Chapter 24

Lois and Clark approached their front door, and Lois was distracted from her task of unlocking the door as Clark kissed her.

"Are we paying them by the hour?" she whispered into his mouth.

"We can pay them to get out," he replied.

"Good," she said.

She opened the door and they walked in, running immediately into Oliver.

"Hey," he said as Dinah came over to them.

"Hi," Lois said, smiling. "Are they asleep?"

"Ellen is. But you had an unexpected visitor. Come on."

They walked the short way into the living room to see baby Jonathan sleeping on the lap of Martha Kent.

"Mom!"

"Hi, sweetheart. I hope you don't mind me dropping in."

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming?" Lois asked. "We would've been here!"

"No, no, you two should go out, get out of the house when you can. I know having the twins is exhausting. I just hope I'm not adding to the stress by stopping in."

"Of course not!" Lois said, as usual talking before Clark could. "Clark, go get her room ready."

Clark cleaned the guest bedroom at super-speed, and was back instantly. Lois noticed Jonathan lying on Martha's thighs, stomach down, fast asleep and she stepped closer, curious.

"Was he fussy?" she asked, concerned.

"He wasn't sleeping, and Oliver was having trouble when I knocked on the door, so I helped out."

"I wish you were here all the time. I could use the advice."

Martha smiled warmly, gathering Jonathan carefully and standing up.

"I do too. I miss how much they change even in the days or weeks I'm gone. But you know you can call any time, day or night."

Lois didn't want to wait another second.

"Dinah, could you hold my son for a minute?"

Dinah took him carefully from Martha. "Sure."

Clark put his hands on Lois's upper arms.

"Mom?" Clark said, gaining her attention.

Lois put her hand out, extending it and showing Martha the engagement ring.

"Or you can tell her that way," Clark mused.

"Lois!" Martha cried.

"Are you happy?" Lois asked timidly, the need for Mrs. Kent's approval evident in her voice.

Martha embraced the younger woman.

"I am beyond happy. Congratulations! I am so honored to officially have you as my daughter." Martha pulled back slightly and looked at Lois's misty eyes. "But you know in my heart you already were."

Lois hugged her again.

"Oh, good," Lois said, relieved. "You approving of all of this matters so much to me, Mrs. Kent."

"Approve? I'm overjoyed!"

Martha reached an arm out to her son, pulling Clark into her embrace. Lois let them have their moment, and turned to Oliver and Dinah.

"Alright, let me see this ring!" Oliver exclaimed.

He eyed it, impressed. Lois was in such a good place with Oliver now. She felt his happiness for her, and she'd felt the change in their relationship from ex to friend. Lois accepted his congratulations and took her son in her arms.

"Uh oh, he's starting to wake up," Martha said. "Why don't I take him upstairs and put him down while you all enjoy yourselves?"

Martha was already taking Jonathan.

"You sure?" Lois said.

"Yes. Let me help. I can put them to bed and you all can actually socialize instead of being on twenty-four hour parent patrol. But tomorrow morning I want it to be you and me time over coffee."

"Promise," she replied with joy.

Martha squeezed Lois's hand. "Lois, I love you, sweetheart, and I wouldn't have anyone else as my daughter."

Lois smiled, and then kissed her son lightly before Martha took him upstairs. The four remaining people sat in the living room, and Oliver was the first to speak.

"So…tell us what happened. Did you suspect he was going to propose?"

"Did you?" Lois pushed back with a small smile. "Was I the only one with no idea?"

"I told no one," Clark confessed. "I wanted it to be as normal a night as possible so you wouldn't suspect anything."

"Well, you did a good job on that. I thought it was a big night, but not for that reason. I was happy to be wearing an outfit without spit-up on it and to have someone besides Chloe baby-sitting. It was great."

Lois admired her ring.

"She's so Lois," Clark said to Oliver, his arm comfortably around the woman he loved. "She doesn't text a thousand people and this is, like, the one time in history her mouth isn't going a million miles a minute."

Lois nudged him with her elbow. "When you two get together, you gang up on me. When you are with either Chloe or Ollie, I should know I'm in trouble."

Oliver was all smiles. "I just can't believe it took you both this long. I mean Clark, you're engaged to her. You were giving me a hard time about her not that long ago."

Lois widened her eyes at Oliver sarcastically. "You don't have to rub it in, Ollie."

Dinah could see that not only was Lois exhausted, but that this was her first night, engaged to the father of her children, to the man she loved. She placed a hand on Oliver's back, almost able to tell him with that motion what she was thinking. "You're tired, and this has been such an eventful night for the both of you. We should get going," Dinah said, standing up and embracing Lois, which was rare, but strangely natural.

"This waking up several times a night to feed tiny people…thing," Lois apologizing and yawning. "It's making me such a boring person."

"Don't worry about it. You've got a lot on your plate, and now, a wedding to start planning for!"

Lois and Clark saw Oliver and Dinah to the door, thanked them for everything and wished them a good night. Shutting the door, Lois rested her face against it, looking at Clark.

"What?" Clark asked, with a slightly surprised smile on his face.

"Nothing, I just…"

"You honestly didn't think this would ever come?"

"I don't know," she replied truthfully.

He pulled her closer to him. "Don't you know how much I love you?"

She didn't reply with words, only biting her lower lip with uncertainty.

"Why are you only unsure of yourself around me?"

She put her arms around his neck, resting her mouth against his ear.

"I know you love me, I just don't want to hope for too much. I've never kept anything in my life for too long."

He pushed her back a little, making her look at him.

"I want you to hope for everything now. Now is the time to demand everything that you want. You know before you, I thought I knew what the greatest love was. But it was so young, and immature, and it held me back from wanting to do the things I was meant to do. And now I look at you and all the things you're pushing me to do, telling me to do and I feel so much more than I ever could with anyone else. It's not the toxic love I had before. You don't hold me back from anything."

He leaned down and kissed her, coaxing a moan of response in her. For so long she never wanted to admit that she loved this man, but from day one he unfolded something inside her; a safe place that she could keep herself warm and unscathed from the harsh, outside world. He represented the goodness, the almost irritating kindness she herself felt she wasn't, and she went back to him over and over so she could absorb pieces of it, feeling his blanket of security.

He lifted her up, bringing her to his height and he loved that she let him, completely allowing herself to be in his arms. He took her out to the back porch, giving them a little more privacy from their family upstairs, and he felt her fingers at his belt, freeing him as he slid her dress up her thighs. Feeling her bare skin, he pushed inside her, feeling her heat radiate around him. He squeezed her fingers and raised her hands above her head, plunging his tongue inside her mouth, pulling her bare leg around his waist in the quiet night.

She made him not afraid of his powers. She took him every time, matching him, becoming the essence of his cravings. He poured himself into her, loving her as everything that she already was, becoming addicted to the feeling of having her against his heart more and more with each day that passed. Trembling in the aftermath of their exquisite need for one another, he lifted her tired body and carried her to their bed.

Lois Lane fell asleep in minutes, hard, fast, and in love.

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~