The Memoirs

Dominic offered his lover a little smile, but didn’t reach for him until the doors to the office closed. He pulled him close then, just wound his arms around his lovers waist and snuggled him close. "You were amazing. The press seemed so happy. And Bruce," He turned to gaze at him. "You did very, very, well."

 

Lionel wrapped both his arms around his husband and hugged him tightly.  "Thank you.  And yes, Bruce, you did excellently well.  I'm glad to see our little drama didn't affect your stride in the least."

 

He smiled at that, softly. "I thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you, Lionel. I’m going to go find Lex, and see if I can't talk to him… or get him drink. One or the other." He picked up his coat and briefcase, which he'd left on a chair. "I'll also be going back to Gotham later this week, to get my company under control and see about the merging there."

 

"We'll miss you when you go, Bruce.  But you're always welcome to come back and visit us."

 

"I’m sure I will, especially with the move." Bruce smiled. "I'll see you both tonight, for dinner." And he turned, and was gone.

 

Lionel shook his head.  "I wish the man luck trying to talk to my son."  He snuggled Dominic closer as they got in the elevator.  "Are you unhappy that I didn't tell them your name?"

 

"Not at all." He smiled up at him, crookedly, and touched his lips to his lovers softly as they got into the elevators. "It'll come out, eventually." A beat. "How do you feel about being a gay man now?"

 

"I feel the same as I always did."  He paused.  "Incredibly happy."

 

"I’m quite afraid you're going to lose the number one spot as America's sexiest man, darling." A soulful sigh, fluttering his lashes. "That, or you beat out Lex in record numbers again next year. Serves him right."

 

"I'll beat him out again, of course.  I will have both sexes voting for me now."

 

"Do you know, exactly, what was wrong with him?" He wound an arm around Lionel’s waist and curled under his arm, and in this position… he felt like he was twenty two again, with his satchel over his shoulder, his jean jacket in place, and slightly scuffed work shoes in place. Which just made him grin, as fourteen years later, he was standing with his lover, with the bag over his shoulder, his great coat on, and his slightly scuffed dress shoes.

 

"No, I don't."  He smiled softly at whatever made Dominic grin.  "And, at this point in my life?  I am not sure that I even care any longer."

 

"You know, neither do I. Though," And his chuckle was wicked. "I did get the pleasure of seeing him nearly turn burgundy with anger. It was, I should say, the highlight of the morning." And he glanced up, smiling as they traveled down, and for the first time in a long time he forgot to be terrified of the movement. "I love you, Mr. Bogart. Shhh," Conspiratorially. "Don’t tell your husband."

 

"I love you, Mr. Bergman."  He snickered.  "I won't tell.  He's a jealous man, I must say."

 

"He acts it." A windy sigh. "We might have to run off to Tahiti. I’m sure he'll never know." A slight pinch to a slender side. "I can feel the smores accumulating. You must have eaten thirty last night, love, why aren’t you sick?"

 

"I never get sick."

 

And then a moment, because in the hub bub of getting on the plane, not being ALLOWED to get drugged up and being mortally terrified for the entire flight, and getting here… Dominic hadn’t gotten to tell him what had been on the back of his mind all morning. "When you reached for me, Lionel, in the middle of the night? I’ve never felt more loved by you since I’ve known you."

 

Lionel smiled.  "I don't know why I'd never done it before, but I will do it again; it's a habit of mine... to make sure that I'm not alone."

 

"Make it a habit that sticks, alright?" He reached up, and pressed a kiss to his cheek, as the elevator dinged one and he had to let go. He straightened, professionally, and waited for Lionel to go in front of him as they stopped.

 

Lionel nodded.  "I will, don't worry."  He straightened as well when the elevator doors opened, and led the way into his office.  "I don't care who calls; take a message and I will return it later.  I'm going to be making some very important phone calls, and I don't wish to be disturbed.  Dominic, I'm going to need your help, so Carolyn?  Please, hold everything."

 

She just nodded, wide eyed as they both stepped into the office, and she sent Dominic a winning grin as he turned and closed the door.

 

Dominic stepped inside, slipping his coat off and putting the laptops and briefcase down in the chair beside the door. He made sure to lock the door behind him, turning to gaze at his love as he walked over to the bar to get them something to drink. "What’s your fancy, love? Brandy, cognac, rum?"

 

"Brandy, please.  A rather large glass, if you don't mind."

He turned again, and frowned softly. "Beloved, are you alright?" He poured the glass for his lover and walked over, handing it to him in the large glass as he sat down with his own. He set his laptop on Lionel’s desk, opening it again to where it was still booted up, and reformatted his notes so he could print them later, all the while watching his lover.

 

"I'm fine, Dominic.  Just a headache, that's all."  He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of aspirin, and downed two of them with the brandy that Dominic handed him.  "I'm sorry about Lex's behavior; I know it wounds you."

 

He shrugged a little. "I wasn’t expecting him to jump up and down with flowers, love. You weren’t either, because I know you. But does it really matter? We have each other, and the future we're going to have. And you're going to take me somewhere very nice for our honeymoon, where we can lay on some white beach and drink ourselves drunk for a week or two." He grinned crookedly. "So, in all matters, I’m fine."

 

"No, I wasn't.  I did, however, expect civility from the adult."

 

He looked down a moment. "I did too." And maybe he had expected jumping up and down, and flowers... and maybe it had hurt him when he hadn’t gotten it. No matter. Lex would be alright with it eventually, and until he was, they'd deal with his bullshit.

 

Lionel didn't say a word, just got up from his chair, walked around his desk, and knelt beside his lover's chair, arms around his waist.  "It doesn't matter what Lex thinks.  It hurts us both, yes, but we are the bigger people."  He brought Dominic's ringed hand up.  "This, beloved.  This is what counts."

 

"I can't stop looking at it. It feels... I’ve never been wanted, by anyone, in my life. But you... you want me. Because I’m me. And that...that in itself is something I would move mountains for, should you ever ask. I love you, Lionel. You are the light of my life, and nothing can ruin my joy in you. Nothing can ruin the fact that you've taken me to be by your side for eternity. That you could go past the pain you've been through in your life, and let yourself love again." He held his lovers face gently, and rubbed his thumbs across his jaw. "I love you, Lionel."

 

"And I love you, Dominic.  I'm not poetic like you; I barely find the words to say what I want.  But becoming my mate, my husband... that means so much to me, I can't speak it."

 

"You taught me." He smiled it. "You taught me to be this way, to find words for how I feel. And I will teach you, beloved. In my love you'll find the words." He reached forward and hugged him, tightly. "I love you. I love you, so much. I love everything about you… I adore you. I love you, and hearing you today just made me love you all the more. You are my beloved, my lovely one, my everything."

 

Lionel's arms remained locked tightly around Dominic's waist.  "I love you, Dominic.  You are the world to me.  I don't think I would have anything without you." 

 

Lex leaned quietly against the door separating Lionel's office from Dominic's, and just listened.  He'd already gone through his father's liquor cabinet, drained it of scotch, and had been heading for Dominic's when they'd come into Lionel's.  He'd just had time to shut and lock the door before they'd started talking.

 

"I have... this excitement in me. You know? I’m so excited to start our new life, have our baby, move everything to Smallville. I want so badly to start things... and at the same time, I want to take you out to Denny's again, and to the museum, and all of those little things we couldn’t do with all the injuries and drama happening. And it excites me knowing that we have all the time in the world right now."

 

"Must you subject me to Denny's again?" Lionel asked with a gusty sigh.

 

He grinned and nodded, and gently kissed his forehead. "Aye. Indeed."

 

"I am already in the perfect position; may I please beg you not to subject me to it again?"  But his eyes were twinkling.

 

"Unfortunately not. However, if you're good, I won't subject you to my favorite pastime of all." A lusty sigh.

 

"I am almost afraid to ask what that might be."

 

"Outdoor market shopping." A broad, happy grin. "You wouldn’t believe some of what I’ve found at flee markets."

 

"Dear God.  You, my dear, may shop at any flea market you wish.  I however, will not be subjected to that."

 

"No! But, listen! I’ve a great old story. This old woman in Tuscany sold me a drawing, of a woman leaning over a fence to pick flowers. I of course, thought it to be a fraud, because my brain had immediately clicked to what it was. However she told me it had passed through her husbands side of the family, and she'd sell it for five shilli--Ah, three American dollars. Do you know what the drawing was? An original John Waterhouse sketch, done in 1912, with the painters original frayed notebook edges on it." He just GRINNED. "Appraised to be an insane amount of worth, might I add. Its the photo hanging in my bedroom at the apartment. Oh, which of, by the way, you forgot your silver cufflinks there last time, they’re in my desk drawer."

 

"I wondered where I'd left them!"  Lionel sighed, and leaned forward to kiss Dominic's forehead gently.  "You may shop for the both of us.  I will even give you the cash in my wallet.  I will not, however, accompany you."

 

No matter what Dominic said, he couldn’t pull his lover out of his funk. It saddened him, and he gently caressed his hair, holding him close between his legs and setting his head on the crown of Lionel’s. "Don’t worry about him, beloved."

 

Lionel let his head rest lightly against Dominic's stomach.  "I can't help but worry about him, Dominic.  For all that he is a bastard... he is my son.  My only child.  I can't help but worry."

 

"I don’t understand it, so I cant tell you I understand. But I do know he's a good boy." Dominic murmured, and really looked at his lover. The laugh lines, stately and crowed around his deep brown green eyes. The long nose, that he'd kissed hundreds of times, slightly crooked under his sweeping, gentle fingertips. The hair that had once been lighter darkened by the sun, but for the wisps of blond hair that sprouted from his upper lip. All that long, wavy hair that was just perfect to slide his fingers through, and Dominic had gazed at the face for so long in his life that he knew it, ever nuance and emotion, better then Lionel could ever comfortably know. He could read his lover like a book, and because Lionel was so clueless over it, it just made Dominic love him more. Deeper. But the emotions, at times, ran rampant and foreign over it, and it was because they were emotions Dominic had never been offered by this man, Emotions like fear, pleasure, anger, desperation, and sadness.

 

It was thrilling.

 

He cupped those slender cheeks… pressed soft kisses to each, and rubbed his somewhat large thumbs gently over his face.

 

Lionel just looked up at his lover, enjoying the feel of hands running through his hair and over his cheekbones.  "I am not sure I understand it either.  Good boy or not... I will always worry about him."  He stroked Dominic's wrists lightly with his fingertips, pressing a soft kiss to one wide palm as it cradled his face.  "I should not let it bother me that he cannot decide if he loves or hates me, but it does.  It bothers me deeply, Jiminy."

 

"Lovely, my beloved," He murmured it, tugging Lionel closer to him from there on his crouch. "I think maybe its time for you to talk to him. Really talk to him. Lock him in a room, have lots of liquor present, and work through the issues that even now cloud your relationship." He dropped his lips to kiss the crown of his lovers head, gently kissing and sniffling the soft, gorgeous hair before rubbing his cheek to it. "Sit down with him, and we wont bother you. ....Not even if blood starts running from underneath the door."

 

Lionel shook his head.  "I can't force him to like me, Dominic.  I had thought we were making some sort of headway, but then... it seemed to collapse.  Then after my accident, I thought we had it again, and then now... it has gone again.  I am a very tired old man, and I don't have the time or the energy to chase my son down."

 

"You're not old." Dominic’s voice was fierce, hard as he grabbed his lover by the hair, gently but firmly, and tugged until Lionel was looking at him. "Stop. Promise me one thing, in all the time we are married. You will never again say you are an old man. Tired, alright. Old? No. Because you're not old. You're a gentlemen, vital and robust, and you aren’t going to leave me before its your time. So stop thinking that way, goddammit. You can do whatever you set your mind too." He softened a little, and let go of his grip. "I don’t know what to tell you about Lex, darling. A wait and see thing, I suppose." ....Raging. Guilt. "I promise I wont tease him anymore. As fun as seeing his head throb, he doesn’t seem to appreciate it."

 

Lionel nodded.  "I promise.  I will not say that I am old, ever again."  He smiled at his lover's fierce protectiveness of him.  "Teasing him can't possibly make the situation any worse that it already is, and I wouldn't deprive you of your one source of enjoyment."  He straightened and leaned against his desk.  "I only hope Bruce can talk sense into him before leaving."

 

"Its become a sport of mine, I’m afraid." Oh, and Dominic grinned, though it was in silly amusement. "I as well. Bruce is good at talking to Lex… its LexSpeak of some sort. I hope to become fluent in it." He smiled again, and traced his thumb over Lionel’s spread lips. "I love it when you smile for me. Its such a beautiful smile, but knowing I put it there is breathtaking."

 

Lionel's smile widened at that.  "Bruce has always been rather... protective of my son.  He all but took my head off at the White House; you remember.  He tends to be able to get through to Lex when nobody else can."

 

"It should come in handy. He'll be the foreign Lex Dignitary, and we'll wear our little headphones so we can hear it deciphered in English." Dominic said stoutly, grinning into Lionel’s hair before tugging at him. "Come on, get up before you ruin the knees of your suit."

 

"Or the knees of my legs," he groused softly as he rose fluidly from his crouch and moved to sit back behind his desk.  "I do not even want to think of the chaos happening down in the communications center."

 

Lex shoved off the wall and went to the other end of Dominic's office.  He didn't quite know what to make of what he'd heard, and he didn't like most of it.  Didn't like knowing his father wasn't a total bastard--merely a partial one at times.  Didn't want to know at all.

 

"The knees of your legs taste good." Dominic said sweetly, before settling back in his seat...making sure the door was locked, and kicked off his shoes. He pulled his legs up comfortably under him, Indian style on the chair, and it would have looked ridiculous if it wasn’t Dominic sitting there. His laptop went back into his lap and he reached over, connecting the wire to Lionel’s computer so he could print off a copy. "I want you to look at this. Its some notes I was taking while Bruce was talking… a few things we have to make sure to look into."

 

Lionel clicked his machine on so he could watch the notes as they spooled through his computer.  "What, exactly, am I looking at?"

 

"Journalists reactions, a few notes on some loop holes the city might be able to worm there way through to keep us here, a quick proposal for what you can do with this building," That last part he sneaked in there, "Some of Bruce's ideas that I hadn’t thought of, etcetera, etcetera."

 

Lionel nodded.  "Well, how about you and I go over the loopholes over lunch, and come up with a working contingency plan, and leave the building proposal until tomorrow morning."

 

"I know the both of you didn’t think you'd be going to lunch without me."

 

Pregnancy had been beautiful on Marie Senatori, but the fresh baby glow of a new mother was even more beautiful on her cheeks. Strapped to her nap, snoring, was her new baby, and one eyebrow was raised as her hand rested on a hip still plumped from pregnancy. Her eyebrow cocked high, the grin twitching at her lips as she did her best to look incredulous.

 

"Hello, Marie."  Lionel got up from behind the desk and walked over to her, kissing both her cheeks softly.  "Of course we'll take you to lunch."

 

She smiled up at him, cupped his cheeks, and gave him a smacking kiss. It was how the Senatori's greeted their own, after all. She grinned broadly and wrapped her arms around her waist, all she could reach from her limited height, and hugged him hard.

 

 

Ariel’s tiny little eyes blinked open as her chubby little face shifted with her mama's movement... and eyes a brilliant, deep green fluttered open under long eyelashes. Her little lips open in her drowsy wakefulness as she looked at the big man, and all her tiny little rolls moved as her tiny lips puckered.

 

Lionel sighed softly as he looked down at the little girl.  She looked just like his little Shaney, except for the eyes, and those belonged directly to his Jiminy.  "Beautiful little angel," he said softly, slipping his finger into her hand as her mouth puckered gently.  He rubbed her cheek very gently with his rough fingertip.

 

Marie grinned up at him, glancing over her shoulder at her drowsy little girl, and then poked one of her favorite men in the belly. "Grapevine says you and my idiot brother in law finally tied the knot. About time, sweetie." She kissed his cheek again and giggled softly. "Want to hold her?"

 

Dominic was right behind his lover, cooing softly at the little girl as she looked at them like they'd lost their minds. "Oh, she’s just precious, isn’t she? Yes, aren’t you a darling little girl? You've got your mama's face, darling, yes you do. Oh, you're beautiful."

 

A little baby sigh and Ariel blinked at them… before opening her tiny little mouth and yawning. Her mouth couldn’t have been bigger then a quarter when she yawned, and she couldn’t quite decipher things yet, but these strange men seemed to like her. Which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t bad.

 

"I'd like to, yes," Lionel said, holding his arms out.  "And yes, we did.  And I know exactly which Grape told you that news too, and remind me again that Megan does not know the meaning of the word secrecy."

 

"Don’t blame her." Marie smiled and slowly unhitched the straps to the backpack carrier she'd grown accustomed to adoring when the twins had been little, and tenderly lifted her eight week old daughter out. "I blackmailed her." Oh, a snicker as she gently tucked Ariel’s blanket tighter around her. She was tiny as a shrub, with downy blond hair and those enormous green eyes. "She's a looker, isn’t she? Going to take after her mommy." She offered the silky, soft blankie covered baby to Lionel, and set the carrying case on the floor as she grinned. "You both did outrageously well today. I would have been proud of all of you, if my father hadn’t fallen asleep."

 

Lionel gently accepted the precious bundle, cradling her small head safely against his arm and supporting her body with his forearm and his chest as he held her close.  "She is beautiful," he said quietly, tucking the blanket around her chin and snuggling her close to the warmth of his body.  "There, little angel."  He snorted softly.  "I'm surprised he stayed awake as long as he did."

 

Love. Instant. Absolute. The strange mans arms weren’t like the ones that all the other little people shrieked "daddy" at all day, but they were warm and soft and the thumping by her ear was so easy. She was little, but she could comprehend people caring for her.

 

Love. And because it was, she gurgled and offered him a toothless beam.

 

Marie just about died grinning, like a loon it was, peering into the blanket before up at Lionel. "That’s the first time she's smiled. Lionel. Its the first time she's ever smiled. Look. Oh, look at my baby, I told you people she'd be gorgeous, but noooo."

 

Dominic couldn’t much speak. He was behind his lover, on tiptoe, looking over his shoulder and a puddle of thick goo at the center. Lionel. Baby in his arms. The picture was so right, and he hugged his lover softly from the back for a long, precious moment as he gazed down at the baby.

 

Lionel smiled back, using the bare tip of his pinky finger to tease the edge of her mouth and under her chin.  "That's right, little angel.  Smile at your uncle; you, like your cousin Shane, are going to have excellent taste; you've bonded with the right uncle already."  He lifted her head up gently to look at Dominic.  "See him?  Never listen to him unless he's feeding you Rocky Road ice cream or s’mores, all right?"

 

Alright, alright people. Quite enough. She was a little gal, and all this hording she didn’t like. Or, well, usually. But oh, the strange mans arms were so cozy, and he smelled… he smelled like something that was good, and she sighed again and gave the other man, with green things in his blobby head, a big smile too.

 

Dominic was ready to start picking up his melted limbs from the floor. He gently reached out, stroking her very soft head that was so small it nearly got hidden in his hand, and grinned at her. "I'll be doing much of that, darling, because you're my beautiful princess, aren’t you?"

 

"Excuse me. If she's anyone’s princess, she's mine."

 

Dominic blinked, looked up...and grinned, broadly, at his little brother. He let the baby go to walk over and give him a tight hug, slapping him on the back as they began to rapid fire in what was a garbled mess of Irish and English, laughs spiked amongst it as they spoke. "Wh're ya t'b'goin to the f'sh'n'hips? When y't'be goin', 'mgone't f'r th' 'ick'acks mama likes."

 

"Aye, aye," Riley grinned and slapped him on the shoulder as they spoke. "W'retabeh g'in n'xt week i'f'n'wh' can g't Mahrie ou'tdahouse."

 

"Bl'dy bloke." Dominic grinned right back and glanced back. "I’m going to go say hello to the kids, I'll be back." He stepped over and into his shoes, gave his lovers cheek a kiss, and slipped off with his brother.

 

"Before you ask, no. I’ve been married to Riley for almost ten years, and I still cant understand a word."

 

Lionel just blinked.  Then looked down, kissed his niece on the cheek, and tickled her with his beard.  "I didn't understand a word of that either, so don't feel bad, angel.  I'll make sure you learn to speak proper English."

 

Another gurgly, gummy smile, beaming at the strange man as he tickled her and said nice things that were rumbly. Oh, man. Heaven? She'd just come from there, and this was just like it. Cozy and warm and happy eyes and rubby skin and yeah. She could definitely stay here. She couldn’t make heads or tails of all the stuff attached to her body, but they wriggled sometimes when she sneezed and pooped. No matter, she'd get a handle of it eventually, and investigate the strange man’s rubby lips. She heaved a sigh, though, sleepily, and puckered her lips as she looked for something to suck.

 

"You should have been there the Thanksgiving when Graham found out Megan was going to pose for Playboy. Lionel... the entire week I couldn’t understand a word, a word."

 

"Oh, Good Lord," Lionel said, holding out his hand.  "Do you have a bottle for this little angel?"  He stroked her cheek with his fingertips.  "I believe that you could sell tickets to Graham's Irritation fits, and put all of those children through college with enough to spare."

 

"Don’t think I haven’t thought of it." Marie was a modern mama, and had learned a lot since Ruddy had been born almost eight years ago. Carrying a suitcase that was actually a diaper bag all day? Not good. She traveled light, and took the bottle from her purse, where she'd slipped it, a burper, and a pamper, and handed it over. She plopped the burper on his shoulder, smiling again as she led him to the chairs so she could rest her aching feet. "The press is going insane, you realize that, right?"

 

Lionel settled into his chair behind the desk, rocking on the swivel seat though he didn't realize it, and he settled the rubber nipple between Ariel's lips.  "Oh, of course they are.  They're going absolutely insane trying to figure out who Gina is, so they can track down her brother.  Thank God Megan was already forewarned."

 

"She wont tell." Marie settled back softly, propping her foot up on one knee. "Your presentation was very impressive, Lionel. The whole of it... it was very well presented. Smallville... is going to be a trip and a half, figuratively and literally."

 

What on the green earth was... oh. The thing where food came out of. Well, alright. She liked mama better, but this would do. She opened her mouth happily and accepted the bottle, little eyes closing as she began to suck. Oh, bliss.

 

"Thank you."  Lionel glowed with a soft pride, just as he did when anyone complimented his business.  "I don't think the world quite realizes just what it's in for with this merger."  He listened to the soft sucking with a quiet smile, making sure the bottle was always tilted so that no air bubbles slid into the nipple.

 

She tipped her head, her keds bopping. She wasn’t  a stupid woman, and she knew exactly what that look in Lionel’s eyes was. She'd seen it six times over to spot it in a second, but she remained mum on it as she spoke about something else. "You know, Lionel, you’re looking so much happier than you were." She offered her hand to his free one. "I missed seeing you. Than when I heard you and Dominic finally got hitched, oh." She giggled. "I've got something for you and him in the car. Will you come out to lunch with us? We were going to take the kids to the park afterwards to take advantage of the warming weather. What do you say?"

 

"Children?  As in... all of them?"

 

"Wouldn’t you know that the very same words came out of my mouth two hours ago?"

 

Lionel had to chuckle softly at that.  "I will go out to lunch with you, provided I do not have to sit on grass or consume hot dogs."

 

She sighed, and rolled her eyes heavenward. "I dug my heels in, but Riley’s a manipulative little bastard. By the time I got the kids ready, he had me in such a guilty ridden frenzy that I found myself nearly apologizing." Smirk. "He'll be limping for a while." But Lionel’s words had her laughing, and her eyes danced wickedly. "No grass, no hotdogs."

 

"How did you ever survive this family?" Lionel asked, sitting the nearly empty bottle aside.  He very gently turned the little angel in his arms so that she lay over his shoulder, and one hand cradled her head while the other one rubbed her back softly, patting delicately.

 

She was falling asleep. No doubt about it, because she was attached to whoever this guy was and if he left, she was not going to be a happy baby. But she got jostled, those wiry things on her longer wiry things grabbing the soft cloud around the strange mans head and she sighed. This was the life.

 

"I don’t really know." He looked so handsome with a baby on his shoulder, and she had to reach forward and gently pinch his cheek. "Just think, you're one of us now."

 

"I'm going to kill Rosalyn before this marriage is through.  Just know this, and be prepared to hide a fugitive."  He turned his head gently as he felt little fingers gripping his hair, and he kept burping her gently.  He growled at her last comment.  "I will never be one of you, Marie.  I, like you, will be termed the outlaws of the family, instead of the in-laws."

 

"You've got to tell her off, Lionel" Marie lounged back in the chair, elbow leaning over the back of it as she watched him burp her child. "Of course, popping out a few kids make mothers in law love you, right? Wrong. Rosalyn made my life a living hell from day one… until one day, I snapped. Literally. I told her where she could stuff her special baby detergent and cloth diapers, and since then, she's loved me."

 

Lionel stroked his beard gently against Ariel's soft skin.  "Then if I tell her that I'm going to snap her neck in two and hide her body in the fertilizer plant, she will stop calling me little boy?"

 

"She calls you little boy?" Marie gazed at him for a long moment... before bursting into a thousand giggles. She tried to hide it behind her palm, but unfortunately, was completely fruitless. She grinned at him around her hand, coughing and straightening as she composed herself, and shook her head. "She’s only a few years older than you."

 

"Which I have pointed out to her.  Repeatedly.  I have done the simple arithmetic for her.  She still persists."

 

"Then all you can do is tell her off." She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and looked him straight in the eye. "Video tape it. For me."

 

"I will add it to the videotape of our telling Lex about our wedding."  Ariel was falling asleep, so Lionel moved her again, cradling her back in his arms and tucking her warmly in her blanket.

 

"Broke the news, mm?" She offered her arms back for her little princess. "How did he take it?"

 

Lionel gently ignored the outstretched arms for the moment.  "He did not take it well; he stormed out in the middle of the conference, and I have not seen him since."

 

Marie knew exactly what Lionel was doing, and Christ, it warmed her heart. She pulled her arms back in without a word said about them--than choked a snort back. "So that’s why he left in such a huff. Oh, but Lionel, you've got to go easy on him. Having a new family member can be hard, and I’m sure having his fathers gay lover be his step dad now is even worse."

 

"As Dominic pointed out earlier, this was not a shock to him.  We have been telling him of our plans for quite some time, nearly since the plant explosion and Dominic's injury.  Not to mention my own.  This is not a new development."

 

"Its not?" An eyebrow went up. "He's known all along?"

 

Lionel nodded.  "Yes, he has."

 

A pretty roll of her eyes. "Then he's just having a temper tantrum, which I’m sure you knew all along." A brief pause. "Lionel, I don’t mean to step into your life, as much as we're waist deep in the Senatori's now, but when exactly are you guys going to have kids?"

 

A soft smile as he cradled Ariel just a little closer.  "In about ten months."

 

"Good. Because I want Ariel to have a playmate, and my barbarian children need to be straightened up. Your genes should do it nicely." She kissed his cheek gently, and smiled easily. "You're going to be a great dad. You’ve got the makings, you know."

 

Ariel was passed out. Just. Snoring.

 

Lionel's huge hand clasped little fingers.  "Oh yes.  I intend to insert a level of culture and gentility into these children’s lives, especially Shane's.  That great brute of a father of his is completely hopeless."

 

"Funny, I said that just last night, too." A heavy, world weary sigh, though in it was an affection that couldn’t be made up or squandered. She loved her husband with everything she was, and the children she had bore him where the light of her life. And she knew, beyond a doubt, that Lionel would understand when he held his new child in his arms. "I think maybe I should warn you."

 

"Should warn me of what?"

 

"Senatori men, and this is a rule, now. But the men in this family... they... they go a little hyperactive when children are about to be born. I mean, oh, the obsessive compulsive need to buy every teddy bear in Metropolis will come and go, but when it comes time for the baby to be born… don’t expect Dominic to sleep for at least a week prior. I swear they’ve got their noses to the ground with it...when Riley stops sleeping, I know I’m going to have the baby."

 

Lionel shook his head.  "I will keep a tranquilizer gun close by."

 

go on to the next part