Chapter Eighteen
Lara returned to her apartment just after noon so she called Ken to see if he was available.
“Hi, Honey!” Ken responded when he answered his phone. “Did you have a good time at your aunt’s?”
“Yes, it was great. Uncle Ben is a great guy and my cousins are as well, though knowing Aunt Lucy I didn’t expect any less. Umm… are you able to come over?”
“Yes… this sounds serious, is anything wrong?” Ken asked cautiously.
“No, not really, I just need to see you,” Lara said hoping she didn’t sound too needy.
“I’ll be right over, see you in fifteen.” Lara ended the call and nervously began to pace. Ken rang the bell exactly fifteen minutes later. She opened the door immediately escorted Ken to her couch.
“So honey, you seem awfully upset, what’s bothering you?”
“Umm… you remember my dad’s globe?”
“Sure, it’s an amazing piece of technology,” Ken said, clearly not following her train of thought.
“Well, something happened at Aunt Lucy’s. My cousin, Eric, commented that Superman and Superwoman looked more like siblings than father and daughter. I began to think about what he said and I remembered a picture of Dad and Lois that was taken before I was born.”
“Okay, but I still don’t see why that would concern you so much,” Ken said carefully, not wanting to upset her.
“Dad hasn’t aged a bit between when that picture was taken and now,” she said, stating the obvious from her point of view. “I wanted to know why so last night I consulted the globe. The reason he hasn’t aged is that his natural lifespan is a lot longer than humans,” Lara said softly, hanging her head.
“So, this means that you…?” Ken said, putting two and two together.
“Yes, my expected lifespan is much longer too, not as long as dad’s, of course, because I’m only half Kryptonian, but it’s a lot longer than I thought.”
“Is that what’s bothering you, baby? That you’re going to outlive me?” Ken extended his hand. Lara grasped it and allowed him to draw her into his arms. Once she settled her head on his chest, he continued.
“Honey, women typically live longer than men so you’d probably outlive me even if you weren’t Kryptonian. Besides, I have a dangerous job and, though I don’t like to think about it, I could die much earlier than you.” He lifted Lara’s chin with his fingers until their eyes met and he smiled at her lovingly.
“Lara, I love you and I want to be with you forever. It doesn’t matter how many years we have together, what matters is how we live each day of the years we have.”
“I love you too, and I plan to make every day we have the best they can be, but I’ll still be young-looking when you’re… not,” Lara said cautiously.
“So? The guys at the nursing home will think I robbed the cradle! I’ll be the envy of every man there having a babe like you pushing my wheelchair!” Ken replied, his eyes alight with mischief.
“Oh, you!” Lara said, smacking him lightly on the shoulder. She laughed at the picture he painted.
“Seriously, Lara. It doesn’t matter what you look like when I get older. If it becomes a problem we can always move where people won’t know us and let people think what they want to think.”
“Dad said you’d understand, but I was so worried. I’m glad you understand.”
“By the way, you said your lifespan is a lot longer than a human. Exactly how long are we talking?” Ken asked curiously.
“The globe couldn’t be sure because the superpowers are an unknown factor but it gave me a conservative estimate of two hundred twenty-six years,” Lara replied, her eyes now focused on her lap.
“That’s… amazing. I was thinking a hundred twenty-five or a hundred fifty tops!” Ken paused, thinking carefully about what he would say next.
“I know you don’t want to hear this but I’m serious… I want you to be open to love someone else when I’m gone.” Lara’s eyes grew wide, her face expressed her shock.
“I couldn’t…” Lara whispered.
“Yes, you can. Not right away, of course, but you’ll still be a young woman and I don’t want you living alone all that time. You have a lot of love to give and I’d be very disappointed in you if you hid away, waiting to die.”
“But I’ll have our children, grandchildren, and maybe great-grandchildren, hopefully, to keep me busy.”
“But they are not the same as having a husband who will love you, support you, and hold you at night.”
“All right, I’ll… consider it.” Lara relented. “When the time comes.”
“That’s my girl, now tell me all about your trip.”
**********
Ken McCarthy lay in bed that night staring up at the ceiling unable to sleep. His mind was racing, going over and over what Lara had told him. Lara had a conservative theoretical lifespan of over two hundred years! When she’d told him he didn’t know what to say at first but he thought he’d hidden it well. He knew how much this knowledge bothered her. They’d discussed her fears and he’d been able to alleviate most of them though he was sure she would still worry even though there was nothing she could do to change anything.
As he’d told her, statistically, women lived longer than men anyway so, even if she weren’t Kryptonian, she would probably live longer than him. When you factored in that he had a dangerous job the odds went up from there. Lara had promised to watch over him whenever she could and he loved her for it but, despite her best efforts, the day might come when he wouldn’t come home.
When he’d told her that he wanted her to find someone else when he was gone, he had shocked her but he was adamant. He knew that Lara, no matter what happened, would be a relatively young woman, and knowing her tender heart he did not want her to be alone until the end of her very long life. She’d mentioned having their children, grandchildren, and hopefully great-grandchildren to keep her busy and occupied and he certainly hoped that would be true.
But still, he knew that Lara needed the support of an equal, not a child, but someone who loved her as much as he did. Lara had protested that she could never do that but, ultimately, he got her to agree, reluctantly, and he hoped she would take his words to heart. Maybe he needed to talk to his, yet unborn, children to enlist them in getting their mother back into the dating scene. Ken chuckled to himself at the incongruity of setting up Lara for dates when he hadn’t even proposed yet! He hoped he’d been able to calm her and show her that he understood her fears. Ken closed his eyes settling into a restless sleep.
**********
Lara, too, found it difficult to fall asleep that night. Unlike Ken, who was staring at his ceiling, Lara was floating on her back at 70,000 feet over the city but the usual calm this area gave her was absent. Her mind was awhirl with thoughts of Ken as an old man while she was still a relatively young, vibrant woman. Her imagination had her looking like Lois does now, a woman in her forties when her actual age would be in her eighties! How would she explain why she looked so young? Makeup would help though even that could only do so much. Surely, she’d have to move to a different city, maybe live the life of a hermit, away from civilization while she waited for her extremely long life to come to an end.
The thought of being without Ken for so many years had tears running down her cheeks and sobs wracked her body. Ken had been very understanding, reminding her that even if she were human, she’d still have a very good chance of outliving him and with his job, it was even more of a possibility. Lara had sworn to him then that she’d do everything in her power to watch over him, to keep him safe, which he appreciated, but he’d told her that might not be enough.
When she had said that their family would be her support, he’d told her that he wanted her to find someone else! Just thinking about that had her insides in knots. How could she do that? She knew now that, once she’d experienced the soulmates bond, no other man would ever match up. While she had, reluctantly, agreed to try, Lara had no intention of following through. So, as she and Ken had agreed, she’d savor every minute they had together for as long as they had but she had no intention of finding another man. It was with a somewhat heavy heart that Lara turned over, flying slowly back to her apartment.
**********
Lois arrived the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend at the Planet earlier than usual. She hung up her coat, grabbed her coffee mug, and headed to the break room for a cup of newsroom java. As she scanned the newsroom her eyes took in the scene of barely controlled chaos and she smiled. After she poured the hot, black brew into her cup she poured a dollop of low-fat milk and a packet of sugar substitute into it and stirred it with a wooden stick. On her way back to her office she stopped at Jim Olsen’s desk.
“Jim, grab yourself a coffee and come into my office, please?”
“Be right there, boss!” Jim grabbed his cup, filled it then he hurried over to Lois’s office.
Lois acknowledged him as he entered. “Close the door and take a seat.”
After he closed the door Jim sat in the high-backed chair and crossed his legs. “What’s up Chief? Got a hot lead for me?”
Lois took a deep breath to calm herself. “No, nothing like that. I have something to tell you… something I should have told you a long time ago.”
Lois studied his face but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“What’s is it, Lois?” Jim said sympathetically.
“I have a daughter.” There, her secret was out and Lois relaxed slightly as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders.
Jim nodded. “I know.”
“You… know?”
“I didn’t know, officially, until now but, yes, I know.”
“H-h-how?”
“It was about a year and a half ago I guess when a young woman got off the elevator. She seemed to be looking for something so I got up to see if I could help. When I got closer my jaw about hit the floor. She looked almost exactly like you did when I first started here except her hair was longer. Before I had a chance to say much she took off, headed for your office. I tried to stop her when she gave me ‘the look’—”
Lois interrupted curiously. “‘The look’?”
“Yeah, the look that says ‘Don’t mess with me, I’m not in the mood.’ I knew right then that she was your daughter because you’d given me that same look earlier that day.”
“Oh.”
“So, Lois, who is she?”
“Her name is Lara Kent and she’s my daughter.”
Jim stared at her for a moment. “Care to explain?”
“You know the ‘official’ story, right?”
“Sure, we all did. You got pregnant by an old boyfriend and gave the baby up for adoption. We thought that was very brave of you. So, what’s the real story, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Back then I was under a lot of pressure with that whole Lex mess—”
“You’re telling me! I remember you chewing Clark out so bad one time that I avoided you so as not to incur your wrath!”
“I know and I’m sorry. Anyway, I’d got a hot tip about Intergang moving in to Metropolis to fill the void left by Lex. Clark, somehow, sensed something was off about the tip and decided to follow me. The tipster turned out to be Nigel St, John and he was going to kill me.”
“Oh, God, Lois. That must have been horrible!”
“It was. Nigel had a knife to my throat and I was seconds away from death when Clark stepped in. He chased Nigel away then he took me back to my apartment. We were both overwhelmed. We’d cheated death once more and before we knew it, we were kissing.
“The kisses burst into flame so quickly and before we knew it… we’d had sex on the floor of my living room.” Lois’s face was hot with embarrassment, her eyes damp with unshed tears, focused on her desk, unable to meet Jim’s eyes.
After a few moments, Lois continued. “We both agreed that what we’d done was a mistake and we resolved never to talk about it again. I thought no more about it until a few weeks later when I thought I’d got the bug that was making the rounds. When I went to the doctor, he told me I wasn’t sick, I was pregnant!”
“That had to be a surprise.”
“It sure was. I was on the pill but, as my doctor told me, it’s only 99% effective. I was trying to prove to Mr. Stern and my “colleagues” that I was still the best reporter in the city so I planned to terminate the pregnancy.”
Lois looked at her friend and saw sympathy and support in his expression so she continued. “I felt that Clark, as the father, should know before I did anything. I invited him to my place and told him about the pregnancy and my decision to terminate.”
“What did Clark say?”
“He told me I couldn’t do it and then he told me he loved me and he proposed!” Lois’s eyes flashed, after all these years Clark’s audacity still rankled.
Jim chuckled knowingly. “I take it you said no?”
“It was more like hell no!” Lois chuckled as well. “However once I calmed down Clark begged me not to terminate his baby. He told me that he’d never find another woman he’d love as much as me and that this was his only chance to be a father. You know Clark, he’s big on family so I believed him. After a lot of wrangling, he convinced me to carry the child to term then he’d bring it up.”
“So that’s why Clark was so worried and nervous that week.”
“Yeah. I made him wait for a decision but he didn’t pressure me, which I appreciated. Once I agreed I told Clark that I had one condition. He had to take the baby and leave Metropolis forever and never tell the baby who its mother was.”
“Oh, Lois! I’m so sorry,” Jim said, sympathetically.
“Thanks, Jim. Clark agreed of course. That’s why he resigned and went to Smallville.”
“But why, Lois?”
“You know Clark. He’d have brought that baby to work and everyone would have fawned over it and, I’m certain, people would put two and two together and speculate that Clark’s baby and the baby I gave up for adoption were one and the same. I also knew that Clark would keep pressuring me to marry him and I… I couldn’t have that.
“At the time I found out I was pregnant I was still only four months into my trial period so there was no way I was going to allow Clark to interfere in my life as I knew he would.”
“But why didn’t you want her to know who her mother was?”
“You’ve met my parents, Jim. At the time I felt, and still feel to a certain extent, that I’d be a horrible mother and I wouldn’t inflict that upon my child. I knew, even as a single father, Clark would be a better parent than I could ever be. You met Clark’s parents during that Trask fiasco so you know that between Martha, Jonathan and Clark that baby would be so loved she wouldn’t miss me not being there for her.”
“I can see your point though I don’t agree. I take it that Lara didn’t see it the same way you did?” Jim’s grin said it all.
“No. She didn’t. She let me have it that day. She told me, in no uncertain terms, that she didn’t need a mother who would give her up for a career—”
Jim chuckled. “That must have gone over well!”
“About as you’d expect. She never raised her voice. She said her piece and she left before I could even respond.”
Jim asked the question that had been on mind for a while. “So what’s changed? Why are you telling me now?”
Lois replied softly, her eyes locked with his. “I met her at Lucy’s.”
“You… met her… at Lucy’s?”
“Let me explain. After she found out who I was she went on her travels, as you know. When she got back, she investigated me and found Lucy. Lara contacted her and they hit it off. Lucy never agreed with my decision not to tell her who her mother was so when Lucy invited her and her family to Thanksgiving Dinner, she loved the idea. I found out later that Clark had asked Lara if she would still go if I was going to be there.”
“I take it she forgave you?”
“Yes, she did,” Lois said as tears ran down her cheeks. “She’s a much better person than me, Jim. We talked a lot. I apologized and she seemed to understand. The best part is she forgave me and we’ve decided to be friends.”
“That’s great, Lois. I’m so happy for you!” Jim exclaimed. “And thanks for confiding in me.”
“As I said before, I should have told you the truth a long time ago. You’re a great friend and you deserved to know the truth.” Lois took a sip of her long-forgotten coffee and grimaced. She poured the coffee into the potted plant on her desk then she stood up.
“Thanks for listening, Jim, I appreciate it. By the way, how is that story on the corruption allegation against the governor’s aid coming?”
Jim stood up as well. “I’ll have it on your desk before lunch.”
**********
Continued in Chapter Nineteen
