Thanks for your patience. Have I mentioned I so need a new laptop? :p
I'm thinking M/TH for the rest of this though I may end up posting faster/sooner
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Thanks, as always,to Kathy!
Last time
"This man was attempting to remove these from the top of the Carlin Building." He held out a lead box enclosed in a plastic bag.
Henderson took it from him and started to open it.
"Please don't," Clark said suddenly. "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to take that somewhere for safe keeping. I'll see to it you have access to it for evidentiary purposes if necessary but what's in there needs a special kind of security."
Henderson hesitated then called for one of his other men. "Let us get the prints off the outside then I'll turn it over to you. You know the rules of evidence. Contact Abby in forensics as soon as you can?"
"Yes, sir. I'll see to it that it's properly stored and that Abby has access to it before end of business today at the latest." Clark pushed himself up off the ground. "I have some other matters to attend to, Inspector. General Zod will coordinate anything you need, right General?"
General Zod snapped his heels together and bowed slightly towards Clark. "Yes, milord."
Clark took the evidence bag with the box of rifle ammunition from Henderson, summoned his remaining energy and took to the sky.
*~*29*~*It was several hours before they made it home. Colonel Cash, the man captured by Zymack, and Trask were both under arrest.
Lois and Clark, once Clark had landed on the roof of the Planet building and emerged in the newsroom as Clark, had written up the story as several members of the Royal Kryptonian Guard, under command of General Zod, fixed the street and buildings.
Lois went back to the apartment to pick up a change of clothes while Clark talked to Perry and stopped at the police station to see the forensic scientist before they headed back to Pittsdale for the night.
"What's for dinner?" Clark asked as he sank onto one of the bar stools. "Do we have anything?" His eyes twinkled at Lois even as his shoulders slumped.
Lois stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I think I'm too grateful that you're okay to be annoyed at that."
Clark reached for one of the cookies still sitting on the counter. "Me, too."
"Clean up was going well?" Jonathan asked as he checked on the barbecue in the slow cooker.
"They were just about done repairing the buildings when we left," Clark told them. "Dad, you've got all that Kryptonite locked up?"
Sam nodded. "The evidence bag I'll take over to Bernie at STAR Labs. He's a good man and a cutting edge researcher. He's often expressed a purely scientific interest in Superman – in a good sense, not a creepy, dissect you with a knife sense. Wondering if there was anything he could do to help Superman. I wonder if he might be able to use the Kryptonite to develop some kind of antidote or vaccine or something. The other case is under lock and key here for the moment."
"Thanks, Dad."
"This is ready whenever you guys are ready to eat," Jonathan announced.
Clark started to get off his bar stool as Ellen started to get plates out of one of the cabinets.
Lois stilled him with her hands on his shoulders. "I'll get yours."
"Thanks."
They spent the next hour eating and talking quietly about the events of the day. Clark volunteered to fly Martha and Jonathan home, but they insisted he needed more recuperation time before doing something like that. Lucy was staying with Granny Kent for the night and there were no guests staying at the B&B so they wouldn't be missed.
"Well, kids," Gramps started as the clean up was finished. "I'm proud of both of you, how you dealt with all of this. We, uh, hadn't planned on telling you about this tonight – just the next time you stayed here so it's not *quite* done, but the three of us do have a wedding present for you."
"Gramps, that wasn't necessary," Clark told him.
Lois smacked him. "Hush. If someone wants to give us presents, let them," she whispered loudly.
Everyone laughed and Gramps waved Clark off. "Nonsense. My only grandson is only going to get married once. I'm going to go all out."
Clark shook his head ruefully. "Fine."
Gramps pushed back from the table. "Come on."
He led the group through the living area and to the master suite on the main floor. He rested a hand on the door. "It's all yours, kids. Whenever you're here."
Clark gaped. "Gramps, that's your room. Yours and Grams."
Gramps shook his head. "Not anymore." He pushed the double doors open. "Congratulations."
Lois and Clark both gasped. Lois recognized the bedroom set and bedding from her lunch/shopping trip with Ellen.
"This is too much," she whispered. "We can't accept this, can we, Clark?"
Ellen slipped an arm around her daughter-in-law's shoulders. "Yes, you can, dear. We wanted to do this for you – give you a place that's for the two of you while you're here, not leftovers from Clark's teen years. A home away from home, but close enough you can come whenever you want. We all remember what it was like to be honeymooners and know that you might not want to come every weekend like Clark usually did, but when you're here..."
"You could even consider it your own personal B and B and I certainly wouldn't be offended if I didn't see you all weekend," Gramps told them with a wink.
"Thank you," Lois said, turning to give Ellen a big hug before moving on to Gramps and Sam. "Thank you so much."
Together, with her parents, they explored the large bedroom – complete with super king bed. Lois was sure anything smaller would have been dwarfed in the room. There was a living area with comfortable new furniture in it. The bathroom and closets were bigger than the entire living room in Smallville.
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this," Lois whispered to Martha as they inspected the larger of the two walk-in closets, complete with built in shelving and drawers. "It's too much."
"Honey, you married into a family with money," Martha said, putting her arm around her daughter. "I'm just so glad that you two will never have to struggle like we did."
"But, Mom, if this is what they do for a wedding, what will they do for Christmas or birthdays? Unless Clark has some hidden bank account I don't know about, we can't afford anything near like this for them."
Martha rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Honey, accept the gifts graciously, in the spirit which they're given and give what you can, what you're comfortable with. I doubt they expect anything more and I think that they'd hate to make you uncomfortable."
Lois sighed. She was sure they didn't *mean* to make her uncomfortable, but they did.
She and Martha headed back into the bedroom to find that Clark had collapsed onto the bed and the rest of the family had left.
Martha gave her a big hug. "I love you, Sweetie. And I'm so glad Clark is okay."
Lois held her for a long moment. "Me, too, Mom. Me, too."
Lois shut the main door behind her mom, turning to lean against it. "How are you?" she asked heading towards the bed. She crawled onto it and stretching out next to him.
He turned towards her, burying his head in her shoulder. "That was the hardest thing I've ever done.
She wrapped her arms around him holding him close for the first time since the battle ended. It was their first few moments alone since before the Council had arrived early that morning. A few tears streaked down her cheeks. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered, one hand playing with the hair at his temple.
"Me, too. When Ching was standing over me, I understood what Nor had been talking about – the no mercy thing. I don't have that in me, Lois, and he would have killed me if it hadn't been for Trask's insane desire to be the one to do away with Superman. And Trask would have if Nor hadn't gotten in the way."
"I love you, Clark." Lois' arms tightened around him.
"I know, honey. I love you, too." He closed his eyes and relaxed into her embrace.
*****
TBC
