The Return
By River Eagle
Companion to 'Gone'. Clark's thoughts on his first day back at the Planet. If anyone still has questions about who the man was at the end of Gone, hit review and leave a message.
I stepped off the elevator into the bullpen of the Daily Planet. It had been five years and three months since I had last stepped into the building where I had spent the majority of my adult life working. Of course, that had been before I had heard rumours that Krypton was still out there somewhere.
Going out to find the remains of my home planet had been a mistake in of itself. Bruce had told me as much when I'd returned and actually confessed as to where I had gone. The place was a graveyard.
I almost ran into Jimmy as I looked around the bullpen for the first time in years. He dropped his camera and I reacted instantly. Before the camera had a chance to shatter on the ground, I caught it. Jimmy turned in his desk and started to scold me.
"Be more care..." he started and then realised that it was me. "Mr Clark! I mean, Mr Kent! You're back. Wait here a moment. I have something for you. I'll be right back."
I smiled slightly at the photographer's enthusiasm. It was good that some things didn't change. Unlike my mother. When I left, I didn't think she would start seeing someone. Romantically. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Mr Hubbard. It's more the fact that Mom had always remained on her own after Dad died. I thought that she would stay that way until I buried her beside Dad.
Jimmy appeared before me with a cake that had a slice already gone. It didn't look all that appealing but when the kid said he'd baked it himself, I had to give him some credit. "It looks... delicious." I hoped he didn't pick up on my hesitation. If he had, he never said.
"Olsen!" The two of us looked across the bullpen to Mr White's open office door and to the editor himself.
"Coming chief," Jimmy returned as quickly as possible. He turned back to me. "Gotta get back to work." He looked over the bullpen at Mr White. "Hey chief, look who's back."
Mr White nodded briefly and looked as if he didn't care. I suppose he didn't. He'd been reluctant to take me back. "Kent."
"Thanks for giving me my job back."
"Thank Norman Richie for dying," Mr White returned gruffly. I wasn't sure if he was regretting his decision to take me back already. It wouldn't have surprised me if he was remembering all my disappearances from before I'd left.
I frowned, looking down at Jimmy. I didn't really remember a Norman Richie working at the Planet, but that could have been because he worked in a different section of the paper before I'd gone.
Jimmy looked forlorn. "It was his time."
"Olson!" Mr White barked out again. Jimmy looked utterly reprimanded. He offloaded the cake and pointed out an empty desk to me before he went to find out what the chief wanted. I stood where he'd left me for a moment, cake in one hand, a suitcase in the other and my second suitcase on the ground. Someone bumped into me from behind. I stumbled forward slightly and dropped the cake and suitcase to catch myself on Jimmy's desk. The suitcase landed on the floor, but the cake landed upside-down on the photographer's desk on top of a stack of his photographs. I think my jaw dropped a few inches in horror. I hadn't meant for the cake to be disposed of in that fashion. There were people around me that had begun to laugh at my blunder and attempt of cleaning it up.
Jimmy returned and he did a good impersonation of a fish. "I... I'm sorry, Ji...Jimmy," I stuttered my apology. "I'll... I'll pay for... for re..replacements." How I was going to do that, I didn't know. At least I had been able to salvage the situation and turn it to my advantage. Sort of. I always hated acting like a complete idiot, yet I had found that it did have its advantages. It kept people from guessing the truth. No one would dare to think that I, Clark Kent, had anything on me, Kal El.
Jimmy waved it off and told me not to worry about it. He looked more disappointed in the fact his pictures were ruined than me dropping the cake. "Are you okay, CK?"
I nodded and indicated to my suitcases. "I'd better put these away before they cause me more trouble." Jimmy laughed a little and finished cleaning off his desk. I felt really bad. After all, it had been my fault I dropped the cake on it. I stored my suitcases in one of the storage rooms, after apologising profusely all the way over there when I knocked into people. I made my way to the empty desk Jimmy pointed out to me earlier and I sat down.
I flicked on the computer. My eyes darted across the bullpen again, wondering where Lois was. The two weeks that I'd been back had seen me get reacquainted with the Planet and its staff so I knew Lois was still working there. Her voice came out of one of the TVs that was mounted on one of the pillars near my desk. So she wasn't currently at the office. I looked down at the computer and sighed. Mr White had put me on obituaries for the first few days I was back. Not that I'd expected to be on them for long. He and I both knew I was an investigative reporter, not some fluff writer for the Star Times. If anything, I knew I could get a job in Gotham, courtesy of Bruce. I started on my task of obituary writing but before long I grew distracted. I decided I would go in search of Lois' desk. I wondered how much of the reporter had changed over my five-year absence.
Her desk wasn't hard to find. It was still as messy as ever. But there were some things that had changed. Like the framed award for her article on why the world didn't need me. That had stung when I had read that particular article. It almost made me not want to return. Mom had persuaded me that no matter what happened, she still needed me. And it wasn't like Lois had anything against Clark now, was there?
Something else on her desk caught my attention. It was a framed photograph, half hidden behind a withered pot plant and a messy stack of papers. I reached out and picked it up. The photo was of a little boy with blue eyes sitting between Lois and a man I didn't recognise. I saw Jimmy's reflection in the frame's glass and he snorted.
"Ha! It's hard to believe that Lois Lane is a mommy."
I saw my eyes narrow in my reflection. Lois was married with a child? Married to the man in this photo? There was a cracking sound and I was drawn back to the photo frame. Whoops. Too much force. "Is Lois married?" I asked. My voice was strained. Whose wouldn't be when you're faced with admitting things had moved on without you?
"Yes," Jimmy answered and then corrected himself. "No. Engaged. Just don't ask Ms Lane when they're tying the knot because she hates that question." He took the frame off me and put upside down on Lois' desk. "She's got other frames."
My mind was whirling. Who was the child with Lois? And who was she engaged to? Why did she dislike people asking her when she was getting married? I think my biggest regret was what had I done to her? Because I knew Lois. At least, I thought I did. She wouldn't have written that article about Superman otherwise. Bruce hadn't divulged any information to me about when he delivered the letter to Lois just after I left. He had just said my partner had been in a right state and that I should have known better.
"Do you want to go for a drink?" Jimmy asked, breaking into my thoughts. I shook myself out of my thoughts and turned to him.
I very well couldn't have said no. I gave him a brief nod in reply. "Allow me to pay," I said. "I feel bad about the cake."
Jimmy smiled a full smile then.
SR SR SR SR SR
We made our way downtown and to a pub. It was there that our attention was drawn to the monitors and what was happening aboard the plane Lois was on. Then the power shut off. I had just taken a sip of my beer and I froze half way to putting the glass down. Something was not right. Something otherworldly. Never, in all my time in Metropolis, had the entire power grid fallen at the same time. Oh, I knew Luthor had attempted to take out the power grid before but back then I'd been able to stop him. This time, I was sure Luthor was still behind bars and that he wasn't (or couldn't) be behind the city's power loss.
As suddenly as the power went out, it came back on again. The monitors flickered back to life and my acute hearing picked up a mechanical error even before they began broadcasting something was wrong. I put my mug down and discreetly left the bar. It wasn't hard for me as everyone's attention was on the drama unfolding on the monitors. This was definitely not the way I wanted to return. Or the way I wanted Lois to find out I was back. After all, she did hate my guts.