Lois I
That odd feeling of missing something was even stronger. Kal-El’s excuse for leaving was as bad as one of Clark’s. And Superman certainly didn’t need an excuse to go handle an emergency.
He came back less than twenty minutes later, smelling of burnt rubber and gasoline. “There was a multi-car smashup on the West Channel Bridge,” he explained. “No serious injuries, luckily.”
“Good job. Thanks,” Clark Kent said with a grin as he walked into the conference room. He had a small dark haired boy on one hip. The boy had large, brown, almond-shaped eyes that watched her solemnly. “Oh, this is Jordan. Jordan, say hello to Wanda and Charlie.”
Jordan hid his face in his father’s chest.
“He’s a little shy,” his father explained with an embarrassed smile. He looked over at Kal-El. “Who handles the Superman exclusives where you come from?”
“Lois, or Clark. Our Clark,” Kal-El said.
Clark checked his watch. “Well, you have forty-five minutes to give me something. We’ve got a great shot of the visiting Superman for the front page.”
“And Superman sells papers,” Wanda said. It was something she’d heard often enough over the past week from Perry White.
“Almost as good as tragedy and sex,” Clark said.
“Almost?” Wanda asked.
Clark shrugged. “Well, Superman’s been in Metropolis nearly fourteen years. He’s not exactly old news, but it has to be a pretty big problem to make the front page anymore. Now, a different Superman visiting, that’s news.”
Kal-El had already started typing on the computer keyboard, fingers moving faster than any normal human’s. Wanda noticed that Clark didn’t seem surprised at Kal-El’s typing speed.
Clark turned and headed back into the newsroom. Wanda watched as he approached two of his reporters. Richard White and his partner had come in and were settling in at their desks.
“Richard?” Wanda murmured. He looked so much like her fiancé it was unbelievable. But she saw that he only had eyes for his partner, Penny.
“He’s not the Richard you know,” Kal-El said softly, not looking up from the computer screen.
“I know,” Wanda said. She watched the Daily Planet’s E-in-C as he spoke quietly with his two stars. Whatever he was saying had surprised and pleased Richard and Penny. Wanda couldn’t remember the last time her Richard had looked so happy. Before Superman came back into her world. Maybe even before that.
Clark disappeared into his office and Wanda went over to where Kal-El was writing. She peered over his shoulder at the screen, forearm resting on his shoulder, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “You don’t say anything about how we got here. For that matter, you left me out altogether.”
Kal-El shrugged and patted her hand. “There are some things better left a mystery. This needs to about Superman arriving on the scene in this Metropolis. I think Mister Kent will be relatively pleased with it. I’m pretty sure Mister White would be.”
“Good quotes. You do good work. Most people can’t write about themselves, especially in third person.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Again, the crooked smile that was so annoyingly familiar as he sent the document over to Clark. Kal-El tipped his head to one side, listening, watching something she couldn’t see. “He’s finished writing the sidebar, welcoming the new Superman to Metropolis.”
A few moments later, Clark walked back into the conference room, Jordan once again on his hip. “Good piece,” he said to Kal-El. “I have to get the other kids from school, and since you’re obviously staying at my house tonight, at least, we’d better get going.”
“What about putting the paper to bed?” Wanda asked. Perry would never leave before the next edition was locked down and ready to go to press.
“Unless somebody blows up the Lexcorp Tower in the next couple hours, we’re ready roll,” Clark said. “Besides, my assistants all have my cell number. And I do usually answer it.” He beckoned them to follow him out.
He lead the way to the elevators, down to the lobby and out to the parking garage, to a champagne-colored Windstar van. He chirped the doors unlocked and belted Jordan into the car-seat in the middle row of seats. Wanda noted a booster seat in the back row and wondered how many children the Kents of this world had.
“Who’s sitting up front?” he asked.
“I’ll sit back here,” Kal-El volunteered, allowing Wanda the front passenger seat. She gave him a grateful smile. She didn’t like being a passenger and being in the back seat only made it worse.
As it turned out, Clark was a reasonably good driver, if a little cautious for her taste. But then, she realized, she had gotten more cautious after Jason was born. She was startled when she recognized the route he was taking to pick up the ‘other kids’. The same route either she or Richard took nearly every weekday to pick Jason up from school.
“Something wrong?” Clark asked. Wanda hadn’t realized she’d actually jumped.
“No,” she said. “I just recognize the neighborhood. My son goes to school here.”
He raised a dark eyebrow at her. “How old is he?”
“Five years, four months,” Wanda said.
“Same age as Lara,” he commented. “How long have you been married?”
“I’m not,” she said. He gave her a look she couldn’t decipher. Surprise, puzzlement, consternation? She glanced back at Kal-El. His expression had gone bleak and more than a little guilty. “My son’s father disappeared without a word or a trace six years ago. I moved on. I had to,” she explained. “My fiancé is a very good man. He’s stood by me, helping raise my son when his father was nowhere to be found.”
“I see,” Clark said, very quietly. She was sure he didn’t understand. How could he understand something when she didn’t understand it herself.
Clark pulled the van into a parking space in front of the school. Two children, a boy about eight or so, and a younger girl came running across the driveway to the van. The girl had the same dark hair and eyes as her father. The boy’s coloring was a little lighter, with hazel eyes. Kal-El got out and let them climb into the van before settling back into his seat beside Jordan.
“CJ, Lara, this is Wanda and Charlie,” Clark introduced them. “They’ll be staying with us a few days,” he added. The older boy gave Wanda an appraising look, as if trying to decide who and what she really was.
“Has the baby come, yet?” Lara asked. The girl reminded Wanda of Jason. Same fine features, knowing gaze. She was going to be a knock-out when she was older.
“Yup,” Clark answered, starting the van and pulling into the street. “A little before two. You have a baby sister.”
“When can we see her?” Lara demanded.
“Well, I was planning on dropping you guys off at home with Grandma, then going to pick Mommy and baby Martha up and bring them home, too. I want all three of you monsters on your best behavior. Mommy’s going to be really tired and it’s going to be a long day,” Clark told them. “CJ, you remember Lady Zara and Ching, don’t you?”
The boy nodded. “Mommy doesn’t like them much,” he said.
“I know, but they’re on their way and Richard and Penny are coming to talk to them.”
The van headed north over the City Bridge to the Lafayette neighborhood, one of the suburbs that had undergone a rebirth in the past ten years, becoming a magnet for middle and upper managers who wanted to live close, but not too close, to the city.
Clark turned the van down an impossibly familiar street, pulling into the driveway at three-twelve Riverside Drive. Wanda recognized the two-story house surrounded by a white picket fence. It was the house she had awoken in that morning, before that impossible storm and the even more impossible situation she found herself. Herself and Superman.
The one of the garage doors opened by remote control and Clark parked the van beside an older model Jeep Cherokee.
Kal-El let himself and the three kids out of the van and the youngsters ran into the house yelling “Grandma! Mommy had the baby!”
Wanda followed them into the house, Kal-El close on her heels. The layout was the same, the furniture different, naturally. Educational toys, children’s books, and stuffed toys were strewn across the family room. These were well-loved kids.
An older, gray haired woman came into the family room from the kitchen and gave the kids hugs. She gave Wanda and Kal-El a curious look over the heads of the children.
“I’m Wanda Detroit and this is Charlie King,” Wanda introduced herself. The older woman gave her a disbelieving look and began to laugh. “Clark, what gives?” she asked as she caught sight of Clark.
“Martha Kent, Mom, I’d like to introduce you to Lois Lane and Kal-El. They’re visiting from another dimension,” Clark explained.
Wanda felt her jaw drop. How did he know? Had Superman told him? Why hadn’t he said anything earlier? Her astonishment started to turn to anger. He’d been laughing at her, at them! But, wait - he knew they were from another dimension? And Martha seemed to take that announcement in stride like they'd just come in from out of town.
“Lois, honey,” Martha said with a grin. “Anyone who knows Clark’s wife knows she uses Wanda Detroit as a pen name, among other things. I’ve seen her sing at the Stardust, too.”
“Mom, I have to get Lois and the baby, plus, Zara and Ching are on their way,” Clark explained.
“Zara and Ching?” Martha repeated. Wanda could tell the older woman was not happy. “Clark Jerome Kent, you’re not planning on letting those two take one of these babies, are you?” There was a definite threat in her voice.
“Hardly,” Clark assured her. “It’d be worth my life to even suggest it. It’s Richard and Penny they’ll be talking to. But I admit, there’s something a little odd going on, too. I wasn’t expecting them to show up so soon.”
He grabbed a newborn’s car-seat and started to head back to the van. “I’ll be back in a little bit with Lois and the baby.” He turned to ‘Wanda’ and Kal-El. “Please try to stay out of trouble.”
As soon as Clark left, Martha took charge of her grandchildren, ushering them into the kitchen for snacks. She beckoned for Wanda and Kal-El to join them.
“Would you like some coffee or tea?” Martha asked.
Wanda nodded. “Coffee would be nice.”
“Mrs. Kent, who are Lady Zara and Ching?” Kal-El asked. “And what are you afraid they want?”
Wanda watched conflicting emotions cross the woman’s face, worry, relief.
“Zara is the acting First Lord of New Krypton, acting head of the ruling house, which happens to be the house of El. Ching is her consort. Clark tried to explain it all to me but I still don’t understand it. It’s just too foreign,” Martha said. “Under Kryptonian law, Kal-El, our Kal-El, and Zara are in a binding contracted marriage between the House of El and the House of Ra, but are legally separated since he refuses to live on New Krypton. She has control of his lands and estates until his heir goes to New Krypton to accept the titles and responsibilities as head of the House of El.”
“And you’re afraid they’re coming to take one of the children to become his heir on this other planet?” Kal-El asked.
Martha nodded.
“How barbaric,” Wanda found herself saying.
“It’s a barbaric place,” Martha said. “He almost didn’t come back went he went there ten years ago to help stop a civil war.”
