From Last Time:
Ching smiled a sad, but knowing smile. He stepped toward her and took her hand in his, indulging in the intimate gesture despite his words. "My devotion needs no response and expects none. I know that you belong to the world, to hope to claim you as my own would be selfish."
"I want to be yours again," she whispered and lifted his hand to her lips.
"I know," he replied. "And it means more to me than I can say."
********
New Stuff:
Lois paced nervously in Perry's office. They'd discussed her options thoroughly and rationally, but she was still uneasy. "You're sure this will work?" she asked her boss for the thousandth time.
"Positive," Perry replied. "Everything's set. I've got the headline for tomorrow's paper and the story complete with quotes. Making Ultrawoman disappear for a while is the only sensible thing to do, you're the one who said it first."
"I know, but I just can't imagine walking away from this. I feel like I'm letting everyone down."
"You're doing what you have to," Perry insisted. "You shouldn't ever feel bad about putting the baby first, that's what parents do."
"You're right," she replied.
"So where do we go from here?" he asked.
"I figure I'll announce the pregnancy in a few weeks--another month or so and I won't need to make an announcement. And after that...well, I've been talking to Clark's parents, and we all think that me moving to Kansas makes the most sense. I want to have the baby there."
"I don't want to lose my best reporter," Perry replied wistfully.
"I've hardly been your best reporter lately."
"Aw, heck, you can out-write the rest of the staff with both hands tied behind your back," Perry drawled. "Stay on as a columnist. That way you can live in Kansas and get paid to have opinions."
Lois laughed. "I'll think about it," she promised. She looked at her watch. "I need to get going."
"Meeting with a source?" Perry seemed hopeful.
She shook her head. "Doctor's appointment." The editor arched a brow. "Sort of," she clarified.
********
"Bernie?"
Bernard Klein turned around in surprise, nearly knocking over an Erlenmeyer flask full of an amber liquid in the process. "Lois, you startled me!"
"I've been calling your name for a while now," she replied, confused.
"Oh, well, what can I do for you?" he asked as he lifted up his safety goggles.
"It's a bit complicated, but I've been on a directness kick lately, so here goes nothing, and please, don't breathe a word of any of this to anyone," Lois began.
Bernie nodded politely. "I've got Top Secret government clearance, no need to worry about a thing."
"Clark is Superman."
"Oh my," Bernie replied. He stepped back, bumping into the lab table.
"I'm Ultrawoman."
"Oh my," he said again, slightly more emphatically, as he groped for the countertop to steady himself.
"And I'm pregnant."
"Oh my!" He lost his balance and almost slipped to the ground. Trying to catch himself, he managed to knock over the flask, shattering it and send the liquid spilling all over the countertop. He jumped back awkwardly to avoid the chemical.
"I'm so sorry!" Lois exclaimed.
"It's all right, not a problem," he assured her. "But just a suggestion: lab? Not the best place to deliver Earth shattering news."
"Uh huh," she replied, her eyes fixated on the chemical eating into the countertop.
"But wow, a baby, huh? That's great."
"It is," Lois replied with a slight smile.
"I didn't even know Superman would be able to have children with an Earth woman," Dr. Klein mused aloud.
"To be honest, neither did we," Lois confessed.
"How fascinating, a half Kryptonian pregnancy..." he began.
Lois tried to cut him off before he could begin waxing scientific. "Well, I'm glad the issue interests you because..."
Bernie merely continued. "I wonder if the pregnancy will proceed like any other..."
"Wanna chance to find out?"
"Huh?" He seemed to have been shaken out of his reverie at last. "What? Oh, wait, you don't mean, do you?" Bernard Klein suddenly grew very nervous. "I'm not an obstetrician, I don't even have human patients."
"But you're Superman's personal physician, you're the only person in the world qualified. Even if the pregnancy is completely normal, I'm not, and any doctor will figure that out. I wouldn't ask if I didn't really need your help, but I do."
"I guess you're right," he conceded. "But I have to warn you, we're both going to be learning this as we go."
They set up a time for a preliminary check up. The entire process was quite awkward, as Lois had expected it would be. On top of the fact that she knew Bernie as a friend, there was a reason why he'd never practiced medicine. Bernard Klein was a lab rat, through and through; human patients were just not his forte. Nevertheless, he was the only person in the world with scientific knowledge of Superman's physiology and was thus the only person at all qualified to monitor this pregnancy. Even if she knew of another physician she trusted enough with her and Clark's secret, she'd no doubt have to bring Bernie into the process in order to get the necessary background information on Kryptonian biology. Asking Bernie to be her doctor simply reduced by one the number of people who'd have to be brought in on the secret. In thirty years, Lois had been the only person Clark had ever told about himself, in the six weeks since his departure, she'd already told three people, but was hoping not to have to divulge the information to anyone else.
"Thank you, Bernie," she said gratefully as she prepared to leave.
"Sure, no problem," he replied, briefly glancing up from the notes he'd pulled out on Superman. "I still can't get over the fact that Clark and Superman are the same person, I mean, I never would have guessed it..."
She smiled. "Yeah, it took me a while, but I was a lot madder when I found out."
"Not surprising." Bernie smiled. "Say, how long have you had these powers? I mean, you're not from Krypton, too, right?"
"No, I'm just a plain old regular person. I got the powers last time because of that red Kryptonite laser. This time..."
"Electricity transfer, right?" he finished.
"Right," she confirmed.
"So it was planned that you'd take over for him...while he was away?" A note of sympathy crept into his voice.
"That was the plan," Lois replied. "That and he figured I'd be less likely to get into mortal danger with superpowers."
"I'll bet," Bernie said with a laugh.
"But Ultrawoman will be taking a sabbatical for the rest of this pregnancy."
"Smart plan," he concurred. "I'll see you on Tuesday, then. But call me if you need anything before that."
"Thanks," she replied with a smile. "I really appreciate it."
"Anytime, Lois."
********
"Welcome home, Zara, and welcome home to the crew of Star Runner Five, and welcome and good tidings to Kal El," a voice announced over the communicator.
"Thanks and good tidings to you, Lieutenant Commander, and to the crew of Interceptor Six One," Zara replied. Clark, Ching, and Ensign Parth, the navigator, were gathered with her in the communications bay to receive the transmission.
"Our path is clear and there are no signs of trouble," Ensign Parth confirmed.
"Our information suggests the same. We shall escort you the rest of the way to New Krypton. I anticipate that we will arrive within three days."
"Very well, Lieutenant Commander," Zara replied. "Lines of communications will remain open between Star Runner Five and Interceptor Six One, please keep us informed of any changes or causes of concern."
"Aye, Ma'am," the Lieutenant Commander replied and the transmission ended.
"Now that the escort is here, we should take the crew off heightened alert," Clark mused aloud.
"Aye, sir," Ching replied with unfamiliar deference to the other man. He depressed a button on the communications console and spoke into the microphone. "All crew, revert back to normal shift schedules. We are standing down from heightened alert. That is all."
Ensign Parth turned toward the other three. "Ma'am, sirs, I should return to my post."
"Of course, Ensign, good work," Ching replied.
"And I will relieve the pilot of her duties," Zara added. With polite bows, she and Parth left for the command bridge.
"If I, too, may beg my leave to return to my post," Ching began.
"Ching?" Clark turned to the other man in puzzlement.
"Your training is complete, sir, and you've proven yourself able to lead. It is now my turn to follow your orders."
********
"First Superman, now Ultrawoman," Ralph proclaimed loudly as he strolled into the bullpen, shaking his head with dramatic disapproval.
"Shut up, Ralph," Jimmy replied as he crossed the other man's path.
"Aw, come on, Jimbo, everyone knows you're just defending Ultrawoman because you're in love with her," Ralph retorted.
Jimmy stopped abruptly and turned around. "Listen, both Superman and Ultrawoman have helped us and asked for nothing in return. Superman left to stop a war, and I know Ultrawoman's reasons for leaving are as good as his. You're nothing but a loudmouthed jerk with no right to talk..."
"It's all right, Jimmy." Lois had heard the fight from across the newsroom and intervened to defuse the situation.
Jimmy had been struck dumb when she'd told him she was pregnant. After a long moment of silence, he'd rushed to congratulate her, all the while trying awkwardly to figure out if she was happy about it. She assured him that she was, but he commented nonetheless that it wasn't fair that she had to do this without Clark and that it wasn't fair that Clark wasn't here and didn't even know that he was going to be a dad. She was hard pressed to disagree with his logic. Lois also told him that as a result, Ultrawoman would be retiring from service for the rest of the pregnancy, and that she wanted him to know before it was announced. Again, he seemed grateful that she felt comfortable keeping him in the loop. In reality, she appreciated the part he played in her support network - the only thing that kept her functioning these days.
She placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. Seemingly mollified, he mumbled that everything was fine and continued on his way to the darkroom. Ralph, however, continued to linger, looking as sullen as a struck puppy.
"Don't you have work to do?" Lois asked in exasperation. Without waiting for an answer, she returned to her own desk.
She'd barely begun to work when Perry's voice, booming across the newsroom commanded her attention. "Lois, my office, pronto." Lois looked up to see the editor standing in the doorway, a mug of coffee in his hand and a look of consternation on his face.
Lois made her way to his office. They entered and he closed the door behind them. "If Ralph's mother weren't on the paper's board I'd have fired him ten times over by now," Perry grumbled as he put the coffee mug on his desk and sat in his chair.
"It's okay," Lois replied. "I bet at least half the people in Metropolis are thinking the same thing he is."
"That isn't true," Perry said emphatically. "The people of this city trust Ultrawoman the same way they trust Superman, they know she'll be back because she promised she would."
"You make being a paragon of honesty and virtue sound so easy," Lois replied.
Perry winked. "Fake it, honey."
The comment elicited the laugh it was no doubt intended to draw out. "I really appreciate everything you've done for me and Clark," Lois said. "I wouldn't be able to keep this up without you."
"Hey, I back my reporters one thousand percent, no matter what."
"You're going well beyond the call of duty, Chief," she said.
Perry grunted. "Yeah, but I like you two more than most of my reporters," he said with an affectionate smile. Perry got up and walked across the office to hold the door open for her. He replaced the smile with a more fittingly dour expression. "Now get back to work."
********
Clark watched the rapidly approaching landmass with bated breath. For the first time in months, he could stare outside the windows of the ship at something other than the darkness of space. They were closing in on New Krypton and the planetoid now filled their field of vision. He could just barely see the outlines of the main colony. The sky over New Krypton was orange and cloudless, the ground the color of rust. Thin blue rivers like veins stretched out over the dry terrain. The ship noticeably slowed as they approached.
"Sir," Ensign Parth called to him. "You'll want to take a seat for the landing, it might be a bit rough."
"Thank you," Clark replied as he took his seat on the command bridge. He glanced over at Zara, who was expertly bringing the ship in for a landing.
"We have clearance for our approach," she stated calmly.
"The escort will remain in a holding pattern until we've landed," Ching announced. "We will be on the ground in a few minutes, everyone. Final check of landing systems."
"All systems are operational, sir," Ensign Rul responded from her seat at the bridge.
They remained in silence for the remaining few minutes of their flight. Clark couldn't believe that the trip was finally over and that he'd once again be able to set foot on solid ground. Of course, this solid ground wasn't the planet he'd called home for the last thirty years.
The ship landed and docked noisily and the crew broke into enthusiastic, but controlled applause. "Very nicely done, everyone," Ching said loudly.
The communications system clicked on. "Welcome home and good tidings to the crew of Star Runner Five. Good tidings to you, Zara, and a warm welcome to you, Kal El."
"Thanks and good tidings, Command," Ching replied. "It is good to be home."
The pressure lock was secured and the exterior doors of the ship slid open. The crew lined either side of the corridor to the exit, standing at attention. Ching gestured for Clark to proceed. He and Zara made their way down the corridor side by side, with Ching just behind them. They walked through the long tunnel to the command bridge of the colony's docking station.
"Take my arm," Zara whispered to Clark softly as they walked toward the waiting welcome party. Clark obligingly held out his arm stiffly and Zara looped her arm through his, her hand settled at the bend of his elbow. Zara nodded in approval and gave him a slight smile. They finally reached the end of the seemingly infinite corridor and stepped through the doorway to the command bridge. Zara allowed her hand to slip from Clark's arm and they stopped in unison and bowed respectfully to the collection of Councilors and officers gathered at the bridge. Their crew stood at attention behind them, under Ching's watchful eye.
"Thanks and good tidings to the esteemed Councilors and Guardians who toil endlessly so that New Krypton may prosper and her citizens be free and at peace," Clark said, repeating the phrase Ching had drilled into his head.
"Thanks and good tidings to my esteemed brothers and sisters who work side by side and whom I have the pleasure to serve so that our people may be free and at peace," Zara recited her own salutations, different from Clark's because she had already accepted the duty to serve New Krypton.
"Welcome and good tidings to you all," Councilor Shai responded. His eyes were as dark and fierce as they had ever been, though his body was now frail and bent and his hair thin and gray. "On behalf of the Council, I extend thanks to you, Kal El, for answering our call. With your arrival and Zara's return, the Council will be able to confirm its new First Ministers and place upon your shoulders the mantle of governance that you might take up the responsibility to our people and serve at their pleasure."
"We welcome the Council's decision," Zara replied.
Shai nodded. "First, you shall rest, and the Council will be convened. Lieutenant Commander?"
Ching stepped forward. "Esteemed Councilor?"
"Assemble your guards and see Zara and Kal El to their quarters. Watch over them as we are not safe even here."
"Aye, sir," Ching replied with a solemn bow. "Parth, Rul," he called to his two subordinate officers, who followed him as he led Clark and Zara down another hallway.
