Richard screamed as the ground loomed large below him, his earlier contemplations about suicide abruptly disappeared as death knocked.
He didn't want to die! He wanted to live and watch Jason graduate! He wanted to win a Pulitzer! God damn it he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Lois Lane!
The rushing wind seemed to only increase the speed of his fall and his stomach fell to somewhere around his feet.
He was definitelygoing to die.
His drunken haze was completely gone and with it came a sudden surge of clarity. His article! If someone found it Clark Kent would be ruined. He didn't want to die with that on his conscience! Richard desperately reached out for anything to slow his fall.
His arms latched onto a rock solid mass and suddenly he was flying up.
Richard blinked hard, trying to determine if his life had just ended. Was this sort of confusion normal when people died? What happened to Final Judgment and black voids and whatnot?
He tried to logically sort it out. He was flying. That was unusual. How was he flying? Richard tilted his head at an odd angle, struggling to see what was holding him.
He was then face to face with a huge, familiar S shield.
Oh.
Him.
Superman set Richard down on the roof of the Daily Planet and looked at him in concern.
"Richard, are you alright?"
Richard continued to stare at his savior. Superman could have let him die and it would have solved a whole lot of Superman's problems.
In fact, this was the second time Superman had saved him. Richard bit his lower lip in shame of the article still on his computer downstairs.
"Richard?" Superman said.
Deciding not to focus on the shame he was feeling, Richard tried to clear his head and pick how he would voice his thoughts.
"Were you trying to commit suicide?" Superman said, aghast.
Richard picked the offensive.
"No I was not trying to commit suicide!" Richard snapped back.
He took a step toward his blue clad rescuer.
"Just where were you ten minutes before this, Clark Kent," Superman didn't outwardly reflect any shock that Richard knew of his identity, but inwardly he reeled. It was becoming a problem exactly how public his identity was becoming.
Richard continued. "Were you perhaps, spending the evening with my fiancée and my son! Were you kissing the woman who was to be my wife? Playing with the son I raised!"
Richard was yelling, but Clark could easily see that the venom in his voice was underlined by a deep sadness in his eyes.
"Richard, I'm sorry about how things turned out for you," Superman began, unsure of what to say. "I--"
He was cut off by Richard again. "Do you know what I just did Superman? Clark Kent, WHOEVER you are? I just wrote a story exposing you for the world to see. What do you think about that? Huh? How can you cope?"
Richard was stopped by the cold fury that encompassed Superman's face. Superman gripped Richard painfully on his arms.
"Did you send it to anyone!" He asked, his voice a mere whisper.
Richard, not one to be easily intimidated, stood his ground.
"If I did?"
"If you did you'd be endangering the lives of the woman you claim to love and your son! Do you think for a moment that I'm worried about myself here? I can handle myself. But Lois! And Jason! Do you have any idea how many enemies I have? Who could figure out that I would do anything for either of them? They would steal them to hurt me and by God I'd give my life for either of them! Can you not see this weakness? You'd be willing to risk their life and freedom for some cheap vindication?"
As Superman spoke, the color slowly drained from Richard's face. Seeing this, Superman sighed and released Richard.
"Did you send it?" He asked again.
Richard hung his head, his face burning in humiliation. He didn't deserve Lois. "No I didn't," he muttered, feeling not unlike a five year old being scolded by an adult.
Clark sighed in relief. "You didn't tell anyone else about me, did you?"
Richard shook his head.
"No, I didn't." He sighed and stood. "Listen I had better go delete this story off my computer… if you don't mind will you come with me? I'd like to ask you a few questions."
Superman nodded and followed silently behind Richard, aware of the sheer awkwardness of it all.
"I don't think Lois ever stopped loving you," Richard said as they both treaded down the stairs.
Unsure how to respond, Clark kept quiet.
"I must have been pretty convenient," Richard said softly.
"I know Lois loved you Richard," Clark said. "She never faked that."
Richard sighed before he glanced back over his shoulder at the superhero behind him. As angry as he had been earlier, he only now felt an odd feeling of emptiness.
"I guess it just wasn't enough." Richard barely even formed the words, but Clark heard every syllable.
"I won't stand between you," Richard said in a stronger tone. "As long as you let me see Jason sometimes."
"Whenever you want, and I mean it," Superman said. He stared the other man in the eye. "He's your son every bit as much as he's mine."
Richard gave Superman a tentative smile. He reached over to his desk and deleted the file containing the damning story.
"There, it's gone," Richard said.
Clark stood for a moment in puzzlement.
"How exactly did you figure out I was Superman?"
Richard thought for a moment. "I began to get suspicious when I saw you and… Lois," Richard said. It was still hard to get the words out. "You were dressed as Superman, but it was right after Lois told me she was involved with Clark Kent. I knew that she wouldn't be involved with two men at the same time. After all she had broken it off with me, hadn't she?"
Superman nodded, following his logic. He listened intently as Richard told him how he had sized him up the next day, sorting out his thoughts until he wasninety nine percentsure.
"Then that total asshole Moniker and I were…" Richard stopped, his face white.
"Oh no… Rhett Moniker!"
"What?"
"That photographer! Rhett Moniker! I was with him the day I saw some final proof that you were Superman. I was so… surprised, I guess, even though I had my suspicions, that I said it aloud and he was standing right there." Richard started pacing. "Lois and Jason! Who knows about what Rhett's done with it! Maybe he's biding his time. Maybe we can reach him and threaten him!"
Outwardly Superman remained calm, though inwardly his stomach clenched.
"I'm going to go check on Lois and Jason first, then I'll go find Moniker."
"Bring me with you!" Richard asked, "I need to see that they're ok for myself. And… I want to let her know I won't be standing in the way of you and Lois' happiness.
Nodding in silent acquiescence, they made their way back to the roof and Richard latched on to Superman's back.
"Sorry about this," Richard said, trying to shake the embarrassment of piggy backing on Superman.
Superman jumped off the ledge and Richard instinctively grabbed on tighter.
Superman had to stifle a grin as he flew. He never thought he'd live to see the day when the confident and mighty Richard White would have to rely on him for a ride. As they flew off, however,both feelings of mirth and embarrassment faded as they were yet again racked with worry.