Disruption
Day 5, Saturday, 1:45PM (Central Time), Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Superman gently floated down behind a red Grand Prix parked near the far reaches of a grocery store parking lot, while the afternoon shoppers looked on in amazement. He curled his fingers underneath the seam of the trunk and forced it open, and scanned the injuries of the man bound and gagged inside. A slightly overweight man in his late 50s, Harold Gallagher had been on his way home from his local Pascagoula, Mississippi home improvement store when Lex and Kitty had cornered him. Normally his wife would have thought nothing of his delay. However, given the warnings on the news regarding Luthor's carjacking the night before, she had called authorities shortly after 1:00PM, when Harold failed to answer his cell phone.
The man was now unconscious and severely dehydrated, having baked in the trunk on a hot summer day. Superman snapped the ropes binding his limbs, removed the duct tape from his mouth, and carried the man up into the air on an express trip to the Baton Rouge General Medical Hospital.
As Superman was evacuating Harold Gallagher from his confinement, Lex Luthor and Kitty Kowalski were resting in the living room of the safe house. It was a large plantation house set on ten acres, with a six foot tall masonry fence around the perimeter and a row of tall pine trees just inside that fence. It afforded them a lot of privacy. They had arrived in town two hours earlier, Kitty dropping Lex off a couple blocks away from the house before she continued to a rendezvous point some fifteen miles away. Lex didn't want to take chances on having the car found in the vicinity, and the short walk was a necessary risk. He felt confident that his two-day beard and fishing hat would sufficiently conceal his identity. After cleaning up and donning a blonde wig, he retrieved Kitty from the grocery store parking lot using the Ford Expedition from the garage.
As Lex now lounged back in his recliner and flipped through the news channels, he reflected on their situation.. Given the surprising tenacity shown by the Man of Steel during the manhunt, Lex realized that his adversary would not give up and leave when he discovered that the trail had gone cold. "We can't stay here," Lex said angrily, turning to face Kitty.
"What d'ya mean, we can't stay?" Kitty asked incredulously.
"When he finds that our trail's gone cold here, he'll turn the city upside down looking for us," Lex informed her. "And he'll find us if we stay. We have to leave."
"Where will we go?" she asked him unhappily.
"I have a place in Vegas," he revealed. "It should be safe there, since he won't have any clues to follow us there."
"So, that's, what? Another two or three days cramped in a car?" she huffed, glaring at him. "I'm tired of running! I won't do it!"
"Oh, yes, you will do it!" Lex declared. "But we won't be driving - we'll be flying. I have a plane about an hour's drive from here," Lex stated, returning her glare. "I'll call ahead to have it prepped and fueled and we'll be leaving as soon as it's ready."
Kitty turned her gaze away from Lex, staring blankly at the television. "How much longer will we have to live like this?" she asked quietly. Lex chose not to answer her, as he withdrew to the office to look up the number for the Acadiana Regional Airport.
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5:00PM, Metropolis, Daily Planet Building
What was supposed to be a couple hours for a press conference had turned into another day-long collaboration as Clark and Lois tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together in the Lex Luthor manhunt. Lois had been meticulously researching Lex Luthor's history and associates, while Superman had been hunting down what seemed to be every stolen car in southern Louisiana. He'd discovered a handful of chop shops, but had turned that information over to the local police rather than acting on it himself, his priority being elsewhere.
Lois had been incensed by how blind the federal authorities seemed to be to the Lex Luthor threat, offering a paltry ten thousand dollar reward. The FBI public relations agent had described that as "appropriate to the risk and current efforts to bring him into custody." In other words, they were leaving it entirely up to Superman to bring him in. Lois knew that it was a mistake to underestimate Lex Luthor and was determined to write a scathing op-ed to try to convince the authorities to raise the bounty. Her goal was to get it raised to the twenty-five million dollar maximum.
As she struggled with the piece, she noticed Clark walking off the elevator with a forlorn look on his face. "Is it that bad?" she asked as he approached her.
"The trail stopped cold in Baton Rouge," Clark informed her. "Either that's where he's hiding or he's met up with some delinquents there and is no longer traveling in a stolen car. Every auto theft in southern Louisiana has been tracked down to a dead end. I'm sorry, but it looks like he got away."
"It's a temporary setback," Lois told him confidently. Then, dropping her voice, she told him in a barely audible whisper, "And don't blame yourself. You've been absolutely amazing going after him. Besides, it's not over yet."
Clark offered a small smile at her encouragement before he asked her, "How's the op-ed coming?"
"I'm just about there," Lois told him quietly. "If you want, you can read through it and let me know if I missed anything." She then added in a whisper, "Maybe we can add some Superman quotes…" Lois slid her chair to the side to allow Clark a better look at the text on her screen.
"You've done a pretty good job summarizing his atrocities," Clark told her. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he added, "As far as Superman quotes go, I'm not sure it would add anything to the arguments. Besides, we don't want people reading too much between the lines of another Superman exclusive." Lois nodded her head, fully understanding his meaning. He didn't want too much exclusive access to Superman to leave a trail of bread crumbs back to her and Jason.
Lois lightly bit her lip and dropped her gaze to her lap for a moment, the vague reference to the family reminding her of the tension with Richard. She again whispered into her hands, "There hasn't been time for it with the manhunt over the last couple days, but we really need to talk about Richard."
Clark looked to her, and in a sympathetic voice, he asked, "Are you ready for a break? Let's take a walk."
A few minutes later, after confirming the Paparazzi were still absent from their nest across the street, the pair zoomed up the elevator shaft, accelerating north to the secure privacy of the Fortress.
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Young fingers moved awkwardly across the electronic keyboard, struggling to tap out the melody of a new song. As Jason practiced his lesson, Richard was back in the kitchen, quietly speaking on the phone with his Uncle Perry, seeking the older man's advice on the confusing situation with Lois. Perry seemed to be the ideal person to hash out the problem with: he and Richard were close and he'd known Lois for many years. "I can't believe that's the problem," Perry informed his nephew. "After all the scrapes she's gotten herself into, there's no way she'd be traumatized by that little adventure aboard that yacht."
"I'm not so sure about that," Richard countered. "For the last few days she's been a stranger, keeping to herself, staring off into space and hardly speaking to me unless it's work related. Maybe almost losing Jason on the yacht pushed her over the edge."
Perry let out a deep sigh at his nephew's obvious worry before he continued speaking. "If you plan on suggesting psychiatric help to Lois, you'd better make sure that your life insurance premiums are paid up. She is not going to respond well to that!"
"I know that she'll resist, but I've got to do something," Richard insisted. "I've already tried everything else I could think of and gotten nowhere." Perry reluctantly provided Richard with the name and number of a respected psychiatrist friend and wished him luck.
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7:45PM, Metropolis, 312 Riverside (Home of Lois Lane and Richard White)
Lois was rereading the op-ed on her laptop in her home office. Clark had offered a few minor suggestions on the article and she'd updated it before arriving home an hour ago. She was now using the op-ed as an excuse to avoid a confrontation with Richard. He was slowly getting more insistent that she open up about whatever was bothering her, and she realized guiltily that the current situation had to be driving him crazy. She'd talked it through with Clark at the Fortress, along with discussing how and when they would tell Jason who his real father was. Lois pulled off her glasses, and pinched the bridge of nose, trying to force the coming headache to go away. Finally, she closed the op-ed file, emailed it to Perry for review, and walked back into the living room to find Jason and put him to bed.
After tucking Jason into bed and promising him that she wouldn't be going into work Sunday, Lois retreated to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. Richard moved to wrap his arms around her, but withdrew when he felt her flinch at his touch. "What's happened, Lois?" he asked gently as she turned to face him.
"Looks like Luthor got away, for now at least," Lois answered.
"That's not what I meant," Richard told her. "What's happened that put a wall up between us? Was it something that happened aboard the Gertrude?"
"The yacht was not a big deal," she answered. "It was a bit scary for a bit, but we all made it out of there and everyone's fine."
"Everyone's not fine," Richard corrected her. "For the last few days, things between us have been… tense. And you haven't wanted to talk it through with me."
"I've already explained that," Lois reminded him. "Please, Richard, I really don't want to repeat that argument."
"I'm okay with you not wanting to talk with me about your ordeal on the yacht, but something's not right, and you need to talk it through with someone." Lois clenched her jaw at that, not knowing where he was leading but uncomfortable with it nonetheless. Pulling a piece of paper from his pocket, Richard continued, "I've got the number of a good psychiatrist –".
"What?" Lois exclaimed. "If anybody here's lost their mind, it's you, not me!" At Richard's alarmed glance toward the stairs up to Jason's room, she continued in a loud whisper, "I told you that there was nothing to tell about that yacht. The only time it's even crossed my mind is when you bring it up!"
"Our family almost died there," Richard reminded her. "It's not unusual for there to be some psychological repercussions from a traumatic event like that."
"Richard, listen to me very carefully," Lois instructed him, the anger apparent in her voice. "Nothing. Happened. On. The. Boat. Now, please, forget about it! I don't need a shrink!"
"It's the only explanation I can come up with for your bizarre behavior," he started.
"Bizarre?" Lois challenged him. "I told you, I had to think through some things."
"Everything was fine before the ordeal on the yacht," he countered.
"The yacht has nothing to do with it!" she insisted. Lowering her voice again, she said quietly, "Richard, please sit down and try to be quiet for a minute while I explain something to you." She lowered her gaze to the floor as he sat at the kitchen table. After remaining quiet for a moment, pensively biting her lip, she let out a deep breath, and began her explanation, "Think back to when we first met and got together. You do realize that our first time together wasn't… wasn't the first time for me."
Richard furrowed his brow, giving her an odd look at that statement. "I had a life before we met, too," he reminded her. "What's your point?"
"Well, before we met and got together, I had been with someone else… immediately before," Lois told him nervously.
"Where are you going with this, Lois," Richard inquired.
Lois answered, "Well, this… certain someone… I bumped into him a few days ago. He'd recently accepted a position back here in Metropolis. I noticed some things about him that I'd forgotten about. Things that reminded me of Jason. I'm now convinced that this… certain someone… is Jason's biological father. And so is he."
Richard was stunned, having always believed himself to have been the boy's father. His eyes widened in shock as he stared back at Lois. He was unable to find his voice for a few minutes as he tried to grasp the ramifications of what she had just told him. After a couple minutes, Lois broke the silence, finally looking up at Richard with a nervous look on her face as she spoke. "Richard, I never meant to mislead you about Jason's paternity," she informed him. "Until a few days ago, I truly believed that he was yours. But we're all going to have to adjust to the reality that he's not."
Lois returned her gaze to the floor as she continued, "People tell us that Jason looks like me, and there's some of that there, but I think he looks more like him. They have the same rare blue eye color, the same nose, the same chin, even their smiles look the same. DNA testing at this point would just be a formality."
Lois chanced a glance up a Richard before returning her eyes to the floor as she continued, "This 'certain someone' is a good man, probably the kindest, most compassionate man I've ever met. He wants what's best for Jason. He hasn't asked for any changes in custody, but he does want to be a part of his life." She looked up at Richard with a determined look on her face as she added, "And he will be." After glaring at him for a moment, she dropped her head back down and quietly added, "He never would have left if he had known. I know it bothers him that he wasn't here to see his son born, or hear his first words, witness his first steps... I still haven't figured out how we're going to explain this to Jason..."
Richard finally found his voice, as he muttered, "The photo albums were for him." It was more a statement than a question.
"For him and his mother… Jason's grandmother," Lois confirmed.
"What's the guy's name?" he asked her.
"What?" Lois asked quietly.
"Jason's... biological father," Richard spat out. "What's his name?"
Lois sighed before responding, "I'm sorry, Richard, but I'm not ready to share that. If I answered that question it would raise other issues and require a long and awkward discussion that I just don't have the energy for right now."
"And this discussion isn't awkward at all," Richard noted sarcastically.
"I'm sorry. I know that this is upsetting for you. For what it's worth, I'm struggling to get my head around it all, too... This wasn't how I planned on telling you… I don't suppose there ever is a good way to tell someone something like this, is there?"
Richard shook his head. "Probably not," he agreed. "I assume that there will be a DNA test?"
"At some point, probably," Lois informed him, as she looked back up at him. "Though, like I said, it's just a formality at this point."
"This… 'certain someone'… Is he the reason you've insisted on sleeping on the couch the past few nights?"
Lois dropped her head again at that. Crap! she thought to herself, Do we have to talk about that now? Aloud, she said, "Things are complicated and confusing for me right now. I needed to be alone while I sorted it out."
"We have a guest room," Richard reminded her, as he struggled with the sudden recognition of a rival competing with him for Lois.
"I didn't want it to be too obvious," Lois admitted. "And I thought I'd have it all sorted out by now, but I've been a bit distracted by the Luthor story."
Though not pleased with this challenge to his relationship with her, Lois' words did offer him some hope. He considered this quietly, both of them with their gaze at the floor. Richard finally pointed out, "Well, things are obvious now, so there's no point in you continuing to sleep on the couch. I'll move my things to the guest room, temporarily. I do still expect us to get past this and spend the rest of our lives together."
Lois offered him a weak smile at that as she quietly said, "Thank you."
Richard left her in the kitchen as he headed up to their bedroom to relocate his possessions to the adjacent room. Despite his optimistic statement to Lois a moment ago, he could not shake the feeling that the life he had tried to build with her was crumbling away.
Author's Notes:
Two things: First, I feel that I have an obligation to thank htbthomas for the beta. Without her patience and feedback, this chapter would not be what it is. Second, this is something of an awkward transition-y piece, where Lois hasn't quite had the epiphany that her future is with Clark, though she's certainly heading in that direction. It's also a transition for Richard as he realizes that he may have some quite formidable competition for her love.