Pumpkin

Clark, Jonni futurefic
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.

"Mumkin, Daddy."

Clark Kent slowed his long strides, then came to a halt, as his daughter tugged hopefully on his fingers. Her little hand was wrapped in his big one, keeping her safe from traffic as the two of them walked down the sidewalk together, but judging from the way she suddenly dug her heels in, she'd obviously spotted something that interested her.

"What is it, Jonni?" he asked, looking down into her small but earnest face.

"Mumkin." She pointed insistently. "Need mumkin."

He realized she was pointing at a display of large orange pumpkins on the sidewalk. To his country-raised eyes, they looked strangely foreign on the streets of Metropolis. He couldn't help smiling. The sight of pumpkins always made him smile.

"Those are nice pumpkins," he agreed.

Jonni lifted her head and gave him the pleading, wide-eyed look that he couldn't resist. It was exactly the same look her mother gave him when she wanted something... and he couldn't resist her, either. The two Kent women had him totally wrapped around their little fingers.

But oddly enough, he didn't mind.

"Need mumkin," she said, very earnestly.

He looked at the carefully stacked pyramid of pumpkins, and remembered a crisp autumn afternoon, not too many years ago, when he and Chloe had visited Smallville, and gone out into the fields of the Kent farm to pick out a pumpkin for Halloween.

One thing had led to another, and the two of them had wound up making love in the dirt, with nothing around them but the large orange orbs of the pumpkin patch, nothing above them but the clear sapphire sky. They'd gotten filthy, but he hadn't minded, and neither had Chloe. They'd had a lot of fun.

And even better, they'd created a baby that afternoon while making love in the bright fall sunlight. The very same baby who was currently hanging onto his hand, pointing excitedly at a display of pumpkins.

He looked at the display and smiled, more widely than before.

"It's funny that you like pumpkins so much," he said. "Mommy likes pumpkins, too."

"Mommy needs mumkin." She spoke more earnestly than before. "Get Mommy mumkin."

"Okay." He ruffled her dark hair and knelt down beside her. "We'll get Mommy a pumpkin."

She squealed, delighted, and wrapped her arms around his neck, and he laughed and hugged her back. Chloe had told him more than once that he was a total pushover where Jonni was concerned, and she was right.

But he was okay with that.

Moments later, he headed for their apartment, a huge pumpkin cradled carefully in his arms. Jonni danced excitedly beside him.

"Mommy loves mumkin," she assured him.

"Yeah, you're right. She's going to love it." He remembered that lovely, perfect afternoon, remembered Chloe kissing him, touching him, holding him. He remembered the two of them making this small and precious life together in a pumpkin patch, and warmth filled him like the afternoon sunlight.

He grinned down at his daughter.

"Daddy loves pumpkins, too."

-The End-