Last time:
Lois
I sighed. "Clark's grandpa died last night, Daddy."
Dad stopped, spoon halfway to his mouth, and turned to Clark. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Your mom's dad, right?"
Clark nodded. "Yeah. Service is Saturday. I was thinking we could go Wednesday or Thursday and come back Sunday." He looked at me for confirmation.
I winced. "I have a midterm on Wednesday I can't miss, but we could go after that."
He nodded. "That works if it's okay with your dad that Jessica goes."
"Of course," Daddy said. "Call Vinnie and he'll get the tickets and everything taken care of for you."
"Thanks, Daddy," I said, lifting Christopher into his high chair. "We appreciate it."
"It's the least I can do," Daddy said. "I'll notify the security guys, too."
"Thanks," Clark said.
We talked for a few more minutes and then headed our separate ways for the day.
*~*83*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
Sam had come with us. He'd gotten all of us tickets and rented a Jeep Grand Cherokee for the trip from Kansas City to Smallville.
I wasn't sure what we were doing for sleeping arrangements.
Nana had been staying in my room for the last several nights. I wouldn't kick her out for anything. I didn't blame her for not being able to face the house, the room, the bed, she'd shared with Pop Pop for so many years.
I certainly didn't want to stay at Nana and Pop Pop's house either though.
"Clark, I should have asked this before," Sam said, interrupting my thoughts.
"What's that?" I asked, turning my attention back to the road.
"I've got reservations for me at the Smallville Inn for me and a second room for Jessica, but I didn't know if you were planning on her staying with you at your folk's place or what."
"I was just thinking about that. Nana's been staying in my room. I think I may call my cousin and see if we can stay with her."
"Which cousin?" Lois asked.
"Danielle. They've got room for us and a crib for Christopher. She's expecting another baby in a couple months and she mentioned a couple weeks ago that they've already got it set up. Lois and I'll be on an air mattress but I don't want Nana to feel obligated to go home before she's ready."
"Want me to call her while you drive?" Lois asked.
"Thanks." I dug my phone out of my pocket and handed it to her. "She's on there."
I heard them talking and Lois confirmed that the three of us were welcome at Danielle's house.
Our first stop was at the – empty – farmhouse to pick up another vehicle. I drove Mom's car and led them to the Smallville Inn. We loaded Christopher into the car while Sam checked himself and Jessica in.
"We're heading over to Danielle's," I told Sam when he came back out. "My dad's meeting us there to let us in since they're both working."
We confirmed a time to meet later and we drove off.
Something occurred to me. "Ah, potential problem."
Lois sighed. "Of course. What?"
"Danielle lives not too far from Lana. I didn't even think about it. Different street and they just moved there over the summer."
She sighed. "What're the odds of Lana coming back for this?"
She had a point. "She's good friends with my cousin, Kara, and she and Nana and Pop Pop always got along well. I'm sure her parents will be at the service. I don't know that she'd come back, though."
"Well, I guess we'll deal with it if it happens."
"Nothing else we *can* do," I pointed out.
I pulled up in front of Danielle's house. Dad was already there and I met him inside.
But I felt funny.
"What is it?" Dad asked.
"I don't feel so good."
I moved closer to the couch and the sick feeling turned to pain.
"It hurts," I whispered.
"What?" Dad asked, alarmed.
Everything went black.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
"*Lois*!"
I heard a crash and then Jonathan yelling for me. I left Christopher sleeping in his car seat and ran towards the house.
"Clark!" He was on the floor, glasses askew and as pale as I'd ever seen him. I looked at Jonathan; his eyes were as wide as mine. "What happened?"
"He said he didn't feel well and then he was in pain and passed out."
"Bremerton," I whispered.
"What?"
"That's what happened in Bremerton." We started working together to move him.
"But why? He was sick near Shuster's Field when he was five, in Bremerton and now here."
We'd managed to move him towards the couch.
"How did he get better in Bremerton?"
I wracked my brain. "I don't know. We moved him to the dance floor and he came around." I ran my hand through my hair. "I was talking to Danielle about that." I pointed at 'When Irish Eyes Are Killing' – hanging on the wall above the couch. "I couldn't explain it but something about it gave me the creeps. Danielle told me she found the green rock around here somewhere a field." His breathing seemed to be worsening.
"Shuster's by any chance?" Jonathan asked, turning white.
I shrugged. "I don't know that she said."
He grabbed for the artwork and took it off the wall and out of the room.
The lines on Clark's face eased and his breathing seemed easier.
"What was that?" I asked Jonathan when he came back in, phone in hand.
"Martha, I need you at Danielle's now," Jonathan said into the phone, holding a finger up. "I know, sweetheart, but I need you. Clark's sick again. I think I know why but I need you here. Do you have that fake emerald thing with you? Good. Bring it. No, Christopher's fine."
"Christopher!" I headed towards the door to get him as Jonathan hung up.
"*No*!" Jonathan barked at me. "If whatever it is, is affecting Clark, it'll affect him to. You can't bring him in here."
I hesitated. It wouldn't but I couldn't tell him that.
Clark groaned and his eye opened just a bit.
I sat on the couch next to him, brushing his hair off of his face. "Hey. Quiet. You passed out."
"What?" Martha walked in the door. "He passed out?"
"I think I know why," Jonathan said grimly.
Clark groaned again and tried to sit up. I pushed him down with one hand. "Stay put."
"Yes, ma'am." He closed his eyes again. "Why, Dad?"
"Shuster's Field. That's where you got sick the first time."
"I still get a bit of a tickle in my stomach whenever I drive by. I think it's just because I know that's where I crashed."
"I want to try something," Jonathan said. "Tell me if you start feeling worse."
Clark nodded and Jonathan left the room. I could see Clark's face tensing up long before he admitted that he was feeling something, but he finally did. Jonathan left the room again and Clark immediately felt some relief.
"What's going on, Jonathan?" Martha asked when he came back.
"Something you told me about when you and Chris found the ship. You said there were a few green rocks around, right?"
Martha nodded. "Yeah. We figured they were meteorites that had come with the ship or something."
"Think about it. Clark got sick – and still does – near Shuster's Field. Danielle found part of that sculpture thing in a field near here. He got sick near it in Bremerton and again here. I think that's one of the green rocks."
"Why would it make Clark sick?" I asked. "If it came from Krypton or something, why would it hurt him?"
"It doesn't matter," Martha pointed out. "I noticed it the other day and have this green glass piece that's the same size and shape as that piece in the other room. Danielle wanted it to make a matching piece. I'll see if I can get it traded out and we'll take that other one home and figure it all out later."
Clark managed to sit up and lean back on the couch. "I'm feeling better," he said. "Really."
"That's great," I said sarcastically. "Now we just have to be on the lookout for a green rock that can hurt you or even kill you or something. Who knows where another piece of it might be?"
"I've run into it twice in almost twenty years," Clark said, his eyes closed. "Hopefully, there's not much of it."
"Twice?" I asked. "This is the third time."
"We don't know for sure about when I was a kid and the last two times it was the same piece."
"And you have to keep it away from Christopher, too," Jonathan reminded me.
"Christopher?" Clark asked.
"Your son. If you're affected, he may well be, too."
"Right," Clark said softly. "Christopher."
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
The vision of Lois in front of the fireplace at the cabin came back to me.
I hadn't mentioned it to her. I hadn't told her – or asked her – about the remote possibility about us... together... that night...
If Christopher could be my son.
If it was even remotely possible, Christopher couldn’t get anywhere near that stuff.
"I'm feeling better," I said again. "Really."
Mom came back in, carrying Christopher. "That was a lot easier than I thought."
"What'd you do with it?" Jonathan asked.
"It's in the trunk of Nana's car," she said. "This little guy woke up and started crying as I walked by so I brought him in with me. I figured it's safe if that rock's not here." She sat on the other side of me. "How're you feeling?" she asked quietly as Christopher crawled into my lap.
"Better," I said, soaking in sunlight streaming in the picture window. "Not great but better."
I could hear sighs of relief from around the room.
Another car pulled in the driveway.
"The artwork thing," Lois said suddenly. "Hang it back up."
Mom immediately headed outside to stall whoever it was while Dad went into the back to get the sculpture or whatever it was. He stepped on the couch next to me and slipped it over the nail.
"Thanks," I said to him as he stepped back down.
"We'll talk about it later," he said as Mom and Danielle walked in carrying Amy.
They made me sit there while they emptied the car. Danielle set up an air mattress in the nursery for us and Dad lowered the mattress in the crib – it was fine for the coming newborn, but way too high for a toddler.
An hour after Danielle arrived, we headed out to the farm for dinner with the family. Sam and Jessica were meeting us there. Fortunately, even our farm was in the most updated GPS doohickey in his rental.
It was a somber evening and I made sure I stayed well away from the trunk of Nana's car. Mom had been driving it most of the day and Nana had ridden around with Uncle Jerry. Jessica left in the Cherokee with Christopher and Amy. Sam was going to catch a ride with us back to the Danielle's then he and Jessica would go back to the Inn. Someone told a funny story about Pop Pop and within minutes, the living room and kitchen were full of laughter over one story or another.
Jerry looked at Ana Mae. "I think Pop liked you better than me. He told me once that if we broke up, he was keeping you and letting me go."
"He 'bout threatened me," Dad said suddenly.
The room went quiet.
"I don't think I ever told you this, Martha, but after our first date, I ran into him at the feed store." Dad looked at his hands. "He told me that if I was going to hurt you or Clark, I'd best run right back to the Navy or he'd make sure I met Chris again personally."
"I'm so glad he didn't scare you off," Mom said, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I thought that was my job," I said suddenly. "I threw up all over you on your first date."
There was a chorus of gasps and 'whats' from the family. Apparently, most of them hadn't heard the story.
Dad told them and by the time he was done, everyone in the room was practically rolling on the floor again. He had a flair for the comedic that I noticed once again. It didn't come out often, but when it did, he was the funniest guy around.
It was nearly midnight before we made it back to Danielle's house. We spoke quietly to Jessica who said both kids were angels and had been asleep since not long after they got back.
I chatted with Tom for a bit after Sam and Jessica left and while Lois got ready for bed. She was already under the covers when I made my way quietly into the nursery.
Christopher was actually snoring softly as I crawled carefully onto the air mattress.
"How're you feeling?" Lois asked quietly.
"I'm not dying of hypothermia this time," I told her.
I could see her smile in the near total darkness. "That's good. I'm not saving your rear end again."
"Sure you would."
She sighed. "Probably." She propped herself up on her elbow. "I'm glad you're okay."
"At least now we know what I should avoid. That was one thing that kind of freaked me out – I had no idea what caused that in Bremerton. For all I knew, it was something that would happen to me at random times with no way to predict it. Now that we think we know what it is, I can stay away from it."
She surprised me when she reached out and rested her hand on my cheek. "Please do. I don’t want anything to happen to you."
I expected her to say something about how much Christopher would miss me or something like that, but instead, she rolled over.
I felt the need to scoot behind her and hold her in my arms as I had every night since Mom had called with the news about Pop Pop.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
The graveside service was nearly over when one of the security guys – I could never remember which was Scott and which was Steve; I'd finally started calling them both Sceve, which they thought was hilarious – got a look on his face. I nudged Clark and we looked around.
On the other side of the cemetery was a news crew from a Wichita station. Another van pulled up behind it from one of the other affiliates of a major network.
"Why are they here?" Clark whispered to me.
I shrugged. Jonathan noticed them too and moved slightly to obstruct Martha's view a bit better. Both Sceves made their way unobtrusively through the crowd towards us. Clark was holding Christopher and had his other arm around me. It tightened slightly.
Both crews had cameras out and I desperately wished Clark could hear things from that far away, but he couldn’t. He looked fine, but all of his special abilities were still gone.
The minute the service ended, the Sceves rushed all three of us off without letting us say anything to anyone.
"What's going on?" I asked them.
"Your names got out," the brunette Sceve said as we half ran off.
"What?" Clark hissed.
I looked back and saw Lana watching us, an impassive look on her face. I should have known she was there, but that wasn't the gloating look of someone who had just ratted us out.
A minute later, we were in the dark sedan with the tinted windows.
"Where are we going?" Clark asked.
"The farmhouse for now. We can control access there."
The drive went quickly and Clark clutched Christopher to him as we realized that there was no car seat for him. There was another news vehicle across the street from the street leading to the farmhouse. The car pulled around to the other side so we'd be out of view of the cameras as we were hustled into the house.
The red haired Sceve took the car back out to the drive to stand guard and only allow those who should have access onto the road.
Brunette Sceve turned on the television in the living room and tuned to ANC.
"And now to Lindsey Sweeny, from our Wichita affiliate currently in Smallville, Kansas. Lindsey?"
"The car behind me is blocking the road to a farm near Smallville. The farm belongs to Jonathan and Martha Kent, parents of Clark Kent. According to an anonymous tip received at the main ANC headquarters this morning, Clark Kent and his wife, Lois, are the American couple detained by General Navance in Latislan nearly two years ago. It has been confirmed that they were married in Latislan in early January 2003. As our viewers may remember, General Navance claimed Lois Kent's baby. Under Latislani law, he can claim any baby he wants, essentially, unless the mother is married. They were married at the U. S. Embassy in Latislan on January 3, 2003. The anonymous source says that Clark Kent is *not* the father of Lois Kent's baby but that he married her simply to keep Navance away from her and her child."
The picture shifted to the cemetery where I could see members of Clark's family still milling about. A 'moments ago' graphic appeared in the top corner of the screen as the three of us were rushed to the waiting car before it cut back to a live shot of Clark's family getting into their cars. There were shouted questions at a couple of them, but none of them knew anything.
As ANC cut back to the presidential election, I realized they were all headed towards the farmhouse and I could only imagine the eruption that was about to take place.
*****
TBC
