parts of this story have been taken from the script of the Pilot. None of these characters belong to me, I just borrowed them for a little fun. Btw, I googled the little piece of Elvis trivia. I'm not sure it is true, but it fit my purpose, so for the sake of the story, I'm going to assume it is. 
From Part 10:He chose to let the matter drop and pushed his chair back, before he got up. “I’m going to see if I can find out what Luthor is up to – how much he already knows,” he said instead.
“You can’t just run off and leave me here,” Lois protested. “I’m very well capable of going back by plane.”
“I’m sure that you are,” Clark replied, already half on his way out of the farmhouse. “I won’t be long.”
Seemingly ignorant of, or maybe in his case, invulnerable to the look she threw him, he left the house. Lois remained alone in the kitchen, fuming, her only company a half-emptied mug of coffee.
“Clark!” she yelled angrily. “Get back here now! I’m warning you!”
Lois grabbed her cup more firmly, ready to throw it against the door that had been bold enough to let him pass through. However, she managed to catch herself in time, remembering that she was not at home. So she allowed herself no more than a frustrated growl, vowing that she would be gone before he could return, no matter how quick he was. Lois was almost half out of the door, when she realized that she was not even wearing shoes, much less have any idea where on earth she was exactly. It could take her month to get to the nearest airport, for all she knew. Almost at the verge of tears, though she was never going to admit to that, she dragged herself back to the chair, drained of all energy.
It was right at that moment that the door of the old farm house was opened once again and a smiling Martha Kent entered the kitchen, carrying a bunch of vegetables in a wooden basket.
...I Knew The Truth
Part 11 * * * Flashback * * *
For the hundredth time since the morning had started with the devastating news of the Messenger explosion, Lois wondered if she could have done things differently. Probably, she should have – believed in Platt’s claim– instead of dismissing him as the nutcase he appeared to be. Granted, it had not been the first time he had stormed into the newsroom, telling some outrageous story that later turned out to be nothing but hot air. Still, there had to have been a difference, some sign that this time, he had been telling the truth and Lois had missed it.
She had failed and that never sat well with her. Lois was not one to sit idly and right now she felt the burning need to do Samuel Platt justice. Channeling her nervous energy into pacing, Lois paced up and down in front of Perry’s desk, who seemed annoyingly unfazed by what had happened. He just settled into his chair more comfortably, resting his hands on the surface of his desk. All the while he kept watching her with that mixture of fatherly understanding and slight impatience that always drove Lois up the wall.
“I'll need a task force. I can't cover this story alone,” Lois explained, throwing her hands in the air.
“You can have Jimmy,” Perry offered generously.
Lois could not believe her ears. “Chief, we're talking about the space program...” she clarified.
Perry raised his brows. “All right. Take Kent,” he said, taking a folder from the pile on his desk, indicating that he was not going to argue.
Lois started. “Kent?!” she repeated incredulously, blinking several times, just to make sure she was not dreaming. Had Perry listened to one word she had said? Had he any idea at all how big this was?
“Kent,” Perry confirmed adamantly, before Lois had a chance to ask him any of those questions.
She was not ready to give in, yet. She had failed Platt once, she was not going to do so again. “What about Myerson?”
“Busy,” he replied, annoyance gradually creeping into his voice. He opened the folder and started to read.
“Burns?” Lois offered, already sensing that it was going to be futile.
“Budapest,” Perry said without even looking up.
It was his way of telling her that he did not want to argue about his decisions. Lois knew he was not going to change his mind; she had tried that more often than she cared to admit. Her boss could be as stubborn as a mule, though for the life of her, Lois could not understand why he was acting like this now when it really mattered. Maybe it was her own fault, maybe she had gone too far in the past. She had to admit that she had never worked well with partners, had driven away most of them and none too kindly. But she was not going to risk her story over that.
“Forget Kent,” Lois told him, folding her arms in front of her chest, showing him that she, too, could be stubborn.
“He's a good man,” Perry insisted, finally looking at her again. Surprisingly, there was a hint of a smile on his lips. Was she hallucinating, or was Perry enjoying this?
“He's a hick. From ‘Smallville.’” she rolled her eyes. “I couldn't make that name up.”
Perry did not waver. “Kent or nobody.”
Nobody,” Lois replied firmly, but at the same time felt her determination crumble. “Why don't you just hang an albatross around my neck?” It was no use trying to deny that she needed help with the investigation. This story was just too big to ruin it over her ego. Grumbling, she added. “Fine, but don't tell me I'm not a team-player.”
Perry leaned back in his chair, a contented smile on his lips. "Did you know that Bruce Springsteen once tried to sneak on the Graceland Farm, wanting to see the King?" Lois shook her head in an automatic response to Perry's eclectic knowledge of Elvis trivia. She hardly ever got his point. "Well, he didn't get to see him. They threw him off the property."
* * * End Flashback * * *
* * *
“Good morning, Lois,” Martha Kent said affectionately and sat her basket onto the counter. “Did you sleep well?”
Lois felt herself shrink a little. “As well as could be expected,” she muttered into her cup, not really knowing what else to say. Anger and frustration were still raging inside her, but she was unable to direct her fury at the gentle woman in front of her, who had welcomed a total stranger into her home. That was odd, really, because usually, Lois did not care who she lashed out at. Clark’s mother, however, had that kind of aura around her that just would not allow such behavior, regardless of what Lois wanted to do.
As Martha watched her, her smile turned into one of sympathy. For the briefest of moments she turned around and took the coffee pot that sat on the coffee maker, then opened a cupboard and withdrew a mug. Both things in her hands, she walked over to Lois and sat down at the table next to her. Martha poured herself a cup and then offered Lois to refill hers.
“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” she said. It was a statement rather than a question. “This is a big secret to drop onto someone. We’ve had all Clark’s life to get used to his powers. You on the other hand never asked to learn any of this.”
“You’re not like him, are you?” Lois asked, carefully studying the petite woman beside her, who raised her cup to her lips and took a cautious sip of her coffee.
Martha shook her head. “We found Clark, when he was still a baby,” she explained with a tender smile on her lips that lit up her face. “He was so small, almost lost in the tiny capsule that held him…” her voice trailed off and she straightened on her chair. “Jonathan and I had been married for years, then. After years of trying, the doctor had told us that we would never be parents. We had started to look into adoption, but had been denied. Those were desperate times. We both were trying to come to terms with the fact, that we would never be the kind of family we had hoped to be.” Martha’s smile faltered with the memory.
It was evident, which were the lines those times had edged into her face. Lois’ heart went out to her. Though she had never really felt the need to have a family of her own, thanks to the strained relationship between her parents, Lois understood that it had been Martha’s dream. If anyone had told Lois years ago that she was never going to make her way as a reporter, she would have been totally devastated.
“One night, we drove by ‘Shuster’s field’ and saw a bright light in the sky, like a falling star, but much closer,” Martha continued. “I don’t know what compelled me to check it out. Thinking about it now, it seems rather pointless. It was as if something was calling to me. So I asked Jonathan to stop, which he had already done all by himself.” She chuckled softly and took another sip from her cup. “He was just as excited as I was; as if he knew our life was going to change forever. We opened the gate to Shuster’s property and after a few minutes, we saw it – a tiny capsule, silver with a faint blue glow. As I opened it, I looked into the two brown eyes of a baby boy and I fell in love for the second time in my life.” She ended with a small sigh and put her mug back on the table.
“Have you ever found out, where he had come from?” Lois wanted to know. “Who his birth parents were?”
Again, Martha shook her head. “Several weeks later, people from the government appeared in Smallville. Jonathan and I argued a lot about this, but upon seeing these people, I couldn’t bring myself to handing Clark over to them. It was the time of the Cold War. We figured that Clark had been some kind of space travel experiment, either by the Russians or NASA. I was afraid for him, so we remained silent.”
Lois slowly nodded. The idea of someone sending a baby into space sent a cold shiver down her spine. But she also wondered what it must be like for Clark, not knowing where he was from. Though, generally, she thought that family was overrated, she could not imagine what her life would be like without Lucy in it – or even her parents.
“When he was older, Clark started to develop his powers. At first, he was just stronger and faster than average, but it soon became apparent that there was more.” Martha added. “It was difficult for Clark. Often, he was terrified of himself, terrified that he would unintentionally hurt someone. For weeks on end, he refused to go to school. Instead, he barricaded himself in his tree house that he had named his ‘Fortress of Solitude‘.”
“Aww…,” Lois muttered involuntarily as her heart ached for this much younger Clark Martha was telling her about.
“All he ever wanted was to fit in, to have a normal life. When he fell in love with Lana Lang, he thought that he had finally found that special someone he wanted to have a family with,” Martha continued. “I believe the night before he told her his secret was the last time I truly saw him happy.”
The last pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Lois remembered what Clark had told her about Lana the other night. All his youth, he must have carried this fear of being rejected for who he was inside him. Perhaps he had been wondering the same thing about his birth parents, if they had abandoned him, because they had been afraid of him. More than once, Lois had heard Clark call himself a freak with self-disgust. But now, she finally understood. No wonder, Clark had been devastated by Lana’s reaction upon learning about his powers. No wonder, he had been keeping his distance from Lois, ever since he had been forced to reveal himself in front of her.
Lois felt the last remainders of anger seeping out. The one question that remained was, if Clark could overcome those scars.
If only people knew what good he had already done. The space program would have been cancelled without him; the worker who had been caught down inside the manhole would be dead, not to mention Lois herself. Those were only the incidents Lois knew of. For a while the two women kept sitting across the table, looking at each other occasionally and drinking coffee.
“You’ve been keeping his secret the entire time,” Lois observed eventually.
“It was Clark’s decision to keep his powers hidden. I must admit that we weren’t exactly making a strong case against it,” a weak smile played around Martha’s lips. “Jonathan and I were always afraid that those government agents would return some day and take Clark away from us.” She paused and reached out to cover Lois’ hand with hers, squeezing it gently. “It’s good to have someone to talk to about my son, besides Jonathan. He’s a good man, don’t get me wrong. But talking to another woman is just …different.”
Lois slowly nodded. She too, had enjoyed this conversation immensely. It was not just because she had finally learned more about Clark than he had so far allowed her to see. Martha’s presence was comforting in a way that Lois no longer cared whether the information she got would ever be turned into black ink on a white page of a newspaper.
“Thanks for entrusting me with this,” Lois said simply, returning Martha’s gesture with her other hand. “I promise you, I won’t print any of this unless I get Clark’s permission.”
“I know,” Martha replied softly, a mischievous glint appearing in her eyes. “It’s not like people are going to believe you, anyway, unless Clark chooses to reveal himself publicly.” She winked at Lois, indicating that she believed Lois’ intentions were honorable.
A thud outside on the porch interrupted their conversation. Only moments later, the door was pushed open as Clark entered the kitchen. His hair and shirt both looked a bit ruffled from the flight. He ran a hand through the stray locks that had fallen into his face and straightened them. As he spotted Lois sitting at the table with his mother, he stopped dead in his tracks. His gaze was darting back and forth nervously as he looked at the two women. It was as if he did not know what to say.
Martha obviously had no intention of waiting. “Where have you been, Clark? I certainly didn`t raise you to leave a poor woman alone in the kitchen of two perfect strangers.”
Clark’s expression turned sheepish. “Sorry, Mom, Lois. I was in Metropolis,” he explained, before Lois had a chance to object and tell Martha that she was not a ‘poor woman’. “I wanted to see if Luthor was already onto Lois in order to get to me. It seems that the guy who attacked her has not yet had the guts to admit that he has failed Luthor.”
“According to what you said, he shouldn’t have attacked me in the first place,” Lois added, which Clark confirmed with a nod. “If Luthor is as evil as you make him out to be, the guy who broke into my apartment is not going to advertise that he threatened to shoot me,” she concluded simply. “So stop worrying so much, take me back to Metropolis and help me expose Luthor.” To emphasize her words, Lois stood up and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Clark stared at her with wide-eyes. “I…I can’t,” he stuttered quietly.
“What you really can’t do is hide yourself forever,” Lois pointed out. “Running off is not going to accomplish anything. If you want to get Luthor, you’ve got to start attacking. You’ve got all the trump cards on your side. You should start playing them.”
Clark shook his head, biting his lips. “You don’t know anything about me, Lois.” His gaze drifted over to his mother, silently begging her for help. Martha pretended to miss his plea, got up, went over to the counter and started to occupy herself with the vegetables she had fetched from her garden. She did not strike Lois as the type of woman who could actually be ignorant to her son’s wishes, unlike her own mother. Ellen Lane had never noticed much besides a bottle of vodka and the shortcomings of her husband and two daughters.
Shaking off the unpleasant thoughts, Lois turned her attention back to Clark. “I for one know that you’re a hero,” she insisted. “You’ve saved me three times now; you saved Jimmy, the guy in the man-hole and at least two dozen colonists, not to mention all the staff that was still on board the Shuttle. I’d bet a month’s salary that I would find more if I really started looking into it,” Lois went on, not really sure what she was trying to get at. Clark’s reluctance to go the whole way irritated her beyond belief. Why did he have to make his own life so difficult?
“I like to help people whenever I can, but that doesn’t make me a hero. There are countless others that suffer every day and I don’t do a thing about it,” Clark replied sadly, his hands stuffed deeply into his pockets. “You did not see the fear in Lana’s eyes when she learned about my powers, Lois. Many people would consider me a threat, if they knew about me. I don’t want to be responsible for a stampede.”
“You could help Metropolis without having to expose yourself, if you don’t want to,” Lois objected and got up from her chair to approach Clark. “People suffer under Luthor without even being aware of it. All I’m asking is that you help me. I’m not sure I can do this alone. He has hidden his tracks well. As long as he doesn’t know for sure your powers really exist, we could go ways no one else can.” Gently, Lois laid a hand on his shoulder.
Relaxing slightly, Clark withdrew his hands from his pockets, but still shook his head. “I’ve been using my powers for years and it hasn’t helped me in the least,” he muttered with a growl of frustration.
“Now, you’ve got someone to help you. I know Metropolis and I might know just the right people to get to Luthor,” Lois said quietly. “Let’s find this guy who broke into my apartment. I must have been close to Luthor for him to resort to such measures. Sooner or later, he will start making mistakes. We should not let this opportunity slip by.”
“She’s right, Clark,” Martha chimed in softly and put down the potato she had just been peeling. Drying her hands off on her apron, she approached her son. “You knew you wouldn’t be able to hide yourself forever, you’ve tried that already.” A sad smile played around her lips. “Perhaps, it’s time to take the bull by the horns.”
to be continued...
