Two Angels

Jul. 8th, 2010 04:27 pm
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A/N: This was written in December 2006 and set in Season 7. The prompt for that year's DI secret Santa exchange was the title of songs. I got "O' Christmas Tree". And I wrote it for Sunrei. 
____________________

Kent Farm
December 22, 2007


“I’m so glad you were able to make it, girls. I missed you last year,” Martha said affectionately as she took out a tattered cloth ornament from the box at her feet.

Lois glanced up from the box she’d been rifling through and lied smoothly, “Yeah, I missed you guys, too. This is so much more fun than last year.”

There was no way she was going to tell Martha that she would give her right arm to be spending Christmas the same way she did the previous year. She and Oliver had both decided to skip Christmas and spend the holiday in the Bahamas. It had been fantastic week and it had been great to be with someone who avoided traditional Christmas festivities as much as she did. Martha and Clark, of course, didn’t understand that kind of thinking, so she’d been hiding her reluctance to spend the holiday season with them.

Chloe, who was aware that this was a painful time of year for her, cast a speculative glance her way. Lois shot her cousin a look, silently begging Chloe to keep her thoughts to herself. The last thing she needed was for Martha to be worried about her and start questioning her about her feelings. Chloe stared at her for a second, but then nodded.

Clark, who had been in the kitchen and missed this entire silent exchange between the two cousins, came in with a tray laden with hot chocolate and cookies in the shape of Christmas trees and candy canes. “Here you go, a Kent family tradition. Can’t decorate the tree without it,” he declared as he set the tray on the coffee table.

Lois immediately abandoned her box to dive for a cookie. Clark quickly moved out of the way and said teasingly, “Talk about priorities, Lane.”

Chloe and Martha laughed as she simultaneously kicked him and stuffed a whole cookie into her a mouth. After chewing for a moment, she swallowed and replied dryly, “Just trying to get one in before you eat ‘em all up. I’ve had past experience being around you and food, Smallville. Gotta be quick.”

Rolling his eyes, Clark reached over and grabbed a cookie. He looked at it thoughtfully and then smirked as he offered it to her. “Here, try this one… it’s peppermint flavored.” Lois started to refuse and he took the opportunity to cram it into her mouth. “I think I’ve found a new way to keep you quiet!” Clark quipped, with a laugh.

An annoyed glint came into her hazel eyes, but before she could answer (or even finish chewing) Chloe jumped in. “I’ve got an idea. Since we’re going all traditional, do you mind if I bring out a Lane family tradition?”

Startled, Lois gave her cousin a confused look as she took a sip of the hot chocolate to wash down the rest of the cookie. “What tradition do we have?”

Chloe rummaged through her enormous bag and pulled out a couple of CDs with a nostalgic smile. “Don’t you remember? Grandma Joanne always used to listen to Christmas carols when they were decorating the tree. And then your dad and my mom carried on the tradition.”

“Oh right,” Lois responded faintly. “That tradition.” It was true – her father did used to play carols when they were decorating the tree. That was before her mother’s death. After that, there were no trees, so there was no cause to celebrate decorating anything.

“I keep forgetting that you guys are related,” Clark said suddenly, breaking into Lois’s thoughts. “You’re so different.”

“Is that a compliment or an insult?” Lois asked, with a raised brow. “Do we even want to know?”

“Neither, just an observation,” Clark replied, with a slight disarming grin. “I like that you’re different. I like you the way you are.”

Shocked by the simple statement, Lois stared at him over the edge of her cup. She tried to think of a flippant response, but nothing came to the surface. Finally, she stammered, “I… um… okay.”

Clark gave her an odd look, but before he could respond, Chloe’s triumphant voice interjected, “A-ha! This one’s perfect!” Two seconds later, the musical strands of a carol started wafting through the room.

O Christmas Tree,
O Christmas Tree,
How steadfast are
your branches!

Martha glanced over her shoulder from her perch on the ladder. She’d been putting a home-made star decoration on the tree. “Why, Chloe, that’s lovely. It’s perfect for the occasion.” Carefully, she climbed down from the ladder and reached for another ornament.

Your boughs are green
in summer's clime
And through the snows
of wintertime.


“Thanks, Mrs. Kent,” Chloe replied happily. She sat down on the sofa and reached out to grab her own mug of hot chocolate and a cookie.

Clark did the same and joined Lois on the loveseat. For several minutes, there was no sound in the room except the crackling of the fire and the song playing from the stereo.

What happiness befalls me
When oft at
joyous Christmas-time
Your form inspires
my song and rhyme



Lois looked at the people surrounding her and her heart jumped for a second. She saw, clearly, the girl she looked at as her sister. And the woman who had taken the place of a long absent mother and father. Lois was lucky, she knew, that she had this surrogate family who cared enough about her to give her a loving holiday. But, at this moment, she couldn’t help but wish that the girl sitting on the sofa was Lucy, her sister. She wished for the Christmases past when her father would stand at the tree and place their family decorations on it with care and pride. And her mother would be the one carrying a tray full of sweets and drinks.

Lois was aware that it was a futile wish. The last time she’d celebrated Christmas with her family had been the year before her mother passed away. After that, every Christmas was spent at some family’s house who had taken pity on the Lane girls, because everyone on the base knew that their father would never take the time to decorate the house or give the girls a proper holiday. While Lucy had been with her, it hadn’t been so terrible. At least there was one person there who was hers. Someone to stand with her and then she wouldn’t feel so alone even in a sea of people.

But after Lucy started spending every holiday in her boarding school, Lois stopped accepting the invitations. She couldn’t take the looks of pity. Oh, the families who invited her tried hard to include her. They always went out of the way to introduce her to family and friends. They always had a present for her. The problem was that it was always one of the presents that were clearly meant to be “just-in-case” presents, with generic wrapping paper. Things like cookies and boxes of chocolates. While the college student in her could appreciate a box of cookies as a Christmas present, it was kind of hard for the thirteen year old in her to be thankful when the other kids were getting bikes.

As these memories swept through her, Lois couldn’t help but feel like nothing had changed. She was still celebrating Christmas with a borrowed family. Sure, it was a family she was closer to than her own, but it still wasn’t hers, was it? Usually, she was able to ignore the void in her life where her family should have been, but the holidays made it impossible. To her horror, she felt her eyes prick with unshed tears and she tried taking a fortifying sip of hot chocolate to stop them from flowing. When that didn’t work, she sniffed a bit and then quickly set the mug on the table and made a hasty exit, muttering something about needed a breath of fresh air.

Puzzled, Clark watched Lois rush out of the door without a backwards glance. He could have sworn she was trying not to cry. Setting aside that Lois almost never cried, it seemed rather odd that she would cry without anything to cause it. He glanced around, wondering what had set her off.

“Clark, do you remember this one?” His mom asked suddenly, holding up a clay ornament that had the words “World’s Best Mommy” painted on it with a fond smile. She turned to Chloe. “Clark made this one for me when he was in kindergarten. I can’t believe it’s survived all these years.”

Chloe nodded. “I made one like that for my mom, too. I think mine said ‘Number One Mom’ or something. It must be mandatory for all kindergartners the world over.”

A thought suddenly occurred to Clark and he leaned forward. “Mom, you know the present I got for Lois?”

Martha looked at him quizzically. “You mean the one in the big box?”

“Yeah. I have an idea – what if I give it to Lois now? And let her use it here? Otherwise, she won’t be able to for another year.”

Martha glanced at the half-decorated tree and then at Clark. She smiled as she understood what he was saying. “I think that’s an excellent suggestion, Clark. Lois should love it.”

Clark was out the door before his mom had even finished giving her his approval. He stepped outside and saw that Lois was sitting on the swing on the front porch, wrapped up in her black jacket, a red scarf, with matching hat and gloves. He looked at her carefully. She seemed to have composed herself since she'd left the living room. He didn't bother to ask her what was wrong. He knew that she wouldn't appreciate him prying and he wouldn't recieve a response.

Lois didn’t glance his way until he had settled onto the swing next to her.

When Lois finally looked at him, her eyes widened in alarm. “Smallville, aren’t you freezing? Why aren’t you wearing a coat?”

Clark glanced down and winced as he realized that he’d forgotten to grab something on his way out. “Well, I wanted to tell you to come back in and I figured if I was freezing it would be easier to convince you,” he explained weakly. “You know – so you’d save me from getting sick,” Clark added, when she looked less than convinced.

A slight smirk came to her lips. “In all of the years we’ve known each other, when have I ever given you to the impression that I’d do that?”

“Never. But I do think you’re a lot nicer than you give yourself credit for,” Clark shot back, with a genuine smile.

Lois stared at him for a moment, an odd look in her eyes. “You’ve been saying some pretty strange things lately, Smallville.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Clark replied evenly and shrugged. “C’mon inside. I want to give you a Christmas present.” He stood up and held out his hand to help her up.

Lois didn’t budge and looked up at him suspiciously. “A Christmas present? Christmas isn’t for another three days.”

“I know. But you need to open this today. Right now, in fact.”

Grumbling a bit, Lois put her hand in his and let him haul her up. He led her back through front door and into the living room. As Lois shed her coat and gloves, Clark went to the tree and picked a huge box and placed it on the coffee table.

Lois approached the brightly wrapped package warily, looking towards Martha for some sort of hint. Martha just smiled and took another sip of hot chocolate. The gift definitely looked like it had been wrapped by Clark, complete with rumpled paper and layers of tape. Lois couldn’t help but smile at that as she took off the bow and tore into the wrapping paper.

She opened the plain cardboard box and peeked inside. All she could see was a layer of white tissue paper. She glanced at Chloe curiously, who was wearing a gleeful grin that was identical to Martha’s. Lois shook her head a bit and then took out the tissue paper to until her fingers touched something. She pulled it out and her jaw dropped in surprise.

There, dangling from her hand, was a small clay Christmas tree ornament that she’d made when she was in first grade. It was in the shape of a star and had a childish scribble declaring ‘Best Mommy Ever’ painted on it.

“Well, what do you know,” Chloe declared, sounding a bit impressed. “It is a tradition the world over. Weren’t you in Germany when you were in kindergarten, Lo?”

“First grade,” Lois corrected her faintly. “I was in Germany in first grade. And that is when I made this.”

Chloe shrugged and glanced at Clark. “Close enough. Theory still holds true.”

Lois didn’t know what Chloe was talking about, and that moment, she didn’t care. Almost blindly, she tore the tissue paper and started taking out one ornament after another. There was the small gold star that her father had given her mother the first Christmas of their marriage. Every year, her father would tell the story of how hard he worked to track down this ornament in a small shop in Paris, because her mother had once said it was beautiful when they were engaged. And, every year, her mother would laugh and say that every year he would change the story and make it seem like it was harder than it really was. Lois carefully set the ornament down on the table and pulled out the next one.

After going through several of them, she finally turned to Clark. “How did you…? When did you…? Where did you…? Why did you…?” Lois struggled to get out a complete sentence and then finally gave up.

Clark gave her a delighted smile. “Wow, you’re speechless. I had no clue that could even happen.”

Lois rolled her eyes and shook her head, reaching out to hit him in the arm. She may not be able to speak, but she could still pack a good punch. He winced and rubbed his arm a bit.

“Okay, okay,” Clark responded. “How did I do it? I went to go talk to your dad.”

“He’s in Turkey,” Lois interrupted, with a puzzled frown. “You went to go talk to him in Turkey???”

Clark thought for a second and lied, “He was in the country for some business.”

Lois nodded. “Oh, okay.”

“Anyway,” Clark continued, “I went to go see him and I asked him where he kept your old things. Chloe had told me that you don’t celebrate Christmas and that you hadn’t had a tree for years. So, I figured you must have had a tree at some point. Your dad was very sweet and gracious…”

“What? My dad? The General?” Lois interrupted again, disbelief clear in her eyes.

Clark smiled at her gently. There was no way he was going to tell her that General Lane had grilled him for over four hours on Clark’s “intentions” towards his daughter. That would make Lois jump out the nearest window and never come back to the farm again. “Yes, he was sweet and gracious.” Clark added silently, in the last five minutes.

“Okay…” Lois still didn’t sound convinced, but must have decided to go along with it.

“So, he told me where he kept your old things. In a storage facility in Metropolis.” Clark explained. “It wasn’t hard to find this box after he told me where it was.”

Lois looked down at a glass ornament in her hand and then back up at him. “That doesn’t explain why you did it.”

Chloe and Martha exchanged a glance and both stood up hastily.

“Um… I’m totally out of hot chocolate,” Chloe said, as she made her way to the kitchen.

“I’ll help you, dear. I could use another cup myself,” Martha added, as she followed the young girl out the door.

Clark almost groaned at the lack of subtlety, but it was obvious that Lois hadn’t even noticed. She was focused one hundred percent on him. Clark shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I just… you kept avoiding our calls about Christmas and I asked Chloe about it once.”

“You asked Chloe about what, exactly?” Lois asked, looking up at him warily.

“I asked why you never wanted to come over to do Christmas things and why you were avoiding coming here during the holidays. I mean, my mom had to basically trick you into coming today,” Clark reminded her.

Lois shrugged and wouldn’t meet his gaze. “What did Chloe tell you?”

“Nothing, really,” Clark said quickly. He didn’t want to get his best friend in trouble or make Lois feel like Chloe was betraying her secrets. “She just said that your family hadn’t celebrated Christmas since your mom passed away. Not even a tree. And I realized that you still don’t put a tree up. I’ve never seen you put one up. So, I just thought these would help….” Clark’s voice trailed off. He looked at Lois and saw that she looked like she was a million years away. Maybe this wasn’t such a great present, after all.

Lois traced the edge of the glass with a finger and said softly, “He told me he threw them away. All of our ornaments. I asked him for them, once. Back when I was about nine. I figured that even if he didn’t put up a tree, I could do it. But he said I couldn’t because they were all gone.” Lois met his gaze and admitted honestly, “I’ve never really wanted a tree ever since. In fact, I kind of don’t like Christmas, in general. That’s why I was avoiding your mom.”

Clark nodded understandingly. “I figured it was something like that. But, listen, it doesn’t have to be that way. You know, it wasn’t easy for me and my mom to take out our ornaments and decorate our tree after my dad died. Last year was horrible.” Clark shook his head slightly. “You have to do it, though. You have to move on into the future, while still having ties to the past. That’s what Christmas is about, right?”

Lois eyed him skeptically. “I thought it was about the birth of Christ.”

“It’s about a lot of things,” Clark assured her with a grin.

Lois let out a laugh. “Okay, Smallville. I’ll let you have this one.”

“So, you just gonna stand there holding the ornaments or are you going to put them up?” Clark challenged, reaching out to pluck the glass sphere out of her hands.

“Put them up?” Lois repeated, startled. “Where?”

“On the tree, of course,” Clark replied, impatiently. “There’s a half-decorated tree with your name all over it, Lane. Go for it.”

“I can’t do that. That’s your family tree, Clark,” Lois protested.

“Well, either you do it or I do it. I didn’t go through all that trouble just to have these sit in a box for another year,” Clark shot back. He placed the ornament on one of the branches closest to him and stepped back to admire his handy work. “Of course, I know that you’re not going to like it if I do it, because you’re way too much of a control freak…”

“I am not a control freak!” Lois negated, with a quick shake of her head. She stared at the dangling ornament Clark had just placed on the tree and tried to let it go. After two seconds, Lois lost her battle with herself and she reached out to move the ornament higher up on the tree.

Clark gave her a look and Lois couldn’t help but let out a sheepish laugh. The two quickly started rummaging through the box and taking out ornaments. Lois climbed up the ladder and Clark handed her the various decorations. By the time Chloe and Martha came back into the room, they had finished decorating most of the tree and had gone through almost all of Lois’s box. There was only one thing left. At the bottom of the box was a small wooden container. Clark took it out and opened it curiously. Lois climbed back down the ladder to take it from him.

“It’s the Lane family angel,” Lois declared, a look of happiness lighting up her hazel eyes. “It’s been in our family for generations.”

“Hey, how did you end up with this?” Chloe asked, making her way over to her cousin.

“I am the oldest Lane of our generation,” Lois reminded her. “And, besides, you’re a Sullivan.”

“But my mom was a Lane,” Chloe argued good-naturedly.

“Doesn’t count,” Lois replied smugly.

“It’s gorgeous, Lois,” Martha said, taking the angel from her gently. “So delicate and beautiful. How old is it?”

“Over two hundred years, if the stories are true,” Chloe replied.

Clark winced. “Okay, then we’re going to be extra careful when we put it up.”

“Clark, we can’t put it up. Your angel is already up there. And there is no way I’m going to let you take it down for my angel,” Lois stated, her lips set in a stubborn line. “I’ll just put this up on my own tree next year.”

Clark looked at her thoughtfully. “And who says a tree only has to have one?” He climbed up the ladder and took off the Kent angel that was currently gracing the top of the tree. He moved it a bit to side of the tip of the branches. Clark reached down and took Lois’s angel from his mom and placed it on the other side of the very tip. Immensely touched by his gesture, Lois kept silent.

Clark stepped down and leaned back to look at the tree. “Well, it looks like it’s done. Let’s see if it works.”

There was a flurry of activity as Martha went to turn the living room light offs and Clark reached down to flip the switch to activate the lights on the tree. Chloe went to go put the CD on again. When they were finished, the four of them stepped back to fully appreciate the finished product of their hard labor.

O Christmas Tree,
O Christmas Tree,
How steadfast are
your branches!


Lois let out a breath of amazement. It was the most beautiful tree she’d ever seen. Or, at least, seen in a person’s home. Her family’s decorations had mingled in with the Kent family’s decorations seamlessly. Some even matched, oddly enough.

“Look at that,” Chloe said softly, “It looks like the two angels are holding hands. How cute.”

Lois glanced up and saw that her cousin was right. The two angels were perched on top of the tree, looking peaceful and happy as they held hands. Lois smiled and turned to Clark. “Thanks, Smallville. I have to say, this is the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten. Not that it’s saying much, but still… thank you.”

What happiness befalls me
When oft at
joyous Christmas-time
Your form inspires
my song and rhyme.



“No problem, Lois,” Clark answered, as he gazed down at her warmly. “You deserve it. I’m glad it made you happy.”

Again, Lois was at a loss on what to say. But she realized one thing as she stared at the handsome man before her. At this moment, she didn’t feel alone and she didn’t miss her real family or her old life. Because there was one person that her old life had never had. And that was Clark Kent.

Smiling contentedly, Lois slipped her hand into his and squeezed it warmly. He glanced down at her with surprise, but he gently squeezed it back. The two stood together, holding hands, and looking at the tree they had decorated together. And, for the first Christmas in a long time, Lois didn’t feel like an outsider. Lois knew that she had finally found the place where she belonged.

Your boughs can teach a lesson
That constant faith and hope sublime
Lend strength and comfort through all time.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your boughs can teach a lesson
 
 
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