Superman smiled as the rays of the sun shone on his face, reenergizing him after the effects of the Kryptonite poisoning. His thoughts however were on a boy on the other side of the planet. Earlier in the day as he lay on his hospital bed unconscious, he had heard Lois utter the five words that had changed his life forever.
"Jason, he is your son." Lois had whispered.
He had a son; this was something that he had never imagined would happen to him in all his life. He had thought it a dream, but when he visited them earlier this evening, after looking at the young boy, there was no denying it.
However, this posed a problem. After the near kiss incident on the roof of the Daily Planet, he had decided to keep his distance away from Lois. He was Superman after all, the hero, not the home wrecker. But now with a child in the mix, he had to reevaluate his resolutions. As he shot towards of Metropolis, one thing was clear; the time had come for Clark Kent to step up.
Martha Kent was currently flipping through the channels from her Motel room, trying to find any information that she could find concerning her son. Earlier, reports had indicated that Superman had gone missing from the hospital, but with no indication as to whether he was feeling better or someone had managed to kidnap him. Her fears were crushed however, when she heard a whooshing sound outside her door.
As soon as Clark opened the door, his mother was on him with a speed that no human, let alone an old lady could master. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn that she had his super speed. She hugged him tightly, as she started to silently sob. Clark held his mother tightly, he had escaped death today, and so he understood what his mother might have been going through. Mother and son remained in the hug for several minutes, one glad that he was alive, and the other glad that her son was okay. Clark pulled out of the hug and proceeded to sit on the bed.
"There is something that I need to talk to you about mother. Its better if you would sit down?" He said motioning for his mother to sit next to him.
"What is it Clark?" She said as she sat next to him.
Clark's hand went through his hair as he tried to find the best way to tell his mother what was on his mind.
"Mother, promise me that you will not get mad?" he asked hopefully.
His mother gave him a look that he had come to know very well. He sighed before continuing.
"You remember Lois right?"
His mother nodded, "Of course son, how can I forget?" She said in a tone that made Clark blush slightly, "I remember seeing her coming to see you at the hospital earlier. She was with a young boy, that's her son right?"
Clark took a moment before he replied. "Yes mother that's her son, his name is Jason. In fact that is what I wanted to talk to you about."
Martha looked into her son's eyes, and she could see swirling emotions in his eyes. "What is it Clark."
Clark couldn't help but smile, as smile that Martha had not seen in a very long time. He turned his body towards his mother and holding both her hands, "Jason is my son mother. You are going to be a grandmother."
"Jason sweetie, go get your bag, or we will be late for work." Lois said to her son.
It had been two days since the events of new Krypton as the giant mass of kryptonite had come to be named. Metropolis was slowly getting on its feet, and so today, she had decided to go to work. The Daily Planet had not been affected much, except for the giant globe that had fallen during the tremors.
As Jason walked towards her, stuffing crayons and some blank paper into his bag, one thought came into her mind. 'Superman'.
Since the day that he had left hospital and come by to see Jason, that is two days ago, his whereabouts were not known. There were no reports about him being spotted by anyone. She could only hope that he was alright.
She opened the jeep's back door and ushered Jason in. After securing his seatbelt she got into the car and started up the engine. She waved back at Richard who was waving at her from their bedroom window as she drove off.
It was almost 2 hours later that Lois got into Daily Planet. Traffic was terrible, some of the roads had been closed off, and those that were in working condition were jammed with traffic. She couldn't help but notice as she entered the newsroom that many of her colleagues had not reported for work.
'Hmmph, it seems somethings never change.' She thought as she walked towards his office.
"Good morning, Chief!" she said as soon as she opened the door.
She called help but smile at the scowl that appeared on Perry's face. Many a times had he tried to get her to call him Perry, but she always enjoyed tormenting him.
"Having your fan are you Lois?" he asked before he continued. "Anyway, have you heard from Kent? Everyone seems to have checked in except for him."
"Kent?" Lois asked confused.
Perry raised an eyebrow, "Clark Kent, your former partner?"
"Ooh, I haven't Perry, is anything wrong?" She asked looking at the confused look on Perry's face.
As Perry dismissed Lois, his thoughts went back to Kent. The guy was one of the best journalists he had ever known. Combined with Lois, they were the best reporting team in Metropolis. That had been five years ago, before Kent had to go on a soul searching journey. What disturbed him even more was the familiarity that existed between Lois and Clark before Clark went on his trip was now non-existent. It was clear to him that when he had mentioned Kent to Lois earlier; she had no idea of whom he was speaking of. He couldn't blame her any way; it always occurred to him that Kent did his best to make himself invisible. The dorky glasses, the extra-large coats, it was like the guy did this on purpose, and he had reason to believe so.
Around two weeks ago, he had received a call from the current owner of the Daily Planet, Bruce Wayne, instructing him that in the next week, a former employee was going to return, and would be best if he got his job back. This had hit him as strange, and after an intensive look into the background of the two, he had found out that they were very good friends. So, what was the deal with Kent? Perry got his answer a week later.
Metropolis had returned to some sort of normalcy after a week of intense efforts by various factions to bring the city back to something close to its former glory. The same was to be said of the Daily Planet. The paper was pretty much back on its feet, there having a lot to report about, the only thing missing from its reporting team was Clark Kent, who had not returned to work yet. His mother had called in on his behalf informing Perry that Clark was not feeling well, and would report back to work as soon as he felt better.
So Perry on this day and at this time, he found himself over at Lois giving her, her next assignment. It had been over a week since Superman had left the hospital, and the citizens of Metropolis had started to worry as to what happened to Superman. Lois being the resident Superman expert, and also the last to have seen Superman alive was the best to write an article on the hero. He was instructing her on the things she was to write about when there was a shushing sound from several individuals in the news room.
Perry looked around and saw that everyone seemed to be pointing at the screens. There on the screens was Superman putting out a fire somewhere in the outskirts Metropolis. He smiled as the cheers erupted in the newsroom. He spotted the smile on Lois face but stopped when he saw the calculative look of her son who was seated at her desk.
"Mister Kent will be returning today." The kid said as he went back to his drawing.
"What was that, sweetie?" Lois asked. Jason just shrugged.
Perry looked between the boy and the screen, could it be true what the boy had implied? He was still in thought as he heard someone curse in the direction of the doors. There stood Clark Kent apologizing profusely to someone as he tried to pick up the papers that were scattered on the floor. As Perry came to a realization he stumbled backwards as he sort out a chair.