---- Chapter 57
Lois walked through the empty living room, looking at all the space that they were going to have to fill up starting that weekend. Four bedrooms in the main part of the house, one of which Clark told her would be an office, a living room larger than Chloe's and a den to go along with it, not to mention a basement with a huge living room area and a couple rooms of its own. The place was massive!
She found Clark leaning against a kitchen counter watching her, and she walked over to him. "How in the world are we going to fill this place, Smallville?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean this is a very large house! Our bedroom, Jordan's room, the office, the living room, and what will be AJ's room will all be covered. We'll need a big, nice looking table for the formal looking dining room, stuff for the den and a whole boatload of junk to go into that second home that passes for a basement. Seriously, it's almost as big as the apartment we're leaving behind. How did we even afford this place?"
"We got a good deal, Lo. With all the offers you've had from papers trying to woo you away from the Planet, you make probably half again what a highly overpaid journalist does, which is what we both are. Plus, there's a reason it's a thirty year mortgage and not four, though I do prefer to pay it off sooner rather than later. Interest is a killer."
Lois crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the counter across from Clark, staring out at the unadorned house. It was a great place. With all the houses around it being just as big, though, why the hell had Chloe needed to get theirs remodeled? "Did I at least have a plan for how we were going to make sure there weren't huge empty spaces in here before I forgot?"
"You did."
She looked over at him when he didn't speak again. "And it was... what?"
"Buy a whole bunch of stuff."
"Was I also on crack? We get pregnant, buy a giant home and then go on a spending spree? Yeah, people generally spend money on new things when they buy a new house, but this is going to be a LOT of new things. That's like the anti-smart in basic economics."
"Why are you..." She raised an eyebrow as he trailed off and a look of understanding came over him. "Of course you're confused about all this stuff. You have no idea how much money we've saved over the years and think we're gonna go belly up if we're not careful." Clark walked over and leaned up next to her, nudging her lightly with his shoulder.
"Look, I told you how much this place cost. What I didn't tell you is that we have enough in our savings to put down more than a third now and be fine with buying enough stuff to fill this place to the brim."
"Really?"
"Really. We've been pretty frugal over the years for no other reason than we wanted to be able to do something just like this if the need arose. Thus, here we are, lots of money down and money to buy stuff, too."
Lois looked back out at the empty house with new eyes. Instead of an empty house, she saw a house soon to be full of good things that would make the house a great place for her family. "Yeah, this house is going to be great."
"That's exactly what you said when we found it. Had that same look on your face, too. But, we made a deal. You got to do whatever you wanted with the main house, meaning this floor and upstairs, while the basement is mine."
She nodded, thinking about what exactly she wanted to do with the place. "Seems fair enough. You've had longer to figure out what you want to do with it, so what are your plans?"
"How do you feel about pool tables?"
"Love 'em. It's going to be a pleasure beating you at every opportunity."
"Hey, that's... probably true. For a guy with super powers, I am surprisingly bad at the game. But, I do think that I at least have an edge while you're pregnant."
Lois grinned up at him. "We'll see." With a glance at her watch, she sighed. "We should probably get going back to the Planet, Smallville. Perry never seems all that happy when we take a two hour lunch, and we're already headed that way."
Lois walked out to their car, waiting for Clark as he locked the door behind him and walked over to the car. She shook her head as he opened the car door for her, getting in as she rolled her eyes at his old fashioned sensibilities. When he got in, they took off back towards the Planet. Lois watched the Metropolis suburbs give way to the currently brown land between them and the city. She sat back in her seat, looking over at Clark as he drove.
"Here's a phrase no one wants to utter: what happened next in my life after your ordeal with Lex?"
He was quiet a second before speaking. "Twenty nine months of quiet."
"What? Nothing worth mentioning happened for nearly two and a half years? How is that possible, what with me being me and all my diving into things without looking?"
Clark shrugged as they exited off the highway and turned into the city. "I don't know. After Lex took his shot at Superman in early 2019, he kind of went into a remission of evil activities. It wasn't even that he wasn't trying anything evil, he just kind of stayed out of the public eye for a while. Completely anti-Luthor behavior."
"No kidding," Lois mumbled as she thought back to the diary. In August of 2020 she'd said that Lex had been laying low, but she didn't think that it would have lasted another year. "What could have prompted that?"
"Nobody knows. He doesn't answer questions about that time, except to say that it was very refreshing and a good period of growth for LexCorp, which it was. Not that he needed the extra revenue, but that's what happened."
Lois frowned and watched the passing buildings for a moment before Clark parked the car. Getting out, she rubbed at a twinge in her back before joining Clark as they walked into the building. "Twenty nine months, Smallville?"
"Twenty nine months, Lo."
They shuffled into the elevator with a couple other people, and after five floors were all by themselves again. Lois watched the floor numbers flashing as she spoke. "I guess, much like those years where you were traveling or training, whatever, I'll get filled in on that long blank stretch of time later. Right now, how about you relay the next major event."
The elevator doors slid open and they walked out into the bullpen, weaving through traffic until they got to their office, where they both took off their coats and hung them up. Lois walked over and stood behind her chair, staring blankly at her desk. "What do we have to work on?"
Clark sat down and flipped through some papers before looking up at her and spreading his hands out. "Nothing. We have no investigations and Perry hasn't assigned us anything. Doesn't mean he won't, but I think we probably could have spent more time at the house."
"Yeah, that occurred to me." Lois pulled her chair out, then thought about it a second before pushing it back in. "I'm going to see what Chloe's up to. Why don't you talk to Perry about stories. If he's got nothing, I say we actually go get some food instead of spending more time looking at the new digs."
"Digs? Really?"
"You heard me."
Lois walked out of the office and spanned the few feet to Chloe's office in a few steps. She knocked on the door once before walking in. "Hey Chlo, you wanna... whoops."
Lois winced as she caught an eye full of Chloe making out with Bruce behind her desk. Apparently they hadn't heard her knock, and certainly hadn't heard her speak as she walked in. Seeing a chance for revenge from the times Chloe had walked in on her and Clark, Lois smiled and cleared her throat. Nothing.
She cleared it a little more loudly. Still nothing. Jesus, did they lose the ability to hear when they kissed? She gave up on the throat clearing and just went to loud speaking.
"Hey!"
That snapped them out of it and Lois grinned as they broke apart, Chloe's face flushing more than it already was. Bruce looked calm and composed, as always, but this was one of the few times she could remember him not making eye contact right away. As good a sign as any that he was embarrassed. She spoke to them before they could say anything.
"Bruce, I'm sorry that I had to interrupt you two, but since Chloe felt the need to do the same to Clark and I a few times recently... well, you know how we are."
Chloe spoke before Bruce could. "Hey, you guys were always... I mean, this isn't the same thing..." Chloe trailed off, and with a dramatic sigh her head fell so she was looking at the floor. "Yeah, guess I should have seen this coming."
"Think of it this way: you're down to me only owing you two interruptions now."
"Well, that makes me happier than I was kissing my husband. Wait, no, that's a big fat lie." Chloe crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at her, forcing Lois to laugh.
"Be as indignant as you want, Chlo, but it's going to happen. Now, what I was going to ask, before I found you two connected at the lips, was if you were too busy to go get some lunch."
"We already ate, and before you make any jokes about eating each others lips, we ate lunch and we were just saying goodbye... by eating each others lips. Didn't you two go out for lunch and just get back like, three seconds ago?"
Lois shrugged. "We only grabbed a quick bite, nothing filling, because he took me to see the house. First time I actually got to see the inside."
"Don't you, you know, have to work?"
"Clark's looking into that. We don't have any investigations going at the moment, despite the fact that we probably could and should have started something since we published the city council story. Perry didn't assign us anything today either, so it hasn't exactly been the busiest day."
"Yes, well, some of us have work to do. I don't know why I was the one to get it, but Perry gave me the mushy piece on the ten guys starting on their group new years resolution to... uh..." Chloe looked up at Bruce and smiled sheepishly. "What'd I say it was?"
"The gentlemen resolved to raise money for AIDS research by walking from New York City to Los Angeles. They'll pass through Metropolis on the way, incidentally."
"Yes, well, that's when I get to do a follow up. Depending on how long it takes them, I may be on maternity leave by then. How long should it take to walk from New York to Metropolis?"
"I have no idea, cuz. Anyway, I'm going to go see Clark and find out if we have anything that we need to do. Enjoy yourselves."
Lois walked out of Chloe's office and shut the door behind her, allowing them to start up with their fun again as she walked back into her own office, only to find it empty. She turned around and walked back out, heading over to Perry's office. She walked in and found him sitting behind his desk.
"Has Clark been here?"
Perry looked up from whatever he was doing and frowned at her. "You'll never knock, will you?"
"Seems like a waste of time since I'll come in anyway."
"Of course. No, I haven't seen Clark. Generally the only people that ever know where he is are you and Chloe, and even then most of the time it's just you."
Lois smiled at him and leaned forward, her hands resting on the back of a chair. "I guess he got sidetracked. I asked him to come over here and ask you if you had anything you needed to assign since we're currently without anything to write. Since we do it for a living, we get bored if we come to the office and just sit around."
Perry scoffed. "You get bored if you come to the office and write your story. If you could do your writing while in the middle of investigating the next story, I'd never see you."
"Hey! While that used to be true, I am now content to not put myself in mortal harm for every story. Now it's every third or fourth investigation that requires me to be in a dangerous situation, and I find having a partner that isn't Chloe doesn't hold me back like I thought it would. Also helps that he's quite resourceful in a jam when people think they can bully a mild mannered reporter and his wife."
"Well, I'm sure Clark was happy to hear that you only require mortal peril in a third of your stories now, if you told him that." Lois bit her lip and looked away, and she heard Perry grunt. "I figured as much. Anyway, unless you want to cover sports, I don't have anything for you right now. You could always pair up with Chloe on her piece about the walking guys."
"That depends on if Chloe is still... busy. Also, I guess I'll wait on Clark before horning in on her story."
"Something's bound to come up, Lois. Be patient. Yes, I know I'm talking to you about being patient."
Lois rolled her eyes and walked out of the office to the sounds of Perry talking about her lack of patience. She made her way back across the office and to her office where after rifling through a couple of her drawers she found the loose change she always kept around. She shoved it into her pocket and made her way across the office once again, fighting through a traffic jam around the lifestyles section of writers and finally got to the snack machines.
A buck and a half for a bag of chips. Unbelievable.
Popping a chip in her mouth, Lois walked back, but instead of going into her own office she once again knocked on Chloe's door, this time loudly and waiting for an answer.
"Come on in, Lo."
She did just that, opening the door and walking in as she chewed on another chip. She made a show of looking around, grinning as she noticed Chloe rolling her eyes. "Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that Bruce wasn't hiding somewhere."
"He left just after you did. Where's Clark?"
"No idea. He never made it to Perry's office, so I assume he's out doing his thing somewhere. If it's in Metropolis, I may have something to do today."
"Lois Lane Kent without a story. What is the world coming to?"
Lois shook her head. "Nothing good, Chlo. Nothing good." She leaned over and offered Chloe the open chip bag, and Chloe took a few before saying thanks and sitting back in her chair. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Lois got bored and decided to strike up a conversation. Plus, this had been bugging her ever since Clark said it. "Was there really twenty nine months of nothing happening?"
"What?"
"After Clark recovered from being attacked by Lex and his goons, was there really twenty nine months of nothing major happening in my life, or at least nothing worth a story?"
"I, uh..." Chloe trailed off and started counting on her fingers for a moment before she looked back up. "Yeah, I guess twenty nine is about right." She shrugged. "It was a really quiet time. I guess the quiet before the storm, really, because the end of that twenty nine months is August of last year."
"Last year is six days ago."
"That's what I hear."
Lois rolled her eyes. "What's the next thing happening, then?"
Chloe sat back a minute, appearing to think about the question. "I would guess what Clark was talking about is Almond Joy. Our respective fetuses were both conceived that month. Heck, our fetuses were conceived the same week."
"That seems like it would be difficult to determine."
"Not really. Since Bruce and I were trying for our as of yet unnamed baby, we knew when I was ovulating. That makes it easy to figure out the rough date of conception for us, and since you and Clark had sex sans condom all of once, yours was REALLY easy to figure out."
"There's something Clark didn't tell me. When did he and I do it the old fashioned way?" Lois frowned when she realized what she had said. Old fashioned way?
Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Old fashioned way?"
"Yeah, I know. I said it before I thought about it, but it fits. Birth control and the like is a very recent thing, in the grand scheme of things. Therefore, the old fashioned way."
"Ok then. Yeah, why I can remember this and couldn't remember what the guys had done for their pledge earlier, who knows, but your night of doing it 'the old fashioned way,'" Chloe said with air quotes on the last part that made Lois sigh, "was August 8th."
"It is weird you remember that, but I appreciate it. Who knows when I'll see Clark again today." Just then, AJ kicked. Lois looked down at her stomach a second before looking back up. It wasn't exactly a rumbling tummy, but it did remind her she was hungry. "And really, I don't feel like paying for another bag of chips just to want another thirty seconds after I finish it."
She walked over to Chloe's phone and picked it up, dialing as she held the receiver between her ear and shoulder.
"Feel free to use my phone."
"Thanks. You want anything from Panda House?"
"Ooh, yeah, I'll take an order of kung pao shrimp, two egg rolls and an order of wontons."
Lois nearly dropped the phone when she heard all the food that Chloe wanted. "I asked you ten minutes ago if you wanted to go to lunch with Clark and I and you said that you'd just eaten."
"Well, that's true, but Chinese sounds good. Gimme a break, you act like you haven't eaten like crazy recently."
Lois was about to respond when the place finally answered. "Panda House, how may I help you?"
"I need to place a delivery order, please."
"Go ahead."
"Alright, I need an order of kung pao shrimp, an order of orange peel beef, an order of hunan beef, six egg rolls and two orders... no, three orders of wontons, please."
"Address?"
"Daily Planet, ask for Chloe Wayne at the front desk."
"Alright, your total is $43.42 before tip, should be there in about half an hour.
Lois hung up the phone and walked back around Chloe's desk, sitting down and crossing her arms over her chest. "You'd think that they could have cut down on how long food takes to be made and delivered in the years I can't remember."
"How long is it supposed to take?"
"Thirty minutes." Lois frowned at the blonde when she rolled her eyes. "Hey, I'm raising a valid point."
"No, you're hungry and impatient. As many learned when people in the 50's thought that we'd have flying cars by the year 2000, change comes slowly. Even with it being the year 2022, some things will never change, and I assume you being impatient and food taking a half hour to get made and be delivered are two of those things."
"I can be patient," Lois mumbled, "I just don't think I should have to wait for things that should be done more quickly."
Half an hour later, Lois had joined in on Chloe's AIDS walkers article. Lois had smiled when Chloe said that she didn't mind sharing a byline with her again, though they both wished that it was on something more substantial then a touchy-feely story, despite their admiration for the guys. The Chlo-Lo connection had broken big stories back in the day, or so she was told. She believed it.
They were able to kill time well until the front desk called up to say that a delivery man was there for Chloe. They had him come up, and a few minutes later they were digging in to the food.
"Hey, why'd you order the hunan chicken and third thing of wontons?"
Lois swallowed a bite of egg roll before answering. "Hunan chicken for Clark, if he comes back here or when he gets home, and the wontons are for Jordan. She really loves those things, something she and her mother share." Lois popped one in her mouth to accentuate the point.
"Hey! What'd I miss?"
Lois looked back over her shoulder as Clark walked into the office, smiling at both of them. "Smallville, nice of you to join us. Where'd you go?"
"Five alarm fire in Chicago that was starting to exceed the firefighters abilities to fight and threatening housing. I was able to stop it before it ruined any residences." He looked at all the food eagerly. "Did you get me anything?"
Lois pointed at one of the unopened containers with her fork. "Hunan chicken. I guess you can have some of the wontons I ordered for Jordan, but I would like for her to get some since she likes them so much."
He grabbed the last plastic fork and leaned back against the wall as he started eating. "So, guess I'll try this question again: I miss anything?"
Lois shook her head and spoke around a bite of her orange peel beef. "Not really. Perry still doesn't have anything for us, so I joined up with Chloe on a story about the guys that are walking from New York of Los Angeles to raise money for AIDS research."
Clark sighed dramatically as has swallowed a bite of his food. "I leave and the Chlo-Lo connection rides again? I should have known to try and keep you busy, Lo, or else you would ditch me for somebody else to get into craziness with."
"Keep me busy?" Lois rolled her eyes and moved around in her seat a little to find a more comfortable position. "What possible craziness could come from this story?"
Clark raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you trying that defense? Alright, what possible craziness could come from you two covering the opening of a new retirement home back in mid-2009?" Lois shrugged at him. "Exactly. There should be none, yet somehow you two managed to stumble into a mistreatment of the elderly story that encompassed three retirement homes in Metropolis."
"That's just having a good nose for news, Clark," Chloe said, and Lois nodded in agreement.
"Nose for trouble is more like it. I had to save you two from the owner of the homes that wanted to shut the two of you up for good so he could make his profit and do nothing to earn it."
Lois looked over at Chloe, who just shrugged and nodded, seeming to agree with him. Lois did the same, and that seemed to placate Clark into eating without further comment on their proclivity towards finding trouble and jumping into it. She wasn't ashamed to admit that she did jump into some stories without a plan, especially if it was something that she stumbled into, and that happened more often than not.
"Alright, our nose for news, trouble and whatever else aside, how about we get into the story that I requested earlier. It feels like things are being dragged out unnecessarily before we get to it."
"Am I allowed to finish my food first, or should I just speak around it?"
"Around it, Smallville."
He shrugged and took another bite, chewing for a moment and smiling at her before speaking. She glared at him as she bit down on an egg roll. He swallowed before speaking.
"Sunday, August 8th. A day which will live in... well, a day which gave us Almond Joy. Pretty good day in my book."
---
"Today has sucked, Smallville."
"What? It's been fine. There have been some rough patches here and there, but overall we've accomplished, say, half the things we set out to do."
Clark had a list thrust into face, making him back up a little from his annoyed wife. Apparently, not being able to get Jordan the presents she wanted to get her eleven days before her birthday was not something that sat well with her.
"Half the things we set out to do, Smallville? We set out to buy our daughter presents for her third birthday, which is rapidly approaching. We tend to live a busy life, too, and finding a full day for us to be out and shopping for her is difficult."
Clark gently took the list from Lois and folded it up before slipping it into his pocket. He took a step forward and looked Lois in the eye. "Everything is going to be fine, Lois. You don't need to stress yourself out about it. If we don't finish today, one of us can shop while the other stays with Jordan."
"Yeah, I guess." Lois sighed and leaned forward, letting her head rest against his chest. "I try not to get stressed out, but I want the best for her. I want her to love her childhood, and remember it fondly while I'm forgetting it."
"Come on, Lo, don't talk like that."
She sighed and pushed back, looking up at him. He had to hold himself back from pulling her into his arms and not letting go for a year or two. The longer she went without forgetting, the more it seemed to creep into his head that this could be the last day she actually did remember. He pushed that to the back of his mind and shook his head a little as he looked down at her.
"You've stressed out about the last two birthdays, too. Her only birthdays, of course, but you don't need to. Let's see if we can't get more of this shopping done, alright? Stress free, enjoyable shopping, which because it's shopping doesn't really exist, but you know what I mean."
She smiled and bit her lip as she looked up at him in that way that made him feel like he was no stronger than any other guy. "Maybe when we get home later, before you go pick up Jordan from the farm, we could do a little stress relief. What do you say... Clarkie?"
"I'd say that it's very unfair to start something we can't finish at the moment... Sailor."
Her eyes narrowed and she started looking around at everything but him. Clark suddenly realized just how many people were around them and cleared his throat. He wanted to say something, but didn't really have anything to say. Lois finally looked at him again. "Yeah, so I know that list by heart, and you have it, so, uh, why don't we go to opposite ends of the store for half an hour or so?"
Half an hour later, they met up at the check out lanes and bought a couple of the things they had wanted to get Jordan for her birthday. It was the fourth store that day since lunch, and as Lois had said, they'd found about half the things they wanted to get her. They'd hoped to have them all by the second.
When they got to the car, Clark held Lois's door open for her, then got in the passenger side and placed the bags in the back seat. "Where are we going next?"
"Home. At the rate we're going, it'll take three more stores to finish up the shopping and it's already four. I know we didn't start until one, what with me sleeping until ten and you taking Jordan to the farm after lunch, but I've had enough. As much as I love my daughter and doing things that make her happy, I like this plan of one of us staying with her while the other shops."
"I assume you'll be the one staying with her."
Lois nodded as they pulled out of the parking lot. "I am her mother. It's only right that I be with her as much as possible."
Clark bit back a laugh. For some unexplained reason since she'd last forgotten, she just hadn't liked shopping. It was very odd, since she'd only been indifferent to it before the attack. He took a deep breath and released it as he watched the road. "I don't mind doing the birthday shopping. Of course, since Jordan is at the farm during the week and I go get her, we can just let her eat dinner with mom and do the shopping together."
She glanced at him, glaring for a second. He smiled at her. "I'm kidding. You don't have to do any more shopping that you want to."
"It's not that I don't want to, I just don't want... to. I didn't really think that out before I said it, did I?"
"No, doesn't sound like it. Doing things and saying things before you think about them is one of the many reasons I love you, though."
A few minutes later, Lois had parked the car and they were riding up to their apartment in the elevator. Clark unlocked the door and led her in, taking the presents they'd bought for Jordan to their room and sticking them up in their closet. It seemed unnecessary, since she was turning three, but Lois had insisted. Apparently their daughter had a healthy inquisitive side and liked to go into their closet and dig around. Made sense with how much Jordan was already starting to sound and act like Lois.
Once he got the toys situated, Clark pulled off his shoes and pushed them into the corner before walking out of the closet and back into the bedroom. He paused a second before turning and heading towards the balcony, walking out through the door to find Lois sitting in one of the chairs, sipping a beer. He walked over and sat down in the chair next to hers.
"Where'd you get that?"
She took a quick sip before answering. "I picked up a six pack while you were getting Jordan Friday night. They'd actually been intended for the adults at Jordan's party, but I assume we'll probably hit the store between now and then."
"That does seem likely, yes." He reached over and took the beer from her, drinking a bit of it before handing it back.
"I know we've been over this before, Smallville, but why do you drink beer when you get nothing from it? I mean, I know you like the taste, but is it a fitting in thing?"
"No, mostly it's just the taste. Mostly the foreign stuff, but I guess that's a holdover from when I was traveling."
They sat in silence for a little while, sharing her beer until it was gone and they were just looking out at the horizon of buildings. The sun was starting to touch the tops of the tallest a little way off. He felt a hand entwine in his and looked over to find Lois staring at him.
"What?"
"Thinking about how lucky I've been." She rolled her eyes and looked back out at the buildings. "Lame, yes, but true. You've turned me into one of those women that thinks about how lucky she got."
"Am I getting the blame for that? I thought you were giving Jordan credit in that area."
"I thought about it, and I was leaning that way for a while, but when it came right down to it, I wouldn't have any of this without you. I keep thinking about things that I've been lucky enough to experience because I fell in love with a man that is unafraid to make me fall in love with him multiple times."
"Oh, I'm a little afraid sometimes, especially that first morning when you wake up without your memory. I never know how you're going to react. I've been in the room with you for it happening twice, and the only thing that really compares is disbelief. But, I remember that we're meant to be, and I push it to the back of my mind to focus on you.
"It lasts for about three seconds because I'm trying to help you, but the two times it's happened with me there, there's just been that little flash of 'What if she doesn't love you this time?' in the back of my head. Also, it's a little exciting to see your reactions to falling in love with me. Most people don't get that. Not the point, though. I guess we all have that little bit of insecurity that we never quite leave behind, and that little flash of doubt is mine."
She looked over at him again and shifted in her chair so that her whole body was facing him. "We do all have our insecurities, yes, but you'll never lose me. Even when I don't have my memory, I'm about three steps away from falling in love with you, and I'm going to keep telling you that until you know it as well as I do." She mad a show of looking him up and down. "Not being mopey really gives you the whole package deal of awesome."
"That's what I hear." He grinned and let go of her hand, reaching over to grab her chair and pull her closer to him. When their chairs bumped, he leaned over and kissed her, catching her by surprise if the squeak was any indication. She rarely squeaked. A second later, her mouth melted into his and he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
She pulled away from him a moment later and he grinned a little more as he took a few deep breaths, and heard her doing the same. "Have to say, you're way may awesome than I could ever hope to be, Lo."
"I thought that was a given." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back in for another round, something he seriously didn't mind. A few minutes later he was being led back into their room by the lips, his arms kind of just spread out wide in a 'What's going on?' kind of gesture. Not the best use of them, probably, but had he tried to use them to pull her closer they wouldn't have made it to the bed. Again.
He slid the door closed with his foot and they slowly crossed the five feet to the bed, and he spun them as they fell so he wouldn't fall on top of her. This would be one of the least opportune moments for him to squish his wife. There was no opportune time for that, really, and he would avoid it if at all possible.
Lois starting pulling at his shirt and he raised his arms up above his head, breaking contact with her for a second as it was pulled over his head. He got her shirt off at the same time, not wanting to have to waste time and remove his lips from her again. The less he had to do that, the better. Why hadn't he lived by that theory?
He snapped back to what was happening as he felt her hands working at his pants, and he started with the same, but groaned when the annoyingly small buttons on her pants kept slipping through his grip. Why couldn't she wear pants with real buttons on them?
His pants were undone and Lois started kissing along his jaw, slowly working toward that spot where...
When had they both lost all their clothes?
"Why do you always super speed us naked when I kiss you there?"
Clark looked up to Lois's face and found her raising an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. "No idea. You'd think that you'd stop kissing me there if you wanted to take some time undressing me."
"If I wanted to waste time pulling clothes off of you, I wouldn't kiss you there every time. I like the naked a lot better than the half naked. I was just wondering why that spot causes you to go crazy. I mean, there are any number of things that are better for driving you crazy, say biting your earlobe, or that spot I love where neck meets shoulder or..."
Clark pulled Lois down into another searing kiss and soon found himself reaching to Lois's bedside table for a condom. He opened the drawer blindly, not finding himself with the willpower to look away from Lois, and dug around in it for a moment before he finally did have to turn his head and look. He about cried at what he saw.
"We're out of condoms."
Lois frowned and looked at the drawer like it had offended her. She moved off the top of him and he watched her as she dug around in the drawer for herself. He definitely wasn't watching her hands. Clark turned his head away covered his face with his hands, quickly wishing that he hadn't super sped them both naked.
"Oh for... who cares, Smallville?"
He took one hand off his face and eyed her for a moment with one eye. She appeared serious about what she said. She generally was serious about things when she was naked. "Lo, last time we made love without some form of birth control we ended up with a daughter. Granted, you were taking a shot at the time because of what you called baby fever, but still, one time without, one daughter as a result."
"Oh come on... Clarkie."
Clark gulped and had to hold himself back from pulling her over to him. She was trying to bait him into it, and that was a damn good way to do it. "Lois, we need to..."
"If something results from this, Smallville, I'm all right with it."
Clark sat up. "What? Are you being serious?"
"Yeah, actually." Lois sat back against the headboard, looking at him and smiling softly. "I, uh... actually, I think I'm ready to have another baby. Wow, there's something I never thought I'd say. I'm not saying let's procreate right this minute, but if it were to happen, I'd be happy."
Clark worked his jaw a couple times, wondering if he'd heard correctly. Well, of course he'd heard correctly, but what he'd heard didn't seem to be making sense in his head. He hadn't even thought about being ready to add another member to their family himself, let alone if she would be ready to. Maybe his lack of comprehension was because she was naked. It was hard to focus on serious topics when she was naked.
"Wow. I... are you sure, Lois? Like I said, the one time in our relationship we've done this sans pill or condom, it resulted in a baby. Six weeks from now we could be the parents of a three year old and a six week old embryo."
Lois looked away from him and smiled a little wider. She stared off into the distance for a moment before speaking softly. "I think I'd like that, Clark." She looked at him and sighed what he thought was happily. "I think I'd like that a lot."
He smiled back at her. "I'd like that too."
They sat there and smiled for a minute or two, and suddenly Lois raised and eyebrow at him. "Ya know, if we're actually going to do this, we're going to have to get a little closer to each other."
"You have a point, Sailor."
Her eyes narrowed and she launched herself at him, and he moved slightly so she wouldn't break herself as she crashed into his chest. Quick even to his eye, she was kissing down his chest and biting his left nipple, quickly licking it afterwards in a soothing gesture. He pulled her up and quickly returned the favor, eliciting a moan from her.
In what seemed like a blink but was about ten minutes later, Clark had moved into Lois and was doing his best to move slowly, trying to tease Lois in a way she really enjoyed teasing him most of the time. She growled at him and moved her hips in time with his, giving cues for him to speed up but he refused to do so.
His mind flashed back to the night they'd made Jordan for a second, to how slowly he'd taken things then because he'd thought Lois just wanted a special night after what had been a special day. That had been perfect.
Grinning, Clark let himself move a little quicker, and felt Lois start contracting around him. He stopped for a second when she cried out until she asked why he'd stopped. This happened again moments later, and he shocked himself by actually holding back through it. The third time, though...
He breathed her name as he came, looking her in the eye as she pulled him down for a gentle kiss. He smiled through it, unable to do anything else. He always smiled when he was with Lois.
---
"Well, at least I didn't have baby fever this time."
"There is no such thing as baby fever."
Lois looked at Chloe, realizing that they were still in her office. Had Clark really just told her about when they had conceived AJ with her cousin sitting right there? She figured it wasn't too surprising, considering she'd apparently been in the delivery room with Chloe when the twins were born.
"If I say I had baby fever, Chlo, then I had baby fever."
Chloe rolled her eyes before speaking. "You had love, Lo, and you had examples of happiness involving children very near to you. It's the same social phenomenon that I assume afflicts the numerous women of the world that claim they don't want children only to find themselves wanting children."
"Whatever it was, it doesn't matter. This one," Lois said as she pointed at her stomach, "had nothing to do with baby fever. He is just the result of loving parents ready for another baby."
"Indeed. I..."
Lois looked at Clark as he trailed off and got that far off look she'd come to recognize so well. "What is it?"
"High speed chase. I'll see you when it's finished." Clark kissed her on the cheek and jogged out of the office. Lois watched him go until he was out of sight, then relaxed back into her chair. She popped open a fortune cookie and pulled out the fortune before popping the cookie in her mouth. She read the fortune and laughed.
"What does it say, Lo?"
"'A thrilling time is in your immediate future.' Clark probably won't be happy about that."
She watched as Chloe grinned and spun around once in her chair. "No, but that isn't so much a fortune for you as it is a given."
Lois winked at her cousin. "I know. Say, wanna go follow a high speed chase?"
