Clark carried the winded Dr. Swann up the porch stairs. He was staring into space. Good God! He had just flown in the sky....without the luxury of an airplane!
The still injured Jonathan met them at the door.
"Dad, how's your arm?"
"It's been better. You're the doctor?"
"Yes, Dr. Swann. Clark, you're going to have to carry me to Lois."
"Uh, yeah." Clark said. "I kind of forgot to bring your wheelchair. I could go back and get it?"
Lois screamed again! Dr. Swann shook his head.
"It doesn't sound like there's time. Take me up to her." he ordered Clark. Clark nodded and looked at his father.
"Is Mom up there with Lois?"
"Yeah, though she's being careful not to wrestle with her or anything like that."
Clark carried Dr. Swann up the stairs and walked to Lois's open door. It was quiet now. Martha was dabbing Lois's forehead with a washcloth, when she looked up and saw them.
"This is Dr. Swann?" Martha asked.
"Yeah, Mom, could you pull that chair over to the bed? I forgot to bring along his wheelchair."
"Oh, of course." Martha said, pulling a nearby chair towards them. Clark gently set down Dr. Swann. He then looked at his mother.
"Go. Go and get Dad to a doctor."
"Clark, she is hard to handle and when she wakes up...."
"We'll handle it, Mom."
"Okay....but what about her calling out Jor-El's name? How does she even know of him?"
Dr. Swann looked up at her.
"It's probably the ship. You said it was out in the barn?"
Clark nodded. "Yeah, so?"
"It's probably emitting your family history into Ms. Lane's brain, through some sort of wave pattern."
"Great!" Clark snapped. He ran his hands through his hair. They would just have to take care of one problem at a time. Hopefully, when this was over, Lois would have no memory of Krypton, Jor-El, or anything else connected to him.....with the exception of their child.
Martha was still standing there.
"Mom, go!"
Martha nodded, then swallowed. She then backed out of the room and hurried down the hall. The front screendoor could be heard slamming soon after. Clark looked out of the window, just to make sure that the ship did not attack his parents. But all was quiet.
Clark then turned to Dr. Swann.
"What are we going to do?"
"We're going to cut the child out now."
"Now?! I mean.....well....what are you going to use?"
"I need a blade with a serrated edge."
"Okay and some towels or something?"
"Yes, but do hurry. We need to do this while Ms. Lane is still unconscious."
Clark hurried downstairs and began looking through the kitchen drawers. He didn't think he could watch Dr. Swann cut Lois open, but at the same time, he had to be here.
The first blast came through the kitchen window, barely missing him! Clark ended up pulling out the whole drawer, spilling the kitchenware. He found the blade and hurried back upstairs to Dr. Swann.
"Here!" he yelled, handing him the blade. "The ship is attacking."
"You have to stop it, Clark! Otherwise your child doesn't stand a chance." Dr. Swann warned. Clark hurried out of the room, down the stairs and out of the door.
The ship was hovering in the air, right in front of Lois's window. It spun in a circle, then lobbied a bunch of rays at Clark. At first, he dodged them, but then, he realized he would have no choice but to trust in what Dr. Swann suggested. He stopped dodging, and put one hand up in a halting motion.
The blast ricocheted off of his hand and back at the ship, blowing it up. A wave of white light rays that rippled, flung Clark backwards. For the briefest second, before he had been thrown back, Clark could've sworn he saw an image of him and Lois making love in the barn. He laid there, stunned, until he got his bearings. He then stood up and ran back for the house.
But when he got to Lois's room, Clark couldn't believe his eyes.
Lois was sitting up, blinking and looking around. She did not look pregnant anymore and....
Dr. Swann and the baby were gone.
Clark hurried into the room and looked out of the window. He then ran to the closet and flung that open. Lois stared at him.
"Clark? What's going on?"
Clark turned back to her.
"You tell me!"
"What do you mean, 'you tell me'? What's going on is you're in my room here." she said. She stood up and hopped over to her dresser. She then looked down at herself.
"Is this your mother's nightgown? It looks like a hospital sheet or something. Never mind. Lex brought my clothes but I don't see them."
"Lois.....where is our baby?" he said in a voice did not sound like his own. Her foot....she was hopping around like she was before the spell.
Lois's mouth dropped open! She then burst out laughing!
"That's a good one, Smallville! Look, I don't have time for jokes here. I need my clothes so I can pay a visit to my dear father. Did I tell you he was trying to marry me off to Lex Luthor? Clark, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Lois!" Clark yelled, closing the distance between them. "You had a baby in this room, that's why you're in that gown...."
Clark tried to reach down and pull it up, so he could see her stomach, but Lois slapped him hard! He flinched.
"What the hell?! Listen to me, Clark! You don't just grab for what you want here. Now I would be happy to show you whatever, is you ask nicely." she purred in a flirtatious manner, before turning away again and looking through the dresser.
Clark backed away. God no! Lois did not remember being pregnant. She didn't remember Dr. Swann.....and that was the point in the first place, wasn't it? Dr. Swann had their baby.
He walked over to the bed. The blade he had given to Dr. Swann, was untouched by blood. It was on the floor, almost under the bed. Clark could not see that he had wiped blood from it, using anything in the room.
"Clark? Do you need to go to the doctor? You don't look well. I'll get your parents."
Clark did not answer and Lois blinked at him. Clark then walked over to her and pulled her into an embrace. Lois did not understand what was going on with him, but, she put her arms around him as well.
"Clark, who?" Lex repeated to Spike.
"Uh....uh...." Spike semi stammered, eyeing Wesley, who was giving him the look of death.
"Did I say Clark?"
"Yeah, you did! You said that 'ponce Clark' must've taken Dr. Swann. Who is Dr. Swann? Is this his wheelchair.....wait a minute! Do you mean the world renowned scientist, Dr. Swann?"
"Uh yes." Wesley stepped in. "What Spike here meant was something 'dark' must've taken him....you know to just snatch him from his wheelchair and carry him off into the night like this."
Lex did not answer them. Ever since this 'Angel' had been put at the helm of this firm, it's reputation had begun to go down. Their whole experience here had been filled with nothing bit incompetence. He didn't see how much longer Wolfram & Hart could last this way.
Lex turned and walked out of the office. He wasn't about to ask what took Dr. Swann or even why he had been here in the first place. His only concern was getting to Lois and her child. Why in God's name would Lois be at the Kent's? How did she get there? None of those questions had been answered to his satisfaction.
Meanwhile in the hallway, Angel was pointing at Lilah and General Lane. Chloe was being wheeled back towards the infirmary, with Fred leading the charge. Angel looked at Connor.
"How could you have been so stupid?!"
"This is my life...."
"No, now it's The Initiative's! Look, it doesn't have to be this way! Take me instead!" Angel begged General Lane.
The General sighed. God all of the histrionics! Didn't anyone just honor a deal anymore?
Lilah's cellphone rang. She moved away from the group to answer it. She then nodded, hung up and returned to the group.
"I'll be right back. A case needs my attention."
"What case?" Angel almost snapped.
"It's nothing you need to be concerned about."
"As CEO of this company, every case is my concern. I'll have Gunn go with you."
"It's not necessary. It's a special one that the Senior Partners asked me to take care of." Lilah answered and walked towards the elevators. Angel felt like throwing his hands up in the air! While he had been on his guard, ever since Wolfram & Hart offered him the chance to run their evil law firm, usually he could pretty much outwit them, at every corner.
But he lost time when he reverted back to Angelus. There were deals in the works that neither himself, nor his trusted friends, knew anything about.
Angel glared at the closed elevator doors. Lex sidled up to General Lane.
"What's going on here? What's the delay, General?"
"The 'delay', Lex, is that there's a new deal on the table."
Lex gave him a long look. Angel and Connor watched the two men.
"A new deal? Meaning what?"
"Meaning you will still make my Lo a wonderful husband."
"But?"
"But, minus the child. You two will have to have your own children."
Angel and Connor looked at one another. What the hell did that mean?!
Wesley rushed out of the office and grabbed Angel.
"Clark is on the line," he said in a low voice, so that Lex and the General could not hear. "It seems that Dr. Swann double-crossed us and stole the child. Now Lois Lane apparently has no memory of being pregnant."
Angel hurried into his office. Connor, who was now handcuffed, stared down the hallway Chloe had been wheeled down, as Lex and the General continued to argue.
"I think we both know, General, that part of the reason I married your daughter, actually, scratch that, the ONLY reason I married her, was because of her special child. I'm not really interested in having children with her or really even being married to her now."
"That's too bad, because the two of you are husband and wife."
"And if I refuse? If I get an annulment?"
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I don't know what arrangements you've made for 'my' child, but if you've double-crossed me in anyway, Lois will pay dearly. In fact, I may just stay married to your daughter and make her quite the miserable wife. She will not be a happy woman."
"If you lay a hand on my Lo....."
Connor heard that and stared. What had the General expected from the likes of Lex Luthor? Lex turned and walked away, pulling out his cellphone. God help him, he was in over his head here! The General had more connections with this firm than he had let on. He was going to swallow his pride and call his father. It would cost him, Lex knew this. But he couldn't think of another person on this earth, that could come out of this situation, getting what he wanted, than Lionel Luthor.
Lilah reached out and took the baby boy from Dr. Swann. She then walked carefully to her desk and pressed a button. Two men walked in and fired guns at Dr. Swann, killing him. He collapsed to the floor, dead.
A nurse walked in after the men. Lilah handed the baby to her.
"Make sure the child is placed with the appropriate family." Lilah ordered her. The nurse then took the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane out of the the office. Lilah then reached down and snatched, what looked a lot like a very tiny video caption tuner, off of the late Dr. Swann's arm. The wires were imbedded in his skin, and the flesh was ripped when she pulled it off of him. This little device, had not only enabled the doctor to walk unassisted with his chair, but to manipulate time and space.
Thus, Dr. Swann had been able to steal the baby, while he kept the device in return. Only, Lilah had changed her mind. It was never good to keep around people that could blab. She looked at the men.
"Get him out of here." she said. The men dragged Dr. Swann's body away. It would probably be cremated.
Lilah then waited until she was alone, to activate the device, shoving it into her own arm, ignoring the pain, and Dr. Swann's residual flesh. She then punched a few buttons. Now that they had the baby, EVERY person in this building, would go back to the way things were before.
She just hoped that Dr. Swann had taken care to make sure that neither Clark Kent, nor, Lois Lane, remembered anything back in Smallville. Otherwise, they'd have another big mess on their hands again.
Connor was the first to see the waves. Rippling waves of another reality, rushing towards them. General Lane and Lex stopped arguing and began to back away. The General didn't like this! He had a bad feeling he was about to be double-crossed as well.
Angel was forced to leave Clark hanging, as he, Wesley and Spike walked out into the outer office area, where the General, Lex and Connor were. There was nowhere to run, as the waves enveloped them. Only, each person saw a different reality in the waves coming towards them.
Connor stepped forward, seeing the Wolfram & Hart plane. He and Chloe were kissing. He closed his eyes and let the ripples envelop him.
The General howled his outrage at Connor's disappearance, as he saw himself back at the research facility at the army base, readying a prison cell for Connor's arrival. He put a hand up to ward off the ripples. But it did no good, as he too disappeared.
Lex screamed, as he saw himself in a car, crashing off of a bridge! He turned to run, but got swept into a ripple as well.
Angel saw himself on the plane as well, with Connor, Chloe and Lilah. What was this thing? Some sort of time shifting portal? He too disappeared.
Leaving Spike and Wesley to just stare. They had been here, working in the office, before Connor's spell. Their new reality looked no different from before. They both looked at one another, shrugged, then let the ripples envelope them as well.
In her office, Lilah shut off the device, pulled it from her arm, yanking skin off. She winced, then decided to go to the infirmary. She would probably need stitches.
THE END
The final and last installment will be up in a couple of days, entitled 'The Son Also Rises'.