This Child Belongs to You
By Jenni Debbage
I’ve read a number of stories that explain the origins of the baby from ‘Family Hour’, yet I never had the inclination to write my own... until now. I can’t explain why the need to account for the child came into my head, I only know that it did.
I wanted to stick with the correct time-scale for this story and since in 'Toy Story', Martha and Jonathan celebrate their 35th Wedding Anniversary, and Lois mentions that she and Clark are just 34 years and 6 months behind them, I assumed that Lois and Clark had been married for 6 months. Again, using dialogue from the show, 'Family Hour' takes place a week later and my story follows directly.
Also, some readers might not agree with my assumption of the age of the baby left abandoned in Lois and Clark's dining room, but I hope they will be prepared to accept my choice.
This is not a prequel to my ‘Family Kent’ series and it will be a stand-alone story. I’m also hoping that it will be a fairly short story... but who knows! <g>
I'd like to thank my beta-readers for all their help with this story and SQD for giving me advice about the private adoption process.
The rights to these characters does not belong to me and I’ve only borrowed them for a time to give myself the pleasure of writing ‘Lois & Clark’ again and in the hope that some readers might derive some enjoyment from my work.
Chapter One
Surprises
Lois patted the baby’s back one more time as she paced back and forth across her living room.
“I know, I know, little one. You must be hungry and we’re getting you food as soon as we can.” Nervously, she looked at the baby, holding it awkwardly, praying she could comfort him. Him? Maybe, no her! Anxiously, she peered at the fragile bundle, its screwed-up eyes and tiny, so tiny... clenched fists.
The baby poised mid-scream and regarded the strange person with eyes full of hurt while its tiny bottom lip trembled in fright and confusion.
“You must be scared, I know, I know, but I promise, everything will be fine!” Lois added soothingly, at least she hoped her voice was soothing, maternal.... Babies were so helpless and they needed people who knew how to look after them, and she wasn't sure she qualified. “You know, Clark, I think whoever left him... or her in our dining room might have been obliging enough to leave some formula as well as that letter you’re holding!” Her circuitous wandering about the living room of the Hyperion Avenue townhouse had brought her to a halt by the couch where her husband sat, studying the note intently -- probably using his vision gizmo, she decided. “And that’s another thing, we’ve never checked if it’s a him or a her! Unless you've already... you know....”
“No! No, I haven't! But there's no time like the present, honey.” Placing the note on the coffee table in front of him, Clark stood up, then walked a couple of steps to take the infant from his wife. “And that might be another reason he’s crying. His diaper might be wet!”
"How do you know that, Clark! That never even crossed my mind!" She stared at him for a second, wondering if that sort of knowledge came with being a farm boy from Kansas. Maybe he was right. He knew stuff like this... was grounded, she reassured herself. Ok then... breathe deeply! She could do this. "Or her diaper. Or it could be dirty." She hoped she sounded authoritative, like she knew how to handle babies and diapers so she sniffed the air as she passed the bundle to Clark. Yeah, Clark was right. "That's another thing we need to buy!"
Clark cradled the child comfortably against his chest. “Mom and your mom will know what to bring back, honey.” The elder Lanes and the Kents had set off earlier to the nearest all-night Wal-Mart to buy supplies, just as soon as Clark and Lois had shown them the baby. “We just have to wait patiently.”
“Clark, babies don’t do patiently! How'll we manage meanwhile?” She craned over Clark’s shoulder watching closely as he placed the baby on the couch, lifting the gown to remove the diaper. “Oh! It is a boy!”
“Yup! And he does have a dirty diaper.” Clark stated the obvious, trying not to turn his sensitive nose away from the unpleasant smell, and smiling apologetically at the tiny boy for the instinctive reaction. “Honey, do you have any of those ‘wipes’ you use? I can clean him up a bit, at least.”
“Yeah, hang on!” Lois ran up the stairs and into their bathroom, hunting around in the cabinets till she found what she was looking for, then raced back down stairs. “There! Lucky I have sensitive skin and use baby wipes. They’re the mildest, you know.”
Clark grinned at his hyper-active wife as he gently cleaned the baby’s tender skin.
Lois was trying very hard to keep her nerves in check and just about succeeding. But she had to admit that finding a baby in their house without any explanation other than a very brief note, a blanket and a Superman shield was pretty disconcerting. Not unwelcome, of course, since Dr Klein had just told them they couldn't have their own children, and that horrible woman had said they were unfit... well, not Clark, but she was unfit to adopt a child.
Now that the offending material had been removed, the little boy quietened and stared up at the large concerned faces above him.
“He’s watching us,” Lois whispered in awe. She stretched out her hand, caressing the infant's soft skin, willing him to know he had nothing to fear and that he was safe.
“Yes, honey. Smile at him.” Clark wrapped the dirty diaper in the plastic trash liner Lois had also supplied.
“I am!” she said, smiling through unexpected tears. He was hers, this baby from god knew where, just maybe he was hers.
Clark reached out a finger towards the baby’s tiny waving fist, his own eyes growing damp as the baby caught hold. “He has quite a grip.”
“Oh, Clark, he’s such a little sweetheart. Who would abandon a baby like this? You have to admit that it's not a natural thing to do... to just walk into someone's house and leave a baby behind."
“Who knows!” As Superman, he'd seen people do some extremely strange things, but, normally, babies were left at the entrance to the hospitals, or on the steps of an orphanage; some, sadly, were even deserted in parks, or in trash bins, or somewhere equally unacceptable. In his case, he'd been sent off in a spaceship... for his own good, they'd discovered much later. But Lois was right... a baby left in his bassinet in their dining room seemed even more bizarre. He shook his head in puzzlement. “The note wasn’t signed and I didn’t recognize the writing.”
The single leaf of notepad lying on the table could be the only link to their mysterious visitor and Lois stared at it, illogically willing the innocuous object to reveal its secrets. “Are there any fingerprints on the paper?”
“They’re kinda smudged, and not any that I know. But then I don’t go about checking people’s fingerprints.” Clark was softly tickling the baby's toes as he spoke and the baby reacted with something that sounded vaguely like a chuckle.
“Oh, Clark, listen! That was so sweet. Do you think we can really keep him?” Lois asked tentatively, finally giving in to her fledgling longing. Though she might lack confidence in her mothering skills, she couldn't deny the strong feeling of connection she'd been experiencing since picking up the wriggling baby from Clark's old, refurbished crib that his parents had arranged to have sent from Smallville. "That note does say 'Lois and Clark, this child belongs to you.'"
Clark's gaze swung quickly to his wife and his heart ached for her. He understood her yearning. God, he even shared it, but they couldn't give into it... not yet. The note could be wrong, and he had to keep a clear head... for both their sakes. “I really couldn’t say, sweetheart," he replied evenly. "We should try to find who his parents are, and I’m sure we have to tell the Child Welfare Department. People are going to start wondering where we got a baby from out of the blue. Mom and Dad might be able to give us some advice.”
Lois moved to sit on the couch beside the baby, letting her hand smooth the silky hair while her eyes stayed riveted on his tiny features. “Yes, they should know! I mean it’s not like they could announce to the world how they found you, but they did adopt you legally, didn’t they?” She kept her voice low, even though her thoughts were in a turmoil. Babies had some kind of radar that picked up emotions from the adults around them -- she'd read that somewhere.
“In the end, yeah. But they had help from old Doctor Warner and his sister who worked in the local children's home. Mom and Dad didn’t mention the space ship, but they did say they found me abandoned in one of their fields. Between the four of them they managed to come up with the correct paperwork and the adoption was legalized. Only that was Smallville in the sixties; everyone was so pleased that Mom and Dad had a baby, finally, that no one really asked too many questions. This is Metropolis in the nineties and ‘child care’ laws have been tightened up.”
“But babies still get abandoned, Clark, and they find adoptive parents. We can apply to adopt him.”
“That might not be so easy, honey. I think you need parental consent for a private adoption, and I certainly wouldn’t want to risk County Adoptions and Ms Bailey again.”
“That... shrew! If the decision was left up to her, we'd never get to keep him. She hated me... and she fancied you. We should have gotten her charged with discrimination.” As she was reminded again of that weird woman, Lois’ voice started to rise and she felt the baby tremble in response. That radar thingy must be true! “Oh, I’m sorry, baby,” she cooed, scooping him up into her arms and rocking him back and forth. “Did Mommy frighten you?”
After a few moments, the baby once again relaxed against Lois’ breast, and Clark felt a silly grin form on his face at the picture he'd so often dreamed about. He hated to destroy his wife’s enthusiasm, but they had to be realistic. “Honey, I think it’s maybe a bit premature to be calling yourself Mommy.”
“The note said the baby was ours!” Lois reiterated, glaring belligerently at Clark.
“A note from an anonymous source, even if it was addressed to us.” As the light died behind Lois’ eyes, Clark felt guilty, and he sought to make amends. “But the baby was left inside our house. Whoever left him here must have been very determined that we should have him to break in....”
“That’s it! They broke in here. Did you check the locks?” Now that the shock was wearing off, Lois’ investigative skills were surfacing.
“I’m a lunkhead! The front door was intact, because your parents and mine left that way and they had to unlock the door. So the person must have come in the back way.”
Clark strode through the dining room to study the patio door with Lois hurrying behind, carrying the baby. “Nope, that one’s ok.” Together they went into the kitchen to check the only remaining outside door, but that too was secure. Clark lowered his glasses and did a complete check of the ground floor. “How the heck did they get in? None of the windows have been tampered with and I doubt they got in upstairs. I would have heard them, but until the baby cried there were no unusual sounds.”
“Clark, a baby can’t just materialize in our dining room... or can he?”
“You’re thinking H G Wells and his time machine?” At Lois’ nod, Clark continued. “It would certainly explain the presence of my shield. But as I recall, that contraption was pretty noisy on entry.”
“But that other thing he had... the mini thing that hung round his neck, that didn’t make a sound. Maybe he used that.”
Clark shrugged, feeling a little out of his depth. “I guess it’s possible.... I know he’s a bit eccentric, but don’t you think he’d stay around to explain. A two-line note is pretty cryptic even for him. And why would he bring us a baby anyway?”
“Not just any baby, Clark, *our* baby! Is it our baby from the future?”
“I have no idea, but I know how we can check.” Suddenly inspired, Clark pointed towards the living room.
“The book... he autographed your edition of ‘The Time Machine’. It’s bound to have his fingerprints on it.”
The two almost ran back into the living room, directly across to the bookshelves where Clark quickly found the object in question.
“Careful, Clark, you don’t want to mess up any prints.” Lois waited with bated breath while her husband took the book over to the table where he’d left the short note. She watched him stare at the two intently. “Well, do we have a match?”
“Sorry, honey, but no....”
“No, they’re too smudged to tell or no, they’re not from the same person?”
“They don’t belong to H G, that’s for sure. And the writing is totally different. Take a look for yourself.”
She believed her husband, but she couldn’t help but check. The message on the book read ‘To Clark from a travelling companion’, and underneath Wells had signed with a flourish. It didn’t in any way resemble the neat concise script of the letter.
“So much for that idea then.”
Any other notion the couple might pursue was at that moment interrupted by the return of their parents. Lois and Clark watched in amazement as the four struggled through the door laden down with boxes of varying sizes.
“Did you buy out the store?” Clark asked.
“Of course not, son, but a baby does need a lot of provisions and you’re starting from scratch,” Jonathan informed his boy as he edged in lugging a baby carry-seat, while Sam followed, balancing boxes of diapers.
“Listen to your father, dear. This little one will get through all this stuff, though we might have gotten a little carried away.” Martha laughed as she came over and placed her packages on the coffee table. “But I expect the most important thing right now will be the formula. That baby’s sure to be hungry.”
“Yes, and as we didn’t know which one would suit him best, we decided to get a few brands,” Ellen added, knowingly. “Best to be prepared because we don’t want to upset his little tummy.”
At that, both women crowded round Lois and made cooing baby noises at the latest addition to the family.
“How did you know he was a he?” Lois asked, astonished at her mother’s doting expression.
“Well, we didn’t, but Martha said he looked just like Clark when she and Jonathan found him in that field, so we guessed a boy. Such a sad story.... Lois had told me you were adopted, but abandoned in a field....”
“Yes, mother, but that’s not important now,” Lois interrupted, not wanting to have to clarify that story. “Maybe we should go make up a bottle for the baby before he starts crying the house down again.”
“Gotta good pair of lungs, has he?” Sam joined in the conversation as the whole group made for the kitchen, Clark and Martha picking up cartons of baby milk as they went.
“You think he looks like Clark did, Martha?” Lois couldn’t help but pick up on that hopeful titbit.
“I’d say so. Clark was a little older and he had more hair, but there is something about this little one. Don’t you think so, Jonathan?”
Jonathan couldn’t fail to notice the meaningful looks he was getting from his son. Clark was trying to be cautious, and he could understand his son’s thinking. It wouldn’t do for the women to get too attached if it were still possible that the real parents would turn up to claim their child.
“I’m not sure, Martha. Babies tend to look like babies to me, and it was a long time ago.”
Obviously, Martha had been looking for some confirmation from her husband, because she threw him an exasperated look when he didn't back her up... and Jonathan hadn’t told the whole truth either. Whenever he’d seen the baby, he’d been reminded of the child they’d lifted from the spaceship. There was something familiar about the boy... and not just the blue blanket and the S shield. The baby, however, put paid to the conversation by deciding he’d waited long enough to be fed and let his needs be known by screaming his little head off.
So, for the next hour or so, Lois and Clark had no time to spend wondering where the baby had come from as they concentrated on feeding, burping and bathing the little boy. Lois was pleasantly surprised to be instructed only a couple of times on the correct procedure by her mother. She had to admit, though, that she was feeling out of her depth and was grateful for Ellen’s and Martha’s help.
Finally, the bassinet was transported upstairs to the main bedroom where the new mother and father could keep watch on their charge. Lois laid the baby inside his little bed, and he snuggled down happily beneath his new blankets, the blue one with the shield having been spirited away almost at once; it wouldn’t do for Sam and Ellen to be reminded of what they had so recently forgotten.
It had been an eventful and surprising evening and everyone agreed they were ready for bed, particularly since it was fairly certain that their sleep would be interrupted by a hungry baby demanding to be fed. Any further investigations would have to wait until next morning.
*****
tbc
