Chapter Text
The Lane-Kent family landed in the secluded service entrance of the villa. It was dark in the Italian riviera, and they had purposefully coordinated their arrival well after sunset when the neighbors would miss their arrival. Anyone else would assume they had arrived via taxi after oddly timed international flights.
They entered through the kitchen and set their bags near the entrance.
“I’m starving,” Jonathan declared as he made his way to the refrigerator and pulled open the door.
“We just ate dinner,” Clark replied, with a perplexed look.
Jonathan shrugged, “Flying makes me hungry.”
“I did all the flying,” Jordan replied as he moved in next to his brother to look into the empty refrigerator.
“We’ll go shopping in the morning,” Lois replied from where she was standing next to the large marble kitchen island. “But, there are some things in the pantry.” Lois replied as she opened the pantry and pulled out a bag of crackers and a jar of Nutella.
“Wait, you’ve been here before?” Jonathan asked as he opened the jar of Nutella and dipped a cracker straight into the chocolate spread.
Lois and Clark shared a knowing look, but before they could find the right cover, Jordan spoke up.
“This is where you too go, when you get away?” Jordan wrinkled his nose at the thought.
“Dude,” Jonathan said looking at his brother and then back to his parents, “Seriously, what are you guys…” Jonathan paused as he looked between his parents, putting it together.
Lois and Clark shared a mischievously look and then Lois took up the conversation, “One day you two will realize how you came to exist.”
Jonathan set the jar of Nutella on the counter and said, “Well, I’m no longer hungry.”
“Yeah, I think I’m going to go to bed,” Jordan replied.
“Your mom and mine’s room is the first door on the right, you two can pick anything else,” Clark called out as Jordan picked up his bag and made his way up the stair case.
“So,” Clark said, as he pulled out a bottle of red wine from the wine rack under the counter, “We’re back at the villa…”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Lois replied as she pulled two wine glasses from the cabinet above the kitchen sink.
“And, I think this is one of Tal’s really expensive bottles,” Clark replied as he eased out the cork.
“And you thought you didn’t know what it was like to have a sibling,” Lois replied as Clark poured the glasses.
“Hmmm?” Clark asked innocently as he took a sip from his glass.
“Superman seems all for using his brother’s house and drinking his good wine,” Lois teased.
“He’s off on Bizarroworld, he won’t even realize we’ve been here,” Clark concluded with raised eyebrows.
“We are back at the Villa,” Lois brought the conversation back to where it started.
Clark took Lois’s free hand and led her up the stairs, leaving their luggage still at the kitchen door. He would come back for it later, but they had more pressing matters to attend to.
***
The sun streamed brilliantly into the bedroom of the Villa and Lois felt safe and secure in the arms of her husband. In an odd moment of reversal, his eyes were still closed, and his breathing was that of a deep slumber. Clark needed sleep, but Lois could never really get a straight answer on how much. He went to bed with her most nights, and he woke up with her most morning, but he nearly aways fell asleep second and his eyes were always open before hers. He would never admit it, but she was sure at least part of his time in bed was so that he could just be close to Lois.
Now, though, Lois had the rare opportunity of getting to watch her husband sleep. Perhaps he was still exhausted from his drag out fight with his mutated Doppelganger on the moon. It had been a close call, but Clark had managed to talk Bizarro back to himself. Their trip had been delayed a few days in the aftermath, but they had made it.
Lois took the opportunity to press her lips against his forehead. His skin was unusually cool against her lips and Lois did not hate the sensation in contrast to the warm Mediterranean air that was coming through the open windows.
“Hmmm,” Clark hummed softly at the feeling of Lois’s lips against his skin.
Lois propped herself up on one arm and looked at her husband. “You slept in,” Lois remarked.
“You kept me busy last night,” Clark gave a sleepy smile towards his wife.
“I didn’t think anyone was a match for the Man of Steel,” Lois teased as her hair hung down in a curtain around both their faces.
“You have always been my match,” Clark said as he set up just enough to give Lois a kiss on the lips.
“You want to go another round,” Lois gave a sly, knowing smile.
“With you, Always,” Clark said as he went back in for another, deep kiss, this time pulling Lois back down to the bed with him.
***
Sometime later, Lois and Clark made their way back down to the kitchen where Clark got the espresso machine working after a bit of trial and error.
“The boys still aren’t up?” Lois noted as Clark handed her a cup of coffee.
Clark looked up at the clock, noting it was already nearing lunch where they were. It was still a bit before breakfast Smallville. “Teenagers, I’ll get them up, I’m starving anyway.”
Before Clark could make his way back upstairs, the boys made their way down to the Villa kitchen.
“I’m starving,” Jonathan declared as he rubbed sleep from his eyes and looked around for the Nutella from last night.
“Me too,” Jordan agreed.
“We can walk into town, have some lunch and pick up some groceries,” Clark offered.
Jonathan shrugged and looked at Jordan, getting his buy into the plan.
“Sure,” Jonathan spoke for both him and his brother.
The walk into the little seaside village was quick and the family found a café that seemed more than accommodating for a long, large, languid seaside lunch.
Clark was privately happy that they had overshot breakfast and landed for lunch service, because his appetite was too big for a light Italian breakfast of bread and coffee. Watching the boys work their way through plates of pasta gave Clark the impression that his sons were also in need of a hearty lunch.
Lois did not seem as ravenous as the rest of his family, but she ate her way through lunch and Clark was pleased to see that her appetite had returned. It had been weeks since Lois had needed to force down one of the fortifying drinks that she had been prescribed during chemo and it was nice to see her returning to health.
“Alright, we need to make a plan,” Lois announced, pulling out a pile of tourist brochures with all sorts of different activities available up and down the Mediterranean coast.
“Where did you even get those?” Jordan asked, looking around the small, local café.
“Mom, why do we need a plan, it’s vacation,” Jonathan countered with an eye roll.
“it’s good to be prepared,” Clark said, picking up brochure “And look, there is an expert pasta maker that will teach us how to make pasta by hand.” Clark read off. On the cover of the pamphlet was white haired lady with leathery skin. Her sleeves were rolled up as she was kneading a ball of dough.
Lois picked up another brochure, “There is a nature reserve, we can do a hike.”
“How about the beach?” Jonathan offered., “Maybe we can do the hike tomorrow, but I think I’m still sort of jet lagged.”
“We didn’t take a jet,” Jordan muttered under his breath.
“I think we could all do with a low key day,” Clark decided, “Sorry babe.” Clark looked at Lois.
Lois just shrugged, “I think we are more than due for a beach day, but first we need groceries, especially if everyone is suddenly starving all the time.”
“I flew here,” Jordan muttered at the response, “It takes a lot of energy.”
Clark eyed Jordan skeptically. The logic did not really stack, but Clark could not deny he had a more ravenous appetite than usual. Flying his wife to Italy with a couple of suitcases was hardly much of an effort compared to what he did on a daily basis as Superman, but for some reason he was still feeling the effects.
They finished their lunch and made their way to Supermarket on the edge of town. The boys took glee in walking around and deciphering all the new snacks on the shelves, while Lois and Clark took it upon themselves to do the sort of shopping that would actually get them through a week at the Villa without eating out for every meal.
***
It was late afternoon by the time the family made their way to the nearby beach. Clark refused to let Lois carry any of the necessary beach accessories. Jonathan and Jordan both insisted on bringing the snacks they had gotten at the grocery store even though they had had a long, and filling lunch.
Once the family got the beach set up, Lois was surprised when Clark and the boys decided to lay out in the sun for a while instead of going into the ocean. Lois had already planned to spend the sunny afternoon with a fresh novel. Lois had only made it a few pages in when she looked up to find Clark and the boys, all sprawled out on their beach towels and all napping peacefully in the sun in the sand.
Lois set her book down and watched her family nap. She had not really had the time or the wherewithal to be full present in how much her family had been enduring in tandem with her own suffering. She knew the broad strokes, the nightmares that Clark had after her diagnosis, Jordan’s anxiety attack leading up to her surgery, Jonathan’s passionate plea at the fortress. What Lois also knew she missed that they were all in their own quiet turmoil. That they were careful to keep their own grief from Lois who was already dealing with so much. Perhaps they needed this vacation more than they expected.
Lois opened up her novel and flipped through the pages as the beach started to clear out and the sun started to its descent into the horizon.
“I’m hungry,” Jordan said as he woke from his nap and looked around for the bag of snacks he and Jonathan had dragged down to the beach.
“We have stuff for dinner at home,” Clark reminded Jordan as he woke up from his own nap.
Jonathan also woke up and joined Jordan as they rummaged through the snacks.
“You guys are really embracing this vacation?” Lois questioned from her position on the beach.
“I think we all need the rest,” Clark defended.
“It seems so,” Lois agreed as they started to pack up their beach site and head up towards the Villa.
***
The next morning, Lois woke to the sun streaming through the Villa windows. Clark was still asleep, but Lois was done with being in bed for the moment. She enjoyed the restful pace their first day in Italy had taken, but she was ready to explore the sites, get a feel for local culture. She made her way down to the kitchen and worked on getting the espresso machine working. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she gave up and turned on the electronic kettle and dug through the now stocked pantry for tea bags.
Lois opened her laptop and looked at the blank, blinking document in front of her. Her book agent had called again and this time a book deal that seemed too good to pass up was looming. Lois’s illness combined with her friendship with Peia and her deep investigation into Hobbs Bay medical center meant a passionate and well thought out book on medical care injustice in the US combined with Lois’s personal testimony.
Even so, it still all felt too soon, too raw. This trip would have been a perfect time to start to work on a proposal, especially if her family seemed intent on sleeping through most of it. Lois sighed and then started typing away at her computer. The proposal would be easy enough and then maybe she would shove the actually writing off until the Holidays, when the Gazette was just articles, they pulled off the wire and the boys were out of school again.
Lois worked for a little bit longer, but it was starting to get late, and it seemed a waste to spend the entire trip at Villa. She was contemplating waking her family up when Clark came down the stairs, dressed and ready for the day.
“You okay babe?’ Lois asked as Clark made his own, more successful attempt at the espresso machine.
“Hm, yeah, why?” Clark asked as he packed the ground coffee into the portafilter.
“You slept in,” Lois replied, “You never sleep in.”
“I sleep in sometimes,” Clark contemplated.
“When?” Lois pushed.
Clark considered the question for a moment and then shook his head and finished making coffee.
A moment later, the boys made their way into the kitchen Villa’s. “At least I got up before the boys.” Clark replied.
Lois shook her head and then changed the topic, “I figured we could do this walking tour of the city,” Lois replied, pulling out a colorful brochure from the stack that had inexplicitly seemed to be growing.
“Wait, what about the pasta making lesson?” Clark asked, finding his own colorful brochure.
“Guess we put it up for a vote.” Lois replied.
“Is it a food tour?” Jonathan asked as he looked through the brochure for the walking tour.
“No, just a normal walking tour,” Lois replied.
“Ok, I vote pasta,” Jonathan said.
Lois looked at Jordan expectantly, hoping he would side with her.
Jordan looked at his mom guilty and the turned to his dad, “Do we get to east the pasta?” Jordan asked.
“Yes, and there is dessert,” Clark literally sweetened the deal on the pasta lessons.
“Sorry mom, but I vote pasta. I’m too hungry to think about walking around the city all afternoon.” Jordan replied as he opened the pantry to look for something to eat for breakfast.
“We’ll do the walking tour tomorrow,” Clark promised, giving Lois a quick peck on the lips.
“Uh huh,” Lois agreed skeptically. There was something going on and she needed to get to the bottom of this.
***
Lois had to admit that the Pasta lesson was not a bad choice at all. The woman who taught the lesson seemed to only want to go by “Nonna.” Her English was limited, but she seemed to delighted as Clark prattled on in Italian. Clark was able to easily translate as Nonna taught them how to knead the dough and roll it out into thin sheets to cut strips.
The boys had taken up a pasta station in Nonna’s kitchen and were tag teaming through their pasta dough and Lois and Clark were working on theirs together. Clark had taken on most of the work, as the one in their relationship who found joy in cooking along with actually competency. Lois was sipping on the glass of red wine that Nonna had offered her early in the cooking process.
Clark went to wipe his hand against his cheek, leaving a flour smear across his face and Lois. Lois could not help by smile at how content and perfect this moment was. Maybe Clark and the boys had been right, maybe the pasta lesson was the right call.
Nonna pointed to Clark’s flour-streaked cheek and said something in rapid fire Italian, and Clark responded to Nonna and Nonna let out a hearty laugh with a hug smile.
“She says we’re not very good at this,” Clark whispered to Lois, looking down at their oddly shaped dough spread across the counter.
“Well, it’s not exactly hamburger casserole,” Lois gave a snide remark back as she reached up to run her thumb across the flour on Clark’s cheek.
“Hmm, that’s funny, because that’s what I was going to make for dinner tonight,” Clark responded with a well intentioned smirk as he tipped his head down and caught Lois in a slow kiss, in the middle of Nonna’s kitchen.
“Amore mio,” Nonna cackled as Clark pulled away from Lois. It had meant to be a discreate kiss, but Nonna seemed intent on highlighting their love.
They finished their pasta and ate a long lunch with Nonna. Clark translating between Italian and English as they went through cheese and meat and pasta courses, finished off with a bright Limoncello cake. As the family left, Nonna stuffed a shopping bag full of containers of uncooked pasta and pastries for the family to take with them.
They walked into the sun steeped summer afternoon the Italian Rivera. The streets with active and alive with locals and tourists alike as a cacophony of languages swirled into an unintelligible mess of sound. Lois and Clark walked hand and hand while the boys looked onward at the new foreign world they had found themselves in.
In a motion that was familiar to the entire family, Clark swiveled his head and then in a blink of an eye disappeared into the crowded streets. A moment later, a large tour bus came hurtling down the packed street at an unmanageable and dangerous speed and then less than a moment later, Superman stopped in front of the bus. He put a single hand out in front of the bus, but instead of the bus stopping dead in its tracks, it carried on, pushing Superman a few meters.
Lois watched at Clark put at a second hand, and braced against the pavement, his boots digging into the tarmac as he skid back, his knees braced as the bus finally came to a stop in the middle of the street.
The crowd of onlookers clapped and cheered as Clark gave a mild wave and his signature smile and then took the time to make sure everyone got off the bus safely and none of the passengers needed medical attention.
Lois watched his movements carefully as the rest of the crowd ogled in amusement. She stepped out into the street and examined the handprints he had made in the front of the bus and his boot marks on the pavement. Something did not add up. Clark should have been able to stop the bus dead in its tracks, with a single hand. Lois had seen enough Superman saves to know exactly how he worked. If Clark noticed her poking around the scene, he did not acknowledge her. It was probably for the best that no one put two and two together, that Lois Lane and Superman happened to be in the same little Italian village at the same moment.
Lois took a few pictures with her phone, maybe Clark had some details about what was going on at the scene. Perhaps this bus had been powered by some sort of new technology. Her mind was already turning over the possibilities as she nodded to the boys, and they made their way back to the villa.
Clark was already in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water when she walked in with the boys just 15 minutes later.
“What happened?” Lois asked, “Are you okay?” Lois asked as she made her way to where Clark was standing.
“I stopped the bus,” he said weakly, but Lois could tell he was just confused as he was.”
“Do you think it was Luthor, do you think he tried to set that bus on me…” Lois questioned as Clark shook his head.
“It wasn’t the bus,” He explained bluntly.
“You had trouble stopping it, it couldn’t have been a normal bus.” Lois commented, he had, after all, just taken out the most powerful monster this world had ever seen.
Clark shook his head, “I looked, I talked to the bus driver, it was a totally normal bus. The breaks needed work, but nothing besides bad maintenance and bad breaks,” Clark explained as he set down his glass of water and stretched out his hand, examining them.
“But that means, it was you?” Lois asked.
“My powers are off,” Clark said as he leaned against the counter. “When I flew off, things felt slow, off,” Clark explained.
“Do you think it was that monster?” Jonathan asked.
Clark shook his head, “I was fine when we got here and then today…” Clark trailed off.
“Everything feels just a bit harder.” Jordan picked up. “Like my hearing feels more muffled, I feel less strong.”
Lois frowned and made her way over to her laptop, “You three have been sleeping a lot and the boys appetite has been a lot, even for teenagers,” Lois said, looking over at her sons.
“We’re just hungry,” Jonathan replied as he opened the bag of pastries that Nonna has sent them home with.
Lois typed away and then read from her computer, “Solar storm causes decrease in solar radiation. This is not expected to impact mobile network and other communication channels.”
“It’s a weird opposite sun storm?” Jonathan asked with a groan. “I don’t even understand why I’m impacted.”
“You get powers during a normal sun storm, so it makes sense this one impacts you,” Jordan noted.
“Do we need to go see like Grandma or something?” Jonathan asked.
Clark sighed and then Jordan answered what he was thinking, “I really don’t want to fly to the fortress right now, I don’t think I have the energy.”
“Wait, of you don’t have the energy to fly to the fortress, does that mean we’re stuck here?” Jonathan asked, looking between his dad and brother.
Lois shook her head, “It’s only expected to last about a week, and the whole point of coming to Italy as a family is that we are supposed to be stuck somewhere together.”
“So much for vacation,” Jordan muttered.
“Actually,” Clark started, “This is a perfect time for this to happen. It gives us an excuse to all take a real break and rest.”
“So, what do we do know?” Jonathan asked, looking at his parents.
“We go to the beach, it’s apparently a great way to take a nap.” Lois responded.