Lois fell into bed, exhausted. It had been surprisingly easy breaking into Weis' office and with the help of the blueprint Clark found, it also did not take too long to find what they were looking for.
Still, it had been a long night. They had gotten back to Perry's at close to two in the morning, and then had decided to call Henderson. He had come right over after calling Dan Perrelli. Henderson and Dan got to Perry's by 2:30 and had stayed for an hour and a half as Lois and Clark shared what they had found. And what they had found was good.
“Can I see that again?” Dan asked, looking at the paper in Clark's hand.
“You can have it,” Clark clarified. “As long as Lois and I can get a copy later for our article.”
Henderson rolled his eyes, but Dan smiled, “Of course. You found it.” Then, taking the paper from Clark he read over it once again. “So the nuclear weapons are being stored in Australia,” he said. “I guess that's not too surprising given that that was where he used them.”
“And the fact that the area is so sparsely populated no one would notice,” Clark said.
“This makes finding the evidence a bit easier,” Henderson said. “I'll place a call to Inspector Kelly. With these coordinates laid out, I can't imagine it will take much time for him to find them.”
“Maybe you should do that now?” Clark suggested. “It must be about 6pm in Whyalla now.”
Henderson nodded as he went to the phone. “Remind me to tell Perry I'll pay him back. This is going to cost a small fortune,” he said to Lois and Clark as he flipped through his notebook for the phone number. Finding it, Henderson dialed the phone, and Lois, Clark, and Dan were quiet as Henderson talked with Inspector Kelly.
A few moments later, Henderson hung up the phone, handing the paper with the location of the nuclear weapons back to Dan.
“So, according to this documentation from Caragy, the day after tomorrow, Deucalion will be in a position to reach it easily with a missile launched from Australia,” Dan said.
“Yes,” Lois agreed, “and the wreckage would land in the Pacific Ocean.”
“I guess Weis considers it just a warning,” Clark said. “Only the thirty inhabitants of Deucalion die, but no other casualties.” His voice was bitter and Lois reached out to grasp his hand, but then caught herself.
“Well,” Dan said, “overall, this is good news. If Inspector Kelly finds the place where the weapons are stored, we won't need to worry about finding a way of stopping the missile without Superman's help.”
The three nodded in agreement. “Lois and I will make sure Superman knows,” he told Dan.
Dan nodded in agreement and Lois hid a smile. It was amazing how it felt to be on the inside of the secret. Explaining Clark's involvement had been easy as they had mentioned him the last time they saw Dan. At the time, they explained his absence away by saying he was getting over a cold and thus had gone to bed rather than staying up so late. But now, Clark had made a miraculous recovery and did not seem to have the slightest cold symptom.
Surprisingly, Dan had not even questioned where Superman was which Lois found odd given that Superman had not been seen on a rescue in several days now. But, she reminded herself, perhaps not everyone wondered what Superman did in his spare time.
“So when is Inspector Kelly getting back to us?” Dan asked Henderson.
“He said it would take a few hours to get out there, so it will likely be mid-morning for us before we hear back,” Henderson informed them.
“Does this mean that Weis will be tried in Australia?” Lois asked.
Dan shook his head, “Perhaps, but Bill here has a laundry list of more local crimes he is linked to. With the information you found, we have the justification for doing a real search and should be able to bring other US charges against him as well. Plus we'll be able to bring Skagle in as well. We've been keeping tabs and he apparently gave up hope of Superman showing up for the monsoon. He landed at LAX yesterday afternoon.”
“That's great,” Clark said as he turned to Lois who was wearing a matching smile.
**********************************************************************
Lois looked around nervously. She felt like she should offer to help, but she hardly wanted to ruin the dinner Pam had prepared. Besides, Clark was helping Pam.
Her nervousness abated somewhat when a young boy walked into the room. He was about five years old and was adorable. He had Jimmy's boyish good looks, with his mother's hazel eyes.
“Hi,” Lois said as the boy looked around quizzically.
“Where's daddy?” he asked her.
“I think he just went upstairs to get your brother. You're CK, right?” she asked the boy.
He nodded, and Lois smiled at him. “Well, it's nice to meet you, CK. I'm Lois.”
The doorbell rang at that moment and Lois saw Jimmy go to answer it with a small boy in his arms.
Lois got down on the floor and pulling over a toy truck she found under the table, she ran it over CK's leg. He laughed, sitting down beside her and within moments the two were the best of friends.
“Well, I never thought I'd see the day,” came the voice from the doorway.
Lois looked up to see Perry and Alice standing in the entranceway. “Alice,” she said, ignoring Perry's comment, as she got up and went to give the woman a hug.
“It's so good to see you, honey,” Alice said, engulfing Lois in her arms.
“Oh,” Lois said as she pulled away. “Your place is a mess. Clark and I weren't expecting you back until tomorrow and we didn't have a chance to clean up yet.”
“No problem,” Perry said. “We'll make sure to leave early enough to give you and Clark enough time tonight.”
“Nonsense,” Alice said giving Perry a dirty look, although the smile on her face told him that she knew he was kidding. “We completely understand.”
Lois noticed someone pulling on the leg of her pants at that point and looking down saw CK looking up at her hopefully. “Can't we play?” he asked her mournfully.
Lois smiled, “Of course,” she said as she got back down to join him.
“Me, too!” cried the boy in Jimmy's arms. “Me want to play, too.”
“Well, it's okay with me if it's okay with CK,” Lois said. When CK nodded his head in agreement, Jimmy put his youngest son down.
The three passed the toy truck between them, Lois supplying appropriate noises along the way.
“I never pictured you as being good with kids, Lois,” Jimmy said.
“What do you think I was saying?” Perry asked, referencing his comment on entering the house.
“Hey,” Lois looked up at them, her voice indignant. “I spent the last several years taking care of my niece. I'm good with kids,” she declared.
“No, Lois. You are wonderful with kids,” Clark corrected as he came out of the kitchen with Pam behind.
He said hello to Alice and a few moments later everyone was sitting around the table eating.
Dinner was spent on chitchat as everyone caught each other up on what they had been doing in the past ten years. Lois noticed Clark was quiet during this conversation. He asked questions but said little about his life. And then she felt badly, realizing this was as he had little to contribute to such a conversation. But Clark did not look sad. He was in his element, catching up with old friends. CK and Billy took to him as quickly as they had taken to her and regaled him with stories of their little league games.
When dinner was winding down, Lois got up to help Pam clean up the dishes. Clark got up as well, but Pam shooed him saying he had helped enough with dinner. While Lois and Pam cleaned up, Clark chatted with Alice while Perry and Jimmy played with the boys. Then Pam served the boys dishes of ice cream and shortly after they were sent to bed.
The room felt more serious without the boys running around and Lois was a bit relieved when Pam and Clark went to the kitchen to make coffee. Pam had bought some shortcake and whipping cream and the two were assembling strawberry shortcake. Everyone sat at the table and ate in silence for a moment before Clark spoke up.
“So, Jim,” he said, smiling, “I hear you still do a bit of investigating now and again.”
Perry and Pam looked at Jimmy in surprise. “What's this about, honey?” Pam asked him and Jimmy blushed fiercely.
“It was just this once,” he insisted. “I wouldn't have done it for anyone else,” he said to Clark.
Clark felt a bit badly about teasing him. “I'm sorry, Jimmy. I was just teasing.”
“I know,” Jimmy said smiling slightly.
“So?” Pam prodded.
“I broke into Mike Skagle's office while I was out in California,” he said.
Perry smiled, proud, but Pam looked confused. “The guy running for governor?” she asked.
“Senator,” Jimmy corrected, but then he looked concerned. Lois did not understand the confusion she saw on his face, but Clark did as he spoke up.
“Pam, Jimmy knows something that is a secret. Nearly everyone who knows it is in this room. And I know Jimmy is struggling with keeping his word that he wouldn't tell anyone and not wanting to keep secrets from you.” Clark turned to Jimmy, “I guess we should have talked about this before, Jim, but I don't expect you to keep secrets from your wife for me.”
Jimmy immediately looked relieved and smiled. “Thanks, CK,” he said, his voice quiet. Lois reached over to takes Clark's hand, feeling strangely proud of him for realizing that this was not a time to protect his secret at all costs. He really did seem to have started to come to terms with the fact that sometimes there were things that were more important.
“What is it?” Pam asked, concerned now.
“It's important, Pam,” Jimmy said, his voice quiet. “We really can't tell anyone.”
“Okay,” she said, sounding a bit panicked now. “What is it? Is something wrong?”
“No,” Clark piped up. “Nothing is wrong.” Lois snorted beside him, but Clark ignored her. “I'm Superman.”
There was a moment of silence before Pam laughed. “I should have known,” she said. “Jimmy put you up to this, didn't he? I was wondering when it was going to happen.”
“When what was going to happen?” Lois asked.
“The prank. Jimmy goes into withdrawal or something when he's been away, so it's always bigger. I should have realized he'd rope one of you into it.”
Clark reached up to remove his glasses and placed them on the table and then pushed his hair back into a style more like Superman. He knew it would not be perfect without the hair gel, but hopefully it would be close enough. “I'm sorry, but this isn't a joke.”
Pam, however, continued to laugh. “I have to admit, hon,” she said to Jimmy. “This is one of your better ones. Clark does look a lot like Superman.”
Clark walked into the kitchen and came back out with a steak knife. “I wish I could do something more convincing, but hope this will work.” Lois closed her eyes as Clark moved the knife over the skin of his arm. She knew Bernard had had some trouble getting the needle in to Clark's arm yesterday, but he was able to do it. What if Clark was not invulnerable yet?
However, that concern was erased a moment later when Pam gasped. “Superman helped me to make dinner?” she asked, her voice the faintest of whispers.
Jimmy reached out to take her hand, “I'm sorry, honey.”
Pam looked at him and giggled a bit. “You named our son after Superman.”
“No,” Jimmy said, looking up at Clark. “I named our son after Clark Kent. It wasn't Superman that led me to you; it was Clark.” Clark smiled at Jimmy gratefully.
Pam looked confused for a moment, but then smiled, “And I guess Superman didn't really help me make dinner?” she asked Clark. “Did he?”
Clark shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I only think of myself being Superman when I do something "super', so no.”
Pam nodded her head, clearly absorbing the fact that the old friend of her husband she had just met was in fact an international hero.
“But something's wrong,” she finally said.
“What?” Alice asked, voicing everyone else's confusion.
“Well, first off, Jimmy went breaking and entering into someone's office. Not part of his usual routine. Lois made a sound of protest when Clark said everything was fine. And Clark said he couldn't do something any more convincing than show that he couldn't be cut.”
“Wow,” Lois said. “You should apply for a job on the I-team at the Planet.”
Pam smiled, “I can't write to save my life. I've fantasized about a job with the FBI, though. So what's up?”
“I was exposed to a rock popularly called kryptonite,” he explained. “It's a meteorite from Krypton and I don't react well to it. It generally makes me weak and sick.”
“How were you exposed to it?” Pam asked. Lois explained what they knew then, and with Clark's help let Jimmy and Perry as well in on what they had uncovered in the past few days.
“Well, this is great,” Jimmy said. “We have the proof needed to bring Weis and Skagle down and Clark is slowly getting better.”
“Yes,” Clark said. “With your help, I think we are in good shape.”
“What's wrong?” Pam asked. “You don't sound as happy about that as I'd expect.”
“Getting Skagle and Weis behind bars is a great development,” Lois said, “and Clark can finally be Clark again. But his ability to be Superman has been compromised.”
“But, why?” Alice asked. “With Weis behind bars there'll be no more kryptonite dust.”
“Except for what is already out there,” Clark reminded her.
The mood around the table which had been jubilant a moment before with the exception of Lois and Clark now fell. “I can still help,” Clark said. “But my trips to Australia, Belize, and southern California and the Baja coast of Mexico will need to be limited for awhile.”
Lois gasped slightly. She had not thought through the implications fully before, but Clark was right. He would not be able to spend a lot of time in San Diego. How would she see him?
“There's no way to get rid of it?” Pam asked.
“Well,” Clark said. “Bernard found a way, but it's too expensive for it to be feasible for capturing what's out there.”
“What is it?” Jimmy asked.
“It turns out titanium binds with kryptonite,” Lois explained, “much like a magnet. But to get rid of all the kryptonite dust out there, we'd need to be able to buy a large piece of titanium, attach it to a plane, and fly over all the areas the dust was spread.”
“Then what?” Jimmy asked. “What would you do with the kryptonite covered piece of titanium.”
“If I was fully recovered first, I could probably throw it beyond the Earth's atmosphere before it dampened my powers too much. But I think that's the least of our problems.”
“What problems?” Jimmy asked. “Titanium isn't that hard to come by. And neither is a private plane.”
Lois laughed, “You have one, Jimmy?”
“Well, no, but we could rent one and Alice could fly it.”
“Alice?” Clark asked, glancing at the older woman.
Alice smiled, “Well, I could. It's been a couple of years, but my pilot's license is still valid.”
“You're a pilot?” Lois asked, amazed.
“Well, I needed something to keep me busy while Perry was working at the Planet. After the boys grew up, I got bored. I'd always wanted to learn how to fly, so I did. Like I said, I don't get to do it much as it's expensive to get a plane, but I love it.”
“Thanks, Alice,” Clark said. “But I'm not sure how we'd come by a plane or titanium.”
Jimmy got up rather suddenly and placed a hand on Pam's shoulder. She looked up at him and then turned to the table, “Excuse us for a moment.”
Neither Pam nor Jimmy were particularly quiet when they began talking in the kitchen. “James Olsen,” Pam reprimanded him. “I can't believe you even feel like you need to ask me this.”
Jimmy laughed, the noise sounding sweet to the eavesdroppers in the living room. “That's why I love you,” he said. Lois smiled at the sound. Jimmy really was all grown up.
“The titanium and the plane rental are not a problem,” Jimmy announced as he and Pam exited the kitchen. “Pam and I will pay for them.”
“What?” Clark asked. “Look, I really appreciate it, but I can't ask you to do that.”
Pam looked at him with a smile. “I didn't hear you ask. We offered. Actually, I take that back. We insist. Look, we have the money. And the world needs Superman. You have to let us do this. It would be selfish not to.”
Lois smiled at the logic. It was hard not to like Pam. Clark had tears in his eyes as he gave Jimmy and Pam a hug. “Thank you,” he whispered and then repeated it a moment later.
He turned to face Lois, Alice, and Perry as well. “I… Just thank you to all of you really. I couldn't have made it through the last few days without all of your help.”
“No need to thank us, son,” Perry said. “You're like family to us. We're all just glad to have you back.”
A tear slipped down Clark's cheek and Lois got up to place her hand in his. Clark looked down at her with a look of wonderment in his eyes. “Yes,” she whispered to him. “All of us are glad to have you back.”
As a note, to make sure it is clear that very few good ideas are mine, it was my husband's idea to find some way of eliminating the kryptonite that took a lot of money so that Jimmy could pay for it. I know there are some people who are not exactly fans of Jimmy, but I've always liked him and seen him as a loyal friend to both Clark and Superman. And with Lois already doing so much to help Clark and Perry being the one to find him covered in kryptonite, I really liked the idea that Jimmy can play his part, too and solving this problem is something that is done as a group, not just by Lois and Clark.
