Okay, I know I said I'd post in the morning... but I figured you all had to wait so long for the repost that I'd get part 2 out there as quickly as I could. Thanks so much for the fdk - my muse is glutted and sassy.
Enjoy!
Table of Contents **********
From Part 1:
Clark would be there for him because he *wanted* to be...
But also because he knew Jason needed him to be there.
Richard had taught him how to walk, but, when the time was right, Clark would teach him how to fly.
He smiled to himself.
**********
PART TWO
**********
Lois had spent most of the rest of the day explaining what had happened, not only to Richard and Perry, but half the newsroom as well – of course leaving out certain details like inter-dimensional space/time travel, alternate universes, multiple Supermen and Lois Lanes... things that would wind up causing them to lock her away in the Metropolis mental institution if she attempted to explain them.
She wondered briefly if any of the other Loises or Clarks were having trouble explaining to their editor-in-chief what *exactly* had happened to them.
After delivering Tempus to the peacekeepers, Mr. Wells had made a quick jaunt into each their futures to check on things. When he’d come back, he explained quite adamantly that nothing should be tampered with. They were all going back to their current times and universes and things were being left exactly as they were.
Which was fine with her. That meant she got to keep the knowledge she had gained.
That meant she got to remember who Superman was.
She looked guiltily over at Richard who was quietly staring out the windshield as he drove the SUV towards home.
He was thinking about something. She could tell by the way that little tic in his jaw jumped every so often. She sighed quietly. He was probably trying to decide how best to bring up their argument from last night. The one that had finally driven him to leave and spend the night at his uncle’s house - wow, had it only just been last night that they’d had that argument? It seemed like a lifetime ago.
She shifted in her seat and turned so she could look back at Jason. He too had been very quiet on the ride home. Much more quiet than normal. He was staring out the side window and his little eyebrows were knitted together in concentration.
“So, what do you want for dinner tonight?” she asked him softly, trying to break the silence in the car. She wasn’t really ready yet to talk to Richard, at least not about what he would want to talk about.
Jason pulled his face away from the window and a small smile crept across his face. “Macaroni and cheese.”
She rolled her eyes. Every time she actually tried to let him pick what he wanted to eat for dinner, his answer was always the same – macaroni and cheese. She hated to let him eat just that. She never had time to make it from scratch and the kind from the box was so nutritionally void of anything healthy.
That was probably why he loved it.
“Okay,” she conceded this time. “But we’re going to do some broccoli too.”
He wrinkled up his nose. Broccoli was definitely not his favorite, but he ate it better than most vegetables. He started to open his mouth but then, just as fast, he closed it. He’d learned not to argue, because if he did, that would just mean he’d have to eat something worse... like asparagus. He nodded his compliance at her.
“And I think we’ve got some chicken breasts I can bake to go with that,” she said as she turned back around. “Does that sound okay?” She looked over at Richard.
“Yeah, that sounds fine,” he said distantly.
She felt her face trying to grimace. Richard had been so happy she was safe, but when that initial knee-jerk reaction had worn off, he had withdrawn... The words from their fight the night before no doubt coming back to his mind.
And then he’d become even quieter as she recounted to everyone how Superman had saved her... again...
This wasn’t going to be an easy dinner.
**********
Clark floated effortlessly among the wispy night clouds that hung over Lois’s house below.
He still didn’t have an apartment yet in Metropolis and with everything that had happened the past few days, he didn’t want to leave tonight and go home to Kansas. Besides, he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. He was too anxious, his mind swimming with too many thoughts.
He had done his best not to intrude on the house below him – not that they would know he was intruding, but still...
He’d been mostly successful. He had only peeked in on them a couple of times.
The first time had been while they were eating.
He had watched Lois seemingly force herself to eat a few bites of food while she and Richard sat in polite silence. Jason, on the other hand, had gobbled his macaroni and cheese down with great enthusiasm, obviously one of his favorites. It had made Clark smile.
And then he had watched as Lois and Richard had tucked Jason into bed, each kissing his forehead lovingly. Richard had gone into their bedroom, but Lois had gone downstairs and sat herself down in front of her computer. Clark had peeked at the document on her screen – her still, as yet, unwritten article on “Why the World Needs Superman”.
This was where she was still sitting – and he was still watching.
He watched her frown at the screen and drum her fingers lightly on the keyboard. Her hands finally moved, quickly typing several words across the screen but as soon as she finished them she hit the backspace key and deleted them just as fast.
She began to type again and he focused in on the words she was typing. ‘Why Lois Lane Needs Superman...’ He could see her chest rise and fall as a soft sigh escaped her lips.
And then she jumped – her hand quickly clicking the button on her mouse to minimize the document on her screen.
Clark glanced over at the doorway into the room and saw Richard standing there. He had a frown on his face and his arms were crossed.
It was time for Clark to withdraw his intrusion from them. And, since they were otherwise occupied, maybe he could sneak in a quick visit to Jason.
**********
“Oh, Richard! You scared me.”
“I’m sure. Still trying to write your Superman redemption story?” he asked her, his voice raw and questioning.
“Yeah,” she admitted softly. It was harder than she thought to write the article how she wanted to write it. Not because she didn’t know why the world needed Superman... she knew that more now than she ever had. But much of what she’d come to understand about him came from her time-traveling experience. Not something easily explainable.
“It shouldn’t be hard,” he continued in the wake of her silence. “I mean it’s obvious to almost every other person in Metropolis, at least, why the world needs Superman... Why is it so hard for you to write about?” He was probing her... again.
She didn’t want to do this tonight... not again. She simply shrugged her shoulders softly.
“Well, maybe,” he began, his voice deep and thoughtful, “It’s because you’re trying to figure out if and why *you* need him. Am I right?”
She swallowed guiltily, glancing back at her screen to double check that the document wasn’t there. It wasn’t. He just knew.
“Richard, I...”
“Why can’t you just tell me the truth?” he asked, cutting her off. “Why can’t you just be honest with me?” His voice rose in frustration.
“Because I can’t even be honest with myself,” she said earnestly, trying to keep her voice calm and steady. She didn’t want to have another fight.
“Well, at least that’s a start. Last night you wouldn’t even admit that much to me,” he told her, his voice thick with pain.
As much as she willed it not to, her mind flashed back to that night, to their quarrel.
<<<Lois slipped quietly into bed, hoping she wouldn’t wake Richard. No such luck.
“Honey, you’re freezing. Where’d you go?” Richard asked her, his voice full of concern.
He turned on the lamp next to their bed and she squinted against the sudden light. “Oh, uh, I just went outside for a little bit, I needed some fresh air...”
He sat up in bed a little and looked at her with that look that said he didn’t believe her. “You went out for a smoke didn’t you?”
“I didn’t smoke!” It was the truth. She hadn’t smoked... Superman had interrupted her.
“Lois, you promised. You promised that you would try,” he said, a pleading tone in his voice.
What was it about the men in her life always trying to get her to quit smoking?
Maybe it was the fact that they loved her and didn’t want to see her kill herself with lung cancer, her mind berated her.
“I swear, I didn’t smoke.” She had only gotten as far as to think about smoking.
“Then what were you doing out there so long? Long enough to get so cold?” He raised an eyebrow at her suspiciously.
What had she been doing? Uhhh... flirting with Superman? Ugh!
“Lois?”
She sighed, realizing that she was going to have to tell him. “Superman was outside. He had come by to see Jason and check on him. We talked for a few seconds and then he flew off.”
“I see.”
The disappointment she heard in his voice irritated her – she hadn’t *done* anything. Well that wasn’t exactly true... she had almost told Superman that she loved him.
Almost...
But she hadn’t. Wasn’t that the important thing?
“What’s that supposed to mean? He came here to see Jason!” The words came out a little louder than she intended them to.
“Are you so sure that’s all he came here for?” His voice had an edge to it that she hadn’t heard before.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Lois... what do I mean by that?” he asked sarcastically.
She moved to get out of bed and his hand came out to grasp her lightly by the arm. The motion wasn’t at all rough or demanding, but it still surprised her... and further infuriated her.
How dare he try to stop her from getting up! “Let go,” she snarled.
“No. I think we need to talk about this.” His grip tightened. Not to the point that it hurt or was uncomfortable, but it definitely sent a message.
I’m *not* going to let you leave and you *are* going to talk to me.
“There’s nothing to talk about, Richard. Superman and I *used* to be an item. We’re not any more. End of discussion.”
“No, Lois, it’s not. You’re not being honest with me. Just like you weren’t being honest with me the other night. Do you think I can’t tell?” He shook his head at her accusingly. “Do you think I don’t know you well enough by now to know the difference? Your words may be telling me what you think I want to hear but your body language and your eyes are telling me something totally different.”
“What do you want from me?” She asked, throwing her free arm up in an exasperated motion.
“I want you to be honest with me.”
“No, you don’t,” she told him exasperatedly. “You want me to tell you that I don’t have any feelings for Superman anymore. That’s what you *really* want to hear. So that’s what I told you.”
“Do... you... love... him?” He accentuated each one of the words as if they were more important than the last. It was almost the same question he’d asked her before except that one had been past tense – Did you love him?
“I... I don’t... I mean I can’t...” She moved to get up again and again he pulled against her to stop her. “Let go of me, Richard!” she yelled, jerking her arm away from him. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. I can’t.”
“Why can’t you just be honest with me? That’s all I’m asking for. I’m just asking for you to be honest.”
She whirled away from him and stalked out of the room headed downstairs to the kitchen. She didn’t normally drink, but tonight a little something sounded awfully good.
What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she just tell Richard the truth?
Because she didn’t want to admit the truth. She didn’t want to admit that she was still in love with the man who had managed to hurt her more deeply than any other man she’d ever known. What did that say about her? About her character? Her strength? It shot her whole perceived persona of herself to hell.
And she wasn’t ready to let go of it just yet.
Part of her still wanted to make Superman pay. Make him suffer the way she had suffered the past five years.
She rifled through their liquor cabinet and pulled out a nicely aged brandy. She poured some into a goblet and swirled the liquid around, watching it coat the glass. She really shouldn’t drink this. She always reacted too strongly to it, but tonight she just didn’t care.
How did Richard expect her to tell him the truth when she wasn’t ready to admit it to herself? Why couldn’t he just give her some time to figure things out?
Because he had already given her a lot of time.
Every single instance he brought up the matter of ‘picking a date’ she found a way to change the subject, to put him off.
She took a long drink from the glass and squinted her eyes a little as it took her breath just slightly.
He had been patient with her. But now, he wanted an answer.
And she didn’t have one for him.
She loved him and she didn’t want to tell him something that she thought would hurt him.
She took in a deep breath and swigged another large swallow of the drink. She could feel the liquid heat as it traveled down her throat into her stomach and blazed a path through her veins.
Yet as much as she loved Richard, she knew she still loved Superman. She knew that to deny that, she would only be lying to herself.
What a fine mess she was in.
She took another drink. It went down at lot smoother this time.
Why did he have to come back?
“Lois?” She heard Richard’s voice behind her. “I didn’t give you any ultimatums. I didn’t try to make you feel bad for your feelings over Superman. All I asked from you was for you to be honest.”
She hiccupped softly and took one more drink before she turned around to face him. “Yeah, sure. And what would you have said if I *had* told you that I had loved him and was still in love with him? Hmmm? What then?”
What she just said seemed to catch him off guard. How strong was this brandy, anyway? A Latin saying flitted through her mind – In Vino Veritas – in wine there is truth. If there was truth in wine then how much more so in brandy? She watched him expectantly for a reaction.
“I... I don’t know,” he said quietly, looking away from her.
She took the final gulp from her glass and set it down a little hard, a loud tang resounding off of the countertop. “Well, let’s address that issue now then. I’ve answered your question. Do you feel any better? Do I feel any better? No. There’s your honesty.”
She started to walk away.
His arm came out to block her way. “Where are you going?” he asked uneasily.
“I don’t know. Away from here. I’m gonna go get Jason and we’re gonna stay somewhere else tonight.” She hiccupped again, grabbing onto the counter as the room swayed slightly. Something in the back of her mind was telling her that leaving didn’t seem like a good idea, but she just couldn’t quite figure out why.
“Lois, you’re not going anywhere tonight. You just drank a glass of brandy.” He wrapped his arm around her to prevent her from walking away.
“Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do! I’m a grown woman!” she shouted, trying to pull away from him.
“Yeah, a grown woman who can’t hold her liquor.” When she attempted to say something he placed two fingers gently over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I upset you so badly. I’ll go. You and Jason stay here, at home, okay? I’ll go stay at my uncle’s tonight.” He let her go and moved swiftly to the door, grabbing her keys. “I’ll see you at the Planet in the morning. We’ll talk more then, when you’re more reasonable... and sober.” He opened the door.
“I am sober!” she hollered.
He shut the door without responding and left.
She wasn’t drunk... No, but she was far from sober. The room was spinning softly and she felt like she was floating a little.
Floating... like with Superman.>>> Lois hadn’t had a chance to talk things out yet with Richard. After their argument last night she had woken up on a balcony in another universe.
<<<“Do you love him?” the other Lois asked her.
Lois pried her eyes away from the piece of hair she’d been toying with and turned to look at the other Lois. She sighed knowing who she was being asked about. Richard. “Yes, I do love him. He was there for me when Superman wasn’t. He’s a kind man and a good father to Jason. He’s honest... probably a better man than I deserve. A part of me would even go as far as to say that I wish Superman had never come back.” Tears formed in her eyes even as she said the words.
. . .
“Richard had asked me a few days ago if I had been in love with Superman... before – back before he left,” Lois said wearily. “But I knew what he really meant, what he was getting at... Was I still in love with him.”
“What did you tell him?” the other Lois asked her curiously.
“I lied.” She spat the word as if it were distasteful as she chose one single thread of hair to pull from her head. “I told him I wasn’t. But that was such a lie. I was and I still am.”>>> She smiled wistfully, remembering her conversations with the other Lois. They had been very insightful. She wondered if that other Lois was having an easier time coming to grips with her Clark/Superman situation. At least they didn’t have a child in the mix. That certainly made things more difficult...
She paused in her thoughts.
More difficult? Actually, if she was planning to stay together with Richard, didn’t Jason make things *easier*? Clark couldn’t fault her for wanting to stay together with Richard for Jason’s sake.
But did she want to stay with Richard?
She shook her head, feeling almost dizzy with confusion. She definitely still had issues that needed resolving.
Richard was right, though. She did owe him more than she had given him last night... but not tonight. She couldn’t tonight.
“I know. I’m sorry,” she told him softly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be honest with you last night, and I’m even more sorry to say this to you now but... please don’t ask me again. Not yet. I know you’ve been patient with me, more than patient, you’ve been a saint. But please, don’t push this. Be that patient man with me again. Let me figure this out... Please?”
He dropped his head and nodded it slightly. “Okay, Lois, okay. I’m going to bed. Try to get some sleep tonight, all right? You’ve had a rough day.” He kissed her lips softly and she felt tears trying to start in the corners of her eyes.
Richard was an amazing man. She didn’t deserve him.
**********
Clark looked down on the sleeping form of his son. He watched as his little chest rose and fell, soft sounds and snores escaping from his small lips. He could see Jason’s eyes moving rapidly behind his eyelids.
He was dreaming.
Clark reached out and smoothed a sweat-streaked piece of hair from his son’s forehead. He rubbed the back of his finger softly against Jason’s cheek. He was amazed at how soft the skin felt. There was a sweetness to it that caught him in his chest and threatened to steal his breath.
This was his son. His and Lois’s. They had created this miraculous life.
It almost scared him to look down on this small, seemingly fragile life. He was amazed that even though he hadn’t known about his son for very long, he was bound to him in a way that he couldn’t even explain. Jason was something more precious to him than anyone or anything he’d ever known before.
Clark heard the door open behind him; he knew without looking that it was Lois, the other person most precious to him in this world.
“Clark? What are you doing here?” He watched as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I just had to see Jason. I was hoping maybe he would be awake... but it was just so relaxing to watch him sleep that I couldn’t leave.” He smiled warmly at her.
“You can’t stay. Richard would... well I don’t know what he’d do if he found you here, but it wouldn’t be good.”
“I know. I’ll leave. I just...” he sighed resignedly. He bent down over Jason and kissed him softly on the cheek. When he looked back up at Lois, he caught the fleeting end of a smile that had formed but was already gone. “Goodnight, Lois.”
He watched with trepidation as she came over to him, a swell of emotions flowing through him. He felt so torn over his feelings for her, his heart and mind divided between just wanting her to be happy, whatever she might decide, and just... wanting her.
She gently put her arms through his and around his back and gave him a tender hug. “Goodnight... Clark,” she whispered softly into his ear. She held the embrace for a few moments before finally releasing him and stepping away.
He flashed her a contented grin before moving to the window and lifting up through it into the dark night sky.
He resumed his previous position up above the house and against his better judgment decided he would look in on Lois one last time before he left her alone for the evening.
She was still in Jason’s room, gazing down fondly on him. But after a few moments she left, heading in the direction of the master bedroom.
Clark really knew he should look away. Hell, he *wanted* to look away. But there was just something that wouldn’t let him. He remembered a friend from school telling him one time that he hated to see car accidents, and yet, for some reason, he felt compelled to look at the damage and carnage – as he’d called it.
He just couldn’t look away.
That’s how Clark felt now. He watched with his breath held tightly as Lois approached her bedroom door.
Please, Lois.
Don’t.
What right did he have to not want her to sleep in the same bed with Richard? None. He’d been gone for five years. Absolutely not one. But that didn’t mean he had to like it, and that didn’t make it any easier in the ‘knowing about it’.
He was about to turn away, to fly away, when he noticed her hesitate. She paused just before the doorway and peered inside, looking troubled and maybe a little downhearted. She stood there for a long while and then she finally walked passed the doorway, headed back downstairs towards her study.
She sat down once more at her computer. A funny little smirk came across her face and she began to type.
Her smile intensified the longer she typed and Clark felt himself smile.
She had found her way.
**********
To Be Continued...
