Chlark Fanfic: Agenda, Chapter 29
Runner by go_clo.
Title: Agenda
Author: babydee1
Pairing: Chlark
Rating: NC-17 (mostly PG-13)
Warnings: None
Timeline: Futurefic; follows Season 8’s Injustice & Failsday Doomsday
Disclaimer: All known characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Summary: More than a decade after the Doomsday Rampage, Clark makes a shocking discovery that changes his life forever.
Feedback: …makes me squee. :-)
Written for the 2011 smallvillebbang long Fanfic challenge. Many thanks to twinsarein for all her tireless organisation and support!
Beta’ed by legendarytobes & The Fallen Sky at KSite.
Art by sylvanelfmistre & go_clo.
Read previous chapter here.
Read story from the beginning here.
Chapter 29
“So, we’re finally here,” Chloe said as she dismounted from Clark’s arms. She stared at the white stately white stucco building and finely-kept grounds, and gulped. “She’s not going to be pleased with us, Clark.”
“That’s an understatement,” he said grimly. “I shouldn’t have put it off for as long as I did, but…well, that can’t be helped now.”
“Do you think she’ll like me?” Gabby said in a small voice, and her father wrapped his arms around her shoulder and squeezed her tight.
“She’ll love you on sight, honey; trust me,” he promised. “Come on; she’s expecting us.”
They walked up the stone pathway, all holding hands with their daughter between them. They were halfway up the path when the front door to the home opened, and a familiar figure stepped out onto the front porch. The once vibrant flame-coloured hair was now silvery gray; but there was no mistaking those blue eyes, which were the same as they’d always been - and they narrowed at the sight of the young family heading towards her.
Suddenly, her eyes widened in a huge stare and she covered her mouth and gasped, her entire expression overwrought with emotion.
“Oh, my God!” she cried, descending the steps and almost stumbling towards them with her arms outstretched. “Oh my God, I can see Clark all over you!”
She reached them and enveloped her granddaughter in a fierce hug, sobbing freely. Gabby returned the older woman’s hug and tears streamed down her face at the warm welcome.
“Told you she’d love you, didn’t I?” Clark said, stroking Gabby’s hair as she leaned back with a warm smile. “Mom, I’d like you to meet mine and Chloe’s daughter, Gabriella Marie Sullivan-Kent. Gabby, this is my mother, Martha Kent.”
***
The spent the entire day bringing Martha up to speed with everything that had gone on between them since Doomsday. When they finally stopped speaking, Martha slowly rose from her chair and stared at them, her piercing gaze going from one to the other.
Suddenly and without warning, she leaned forward and slapped both of them in the back of the head with a hand each.
Clark gaped at his mother in surprise. “What the---?”
“Ow!” Chloe yelled, startled and rubbing her head. “What did you do that for?”
“The only thing that’s stopping me from knocking both your stupid heads together is the very real risk of permanent brain damage to Chloe,” she said, her tone harsh and disapproving. “How could you have kept something like this from me for so long?”
Clark gaped. “I didn’t know, Mom! I just found out---”
“Yeah, four months ago!” she chided. “Four months is not ‘just finding out,’ Clark!”
He rubbed his head, even though it was only his pride that was really hurt. “I…guess I wanted to have Gabby all to myself for a little while,” he mumbled petulantly.
Martha’s face softened. “I understand that, son; I do….”
“Thanks, Mom,” he said, a smile of relief on his face.
“But you’re not off the hook yet,” she warned. “You had a responsibility to Chloe from the moment you were intimate with her. If you sleep with a girl without protection, you stick around for at least a month before skipping town. That’s the way it’s supposed to go, Clark!”
“Omigod, kill me now,” Gabby said weakly, rising from the table and exiting the room in a whoosh.
They all stared at the open door for a few seconds. Then Clark spoke.
“You’ve traumatised her, Mom,” he chided.
“She’ll live,” was the scathing reply. “So why didn’t you wait to find out if Chloe was pregnant before leaving?”
“Because I didn’t think I could get her pregnant, Mom!” he replied. “I didn’t think I could get anyone pregnant, I’m Kryptonian!”
“You’re male, and your physiognomy is similar enough to ours to at least even consider the possibility of inter-species breeding,” was the swift reply.
He sighed and hung his head. “I made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve apologised to Chloe for them,” he said, reaching across the table and squeezing Chloe’s hand. “We’re good now, Mom. Very good.”
“That’s good to know, and I’m happy for you both, but I still have a bone to pick with you, young lady,” she said sternly, fixing her gaze on Chloe who shrank back in her chair. “Thirteen, almost fourteen years, and you never let me know?”
Chloe look suitably ashamed of herself. “If I’d told you, you would have told Clark, and…after everything that’s happened, I didn’t want to interfere with his training again,” she replied quietly.
Martha nodded. “I understand all what you’ve told me, Chloe - but if you’d told me about Gabby years ago, we could have worked something out,” she said, her eyes full of hurt. “My feelings aside, I could have been there for you. I know you had Bruce, but every new mother needs some woman-to-woman support from someone who knows and cares about her.”
“I considered it, Mrs Kent, I really did, but…” she swallowed. “I called my Dad when Gabby was born, and he didn’t seem too thrilled about my life choices, so, I…I didn’t call you.”
Martha Kent tapped her foot on the floor for several seconds while they waited in silence for her to speak.
Finally she shook her head disapprovingly. “This has all been one big mess,” she finally said. “Gabriella’s the best thing to have happened to both our families in years. The tragedy here is that we could have all been a part of this miracle from the beginning if you’d both things differently.”
She leaned on the table and stared hard at both of them. “You should have trusted each other. Don’t you know that you’re both at your best when you work together? You always have been.”
Clark risked a glance at Chloe, and saw that she was wearing the same woebegone expression on her face that was on his. His mother straightened and shook her head.
“For two people who have always been so close, your basic communication stinks,” she retorted before heading out the front door in search of her granddaughter.
As soon as the door slammed, both he and Chloe let out deep breaths.
“That went well, I think,” Clark said dourly, and Chloe sighed.
“She’s right, you know,” she said wistfully. “I should have trusted her.”
“If you’d done that she’d have told me about Gabby, no matter what she says,” he murmured, and ran a hand through his hair. “I dunno, honey. Taking everything that’s happened into consideration, I honestly don’t know what the right course of action would have been. All I do know is that the paths we’ve taken have led us to where we are now…and we have an opportunity to be a happy family.”
She smiled and leaned over to give him a quick kiss. “No more looking back,” she whispered.
He nodded. “I agree. Mom will come around, eventually. Besides, once she gets to know Gabby she’ll be too happy being Grandma to be mad at us.”
Chloe shuddered. “God, I hope so. Where’s your Mom gone?”
He cocked his head and listened, then smiled. “She’s in the garden with Gabby, and she sounds a lot happier than she did when she stormed out of here. Gabby’s telling her about school and the new friends she’s made.”
“Hmm…” Chloe mused. “Sounds like they’ll be there for a while.”
“Probably.” Something in her tone of voice made him glance up, and he saw that she had a naughty gleam in her eye as she leaned towards him again.
“So, she wouldn’t really mind if we briefly slipped away for a little…” she touched the tip of her tongue to the edge of his mouth. “…fun?”
He grinned widely and got to his feet, then swung her into his arms.
“You read my mind, woman. As long as we’re back here in…say, half an hour?”
She scowled. “Sixty minutes.”
He made a face. “Forty-five?”
“Done.”
“Cool. Let’s get outta here.”
And with a whoosh, they made a swift exit and headed straight for their bedroom.
***
Several hours later, they crept back into Martha Kent’s front room and saw her showing her granddaughter old photo albums from their Smallville days, a cup of cocoa and marshmallows at her side next to two slices of homemade apple pie. As soon as Martha spotted them, she gave them a broad grin.
“You must stay the entire weekend,” she said with an air of finality. “I’ve already made up the first floor spare room for my granddaughter, just next to my room, and you and Clark can have the spare room on the second floor.” She grinned. “I didn’t think you two would be comfortable in my bed, for obvious reasons.”
Clark and Chloe blushed furiously. “Ew, Grandma!” Gabby groaned, and got to her feet. “I’m going to bed now before my ears suffer any more traumatising conversation.”
“We’ll see you in the morning then, sweetheart,” Martha said warmly. Gabby leaned down and gave her grandmother a kiss, then bade goodnight to her parents and left to go to her room.
“You have a beautiful daughter, you two,” Martha said in an emotion-laden voice as Gabby walked up the stairs. “I know I just sprung it on you, but I’m so thrilled you’re all spending the entire weekend with me.”
“We anticipated as much, Mom,” Clark replied holding out their luggage. “That’s why we went home to get the bags.”
“Yes, I’ll bet that’s not all you went home for,” his mother replied with a wink.
Chloe blushed furiously. “Um…well, you must return the favour some time,” she said, rapidly changing the subject. “In fact, now that we’re on it, you have to come back to Kansas, Mrs Kent. We’re your family, and we need you.”
“First of all, you can dispense with the Mrs Kent, it’s Mom now,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “Of course, if that makes you uncomfortable, Martha’s just fine as well---”
“How’s Mama Kent?” Chloe asked with a cheeky grin.
Martha chuckled. “Very reminiscent of Pete; I like it. As for returning to Kansas…” she sighed wearily. “I don’t know. Where would I start? I’ve got a life here in Washington now, and even though my Senate days are over, I enjoy my volunteer work and gardening, and as much as I love Smallville and the Farm, they were really your father’s dreams, Clark. Al and Miles just signed a seven‑year lease on it, and I wouldn’t dream of asking them to terminate and move out so that I can move back in; they love that Farm almost as much as your father did.”
Clark made a wry face as he saw her point. “Okay, so no to Smallville. But if you moved to Metropolis, you’d get to see your granddaughter everyday,” Clark said temptingly.
His mother laughed. “Nice try, but if her superspeed’s anything like yours, I can see her everyday anyway,” she replied smartly. “Besides, Gabby’s a big girl now; she doesn’t need me babysitting her on a daily basis.”
“But if we did need a babysitter at short notice…?” Chloe wheedled.
Martha rolled her eyes and grinned. “You know you couldn’t keep me away,” she replied warmly. “And I apologise for coming down so strong on you earlier. I just wish I could have been a part of Gabby’s life from the beginning.
But…” she arose from the couch and put an arm around both of them. “It’s never too late for a new beginning, and I’m so blessed to see your child, Clark. Chloe - you’ve given him a most precious gift, and no matter what he’s missed, the future is what really matters. You’ve done a great job raising her, and I can’t wait to be there for her as she grows. Well done, both of you.”
***
Chapter 30…