Part 2 – Normal
September 2004
“How did we get here?” Lois asked her husband as he draped an arm around her shoulder, hugging her.
“Well, she’s five, and look how excited she is,” Clark remarked, waving to Olivia as she entered the school.
Lois looked around at the various reactions of kids leaving their parents for school for the first time. Olivia had done well in pre-kindergarten last year, so this year was a breeze. They’d arrived, walked her to the separate kindergarten entrance, and the teacher had walked her inside. Olivia had turned, waved, and skipped off inside without a second thought. Surrounding them now were other kids, some crying, some gleefully running towards the school, and parents shedding a tear or two. Lois felt her eyes welling up, and bit back her own tears as she caught Clark surreptitiously wiping his eyes. She was grateful they were both able to be here for this moment, this next milestone in their daughter’s life. No super feats had been required elsewhere, and they’d both been able to take time from work, which was much easier for him to do as a freelancer than she could as an employee of the Daily Planet.
“But what if something happens?” Lois worried aloud. Since Olivia’s birth, the stress and worry of Superman’s child being discovered had transferred from Clark to Lois. She found herself fretting at every milestone, the last being the regular vaccinations required. What if the needle broke? Thankfully, everything had been normal so far, but she couldn’t help but stress at every turn of events.
Clark responded by lightly kissing his wife in her hair. “She’ll be fine, trust me.”
“How do you know that? How can you be so sure?”
Pausing before he responded, Clark remembered what his mother had told him about his own childhood. “Remember, I wasn’t showing anything extraordinary until I was older, and I’m a full blooded Kryptonian,” he said, whispering his heritage. They were leaving the school yard, and no one was around, but there was no point taking chances. “We don’t know if she’ll develop any extra abilities, or if they’ll be a fraction of what I have. I agree with Bernard; if she shows any abilities it’ll be later in her childhood, and likely not the same strength as mine.”
“Oh, Clark. Are we going to be worrying for the next fifteen years?”
Clark chuckled. “Like every other parent?”
Playfully shoving Clark, Lois laughed. “You know what I mean.”
He shrugged before answering. “There’ll be things to look for. Bernard will keep doing his tests before we take her for regular checkups and will catch anything.”
“Hmmm. I’m sure you’re right. I’m still going to stress though.”
“Lois,” Clark said as he grasped her hand and squeezed lightly. “It’ll be fine, I promise you.”
She smiled at him, his confidence infectious. “So, do you have plans right now?”
“Other than treating my wife to a delicious lunch?”
“I’ll take you up on that,” she said as she kissed him. “The car’s this way.”
As Lois walked hand in hand with her husband to the parked Jeep around the corner from the school, she tried to shake the constant fear that nagged her in the depths of her mind. She made a mental note to give Martha a call after lunch, ask again how Clark began to show his powers.
****
February 2009
“Ms. Kent?”
“This is,” responded Lois while trying to listen in to the other line. While she was stuck waiting on hold to verify a source, her cell phone rang, and she’d picked it up out of habit.
“This is Mrs. Atkinson from West Metropolis Elementary School, I’m calling about Olivia Kent. We were unable to reach Mr. Kent.”
Lois glanced up at one of the many televisions in the newsroom and spotted her husband in New Zealand helping in the aftermath of a large earthquake. “Yes, he’s overseas at the moment.” She wondered why they’d never bothered changing the order of the emergency contact for Olivia. Originally, the thought had been that with Clark not tied to an office, or office hours anymore, along with being able to respond in moments, it would make more sense to have him as the primary contact. However, he always seemed to be busy on the rare occasions the school called.
“Ms. Kent, there was an incident on the field trip today and Olivia was taken to Metropolis General.”
Lois dropped the work phone she was holding, causing Jimmy to look at her in concern. “What happened?”
“Olivia is fine, she fell and complained her arm hurt. She was taken to the hospital as a precaution.”
“Ok, Metropolis General?”
“Yes. Ms. Kent…”
Lois hung up before she heard anything else. “Jimmy! Tell the chief I had to leave.”
“Everything ok?” Jimmy asked.
“Olivia was taken to the hospital. I need to go.” Without waiting for an answer, Lois grabbed her coat and ran for the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator.
By the time she arrived at the hospital, parked, and ran into the E.R., her heart was racing. Fear of what had happened to Olivia, and the constant concern that someone would notice something different. After giving her name to the receptionist, and reminding herself to remain calm as shouting at the poor woman wouldn’t get her helped any quicker, she waited. Fiddling with her phone she wondered about sending Clark a text. He was busy and needed elsewhere, rescuing lives. If Olivia was fine, Lois didn’t want to put others in jeopardy by sending Clark a message, knowing he would be home in moments if she needed him.
“Ma’am, I’ll need you to turn off your phone please, and you can follow the nurse,” the receptionist requested.
Lois sat with Olivia for several hours waiting for the doctor, and much later, left the hospital with an exhausted nine-year-old with her left wrist in a cast. Lois was relieved and delighted to see Clark at home when she finally pulled into the driveway. She’d turned on her phone long enough to send him a message to meet her at home, and ignored all the messages from work.
As she parked, Clark hurried out to meet them, concern etched onto his face.
“How is she?”
“Sleeping. It’s been a long day.” Olivia had fallen asleep shortly after leaving the hospital and Lois was loath to wake her. “Can you carry her to bed?”
She watched as Clark gently cradled Olivia in his arms and carried her indoors. Heading to their room, she quickly showered and changed, knowing Clark would want some time to make sure Olivia was ok. When she returned to the kitchen, he had a quick dinner ready for her.
“What happened?” he asked gently.
“You know those big oak trees by the museum? Olivia tried to climb one. She succeeded, until she fell out. The teacher thinks it was a dare, but none of the other kids are saying much and Olivia isn’t talking about it.” While Lois was agitated Olivia would take on a dare that could easily get her hurt, she recognized the similarities between her daughter and herself. Had there been a large oak tree that someone dared her to climb when she was Olivia’s age, Lois knew she’d be halfway up the tree before she thought about the potential risks. “The doctor said the cast will come off in six weeks if everything looks good.”
“Is she in pain?”
“They gave her a strong painkiller at the hospital. The nurse said it would probably help her sleep tonight as well. If she needs something, we’re to try a children’s painkiller first, and if that doesn’t work, to take her to the pediatrician. The doctor said kids her age usually bounce back pretty quickly so it’s unlikely she’ll feel much worse. Just to keep her from doing too much at first, let the bone start to heal.” Feeling the urge to pace, Lois took her plate to the sink, and began to fuss with the dishwasher. She relaxed as she felt her husband’s arms encircle her.
“It’s ok, honey. Kids get hurt all the time.”
“But she isn’t a normal child, Clark! What if…”
“We can’t think like that,” Clark murmured gently, still holding her. “She fell and broke her wrist, something that could happen to anyone.”
Lois tried to let go of her worry, her constant concern that someone would realize Olivia wasn’t like every other child. Closing her eyes, she leaned back into her husband’s embrace, trying to relax.
“By her age I was already starting to be different. I hadn’t been sick in years, and I was stronger than all of the kids in my grade, and those above me. Liv had that horrible cold when school started this year, and now she’s had a broken bone, just like millions of other kids when they fall.”
She felt her fears and stress begin to ebb at Clark’s soothing voice, and his reasoning. Yawning, she turned in his arms and kissed him, grateful that one of them could keep a cool head at times. “One day at a time,” she whispered.
****
May 2011
Lois picked up the mid-term report card which had been left on the kitchen table and beamed. Olivia loved school, and soaked up everything she was taught. For Christmas, Nana and Grandpa Lane had purchased a subscription to a children’s science magazine. At first Lois had been concerned the articles would be over Olivia’s head, but had been pleasantly surprised at how eagerly Olivia devoured the magazine each month. There were always little science experiments in each issue and Lois looked out of the window to see Clark and Olivia setting up the latest one in the backyard.
Watching Olivia excel in school had concerned Lois initially. She knew Clark’s ability to absorb and retain every piece of information he read was due to his super abilities, and had wondered if her daughter had inherited that. Clark had pointed out Olivia did not have a photographic memory, and joked Olivia got her natural intelligence from her mother, which always caused Lois to blush at the praise.
This was Olivia’s last year in elementary school, the last day of the school year only a few months away. It had also been the year the school introduced Superman to the kids. A Metropolis wide program designed to educate children on the emergency services and Superman’s introduction usually occurred in sixth grade, depending on the school, giving the kids of Metropolis the chance to meet the hero, ask questions, and become more comfortable with the mysterious man in the event they encountered him in the future.
Clark had been nervous, and excited, to meet his daughter as his alter-ego. As Superman, he’d flown with her in his arms when she was a baby, but as she started to crawl and then toddle around, they’d decided to separate the hero from the father, waiting until Olivia was old enough to understand the necessity for secrecy. There had been no need for concern; Olivia hadn’t recognized him and had acted like every other kid meeting Superman.
But Lois knew Clark hated the deception and she feared Olivia’s reaction when she finally learned the truth. She knew now how much her reaction had hurt Clark, and wanted to spare him the sorrow of his own child acting the same way.
The question of when to tell her had hinged on how Olivia developed. If she had become invulnerable, or stronger, at a young age, they would have introduced her to her abilities slowly. Lois knew Clark understood why his parents had scared him into secrecy as a child, and he held no animosity towards them for it, but he was adamant he would not put his daughter in that same position, As no powers had manifested, there had been no further discussion on what to say, or how to present the truth that Superman was her dad. It was a ‘someday, at some point,’ conversation for the future, despite the ever growing truth that the distant future was rapidly approaching. Lois wanted to hold on to the cheerful, intelligent, curious and playful little girl, yet was intrigued by the person Olivia was becoming. Clark was right; the opportunity to tell Olivia everything would present itself, but it was hard not to stress about it. For now, she was a normal, happy kid.
****
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