Martha immediately knelt down to engulf Clark in a hug. It was awkward since Clark was lying down, but that did not prevent her from holding on until she felt her husband's arm on her shoulder. And then she moved only in order to allow him the chance to do the same.
Once Jonathan let him go, Clark moved his arms in an effort to push himself up. Seeing him struggle put tears in Jonathan's eyes, but he immediately moved to help him and Perry moved to do the same.
“Hi, Chief,” Clark said softly. Perry said nothing, but smiled warmly at Clark.
While the two men helped Clark to settle into a seated position on the couch, Lois and Martha watched in sadness.
The scene was broken by a knock on the door. Lois' eyes widened in fear, but when she glanced through the peephole she recognized the man standing on the other side to be Jimmy Olsen. She opened the door immediately and wrapped her arms around him.
“You look so grown up,” she whispered as she hugged him.
“Well, you look just as beautiful as ever,” Jimmy said. Then stepping back from their hug, he saw the figure on the couch. “CK!” he exclaimed, moving to wrap his arms around Clark.
“Jimmy,” he said, his voice still soft. “It's good to see you.”
Jimmy laughed as he backed away. “I assure you, it's better to see you. I wasn't supposed to be dead all this time. What happened?”
Clark looked panicked for a moment, but then the others in the room told Jimmy the story Perry had concocted.
Jimmy laughed, “You wore a bullet proof vest and didn't force Lois to as well?” he asked. “Sorry, but I don't buy it. You never would have let Lois go in without one if you thought there was any chance she would get hurt.”
Everyone's eyes went to the floor. They had forgotten how well Jimmy had known Clark. Strangers may buy the story, but in reality, it was not surprising Jimmy did not.
Clark took a deep breath and then shocking everyone in the room he said, “You're right, Jim. I didn't think it would be dangerous. The reason I didn't die was because I'm Superman.”
There was gasps from everyone in the room but Jimmy who just laughed harder. “Right. And I'm Bugs Bunny. Come on, Clark. You look like you are about to fall over and you want me to believe that you're the Man of Steel.”
Lois moved to sit next to Clark. She reached over, removed his glasses, and pushed his hair back into Superman's hairstyle. “It's true, Jimmy,” she said. “But he was exposed to kryptonite yesterday.”
Jimmy sank into the seat cushions. Then looking at Lois in surprise, he said, “You knew? But you were so… so broken up about Clark's death.”
Clark's eyes found the floor, the shame apparent in his frame.
“I just found out a few months ago,” she confirmed quietly. She was almost surprised to find herself giving Clark's shoulder a squeeze, but she was so concerned with his overall health right now, she did not want him to focus on negative feelings like shame.
Jimmy looked around and finally noticing Perry, stood to give him a hug. “So you found out yesterday just before you called me,” he said.
“Well, actually, no. I knew before he was shot,” Perry said, suddenly feeling embarrassed. But then his typical confidence returned, “What did you think? I became editor of the world's greatest paper because of my knowledge of Elvis?” he asked.
“But… why didn't you say anything?” Jimmy asked him and Perry could see that Lois' eyes were focused on him as well, surely wondering the same thing.
Perry sat down quietly, placing a hand on Clark's shoulder in a show of support. “It was not my secret. And it was one worth keeping, I thought. Clark deserves as much of a private life as he can get. I guess I got used to not saying anything. I mean, Clark didn't even know I knew. I thought one of you would say something if you knew.”
Perry paused for a moment and then looked at Lois carefully. “I really did think you knew, darlin'. I would have mentioned it except that you were so upset. I thought it just didn't matter that much to you. I thought you were upset because Clark couldn't be Clark anymore. And I didn't know what to tell you. I mean, really, what sort of life could you have had being the girlfriend of a superhero? I didn't blame you for being upset.”
Lois' voice had the edge of anger to it when she asked Perry, “Why does everyone assume that that wouldn't have been enough?” Her eyes took in Clark as she spoke. Perry's speech had made her forget her earlier decision to make sure Clark wasn't upset.
Surprisingly, it was Martha who answered her, “It shouldn't have been enough, Lois. You know I think Clark should have told you the truth, but that's not because I thought that would really enable the two of you to be together. You needed to have a life, and what kind of life could you really have had in a relationship that had to be kept completely secret? And it would have been dangerous. If anyone had gotten wind of your relationship, they would have…”
“I know!” Lois nearly shouted, standing now. “I know they would have used me as leverage against Superman. But instead Clark and I were supposed to spend the last ten years miserable and alone?”
“You shouldn't have been alone, Lois,” Clark said gently. “You should be married.”
Looking at him Lois felt herself weakening as she looked in Clark's warm eyes. “How could I have married someone else when I was in love with you?”
Clark's gasp caused Lois to consider the consequences of what she said, “Not that it matters now.”
Her words did not seem to matter to Clark and Lois realized in that instant that Clark understood that she would never forgive him enough for them to be together. It was realizing she loved him that had caused the gasp, not hope that they could be together. How he could not have figured out how she felt given how depressed she had been the past ten years, she did not know. "Lunkhead,' she thought.
But somehow having the thought made her wonder – was it really true that she would never forgive him enough for them to be together? Somehow that thought made her sad. So, Lois did what she always did when there were confusing emotions to deal with. She deflected.
“We need to get you into the shower and then into bed,” she said to Clark. She used her take-charge tone. The one no one but Clark would ever argue with.
Sure enough, it was Clark to voice the complaint. “I feel much better now, Lois,” he said.
“Right, Superman,” she said, saying the epithet with derision. “You normally can stop speeding trains with one hand and today you can't sit up on my sofa without help, but you're probably absolutely fine.”
“I'm not sure I can stand in the shower right now,” Clark tried again.
“Right, but you're fine,” Lois replied sarcastically. “Look, I already need to buy Lucy a new vacuum and I need a new couch. An additional chair is not going to matter. We'll put it in the shower so you won't need to stand. We'll even put it near the wall, so you can lean against it as you shower.”
With that declaration, Lois moved to her closet to get a folding chair. Meanwhile, Perry, Jimmy, and Jonathan worked in concert to help Clark up and slowly made their way to the shower. Once they had gotten Clark settled on a chair, Perry left, and Jonathan and Jimmy help Clark remove his clothes. Lois had left them a bag with strict instructions to place all of Clark's clothes in the bag in order to throw them out.
While Clark showered, Lois borrowed a saw from Sean and started to saw her couch in half. Off Jimmy's curious look, she realized that there was still a lot he didn't know.
“So, Jimmy,” she began, “Long story short, when Clark went to the earthquake in Australia he found the area was covered in kryptonite dust. Not that we've had a chance to ask him how yet, but apparently he came back from Belize covered in the stuff. Perry and I washed it off yesterday, but he was on the couch at the time. While I wouldn't think anyone would want a couch with this huge water stain on it, I want to be sure. We can't have someone thinking they just found a free couch that's covered in kryptonite dust. If I can get it into small enough pieces, we can incinerate it.”
Jimmy nodded his head and then moved to take the saw from her. It took him ten minutes to get the couch into a mess of feathers and wood that could easily be brought to an incinerator. Lois moved to pack it into bags which she placed next to Clark's clothing.
When they heard the water stop, Jonathan and Jimmy went to bring Clark a towel and a change of clothes Martha had brought. Lois promised to be back in a few minutes and took all of the things that needed to be burned with her.
Martha, meanwhile, grabbed a phone book and began looking for carpet shampooers.
**********************************************************************
Clark slept for several more hours. This ended up being useful as in this time quite a lot got accomplished. Lois decided that this was the time to replace her couch – with all the people over, she wanted a place for them to sit. Jimmy and Perry joined her so they could also use the time to catch up.
The process went a bit faster than Lois had expected as she just did not care all that much what couch it was. She just wanted a place to sit. So when Jimmy sat down on his third couch while Lois walked around listlessly trying to focus on the topic at hand when most of her felt back in her bedroom with Clark, she was ready to randomly pick the next couch she saw. Jimmy, however, let out an excited “Oooh,” as he sat down, quickly followed by, “This is the most comfortable couch I've ever sat on.”
Lois took one look at it, decided she didn't hate it, and went to find a salesman to let them know she wanted to buy the couch and matching loveseat now. It took another half hour to fill out all the necessary paperwork for the purchase and convince the salesman that if he did not have the couch in stock such that she could take it with her now, the deal was off. While at first the salesman insisted that the only couches they had in their warehouse were to be sent to other customers, Lois made a quiet mention about writing an article on the perils of furniture shopping at local stores for the next issue of the Union-Tribune, and suddenly found herself with a couch and loveseat.
While she felt a little guilty as she thought she had probably just taken someone else's couch, she decided she needed it more than they did.
It took another hour and a half to quickly replace Lucy's vacuum cleaner and her folding chair and then get the new furniture into her apartment and return the truck she had rented for the endeavor.
While she had been out, meanwhile, Martha had managed to secure a carpet shampooer and had convinced him with some extra pay to come by this afternoon. By the time Lois, Perry, and Jimmy returned, the shampooer had come and gone. While he had told Martha and Jonathan that the furniture should not be moved back until the carpet was fully dried, as Lois did not have any place else to put the couch and loveseat, she disregarded this piece of advice.
Within four hours the apartment was settled again, but Clark was still asleep. Jonathan had been pacing in and out of Lois' bedroom checking Clark for signs of awakening and was starting to look increasingly worried.
Lois felt the residual burst of adrenaline from trying to get so much done in so little time and so had also taken to pacing. Martha had fallen asleep on Lois' new loveseat and Jimmy and Perry were talking quietly on the couch when Lois gave a gasp. Martha must have been sleeping very lightly for she awoke immediately.
When Lois continued standing with her back to them staring out over her balcony, they all moved over to where she was standing. Jimmy went to move past her to see into the street, but Lois grabbed his arm in a vice grip and pushed him back.
“Geez, Lois,” he said, rubbing his arm.
“You can't move out there,” Lois said, her voice urgent. “Look!”
Everyone peered around her, looking out onto the street. “I don't see it,” Jimmy said, still rubbing his arm.
“Look at the balcony floor,” Lois said, her tone one of awe.
Martha was the first to notice it and like Lois she gave a gasp. “Has anyone been on the balcony since we got here?” she asked.
No one responded at first, still trying to determine what they were looking for when Martha asked again, this time with a sob in her voice and a slight panicky tone. “Has anyone been on the balcony?”
Slowly everyone shook their heads no and Jonathan moved to put his arms around his wife. As he did so, from the new angle, he saw what she saw and gave a little gasp himself. “Kryptonite,” he whispered.
As soon as he said it, Perry and Jimmy saw it, too. It was slight, but there was a slight green tinge to Lois' balcony floor.
“What do we do?” Perry asked, directing his question at Martha and Jonathan.
“I don't know,” Jonathan admitted the fear clear in his voice.
Lois moved over to her living room window, drawing it wide open to look out at the ground below. “It's everywhere,” she breathed. “The whole area is covered in kryptonite dust.”
“I think that's why I've been having trouble recovering,” Clark said from behind them.
They spun around to see Clark leaning heavily against the doorway. “You should be in bed!” Lois insisted.
“I think I've slept enough for two life spans today. I need to be awake.”
Jimmy moved forward to give him a hug. “It's so good to see you, CK,” he said.
Clark laughed as he returned the hug. “Didn't we do this before?” he asked Jimmy.
“Well, yes, but you looked much more sickly then,” Jimmy explained. He pulled away from the hug and then moved an arm around Clark's waist to help him move over to the couch.
Clark made his way over slowly, leaning on Jimmy heavily, but managed to get there without looking too much worse. Sinking into the couch, he asked, “What's wrong with your couch, Lois?”
“I got a new one today,” she explained. Off Clark's confused look she continued, “We ruined the last one in trying to get the kryptonite off you. Don't you remember? I dumped water all over it.”
Clark looked at her quizzically for a moment and then said, “I do remember that vaguely. But not well. But did you pick out this new one?”
“Why?” Lois asked, confused at the question.
“Well, it's just that it's comfortable,” Clark explained.
Lois groaned, “Well, at least I know you must be feeling better,” she said.
Perry laughing at the exchange, sat down next to Clark and leaning over whispered, “Actually, Jimmy picked it out.”
“Hey! I heard that!” Lois said as she moved to take the seat on the other side of Clark.
Finally everyone had gotten settled with Martha and Jonathan on the loveseat and Jimmy on a kitchen chair and Perry moved them past the teasing and onto the more pressing issue.
“What happened?” he asked Clark.
Clark shook his head. “It was the kryptonite dust again. It was all over Belize. Lois and Mom and Dad probably told you it was in Australia?” he asked Perry and Jimmy. The two men nodded and Clark resumed his tale. “I did what I could, but I didn't want to spend too much time there. Has anyone seen the coverage? Did the media question why I didn't save any houses?”
Jonathan shook his head. “We watched most of the coverage on late night LNN at the Witchita airport last night. No one noticed at all, and everyone was extremely grateful that you had managed to save all the villagers. There was no mention of you taking off before the tornado hit.”
“Well, there wasn't a lot of time in between, so maybe they didn't realize it,” Clark said. “Once I got all the people out, I wanted to get away from the kryptonite. I flew around the area a little to see how far spread the dust was, but it appeared to be everywhere.”
“Over all of Belize?” Lois interrupted.
“Not just Belize,” Clark said, “but parts of Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras as well. I was flying concentric circles over the area, but never got wide enough to see the edges of it. At some point I felt like I had to give up and head back home or I may never get out of there. By the time I reached Mexico City it was gone. But then as I got closer and closer to San Diego, it appeared again.
“I was worried that there was something about to happen there and I wouldn't be able to help, but now I don't think that's it.”
“What do you think it is?” Perry asked.
“Well the kryptonite dust was at both the Australian earthquake and the Belize tornado. While I'm not sure how someone would have gotten it there so soon, they are both places that once the news about the natural disasters striking reached me, it would be clear I'd appear,” Clark explained.
“And there's no need to know about natural disasters here,” Lois picked up Clark's thread. “Everyone knows I get the Superman exclusives and so it's reasonable to assume Superman will be showing up here.”
“Exactly,” Clark said with a slight smile.
“So,” Jimmy summarized, “someone is making sure you are exposed to kryptonite by leaving it places where you are likely to be.”
“But just how are they getting it to these locations (aside from Lois' apartment) so quickly?” Perry asked.
“Unless they are somehow orchestrating the natural disasters,” Lois said.
“And how do they have such easy access to enough kryptonite to cover an entire country?” Jonathan asked.
“And,” Martha joined in, “why is someone trying to expose Superman to kryptonite?”
“I think the question you mean to ask, Mom,” Clark corrected, “is who wants Superman dead.”
Jonathan and Jimmy both gasped and Lois reached out to grab Clark's hand, but no one said anything.
