Sorry for the delay! That Real Life can really get ya sometimes. Warning: There's a bit of a WHAM at the end of this part--Lois Lane attracts trouble, what can I say. It's not too graphic, but it may be shocking for some gentle readers.
Anyway, enjoy! And feedback always much appreciated.
From last time...
The phone rang and Kal jerked. He looked around the room. "Hello?" he called. It rang again as Lois pulled away to answer it.
"Hello?" she said into the receiver, watching as Kal stared after her.
"Lois? It's Clark."
"Clark!" Kal must have overheard. "Clark," he said again, pointing at himself.And now...
Lois put one hand over the receiver. "No honey, you are Kal." She pointed to Kal. "And, er, this is Clark." She gestured towards the phone. Now he's going to think all phones are called 'Clark.' She stifled a giggle.
Teaching English was tough.
"Is there someone with you? I just got back to the office. Perry says your nephew is visiting?"
"Uh, yeah. Actually I need to talk to you about that. Can you come over, Clark?"
"Clark!" Kal pointed at himself again.
"No, you're--oh, hang on." She turned her attention back to the phone. "Look, something huge has happened. A plot against Superman."
"What? Lois are you alright?" The panic on the other end of the line was evident.
"No, it's nothing like that. I think I've foiled it, but Superman isn't out of the woods yet. I need to talk with you in person. Can you come over now?"
"Sure, I'll--actually wait. I can't. My parents are coming into town and I'm supposed to, eh, meet them at the airport. Later this evening?"
Lois nodded. As much as she wanted to keep Kal's presence under wraps, something about having the Kents around was comforting. She'd met them when they'd been in town to see Metropolis, shortly after Clark moved here. They had been so kind and patient, so encouraging of their son. Watching Clark talk and laugh with them had unnerved Lois at first.
Then she realized why--jealousy. Obviously Clark had been well-loved when he was young. If anyone was, the Kents seemed born to care for children. "Actually, why don't I meet you at your place?" Maybe they could look after Kal while Clark and Lois figured a way out of this mess.
"Sounds good. I'll see you in an hour?"
"Perfect." The line went dead. How was she going to make it though an hour? Kal looked up at her expectantly. What did you do with little kids? Feed them, water them, sing to them? Well, that's what you did with house plants anyway. And even Lois accepted she was notoriously bad at keeping those alive. At least he'd stopped crying.
"Hungry?" She rubbed her belly. "Come on." She took his hand and led him to the kitchen. "Let's see what we have here."
"Mmm, mmm, apple pie." Kal pointed at the stove. The matter-of-fact way he said it had Lois cracking up.
"Who taught you that?" She choked between giggles. "I don't have any 'mmm, mmm, apple pie' in there, but let's see what's in here."
She opened the fridge and scrutinized it with trepidation. The last time she'd gone grocery shopping was when Clark had come over for an all-night session of digging into the background of a crooked DA. The search had come to nothing, as did the remains of their dinner. She opened up a tupperware container to find stone-hard pasta sporting long hair.
"Maybe we should order pizza."
After placing the call, an idea struck. Lois pulled out a photo album from under her coffee table. "How would you like to see future you?" She patted the seat beside her and Kal sat down. She turned to the first entry in the album--a clipping of the first article she'd written on Superman. The one that had given him his name.
She couldn't help but grin whenever she saw it. Something about his picture with that name, and her byline. She felt a part of him somehow. Like she had a part in shaping his larger-than-life existence on earth. "This is you." She pointed at the picture.
Kal pointed to the 'S' emblem on Superman's chest. "El," he said.
"No, that's an 'S'. She traced it with her finger. Say 'S'."
"El." He ran a finger down the side of Superman's face, his eyes squinting. "Jor-El?"
Lois sighed. More Kryptonese. Then it clicked. "El? Like Kal-El? Is that what the symbol means?"
He looked up at her, then pointed at Superman again. "Disti Jor-El?"
Lois shrugged. "I'll take that as a yes."
She showed him another article. The image showed Superman waving to the group of reporters that had gathered outside EPRAD. Inset was an artist's rendering of a meteor. "Nightfall. Now that was a dark time," she paused. "No pun intended." She pointed at the meteor. "You saved us all then. Nobody doubted you were here to help after that."
She looked over at Kal. He stared up at her blankly, then pointed at the meteor, as if to encourage her to continue. What would happen, if she couldn't find a way to get him home? If he never grows up to become Superman, to destroy Nightfall? Was there some alternate history, rushing down the timeline to overtake the one she was on? Some reality in which humanity was snuffed out that day? Not that she would have lived to see it, she realized with a jerk. She'd have been blown to bits by the bomb on Prometheus.
The doorbell rang, and it took Lois a minute to leave her musings and recognize the sound. Pizza was here. She paid and motioned for Kal to follow her into the kitchen. She set the pizza on the table and opened it. Kal climbed onto a chair to see inside, then scrunched his nose.
"Don't worry," Lois nodded as she pulled down two plates. "You're going to love it."
Kal was on his third slice of pizza when the phone rang again. This time Kal pointed at the phone. "Hello?" he said around a mouthful of cheese and bread.
Lois answered, and was surprised to hear the voice of Jonathon. "Hi there, Lois. Clark asked me to call and let you know we're back at his apartment. He's in the kitchen helping Martha find a pie pan. Mmm, mmm, apple pie--I can't wait."
"What?" Something about what he said struck her, but her attention diverted when Kal dropped his crust on the floor, then attempted to pick it up and eat it. She grabbed it from his hand, shaking her head as she threw it away.
"I said Martha's making apple pie. The best there is too--she has a secret family recipe that she won't even tell me!"
"Sounds wonderful, Jonathon. We'll be there shortly."
"We?"
"You'll see." She replaced the receiver and grabbed her keys. "Come on, kiddo. It's time to meet Clark."
Kal's mouth was full again, but she faintly heard him chirp, "Clark!"
---
It wasn't until they'd entered the alley that Lois realized she'd made a mistake. Clark's apartment wasn't in the best part of town, but it was fine to walk there by day. At night, however, the city's slime leaked out onto the streets, and a particularly oily bit had just slipped into the alley behind her. Lois reached into her purse and fished around for her mace. Why did she keep so much junk in here??
Footsteps approached fast. She turned her head a bit. He was right on her tail--was that a flash of metal? She stopped short and kicked her right foot firmly behind her, planting a tall heel in the guy's thigh.
"Ah! B****!" he groaned as Lois grabbed Kal's arm to force him to run with her, but the man grabbed her other arm, causing her to spin around instead. The blurred image of a gun rose to point right between her eyes. "Don't move, you little whore. Try something like that again, and one of us is gonna end up dead." He smiled, lowering the gun to point at Kal.
"No!" She moved to step in front of him, but he shook his head wildly.
"Don't move, lady!"
Kal's eyes darted between the man, the gun, and Lois. Confusion creased his brow, but it was obvious he knew something was wrong.
"Don't hurt him, please." She thrust her purse out in front of her. "Take it, just leave him alone." She needed to call for Superman. Her eyes stung with tears. Stay focused, Lane. Was Kal invulnerable yet? Could bullets hurt him?
"Oh, that's not what I'm after." His smile seemed to ooze as his gazed slipped down her body.
She wanted to try another kick, get the gun out of his hands. But she couldn't risk it, not with Kal here. And if she called for Superman--no, it was too dangerous. He wouldn't get here in time to stop a point-blank shot.
He took a step towards them when a bright blast of heat and light forced Lois to turn away. She stumbled away from the heat, only to turn and see the man had caught on fire. He dropped to the ground screaming, rolling to put out the flames. They seemed to be dying away quickly. Lois picked Kal up and ran.
