Chloe raised her head up, as police officers moved in on the house next door. Connor had grabbed Faith and raced down the sidewalk with her. Clark saw them run up the driveway of a house.
He turned to Lois, but she noticed none of this. She was staring at the cops preparing to break into the house next door. She then looked where Connor and Faith had previously been standing.
"Oh my God! Where did they go? Clark, we have to find them!"
Chloe stood up.
"I want you both out of my house."
Clark and Lois looked from one another, to Chloe.
"Excuse me?" Lois asked.
"You heard me, Lois. I want you and Clark gone from this house. Take Kyle with you."
"Chloe....." Clark began.
"No, Clark. Take Kyle. I mean Lois here has ruined any chance of Faith being able to say goodbye to her son in a proper manner. He has no one now. Just take him and go."
Lois stepped forward.
"What is this? I just told you that Faith is a murderer and you're acting as if my son would still be better off with her!"
"Lois, I'm sure she didn't mean it that way." Clark said soothingly, eyeing Chloe. "Did you?"
"You know what, Clark? I'm not interested in anyone's hurt feelings right now. Faith is the only mother Kyle knows. You should have talked to her...."
"She punched me, Chloe!" Lois snapped. "Does that seem like she wanted to 'talk'?! What is the matter with you?!"
"My life is falling apart, that's what's the matter! My husband told me something that I can't believe! That could affect my daughter's future! And none of this chaos was in my life, until the two of you showed up! Get out!"
Connor suddenly reappeared. He slowly closed the door.
"Nice going, Lois."
But Lois didn't budge.
"Where is she, Connor?"
"Safe, for now."
"Yeah, well, why don't I just step outside and tell the cops next door that?"
"You phoned in the tip anonymously?" Connor asked calmly.
"Why do you care?" Lois asked, her tone hostile. Clark rubbed her shoulder.
"Faith has worked really, really hard to turn her life around. She knew nothing about where Kyle came from." Connor told her.
"I don't believe that! And another thing: why wasn't she smart enough to leave the state, once she escaped from prison?" Lois asked sarcastically.
Clark stepped in.
"Alright, we get that Faith was your special friend. We get that Kyle's life is going to be in turmoil and we get that as a family, you all need to be alone. Lois and I will take Kyle to the Excelcior."
Lois whipped her head towards him.
"We are?"
Clark looked at her.
"Yes."
"How?"
"What do you mean?"
Lois pulled on Clark's arm and he allowed himself to be dragged away a few feet.
"The Excelcior is the priciest hotel in San Francisco!" she whispered. "Unless we're going to sing for our supper and rooms, or wash dishes, which I don't do by the way...."
"So I've heard."
"How are we going to afford it?" Lois finished.
"Lex owns the one downtown here. He said I could stay in the penthouse suite while I was here."
"But you're here?"
"Lois, Kyle is here. I wanted to be near him."
But Chloe overheard the last part.
"So you had a place to stay this whole time?" Chloe asked. Clark turned back to her.
"Chloe, try and understand, I didn't do any of this to mess up your life. Lois and I will take Kyle and leave."
Lois looked at Connor.
"Is that alright with you, slick?"
Connor didn't answer. He had taken Faith to the Haliwell's home. He could not explain to them how he knew they were witches, or how he knew that they could help Faith, but they took her in, no questions asked. That and two people in the home, had the power to orb Faith away, if need be.
Lois looked up the stairs. Her son was sleeping up there. Her son who for some reason, could survive fire. How was that possible anyway?
Chloe turned her back to Clark and Lois. Clark moved so he was in front of her.
"Chloe, I don't want this to come between us."
"Clark, let me ask you a question: how long to do you think you're going to be able to keep the truth from Lois?"
"Truth?"
"Kyle survived the fireball that my little girl threw at him, with her bare hands. You survived when Connor threw a fireball at you. Just when do you plan to tell Lois about yourself and her son?"
Clark had tried to push that thought from his mind. It was bad enough that Connor knew. It was worse that Chloe knew that he had special abilities. But he did not know how Lois would react.
"I'm going to take Kyle and Lois and leave." was all Clark said. "But you might want to think about the fact that Lois and I are victims here too."
"And once again, Clark, this really isn't about you. I want an explanation from my husband, as to why my daughter and him, can fling fire, okay?"
"You're acting as if this is all my fault?"
"No, it's not your fault, Clark. Or Lois's. But I can't help but wonder, if I would even know any of this, if the two of you hadn't shown up here."
"You invited us!" Clark protested.
"Because that was the hospitable thing to do. Look....I'm tired. My life is falling apart....just take your son and go."
Clark turned and headed towards the stairs. Lois eyed him, then walked over to Chloe. Chloe shook her head.
"Not now, Lois. Just go."
The doorbell rang. Lois turned and walked towards it, before Connor could stop her.
It was a Detective Darryl Morris, wanting to know about Faith Gordon, from next door. Lois glanced at Connor, who joined her by the door and told him that she was at work. Connor then gave him the name of the construction company Faith worked for. Lois asked if there was a problem, in a very phony sounding voice, but the detective just told them it was nothing for them to be alarmed about, before walking back over to Faith's empty home.
Clark, Lois and Kyle left Connor and Chloe's home, once the police were gone. Clark had carried Kyle, since he was still asleep. Connor then stared at Chloe.
"Okay.....so what do you want to know?"
"I want to know who Angel's real son is? I want to know what you are....what our daughter is, if you're not descendent from two vampires."
"Okay....that's fair."
"Oh, you think?" Chloe asked sarcastically.
"I know that you feel as if you've been lied to...."
"I have been lied too, Connor! In a sad way, Faith has too when it comes to Kyle! Now I need to know what I'm dealing with here. Who were your parents?"
"My father's name is Belthezor."
"Beltha.....what? Well, it certainly isn't an easy name to pronounce. Not like Angel."
"I shouldn't have been born. No one knows I was. At least that is, according to my real father."
"You realize that makes no sense."
"And that's why I have never told anyone any of this!"
"You never answered me from before. Who is your mother then?"
"She lives down the street. She's one of the Haliwell sisters."
Chloe's mouth dropped open!
"That's impossible! Those girls...women, are no older than Faith!"
"Look at Angel, Chloe. I told you, the hell dimension I was raised in....the laws of time don't apply here."
"Oh my God!" Chloe snapped, turning her back on her husband. She then pulled herself together and turned back to him.
"Go on, Connor. I might as well know all of it."
"I was a powerful baby. Too powerful for my mother to carry. A seer ended up carrying me instead."
"I'm not even going to ask how that is possible."
Connor swallowed.
"Everyone thought I had been destroyed, along with many other demons. But that wasn't true. I lived....at first alone, cared for by other vanquished demons until my father could join me. He isn't a bad man...."
"He's still alive?!"
"He's in the hell dimension. He had been vanquished by my mother and her sisters, so he was unable to come with me through the portal. I was the same age as Angel's son. Holz then hatched a plot....he was not a bad man. He did want Angel's son....."
"You mean the real Connor?"
Connor winced at hearing this. But he nodded.
"Yes. Connor. He wanted Connor to live some semblance of a real life."
"Okay, Connor. I've heard enough on our family tree here. Who is Angel's real son and what has become of him? Do I know him?"
Lois stared down at the sleeping Kyle. This was her son. Her son with Clark Kent.
She turned and walked out of his room. It was evening and her mind was still racing. She didn't like how she had left things with Chloe. She wasn't even sure she had done the right thing, calling the police on Faith.
But at least the penthouse suite Clark had promised, had turned out to be on the up and up. No dishwashing for either one of them!
She walked out into the front room and found Clark staring out of a window. She coughed to make her presence known. He turned towards her.
"Kyle is still asleep?" he asked. Lois nodded.
"Good. I guess then we should talk about how things are going to be."
"How they're going to be?"
"Yes.....we're taking Kyle back to Smallville." Clark announced.
"Why?"
Clark blinked.
"Because I think that's what's best for him. That and my parents will want to meet him. Your father is in Kansas too. He might want to know he has a grandson."
"Yeah....my father and your parents aren't the same type of people." Lois said, turning away.
"Fine then. We'll wait to tell your father."
Lois turned back to him.
"Fine. I'll give up my job here....it wasn't going too great anyway."
"Okay...whatever that means. We'll go back to Smallville and stay with my parents. Kyle will love the farm."
"And then what? I mean is this a getting to know our son thing or what?"
"Well, yes, Lois. I mean when Kyle wakes up, he's going to want to know why he's in this strange place with us. He's going to want to know where Faith is."
Lois sighed.
"I suppose you think I was wrong to call the police on her, don't you?"
"No, I don't. She's a murderer and she should be in prison, paying her debt to society. And Connor knew this. I don't understand what Chloe sees in that guy."
Lois shrugged.
"It doesn't matter. I mean no matter how ticked off she is with him, in the end, they'll stay together."
Clark didn't answer that. Lois was not privy to what Connor had told him and Chloe earlier. How would Angel react when he discovered he had been lied to? Where was his real son?
"So," Lois began, "are we going to stop dancing around the other subject?"
"Other subject?" Clark asked, confused.
"Yes....us. How we ended up getting Kyle in the first place?"
For some reason, thinking about that made Clark blush. Lois stared at him.
"For the longest time, I've been having dreams about the two of us....in a barn. But now I don't think those are dreams, so much as memories. You remember what happened, don't you?"
"Well....yes....."
Lois walked up to him.
"So, Smallville, if we go back to your parents home, where am I going to sleep?"
"Uh....well....."
"I mean do I get the guest room again? No, wait, that will probably be Kyle's room. So, then do I sleep on the couch? Or do you sleep on the couch and I get your room?"
"Uh, Lois....." Clark murmured. He was beginning to feel kind of warm and Lois pressed her body against him. "I don't think my parents would want us in the same room...."
"But you'll talk to them about that? Won't you?"
"I....I....."
Lois had had enough talk! The memories of their first encounter were growing more vivid in her mind and she reached up and pulled him into a deep kiss, her tongue probing, yet teasing. Clark kissed her back hungrily, suddenly finding that her nearness was tempting him beyond control and....
"Lois! That's my good shirt!" he almost squeaked, as she ripped the t-shirt that he had been wearing, right off of him and tossed it away. Soon, the rest of both of their clothing followed, as they fell upon the nearest leather couch.
It began happening again, almost as soon as he thrust into her.
Clark began leaving handprints on Lois skin. Handprints burned onto her by his very touch. He wanted to say something, he wanted to stop. But he couldn't. Not that Lois made it easy for him to say anything anyway, as he felt her legs wrap around his hips, almost locking him there. Clark could feel her hands roving over his back, kneading the hard muscles there.
Lois, for her part, was too lost to notice that the burning sensation on her skin, was actually Clark's handprints burning onto her! She could feel Clark deep inside her womb, his thrusts like a battering ram. She surrendered to him with wild abandon and then....
Her breath caught in her throat, as the water hit both her and Clark! Forced to disentangle themselves, they looked up from the couch only to find Faith standing over them! How the hell did she get in here?!
"Well, well, well! You two are into some pretty kinky crap, aren't you? And you think you're better than me? What the hell is that on you, bitch? What is there a branding iron around her somewhere?"
Lois had NO idea what this psycho bitch was talking about! She moved to get her clothes but Faith, who moved closer to the garments, walked over to the window, and punched a hole through the glass, tossing their clothes into the San Francisco night.
"Nice!" Lois snapped.
Clark tried to keep his cool.
"Faith, I understand that you're hurt...."
"You didn't have to call the cops. You never gave me a chance to explain. Hell, you two never bothered to even admit you were my son's parents. So I slipped away from those nice witches Connor hooked me up with."
"Witches?" Lois asked.
"He's our son, Faith." Clark said gently. "Look, we want this transition to be easy on Kyle. I'm glad you're here because now...."
"No, see you shouldn't be glad. Because I'm taking my son and leaving here. And I am prepared to kill the both of you, if that's what I need to do."
"Oh my God!" Lois snapped. "Where were you raised? Huh? In a circus somewhere? Clark just said that he was willing to...."
"Oh shut the hell up! Look at yourself! You're having sex with this guy while he burns you! There's no way in the hell Kyle is going to live...."
Suddenly, Faith peered at the handprints, realizing that's what they were. Lois looked down at herself for the first time and gasped!
"Uh, Clark! What is this? This....this...."
"I'll explain later." Clark said meekly, more worried about Faith. He also suspected that those handprints meant that Lois was pregnant again.
Faith then looked at Clark.
"Kyle has special abilities. I always wondered who his real parents were. It's you, isn't it? You're the reason Kyle can knock over fences at three years of age?"
"I see your hand healed. You're not without special abilities yourself." Clark said quietly. He then looked over at Lois to test her reaction.
She had heard none of it.
"Uh, I have your handprints on me, Clark! They're burned onto me! What is with this? I mean do you have an explanation for this?"
"They'll go away." Clark replied meekly.
"And you know this how?"
"Well it happened before....when Kyle was conceived."
"Oh Jesus!" Faith muttered. Lois's mouth dropped open in horror. Clark turned back to Faith.
"Faith, let's go in and wake Kyle up. We can explain what's going on."
"No. I'm going back there and taking him now."
"Clark, I've been branded like cattle here!" Lois snapped. "Is this going to happen everytime we....you know?"
Clark turned to Lois.
"Lois, Faith wants to take Kyle. Can we concentrate on what's important here."
Lois nodded, then looked down at her stomach! What the hell was that squiggly thing on her stomach?!!!!
"Faith, if you go back there then I will have to stop you."
Faith threw up her hands.
"Then stop me, farm boy."
Lois finally began paying attention at those words. She looked at Clark.
"Look, there's no need to get nasty here. You leave and I won't call the police again."
"Oh? Yeah, by the way, I never did thank you for that. Let me do that right now."
Faith moved to punch Lois, but Clark blocked the shot and ended up pushing Faith, harder than he intended to. She flew back and crashed through the window she had punched out, a few minutes before!
Lois backed away in shock, at watching Clark shove the woman so hard! And unfortunately, Kyle, who was awakened by the noise, came running out.
"MOMMY!!!!" he screamed and ran towards the window at lightening speed. He jumped out of it!
"KYLE!!!!" Clark and Lois screamed simultaneously, as Clark hurried and jumped out of the window as well. Lois collapsed on the floor in a dead faint.
AFTERMATH
Kyle managed to land his mother on the ground. The police had been called by then, so Faith had no choice but to hug her son quickly, yet tearfully, and run off into the night, shoving past gapers. Kyle began to sob, as Clark, who had reached the ground unscathed, gathered his son up in his arms, and took him back inside the hotel.
The police had questions, which Clark deflected. Lois, who had fainted, claimed she actually fainted when Faith broke into their suite, and remembered nothing.
So, off to Smallville the little Kent family went, where for the time being, they all lived on the farm with Jonathan and Martha Kent. Kyle had quite a bit of a time, getting used to Lois, and it was not until he realized that she liked video games, and was quite good at them, that he began to warm up to his mother a bit.
But he grew to love Martha Kent like a real mother. Lois noted this, but was told, time and time again by well meaning people, that in time, that might change.
Also, the Kent's refused to have Clark and Lois under the same roof without the benefit of marriage. Especially since Lois was pregnant again. That actually turned out to be fine with them, and Lex and Lana were invited to the nuptials. Lana cried, claiming it was out of happiness, but some were not so sure.
Lois was let in on the secret of her husband and son's backgrounds, but didn't find it particularly shocking or distressing. She did find giving birth in a matter of days a bit disconcerting, but managed to deliver a healthy, baby girl, whom Clark and Lois named Kara. With the help of the Haliwell sisters from San Francisco, a midwife, schooled in magical or strange births, arrived in Smallville to deliver the child. Kara, has her brother's strength as well, something that was discovered when she almost crushed Jonathan's hand with her tiny hand.
Of course, the rest of Smallville found the birth a bit shocking. Lois lied and said she just never gained much weight.
Lois and Clark did discuss the matter of birth control. Apparently pills and all of the condoms in the world, would not prevent another pregnancy.
That was when Clark decided that he would have no choice but to turn to Wolfram & Hart for an answer.
It was Fred that found one and was quite proud of herself. The Kryptonite, that rendered Clark so helpless, was broken down and transformed into a form of birth control pills for Lois. They had no affects on Lois, except to keep her from having unexpected children in a matter of days.
And what of Connor and Chloe? Or better yet, what of the So'Dath Prophecies, that said that Chloe would give birth to a powerful child? No one knew or even tried to find out. For once Connor confessed to Angel his treachery, Angel cut him off for good. He then arrived in Smallville and asked for Clark's help in finding his son. His real son. All Connor knew was that the 'real Connor', apparently wasn't going by his given name, when he arrived in Smallville by portal.
But Angel's disgust with him, didn't compare to Chloe's deep disappointment in him. She could accept Connor's deception about his background, and a host of other mistakes, but when he was forced to reveal, that he had told General Lane about the real Connor's existence, and that he believed the young man was probably a prisoner of the Initiative's, the news had turned Chloe's stomach. Not to mention he received an ass kicking from Angel, with the help of Spike, as well.
But, Chloe was moved by Connor's determination to make amends for his wrongs. That and Paige Haliwell ran a magic school that Chloe thought might be good for Cordy to attend. So, things weren't as bleak as they seemed.
Connor and Chloe packed up and headed back to Smallville as well, to help Angel set things right, whether he wanted them to or not. The magic school was also a boarding school, so while both Connor and Chloe were loathe to leave Cordy, she seemed so well adjusted and was managing her fire throwing habit, that her parents did not want to stint her progress.
Chloe did ask her husband, if it ever occurred to him to explain things to his real mother, Phoebe Haliwell.
But Connor knew from his father, that that was a situation best left alone. Besides, he doubted a woman like Phoebe would understand being a grandmother at her age.
As of this writing, Faith Gordon is still a fugitive.
THE END