Silver and Gold

A Smallville/Superman Returns Crossover One-Shot

Written By: Potterfanxp123

Looking on the figure of the god-like man in front of her, Lois couldn't help but be surprised. Only hours before Superman, a man whose grin was so familiar she swore that she knew it, was lying in a hospital at Metropolis General on the brink of death.

"Will we see you?" she asks, excitement and indecision playing on her mind as she looked at the god-like figure of Earth's greatest hope, "around?"

Superman smiles his familiar grin. "I'm always around," he utters the familiar words. "Goodnight Lois."

As she watched Superman fly away, Lois can't help but wonder, "why can't I remember?"

Looking at her son, a boy who was showing every sign of being as strong as his father, Lois turns, dropping her cigarette back into its pack, and says, "why can't I remember the night we spent together?"

As she walked back into her house, Lois lay in the strangely empty bed and cried herself to sleep.

She awoke early the next day, a habit she doesn't remember picking up but knowing it was stemming from somewhere, when she walked into Jason's room and woke him, imploring him to get ready for school. The five year old woke and smiled at her, before walking to his closet and pulled his favorite shirt, a red and blue squared, plaid shirt she picked up for him one halloween he wanted to be a farmer, and his favorite pair of jeans, his Christmas present from that same year that he wore with the plaid shirt.

As she dressed him, Lois could have cursed herself for not noticing how similar he and Superman looked, the same blue eyes and the same unruly black hair.

After dropping him off, she picked up her daily coffee and drove to work, anxious to break the Superman story and figure out who he was.

"I'm telling you Clark," a voice said, drawing her attention to her former partners desk. She looked at the blond and felt a feeling of familiarity pass over her. "After all you've been through, you deserve to be happy. No one knew that Lex was going to turn out as bad as he did, including you. And don't even start with that crap Uncle Sam put you through. It's been your crutch for too long. Remember? He died last year."

"I know Chloe, but it isn't as simple as that anymore. Lex is a serious threat now, not anything like the guy I pulled out of the river in Smallville. And, I know that Sam's dead, but it doesn't change what he did, Chloe. And, talking about changing, you've changed too, Mrs. Wayne."

"Chloe," Lois muttered to herself, her eyes widening in suspicion. Her cousin Chloe knew down to earth, farmboy from Smallville, Clark Kent?

"Well, what about Lois?" Chloe demanded, and Lois' eyes widened. "Why haven't you told her anything?"

Whatever his response was, Clark cut short as he said, "oh, hey Lois."

Lois stepped out, schooling her features to be surprised that Clark and Chloe knew each other. As Chloe stepped forward, Lois pulled her into a hug. "Hey cous," the blonde said, and turned, Lois noticed, to give Clark a penetrating glare.

As Chloe picked up her bag, she turned toward Clark and said, "tell her, Clark." She watched as Clark nodded his head solemnly, and she walked out. "Call me tonight Lois, if he doesn't tell you everything, I will. Just so you know, I'm sorry."

She looked at the retreating figure of her cousin, confused, before turning back to Clark. "Something you need to talk about, Clark?"

Clark sighed and walked to Perry's office, where they had an animated discussion, and Clark walked out, grabbing her arm softly and said, "come on, there's something I should have told you a long time ago, Lois."

She nodded, following Clark to the elevator. As he pressed the button for the top floor, Lois wondered why he would take them there as cold as it was outside, when he said, "I need to explain a few things to you, things you aren't going to like, and I would prefer if we were alone when I do so, Lois. I asked Perry to make sure the rooftop is clear today, so we can... talk that is, without interruption."

Startled, she looked as Clark's bumbling farmboy persona left, leaving a tall, confidant man in place, and for a moment, Lois was taken aback as she wondered if maybe he knew something she didn't.

They arrived at the roof two minutes later, the uncomfortable silence creeping along her spine as Clark chuckled. Shooting him a sharp look Lois said, "what is it, Clark?" Clark said, "I'm surprised that you can keep quiet this long, as much as you hate uncomfortable silences, Lois."

Her eyes widened as she sat on a cement block, her thick coat taking the brunt of the cold and leaving her nice and warm. Looking into his blue eyes, Lois said, "how did you know that, Clark? And how do you know Chloe?"

Clark looked to the heavens, a clean mix of nervous and excited showing on his face as Clark looked to her, shame flowing in his eyes as he said, "I know a lot more than you think, Lois."

"And as to how I know Chloe?" he said, then took a deep breath. "It's the same way I know you. I met Chloe when she was eight years old, in Smallville. She moved there after her dad got a job at the LuthorCorp plant and her mom was declared mentally insane. Back then, I had two close friends, her and Senator Pete Ross, and for a time, I thought that they were all I would ever need."

Lois' eyes narrowed in confusion. What she was hearing was far from what she remembered about her cousin, grew up in Metropolis, graduated with Honors from Met U, became the first deep cover reporter for the Daily Planet and married Bruce Wayne six years ago.

"How? Clark, all my memories?"

Clark took a deep breath, an unbidden memory making him shudder. As he exhaled, Clark said, "your memory of that night isn't the only thing you've forgotten Lois."

Lois' eyes narrowed, before Clark revealed to her his biggest secret, in the simplest of manners. He took off his glasses.

Lois' shock grew as Clark turned to her, his posture different. She unbuttoned the top three buttons on his shirt to verify what she knew would be there, and said, "how?"

Clark... Superman... she didn't know who at the moment took a deep breath. "Almost fifteen years ago, as hard as this is to accept, you and I were engaged to be married. I had just graduated from Met U, and you were working for my mother, a Junior Senator of Kansas. Back then, before I became Superman, I was Clark Kent, Krypton refugee, farmboy, and, in your own words, "the biggest thorn in my side."

By the time I graduated, we had been dating for a year and a half, and things couldn't be better. When I proposed, you accepted. After, you asked me if we could tell your dad everything.

When I answered, I made the biggest mistake of my life, Lois."

Lois waited in bated breaths as Clark turned his gaze toward her. His voice had hardened, and when he spoke next, it came out as an angry hiss. "I said yes."

The elevator to the office of General Lane opened in great wonder as Lois and Clark walked down the narrow hall. On display, pictures of the General, Lucy, Lois, Gabe and Chloe were hanging, and a banner with the words, "What I Fight For, Everyday" hung on the walls. Clark grabbed Lois' hand as she whispered, "It'll be alright, Smallville, we'll be soon adding your picture to this wall."

Clark looked down at her and said, "it's not that, Lois. It's just that General Lane seems like a hard man to please, what if I'm not good enough."

Lois' retort was cut off as they reached the door and the General met them, a smile on his face.

"Hey daddy," Lois said brazenly as she looked on her father's face, his gaze narrowed to her and Clark's joined hands, and said, "hey Lo, hey Clark. I'm sorry to hear about your father, he was a good man."

Clark took his hand, shaking it briefly and quickly, as the General led them into his office and offered them chairs. As they sat, Lois said, "daddy, we're here to tell you some things that may surprise you, but know that we're serious."

Sam nodded his head. "First off," Clark said, "I just wanted to tell you that I proposed to Lois yesterday and she accepted."

As General Lane sat back, astonishment on his face, he smiled and said, "congratulatons, Lo. Clark."

"That's not all, daddy. The real reason we're here is to tell you everything about Clark. If we are going to join his family, I feel you have a right to know about his... heritage."

Sam sat back, his face showing confusion. Clark, looking at Lois who was suggesting he do something said, "General, may I see your sidearm?"

The man looked at Lois, who nodded that it was safe, and so reluctantly, he handed his gun over. Clark took the safety off, pointed it at his hand and fired three times. The Generals eyes widened as Clark then pulled his hand back, blew off the soot and showed him the three bullets.

"I'm not exactly from around here, General." Clark said with certainty, "in fact, you could say that I'm not from this Solar System. I come from a planet called Krypton."

So caught up in their emotions, they never noticed the General press a button or the forced smile on his face, as Sam said, "Lo, can Clark and I be excused, I need to talk with him."

She looked up as Clark, a lone tear trailing down his face said, "that was the last time I saw you, Lois. The next day, I received a letter in the mail from the Pentagon that said you were placed under a Witness Protection Program, and that for your own safety the last six years had been erased from your mind through electro-shock therapy. I was sent your engagement ring, and all of your personal affects, and said that if I were to contact you in any fashion, that you would be taken so far away that I would never see you again.

I didn't. I knew where you were, I had mom track you down through contacts she made through the government. I thought that as long as you were alright, then I could live without you.

For twelve years after that, I underwent training at the Fortress of Solitude, and when I came back, decided to put my degree in journalism to use. I contacted Perry. He owed me a favor, and said that he'd field me with his best reporter.

From there, everything is history."

Lois stared at him, shock and confusion on her face. "No, its not. I'd always wondered why daddy put me under E.S.T, Clark, and that explains that. But, why can't I remember us, not the old us, but the new us? Jason's us?"

Clark looked at her hurt, confused eyes and said, "what have your read about Dark Thursday?"

Lois looked at him in confusion, wondering why he would bring that up after all these years. "Not a lot, I remember that Lex Luthor infiltrated the Pentagon showing Kryptonian like abilities, and that he later threw benefits, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Dark Thursday came about because Lex was invaded by the parasitic body of General Zod, because of me. He had been working with a doctor, Milton Fine, who later turned out to be one of Krypton's greatest weapons, the Brain Interactive Construct. Lex was asked to create a series of anti-viruses, and turn them into a theoretical antidote for all known diseases. At the very last stages, Lex was injected with the antidote by the BrainIAC, and then possessed by Zod.

After I defeated him back then, I thought the worst was over. But, apparently, a meteor hit his containment unit in space, and Zod, and his two lieutenants were released.

During this time, Perry sent us on an undercover trip to Niagara Falls, we were posing as honeymooners, when I forced myself to trip over the carpet and my glasses fell into the fire. I grabbed them, and put them on, and you insisted on seeing my hand.

It doesn't take a genius to know what happened next, Lois."

She shook her head and said, "no it doesn't. Let me guess, I saw you weren't hurt, and then in some moment of stupidity, you took them off like you did a second ago."

Clark nodded. "That night, in the Fortress of Solitude up North, is the night we conceived Jason, Lois. In a moment of weakness, but one that I never regretted, I let all of my old feelings for you out. At the time, I was totally human, I sacrificed my power to be with you."

Clark winced at the tear that rolled down her face. "It wasn't until after that I found out Zod had been released. After I regained my abilities, we decided that it was best to stay apart.

But I couldn't see you hurt. So I took your memories of those days. It wasn't more than a few days later that Queen Industries found what they thought was Krypton and, that, as you say, is that."

Lois walked toward him, disbelief written on her face, as she looked at Clark. "Why wait until now to tell me, why didn't you tell me all of this before?"

"After I found out Jason was my son, I couldn't believe it. I went searching the cosmos for family, when all I needed was here, on earth."

"And how does Chloe fit into all this, Clark?"

Clark sighed, looking around the sky. "Chloe tracked me down a few days ago. Bruce had invited me to Wayne Enterprises Annual Stockholder's meeting, me Clark not me Superman. I invested some money that was left aside for me from dad's life insurance. Chloe confronted me on everything, especially about our past engagement, and told me that you deserved to know. After everything I've told you, Lois, I'll understand if you never want to see me again."

Lois smiled, took his hand; visibly devoid of Richard's Engagement ring, and said, "this explains so much, Clark."

Then, she kissed him and, for the first time, she felt free.

"I've missed you, Lois," Clark said, his voice full of emotion. And, for the first time in two decades, Lois honestly knew that he meant every word of it.

End Chapter