Smallville Fic: The Story of Us #13 - Once Upon a December
It had been such a whirlwind couple of days, Clark didn’t realize what his fiancée had around her neck until the minute she had trouble undoing the clasp and taking it off.
He couldn’t be blamed, really. His mother returning, speaking out for heroes and getting shot in the process by a young clone of Lex Luthor, the VRA vote, not to mention his own feelings of hopelessness he was wrestling with.
So he could be forgiven for not noticing the new, or rather old, necklace Lois was now wearing.
“Thanks,” he heard her say, turning toward him as he held the necklace in his hand.
He remembered the last time he’d touched this particular piece of jewelry.
The first Christmas after his dad had died.
Oh, he’d seen it since then, albeit far less than he had before. But it was that night he’d learned the story behind it from his still newly grieving mother.
The happy, sparkling Christmas lights were at odds with the mood in the house. Clark had noticed that straight away when they’d finally gotten around to putting the tree up and trimming it.
But his mother had insisted. Even only a few weeks after his father’s death. She wanted things to be normal. Or, as normal as they could be under the circumstances.
He was standing in the archway between the kitchen and the living room. Sad eyes watching her every movement, trying desperately to think of a way he could make it better, yet knowing he never really could.
Shaking hands struggled with a tiny clasp. A sigh of exasperation. A tear falling down a flushed from frustration cheek.
“Mom?”
She turned quickly, plastering an attempt at a bright smile on her face. That was the norm lately, her trying to appear alright for him. Fake smiles not quite overshadowing the grief.
“Oh, hi honey.”
“You okay?”
She shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “I was never very good at these clasps,” she sighed.
Silence met her words, the unspoken thought between them that she hadn’t had much practice with them. That was his father’s job.
He walked over to her, gently taking the necklace from her hand. Moving behind her, he lifted the necklace over her head, giving her a moment to move her hair out of the way, and fastened the clasp.
“There you go,” he said quietly.
She turned to face him, a tremulous smile on her lips as her fingers found the small heart hanging from the chain.
“Did I ever tell you about this necklace?”
He shook his head. Nodding, his mother led him to the couch.
“Your grandmother gave it to me. Grandma Kent.”
She smiled slightly, seemingly lost in a memory for a moment. Clark simply squeezed her hand.
“When I first came out here, I was so nervous. I didn’t know what your grandmother would think of me, your father had warned me she was very particular. I had myself convinced she had her hopes pinned on a sweet country girl for your father, not some city girl like me.”
Clark shook his head slightly at that, the barest hint of a grin on his face.
“What?”
“I just can’t believe…I don’t know, you’re always so confident. It’s hard to believe you were so worried about meeting Grandma.”
“Clark, someday, when you decide to spend your life with someone, you’ll feel the same way meeting her family.”
He opened his mouth, about to jump in and say it wouldn’t be an issue, after all, Lana had little family to speak of, but, for some reason, the words didn’t come out.
And he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t have much time to consider the question, though, because his mother continued with her memory.
“On our wedding day, she gave me this, and she told me she couldn’t measure how happy your father had been since she’d met me,” she paused, twisting the necklace in her fingers lightly. “And that meant the world to me.”
“Clark?” Lois said, holding out her hand for the necklace still draped over his hand.
He looked at her for a moment, his eyebrow quirked questioningly, until he noticed her glance shift to his hand.
“Oh, right,” he mumbled, handing her the necklace.
“Thanks,” she said, walking over to the jewelry box that held precious little jewelry. She didn’t have that much, and there she only kept what was special to her. Placing it gently in the box, she turned back toward him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, “I just haven’t seen that necklace in a while.”
She looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened slightly. “I forgot to tell you your mom gave it to me,” she said with sudden understanding.
His lips quirked up into a grin. “There has been a lot going on.”
“True.”
Sitting down on their bed, he pulled her free hand so she was beside him.
“Did your mom wear it a lot? I have to say, I don’t remember seeing it.”
He shrugged. “Not really, at least in the last few years. Holidays, mostly. When I was younger, I remember her wearing it more. Before my dad died.”
Looking down at their joined hands, she ran her thumb over his tenderly. “It reminded her of him.”
“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, it was still special to her. Sometimes I’d catch her looking at it when she didn’t know I was there.”
Lois nodded. “Can I tell you something? It sounds silly but, I was really nervous to see your mom.”
“Why?”
“Because, this is the first time she’s been home since we’ve been engaged.”
“She was home last year when we were dating,” he paused, noticing Lois’ quirked eyebrow. “Sort of,” he amended. “And she’s known you for years, Lois. You lived here for a while, remember?”
“It’s so different, Clark. Then, I was your friend, the girl living here, whatever. And even last year, yeah, I was your girlfriend. Sort of,” she said with a small grin. “But now, I’m the woman you’re marrying. That’s intimidating to any potential daughter-in-law. Add in that your mom is the probably the coolest mom I’ve ever met? I just wanted to make a good impression, for her to see that you weren’t making a mistake by marrying me.”
“She would never think that. She loves you.”
“I know she does. Still, the stakes are a little bit different given the circumstances. But the necklace?,” she continued, tilting her head slightly toward the jewelry box, “It helped.”
“So, she told you about when my grandmother gave it to her?”
“Yeah, she did.”
He reached up, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s fitting she gave it to you. Because I’ve never been as happy as I am with you, Lois.”
Smiling, she leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.
“I know it probably seems silly to you. It’s not like I just met your mom.”
He tilted his head slightly to look at her. “I don’t know that silly is the right word. I guess it’s the same feeling I had when my mom told me about the necklace, and how she was so nervous that my grandmother wouldn’t approve of her. I couldn’t understand it. I mean, how could anyone not love my mom, and not see how much my dad loved her?”
“Parents can be tricky, Smallville. Especially future in-laws.”
“And I didn’t realize that, realize what she’d gone through, until your dad visited. Really, that was the first time I’d ever been in that situation, dealing with my girlfriend’s parents.”
“Lana’s parents died,” Lois nodded in agreement.
“And Nell was never around once we started dating. But even then, I don’t think it would have been that big of a deal. But with you, with your dad? Let’s just say I never felt as nervous as I did when I asked him for his blessing to marry you.”
“The General can be intimidating. Doubly so, when you think about everything that happened that day.”
“It was a little easier when he admitted that everything he put me through was really a test for you, not me.”
She bristled slightly. “Yeah, that bit of information put a whole lot of years in perspective.”
He chuckled at that, brushing back a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” he replied.
“What would you have done if he’d said no?” she asked.
He smiled, leaning in and briefly brushing his lips against hers.
“I would have asked you to marry me.”
“Wow,” she said with a grin. “Defying the General? That’s pretty hot, Smallville.”
“Yeah, well no matter how much I wanted him to like me, for your sake really, nothing was going to stop me from asking you to marry me.”
He paused for a moment, taking the necklace from her hand, a wistful smile on his handsome face.
“And as much as my mom wanted my grandmother’s approval, it wouldn’t have stopped my dad either.