A/N Thanks to my beta, Mak5258. She does a great job at fixing the same grammar errors time and time again, darn comma splices, and quotes get me everytime. I should be able to start posting on a more regular schedule for the next couple months, as all the end of year stuff is done. Daughter's book is finished, so no more reading it instead of writing this (sadness.) I can't wait until it gets published, and she finishes the next one.
Oh, I don't own Superman, DC Comics, or Time-Warner: but if they'd like to buy out a little hobby magazine….
As Clark flew his family back to Smallville, his stomach churned with the thought of what was happening. He wondered if they would be in this mess if he hadn't come back. He realized that they would be worse off if he hadn't come back, they'd be dead, along with the rest of the planet, if Jor El's calculations were correct.
As Smallville came into his view, he focused on his homestead, recognizing the sea of cornstalks that had been mowed down and were now waiting to be plowed under for the season. Upon seeing the charred remains of the SUV that had incinerated his coworker, his thoughts turned to Richard. He had hoped that Richard would have become a friend, that he would have been a good influence on Jason, just as Jonathon Kent had been for him. Instead, his life had ended; cut off, like the corn in the fields that lay before him.
He looked on as investigators scrambled around the yard looking for what clues they could before it got too dark. Black government vehicles were parked all around the yard; a large panel truck parked in front of the barn was the temporary command center. Four NSA officers were seated at monitors that were attached to the walls, watching video feeds of the investigators sifting through the wreckage of Richard's car. Clark listened to hear if they had found any clues as to who could have done this, though he had his own ideas.
Finding a secluded spot near the house, Clark slowly descended, giving Lois a chance to pull herself together before she had to face the detectives and their questions. Jason was eager to free himself from his father's arms and was off chasing Shelby before his parents could stop him. Lois put her hand on Clark's large chest and looked up at him, her eyes pleading.
"Please, just let him have a few minutes to have some fun, before we tell him."
"What happened?" he asked. He didn't really want to go there, but he needed to know.
"Richard got a call as we were finishing our lunch. He said that he had to leave; he had been recalled to Langley. When he went to open the car door, it exploded," Lois explained, tears glistened in her eyes. She turned away as Clark engulfed her in his arms, putting his chin on her head.
"It will be okay, sweetheart," he whispered in her ear. "Everything will be okay."
"It is not okay, nothing is going to be okay, okay? Richard's dead, CSD is trying to take Jason from me, and, if you don't remember, we are both suspended from our jobs until further notice. That means no paycheck, no unemployment, no money!" Lois screamed as she moved away from his embrace.
Clark stood straight as he noticed another small convoy of black SUVs arrive at the farm. There must be almost two-dozen government types on the farm already, how many more are needed to investigate the explosion? Then he noticed the head of the NSA exit one of the newly arrived vehicles.
"General," Superman addressed the newcomer as he approached them.
"Kal El," General Lane responded, taking the outstretched hand of the superhero.
"Daddy?" Lois turned and greeted her father quizzically. The general smiled at his oldest child and took her in his arms to comfort her.
"Where's –" he started to ask as a big yellow mass of fluff came barking at him, followed by a very muddy little boy. He released his daughter, and laughed at the approaching mud monster.
Clark looked at the mess that was his little boy, and couldn't help but smile with pride. That's my boy, he thought to himself.
"Grampa! This is Gramma Martha's dog, Shelby. Isn't he cool!" Jason cried out enthusiastically. The General looked at his daughter puzzled. Lois and Clark both had very awkward looks on their faces.
"Isn't this your former partner's farm? The guy who ran out on you?" he asked, glancing at Jason.
Lois grimaced to the reference of Clark's disappearance, "Clark's mom lives here."
"So, where is your partner?" General Lane asked, glancing over to Superman, then back to his daughter.
"He's gotta be somewhere around here," she responded. Superman smirked at the general, shrugging his shoulders.
"So, Superman," General Lane started, "I haven't heard from you since you returned. Did you find anything, anyone out there?" he asked, pointing towards the heavens.
Superman's countenance fell, "I'm sorry for not meeting with you, General. I've been pretty busy since I got back," Clark said, looking first at Lois, then to his son. "There was nothing. Krypton was completely destroyed, just as my father said."
The general nodded at Superman's answer. "So, the report, the message that Zod claimed to have received?"
"Fake, you had told me as much before I left."
"I'm very sorry, Kal El. You should never have gone, I never should have asked you to," the general consoled.
"We needed to know what was out there, General. I had to go, to see it for myself. I have always wondered if it was really gone, if Krypton was destroyed. I guess I had hoped that Jor El was wrong, that he was able to somehow save it," Kal El conceded, a faraway look came on his face.
He looked over to his son, "Jason, you need to go in and clean up. Your grandmother has supper waiting for you. Oh, and take off your muddy shoes before you walk on her clean floors. She's not a spring chicken anymore, and I don't want to have to mop up your mess," Superman instructed the little boy. Jason nodded and bounded up the porch to the mudroom, his father watching to confirm that he had listened, and took off his muddy shoes.
General Lane pulled Kal El back into their conversation, "Did you get to Star Labs? Did everything go okay?"
"Yes, General, thank you for arranging that. We got the tests done. They should have the results in a few days."
"Anything to protect my grandson. Wouldn't want anything to happen to him just because some alien dictator wants to take out the competition," the general answered.
Lois had been observing the interaction between her father and Superman, but her mind was in a fog; she was still in shock from the afternoon's events. Richard was gone, but here was Clark or Superman or Kal El, and her father speaking as if they knew each other and were old friends. Then there was the fact that she was Kal El's wife, not an abandoned lover, or an ex-girlfriend, or even a girlfriend. They were married in accordance to Kryptonian law and tradition.
She needed to get in control of her jumbled thoughts, but she also just wanted to go someplace alone and cry. A sudden realization hit Lois as she listened to her father speaking to the hero.
"Did you just call Superman Kal El?" she asked her father.
"That's his name isn't it?" he responded.
"But, he doesn't, hasn't, I mean, I didn't know it until just before Zod arrived. And I knew him for a couple years before that!" Lois was irritated with the realization that her father knew more about the hero than she thought.
"YOU KNEW!" She shouted angrily. "You knew where he went. All this time, all my worry, my raging, my heartache, and you knew – he went to Krypton. How could you, Father?" She was shaking in rage now.
"I thought it would be better that way," Kal El said. "I asked him not to tell you, Lo. Don't be angry with your father."
He looked at her, the heartache of his decision apparent in his eyes. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, it used to calm her down when she was in one of her tempers; now it just made her angrier. Somehow his leaving for Krypton would always come back to haunt them, and she was furious that he had gone without talking to her; her father knew, he was involved somehow. It just wasn't fair.
The trio was standing far enough away from the investigators that they couldn't hear what was being discussed, but they realized that someone could overhear some very sensitive information if they weren't careful. Slowly they made their way into the house, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted in the air, competing with the fragrance of pot roast and apple pie. A very contrite Superman gave Lois a cup of the brew as she sat down at the wooden table.
Jason had made his way to the kitchen, and was trying to convince his grandmother that he was allergic to baths, and needed to stay in his muddy clothes.
"Nice try, buddy, but you need to get upstairs and into the tub right now, or you'll get no dessert," Superman told his son, as he lifted him from his chair and placed his feet on the floor. "Your mommy told me that you love ice cream, and grandma has some in her freezer, just for you. And maybe you can try a small piece of pie."
"Perhaps you should get changed into something less conspicuous as well – Clark," the general said, "If someone were to walk into the house and see you dressed like that –" The General pointed to the 'S' shield on Clark's chest,
Clark flushed in embarrassment, and he super-sped upstairs and changed into some more appropriate Clark apparel. Lois crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back against the chair. She was beyond furious now, running out of adjectives to describe her emotions.
"You picked a very old-fashioned man there, Lois, a very honorable man," General Lane addressed his daughter. "He came to see me after he turned Zod over to the authorities, told me everything: who he was, what you both had done. He promised to be a good husband to you. He even apologized for not speaking to me first, for not asking my permission before marrying you."
Lois sank down in her chair as she listened to her father recount his first meeting with the hero who was her husband. Her anger started to subside a bit.
"I in turn told him about the studies that Zod had demanded while he was in control. I gave him what little data we had from Hubble, as well as other telescopes, and from some deep space probes. The images of Krypton that we had were just beginning to show some damage. It just didn't appear to be as devastated as we all believed, it looked like it might be intact; it could have survived. We just wanted to make sure that there weren't anymore Zods out there, or any survivors," General Lane explained.
"He really does love you, so much so that he was willing to give everything to keep you, and now Jason, safe," Martha added, as she placed a platter with the roast on the table, then started setting out the rest of dinner. Bowls of mashed potatoes, carrots and peas, rolls, including some made with rice and tapioca flour for Jason filled the table. It was hard not to be hungry with all the food around.
"I had Richard assigned to protect you, hoping that he would make a good substitute for Clark. I had no idea how long the journey would take, if he could even make it back in our lifetimes, if he ever made it back," General Lane continued. "I just wanted…."
"I know, Daddy. You did what you have always done, what every parent does, you tried to protect me, to fix things. But Daddy, you can't fix everything. And you can't fix this.
"Richard is dead. Jason's daddy isn't coming back, and he's just met his real father. I don't even know my own husband; didn't even know, remember we were married. Five years! He was gone five damned years. We can't ever get that back," Lois got up from the table and slammed out of the back door into the farmyard. She couldn't stay indoors any longer. She needed to get out and get her head on straight. As she went to grab a cigarette from her pocket she realized that she must have left her coat inside. There was no way she was going back to the house to get it.