XYK
Chapter 26 – The Homecoming
Lois screamed in frustration and tossed her cell phone across her beautiful office. It hit a potted plant that wobbled once, twice then fell over, allowing all the potted soil to spill out onto her varnished wooden floor. Lois cursed to herself and rubbed her head. The migraines. Lois reached into her draw and pulled out a packet of Panadol. She poured herself a glass of water and swallowed the pills down.
She should have been celebrating -mid month figures had suggested that Lane Magazine was out- selling its competition by 2-1.Marie Claire, Cosmo, Glamour, Harpers Bazaar were eating Lane's dust but Lois could not bring herself to go out and celebrate with the rest of her young, inspired and overly anxious staff. Instead she was sat in her office on the brink of tears and the verge of despair.
There was a knock on her door. Lois immediately sat up and quickly tried to fix her hair. "Come in."She had assumed that she was the only one left in the office, but she was clearly mistaken.
Her door opened and in walked Lex Luthor, a half smile on his face and an expensive suit on his torso.
"What are you still doing here? I thought you'd be out celebrating." Lex elegantly sat down on the seat opposite Lois's.
"Lex, I'm not in the mood."Lois tucked some files into an open draw .A stale cup of coffee was knocked off of the edge of her desk.
"Damn it! Nothing ever goes my way!"Lois wailed and dropped to the floor to mop up the coffee stain seeping into her new carpet.
Lex who was momentarily taken aback by her reaction leaned down to help "Lois, it's alright. I'll get one of my assistants to call a cleaner."
Lois stopped mopping frantically and relaxed on her heels. "Sorry, it's not that ..."
"What is it?" Lex asked, honest concern in his eyes.
"I've been feeling like crap all week, and..."Lois threw her arms up in the air "I just got a call from social services, they have reservations about me adopting Durga...I may have one or two blemishes on my record ....nothing serious."
Lex gave Lois a sceptical look.
"Just a few counts of breaking and entering.."
"..and?"
Lois winced"...Damage to private and public property."
Lex almost laughed. He probably would have, had he not seen the look on Lois's face.
"HEY! I WAS AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER; I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO!!!" Lois ardently tried to defend herself against what she perceived to be criticism.
Lex stood up,"Get your things. I'm taking you out to dinner."
"No..I'm not in the mood." Lois stood up and dusted herself off.
"C'mon...You look like you could do with a stiff drink." Lex smiled "...and someone to talk to. I don't bite."
Lois thought about the offer for a second then reached over and switched off her computer, grabbed her bag and took Lex's hand when he offered it.
-x-x-x-x-
In an expensive French restaurant Lois recounted all her past sins and misdemeanours to Lex Luthor, who much to her surprise was a good listener and didn't seem to judge.
"Don't judge me. I'm an investigative reporter...."Lois paused "I mean I WAS an investigative reporter."
"You miss it?"
Lois thought for a minute. She did. "No." She lied. "This is my life and I couldn't be happier."
"Yet you still want that orphan."
"I just want something to give my life purpose." Lois stared down at the plate of food she had yet to touch "It can't all be champagne parties and sleeping with models."
"Touchez" Lex said "You're serious about adopting this rugrat, huh?" Lex took a sip from his brandy glass.
Lois nodded.
"You think you can give her a good home?"
"I know I can."
"hmm "Lex sat back pensively watching Lois pick at her food.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The rest of Lois's work week went surprisingly well. She liked being busy it gave her mind plenty of chances to occupy itself outside the realms of her love life, or lack of.
The fight for Durga wasn't over. Lois had decided that she would have to beg and ring in every favour that she was owed, maybe even get a lawyer. She promised herself that she would do all of that just as soon as she figured out what was making her feel so lethargic lately. The dizzy spells, the vomiting, the mood swings, the lack of energy all pointed to one thing...Lois wouldn't let her mind wonder that far.
On her lunch break Lois wondered down to the nearest pharmacy and surveyed every aisle, she grabbed at panadol, nausea tablets, hot water bottles, ice packs and vitamin tablets until she reached aisle number paused. There she stood in front of the prophylactics ,lubricants, spermicides and pregnancy tests. Lois looked around, then quickly grabbed two pregnancy testing kits. She breathed a sigh of relief that there didn't appear to be anybody around, well ,not anybody that she knew anyway. She turned towards the checkout counter but doubled back and grabbed two more pregnancy tests for good measure. Stuffing them into her basket she made her way out of the aisle
After work Lois followed the same ritual of curling up on the sofa, pressing the remote control 'on', and mindlessly flicking through channel after channel after channel. It wasn't until a pampers diaper commercial appeared that she remembered the brown paper package in her handbag. She doubted that she was pregnant, she couldn't see herself going through everything she'd been through before, but Lois had to be sure.
She ripped it open and out came four grabbed them and headed to the she had peed on the sticks she lay them out on toilet paper and peered down at her instructions said that the results would take between 4 -6 washed her hands and began to chew nervously on her finger nails.
Suddenly ,There was a knock on her front door. Lois jumped. She stopped pacing and tugged and straightened her hurried to the door,she wasn't expecting any visitors.
"LEX!" Lois squeeled. "What are you doing here?"
"I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes and hold out your hands."
Lois wasn't sure what to searched lex's face for some kind of clue but got absolutely ,Lois closed her eyes and held out her could hear Lex move and rummage around.
Lex carefully deposited his surprise in her arms.
Lois looked down at the sleeping infant in her arms, then back up at Lex. "How did you..?"
"I know a guy, who knows a guy, who has a cousin who works for social services and owes me a favour."Lex winked at Lois and side stepped into her wheeled in Durga's new state of the art stroller.
Lois began to tear up,tightly clutching Durga, she managed to fling herself into Lex's unexpectant arms. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."She repeated over and over again, squeezing him tight.
Although the flagrant display of gratitude had caught Lex off guard he was surprised at how easily he relished the feeling of Lois Lane in his arms. Lois kissed each of Lex's cheeks, as Lex move his head to make a smart remark Lois accidentally caught him on the lips. Lex paused and so did Lois.
Lois heard her doorbell ring and wondered who it could be. She extricated herself from Lex's embrace and handed the baby to Lex who for a moment looked all too uncertain of holding a squirming baby in his expensively clad arms.
Lois squealed excitedly, smiled and took a step back into the apartment to allow her guest in.
"Martha."Lex nodded his head in recognition of the matriarch he had once known.
Martha smiled. It was a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. "Lex." If she was surprised at his presence Martha didn't let on.
Lois could sense the tension in the air. There was no love lost between the pair, and although both were too polite to be overt about it, it was all too easy to sense the discomfort.
"I should go." Said Lex, breaking the tense silence that had settled on the room. Martha almost visibly exhaled.
"Call me." He whispered to Lois as he passed her by and handed the baby to her.
Lois simply smiled and nodded. "Will do."
The exchange wasn't lost on Martha who didn't know what to make of it, but quickly turned away and took off her coat.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The two women sat at the Kitchen table cooing over the baby and Martha shared her child rearing experience and Lois ate it all up. No matter what happened between her and Clark she would always consider Martha her mother in law.
Martha gently rocked Durga, who was slowly sucking on a pacifier and twiddling Martha's necklace in her small chubby brown hands.
"She's so beautiful." Martha said, looking up from the bundle of joy in her lap.
Lois nodded and poured her mother in law some tea.
"Sorry I haven't been around sooner, but it'll be fall before you know it and you know how long harvest preparation takes."
Lois smiled "It's fine, I've been pretty busy."
"So I've been told." Martha reached for Lois's hand "How have you been, honey? I mean, really."
"Absolutely fine."
"Don't give me that. I'm not buying it."Martha scolded Lois, "I ask Clark the same thing and all I get is 'Fine'."
Lois took a sip of tea.
"He still loves you and you..."Martha looked searchingly into Lois's eyes "...you still love him. Tell me I'm wrong."
Lois felt a lump in her throat, she looked away and tried not to cry .She had no words.
"You know Jonathan and I came close to separating...."Martha kissed Durga's forehead .
Lois looked at Martha in astonishment. Jonathan and Martha had always seemed so indestructible, the perfect picture of marital bliss, she couldn't ever imagine them going through what she and Clark were going through.
Martha nodded her head "Yes, miscarriages will do that to you."
Lois gasped, she'd never known.
"It was me with the problems, not Jonathan-he was fit and healthy, it was me who was barren. He could have been a father, I pushed him away, tried to make him see sense and go find somebody who could give him babies but he wouldn't go, no matter how much I cried, begged, cursed and pleaded, he just wouldn't leave me."Martha reminisced with a smile on her face "..and I thank God that he didn't."
Lois smiled sadly, the story sounded all too familiar.
"Because Clark came along..."Martha smiled down at durga "...and we got our happy ending."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Lucy, you're back?" Clark smiled at his diminutive sister in Law and hugged had been awhile since he'd seen her.
Lucy hugged Clark back "Yes. It's just a pit stop though; I'm heading to Brazil next week for the Silvio Moraes ad campaign."
Lucy brushed past Clark and stepped into the dark apartment; she reached for the light switch and flipped it on.
"Clark, you have a hole in your wall."Lucy put her bag down and peered through the face sized hole "Why do you have a hole in your wall?"
Clarks mind wondered back to the night that he and Lois had their last passionate encounter; the same night that Lois had left her wedding ring and keys. Just as Clark was about to answer with an appropriate lie, the bathroom door opened and out stepped a tall brunette with shower slickened hair, wrapped in only a white fluffy towel. She certainly wasn't her sister.
Lucy looked suspiciously from Clark to the beautiful brunette"...and where the hell is my Sister?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Martha handed Durga back to Lois. "I'm just going to the bathroom."
Lois nodded "It's the third door to your left."
Martha got up and began to make her way to the bathroom, when suddenly Lois remembered the pregnancy tests that she had left laying out. Lois quickly deposited Durga carefully into her stroller and quickly raced to the bathroom, just as the door closed. Lois silently cursed to herself. Damn...
The bathroom door immediately opened again, and out stepped Martha."You're pregnant.." she stated, the shock present in her voice.
There was silence. Lois tried to think of something to say but couldn't face thought of making up a lie,but didn't have the energy. Instead Lois went into the bathroom.
Martha bit the bullet,"...is Lex the father?"
"No!"Lois shook her head and reiterated"No!No!No...Lex is just a friend."Lois sat down on the edge of the bathtube to get her bearings, she couldn't believe it. She didn't want to relive the pain of last looked at all four tests then chucked them into the mini trash can in the corner of the bathroom.
"Then who is the father?" Martha sat next to Lois on the Bathtub "If you don't mind me asking."
How could this have happened? Lois silently asked herself. Lois cast her mind back to that night, a couple of months ago when she'd gone to collect her belongings from the apartment that she and Clark had once shared. The same night that they had very intense, very emotional, very unprotected sex on the living room floor. She'd been on the pill but since she and Clark had stopped being intimate and had separated she'd given the contraception a wide berth.
Lois bit her lip,clenched her trembling hands together, took a deep breath and Looked Martha in the eyes, "No one you know."
TBC.