---- Chapter 62
Lois looked at the building, frowning. It was modest, but a lot more shining than she would have expected. Apparently Foremost Funds was doing well quickly, just like Perry had said. Another few years and the guy would build or buy his own thirty story building. Some time in prison obviously hadn't hurt his money skills.
"Ready to go in, Lo?"
Lois tapped her fingers on her stomach a couple times before nodding and walking ahead. She saw Clark catch up to her and walk at her side out of the corner of her eye. "I wish I could remember what the code I had with this guy was. Walking in there and saying that Lois Lane is here to see Kent McCrea seems like it could tip off bells up top, since we put the guy away. And seriously, what are the chances my contact has the same first name as your last name?"
"You probably just did that for the fun of it. As far as names go, we can use the aliases we usually do: Lola Kane and Jonathan Tierny."
"Yeah, that seems like it would be a good idea. Did you name yourself after you dad?"
"Yup."
Lois smiled as they walked inside the building, finding a smiling woman sitting at the front desk. Lois smiled as she walked up to her. "Hi. Lola Kane and Jonathan Tierny to see Kent McCrea."
"One moment, please." Lois waited as the woman checked with the informant before they were allowed to pass. Walking to the elevator, they got in and took it up to the second floor. They made their way past some cubicles before getting to the guys office. Lois knocked once when the door was opened.
"Lola! John! How good to see you! Please, please come in."
Lois shuffled into the office and sat down in one of the chairs as Kent closed the door behind Clark. He sat down next to her before Kent turned around and waved his arms about wildly.
"What the hell are you doing here, Lane? My boss knows you by sight! If he finds out I'm leaking information..."
"Hey! Calm down, Mr. Jumpy. Have a seat and we'll talk."
Kent frowned at her as he walked around the desk and sat down. "Why didn't you use the usual precautions when trying to make contact? You came up with them yourself, for Christ sake! Had I known you were coming to London, I'd have taken time off and we'd have met somewhere you wouldn't be recognized by somebody with a grudge!"
"Those places are far and wide, Kent. As for the precautions, I've had some memory problems of late, what with the pregnancy. It's making my brain only half useful sometimes. And as far as you being found out, I don't leak my sources. Ever."
"Fine, fine." He looked away from Lois to Clark. "You must be the loving husband, Clark Kent. Like that last name, by the way."
"And I like your first name. We're here because what you sent us wasn't enough for our editor to take to press."
Lois jumped in. "The records you sent us implicate the company, but nothing specifically points to the head honcho. He may not take the fall with this. As I understand it, I got you to be my informant to take down the big man, Michael Morton, in case he resumed previous activities."
"I don't have anything on him that you could use right now. I could probably get something in the next couple days, assuming Michael takes his usual afternoon off this week."
"Good, great." Lois stood up, cracking her neck as she did so. It hadn't loosened up from the crick she'd gotten sleeping on the plane. "You can get in touch with us on my cell number." She took a pen and wrote it on the corner of a piece of paper before handing it to him. "We'll be here until the end of next week, so if you can't get your hands on something ASAP, we'll still be here next week."
"Great, fantastic. I'll be in touch."
Clark stood up and opened the door for Lois and she walked out, waiting for him as he closed the door behind himself. They got out of the building without anybody giving them a second glance.
"Do you remember what this Michael Morton guy looks like, Smallville?"
"I do. I was keeping an eye out for him going into and walking out of the building."
"Good to know. Aside from the guy being a bit jumpy, that went pretty smoothly, especially with what you've told me about some of our source meetings over the years. It's really too bad I couldn't have given him some warning, but sometimes guys caught off guard give information more easily."
Lois felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and she smiled at him as they walked. "So, it's 4:20 here in London on our first day here. We've already done half of the business part of this business trip, so what do you want to do for pleasure?"
"I want to go see Lucy, actually."
"She lives here? Jesus, did she win the French lottery or something?"
Lois stared at the house, running a hand back through her hair to put it in some semblance of order after the flight. She'd been all set to complain to Clark about the wind until he'd landed and they'd walked around the corner, standing in front of a monstrous and old house. It was no Wayne Manor, but it also probably doubled the size of their house with ease.
"Paul's a very successful lawyer, Lo."
"I should say so," she mumbled. "Seriously, what's up with all my family members having boatloads of money?"
"One of those things in life, I guess."
"Out of curiosity, does she know about you being who you are?"
"Yes. Paul doesn't, though."
They walked up the walkway and got to the door, Lois ringing the bell. She heard a couple boys yell before the door was yanked open. "Aunt Lois!"
Lois's legs were mobbed by the two boys she'd heard in the house. She looked up at Clark, eyes wide. He smiled and leaned over, whispering in her ear. "Tommy is the older, Jay the younger."
Lois nodded at him, hugging each with one hand before letting them go to run inside. After a second, she followed, and found Lucy walking down the stairs. Her sisters face lit up and she sped up her steps, virtually jogging into a hug. Smiling, she embraced her sister. Lucy took a step back and looked her up and down.
"Look at you! I didn't think I was going to get to see you while you were pregnant, again."
"You didn't make it to Metropolis when Jordan was gestating?"
Lucy nodded and started guiding Lois through the house. "I was pregnant with Jay at the time and a whole host of other things just piled up on us to keep it from happening. I got a few pictures, but it's just not the same."
Lucy stopped and put her hands on Lois's stomach, and she fought to keep from rolling her eyes. It was the first thing everybody did to her anymore. After a second Lucy pulled away and just looked at her. "Alright, enough doting on the unborn niece or nephew. How are you, Lois?"
Lois shrugged. "It's been quite an experience, these last seven weeks. Wake up sans memory, with a daughter that acts like me and a fetus residing in my uterus... well, it took some work but I think I've adjusted nicely."
"I'm glad." Lucy started walking again and took them into a big living room, sitting down in a chair as Lois and Clark did the same. "How long did it take you to fall in love with Jordan?"
Lois smiled, looking down at her lap. "With the way I feel now, long enough that I feel a little ashamed that I didn't fall in love with her instantly. In real time, that translates to about ten hours."
"And how long did it take you to fall for your big, lovable husband?"
Lois felt herself blush as she glanced at Clark and looked at Lucy. "An embarrassingly short thirteen days."
"If it were Paul and I, I doubt that I would last ten. Don't be embarrassed about falling in love, sis. Love at first sight or years sorting tings out before it happens, it's the best thing in life."
Well, that was certainly something she'd never expected to hear from her sister. She didn't think she'd ever heard Lucy speak so eloquently without quoting something before. "I guess love has been good to you."
Lucy smiled, scratching at her arm. "Love has been very good to me. Paul is an amazing husband and father." Lois raised an eyebrow as Lucy grinned that familiar devious grin. "I bet you never thought that I'd settle down and be happy, did you?"
"To be honest, no. I also never thought that my sister would be a government spy."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Clark told you about that, did he?"
"He did. I was fairly shocked, considering all the times you seemed to run afoul of the law. The fact that the government actually took your talents and put them to use is... well, the only thing I've been able to figure out is that daddy recommended you or something."
"Something like that." Just as she spoke, they were joined by Tommy and Jay, the latter climbing up into his mother's lap. Lucy smoothed his hair a bit before looking over to her. "I guess you met the munchkins when they answered the door."
"I did." She looked at them a second before looking back up at Lucy. "They look a lot like daddy, don't they?"
Lucy laughed, nodding. "They do, and he's thrilled about it. He see's great things in their futures, and is hoping for at least one military man. Has he mentioned to you that he wouldn't mind Jordan being military?"
"No, he failed to mention that. I'm fairly certain that Jordan would fare about as well in the military as you and I would, which is not well. She asks almost as many questions as I've been told I did when I was her age."
The rest of the day passed quickly, Lois and Clark eating dinner with Lucy and sharing some good conversation and catch up stories before flying back to London for the night. Lucy had offered them a room, but Lois wanted to be in London if Kent wanted a face to face. It seemed unlikely, but they had the room and may as well put it to use.
Yawning as they walked into the room, Lois pulled off her coat and tossed it on the small couch that was in the room before slipping out of her shoes. She dug through her suitcase a moment before pulling the flannel shirt out and stripping off the shirt she'd been wearing all day so she could get into it. She smiled as she buttoned it up and let her pants drop down to the floor.
Pulling the covers back on the bed, she got snuggled down into it and waited for Clark to join her, which he did a second later.
"It was nice catching up with Lucy today."
Clark wrapped an arm around her as she rested her head on his chest. "I'm glad you had a good time. How many times are we going to be back there while we're here?"
"Two or three, maybe more. I doubt that we get to this part of the world all that often, and I also doubt Lucy gets to Metropolis with any frequency, so seeing her now maybe be the most I see her for a couple years."
"We can see her as much as you want, Lo. It's not a big deal. If you're worried about missing a chance to meet with Kent, I can fly back pretty quickly for any meetings, and if there's time we both can."
Smiling, Lois let her eyes close. "You're amazing, Smallville. I love you."
"Love you too. Goodnight."
She felt on edge. No, that was too strong a phrase for this. It was more of feeling like she was on the edge of being on the edge. Waiting had never been her strong suit, and suddenly she was doing more of it than she'd expected to. Six days. Six days and no word from Kent. Lois turned away from her laptop and looked at Clark, who was lounging on the bed. "Why haven't we heard anything?"
"Any number of reasons, Lo. You know that these things rarely go as planned, especially when we're involved. I think in our lives the abnormal is the normal and normal is a foreign concept."
"You couldn't have just said the normal is the abnormal?"
"Would have been too normal."
"Hilarious," Lois mumbled. She set her laptop aside, which was quickly becoming more and more difficult to use on her lap, and pushed herself up off the couch so that she could pace. After a few paces, she was bored with it. She needed to do something.
She'd already tried sex as an outlet for her energy a couple days before, but that had been too good and she'd almost slept through a call from Jordan. Clark had answered and she'd woken up just in time to get a few words in, but she didn't want to sleep through a call from Kent.
Frowning, she thought about what she'd just thought. After sex, she was the one to fall asleep. So many clichés in the world about men falling asleep after sex, and here she was doing it. Had to be AJ. Even if this was supposed to be the one part of the pregnancy where she wasn't exhausted, it had to be AJ.
Rubbing her forehead, she sighed. How did that matter, at all? Apparently all this waiting around and doing nothing was driving her a little more crazy than usual.
Biting her lip, Lois walked over to her bag and grabbed her phone, scrolling through numbers until she got to the farm. She had it start dialing and put it to her ear, waiting through a few rings before there was an answer.
"Hello?"
Lois frowned at the phone before speaking. "Jordan? What are you doing answering Grandma's phone?"
"Hi, mommy! I asked her if I could answer it and she said yes because it would probably be you."
"Oh, alright then." How the hell had Martha known It was going to be her? Shaking it off, Lois sat down and smiled, happy to hear Jordan's voice. "So, baby girl, how are you?"
"I'm good. Grandma has been teaching me how to make pie, but I'm not very good."
She was learning to make pie? She's three! "Jordan, mommy has tried to learn how to make pies for a long time and I never got it. Hopefully you aren't like me when it comes to cooking."
"Grandma says I can be really good at it. She says that when I'm older and can do things by myself, I'll make pies as good as hers."
"Well I'm waiting for the day that's true, because I intend to be eating all the ones you make along the way."
Speaking with Jordan relaxed Lois and allowed her to enjoy a little bit of the afternoon. She was about to hang up with her when her phone beeped. She looked at it and found that it was the number she had memorized for Kent.
"Baby girl, I'm going to have to hang up now so I can do some work. I love you and I'll talk to you soon."
"Bye, mommy."
Lois pushed the call waiting button on her phone. "Lola Kane here."
"Lola! So nice to speak to you. I've been able to get those papers together for you and Mr. Tierny and am forwarding them to you via email. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call me."
"I won't, Mr. McCrea. Thank you." Lois Closed her phone and turned to Clark. "Check the email." She laughed a second. "He was not hesitant about intimating that he didn't want any more face to face meetings."
Clark did so, and a moment later they were looking at the documents that they needed. Lois sat back on the bed, grinning. "Finally. The only thing in all this is I don't really understand why we had to come to London to do this. I love it here, but I really could have just called."
"We got a free trip to London, Lo, without you having to wear a big thick coat during the flight. I don't think it was necessary, but maybe Perry just wanted to be nice to us. I think he knows that once Almond Joy is born, we'll have roughly eight seconds to ourselves a week. I say eight because when Chloe had the twins she and Bruce had about five seconds to themselves with three kids."
Lois nodded, laying down over Clark. "Have I told you how comfortable you are lately?"
"Not nearly enough."
"Your rock hard muscles are extremely comfortable, Smallville. Now get all these clothes off of 'em so I can enjoy them as they're meant to be enjoyed."
"Alright, Smallville. I've been patient. I haven't bugged you about the story. Now, we're here on the plane, sitting and strapped in. We've taken off and we're over the Atlantic. I've read my magazines and the newspaper. Will you now tell me the last story?"
Clark smiled at her. "I would have told it to you sooner, Lo. You could have gotten it out of me pretty easily, I bet. I was just kidding when I said that on the flight over."
Lois looked away from Clark, doing her best not to yell as she scowled. "This is one of those times where I wish I could whap you on the chest and you would actually feel it."
"Sorry to disappoint. Shall we finish this up?"
"Please do."
---
"A whole week without throwing up, Smallville. Finally, pregnancy isn't bringing me to my knees."
Clark smiled as they walked out of the Planet, looking around as the fell into the foot traffic. Lois had suggested they walk a little while before she got a cab to the apartment and he went to pick up Jordan because of it being a nice evening.
"I'm happy about it too, Lo. I'm hoping that you actually get to enjoy your pregnancy like you did last time."
"I remember that. Up until about month seven or eight, it's not too bad. That second trimester of it is a nice breather between bouts of exhaustion and crazy things going on with my body. Well, more extreme crazy things. You remember all of it."
"I do," Clark said, wincing at the memories or Lois telling him what exactly she was going through to carry their child to term. She'd left nothing to the imagination. "You seem more relaxed in life now, though, so I'm hoping that translates to this pregnancy and your reactions."
"I hope so too." She leaned her head into his arm. "I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet."
Clark was surprised she was actually talking about it. She hadn't said three words about it since the day they'd found out she was pregnant. "I want to say maybe it won't, but I know better than that. I'm just happy that you're at peace with it, or at least as at peace with it as you can be."
"I don't really have much choice. I know that this time, I won't let myself adjust slowly. When I wake up without my memory, I'm still going to have a daughter. Even if I'm fighting the fact that she's mine, I will still do what's best for her."
Clark nodded, watching people as they walked. They were moving slowly, people passing them by as they hurried places. Whenever the two of them walked like this, Clark tried to take in as much as he could. There weren't many times that he got to take in the din of the city without being on his way to save somebody, if not in the middle of it. Most of the other times he was working on a story. This was nice.
"Do you think you'll inherently know that Jordan is yours?"
"Are you kidding me? My brain will fight that idea as long as possible before finally succumbing to Jordan's daughterness. That's not a word, but you know what I'm saying." He looked down and found Lois smiling. "I don't know what will be stronger: my stubborn will fighting claims of having a daughter or Jordan being so lovable and herself. It's going to be a bloody fight in this head of mine."
"That's a little disturbing, Lo."
"Doesn't make it any less true. I think I can almost predict what will happen, even without having lived this particular experience: I'll meet her, I'll be all confused because I won't be able to place who she looks like if I haven't talked to you, or see the resemblance if I have. With her calling me mommy and you daddy, it'll wear at my walls against the truth.
"I'll do what I can to try and keep things normal for her, not knowing what that is. Playing into the fact that I'm her mom will strongly hurt my already weakening my defenses, but I won't notice because I'll be so focused on NOT screwing up a little girl, mine or not. I'll probably use a nickname for her instead of using her real name, because that's who I am."
She paused and stopped walking, pulling him to a halt. He looked down at her to find her looking at him. "Once I've accepted that she's my daughter, will you get me to start calling her baby girl again?"
"Of course. I'll do anything you want me to do so that everything stays as normal as it can for Jordan."
She smiled sadly and they started walking again. "Normal. God, my poor baby girl, stuck with a mother that's going to forget her. Until I was faced with the fact that it was going to happen again, I'd been able to push that fact to the back of my mind. Now... I don't know if you've noticed, but I sit up at night thinking about it."
"I have noticed you using me to fall asleep more often these days, not that I mind. You kind of got out of the habit recently."
"I don't know why I did that, it just sort of happened. The early pregnancy exhaustion makes it as easy to fall asleep with my head on a pillow as it does with my head on your chest. It's pretty much the only time that's ever true. Muscle memory is quite the thing."
He heard her laugh, which always made him smile, but he wasn't sure why she was doing so. "What's so funny, Lo?"
"I am going to be so confused when I figure out that sleeping on your chest is like taking a handful of sleeping pills. I can't imagine that I'll actually sleep in the same bed as you for the first week or two, but once it happens my head will end up on your chest and it will be the best nights sleep I'll remember. Once we go three rounds of Clarkie and Sailor in one night, it'll be the second best night of sleep I'll remember."
"Clarkie and Sailor sounds like a lot of fun."
"It really does, Clarkie. It's been a while, too, what with all the not sure if the food I recently ate was going to stay down. Maybe tonight..."
Clark reached down and took her hand in his. "If nobody calls for help tonight.. well, let's just say that you'll be sleeping very well."
"That's what I like to hear," Lois said in a low voice.
Clark hailed a cab for Lois and got her off before ducking into an alley and taking off for Smallville. He flew at a leisurely pace, enjoying the sight of the land below him. It was always calming flying to the farm, especially when all the land was green. He'd grown up with the vibrancy of its color around him, and he still loved it.
He landed on the gravel driveway and walked up the steps, knocking once before walking into the house. "Child pickup service here. All children that need to be taken home for the night should catch a ride with me." Walking a little further into the house, he spotted Jordan enveloped in a hug with his mom.
Smiling, Clark walked over closed to them. "Mom, am I going to be able to separate you two, or are you flying to Metropolis with us?"
"Can you come with us, Grandma?"
She smiled and passed Jordan in his arms, scratching Jordan on the back lightly as she did so. "I'm sorry, Jordan, but I've got some work to do out here this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing you again on Monday, though. I love you."
"Love you too, Grandma."
Martha looked at Clark. "And I love you too, Clark. How was your day?"
"Pretty standard fare. Couple saves here and there."
"I know I always say it, but be careful, and be careful with my granddaughter while you fly home."
"I always am, mom, and I love you too. See you Monday morning."
A little while later Clark landed on the balcony, letting Jordan down and walking inside the apartment. He watched Jordan run over to Lois and give her a hug before taking off for her bedroom. "So, anything happen in the little while I was in Smallville?"
"Not a thing. What do you want to do for dinner?"
"What sounds good to you?"
"Something quick and easy. We have those microwave pizzas in freezer that we can do. You'll eat a couple, I'll eat a couple and Jordan will probably eat one."
"Those do qualify as quick and easy, yes. Want me to start one for you?"
"You change, I'll start. This is one of those few foods I can handle making."
Clark looked down at himself and found that he was still in his suit. In a blink he had himself changed and was looking at Lois again as he slipped his glasses on. She smiled and turned towards the kitchen. Instead of watching her actually make a meal, Clark walked back and ducked into Jordan's room, finding her playing on the floor.
"Hey there, sweetheart. We're going to eat dinner in a minute. May I help you wash your hands?"
"Okay." She got up and ran past him into the bathroom, getting up on her stool so she could reach the sink handles. Clark followed and squirted some soap onto her hands with one hand and turned on the water with the other. After a minute of washing, Clark draped the towel over her hands and helped her dry them. "What are we eating, daddy?"
"Frozen pizza. And get this: your mom is cooking them. Crazy, huh?"
Jordan nodded and ran off towards the kitchen, Clark following close behind. When the kitchen got into view, Clark almost laughed as Jordan just stood there and watched Lois cooking pizzas. She had the look of somebody that was seeing something so foreign that it couldn't be understood. Lois smiled at her and handed her a plate with a cut up pizza on it. Jordan took it over to the table and Clark lifted Jordan up into her chair so she wouldn't spill her food climbing up.
He walked over to Lois, watching her before he spoke. The sun actually shone through the window, illuminating her. She almost looked at home in the kitchen. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen you look... I guess the word is domestic, in the kitchen."
"Guess we should have had more frozen pizza over the years, Smallville." She handed him one before pulling him down by the collar and kissing off the socks he wasn't currently wearing. When he opened his eyes she had already turned back towards the microwave, her hips swaying to music that apparently only she heard. Good lord she was sexy. How had he not noticed her doing that until just now?
Dinner and the rest of the evening flew by, Clark going through the two pizzas Lois had thought he'd go through. He was barely able to keep his eyes off of her while she ate, while she sat with Jordan and while she put Jordan down for the night. She was so unfairly sexy that he couldn't tear his eyes away. She just moved and he was entranced.
She was coming out of Jordan's room and finally noticed him watching her. She smiled one of those little smiles she had, and crossed her arms over her chest. "What?"
"You."
"What about me?"
"You're the sexiest thing I've ever seen. I literally haven't been able to watch anything but you all night. I mean, when you were in the kitchen earlier, you were swaying your hips to music I couldn't hear and you just looked... I don't know if happy or peaceful is the better word for it. Maybe it's just content. With the sun on you, you were literally glowing, as they say women do during pregnancy."
She smiled, walking over and stopping right in front of him. "Did you get off seeing me in the kitchen making dinner?"
"What? No." He didn't think so, anyway. "You really were swaying your hips to the music in your head and looked as in the moment, appreciating everything you have as I've ever seen you."
"Really?"
"Really," he said. He leaned in and kissed her softly, and she leaned in and started kissing him back. He felt her wrap her arms around his neck and he hugged her closer to his body. They stumbled back through the apartment, lips rarely parting as they made their way into the bedroom.
Clothes were quickly shed and before he had time to process anything that was happening, Clark felt himself sliding into her and moaning. She leaned down and kissed him and he felt her hips start moving against his. Soon they were both breathing heavily and Clark moaned out her name loudly as he came, feeling Lois's muscles contract around him.
She flopped down on his chest, panting as she spoke. "I really must've had an effect on you."
He pulled her hair out of her eyes as he spoke. "Why do you say that?"
"Usually you go a lot longer than my first orgasm."
Clark chuckled as Lois shifter her position so that she was in her usual sleeping spot. He pulled the covers over them as he felt her kiss his chest. "You really did, Lo, and you have no idea how hard it is to ride through you calling out my name and orgasming without falling over the edge myself."
"No, I do not. Fortunately, you always last longer than I do." She snuggled into him and he heard her sigh. "I love you, Smallville."
"Love you too, Lo."
---
Lois looked away from the window an over at Clark. "I woke up in flannel."
"I had to make a save during the night and put you in the flannel to make sure you wouldn't get cold. You have a tendency to get chilly, even under the blankets at times."
Well, that was true. "And the next morning, you leave to get groceries for lunch and I wake up without my memory." He nodded, and she looked back out the window. "I can't believe I'm finally up to date on all the big happenings in my life."
"It was a long process, wasn't it?"
She nodded, and smiled at him. "Thank you for loving me enough to do something like that."
"I wouldn't be good enough for you if I didn't."
She leaned her head in and rested it on Clark's shoulder, staring at the seat in front of her but not seeing it. "I've been so focused on learning my past and now I know it. Now all I have is what's in front of me. What happens now?"
