Title: Unmasked

Author: Nadia Mack

Rating: K

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing

Summary: Post Superman Returns. Behind the hero is a man longing to be free.

Author's Notes: Whew! The feedback for the previous chapter was pretty overwhelming. The pressure is on and I'm freaking out. lol Wish me luck. Thanks again Barbara for beta-checking this chapter, it's definitely no easy task and I wrote the thing.

Chapter 12: Metropolis

As soon as Jason spotted Richard, the little tyke ran up to him, leaving Lois and Clark in his wake. Clark awkwardly moved his hands behind the small of his back, his composure faltering as he tried not to look at the touching father and son reunion between Richard and Jason while Lois found herself almost unable to face either man. The look of defeat in Clark's eyes spoke volumes, and she cursed herself for having caused it. If only he had said goodbye, a part of her believed she could have waited. Now they would never know.

"So, did you have fun in Smallville?" Richard asked, giving his son one huge bear hug.

Jason nodded. "Yeah. I have a new friend, and his name is Shelby."

"Shelby?" Richard looked at Lois, and she saw for the first time since coming to the office that his eyes were incredibly tired. "Who's Shelby?"

"He's my dog," Clark piped up.

"I see."

"Can I have Shelby?"

Clark smiled but quickly hid it when he found Lois staring at him. At that moment, he heard sirens, and he was selfishly glad to step away from the family he had no part of. It hurt before, but after spending time with them back home, the pain amplified to the point of breaking him completely down.

"Oh… I… uh… forgot to um… feed my fish," Clark said, fumbling for lack of excuse.

Richard looked at him with raised eyebrows and Lois oddly looked like she was trying to hide a smile. And Jason, who was just happy to see everyone, didn't even notice the awkwardness that suddenly filled the air.

"Okay," Richard replied blankly.

"I'll see you later," Clark said to Lois before turning to Jason. "Bye!"

Jason waved. "Bye, Mister Clark!"

Richard turned to Lois. "What was that about?"

Lois shrugged. "He likes his fish," she replied, hiding her face behind a new edition of the Daily Planet's Monday paper.

As soon as Clark disappeared and everyone else wasn't paying attention to her, especially Richard and Jason, Lois thought over what just happened a few seconds ago and finally took the opportunity to roll her eyes.

'Feed my fish?'

What was he thinking?

She couldn't believe she used to fall for things like that: 'By the way, Lois, I forgot to pick up my clothes at the dry cleaners.' 'Sorry, Lois. I think I left the stove on.' 'I'll be right there, Lois. I left my wallet at my desk.'

She sighed; maybe keeping this to herself was a bad idea. It was unbelievable how a mere fact could change one's impressions so completely. Her life had never had this much clarity and confusion all rolled into one.

Lois shivered. She didn't know what was worse… knowing the truth, or hiding behind it.

On television, she watched Superman save a dozen lives on a damaged bridge. Frankly, it was all she had been doing all morning. Clark hadn't returned and she, for lack of wanting to do anything else, ended up absorbed in watching various news stations, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, wherever he might be.

Instead of working on her assigned task, her mind kept comparing notes between Clark and Superman.

All this time, people had described her as perceptive, quick on her feet, and an excellent investigative reporter. She prided herself in uncovering the secrets of dangerous people and corrupt politicians and using it against them… but none of that mattered now because in the end, the biggest secret of all was sitting right in front of her, and she had never noticed.

"Ugh!" she groaned, tossing her chewed pencil into her waste bin as she dropped her head atop her desk with a loud thud.

"You all right?" Richard whispered in her ear from behind. His hands made their way to her tense shoulders and began to massage them.

Thankful, but no less relaxed, she stood up and looked at him apologetically. "I'm gonna go get some air."

Dejected, he asked, "Do you want some company?"

"No, it's okay. I won't be long."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Lois gave him a light kiss on the lips. "I'll be back."

Richard watched her walk away, and he knew that his life, their future, was slipping away and he wondered if she had even noticed.

Superman flew high above the clouds, relishing the feel of his powers now that most of the Kryptonite from the meteor fall has been removed. He was flying toward Wayne Manor to thank his friend personally. It had been a while since they had actually had a decent conversation.

Landing beneath the cover of the trees, he entered the forest outside Wayne Manor as Superman and exited into the open space as Clark Kent. When he reached the back steps, a little girl ran out with Alfred chasing her from behind.

Clark laughed softly at the sight. "You're not going to let her beat you, are you Alfred?"

Catching his breath, Alfred cut Mistress Helena at the impasse and tossed her in the air playfully.

"Of course not, Master Kent!" Alfred replied with mock British indignation. "I wouldn't dare."

"Don't listen to him, Clark." Bruce appeared from another exit. "She puts us all to shame." They shook hands as always. "It's good to see that the events of the last few days haven't worn you out."

"Thanks to you," Clark said, very appreciative.

Bruce shrugged the compliment off good-naturedly. "It was nothing." He moved to Alfred and took Helena into his arms, wanting to properly introduce her to one of his closest friends. "Princess, I'd like you to meet a very good friend of mine."

"'Kay," she replied shyly, hiding her face underneath her father's side pocket by trying, but failing, to lift it. "Hi," she added meekly.

"Hi Helena," Clark said with a wide smile and a kind, soft-spoken voice. "It's nice to meet you."

Helena giggled.

"She's beautiful, Bruce." Clark lightly touched her shoulder and noted the similarities that were obvious between father and daughter. "How old is she?" When he had learned that Lois was a mother, that sent him through various degrees of shock, but learning that Bruce Wayne was a dad, too, well that was… almost unbelievable.

"She just turned three." Bruce shifted her over to his other arm, giving his right a rest. "She gets a little shy with newcomers, but after a while, she can be quite the handful. Just ask Alfred."

"I can imagine."

"What about you? I heard you went back to Smallville. How did that go?"

Clark sighed. "It wasn't what I expected."

"I hope that actually means good."

Clark didn't answer.

They walked into the house with Helena still in Bruce's arms. Clark was glad for his friend. The last five years appeared to have been good to him. The last time they had seen each other, he was filled with unchanneled anger and drive. Fatherhood had mellowed him out considerably, and he fit the role well. He wished he could say the same about himself.

With fatherhood in mind, Clark asked Bruce if he had found anything out about Jason that could help them understand his frailty. Before Bruce answered him, he gave Helena to Alfred.

"I'm glad you asked that."

They moved to the library where Bruce opened up a secret door to a newly built elevator. Several stories down, Clark and Bruce exited into a dark open space, and in a matter of seconds, it was illuminated with bright fluorescent light situated in certain areas. Clark wasn't at all surprised; the place looked befitting for a man referred to as the Dark Knight.

"I did a background check on Jason's primary physician, it seems like Miss Lane's relationship with Doctor Stevenson has existed before she was even born."

"So we can trust him?"

"As far as I can discover, he's the only one who has access to these files—"

"With the exception of you," Clark cut off.

Bruce sent him a wry grin and held back a retort. "So back to the subject," he began once more. "The handwriting matches, so I think it's safe to assume that he did the blacking out himself. It's more than possible that he knows something irregular about Jason's blood work and my best bet is that he's keeping it confidential." He paused. "I did even more digging... I sort of borrowed Jason's inhaler."

"Why?" Clark asked, curious.

"Because it seemed a far more convenient way to obtain what I needed than asking for a blood sample."

Clark nodded. "I see your point."

"Okay, so I ran his DNA through the system and charted it…" Bruce typed in a few keys and the screen displayed various results. "Here's what we got." He paused. "What do you see Clark?"

"Uh…" Clark crossed his arms as he stared at the screen intensely. "My knowledge of genetics is a bit rusty," he remarked sarcastically. "What am I looking at, Bruce?"

"Chromosomes," Bruce replied simply. "Look at the screen to your left." Clark followed his instruction. "Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, but Jason has…"

"Twenty four," Clark realized.

"Bingo!"

"Then what does the extra pair do?"

"Well…" Bruce took a deep breath as if preparing for the big finish. "It's supposed to make him superfast, superstrong, superintelligent… basically, almost like you."

"What do you mean supposed to?"

"Jason is half human, and my knowledge of Kryptonian biology is a bit rusty, too, you know." Clark ignored him so Bruce continued. "Bottom line, it looks like his dormant Kryptonian genes are finally awakening. I ran every test I could logically think of. The sample I got from his inhaler alone shows that his cells are dividing fifty times faster than humans, meaning he heals almost instantly."

That last bit caught Clark's attention. "So he's going to be okay?"

Bruce sighed. "Were you paying attention at all?"

"I just want to make sure that he's going to be fine." Now all he had to figure out was how to mention this to Lois without alarming her.

Bruce was sympathetic to his situation so he avoided overdoing the quips today in regard to his good friend. "It'll only be a matter of time before he stops using his medications completely. Inhaler included." He stopped a considered another thought. "Has his mother mentioned to you any abilities that he might have?"

"Yeah," Clark answered, remembering back to their conversation. "On the Gertrude, she said that Jason threw a grand piano clear across the room."

Bruce whistled his astonishment, his ego slightly bruised. "I wish I could do that."

Clark shook his head and chuckled. "Don't you have enough toys to help out?"

"One can never have enough toys," Bruce refuted with a straight face. "Anyway, all joking aside, I think your kid is gonna be okay."

Clark blinked at the sound of his words. It was strange to hear it out loud and yet liberating to know that he wasn't the only one, along with his mother, who could openly speak of Jason's true paternity without fear of the repercussions.

"Does her fiancée know?"

Clark darted his eyes away, his reaction answering Bruce's question. Thinking about Lois and her family just brought back all the regret and lost dreams. Sometimes, thinking of Jason was enough, but most of the time, he couldn't get Lois out of his mind. She was too much a part of him to let even a memory of her fade away.

"Thanks for everything Bruce, but I think I'm going to head out now."

"Can't you stay for dinner or something? In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to get my daughter to like you so when I need to work; I can call you at all hours of the day to baby-sit when Alfred can't. I think the poor man is exhausted but he refuses to tell me."

Despite everything, Clark had to laugh.

Fatherhood was good for him.

"All right," he conceded. When the two headed back upstairs, Clark reached carefully for Helena and nestled her small frame in his arms. Dreams of holding Jason like this when he was smaller entered his mind, and reminded him poignantly of all that he had lost and would lose if he didn't tell Lois everything.

Clark hoped that once he did, she wouldn't hate him.

To be continued…

- Information about the whole chromosomes thing was something I got out of a movie. It's not my idea, but it worked right with how I wanted to explain Jason's condition. It may not be scientifically correct, but since this is fictional, exceptions can be made. Thank you!