Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, Part Four (Final)
Title: Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, or Being Human (4/4)
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: For the clexmas Spring Fling for tobywolf13
Clarkpreg, old school, Kal-El
I tried to work in an old school feel to the story, even though it's set in S5.
Summary: Stripped of his powers, Clark juggles being human for he first time with the consequences of his relationship with Lex.
Post S5 Mortal
Part Four
December
"Whoa. Hey. Are you smuggling a ham in there?" Charlie asked as he stepped into their room.
"Shut up, pumpkinhead," Clark grumbled, tugging his sweater over his belly stubbornly.
Charlie just laughed at Clark's retaliation.
Clark had a study session at the library in ten minutes, and he couldn't find anything to wear. It wasn't his fault the twins had decided to have a growth spurt this week. How embarrassing. He should have taken Lex up on getting some new clothes before he needed them. He leaned over his dresser and searched for some sweats.
"Damn." Charlie shook his head and stare at Clark's swollen belly. "Hang on, man."
Clark grumbled into his throat. With a hand under his belly, he eased himself down onto his bed. Somehow he was going to survive finals. Somehow.
"Try on these." Charlie returned and tossed a pair of jeans at Clark.
Clark opened them up and gaped at how big they were. Well. Big enough for him. "Thanks," he muttered. "Where'd you get these?"
"Yanked 'em from Dave down the hall. He's got a beer gut to rival yours," Charlie said bluntly. "Of course, he's always been a chub."
Clark looked back at Charlie then pulled up the pair of jeans. They were actually a little big for him still. Nice to know that someone else in the world was fatter than him. He pulled the sweater over the waistband and called it a day.
"Don't worry about it. I was a fat kid in high school," Charlie said loudly. Clark rolled his eyes, but Charlie seemed determined to continue. "You were a rail this summer. I bet it's glandular or something. You should go to the health center and see someone."
Clark pushed himself up, praying that he'd go deaf any time now so he wouldn't have to listen to anyone else talking about how fat he was.
"Well, that or you're pregnant!" Charlie laughed heartily.
Jackass. Clark forced a laugh as well and picked up the books he'd need for the study session. The history final would be pretty intense. He was tired, but somehow he was going to have to push through. He hadn't decided if he was going to even try to continue next semester. He was enormous already, and he needed to keep off the radar until he got his powers back. He stuffed some packages of crackers and raisins in the front of his messenger bag because the twins would get hungry before they had a break for dinner.
"See you later," Clark said, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.
"Take care, farmboy," Charlie called.
Clark hurried for the elevator and once inside leaned against the wall. One more week. One more week, then finals, and then he could spend the holiday break at the castle with Lex and see his parents whenever he wanted. He hadn't realized how much he would miss them. He especially wanted his mom around right now.
His eyes closed as he felt himself slowly sinking to the floor. "Uh…"
He let himself hit the bottom and waited for a minute. Then he got out his phone to call Chloe.
"Uh, hey."
"Where are you, Clark?"
"On the floor of the elevator. I need a hand."
"Do you feel okay?" Chloe had dealt with the news that her best friend was pregnant with twins remarkably well. In fact, Clark had suspected she'd figured that out on her own, but chosen not to confront him on it.
"I do. I just went down all of a sudden. Uh." Clark looked up as the elevator opened on his floor again, and Charlie started to enter. He stopped and stared at Clark for a moment.
"Clark?" Chloe asked. "You there? I'm on my way."
"Takin' a nap, Chunk?" Charlie reached down and grabbed Clark's hand.
"Ugh!" Clark's eyes flickered up and down as he felt embarrassment wash over him. At least he was on his feet. "It's okay, Chlo. I'm up."
"How about you wait for me anyway?" Chloe insisted. "I'll be there in two minutes."
"I…" Clark sighed when she hung up and put his phone in his pocket. "Charlie-"
"Are you gonna be around next semester? I know you don’t want to talk about your health, but fainting all over the place isn't really good," Charlie said as he pushed the button for the lobby.
"I don't know yet. I didn't faint. I just…" Clark shrugged.
"Stick close," Charlie ordered when the doors opened. Charlie walked with him to the bench outside. "Feelin' okay?"
"Yeah." Clark set his bag down on the bench and looked at Charlie.
"Girlfriend's coming to get ya?" Charlie leaned against the building and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
Clark stepped back. "She's not my girlfriend."
Charlie shrugged and lit up. "Mind if I take a crack at her?"
"I don’t think she's into smokers."
"Is that a hint? Don't want me to smoke around your baby?" Charlie joked.
"Don't be a jerk, Charlie."
"Sorry, man. You're too easy to rile. Take care of yourself, okay? If you don't come back." Charlie dipped his head and blew his smoke in the other direction.
"Well, if I don't, I have a lot of people willing to help me out on that." Clark slipped his hands into his pockets. "I kind of want to come back, but next semester doesn’t look good. I could make it to maybe March, and then I'd have to take off. What's the point in going halfway?"
"You could take a semester. People do it. Come back for summer classes and be caught up, credit wise," Charlie suggested. He rested his head on the bricks and looked up at the sky. "Let's plan on it. I'm sure there's some courses we could knock out together. Core shit."
"Maybe." Clark grinned softly. He turned his head as he heard the horn of Lex's Lamborghini. Sure enough, Lex was running up the hill.
"Chloe said you fainted," Lex said as he rushed up to them.
"I didn't faint. How did you get here so fast?" Clark let Lex hug him and smiled.
"I was already in this part of town." Lex seemed to be fighting the urge to rub his tummy, which Clark appreciated. He'd suffered enough embarrassment for the day.
Charlie leaned his head to the side as he watched them. "Who's this?"
"My girlfriend," Clark replied dryly.
Charlie shook his head. "Maaan. Now I lost fifty bucks to McAllister!"
"You were betting on me?" Clark huffed in indignation.
"McAllister called you the first day in Preview. I said no way. He said you were too pretty for girls."
Lex snatched the cigarette, dropped it, and ground it with his foot. "Some of us don't appreciate the second hand smoke."
"Okay, okay." Charlie shook his head and held up his hands.
"I'll get you to the library, okay?" Lex rubbed Clark's shoulder and picked up his book bag.
"See you, Charlie. And uh… you know you don't lose your fifty dollars until you tell someone," Clark told his roommate as they headed towards Lex's car. "You'll get a ticket if you park in the library parking lot."
Lex rolled his eyes. "I'll take the parking ticket. How are my kids?"
"Making me tired," Clark groaned.
Lex rubbed his back. "I'm proud of you for sticking this semester out."
"I hate this," Clark muttered.
"Hate what?" Lex frowned. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."
"No, I hate… I don't want to drop out."
"You don't have to." Lex opened the door for Clark and helped him down.
"I can't waddle around the campus until March."
Lex shrugged and got into the driver's seat. "You can do what you want to, Clark."
"No, I can't. Lex, you don't know how tired I get, and…" Clark sighed heavily.
"I will make certain that you can do whatever you want with your life. You don't have to give up everything. We're in this together, remember?" Lex patted Clark's leg. "If you think you'll have to pull out next semester, then we'll do that, and you'll go back."
"Yeah." Clark folded his hands on his belly and closed his eyes. When they reached the library, Lex woke him with a kiss and took him inside.
***
"My brain can't handle any more," Clark grumbled a few days later. He sat next to Chloe at a round table at the Union, rubbing the side of his belly and wishing finals week were over already.
"Two more finals," Chloe said as though trying to pump herself up. She pushed a plate of curly fries toward Clark.
Clark took a fry, widened his eyes, and blinked several times. "I have to get at least a 75 on my history test. I'm good in comp class. I've already shown a draft to my teacher."
"Way to go." Chloe shoved both of her hands in her hair and shook her head. "I'm so glad I tested out of that. Not that it wouldn't be the best learning experience ever, but I have enough to do."
A high voice carried over the faint buzz of the students. "Hey, girl!"
Chloe looked up. "Adam!"
A tall man with a long face and slightly feminine lips came up to the table and leaned on it. His hair was long and blond and pulled into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck.
"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked tensely.
Adam shrugged and pushed some silky hair out of his eyes. "I just thought I'd say hello."
"Yeah." Chloe frowned at him. "This is my friend, Clark."
"Sup, Clark." Adam pursed his lips to the side and raised his brows as he offered Clark a hand to shake. "I'm Chloe's editor. Not the chief, but… yeah."
"I took this week off," Chloe pointed out.
"Just relax," Adam said, talking a seat. "I just wanted to see you."
Chloe's lips disappeared into a line as she watched him.
"Fry?" Clark offered.
"Oh, God no." Adam's eyes bulged slightly, and he looked up. "Straight to my ass. What's on the agenda for today?"
"Calc final tonight. History final tomorrow. Then I'm free," Chloe announced, throwing her hand into the air.
"Yeah? Then maybe a celebration?" Adam suggested. "College wasn't so long ago for me. I remember how rough it was."
Clark noticed that Adam had the tendency to draw his words out, and curl his upper lip a little as he spoke.
"I don't know, Adam," Chloe said softly, looking at her milkshake.
"Not just you and me. Your friend too, if Clark wants to come. Tanner and Avril will be done with finals too. It can be a big… friendly… hooray for interns office thing."
Chloe stared at him for a moment. "Office thing," she repeated firmly.
Adam's eyes went half-hooded, and he pressed his lips together in a wide smile. "That's all I'm askin'."
"That's all you're getting," Chloe sang back.
"Cool. See you kids later. I've got a deadline." Adam stood.
"There's this invention. You may have heard of it," Chloe teased, leaning on her hand. "Called the phone."
"Doesn't work when a girl screens her calls."
Adam bopped her nose with one finger. Chloe laughed as he walked away. Clark's brows raised as he saw the man's firm rounded ass filling out his jeans. He closed his eyes and quickly thought of Lex's ass.
"That guy's…"
"Full of himself?"
"I was going to say interesting. He likes you."
"And who could resist the cock?" Chloe replied dryly. She shrugged. "He's not always so… But he's my boss. The end."
"Such a good girl." Clark took another fry. "And that ass."
"Don't mention it. He's so sensitive about that." Chloe tilted her head and looked in the direction of Adam's retreating form. "But he does look nice leaving."
Clark laughed.
***
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Clark smiled up at his mother making as many cookies as she possibly could manage. She set a large plate out in the sitting room where Clark was arranging gifts. She and his father had agreed to come over to the castle for Christmas celebrations so that Clark wouldn't have to move around too much between locations.
It was funny how the scare at Thanksgiving had miraculously caused Jonathan to lessen his hostility towards Lex by about 30%. Perhaps seeing how much Lex cared for Clark and the twins had done the trick.
Lex entered the room wearing a plum sweater and a pair of black slacks. He set his drink aside an curled up behind Clark., kissing the young man's neck and hooking his chin over his shoulder.
"Mm." Lex's breath was warm against Clark's neck.
"Mm, yourself. I didn't realize you were a Christmas person," Clark teased.
"Honestly, I usually just work on Christmas Eve. I don't tend to celebrate holidays. Not Thanksgiving, Christmas, not even my birthday."
"You out-scrooge Scrooge. I'd hate for you to be out there working right now. What if something happened?" Clark gave him a tender kiss and placed Lex's hands on his sides.
Their little boy and girl were bouncing around from the sugar in the cookies.
January
It was hard being home when he should have been returning to school with his friends. Instead Clark had signed up for two online classes to keep his scholarship. Clark understood his own body precious little, but he knew that he needed to slow down quite a bit. Getting around was harder. Hiding the baby belly was harder, and being away from Lex was much harder.
Furthermore, his worries about this "Brainiac" weren't diminished because Jor-El said that it couldn't find him, just because he didn't have his powers.
Lex's weren't either, obviously. Late into the night, Lex would work on his files, all the information he was collecting on the aliens. Sometimes Clark would sit in with him and look at it. Sometimes Clark didn't know Lex was in there until he got up in the middle of the night to relieve his bladder.
"Come to bed," Clark whispered outside of Lex's office. He waited a little while for Lex to come to him. He would notice, then rise and greet Clark with a kiss and a belly rub-he was good at those-and then Lex would see Clark back to bed. But he wouldn't necessarily sleep himself.
February
Although Clark continued to labor under the delusion that Lex should be disgusted by his immense girth, whenever they were together, Lex seemed to be unable to keep his hands off of him.
At the end of the day, Lex approached Clark, looking wearied himself from his work: both as CEO and alien hunter. Sometimes he would answer Clark's questions regarding the latter, but sometimes he would answer with a kiss, then climb over Clark and gently begin to move his hands over Clark's body, caressing and adoring every curve.
Some days, Clark would doze by the television and wake with Lex nuzzling his neck, hand over his burgeoning belly. He would smile and curl into Lex's touches, and they would cuddle together watching whatever Clark wanted to watch.
Clark knew he was being spoiled, but he saw Lex's face whenever he huffed or winced. He saw the love barely restrained in Lex's eyes as he took Clark's hands to pull him to his feet.
Clark thought that he perhaps fell more and more in love with this man every day.
One day, despite everything, Clark felt the need to leave the loft. Though a grand loft it was, with plenty of extra rooms, a spacious kitchen, and three floors with an indoor pool, Clark felt that he need to get out at least once. He couldn't do so for long. Lex massaged his feet often at night and noted that Clark should be trying to take it easy, but he had a hard time telling Clark no right now.
So off they went.
With Lex driving, Clark patted his side and talked to the twins a little as they road through the city. He closed his eyes and let the sun soak into him. Although it wouldn't recharge his powers right now, it felt good to be out.
"Not too cold?" Lex asked with concern. "I can put the top up."
"Mmm. No. I love it."
"You've been so good. I can't deny you a little time off for good behavior." Lex smiled and squeezed Clark's hand. "Are they enjoying the fresh air?"
"I swear, sometimes, I think you wish you were pregnant."
"No, I much prefer the privilege of being the Daddy. You have my undying respect, however, for going through all of this," Lex added.
"It's not so bad, now. It was rough at first, but I'm rolling with it. Not long now, anyway."
"Yes," Lex whispered.
"They love the fresh air, by the way."
Lex beamed.
March
"I might pop one of these days," Clark grumbled. He was reclining in a large blue chair in front of the television, sitting in it sideways with one leg curled up so that he could work with his laptop sitting on the ottoman. Since he had no lap to speak of.
He'd been due two days ago.
Chloe sucked on the end of her pen and looked up at him.
"Unless I really am going to be pregnant forever."
"How much longer does Lex think it'll be?" Chloe asked tentatively.
Clark released a long sigh. "He did an ultrasound yesterday. Lily's lungs aren't developed yet. She needs more time."
"Oh." Chloe crooked her mouth sideways and frowned. "Well, if she needs more time, she needs more time. How does Konstantine look?"
"Kon could probably use a few more weeks, too. He's bigger than her, though."
"That's not uncommon with twins. Or so I've heard."
Clark sighed again and leaned over to answer a few more questions on this online test. At least he could get stupid core classes out of the way while he was being bored and huge. "I appreciate you hanging out with me, Chloe."
"It's not a chore." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Besides, what do I do but work? I'm glad you still invite me over. My roommate does nothing but whine about how her bestie has gotten married and won't do anything without the guy's permission."
"His… permission? That's insane." Clark shook his head. Granted, he had his own control freak to worry about, but he'd never had to ask Lex for permission for anything. "Well, I seem to remember someone reminding me that my entire life shouldn’t revolve around my significant other."
"I know. I just… with kids, too. I guess even then, we'll find time for each other."
"Priorities. Oof. Stop kicking my bladder, Kon." Clark put his hands on the sides of the chair and braced himself before rocking back and forward to push himself up. Chloe sprung up and offered him a hand.
"How do you know it's Kon?"
"I don't." Clark laughed and stretched his back before waddling out of the room. When he returned, Lex was there bearing Chinese food. Clark accepted his help easing back into his chair. "God, you must love me. I was craving those eggrolls."
"Actually, I was too," Lex admitted. When Clark was more or less comfortable, Lex unpacked the bag and set a few containers aside. "Chloe went down to the entrance to talk to a friend of hers. Her boss, I think. She'll be back in a minute."
He dipped an eggroll in the sauce and fed Clark, who rolled his eyes back and groaned deep in his throat. Lex chuckled and took a bite himself, rubbing the large mound of Clark's belly happily.
When Chloe returned, she laughed. Lex was holding a piece of orange beef up to Clark's mouth with his chopsticks, grinning slightly.
"Cuuute," she said, taking her seat.
"How's work?" Lex asked as Clark chewed blissfully.
"Um, interesting. Adam's transferring over to the sports section for a little while," Chloe opened the container that was marked with her name and took a pair of chopsticks.
"Oh yeah?" Clark looked up. "So you two could-"
"Apparently Adam likes sports. Mostly football, but I didn't know that." Chloe tried her shrimp with garlic noodles.
"Come on, Chloe. I have very limited entertainment here," Clark told her. "Are you going to go out with him?"
"I don't know. I've been trying not to think about it until today. Maybe," she replied, then took a sip of her drink.
"Well, no need to rush things. It's all fun and games until you get your boyfriend pregnant," Lex said offhandedly.
"You're happy. You're thrilled you got me pregnant," Clark accused.
"It was my evil master plan all along," Lex confessed. "Get you big and pregnant, and you'll be at my mercy."
"Too bad for you, it's the other way around, hm?" Clark held his side as he laughed and opened his mouth again for delicious Chinese.
Lex grinned as he dutifully fed Clark more. "Think about it. We can double with you, if you're uncomfortable at first. Of course, we'd have to wait a month or so."
"I appreciate it. I'll let you know what I'm thinking." Chloe leaned back on the sofa and smiled at the two cutest men in the world.
***
"Ow!" Clark gasped and leaned over.
Lex's eyes, of course, went as wide as plates, and he rushed over to the tub to give Clark a steadying hand. "Are you…?"
"No. I just got… nudged. In the ribs. That hurt." Clark forced a smile.
Lex trailed his fingers around Clark's face and gave him a kiss. "It won't be too much longer. I promise."
"Do you? For all you know, Kryptonians could take two years to gestate!"
"Somehow I suspect you wouldn't be as big as you are already if you had another year to go."
"I'm probably just fat." Clark knew he was being difficult, but at the moment he didn't care.
"No," Lex said firmly, rubbing one hand over Clark's belly. He began to unbutton his white work shirt. Clark reached up to help him with the shirt, and he smiled when Lex kicked off his shoes and began to unbuckle his pants.
"Aren't you gonna give me a little show?" Clark teased.
"Hm. Maybe I should. You deserve a little something." Lex turned away from Clark, which earned him a 'boo,' until he dropped his pants and began to fluidly undulate his hips.
"Ahh…" Clark's brows shot up.
Lex looked over his shoulder and as he kicked away his pants, he began to come forward. Then he began moving his hips again, stretching up, grinding and dancing.
Clark blew air out of his lips and shook his head. "Have mercy!"
"There's more than one appetite for me to take care of, I think," Lex murmured as he climbed into the tub.
***
"I love the nursery, sweetheart," Martha crooned. "It's very cheerful."
She leaned against her son and looked at the decorations. Lex had stated that the nursery was ultimately Clark's call, as the person carrying the children, so he would stay out of it. A decision he may have now been regretting, but other than raising a brow, he had declined to comment. Clark had decorated the nursery in bright red and blue.
"I didn't want them to have to be color coded. I don't really like pink anyway. If Lily does when she's older, then that'll be up to her," Clark conceded. He traced one of the red bunnies that followed the blue along the wall.
"Wise decision. Children will be who they decide to be," Martha said with a nod.
"How's Dad coming with all of this? I haven't seen much of him."
"Better and better. He's trying. I'll give him that. If he ever pops you one again, though-"
"Mom, that was an accident."
"Lex might put a hit out on him. I've never seen Lex that angry. Not even when he was practically at war with his father," Martha finished.
"He is really protective." Clark slowly moved over to the crib. They had put in the babies' room on the top floor with their bedroom and moved Lex's office downstairs. Clark thought that, in addition to having the twins close to them at night, it would give Lex the space he needed to work or brood. Though Clark hadn't mentioned that last part to Lex.
Surely, Clark couldn’t be blamed for trying to protect Lex as well.
Martha rubbed Clark's back for a few minutes and went with him to the kitchen, which had a long bar with stools along the edges. Sometimes they ate there instead of in the dining room. Martha went to make them some tea and a snack.
"Clark, honey, if I won't be in the way, I thought I might visit until the babies are born." She turned and placed a plate of fruit and cheese in front of Clark. "It's not that I don't think you can do it without me, of course, it's just… You’re my only son, and I worry…"
"Mom, we'd love to have you. I'll ask Lex, but I really doubt he'll mind. He never wants me to be alone as it is." Clark took a grape and popped it in his mouth.
Martha smiled and petted the back of Clark's hair. "He really is a good boy, under that suit, isn't he?"
"You tell him that. He won't listen to me."
Martha chuckled and fetched the tea.
April
Consequences. Causality. Events occur, which cause other events. Cause begets cause begets cause, and ultimately, an inevitable, wondrous result.
To say Clark had a bit of a low threshold of pain from a life of never having felt it would be an understatement. When the contractions finally started, Clark curled over, thinking that surely he must be dying. Lex would have to raise the twins on his own, and hopefully, Brainiac wouldn't find them.
Amazingly enough, when he was still alive a few hours later, and Lex had informed work that he would be indisposed for an indeterminate amount of time (and to bother him at risk of unemployment or perhaps death), Clark realized why his people had gotten rid of childbirth.
Clark huffed, he cried, he walked, he crawled, he squatted. Lex rubbed his belly, and his legs, and his back. He applied as much pressure against Clark's back as he could when Clark asked for it, and he left the room when Clark told him to get out.
In the end, Clark panted, laying against Lex and squeezing his hand tightly. He was beyond caring that his legs were spread wide open, and Lex was no longer offering to resort to surgery or drugs to save Clark from having to go through this. Martha's expert hands moved around one slick head of red hair, freed narrow shoulders, took a wet, floppy baby into her arms.
"She's out, Clark," Lex whispered into the ear of the love of his life. "She's out."
When Clark saw Lex holding her, he didn't fucking care when the contractions started again.
***
It took Clark longer than he'd expected to recover. His abdomen was still squishy, for example, and he was pretty sore all over. Still, Kon and Lily were right there. Right there for him to see, and most everything else melted away in light of seeing their chubby little faces.
Lily was a charmer. She cooed at anyone who would pick her up.
Kon was shier, but sleepier. While Lily would keep her eyes open as long as she could, afraid that she'd miss something, Kon was content to save exploration for another day, if he got tired.
The first few weeks were a blur of rocking, singing, feeding, and changing. Lex was with him there most of the time, and when he wasn't, he was working. Clark was pretty sure that as little as he was sleeping, Lex was sleeping less, ever on his quest to save the world, and even more so that he had two children implicated in the fight. So Clark was glad that his mother had stuck around to help out. Otherwise neither of them would have ever slept.
Still, there was little else more precious than watching Lex stare in confusion at a fresh diaper as he held a chunky thigh aloft in one hand, trying to remember how this complex device worked.
May
"What…" Clark rubbed his eyes as he woke up to Lex bringing him a tray with a single lily on it and a hearty breakfast. "You know, I am trying to get back in shape, eventually."
"Not today." Lex sat on the edge of the bed. "Today, you guys all have me. No work. No research. Just you and the twins. I told Martha to take a break."
Clark licked his lips and took a bite of his stuffed French toast. "So what's today?"
"Mother's Day."
Clark looked up at him, licking his lips. "If I weren't so tired…"
"Hm. I'll take my appreciation in kisses." Lex leaned over and rubbed their noses together.
June
Lily was the easiest baby to please in the world, Clark decided as he wandered through the bookstore with Chloe by his side and Lily in the purple Snugli on his chest. He didn't like to be away from either of them, but it was easier to go out for an hour with just one of them, and Clark wanted to ensure that Lex got some quality time with each of the twins as well.
And Lily just liked to look at things. She rarely fussed because she was too busy looking at things to notice she was hungry.
Clark would have sworn that Lily came straight from Lex. She even started arching her eyebrow before Kon did.
"Hey! Baby!" Adam exclaimed as the two ran into him in front of the nonfiction. "Who… had a baby?"
Clark laughed softly. "She's mine and Lex's. It's a lot of details. Long story short, she and her brother are the newest addition to our family."
"Yeah? You look great. I mean, tired, but hey, babies right?" Adam crossed his arms and looked down at Chloe, who was perusing the back cover of a book. "How's tricks?"
She put the book away. "Not bad. Alice is a helpful mentor. Not as good as you, but she can actually give a complement, which is good for my ego."
"Hey, I can be a total bitch off the clock, if you want me to still look at your work," Adam offered.
"Free of charge?" Chloe joked. She looked up apologetically. "Maybe. It's been a crazy year. And proves to get crazier."
"Well. If the crazy diminishes, let me know." Adam looked over to the baby. "What's her name?"
"Lily." Clark looked at her face. She seemed fascinated. "She's entranced by the new blur in front of her."
"Looks really inquisitive. I didn't know babies were so expressive," Adam said, watching her face.
"I didn't either, honestly. If my mom weren't staying with us, I'd probably have collapsed in exhaustion and confusion by now." Clark held one of her little hands.
Adam curled a lip up and shrugged his head to the side. "Yeah, I dunno if I could handle it. I have a job, and that's pretty fascinating as far as I'm concerned."
Chloe laughed. "You think that's pretty much the limit?"
"I think… when I was your age, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to hold a job, so… yeah." Adam scratched the back of his head. "Good seeing you, both. And you."
Adam held his finger out to Lily, who cooed and waved her little hand at the finger.
"You'll catch one someday, hon," Adam told her. Then he waved to the both of them and went on his business.
Clark looked down at her with a frown. Chloe pointed at Clark. "Just because you're married with children doesn't mean we're all ready to settle down."
"You couldn't go on a date with him?"
"Quit it. Maybe… Sometime soon. Honestly, I thought he was up to something at first. He never pushed, but I really didn't know what to think about the attention. I can't tell the difference between joking around and flirting."
"I think transferring to another section kind of means that it's flirting. You could just go for coffee and see what happens. Lex and I didn't start with the babies, you know. We started as friends." Clark hugged Chloe's shoulders.
"I've never really dated. I don't know how this works," Chloe protested.
"Neither do I. Lucky for me, I met my soulmate when I was three."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at him. "Lucky so-and-so."
Clark just laughed.
***
Although Clark didn't have the time or the wherewithal to sign up for summer classes, he did shoot Charlie an email (addressed to Pumpkinhead) giving him the official version of where the twins came from (anonymous surrogates), and asked him what core classes he'd be taking in the fall when Clark guessed he'd be able to come back.
Charlie responded saying that he should have known it was twins, considering how quickly Clark had blown up, but McAllister still didn't know he owed him fifty dollars.
Clark could tell that Charlie still thought he was joking, and wondered if he'd put the pieces together when he saw the twins themselves.
Regardless, Clark resolved to pinch Charlie's love handles when he got back to school.
***
"You don't have to do this."
"I want to. It is Father's Day after all."
"But you did most of the work."
"Maybe. But you were always there."
"Ahh…"
"Just enjoy the hot tub, Lex. And brace yourself."
"Ahh!"
July
Clark felt his powers starting to come back.
First it was his increased stamina. After that, his strength began to return, and his metabolism sped up so fast that within the week he had his washboard abs back, and the stretch marks were nearly invisible.
Clark held Kon to his chest, rocking the baby slowly and watching his sister, who was clapping and working her little mouth. Clark reached out to rub her belly, and she made a soft squeal. He was certain she'd start mimicking words before Kon did. She seemed determined to take on the world. Kon snuggled into Clark's chest, rooting around for lunch.
A year ago, he had been without his powers and subsequently without a direction of any kind. He hadn't realized how much of himself he'd been denying by wanting to be human. Now, he didn't deny the humans their world, their culture, and their lives. Certainly not. Clark realized now that part of him, although no physical part, would always be human. He'd been raised here, and his children would be raised here. Lex, Clark's partner in love, life, parenthood, and everything else, was more human that Lex himself even believed. This wasn't something to be eschewed or sneered at.
However, his Kryptonian heritage provided him with a destiny. Not the one that Jor-El insisted that he follow. Nor one that Lionel had argued that Lex carve for himself. But rather, it was a path that, when the two of them, Clark and Lex, had come together, was nearly inevitable. And unstoppable.
Lex came into the nursery holding a file for Clark to look at. No doubt regarding their mutual effort to do something ethically responsible about the errant aliens and mutants. He set it aside to come put his arms around Clark and kiss Kon's soft black hair.
If Brainiac came for their family, then it would be sorry it had ever come to Earth.
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: For the clexmas Spring Fling for tobywolf13
Clarkpreg, old school, Kal-El
I tried to work in an old school feel to the story, even though it's set in S5.
Summary: Stripped of his powers, Clark juggles being human for he first time with the consequences of his relationship with Lex.
Post S5 Mortal
Part Four
December
"Whoa. Hey. Are you smuggling a ham in there?" Charlie asked as he stepped into their room.
"Shut up, pumpkinhead," Clark grumbled, tugging his sweater over his belly stubbornly.
Charlie just laughed at Clark's retaliation.
Clark had a study session at the library in ten minutes, and he couldn't find anything to wear. It wasn't his fault the twins had decided to have a growth spurt this week. How embarrassing. He should have taken Lex up on getting some new clothes before he needed them. He leaned over his dresser and searched for some sweats.
"Damn." Charlie shook his head and stare at Clark's swollen belly. "Hang on, man."
Clark grumbled into his throat. With a hand under his belly, he eased himself down onto his bed. Somehow he was going to survive finals. Somehow.
"Try on these." Charlie returned and tossed a pair of jeans at Clark.
Clark opened them up and gaped at how big they were. Well. Big enough for him. "Thanks," he muttered. "Where'd you get these?"
"Yanked 'em from Dave down the hall. He's got a beer gut to rival yours," Charlie said bluntly. "Of course, he's always been a chub."
Clark looked back at Charlie then pulled up the pair of jeans. They were actually a little big for him still. Nice to know that someone else in the world was fatter than him. He pulled the sweater over the waistband and called it a day.
"Don't worry about it. I was a fat kid in high school," Charlie said loudly. Clark rolled his eyes, but Charlie seemed determined to continue. "You were a rail this summer. I bet it's glandular or something. You should go to the health center and see someone."
Clark pushed himself up, praying that he'd go deaf any time now so he wouldn't have to listen to anyone else talking about how fat he was.
"Well, that or you're pregnant!" Charlie laughed heartily.
Jackass. Clark forced a laugh as well and picked up the books he'd need for the study session. The history final would be pretty intense. He was tired, but somehow he was going to have to push through. He hadn't decided if he was going to even try to continue next semester. He was enormous already, and he needed to keep off the radar until he got his powers back. He stuffed some packages of crackers and raisins in the front of his messenger bag because the twins would get hungry before they had a break for dinner.
"See you later," Clark said, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.
"Take care, farmboy," Charlie called.
Clark hurried for the elevator and once inside leaned against the wall. One more week. One more week, then finals, and then he could spend the holiday break at the castle with Lex and see his parents whenever he wanted. He hadn't realized how much he would miss them. He especially wanted his mom around right now.
His eyes closed as he felt himself slowly sinking to the floor. "Uh…"
He let himself hit the bottom and waited for a minute. Then he got out his phone to call Chloe.
"Uh, hey."
"Where are you, Clark?"
"On the floor of the elevator. I need a hand."
"Do you feel okay?" Chloe had dealt with the news that her best friend was pregnant with twins remarkably well. In fact, Clark had suspected she'd figured that out on her own, but chosen not to confront him on it.
"I do. I just went down all of a sudden. Uh." Clark looked up as the elevator opened on his floor again, and Charlie started to enter. He stopped and stared at Clark for a moment.
"Clark?" Chloe asked. "You there? I'm on my way."
"Takin' a nap, Chunk?" Charlie reached down and grabbed Clark's hand.
"Ugh!" Clark's eyes flickered up and down as he felt embarrassment wash over him. At least he was on his feet. "It's okay, Chlo. I'm up."
"How about you wait for me anyway?" Chloe insisted. "I'll be there in two minutes."
"I…" Clark sighed when she hung up and put his phone in his pocket. "Charlie-"
"Are you gonna be around next semester? I know you don’t want to talk about your health, but fainting all over the place isn't really good," Charlie said as he pushed the button for the lobby.
"I don't know yet. I didn't faint. I just…" Clark shrugged.
"Stick close," Charlie ordered when the doors opened. Charlie walked with him to the bench outside. "Feelin' okay?"
"Yeah." Clark set his bag down on the bench and looked at Charlie.
"Girlfriend's coming to get ya?" Charlie leaned against the building and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
Clark stepped back. "She's not my girlfriend."
Charlie shrugged and lit up. "Mind if I take a crack at her?"
"I don’t think she's into smokers."
"Is that a hint? Don't want me to smoke around your baby?" Charlie joked.
"Don't be a jerk, Charlie."
"Sorry, man. You're too easy to rile. Take care of yourself, okay? If you don't come back." Charlie dipped his head and blew his smoke in the other direction.
"Well, if I don't, I have a lot of people willing to help me out on that." Clark slipped his hands into his pockets. "I kind of want to come back, but next semester doesn’t look good. I could make it to maybe March, and then I'd have to take off. What's the point in going halfway?"
"You could take a semester. People do it. Come back for summer classes and be caught up, credit wise," Charlie suggested. He rested his head on the bricks and looked up at the sky. "Let's plan on it. I'm sure there's some courses we could knock out together. Core shit."
"Maybe." Clark grinned softly. He turned his head as he heard the horn of Lex's Lamborghini. Sure enough, Lex was running up the hill.
"Chloe said you fainted," Lex said as he rushed up to them.
"I didn't faint. How did you get here so fast?" Clark let Lex hug him and smiled.
"I was already in this part of town." Lex seemed to be fighting the urge to rub his tummy, which Clark appreciated. He'd suffered enough embarrassment for the day.
Charlie leaned his head to the side as he watched them. "Who's this?"
"My girlfriend," Clark replied dryly.
Charlie shook his head. "Maaan. Now I lost fifty bucks to McAllister!"
"You were betting on me?" Clark huffed in indignation.
"McAllister called you the first day in Preview. I said no way. He said you were too pretty for girls."
Lex snatched the cigarette, dropped it, and ground it with his foot. "Some of us don't appreciate the second hand smoke."
"Okay, okay." Charlie shook his head and held up his hands.
"I'll get you to the library, okay?" Lex rubbed Clark's shoulder and picked up his book bag.
"See you, Charlie. And uh… you know you don't lose your fifty dollars until you tell someone," Clark told his roommate as they headed towards Lex's car. "You'll get a ticket if you park in the library parking lot."
Lex rolled his eyes. "I'll take the parking ticket. How are my kids?"
"Making me tired," Clark groaned.
Lex rubbed his back. "I'm proud of you for sticking this semester out."
"I hate this," Clark muttered.
"Hate what?" Lex frowned. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."
"No, I hate… I don't want to drop out."
"You don't have to." Lex opened the door for Clark and helped him down.
"I can't waddle around the campus until March."
Lex shrugged and got into the driver's seat. "You can do what you want to, Clark."
"No, I can't. Lex, you don't know how tired I get, and…" Clark sighed heavily.
"I will make certain that you can do whatever you want with your life. You don't have to give up everything. We're in this together, remember?" Lex patted Clark's leg. "If you think you'll have to pull out next semester, then we'll do that, and you'll go back."
"Yeah." Clark folded his hands on his belly and closed his eyes. When they reached the library, Lex woke him with a kiss and took him inside.
***
"My brain can't handle any more," Clark grumbled a few days later. He sat next to Chloe at a round table at the Union, rubbing the side of his belly and wishing finals week were over already.
"Two more finals," Chloe said as though trying to pump herself up. She pushed a plate of curly fries toward Clark.
Clark took a fry, widened his eyes, and blinked several times. "I have to get at least a 75 on my history test. I'm good in comp class. I've already shown a draft to my teacher."
"Way to go." Chloe shoved both of her hands in her hair and shook her head. "I'm so glad I tested out of that. Not that it wouldn't be the best learning experience ever, but I have enough to do."
A high voice carried over the faint buzz of the students. "Hey, girl!"
Chloe looked up. "Adam!"
A tall man with a long face and slightly feminine lips came up to the table and leaned on it. His hair was long and blond and pulled into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck.
"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked tensely.
Adam shrugged and pushed some silky hair out of his eyes. "I just thought I'd say hello."
"Yeah." Chloe frowned at him. "This is my friend, Clark."
"Sup, Clark." Adam pursed his lips to the side and raised his brows as he offered Clark a hand to shake. "I'm Chloe's editor. Not the chief, but… yeah."
"I took this week off," Chloe pointed out.
"Just relax," Adam said, talking a seat. "I just wanted to see you."
Chloe's lips disappeared into a line as she watched him.
"Fry?" Clark offered.
"Oh, God no." Adam's eyes bulged slightly, and he looked up. "Straight to my ass. What's on the agenda for today?"
"Calc final tonight. History final tomorrow. Then I'm free," Chloe announced, throwing her hand into the air.
"Yeah? Then maybe a celebration?" Adam suggested. "College wasn't so long ago for me. I remember how rough it was."
Clark noticed that Adam had the tendency to draw his words out, and curl his upper lip a little as he spoke.
"I don't know, Adam," Chloe said softly, looking at her milkshake.
"Not just you and me. Your friend too, if Clark wants to come. Tanner and Avril will be done with finals too. It can be a big… friendly… hooray for interns office thing."
Chloe stared at him for a moment. "Office thing," she repeated firmly.
Adam's eyes went half-hooded, and he pressed his lips together in a wide smile. "That's all I'm askin'."
"That's all you're getting," Chloe sang back.
"Cool. See you kids later. I've got a deadline." Adam stood.
"There's this invention. You may have heard of it," Chloe teased, leaning on her hand. "Called the phone."
"Doesn't work when a girl screens her calls."
Adam bopped her nose with one finger. Chloe laughed as he walked away. Clark's brows raised as he saw the man's firm rounded ass filling out his jeans. He closed his eyes and quickly thought of Lex's ass.
"That guy's…"
"Full of himself?"
"I was going to say interesting. He likes you."
"And who could resist the cock?" Chloe replied dryly. She shrugged. "He's not always so… But he's my boss. The end."
"Such a good girl." Clark took another fry. "And that ass."
"Don't mention it. He's so sensitive about that." Chloe tilted her head and looked in the direction of Adam's retreating form. "But he does look nice leaving."
Clark laughed.
***
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Clark smiled up at his mother making as many cookies as she possibly could manage. She set a large plate out in the sitting room where Clark was arranging gifts. She and his father had agreed to come over to the castle for Christmas celebrations so that Clark wouldn't have to move around too much between locations.
It was funny how the scare at Thanksgiving had miraculously caused Jonathan to lessen his hostility towards Lex by about 30%. Perhaps seeing how much Lex cared for Clark and the twins had done the trick.
Lex entered the room wearing a plum sweater and a pair of black slacks. He set his drink aside an curled up behind Clark., kissing the young man's neck and hooking his chin over his shoulder.
"Mm." Lex's breath was warm against Clark's neck.
"Mm, yourself. I didn't realize you were a Christmas person," Clark teased.
"Honestly, I usually just work on Christmas Eve. I don't tend to celebrate holidays. Not Thanksgiving, Christmas, not even my birthday."
"You out-scrooge Scrooge. I'd hate for you to be out there working right now. What if something happened?" Clark gave him a tender kiss and placed Lex's hands on his sides.
Their little boy and girl were bouncing around from the sugar in the cookies.
January
It was hard being home when he should have been returning to school with his friends. Instead Clark had signed up for two online classes to keep his scholarship. Clark understood his own body precious little, but he knew that he needed to slow down quite a bit. Getting around was harder. Hiding the baby belly was harder, and being away from Lex was much harder.
Furthermore, his worries about this "Brainiac" weren't diminished because Jor-El said that it couldn't find him, just because he didn't have his powers.
Lex's weren't either, obviously. Late into the night, Lex would work on his files, all the information he was collecting on the aliens. Sometimes Clark would sit in with him and look at it. Sometimes Clark didn't know Lex was in there until he got up in the middle of the night to relieve his bladder.
"Come to bed," Clark whispered outside of Lex's office. He waited a little while for Lex to come to him. He would notice, then rise and greet Clark with a kiss and a belly rub-he was good at those-and then Lex would see Clark back to bed. But he wouldn't necessarily sleep himself.
February
Although Clark continued to labor under the delusion that Lex should be disgusted by his immense girth, whenever they were together, Lex seemed to be unable to keep his hands off of him.
At the end of the day, Lex approached Clark, looking wearied himself from his work: both as CEO and alien hunter. Sometimes he would answer Clark's questions regarding the latter, but sometimes he would answer with a kiss, then climb over Clark and gently begin to move his hands over Clark's body, caressing and adoring every curve.
Some days, Clark would doze by the television and wake with Lex nuzzling his neck, hand over his burgeoning belly. He would smile and curl into Lex's touches, and they would cuddle together watching whatever Clark wanted to watch.
Clark knew he was being spoiled, but he saw Lex's face whenever he huffed or winced. He saw the love barely restrained in Lex's eyes as he took Clark's hands to pull him to his feet.
Clark thought that he perhaps fell more and more in love with this man every day.
One day, despite everything, Clark felt the need to leave the loft. Though a grand loft it was, with plenty of extra rooms, a spacious kitchen, and three floors with an indoor pool, Clark felt that he need to get out at least once. He couldn't do so for long. Lex massaged his feet often at night and noted that Clark should be trying to take it easy, but he had a hard time telling Clark no right now.
So off they went.
With Lex driving, Clark patted his side and talked to the twins a little as they road through the city. He closed his eyes and let the sun soak into him. Although it wouldn't recharge his powers right now, it felt good to be out.
"Not too cold?" Lex asked with concern. "I can put the top up."
"Mmm. No. I love it."
"You've been so good. I can't deny you a little time off for good behavior." Lex smiled and squeezed Clark's hand. "Are they enjoying the fresh air?"
"I swear, sometimes, I think you wish you were pregnant."
"No, I much prefer the privilege of being the Daddy. You have my undying respect, however, for going through all of this," Lex added.
"It's not so bad, now. It was rough at first, but I'm rolling with it. Not long now, anyway."
"Yes," Lex whispered.
"They love the fresh air, by the way."
Lex beamed.
March
"I might pop one of these days," Clark grumbled. He was reclining in a large blue chair in front of the television, sitting in it sideways with one leg curled up so that he could work with his laptop sitting on the ottoman. Since he had no lap to speak of.
He'd been due two days ago.
Chloe sucked on the end of her pen and looked up at him.
"Unless I really am going to be pregnant forever."
"How much longer does Lex think it'll be?" Chloe asked tentatively.
Clark released a long sigh. "He did an ultrasound yesterday. Lily's lungs aren't developed yet. She needs more time."
"Oh." Chloe crooked her mouth sideways and frowned. "Well, if she needs more time, she needs more time. How does Konstantine look?"
"Kon could probably use a few more weeks, too. He's bigger than her, though."
"That's not uncommon with twins. Or so I've heard."
Clark sighed again and leaned over to answer a few more questions on this online test. At least he could get stupid core classes out of the way while he was being bored and huge. "I appreciate you hanging out with me, Chloe."
"It's not a chore." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Besides, what do I do but work? I'm glad you still invite me over. My roommate does nothing but whine about how her bestie has gotten married and won't do anything without the guy's permission."
"His… permission? That's insane." Clark shook his head. Granted, he had his own control freak to worry about, but he'd never had to ask Lex for permission for anything. "Well, I seem to remember someone reminding me that my entire life shouldn’t revolve around my significant other."
"I know. I just… with kids, too. I guess even then, we'll find time for each other."
"Priorities. Oof. Stop kicking my bladder, Kon." Clark put his hands on the sides of the chair and braced himself before rocking back and forward to push himself up. Chloe sprung up and offered him a hand.
"How do you know it's Kon?"
"I don't." Clark laughed and stretched his back before waddling out of the room. When he returned, Lex was there bearing Chinese food. Clark accepted his help easing back into his chair. "God, you must love me. I was craving those eggrolls."
"Actually, I was too," Lex admitted. When Clark was more or less comfortable, Lex unpacked the bag and set a few containers aside. "Chloe went down to the entrance to talk to a friend of hers. Her boss, I think. She'll be back in a minute."
He dipped an eggroll in the sauce and fed Clark, who rolled his eyes back and groaned deep in his throat. Lex chuckled and took a bite himself, rubbing the large mound of Clark's belly happily.
When Chloe returned, she laughed. Lex was holding a piece of orange beef up to Clark's mouth with his chopsticks, grinning slightly.
"Cuuute," she said, taking her seat.
"How's work?" Lex asked as Clark chewed blissfully.
"Um, interesting. Adam's transferring over to the sports section for a little while," Chloe opened the container that was marked with her name and took a pair of chopsticks.
"Oh yeah?" Clark looked up. "So you two could-"
"Apparently Adam likes sports. Mostly football, but I didn't know that." Chloe tried her shrimp with garlic noodles.
"Come on, Chloe. I have very limited entertainment here," Clark told her. "Are you going to go out with him?"
"I don't know. I've been trying not to think about it until today. Maybe," she replied, then took a sip of her drink.
"Well, no need to rush things. It's all fun and games until you get your boyfriend pregnant," Lex said offhandedly.
"You're happy. You're thrilled you got me pregnant," Clark accused.
"It was my evil master plan all along," Lex confessed. "Get you big and pregnant, and you'll be at my mercy."
"Too bad for you, it's the other way around, hm?" Clark held his side as he laughed and opened his mouth again for delicious Chinese.
Lex grinned as he dutifully fed Clark more. "Think about it. We can double with you, if you're uncomfortable at first. Of course, we'd have to wait a month or so."
"I appreciate it. I'll let you know what I'm thinking." Chloe leaned back on the sofa and smiled at the two cutest men in the world.
***
"Ow!" Clark gasped and leaned over.
Lex's eyes, of course, went as wide as plates, and he rushed over to the tub to give Clark a steadying hand. "Are you…?"
"No. I just got… nudged. In the ribs. That hurt." Clark forced a smile.
Lex trailed his fingers around Clark's face and gave him a kiss. "It won't be too much longer. I promise."
"Do you? For all you know, Kryptonians could take two years to gestate!"
"Somehow I suspect you wouldn't be as big as you are already if you had another year to go."
"I'm probably just fat." Clark knew he was being difficult, but at the moment he didn't care.
"No," Lex said firmly, rubbing one hand over Clark's belly. He began to unbutton his white work shirt. Clark reached up to help him with the shirt, and he smiled when Lex kicked off his shoes and began to unbuckle his pants.
"Aren't you gonna give me a little show?" Clark teased.
"Hm. Maybe I should. You deserve a little something." Lex turned away from Clark, which earned him a 'boo,' until he dropped his pants and began to fluidly undulate his hips.
"Ahh…" Clark's brows shot up.
Lex looked over his shoulder and as he kicked away his pants, he began to come forward. Then he began moving his hips again, stretching up, grinding and dancing.
Clark blew air out of his lips and shook his head. "Have mercy!"
"There's more than one appetite for me to take care of, I think," Lex murmured as he climbed into the tub.
***
"I love the nursery, sweetheart," Martha crooned. "It's very cheerful."
She leaned against her son and looked at the decorations. Lex had stated that the nursery was ultimately Clark's call, as the person carrying the children, so he would stay out of it. A decision he may have now been regretting, but other than raising a brow, he had declined to comment. Clark had decorated the nursery in bright red and blue.
"I didn't want them to have to be color coded. I don't really like pink anyway. If Lily does when she's older, then that'll be up to her," Clark conceded. He traced one of the red bunnies that followed the blue along the wall.
"Wise decision. Children will be who they decide to be," Martha said with a nod.
"How's Dad coming with all of this? I haven't seen much of him."
"Better and better. He's trying. I'll give him that. If he ever pops you one again, though-"
"Mom, that was an accident."
"Lex might put a hit out on him. I've never seen Lex that angry. Not even when he was practically at war with his father," Martha finished.
"He is really protective." Clark slowly moved over to the crib. They had put in the babies' room on the top floor with their bedroom and moved Lex's office downstairs. Clark thought that, in addition to having the twins close to them at night, it would give Lex the space he needed to work or brood. Though Clark hadn't mentioned that last part to Lex.
Surely, Clark couldn’t be blamed for trying to protect Lex as well.
Martha rubbed Clark's back for a few minutes and went with him to the kitchen, which had a long bar with stools along the edges. Sometimes they ate there instead of in the dining room. Martha went to make them some tea and a snack.
"Clark, honey, if I won't be in the way, I thought I might visit until the babies are born." She turned and placed a plate of fruit and cheese in front of Clark. "It's not that I don't think you can do it without me, of course, it's just… You’re my only son, and I worry…"
"Mom, we'd love to have you. I'll ask Lex, but I really doubt he'll mind. He never wants me to be alone as it is." Clark took a grape and popped it in his mouth.
Martha smiled and petted the back of Clark's hair. "He really is a good boy, under that suit, isn't he?"
"You tell him that. He won't listen to me."
Martha chuckled and fetched the tea.
April
Consequences. Causality. Events occur, which cause other events. Cause begets cause begets cause, and ultimately, an inevitable, wondrous result.
To say Clark had a bit of a low threshold of pain from a life of never having felt it would be an understatement. When the contractions finally started, Clark curled over, thinking that surely he must be dying. Lex would have to raise the twins on his own, and hopefully, Brainiac wouldn't find them.
Amazingly enough, when he was still alive a few hours later, and Lex had informed work that he would be indisposed for an indeterminate amount of time (and to bother him at risk of unemployment or perhaps death), Clark realized why his people had gotten rid of childbirth.
Clark huffed, he cried, he walked, he crawled, he squatted. Lex rubbed his belly, and his legs, and his back. He applied as much pressure against Clark's back as he could when Clark asked for it, and he left the room when Clark told him to get out.
In the end, Clark panted, laying against Lex and squeezing his hand tightly. He was beyond caring that his legs were spread wide open, and Lex was no longer offering to resort to surgery or drugs to save Clark from having to go through this. Martha's expert hands moved around one slick head of red hair, freed narrow shoulders, took a wet, floppy baby into her arms.
"She's out, Clark," Lex whispered into the ear of the love of his life. "She's out."
When Clark saw Lex holding her, he didn't fucking care when the contractions started again.
***
It took Clark longer than he'd expected to recover. His abdomen was still squishy, for example, and he was pretty sore all over. Still, Kon and Lily were right there. Right there for him to see, and most everything else melted away in light of seeing their chubby little faces.
Lily was a charmer. She cooed at anyone who would pick her up.
Kon was shier, but sleepier. While Lily would keep her eyes open as long as she could, afraid that she'd miss something, Kon was content to save exploration for another day, if he got tired.
The first few weeks were a blur of rocking, singing, feeding, and changing. Lex was with him there most of the time, and when he wasn't, he was working. Clark was pretty sure that as little as he was sleeping, Lex was sleeping less, ever on his quest to save the world, and even more so that he had two children implicated in the fight. So Clark was glad that his mother had stuck around to help out. Otherwise neither of them would have ever slept.
Still, there was little else more precious than watching Lex stare in confusion at a fresh diaper as he held a chunky thigh aloft in one hand, trying to remember how this complex device worked.
May
"What…" Clark rubbed his eyes as he woke up to Lex bringing him a tray with a single lily on it and a hearty breakfast. "You know, I am trying to get back in shape, eventually."
"Not today." Lex sat on the edge of the bed. "Today, you guys all have me. No work. No research. Just you and the twins. I told Martha to take a break."
Clark licked his lips and took a bite of his stuffed French toast. "So what's today?"
"Mother's Day."
Clark looked up at him, licking his lips. "If I weren't so tired…"
"Hm. I'll take my appreciation in kisses." Lex leaned over and rubbed their noses together.
June
Lily was the easiest baby to please in the world, Clark decided as he wandered through the bookstore with Chloe by his side and Lily in the purple Snugli on his chest. He didn't like to be away from either of them, but it was easier to go out for an hour with just one of them, and Clark wanted to ensure that Lex got some quality time with each of the twins as well.
And Lily just liked to look at things. She rarely fussed because she was too busy looking at things to notice she was hungry.
Clark would have sworn that Lily came straight from Lex. She even started arching her eyebrow before Kon did.
"Hey! Baby!" Adam exclaimed as the two ran into him in front of the nonfiction. "Who… had a baby?"
Clark laughed softly. "She's mine and Lex's. It's a lot of details. Long story short, she and her brother are the newest addition to our family."
"Yeah? You look great. I mean, tired, but hey, babies right?" Adam crossed his arms and looked down at Chloe, who was perusing the back cover of a book. "How's tricks?"
She put the book away. "Not bad. Alice is a helpful mentor. Not as good as you, but she can actually give a complement, which is good for my ego."
"Hey, I can be a total bitch off the clock, if you want me to still look at your work," Adam offered.
"Free of charge?" Chloe joked. She looked up apologetically. "Maybe. It's been a crazy year. And proves to get crazier."
"Well. If the crazy diminishes, let me know." Adam looked over to the baby. "What's her name?"
"Lily." Clark looked at her face. She seemed fascinated. "She's entranced by the new blur in front of her."
"Looks really inquisitive. I didn't know babies were so expressive," Adam said, watching her face.
"I didn't either, honestly. If my mom weren't staying with us, I'd probably have collapsed in exhaustion and confusion by now." Clark held one of her little hands.
Adam curled a lip up and shrugged his head to the side. "Yeah, I dunno if I could handle it. I have a job, and that's pretty fascinating as far as I'm concerned."
Chloe laughed. "You think that's pretty much the limit?"
"I think… when I was your age, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to hold a job, so… yeah." Adam scratched the back of his head. "Good seeing you, both. And you."
Adam held his finger out to Lily, who cooed and waved her little hand at the finger.
"You'll catch one someday, hon," Adam told her. Then he waved to the both of them and went on his business.
Clark looked down at her with a frown. Chloe pointed at Clark. "Just because you're married with children doesn't mean we're all ready to settle down."
"You couldn't go on a date with him?"
"Quit it. Maybe… Sometime soon. Honestly, I thought he was up to something at first. He never pushed, but I really didn't know what to think about the attention. I can't tell the difference between joking around and flirting."
"I think transferring to another section kind of means that it's flirting. You could just go for coffee and see what happens. Lex and I didn't start with the babies, you know. We started as friends." Clark hugged Chloe's shoulders.
"I've never really dated. I don't know how this works," Chloe protested.
"Neither do I. Lucky for me, I met my soulmate when I was three."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at him. "Lucky so-and-so."
Clark just laughed.
***
Although Clark didn't have the time or the wherewithal to sign up for summer classes, he did shoot Charlie an email (addressed to Pumpkinhead) giving him the official version of where the twins came from (anonymous surrogates), and asked him what core classes he'd be taking in the fall when Clark guessed he'd be able to come back.
Charlie responded saying that he should have known it was twins, considering how quickly Clark had blown up, but McAllister still didn't know he owed him fifty dollars.
Clark could tell that Charlie still thought he was joking, and wondered if he'd put the pieces together when he saw the twins themselves.
Regardless, Clark resolved to pinch Charlie's love handles when he got back to school.
***
"You don't have to do this."
"I want to. It is Father's Day after all."
"But you did most of the work."
"Maybe. But you were always there."
"Ahh…"
"Just enjoy the hot tub, Lex. And brace yourself."
"Ahh!"
July
Clark felt his powers starting to come back.
First it was his increased stamina. After that, his strength began to return, and his metabolism sped up so fast that within the week he had his washboard abs back, and the stretch marks were nearly invisible.
Clark held Kon to his chest, rocking the baby slowly and watching his sister, who was clapping and working her little mouth. Clark reached out to rub her belly, and she made a soft squeal. He was certain she'd start mimicking words before Kon did. She seemed determined to take on the world. Kon snuggled into Clark's chest, rooting around for lunch.
A year ago, he had been without his powers and subsequently without a direction of any kind. He hadn't realized how much of himself he'd been denying by wanting to be human. Now, he didn't deny the humans their world, their culture, and their lives. Certainly not. Clark realized now that part of him, although no physical part, would always be human. He'd been raised here, and his children would be raised here. Lex, Clark's partner in love, life, parenthood, and everything else, was more human that Lex himself even believed. This wasn't something to be eschewed or sneered at.
However, his Kryptonian heritage provided him with a destiny. Not the one that Jor-El insisted that he follow. Nor one that Lionel had argued that Lex carve for himself. But rather, it was a path that, when the two of them, Clark and Lex, had come together, was nearly inevitable. And unstoppable.
Lex came into the nursery holding a file for Clark to look at. No doubt regarding their mutual effort to do something ethically responsible about the errant aliens and mutants. He set it aside to come put his arms around Clark and kiss Kon's soft black hair.
If Brainiac came for their family, then it would be sorry it had ever come to Earth.