AN: Wow, it's been so long since I wrote for this fic and I definitely did enjoy writing this chapter. Thank you for all who have returned to it and also for those of you who are reading it for the first time. I truly appreciate it.

Chapter Six

Chris Kwon.

That was who he was supposed to be, someone with a completely different background who could never be identified as being either Clark Kent, Kal-El, or Superman. Still, as Lois looked at him and watched him, she could see the same facial expressions and same gestures. Those things weren't to do with the way you were born or your biological makeup. Those were the ways in which you were brought up and things you developed for only yourself.

That was why hearing her sister want to woo him upset her. Clark's parents were different. They had always taken care of him despite knowing that he was an alien and they deserved to know. They had been as hurt as she had about his death. He had come to her because he loved her. She would also know how much it would torment him were his parents not to know him.

"Chris," Lois said as she stood up but Lucy ran in front of her.

"Hey, Chris. Are you doing anything tonight?" she asked him and Lois could see that he was a little taken aback. Yes, Clark had always been a good actor, becoming a superhero did that to you because you needed to hide your disguise. However, in his old identity, Lucy had still been family and his sister in law. Despite not being able to tell her the truth, he still cared about her.

"I was just ask-" Lois coughed.

"Chris is too important to be seen as your rebound guy," Lucy said and Lois paled. She couldn't explain to the world who he was without risking either people calling her insane with that insanity coming because of grief or risking him. To the world Superman was more important than his day to day life as Clark Kent. To Lois, he would always be her Clark.

"Rebound guy," Lois coughed before shaking her head.

"You mean…as friends?" Chris asked trying to act surprised though they all knew what was happening. He shrugged, "I could do something as a friend. I'm not really interested in much more," he said before tilting his head to the side and gave a very weak and apologetic smile. "I'm sorry if you were hoping for mo-"

His reply was interrupted as he heard Johnathon wailing. "I'll go see the little guy, give you a break," he said as he excused himself from the kitchen. Lois nodded. She knew that this was Clark. How Clark had been able to return was a puzzle to her still but she wanted him to find comfort in the things which he usually did. Lucy looked hurt as she tried to deal with the rejection.

"You're not worried about him hurting the baby by being irresponsible?" she asked. Lois sighed. She had often told Lucy that she was afraid that her younger sister would be irresponsible with the baby and maybe that's why she was using that same reasoning against Chris.

"He would never hurt him," Lois replied.

"I would never hurt him either. Despite him being half space goop," Lois's eyes widened as she heard that and her heart seemed to fold in on itself. "He's still my nephew, still family."

Lois didn't realize she was crying until one of the tears slid onto the table. She had to be strong. She was Lois Lane, top reporter for the Daily Planet. She should not be crying. She had to be as strong as the man she had fallen in love with an married. "Did you just call Clark's DNA 'space goop'?" she asked as she put a hand over her mouth. "Is that all that you think of him as?"

"I mean, yeah," Lucy shrugged as she looked guilty. "He wasn't human. I know that Spandex was hot and who wouldn't want like…a literal god to fall in love with but I wouldn't want to look at his DNA under a microscope. In fact, he was an alien and isn't that illegal. Some kind of bestiality or -"

Lois wasn't aware that she had slapped her sister until she pulled back to see how red her palm was. "Lucy," she said as she bowed her head feeling trapped and lost again. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hit you but…you have to know that to me, Clark was so much more than that. I miss him terribly so you calling him just an alien with space goop….I don't want to hear those things. I can't handle hearing those things. Clark gave up so so much for our relationship and our marriage. He did that because he loved me. He was your brother-in-law."

Lucy had her hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "If he treated me in the same way that he treated you, I'm sure that I would have loved him unconditionally as well."

"I still do," Lois said as she sat down knowing that with his heightened hearing abilities, Chris was able to hear her. "I still love him unconditionally."

LLCKLLCK

When Lois finally entered the newspaper building, she heard cameras and a lot of voices. She took a look around and realized that they were focused on her. How had they known that she would be coming into the building that day? How had the information reached them that - She froze. No. Jimmy wouldn't have gossiped about something so important and especially with their friendships at stake. Someone else must have found out the truth.

"That's enough," she heard Perry call out as he came up to her. "Lois, my office," he gestured. "I know you all want your story but this is our own story. I don't come to your offices or send my reporters out to get your scoops. I'm sure that we can set up some dates and times in a respectful manner."

Lois took a deep breath as she ran into the newsroom. As she stopped, she saw everyone staring at her. Immediately upon seeing her, a nervous Jimmy came to her. She could already tell by his expression that he wasn't the cause of the leak but he was scared that she would assume it was him.

"Lois, are you okay? I didn't tell anyone. I swear. I wouldn't betray CK like that," he said quickly.

"I know," Lois whispered as she took a deep breath in. She saw everyone continuing to look at her and walked over to what would have been Clark's desk. She didn't want to show her anger but it had been converted into a Superman tribute. No. He was more than that. He enjoyed his work and put a lot of passion into it. Yes, he cared about saving people and stopping crimes as well but there was a reason he had put in so much effort establishing two lives. He cared about each of them. This though wasn't the time for Superman to be honored but rather Clark.

"How long did you know?" one of the other male reporters asked and Lois paled.

She searched the desk for his name plate and realized that it wasn't there. She didn't want to answer these questions or feel like having kept his identity secret was wrong. "He was…." She looked around and saw that in the area Jimmy usually worked there were the Clark Kent items. She walked over to the nameplate and smiled.

"I didn't do this," Jimmy whispered to her and Lois nodded, knowing that already. He saw the way she lovingly held his name, his real name. "CK wouldn't want this. You should meet Perry in his office."

"Will you come with me?" Lois asked as she stared at the desk devastated once again and Jimmy placed a supportive hand on her back.

"Yeah, of course, let's go," he said before walking with her. Lois smiled as she felt his kindness. Jimmy Olsen would always want to get the best scoop possible to prove himself as a future journalist. He wanted respect from the people he worked with. However, he wasn't going to sell out his friend in order to do that. He wasn't willing to turn Clark into someone else. Lois felt safe with him. Clark would have felt safe with him.

CKLLCKLLCKLL

Lois felt herself even more alone as she watched Chris do some of the lower-rank tasks for The Planet. She could see Jimmy watching him and sighing as he put his hands over the desk which Clark had once sat at. She sat down and smiled at him. "Are you planning to participate?" he asked her. Lois looked to him before bowing her head. Superman Day was coming up and it made her chest tighten as she thought about it. When people had found out Superman's identity and then found out Clark's birthday, they had created a national event. However, this was much more painful for Lois. Clark Kent was forgotten because of the shadow of the hero he had played. He was seen as less valuable in his 'pretend human character' than as someone who had rescued millions despite being the same person.

"I don't think so, I'll probably spend the time with Johnathan and tell him about his dad," Lois replied

"When you say his da-" Jimmy began and Lois laughed weakly.

"Clark. I want to spend the time honoring Clark, thinking about Clark. I don't care who else he was. I want to ignore that. Whoever he was or is isn't important. He's Clark no matter what," Lois said before turning back to her computer but her eyes kept moving to Chris.

"Whoever he is?" Jimmy asked.

"Was," Lois said quickly. She turned to Jimmy who was eyeing her curiously and then looking back to Chris who hadn't noticed she had been staring at him, or at least he didn't act like he noticed. "I meant, was. It's not like Clark could come back to life."

"But Superman could?" Jimmy asked and Lois looked to him.

"What are you going on about? I just said that he's dead and I don't want to think that the past could be changed." Lois took another shaky breath. Was she wrong in trusting Jimmy so much? He had been their close friend and he was one of the few people who agreed with her that as interesting and intimidating and worthy as Superman was, Clark was better. He was the one who had created the man of steel.

"I was hoping that we could do something to honor CK," Jimmy replied. He sat quietly before standing up and walked over to Chris. He studied him again, analyzing his body. "Can I speak to you in private?" he asked and Lois immediately got up to follow him.

"Did I do something wrong…..sir?" Chris asked and saw people stepping away from him. "Mr. Olsen?" he asked and Jimmy looked at him firmly.

"I never thanked you properly," he said and Chris blinked confused. "I don't know if you can read minds or whatever but…you saved my life on a number of occasions and never once demanded anything in return. I mean, you've had to suffer with so much…CK…that the things that you've taken upon yourself in order to save others. Just know that I'm really grateful and if you need me right now when things are kind of new…."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Chris laughed before looking away. "You're confusing me with somebody else, we just met" he said and Jimmy looked around to make sure that there was no one there.

"Okay," he said weakly. "Maybe I'm losing it a bit but…call me if you ever need to grab a drink or some pizza or just…to talk…okay?"

"Jimmy," Lois said feeling a little safer that no one could hear them. She looked to Chris and she could see the complicated emotions on his face. "We can trust him," she mouthed and Jimmy turned to look at her but he hadn't caught what she had just said.

"I know," Chris replied. "Do you want to get something to eat at the end of the day and I can explain myself?" he asked and Jimmy smiled, a couple of tears in his eyes.

"You're truly CK?" he asked. He looked up at Chris nodded, giving a nervous look to Lois. "That's great," Jimmy laughed in relief as he pushed his hair back. "That's so great."

End of Chapter Six

Thank you for reading

Thank you to Kagome Avalon for her review on Chapter Five