Here you go with part 4. Did you already forget that this story is about a little girl called Becca, huh? Now, I will bring her back to your memory!
Oh, and Nancy? This is Child Service Lady free! Hope you enjoy it, all of you. Special thanks to LaraMoon, my amazing beta. And of course to Nancy. It's hard to tell how much of the story is yours, since your comments are inspiring. Even if they are about the Child Services 
From Part 3: “Lois, I forgot to tell you that I saw something interesting in the folder Jimmy gave us.” Clark suddenly changed the topic.
“You actually read that?” Lois asked, disbelievingly.
“Um, speed reading classes,” Clark muttered. “Come on, let’s go back to the Planet and find out why all these buildings were set on fire.”
Part 4:“He is so tall…” Jessica said dreamily.
“Oh, come on, Jess. You didn’t even really see him,” Anna replied, laughing.
“I did!” Jessica protested. “He was on that street, helping with an accident.”
“And how close were you?” Becca wanted to know. “I mean, could you see the color of his eyes?”
“Blue!” Jessica stated, convinced.
Becca chuckled. “Yeah, Jess. Chocolate-blue.”
“How do you know that, Becca?” Anna asked, surprised.
“I just know,” Becca said firmly. She was angry with herself for having said anything about Superman. She hadn’t wanted to do that. Her daddy had explained to her more than once how important it was that his powers stayed a secret. And honestly, now that she was talking about her daddy with a couple of other girls, she didn’t want any of them to know. They wouldn’t believe her anyway and if people knew about it, they would show up on their front door to meet him.
“Oh, come on Becca, tell us,” Anna and Jess pleaded with puppy-dog eyes. “Have you seen him?”
Becca sighed silently. It was obvious that her two friends were completely out of their minds when it came to the hero. Sure, he was cool. But honestly, Becca liked her dad even more when he was not wearing that suit. She couldn’t quite understand how these two girls could be swooning over him in this way. He was twenty years older, not to mention he was an adult and they were still kids. Not exactly good conditions for a crush on somebody.
“Can’t we talk about something else but Superman?” Becca tried to escape the topic.
“Not talk about Superman?” Anna asked, somewhat shocked. “But he’s cool!”
“Yeah, and you know something about him,” Jess insisted. “Oh, come on Becca, talking to you is like pulling teeth out.”
“How can she possibly know things that no one else knows about? Becca is teasing us,” Anna said. “You don’t know the color of his eyes; you just guessed, right?” She addressed Becca. Her expression was hopeful as if learning that Becca knew Superman personally would destroy her view of the world.
“Well, he has dark hair. I just assumed that his eyes had to be brown,” Becca replied. She didn’t really lie. Okay, there was no assumption about it, but maybe that was not as bad as a real lie.
“I bet they are blue! What do you say? Two bucks?” Jess asked, excitedly.
Becca grinned. She’d easily win that money. But she knew that it wouldn’t be right. If it hadn’t been Jessi, maybe Becca would have agreed. If it had been that terrible girl she had met back in Plymouth, Becca most definitely would have robbed her of her money. She had deserved that. But Jessi and Anna were her friends.
“I won’t bet with you, Jess,” Becca replied.
“Party pooper,” Jess said gently. “Admit it! You just don’t stand a chance.”
“Maybe…” Becca returned and laughed.
“Do you know what I really, really want to do? Fly with him,” Anna stated.
“Girl, you’re crazy,” Jess said, shuddering. Becca knew that she was afraid of heights. Every time they climbed the staircase in school, she pressed herself against the wall when they got to the upper floors.
“I’m not!” Anna protested. “I want to feel it!”
Becca mused that she could have told Anna what it was like. “I bet that’s cool!” she whispered, grinning. Becca thought back to their flights. “I think it’s even cooler than flying in your dreams is. I mean, you would feel the wind in your face. And you’d know that you are safe with him. I imagine that flying with Superman would feel so safe that even Jessi would dare to do it.”
Becca remembered what it had been like to hear the whispers of the wind in her ears. It had almost sounded like joyful laughter. Maybe she had been laughing herself. It was hard to tell because, up there, the world was endless and Becca couldn’t really have said where she ended and the world began. Flying with her dad felt like nothing could ever stop her. It was pure freedom and Becca was sometimes able to consciously ignore that her daddy held her. Being up in the sky alone had some advantages to it, but she wouldn’t have felt as secure if he hadn’t been around. Anyway, flying was great.
Just as Jess finally decided to discuss something other than Superman, the teacher called them to return inside. The three girls had to go back to the daycare. Becca actually liked it there. She hadn’t expected that. But she was always glad when her dad came to pick her up and listened to her as she told him about her day. On their way inside, Anna patted Becca’s shoulder.
“Didn’t you say that I could come to see you on the weekend?” Anna asked.
Becca nodded. “I’m going to ask Daddy this afternoon. I don’t think that he will disagree.”
“Good. Mom said that she has to know this before tomorrow, so she can go on planning the weekend. She is awfully busy these days and that always makes her impatient.” Anna sighed. “Adults!”
* * *
“How many pieces are left?” he asked, impatiently.
He wanted to finish this business. He wanted to go to the next step. The whole thing was taking too long. The crystals had been found in the sixties, for Heaven’s sake. And it had taken a lot of time to do the research on them. The crystals reacted with no known element on Earth and that was quite remarkable. It might have been just another inert gas; just that it wasn’t gas but a crystalline substance. That meant that its molecules somehow interacted with each other. First, Meadows had tried to analyze the molecular structure of the crystal. Meadows had always gone for the easiest explanation, namely that the crystal was a compound of various elements. But the analysis hadn’t been so easy and it had taken him some time to get a gas chromatograph. For some reason he had been very protective of these crystals.
When they had finally gotten that chromatograph, the crystals had refused to melt and turn into a gaseous condition. They had needed a few months more to find the right temperature. When they had managed to solve that problem, another one had appeared. It just wasn’t a compound. And finding out which element they faced wasn’t easier, actually. The cold war and the constant lack of money had only added to the problems. And one day, the scientist had come to work in the early morning and had realized that almost every sample of the mysterious crystal was gone.
Meadows had always suspected that it had been one of his colleagues who had been with him in Smallville. That wasn’t true. Unfortunately. It would have been easier to find the pieces that were now in almost every corner of the world. The real thief had been someone who had sold them to lots of people who spent money on almost anything that was purchasable. And the eerie green glow was fascinating.
With the last remaining pieces, the research had taken forever. They had to be careful to not destroy their samples. And in the end, he, Meadows’ stupid little assistant, had found out the most important things. He, not the great Henry Meadows. With a bit of effort he had managed to get Henry Meadows out of the Institute. After he had been finished with Meadows, the poor guy hadn’t been able to publish even just a tiny article.
“There are still some pieces left, if my count is right. But I’m pretty sure where they are,” his assistant replied.
“How much is some?” he wanted to know, darting an intimidating look at his assistant. His voice sounded calm, but that was just the way he could be even more threatening. His ability to influence people was an important part of his strength.
“I think three or four,” the assistant specified.
“You *think* or you know? Anyway, be sure to prepare our visit in Smallville. We’ll need to get *everything* we left there in the sixties.”
* * *
“So what did you find, Clark?” Lois asked curiously. Clark could see by the look in her eyes that she hadn’t really bought his speed reading excuse. But that was the least of his problems. And whatever way she would explain this to herself, Clark was pretty sure that it would be comfortably far away from the truth. He had shared enough secrets for today.
“The three victims, the two from the hotel and your neighbor, all worked at the Smithsonian Institute of Metropolis. Henry Meadows was the director of the institute. Jimmy didn’t find out what they were researching, because it was classified as confidential,” Clark said.
“What kind of scientists were they?” Lois wanted to know. She grabbed the large folder and started to read. “And why did the police tell us nothing about their connection?”
“Geologists. They worked on different projects over the years. This mysterious project dates back to the late sixties, early seventies. Maybe the police just didn’t dig that far in the past. It looks like their project didn’t get too much financial support. If they continued it then it would have been unofficially,” Clark explained. He knew that he needed to say something else. He didn’t want Lois to know about it, but she would find out anyway. And if she did, she would surely ask why he hadn’t told her right away. “There is something else, Lois. All three of them were in Smallville in 1966. There are no records as to what they wanted there, exactly. I think that the impact of a meteorite was reported in that year.”
Lois glanced at him, surprised. “Smallville? Isn’t that the place where you come from?”
Clark nodded. There wasn’t anything more to say about it. Or was he supposed to tell her that the meteorite had been really a spaceship? It worried him that he hadn’t known about that research in the first place. Since he had no idea where he really came from, he was interested in such things. Not to mention he was terrified that someone could find out about him.
“Do you think your parents would know something about Meadows and his team?” Lois asked.
Clark shook his head. “I don’t think so, Lois. But we can ask them, of course. Becca and I will spend New Year’s Eve in Smallville, anyway. You can even accompany us, if you like.” Wait a minute, where had that one come from? He hadn’t intended to invite her. Clark needed to protect his secret and that would be best achieved if the great investigative reporter Lois Lane was not around.
“Smallville? I don’t know, Clark,” Lois replied doubtfully. “Don’t you think that New Year’s Eve is something for big cities?”
“Uh, so tell me Lois, how many celebrations of New Year’s Eve did you attend in small towns? Are you even allowed to make comparisons?” Clark teased her, grinning.
“No, you tell me something, Clark. What happened to you on Friday?” Lois expression was firm, definitely saying that he wouldn’t escape her with a lame excuse.
Clark wondered why she changed the topic so suddenly and studied her face. He noticed her discomfort. Maybe she was afraid that he wouldn’t take another comment on his hometown gently. His origins had more than once been the target of her offenses. She had implied that coming from a small town hadn’t prepared him for life in a big city. He had proven her wrong as he stood his ground, not letting himself be intimidated by her efforts to scare off her unwanted partner. They were past this, but Lois was still afraid of putting her foot in her mouth. Unfortunately, this question contained even more possible pitfalls.
“I told you, Lois. I don’t really know. I might have eaten something bad.” It was partially true. He didn’t know. Neither he nor his parents had found any explanation. He had never been sick in his childhood - or his teenage years, for that matter. Clark knew that the two guys he had tried to stop that night were somehow involved in this mystery. But that wouldn’t help him. He didn’t usually get sick when he got close to people. And it hadn’t happened again after this incident. To make things worse, he wouldn’t be able to recognize these guys. It had been too dark and when he had been close enough, his vision had been too blurry.
“You didn’t look like you just ate something bad, Clark. That has happened to me, too, but I didn’t end up lying on the floor,” Lois disagreed.
“Lois, CK?” Jimmy yelled through the newsroom and gave the conversation a sudden end. “There was a dead body found close to the docks. Perry wants you to investigate that.”
“We’re on it, Jimmy!” Clark returned and got up. Lois followed him as he headed out of the newsroom.
“A dead body,” Lois muttered. “I’m trying to find out who set those buildings on fire and all I get is another daily Metropolis drama.”
“Hey, maybe it’s a hint. One of the arsonists or whatever,” Clark said to cheer her up. Lois only shot him a glance as if to ask whether he really believed that. He didn’t. This would be just another ugly picture in his head that would lead to a few lines in the newspaper.
to be continued
