Thanks, as always, go to Alisha, Beth, Nancy and CarolynK.
There is something in this section that does contradict something Clark says in LtL, but doesn't really change anything [see note at the bottom] and will be edited in LtL.
Look for the MWF posting schedule to continue at this point
. I think we're looking at 15-18 total parts, but we'll have to see
. You know how muses go...
*****
Chapter 5
*****
Perry looked around, puzzled, as the room warmed up. "How did that happen? It warmed up in here in the last few seconds."
"I did it." Clark nodded to the seating area in the middle of the room. "Have a seat everyone and I'll explain everything." Once they were seated, he began his story from the beginning again. "In 1966, there was a meteor shower in Smallville, Kansas. One or more of the larger meteors hit the town hall, destroying it."
"That was one of our trivia questions last night," Jimmy interjected, as he pulled Lucy a little closer.
"Don't interrupt, Jim. Let Clark tell his story." Perry frowned his direction.
Jimmy shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry, CK." He leaned back in the oversized chair and pulled the blanket closer around them.
Clark took a deep breath as Lucy saw Lois rest her head on Clark's shoulder. "That was the night that my parents found me in Schuster's Field. I was in a small spacecraft, wrapped in a blanket. My parents followed one of the meteors and found me instead. My parents had been unable to have children, despite years of trying and the best help that doctors could give them in that day and age. When they found me, they weren't sure if I was from another planet or maybe a Cold War experiment from the U.S.S.R., but they didn't care which I was. If I had actually been a little green man, I think they would have still adopted me," he added ruefully.
Lucy stared at her sister as Clark spoke.
He was an alien?
Her brother-in-law, the guy who helped her with Geometry and made amazing chicken salad, was really a strange visitor from another planet.
She turned her attention back to him as he spoke, grateful for Jimmy's arms around her.
"They took me home and reported me as a foundling. Ads were put in the appropriate papers, but of course no one claimed me. They raised me as their own. I didn't know until last year that this... globe that came with my ship held a hologram of some sort with a message for my parents that told them pretty much everything about what was going to happen to me. It would have been nice to know about that several years ago, but it's still good to know that I'm 'normal' for someone like me on Earth.
"By the time my folks died when I was ten, we knew I wasn't normal. I was strong, I was fast – much stronger and faster than any eight or nine year old should have been. And I was practically invulnerable. I could lift tractors or move the fridge so Mom could clean behind it. I made it around the farm – about 4 miles – in just under two minutes. Even though I fell out of my tree house several times in those years, I was never hurt. The first few times I had some minor scrapes, but by all rights, I should have broken more than one bone at least a couple of times."
Lucy couldn't even blink as he spoke; she just stared.
"I was ten when my folks died. We'd gone to Colorado to go skiing after Christmas. One night my parents went to a restaurant for dinner and then..." He sighed. "There's a lot of things I can do that no one else can. I'm fast, really fast. I can hear things from great distances. I can set fires with my eyes or just heat things up slowly – heat vision or something. I'm invulnerable to anything I've found. I can see through things. Some of this stuff was just starting when my folks died and out of nowhere that night, I heard my mom screaming. I just left and ran, as fast as I could. I made it to the mountain road just as the car went over. I couldn’t turn my hearing and vision off and on like I can now. I could see them through the top of the car as it sank into the water. I could hear their heartbeats..." His voice broke. "The cliff face was too steep. I couldn't get to them. I listened to them as their heartbeats faded out."
Tears had started flowing down her cheeks and she could see Lois' tears wetting Clark's shirt. Alice's cheeks were wet and Perry's throat clearing was a dead giveaway that he was affected as well.
He took a deep, calming breath. "So, about a year ago, Lois found out my little secret and we went to Colorado where I had buried my ship and the globe and things that came with it when I rented out the farm."
"When did you go to Colorado? I don't remember you two being gone." Lucy sat up a bit and ignored the look she got from Perry because she was truly puzzled.
"Well, see... I'm not just fast and can see through things, I'm also able to fly. Fast. So I flew us there several times. About that time, this globe that came with me from Krypton..."
He could fly?!
Maybe he'd take her for a flight soon.
Could she really have gone from wondering if she could accept that he was from another planet to wondering when he'd take her flying in five minutes or less?
Apparently so.
She turned back to Perry as he abandoned his own admonition. "Pardon me for interrupting, son, but Krypton? What in the name of Elvis is that?"
"It's my home planet. According to the message Jor-El, my birth father, gave my parents, it exploded not long after they sent my ship off. I'm the last survivor, the last son of Krypton, Mom said. In the message he left for my folks, he said that Krypton lived under a red sun and that the yellow sun here would give me special abilities and it has. I can fly and see through things. I can bend metal with my bare hands. I can lift just about anything. I'm invulnerable. I can also freeze things with my breath and start fires with my eyes. We found this letter from my mom in the ship that said that they'd gotten a message from Jor-El themselves about a month after they brought me home that explained a lot of it. Jor-El left at least 5 messages on the globe. We've seen three of them but haven't made it back to Colorado since early last summer."
Jimmy shifted slightly behind her as he spoke again. "That's how it's stayed so nice in here – relatively I mean – even with the fire. You've been warming it up haven't you?"
Clark nodded. "I didn't want it to get too warm because I didn't want to raise suspicions, but I have tried to keep it a bit warmer than it would have been otherwise."
Lucy giggled as Jimmy exclaimed, "Well, hey, CK – warm us up! No sense in being cold when we have heat vision around."
Perry laughed. "He's right, warm us up."
She could tell Clark was stunned. "You guys are all really okay with this? With me being an alien?" he asked.
She felt Jimmy shrug as he spoke. "We all have secrets. There's something different about everyone. You're a good guy – besides being Lucy's brother-in-law and guardian. I like her so I have to go through you – so I don't see what the big deal is? Except that maybe you could take us to the Caribbean or something and out of this ice storm."
Lucy giggled and she noticed that everyone else was laughing, too.
"Well, hell's bells, son. Having those special things about you will certainly help you as an investigative reporter." Leave it to Perry to think of that. "Now, Jimmy's right – heat this place up, would you?"
Clark laughed and obliged, sweeping his eyes around the room. Lucy felt a warmth radiating around her before he spoke again.
"How's that?" Clark asked.
Jimmy pulled Lucy a little closer and she giggled as he said, "Now, not too warm, you hear?" Leave it to Jimmy to think of *that*, but he was right. Right now she had an excuse to be this close to him without Clark shooting them disapproving glances. Well, she admitted to herself, he probably still would but...
Before she knew it, Jimmy was still holding her but sound asleep. She dozed a time or two but mostly she just thought about Clark and Lois and how all of this affected them.
*****
"What do you think about all this?" Jimmy asked her quietly. Clark was out helping with clean up or something. Lois and Alice were dozing off and Perry was on the phone with the temporary editor at the Planet.
Lucy sighed and snuggled back into his arms just a bit more. "I don't know. I mean, I love Clark. He's a great guy and he works hard to take care of me and Lois. But an alien..." She took a deep breath and then slowly let it out. "I never would have guessed Clark's an alien."
"He doesn't look like a little green man, that's for sure."
"I think it would be harder to accept if I didn't know him already."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, if I'd just met him and found out he was an alien, it would be weird and I don't know that I'd take the time to get to know him because I'd be too freaked out by it. But now... I already know him and I love him. He's the big brother I never had. He's the *dad* I never had. I mean, I had a father in Sam, but he wasn't much of a father *figure*. Clark... Clark's going to make a great dad someday. He helps me with my homework and makes dinner and doesn't let me go out with a guy before he has a chance to meet him. He'd go to the ends of the earth to protect me and Lois and I know that. And I knew that before I knew he was invulnerable."
"True."
"What do you think about it?"
Jimmy sighed. "I think I'm with you. If I didn't already know him, it might freak me out more. But since I do... I'm glad someone invulnerable is looking out for you."
"Me, too."
*****
February 1986
*****
Lucy chewed her bottom lip and watched Clark out of the corner of her eye. He was sitting at the table, some book or other open in front of him.
"Are you going to tell me why you keep watching me?" he asked without looking up.
Lucy could hear the smile in his voice, but blushed anyway. "Sorry."
"What is it?" He turned to look at her fully, stretching his legs out in front of him.
"Just wondering something," she said, staring at her history book, one finger playing with the corner.
"What's that?"
She took a deep breath. "Willyoutakemeflyingsometime?" she asked in a rush.
Clark shook his head slightly. "You'll have to go a bit slower than that."
"Will you take me flying sometime?"
He looked surprised. "You want to go flying?"
She nodded, but still didn't look at him.
He smiled. "Sure. I'd be happy to."
Her eyes lit up as she finally looked at him. "Really?"
"Of course." His eyes twinkled. "As soon as your homework's done."
She groaned. "I should have known there would be a catch. But," she brightened. "I don't have anything due for three days and I only have one more paragraph until I'm done with all my reading."
Clark smiled. "You better get on it then."
Ten minutes later they were on the balcony. "So how do we do this, Clark?" Lucy asked nervously.
He laughed. "First, there's nothing to be scared about."
"I'm not scared," she said bravely.
"If you say so, but seriously. You'll be perfectly safe."
She smiled slightly. "Okay, I'm a little nervous."
"You should have seen your sister the first time I took her flying. She was petrified. Of course," he conceded. "We'd just gotten shot at, she thought I was going to die from a bullet to the stomach and she had absolutely no clue what was going on."
"I bet she was freaked out."
"Yeah, she was," Clark said. He seemed almost nostalgic.
"So, how do we do this?"
"Depends on where you want to go."
Lucy shrugged. "Where do you recommend?"
"Depends on what you want to see." He looked at his watch. "We've got about half an hour before we need to be back. We could... go float above some clouds and watch the stars, or find somewhere the sun's setting or rising and watch it for a bit – those are some of my favorite things to do. Or we could do a very whirlwind world tour – check out the pyramids or the Great Wall or Mt. Rushmore. What do you want to do?"
"Could we go to Colorado?"
Clark shrugged. "Sure. Any reason why?"
"Can I see your ship?" She bit her lip and didn't look at him as she spoke.
"Sure," he said, a bit surprised at her request.
"So, how do we do this?"
Clark moved behind her. "I'm going to have to hold you pretty tight, okay?"
She nodded. "Okay."
He wrapped his arms around her and a second later they were airborne and heading west.
Lucy watched the ground passing beneath her. "Wow," she whispered.
Clark bent his head towards her. "Pretty amazing, isn't it?"
She could only nod. She had no idea how fast they were going, but it was mere minutes before they landed in a field in Colorado. Clark had melted a circle into the snow and set her down in the middle of it.
"I'll be right back."
Seconds later, there was a fire blazing in front of her and seconds after that, Clark was back, holding something about the size of a jet ski.
"Is that it?" she whispered.
"Yeah, that's it," Clark said setting it down next to her.
"It's... smaller than I expected." She ran her fingers over the 'S' symbol.
He laughed.
"What?"
"Your sister said the exact opposite. She expected it to be a lot smaller."
Lucy smiled. "Well, it had to big enough for you and some kind of life support and navigation and an engine of some kind and all that."
"All Lois thought was that it should be big enough for me and that was about it. I think she was expecting something about the size of a baby's car seat."
She laughed. "That sounds like Lois." She walked around the ship, running her fingers over the outside. "What are these?"
Clark shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm guessing it's something written in Kryptonian but I really don't know."
"Maybe it's the story of your parents or your life or something. How do you open it?"
Clark hesitated.
"What?"
"Would you mind if I showed you the inside some other time?"
"I guess not. Why?"
He took a deep breath. "Well, the globe I told you about is in there and I haven't seen all of the messages on it, but at the same time, I don't want to see one without Lois. I don't know how the thing works. It just starts playing the hologram things sometimes, but since Lois isn't here..."
Lucy nodded. "I can understand that. Some other time then." She rested her hand on the 'S' again as she stared at it. "When was the last time you two were here?"
He paused slightly before answering. "Graduation dinner."
She looked at him, shocked. "This is where you guys came for her graduation dinner?"
"Yeah. We brought a picnic out here and once it was dark, I dug up the ship and got the globe out. Eventually, it played the third message from my parents."
"Ah."
He glanced at his watch. "We better get back."
Lucy nodded. "Okay."
A few seconds later, the ship was gone and the fire was out. Clark moved behind her again. "Ready?"
She nodded. After they lifted into the air, Clark lightly blew the snow around to cover the area he'd melted earlier. It wasn't long before they landed back on the balcony.
"Thank you," she told him.
"My pleasure," he said, smiling as he opened the door to the apartment. "We'll go again sometime."
"I'd like that."
"And now, young lady," he told her with mock severity. "It's time for you to get ready for bed."
Lucy laughed and headed to the bathroom to do just that.
*****
April 1986
*****
"Jimmy, Clark's going to be home soon," Lucy whispered between kisses.
"I know," he said pulling away from her.
"And with that stupid hearing and vision of his, it's not like we can even wait until we hear his key to stop kissing."
"I know," he sighed. He looked at her. "You might want to go fix your make-up then." He kissed her again. "I'll get our books back out."
"Good plan." She kissed him quickly and went to the loft to change clothes. She'd been in her jeans too long and they were starting to irritate her. She heard the door open as she did and when she came back into the living room Jimmy and Clark were looking at some of the pictures she'd taken for their photography class. "Hey, Clark. How was work?"
"Not bad," he said. She could smell the pizza still clinging to his clothes. "This is a great picture, Luce." He held up one of the pictures she'd taken at one of the basketball games the week before.
"Thanks. They used it in the school paper."
"That's great."
Jimmy stuck his books back in his backpack. "I gotta get home."
Lucy nodded and walked him to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said softly.
"Sure will." He kissed her again, aware that Clark was watching them out of the corner of his eye. "Let me know if you want to study tomorrow night. I don't have to work so..."
"I will." She kissed him again and then closed the door behind him.
She walked back down the stairs and picked up her history book as she settled back down on the couch.
"Um, Luce?" Clark said.
She looked at him. "What's up?"
He sighed and sat back in the chair. "There's something I want to talk to you about."
Uh oh. This sounded like one of those 'male guardian' talks. "Sure," she said as she closed her book. "What is it?"
He looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I, um, wanted to talk to you about Jimmy."
"What about him?"
"You know I like him right?"
She nodded.
"I do, I like him a lot, but I'm also your guardian."
"O-kay," she said slowly.
Finally, he looked up at her. "Is there anything I need to know about the two of you?"
She stared at the rug. "No."
"I mean it, Lucy. Are the two of you..." His voice trailed off.
"No! Clark!" She turned eight shades of red. "Not that I'm sure it would be any of your business if we *were*..."
"No," he said firmly. "It is my business. I'm not your dad but I am your guardian. If you were my daughter it would be my business until you were at least eighteen and this really isn't any different."
"Well, we're not so don't worry about it."
He smiled at her. "Oh I'm sure I'll always worry about you." He sighed. "Listen, you know my mom left me letters, right?"
Lucy nodded.
"Well, the one she left me for my first date said that I should remember that, no matter who I'm going out with, she's somebody's little girl and I should think long and hard about how I would want someone to treat my little girl someday. I know you're not my daughter or even my sister, but I feel very protective of you and I want to make sure you're not going to get hurt unnecessarily."
"He's not going to hurt me."
"I know he won't intentionally but... I want you to think about how you'd want someone to treat your little girl someday and don't allow yourself to be treated any less than that – by Jimmy or anyone else."
"I'll think about it. I promise."
"And I know you think you're falling in love with Jimmy – and you might be, I don't know – but something I'd like you two to seriously consider..." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm going to have this conversation with him too, by the way. I don't know what your physical relationship is like or is going to be like or how long the two of you will be together – but whether it's Jimmy or someone else, I'd really like you to consider waiting to have sex – with Jimmy or anyone else – until after high school. I know you'll be eighteen long before then, but high school and after high school are so different and a couple who makes it through high school together may not make it through post-high school life."
He sighed. "Mom also told me not to do anything I wouldn't want to tell my wife about someday. I have nothing to hide from Lois and no stories to tell her that I'm ashamed of or that I wish could have been different, but part of that's because I knew at fourteen that I was going to marry her. It's part of being Kryptonian. Does that mean you should wait until you're married?" He shrugged. "I don't know about that, but at the same time... They say confession is good for the soul, but if there's nothing to confess... And if you do decide to," he cleared his throat, "at some point, please be responsible about it. I'm sure you really don’t want a baby yet." He sighed again. "Anyway – I just want you to think about that."
She nodded. "I will."
With that Clark left to go take a shower.
She stared at the archway. So that was a sex-talk from Clark. Sort of. Or rather a 'please don't have sex' talk. It wasn't surprising that he didn't want her to sleep with anyone for a long time but she didn't think he'd actually come out and say it.
Two nights later, she was up in the loft when Jimmy knocked on the door and let himself in.
"Luce?" he called.
"Up here," she called back.
"Hey," he said softly a minute later as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Hey back," she said smiling as he moved in to kiss her.
Later, they were lying on her bed watching the stars out of the skylight. Jimmy's arm was wrapped around her and her head was on his chest.
"Did Clark talk to you?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yeah. I guess he probably gave you the same 'don't have sex' talk he gave me."
"Probably pretty close, but somehow I think I'll see him watching us every time I want to do more than give you the smallest of kisses."
Lucy giggled. "He probably wouldn't be too happy to know that we're up here."
"He's not," a voice called from the bedroom.
Lucy and Jimmy winced. They scrambled off the bed. They leaned on the railing looking down on a frowning Clark.
Jimmy spoke first. "I gotta get home anyway." He moved back a bit so they weren't as visible from the ground floor. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."
Lucy nodded and moved towards him, kissing him lightly. "Sounds good."
Jimmy hurried down the stairs, not really looking at Clark. "See ya later, CK," he called as he headed for the door.
Lucy leaned on the railing as Clark watched Jimmy leave. He tilted his head as he looked back up at her.
"Anything I need to know?"
Lucy shook her head. "No."
"Care to elaborate on that?"
"We were looking at the stars out the skylight and talking about what you said the other night."
"Well, you can see the stars out the window in here so there's no need for him to be up there."
Lucy sighed. "So he's not allowed up here?"
"No."
"Fine, but nothing happened. And nothing was going to happen. And what are you doing home anyway?"
He shrugged. "No one was ordering pizza tonight so they sent me home early."
"Nothing was happening and nothing was going to happen," she reiterated.
"Good, but that still doesn't mean he's allowed up there."
Lucy sighed. "What time's Lois get off?"
Clark glanced at the clock. "About an hour."
Lucy nodded before moving to flop back on her bed.
*****
They were sitting on the couch two days later, when Jimmy broached the subject again. "So, what did Clark say after I left?"
"That you're not allowed up in the loft."
"That doesn't surprise me."
"Me either, but still... It's not like we were doing anything wrong."
"I know, but he loves you and wants to protect you from the likes of me," he said with a grin.
"There's nothing to protect me from."
"Hey!"
Lucy smiled at him. "You know what I mean."
"I know."
"What do you think about what he said?" she asked quietly.
"Well, I don't want to hurt you."
"I know that and we haven't really talked about sex much at all."
"We've been going out for six months. Maybe we should."
"Maybe."
"I get the feeling Clark might not hesitate to press charges if he found out we were together before you're eighteen."
"I don't know about that, but he's the closest thing I've ever had to a real dad and I wouldn't want to disappoint him like that."
"So, we're not going to have sex for a while. I like CK and I'm glad someone's looking out for you even if it means he thinks he has to protect you from me."
"Yeah, not for a while."
"How long until you're eighteen again?" Jimmy said with a smile as he kissed the side of her head.
Lucy laughed. "Fifteen months, but he also said he'd really rather we wait until we're out of high school and I'll just be going into my senior year."
"I'll be out of high school by then."
"How about... we reevaluate at that point?"
"Sounds like a good plan, but I do think we need to decide what our limits are," he said.
"I know, but I don't want to do that right now. How about another night?"
"Okay." He turned her face towards him. "I haven't told you this yet, but I think I'm falling in love with you." He shook his head slightly. "No, I know I am."
"I'm falling in love with you, too," she whispered.
"And you know what my gut is telling me?"
"It's time for ice cream?"
Jimmy laughed out loud. "No." He looked at her more seriously and said softly, "My gut says that someday I'm going to marry you and make love to you and have babies with you."
Lucy smiled at him. "That's good, because my gut says the same thing."
*****
August 1986
*****
Lucy held the book in her hands, fingering the ribbon that held the pages together. She'd had no idea that Lois had written down the stories that she'd told her while they lived at home. These stories were some of the first ones. Could she read them? Lois had said that her memory had made them into more than they were originally. And then Clark had asked to read them.
But Lois hadn't told Clark about what life was like growing up.
How could she not have told him about life in the Lane house?
She knew that Lois had protected her from the worst of it. Even though they were only a little over eighteen months apart, Lois had grown up much faster and protected her as best she could. That was why she'd made it through high school in three years – so that she'd be able to take care of Lucy as soon as she turned eighteen.
She'd told Jimmy on their third date that she had abandonment issues and they'd talked extensively about life growing up. The more they'd talked about it - the more she'd opened up to him - the less frequent her dreams had become. She *knew* Jimmy would never just leave her and she *knew* Clark wasn't ever going to leave Lois. He loved her. Anyone with half a brain could see that.
And, like she'd told her sister, if Clark wasn't going to leave Lois, then he wasn't going to leave her either.
Maybe it was just easier for her to believe that for some reason, because the look in Lois' eyes seemed to indicate that she wasn't entirely convinced.
Lucy sighed. She needed to start getting ready. Jimmy would be there soon and they were going out for dinner for her birthday.
*****
February 1987
*****
Lucy opened the door to the apartment to find Lois sitting in the big chair, curled up under a blanket, staring off into space. Puzzled, she shut the door behind her and headed down the stairs as Clark came through the archway from the bedroom.
"What are you guys doing home?" she finally asked. "I thought you were both working tonight."
Neither one said anything for a long moment, but finally Clark spoke in quiet tones. "It's Aunt Louise, Luce."
She felt like she'd been sucker-punched. "What?"
"She had a stroke this morning," he said grimly. "She's gone."
Lucy staggered backwards a step or two as tears started to flow down her face. In a second she found herself in Clark's arms as she sobbed.
A knock on the door brought the sobs to a halt, though the tears continued. Before any of them could move to answer it, the door opened and Jimmy came in, his cheerful greeting dying on his lips when he took in the scene in front of him.
The look on his face instantly turned to concern when he noticed Lucy crying in her brother-in-law's arms. "What happened?"
Clark quietly told him and in seconds, Lucy was in his arms instead. He knew how close she'd grown to the elderly aunt since the death of her parents. Finally, she pulled back and kissed him lightly, making a stay here motion before going to talk to Clark.
He was sitting at the kitchen table, a book open in front of him, but it didn't look like he was actually studying.
"Clark?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah?" He looked up at her.
"I know you don't want Jimmy upstairs, but... please? Just this once?"
He paused then nodded. "Just this once. We're leaving for Texas tomorrow. I'm flying. The service is the next night. If Jimmy wants to come, I can come back and pick him up."
She nodded and walked towards the bedroom, motioning to Jimmy that he should come, too. She noticed that Lois hadn't moved since she got home, but figured she was just in shock, too. One part of her mind wondered why her sister wasn't in Clark's arms like she was about to be in Jimmy's.
They climbed the stairs and quickly settled on to her bed, his arms around her; her head buried in his chest as she cried some more.
*****
TBC
Note: In LtL, Clark tells Lois after Aunt Louise dies that he hasn't been back to Colorado. Here he's taken Lucy. He tells Lois that, but also that he didn't open the ship so that he wouldn't see a message without her.
