Nobody's Child
Chapter Two: Child Minding
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of DC, I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
"So, Smallville, you've got a cousin in Metropolis that you never mentioned," Lois quarried pointedly.
Clark looked at her like a mouse looks at a cat. "We aren't close."
"But she left her kid with you?"
"She didn't. I think this might have been a bit of a last ditch thing," Clark protested.
"Well, the kid's a cutie. Amazing eyes," Lois paused. "You know there is one and only one person I have ever seen with eyes like that."
Clark nervously adjusted his glasses. The main purpose of the thick, lead-glass horn-rims was that they dulled down the color of his eyes to a human shade of blue. Well, that and the lead impregnated glass had helped him learn to focus his eyes on the surface of things back when X-Ray vision had been new and a little bit unsettling.
"Great Ceasar's Ghost!" Perry shouted as Superboy let out a frightened squawk. Clark spun around to see the little boy in mid-fall. The filing cabinet he'd apparently been climbing was toppling as well. The boy was tiny and afraid. The cabinet was a heavy metal thing, all sharp edges and easily four times the boy's weight. Before Clark could fully form the thought Superboy was in his arms. The filing cabinet crashed down on the spot where the boy would have been with a loud crash.
"Good reflexes Smallville," Lois said, she sounded a bit shaken.
"Adrenalin," Clark said as small arms twined tightly around his neck. He rubbed Superboy's back comfortingly and tried to remind himself that Superboy's powers would have protected him. The edge of one of the cabinet's drawers had scored a long gash in the tile floor on impact. 'Probably would have protected him. Maybe. I wasn't nearly so invulnerable when I was that little.' Clark gulped and held the child a bit more tightly.
"Looked soft. I just wanted to touch," Superboy whimpered, his face buried in the crook of Clark's neck. In among the debris surrounding the filing cabinet Clark spotted a fuzzy, stuffed puppy.
"Kent, take a personal day," Perry ordered.
Clark nodded as he continued soothing the little boy in his arms.
By the time they reached a nearby park, Superboy was over his fright. He squirmed in Clark's arms until Clark set him down. Still Clark kept a tight hold on Superboy's hand. After the pencil sharpener and filing cabinet incidents he'd learned about keeping a close eye on small, curious children.
Walking along side Clark, Superboy took three steps and a hop for every two steps Clark took. Clark remembered walking the fields with his father when he'd been small and doing the same thing to make up for his father's longer legs.
At the playground Superboy found the slides and swings of little interest but he watched the other children with rapt fascination. "You'd better not," Clark said sadly, getting a taste of what it must have been like for his parents when they'd had to tell him he couldn't play with other children because they were too delicate and he'd been too young to be trusted to control his strength.
Suddenly Clark had a thought. He scooped up Superboy and hurried toward one of the more isolated areas in the park. Once they were alone he grinned at Superboy then put two fingers in his mouth and whistled sharply.
Superboy covered his ears and gave Clark a dirty look. But several moments later his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened in utter amazement as a white dog in a red cape flew down to land beside them. "Doggy!" he exclaimed, then noticed the emblem on the dog's collar and cape. "Superdoggy!"
"His name's Krypto," Clark said as he knelt and held Superboy's hand out for Krypto to sniff. Krypto nosed at Superboy's fingers then looked at Clark, his expression one of canine bewilderment. Clark smiled and scratched Krypto's ears. "I know, it's a little strange," he told the dog. "This is Superboy. Wanna shake?"
Krypto obediently held out a paw. "Go ahead," Clark told Superboy. Superboy hesitated then took Krypto's paw and shook it carefully. Krypto gave a friendly yelp and licked Superboy's face thoroughly. The little boy giggled gleefully. "Superdoggy likes me?" he asked Clark wonderingly.
"Yeah, he likes you," Clark confirmed. He stepped back, releasing Superboy from the circle of his arms.
Superboy lunged forward and hugged Krypto enthusiastically. "I like you too, doggy!" he declared. "I like you lots!"
"He likes to play fetch," Clark suggested as he offered Superboy a decent sized stick. Superboy hurled the stick out of sight. Krypto flew after it, several minutes later he returned with a small tree. Clark groaned while Superboy petted Krypto and lavished praise on him.
Superboy and Krypto played fetch until Clark decided the city's trees had suffered enough. He collected both of his charges and headed home. Normally he didn't let Krypto stay in the city, his apartment would have been cramped for a regular dog of Krypto's size, let alone one with superpowers, but one night wouldn't hurt. Besides Krypto and Superboy seemed to keep each other out of trouble fairly well.
Back at his apartment Clark found an overnight bag waiting by the door. "It shouldn't surprise me when Bats thinks of everything anymore," he said to himself. Clark showed Superboy how to use Krypto's curry comb and left the boy to win the dog's undying devotion while he fixed dinner for all three of them.
Clark was delighted to find some of his mother's apple pie in his refrigerator. After some consideration of the rest of his pantry's contents he decided on spaghetti. It was messy, but should go over well with a small child.
Once Clark had everything on the table he went to collect Superboy. He found the boy in a serious conversation with Krypto. "You like me and I like you," the little boy declared. He pointed to the S-Shield on his shirt. "And we're both Supers see? So how about I belong to you, okay?"
Krypto licked the little boy. Superboy smiled and hugged him. "I knew you'd like it!" He declared. "And you could teach me how to fly. Maybe Superman would like me if I could fly."
Clark winced at the conversation he'd overheard. After a day in the boy's company it was getting hard to remember that Superboy wasn't really a child, but a weapon constructed by an unsavory organization with an unknown agenda. However Superboy had come into existence, he acted like a perfectly normal little boy. 'Perfectly normal little boy with powers like mine,' Clark amended.
"You hungry?" Clark asked. "I made spaghetti."
"What's s-s-ghetti?" Superboy asked trying to twist his mouth around the unfamiliar word.
"Try it, you'll find out," Clark offered pulling out a chair for Superboy. Superboy hopped up on the chair then sat down. His eyes were almost level with the surface of the table. "That's not going to work so well," Clark said. He glanced around his apartment then collected a telephone book and his dictionary. Then after a moment's consideration he grabbed a couple of towels from the linen closet as well. Clark picked up Superboy. He piled the phonebook and dictionary on the seat of the chair. He spread one towel protectively over the dictionary. Then he seated Superboy on top of the books and wrapped the second towel around him.
"It's a backwards cape," Superboy said looking slightly puzzled over the idea of wearing a cape in front of him.
Clark smiled, nodded in agreement and served the spaghetti. After a tentative first bite Superboy dug in with gusto. Clark watched in amazement as tomato sauce splattered across his tiny kitchen. Krypto cheerfully licked up the drops that landed near him. The towel had been a brilliant idea, but the knot he'd tied didn't survive Superboy's energetic eating style. By the second helping the boy was sporting patches of tomato sauce from the top of his head down to his knees. "Well, bath time later," Clark thought to himself with more amusement than anything else.
"There's apple pie for dessert," Clark said.
"M'Gann makes cookies for dessert," Superboy told him. "Mostly they come out black, but we eat 'em anyways 'cause it makes her happy."
"That's very nice of you," Clark said.
"M'Gann's nice," Superboy declared. "I got mad at her for looking in my head and she doesn't anymore! 'Cept when Kaldur says, so we can talk on missions. Everybody else went on a mission, but Batman said I couldn't 'cause the magic lady made me little. It's not fair! But I got to meet Krypto, and you, so it's okay, I guess. Anyways, M'Gann always asks before she goes in my head now and it doesn't feel icky like the Gegnomes anymore."
"That's good," Clark said as he served the pie. "I'm glad it doesn't feel bad."
"The Gegnomes weren't all bad," Superboy continued. "But Cadmus made them do bad stuff and they made my head feel icky, like my brains were squished. Then Dubilex told them I got to chose who I belonged to and I said I wanted to be mine, then my head didn't feel all squished and icky anymore. That's why I got mad when M'Gann went in my head, I thought she was going to make it squished again. I yelled at her. It made her feel bad and I was sorry, but I still didn't want her squishing me. And she doesn't. I like not belonging to Cadmus. People stop when you say stuff feels bad."
"What 'stuff' wouldn't people stop at Cadmus?" Clark asked quietly with a bad feeling in his gut.
"Everything!" Superboy exclaimed. "Hurting green rock tests and calling me 'it' and the Gegnomes squishing all my thinks! I really, really like Kaldur and Robin and Wally. They helped me get away from Cadmus even after the Gegnomes made me be bad and hurt them. Kaldur's the best, he has a nice voice and him talking helped me push the Gegnomes out the first time."
Clark closed his eyes briefly and rested a hand on the little boy's shoulder, hating the thought that he'd been mistreated at Cadmus. 'He didn't deserve to be treated like that, like he was just a thing.'
Superboy glanced at the empty plate which had previously held Martha Kent's apple pie. Then he picked it up and licked away the last few crumbs and remnants of filling. "I'll tell my mom you enjoyed the pie," Clark said. He reached out and rubbed a spot of apple-filling off of the little boy's forehead.
"Yummy!" Superboy agreed.
"Now how about we get the rest of dinner off you... Bath time," Clark concluded.
"Kaldur's teaching me to swim," Superboy volunteered.
"The bath tub's not quite that big," Clark warned as he picked up Superboy and carried him into the bathroom, the better to avoid him spreading the mess. Clark started the water running, then stripped off Superboy's tomato-stained outfit and dumped it in the sink.
"Superdoggy! Bath with me!" Superboy called as Clark put him in the water.
"Krypto, no!" Clark commanded. "Sit! Stay!" He made a futile grab as the canine slipped around him and bounded into the tub, sending a cascade of water showering over the whole bathroom. "Why do you chose now to like baths?" Clark took off his glasses, went to dry them on his shirt then sighed at the futility of using anything in the bathroom to remove water, and put them back on, water-spots and all.
Superboy and Krypto splashed about, happily relocating bath-water from the tub to the bathroom floor. "Now if this were only the kitchen," Clark commented. "Then we'd be making some progress."
The doorbell squealed. Clark didn't bother with X-Ray vision, Lois was the only one who could wring that tortured noise out of his doorbell. He caught Krypto's jaw in his hand, "Go home!" he ordered firmly.
Krypto whined unenthusiastically, he was having fun.
"Home. now," Clark reiterated.
Krypto levitated out of the tub and shook off, drenching Clark for a second time in the process. Then he squeezed through the small bathroom window and flew off toward the Kent Farm.
With the most inexplicable bit of evidence gone, Clark answered the door.
"Smallville, thought I'd see how you and the kid were getting on?" Lois looked amused as she took in Clark's sopping wet condition.
"Just the person I wanted to see." Clark found he didn't have to put much effort into sounding out of his depth. "Do you want to help with the five-year-old in the tub? Or the spaghetti sauce on the kitchen ceiling?"
Lois considered retreat then her resolve firmed. "Never let it be said that a little dirt scared Lois Lane away from a story." She took note of the shear volume of water dripping off Clark. "I'll take the kitchen," she decided.
'Well, it was worth a shot,' Clark thought as he stepped back to allow Lois in.
"And Smallville?" Lois added as she headed for the kitchen. "One hint: When bathing a small child, the object is to get the water on them."
"You could always demonstrate," Clark suggested.
"The terms of the deal have been set," Lois declared. "Go take care of the kid, before your downstairs neighbor starts complaining about drips."
"By the way, thanks," Clark called over his shoulder as he headed back to the bathroom. He found Superboy still splashing in the, alarmingly little, water left in the tub.
"How about we try a little soap," Clark suggested.
Superboy scowled darkly at that suggestion.
Fifteen minutes later Lois appeared in the doorway with a towel from the hall closet. "You weren't kidding," she said. "There is spaghetti sauce on the ceiling. It's going to take someone taller than me to deal with that, but I did get the floor, the walls and the table. Now give the kid to me, you're obviously in no state to get him dry."
"But... soap," Clark protested weakly.
"Eh, he looks clean enough to me," Lois judged.
Superboy beamed at her winningly.
"I'll get the kid dried off and into pajamas. The overnight bag's his stuff I take it?"
Clark nodded.
"And I'll keep an eye on him while you get showered..." Lois smirked. "Or at least rinsed off. I'm not sure which of you is ahead on water, but there's definitely more soap on you than on him."
"I win!" Superboy cheered.
"Remember, he's five," Clark said as he surrendered Superboy. "Don't interrogate him."
Lois wrapped the little boy in the towel, "Don't worry, I'll be nice."