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Author: phoenixnz
Series title: The Chronicles of Martha and Jonathan
Fandom: Smallville
Rating: G
Pairing: Jonathan and Martha Kent
Disclaimer: Don't own, yada yada
Genre: Romance
Summary: The lives of Jonathan and Martha from their first date to the Smallville finale.
a/n: I've had this story on my mind for some time, ever since something Martha said in season nine, actually. I thought this might make a good little series. So without further ado, here's the first story.
Martha to Clark (Nicodemus):
Did I ever tell you about the first time I ever saw him?
He came to Metropolis U. to take a finance course and he was sitting by a fountain all denim and flannel eating an apple. And I asked to borrow his notes. He didn't know that I was the note-taker for the class.
He was so cute. So I asked him for his notes and he just handed over his notebook without even asking my name and I said, "How can you be so sure I'll bring it back?" And he said, "I prefer to believe in people."
And I remember looking at him, completely embarrassed because I was thinking the dumbest thing. I was thinking God, I hope he marries me.
Martha to Clark (Hostage):
Your father and I had our first date in this barn. I made a surprise picnic, but his truck broke down So, we ate it in here.
First Date
Martha dressed carefully for the day, stopping to check her reflection in her bedroom mirror. Her red hair had been brushed until it shone and her jeans were neat and clean.
Her hands were shaking, yet she didn’t think she should be nervous. It was just a date. Okay, so it was her first date with the cute boy from her finance class. Well, he wasn’t a boy, since he was twenty, but oh boy, when she looked at him, she felt butterflies in her stomach. It was something a friend had told her once and she hadn’t believed it until she’d seen the young man sitting by the fountain eating an apple.
As soon as all the girls in the class had caught sight of the tall blond from a small town in Kansas, they’d all practically swooned. Did girls really do that now? Martha thought with a frown. That, at least she figured, was something that happened to girls in the nineteenth century, not Metropolis, Kansas in 1981.
She remembered a discussion her mother had been having with a group of friends in her Book Club. They’d been talking about Gone With the Wind and the outlandish costumes the southern girls had been forced to wear. Huge crinoline dresses with tight bodices worn over corsets strapped so tight they probably cracked a rib if they tried to breathe. Which was why they swooned, apparently. The discussion had turned to underwear and how the fashions had changed and Martha had been so embarrassed by the discussion she had slunk away.
Even her father had just shaken his head when he realised what the discussion was. Parents were so embarrassing sometimes, Martha thought.
As she went downstairs, grabbing the keys of her mother’s car, her father intercepted her.
“Going out?” he asked.
She nodded.
“With a boy?”
She frowned at him. She was old enough to date whoever she wanted and what business was it of his if she was going out with a boy from Smallville.
“Yes Daddy,” she said, instead of sniffing and reminding him she was old enough to do what she wanted.
“Well, make sure you’re back by ten,” he told her. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She was an adult and he still made her follow a curfew.
Humming quietly to herself as she reversed the car out of the garage and drove along the tree-lined avenue, she found herself thinking about the handsome blond man and the day they’d met. Officially anyway.
There he was sitting by the fountain at Met U, in a red-checked flannel shirt and well-worn jeans nonchalantly eating an apple. She’d had no idea how to approach him, then happened to glance at his book bag. It was a canvas knapsack. Nothing too flashy. The kind she’d begged her mother to let her get when she’d started college, not wanting to appear pretentious. After all, she was the daughter of a lawyer and while they weren’t as wealthy as the Luthors, they were still fairly well-off.
Martha approached the man.
“Hi, you’re in Finance 301, right?” she said.
He looked up and smiled at her.
“Yes, yes I am.”
She chewed nervously on her lip. Martha wasn’t shy by any means, but this man completely took her breath away and made her forget the carefully prepared speech she’d just now made up.
“Uh, I was wondering. Could I borrow your notes?”
God, please don’t let him find out I’m the notetaker for the class. I’d never hear the end of it from Josie.
He just smiled at her, then dug in his bag for his notebook, handing it over without a murmur. God, he was so cute, she thought with a tiny shiver.
“How do you know I’ll bring them back?” she asked with a teasing little smile.
He just smiled. “I prefer to believe in people.”
Martha felt the oddest feeling and the strangest thought popped into her brain.
“God, I hope he marries me,” she murmured.
He frowned at her. “Pardon?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, just having one of those days.”
“I know all about those,” he smiled. “I’m Jonathan.”
“Martha.”
“Would you like to join me, Martha?” he said, clearly appreciating what he saw.
“Yes,” she said with a laugh. “Yes I would.”
***
Jonathan was just about to head out the door when his father called him back.
“Son, make sure you get those fences down in the south pasture.”
“Daaad!” he whined.
“Jonathan, this is a farm and we all work around here.”
“But …”
He had a date. His first date. With the most beautiful girl on the Met U campus. Not that his father cared about that. Probably.
“Dad, I’ll do my chores later,” he told his father.
Hiram sighed and shrugged. “Just make sure you get them done,” he said.
There were times when Jonathan wished he’d taken the scholarship to Met U when he’d had the chance, but his father had needed him on the farm and he’d let duty guide him.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like farming. It was in his blood, so to speak, but he had always thought his life was more than the farm.
Still, Martha didn’t seem to mind. Unlike some girls, he thought, who could be snobs when it came to finding out what he did for a living. Or where he came from.
He found himself thinking about the beautiful redhead. He’d noticed her in the finance class he’d gone to. How could he not? With her striking auburn locks and her high cheekbones, she had a face that would have graced the covers of any fashion magazine.
Knowing he had to appease his father to at least a small extent, Jonathan did some of his chores before returning to the house to shower. He didn’t want to screw this up. Martha was the first girl he’d liked since he’d dated Nell Potter in high school and while Nell was used to the farm boys, Martha was a city girl, Metropolis born and bred. Not that she seemed to mind the down home country boy look he had. Someone had once commented that he looked a lot like one of the boys on that tv show that his dad didn’t know he watched sometimes with Ethan and Jack. Hiram probably figured he’d get himself into trouble with the law like those two good ol’ boys.
He found himself humming the theme song as he dressed in front of the mirror in his bedroom.
Just the good ol’ boys
Never meanin’ no harm
Beats all you never saw
Been in the trouble with the law
Since the day they was born
“What’s that you’re humming to, Jonathan?” his mom said, pausing in the doorway of his bedroom with an armful of laundry.
“Um, nothing Mom,” he said, reddening at being caught out.
“Uh huh. Sounds kinda familiar to me. You know your dad doesn’t like that show.”
“Don’t see no harm in it,” he said.
“Well, maybe so, but just be sure you only watch it at Ethan’s or Jack’s,” she said, with a knowing smile. She looked him over. Jonathan had decided to wear a blue denim shirt and his best blue jeans. “You’re looking very handsome today, sweetheart. Got big plans?”
“Uh, yeah, Mom. I have a date.”
“Not with Nell?” she asked, frowning. Jonathan got the impression she didn’t really like Nell, but then his mother was kind of particular about the girls Jonathan dated. She never said anything, but Jonathan had heard that Nell had been seeing other guys while they were going together. Not that Nell was a tease or anything, but she still had a reputation which his mother didn’t like.
“So is she nice?” Jessica asked.
“Beautiful Mom. She’s really beautiful, and sweet. Her dad’s a lawyer in the city.”
His mother raised an eyebrow. “A city girl?”
He got the feeling she thought Martha might be a snob.
“She’s not like that Mom. She’s not like that at all. The day we met, we just talked for hours. I felt like I could tell her anything.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have a good time. Your father and I have to go to the city for some parts for the tractor. We thought we might make a night of it. Make sure you …”
“Do my chores. I know Mom.”
She smiled. “You’re a good boy, Jonathan. This girl must be someone very special if she’s already putting a smile on your face.”
He blushed. “Thanks Mom. I love you.”
“I love you too, honey.” She heaved the pile of laundry in her arms and carried on downstairs.
Jonathan finished dressing, checking his reflection once more.
“Looking good, Mr Kent,” he said, drawing the last word out in an urban drawl, the way a character did on a sitcom he’d been watching.
By the time he was ready, his parents were getting ready for their trip to the city.
“Drive carefully, Dad,” Jonathan said.
“Have fun on your date, but don’t go trying to impress this girl with your shenanigans like you got up to with young Jack. Don’t think I don’t know about that little trip to Chickasaw County.”
“Daaad!” Jonathan whined and his father laughed.
“Let me give you a piece of advice, son. Girls … sorry,” he added with a look at Jessica, “women like to be treated nice but you don’t need to go showing off for them. If this one’s special, she won’t care how you look or what you do. She’ll like you for yourself, not because you go preening and …” He sniffed, wrinkling his nose a little, then went on. “Go putting on a whole bottle of cologne.”
Jonathan sniffed, realising his father was right. Rather than the subtle scent of pine, he smelled like he’d bathed in it.
“I’ll go wash it off,” he said.
“Have a good time, son.”
***
Martha was feeling even more nervous by the time she found the gate to the Kent farm. She’d almost gotten lost a few times on the way and had had to ask a couple of locals. One girl shot her an odd look, almost like disdain when she realised Martha was an outsider.
Jonathan was on the porch, clearly feeling anxious as he looked up as soon as he heard the car. Martha stopped just beside the old truck in the driveway and got out.
“Martha,” he grinned. “You’re late.”
“I know. I got a little lost.”
He came down the steps and hugged her, then realised that probably wasn’t the most appropriate thing to do as he stepped back. Martha sighed softly at that brief contact, loving the warmth of his arms, feeling the strength in those muscles. Jonathan was almost a foot taller than her and she seemed to fit neatly in the circle of his arms.
“Um, so I thought you might like to take a drive, see Smallville. Probably best we not do it in that car of yours. The roads can be a little rough around here.”
She nodded. That sounded like a good idea, but she had planned some of this date herself.
“Actually, I had an idea,” she said, going to the car and picking up a basket from the back. “I thought we could have a picnic. It’s such a beautiful day.”
He grinned that boyish grin that had attracted her from the start.
“That sounds wonderful, Martha. I know just the place.”
She waited as he went inside to grab the keys to his truck and came back out again, the keys jangling in his hand. He held open the door to the passenger side of the truck and waited, taking the basket from her and putting it in the back. Martha laughed as he ushered her in the truck with a flourish then ran around to the driver’s side.
She watched as he turned the key in the ignition, to be met with a ‘clunk’ as the engine refused to turn over. He tried again and the same sound greeted him. Martha could see him reddening, clearly thinking this was not making the greatest impression for their first date.
Jonathan got out and opened the hood, peering into the engine.
Twenty minutes later he was still tinkering, his hands were dirty and he had a grease mark on his forehead as well as a matching one on his shirt. He looked so embarrassed and she couldn’t help laughing.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why it’s not working,” he said.
She wanted to offer to take the car instead, but didn’t. After all, Jonathan had asked her on this date and he clearly had wanted to take care of everything. Besides, she thought, if the roads were really that rough, her mother would kill her if she damaged the car.
So Martha suggested they have their picnic in the barn. Jonathan got a rug from the house and they sat on the floor, surrounded by bales of hay and the smell of animals as they ate the food she’d so carefully prepared, talking and laughing.
It was the best first date either of them had ever had.
Series title: The Chronicles of Martha and Jonathan
Fandom: Smallville
Rating: G
Pairing: Jonathan and Martha Kent
Disclaimer: Don't own, yada yada
Genre: Romance
Summary: The lives of Jonathan and Martha from their first date to the Smallville finale.
a/n: I've had this story on my mind for some time, ever since something Martha said in season nine, actually. I thought this might make a good little series. So without further ado, here's the first story.
Martha to Clark (Nicodemus):
Did I ever tell you about the first time I ever saw him?
He came to Metropolis U. to take a finance course and he was sitting by a fountain all denim and flannel eating an apple. And I asked to borrow his notes. He didn't know that I was the note-taker for the class.
He was so cute. So I asked him for his notes and he just handed over his notebook without even asking my name and I said, "How can you be so sure I'll bring it back?" And he said, "I prefer to believe in people."
And I remember looking at him, completely embarrassed because I was thinking the dumbest thing. I was thinking God, I hope he marries me.
Martha to Clark (Hostage):
Your father and I had our first date in this barn. I made a surprise picnic, but his truck broke down So, we ate it in here.
Martha dressed carefully for the day, stopping to check her reflection in her bedroom mirror. Her red hair had been brushed until it shone and her jeans were neat and clean.
Her hands were shaking, yet she didn’t think she should be nervous. It was just a date. Okay, so it was her first date with the cute boy from her finance class. Well, he wasn’t a boy, since he was twenty, but oh boy, when she looked at him, she felt butterflies in her stomach. It was something a friend had told her once and she hadn’t believed it until she’d seen the young man sitting by the fountain eating an apple.
As soon as all the girls in the class had caught sight of the tall blond from a small town in Kansas, they’d all practically swooned. Did girls really do that now? Martha thought with a frown. That, at least she figured, was something that happened to girls in the nineteenth century, not Metropolis, Kansas in 1981.
She remembered a discussion her mother had been having with a group of friends in her Book Club. They’d been talking about Gone With the Wind and the outlandish costumes the southern girls had been forced to wear. Huge crinoline dresses with tight bodices worn over corsets strapped so tight they probably cracked a rib if they tried to breathe. Which was why they swooned, apparently. The discussion had turned to underwear and how the fashions had changed and Martha had been so embarrassed by the discussion she had slunk away.
Even her father had just shaken his head when he realised what the discussion was. Parents were so embarrassing sometimes, Martha thought.
As she went downstairs, grabbing the keys of her mother’s car, her father intercepted her.
“Going out?” he asked.
She nodded.
“With a boy?”
She frowned at him. She was old enough to date whoever she wanted and what business was it of his if she was going out with a boy from Smallville.
“Yes Daddy,” she said, instead of sniffing and reminding him she was old enough to do what she wanted.
“Well, make sure you’re back by ten,” he told her. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She was an adult and he still made her follow a curfew.
Humming quietly to herself as she reversed the car out of the garage and drove along the tree-lined avenue, she found herself thinking about the handsome blond man and the day they’d met. Officially anyway.
There he was sitting by the fountain at Met U, in a red-checked flannel shirt and well-worn jeans nonchalantly eating an apple. She’d had no idea how to approach him, then happened to glance at his book bag. It was a canvas knapsack. Nothing too flashy. The kind she’d begged her mother to let her get when she’d started college, not wanting to appear pretentious. After all, she was the daughter of a lawyer and while they weren’t as wealthy as the Luthors, they were still fairly well-off.
Martha approached the man.
“Hi, you’re in Finance 301, right?” she said.
He looked up and smiled at her.
“Yes, yes I am.”
She chewed nervously on her lip. Martha wasn’t shy by any means, but this man completely took her breath away and made her forget the carefully prepared speech she’d just now made up.
“Uh, I was wondering. Could I borrow your notes?”
God, please don’t let him find out I’m the notetaker for the class. I’d never hear the end of it from Josie.
He just smiled at her, then dug in his bag for his notebook, handing it over without a murmur. God, he was so cute, she thought with a tiny shiver.
“How do you know I’ll bring them back?” she asked with a teasing little smile.
He just smiled. “I prefer to believe in people.”
Martha felt the oddest feeling and the strangest thought popped into her brain.
“God, I hope he marries me,” she murmured.
He frowned at her. “Pardon?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, just having one of those days.”
“I know all about those,” he smiled. “I’m Jonathan.”
“Martha.”
“Would you like to join me, Martha?” he said, clearly appreciating what he saw.
“Yes,” she said with a laugh. “Yes I would.”
***
Jonathan was just about to head out the door when his father called him back.
“Son, make sure you get those fences down in the south pasture.”
“Daaad!” he whined.
“Jonathan, this is a farm and we all work around here.”
“But …”
He had a date. His first date. With the most beautiful girl on the Met U campus. Not that his father cared about that. Probably.
“Dad, I’ll do my chores later,” he told his father.
Hiram sighed and shrugged. “Just make sure you get them done,” he said.
There were times when Jonathan wished he’d taken the scholarship to Met U when he’d had the chance, but his father had needed him on the farm and he’d let duty guide him.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like farming. It was in his blood, so to speak, but he had always thought his life was more than the farm.
Still, Martha didn’t seem to mind. Unlike some girls, he thought, who could be snobs when it came to finding out what he did for a living. Or where he came from.
He found himself thinking about the beautiful redhead. He’d noticed her in the finance class he’d gone to. How could he not? With her striking auburn locks and her high cheekbones, she had a face that would have graced the covers of any fashion magazine.
Knowing he had to appease his father to at least a small extent, Jonathan did some of his chores before returning to the house to shower. He didn’t want to screw this up. Martha was the first girl he’d liked since he’d dated Nell Potter in high school and while Nell was used to the farm boys, Martha was a city girl, Metropolis born and bred. Not that she seemed to mind the down home country boy look he had. Someone had once commented that he looked a lot like one of the boys on that tv show that his dad didn’t know he watched sometimes with Ethan and Jack. Hiram probably figured he’d get himself into trouble with the law like those two good ol’ boys.
He found himself humming the theme song as he dressed in front of the mirror in his bedroom.
Just the good ol’ boys
Never meanin’ no harm
Beats all you never saw
Been in the trouble with the law
Since the day they was born
“What’s that you’re humming to, Jonathan?” his mom said, pausing in the doorway of his bedroom with an armful of laundry.
“Um, nothing Mom,” he said, reddening at being caught out.
“Uh huh. Sounds kinda familiar to me. You know your dad doesn’t like that show.”
“Don’t see no harm in it,” he said.
“Well, maybe so, but just be sure you only watch it at Ethan’s or Jack’s,” she said, with a knowing smile. She looked him over. Jonathan had decided to wear a blue denim shirt and his best blue jeans. “You’re looking very handsome today, sweetheart. Got big plans?”
“Uh, yeah, Mom. I have a date.”
“Not with Nell?” she asked, frowning. Jonathan got the impression she didn’t really like Nell, but then his mother was kind of particular about the girls Jonathan dated. She never said anything, but Jonathan had heard that Nell had been seeing other guys while they were going together. Not that Nell was a tease or anything, but she still had a reputation which his mother didn’t like.
“So is she nice?” Jessica asked.
“Beautiful Mom. She’s really beautiful, and sweet. Her dad’s a lawyer in the city.”
His mother raised an eyebrow. “A city girl?”
He got the feeling she thought Martha might be a snob.
“She’s not like that Mom. She’s not like that at all. The day we met, we just talked for hours. I felt like I could tell her anything.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have a good time. Your father and I have to go to the city for some parts for the tractor. We thought we might make a night of it. Make sure you …”
“Do my chores. I know Mom.”
She smiled. “You’re a good boy, Jonathan. This girl must be someone very special if she’s already putting a smile on your face.”
He blushed. “Thanks Mom. I love you.”
“I love you too, honey.” She heaved the pile of laundry in her arms and carried on downstairs.
Jonathan finished dressing, checking his reflection once more.
“Looking good, Mr Kent,” he said, drawing the last word out in an urban drawl, the way a character did on a sitcom he’d been watching.
By the time he was ready, his parents were getting ready for their trip to the city.
“Drive carefully, Dad,” Jonathan said.
“Have fun on your date, but don’t go trying to impress this girl with your shenanigans like you got up to with young Jack. Don’t think I don’t know about that little trip to Chickasaw County.”
“Daaad!” Jonathan whined and his father laughed.
“Let me give you a piece of advice, son. Girls … sorry,” he added with a look at Jessica, “women like to be treated nice but you don’t need to go showing off for them. If this one’s special, she won’t care how you look or what you do. She’ll like you for yourself, not because you go preening and …” He sniffed, wrinkling his nose a little, then went on. “Go putting on a whole bottle of cologne.”
Jonathan sniffed, realising his father was right. Rather than the subtle scent of pine, he smelled like he’d bathed in it.
“I’ll go wash it off,” he said.
“Have a good time, son.”
***
Martha was feeling even more nervous by the time she found the gate to the Kent farm. She’d almost gotten lost a few times on the way and had had to ask a couple of locals. One girl shot her an odd look, almost like disdain when she realised Martha was an outsider.
Jonathan was on the porch, clearly feeling anxious as he looked up as soon as he heard the car. Martha stopped just beside the old truck in the driveway and got out.
“Martha,” he grinned. “You’re late.”
“I know. I got a little lost.”
He came down the steps and hugged her, then realised that probably wasn’t the most appropriate thing to do as he stepped back. Martha sighed softly at that brief contact, loving the warmth of his arms, feeling the strength in those muscles. Jonathan was almost a foot taller than her and she seemed to fit neatly in the circle of his arms.
“Um, so I thought you might like to take a drive, see Smallville. Probably best we not do it in that car of yours. The roads can be a little rough around here.”
She nodded. That sounded like a good idea, but she had planned some of this date herself.
“Actually, I had an idea,” she said, going to the car and picking up a basket from the back. “I thought we could have a picnic. It’s such a beautiful day.”
He grinned that boyish grin that had attracted her from the start.
“That sounds wonderful, Martha. I know just the place.”
She waited as he went inside to grab the keys to his truck and came back out again, the keys jangling in his hand. He held open the door to the passenger side of the truck and waited, taking the basket from her and putting it in the back. Martha laughed as he ushered her in the truck with a flourish then ran around to the driver’s side.
She watched as he turned the key in the ignition, to be met with a ‘clunk’ as the engine refused to turn over. He tried again and the same sound greeted him. Martha could see him reddening, clearly thinking this was not making the greatest impression for their first date.
Jonathan got out and opened the hood, peering into the engine.
Twenty minutes later he was still tinkering, his hands were dirty and he had a grease mark on his forehead as well as a matching one on his shirt. He looked so embarrassed and she couldn’t help laughing.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why it’s not working,” he said.
She wanted to offer to take the car instead, but didn’t. After all, Jonathan had asked her on this date and he clearly had wanted to take care of everything. Besides, she thought, if the roads were really that rough, her mother would kill her if she damaged the car.
So Martha suggested they have their picnic in the barn. Jonathan got a rug from the house and they sat on the floor, surrounded by bales of hay and the smell of animals as they ate the food she’d so carefully prepared, talking and laughing.
It was the best first date either of them had ever had.
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