Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Homecoming (25/25) Finale

Epilogue:

“Chief!” Lois said, bursting into Perry’s office. “I think there’s a story here and we should check that guy out…the crazy one from this morning. His name is Samuel Platt and he was an engineer for EPRAD for ten years.”

“Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something here?” Perry’s voice was gruff.

“Oh.” Lois said. She stood in the doorway waiting.

Perry sighed. “Lois Lane…this is Clark Kent, the new owner.”

Clark rose to his feet and turned to smile at her. There was a mischievous look in his eye, and he reached out as though to shake her hand.

“Hey Clark,” Lois said, barely glancing at him. She barely kept herself from grinning. “Anyway, this guy worked on the Messenger, and so…”

Apparently, her nonchalant act wasn’t convincing. Staring at them both, Perry said, “You two know each other?”

“We’ve been friends since high school,” Lois said dismissively. “He’s taking me to the White Orchid ball tonight.”

“You never mentioned that you knew THE Clark Kent,” Perry said.

“I know lots of people,” Lois said airily. “I just don’t keep everyone apprised of my social calendar. I’m not Cat Grant.”

“Lois wanted to make it on her own,” Clark said smoothly. “Without any rumors that she got where she is today by associating with me.”

The fact that their initial association had led to the deaths of Perry’s friend and his children had also played into it. It had been hard enough in the first years before he’d forgiven her; she was hardly going to bring it up again now.

“So why buy us out now?” Perry asked.

“I believe in a free press,” Clark said. “When I heard that certain other parties were thinking about buying it, I had to protect it.”

After all these years, Clark sometimes sounded like a politician. It was a hazard of what he did, Lois supposed. She was glad he was still himself with her.

“So you aren’t planning on making any major changes….or asking for special favors?”

“Not at all,” Clark said.

“In that case, what happened to that mood piece I gave you?”

*****************

Lex Luthor kept staring daggers at Clark. It obviously galled him that Clark had chosen to come, but as a guest of Lois Lane there hadn’t been much he could do about it without seeming openly rude.

“Lex,” Lois said. “I understand that you and Clark are old acquaintances. He’s the new owner of the Daily Planet.”

Over the years, Lois had learned that the best way to get what she needed was to keep someone off balance. Lex Luthor was a master had keeping his emotions hidden, but Clark always kept him off balance.

He’d been somewhat open about the fact that the only person he hated more than Superman was Clark Kent.

“I had no idea you were on the guest list.” Lex said sourly. “Or I’d have made special arrangements.”

Clark’s lips twitched. “I’m flattered that you’d go out of your way to do anything for me.”

“I’ve never understood why you two don’t get along,” Lois said, lying. She’d been listening to Clark for years about the matter, and they were gradually gathering evidence to prove Clark’s suspicions. Clark’s only regret about coming out as Superman was that Lex had immediately taken anti-Superman measures.

Lead based paint had made an immediate comeback in Lex’s businesses. Soundproofing had also been installed, although it wasn’t as foolproof as Lex thought.

“We’ve got very different views of the world,” Lex said. “I believed that effort should be rewarded, he believes that people should get handouts.”

“We give people a chance to get back on their feet,” Clark said mildly. “With dignity and respect.”

“If you cared so much about these people, why are you turning down donation?”

Clark had refused Lex’s donation to the Superman foundation; Lex had been trying to get Superman to work for him since Superman had debuted and he’d wanted him to help launch his LexCorp satellite.

The weapons platform Clark had found hidden in Lex’s copy of the plans hadn’t been in the one provided to the Superman foundation.

“There were strings attached that were unacceptable,” Clark said smoothly. He looked out over the ballroom floor. “The party seems to be going well.”

“It’s not like you aren’t double dipping yourself,” Lex said. “Using the alien to launch satellites in orbit, then paying the Superman Foundation, which you control.”

Obviously this irritated Lex, although from what Lois understood he’d never been worried about fairness in his dealings with others.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t using the alien to help you find all those sunken treasures,” Lex said.

“Everybody knows that Superman only showed up three years ago,” Clark said dismissively. “I’ve been in business for almost ten. Superman has nothing to do with my salvage business; I take care of that myself.”

Clark had turned the wrecks into a vast fortune. The three billion dollar platinum find from a World War II era wreck had only been the basis of his fortune. The other wrecks had enlarged it. Clark’s business dealings had expanded it even further.

“You’re worth a fifth what I am, and people act as though you’re the richest man.”

“There’s more to wealth than money,” Clark said mildly. “You might try philanthropy that doesn’t involve putting your name on everything.”

“Like you put the Superman logo on everything? At least I don’t collect a residual every time somebody buys a pair of panties or a T-shirt.”

“Actually, you sell those things at LexMart.”

Lex had gobbled up the old CostMarts and renamed them in his own image. Quality had suffered, but profits had never been higher.

That they competed directly in the aerospace field irritated Lex to no end. He’d been trying to get control of Superman almost since the alien had appeared.

“I’d like to know what kind of leverage you’ve got against the alien,” Lex continued.

“What makes you think I’m controlling him?” Clark said. “He’s got his agenda and I just do what I can to make it happen.”

“Putting worthless human refuse up in free housing is the best use of money either one of you can think of?” Lex shook his head. “You’d be twice as rich if you did the sensible thing and invest in colleges and concert halls.”

“I like to invest in people,” Clark said. “Helping people be happy helps everybody.”

What galled Lex more than anything wasn’t the competition. It was that Clark was more popular than he was. He’d never completely own the city as long as Clark was there. While Lex signed their checks, Clark had their heart.

Of course, not everyone was a fan.

“The unions aren’t exactly happy with you,” Lex said, with a hint of smugness. “Having the alien build housing is a threat to honest construction workers, electricians and laborers.”

Blaming Lex for this would have been easy, but as far as Lois could see the unions were fighting Clark all on their own. Oddly, Clark had no problems with the unions in his actual business ventures, but they were actively trying to block his charitable building program.

“I didn’t think you were a fan of the unions,” Lois interjected.

Ignoring her, Lex continued. “I’ve heard there’s been some problem with people who weren’t homeless taking advantage of the problem…why pay rent when you can get housing for free?”

“We’re instituting controls for that,” Clark said.

“It’s not popular in the actual neighborhoods you build them, either,” Lex said. “Although I have to admit that it gets the riff raff off the street, which makes life a little more tolerable for the rest of us.”

There were always zoning restrictions, public complaints and referendums. People didn’t understand that Clark was trying to create something more hopeful than the dead end crime cesspools that public housing often became.

Each one of his centers provided not only housing, but job skills training, mental health and chemical dependency needs and other medical care. He was careful to make each one a community, where people helped each other. The last thing he wanted was the attitudes of despair seen in many public housing projects.

“Everybody’s life is better when the poorest are taken care of.”

Lex scowled. “I’ve heard you make the arguments before. Weakened immune systems make them perfect breeding grounds for disease. On that we can agree. It would be simpler to re-institutionalize them. We didn’t have this epidemic before they were released onto the street like a plague of vermin.”

Clark’s fist tightened, but he didn’t show any other sign of anger. He’d gotten better at hiding his anger over the years, although Lois could still tell.

“I’m surprised you’ve decided to go forward with your own space station plans now that EPRAD has theirs up and running.”

“I noticed that they refused the alien’s help,” Lex said.

“He helped with some of the construction,” Clark said. “But EPRAD wanted to prove that they could make deliveries to and from the station without Superman’s help. After all, there are times when he’s called away to do other important work.”

Lex had manipulated them into the decision; part of the reason Lois was here tonight was to try to find out why.

“I feel like dancing,” Lois said to Clark.

If the two men were allowed to continue, they’d argue all night. They’d never gotten along, not since Lex had begun to realize that people saw Clark as his social equal.

Lois could only hope Clark could help her; Lex was a canny customer about covering his tracks.

***************

Impossibly, Lois could still hear the music playing from below them. It was a trick of the thermal currents; she shouldn’t have been able to hear anything at this distance. Fort some reason Lex was playing “Fly me to the moon.”

The moon was actually visible, full and high in the sky. They were floating slowly above Lex’s tower. They’d made their excuses and left the party shorty after Lex had made his presentation. A little of Lex was all Clark could take.

He was in his costume, as he always was when he flew these days. Clark Kent was almost as famous as Superman and it wouldn’t do for a photographer to catch him flying in his business suit especially since the two men had been seen together at multiple events. Clark had stumbled across a young actor who’d been thinking of being a Superman impersonator and hired him instead to be his body double.

The man thought Clark had a mistress on the side, and he’d been used occasionally for non-Superman related events so he wouldn’t make the connection.

“He’s up to something,” Clark was saying. “I can’t prove it yet, but…”

Lois put her finger to his lips. “I’m tired of talking about Lex. Did you realize it’s our ten year anniversary?”

He frowned. “That’s not for a few weeks.”

“Of the first time we met…in the locker room.”

“We were in the same class for weeks before that,” Clark said.

Lois ran her hand down his chest. “It was the first time I really noticed you.”

Clark was silent for a long moment. “I noticed you the first day we were in class. You didn’t know I was alive, and I wasn’t exactly in a position to ask you out for a date, so I tried to forget about it.”

“I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”

He spun her around, his cape flaring out behind him in the way that he knew she loved.

“Maybe it’s time we went public,” he said.

Lois frowned. “Superman has done a lot of good. Without him, you wouldn’t be able to do a lot of what you do.”

“I meant about us,” Clark said. “You’ve already won four Kerths and a Pulitzer isn’t out of the question the way things are going. You’ve proven that you deserve everything you deserve.”

“And how would I keep getting the stories if I WAS the story?” Lois asked. “We’ve talked about this before. Lois Lane can go places Lois Kent can’t.”

Clark nodded. A moment later they were descending through the clouds, heading for his home.

Unlike Lex, Clark had chosen to live in a modest home near Lois’s apartment. He’d bought a ruined two story building in the middle of a bad neighborhood, then worked to remodel both the building and his neighbors.

It was a different sort of place now, filled with flowers and children’s laughter. It was one of his proudest accomplishments, although outside forces kept trying to get his neighbors to sell.

They landed in the middle of the park a block from his house. It was built on the site of a former crack house but was now filled with flowers. They sometimes came here in the evenings after most of the neighbors had gone to bed.

Clark spun after checking for anyone looking.

Now he was back in his tuxedo.

“I wish you’d reconsider,” he said. He pulled out a ring from his pocket.

Clark was a billionaire, but the ring was deceptively plain and simple. It was the sort of ring that a young farm couple in love might have been able to afford in the sixties.

He’d tracked down some of his parents’ possessions once he’d gotten the money. Of them all, this was his most precious. His mother’s wedding ring meant the world to him, and by offering it, he was offering her everything.

Slowly dropping to one knee, he looked up at her, his eyes shining in the moonlight.

Lois hesitated, her mind racing. In the end, though, there was only one answer she could give him.

***************

“Do you ever think about how things might have been different if your parents had lived?” Lois asked, staring up at the sky.

In most of Metropolis the constant light hid the stars, but they were lying on top of a gazebo in the middle of Clark’s park.

“Less since I met you,” Clark said. “Before that I thought about it every day.”

“Do you think you’d be different?”

“I probably wouldn’t have worked as hard,” Clark admitted. “I wouldn’t have worried much about money.”

Lois reached out and took his hand. It probably would have been easier to accept him without all the fame and money. Someone like Clark tended to overshadow everyone around him.

She’d have accepted his offer years ago without it.

“But I’m ok with how things are,” Clark said. “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

Anyone else with billions of dollars it would have seemed like arrogance, but Clark had never cared about money, not really. It had always been a tool to use to help people.

“It might have been easier to be poor and anonymous,” Lois said.

“I might never have gotten to meet you,” he countered.

“I’m the top reporter in the best newspaper in the world,” Lois said. “There’s no way I wouldn’t have met you, even if I’d had to throw myself off a bridge.”

“I’m glad you aren’t that reckless,” Clark said.

Knowing that Clark was always there to save her had made her more cautious, not less. She’d wanted to prove to him as well as herself that she could do it on her own. That she’d still gotten her Kerths was a source of pride for her.

She kissed him.

Now that the decision was made, there were a hundred other decisions that had to follow. Her life was about to change in ways both good and bad, but after all these years it was time.

“Let’s go home,” she said.