Chapter Twenty
The next night after work Lara called the farmhouse.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Grandma, is Dad there?”
“Lara! Hold on he’s right here,” Martha said and handed Clark the phone.
“Hey, Pumpkin, what’s up?” Clark said, his voice reflected the pleasure of talking to his daughter gave him.
“Not much, Dad. Are you going to be home for a while?”
“Yeah, I don’t plan to do my patrol until about midnight, why?”
“I have a surprise for you and I want to make sure you’ll be home.”
“A surprise? I can hardly wait!” Clark said, curiosity evident in his voice.
“I’ll be over in a bit, see you.” Lara ended the call then spun into her suit. She grabbed the ship from the floor of her bedroom and took off for Smallville. Moments later she flew directly into the barn and closed the door behind her where she set the ship down then she spun into her casual clothes. She found a tarp in the corner of the barn and draped it over the ship then she left the barn and walked into the kitchen.
“Hi, everyone!” Lara said, making the rounds of hugs and kisses from her family. Lara sighed happily to herself thinking of how much the love of her family meant to her.
“So Lara, you have a surprise for me?” Clark said, looking at his daughter expectantly.
“Yes, I have. It’s in the barn.” Lara grasped Clark’s hand and led him to the barn with her grandparents following along. “Now no peeking!”
The four Kents entered the barn where they saw a cylindrical object covered by a tarp. Lara walked over to the object, grabbed the tarp, and with a flourish she pulled it off.
“TADA!” Lara exclaimed. She watched the faces of her family as they gazed on with wonder.
“Is that… my ship?” Clark asked hardly able to believe his eyes.
“Yes, Dad, it is. Are you surprised?” Lara said.
“How… how did you find it?” Clark asked still not believing his eyes.
“I asked Lois if she could ask her sources for any information I could use to find it and a super-secret source of hers came through. We checked out the location last night and we found it, but since it was late by the time we got back, I kept it at my place,” Lara said.
Clark, Martha, and Jonathan walked over to the ship to check it out. The three of them walked around it marveling at the sight of the ship no one ever thought they’d see again.
Clark knelt and touched the passenger compartment which opened at his touch. “It’s so small,” Clark said reverently, looking up at his parents who had tears in their eyes. Clark stood up, extended his arms to his daughter, and enveloped her in a fierce hug.
“Thank you. I never thought I’d see it again after it disappeared from that warehouse in Metropolis and now it’s here, in our barn! It’s a miracle and I owe it all to you, and Lois.” Clark hugged his daughter, placing kisses on her forehead and cheeks.
“I’m glad I could do this for you, Dad. After you told me how the ship disappeared, I made a promise to myself that I’d try to find it for you.” Lara gazed into the face of her father, absorbing the love he had for her. “So where are you going to keep it?”
“I’m going to move it to the cellar tonight then tomorrow I’m going to make a vault down there to keep it in. I’m not going to let it get away from me again!” Clark walked over, picked up the little ship and carried it reverently to the house with the rest of his family following behind. Once in the cellar Clark set the ship down in the middle of the floor then he stepped back to gaze at it.
“Clark, sweetie, it’s safe now, why don’t you come upstairs,” Martha said gently, laying a hand on her son’s shoulder to get his attention.
“I know, Mom, I know it’s not going anywhere but it’s still so hard to believe it’s here.” Clark took a deep breath then he turned to escort his mother up to the kitchen.
“How about dessert? I’ve got a blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream just begging to be eaten,” Martha said on her way to the refrigerator. Lara got plates, silverware, and glasses while Clark took the pie, milk, and ice cream from his mother.
“Lara, where did you find the ship?” Clark asked in between bites of pie.
“Lois’s source found a warehouse in Gotham City that the Air Force rented which, according to him, hadn’t been used in years.”
“Gotham City! I’d never have thought to look there,” Clark said shaking his head.
“Even if you had thought to look there you wouldn’t have seen anything the building was lined with lead. When I told Lois that we knew we had to check it out.” Lara said.
“That sounds dangerous, Pumpkin. You should have called me,” Clark said.
“We weren’t sure it was even there, Dad,” Lara explained. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up. We were very careful. I made sure to look for any security measures outside but the only thing we found was a keypad. I tried combinations at superspeed until it opened. I made Lois stand behind me while I disabled the cameras inside but it appeared that they weren’t working anyway. I couldn’t find any sensors in the floor but just in case I floated above it. We found the ship on the last group of shelves so I grabbed it and we hightailed it out of there. We were in that warehouse maybe five minutes.”
“I’m glad you were careful, Pumpkin. In the old days, Lois would have barged in without worrying about security.” Clark chuckled.
“She must have mellowed over the years, Dad. When I told her to stay behind me while I checked things out, she did it without question,” Lara replied.
“Maybe she has. I’m just glad things went well and I’m very glad you found the ship.” Clark smiled appreciatively.
Lara pushed back from the table and stood up. “The pie was delicious, Grandma, as always, but I should be heading back. I’ve got some research to do for a story I’m working on.” Clark stood up and walked Lara out.
“Thanks again, Pumpkin,” Clark said sincerely. “That was the best surprise I’ve had in years.”
“You’re welcome, Dad. It was my pleasure.” Lara spun into her suit and was about to take off when Clark stopped her.
“Say, would you like some company?”
“Sure, but I do know the way,” Lara said cheekily.
“I know but I’m going that way myself,” Clark said, nonchalantly.
“Would you be going to Metropolis by any chance?”
“I might be,” Clark said with a grin.
“Well come on then, we don’t want to keep Lois waiting.”
Lara waited while her father spun into his suit and the two superheroes took off, headed east. When they reached Chicago Clark waved to his daughter then he continued to Metropolis. When he got there Clark scanned Lois’s building, landed softly on the balcony and knocked on the door.
Lois rose from the couch and hurried over to open the door. “Wow, visits from two superheroes in two days, what have I done to deserve this kind of attention?” Lois said with a knowing smile as Superman entered her living room. Spinning out of his suit Clark walked over to Lois, grasped her hands in his and he gazed into her eyes.
“Thank you, Lois. Lara told me how helpful you were in finding my ship. I still can’t believe you were able to find it,” Clark said sincerely.
“You’re very welcome, Clark. Like I told Lara, it was my pleasure to play a small part in retrieving your ship for you.” Lois smiled a watery smile then she led Clark to the couch. “Sit down and we can talk. Oh, would you like something to drink?”
“You have any coffee made? If not, soda is good too.” Lois walked to her kitchen and returned moments later with two cans of A&W cream soda.
“Thanks,” Clark said, accepting the can and taking a sip. “Ummm, I haven’t had this in a long time. Nobody at home drinks it.”
“Maybe someone will now, I gave some to Lara and she liked it,” Lois replied as she joined Clark on her couch.
“Lara mentioned your super-secret source came through? Don’t tell me Sore Throat is still around, I thought he’d be retired by now.”
“Oh, he is. When Perry retired Sore Throat retired soon after but before he did, he introduced me to his “replacement” so to speak. I call him Sore Throat Two,” Lois said with a laugh.
“Next time you seem him, please tell him thanks from me,” Clark said.
“I will. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it. I doubt he gets much appreciation in his line of work.”
“Lara told me she had to break in. Lois that’s dangerous!” Clark exclaimed worry evident in his expression.
“Clark, obviously it wasn’t. We’re fine. Lara was very careful, she didn’t rush in like a 500-pound gorilla,” Lois said with a knowing grin.
“Guilty as charged,” Clark said suitably chastised.
“You’ve trained her well, Clark. I was quite proud of how she handled herself.”
“Thanks again. I didn’t want her making the same mistakes I did. She’s very mature for her age and she’s certainly a lot more confident in herself than I was at that age,” Clark replied with a sigh.
“You didn’t have Superman to mentor you. You had to figure all that out on your own so don’t be too hard on yourself. I think you did great and the world owes you a lot, especially now that Superwoman is on the job as well.”
“I don’t know about that but thanks for saying it. I’m so proud of Lara for using her powers to help. She’s looked forward to helping me ever since she was nine.”
“Is that when you told her you were Superman?” she asked though she already knew the answer.
“Yes, that’s the first time I knew that she’d inherited at least some of my powers. Her superhearing kicked in and she heard us talking about going on vacation. We were in the kitchen and she was upstairs in her room and she hollered out that she wanted to go to Disney World.”
“That must have been a surprise!” Lois said with a chuckle.
“It sure was. Of course, I always hoped she’d inherit my powers but, as you know, we didn’t know if that was even possible. Once I told her about Superman do you know the first thing she asked me?”
“To take her flying?” Lois said, knowingly.
“Yep, she’s her mother’s daughter that’s for sure.” Clark looked at Lois and smiled a shy smile. “Of course when I told her that she probably wouldn’t be able to fly herself until she was 18, she was very disappointed. The phrase ‘That sucks’ comes to mind.”
“She didn’t!” Lois chuckled and took another sip of her soda.
“Yes, she did. To soften the blow I took her flying and you should have seen her eyes light up. That’s when she told me she wanted to join me when she got older. I told her if that’s what she wanted to do that would be great but she was under no obligation to use her powers as I did. As you know, Lara isn’t into fighting crime but she does love helping at fires, accidents, and natural disasters and she’s darn good at it.”
“That she is. I keep a scrapbook of her exploits as Superwoman you know. She’s done some great work and I know that she’s saved countless lives.” Lois paused, looking down at her hands, “I’m very proud of her.”
When it seemed that the conversation had stalled Clark decided to leave rather than cause Lois any further pain.
“Well, I should be going, it’s my night to patrol Metropolis,” Clark said after he spun into his suit. Lois nodded and escorted Clark to the door.
“Thanks again, Lois,” Clark said genuinely. “Have a good night.” Clark turned and zipped out of the door with the curtains moving slightly from the breeze. Lois gazed out at Superman as he went about his patrol, then she drew the curtains closed.
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Continued in Chapter Twenty-One
