In case you missed it in the FDK thread...
THE MONSTER IS DONE!!!!
WOOHOO!!!!
The final chapters are out to betas [have I mentioned that they rock?!?!?!] and barring something unforeseen, it will be posted by the end of the year.
Because it's done and because tomorrow's Christmas and I don't know that I'll have posting time, I'm going to post twice today. Now and then probably late evening ET.
I'm glad that Bernie seems to have gone over well.
There was something else I was going to say but I don't remember what it was.
Thanks to Nancy, Alisha and Beth - who totally rock.
Last time:
Clark
About seven-thirty, I ducked out for a 'run'. Promptly at eight, I met Bobby where we'd arranged. My arms were full of bamboo containers.
He took one from me and dipped his fingers in the container, pulling an egg roll out. If I didn't know better, I'd think his eyes rolled back in his head.
"This is great, Kent. Where'd you get it?"
"If I told you, you wouldn't need me," I pointed out.
He stared at me then nodded reluctantly. "Okay." He pulled a fortune cookie out and glared at me. "It's in Chinese."
I didn't know much, but I knew enough. I hoped anyway as I took the slip of paper from him. "A good horse is like a member of the family."
"That is *not* a fortune."
I shrugged. "Can you overlook the lack of a real fortune with food that good?"
He contemplated for a moment as he pulled something out of one of the other containers. He tried it then nodded. "Fine."
He turned and walked away.
I watched him for a long minute until he disappeared before heading for home.
*~*132*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I told Perry I was chasing down a Van-El lead.
That was sort of true. I'd managed to get a home address for Dr. Bernard Klein. I wasn't about to tell anyone how I'd done it.
I climbed the steps to the apartment on Clinton Avenue, my heart pounding in my chest. I knocked on the door. There was a sound inside, but no one came to the door no matter how hard I pounded.
"I know you're in there, Dr. Klein. Please answer. And I know you can hear me," I said.
After ten minutes of pleading, there was still no answer.
I sighed and rested my head against the door. "I understand that you're overwhelmed, not only by all the attention but by the discovery that your brother is still alive. He needs you. He needs to talk to you to find out more about himself. And I think you need to talk to him, too. To talk to someone who understands." I hesitated. "My sons need you, too. They deserve the chance to get to know their uncle. You deserve the chance to get to know all of them." I sighed. "I know someone's trying to run you out of town, but whatever you can do – it's enough. Without you – already – Platt would be dead. And Secretary Wallace would be dead, too. You can't be everywhere and do everything, but whatever you can do... it's enough."
He wasn't going to answer, that much was clear. "Please," I said again. "At least think about it."
I turned and headed back down the stairs. I smiled at a blonde woman who was headed the opposite direction. She smiled back and I thought about asking her if she knew Dr. Klein, but something held me back.
I headed back to the Daily Planet to find Billy and Serena pouring over a much cleaned up version of Platt's report.
"What's it say?" I asked as I took a seat near Jimmy.
"The same thing Platt did. We have enough that we can write it up and hope we can convince EPRAD to take a closer look at the same thing on the transport that's going up Sunday. According to Klein, it's easily fixed."
"Well, that's good news. I wonder if they're letting any reporters on," I commented idly. wouldn’t that be something? To be on the colonists' transport. That would be a coup of a lifetime.
"Nope. No media," Billy said with a sigh. "Believe me, we tried."
All four of us sighed together.
"Where's Clark?" Serena asked.
I shrugged. "Not sure, probably trying to chase down Van-El. Or off on some other big story, I'd guess."
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
"What am I supposed to do?" I asked my dad as we sat on the front porch. "I can't find him. I know who he is – his other identity, I mean – but he's purposefully avoiding me. I can't find where he lives. He's unlisted, unpublished. He's on leave from STAR Labs." I ran my hands through my hair. "You should see Christopher," I said quietly. "He's enthralled."
That hurt. More than I could explain, more than I could understand.
Dad chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about it. You'll always be his hero."
"My son is captivated by his uncle but that uncle – my brother won't even talk to me."
"All the kids – all the *grown-ups* - are enthralled by Van-El right now. It'll die down. I promise."
I sighed. He didn't understand. I'd never be his *first* real hero.
I couldn’t explain why that was important to me, but it was.
We sat there for a long time, just staring out at the crops swaying in the fields.
"How are you? Really?" Dad finally asked.
I sighed. "It's been a big week at work. Two major stories dropped into Lois' lap and I was able to work with her on them. We've had two front page stories in our first few days. This whole Platt/Messenger/transport thing could turn into another one, though we're mainly working with Billy and Serena on it – it's not *our* story. Lois got hurt when someone exploded a bomb in the Carlin Building as soon as Van walked inside. Others could have been. What if he'd gotten there and went in before the building was evacuated? How many people could have been hurt then?"
"Are you thinking about putting on a suit?" Mom asked coming out onto the porch and sitting by Dad on the swing.
I shrugged. "The thought's crossed my mind many times, but I don't think I can right now. Not with trying to establish our careers and protecting Christopher and all of that. Maybe someday but not now."
"What if Christopher wasn’t in danger anymore?" That was Dad.
"Are you planning on joining the insurgent protestors in Skopje and assassinating him?"
Dad snorted. "Can you see me doing that?"
"No, but unless you have some other way to get him out from under Navance's thumb, that's the only way it's ending any time soon."
"The news today said that his government might be overthrown soon," Mom pointed out, trying to be helpful, I was sure.
"It's not the first time they've said that," I reminded her. "One of the reporters at work said that the only way Navance is leaving office is in a body bag and I tend to agree with him. And none of that helps with getting my brother to talk to me."
"It's only been a couple of days," Dad said.
"No, it's been twenty-two years. The globe never told me much – not enough anyway."
"Maybe it's time to ask again?" Mom's voice was quiet.
I nodded. "I'll be back."
I headed to the barn, to the storage area Dad had built behind the storm shelter. The steel door wasn't heavy, not for me. In the middle of the small room, sat my ship, still in the crate Wayne had built around it over twenty years earlier. There was a small shelf on one side. On it was a small treasure box.
I opened it carefully and pulled out the globe.
I floated in mid-air, crossing my legs, bobbing slightly up and down. I held it in both hands, in front of me, just staring at it.
"Give me something," I finally said, a pleading note in my voice.
But there was nothing.
I wasn't sure how long I'd been down there when there was a vibrating.
I sighed. It wasn't the globe. It was my cell phone. I pulled it out of the holder and read the text message from Lois on it. Perry was looking for me.
I carefully put the globe back in the box and locked it all back up, hiding the door behind the shelving.
I told my parents I was leaving and took off for Metropolis.
I went back into the newsroom to find Perry bellowing for me.
"Any luck on Van-El?"
I shook my head. "No. Didn't pan out."
"Okay then. Police academy graduation this afternoon and I want you on it."
"You got it." Not exactly front page, exciting fare, but maybe it would take my mind off Van.
It wasn't exciting, but it was more interesting than the Orani Jewels thing had been – at least until the assassination attempt on Secretary Wallace, but I hadn't been there for that part of it.
I spent my afternoon there, then headed back to the Planet to write it up. Billy and Serena were putting the finishing touches on their article based on Platt's information. They'd called EPRAD looking for comments and telling them what the article was going to say, but as usual they had no comment except to say that they were looking into it and, if applicable, would have a statement for the press at the appropriate time.
We all sat around the conference room and brainstormed more ways to find out what happened to Van-El. Lois and I studiously ignored each other, afraid we'd give something away.
We wrapped up the day, no closer to an answer than we had been before.
The ride home was quiet.
When we got home, Christopher was still jabbering on and on about Van-El. We finally got him to bed about half an hour after his usual bedtime.
"So do you have big plans for tomorrow?" I asked Lois. It was Friday night and, for now at least, we were each working part of the weekends. Tomorrow was my day and Sunday was hers. Perry said he'd try to get us on the same day at least starting in the next few weeks.
She shrugged. "Hang out with the boys, I think. No plans to go anywhere or anything like that."
"No plans to try to ferret out Bernie Klein's home address?"
She hesitated before shaking her head. "No."
"You've already got it, don’t you?" I asked, crossing my arms in front of me.
She sighed. "He was home, I know he was, but he wouldn't talk to me either. I thought about picking the lock but decided that might not be the best plan."
"Probably not." I sighed. "Are you going to give it to me?"
She shook her head. "No. He'll come see you when he's ready. And I don't think it'll be long. I think he's probably just overwhelmed by everything."
I nodded. "I still think I'm going to go try to find him."
"Okay."
I changed into dark clothes and flew over the city of Metropolis in a search pattern of sorts.
"Can't you just give me a couple of days?"
The voice came from behind me.
I turned to see my brother floating there in his black outfit with the blue shield.
"I understand why you want some time, but can't you see where I'm coming from?" I asked him. "I *just* found out my *brother* is alive. The one I thought died with the rest of my family and everyone else when the planet exploded. I've always thought I was alone – until my sons were born – and I want to talk to you, to get to know you, to get to know our family and our planet and why *me*? Out of all the people on Krypton, why was *I* the one who was saved? And now you? Why did you think I was dead? Why wasn't I told that you were coming too so I could have been looking for you?"
He sighed. "You weren't told because we weren't sure that we were going to get my ship ready in time. The smaller one, for you, was easier to build, in secret. We were working on one for me as well, but it was harder. We sent your ship off thinking we had hours left, tops. We ended up with days, almost two weeks, Earth time and we were able to finish my ship. I felt the explosion of the planet as my ship headed away from Krypton just before the suspended animation set in. Your ship was smaller, easier to propel faster with the new hyperlight drive our father had developed. My ship was bigger and had an older drive installed. It took me longer to get here than it did you – about ten years longer, something like that anyway. I'll tell you more about it some other time, but when I got here, I did look for you but my homing device that would show me where your ship was malfunctioned and I couldn't fix it. I trekked across the country, stopping in nearly every small town in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri – where they all meet – because that was where your ship was supposed to have landed – but I couldn't find you."
He sighed. "Eventually, I ended up in Metropolis and met a guy named Louie. He got me papers and helped me get a GED. I went on to college and now I'm Dr. Bernard Klein. It wasn't my choice of name, by the way. I wanted to go with Vance Ellis, but he convinced me otherwise."
"Does he know?" I asked quietly, trying to absorb it all.
He shook his head. "Only my girlfriend, his daughter, Ashley."
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I wasn't asleep when Clark finally landed on the veranda.
"Any luck?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah. I found him. And I got a few answers, but mostly he just asked for a little more time."
I pushed myself into a sitting position against the headboard. "What'd he say?"
He told me how he'd been sent off, but that Van-El hadn't really told him why him except to say that the smaller ship was easier to make. He hadn't told Clark why *him* out of all the babies on Krypton, he was the one put in the ship.
He climbed into bed next to me and just sat there staring in the general direction of one of the windows.
"What now?" I asked him quietly.
"Wait, I guess." He sighed. "I think I'm beat. It's been a long few days and I have to work in the morning." He sighed again and slid under the covers, rolling to face away from me.
I took a deep breath before sliding in behind him, wrapping one arm around him and pulling myself close to his back. "You're my hero, Clark. You have been for a long time and it doesn’t take a fancy suit and powers to change the world. You changed mine and you're changing the world through your words, through the stories that you write, through raising your sons to be good men. You're my hero and you're Christopher's hero and Nate's hero – and probably your mom's too. I don't know how she got through the death of Chris, except by having you to focus on." I pressed my lips firmly against his back. "Please remember that."
There was no response except a deep sigh and a tightening of his arm against mine. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
Something told me the next few days were going to be busy ones.
*****
TBC
