XYK

Chapter 3. 'Wife isn't just a four letter word.'

Pete didn't need help in locating his friend, all he had to do was follow the carnage, upturned cars, scattered garbage bins, bent lampposts and the worst kind of anguished cry he had ever heard. It took him about twenty minutes to reach the hill that overlooked the city of Metropolis, and there on a huge rock sat Clark. His eyes never wavering from the horizon "I'm scared Pete.", Clark said, sensing his friends presence ,but didn't turn to face him.

Those three little words completely threw Pete, he had never know Clark to be scared. Never known Clark to lose his composure. He was the original man of steel, nothing fazed him, he was always so optimistic, so certain. "I'm sorry you and Lana had to hear all that."

Pete shook his head "Don't worry about it, man."

"It's not that I don't want this baby, I do. I do..." Clark exhaled a laboured breath "More than I've ever wanted anything in my life .But I can't..."His voice trailed off.

Pete went and sat by his friend. They sat there in a companionable silence for what seemed like forever, Clark resisting the urge to break something and Pete resisting the urge to tell another inappropriate anecdote to ease the tension. But now was his time to be there for his friend, so he decided to speak.

"You know when Lana got pregnant with CJ I was petrified." Pete rubbed his cold hands together "I mean ,you know about the two miscarriages."

Clark looked at his friend "yeah."

"Losing those two babies was brutal..."

Clark nodded, he could remember.

"...and If I'm honest, really honest... I was fresh out of faith. I didn't think it would ever happen for us."Pete waited a moment, hoping his friend would be drawn into the conversation.

Clark kept his eyes on the Metropolis horizon, still refusing to give more than a few monosyllabic grunts.

"I didn't want to get emotionally invested in something that might not happen. In something I was so sure wouldn't happen."

Pete's last sentence seemed to connect to something within Clark, so he kept on talking. "But Lana, she carried us...she had faith enough for the both of us. She proved me wrong."

-----------------------------

Lana plugged in the vacuum cleaner and began to tidy up the pieces of tart ,spread out against Lois and Clarks beige carpet.

"You don't have to do that y'know." Lois said in between sniffles.

Lana smiled "I want to. You just lean back and drink your tea.".She began to vacuum, and once she'd finished, pleased with her handy work, she sat next to Lois on the couch.

"He's scared. But he's a man so of course he can't just say 'Lois, I'm scared'." Lois shook her head.

"I know." Lana agreed.

"And he's supposed to be the strongest of them all, so he doesn't know how to be vulnerable."

"Pete was exactly the same way. I mean the circumstance were slightly different, but you have to remember that it's only because he loves you so much. Both of you so much."

Lois looked down at her stomach and placed a protective arm over it.

---------------------------

Both the men dusted themselves off and set off home. "Y'know wife isn't just a four letter word. Don't lose sight of each other, you're a team" Pete said. "The next couple of months are going to be rough. Put your energy where it needs to be..."

"I know."Clark replied. He stopped walking "I think I'll patrol awhile, see what's happening on the West Coast, see if there's anything Superman can actually fix."

"What do I tell Lois?" Pete asked as they neared Clarks' block.

"Tell her, I'll see her soon." And with one powerful lunge upwards Clark was propelled upwards in a gust of wind and dust so strong that Pete was thrown backwards by the sheer force. He watched his friend disappear into the evening sky.

By the time Pete had come back, everything had been completely cleared away and a calmness enveloped the two women as they sat chatting in hushed tones.

"Where's Clark?"Lois asked

"He just needs some time, he'll be back soon."

Lois frowned but she understood. Space would do both of them good. Pete went to collect CJ from Clark and Lois's room.

"You'll be OK?" Lana asked gently putting a sleeping CJ into his stroller. "We can stay if you'd like."

"No, I'm fine." She hugged her friends goodbye. "I'm gonna go straight to bed."

"If there's anything you need, we're only a phone call away."Pete said.

Lois closed the door quietly behind them, then went to switch off the lamps, she was beginning to feel dizzy.

Just as she reached for the last lamp she was incapacitated by the shooting pains in her belly, The sensation forced her to drop to her knees, and bite her lip, it was only then that she realised her nose was bleeding, wiping away the blood with her shaking hand she tried to crawl across the apartment towards the phone, so intense was the pain that Lois passed completely out.

TBC.