I’m sorry. My life has gotten a bit busy lately and so I haven’t been online in awhile. Beth mentioned something about the boards being down in one of her emails, but somehow I didn’t quite pick up on it until I went to try to post this and found them down. So, this took a bit longer than expected.
I had intended to pick up the pace of my posting as writing was going very well, but unfortunately, that changed pretty quickly. Like I said, life has gotten busy. As a result, I’ve written very little in the last couple of weeks. I’m hoping that things will get back on an even keel pretty quickly, and so am going to continue to aim for once a week posts, but my apologies in advance if I don’t actually make that. I have barely had time to turn my computer on in the past couple of weeks and can’t be sure that this is not going to become the new norm.
Thanks again to Beth and Mary Beth for all their help. This chapter, as with all the others, is much more coherent than it would have been without them.
As soon as he could, Clark snuck away from the newsroom and flew back to Smallville. He felt this strange mix of emotions that he was having trouble dealing with. On the one hand, this man could fly, like him. And they looked alike as well. And he was wearing his family’s crest. It could be a relative. And that was exciting – to maybe learn something about where he came from and how he came to have these strange abilities. On the other hand, this man had seemed so different than Clark. So sure of himself, so… well, so out there. Clark was always cautious, always hiding who he was. It was hard to imagine an existence where he did not do that.
So maybe he was not really like this man at all. Maybe even if they were related, they would never be able to understand each other.
And then there was Lois. Lois, who looked at him with disdain and looked at the flying man with awe. She called him a hack from Nowheresville and had named the flying man Superman. It was childish and stupid, but Clark was jealous. Lois had fallen for this Superman as quickly as Clark had fallen for her. And he had thought that if he stayed in Metropolis, maybe, given time, Lois would get to know him enough to move past scorn and onto friendship and maybe even love. But that did not seem at all possible with Superman around. She did not seem to have eyes for anyone else when he was in the room. It made Clark a little sick to his stomach. It was worse than seeing the way she looked at Luthor.
He landed in the cornfield with a thump, but his parents did not come out to greet him. He could tell from the lights in the living room that they were still up, though.
He entered the farmhouse to find them both glued to the television. His mother looked up at him as he came in, her eyes wide. “He’s wearing your family’s crest,” she said simply.
Clark nodded, and sat down on the couch beside her. Absently, she leaned over to take his hand in hers. “Lois is star struck,” he said and neither of his parents could miss the bitterness in his voice.
“Well,” Martha said, “he does fly. That does tend to take most women’s breath away. Just give her time for the effect to wear off,” she said.
They were all startled by a sound outside and Clark got up to look out the window. “He’s here,” he said, sounding both excited and a bit afraid.
“Whose here?” Jonathan asked.
“Superman,” Clark answered back.
Martha and Jonathan exchanged a puzzled glance, and watched their son go to answer the door.
“Hi,” Superman said, his voice quiet. “Can I come in?”
“Why are you here?” Clark answered, and Martha winced at the slightly hostile sound to her son’s voice.
“I really feel like I should explain inside,” Superman answered and although he looked somewhat suspicious, Clark moved aside to let him in.
Superman came into the living room with a warm, engaging smile. “Mom… I mean, Martha,” he said as he held his hand out.
Martha gasped. She looked back and forth from Superman to her son. “He looks like you,” she finally said to her son.
Superman dropped his arm. “Maybe I should explain without the introductions. I know who you all are anyway.”
“How?” Jonathan asked, and like his son, he sounded suspicious.
Superman took a deep breath. “My name is Clark Kent,” he explained and stopped for a moment when the three occupants of the room all gasped. “I wish I could say I was a relative or something. I’m sure that’s sort of what you are hoping for, but I’m not. I’m you, or sort of,” he said, directing the last comment to Clark.
Clark finally entered the room fully and sank back down the couch. He motioned to the remaining chair in the room and Superman sat down.
“I’m from a parallel universe,” Superman said. Jonathan gave him a hard stare and Martha giggled a bit. “I know it’s hard to believe,” Superman continued, “but considering the fact that your son can fly, I would think you’d be more open minded than others.”
This did the trick and the Kents all looked on with interest.
“I think if I gave you my life story, it would sound pretty similar to yours,” he said to Clark. “At least that’s what I’ve been told. I landed in a spaceship in Shuster’s Field, the Kents found me and raised me. I went to MidWest U on an academic scholarship where I studied journalism. After college, I traveled the world selling freelance articles and then I landed in Metropolis. I’m told that’s where our stories differ. While apparently we have both always dreamed of living in Metropolis and writing for the Planet, I moved to Metropolis intent on finding a way to stay there and got a staff job immediately. I’m told you thought you’d leave and just got a permanent job there tonight after the Prometheus story.”
“Told by whom?” Clark asked.
“In my universe, Lois and I are the founders of a utopian society,” Superman started.
“You and Lois?” Clark asked.
“Utopian?” Martha asked at the same time.
“Well, it’s not utopian yet, Mo… I mean, Martha. Apparently our descendents go on to create Utopia. And yes, I know it’s hard to believe right now, Clark, but I am currently married to Lois Lane.” Superman paused for a moment, his face suddenly awash in happiness. “It will be nine years in a month.”
“Anyway,” he cleared his head, “some members of this society are tasked with protecting it at all costs. And they have taken to doing this in other universes as well when they can. And that’s where you come in. In my world, I decided to become this,” he said, gesturing down at his costume, “and arrived on the scene at the same time I did here tonight. But you did not, and according to calculations from the Protectors, even if you did, it would be too difficult for you.”
“What do you mean ‘too difficult’?” Clark asked, feeling slightly insulted.
Superman sighed, “I don’t really know. All I can tell you is that I know you are struggling with what to do about helping others and staying in one place. And I’m going to help with that. For now, you can leave the helping others thing to me and just concentrate on developing a life in Metropolis.”
“Why would you do this?” Clark asked.
Superman looked a bit sad, “It hasn’t been all easy going in my world either and at some point a Clark from another universe came to help me out. This is sort of my way of returning the favor. Besides, Herb promises me that when I’m no longer needed here, he’ll return me to my home before he actually took me, so neither Lois nor I nor our children will have any memory of being apart.”
“So,” Clark tried to understand all of what was being said. “You are going to stay here and help people while I build a life in Metropolis and then one day I’ll decide I want to become…” he gestured at the spandex suit, “that, and you’ll leave?”
“Basically,” Superman said.
“But where will you live?” Martha asked.
Superman smiled warmly, touched that this woman had considered him. But then he suspected she was very much like his own mother. But then his smile faltered. “Well, that’s a bit tricky. I was hoping…” he paused to look at Clark, but then looked away embarrassed. “I was hoping I could stay with you.”
“With me?” Clark asked. “Have you seen where I’m staying?”
“Well, no, but if things are supposed to be similar to my life, you’re staying at that seedy hotel… I can’t recall the name, but it’s in Hobbs Bay?” Superman said. “What I remember best was the phone. Who puts a payphone in a hotel?”
Clark could not help but smile. He had wondered the same thing. “Yes, the Apollo. So you can see…”
“But you can’t be staying there,” Superman interjected. “Now that you are staying in Metropolis, you’ll need someplace permanent to stay.”
Clark nodded. “I was going to start looking for someplace tomorrow,” he admitted. “I guess I can find something with an extra bedroom.”
“And a balcony that does not have a view,” Superman added, softly. “Sorry, but it would be best if I could take off from there without too much notice.”
“A balcony that doesn’t have a view?” Clark asked, wondering where he would find that.
Superman nodded. “If our world’s are really that much alike, I can help you find one. I stayed in a place on Clinton Street for a couple of years. It was a one bedroom place with a balcony without a view, but the apartment across from mine had the same layout with a second bedroom.”
Clark nodded in thought. “How much would this be?” he asked. “Perry didn’t offer me much to start given my limited background in journalism.”
Superman shrugged. “We’ll figure something out. My place was a disaster area so I got it really cheap. Hopefully the place across the way will be similar here.”
The Kents and Superman sat in silence for a few moments, trying to sort out all of the thoughts running through their heads. Finally, his voice hesitant and soft, Clark asked, “So you’re married to Lois?”
Superman smiled broadly. “I’m a bit older than you,” he said. “I’d guess about ten years. I’m thirty-eight?”
Clark nodded, “Close. I’m twenty-seven.”
“In my universe,” Superman continued, “it took us two years, but Lois and I did get together. But, of course, I’m not sure how different this universe is.”
“So, Lois and I may never get together,” Clark noted bitterly.
“I doubt it,” Superman said. “If that was the case, there’d be no reason for me to be here.”
“You said there are other universes?” Jonathan finally spoke.
“Lots of them, I’ve been told,” Superman said. “But I only know of one other. That one is very different from either of ours.”
“How?” Clark asked.
“That Clark’s parents died when he was ten,” Superman said and smiled softly when Clark reached out to grab his mother’s hand. “He still moved to Metropolis and he got engaged to Lana Lang.”
“Lana?” Jonathan asked, the dislike clear in his voice. “The Lana here was never good enough for my boy.”
Clark reached over to place a hand on his dad’s arm in appreciation.
Superman smiled, “I think that Clark’s father would have said the same thing about that Lana. According to Lois, my Lois has spent a fair amount of time with that Clark,” he explained, “Lana never really accepted Clark for who he was and never let him do anything to help.”
“Sounds like Lana,” Clark said.
Superman grimaced, “Mine, too. Although she wasn’t that bad. Just scared of what she didn’t understand.”
“So what happened to that Clark?” Jonathan asked. “Did he live his life in secrecy?”
Superman chuckled, “No, my tornado of a wife happened. She told Clark about me, about Superman, and that Clark decided to do it. One day he met my wife, the next he was Superman.”
“What happened to Lana?” Clark asked.
“She left him,” Superman said sadly. “And it got out that Superman was Clark Kent. I haven’t seen him in a while and Lois knows him better than me, but he has a rather sad existence.”
“What about his Lois?” Martha asked.
“Before we showed up in Metropolis, all of our Lois’ did a story undercover in the Congo. His Lois never came back.”
“So he has no Lois?” Clark asked, sounding sad.
“Well, Herb, that’s the guy who brought me here,” Superman explained, deciding there was no need to tell Clark that Herb was actually H.G. Wells, “Herb said that since Lois was not found dead, they may still find her. But when I asked him when I saw him now if she was found yet, he wouldn’t tell me. We’re not supposed to know too much about the other universes.”
“That poor boy,” Martha said.
Clark nodded in agreement. “It makes my life seem pretty good. Even if Lois can’t decide between Lex Luthor and you and doesn’t even know I’m alive.”
Superman laughed. “Give it time, Clark. I’m certain that the Protectors would not have asked me to come here if it would not help lead this world to a utopian society. And that can only happen with you and Lois together. So, I suspect she’ll notice you eventually.”
Martha smiled, “It’s only been a few days, Clark.”
Clark blushed, remembering that he had not wanted his parents to know how much he already cared for this woman. But then today had not gone at all the way he might have planned.
“So you can’t tell me where I come from then?” Clark asked Superman.
Superman nodded his head, looking like he understood Clark’s frustration completely. “I can’t, but I can tell you that if your world is as similar to mine as I’ve been told, you won’t need to wait too long to find out.”
“There are answers then?” Jonathan asked, sounding as eager as Clark felt.
“Yes, there are,” Superman said softly. “And while I only know how I felt, I can tell you that I found them very satisfying.”
There was silence for a moment before Superman got up. “Well, I’m sure you want some time alone,” he said.
Clark got up as well. “I’ll start looking for a place tomorrow,” he said.
“No… well, if you have time. No rush. And start at that place on Clinton St. It was a nice place to live and convenient if the place across the way is available.”
“Where will you stay before that?” Martha asked. Off Superman’s shrug, she glanced at Jonathan. “Why don’t you stay here until Clark has room for you?”
Clark was torn between feeling worried that he was going to lose all the women in his life to this larger than life superhero to feeling grateful that his mother was the woman that she was. He looked up when he felt Superman’s gaze on him and knew that the other man was trying to determine how he felt.
He plastered a smile to his face to show he was fine with this development and looked Superman in the eye. He felt good about this decision when Superman smiled. “I’ll come back in a couple of hours, though. Give you a chance to talk first.”
Clark smiled genuinely in response. He just needed to remember that this man was here to help him. He did seem legitimately kind and helpful.
