Nullification

[NYC300Z]

Terrific fic! The two of them finally back together! Still a few questions to answer, but it's worth the wait if we get to see more great scenes like these!

PPMS!

[redraven]

I'm loving the epilogue...a lot. Part 3 made me smile, it was sweet how Lana waited for Clark with out any temptation whatsoever during his absence. It very nicely written, Cardinal.

Maybe in the next chapter, when Clark and Lana go out, the subject of Lex will come up and they can talk about it together.

Update again asap!!

[Cardinal]

Nullification

Epilogue, Part IV

As Lana’s helicopter landed on the well-lit landing pad she had not too far from her house, Clark got his first good look at the lettering on the helicopter’s side. In bright gold letters, edged with a think line of black were the words: Kent Publishing. Clark was so stunned by the name, that he just about fell out of the sky.

Lana hurried into her sprawling Georgian-style mansion. She needed to make it to her master suite so she could turn her balcony lights on and off as a way to signal to Clark where he needed to land. She was stopped by her household administrator, what in times gone by would have been referred to as a butler.

“Miss Lang,” the ever-correct Barrett Smith said, “Miss Tompkins has already been here and left your purchases. The receipts are on your desk, and the clothes have been laid out in the superior guest room.”

“Thank you, Barrett, but could you have the clothes brought to my room?” Lana said. Her smile was as genuine as her thanks, one reason among many that she had a very devoted staff. She didn’t know any other way to treat people, but knew from her time with Lex that many rich people treated their servants like appliances, to be used, without a word of appreciation, until they broke down and were then replaced by a shiny, brand-new model.

“Of course, Miss Lang, right away.”

Lana hustled up the main staircase and down the hall to the master suite. Once inside, she waited until two servants brought Clark’s new clothes into the room and carefully laid them out on the king-sized canopy bed. As soon as they had gone, Lana locked the door and turned the balcony lights on and off three times in succession. Mere seconds later, Clark was standing at her side. Nothing would do for the recently reunited couple but to kiss each other thoroughly once more.

“Nice little house you’ve got here, Lana,” Clark said.

“Yeah, I like to think so.” Continuing tongue-in-cheek, Lana added, “It was just a simple three-bedroom fixer-upper when I bought it, but by the time I got through with it…”

Clark snarked, “…it had become a twelve-bedroom, fifteen-bath hotel.”

“All except for the hotel part.” Lana heard a rumble from Clark’s stomach and pointed to his clothes on the bed. “If you’d hurry up and get changed, I’ll bet the chef has something ready for us by now.”

Before Lana even finished her sentence, Clark had changed into a pair of bright red sweats. The thing that weirded her out was that she couldn’t tell where his superhero suit had gone. When she asked him about it, Clark tried to explain.

“It’s a trick I learned while ‘up North.’ In a very tight radius around my body, I can make things phase into another dimension. So, effectively, I’m still wearing the suit at the same time I’m wearing these sweats. I can make the suit come back into phase at the same time that I make the sweats phase out. It should make it easier for me to do my job.”

Lana didn’t want Clark to feel uncomfortable with what he was wearing, so she disappeared into her massive, two-story closet coming back out with a lightweight, blue tracksuit. It was normally something she’d only wear during her morning cross country runs on the grounds of her estate, but she liked the idea that Clark was already making her a little bit less formal. It was like he had the power to make her relax, something she did all too little of these days. Once she was ready, Clark offered his arm, Lana took it, and they headed downstairs.

“I saw something on the way here that made me sort of curious,” Clark said, understating the case ever so slightly.

“Yes? What?”

“A little professional signage on the side of your helicopter that seemed to indicate it belongs to Kent Publishing.” Clark shot Lana a look that begged her to explain. “That’s a curious name, don’t you think?”

Lana’s face broke into an uncontrollable grin. “I’ll have you know I chose that name after a lot of careful deliberation. I was sure you were coming back, so I thought it would make things easier.”

Playing dumb, Clark asked innocently, “How so?”

Lana rolled her eyes extravagantly and said, “Because when we get married…and we are getting married, Clark Kent…it would make things easier when I change my name if the company already had that same name.” Lana’s look then changed to one filled with mischief. “Besides, naming the company ‘Kent Publishing’ sticks it to Lex anytime anyone reads or hears the name.”

“Lex,” Clark said flatly. He had hoped to avoid that name for as long as possible, but he had known it would come up sometime.

“How about we talk about the unpleasant things after we eat?”

“Sounds fine to me.”

It wasn’t long before they were enjoying an intimate, candlelit dinner in a small dining room. Lana sent their server away, insisting that they could serve themselves off of the sideboard. All she wanted was to be alone with Clark as much as possible.

No one on the house staff knew how Clark had gotten into the building, reinforcing old theories that Miss Lang had had some secret passages installed when she’d had the building constructed, but they knew this was her first solo male guest ever and they were busy making bets about whether or not this might be ‘the one.’ Whether he was or not, the whole staff was silently cheering their beloved Miss Lang on.

The chef had outdone himself, and the meal was mostly quiet as the two of them dug in. That didn’t keep them from sharing quiet looks across the small table as they ate though. Or from playing footsie under the table since they both had decided to forego footwear. At the end of dinner, Lana summoned a servant and said they’d take coffee and their desserts on her bedroom balcony, after which everyone was dismissed for the evening.

That ‘everyone’ didn’t include her omnipresent security. The second shift was on now and there’d be a third shift overnight. The fact that they’d be around was why Lana wanted their coffee and dessert on the balcony instead of on her expansive patio. That balcony was a comfortable place to sit and talk in the still-warm evening air, but it was out of the hearing range of her security team.

On the way back to her suite, Lana noticed that Clark was taking subtle peeks into nearly every room that they passed. Curious, Lana finally asked him about it. Lana could see the hesitation on his face as he tried to decide how to say what was on his mind.

“Umm…I, uh…I’m looking for someone.”

“Who?”

Not knowing how else to say it, Clark went for directness, and said, “Your child. I never knew if it was going to be a boy or girl, but I’ve been expecting to see him or her ever since we left your bedroom.”

What Clark had said, and the way he had said it, which seemed to mix equal parts hope and fear, made Lana’s spirits sink. “There is no child, Clark.”

“What do you mean?” Clark’s protective instincts rose to the surface, and his voice became concerned. “Did you lose the baby?”

Lana stopped in the middle of the hall and Clark followed suit.

“There never was a baby. I wasn’t ever pregnant.”

“But how…?”

Lana’s voice dripped with contempt. “Lex. That’s how.” Once they were safely on the balcony, Lana led Clark to a comfortably overstuffed wicker love seat with matching footrest. The refreshments were already sat out on a low coffee table nearby. As soon as they had their food and had taken their seats, Lana continued her story.

“It turns out that Lex and his doctor were pumping me full of a synthetic hormone that caused my body to mimic a pregnancy. He was doing it, in part anyway, to pressure me into marrying him.”

Clark’s fingers unconsciously flexed as his anger mounted. That son of a b!tch! I oughta bury him alive.

“I know what he did was contemptible, Clark,” Lana said as she slid her hands over his. “But he’s not worth your anger. Let it go.”

“But he…”

“I know exactly what he did, Clark. I was there. Remember?”

“But…”

“Just let me finish the story before you rush out to defend my honor. Okay?” A nod of agreement was all she needed to see. “The fake pregnancy was the key. Once I learned about that, I knew I’d be able to get free from Lex, but with some help from a good friend of yours, I was able to make my escape as painful as possible for Lex.”

Intrigued now, Clark asked, “How?”

“I told Chloe about the fake and that I wanted out, but that I might need some help. She talked to Lois who called Queen Industries. Someone there put her in touch with Oliver who was more than happy to give Lex a hard time. So he hooked me up with a battalion of lawyers.

“It turns out that by faking a pregnancy like that and causing me to marry him, Lex had committed fraud and thus voided the pre-nuptial agreement I had signed.” Lana’s sudden grin made Clark think of a cat that had just swallowed the canary. “Once the lawyers decided that, we filed for divorce and cleaned Lex out.”

“Really?”

“Yup. I got half of everything.” Lana then decided to add a bit that she knew Clark would want to know. “Too bad Lionel was already dead, I would’ve loved to see his face then. But he didn’t last too long after the wedding. It turns out that he had a bad heart. Chloe told me it was likely because he had been granted temporary Kryptonian abilities which have a tendency to overstress a human heart.”

Lionel’s dead and Lex has been humiliated, Clark thought. Looks like Lana knows how to take care of herself. “I assume you have round-the-clock bodyguards because of Lex.”

“Mostly Lex,” Lana said. “But remember, with the wealth I control now, I’d be a tempting kidnapping target even if Lex and I were best buddies.”

Clark swirled his finger through his still-hot coffee, causing Lana to wince, even though she knew he wasn’t harmed in the least.

“What did you do next?”

“Went to school. Since I had just become ridiculously rich, I figured a business degree would be useful, so I went to Met U and majored in Finance with an emphasis in Investments.”

“How’d you do?”

“Graduated Magna Cum Laude.”

“Impressive,” Clark said.

“Thanks, Clark. You’re approval means a lot to me.”

“I don’t know why,” Clark said as he looked away from Lana. “All I’ve got to show for the last twelve years is a spiffy set of brightly-colored tights and a new haircut.”

“Yeah, and you can fly, and you look stronger than ever, and I bet there’s all kinds of other things you know and can do.”

“There are,” Clark agreed. “But none than I can run around showing off to people.”

“Well, that’s true. But I think they’re impressive all the same.”

Clark began to nod his head and then looked back at Lana. “And you’re the only one I really care about impressing anyway, so I guess that’s okay.” Clark took a sip from his coffee cup while Lana nibbled a bit on her raspberry and cream cheese tart. “So, tell me more. All I did was study in an ice and crystal palace for twelve years…what Chloe once referred to as a forty-story tall igloo. I want to hear that one of us did something…how’d you get the Daily Planet?”

“I wondered when you’d ask that.” Wiping the pastry crumbs from the front of her tracksuit, Lana said, “When I graduated college, I was looking for something to do, something that mattered. Being rich meant I didn’t have to just get a job, I could do something that would make a difference. I thought of you, giving up what you want in life to do what was needed, and that kind of helped me make my choice.

“I wanted to keep an eye on Lex. I know what kinds of experiments he likes to run. Things that are illegal, unethical, and immoral, and I wanted to stop him. Because of my friendship with Chloe and Lois, I thought the best place to do that was at the Planet. I don’t have the talent for writing or investigating like they do, but I had the money to buy the place, which would allow me to make sure that Luthor money wasn’t buying LuthorCrap a free ride from the investigative journalists.”

“LuthorCrap?” Clark started laughing so hard that he nearly choked. He’d never thought he’d hear something like that from Lana. Just one more proof that she’s had twelve years to grow without me, Clark thought. That thought sobered him up pretty quickly.

“Yes, LuthorCrap,” Lana said. “Lois came up with it one day and it stuck. She said it was partially because of Lex himself and partially because ‘crap’ is the Luthor family business. I hear Lex hates that name, so I use it at every opportunity.”

“I never knew Lois could be so witty.” Clark took a minute to absorb what Lana had just told him. “So…what you’re saying is that you needed a way to help keep Lex in check, and that the Daily Planet was the best way.”

“Roughly…yeah.”

Clark’s eyes were shining in the moonlight and Lana thought they’d never looked more beautiful.

“Do you have any idea how proud of you I am right now?” Clark was in absolute awe of Lana and the courage it had to have taken to stand up against a fiend like Lex. “No superpowers at all, and yet you go toe to toe with a person like that on a daily basis. I am humbled, and I don’t mind admitting it in the least.”

“I just do what I can…but I’m glad you approve. I was kind of afraid you’d go ballistic when you learned I was going after Lex.”

“I’ll admit to being nervous about it, but from what I can tell, you seem to have taken prudent precautions…do I have Oliver to thank for that?”

“Umm…yeah. Ollie hooked me up with an ex-Secret Service agent who runs my security to this day. By the time I got to Met U, most guys wouldn’t get close to me because of the serious-looking bodyguards.”

“In that case, I owe Oliver a lot more than simple thanks.”

As their conversation wound down, the coffee cups were set aside and the reunited lovers snuggled together on the appropriately named love seat as they silently enjoyed the play of moonlight on the various plants in her formal Italian garden.

Eventually, Clark scooped a sleepy Lana off of the love seat and carried her inside where he stretched her out on her bed and then tucked her in, tracksuit and all. Undressing himself until he wore nothing but boxers and an irrepressible smile, Clark climbed in the other side of the bed, thrilled to once more share the life of the woman he hoped to one day soon call ‘my wife.’

[deanyouk]

1st

That was great, I love how this epilogue just keeps going and going.

Can't wait for more.

[smallvilleobsessor17]

^^Okay...

Anyhoo, that was amazing Cardinal. I liked how you explained everything without making it seem forced or fake, like it sometimes ends up being in a few fics...awww, that Kent Publishing thing was so cute, Lana never gave up on Clark. Can we hope for more?

[NYC300Z]

This epilouge does just keeps going strong! So great how Lana handeled everything. Now I don't know what's going to keep wedding bells from coming soon!

PPMS!

[treker]

I hope for more but if there isn't then that was a beautiful ending.

Yes I dare say Clark owe's Oliver a hugh thank you for helping Lana.

Kent Publishing.....very nice touch Cardinal. I must admit that I guessed at how Lana got her money but not until 2 paragraph's before she actually explained it...I guess I should have seen that coming but you have a habit of writing such engrossing tales that I lose all conscious thought and just let the story carry me along. (BTW, that's what I love about your stories).

It's funny but it seems that Clark's life and morality have been a guiding force for Lana in this fic; she could have used the money for other purposes but instead used it to help people. That makes Lana the perfect fit for Clark, better than what some other people would have Clark with....

Again thanks Cardinal, I really enjoyed this...

[Nemu]

that was good Card!

I like the explanation from Lana... for the name and the money...

Sooo... Will Clark become a journalist for the Planet?

How will Baldy react to the return of CK and the appearance of Supes?

Will the wedding be soon?

PPMS!!!! (As long as i dont see 'The End' I will keep hope and say PPMS!)

[Cardinal]

Nullification

The Epilogue’s…Epilogue?

The next day, Clark returned to Smallville, where Lana said his mother still resided. He’d been right that she’d have to sell the farm without him there to run it, but she was still a State Senator and had a comfortable house in town that was fairly close to where Chloe and her dad used to live. When Martha wasn’t in Topeka, she ran a catering business that did very well. Martha had hoped Clark would stay for several days, but he was insistent that he had to get back to Lana.

“I’ve been gone from her for twelve years, Mom,” Clark said. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

Martha wanted to ask ‘What about me?’ but knew from the look in Clark’s eyes and the tone of his voice that he and Lana were back together, so she asked the one question that mattered: “Does she know about your alter ego?”

“Yeah, she does. She knows it all…and, God help her, after twelve long years of waiting, she still wants me. What a woman!”

“I’m glad to see you’ve finally reached a place in your life where you’re happy, Clark.” Martha swept her fingertips across Clark’s brow to get some loose hairs out of his eyes, and said, “You deserve to be happy. Go to Lana, just make sure you visit your old mother from time to time.” Just before he disappeared to return to Metropolis, Martha added, “One more thing, Clark. I want some grandchildren!”

After that, things went well for Clark and Lana. Clark wanted to get a job, but Lana vetoed that idea. She said with all of the time he would be spending as Superman, he needed to spend the rest of his time with her. She felt they had been separated long enough already. It was a logic Clark couldn’t argue with.

And yes, he was Superman. Lois’ article had included the name in the headline, and it had stuck. Soon, he was a familiar sight in the skies above Metropolis, and Lana had a telescope of her very own installed in her penthouse office so she could catch fleeting glimpses of her man as he went about his work.


After months of learning each other all over again, and reassuring themselves that, despite some very real changes in both of them, they loved each other more than ever, Clark got down on one knee in the middle of the quaint wooden footbridge in Lana’s Japanese garden to profess his undying love and beg her to marry him. Her answer was a foregone conclusion to everyone but Clark. He waited, unreasonably terrified, for an entire split-second until Lana said ‘Yes!’

And they lived happily…well, you know the rest.

The End

[Nemu]

awww so...

that was a little rushed... but hey it was very good!!!!

Now... since this is done... can we expect some updates to your other fics soon?

Good work!

[treker]

nice ending. And I just wanted to comment that part 1 of this fic was so amazingly close to the actual episode that I think you must have had an advance copy of it.

Well done....

so, Cardinal....when are you going to do another wedding fic??? <just kidding>

[SmallvilleMan]

Yeah, nice job cards, it was almost the same. Now, if you can pull off some more of that magic and have Chloe find out the next episode, we would appreciate it. If not, no big deal, we'll just have to kill you (jk) On a side note, I might dabble in a wedding fic to fix everything.

[NYC300Z]

WAIT! What about the Grandkids!!! lol I kid I kid

Great Job Card! Way to wrap it up!

[binkys711]

OH MAN!!!! Boy o boy do I love this fic!!! I adored it! All day I was pumped for the new SV (yes I was excited for it) but now I'm exstatic! MAN OH MAN! that was simply wonderful Card! If only this would happen tonight!! Our real SV promise starts in 1/2 for me *bites nails* but NOTHING can compare to this wonderful fic Card!I just adored it! From the beginning of utter pain to teh end with pure blyss! BOOYAH!!!!! ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!

You've done it once again Card

[ClanaLover]

Yaaaaaaaaaaay!!! *clap*
I SO needed that after tonight episode. If I would've been alone in the room, I would've balled my eyes out! I still cried quite a bit at the end though. I got so emotional... So I wanted to read a fic to cheer me up; and of course I had to read yours. Awesome fic, Card!!!



"The Epilogue's...Epilogue?"!!!



Ooo, 1700th post! I'm gone so long, come back, post once and I'm at a semi-mile stone! How lucky am I?