The Memoirs

Jonathan was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee out of his bovine mug and eating the last few bits of a piece of delicious cherry pie that Martha had made earlier in the day--despite his telling her to take it easy.

 

"Martha Kent... might I just say that you have, yet again, outdone yourself on this.  And it's a good thing I work as much as I do because you, dear lady, would have a huge husband if I didn't."

 

The dishes, white with red and blue roses all around the edges, were in the sink, and she really did not feel like washing them. She was sitting in the same stool she had been earlier that day, when Clark and Lex had come and devoured, collectively, three chickens, 8 potatoes and a half pound of cole slaw. Oh, and 4 biscuits and a liter of coke.

 

And watching them enjoy it had made her so happy that all she had done for twenty minutes after was hug herself and grin.

 

Which she was doing again, as Jonathan polished off the piece of the pie that had been left. "Lex liked it too." She smiled it at him, taking a sip from her coffee cup.

 

Slightly sour note.  "Lex... was here today?"

 

"He slept in the barn, with Clark." She noticed it, but she kept right on going. "They've made up, after the fiasco last night." She smiled softly. "It was nice seeing them together. I'd almost forgotten how adorable they are together."

 

"Adorable's not the word I woulda had in mind," he groused, chewing the last bite of delicious pie and sipping his coffee again.  "That boy... if I thought I'd talk Clark into it, I'd get him to shove Lex Luthor outta his life so fast... bringin' DRUGS to our boy!"

 

She tipped her head, crossed her arms, and glared.

 

"Don't you look at me like that, Martha Kent!"  Jonathan glared back at her.  "Clark and Lex, that's just fine and dandy.  I don't like it, but I accept it, and I let it go for Clark's sake, cause he's my son and I want what's best for him."  The coffee mug slammed down on the table.  "But if Lex is gonna bring *drugs* to our son, then there's somethin' wrong!"

 

Be calm, Martha. Don’t pour that cup of coffee in his lap. "Lex is also a twenty two year old boy. He's only two years older than what Clark should be, Jonathan Kent, so don’t you start that with me." Another glare. "He made a mistake. If Clark can forgive him for it, then we, as his parents, should do the same."

 

"He's irresponsible, Martha.  He knows that Clark's... different!  And yet, he tries to give him drugs that could do God knows what to our boy!"

 

"I don’t think that’s the case." She shook her head, and took a calming sip from her cup. "I think he had them, and gave them to someone else. I don’t think he offered it to Clark, because Clark wouldn’t have reacted the way he did if it was just that."

 

Jonathan didn't know whether to be mollified or not.  "I don't like it.  If Lex has drugs around Clark..."

 

"...Clark wouldn’t use them. Think, Jonathan, of how you have raised your son."

 

"I know Clark wouldn't use 'em.  But accidents happen, Martha, especially when you're on somethin'."  He closed his eyes.  "What if Lex tanks up high as a kite and starts yammering to someone about Clark?"

 

"Now, that’s just a trust issue you're going to have to talk to him about. I, for one, am convinced he would never do something like that. He loves Clark too much." At that, she smiled. "You should have seen them this morning, you would have understood."

 

"Think I'm glad I didn't."

 

Martha glared at him all over again. "Our son is a smart boy, Jonathan. You should learn something he's done so willingly, and so absolutely. Trust."

 

Deep, heavy sigh at that.  "Honey... I trust Clark.  I trusted Lex.  Then at the jailhouse, I found out that Clark's been lettin' Lex run tests on him.  And now this crap with the drugs, and how many times does he have to screw up?"

 

"You should ask yourself the same question." She tipped her head, though she said it not unkindly. "Put yourself in his shoes. It seems to me everyone makes him seem like an adult, when he's not. Not at all."

 

Jonathan flinched at that.  "He is an adult, Martha.  Boy's twenty-two years old."

 

"You're going to argue about this with me until the end, aren’t you?"

 

He sighed.  "I don't wanna.  I really don't.  Just every time I think I can trust 'im... he goes and screws up again."

 

She grinned at that, and tipped her head. "Jonathan, you really aren’t seeing the parallel, are you?" She slipped from the stool and reached over to hiss his forehead. "I love you. Come on, come to town with me so we can get some flowers."

 

"What parallel?" he asked, sliding his arm around her waist.

 

"Nothing, sweetie." She grinned up at him and picked up her coat from the rack by the kitchen door. "If its a girl, we're not naming it Mildred, so get it out of your head right now."

 

"Martha... honey, you sure you want to be going out in your condition?" he asked worriedly, taking her coat and holding it out for her.  "And no.  I was thinkin' something pretty.  Like... oh, I don't know.  Elaine."

 

To her credit, she didn’t make a face. "I was thinking about Breanna." She slipped into her coat, smiling her thank you as she pulled her scarf from her pocket and wound it around her neck.

 

"That's a pretty name too."  He fussed over her with little grunts and clicks as he smoothed her scarf down and buttoned up her jacket.

 

And just because he was so, so cute, and always, always her husband, she reached up and kissed him. Just grabbed him by the shirt lapels, pulled him down, and kissed him soundly on the mouth. He tasted like the sun and earth and a little like farm life, but it only made her smile into his mouth and reach up to hug him.

 

Jonathan wrapped his arms around his wife's waist gently and kissed her, always aware of her fragile state.  He nipped the corners of the smile, just because it was so unlike him to do something like that, and one hand fell to her stomach, where the coat was buttoned over it.  "You want me to talk to Clark about maybe comin' back home?  Just until the baby's born, so you'll have more help 'round here?"

 

"Jonathan, one more word about it and I’m going to put something nasty on your side of the bed." She murmured, nibbling back and holding him gently. "Are you excited?"

 

He had to laugh at that, and tightened his gentle hold on her just a little.  "Honey... I'm more than excited."

 

"I’m glad." She smiled up at him and bit his lower lip, rocking softly with him as they stood there at the door... just hugging. "I’m excited… nervous. Its been a while." But she grinned, tugged playfully on his hair, and stepped out the door, fishing the keys from her pocket.

 

"It's been a long time, but I'm just... so happy."  He caught her around the waist again from behind, snuggling up behind her as he shrugged into his jacket on the porch.

 

She stepped out on the porch… breathing the frosty winter air deeply, and sighing heavily at the freshness of it. After the hard summer they'd had, this was so welcome. She looked out over the farm she and her husband had built with their own two hands, had forged and *made* into something. When Hiram gave them this land, twenty five years ago, it had been nothing but miles of overgrown grass, horrid trees, and a shack. And from it, from the very land that they had been given to start their lives, they had built this...this. "You know, Jonathan, sometimes words can't express how proud I am of you."

 

Jonathan beamed with pride at that.  "Really?  Know i haven't always been the best but I tried."  He snuggled her close, rested his chin on top of her head as he looked out too, at the land he'd put his blood and sweat and tears into.  "Always thought Clark'd be the one to get the farm after us, but... I'm thinkin' our new baby needs it more.  Clark's... he's already talkin' about savin' the world, and he won't have time for this place after much longer."

 

"Clark is going to be someone, Jonathan. Not someone, like you and me, who lead simple, extraordinary lives. Our son is going to be something unbelievable. I can feel it. Ten years from now, our baby is going to be saving the world, Jonathan. And this place... this place, will always be home to him. Always." She smiled up at him. "But that’s what you get when you raise a hero."

 

"Raisin' a hero.  I guess we were raisin' one all along, and I just never admitted it to m'self."

 

"Well, duh." She wrinkled her nose and grinned at having used Clarks word. "You’re his father. You taught him to have expectations of himself above and beyond other peoples, and that is going to be his saving grace time and time again. Because you raised him well, and I fed him half our land."

 

He shook his head at that.  "Didn't raise him well; you did the raisin', Martha.  I just spouted off."

 

"A lie, if I ever heard one." She clucked her tongue at him. "You raised him well enough that when Lex did something that he knew was morally wrong, he fixed it. And taught his boyfriend that those types of things are wrong, and how strange is it saying boyfriend?" She frowned. "That’s not quite the word."

 

Jonathan swallowed hard, as though the word coming out of his mouth was bitter.  And to him, it was.  "How about... mate."

 

She thought about it a moment. "No, that’s not quite it either. I don’t want to say lovers, because enough blood is screaming in your veins right now." She thought. "Maybe we'll just call them Clark and Lex, how about that?"

 

Jonathan gave his loving wife a very evil glare for mentioning lovers.  "Thanks so much, honey." 

 

"Well, I’m not dense. I’m quite aware of what they do." She was giggling wickedly. "I’m pretty sure they've done it in our house more than once."

 

"Martha Kent, you are a sadistic woman."

 

She kept giggling, wickedly, as she closed and locked the door behind them, took her husbands hand, and started down the porch steps. "Its no worse than the time we saw him making out with Lana, sweetie."

 

"Lana is entirely different from Lex.  That girl, bless her soul... was harmless."

 

"Was she now?" Martha raised a brow. "Are you sure about that?"

 

"Honey, she barely had the sense of a baby chick."

 

Her eyes saddened at that, and she looked up at her husband, and squeezed his palm. "She was really sweet, wasn’t she? I saw Chloe yesterday at the market, and she was telling me how hard its going to be going back to school without her."

 

"She was sweet, and she worked hard makin' a go of the Talon.  Didn't think she'd make it for a while there, and then she did."  He squeezed her shoulder.  "Bet it's gonna be hard on Clark too, even though he's with Lex."

 

"I can tell." She nodded. "Moms intuition. He's irritable, and quiet, even while he was eating us out of house and home this morning." Martha gazed up at her husband, handing him the truck keys and slipping into the passenger seat. "Why don’t we pay a visit to Nell later today?"

 

Ex-girlfriend territory, and Nell still held it against Martha, when it should have been Lionel she held the grudge against all along.  "You sure?  Though..." and then he grinned.  "You could share the good news with her.  Get that snippy smile off her face."

 

Oh, she smiled at that. Couldn’t help it. Her eyes lit up with pleasure, and her fingers squeezed her loves. "Jonathan? Have I told you we're going to have a baby?" her face was just dreamy, her eyes shining, and she grinned and squeezed his hand tightly as he slipped in beside her.

 

Jonathan couldn't help it.  His wife was so beautiful like that, he had to kiss her.  Soft and sweet, he leaned over in the car and kissed her, squeezing her hand and running one through her hair.

 

Martha kissed him right back...giggled into his mouth, and pinched his ear even if she brought him closer. "You're just winning points back back and forth, arent you?"

 

"Me?  Winnin' points back?"  He shook his head, looking down seriously at her.  "Only thing I wanna win back's m'wife."

 

"You never lost me, sweetheart." Was Martha's murmured reply, as she gently cupped his cheek. "I love you, Jonathan. Nothing in the world will change that. Your baby is growing inside of me, and I can't feel him, or her, yet… but its there. And its going to be born, and oh, they’re going to look just like you."

 

Jonathan snickered at that.  "Don't you wish that on our little girl," he said, wagging his finger and tweaking Martha's nose.  "She's gonna look just as beautiful as her mama."

 

"You know we're going to go absolutely ballistic with this child, right?" Martha giggled and wrinkled that same nose at him.

 

"She's going to be a completely spoiled princess," Jonathan confirmed, letting his hand drift down to her stomach again.

 

She thought a moment, eyebrows furrowed. "Jonathan… you don’t think Clark will be jealous, do you?" A soft frown. "He never was a jealous child, but he's not a little boy anymore. I don’t want him thinking we replaced him."

 

Jonathan shook his head.  "I don't think he will be.  Look at how he was with Ryan.  Clark's... Clark's dying to have a brother or a sister, you know that.  He... he always talks about how lonely he is."

 

"I know. But a little brother or sister can change that. Don’t you remember when your sister was born? When my brothers were born, oh, I was *insanely* jealous, and I was... fifteen at the time."

 

"M'family was different.  We didn't have the time to be jealous.  And I had to protect Sissy from Pops and his temper."  He glared at the dashboard.  "I think Clark'll be just fine."

 

She touched his cheek gently. "I’m sorry to bring up bad memories, sweetie." She reached up and ever so gently kissed the same cheek, caressing it softly until he looked at her again. "I’m so happy to be yours."

 

"It's okay.  Not Pop's fault he had a temper, and not his fault I inherited it."  He turned his eyes back to hers, and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly.  "I'm so glad that you're mine, too," he said quietly.  "I'm sorry I fucked things up, but thank you for lettin' me make it all right again."

 

"You did inherit it." But she was smiling as she said it, hugging him tightly. "The lamp post out in the left field audibly snarls at you every time you walk by, you know." Another smile and soft sigh, burying her face into what she almost lost. "You had to find your way."  She let go a little bit to look up at his face. "You found it again. You just had to stray, to make sure. And I understand, sweetheart, I know."

 

"Yeah, me and that post had a few good rounds," he said wryly, holding her close to him.  "You were always my way, honey.  I was just too much of a fool not to see it."

 

"Well, Lionel’s quite a lure." She giggled it up at him… because it was okay to talk about it. She'd made it okay. "I mean, come on. The beard, the hair, the nice shapely--" Cough. "Head. I mean, really." Her eyes twinkled. "I still say in the curves department, I win."

 

"Head's harder n'rock sometimes."  He dropped a kiss on top of hers.  "You do.  You got prettier curves, and softer ones too."  Jonathan snuggled his wife against him.  "Got more sense n'he does too."  Jonathan snorted.  "Man lives with his head up his ass.  Which... I suppose you could say is true of both fo us... me'n him both, I mean."

 

"Not anymore." She grinned. "I saw him with those children during the blizzard. He's changing, and its an entirely good thing. And the funniest thing is that I don’t give any credit to his..." She grinned up at him. "To Dominic. I think Dominic is just as dependant on Lionel as Lionel on Dominic. No... this is all Lionel, and whatever it is, thank God for it. He needed a wake up call."

 

"Bout damn time," he growled.  "He and Dominic deserve each other, though if that sumbitch hits me one more time, I'm gonna start hittin' back."

 

"He really does hate you, doesn’t he?" She snickered.

 

"Yeah, he does.  He does hate me."  Deep sigh.  "Can't say as I blame him."

 

"Sweetie, you can't win them all." Martha gently rubbed his hand and held it to her heart. "Don’t let it bother you."

 

"Won the one that mattered."  He put his other hand over hers and squeezed it tightly.

 

"Alright, alright." Martha shifted and pulled her seat belt on. "Come on, before I ruin my mascara." But she smiled, leaned over to kiss his cheek, and squeezed his fingers.

 

Jonathan cranked the truck and kissed her cheek back, smiling softly at her.  "You're an amazin' woman, Martha Kent.  And I thank God for you."

 

"God has a really odd sense of humor, sweetie." She pinched his thigh teasingly. "You remember that."

 

 

"Can't be too bad, if it got me you."

 

 

-fin-

 

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