Last time:
Lois
"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.
*~*133*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I'd fallen asleep with Lois' arm around me, her body against mine. I knew she meant what she said – that I was her hero and the boys' hero – but I still had a hard time actually *believing* it.
I *did* manage to get the best night's sleep I'd gotten in a long time.
I wondered briefly why that was – because Lois had been that close to me or sheer exhaustion? Some combination of the two?
I sighed and turned my attention back to work. It was a Saturday and – hopefully – a pretty slow one. Wouldn't that be nice?
Part of my job for the day was to check the reports that came in over the wire services and distribute them to whoever was most appropriate or to Perry if it was something he'd need to assign.
I sighed as another report came in. I was sure this would be as exciting as the last three had been. I printed it off without looking at it. I pulled it off the printer and finally glanced over it as I stood – I had to know where to take it after all.
Instead I read the whole thing.
Twice.
And then a third time.
"Kent!" Perry bellowed.
I was too busy reading it again to notice.
"Excuse me, Kent, but I'm running a newsroom here, not a mannequin service." He held a hand between my eyes and the page. "You think I could get that so I can assign it to someone?"
"Oh, sorry." I shook myself out of my stupor. "Here." I handed it to him.
"Care to tell me what it's about?"
"The overthrow of the Latislani government."
"I thought it was just a few insurgents or protesters or whatever they were calling themselves."
I shook my head. "Not anymore apparently. The resistance movement has taken over their capitol building."
"You two have been there, haven't you?"
I wasn't sure when we might have mentioned it, but we must have, in passing at some point.
I sighed. "Yeah. That's actually where we got married."
"You got married in Latislan?" Perry's surprise was evident. He didn't know the whole story about how we got married. He didn't even know half the story. Just that Lois was pregnant when we got married. Most people knew that. And those who didn't could do math.
"Yeah. It's a long story that I don't really want to get into."
"Well, I didn't think it was one of those destination weddings."
I shook my head. "Not even close."
"Well, do you two want to work on this with Eduardo? He's been working on the insurgents, so he'll be following up on it."
"Um..."
"General Navance is probably going to be overthrown soon, if he hasn't been already. It's a big story."
"I don't know, Perry. Normally, I'd say yes. We'd both jump on it, but I think we're too close to this one."
I could see the realization hit him. "My office. Now."
I nodded and followed him to his office, shutting the door behind me.
"The American baby Navance tried to claim a few years ago..."
I sighed. He didn't become editor of a major metropolitan newspaper because he could yodel, after all. "That was Christopher. He sends threatening letters every few months, reminding us that he's keeping an eye on us and Christopher."
"There's going to be news crews outside your house before long."
"Maybe. Our names were never officially released..." I blew a deep breath out slowly. "I mean, they came out about eighteen months ago, but it was right before the election, the same weekend as the Joe the Janitor thing and when it wasn't officially confirmed, it blew over pretty quickly. Billy and Serena knew about it but also knew that we wanted to keep it quiet. They said if you'd made a big deal out of it, they would have offered to write it but you gave it to Ralph instead so they kept their mouths shut."
He snapped his fingers. "*That's* why I recognized your names when I interviewed Lois for her internship. I knew the two put together sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. She distracted me with a story about her dad or something."
"That sounds about right. We wanted the spotlight *off* Christopher as much as possible – we still do. The Planet will get the exclusive, if and when there's an exclusive to be had. But until then... We don't want him in the limelight any more than necessary. Billy and Serena wanted to respect that – please don't be mad at them; they knew we wouldn't cooperate at that point."
"That's perfectly understandable."
"And Sam's got security all around Christopher and Lois so..."
"Why Lois? Why'd he pick her?"
"There was contraband on the plane we flew in on and we think it was at least partly a distraction from that but, Navance also hated her. She refused him and kneed him where it hurts. He might have killed her, I think, if someone from the State Department hadn't shown up when they did. He certainly would have kept her as a... mistress, to be polite about it, or worse. Trying to take him out took her last ounce of energy and she collapsed. They took her to the hospital and that's when she found out she was pregnant. There was no record of our entry into the country. He had the tests doctored to say that she was only a couple weeks along and that she'd been in country long enough for the baby to be his. Under Latislani law, that's all he needed to do. He really didn't even need to do that – all he had to do was claim paternity."
"That's ridiculous."
"The only way around it was if she was married. Then the husband was legally the biological father no matter what a DNA test would say. We snuck into the embassy and got married. We made it out of the country, but he still tried to claim Christopher. No court would send him to Latislan, but we didn't want any kind of media furor like we're probably going to see for the next few days and all of that, so we've tried to keep it as quiet as we can. After five years, the husband is the legal biological father period."
"The five year period isn't up yet, is it?"
I shook my head. "No, he'll only be three next month."
I could see the wheels turning. "Is he your biological son?" he asked quietly.
"It's a long story, but we're pretty sure he is," I sighed. "But in the end, it didn't really matter. I had to protect both of them, no matter what."
He looked at me for a long minute then went on. "Well, hopefully, you won't have to worry about him soon."
I nodded. "That would be nice."
"Listen, I'll get this to Eduardo and make sure that any mention of you guys is out unless someone else is reporting on you. Then we'll keep it as unsensational as possible unless and until you guys are ready for an exclusive."
"Thanks, Perry."
"Now, why don't you get home and celebrate the overthrow of this weasel with your wife."
"Sounds like a plan. Thanks."
"Give Lois my love and hug Christopher extra tight."
"Don't worry, I plan on it."
"Wait." I could see the wheels spinning. "Contraband? What kind of contraband?"
"Guns," I said grimly. "Lots and lots of guns. Lois'..." I hesitated, not willing to bring Sam into it. "Lois saw someone she knew in Paris – someone who wasn't supposed to be there and who had acted suspiciously in the past. We followed her to the airport and snuck on the plane. We got stuck and flew to Latislan."
He started to respond, but the door opened and Eduardo poked his head in. "Chief, word's coming over the wire that Navance is dead."
My eyes opened wide. Overthrown was one thing. Dead was another.
Perry smiled at me. "Go. Make sure Lois knows."
I took off out of the newsroom as fast as I could without anyone getting suspicious, heading home to tell my wife the nightmare was over.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
"Christopher Jonathan Kent, get down from there." I gave an exasperated sigh as I stared at him until he finally moved.
"So'y, Mommy," he said when he made it down off the entertainment center. "Ca' I wa' Back'a'digans?"
"Can you behave?"
He nodded. "I be goo' boy."
I sighed. "Okay – which one do you want?"
We ran through the eighteen Backyardigans episodes we had saved on the TIVO and he finally settled on 'Mission to Mars' where three of the characters went on a trip to Mars and the other two acted as ground control. It was his favorite, which didn't surprise me given the whole space travel thing.
When it was over for the third time, I put my foot down on another round. "Not now, bud. Maybe later you can watch another one."
He gave a big sigh. "Ca' we go ou'si'e?"
"Maybe later. Mom's too tired to go outside right now. After naptime." I hadn't slept well – dreams of being chased through the streets of Skopje haunting me – and I hoped I could get a nap in while the boys did.
He sighed again. "'Kay." He pulled out his cars and started lining them up – big ones in one line, little ones in another. When they were lined neatly up, he drove them around – one by one – in a big circle around the coffee table and to the back of the line.
I turned on ANC for a few minutes to see if I was missing anything big in the world while not at work.
I didn't pay much attention to the baseball story that they were talking about but something on the scroll caught my attention.
'AP Report: Latislani dictator General Navance overthrown by rebels. *ANC* Hundreds dead in two days of intense fighting. *ANC* American embassy in lock down as counter insurgents try to get in. *ANC* All American personnel believed safe.'
That was cause for relief. I knew a number of the people we'd met were still there. But overthrown? I didn't know what that meant, but it didn't look confirmed; just that the Associated Press was reporting that he'd been overthrown. Until he was in that body bag Eduardo had mentioned, I wouldn't feel safe.
But then the picture on the screen changed.
"And now breaking news from Annie Bartlett in Skopje, the capital of Latislan," the male anchor said as the 'breaking news' logo filled the screen. "Annie?"
I stood rooted to the spot and couldn't take my eyes off the TV. There stood Annie Bartlett in the middle of Latislan. Well, standing might be a bit of a stretch. She was huddled behind a short wall that I recognized as part of the American Embassy.
"The worst fighting yet has been going on for two days, but word has just reached the streets – and is being confirmed by our sources in the Latislani government as well as the resistance movement – that General Navance is dead. We're getting different stories on how he died. One source said heart problems. Another said a brain bleed while a third said the brain bleed was the result of a 9mm hole in his head but wasn't sure if the wound was self-inflicted or not."
Someone back at the studio cut in. "But he *is* dead, Annie?"
"Yes, Todd. That has been confirmed by a number of different sources."
I didn't hear anymore, but sunk to the couch, oblivious to the little boy trying to get my attention.
The door to our living area banged open. "Lois!"
Clark was home. I turned to him, tears running down my face.
"You heard?" he asked.
I nodded as I stood and he walked towards me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my head in his shoulder. "It's over," I whispered. I felt his arms wrap around my waist as he lifted me off the ground, holding me tight to his chest.
My tears continued to fall, soaking his suit jacket, but he didn't seem to care. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was shedding a tear or two himself. Clark never cried.
Well, not never, but not very often.
How long we stood there, I didn't know, but it seemed like forever. The last time he'd held me for this long was when we found out Nate needed surgery.
Nate.
He was Clark's son.
Christopher could be – probably was – but we just didn't know for sure.
Suddenly, I pushed against him. Navance was dead. There was no reason for Clark to stick around anymore. He didn't seem to be getting the hint. I pushed harder and hissed at him, "Let me go."
Finally realizing what I wanted, he set me down, but kept his arms loosely around me. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I told him brusquely and moved away from him. I put the toys I'd been holding in my hands in one of the toy buckets before calling out. "Jess, can you keep an eye on the boys? I need to make some phone calls."
Jessica poked her head around the corner. "Sure, Mrs. Kent. Not a problem." She glanced at the clock. "I'll go ahead and get them some lunch and put them down for naps."
"Thanks," I said to her as I left the room. Part of me wanted to pull Christopher in my arms and never let go, but I couldn't.
I heard Clark following me. He caught up and put a hand on my arm. "Lois, what's wrong? This is good news."
"Yes, it is." I moved into the room we called our office. It was such a fancy term for a couple of desks and textbooks strewn all over the place. I needed to call Jill at the State Department. We'd been working with her since the whole thing started. Surely she could tell me if Christopher was safe now. I picked my address book and looked through it. I hadn't called her in a while and no longer remembered the number.
"Who are you calling?"
Couldn't he leave me alone? I wanted to get this call over with and grieve my marriage in peace. "Jill," I finally told him. "I have to know for sure."
Ten minutes later, she reassured me that not only was he dead, but the Latislani law – along with a number of others – had already been declared invalid by the new government. It seemed I wasn't the only one he'd done this to and a number of leaders of the opposition had found themselves in similar situations without American citizenship to help them escape.
My voice was wooden as I told Clark what she'd told me.
Tears continued to flow as he asked again. "What's wrong? And don't tell me nothing because it's something."
I shrugged. "I hope you and Lana will be able to salvage your relationship," I finally said.
*****
TBC
