred was knocking. Wanting to be with you was all I thought about every time I saw you."

"But that date ruined everything, Smallville! We were in a good, comfortable place with each other. You were my de facto best friend because Chloe had moved to Gotham when she got married, and then we go on the worst possible date in history. Hell would have been better than that date. You ruined our friendship by asking me out!"

"Now hold on a second, Lois. Do you think I wanted things to go that way? I would give anything to be able to make that date go half as well as I had hoped it would. But it didn't. And yeah, it made things awkward, but you make it sound like I was the one who gave up on us being friends. That was you."

"Gave up? I do not give up!"

"Then why did you check out, huh? Why did you avoid me at work? I understand that for the first month, even two because you're so stubborn, but it's been four months and you haven't made any attempt to put this friendship back together. At least I've tried getting us some time alone so we could speak privately."

Lois was silent, not appearing to have an answer. Chloe was about to say something after she switched Jack from one breast to the other but Lois decided to respond.

"It hurts, Smallville. Whenever I see you, it physically hurts me. Do you think I wanted to lose you as a friend? I don't have anybody in Metropolis. I don't even have anybody near it. Chloe is the closest person I can talk to, and that's only over the phone. I don't even have your mother anymore because of this. It would be too awkward. And every single time I see you, I'm reminded of what was and what could have been."

"Then why wouldn't you try and fix us, Lois? You say it hurts, but you aren't trying to alleviate the pain! You're just shying away from it and taking the easy way out. Work to have a friendship with me, Lois, or we'll never be anything more than colleagues, if we even stay that."

Chloe couldn't decide if she should be where she was anymore. This was starting to seriously sound like something they needed to do by themselves. Looking down at Jack, though, she didn't want to interrupt him so she just sighed watched them go at it. She almost asked them to lower the volume a bit, but since Jack didn't seem disturbed by it, neither was she.

"Oh, yeah, like you're one to talk. You were willing to throw our friendship away like it was nothing because you pined after me for all those years you spent traveling around the world. What's the matter, couldn't find any women on your travels that liked a farm boy?"

"There were women, Lois, but I turned them all down because I couldn't get you out of my head! I was comparing every single one of them to you and not a one of them could even get close to the standard that had been set. And yeah, I pined for you. So what?"

"So what? You're just making me your next Lana!"

"Are you kidding me? When I was so hung up on Lana I had no idea who she was. She was the cute looking girl that lived close by. She was convenient. You have always been the total opposite of convenient! For years we were friends, begrudgingly, and I got to know you. The few times you let me in behind your walls before the attack I really liked what I saw, and you got in my head and eventually my heart. Do you think when I finally realized Lana was just an ideal that I simply moved on to the next girl?"

"It sure as hell sounds like it, Smallville!"

Chloe held up a hand. "Watch the language around Jack, Lo."

"Right, sorry." Chloe waited for her to look over and realize she was still there, but it seemed all the acknowledgment she was getting was an impersonal apology.

"I knew you, Lois. I really knew what you were like, issues and all, and I still wanted you. This wasn't a Lana redux because you displayed the good and bad for everybody to see, and when you were recovering you let me in for a little while. When I fell for you it was because of who you were, not because of what you looked like."

"Hey!"

"Ok, your looks didn't hurt things any, but that was supposed to be a compliment."

"Thank you, I think."

"But that is really not the point, Lois. First, I didn't think asking you out was risking our friendship. Secondly, I was willing to risk that bad date to see if we could be as good together as I thought we could. And I wasn't the only one: Chloe and my mom both thought that you and I could have a real future and pushed me to ask sooner rather than later."

Oh, that couldn't possibly be good. Chloe looked up from Jack to find Lois glaring at her. She smiled sheepishly.

"You've left that particular detail out previously, dear cousin."

"Have I? That particular detail may have slipped my mind. Pregnancy can do that to a girl."

"No no, Jack isn't getting you out of this one. You pushed him to ask me out?"

"Pushed is such a strong word. I may have intimated that I thought you two might mesh well as a couple once or twice when asked, but pushed him to ask you out? I'd say that's an exaggeration, and we both know how Clark can be a little over dramatic about these things..."

"Hey!"

"Well, that is true..."

"Again, hey! I am not over dramatic! Chloe, you and my mom ambushed me the weekend before I asked Lois out to get me to do just that." Chloe watched him turn to Lois as he continued speaking. "My mom has a key to my apartment and they let themselves in so that they could be there when I got home from running an errand. They double teamed me until I finally agreed to ask you out by the end of the week."

Lois frowned over at her a moment before she looked back at Clark and sighed. "Ya know, I'm a little surprised that Mrs. Kent would take part in such a thing. I can see why you gave in, though, because she's very good at being persuasive in a very deceptive manner."

"You didn't have to grow up with her. She's always been right about things. And, ya know, if she thought you and I together was such a good idea, who was I to argue against asking a woman I really liked out on a date?"

"So it wasn't all your idea to risk our friendship?"

"Lois, I never thought I was risking anything. I would've sworn we were strong enough to withstand the worst date."

Chloe watched as Lois stayed silent, her eyes locked with Clark as they watched each other longingly. Suddenly she vaulted herself into him, hugging him and making Chloe break out into a huge smile.

"God, I've missed you Smallville."

"I've missed you too, Lois."

After a minute they finally let go of each other and turned back to face Chloe, who still hadn't wiped the smile off her face. Clark was the first to speak.

"Uh, Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"I think Jack fell asleep."

Chloe quickly looked down to her son, who had indeed fallen asleep with her nipple half in his mouth. She gently pulled him away and covered herself up. Leave it to Lois and Clark to lull a baby to sleep with an argument. She was about to say something when Lois beat her to it.

"Smallville, I'm a little surprised. I would've bet you'd be blushing the first fifty times you saw Chloe breast feeding."

"Why? It's more or less the most natural thing in the world."

Chloe thought Lois looked a little impressed. "Fair enough, Smallville."

---

"Huh. Seems like we got a little cliché there for a while."

"Yeah, but it was worth it."

Lois thought for a second before speaking. "You really didn't blush when Chloe was whipping out the girls to feed Jack?"

She grinned as she watched Clark roll his eyes. She noticed Chloe had joined her in the grinning. "Yes, Lois. I was actually able to watch Chloe breast feed her son and not blush or stammer." He looked to Bruce and Chloe. "Why is it always so hard for her to believe that?"

"Because it's you, Clark. You used to get a little squirmy when it came to all things sexual, which does contain breasts. You know how shocked I was the first time I asked if you wanted to leave and you said you would if it made me uncomfortable. I just about fell over at the implication that I could feed Jack and you wouldn't start blushing and fidgeting."

"Thank you, Chloe. Bruce, would you like a turn?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Ok then," Lois said, "Chloe's boobs and their uses aside, what happened then?"

"We went back to Metropolis. When Perry saw that we could be ourselves with one another again, he put us back together as a team. He liked us as solo reporters, but loved the work we did in our short time as a team. Well, he loved you as a solo reporter but liked me a little better teamed with you, not that I'd ever complain about more time with you. Something about being glad to have somebody that would make sure you didn't so anything too risky."

"I've always done what it takes to get the story, risky or not. Exposing corruption and bringing justice about is rarely a clean task. Back on topic, though, how long was it before something happened between us?"

"Before we do that," Bruce interrupted, "how about we put the younger children down for the night?"

Lois looked at the nearest clock and was surprised at the time. They'd taken off from work a little early and had packed all their stuff the night before, so after they ate dinner they'd gotten to Gotham earlier than they'd figured, but time had passed quickly. She was surprised she'd gone so long without anything to eat.

"Sounds like a plan. After that, though, I'm thinking food is in order."

"Oh, good idea Lo. I'm thinking onion rings."

"Perfect." Lois turned to Clark, grinning. "Would you like to do the honors, Smallville?"

"Have I said no to anything pregnancy related yet?" He looked to Chloe. "To either of you?"

Ten minutes later, she and Chloe were both proud owners of multiple bags of onion rings and munching happily as they had put the children four and under to bed. Chloe handed one off to Jack as they all sat in the main living room.

Lois noted how much Jack looked and acted like Chloe had at the same age. He not only had inherited her hair, but her eyes and personality as well. She was having a hard time wrapping her head around the concept of a male Chloe, but Jack's friendly nature made any unease melt away. He was sitting on a couch between his parents across from Lois and Clark. She turned and spoke to Clark between bites.

"Does he know anything about my memory problems?"

Clark shook his head. "No more than any of the other kids. Given the fact that he's so much like his mother, though, I'm fairly certain we'll be telling him some of the broader details soon enough."

She smiled as he yawned, somehow looking even more like his mom when he did so.

"Ok buddy, you got thirty more minutes than all the girls, but I think it's time for you to get some rest as well."

"I'm not tired, dad."

"You never are, and yet I always seem to be carrying you up to bed after you fall asleep on the couch. Come on." Bruce pulled Jack up and then surprised him by throwing him over his shoulder as they walked up the stairs, each laughing. They soon disappeared from sight.

Lois looked back at Chloe, who wore a very content smile. "I never would have guessed Bruce would be such a good father. Well, I never thought he'd be a father, so I guess that's more the surprise than him being good at it. He's annoyingly good at everything. And you're a great mother from what I've seen, Chloe."

"You're not so bad yourself, Lois, as I may have said not too long ago. If I recall, you found that statement to be ridiculous."

Everything went quiet for a minute. Lois looked over at Clark, and he in turn looked over to her with a raised eyebrow. She smiled at him.

"Smallville, believe it or not, I always thought you'd be a good father, and you have far exceeded expectations." She leaned into him, letting her head fall on his shoulder.

"In more ways than one," she added quietly.