Different

In this next chapter, Clark and Martha come to a decision, Lois comes clean, and Clark prepares for the worst. I hope you enjoy it. Please read and review.

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Chapter 3: Follow Your Heart

Previously:

Lois stared at the ringing phone, wanting to answer it, but she couldn’t do it. But before she could decide whether to answer the phone or not, the call went to voice mail. She was relieved, but then she dialed her voicemail. She listened, but it was dead air and noise in the background. Now why would he call me like that? He said he wouldn’t call me again. I don’t understand what’s going on. Should I tell Clark what happened?

She closed the phone and put it back in her purse, but then thought better of it. She deleted the message.

~o~o~

The Kent Farm:

Clark watched his mother go from room to room not saying a word. He couldn’t help but wonder what was on her mind. When she turned back to face him, she had tears in her eyes. “Mom, what is it?”

Martha felt silly getting emotional, but this place had so many memories for her and they all were converging in her mind all at once. She pulled herself together knowing it was going to be hard for Clark to accept her decision, but it was time. “Are you hungry, Clark? You look thin. Have you been eating like you should?” Martha asked trying to delay the inevitable.

Clark smiled seeing right through her. “No, I’m not hungry,” he replied. “Come on, let’s go for a walk and you can tell me what’s on your mind.” He thought it best they leave the house for a while. He had to admit that being in the house brought back memories for him too. It was probably why he didn’t spend that much time there.

“Alright, let’s go,” Martha replied and smiled at her son.

As they walked out past the old fence toward the front of the property, Martha turned and looked back at the house, the barn, the beautiful pasture, everything that would always hold a piece of her heart, but it was time to move on. She turned to face her son. “Clark, I don’t know how to say this, but … I think it’s time we sell the farm.”

“Sell the farm, but it’s my home, our home,” Clark couldn’t believe she would do such a thing.

“No, son, it’s not. You can’t fool me, you know. I’ve seen the dust and the neglect. Your heart isn’t in it anymore. It’s in Metropolis now, isn’t it? And you know I’m not just talking about your job or even your other job. I’m talking about this,” Martha said and placed her hand over his heart. “There’s someone who’s more important to you than this place or anything or anyone else. Am I right?” Martha asked knowing the answer.

Clark took a deep breath knowing that what she was saying was true. He looked around the farm and he finally admitted it. His home wasn’t here anymore, it was wherever Lois was. There really was nothing or no one more important to him than Lois. He held his mother’s hand over his heart. “I can’t lie to you, Mom. Lois is …” He stopped not knowing how to continue.

“I know, son, you don’t have to say anymore,” Martha said and went into his arms holding him close for a moment. “I know it will be hard for both of us to let this place go, but we’ll find a family who will love it and take care of it just as we’ve done.”

“I know,” Clark said. He looked up and saw a familiar red car coming up the drive. It was Lois.

“Mom, Lois wants to tell you about us, so just let her do it, and try not to let on,” he said and smiled as he knew his Mother would understand.

Martha laughed remembering Lois’s phone call from a few weeks ago. “I can’t wait to hear what she has to say.”

~o~o~

Lois was nervous and jittery about seeing Clark and Martha again but for different reasons. She was thrilled to see Martha again, but seeing Clark again after last night, she wasn’t so sure how to act around him now. You wouldn’t be a nervous wreck if you would just tell Clark about the phone call. The Blur said if anyone calls again, they were an imposter. Just tell him the truth. You remember what happened before, don’t you? I hate when we’re at odds about anything. It makes us both crazy. If it’s one thing I’ve learned from our ‘secrets’ debacle, we can’t do it. Clark wasn’t brought up that way and me, well, I need to do better. She saw them then, waving at her. She pulled up in front of the house and ran to greet them halfway up the drive.

“Martha!” Lois exclaimed so happy to see her. She really was her Mother. That’s how Lois saw her, always welcoming, always understanding and always ready to listen. She enveloped Martha in a warm hug feeling as if she had come home. They both pulled back, both embarrassed to have tears in their eyes.

“Lois, honey, how are you? You look wonderful,” Martha said touching her cheek and she did look wonderful and different somehow. She glanced at Clark who was standing just behind Lois and Martha knew somehow. She just knew.

“So do you, Martha. Let me look at you,” Lois said. “Martha?” She raised her hand toward her hair.

Martha took her hand. “It all happens to all of us, honey. One day,” she began.

“Not me, no way,” Lois said perishing the thought.

Martha laughed. “Come on, let’s all go inside. We have a lot to catch up on,” she said leading the way.

Lois and Clark silently spoke to each other from behind her. “Did you tell her?” She silently asked with her eyes.

Clark nodded “no,” he hadn’t.

Lois was relieved but then the nerves came back with a vengeance. She took a deep breath and hoped she didn’t lose her nerve altogether.

~o~o~

Once they were in the house sitting in the living room enjoying some ice tea, Lois’s nerves started in on her again and she couldn’t understand why. She’d always felt so close to Martha, but now, everything was different. I’ll say it’s different. You’re sleeping with her son. Lois groaned to herself.

Clark could see Lois was starting to lose it, so he decided to jump in and smooth the way for her by leaving them alone for a little while. “Mom, we really are short on supplies around here. I could head into town and pick up a few things for you.”

Martha immediately knew what Clark was doing. “That’s a great idea, Clark, thank you. Here, I made a list of things I’ll need for dinner tonight,” Martha said grateful for her son’s insight into his girlfriend’s feelings.

“I’ll be back in a little while. Bye, Lois,” he said and gave her an encouraging smile.

“Bye, Clark,” Lois said and smiled back.

“Bye, Mom,” Clark said heading to the door.

“Bye, son,” Martha said smiling. Once Clark was gone, she turned to Lois. “So, are you ready to talk now, Lois? I’m ready to listen,” she encouraged her.

Lois began to fidget then she got up and began to pace. “Martha, please understand, Clark and I have been friends for so long, but it just happened. We were both going along, no problems, you know, working together and then we both realized that we were more than friends and one day, we couldn’t ignore our feelings anymore. Clark and I are … ummm … we’re …” she tried to explain.

“In love?” Martha said smiling helping her along.

“Yes, we are,” Lois said, and couldn’t help returning her smile. “And you’re not upset about it? I know I’m not the kind of girl you would have chosen for your son,” she said as those feelings of being unworthy of someone like Clark coming to the surface.

Martha went to her then, took her hands in hers and brought her to the sofa. “Oh, Lois, you are the girl any mother would choose for their son.” She lifted her chin. “You know as well as I that the heart wants what it wants. I’ve never seen my son so happy. You make him happy, Lois and you keep him on his toes. He needs that now more than ever,” Martha said hoping she hadn’t said too much.

“Clark can take care of himself,” Lois said confused by Martha’s words. “Is he in some kind of trouble? You can tell me, Martha,” she asked concerned about him.

The phone rang just then. “I’ll get that,” Martha said grateful for the interruption. “Hello, Kent residence. Hi, Perry, yes, of course, you’re still invited. Yes, I’ll see you at 7:00. I miss you too, bye,” Martha said and hung up.

Lois’s ears perked up at that last remark. “Martha, is there something you want to talk about?” She asked quirking an eyebrow at her.

~o~o~

After picking up a few supplies and making a few rescues, Clark headed to Watchtower to catch up with the gang. Oliver was on the mend, Chloe was getting the Watchtower back on line, and he needed to talk to them about how to handle Zod and his followers. He sighed, thinking about the past week. Everything was a mess, which was an understatement. Zod was on a murdering rampage and I’m the only one who can stop him, but how?

“Hey, Clark,” Chloe greeted her friend and went back to work on fixing the security flaws in the system.

“Hey, Chloe. Have you seen Oliver today? How is he?” Clark wanted to know.

“He’s better. He should be out of the hospital in a day or two,” Chloe replied.

“I need him, Chloe, as well as any members of the League you can find. We need everyone we can get our hands on as soon as possible,” Clark said.

That got Chloe’s attention, as she sensed Clark’s serious mood and turned to face him. “Tell me what happened, Clark,” she demanded.

Clark began to pace thinking about what Zod had done. “He’s mad with power, Chloe. Zod wants all humans dead. He killed Faora and blames the humans for it, although he was the one who killed her. She was pregnant, Chloe. Zod killed his own child.”

“Oh, my god, but how can we stop him? I can reach the Justice members, of course, but we’re going to need the Society members too,” Chloe suggested.

“I agree, we need everyone, Chloe,” he said and sighed as he began to pace again running his hands through his hair. “Everything is changing. None of this was supposed to happen. I thought I could have a family, people like me. I had hoped …” he sighed. “Now I know how wrong I was, so very wrong about everything,” he said sighing again.

“Clark, we can do this. Come on, we don’t have time to wallow in regret,” Chloe said and punched in the computer all the names of the Justice League and Justice Society members. All the biographies came up onto the monitor but only a handful were actually available. She then opened all communication and visual access codes.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I know this is short notice, we have a crisis on our hands. There are few things you should know about Zod,” he said getting right to the point.

TBC!

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A/N: I hope you like it. Thanks for reading! Reviews are love!