Part 2 - Dr. May Johnson
Lois sighed, shaking her head somewhat after hearing the news.
She was watching the coverage of the tunnel collapse and of the apartment fire, but what she had just now seen angered her. Some dumb news reporter had been forcing their way to the side entrance of the hospital to get an interview with some poor woman who had just lost her son. Sure, she pushed hard to get stories at times, but even she had some lines she would not cross.
"Unbelievable! The nerve of some people," she said, glaring at the man with the mike on the screen.
She then watched, rather pleased with the police department, as two policemen 'politely' pushed the man back. She sort of wondered why the police were devoting that much manpower to that hospital, but then reasoned it was because Superman was probably delivering the injured there.
Superman had only been around for a few months. She seriously doubted if she would ever get used to the fact that there was a man who could actually fly and that he, for some reason, had given her his first and only interview during that first month. As she thought about it, cleaning off the yummy chocolate ice cream from her spoon, she couldn't help but feel that she had this connection with him, however small or odd it was. That first flight with him after he had saved her life had understandably stuck with her, and whenever his sonic boom sounded over the city, she couldn't help but smile in the memory of it.
She turned off the TV and was about to go back to her notes when something caught her eye. A form watching her from right outside her window. At first she was startled, but then quickly realized there was only one person who could be floating outside her apartment. Getting up, she went to him, wondering why she had been graced with a visit from him.
Pulling aside the curtain, she opened the window, internally awed by his presence, but she quickly felt an oddity in his posture. He looked utterly lost, or at least, shaken to a degree she had never seen before.
"Ms. Lane…I-I should have knocked, I'm sorry." He landed softly on the floor in front of her, his eyes embedded with an eerily forced calm.
"It's fine Superman, I was just eating ice cream. Um…do you want some?" She turned slightly to sort of motion to the melting mush in the gallon tub.
She looked back at him. He only gave a slight smile before his face went back to, what she recently dubbed, 'neutral'.
She took a step toward him, honestly concerned by his behavior and his slightly dirty suit.
"Superman…are you - are you okay?" She decided to continue her boldness by gently taking hold of his hand and was pleasantly surprised when he let her keep it.
It was warm and surprisingly soft, but she also felt a dusty residue on his fingers. Dirt?
He took a moment to respond.
"I don't know," he finally admitted.
His answer startled Lois, but she quickly wanted to know why, and what she could do to help.
"Here, come in," she said, leading him to her couch.
He sat down. She quickly gathered her notes into a pile and put them aside before putting the ice cream away. Once that was done, she softly planted herself on the couch at a comfortable distance from him.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
He looked troubled to say the least and the last thing she wanted to do was to crowd him or make him uncomfortable. This was only the second time he had ever been in her apartment after all. The first was when he had brought her home after rescuing her, and that had only been for a moment.
She looked at him as he wrung his hands together. He actually looked nervous.
"I, uh, was at the apartment complex, you know, the one that was on fire?"
She nodded.
"I just don't understand," he suddenly stated, standing back up and combing a hand through his hair.
"Don't understand what?" she asked, startled at his sudden movement. She stayed on the couch and waited for him to answer.
"He was - or at least I thought, I mean, why would I think he wasn't, after all, he spoke to me."
"Superman, slow down. Who are you talking about?"
"David," he answered, but then realized she didn't know who that was. "A boy from the apartments. He…he had been burned."
"Oh my, is he alright?" she asked, clearly concerned.
"No."
His face fell even further than it already was, and Lois was astonished when his eyes teared up. "He didn't make it."
"Oh. I'm sorry," she whispered, not knowing what else to say as it dawned on her…was that the one she had just heard about on the news?
"He was already gone when I got there…" he quietly added, though it appeared that he wasn't saying it to her, but to himself.
She took a second to think about what he had just said.
"But Superman, you had said earlier he had spoken to you," she said.
"He did."
"Is that what you don't understand?"
"That's part of it." He paused, obviously thinking. "I took him to the hospital and we talked on the way." Lois just continued to sit and watch him walk back and forth in front of her window, her worry for his mental state understandably growing. "He wanted me to talk to his mom, he kept saying that he was already gone and that his mom now had a job to do."
He stopped, his back to her.
"He was telling you he was already dead?" she asked, her voice growing quiet and shocked at the end.
He just nodded, he didn't trust his voice at that present moment.
"How?"
He shrugged but didn't continue. She stood up and made her way to him. Before she knew it she was standing in front of him, finding his eyes tightly closed, as if he was struggling for control. She quickly concluded that that was exactly what he was doing.
Before she could talk herself out of doing want she was compelled to do, she acted, wrapping her arms around him. He stiffened for a split second, but then he all but melted at her touch as he embraced her in return.
Resting her head on his shoulder, she waited. For how long they stayed that way, neither of them really knew.
Lois couldn't help but wonder how often he gets hugs, but there was no doubt in her mind, especially now, if he needed them.
"Thank you, Ms. Lane," he whispered, exhaling a shaky breath.
"Your welcome, looked like you needed one," she replied, he smiled. Lois waited for a moment before speaking again, feeling his calm. "Better?"
He nodded, pulling back. She put her arms down, again patiently waiting.
They went back to the couch and they both sat down.
Superman gave small sigh before speaking.
"He said that his mom had a job to do still, he said she would find the cure for cancer."
"I'm sorry. I'm still trying to understand what happened. And you're sure he wasn't . . . alive while he was telling you this?"
"I thought he was, but looking back. . . . It explains why the paramedics were acting the way they were." He grew still, no doubt recalling their stunned and worried faces.
"He saw his dad and his sister, his sister Marie," Superman said after a moment.
"While you and he were flying?" she asked, clearly bewildered. He nodded. "So does that mean that they are," she continued softly, "dead too?"
"I don't know."
"But that just…" She paused.
All of this was honestly freaking her out, but she was going to help Superman in anyway she could, despite of how weird all of this seemed. "Here, I have an idea. We can find out, if you want," she said, leaning toward the coffee table and pulling out her laptop.
"Okay."
"So his name was David? Did he tell you his last name?" she asked, pulling up a tab for a search.
"He told me his mom works at General." He paused, bowing his head and putting his face in his hands. "I saw her, and she saw me…" He took a deep breath. "I had placed him on the stretcher and had closed his eyes before she came out.
"I've seen a lot of things that I wish I could forget, things that have stayed with me, and always will…but…none of them have been like this."
Lois slid the laptop over so he could see the screen too. Lois fought with herself on whether or not to take his hand. He still had that quiet power and underlying intimidating presence, but he also had this innocent and almost lost boy sense about him too. He suddenly seemed so human sitting beside her and yet, not quite. She decided she had already pushed her luck with that hug and so kept her hands on the keyboard.
"Johnson. He said his mom is Dr. Johnson."
"Okay." She typed that in and entered for the search.
She scrolled down and found the doctor's name in the list of doctors at Saint General's.
Dr. May L. Johnson.
Going to another site, they found a few articles mentioning her name. Some being doctor magazine articles such as: 'Miracle Worker in our Midst' and 'Young Doctor Discovers Lifesaving Technique'. Going down further they found her in newspapers… one article immediately catching their eyes.
'Drunk Driver Impacts Local Doctor's Life'
Below was the full article. They quickly read it.
Timothy Johnson and daughter, Marie, both were killed in the crash, being hit by the drunk driver while on their way home. They are survived by Dr. May Johnson and son, David.
The article continued, telling of the location of the accident and of the services that were to be held later that week.
"Marie. He said she was calling him," Superman muttered, looking at the screen, his eyes resting on the family photo. On the four happy faces, of the family that was once together; but no longer.
Lois looked at Superman, no longer doubting if this boy, David, had indeed spoken to him.
When she had seen the name 'Marie' a chill had run up her spine. A part of her was relieved because it meant that Superman hadn't gone off his rocker, so to speak, but the other part of her was now even more rattled.
Was this one of Superman's powers? Speaking to the dead? No… he looked just as weird-ed out as she felt.
"I don't know what to say," she whispered, as shocked as him to have found what they had.
"Neither do I," he added.
"So nothing like this has ever happened to you?"
She had to ask.
"No, never."
"And he just spoke to you?"
"Just like you are to me now. I mean, he wasn't really moving his mouth because of the burn, but his eyes were looking at me, and then they looked past me when he said he saw his Dad and his sister."
"Alright. Superman, was the fire an accident?"
"Yes, I scanned the apartments. It had been a gas heater. It looked like there was some sort of explosion, I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like it blasted through the walls around it." He paused. "David was probably near it…"
"Was he there alone?"
"I don't know. I wouldn't think so."
"Here, I have an idea. I'll call Clark tomorrow, and me and him will look into it, and then we'll get back to you. Are you going to talk to Dr. Johnson?"
"Yeah, I'm going to go and talk to her and give her the message that David gave me to give her. It had been his last wish. But I don't think right now. I think after you and Clark get back to me… I'd like to know as much as I can. It might help."
She nodded as he began to get up and make his way to the window.
"Thank you, Ms. Lane. Good night," he whispered, before he disappeared into the night.
O o O
A/N: Again, the plot and characters are pretty much unchanged from the original, 'Meant to Be'. Hope you all enjoy this cleaned up version.