“She has a genetic mutation,” Joshua said, turning the screen to face Clark. “It literally occurs in about one person in a million, and under normal circumstances, it makes fertility difficult or impossible.”
“But not in this case,” Clark asked tersely. The information on the screen didn’t mean anything to him, so he looked at Joshua. “What does it mean?”
“It means that my theory of a single common ancestor between our two species gets a major step forward.” Joshua said. “More immediately, it means that I was wrong.”
“So I can have children.”
“It’s estimated that less than six thousand people in the world have this mutation. Half of them are male, half are children, and most of the remainder are probably married.”
“But there’s a chance that there are more of them out there.”
It wasn’t as though Clark had been profligate. He remembered every woman he’d ever been with. It did mean more work for his teams of investigators, and more humiliating revelations of things he’d prefer to remain private.
If there was the slightest chance that any others were out there, he’d find them.
“It’s a slim chance.” Joshua said. “You hit the jackpot with this one. I’d have missed it totally.”
Fifteen hundred women in the world he could possibly have children with, and he’d somehow managed to find her.
Josh began setting his equipment to the side. “Funny thing is, she’d have had a hard time conceiving with anyone else. Her extra gene connecting with yours…it’s like you were made for each other.”
In the days before he’d bought Luthor Labs for a song, this wouldn’t even have been an issue. DNA tests had taken weeks or even months. He’d have spent months wondering what had happened without knowing the truth.
Now that he knew it, he had to decide what to do with it.
The telephone rang, and Clark absently picked it up. He said “Yes?”
Listening to the voice on the other end of the connection, Clark scowled.
*****************
“You’ve been gone a week. I don’t know what you expected.” Corwin Ellison didn’t have the presence Perry White had once had, but he had no compunctions about making hard choices.
“I expected a little something better than a pink slip.” Lois protested. “I had a funeral.”
“You were at the Superman Foundation gala.” Her editor threw copies of the pictures on the desk. “Ralph was covering it.”
Ralph was the least competent reporter in their stable, and he’d had it in for Lois since she’d threatened to make a sexual harassment complaint.against him.
He hadn’t dared to do anything overt; other employees had made complaints against him. However, given an opportunity like this, he would have jumped at the chance.
“I can explain,” Lois said.
“Unless you have some sort of major news story involving the event, something that would excite the public and bring back some of the readership, I’m not interested.”
Lois stared at him for a moment. She had exactly the sort of story he was wanting, but it wasn’t one she’d ever be able to tell.
“I’ve been disappointed in you for a long time, Lois,” Corwin said.
“I do good work here!” she protested.
“You hate working here, and it shows.” Corwin shook his head. “You were born to be a reporter, and you hate it that lesser talents are moving on while you are stuck in the same place.”
Lois stared at him, shocked. She hadn’t talked about her feelings about work with anyone; the gossip network ensured that anything she said would eventually reach the bosses’ ears.
“I may not be an old warhorse like Perry White was, but I’ve been in the business to see what’s sitting right in front of me. Those freelance articles you did last winter? Those were brilliant. If you’d been doing work like that the whole time you’d been here, the paper might not be in the shape it is today.”
Lois flushed. It wasn’t her fault that she’d had other responsibilities.
“There weren’t any day shifts open,” she said sullenly.
“From what I’ve seen, you’d have done better with the hard news. As it stands though, I’ve already got a replacement for you.”
Lois stared at him in shock.
“The Daily Planet doesn’t need anyone who isn’t one hundred percent dedicated to her job.”
***************
Lois sat staring at the breakfast nook, feeling numb. She’d hated her job, but now that it was gone she felt numb.
She knew that a floodgate of worries was waiting at the edge of her consciousness, just waiting to overwhelm her. What was she going to do? Were they going to be able to keep the house? Would she be able to feed Lisa?
Just how humiliating was the job search going to be? Lois had always been able to avoid government assistance, through luck and the help of her Uncle Mike, but he didn’t need anyone at the diner at the moment, and she’d asked too much of him already.
She could beg her father, but that involved humiliation she didn’t even want to think about.
Everything seemed to be rushing toward her all at once, and once the protective veil of her shock wore off, Lois knew she’d be inundated and overwhelmed.
Being responsible for a child was sometimes terrifying.
She’d hoped to be able to enroll Lisa in some summer programs, giving her something better to do than hang around her uncle’s diner all day. Now, with money tighter than it had been in a long time, all that wasn’t going to happen.
Lois closed her eyes. Going to the gala had been an impulsive decision, and impulsive was the one thing she couldn’t afford to be as a mother. She had to be reliable and steady, not quirky and undependable.
Her own father had taught her that.
The sounds of the doorbell ringing were a welcome relief from the morass of her own thoughts.
Lois rose slowly, feeling as though she’d been beaten. She wondered if she was coming down with the flu.
The doorbell rang again, and she hurried to answer it.
As she opened the door, she felt a sense of astonishment. The last person she’d expected to see stood on the other side of the door.
Clark Kent.
**********
By daylight her house was even more pathetic than it had been in the darkness. The carpet was threadbare, the fixtures were obviously old and in need of repair and the whole place, while clean had an aura of fading neglect.
Clark fidgeted as he waited for her to answer the door. He’d forgotten to take the investigation detail off Lois Lane once they’d gotten her biographic data, and so they’d stayed on the clock.
Following her after she was escorted from the Daily Planet, they’d called him.
She opened the door, and she looked unkempt. Her hair was slightly mussed and her eyes were reddened, as though she’d been crying.
She was as beautiful as ever, and Clark fought to ignore the traitorous part of him that wanted to take advantage of this moment of weakness. Most likely, she’d reject him and ruin any chance of his having a relationship with his daughter while she was still a child.
“Ms. Lane,” he said. “I’ve come to apologize.”
She stared at him as though he’d grown another head, and he sighed. “May I come in?”
He hadn’t had time to get a limo, and so he’d flown out. He didn’t want her or her neighbors to make any sort of connection between the two events.
She stepped aside and he walked in.
Reflexively he glanced into his daughter’s room and he winced. In foster homes he’d learned quickly that it was important to be neat and tidy. Beds made straight and crisp and belongings packed so as to be always ready for the next move had been his constant companion.
Although what he could see of Lois’s room was tidy, Lisa’s room looked like a bomb had exploded inside
The chaos didn’t reach the rest of the house, and it hadn’t been that way when he’d been visiting the other evening as Superman. In three days she’d torn her room apart.
Lois was looking at him expectantly.
“I’m sorry for my behavior the other day,” he said. “I was wrong about you.”
It was a galling admission. He hadn’t become one of richer men in America by admitting to being wrong. Showing weakness was one of the best ways to lose everything you had.
Yet he’d been wrong. Lois Lane had had multiple chances to try to take advantage of the situation and she hadn’t.
Trusting her completely would probably take time. He’d been betrayed too badly in the past to completely trust anyone.
Lois nodded slowly. “All right. You’ve apologized. You can leave.”
“That’s not the only reason I’m here,” Clark said uncomfortably. “Kal feels terrible about the situation he’s put you in. If he’d known, he’d have been involved from the very beginning.”
“Why isn’t he here telling me this?” Lois asked.
“He’s a little conspicuous,” Clark said. The real reason, of course was that Kal El in civilian clothes looked exactly like Clark did. “And he asked me to make you an offer of a job.”
Lois stared at him for a long moment, her face expressionless. “You heard about my afternoon.”
Clark shrugged uncomfortably. “I have contacts.”
“What sort of job is he wanting me to do?” Lois asked. Her voice was suspicious.
This was a dangerous subject; trusting Lois with this information would be difficult, even though it was absolutely necessary.
“Do you remember those pieces of jewelry that were a fad around Metropolis a few years back? The ones that glowed in the dark?”
She should. She’d had one.
Lois nodded.
Clark hesitated. “Apparently the gems they are made from are meteorite fragments from Kal El’s home planet. They are poisonous to him.”
*****************
“What do they do to him?” Lois asked, her mind racing. If they were poisonous to Kal El, chances were good they weren’t good for Lisa either.”
“Long term exposure is damaging,” Clark said. “Short term…the red gems affect judgment and morality. The green gems cause pain and possibly death.”
Lois’s face froze. “You mean there are pieces of jewelry out there that can kill him.”
Clark nodded soberly. “You are one of only four living people who knows the truth about this.”
“I have one of those pieces in my room,” Lois said.
Clark Kent stared at her. “Under the same roof as your daughter?”
“I had no way of knowing.”
The anger outbursts and behavior problems hadn’t begun until Lisa had found the bracelet.
Lois turned quickly and headed for her bedroom. Her heavy jewelry box had been a gift from her father, and it sat in the corner of her bedroom.
Clark followed her, but he stopped at the doorway to her room as though an invisible barrier had been put up.
Throwing the lid to the box open, Lois winced as she realized the bracelet was gone.
“What was the job you wanted me to do?” Lois asked, staring at the place the bracelet had been.
“I want you to track down the other pieces of jewelry and get them for me,” Clark said. He’d entered the room by this point and stood beside her. “Kal El has been throwing those we’ve found so far into space, but without knowing why it’s important, it’s hard to find dedicated people.”
And no one would be more dedicated than a woman trying to protect her daughter.
“I’ll take it,” Lois said.
