Darcy opened her mouth to protest to Clark's insistence but then she froze, save her jaw snapping shut again as she looked back at him. The wistful smile had gone and her eyes were prickling again, threatening tears. This time, at least, they were happy ones. "You really think I'm beautiful?" she asked.
She hadn't been told she was beautiful in a long time. Dexter had stopped saying it when the honeymoon phase of their courtship had been over with, seven years ago. She'd been called a lot of things from gorgeous to sexy and back again, but...it had been too close to a decade for Darcy's taste, since the last time someone had called her beautiful. It took a conscious effort for her to bite her tongue against tacking on, "even looking like this?" and making a gesture toward her stomach, but she was proud of herself for managing it.
A ghost of a smile slid over Darcy's lips. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, down low toward the corner of his mouth, and paused for a moment there. "I haven't heard that in nearly seven years; I hope you mean that," she whispered before pulling back to look him in the eye.
When Clark explained that Jor-El was his birth father, Darcy braced herself to hear things that one wouldn't normally hear when getting to know someone. Things like my planet, for example. It was going to take some getting used to, she was sure, but she'd learn. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely, once he'd finished his story. It was sad, she thought, that the only memories Clark had of his parents were some manufactured ones of his father.
"I wanted to, Clark; don't thank me," Darcy insisted as she leaned herself against the counter and watched him pulling out the accouterments of tea-making — some of which, she realized with a warming feeling, was hers left here the previous night. "You're not being a pain. I like spending time with you. I want to be here for you," she went on, insisting. She opened her mouth to continue when she noticed that Clark was pulling out a chair and, in spite of herself, Darcy laughed. "What are you doing?" she asked, grinning. "Are you making the tea when I said I would make tea?"