Title: Family
Author: Malana
Email: Malana@mac.com
Series: Truth, Justice, and the American Way
Pairing: Willow/Clark Kent
Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville or Buffy
Note: This is modeled after the style of Jinni's many When I Woke Up series. The story is written with her permission. This is a response to a challenge by Charley. Jinni is answering the Challenge with a Lex pairing, I'm doing it with Clark.
Spoilers: Through Chosen for Buffy. In Smallville anything up to The Truth is fair game. Things go AU near the end of season 3

Clark will be home soon.

So will his wife.

I'm a Mother-in-Law.

Clark's put Jonathan and I through a lot, but I'd never thought I'd deal with a phone call like the one I got last night.

"Mom, I got married."

That was the first thing he said. I almost thought he was joking. But Clark doesn't really joke.

Slowly the whole story came out. He had gotten drunk, and married a perfect stranger.

Jonathan, of course, wanted to blame everything on Lex Luthor.

He was ready to kill him.

I don't blame Lex. I'm not happy that he gave my son and his friends fake IDs, but I'm holding Clark responsible for this one. What was he doing, getting drunk?

Jonathan is pacing back and forth.

"Jonathan."

"I'm swear Martha, I'm going to kill him. What was he doing, letting Clark drink?"

"You can't blame this on Lex, Jonathan. Clark is perfectly capable doing stupid things with out Lex's assistance."

"Lex took them to Vegas. And Lex provided them with fake IDs."

"And Clark decided to use it. He screwed up all on his own. Clark is our son, and I love him more than anything in this world. But it's not like he hasn't made mistakes in the past."

"I just can't believe this. Our son is coming home with a wife, Martha. A wife!"

"Would you rather he be divorced at 18?" I ask.

"I'd rather he not be in this situation at all." Jonathan throws his arms in the air, before collapsing onto a nearby chair.

I walk over to him, and place a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get through this. We'll figure something out."

"I'm worried about this girl, this Willow Rosenberg. Face it, our son married some drunken tram-"

"Jonathan Kent!" I slap him lightly on the shoulder in admonishment. He can be judgmental sometimes, but I won't have him talking like that about our daughter-in-law. "You'll be nice to this girl, Jonathan. From what Clark said on the phone this girl is just as worried over the situation as he is. She didn't mean for this to happen any more than Clark did. They decided to stay married for now, and you will not talk about our son's wife like that."

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry." He offers me a sad smile. "I'll be nice. But this girl knows Clark's secret. And if she's a threat to him...I'm not going to let anyone hurt him."

A timer starts to beep, and I head to the kitchen. "That will be the pie."

I can feel Jonathan's eyes on me. "You made a pie?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because we're meeting our daughter-in-law."

"Martha, our son married a stranger after a drunken night in Los Vegas. I don't think that's a situation that calls for pie."

"They'll both be under a lot of stress." I explain. "And we are too. We could all use a nice home cooked meal."

I'm pulling the pie from the oven, when I hear the front-door open.

"Dad? Mom?"

When I hear Clark. I immediately put the pie down on the table, and hurry back into the living room.

"Clark!"

He offers me a worried smile as he sets down two suitcases. A girl steps out from behind him, nervously. She's pretty, with shoulder length red hair, and pale skin. She's quite a bit shorter Clark. She isn't what I imagined. I'm not sure what I thought she would be, but this pretty, nervous girl, who looks younger than her 24 years, isn't it.

"You must be Willow," I walk over to her and offer my hand. "I'm Martha Kent. This is my husband Jonathan." I motion to Jonathan, who has come to stand next to me.

"It's nice to meet you both," Willow says quietly.

I pull Clark into a tight hug. I may be angry and disappointed, but he's still my son.

"Why don't we all go into the kitchen. Dinner's ready and I just pulled a pie out of the oven."

"That sounds great, Mom." My boy looks so lost that I'm not sure what to do.

The four of us head to the kitchen, for what I'm sure will be the most awkward dinner of my life.