Chapter 10

The muffled noise of a pick up truck shook Lois out of her relaxing stupor. She was nursing another cup of coffee and sitting on the back porch gazing over the corn fields. Contemplating the new turn her life had just taken. She knew they still had a lot of problems to sort out and a lot of questions needed to be asked but she couldn't remember feeling so happy and relaxed in her entire life. The noise seemed out of place and so she shot up off the wooden step and realised with a mounting sense of something akin to horror that the pick up truck was turning off the main road and onto the long driveway towards the farm. It had to be Clark's mom. Oh Lord where the hell was he?

Clarks earlier words of reassurance were forgotten as she envisaged the up coming meeting. Let's face it, she was way out of her depth here. She had absolutely nothing in common with Mrs Kent and she was pretty sure that no amount of charm could convince her that Lois Lane was a suitable girlfriend for her amazing specimen of a son. She was an unmarried Mom with a busy career, couldn't cook to save her life and knew nothing about farming or country life or corn! OK so maybe it didn't matter how much she knew about running a farm but how would Mrs Kent react when she found out that Lois had born Clark a son out of wedlock? You just didn't to that sort of thing in Nowheresville, Kansas! This was the woman who had raised Superman to be the superhero he was today and Lois simply felt inadequate in comparison.

Her panicked thoughts were jumbled but one thing she was sure of was that she had to face this head on. She was Lois Lane not some ditzy airhead … nothing scared Lois Lane! So what if she was about to meet her boyfriend's Mom for the first time without the said boyfriend. She made her way to the front porch and stood with a confident air trying to stop the shaking going on inside her.

As the old beaten up vehicle approached she saw the lady in question behind the wheel. Lois had seen photographs of her of course. Clark always made sure he had a photograph of his parents on his desk at the Planet. First impressions were supposed to count and Lois was sure her hair was still mussed from the flight and her lipstick had long since disappeared. It was too late now to do anything about it though.

As the truck pulled into the farmyard Martha Kent noticed the lone female figure standing on her porch. She was fairly used to having visitors arrive unannounced but there was something about the woman that seemed out of place on her porch. It was the clothes she realised … they fairly screamed "city girl". On closer inspection she realised who the visitor was … Lois Lane! Well that was an interesting turn of events. She wasn't about to jump to conclusions as to why the journalist was there but one thing was certain, she hadn't got there without help from Clark ... help of the airborne variety. Martha had unfortunately seen a live TV report direct from Metropolis of her son ushering Lois Lane out of the Daily Planet building not an hour ago and even the fastest jet couldn't have got her here that soon.

The younger woman looked nervous Martha realised with surprise. She knew of her reputation for being tough and to be honest she had been a little concerned about her son's obvious attraction for such a forceful woman. Clark may be a superhero but he was still a sensitive little boy at heart and could be easily hurt by this woman if their relationship went wrong.

What on earth was Clark thinking of letting the poor woman go through their first meeting all alone? Just wait until she had a word with him, it was really rude of him to leave them to introduce themselves and she had brought him up better than that.

Martha drove the truck into it's usual space alongside the barn and by the time she had gotten out of the truck and grabbed one of the bags from the back Lois had approached the vehicle.

"Hi Lois … I'm pleased to finally meet you. Could you give me a hand with the shopping then we can go inside and have a nice chat? Where has Clark flown off to?"

Lois still felt weary but at least Mrs Kent was smiling.

"He didn't say, Mrs Kent … he just flew off about 20 minutes ago." In other circumstances Lois would have laughed at the surreal choice of words "I'm so sorry to just show up here but Clark told me to make myself at home. I hope you don't mind" She resisted the urge to wring her hands together and instead began gathering the rest of the shopping.

"Of course I don't mind, honey and it's Martha. You're always welcome in my home … Clark has good taste when it comes to his friends and if he trusts you not to steal the family silver than I trust you too."

Lois felt a sense of relief with Martha's words. She had expected more than a little annoyance in the elderly ladies demeanour at her sudden appearance. She appeared on the surface to be the old fashioned grandmotherly type with her white hair but underneath Lois could tell she was still as keen as she had been in her youth.

Once inside the farmhouse Lois began helping Martha unpack the bags and put away the groceries. There was a surprising amount of food for one woman and Martha chuckled at the expression on Lois' face.

"Oh it's not all for me dear! Clark drops in for something to eat whenever he's out this way and he eats like a horse! I usually entertain my friend Ben a few times a week as well" The two women mutually decided to sit at the kitchen table and as Martha pulled up a chair she began.

"I'm so glad he finally told you Lois. You've no idea how many times I've told him to just bite the bullet and tell you who he really is … he cares about you and it's been so difficult for him to lie all these years. He was so scared that he'd loose your friendship and your trust."

Lois was moved by the speech and by the knowledge that he'd shared his feeling with his Mom but at the same time a little perturbed that Clark hadn't actually told her.

"He didn't bite the bullet … that is … he didn't actually tell me I sort of figured it out by myself" She couldn't help but look sheepishly at the older woman on Clark's behalf.

Martha gave a big sigh of frustration "Oh I love him to death but sometimes my son can be such a dope!" The statement played on Lois' sense of humor and they both began laughing almost hysterically. Lois didn't help by saying "Has he ever bitten a bullet? I'm not sure it's taste so good!". After all the stress she had endured recently it felt so good to laugh and have a little normalcy in her life. Martha was turning out to be nothing at all like she had imagined and she began to appreciate just how much she must have metaphorically brought Clark down to earth more than once.

Martha didn't want to interfere in her son's life but she felt the need to ask about the reports in the press, however indirectly. Lois hadn't in fact alluded to a romantic relationship with Clark and Martha really needed to make sure that she wasn't jumping to conclusions. She was sure her son was deeply in love with the attractive young woman opposite her but if Martha accidentally dropped him in it, so to speak, it could cause all of them a great deal of embarrassment.

"So … Bruce Wayne? He's seems a pretty interesting man" her eyebrows were raised in the silent question. "What happened to make Clark act like that? I caught the news report"

Lois was torn, on the one hand she didn't want to start her relationship with Martha by telling a big fat lie but on the other she didn't want the elder woman to think ill of her. She could feel herself blushing with mortification, taking a deep breath she began to tell the truth starting with how she initially came to the conclusion that her work colleague was more than he appeared.

Martha listened intently and nodded at the relevant moments as the story unfolded. She was perturbed by the way Clark had acted when jealousy had arisen, it simply wasn't like him to act without thinking and she had never known him to use any kind of physical force, however mild, in anger. Martha was sure that there was more to it than that. Why did Bruce Wayne manage to push his buttons so much anyway?

She couldn't help smiling when Lois told her, very hesitantly, that she was now officially, if secretly, dating Clark. Her hand covered Lois' across the table and when Lois looked into the older woman's eyes she only saw happiness on their behalf.

"Martha, I feel like such an idiot! I should never have tried to make him jealous." She dramatically put her forehead on the table top "It was a really stupid thing to do but I think part of me was still a bit angry for the way he lied to me."

"Oh honey that's only to be expected. To be honest I think I would've made him suffer even more if I was in your position." She ended with a chuckle. Martha left the table and turned her back on her guest as she began to prepare a hot drink for them both "He should have told you the truth as soon as he found out about Jason. He's an adorable little boy Lois, you should be really proud of him. I'd love for Clark to fly him out here again. He really loved it last time."

Lois felt the room begin to spin as Martha's words slowly took form in her mind and she processed the implications. There was only a short silence before the explosive "WHAT?" that came out of Lois' mouth making the older woman jump and turn around startled to face an irate woman who had been laughing just a moment ago.

Jason Knew! Clark had told him the truth and risked their son's safety in the process. Not only had he been lying to her but he'd forced Jason to do the same! What else had he told him? Did Jason know that Clark was really his father?

Without rational thought she scraped her chair back and went to the door of the farmhouse. Flinging the door almost off it's hinges in the process.

"CLARK KENT GET YOUR BUTT BACK HERE …. NOW"

Authors Note: Thanks to MegasaurusRex101 for her idea and all the wonderful reviews! Sorry it's taken so long to update I'd like to give a really convincing excuse but I don't have one!