---- Chapter 60

"Knock knock!"

Lois walked into Chloe's house as she spoke, still carrying Jordan. Fortunately, the little girl hadn't fallen asleep, but she didn't seem like she was going to be all that energetic anytime soon either. As she walked a little deeper in the house, Chloe popped out of the kitchen and smiled at her.

"You let her nap, didn't you?"

Lois nodded. "As I seem to have said to myself and other people like five times today, it's better than having her fall asleep in the middle of dinner. I have this mental image of her head falling over into mashed potatoes."

"Since we're not having mashed potatoes, she should be safe." Chloe walked around a little bit so she could see Jordan's face. "Hey you. Your cousins are upstairs playing if you want to join 'em."

Lois felt Jordan shake her head, and looked over at Chloe. "She's been unhappy about waking up. Being a little grump, aren't you Jordan?" All she got was another head shake in response. As Chloe faced her again, she rolled her eyes a little before following into the kitchen. She watched Chloe walk over to a big bowl of salad and start mixing it up. "Ooh, leaves. What else you putting in?"

"Tomato, cucumber, feta cheese, a little red onion and some olives."

"Yeah, that actually doesn't sound half bad. Little more fancy than the bags of salad you used to have, though."

Chloe carried the bowl over to another counter and smiled at Lois. "Like I told you, I actually make a pretty good salad now. It helps that I've had Alfred and a chef or two over the years to teach me, but I can make more than just the one."

Lois shifted Jordan over from one shoulder to the other before speaking to Chloe. "I assume Bruce or somebody else does most of the actual cooking, though."

"You assume correctly."

Lois watched Chloe work a moment before speaking to Jordan. "Baby girl, I'm sorry if you've inherited my inability to cook. It is certainly not something I hope I passed on. Hopefully, you'll be like your dad and be a great cook."

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"I appreciate the heads up." Lois put Jordan down and she walked away, leaving her alone with Chloe. She walked over and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard, filling it with water and drinking some of it. "You want a glass, Chlo?"

"I'm fine, thanks." She looked at her watch and looked back at Lois. "Steaks should be ready in the near future. What do you think the chances are Clark is going to join us?"

"I wish I knew. I don't know how long it takes him to do these things, at least not anymore. I don't know how many toxic cleanups he's done."

"He doesn't do a lot of them, truthfully. There was a big oil spill a couple years ago he helped with, which kept ecological damage minimal, and there's been one here and there that he's worked on. They don't happen all that often, so it's not something I've ever timed like I did him helping pull cats out of trees."

"We could always check and see if the spill made the evening news, maybe see if he's still there or not."

Chloe nodded and Lois walked out to the living room with her cousin in tow. She grabbed the remote and flipped to a local channel, finding that the spill was indeed getting coverage. They had live shots from a helicopter looking down at the middle of it, where Superman seemed to have frozen the ground where the spill had happened and was digging it up.

"Ya know, I don't think I give Smallville enough credit for his smarts. Though the ground was probably pretty cold to begin with, freezing it outright to keep the puddled toxins from seeping in and digging up the ground to keep what did from going deeper is good thinking."

"We married very smart men, Lois."

"I'm getting that."

They both stood there and watched the news for a few minutes as it periodically switched back to coverage of the spill. The other things going on locally were pretty boring, and the national stories didn't get more than a couple minutes of coverage. When Jordan joined them, Lois changed the channel and pulled her close.

"When's dinner, mommy?"

Chloe answered before Lois could. "Soon, Jordan. Your uncle Bruce is out cooking the steaks with Jack right now. Say, why don't you and I go upstairs and get your cousins so they can wash up for dinner?"

"Ok." Jordan took Chloe's outstretched hand and they walked up the stairs, disappearing from view. Lois stood there a second before turning and walking towards the back of the house. She slid the backdoor open, walking out into the night's chill and stopping when she got next to Bruce, Jack and the grill. The smell of the steak assaulted her nose in a very pleasurable way.

"Hi, aunt Lois."

"Hey there, Jack. How's the steak looking?"

"Good. Dad's teaching me how to make a good t-bone. Last time I tried they got burned, so he's cooking and I'm watching."

Lois smiled and ruffled his blond hair a bit. "Don't worry, your mom does the same thing whenever she cooks, and so do I. You come from a family of people that are not skilled in cooking, and generally leave it to others to do it for them."

"You also come from a family that hasn't always cooked for itself, Jack, and I want you to be able to make your own meals."

"I like trying to cook, dad, but I think I need more practice."

"I think you do, as well. I also think that instead of starting you off big again, we'll work our way up. Starting with hot dogs this time seems like a good idea."

Lois watched Bruce smile down at him before flipping the steaks over. The heat from the charcoal felt good on her face as it combated the wind that was moving across her face. She looked from Jack to Bruce to the grill, then looked up at the night sky. She couldn't see all that many stars this close to the city, but it was a little better than it had been at the apartment. She'd gotten used to the stars at the Kent farm, and in Smallville in general. It was still hard to believe how long ago it was and how recent it seemed.

"The steaks will be ready in about five minutes, Lois."

"They already smell delicious, but you're the cook. I'll let Chloe know and we'll get the table set."

Lois walked back inside the house, finding Chloe already working on setting the table. She heard the television on in the living room, looked over and found all the girls sitting down on the floor, watching a cartoon she didn't recognize. She looked back to Chloe. "I was just coming in to help with that."

"Don't worry about it, I'm almost done. You can grab the salad, though."

Lois walked into the kitchen and grabbed the big bowl and walked back out to the dining room, setting it down as Chloe pulled the flower filled centerpiece up and put it on a nearby counter. "Bruce say how long the steaks were going to be?"

"Five minutes about a minute ago, so four minutes or so." Just as she finished, Bruce and Jack walked in with the steaks. Lois scowled. "I can't have lost all sense of time. They're in early."

"We are," Bruce said as Jack carried the plate of steaks and put it down on the table. "My previous estimate of how long it would take was a bit off."

"Hey, so long as the food is done, I'm alright with it." Lois looked over at the girls. "Come on, young women folk, time for dinner."

"Young women folk? You been watching westerns, cuz?"

"No more than usual." Lois waited while Jordan ran over and helped her into her chair before taking the one next to it. She sat down and had a steak placed on her plate by Bruce, whom she smiled at. She pulled Jordan's plate over and started cutting up her meat into small pieces, handing one over to her as everybody started eating.

Pushing Jordan's plate over in front of her again, Lois started in on her own steak. It was awesome. "Bruce, this is great. Absolute top grade steaks and even better grilling."

Dinner passed quickly, Lois inhaling her steak and Jordan's leftovers along with a couple helpings of salad. Chloe really did make a good bowl of leaves, especially when it had all the feta cheese on top of it.

They were all relaxing in the living room, Lois talking with Chloe and Bruce and all the kids reading or coloring when there was a knock at the door and Clark walked in. Lois got up off the couch to greet him. "That was some cleanup, Smallville. We saw you on the news earlier."

"Yeah, there was all sorts of fun stuff that got spilled off the train. Once I made sure everybody was safe, I started getting everything dug up and... well, there was a lot of ground to cover, even for me. I guess you guys ate already?"

"We did. If you check the fridge, though, you'll find a whole, juicy steak in there for you. I had to pry it away from Chloe, and myself, but it got saved just for you."

"God, I love you Lois." Clark pulled her close and kissed her in a toe curling fashion, and was gone into the kitchen before she'd even realized what happened. Opening her eyes to be met with nothing but air, Lois came down off her tip toes and took a deep, calming breath before walking into the kitchen.

"Smallville, if you're going to kiss me like that, no whooshing away in the middle of it!"

He smiled back at her sheepishly after he'd warmed up his steak. Apparently his heat vision was faster than a microwave. "Sorry, I just worked up an appetite with the cleanup and our... activities, before that."

"Well, I understand that," Lois said, more to herself than him. She'd downed a banana and four grilled cheese sandwiches immediately following their activities that afternoon. Hell, she'd known then that it was only a snack in front of a real meal. She followed him out of the kitchen and into the dining room, sitting down next to him and he started on his steak.

"There's salad in the fridge, too, if you want me to get you some."

"No, thank you."

Lois watched him eat, quickly, and soon they were in the living room, sitting down on a couch as Chloe moved over to the chair Bruce was in and sat with him. "Alright, so it's a nice, peaceful night. How about you guys tell me the next big thing that happened. There can't be much left, really."

"There isn't," Clark said. "We almost have you all filled in. I guess the next thing that happened was finding out that you were pregnant. You got a little bit of it when Jordan told a story, but I can fill you in on what happened before and after that."

---

Clark walked out of the stairwell, adjusting his tie as he let the door close behind him. The noise of it didn't disturb anybody in the bullpen, getting drowned out by the chatter and televisions running every news channel available. Footage of the airplane he'd just saved from crashing in Arizona was playing on most of them.

He wove his way through the bullpen traffic, bumping into a couple people here and there to keep up appearances, and pushed his glasses up on his nose as he reached his desk. His smile melted into curiosity as he spotted Lois with her head resting on her desk across from him.

"Hey, you alright, Lo?"

"Tired," he heard mumbled. She lifted her head up and shook the hair out of her face. "Been exhausted all day. May as well not have slept last night, the way I feel."

"Well, we were up kinda late."

She smiled at him, but shook her head at the same time. "That's an entirely different, much better kind of exhaustion, and one I can usually ignore once the day gets going. This is very much not going away and making me feel extremely lethargic. I hate being lethargic at work."

"I know. You tell me that every day that lethargy overtakes you. It's not that often, but it is out of the ordinary so I try not to forget it." He watched her flop back in her chair, letting her head roll back so she was staring at the ceiling. "Do you want me to get you some coffee?"

"I had some right after you left. As of yet, no dice. Maybe I have a stomach bug or something, because the Chinese we had for dinner last night didn't sit quite right."

Stomach bug. Stomach bug? God, he knew he'd heard her say that before but he couldn't place it. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose for a second, trying to place it, but it wouldn't come to him. He hated the feeling of knowing something but not being able to think of it. He pushed it to the back of his mind and sat down, still looking at Lois.

"Why don't you take a half day? I can write the plane story, if Perry gives it to us, though he'll probably just use the AP story, and our meeting with the source on the city council contracts got delayed until Monday morning. Head home and grab a nap."

"That's probably not a bad idea. If I do that, I'll be awake tonight when you bring Jordan home instead of being zombie mom. On the other hand, I hate not being here if any big stories break, and Chief hates it too." She held her hands up, using them as scales. "Daughter," she said as her right hand hovered, "or big story." Her left hand did the same, and she smiled at him. "Not even a choice. When do you think you'll be home?"

"Depending on circumstances, probably between six and seven."

"The usual. Why'd I even bother asking?"

He smiled at her as she got out of her chair, pulling her bag out of the bottom drawer of her desk. "I think it's because you like to know when your daughter is getting home."

She walked around the desks and kissed him on the forehead. "You're probably right. Love ya, Smallville."

"Love you too, Lo."

He watched Lois as she walked away, smiling at her as the elevator doors closed. After a moment, he got up out of his chair, rubbing at his neck a moment before walking over to Perry's office. He knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Clark walked in, spying Perry rub at his temples. He closed the door behind him. "Something wrong, Chief?"

"Besides you and Lois still calling me Chief, no more than the usual stress of the job. The rubbing doesn't actually do anything to make me feel any better, but the action has become my way of thinking things through over the years."

"Then why haven't I seen you doing it more?"

"Because I usually wait until I get home. I just needed to think something through a little earlier today. What brings you to my office, Kent?"

"I just wanted to tell you that Lois is taking the afternoon off. She's exhausted and thinks she might have a stomach bug or..."

Clark trailed off, quite suddenly remembering when it was Lois had said stomach bug before. It had been when she was hiding her pregnancy from him. Was she hiding it again? When had it been that they'd gone unprotected... six weeks ago? Wouldn't she have missed her period in that time? But the exhaustion...

"Kent!"

Clark blinked and looked up at Perry. "What'd you say, Chief?"

"Apparently nothing that you're going to remember. You drifted off for a moment there. Everything ok?"

Clark ran a hand through his hair, trying to think. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Look, I just remembered something I need to do. Do you mind if I take the afternoon off as well?"

"You'll probably disappear anyway, per usual, so go ahead. If anything big happens and I don't have you and Lois around, there will be hell to pay tomorrow."

"There always is, Chief. See ya tomorrow."

Clark walked out of the office, passing by his desk without a second thought as he made his way towards the closing elevator. He didn't make it before it closed. He waited impatiently for a moment until another elevator came up, and got in. He waited impatiently for it to get to the ground floor and got out as soon as it did, apologizing to a woman he bumped into as he walked outside.

Looking around, he walked a couple blocks until he found a store. Walking inside, he smiled at one of the cashiers as he walked by and onto the aisle with the pregnancy tests. He grabbed one and took a step before stopping. If it came up positive, he wasn't sure that she'd believe just one. He grabbed four more off the shelf and made his way to the front, getting into the aisle with the cashier he'd smiled at. She looked at all the tests and back up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"I think my wife might be pregnant."

She nodded, and a moment later he was all checked out and carrying a bag instead of a bunch of pregnancy tests. He ducked into a nearby alley, quickly changed clothes and took off, passing their apartment and heading towards the farm. He landed a moment later, changing into his suit again as he walked into the house.

"Mom? Jordan? You guys around?"

"Daddy!" Clark put the bag down on the counter as Jordan ran up to him, jumping into his arms. He swung her up into a hug, smiling as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey there, sweetheart. How are you?"

"Good. Grandma and I are coloring."

Clark walked with Jordan into the living room, finding his mom on the floor coloring, as advertised. She looked up at him and smiled. "Hi, Clark. What brings you around this early in the day?"

No point in getting her hopes up for another grandchild if there wasn't actually one. "Lois decided to take a half day today, and after talking to Perry I figured I would too so we could have a little midday family time."

"I can understand that. Jonathan and I always liked spending the day with you when you were Jordan's age, and older. Why don't you guys come out here this weekend?"

"We'll come out to the farm next weekend, mom. We told Chloe we'd spend this one in Gotham with the Wayne's. Why don't you come with us?"

"I don't want to impose, Clark. I'm lucky that I get as much time with you, Lois and my granddaughter as I do." She got up off the floor and walked over, kissing Jordan and him on the cheek. "Go, be with the family you've made. I know how precious that can be."

Clark smiled at her, returning the cheek kiss. "Love you, mom. I'll call you tonight."

Grabbing the bag as he walked out with Jordan, he put her down on the porch for a second as he changed into his Superman suit before picking her up again. "You ready to fly, Jordan?"

"Yeah!"

A few minutes later, they landed on the balcony of the apartment. Clark put Jordan down and opened the door, letting her into the apartment. He spotted Lois on the couch with her hand in between the cushions before she pulled it out, looking at him inquisitively. "What's going on, Smallville, and what's in the bag?"

Changing back into his work suit, he loosened his tie and pulled it off as he sat down next to her. He watched Jordan as she sat down and opened a coloring book, picking up where she'd left off at the farm. "You ok on your own for a few minutes, Jordan?"

Jordan nodded, not looking up from her coloring. Clark took Lois's hand and led her into their bedroom, leaving the door open a little as Lois turned around and faced him.

"You want me to be zombie mom, don't you?"

"What? Oh, no. Well, yes, but not why you think. I have a theory on why you're feeling the way you do."

She gestured at him with a hand. "Do tell, Smallville."

"I think you're pregnant."

Her eyebrows climbed up her forehead as her mouth opened a little, but no sound came out of it. A second later, she shook her head. "What? Are you serious?"

"The only other time you've ever used the term stomach bug with me was when you were covering up your pregnancy with Jordan."

"But I haven't suspected anything!"

"I know, I know. Maybe it's subconscious. We've had plenty of experience with that sort of thing."

Lois frowned for a second before looking down at the bag. "What's in there?"

"First, answer a few questions for me. We already know you've been fatigued, but have you had to go to the bathroom a lot lately?"

"Yeah, but I drink a lot of water, so I always seem to go a little more than most people. Next?"

"Have your breasts been swollen?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms over her breasts before she answered. "Yeah, but they always get that way before my period, Smallville. You know that."

Apparently, this was not going to be a day where she made things easy. "Fine. I have an easy way of figuring this out that requires no questions." Clark walked over and dumped the bag out on the bed, showing her the five pregnancy tests.

"Wow. You really think I'm pregnant, don't you?"

"Call it a hunch." Grabbing one of the tests, he opened it up and handed it to her. "It's very easy. They use blood now instead of urine. Just hold it to your finger, push the little green button and wait fifteen seconds."

Frowning at him, she grabbed the test and held it to her finger, pushing the button as she did so. "I can't believe you think I'm pregnant because of a bunch of random things that can be otherwise explained, Smallville." The thing beeped and she looked down at it.

Her eyes suddenly went wide. She grabbed another test and opened it, holding it to her finger and not looking at him as she pushed the green button. It beeped and she looked at it, apparently finding the same result. "Holy crap."

Clark smiled. "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

"No smiling yet, Smallville." She handed him a pregnancy test as she opened one. "You're going to do that one on me while I also do one."

Rolling his eyes, he did as she asked, and fifteen seconds later there were four positive pregnancy tests. Lois ran both of her hands through her hair, looking up at him. "Wow. I... I just... wow."

He pulled her into a hug, smiling as she wrapped her arms around him. He felt his shirt getting wet, and looked down at her. "Are you alright, Lo?"

"Yeah," she mumbled into his chest. She pulled away from him, smiling. "I'm happy, Smallville. I know, the crying isn't generally a happy thing for me, but this feels like a crying because I'm happy kind of occasion."

He pulled her into another hug, unable to suppress his grin. "Yeah, it does feel like that. We're gonna have a baby, Lo."

"A little you, Smallville."

"Based on history, I'm thinking it more likely we get a little you."

She laughed and pulled away again, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. "God, that's still a scary thought, even with a kid under our belt. I can't believe that all it took was that one time back in August."

"It only took once to conceive Jordan, too."

"Yeah, I remember you saying that." She laughed a moment. "When I said I was ready for another baby I didn't actually think it was going to happen that time! It takes most people months, and we get it in one shot." She started laughing, but it sounded a little more forced. "We picked a hell of a thing to be good at."

She went silent a moment before speaking again. "Last time I was pregnant, I lost my memory. Fortunately, that was also the last time I forgot. It was... what? Three and a half years ago?"

"Three years, six months, eight days. Your second longest and counting."

"Sounds right. So, yeah... my time was probably limited anyway." She smiled up at him sadly, crossed her arms and walked out of the room. Clark caught up to her halfway through the living room, wrapping his arms around her from behind and resting his head on hers gently. He wished he knew what to say. She spoke before he could.

"If it has to happen, Smallville, this is the best reason for it. Losing my memory because of a baby... I'd rather it be that instead of just a random loss. This makes it all seem a whole lot less pointless." She turned around in his arms. "I love you. Even when I don't remember, I love you and just haven't figured it out yet. When it happens... remember that."

"I know. I wish..." He sighed and kissed her shoulder. He didn't know why he kissed her shoulder, but it had happened and he went on. "If it makes you feel better, I enjoy brining you around to that conclusion, as hard as it can be to see you so lost."

Lois laughed, then looked over at Jordan, who he noticed was still sitting and coloring. Jordan smiled, and Lois smiled back at her, wiping a tear from her cheek. She walked over and scooped her up into a hug. Jordan wrapped her arms around her neck, hugging her back.

"I love you, baby girl. No matter what, no matter when and in spite of everything else in the world, you are my daughter, and I love you more than anything."

"I love you too, mommy."

Clark walked over and wrapped them both in a hug. "And I love you guys, too." After a moment, he let both of them out and Lois put Jordan down. She went back to coloring and Clark followed Lois to the kitchen. She grabbed a glass and filled it up with water, taking a drink before speaking.

"So, when am I going to get hit by the morning sickness?"

"I don't know. It could be soon, since you're about six weeks along. I don't remember when it started last time, exactly, because somebody didn't want to tell me right away."

She rolled her eyes. "Once again, my actions come back to bite me in the backside. I guess this explains why the Chinese didn't sit right last night, though." She took another sip of water, walking passed him into the living room. "I think, though, that we should go out for a big dinner tonight to celebrate."

"Where do you want to go, mommy?"

Clark smiled as Lois kneeled down next to Jordan "I want to go wherever you want to go, baby girl, because you are going to have a little brother or sister."

"I am?"

Clark walked over and got on the floor with them. "You are, Jordan. We just found out a little while ago."

Lois took Jordan's hand in hers and placed it on her stomach. "I know you can't feel it or see it, but your hand is right where the baby is. He or she is going to get bigger and bigger as time passes." She frowned at Clark for a second. "I remember the bigger part. Hopefully this one won't be quite as big as that one."

"I guess we'll see, won't we?"

"We will."

"Anyway," Lois said as she looked back to Jordan, "the new baby does mean some things are going to change."

Clark decided to chime in. "Like no more coffee for mommy, because she does things all or nothing."

Her head spun so quickly to focus on him that he barely saw the motion. The glare he got was all kinds of scary, but he held the fear in check and held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. How did Jordan look at it and not wither? "Sorry. Too soon to mention that?"

"No," she growled. "I just don't like the fact." She took a deep breath and her glare changed into a smile. She leaned over and kissed him softly, then pulled Jordan close. "It's alright, though, because we're having a baby. Never been happier to give up anything in my life."

---

"So my main early pregnancy sign is being tired?"

"More like exhausted. You were really having trouble staying up past ten most nights until about the time you lost your memory."

Pulling herself up off the couch, Lois stretched and covered her mouth as she yawned. "I think listening to that story made me tired. I have a cure, though." Lois walked out of the living room and into the kitchen, opening up Chloe's freezer and finding chocolate ice cream. Smiling, she grabbed it and a couple spoons before heading back into the living room. "Ice cream: guaranteed to make the tired take a break for a little while as it gets overwhelmed by taste."

"I like your thinking, cuz." Chloe got up from Bruce's lap and walked over, taking the extra spoon from her and sitting down on the couch on the opposite side as Clark. Lois got a big scoop of ice cream and held it up.

"Cheers, Chloe."

Chloe got a big scoop and tapped it against hers. "Cheers, Lois."

They both downed their bites and Lois, figuring he might want some, scooped a bit of the ice cream and held the spoon out to Clark, who leaned over and quickly took the bite. He smiled at her and swallowed before speaking. "If you don't eat ice cream quickly around here, you don't get any."

About two seconds after he'd spoken, a bevy of children had surrounded her and Chloe asking for bites of the dessert. AJ even decided to get in the game by kicking a bit. Apparently Clark was right. She and Chloe doled out bites while also getting some for themselves, and very quickly the ice cream had disappeared, leaving only an empty cartoon behind as a farewell.

"That did not last long."

"Like Clark said, you better eat it quickly or it's going to be gone."

"I'll keep that in mind next time," Lois said as she got up and took the empty carton to the trash. Walking back into the living room, she noticed Jordan yawn widely as she colored. When it happened again a moment later, she didn't bother sitting down and walked over to Jordan.

"You look sleepy, baby girl."

"Can we stay until I finish my picture?"

"How about we stay until your next yawn, alright?" When Jordan yawned in response, Lois smiled. "Held out as long as you could, didn't you? Let's go get your coat and you into it." She pulled Jordan up onto her feet and walked over with her, grabbing the coat off of a peg and getting it snug on Jordan. Lois picked her up and got her settled before walking back into the living room.

"You guys headed out?"

"Yeah, I want to get this one down while she's sleepy. With the late nap, I thought it might be late before she started with the yawning." Clark started getting up off the couch but Lois waved him back down. "Finish what you were talking to Bruce about. I can do this."

"You sure? She's one of my favorite things to help you with."

"I'm sure, Smallville." Lois turned to Chloe and Bruce. "Bruce, you headed back to Gotham tomorrow?" He nodded. "Alright, have a good flight then. Chloe, I'll see you at work in the morning."

"Before you go, cuz, I was thinking, do you want to leave Jordan here a couple times a week with the girls? I know they'd enjoy it."

"Yeah, that should be alright. What do you say, Smallville?"

"Should be fine. I'll talk to mom tomorrow morning. I don't know if she's going to enjoy the extra time or be mad at me for taking her only granddaughter away from her for part of the week. Probably the latter."

"I'm not going to the farm anymore?"

Lois turned her head and looked at Jordan. "You're still going to go to the farm most days, but how would you feel about spending two days every week here with Aly and Liz?"

"Alright."

"I thought so, too. Let's get you to bed."

"I won't be long, Lo." Lois smiled at him and walked out of the house.

The walk back to their house didn't take long, Jordan resting her head on her shoulder as they walked. The night had chilled even further, making Lois have to flex her hands a bit as she walked. One of these days she was going to have to remember to own a pair of gloves. Maybe she already did, who knew.

Closing the door behind her, she wasn't shocked to find that Jordan had fallen asleep in the minute walk to the house. She hadn't been her usual energetic self all evening, not after the nap. When she got to Jordan's bedroom she got her coat off, along with her clothes, and got her in pajamas, all without her waking up. She wished she could still sleep like that.

Shedding her own coat, she tossed it on her bed and slipped into some pajama pants and the plaid flannel she slept in more often than not of late. Sighing at the comfort of the clothes, Lois walked downstairs and into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and drinking a little of hit before heading into the living room. They still didn't have their television set up so there really wasn't much to do in the room unless she unpacked. Blech.

Looking around the room once more before heading up to read in bed, Lois stopped when she noticed the diary sitting on the chair. Had she left that there earlier? Jesus, talk about careless. Hiding things in plain sight was all well and good, but generally they had to blend in. This was a diary on a chair.

Grabbing it, she walked upstairs and turned on the light next to the bed, getting in and getting settled under the covers. She opened up the diary, flipping to the next entry she hadn't gotten to yet. Huh, it was from the day Clark had told the story about earlier.

September 23, 2021

Unless something huge happens, this is going to be my last entry in the diary. I'm fairly certain that I don't have a lot of time left with my memory, and I know this doesn't take very long, but I want to spend every minute I can with Jordan and Clark.

I actually sat down to write an entry earlier today just for the hell of it. I'd been tired all day at work and Clark persuaded me to take the afternoon off. I came home, and before I took a nap I wanted to put some thoughts down in here. Nothing major, judging by the fact that I can't remember any of them. There's a good reason for that, though.

I'm pregnant.

I would consider writing that again, but I assume that when this gets read, there will be some evidence of the second child, such as you being pregnant or a child belonging to you that isn't Jordan running around.

I, of course, have no idea what this child is named or looks like. He or she may be a very much like Jordan.

However this child looks or acts, I want to make a request of you. It's probably not one I need to make, knowing myself the way I do, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Please, please take care of Jordan, this baby Clark and the rest of the family. They need you, probably more than you realize. Since I can speak in depth for Jordan, I'll keep focus on that right now.

Jordan... she idolizes you. You're her mom; until you accept that, I don't know if you can understand what it means. You're also the loudest voice in her life, and I know that she hears you the most because of that. She already shows so many traits that I have, so many little quirks that the General says resemble the way I acted when I was her age.

When it comes to looks, she's almost all Clark, except for the eyes. Her personality, though...

It was one of the things I was always kind of worried about if I did have a baby. You know this, being me, but if you've zoomed through this thing at Clark speed, you may not have noticed just how much she's like us. I think that the Clark in her will dull the blunt and direct that we possess so much of, but I'm not placing any bets.

She's my life, though. I love Clark more than I could have ever thought possible. I love working for the Daily Planet more than any other person in the world enjoys his job. I'm going to love this new baby as much as I love Jordan, I know that. But right now, Jordan dominates everything for me.

You've seen how it's been in my diary entries. I start on one thing and I end up rambling on for pages about Jordan. She is what I think about whenever I do anything. How will an action affect Jordan? Will doing this or that impede with the time I spend with my daughter?

It's like I talked about last time, how I've tried to analyze motherhood and how it had changed me so completely. This is a direct part of it. I love her like nothing else in the world, so when I think about the world and my place in it, I automatically think about her place in the world too, and how I can keep her safe.

I know that I won't be able to keep her safe forever. I don't even know if I will need to keep her safe. She hasn't shown any abilities yet, but it's probably only a matter of time. I do reserve the right as her mother, though, to protect her. Abilities or not, it'll take a freaking arsenal to get through me and harm my daughter.

Of course, besides Jordan (and the embryo), I need you to take care of Clark as best you can. He's strong, so much stronger than he was when we lived in Smallville, but he's still got shreds of insecurity when he can't save somebody. That's his most vulnerable time. If you can be there for him then, even if you aren't in love with him, it will do more good than you can imagine.

(Yeah, I know there's an entry earlier in the diary about Clark not saving somebody, but it's important. Important enough to be written about again.)

Moving on, Chloe doesn't need you as much as she once did. Her family is so amazing, though. Bruce is happier than I ever thought possible. Jack is a Chloe clone with a different chromosome. And the twins... well, one is like Bruce and one is like Chloe. If those two stay close their entire lives, they're going to be a force to be reckoned with, maybe as much as the Chlo-Lo connection. I know it's saying a lot, but it also tells you what I think of them.

Lucy is great. She's got a great husband and two great sons. We don't get to see them much, but the limited time I've had with them is always good. Her boys are like their father, as far as I can tell, but I wouldn't put it past Lucy to have her genes sneaking around in there, waiting to pounce and bring out their inner spies. It's amazing that I found a way to have children that may be more complicated.

The General... daddy is good. Good health and living life happier than he'd been anytime since mom died, it's been amazing to get to know him again. He's daddy again, not just The General.

Martha has been Martha. Some things don't change with time. Enough said.

Really, I think that's all. But I have one last bit of wisdom for you that I hope you will take seriously: love.

I realize that I sound like a cheesy tv show writing this, but I'm writing in anyway.

Love is the key to your life. Love is the key to your happiness. Don't be afraid of it. Embrace it. Love Jordan without reservations, and it will be one of the greatest things you'll ever feel. Love Clark, and you'll feel something you never thought was possible: pure love from a man that loves you for who you are. Return that love, and you'll be happy.

It's all so damn sappy, but it's all so damn true. I wouldn't lie to you about this; you know that. I've always made it a point to NOT lie to myself. It all boils down to the next statement, though.

Believe that you're worthy of being loved, and your life will light up. Love those around you without question, and their lives will add exponential happiness to yours. Most of all, accept what comes and know that you can handle it and you'll never go wrong.

Thank you for taking care of my family.

She'd been speaking to herself. She could almost hear the words. She read them again, taking them in. She imagined herself writing them, knowing that she was going to forget soon, and it brought a tear to her eye. She'd been staring into the face of the unknown and been able to handle it, and made sure that after she forgot she would be able to handle it again.

Flipping through the following pages, they were all blank. That was the end. Should she write something now? She didn't really have anything to say. Frowning, she closed the diary and got out of bed, walking over to the dresser and kicking the secret drawer open. Placing the diary inside, she closed it again.

She didn't really feel like sitting in bed and reading. Clark would probably be home soon, so maybe they could do something together. There was always... no, she was already feeling the afternoon session. That would get to wait a day or two. Smiling at herself and her apparent insatiable libido, she grabbed her water bottle and walked downstairs again, looking for a sexual fulfillment stand in.

She looked into the freezer and found what she was looking for. God bless Clark Kent, always knowing to have ice cream around. She pulled the rocky road out and grabbed an ice cream scoop. It took a second, but she found a decent sized bowl and filled it up. She took her bowl and sat down at the table, moaning a bit as she took the first bite. Chocolate never seemed to fail.

Just after her second bite, she heard the door open and close. Clark started to walk by until she spoke. "Hey, Smallville. In here."

He stopped and turned around, smiling at her. "Didn't get enough earlier?"

She gave him a tight smile before taking another bite and speaking around it. "You could say that."

"Did Jordan go down easily?"

"She was out by the time we got here. Got her changed and into bed without the blink of an eye or a tiny snore."

Clark sat down next to her and took the spoon. He helped himself to a couple bites before handing it back. "She sleeps like her mother."

"Very funny, Smallville." She finished off the ice cream and pushed the bowl towards the middle of the table. "Ready for bed?"

"Yeah, I think I could use a little time close to my wife."

"You had a lot of time close to your wife today, Smallville."

"Is there such a thing as too much?"

Lois smiled and shook her head at him. "I haven't noticed. What say we get real close, Smallville?" Yeah, she was going to feel it tomorrow. Ice cream or no ice cream, though, there was no substitute for Clark Kent, not even chocolate.