I'm not sure what possessed me to write this. Or should that be I'm not sure what posessed me to post this? It started out as an idea for a beginning for a possible fic, but after writing this much, my muse quit on me. I guess she's not much for drama without humor. I believe this can stand somewhat as a vignet in it's own right, though. If this gives anybody any kind of inspiration for anything, please feel free to run with it.
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Prelude:
It was a typical day, for the most part. Everyone’s minds were on their work, so no one noticed when a beautiful woman entered the room and began scanning the sea of faces for her partner and fiance. At last, she spied a tall, dark-haired man in the middle of the room and called his name. He turned, his face immediately lighting up when he saw her, and frowned when he saw that she was troubled about something. She began walking toward him, and he met her halfway. When he asked her what was the matter, she looked around, then, with some difficulty, straightened and looked him in the eye.
“Jor-El, I need to speak with you---about that experiment we conducted in the lab on the outskirts of Kandor.”
A wistful expression began to cross his face, but he stopped it. “What about it?”
Lara’s eyes dropped, and her voice lowered so that it was nearly inaudible. “It seems there was an unexpected result.”
The startled expression on Jor-El’s face might have raised questions if anyone had seen it. He hastily looked around the room. Confident no one was interested in their conversation, he addressed his beloved. “We must speak in private.” Looking over his shoulder once more, he cautiously guided Lara into a small room off to the side of the main lab and shut the door. They seated themselves at a bare built-for-function table in the center of the room, and Jor-El took his future wife’s hand. “Lara? Are you---are you saying---?”
The tears that Lara had forbid herself to release earlier were now flooding her eyes and cascading down her cheeks in torrents. She nodded. “Yes. Jor-El, I’m pregnant.” She crumbled in her seat, her body shaking with her sobs.
Jor-El tightened his grip on her hand and stared at her mutely. On the one hand, this should have been joyous news, especially considering that his family had always had problems with fertility. But still----
Lara took several deep breaths and looked into her love’s eyes. “Jor-El, what am I going to do? We’re not yet married; I’ll be ostracized! This will bring great shame onto my father’s house. I will be lucky to only be disowned!”
He released her hand and gathered her into his arms and held her. What had he done? “Oh, Lara,” he whispered against her hair, “Lara, I’m so sorry. Please, forgive me. This is all my fault. We were only supposed to be working that night. I should never have---oh, Lara.”
“No,” she wiped at her eyes with one hand. “It’s my fault. I should have kept a cooler head. My logic and reason were screaming at me to stop. I should have listened.”
“You are not solely to blame, Lara. I too should have stopped. We both should have.” He brushed her tears away with his thumb. “It does not matter now, anyway. What’s done is done.”
“What are we going to do?” she whispered.
He closed his eyes for several moments. “We will go back to the lab at Kandor. I will report our work on a secret, potentially dangerous one-year experiment. In that time, we will think of something.”
And so it was.
One year later, Lara sat nursing her infant son, Kal-El, while her beloved put the finishing touches on a device that, hopefully, would allow them to return to their normal lives without fear of scandal. They had discussed it many times and were certain that this was the best, if not the only, way. If they kept their son, they would all be damned to a life at the very bottom of society. All of their prior accomplishments would mean nothing, and their son would never have the opportunity to reach his full potential, assuming of course that her father did not exercise his right to… to…
Lara blinked back fresh tears. To kill him. It was an ancient law still practiced: after a newborn was deemed healthy by a doctor, the head of the house decided whether or not the child had a right to live. Until she and Jor-El were finally given to each other in marriage, the decision was her father’s. She could not imagine what he might do in his fury, and she did not want to think about it.
Still, she could not bear the thought of giving up this wonderful child, this perfect mixture of herself and Jor-El.
A hand touched her shoulder. “Lara.”
“Look at him, Jor-El. He looks just like you.” A tear slid down her cheek as she considered the baby in her arms.
“Lara, it’s ready.”
She glanced up at the now completed rocket, then lifted her eyes to her betrothed. “I---I can’t…”
Jor-El knelt down in front of her and cupped her cheek. “My love, we must. It is best for him, and best for us. We must do this.”
She looked down at the now sleeping infant and shifted him in her arms, tightening them around him. “Where will you send him?”
“I’ve found a planet that can support human and other life forms. It is primitive, but it has a yellow sun. When Kal-El is grown, the rays of that sun will make him stronger than any ordinary man!”
Lara looked at her baby, uncertain.
“He will have great power and ability, Lara. His future will be whatever he desires it to be, unlike if he stays here.”
“What if he comes back?” Lara whispered. “What if, when he’s grown, he learns of his origin and comes to find us?”
Jor-EL thought for a moment, then walked over to a shelf and retrieved a small globe. “We can tell him the planet has been destroyed. If he knows where he is from, but believes we no longer exist, then there will be no reason for him to come here except perhaps to honor our memories. By that time, what with the planet’s crude technology, it will still be too inconvenient for him to travel here for such a trivial purpose.”
“So then we will lie to him, just like the council lied to the insane when they were all exiled, telling them that they were to found a colony.”
Jor-El raked a hand through his hair. “Lara, it is not the same. You know that.”
Lara became very quiet.
“It is for his good, Lara.”
“Are you sure the deception will work?”
“Of course.” Jor-El turned the globe over in his hand. “It will be child’s play. I can create holograms of any disaster we wish. If we choose so, I can even alter our appearances. To further diminish his chances of locating us, I could change our names---”
“No!” Lara’s head snapped up. “Do not deceive him about his name or ours. Let him at least have his identity.”
He nodded. “As you wish. I will go program the globe, then. Do you wish to assist? Or at least watch?”
Lara shook her head.
“Very well then. I will be finished in two hours.”
Lara turned her attention back to the baby. She heard Jor-El’s footsteps retreat into a small room in the back of the laboratory, leaving her and their son alone. She cradled the infant tightly against her and dropped a kiss on his head. “Oh, my son,” she whispered. “My son, my little Kal-El. I am so sorry. Please forgive us. If circumstances were different, we would gladly keep you and raise you!” Her eyes became misty. “Jor-El and I both love you.”
She was unaware of the passage of time; she could have been sitting there for two minutes or two years. All too soon, she felt Jor-El’s hand on her shoulder once more.
“Lara, it’s time. Everything is ready, and we must report back to the council tomorrow.”
She looked up into his eyes, and noticed that they were uncharacteristically filled with tears.
“It’s time.”
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The End?
