25Lex headed down to the basement an hour later with some food in hand. "Hello, hello," he said in a cheery, sing-songy voice as he bounded down the stairs. "I brought some food. You may be my prisoners right now, but Ms. Lane here needs to make sure she's staying healthy and feeding that baby plenty."
"Oh, good, I'm starving," Lois said, standing up from where she had originally been sitting on the bed. She suddenly stopped and let out a small gasp as another contraction - with a bit more intensity behind it - caught her off guard. She reached out for the wall.
"What's going on?" Lex asked.
"Oh, God," Lois groaned as the contraction peaked. "The baby moved when I stood and now I seriously have to pee," she lied, squeezing her legs together as though it would take away the discomfort of the contraction. Hell, this isn't doing anything to take away my discomfort, but at least it's making my pee story more believable, Lois thought to herself. How does this happen, Lane? Only I could find myself as a hostage having to hide the fact that I'm in labor.
From where Clark stood, he felt his heart being torn in two. On the one hand, he was incredibly proud of Lois for thinking on her feet and coming up with a believable reason as to why she suddenly found walking to be so difficult. On the other hand, he wanted nothing more than to rush to her side and help her through her pain; however, he knew he couldn't do that without making Lex suspicious that something more was going on.
"Alright, alright," Lex said, looking a bit unsure at the scene playing out before him. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Clark. "Go upstairs. You'll find a bathroom on your left at the top of the stairs. While you're gone, I'll keep your husband entertained. Just know, I only have Kryptonite bullets in here. Try anything stupid, and he dies."
"Lex, please, I'm almost 9 months pregnant. The days of me doing stupid stuff are long gone," Lois told him, in an exasperated tone.
She slowly climbed the stairs, realizing that it was more painful than she had expected. She had experienced a total of 6 contractions altogether - this last one being much more intense than any of the rest. It had also sped up to being only 17 minutes after the last one. She knew their time of hiding her labor from Lex was quickly coming to an end.
Clark watched his wife slowly climb the stairs - noticing that she was heavily leaning towards the stair rail. His heart broke. He wanted this to be the happiest time for them, and he wanted to be there comforting his wife and helping her when she was feeling too much pain or weakness to keep going herself.
"Soooo, have you two finally come to your senses and realized that you really only have one good choice in this situation?" Lex asked.
Clark sat down on the bed and hung his head in his hands, and ran his hands through his hair in nervousness. He stayed quiet for a long moment. "Lex, you've given me a terrible ultimatum. You're asking me to go against everything I believe in; all the things I have done to build up trust with the American people will disappear the first time I do some immoral, dishonorable stunt for you. I know if I don't do this, though, you will take away the people whom I love most."
Lex smiled smugly. "You understand it perfectly."
Clark looked up as he heard Lois making her way back down the stairs, knowing what he had to do. "I can't do your dirty work for you, Lex. I won't do your dirty work for you." Clark watched as Lex's facial expression changed from smugness to outrage.
"You WHAT?!" Lex yelled, standing up quickly and cocking the gun.
"No, Lex, don't!" Lois yelled from her position on the staircase. She hurried her pace as much as she could.
"No, WAIT, WAIT!" Clark yelled, standing up with his hands held in a 'surrender' motion. He watched the tension in Lex's face ease up.
"You have 1 minute," Lex seethed. "Otherwise, you will die, and your wife and child are mine."
Clark heard Lois suck in a quick breath, fearing the last words she heard Lex utter.
"I won't do your dirty work for you, Lex, BUT -" Clark quickly added. "-I know how to transfer my powers to you, and you can have all the power you want."
Lex lowered the gun and his lips curled up in a wicked grin. "Your powers for your family, huh? What's the catch?"
"We would have to fly there," Clark told him. "You would have to get me out in the sun so that I can get my powers back and fly us up there." He looked over at Lois. "All of us."
"How do I know that this isn't a set-up? How do I know that once you're out in the sun you won't just fly off with your wife and go into permanent hiding?" Lex questioned.
"You know everything about me," Clark said. "You could take this to the press, or any crime organization in the world. My family would never be safe. My family's safety is the most important thing to me. So….do we have a deal? You don't lay a hand on my family, and you get my powers?"
"Hmmm, you definitely pose an interesting proposal for sure," Lex said, heading back up the stairs. "Give me some time to think this through. You know, it's never wise to make rash decisions without thoroughly weighing out the pros and cons. I'll be back." With that, he headed up the stairs and Lois and Clark heard the basement door close and lock behind him.
Clark immediately gathered up Lois in his arms. "Are you OK?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Lois assured, letting out a deep breath.
"Have I ever told you how amazing you are?" Clark asked, kissing the top of Lois' head. "You were having a painful contraction and you still were able to come up with a believable story so that Lex wasn't suspicious of anything."
Lois met his eyes and smiled at him. "A wise man once told me that my desire to protect the greater good is what makes me Lois Lane. Contractions or not, this little baby is more important than my comfort."
"Now, the question is, can you hold out until Lex makes a choice?" Clark asked.
"What choice do I have?" Lois responded.
"You'll be OK," Clark promised. "We'll get through this together."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Upstairs, Lex mulled over his options. Was this too good to be true? Clark was actually willing to give up his powers just to save his wife and child? Could Clark actually give up his powers? What if this was a set up? But on the other hand, what if it was all true? Lex could have all the power in the world. He could make every President, Prime Minister, leader of all the big countries his puppets. Why Clark had never used his abilities to rise to the top baffled Lex. As long as Lex knew Clark's secret, he knew that Clark would never do anything risky like put Lex in jail. After following Clark for so long, Lex was confident that Clark wasn't capable of any kind of immoral act, and certainly not murder, so Lex felt certain that his life wasn't in any danger if Clark went out in the sunlight and regained his powers. Lex would be sure to keep a gun on Lois during the entire flight, and also some green meteor rock would have to be hidden away in case Lex needed to bring down Clark as well.. The ability to possess Clark's powers was a very attractive idea to Lex. He couldn't pass up this opportunity. He had to explore this possibility.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Now that we know our little one is coming soon, we should really come up with a name," Lois said, as she casually walked around the basement floor.
"Mmm-hmmm," Clark distractedly agreed. Lois looked at him, and saw him nervously glancing at his watch every few seconds.
Lois walked over to him and reached her arms up to loosely hang around his neck. "Smallville. I know you're nervously awaiting my next contraction. I know you're feeling mountains of guilt right now, and you're trying to bear the weight of this entire situation on your shoulders alone, but please don't. We're in this together. I might be in labor, but it's still in the early-ish stages, and I can still help get us out of this situation. I'm here to help you, and to support you. I need you to be strong right now. Our baby needs you to be strong right now. Our situation is big, but it's Lex against Lois and Clark. Nobody can bring us down. Together, you and I are a very super couple, and we're about to become a super family. Lex Luthor is smart, but we are smarter."
Clark smiled and felt the weight of the world lift off his shoulders. "There's a good reason that you're my wife," he told Lois. "You always tell me exactly what I need to hear when I need to hear it. You're right. No more moping. No more guilt. You and I are in this together, and we can get through anything - as long as we're together."
Lois smiled at him and leaned up to kiss him. "Based on our little situation -" she started, looking down at her pregnant belly "- I thought that I'm your wife because you're wildly attracted to me," she teased him.
Clark grinned at her and wrapped his arms loosely around her hips while planting little kisses on her lips. "Well, that reason was a very close second."
Clark felt Lois stiffen up in his arms as they heard the lock to the basement door turn and the door open. Clark's eyes darted away from Lois to the door.
"I've reached my decision," Lex announced, as he walked down the stairs.
"Oh, God," Lois whispered. Clark felt her squeeze his hand tighter. He looked over at her face, and saw his wife's face contorting in pain. "Contraction!" she hissed at him.
Clark knew that it was up to him to make sure Lex didn't catch on to the pain Lois was in. They had to make it to the Fortress without Lex knowing that Lois was in labor.
