---- Chapter 63

"Happy birthday, little Andy!"

Lois smiled as Andy reached for her, and she took her baby from Clark's arms to settle in her own. Smiling down, she tickled Andy on the bottom of the foot with her finger. "I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to call you my little Andy. You're getting so big that mama is going to have to think of something else to say!"

"Mama!"

"I couldn't agree more," Lois said as she grinned and rocked her a little. She looked up at Clark, the smile sticking on her face. "Was she awake when you went in there?"

"Yup. Did a super speed diaper change, which was why our one year old is all smiley. Plus, AJ always seems to light up when she's with you. You have that whole mom thing going for you with our kids."

Lois raised an eyebrow at him before walking into the kitchen and pulling some baby food out of the fridge. "The whole mom thing? I don't see how it's that different from the whole dad thing, because Andy lights up when she sees you, too."

"Around here, mom is the comforting one, moving more quickly than her super powered husband. Anything our younger girl needs, mom is there to do it, much as it was with our older daughter. And most of all, she doesn't reach for me when she's in your arms, but as you noticed, the opposite is true. By the way, you're still an amazing mom and if somebody else was holding me, I would reach for you."

"That's a little creepy sounding, but I know what you mean and thank you, Smallville. I haven't done anything that any mom worth her salt wouldn't do for her children. It's all stuff that I am proud to be able to do for her, too."

Lois walked over to the table and got Andrea Jane settled in her high chair before opening up the baby food and spooning a little out, holding it out for Andy as she opened her mouth and happily ate it as she babbled at Lois, the only word that made sense being mama again. Grabbing a napkin, Lois babbled a bit right back as she wiped food off of her chin. Lois got a another bite into Andy before she looked back at Clark.

"What time is Martha driving in?"

"She should be here around noon and join us at the park. She said she might help set up the party, though I doubt she'll temper Chloe's overzealousness with the decorations." She gave Andy another spoonful and looked back to Clark as he walked over, shaking his head. "It's been a year and I still can't believe that you and Chloe gave birth on the same day."

"Seems pretty fitting to me, Smallville. And hey, I won the race."

"Fifteen minutes, Lo. You won by fifteen minutes."

She winked at Andy and gave her another spoonful of food. "A win is a win, Smallville, even if one is shocked while it was happening and that she actually won."

---

Grumbling, Lois opened her eyes and rubbed at her back. It would not stop hurting, no matter what she did. It was a constant reminder that she'd actually gone past her due date and was quickly headed towards what felt like a never ending pregnancy. Granted, Chloe had also gone past her due date, but she was currently in the hospital giving birth. Jackass.

Taking a moment to sit up, Lois sighed as she felt the need to pee for the third time since she'd gone to bed an hour ago and somewhere in the low teens for the day Clark had been there with her when she'd first tried sleeping, but he was currently out making a save somewhere in Indonesia with the Justice League.

When she and Chloe had both hit 38 weeks, Martha had driven come up to stay with them so that if one or the other went into labor, or if labors happened to overlap, they didn't have to move the kids from house to house. When Bruce had called to say they were headed to the hospital, Martha had gone to stay there with the kids for the night. She'd taken Jordan along to give the two of them one last stress free evening before AJ was born.

Lois had found the fact that she was still pregnant and Chloe was well on her way to not being pregnant a poor excuse for a stress free night.

Pushing herself off the bed with way more effort than she liked, she walked to the bathroom and emptied her bladder, shocked that there was any liquid left in her body to be stored there. Even with all the water she'd taken to drinking lately, something like eight or nine glasses a day, that seemed like it should be out of her system the first fifteen times she'd gone to the bathroom.

God, she hated being the cliché pregnant woman that had to go to the bathroom like crazy, but how the hell was she supposed to escape it? It's not like she could drink less; that wouldn't be good for AJ, who seemed exceedingly comfortable sitting low in her pelvis. The low in the pelvis thing was supposed to have been a good sign that birth would be soon, but he'd been kicking up a storm from that spot for two dang weeks!

Lois climbed back into bed and frowned as she felt a Braxton-Hick run across her stomach. While Chloe had complained for the past month or so that her supposedly painless Braxton-Hicks were in fact painful, Lois had yet to experience anything except tightening across her bump that was quite painless and rarely lasted long.

Rolling onto her left side, Lois pushed her face into her pillow and attempted to will herself into eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. She knew, of course, that such a thing wouldn't happen, if for no other reason than Bruce was going to call and tell her if it was a boy or girl. Well, he was going to call and say a name, and she figured hearing Bobby or Rhianna would tip her off.

It had taken a while, but she and Clark had finally picked out a name for AJ: Andrew Jerome. Trying to stick to the letters A and J had made things limited, and while the J part had been easy, it had taken some time to agree on Andrew. She'd originally wanted to name him Adrian, but Andrew had grown on her after Clark had suggested it and they'd finally agreed. Now if only the boy would show himself so they could properly name him!

Groaning, Lois tossed the covers off of herself and listened to the rain drum against the windows. Chloe was probably screaming and grunting and it just wasn't fair! Why did she have to be the one still pregnant? Why couldn't she be in pain and getting to the part of her life where she got to hold her baby in her arms instead of her stomach?

Groaning once more, Lois sat up again and swung her legs off the side of the bed, getting up again and walking slowly out of her room and down the stairs into the kitchen. Rubbing at her back as she walked, Lois got to the fridge and opened it up, grabbing a bottle of water. She downed half of it and sighed, realizing that she was going to be peeing again sometime during the night. Well, that would happen anyway, but she was just adding fuel to the fire.

Lois walked out of the kitchen and back to the stairs. She stopped and eyed them, raising an eyebrow in their direction before looking over at the living room and seeing the comfy couch that did not require her to end up huffing and puffing like she'd run a few miles. With one more glance at the stairs, she walked away from them and plopped herself down on the couch, feeling herself sink in a little. It wasn't going to be a restful night anyway, so she may as well just wait for the call about whether Chloe had a boy or girl.

Grabbing the remote, Lois turned on the television and flipped to TV Land, where they were playing twenty five straight hours of Buffy The Vampire Slayer in honor of it being the twenty fifth anniversary of the show being on the air. Once a week they were doing it until they ran out of episodes, and fortunately tonight was one of those nights.

The show didn't keep her distracted well enough. She watched it, smiling as she remembered the songs from 'Once More With Feeling,' which was just starting. Once upon a time she could sing along with the show, but her eyes kept wandering to the clock on the wall, her focus elsewhere. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that somebody had lengthened just how long an hour lasted.

Lois yawned, scrubbing at an eye as she did so. Without thinking about it, she scratched at the stretch marks on her stomach and stretched out, yawning again as she did so. She looked down at her stomach, sighing and smiling at the same time.

"I'm sorry that I've been so irritable, AJ. Your mom has never handled discomfort well, no matter how happy she would be once it was over, and I doubt that will ever change. I, along with everybody else I know, just wants to see you and get to meet you. I don't think that's a lot to ask, do you? So, ya know, if you could do your mom a favor and make your entrance right about now, that'd be... holy sh!t."

He'd dropped. That was the only word she could put to it. Good lord, he'd dropped and...

Lois closed her eyes and moaned loudly as a contraction hit her. Oh God did that hurt. She tried to remember that breathing stuff she'd seen and learned, but that was quickly forgotten as the urge to push hit her with another contraction a moment later. She gritted her teeth and felt herself bear down; fighting it probably wouldn't do her any good at this point.

Jesus, why did AJ have to choose now to start listening to her? It let up after what seemed like a lot longer than it had been unless the songs in Buffy had gotten longer with time.

Catching her breath, she tried to think. Underwear. Underwear was still on. Shifting herself, she got it pulled off and tossed it away onto the floor. She looked around the room, eyes not staying on anything for more than a second while she waited for the next contraction. And there it was. Gritting her teeth again, she bore down as the urge to push overwhelmed her, and she felt AJ moving down through the birth canal.

When it let up again, Lois breathed and did her best to keep herself calm. She would not panic while giving birth. It was not an option. She thought about calling for Clark, but he probably wouldn't be able to come anyway. Whatever was going on in Indonesia probably had a lot more lives on the line, so there was no use worrying him.

Another contraction hit and once more Lois pushed with the urge, and as it went on she felt what could only be crowning. She forced herself to breathe instead of push, remembering the story of Jordan's birth and how Clark had made her do this so she wouldn't tear then, either. She bit back a scream as AJ's head delivered into a supporting hand.

Waiting a moment, she felt AJ turn and another contraction came and she pushed hard with it, screaming as the shoulders delivered. Breathing, the rest of him slipped out of her and into her hands and she pulled him up to her chest, feeling tears begin to sting her eyes.

As soon as she noticed the tears, AJ started crying and Lois jumped into action. She pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and started to get AJ wrapped up in it when she noticed that there was a lack of penis where she'd expected there to be one. Shaking her head, she got AJ wrapped up and shook her head at herself.

"I am so sorry I've been calling you my little boy, little girl. I'd have sworn... well, just goes to show your mom is crazy to have thought she was having a vision. But I promise, from now on you are my little girl."

Oh God, she'd just given birth! Looking up at the clock, she saw that it was 1:12 am and kept that in her mind so she could tell paramedics she'd delivered at 1:11 since it had been a minute. That hadn't even taken ten minutes from start to finish! She knew that second births were supposed to be shorter than first ones, but if that had actually been shorter than Jordan's birth, that would be insane!

Birth! She looked down at her crying baby, feeling the tears let loose onto her cheeks as she used the spare blanket to wipe some of the stuff off of her. She got AJ cleaned off and smiled as she noticed her color was good and pink. And good lord, she had a set of lungs like a freight train!

She'd given birth on the couch! She looked down at the couch and cringed; they were going to need a new couch.

Trying to get her bearings, Lois took a couple deep breaths, knowing she had to be calm for the moment. She got herself calm and looked down at AJ, whose crying was slowing down a bit. Not sure what she needed, Lois unbuttoned her shirt and messed with her bra until she had one side off. Why couldn't she be wearing a nursing bra?

Putting that to the back of her mind, Lois positioned AJ... damn, they were going to have to find a new name, and she needed a new nickname because AJ was associated with 'boy' in her mind now... at her breast and she took the nipple like an old pro. Lois was tempted to do a fist pump or some other form of minor celebration and Jordan started nursing.

Looking down at her nursing daughter, Lois for the first time really looked at her. Until now, she'd been so preoccupied with getting everything settled and making sure her daughter was covered, warm and happy, she hadn't really taken a second to look at her.

She was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

Her head was already covered with hair, as dark as Clark's. As far as she could tell, those were her nose and lips, though. Lois couldn't tell if she was big or not, but she'd certainly seemed very, very big during the whole coming out part.

God, this was the baby she'd been waiting so long to hold. The tears started leaking again, but she really didn't care. Her daughter was here. It was the middle of the night, she'd given birth all alone and was totally doing things by instinct or some such, but she was holding her daughter!

She couldn't wipe the goofy grin off her face. She just watched as AJ nursed for a little while, getting her fill and letting go of the nipple. Lois got herself adjusted and tried to think of what...

Ow! Why the hell was she contracting again? AJ was already here and crap, she still had to deliver the placenta. She hadn't even thought about the umbilical cord except to make sure it wasn't broken or torn while she was getting Jordan wrapped in the blanket. Looking down, she noted that the umbilical cord was still sticking out of her. And great, there was more blood coming out of her, too.

She winced when another contraction hit and felt the need to push again. Going with it, she pushed. When it let up, she checked on AJ and she appeared content, doing her best impression of calm and sleepy. It seemed unlikely to last. She winced and pushed again, this time getting a squishy feeling as the placenta started to slide out of her. With another push, she caught it with her free hand and found herself sitting on the couch, without pants or shirt and a baby held close to her body with her right arm, not to mention the placenta in her left hand.

Taking a deep breath, Lois stood up slowly, wincing at the extreme soreness she felt, and walked slowly into the kitchen. She shuffled over towards the counter, and without anything else to do, she dropped the placenta in the left side of the sink. Reaching over, she opened the silverware drawer and pulled out the sharpest knife she could find.

She paused, putting the knife back down and pulled open another drawer full of rubber bands and twist ties. She pulled out a handful and set them down on the counter, grabbing a twist tie and getting it wrapped around the cord. She got it as tight as she could and did the same with a second one a few inches below it. She reached over and grabbed the knife again, taking a deep breath before sawing through the cord. It split and Lois quickly grabbed the long end and tossed it into the sink with the placenta. She tucked the short end in the blanket with AJ.

Lois closed her eyes and took a deep breath, rocking AJ a little as she did so. Well, that wasn't so bad, she figured. At least she hadn't had to go through hours and hours of pain, and hey, she could still come up with a plan when she needed one. She felt a little like MacGuyver with the improvisation, but it worked. She smiled down at her sleeping daughter. "Stick by me, kid," she whispered, "and I'll show you how to survive this world. It won't always be pretty, but it'll work."

She smiled down at her for a few minutes, just standing there, when the phone rang. She walked over and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Lois, it's Bruce."

"It's a girl."

"No, actually, it's a boy."

Lois smiled to herself. "Congratulations, Bruce. I said it's a girl, though, because I gave birth about..." She looked at the clock on the fridge. "Thirty minutes ago."

"What? Is Clark there?"

"No, the League called him for help in Indonesia. I'm actually standing in the kitchen, mostly naked and holding my daughter, who is wrapped up in the blanket we keep on our couch. As such, I was hoping you could put me through to a nurse or somebody that can send an ambulance to bring us in and check us out."

"Of course. Just give me..."

"Wait!" Lois winced and looked down at AJ, who was still sleeping. She took a calming breath before speaking again. "Bruce?"

"Still here, Lois."

"Alright. The reason I haven't called for Clark is because things have been happening a hundred miles per hour and I didn't want to upset AJ. So after you hand the phone off, if you could get in contact with him, I'd appreciate it."

"He'll be there before the EMS." There was a pause and she heard him speak again. "Chloe will take me to task if I don't ask you this: along with is she healthy, what time did you have AJ?"

"She seems to be very healthy, Bruce. I had her at 1:11. When did Chloe have Bobby?"

"1:26. She'll be disappointed, but I have a feeling it won't last. He's also very healthy."

Lois laughed softly, checking to make sure AJ was still feeling peaceful and happy. "I'm glad. Tell her I love her."

"I will. Here's a nurse for you, Lois."

She waited a moment before another voice came on the line. "Mrs. Kent?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Mr. Wayne said you just had an unplanned home birth. How's the baby doing?"

"She's breathing, though sleeping at the moment. She already nursed, and I cut the cord with a clean knife. I have no idea if the placenta is whole, which is why I asked Bruce to connect me to you and have an ambulance sent." Man, she'd have sworn when she read that book the all the information in it was not sticking in her brain.

"They should be there soon, Mrs. Kent. You sound remarkably calm for what's just happened."

"Panic would do absolutely no good. I have to tell myself that every two minutes, but it seems to be working." All of a sudden there was a whoosh, and Lois turned to find a wide eyed Clark in his Superman garb staring at her. "Look, my husband just got here, so I'm going to hang up. Thank you for the help."

Lois turned off the phone and placed it on the counter. She smiled at Clark, then looked down at AJ again.

He spoke quietly. "What happened?"

"You left, I couldn't sleep, came downstairs for a drink, sat down on couch, gave birth in under ten minutes to a baby girl, ended up almost entirely naked so that AJ could nurse, delivered the placenta, came in here and dropped it in the sink, got the cord cut and talked to Bruce. And now I'm talking to you."

He looked down at the floor, his eyes still as wide as saucers. "But... but... good lord..." He looked back up at her. "A girl?" She grinned as he scrubbed a hand through his hair and disappeared a second before reappearing jeans and a t-shirt, holding a much more baby sized blanket. "May I?"

"She is your daughter, Smallville." Lois handed AJ over to Clark, and in a blink the big blanket had been discarded and AJ was swaddled tightly in a blue blanket. "We're going to have to buy some pink," she said.

"Hey, you were the one that was so sure, Lo... God, we have another daughter... why didn't you call for me?"

Lois noticed that he wasn't looking at her, and knew how he felt. She reached over and grabbed the discarded blanket, wiping some blood off her legs and wrapping it around her waist. Better than nothing, though she was still standing there in her bra and a never-to-be-used-again blanket. She heard the sirens of the ambulance coming up the street. There wasn't much use in putting on pants, but she walked out into the living room and grabbed her underwear, slipping them on none too snugly under the blanket. Not the best fit anymore, but they did the trick.

She walked back into the kitchen, holding up the blanket, and found Clark still smiling down at AJ. "What do you want to name her?"

"What?"

Lois pointed at AJ. "We have to come up with another name since naming her Andrew seems like it would be kind of mean. It occurs to me that Andy would be a good nickname for her because of all of it, though."

"Actually, I thought of a good girl's AJ when you first started using the initials: Andrea Jane."

Lois smiled when she heard the name, looking at her new little girl, her little Andy. "Andrea Jane... wow, I like it, Smallville." She heard a knock at the front door and hitched the blanket up a little. "Sounds like the medical folk are here. Feel like introducing Andrea to the world?"

He grinned at her and turned, walking towards the door. She followed him, speaking as she walked gingerly. "I won."

He unlocked the door and opened it, looking back at her as the EMS personnel entered. "What?"

"I beat Chloe by fifteen minutes, but more than that, I have a healthy daughter."

Clark shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Only you could think of that after such a crazy night."

He handed AJ back to her and she sat down on the stretcher, as instructed. She had won: she had her little girl in her arms.

---

"Lo? Hey, Lois, you awake?"

Blinking a couple times, Lois's vision focused again and she looked at Clark. "What?"

"I asked you if AJ was done eating but you had zoned out."

She smiled at him before offering another spoonful to Andy and having it refused. She closed up the food and handed it to Clark to put into the fridge. "I was thinking about Andy's birth."

"Ah, gotcha." Clark walked over and pulled Andy up out of her high chair and started using a wet napkin to gently wipe off her face. "You did the same thing like four times on Jordan's first birthday."

"Oh, good, only three more times to go." She motioned her head at Andy. "Will you get her cleaned up while I check on Jordan and shower?"

"Happy to. You're just so cute and now a whole year old, aren't ya AJ?"

Lois ran a hand through her hair as she walked back through the house and headed upstairs. She walked over to Jordan's room and knocked a couple times. "Jordan?" She opened the door and ducked her head in, finding Jordan still asleep. Smiling, she walked over to the bed and sat down gently, rubbing circles over her back. Jordan stirred and stretched as she looked up.

"Hi, mommy."

"Morning, baby girl. How'd you sleep?"

"Good."

Lois pulled Jordan up into a sitting position on her lap and smiled a little wider as Jordan yawned. It was still ridiculously adorable. Ever since Andy had been born, Lois had become much more used to mornings and actually kind of liked them. It also meant that she was usually awake before Jordan now, instead of Clark getting up before her to get her up.

"Alright, time to get up and get the day going. Why don't you head downstairs and join daddy and Andy for some breakfast, ok?"

"Ok."

Jordan climbed down and walked off, leaving Lois to head to the shower. Half an hour later, Lois was showered and getting dressed, pulling on some shorts. It was a Friday, but they'd taken the day off, same as they had when Jordan turned one, according to Clark. Chloe had done the same, and with Bruce in town they were all going to spend the day together until the 'official' party later in the day for Andy and Bobby.

Pulling on a shirt, Lois ran a hand through her quickly dying hair and after brushing it a few times, headed downstairs to get some breakfast of her own. She was met with some great smells and scooped up some of the eggs and sausage that Clark had left on the stove for her. Testing it, she found that it was still hot and in no need of the microwave. She grabbed a fork and started eating, walking into the living room, where she found Clark, Jordan and Andy.

Andy was walking from Jordan to Clark, and she smiled around her mouth full of food as she heard a 'dada' uttered during the walking. Lois walked over and stood behind the couch, observing this family thing that she had going on now.

It was awesome. Jordan was too young to be rebellious, Andy was really starting to walk up a storm and speak clearly and Clark was still an amazing father.

Having a second child hadn't actually been as difficult as Lois had prepared herself for. Well, that wasn't entirely true. It was a lot of work, but in an odd way, she felt like the sleepless nights for the last month of her pregnancy had almost been a prep course for Andy, who for the first few months of life outside the womb had thoroughly enjoyed being awake all night.

After the way Andy had been born, nothing that had come along had rally phased Lois. It was another strange thing in her life: the most unbelievable circumstances in her life had made her feel like she could deal with everything else that came her way in terms of her daughter.

After the birth, Lois had been so focused on Andy that she barely remembered anything else for the month of May. It had been all baby, all the time, and it hadn't helped that Chloe had been almost as engrossed in Bobby. Together, they'd lost almost complete track of what was going on in the world outside of their two houses. When they'd finally surfaced, it was like waking up from a haze, at least for her.

She'd started a workout regime to slowly but surely lose the pregnancy weight, and it had seemed to melt off at first. Once she got past the first fifteen pounds, though, it took the rest of the summer to get back to the pre-pregnancy weight she could remember. Clark hadn't known what she'd been before Andy was conceived, so she'd just had to go back to 2008 weight. When she'd gotten down to weight, she found that she was a little more curvy than she had been, but she was happy with it. Nothing wrong with curves.

The rest of the year had flown by; Lois had been so wrapped up watching Andy grow and still being the best damn reporter she could be that time seemed to pass more quickly than she could imagine. Chloe didn't seem to have been affected like she had, and had written it off as Lois not being able to remember what it was like when Jordan was born. Andy may as well have been her first born when it came to everything being new, Chloe said, and Lois agreed.

And now her younger daughter was one year old.

She finished off her plate of food and took it back into the kitchen, rinsing off her plate and fork and sticking them in the dishwasher. She walked back out to the living room and plopped down on the couch, watching as Andy turned mid step and started walking towards her. Maybe Clark was right about that whole mom thing...

Smiling, she held out her arms and let Andy walk between them. She picked her up and pulled her close, placing a few light kisses on her forehead.

"Mama!"

"You got that right, my little Andy." Lois looked over at Jordan. "Baby girl, why don't you go get dressed so that we can be ready to go out when the Wayne's call, alright?"

"Will you come with me, mommy?"

"How about your old man goes with you, Jordan? I may not be mommy, but I can have you dressed so quickly that you won't know what hit you."

"I like fast!" Jordan took Clark by the hand as he stood up and led him to the stairs. Lois smiled and looked back at Andy.

"You like fast too, don't you? You're going to be a lot like your big sister and your mom, it seems like, and I think the world is going to have to watch out because of it. Your poor dad, though... you act like me and look like me, too. He's probably wondering if I did whatever crazy thing it was that Chloe did to have your cousin Jack, who's basically a clone of her that's male. So far you're a clone of your mom, and didn't even have to be a dude."

"Dada."

"Yeah, that's pretty close to dude. Now, how about a mama for your mama?"

"Mama!"

Lois smiled and kissed Andy on the cheek, eliciting another one of those awesomely cute laughs she loved so much. "Exactly, little Andy. Exactly."

"Wow," Lois said as they all walked down into the Wayne's house. "You guys still go all out on the decorating every time. You do remember the birthday kids have very little idea as to what is going on, right?"

"What can I say cuz, I like streamers."

Lois smiled at Chloe and let go of Jordan's hand, letting her run off to join Aly and Liz. Chloe was holding Bobby, a happy little boy that looked a lot like his father. "Bruce picking up Jack from school?"

Chloe nodded. "Why else do you think I get to hold my son? I swear, once Bobby hit six months I think it really hit Bruce that this was our last baby. I'm not complaining that the man loves his son like crazy, but he's just been holding Bobby like, well, like he won't get to do it again. He's actually taken to monopolizing time with him when I don't pay attention. I have to fight to hold my son!"

"I have noticed that, yes. Like you said, though, better than him being disinterested."

Lois followed Chloe to the snack table and grabbed a couple chips, popping them into her mouth. They'd taken all the kids to the park and spent most of the day there, walking around and having a great time. Martha had joined them earlier in the day, and was currently holding Andy and talking to Clark. Jack had missed out on most of the day because it was near the end of the school year and he needed to be there, but they were going to start the party once he got home from school.

Lois grabbed some more chips, chewing and swallowing as she watched Chloe bounce Bobby a little as he fussed. She eyed the big cake that Martha had made from a moment before grabbing some more chips. She'd been saving room for that cake, eating a small lunch so she would have plenty of room for cake made by Martha Kent, not to mention depriving herself of cake for months.. The only thing she made better than cake was pie, and a couple of those were sitting at their house right now, but they were not for today.

"Lois?"

Turning her head, she looked at Chloe. "What?"

"You were looking at the cake like it was threatening to get up and run away. Seriously, if you were an animal, you would have been a cat eyeing a mouse. Clichéd, but true."

"I ate a tiny lunch waiting for that cake, Chlo," Lois said as she glanced at it for a second, then looked back to Chloe. "Do you know how long it's been since I had a Martha Kent made cake? Really, I haven't had any cake in like, six months, but it's been even longer since I've had a cake Martha made. I love my daughter, but I'm glad she doesn't eat cake yet because it means more for me."

"You have a lot invested in a cake."

"I've deprived myself. This day is all about our respective small children, but that cake will be the culmination of my eating today. For just a little while, my focus will be on how amazing that cake is, and then I will be right back on Andy."

"Alright then, it's a good thing I heard a car door."

Lois turned towards the front door, and sure enough, Bruce and Jack were coming into the house. She spotted a big candle in the shape of a one in Bruce's hand, and she grinned. "Ok folks, let's do some cake lighting!"

Clark walked over to her, eyebrow raised. "We don't need to do cake right away, Lo."

"Oh c'mon! I... we've been waiting all day for Jack to get here so we could do cake. Now that he's here, I think the consensus is that cake would be a great idea." She turned and faced the three little girls, who'd all walked over. "What do you guys say? Cake time?"

"Yeah!" Wow, that had been surprisingly in sync for three little girls. Could almost be triplets, really, with all the time they spent together and despite Jordan being nine months younger.

Lois shook off her thoughts and smiled at Clark. "Shall we cake?"

"I guess we shall."

A few minutes later the candle had been lit, Andy and Bobby had blown all over the cake without getting near the candle, and it had been sliced up and doled out. Standing with Clark and Martha, who was skipping cake to hold Andy some more, Lois took a second to take in her slice before taking the first bite. Her eyes slid closed and she moaned in ecstasy as she swallowed. It was like perfection in cake form.

When her eyes opened again, she found that Clark and Martha were staring at her. Even Andy seemed to have been mesmerized by what she'd done. She swallowed and smiled. "What?"

"Well... I mean..." Clark cleared his throat a second before continuing. "The last time you made sounds like that with food was when you were pregnant."

"It's really good!" Lois smiled at Martha, who smiled back at her and looked and Andy again, who'd taken to playing with a loose string on her shirt. She turned back to Clark as he spoke.

"No, yeah, it is, but still... I mean, you aren't..."

Lois frowned and took a bite as he trailed off, not getting his meaning for a second. She wasn't... what? Pregnant? Did he think she was pregnant because she really liked the cake? "What? No, Smallville, not pregnant, just me enjoying my cake. Well, only me enjoying my cake when it comes to my body. The reason I'm all moany with it," she said around a bite, "is because I've been depriving myself of cake waiting for this."

She watched Clark eye her for a moment before he spoke. "What?"

"It wasn't intentional, really, but it's been six months since I last had cake. It's been even longer since I had a cake made by your mother."

"Didn't you have some when we were there a month ago?"

Lois frowned, thinking back to when they'd gone to the farm for the weekend. Had there been cake? Jesus, there had been. She looked at him again. "How did I forget that? How did I become so obsessed with cake? I've been thinking about it all day like a starving man thinks about food."

"We all have our cake related moments, Lo. Some of us more than others, but it happens."

Martha smiled at her. "Clark had one when he was ten and really wanted me to make a chocolate cake. I told him that we could make one over the weekend, and all he did all week was think about chocolate cake. When we made it and he finally got some, he was so happy that he'd eaten half the cake before Jonathan and I knew what had happened."

"I don't remember that, mom."

"I know, sweetheart," Martha said. Lois handed Clark her now empty plate and took Andy from Martha as she started reaching for her. She smiled at her and bounced a little as Martha spoke again. "You'll remember the same things about Jordan and Andrea."

Lois looked up at Clark, eyebrow raised. "You better, Smallville. They need to know what they were like as kids from one of us."

"Well, I guess if I have to, I can remember what our kids do and when."

Lois looked down at Andy again and found that she was holding a sleepy one year old. She walked slowly over to Chloe, swaying a little as she did so and watched Andy's eyes droop a little more as she stopped next to the blonde. "How's Bobby doing?"

"Droopy. Andy?"

"Same. You want me to take them both up for a nap?"

"That's alright, I'll come with you." They walked upstairs, Lois in the lead as she headed into Bobby's room and laid Andy down in his crib. Chloe laid Bobby down at the other end and after a minute or two, each was sleeping. Chloe grabbed the baby monitor as they walked out of the room. "The park must have worn them out."

"Yeah, Andy usually cries unless I hold her until she falls asleep, though fortunately that's becoming less and less prevalent. It also seems to help her fall asleep, and if that doesn't work I always have Clark to get her to sleep with the tried and true method of zooming her around the house." She paused a second. "That doesn't seem like it would be relaxing so much as exciting."

"It's always exciting when he has to zoom for you."

"Here's hoping that Andy never gets in that much trouble."

"It's too bad daddy couldn't make it for Andy's birthday," Lois said as she walked into their bedroom. Clark was laying on the bed, hands behind his head with his eyes closed.

"I know. He'll be here when he can, though, and it's good that he stayed in France after the funeral to help Lucy with the boys. I wish we could have stayed longer than we did."

"Yeah, I do too."

Lois ran a hand through her hair, sighing sadly as she thought about how despondent Lucy had been leading up to and following Paul's funeral. It had been such a shock, getting the call from her sister that her husband had been killed in a car crash on his way to work one morning. Bruce had taken them all over for the funeral in the jet, but she hadn't been able to take care of Lucy as much as she'd wanted to.

"Do you think she'll take us up on our offer to stay with us for a while if she does decide to leave Paris?"

"I don't know, Smallville, but I think she'll stay in Paris, at least for a while. She kept saying that she wanted to try and keep things as normal as possible for Tommy and Jay, so I doubt she'll uproot them from the only home they've known to move back to the US. Maybe in a year or two, but right now, I doubt it."

Lois pulled on a tank top to sleep in and walked over to the bed, sliding on top of the sheets until her head was resting on Clark's chest. It was still the easiest way for her to fall asleep quickly. "If something happens to me, Smallville, make sure the girls know I love them."

"Lois, nothing is going to happen."

"We don't know that, Smallville, and unfortunately what happened to Paul is proof of that. Just promise me that if something happens to me, Jordan and Andy will know that nothing in the world was as close to my heart as they are, alright?"

She heard him sigh and let her eyes close as he turned off the light. "Alright, Lo, but only if you do the same for me. I love you."

"Love you too, Smallville."

Lois hitched Andy up a little as she walked down the stairs, blowing hair out of her face as she saw Jordan run along past her. "Slow down, baby girl."

"But I was barely running!"

"You looked like you were really moving to me. Fast or not, you need to slow down and be more careful on the stairs, and not just these, but all of them, everywhere."

Jordan huffed and took the rest of the stairs slowly before walking away. Was it odd for a four year old to huff? Shaking her head, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and handed a sippy cup of milk to Andy. She started drinking happily and Lois took a sip of her water, walking back out into the living room.

She covered her mouth as best she could as she yawned, the early morning starting to catch up to her. Jordan had had a bad dream, waking her up at four in the morning. Thus, Lois had been awakened so she could provide comfort for an upset child since Clark had been out helping somebody. She probably would have been awakened anyway, but he liked to help at nights when he could since being up at those hours was nothing new. Jordan had fallen back asleep, she had not, and she was feeling it.

She covered her mouth again as she yawned, starting to get annoyed by it. Lois didn't mind yawning, but when it happened over and over again she could really live without it. She sat down on the couch and spotted Clark as he walked in, Jordan running ahead of him. "You look tired, Lo."

"Early morning is catching up to me, but I should be alright." To prove her point, she yawned again. Lois rolled her eyes at herself while looking at Clark. "I just need a little while."

"Why don't you let me take the girls out for a while. We'll go get some lunch and you can nap."

Lois smiled at him, letting her fingers trail over Andy's back slowly. "That would be great, Clark. An hour or two of sleep would be exactly what I need."

"Then it's settled." He disappeared for a second before reappearing with a rustle of wind, his arms holding Andy's bags and whatnot. He leaned over and pulled Andy up into his arms, making sure she didn't drop her sippy cup. "Jordan, will you grab your shoes? We'll get them on in the car."

She did so, and a moment later Lois had the house all to herself. Sighing, she laid back on the couch and let her eyes close.

Lois blinked, finding herself looking down at an empty plate. She looked up and saw Chloe sitting across a table from her with much different hair than she was used to seeing every day.

Oh God, not another one of these dreams. Ever since that first one she'd had while pregnant with Andy, they'd become more and more frequent, and were usually just as violent. At least this time she'd finally dreamed herself into a situation she remembered almost word for word. She decided that going along with it was the answer, for now.

"Hey, are you finished with that?"

"Yup. Go ahead and take the rest of it."

Lois reached over and grabbed the remainder of Chloe's fettuccine alfredo and pulled it in front of her, discarding the few crumbs of her veal parmigiana. "Thank god for having a regular salary. I love being able to go out for dinner without feeling like I'm putting a strain on the bank account."

"Cuz, the way you eat, I don't know that you'll ever save up enough for retirement. Seriously, if you ever eat without me you're going to have to order two dinners just to fill up. I sometimes question whether or not you're six months pregnant with as much food as you put down."

Chloe would be shocked at just how much food she actually did put down when she was six months pregnant. She'd be shocked at how much both of them put down when they were six months pregnant. This was a very odd experience, even more so than usual, knowing everything that she did.

Lois swallowed the bite she had been chewing and smirked. "Don't worry, Chlo; since I always seem to be eating with you, Clark or the both of you at once, there's always somebody to mooch off of, though Smallville does tend to inhale his food." Lois paused a second to think of what she said next. "You know what, I think a visit to Mrs. Kent is in order for some home cooking next weekend."

God, what if that had really happened? Would she have any semblance of the life she had now? She would have her memory, but would she have her children? Her happiness? She thought back to the diary entry that had wondered the same thing as she chewed the food.

"That sounds great, Lois. Dad's been wanting to see me for a few weeks anyway. And who in the world can turn down a home cooked meal at the Kent farm?"

"Exactly. I'll call her and let her know we're coming when we get home." She took another bite and looked around at the little bistro they were in contemplatively. "Strange as it seems, I miss Smallville. Not the crazies that tried to kill us on a weekly basis, mind you, but just the feel of the town. Living in Metropolis... this will always be the place I refer to as home, but Smallville will be the place I always think of as the place I grew up... did I explain that well?"

Chloe smiled, taking a sip of her water. "I know what you mean. I moved there and thought nothing could be worse than going from the big city to tiny Dullsville. But it grows on you; it worms its way into your heart and pretty quickly has you thinking about going back. Of course, it helps to have family there."

Lois nodded. "Family is always good, be they blood or a small family on a farm that offered to put you up for a few nights and ended up giving you a home."

She eyed Chloe discretely for a second, noting how young she looked. That was the one thing that never failed to surprise her in these dreams. It was like time traveling, or what she imagined time traveling would be like if she could have gone into a bunch of hypothetical situations until this one. Now, it was like reliving a memory in extreme vividness.

After paying the bill, they walked out into the summer night, arms linked and laughing as they thought about their time in Smallville. Suddenly Chloe pulled her arm away from Lois and groaned.

"Damn! I forgot my tapes from the interview at the Planet!" She smacked herself in the forehead and walked over to the street to hail a cab. "I have to go back and get the tapes so I can jot down notes tonight. Your interview tomorrow is fairly pointless without them."

Lois walked over to Chloe and gave her a reassuring pat on the arm. "Chlo, I can get by without the notes."

"Getting by is not doing your best. There's no point to being a team if I don't hold up my end of it, so I'm going back to the Planet. You should come with me. We'll stop on the way back and get some ice cream, my treat for being the most forgetful person you know."

Lois laughed at that. She knew that to be very much a lie. "Cuz, this is the first thing I remember you forgetting. I am the most forgetful person I know. Smallville is a close second." She paused a second, thinking over that statement.

"Seriously, he always makes up lame reasons for showing up and hanging out with us. He'll drive hours just to come to the Planet and sit around for twenty minutes while we work. Then I ask him why he came and he starts stammering and mumbling about having nothing else to do. He's the lone worker on a farm! How does he have nothing to do?"

That little rant held so much unknown in it for who she'd been. God, if only she'd known then what she did now. It wouldn't have stopped her from giving him a hard time about being mopey, but it certainly would have made her feel... well, probably things she wasn't ready to feel about him.

Chloe finally waved down a cab and turned to face Lois. "Are you sure you don't want to come? Free ice cream AND you don't have to walk by yourself. It's a win/win situation." She opened the cab door, said a quick hello to the driver to make sure he didn't take his car elsewhere and turned back to Lois. "There's already been one attempt on your life, Lois. You need to be careful. Come on, nothing like ice cream and safety to make your young cousin happy."

Huh. She could change things, at least in her dream, if she didn't try to walk home. She'd probably wake up from her dream when she deviated, but who cared? If she could get out of one of these things without any violence, it would not be a negative. She open her mouth to speak.

"Chloe, I can walk by myself back to our apartment. It's a ten minute walk, and even in this less than top notch area of the city I can survive by myself. I promise, Chloe, nothing will happen that I can't handle. Besides, I wouldn't mind kicking some ass tonight. I'd work off a few of the calories I just took in."

Wait, why had she said that? She'd wanted to say sure, she'd go with her and then whatever happened would have been different. She certainly hadn't wanted to keep reenacting the night, so why had she said the opposite of what she meant? She felt her body move and hug Chloe, saying goodbye and giving a quick wave as the cab drove off.

This had never happened before. She'd lost control; it was like being a passenger in her own body, in her own lucid dream. She tried to stop herself from walking but she just kept moving, walking down the street. She recognized everything she saw as her eyes scanned the buildings without her doing it. Her body just kept walking, the brisk pace to her steps not making Lois feel any better.

Suddenly she felt a hand around her mouth and was being dragged somewhere. She reached up to pull the arm away, and realizes she was in control of her body again. She couldn't free herself to yell for help, and tried to bite her attacker but couldn't get her mouth to move enough.

She lost a heel as she was dragged, and felt her foot slide in and out of a puddle as she tried to drag her feet, which turned out to be equally as useless. Nothing would work!

Her eyes bulged as she was punched in the stomach, air being expelled from her lungs through her nose. She tried to breathe in but it wasn't working. She felt herself get punched again, this time in the side, her ribs cracking loudly. The hand over her mouth moved and she would have screamed if she could have pulled in a breath, but the air was still knocked out of her and it didn't feel like it wanted to come back anytime soon.

She started feeling blows come in from everywhere, hitting her in the face and head as many times as the body. She should have lost consciousness by now, but all she felt was pain, and the blows wouldn't stop.

Hitting the ground, she could feel her body being kicked, her legs finally getting the treatment the rest of her had. She could barely pull in ragged breaths through one nostril that was quickly getting clogged with dried blood, and felt her mouth filling with blood before it dribbled out between her lips onto the ground. She would have cried out if she could as she felt her leg snap, but the pain just melted into everything else, and refused to stop.

Jordan ran into the house and Clark put AJ down in front of Chloe, smiling at her as she looked up at him with bewilderment, or the closest thing a one year old could manage, painted on her face. She was always curious as to why anybody would put her down and make her stand. She seemed to like walking most of the time, but he'd noticed that she definitely preferred to be held, especially by Lois.

"Thanks for watching them for a little while, Chloe. I just wanted to give Lois a little extra time to nap this afternoon, and I wanted to do some quick research while the house is quiet."

"Don't worry about it, Clark. I'm always happy to see these two, and anyway I owe you for the other night when Bruce and I... well, you know. Plus, we're family." She shrugged, as if that was enough all by itself.

"Well, thank you anyway. If Lois is still sleeping, I'll be back over in half an hour or so to pick them up. Andy might actually conk out on you soon since we just ate some lunch."

"Bobby went down a little while ago, so if Andy starts to get sleepy, she can join her cousin. Ya know, sometimes I think these two spend so much time sleeping in the same bed that they may grow up thinking they're twins."

Clark grinned, watching as Chloe picked up Andy, who laid her head down on her aunt's shoulder. "Born fifteen minutes apart, both with dark hair and big for their ages... I don't know why they might ever grow up thinking such things."

"No kidding. See you in a little while."

He smiled at her before backing away and turning around, making the short walk over to their house. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, with a bit of a breeze rustling at his shorts as he walked up to their house. He opened the door as quietly as he could, and did the same as he closed it again. He walked into the living room, and saw that Lois was still asleep though it looked a bit fitful. After a second though, she whimpered and started thrashing even harder.

Frowning, Clark walked over next to the couch and kneeled down next to it. Was that a tear rolling down her cheek? That was enough to spur him into action. He placed a hand on her shoulder and started shaking her gently, and a moment later her eyes shot open.

Then she screamed.

It caught him so off guard that he fell backwards onto his butt, and he blinked as she screamed again and jumped off the couch. She moved a couple steps before she fell over, then crawled into the closest corner and rolled up into a ball, pushing her face down into her knees. She started rocking, and he could hear sobs.

Picking himself up off the floor, Clark walked slowly over to her. She looked up at him, terror in her eyes, making him flinch back. Steeling himself, he reached forward again. "Lo, it was just a dream. Everything's fine now, I promise." As his hand got closer, she started pushing herself deeper into the corner, as if trying to get away from him.

He pulled his hand back and ran it through his hair, trying to figure out what to do. Lois just sat there, rolled up in a ball and rocking, sobbing into her legs. She'd been fine when he left. What the hell had happened?