:) Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! They make my day! I'm not entirely sure how long it will be until I update again because of exams next week. But I'll keep working on it in my head at least. I'm glad you all liked the last chapter so much. I've got tons of new ideas and surprises for you guys in this fic, so keep checking in ;)

Thanks for the beta, Lilly!

Chapter 38: Scrabble

"Right this way, Ms. Lane." Warden Brown's deep voice was like a violent rumble through Lois's dark thoughts. The moment she'd drove in through the tall, intimidating coiled rail fences of the New Troy Metropolis prison gates, her thoughts had been spiralling down into a shadowy frame of mind.

Warden Brown gestured for her to follow. Lois treaded meekly behind him down the gloomy, narrow corridor with the flickering fluorescent lights barely radiating a faint glow down the passage.

"You have ten minutes." The Warden grunted as he escorted her into the confided space at the end of the hall. She stepped tentatively into the room, scanning the grimy surrounding walls. There was an icy chill that slithered up her spine. The room was cold and empty. There was nothing but a cool, steel table located in the center of the room accompanied by two chairs, placed at both ends. A sliver of uncertainty stabbed at her nerves. As she slowly sunk down into the freezing, steel chair and collected her bearings, she noticed a solid, heavy door on the opposite wall. She stared hard at it as a tickle of fear feathered her heart. At any moment, Richard White was going to walk through that door.

There was a part of her that wanted to take the easy way out and deliver her message through a letter, a phone call or some other means of communication that didn't require her to have to gaze back into his familiar green eyes without screaming. But she needed to do this for herself. She knew that only a face to face confrontation with this man would be the only way to deliver the news.

Oh God, please let him buy this. She prayed silently as she rolled her fist into a tight ball, a single sheet of paper folded unevenly into a tatty, crinkled square clenched in the palm of her firm clasp.

Richard had carelessly thrown away whatever affection she had left for him after she watched Clark, drag Richard down from the Emperor building with cell phone detonator in hand, on television. The police raced him into custody. Richard's name was plastered on every newsstand across the country. His face was on every television network in the world. In only one week, Richard's name had become infamous in every country on the earth. Notorious, for his attempt to blow up the Emperor building, The President of the United States, seven other world leaders, and half of Metropolis. He was locked away in prison at the drop of a hat. His case wouldn't go to court for three more months. Superman had already agreed to testify. Richard was going away for life. She knew that, but still somehow managed to find an ounce of pity for him. He was never going to see Jason again, and after today, he wouldn't see her again either. It was her duty to deliver the results. After everything he'd done, Lois believed that even he still deserved to know the hard, cruel truth.

"When the guard said I had a visitor, I thought it would be my lawyer."

Lois closed her eyes for a brief second. Once she opened them, she knew that Richard would never be the same man to her again. The envision of the sweet, irresistible prince charming that he once was, would be lost to her forever.

She listened to the scrape of the chair legs against the floor as Richard pulled out his seat to join her. She could only listen to the rattle of his cuffs clanging together as he folded his hands on the table before her.

There was nothing separating them. There was nothing to protect him from the harsh, paining words that she knew he was going to spit at her. There was no shield to hide behind. Only the table. Her sister's killer, the man in the shadows stalking her in the alleyway, her rapist, was sitting right across the table.

She at last found the strength to open her eyes. She didn't have any expectations of what she would see. Just a broken man with nothing else to give her. His face was stiff, and his eyes were empty. He was dressed in the formal orange jumpsuit that unified him with the other criminals. He was pale, and there were dark drooping black bags weighing down his eyes. His appearance was ragged and worn, Lois actually found herself trying to suppress a tinge of sympathy back down her throat with a hard swallow. There was still something restless about him. A certain ray of hope fell from his expression. There was no guilt, no remorse, no sense of shame, just hope. As if he knew something she didn't. As if the harsh reality that he was never going to see the light of day again still hadn't settled in yet.

"Do you have something to say to me, Lois?" Richard inquired with a tolerant sigh after only a few seconds of the uneasy silence that divided the two sides of the room in half.

"I came to ask you something." Lois forced her lips to move, not entirely sure of what she was saying. "I wanted to know if my sister had said anything to you before you murdered her.'

Richard seemed taken aback at the question, "You still think I had anything to do with Lucy?"

He shook his head, still playing with his startled act of surprise, "What reason would I have to-"

"I don't know." Lois shot hotly. "And I don't care why you did it. I just want to know if she said anything to you." Lois found herself beginning to tremble with rage, "There's no use playing this game with me, Richard. You can deny it all you want to the rest of the world. I don't care. I just want to know what she said."

His solemn exterior did not change. "I don't know, Lois. But..." Richard curled his finger motioning her to lean in to the middle of the table. "If I were in her position, I probably would have been begging for my life." His lips hissed the words in her ear slowly, "She probably would have screamed for help, she probably would have raced to the door, she probably would have fell down on her knees and plead to be spared, she probably would have confessed that she knew the identity of her sister's rapist, and she probably-"

"Stop it," Lois pulled away quickly before Richard could utter another dark word. "That's why you killed her?" Lois felt hot tears welling up in her eyes. "She knew you did it? She found proof, didn't she? She found the evidence that would have convicted you of rape." Her lower lip trembled at the thought of her sister on the ground at Richard's feet, just screaming for help. Just hoping that a miracle man might fly through her window, just like for her big sister. "My rape."

Richard fell back against his chair, "You asked." He shrugged.

"Did Luthor pay you to rape me? Did he pay you to invade my life and pretend that you cared for five years? Did he pay you to go to Jason's piano recitals? Did he pay you to come after Jason and I on the Gertrude? Did he pay you to drive me to the hospital to see Superman?!" Lois was practically screaming by the time she finished her sentence. She was fuming, with tears dripping down her cheeks like a fountain. Why couldn't he just show something? Some amount of remorse. Just to know that he missed what they had created. Just to know that it all just wasn't an act.

"Do you really want to know that, Lois?" Richard replied barely above a whisper.

That was her answer. Her heart sank. She could hardly see his hunched over outline anymore. Her tears smudged the bright colors of his jumpsuit with the icy, steel table. "No," She answered finally, "I guess I don't." She refused to let him take the handful of wonderful memories that she did have away. It was all she had left of her life. He didn't have the right to wreck that too.

"I have something for you," She raised her fist across the table and released her grip around the crumpled little fold of paper. "Read it."

Richard's jaw tightened. He shifted in his chair while inspecting the paper uneasily for a moment. "No."

"Why not?" Lois spat harshly, "Are you afraid that I might have a little power to destroy your life too?"

"I don't care, Lois. I'm only here because-"

"It's the paternity test results." She cut him off sharply. No more of his cruel tactics. It was her turn.

"You took a paternity test?" Richard scoffed with an amused smile, "Why in the-"

"He's not Superman's son." Lois was pleased when she saw Richard's grin fade. Instead his face fell back into a stone mould.

"You're lying...he's not my..." He reached forward and snatched up the paper. He scrambled to unfold it while Lois continued.

"No. He's not yours either." Be brave, Lane. He'll buy it. She told herself confidently. "He's Clark's."

Richard suddenly became mesmerized by the paper. His mouth fell open when his own eyes were able to confirm the results. "As in Kent?" Richard's pierced back into her own. "That's a lie-"

"It's the truth Richard." Lois could practically feel the heat from his intense stare.

"You told me that Jason threw the piano. You told me that he-"

"I was wrong." Lois felt her body turn rigid. This wasn't going to be easy. "We hit some rough water on the Gertrude. The piano wasn't secured properly to the floor. When the waves hit, the piano broke loose and slid into the Luthor's man."

Richard's skin had turned to a ghostly white, "That is bull. I saw Jason use heat vision. He lit my arm on fire-"

"It wasn't Jason." Lois shook her head. "It was Superman."

"You're lying. I can-"

"Think about it, Richard! Did you really see Jason use heat vision? Are you sure it couldn't have been Superman?"

Richard was speechless. He tripped over his tongue for the right words, unable to come to a reasonable conclusion. "B-but you...and Clark?"

"Before he left on his trip." She nodded slowly. "It was just a stupid mistake-"

"This is bullshit!" Richard flared. She braced herself and took in a sharp breath when Richard suddenly rose from his chair in a rage. "Lois, you are nothing but dirty little-"

"I'msorry, Richard! I really am! But you..." Lois stopped. She found it odd that Richard never reacted so strongly to anything else she said. Not about Lucy, not about the alley, only about Jason. Why would he care that Jason wasn't Superman's son?

Because he was planning on exposing it to the world. Claiming that he knew Jason's true Kryptonian

heritage. He planned on telling the media, and maybe that might influence his trail. Maybe he thought he could strike up some sort of deal for the information. But now that Lois had proof that Jason wasn't Superman's, thanks to Photoshop editing, he would only sound like a crazy lunatic spouting off. That was the only reasonable conclusion she could come to, anyway.

"We're done here." Richard took his anger out on the table with a swift kick, "Don't come back, Lois. Just leave me alone."

Lois couldn't restrain a soft sob, "Was it worth it? Was it worth giving up on us?"

Richard scanned her with a disgusted snare, "I'm not the one who threw it away, Lois. You did. The moment you decided your flying fantasy was more important that your family."

"P-L-A-N-E-T! Planet!" Jason beamed back proudly as he placed the final T letter tile on the pink double world score square on the game board. "Just like the Daily Planet, right, Mr. Clark?"

"That's right," Clark tipped his head while staring at his own set of letters, still not quite sure what word he could make with X,U,Y,A,S, O and Z. "How many points do you have?"

"Forty-two." Jason replied with a snicker, "Don't worry, Mr. Clark. You might catch up...at least you have more points than Mommy usually gets."

"I don't think Scrabble would be her favorite game." Clark agreed slowly.

"No," Jason shook his head and grinned, "She's terrible."

"Ah-ha," Clark triumphantly placed his Y tile underneath the letters T and O. "Now how many points did Toy earn me?"

Jason paused to the count out six more points on his fingers. "Twelve."

As Jason began to inspect his tiles carefully for his next turn, Clark diverted his attention away from the Scrabble board for a moment. His ears picked up a soft sob and a frustrated groan as he pictured Lois standing outside the door, fumbling furiously with her set of jingling keys. Her breaths were short and raspy. The conversation with Richard must not have gone very well, as he expected.

"You're Mom is home now, Jason. I'm going to go let her in. You keep trying to figure out what we can put beside that Y tile on the end."

Clark stood up from the couch and left Jason puzzling over his set of scrambled letters at the coffee table. He walked past a mountain of boxes piled up to the ceiling with labels like, Jason's toys, Lois's clothes, Good China (Clark, if you break this, I'll kill you). He and Lois had spent the last few days loading up boxes with her delicate possessions. The apartment back in Metropolis was going to be awfully crowded. At least, until all the repairs were finished on the Kent farm house in a few months. Lois was to report at the Daily Planet in one week, and she still hadn't finished packing.

When he opened the door from her apartment and into the hallway, he found Lois sitting down at the top of the stairs. She'd given up on the keys, her head leaned against the banister. Her fingers fiddled with the straps on her purse, occasionally brushing away a tear or two that crept out of her red, blotchy eyes. Richard had succeeded in making a fine mess out of her again. Even behind bars, he somehow managed to keep a strangling hold on her life.

"Richard didn't take it very well did he?"

Lois didn't move. Her eyes were fixed on the crumbling apartment wall across from her. Clark stepped forward several paces and slowly bent down to her level and joined her on the stairs. "What did he say?"

After several seconds of silence, watching Lois stumble around in her mind at a loss for words, she simply replied. "Nothing." Her curls bounced around her sopping wet face as she shook her head still in disbelief. "Nothing important anyway. He doesn't even care, Clark."

Clark edged closer to her on the stairs. He wasn't entirely sure what to say. He knew this would happen. He knew that she was only walking into more heartbreak to meet with him. He had begged her not to go. But she insisted that he know Jason's paternity so that he couldn't go spreading around the news. She just wanted to protect her son.

"What about the paternity test? Did he buy it?"

Lois tilted her head slightly. Her brow furrowed curiously as if she was fumbling around with the thoughts in her mind. "He did, but...I don't think he was upset that Jason was Clark's. He was more concerned with the idea that Jason wasn't Superman's. It was just strange." She quickly dismissed the thought with a shake of her curls, "But I guess it doesn't even matter. I still have to go in there and tell Jason that Daddy's never coming home again."

Clark reached for her hand. "You don't have to tell him yet, if you're not ready."

"Of course I do. Richard's face is plastered on every news network in the city. You think he won't figure it out?" Her hand clenched firmly around his as she hissed through gritted teeth. "I would rather tell him now, than have some stuck up, know-it-all kid at school tell him that his Father has gone to jail for the rest of his life." Her words were trembling with fury. Clark could see the pools of rage boiling in the depths of her eyes. There was nothing left for Richard but hatred.

"I could tell him for you." Clark's thumb began to circle around on her hand in a soothing motion. "O-or maybe," He stammered cautiously, prepared for Lois to jump up and attack him with the very idea, "Maybe...it would be easier on Jason to know that...Richard really isn't his Father."

Clark knew this was a sensitive time to bring up the subject. But he honestly thought it would be a true comfort to Jason to know the truth. He had prepared himself for Lois to lunge at the suggestion bitterly.

Instead she only exhaled deeply and forced herself to turn her head in his direction. Her eyes rested on his reassuring grip.

"I know how much you want to tell him." She whispered lightly, "I see it every time you look at him. I can tell how much you want to be called Daddy."

Clark lowered his head with a sad little smile in spite of himself, "Is it that obvious?"

"I want to tell him too. But I just don't think that-"

"Did Mr. Clark take Daddy away?"

Clark froze when Lois was cut off by a tiny peep from behind. Clark turned around just in time to see Jason timidly tip-toeing out of the door. His fingers played nervously with a handful of Scrabble tiles as he approached them both curiously,

"You did, didn't you? The lady on T.V said Superman took Daddy to prison. Why? And why are you lying, Mommy?" The gloomy little expression on Jason's face was enough to break Clark's heart in two. This wasn't going to be easy.

"I'm not lying, sweetheart." Lois replied after a moment of Jason's eyes dancing back and forth on them.

"Yes you are." Jason nodded without a doubt, "You just said you were going to tell me that Daddy isn't coming home. I heard you. Why were you going to lie to me, Mommy?"

Clark's gaze traveled from Jason's anxious waddle forward to Lois's frantic expression. He watched her open her mouth to reply but close it again with uncertainty. She probably didn't even have the slightest idea of what to say.

"You're Mother wasn't going to lie to you, Jason." Clark stepped in bravely. He could hardly believe the words were leaving his mouth. He wanted to tell Jason for so long now. Though, this wasn't quite the way he envisioned it. "I did take Richard away. But only because he was going to hurt a lot of people if I didn't."

Jason only shook his head. "My Daddy doesn't hurt people...he just..." He had begun to protest until he suddenly trailed off. His eyes wandered down over Clark. Scanning him carefully as if he was deciding whether or not to believe him. "Daddy did try to hurt you once." Jason recalled quickly. The memory of Superman lying in his own puddle of blood on their living room floor played over in Jason's mind. "He had that green stuff. Just like the bald man on the boat did."

There was a helpless look of horror forming across Jason's face as he put the puzzle pieces together. His fingers rattled with the tiles around in his palms. "Why did Mommy say that you're my Daddy? Is that why I can do all the things like you? Like hearing really loud and make fire?"

Clark nodded slowly. "Yes. But...I had to go away for a long time, so Richard..."

"Pretended to be my Daddy? So Mommy wouldn't be lonely?" Jason finished thoughtfully.

"Uh..." Clark's eyes shifted towards Lois for approval, who simply shrugged and nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, Jason. He was there for awhile, and he took care of you both. But I'm back now and I won't leave again."

Jason bit his lower lip pensively as he soaked up the information. "So...you're going to be my new Daddy now right, Mr. Clark? Are you going to stay with us? And play catch with me? And help me with my spell long words with Scrabble? And watch me play piano?"

Clark rested a calming hand on his son's shoulder and looked him directly in the eye, "I am going to be with you ever single day, Jason. I'll teach you how to hit a home run, I'll teach you how to spell catastrophic without any F's," Clark tilted his head and gave Lois a wink, "And I will hear every single note you play at every single piano recital until your fingers fall off...does that work for you?"

Clark watched proudly as a soft, hopeful expression lit up over Jason's face as he leaped into Clark's arms.

"Look," Jason opened his palm to reveal a few hidden Scrabble tiles. "I made a word with the Y tile at the end." Jason rearranged the tiles to spell a single three letter word. "Can you also teach me how to F-L-Y?"

Clark is officially Daddy. Like it? You think Richard still has something up his sleeve? I had fun writing the Scrabble scene...I've been playing that game every night for the last week with my family...I haven't won yet...

Note: Uh. Okay. Yes I know it would probably be a LOT longer than three months before Richard's trial. But for the sake of time in my story, I'm going to bend reality a little. :)

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