Here you go, a bit sooner than I thought. Just a little reminder...This story continues the previous parts of my tale about Becca. The Toc for the whole thing is here . Enjoy! 
(And don't you forget to review! 
)
And thanks to Lara!!! From Part 1: After he had cleaned up, Clark spun into a dark grey suit and searched for the school stuff he had bought for Becca a few weeks ago.
Part 2: Half an hour later they were on their way to Becca’s new school. Dawn had already broken and so Metropolis was light grey with the first weak attempts of the sun to fight the darkness of the night. Clark had found an elementary school that was only a few blocks away from their apartment. It wasn’t that far away to walk and Clark could easily take her to school before he had to go to work. At least he would do that until she was older. It broke his heart that he would leave her alone with people she didn’t know. But at least he was able to walk a part of this way with her this morning.
As soon as the school came in sight, Becca laid her hand in his and together they approached the building. Both were nervous and, though he pretended to feel completely at ease, Clark’s heart was beating more rapidly than Becca’s. He smiled at Becca affirmatively, but was really trying to assure himself that everything was going to be all right. The school’s secretary had told him he should come to the principal’s office first.
Suddenly Becca loosened her grip on his hand and started running. Clark looked up, surprised, and saw his parents standing in front of the school. They had promised to come, but only had time for a few minutes of saying goodbye since their plane was taking off in a couple of hours. Martha and Jonathan welcomed Becca with a huge smile and embraced her as she got close to them.
“Have fun on your first day, sweetie,” Martha said and kissed her granddaughter.
“You’re gonna make it, Becky. Tell us all about your day this evening. Promise?” Jonathan added and lifted the little girl up. Becca nodded and smiled broadly. She had completely forgotten about her fear and only had eyes for her grandparents.
“See you, this evening,” she whispered and winked at Martha.
Clark watched the scene from a distance and gave Becca enough time to be comforted by his parents. He liked looking at the three of them. It reminded him of his own childhood with these wonderful people. Every time he saw them, he prayed silently that Becca was just as happy with him as he had been with his parents. Sometimes Clark had doubts about this. His home had been so stable. He had woken up in the same room, in the same little town each morning. Becca didn’t know this kind of stability. He hadn’t been able yet to grant her this life and neither had Lily when Becca had been with her. Lily had never been very stable. She hadn’t even been reliable, not in the “being on time at a date” kind of way. But she had always been there for him.
“You didn’t even know what you’d do to her, Lily.” Clark whispered into the wind. “I only hope that I can be a good farther for your little princess.”
“Mr. Kent?” a woman asked from behind him. Clark turned around. It had to be the secretary Clark had spoken to on the phone. He recognized her voice. She was smiling at him and motioning for him to come. “Mrs. Hughes, the principal, is waiting for you.” Clark nodded and shouted for Becca.
The little whirlwind kissed his parents one last time and hurried to him. Together, they followed the secretary inside the school. She led Clark and Becca into a bright office where the principal waited. A young, smiling teacher stood next to her. They greeted each other. The younger woman approached Clark and Becca and shook the hand of the little girl.
“Hi, Rebecca, I’m Ms. Anderson. I’m your new teacher,” she said and nodded in Clark’s direction. Clark returned the gesture silently.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Anderson,” Becca replied and smiled as well. Clark noticed with relief that she was relaxing.
“Why don’t you come with me, Rebecca? I’m going to introduce you to your class,” Ms. Anderson suggested and opened the door to get out of the office again. Becca nodded and glanced at her father. Clark kneeled down in front of her. He handed Becca the school bag that he had carried the whole way and Becca hugged him.
“Have a nice day, honey. And find lots of friends!” Clark mumbled as he laid his arms around the little girl. She was still so young. He felt the urge to protect her, but he knew that he had to let her go. “See you this afternoon.”
“See you later, daddy,” Becca replied and then she turned around to follow the teacher. Clark watched her leave the room as the principal addressed him.
“Mr. Kent?” she said and waited for Clark to look at her. She had an air of severity that Clark found a little intimidating. She wasn’t smiling at him and Clark couldn’t help the thought that she didn’t like him. “I think your daughter will feel comfortable at our school. It’s the *first time* she goes to school, isn’t it?” Something about the way she was saying *first time* sounded rather accusing.
“Yes, it is” Clark replied matter-of-factly.
“She might have problems getting accustomed to going to school, Mr. Kent. I don’t have to mention that we are helpless without parental support. I hope that you’ve got time to help your daughter if necessary. As far as I understood, you are a single parent, aren’t you?” Her tone of voice was friendly, but nonetheless she sounded offending. Clark felt very annoyed by the way she called him a single parent. It wasn’t as if he had volunteered.
“Rebecca is a very clever little girl,” Clark replied, almost grimly. “I’m sure she won’t have problems keeping up with her schoolmates. But whenever she needs help, I’ll be there for her, Mrs. Hughes,” he stated firmly and as politely as possible. “Excuse me now; I’ve got to go to work. If anything happens, your secretary has my phone number. Goodbye.”
Clark shook hands with the principal, who seemed to be a bit annoyed by his quick departure. He smiled at her though he didn’t feel like it and left the office. Inwardly he cursed for not having been able to spend more time with Becca. This episode had been much shorter than he had expected. On the other hand, without the permission to come in a little later Clark would only have had time for a quick goodbye in front of the school. Outside the office, he couldn’t help but hear the principal whispering something about single parents that just wasn’t repeatable. Clark flinched and hurried to get out of the school, but as hard as he tried, he couldn’t keep certain memories from surfacing.
5 years ago…
“Mr. Kent, we’re not convinced yet that you are prepared to be a father,” a grey-haired woman said. She eyed him from head to toe, giving Clark the impression that whatever lay beneath his surface was visible to her. Her expression was tense and unfriendly. Clark almost expected steam to come out of her nostrils. He felt exposed even though there was a big desk and a little toddler between them. Becca was sitting on his lap and played with his shirt. Clark really hoped that she was still too young to understand what was going on here. At least she wouldn’t remember, like he himself did not have any memories of when he was two years old. “How old are you?” The grey dragon in front of him asked.
“Twenty-two,” Clark replied. He knew it wasn’t the right answer, though it was perfectly true. The dragon wanted to hear that he was twenty-something- close- to- thirty years old.
“You’ve just finished college.” She darted her finger at him as if finishing college was something immodest. At least he had a degree! How many people could say that? “During the entire time you went to College you worked for various newspapers. You moved constantly during the semester breaks. You never really stayed anywhere and the mother was constantly moving with you. Do you really think this is the kind of stability a child needs?”
Clark shrugged. “I suppose not. It was inevitable to earn enough money for Becca and Lily.” It was a weak attempt at explanation. Clark realized it as soon as he looked into the dragon’s contemptuous face. In her opinion, he should have left college to go to work. He hadn’t, because Lily hadn’t wanted him to sacrifice his dreams for her. It had resulted in about two hours of sleep per night between learning and working. Little had Lily known about the downsides of her gratefulness. He had never complained.
“You didn’t marry the mother.” She did it again. She called Lily ‘the mother’. Didn’t she deserve anything more than that? Had dying robbed her of any human dignity? “You weren’t even there, when the child was born!” Neither did she call Becca by her name; Clark couldn’t even force himself to like the dragon. “Why?” The question was obviously expecting an answer. Clark shifted Becca’s position on his lap and looked directly into the dragon’s eyes.
“Various reasons,” he stated fiercely. The dragon was an ordeal to his good manners.
“Name them,” the dragon demanded unrelentingly.
“I couldn’t afford a ceremony. And Lily didn’t want me to marry her.” Clark had proposed to Lily shortly after she had shown up on his doorstep, but she had refused his offer. Clark had never actually been sure whether Lily had really been in love with him. They had loved each other in a way that wouldn’t usually lead to a marriage. Lily had discussed sex several times, but it was hard to tell if she was only teasing. She had mentioned sex, granted, but she had never actually tried to seduce him. “She said that a certificate wouldn’t change the way we felt about Becca.”
“Where were you when the mother gave birth to the child?”
“Abroad,” Clark said. Why weren’t they discussing the real father’s whereabouts? That would have been more interesting. But to the dragon, he was the real father. “I offered her to come, she never called me.”
“And you didn’t even see her the whole nine month through, regardless of whether she had called you previously?” The dragon fumed.
*I had no reason. I thought the father was with her and I sure as hell didn’t like to be separated from my cousin so long. But I was on the other side of the world and could hardly fly to her or else I’d have had a lot to explain.* Clark thought helplessly.
“I was there for her from the moment she showed up at my doorstep.” From then on the memory was blurry. Clark didn’t really remember how he had managed for this dragon to give him a chance. But she and her co-workers had checked on him frequently from that moment on. The whole situation had been utterly embarrassing as he was accused of things he had never done. He hadn’t gotten Lily pregnant and hadn’t run off. Clark had been the one staying up nights to soothe the baby and he had been the one to go out to earn money.
Five years ago, he had condemned Becca’s biological father for being so irresponsible. Clark had paid for another man’s mistakes and bitterly so. He had needed to distance himself from the real father. He hadn’t accepted his own role as the little girl’s father then and had regarded himself as an uncle or godfather. In those days, he had tried to convince Becca not to call him dad. He had changed his mind completely, long ago, since Becca could melt his heart with those two syllables.
The schoolyard was empty and Clark assumed that his parents had already left. Their plane was taking off in a few hours and they had to get to the airport. He decided that it really was time to head for the Planet. Cold wind was blowing in his face and Clark pulled his coat tighter around him. He was shivering, but not because of the cold air. He would have liked to have spent a little more time with Becca. As it was, he had practically let her alone. But maybe it was better that way, because a long goodbye wasn’t always preferable. Once Becca had time to reflect on what a poor little girl she was, she would be giving him a hard time.
With a sigh, Clark dismissed the sad memories that were usually hidden far in the back of his mind. As soon as he regained his composure, he forced his attention back on the present and the things that were yet to come. So far, he had only met Lois, Jimmy and Perry White. Out of those three, Lois was surely the most remarkable person. When they had parted the last time, it had almost been a friendly atmosphere. Clark hoped that this wasn’t going to change again, since their first new start had only ended up in an argument.
It didn’t take long until Clark reached the Daily Planet. This time, he didn’t hesitate before he went in. He was still nervous, but his two worst problems were already solved, so what could bother him? It took him only a few minutes to get inside and up to the newsroom.
As soon as the doors of the elevator opened, it was there. Clark couldn’t tell why exactly he heard it, but it flooded his senses. He didn’t even need to see her to know she was there. Lois’ heart told him and Clark lacked any explanation why. His hearing ability was the one he couldn’t really control. It kicked in and turned itself off, mostly - though not completely - of its own volition. He was able to hear things he wanted to hear, but he had to concentrate on them. Clark hadn’t forced his attention on Lois; he hadn’t even known she was there until he had heard her heart. Usually, he didn’t hear other’s hearts. That had only happened back in school when his ability had first presented itself. So, why did it happen now? There was only one answer to that question: he *had* searched for it, unconsciously.
