Author's Note: Hi, everyone! It's been...awhile. Like...almost two decades. I recently started re-watching the show, introducing it to my 8-year-old daughter, and it made me wonder what might have happened after the show ended. When I was writing before, I was in my early-mid 20s, just a little bit younger than the characters. And I wondered where they might be at my age now, in their early 40s. I've written a lot of stories, but almost all of them set in S2. I never dreamed of writing a story set 11 years after Season 4. But this opening chapter kept nagging at my imagination, and I finally went and wrote it down. I sent it immediately to KathyB, because old habits die hard. And she insisted I needed to write more and not leave it here. I was having so much fun writing and analyzing it with her, that I agreed. And I accidentally wrote a whole novel-length story. I honestly didn't even know that this board still existed, so you can thank (or blame) Kathy for reminding me to post here as well.
This story follows all canon from the show (to the best of my recollection) and assumes the baby from The Family Hour was Kryptonian royalty brought to them for temporary protection, not a child they would raise as their own.
It is complete in 25 parts (roughly 112,000 words), and I'll be posting a new chapter every Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I had so much fun writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. A million thanks to Kathy, without whom this certainly would not exist. She's so much more than a beta reader. No one else wakes up in the middle of the night and writes down questions and ideas for my stories or spends hours and hours brainstorming and imagining scenes with me for my characters that never even make it to the page just to better understand who they are and their motivation/reactions in the scenes I do write.
And now, for the story...
Come to Me
By AnnieM
Come to me my sweetest friend
Can you feel my heart again
I'll take you back where you belong
And this will be our favorite song
Come to me with secrets bare
I'll love you more so don't be scared
And when we're old and near the end
We'll go home and start again
“Come to Me”
Goo Goo Dolls
Friday September 19, 2008
Lois Lane exited through the heavy doors of Metropolis City Hall and squinted into the sun. The late September afternoon was warm and breezy, a nice reprieve after an oppressively hot summer in the sweltering city. She trotted down the marble stairs, oblivious to the crowd milling around her, already mentally cataloguing the information she’d just weaseled out of a source in the mayor's office.
The persistent wails of an approaching fire truck shook her from her reverie, and she realized the attention of the crowd around her was focused a block to the north where a mixed use development had sprung up three years ago.
The bottom floor of the buildings featured business space, cafes, and coffee shops, while the upper floors boasted overpriced lofts and condos that were under contract the second they hit the market. As the housing bubble burst over the past year, foreclosed signs had started popping up in quick succession.
Black smoke curled from the windows of a third story unit and onlookers gathered below shouting for help. Lois picked up her pace, reaching in her bag for a miniature tape recorder out of sheer habit and muscle memory.
Years of investigative reporting had segued into a successful career as a book author: she and Clark had co-authored two best sellers over the last decade, the first about Intergang and the second a deep dive into a widespread college sports cheating scandal. She was still on staff at The Daily Planet, but as a special contributor it had been years since she’d covered things like local house fires as a beat reporter.
She shook her head with chagrin when instead of a tape recorder, her hand closed around her iphone.
As she crossed the street, a familiar blur shattered the glass of the window. Seconds later, Superman emerged holding a young woman and an infant. He set them gently on the ground in front of the paramedics while the fire fighters unleashed their hoses on the building.
Lois hung back watching as the crowd clapped and snapped photos with their phones, jostling for his attention. Superman made sure the woman and child were in good hands before speaking briefly with a few fans. Just as he was about to take flight, Lois shouted, “Superman! A quote for The Daily Planet?”
His eyes met hers and he dipped his head and offered her a small smile and a raised eyebrow. A final few handshakes, and then he strode purposefully away from the crowd to where she stood on the corner. She tilted her head toward the phone.
“Smoke detectors are the single most important tool we have to prevent death or serious injury by fire,” Superman began in an authoritative voice. “Make sure they are installed properly and check your batteries regularly. If that unit had functioning smoke detectors, my services wouldn’t have been necessary, and a young mother and her child would have been saved from the trauma of being trapped in a burning building. Dramatic rescues aren’t nearly as exciting if you are the one waiting to be saved.”
Lois tapped her thumb on the end recording button. Before she could say anything else, he dropped his voice to a volume only she could hear and whispered. “I have to get back to work. See you at six?”
She nodded, and he was gone in the blink of an eye.
Lois hailed a cab and headed to The Daily Planet, where she uploaded the audio file of Superman’s quote and emailed it to the young reporter assigned to cover the fire. She typed up her notes from the meeting at the City Hall and then spent an unproductive afternoon leaving messages for sources she was sure were avoiding her calls.
At five o’clock, she grabbed her bag and her phone, and exited her private office, striding through the bullpen full of reporters scrambling to meet deadlines. She tossed a wave at Jimmy, sitting at the desk that had once been hers, talking on the phone and taking notes. He nodded in acknowledgment but never stopped scribbling.
She walked quickly through the parking deck to her white Lincoln MKX, eyes darting to her watch as she slid into her leather seat and cranked the engine. Pickup for the afterschool program her kids attended at their private school ended at 5:30, and parents were fined a dollar for every minute they were late. A couple of dollars would not break her budget, but the principle of it galled her. She despised being late.
Luckily, the traffic gods smiled on her and she arrived with ten minutes to spare, collecting both children and returning to the parking lot where her eldest climbed nonchalantly into the passenger seat.
“Keep dreaming,” Lois said before she could even close the door.
“That’s not fair!” Mattie protested. “Hannah’s mom lets her ride in the front seat. See?” Mattie gestured with her arm to the sleek red BMW where her friend was currently climbing into the passenger seat.
Lois bit back a retort about friends and jumping off bridges that apparently came pre-programmed into the brains of all women and activated once they became mothers.
“I know you’re frustrated,” she said instead. “But the backseat is safest. Besides, it’s fancy. No one rides in the front seat when they have a chauffeur.”
Mattie rolled her eyes, but climbed out, opened the back door and swung her backpack in before climbing in and buckling her seat belt. On the other side of the SUV, JP climbed into his booster seat and buckled without complaint.
Lois glanced at them in the rearview mirror for just a moment before checking behind her and backing out of her parking spot. Night and day, her children.
At ten, Mattie was brilliant, extroverted, and never met a boundary she didn’t want to push. This was her last year of elementary school, and Lois was already dreading what middle school would bring.
JP was just as whip-smart as his older sister, but their personalities couldn’t have been more different. He was an easy going kindergartener who was universally adored by classmates and teachers but preferred the quiet company of his family and close friends. It took him a while to warm up to strangers and new situations, while Mattie burst in headlong without a moment’s hesitation and seemed to be the center of attention in every room she entered.
Thankfully, Mattie’s mood wasn’t permanently soured by the car seat dispute. She spent the ten minute drive, winding through the residential streets north of downtown Metropolis, chattering about a new movie that was streaming on Netflix that she just had to watch that weekend and the fact that all of her teammates had agreed to wear their hair in two french braids for the soccer tournament the next day.
Lois’ eyes flicked to JP to make sure he wasn’t quietly upset. Kindergarten had been a hard transition for him, leaving behind the small Montessori preschool he’d attended since he was a toddler. But to her relief, he looked perfectly happy to listen to his sister’s steady stream of musings.
Lois turned the car into their neighborhood and houses began to space out and grow in size. Mature trees grew thick between them, offering shade and privacy. The leaves were just starting to turn, she noted. Before long, it would be time to switch out their seasonal wardrobes, a chore she utterly despised.
Theirs was the last house on a small road that ended in a culdesac it shared with just two other homes. The winding driveway led to a two car garage attached to a two story dusky blue craftsman.
The second the car was in park, Mattie was out the door shouting about calling Hannah. Lois opened the door for JP and took his backpack and lunch box. They walked through the mudroom and into the kitchen together.
Lois tossed his backpack on the mudroom bench and the lunchbox on the counter where she wouldn’t forget to empty it and leave it to fester until Monday morning. Not that she ever did that. Never.
“How was your day, buddy?” she asked.
“Good!” he answered, smiling. “We had PE today, and my team won the soccer game! And at lunch, Wyatt burped the ABCs!”
Lois smiled and tried not to think about the large percentage of her salary that went to paying for alphabet burping lessons. “That sounds...awesome, buddy.”
“Can I watch a show?”
“Just for a few minutes.”
JP disappeared into the living room and the low din of cartoon voices immediately filtered into the kitchen. Lois walked back through the mudroom to the laundry room, where she pulled Mattie’s uniform from the dryer and folded it, setting it with her cleats for the following morning. Then she went back into the kitchen to deal with the lunchbox and debated ordering a pizza.
She was just pulling a few takeout menus from the junk drawer beside the sink when a knock at the front door made her startle. She glanced at her watch and then paused, expecting one of the kids to thunder toward the door. When they didn’t, she made her way there, high heels tapping across the hardwood floors.
She unlocked two deadbolts and a lock on the handle before swinging it wide to reveal her ex husband, red cape and tights replaced by a button down shirt, sweater vest, khakis, and horn rimmed glasses.
“Hi,” Clark said politely. “Are the kids ready?”
