Disclaimer: I don't on the characters.

CHAPTER THREE

The band launched into "Eye of the Tiger" as Smallville received the kickoff for the second half. The crowd was out in full force this evening for their first playoff game against New Carthage. The Crows were down by 7 at the beginning of the half, matched play for play by New Carthage's killer defensive line. Smallville's return specialist brought it to the 35 before being brought to the ground, and the offensive line came out to set up shop. Jordan was suited up on the offensive line and Jon stood next to his father on the sideline. The quarterback called out Blue 52 and faded back to throw.

Clark whooped as Jordan made a big block, giving their QB enough time to throw a long first down. The stands erupted. Clark threw an arm around Jon in excitement, and Jon tried not to grimace at his father's iron grip. But he couldn't fault him-he was excited too. "Hey, take it easy, Dad," Jonathan said. "If I get in tonight, I'm gonna need that arm!"

Clark ran a hand through his hair in embarrassment. "Sorry, kiddo," he apologized.

He glanced back into the stands. There was no one sitting in Martha Kent's season ticket space.

"Here. It's right here!" Lois pointed triumphantly at her computer screen. Chrissy came around and read the passage she was pointing at. "There's a convenient insurance policy on that exhibit in case it's lost, stolen, or damaged," Lois explained, leaning back with a satisfied smile. "And it just conveniently happens to match the dollar amount a bill for five new excavators for EdgeCorps' new mine."

"Sounds like probable cause to me," Chrissy agreed. "So now what?"

"We-" Lois paused and held up a finger. "Did you hear that?" The two women froze, listening to the sounds of the empty office. The only noise came from the coffee maker and the hum of the computers.

Chrissy frowned. "I don't-"

The coat rack toppled and Chrissy dove out of the way at the last second. The wooden rack slammed into one of the news desks, sending papers and files to the floor. Lois jumped out of her chair in shock. "What the hell?"

The office was quiet. "How did that happen?" Chrissy wondered.

"Loose floorboard," Lois said, not sounding as if she quite believed it. She looked around the room. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. We're not alone. Her fingers closed around the panic button in her pocket, but she didn't press it. She knew that Clark and the boys were knee-deep in a football game, a pretty important one, and until she knew what was going on, she didn't want to worry Clark.

"Oooooh!" The crowd collectively groaned as the Crows receiver got tackled for no gain. The clock was winding down on third quarter, and the score hadn't changed-Smallville was still down, but only down by 4 now, thanks to a field goal kick.

Clark was getting nervous, and not about the game. Both Jonathan and Jordan had noticed their mother wasn't in the stands. "Maybe you should go check on her?" Jordan suggested.

"He can't leave in the middle of the game," Jon protested. "Everybody'll notice."

"But she wouldn't just miss the game!" Jordan countered. "It'll take Dad like, two seconds to run into town and come back."

"Hey, I'm right here!" Clark cut in, shaking his head. "Guys, it's okay. No panic button, I'm sure your mom is fine." But his reassuring smile didn't quite reach his eyes. And his sons didn't seem convinced.

The lights were flickering at the Gazette. "Okay, seriously, what the hell," Chrissy said, a bit of fear injected into her tone. "I paid the electric... I think?"

"We need to get out of here," Lois said. This's Edge's doing, she thought. His invisible man is here to intimidate us. She had no idea how he'd figured out they were on to him so fast, but a man with Edge's money and connections, it probably wouldn't take much. She grabbed Chrissy's hand and moved toward the front door, only for a lamp to come flying their direction and shatter the glass in the front door. "Whoa!" Lois gasped and scrambled backwards. "Go. Go!" She pushed Chrissy toward the back of the office. As she turned to follow, something slammed into her from the side. The panic button in her fingers slipped out and skittered across the floor.

Smallville had managed to tie it up again midway through the third quarter. The stands were quiet now, everybody biting their nails nervously as the teams met on the 25 yard line. Smallville was ready to try for a touchdown. Jon bounced on his heels, his eyes on his brother at the end of the field.

Clark's arms were crossed over his chest, tense, but for a whole other reason. "Jon, I'm gonna have to go," he whispered to his son. "Something's not right."

Jon looked at him, at the crowd, and on the field. "I-how are you gonna-?"

The center snapped the ball and Jordan moved to block for the quarterback, but he was intercepted by someone on New Carthage's defense who plowed into him, sending him to the turf. Before he could get up, the guy who'd hit him went around and sacked the Smallville QB. The ball popped out, and there was a rush of a dogpile to get on it. In the commotion, and Clark, even with his x-ray vision, couldn't see what had happened. One minute, he'd been watching a football game. The next, it was a WWE royal rumble.

"Jordan!" Jonathan yelled from the sidelines as the referees blew the play dead, trying to get the players to get off each other. Jon took off out to the field, his father and the head coach right behind him.

Lois's feet rose off the floor as the whatever-it-was grabbed her by the jacket and pulled her off her feet. "Should've kept your nose in your own business, Miss Lane," it hissed at her, in definitely a man's voice.

Lois fixed him with a smile. "It's Mrs," she ground out, as Superman burst through the already broken front door, hauling the invisible stranger off his wife and tossing him across the room.

"Are you okay?" Superman demanded, looking her up and down. "Where's Chrissy?"

Chrissy held up a hand weakly from underneath her desk. "I'm good. Hey."

Lois looked at him in confusion. "How-"

Superman held up a hand. "One sec," he said, using his heat vision. It had gone strangely quiet in the office, but with his heat vision, it was easy to spot the invisible stranger trying to get the jump on him. "Peek a boo," Superman grinned, driving a fist into the stranger's stomach and sending him across the room. He didn't get back up.

Lois came over to him, threading an arm through his elbow. "Hey, um, honey, aren't they missing you at the game?" she asked in a low whisper.

Superman looked at her. "Oh, we've got that covered," he replied.

It took almost a solid five minutes, but the refs finally got the cleared benches back on either side of the field. New Carthage used a timeout to pull their boys aside and get some sense knocked back into their boys, while Smallville helped an injured running back off the field with an ankle sprain.

"Could've been a lot worse," Jon noted as the Kent boys moved to sit down. "Sprained ankle, couple good hits, but nothing real serious."

"Kinda wish I did have powers like Dad," Jordan muttered under his breath. "Fight would've been over a lot sooner that it was."

"And you'd have drawn a ton of unwanted attention," Clark noted, putting an arm around Jordan's shoulders.

Jon's eyes widened. "Speaking of attention," he said urgently, "Dad, what about-"

Clark grinned. "No worries. Mom's here, and she's fine. Just a little dustup at the office," he assured the boys. He pointed back toward the bleachers.

Lois waved to her family from a corner below the home side bleachers. Next to her was a tall, dark-skinned man in a black leather jacket.

Jordan frowned. "Dad, who's-"

Clark heard the whistle. "After the game," he promised. "Now get out there!"

In redemption for the fight, Smallville went on to win the game by a touchdown. Afterwards, Clark, Jordan, and Jonathan met Lois out in the parking lot next to the truck. "Mom, you're okay?" Jordan asked.

Lois nodded. "Completely. What a great game, you guys! I'm glad I didn't miss the end!"

Jonathan frowned, looking at his father. "Yeah, speaking of which," he said. "About that. How did-"

"How was I in two places at once?" Clark asked with a grin.

"You can make a clone of yourself?" Jordan asked incredulously. "That's awesome!"

Lois and Clark laughed. "Not quite," Lois said. She nodded toward the tailgate, and the boys turned.

"Guys," Clark said. "Meet your Uncle J'onn."

"Don't call me that," the new arrival said shortly, his irises flashing red for a quick moment. He looked at the boys. "Hell of a game, guys," he told them.

The twins exchanged a look. "Thanks?" Jordan frowned. He looked at his father. "Dad, who is this guy?" he asked.

Clark looked over at J'onn Jonnz. "A friend," he said finally. He offered a hand. "I can't thank you enough for the quick turnaround," he told him.

The Martian Manhunter nodded. "Don't make a habit of it," he responded. He nodded to Lois and the boys. "Nice to meet you all." With that, he faded out of view.

Jon's eyes widened. "Where'd he go?" he said, gawking.

Clark laughed, putting an arm around his wife. "Hey, I seem to remember something about fries and shakes," he said. "You guys still up for that?"

"Yes!" both boys replied instantly, making a beeline for the cab of the truck.

Clark looked down at Lois. "You feeling up to cheesy fries?" he asked her. "Didn't get too roughed up?"

Lois shook her head. "On the contrary," she informed him. "I know for a fact that chocolate shakes are a cure-all for any injury."

Clark bit his lip. "Uh, in that case, we better get to the diner before the football team does." He kissed her on the top of the head. "Better get moving!"

Fin.

Author's Note: Special thanks to my friend Effervescent Dreamer for helping me come up with a way for Clark to be in two places at once :) We'll just ignore the 'different Earths' problem. Or is it the same Earth after Crisis? I honestly don't know. Either way, yay J'onn :)