Okay, here you go with the next part. I had some problems with my muse, not to mention real life. Needless to say that I shouldn't be writing at all, but hey a girl needs a break. And I thought you would as well, so this is villainless. Is there such a word????
Oh and at the end of this chapter there might be a wrong word again. My dictionary says it is right, but I don't believe in this dictionary anymore. So please be kind and tell me what's right if you spot anything badly wrong. 
Oh, and thanks to LaraMoon my amazing beta. I can't believe how fast she sent that one back to me.
And now I've babbled enough... Please enjoy From Part 20:“How much Danesium have they found yet?”
“It’s almost enough, at least Dan says so,” Jack chuckled at the word almost. Dan was well known for the fact that he just couldn’t decide for something. Whenever he made a statement there was a word in it that allowed him to escape the real decision. The friends still liked to tell each other the anecdote of going to lunch with Dan. It had ended with Hugh ordering Dan’s meal, because Dan couldn’t pick one.
“Well, then I guess, we could need your help to prepare our first series of blackmail letters. Is your writing hand all right?”
“Couldn’t be better.” Jack grinned and kissed the fingertips of his right hand before he left Hugh Danes alone.
Part 21:“Martha, where is he?” Lois asked impatiently as she looked out on the fields around the farm for the thousandth time. The footprints Clark and Becca had left in the snow were long gone. It was snowing crazily and Lois was getting worried. Of course she consciously knew that even a blizzard couldn’t hurt Clark, but his absence was nonetheless frightening her.
“He’ll come back, Lois,” Martha stated confidently and laid a hand on Lois’ shoulder to calm her down. “They usually spend quite some time on the fields. There is nothing to worry about.” She looked at the younger woman next to her and smiled in silent contentment knowing that her son had found a woman he could love. Though Martha knew Lois for no more than two days, she had come to like her. She could see that she deeply cared for Clark and that was pretty much all that was necessary to win her heart.
“But it’s been five hours already, Martha. I know he can take care of himself, but won’t Becca get hungry and cold?” Lois objected and started pacing through the room again.
“He takes good care of her, and I doubt she will get cold,” Martha grinned and gestured towards her eyes. “You know about his heat-vision thing, don’t you?”
Lois nodded absently and stared at the still empty field. Snow was falling even more densely and Lois started to fear that they would soon be stuck inside the farmhouse, unable to get through the high snow. She wasn’t used to so much snow. In Metropolis it rarely remained on the streets, rapidly removed by the city services. But why should anyone bother to remove snow from the fields? It was a pointless question and Lois knew it, but these kind of silly thoughts distracted her from the feelings of deep worry that were building up inside her. She had the strange impression that something was seriously wrong, though she couldn’t have explained why.
“It pleases me beyond belief to be able to talk to you about all this,” Martha stated, interrupting Lois’ train of thought. “I’ve never been able to speak about him with another woman, well, assuming that Becca doesn’t yet count as one.”
“I guess she doesn’t,” Lois replied with a shrug and forced her concentration back on what she had been discussing with Martha earlier. She tried to ignore the uneasy feeling that had gotten hold of her. “Martha, we need to stop Mrs. Donovan’s irrational chase. But I’ve no real idea how I could manage this. All I know is that all this has got something to do with Lily’s death. But Clark refuses to tell me anything about it and I hoped that you would be able to help me solve that mystery.”
Martha nodded slowly and gave Lois a somewhat apologetic look. “That’s difficult, dear,” she said and took Lois’ hand in hers to lead her over to the sofa in the living room. They both sat down. “The truth is I don’t know very much about it either. I’ll tell you whatever I can, though I have to admit that I doubt it will help. I’ve often tried to make Clark tell me about that night, but he is very reluctant to do so. I guess you already know how stubborn he can be at times. So I don’t know anything besides the official version, really. Lily, my sister and my brother in law, all three of them died in a car accident. It had been a rainy night and somehow my brother in law must have lost control over his car. He collided with a big oncoming truck. The emergency services stated that they were killed instantly, there was no way to save them. For some reason, Clark was never able to accept that. I know he blames himself for her death, though I could never make him tell me why. In the first weeks I thought it was the shock. I know that Clark arrived at the scene only minutes after the crash. The police interviewed him repeatedly to be sure that this really had been an accident and not intentional. Since they couldn’t find any hint that my brother in law had tried to stop the car, this was one of the possibilities. But after a thorough investigation, it was confirmed that it had been a tragic accident…”
Martha’s voice trailed off and Lois looked at her, dumbstruck. When Becca had told her that Clark never spoke about it, she had thought it was because of Becca’s age. It had made sense to Lois that he would tell her a little white lie, making her think that nobody knew. She just couldn’t imagine Clark telling her that she would have to wait until she was older. That was an awful comment and Clark knew so well what would upset Becca. He could easily make her do what he wanted to without ever giving her the impression that he was forcing her.
Martha’s answer both surprised and disappointed Lois and the sad look in Martha’s eyes showed her that the older woman had noticed it. Lois felt a sudden rush of guilt wash through her, for it just couldn’t be Martha’s fault that Clark kept such important things to himself. Lois cursed him inwardly. His stubbornness was going to do him no good. Whatever had happened on the night of Lily’s death, it just couldn’t be bad enough to justify his silence. There were times when Clark was unforgivably foolish and she would certainly tell him so when he showed up again.
Lois’ heart skipped a beat and her stomach heaved uneasily. *If he came back.* The thought settled down in her mind, poisoning her slowly with it’s sickening force. It was irrational; Clark was a grown man and he was Superman, for Heaven’s sake. He was invulnerable, even bullets couldn’t hurt him. What could snow possibly do to him? There was nothing to be afraid of and yet Lois couldn’t help it, her hands were trembling. Something was terribly wrong, though she couldn’t say why she felt this way.
“Martha, where is Clark?” Lois repeated her earlier question, her voice now barely above a whisper.
“Lois, he will come back,” Martha said, but failed at sounding reassuring. “After all he is…” she didn’t finish her sentence, suddenly remembering his call, early on Christmas Eve. “Christmas,” she muttered anxiously, her hands now just as shaky as Lois’.
Lois knew instantly what she was talking about and she went pale at the mere memory of Clark lying in the middle of his living room, fighting to remain conscious. Had she really thought about the fact that it had been Superman lying there? But then, she had barely had time to consider this, given that he had only told her yesterday. Only yesterday… It seemed like ages ago that he had made his confession, that she had admitted her own feelings. She wanted him to come back; there was still so much she needed to ask. Besides, she longed for his touch, for his passionate kisses. He should sweep her up in his arms and tell her that he would never leave her again. Staring out at the snow covered but otherwise empty fields, Lois realized that she was not just worried, but actually missing him desperately.
She tried to convince herself that Becca and Clark would probably show up the next minute, unharmed. They would happily tell her about their day outside and all her worries would be forgotten. But what if Clark had come across whatever had made him so weak the day before Christmas? He wouldn’t be able to protect Becca then, even though he would surely die trying. The mere thought made her afraid, though Lois kept reminding herself that there was no reason, yet. But her mantra didn’t help and the longer she denied her own uneasiness, the worse it got. Lois didn’t really expect Martha - or Clark - to know what had caused his weakness.
With a heavy sigh, Lois decided that facing her fears was the best way to cope with them. If something really had happened to Clark, she needed to find out what it was. Maybe he would appear on the doorstep in the meantime; she really hoped he would. Breathing in and out slowly, Lois recollected her thoughts. Analyzing the situation was the key.
What did they know, she wondered? They had come to Smallville because they were trying to find a connection between a series of arsons in Metropolis and a man who had spent his life researching a meteorite that had landed in Smallville. It was likely that he had, not only burned down houses, but had also caused a train to derail. He had killed people and probably just to find something. Clark had told her about some pieces of - Heaven knew what - a group of men from the Smithsonian had mentioned. Could they be pieces of the meteorite? Was Hugh Danes searching for them after they had vanished out of his lab? But why should he kill people to get pieces of an old rock, or whatever it was, even if it had actually traveled through space?
Lois knew that it was nothing but wild speculation, but it was the only real theory that she had so far.
“Martha, what can you tell me about the meteorites that landed in Smallville?”
“Not much. Only that we found our son that same night. I might have seen them once. There were strangely green glowing crystals around his ship. I didn’t pay much attention to them; I only had eyes for the sweet little baby boy who lay so silently there and just looked at me with his huge brown eyes. About a month later, there were strange visitors in Smallville. From what you and Clark told me, I assume that they were scientists. There were all kinds of speculations as to what they wanted. They never exactly told anyone, they just appeared and vanished almost as quickly as they had come.”
And maybe they had come back now to look if there were more meteorites, Lois thought. It was nothing but a weird theory, but Lois felt unable to just look out on the fields and do nothing but wait for Clark to return. The mere thought of sitting around caused a new wave of worry to rise up inside her. She needed to do something. She asked Martha where Clark and Becca usually went and Martha gave her a description of Clark’s favorite places throughout Smallville, including the place where he had been found. Before Martha had really ended her explanation, Lois had already grabbed her coat to go out searching for Clark and Becca.
Martha held her back. “I’m worried as well, dear. But wait for Jonathan to come with you, he knows the area and out in this snow, you’d probably get lost without him.”
Lois nodded and Martha left the living room to get Jonathan. She wouldn’t need long, Lois told herself, but she nonetheless started to pace through the room. She wasn’t used to waiting before she could get started. She sighed impatiently. It was crazy. She couldn’t expect Clark’s father to be ready in just an instant. But no matter what her mind was thinking, her heart was already racing. She was in her investigative reporter mode and Heaven knew that it took the force of an army to stop her then.
Lois glanced at the door Martha had closed behind her just a couple of minutes ago. Unfortunately, Clark’s mother was right. It would be wise to take Jonathan along. She would be faster if she knew where to go, without him she would probably spend most of the time searching the way to the Shuster’s field. The densely falling snow wasn’t exactly going to help her and, with the fields all white, orientation was becoming difficult.
Even though she kept struggling with her decision, Lois knew that it was best if she simply did what Martha had asked her to. She stayed put and tried to get over her own impatience. Martha and Jonathan would return pretty soon and she could wait that long.
* * *
Clark had fallen into an uneasy sleep; it was more like dozing anyway. From time to time he was awoken by a light kick from Becca. She was still lying on his chest, safe and warm in his arms. It didn’t seem so cold anymore and Clark was relieved because he knew people could freeze to death when they weren’t moving about. But his feverish state had most likely played tricks on him. It wasn’t as cold in here as he had first assumed and he was indeed feeling better now.
Becca was dreaming in his arms, she muttered sleepy words he couldn’t really understand and she moved from side to side. The need to hold her more firmly and another kick against his leg brought him to wakefulness. He opened his eyes and was still greeted by darkness. But he wouldn’t have expected it to be bright in the shelter and in a few hours it would get dark outside. Clark was glad that, despite the lack of light, he hadn’t yet lost his sense of time.
Becca became more restless and Clark decided to wake her. He patted her on the arm and softly called her name until she stilled in his arms and slowly came to.
“Wake up, honey. You’re just dreaming,” Clark said soothingly.
“Daddy?” she replied drowsily and turned her head towards him. Clark smiled at her and ran his hands through her hair comfortingly. She moved around to face him and with a bit of Clark’s help she was lying on her stomach and looking at him.
“Everything’s okay, pumpkin. The dream is over. Wanna tell me about it?” Clark asked and brushed a strand of her hair out of her face. He didn’t know how much she could really see of him, but hoped that his encouraging smile would do its work.
“Don’t remember much. I think I dreamt of you between the bad guys.” She let out a pained sob. “I was so afraid, I wanted to help you, but…” Her voice trailed of as she remembered her fear and agonizing helplessness.
“Shhh, it’s okay, Becky. You couldn’t have helped me, don’t feel bad about it. I’m sorry you had to go through this. I’d have liked to spare you this nightmare. But I promise you we will get out of here and we will get rid of the Child Services, too. New Year’s Eve is coming soon and it will be the beginning of a new life for both of us. No more moving around, no more fear of discovery. Any more wishes, honey?” he asked gently.
“A day at the beach?” Becca suggested excitedly. “Going somewhere warm?”
“Granted,” Clark chuckled. “Would you mind if Lois joins us?”
“I guess that’s okay,” Becca replied graciously. She planted a small peck on her father’s cheek and wrapped her arms around him. “Just get us out of here as soon as possible,” she pleaded.
Clark checked on his powers, but if they had indeed returned, it was only marginally so. He definitely felt back to full human strength, which was good for a start. Given his well-built body, he was pretty strong even if he didn’t have his powers. But it was difficult to say how much his human strength would help him. There was no way to find out but to try. Clark decided to have a closer look at the door of the storm shelter, which would most definitely be more effective now that his head wasn’t hurting anymore and he felt reasonably healthy.
“Please move off of me, Becky. I’ll see what I can do. You stay under the blanket and try to keep warm,” he said and helped her move to his side.
Clark swung his legs over the side of the bed and felt the cold air on his bare skin. He grabbed for his clammy trousers and pulled them on. It wasn’t helping much, but at least it he could try to convince himself it did. His powers were still gone; otherwise the coldness wouldn’t have been more than a chilly tickle, just enough to let him get a general idea of the temperature around him. Clark bent down to Becca and blew a kiss on her forehead and made sure that the blanket was firmly wrapped around his little whirlwind. Then he took the flashlight and went over to the ladder once more.
This time, he had a more careful look at the door, figuring that he would still be too weak to just push it away. This was going to be more of a battle of the mind than a battle of strength. Fortunately, the strange green rock didn’t have the power to turn him into a blithering idiot. At least he hoped so. He blinked away the thoughts, since they weren’t going to get him anywhere, and concentrated on the door.
It was made of heavy looking metal. Between the two wings of the door, he could see a small stripe of sky and big chains that secured the door firmly from the outside. He wouldn’t be able to use enough pressure on it to break the metal, so much was sure. Clark sighed unhappily and continued to study the door above him. It was rather new and the metal looked pretty strong. He had silently prayed for rust, which he could break eventually. But it didn’t look good. He let out another sigh and turned his glance towards the hinges. They were another potentially weak link and these seemed really old and rusty.
New hope flared through Clark and he started to apply pressure on the hinges to see if they would move. But with just his fingers he didn’t stand a chance. Clark cursed and bit his lip a moment later. Becca wasn’t supposed to hear words like this. But being the perfectly nice little girl she had chosen to be today, she pretended to have missed the bad words.
Clark descended from the ladder and went over to her again, sinking on the bed beside her.
“Doesn’t look good, pumpkin,” he mumbled dejectedly.
Becca laid her small hand on his back and stroked it. “You’ll be strong soon,” she said reassuringly, her voice trembling at her obvious lie. She tried to soothe him, but didn’t really believe her own words. Clark smiled faintly and pulled her close.
“It might take a while, honey,” he replied trying not to sound too pessimistic
.
“I’m hungry, Daddy,” Becca said quietly. She was unsure, whether it was decent to ask for food in a moment like this.
“I’ll have a look if I can find something, Becky. The Shuster’s usually are prepared for everything; I bet I’ll find something.” Clark tousled his daughter’s hair and went over to the shelf.
He found some tins and had a closer look for an opener. He would think about a way to heat it up later. The shelf was full of amazing things and Clark wondered briefly why Mr. Shuster kept several ropes, buckets and an old dog bowl in his shelter. He didn’t even have a dog. There was an old sewing machine in one corner of the shelf and a rusty toolbox in another. Next to it was a box full of candles that were burned down to stumps. Clark stopped dead and his glance wandered back to the toolbox. There had to be something inside that would help him.
To be continued...
