Chapter 6: Emerge

"You will find as you grow older that courage is the rarest of all qualities to be found in public life." - Benjamin Disraeli

Fortress of Solitude, Arctic

"This place is huge, it's like it goes on forever." His dad gave him the basic tour of the Fortress he called 'The Fortress of Solitude,' and for the last hour he was at a loss for words. It was absolutely beautiful.

"It sure does feel that way a lot of times." Clark looked at his son's continued awestruck expression. "I brought you here before, but you were just a baby then. You'd run and up down these slopes right here," he pointed.

Jonathan smiled as he continued to look high up into the Fortress' ceiling. He could actually see himself doing that even now.

"So all these times you couldn't attend my games, the meets, you were actually out saving the world. What a way to make a guy feel selfish," he remarked sarcastically about himself.

"You weren't selfish, not at all"

"Yeah," Johnny replies unconvinced.

"If it's any consolation, I was there," his father revealed.

Johnny looks at him with a confused expression again. "What do you mean?"

"Like you're mother, I'm attuned to you. Anywhere I was on Earth I could hear you, know that you're okay. I heard your games. I was there in a way… I heard you make the winning shot against Dumont you're junior year, and the acceptance speech the following. I may have been a thousand miles away, but I was there"

His boy looked at him in total surprise again.

"Really?" he quite couldn't believe it. So his dad didn't really abandon him, not in the way he believed all these years.

"Yes, really," Clark smiled.

"Dad"

"Yeah"

"Why don't you talk about mom?"

"I'm not going to lie to you, Jonathan. You were partly right before, seeing you sometimes was hard for me"

Johnny sunk his head low, at least his dad was honest.

"You have her eyes, her determination, her compassion. As time went by and as you got older, what was once a source of pain became a source of comfort. I'd watch you during practice, during lunch under that pine tree while you're studying." He smiles warmly, with a tear forming in his eyes. "I must've flown to your campus so many times last year just so I could listen to you sleep peacefully"

Johnny's eyes shot up to look at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid"

"Of what?"

"Of losing you anyway"

"You never lost me, dad. Never. It doesn't matter how many times you've watched me, you should've told me you were out there, it would've mattered"

"Would it?"

"To me! Yes, it would!"

"I guess we're both at fault"

"Yeah"

"Why don't you get some sleep, we've got a big day tomorrow. I fixed you a guest room"

"What, this place is its own Motel 6 too?" he says jokingly.

Clark smiles at that. "You can say it's reserved for the most important of people. What do you say?"

Looking around at his legacy once more, Johnny turned back and looked at his father with a genuine smile. "I'm thinking I'm really tired"

Area 51, New Mexico

Twenty-five floors beneath the Earth's surface, there was a laboratory. Millions of dollars worth of equipment surrounded the place.

In one room, lay a woman whose ankles and wrists were strapped onto a bed, holding her down but she remained unmoved.

Dead almost.

But she wasn't, she was very much alive and kept away from surface contact for over ten years. The monitors beside her bed emits a loud thumping sound.

Her heartbeat.

Fortress of Solitude, Arctic (The following Morning)

Clark sets up a target for his son to use as target practice.

"Okay, son, give it a try"

He nods.

"Right," he replied a little nervous, focusing his eyes on the target. He's never tried it willingly before. When nothing, he looks at his father exasperated. "It's impossible"

"You're talking to someone that can fly, you're giving up too easily Jonathan"

"Easy for you to say," he says arguing the fact. "You had, what, over thirty years to get it right, you're giving me thirty minutes, it's not fair," he complained a bit.

"I swear you're stubbornness comes from your mother"

He shrugged childishly. "I wouldn't know"

"Son"

"Sorry," he repeats again like he has the past couple of days. "Natural reaction, I can't help that I'm defensive"

Clark smiles widely. "You're definitely you're mother's son"

"Can you tell me about her?"

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, really. Anything that the family hasn't told me, I guess. You were married to her, I'd think you knew her better than anybody"

"I still am married to her," Clark clarified, glancing at the wedding ring he still kept on his finger after all these years.

"So I take that I'm not the only one who can't let her go"

"No, you're not," his father replied honestly.

Noting his dad's sad expression, he went back to focusing on the target. "So how exactly did you get this heat vision thing to work?"

Clark eyed him graciously and then with a smirk. "Heat is the kind of word that implies numerous meanings," he says vaguely.

Looking at the target, Johnny answers. "You mean like… whoa!" he turned to his father, his face turning red. "You're not honestly saying what I think you're saying?" His father just remained silent. "Oh, come on dad! That's… restricted domain between parent and child"

Clark laughs. "You asked and I gave you an honest answer. If it makes you feel any better, I could leave, do a few rounds"

"Please!" his son insisted. Clark never imagined in a million years he'd be in this position with his son as he was with his dad twenty odd years ago.

"All right," Clark says, grinning at the situation.

Around the World

Clark changed into Superman and flew around the world, focusing his hearing for any catastrophe's or help that he could assist on. After a couple of hours, he decided to head back to the Fortress to see how his son was holding up.

The past couple of days have given them the time to truly be honest with each other, and to be father and son. It was also nice to be there and help him with his emerging powers.

Clark couldn't be anymore happier.

Just before heading back, he heard a scream for help in the distance, but then suddenly his head jerked at a different sound.

A familiar sound

A heartbeat.

Clark's eyes go wide at the implication.

"It can't be," he whispered.

To be continued…