Unexpected few minutes after DD5's friend got here and DH left for school. Have popcorn and snacks packed for the movie [Veggie Tales' Abe and the Amazing Promise]. 5 kids... Thankfully Grandma is coming too
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Thanks, as always, to Beth, Nancy and Alisha - and to Natascha who already finished [because apparently that took precedence over packing
] but made a couple of good suggestions
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Last time:
Lois
A sudden stroke of inspiration shot through me. "What if we got a hold of Van-El? Maybe he knows something we don't." The rest of the family didn't know about Clark. Telling Joe was one thing, but the rest of them... not just yet would be my guess. Van-El was from a society much more technologically advanced than Earth. Maybe he knew something?
And it was a way for Clark to touch base with his brother.
Clark nodded slowly. "It's worth a shot. Sam?" He looked at Daddy.
Dad shrugged. "May as well. He's obviously had access to a lot more technology than anyone around here. Even if he's not a scientist or whatever, he may know something."
Lucy stood up. "I think I need a bit to think about all this before we get to into the sister bonding thing," she told me. "I don't mean to hurt your feelings or anything, but it's the day after Christmas. I'd planned on going shopping and I think that some mindless CostMart time might be just what I need right now."
Jimmy and Dave stood up with her. "I think we need some time, too," Jimmy said. "We'll see you guys later?"
We both nodded. "I understand," I told them. "Really."
They left the room and Clark turned to those of us left.
"Van's on his way."
"What?" Martha asked. "How do you know?"
"Kryptonians are telepathic," Clark said with a shrug. "Didn't you guys know that?"
*~*33*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
<Van? You there?>I could feel his stunned silence.
<We've never talked like this before have we?> I asked him.
<No,> came his tentative reply.
<Kal?>Maybe he didn't realize Clark was Kal?
<Listen, something's come up. I need your help. Do you know where Lois Lane lives?><Big house in Pittsdale? Yeah, I dropped her off there once.><Good. Can you come over as soon as possible? There's a number of things I need to talk to you about, but mostly, I hope you can help us.><Okay, Kal.> His response was tentative at best.
<I'll be there in a few minutes.><Thanks.>I turned to everyone else in the room. "Van's on his way."
"What?" Mom asked. "How do you know?"
"Kryptonians are telepathic." I shrugged. "Didn't you guys know that?" It clicked. "Of course you didn't know that. Van didn't realize it either. I mean, I know he did but he said that he and Clark had never talked telepathically before."
"And your brother?" Sam asked. "You know him? More than just as acquaintances?"
I nodded. "We've become friends. He and his *wife*..." I winked at Lois with that. "...are friends of both of ours."
"What's the wink about?" Dad asked.
"Sorry. They just got married a couple days ago – after our wedding actually. So Ashley being his wife is a new thing."
There were nods of understanding followed by a 'whoosh' outside and Van-El strode in, in full superhero regalia. "Lois. Clark. Good to see you again."
He was being all formal.
I sighed. "Have a seat."
<And here in a bit, you and I are going to have a talk.>He was too shocked to respond to that.
Quickly, I told him just the bare bones of our story and I could see understanding start to dawn on him. "Do you think you might be able to help?" I asked as I finished.
He thought for a minute. "Kryptonian technology is far more advanced than here on Earth, that's true, but we never did any time traveling or anything like that as far as I know." He glanced at me. "I'd be happy to take a look at the device, of course, but I can't promise that I'll be any help."
"Anything you can do would be a big help," Lois said quietly.
He nodded. "I'll do what I can." He looked at me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
I sighed. "Everyone here knows, Van. As far as I know, they don't know your other identity, but they know that you're my brother and that I donned a Suit myself back home."
"What?"
"He's Superman at home," Lois said.
"Superman?" everyone else in the room said unanimously.
I winced. "Lois' idea. The name anyway. You – or my brother rather – showed up on the scene and she was livid that I'd do that without consulting her, but I hadn't of course. A few weeks later, when our lives calmed down, Superman was created. There you and your new wife are among our best friends."
"Wife?" he whispered.
I nodded. "Yeah. Just a couple days ago."
"Wow."
"Anyway, everyone here knows I'm from Krypton so..."
<I won't tell them who you really are, though. Not without your permission.><Thanks.>His face relaxed slightly, as though that had been bothering him. "Let's go look at this thing."
~*~*~
January 2007
~*~*~
I sighed and knocked on the door of the brownstone Lana and I apparently called home.
Her eyes were red-rimmed when she answered the door. "I guess you're still here," she said sarcastically as she turned, leaving the door open behind her.
Lois and I shared a glance and walked in.
"I wish there was another way," I told her. "I wish we knew how to get your husband back here, but we don't."
"So you're going to ruin his life while he's gone?"
I sighed. "I'm not trying to ruin his life; I'm trying to live mine. And if I thought there was any chance we'd get home, get us all switched back, I wouldn't do anything like that here, but we've been over the device. Van-El's been over it. There's nothing we can figure out. Which means the only choice you're leaving me is for Clark to be seen as having an affair and that's not acceptable. I'm not going to make it seem like he's cheating on his wife, but I'm not going to live without mine indefinitely either."
"So do you want to file or do you want me to?" she asked woodenly.
"I'm so sorry, Lana. Really, I am." I was. Even though this wasn't 'my' Lana, even though I wasn't in love with her, I didn't want to hurt her.
There was a long silence.
"I understand," she finally said. "I've thought about it a lot this week and I wondered what I would have done if I had ended up in your universe with my Clark. I'd imagine he and I both would have wanted him to divorce you..." She nodded at Lois. "...and remarry me instead. And I wouldn't want him to be Superman there either."
"If he ever does make it back here," Lois said suddenly. "I'd ask you to reconsider your position on that. If he's careful, no one will find out who he is, but he's good at it and it's good for him to use his powers to help others."
She glared at Lois. "Don't tell me how to live my life with my husband."
"Sorry." She glanced at me. "There's something else you should know. I *am* pregnant, but it happened before we got here."
"You can have everything," I told her, hoping she wouldn't dwell on the 'pregnant' thing. "Whatever assets we have, all of that. I don't want any of it and we'll figure out how to split any debt we have. I want to do this as easily as possible. The only thing I ask is that you leave Lois and anything regarding an 'affair'..." I made air quotes. "...out of it. That's not true and you know it, so I'd really prefer to leave my relationship with Lois out of it."
She nodded. "We don't have much debt at all, besides the brownstone, and the assets in savings and stuff more than offset it. Do you want to keep your retirement accounts? Those are the only things that are solely in one name or the other."
I glanced at Lois before nodding. "It makes sense for me to keep the retirement accounts that are in my name. Can you get me a list of everything? Sam said one of his lawyers would draw everything up for us, but that you'd probably want to get a lawyer of your own to look it over, just to make sure something didn't get missed."
She nodded. "I'll get it to you at work this week."
"I'm sorry, Lana," Lois told her quietly.
"I know." She took a deep breath. "I just have one favor to ask."
"What's that?" I replied.
"It's really more of a favor from Lois."
"What?" Lois asked.
"Can I get just one more kiss from him? I know he's not really my husband but..." She swiped at the tears. "It hurts to know I'll never get to see him again, never get to say good-bye."
"I understand," Lois said quietly. "Knowing I may never see my sons again, but that they'll grow up thinking another me is their mom... That hurts more than I know how to explain. And as grateful as I am for some time with my mom and my brother and my sister, I want my sons back, too. I miss them and I'm worried about them and how they're dealing with all this." She looked at me, question in her eyes.
I hesitated. "I don't know, Lana. I know we didn't tell you the whole story about how we ended up together instead of the way it happened here, but I don't know that it's a good idea." Visions of myself kissing Lana in her dorm room, in the library, flashed before me. I wouldn't do that to Lois – bring back those memories if I could avoid it.
"It's okay, Clark," Lois said suddenly. She turned to Lana. "We got married very suddenly after we found out I was pregnant with Clark's baby. It's a very long and convoluted story and Clark didn't really cheat on his Lana, not consciously, but we got married, in large part, because of the baby, *before* he officially broke up with Lana. When he told her, he kissed her and a week later he kissed her again – and not just the kind of kiss you're asking for. I know that because I saw them together," Lois told her. "It took us a long time to get to the point where we're happy together and in love and working at building our marriage together. He doesn't want to bring any of that back for me." She turned to me. "It's okay. We're not there anymore. It's up to you."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded. "I'm sure."
I looked at Lana. She looked so much like the girl I'd been in love with. I could understand where she was coming from. I felt like Lois did. I missed my sons. I hated that someone else was going to play dad to them for however long we were here. I hated that they might be scared and confused and having separation anxiety in the extreme.
But at least I had Lois with me.
I had no idea what I'd do if only one of us had been switched. If I'd ended up here without her, or if I'd woken up with a strange Lois in my bed.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I could see Clark at odds with himself over what to do, but I smiled encouragingly. I wasn't crazy about Clark kissing Lana under any circumstances, but these were understandable.
Sort of.
He looked at me again and I smiled again. As encouragingly as I could.
He took the few steps needed to stand in front of Lana. His hands rested on her shoulders and I could sense his hesitation before he leaned over to kiss her lightly.
Lana's tears escalated and Clark took her in his arms, holding her while she cried.
I expected to feel some jealousy, but I didn't. I was secure in Clark's love for me. I knew he loved me and not Lana.
It was a long time before she moved away from him.
"Thank you," she whispered, encompassing both of us.
"I'm so sorry for hurting you," Clark told her giving her one final squeeze.
"I know." She sighed as she swiped at her tears. "None of this is your faults. You guys don't want to be here anymore than I want you to be."
"If we can figure out a way to get him back here, we will," I promised her. "I just wish we'd figured it out before it got to this point."
"I know."
"What about your Lana?" she asked suddenly. "Is she happy?"
"She is," Clark said quietly. "She's engaged to a great guy. They're getting married this summer."
"So if you end up stuck here indefinitely and I never get my Clark back, there's hope that I won't end up alone?" she asked, her arms wrapped around herself.
I nodded. "It was really hard for her for a long time, but she was actually in our wedding last week. She did a lot for us around graduation and I wouldn’t call us *friends* but we're way beyond where we used to be."
She nodded and we left a few minutes later.
We drove back toward the house in near silence. Telling Joe had been easier. I didn't know why that was, but I thought he'd accepted it several days before. And he knew that the him in our world was very happy with someone else, so he had some small hope that someday things would be better again, even if his Lois never made it back here. Maybe knowing that would help Lana, too.
"Now what?" I asked Clark quietly as we neared the house.
"We find you a doctor, I guess. Start settling into our lives here. You have three weeks off if you want them, but I don't. I have to go to work tomorrow."
"I'll call Perry, I guess. If I'm not getting married, I don't need the time off, right?" I sighed. This was going to be hard. I wasn't sure I was up for it.
Maybe three weeks off wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.
*****
TBC
