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: Thank you all for keeping up with me. My apologies for the late update, I was too busy over the weekend to update this properly, so I decided to wait until the new week. Thank you Barbara for completing the beta-work for this chapter so quickly!

Chapter 18: Rediscovery

Clark held up a day old copy of the Metropolis Star. Bruce's rescue of him the other night at the city fair had been misinterpreted as an action stunt gone wrong. It was also a good thing that there was a concert playing that night; it kept most people distracted, and the ones that did notice, were much too inebriated to notice that it was all quite real.

"Read anything interesting?"

Clark looked up and found Lois smirking at him. Bruce had been kind enough to lend his private plane to fly them back to Metropolis to give him a chance to relax. Jason, who was fond of flying, period, spent part of the flight playing co-pilot to Bruce's actual pilot. Lois, on the other hand, remained unusually quiet throughout the flight – until now.

"Nothing really."

Clark closed the paper and put it aside. Before the silence reigned upon them, he and Lois spent most of the morning talking. Clark was shocked to discover that her knowledge of his alter-ego hadn't happened recently, and that it had been, in fact, several weeks since she had found out about it. Even though he was relieved that everything was finally out in the open, and that he could be someone real in her life, he felt guilty for the way she had to find out. In the end, she assured him it was probably for the best, and that if he had told her himself, she would have likely lashed out at him.

"Are you sure you want to do this right now?"

Clark knew that she was concerned, but if they had any chance of starting anew, it had to be done right. He wouldn't want it any other way.

"Richard deserves to know," he said, inhaling deeply. "He's as much as Jason's father as I am. I don't want to keep making the same mistakes, Lois."

Lois nodded, understanding him completely. She didn't want to lie or hide secrets from her ex-fiancé either, but she couldn't ignore the possible ramifications that telling Richard now would create. Maybe she was being selfish, but she knew for sure she didn't want to hurt Richard anymore than she already had.

Right now, her relationship with Clark was at an awkward standstill. In retrospect, she realized that she hardly knew him as much as she had claimed. This morning, they had decided to take things slow, to rediscover themselves. Start again with a clean slate.

In spite of all the chaos that surrounded their lives, she was thankful for one thing that remained constant.

Their son.

Jason had been the epitome of understanding. He faced the changes in his life head on. They knew Jason didn't completely understand the magnitude of the changes in all their lives. Clark assured their son that Richard would always be in his life, and that he didn't mind at all that he still called Richard 'daddy' because he explained to Jason that he, too, had two fathers and Clark loved them both.

This made Jason's acceptance of the two fathers in his life that much easier, and Lois was grateful for it. Jason could continue to love the father that raised him, and at the same time, he could finally get to know and build a true relationship with the biological father she hoped would always be in his life.

For a moment, everything seemed perfect.

"How do you think he'll take it?" she asked, her voice betraying her unease over what was going to happen soon.

Clark gulped, and then shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted truthfully. "You know him better than I do."

Lois sighed; it was not the answer she wanted to hear.

Once they finally landed in Metropolis, their first stop was the Daily Planet where Perry gave the two reporters an earful.

"Where the hell were you two?" he yelled at them angrily. He then proceeded to yell at them some more, forestalling the reporters' chance to respond. "We have deadlines to make. People to interview. Criminals to take down." Perry listed them off with a count of each of his fingers until he finally ended with, "And Superman to cover!"

"Chief, we can explain," Lois tried to say.

"Don't call me, Chief!" Perry reminded her for the millionth time even though his star reporter dutifully ignored him every time he did. She wasn't about to stop calling him 'chief' now.

"But, Chief…"

Perry raised his hand, impersonating a traffic coordinator. Lois glanced over at Clark for support, and he said the first thing that came out of his mind. He was going to owe his friend a huge favor for this.

"Mr. White," Clark's voice went up an octave. "Lois and I were working, sir, we just lost track of time."

Perry crossed his arms, his expression stern. "It better be good."

Both reporters gulped. Whenever their editor got like this, there was no telling what he would do and what awful assignments his employees would be given if they didn't deliver on the story.

"We… uh…" Clark turned to Lois, slightly panicked. "Umm…"

"Get on with it, Kent!" Perry bellowed.

Lois cleared her throat, letting Clark take most of the brutal attack from their editor. She gave him a teasing look that gave off the impression that his reputation of being the 'Man of Steel' was on the line if he couldn't get out of Perry's intense glare in one piece.

"We were in Gotham."

Lois raised her eyebrows and wondered just how much Clark was willing to divulge.

Perry looked surprised. "Gotham?"

"Yup," Clark replied meekly. It suddenly occurred to him that Lois was actually enjoying watching him squirm. Learning that she'd had weeks to get used to him being both Superman and Clark Kent didn't help him to get used to her knowing everything at all. So on top of pulling out a non-existent story for their boss, he had to catch up with Lois as far as their relationship was concerned.

"Well…" Perry waited with clear anxiety. "What's in Gotham?"

"Bruce Wayne," Clark blurted out.

Lois looked at him with as much surprise as Perry did. Thankfully, Perry didn't notice. She was about to ask him what he was doing until she saw the glint in their boss' eye at the mention of Gotham City's most talked about wealthy citizen.

"Tell me you two got a story."

"Even better," Clark said, knowing his words were going to kick him in the butt as soon as this meeting was over. "We got an interview."

Perry was on the edge of his seat now while Lois looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and amazement. Knowing his secret was infinitely different than being in on it. Seeing Clark portray the bumbling mild-mannered reporter with such ease as he came up with a not-so-terrible excuse for their sudden absence was turning her on.

Perry was so excited he practically kicked the two of them out of the office.

"I thought Bruce didn't do personal interviews," she said, walking beside Clark as they headed out of their boss' office. Clark tightened the knot in his tie as though it wasn't tight enough.

"Stop that," Lois said, noticing his tie was suddenly askew. She slapped his hand away as Clark threw her a childlike look. "Here, let me fix this." She began to loosen his tie until it was free from its tangles before retying it for him.

Clark swallowed nervously, the closeness between them obvious to both. Fortunately for Lois, she could deal, but for Clark, he was still getting used to how naturally and easily Lois was taking everything, especially his secret identity. She carried the secret with her like a veteran, and he felt his composure faltering, wanting to give in to her right there and then.

As luck would have it, Richard walked into the bull pen and found his ex-fiancée and her on-and-off partner Clark Kent looking closer than he'd ever seen the two together. A pang of jealousy came and went, and despite not being her fiancé anymore, he knew she would always have a very special place in his heart.

Adjusting back to the single life had never been harder for him.

"Daddy!"

Richard turned and saw his boy running up to him, and his heart leaped with joy.

"Hey, squirt!" Richard picked up him and hugged him tight. "I missed you!" he said, holding him still as Clark and Lois approached him. He couldn't deny how different the two looked. Like something had changed that he just couldn't describe. "Hey guys," Richard greeted in spite of everything that had happened.

"Hey," Lois responded, unsure of where to go from here.

"Hi, Richard," Clark said too. Suddenly, the plan to tell him the truth seemed light years away.

"How are you?" Richard asked Lois.

"I'm good," she replied awkwardly. "And you?"

Richard shrugged. "I'll get by." And that was the truth.

The silence was becoming unbearable to Jason so he spoke up. "Daddy, guess what?"

Taking his attention away from Lois, Richard looked at Jason with unwavering love. The same love Lois and Clark felt for him as well.

"What?"

Jason held up two fingers. "I've got two dads!"

Richard's mouth dropped slightly as Lois and Clark stared at Jason with blank expressions, not knowing with complete certainty if what just happened actually happened.

"Jason," Richard began.

"You and Mister Clark!" Jason said with a carefree smile that showed nothing but truth.

Richard, not knowing what to say, simply looked between Lois and Clark. Clark looked shyly away, while Lois' eyes spoke volumes. Richard's mouth fell, and confusion filled him. No one was denying Jason's claims and because of that, another piece of the puzzle fell into place. Any shred of hope he considered possible for the future disappeared.

To be continued…