Chapter 2: Revelations
Early on a dreary Saturday morning in the bedroom his parents shared, Jason watched as his daddy finished packing his bags. The five year old boy was sitting on the queen sized bed still wearing his light blue pajamas printed with helicopters and planes of various sorts. His long hair was a rumpled mess, and he had a sad look in his eyes. Jason had known his daddy was going away for a week, and had wanted all three of them to go. Now that he knew his daddy was leaving without them, the usually happy little boy was now very sad. "Mommy and me won't get into trouble if you let us go daddy," he said trying his best to get Richard to let them go.
From the bathroom where Lois was putting her long dark brown hair back into a clip, she heard the last part of what Jason had just said and couldn't help but smile. When Jason got something on his mind that he wanted to do he was hard pressed to get his way, just like she was. Lois liked that her little boy was confident, and that made her think of Superman again. With Richard away for the week she hoped that there would be time for them to talk. They needed to figure out where he fit in as Jason's biological father, but at the same time she was hoping that he wouldn't expect changes all at once. As she finished fixing her hair, Jason walked into the large bathroom looking pitiful. Lois knelt down and hugged him. "Why don't you and I go to the park after we drop daddy off at the airport," she suggested.
Jason seemed to like that idea, and hurried out of the bathroom to go get dressed. As he left, Richard walked in looking very handsome in a gray suit. They shared a kiss, and as it had been the last few times they kissed, Lois didn't feel the same about him, and that made her feel guilty, though she would not let Richard see that.
"So how did you get him so excited?" Richard asked as he pulled away from the woman he loved so he could look at her. Lois wasn't like the two other women that he had dated seriously. She was independent and could take care of herself, which was what had drawn him to her all those years before.
Lois patted his chest. "Mommy Magic," she said and turned around to finish getting ready, only to laugh as Richard tried to tickle her to get the truth from her. She laughed, and had forgotten how good he made her feel. He finally stopped tickling her only when she promised to tell him. After telling Richard the secret to her mommy Magic, the shared another kiss, and again she thought about the current situation. She needed to talk to Superman tonight if possible and there would be no putting that off. Richard needed to know the truth and she knew she couldn't tell him without Superman's permission.
"Help, Mommy," Jason called out from his room.
Seeing that Lois still had a ways to go before she was ready to leave, Richard left her alone to prepare, and headed out of the master bedroom. He walked across the hall and found Jason struggling to get a shirt over his head. "Do you mind letting me help you?" he asked as he stepped over a red plastic truck and a few blocks on his way to his little boy.
The Metropolis Airport was extremely busy, and after parking her blue Audi in visitor parking, Lois and Richard got out of the car. As he got his luggage, Lois opened the back door on the passenger side, and helped Jason turn off his portable DVD player, which attached to the back of the passenger front seat. Her little boy had been watching Lady and the Tramp, his favorite movie of all times, and was even holding a stuffed animal version of the Tramp.
"Mommy, can Trampster go with me?" Jason asked as she helped him get unbuckled.
Lois smiled at her son and let him take the dog into the airport. When they were all ready, she watched as Jason took Richard's hand and together they headed for the doors leading into the busy building to see his daddy off on his trip.
Once inside the terminal Richard took care of his luggage, and since he had a while to go before his plane took off they went into a gift shop following Jason around as he looked at the neat toys he saw there. One toy in particular, a water filled globe which had a space shuttle and sparkly stars that swirled around when the globe was turned upside down, took Jason's interest, and even though it cost an ungodly amount, Richard bought it for him.
In a small café not far from the gift shop, while Jason rested his chin on the table watching the stars float around his shuttle, Lois gave Richard a hard time about his gift. "What happened to not giving in to his every whim?" she asked in a light teasing tone. Now she was the one holding Trampster and had known that would happen, but like Richard, making Jason feel better was top on her mind, and that was why she had let their little boy bring the stuffed animal with him.
"I could ask you that same question," he replied and for emphasis he reached over and tugged on one of the dog's soft ears. Lois shook her head, about to respond, when they heard Richard's flight announced. They got Jason to put his globe in the box it had come in, and then all three of them rushed to the security check point which Lois and Jason could not go through due to heightened security after the events of 9/11. When they got there, he put his bags down and knelt down hugging Jason first. "Be good for your mommy, okay?" Richard asked as Jason clung to him.
Jason held on to his daddy for as long as he could, and then when he felt his mom's hand on his left shoulder he reluctantly pulled away and watched as his daddy stood up hugging and kissing his mommy. As Richard walked through the security check point, Jason leaned against his mommy's left side feeling sad again, but he waved to his daddy until he could no longer see him.
"Are you ready to go to the park?" Lois asked her son, trying to cheer him up. She heard him sigh and knelt down in front of him as Richard had only moments before. "Jason, he won't be gone long, and he will call us tonight before it's time for you to go to bed," she said.
"I already miss him though," he whispered, and let his mommy hug him. When they finished hugging, he held her hand and his dog as they pushed their way past the crowds to make their way out to the car which awaited them in visitor parking.
The park had worked to cheer Jason up, but when they arrived home after having dinner at one of his favorite Restaurants, Ducky Bills Wacky Pizza Parlor, it was evident that he was still sad about Richard being away. Ducky Bills had done more than the park to make Jason happy, mostly because of the coin operated space ship that had spun around and let him go up into the air about three feet off the ground. Lois watched as he walked up the several steps where their bedrooms were, and let out a deep sigh. She hated seeing him this unhappy, and all day she had been worrying about what Richard would do when he found out about Superman. If he got angry and left them, Jason would be crushed and she knew she couldn't let that happen.
The next couple of hours Lois spent time trying to keep Jason from thinking too much about Richard. They played Go Fish several times - a game that Jason could win without help - and she sat at the kitchen table and drew pictures with him. One picture he drew was obviously a plane, and it was of him sitting next to Richard with her on the other side of Daddy's seat. When she finally got him off to sleep, Lois grabbed a pack of cigarettes and headed downstairs to the front of the house which faced the coast, and Richard's plane. Jason's window was closed and without thought she pulled a cigarette out and put it to her lips. As she lit her lighter, it went out, and she looked around to find Superman landing near her. "I know they are bad for me, but you would smoke too after the day I had," she said, not willing to be cheerful at the moment.
"I thought it would be a good time for us to talk, but perhaps I was wrong," he said.
Superman was very tall and handsome, with short black hair and a little curl off to his left side in front. Lois felt defeated, and wanted to cry, but would not allow that to happen. "No, we need to talk about Jason." Lois turned away from him and the waterfront, and walked back toward the house, going under an awning to sit down in a cushioned chair. Looking past Superman as he walked over to her, she watched the city lights across the bay, and remembered how much she had loved this house, which was why Richard had bought it. She mentally shook herself. Right now she couldn't think about him. Right now she needed answers. "When I found out I was going to have Jason, you had already been gone for three months," she started as Superman sat down in a chair near her own. The chairs were black cast iron, fitted with cushions to make them comfortable, and between the two chairs there was a matching table with a pretty unlit candle on it.
Superman listened as she told him about how surprised she was to find out she was going to have a baby, and how, even though her mind was jumbled up, she knew that Jason had been his. Guilt found its way into his heart as she talked about how afraid she had been, because she didn't know how she was going to raise Jason on her own.
Remembering that time was painful for Lois, but he needed to know this, and so she trudged on. "By the time Richard came into the picture, I was just starting into my fourth month. He had just arrived from London to take over the job he is currently in, and invited me to the fair. Of course I didn't want to go, but he insisted." A smile formed on her lips as she remembered that time, and then faded as she went on. "I never thought it would go past that night but he kept calling me, and on our next outing, I told him it wasn't fair for us to get involved because I was pregnant." At this point Lois did look at him, and could see he was uncomfortable, but she didn't care. She had been more than uncomfortable when all of this had gone on and now he needed to squirm a bit.
Hearing about Richard's involvement in her life made him jealous, and now Superman wished he could turn back the hands of time and change things. He actually did have the capability to turn back the hands of time and had done it once before, after Lex sent a missile into the San Andreas Fault line, causing a quake which had killed her. Despite knowing that it was forbidden for him to interfere with human history, he had backed time up and saved the woman he loved.
Lois paused as she thought about when Jason was born, and took a long look at her cigarette before she continued. "I was 22 weeks along, when I went into labor with him. Richard was at work when it happened so he drove me to the hospital, and I spent the rest of my pregnancy there, trying to keep from delivering too early. Jason waited another five weeks, and then he was born. He weighed just over a pound, and the first time I saw him he had all of these wires hooked up to him, he…" Lois had to stop then and wiped tears from her eyes.
Beside her Superman felt his eyes tear up, and wanted to hold her, but he knew right now she would only get angry at that, and kept his distance. She told him how for the first few weeks it was touch and go with their son, how Jason struggled for each breath he took, and how Richard had been with her through all of it. Now that he knew now that Richard had claimed Jason as his own even at the risk of losing him, should his father return, he didn't feel so threatened by him.
"Jason finally got to come home around the time of his original due date, but he has always been fragile," said Lois as she again looked at Superman. After telling him all of this, Lois wanted to climb into bed and sleep for a week. She was so emotionally drained, but also relieved because he now knew all that she had wanted to tell him since Jason was born.
For a few minutes both of them sat in silence looking out over the waterway. Superman thought about all he had put her through, and wondered if tonight was the right time to let her know that he was also Clark. He had come here to talk about Jason and to tell her his secret, but with all she had just told him, he almost felt like an outcast and maybe that Jason would be better off having Richard be his daddy. "Lois, has he ever shown any abilities, tendencies toward having any of my powers?"
When Superman asked her that question, Lois turned to face him. "When Luthor had us on his boat and I tried to send that fax, one of his men found out what I was doing. He attacked me in front of Jason, and came at me with some sort of rock, intending to kill me I think, but all of the sudden the piano flew across the room and crushed him. At first I thought you had found us, but when I looked over where the piano had been, I saw Jason standing there with his arms pushed out, and as shocked as I was, I knew that he was the one who saved me.
Superman thought for a moment about what she had just told him. "He likely did that out of stress, fear for you. I came here tonight because I thought I should have a part in his life but now I don't know."
Lois was watching him and could see he was struggling with his feelings. When he told her he didn't know she waited. Finally when he did speak, he told her that he didn't want to put Jason in danger, and that maybe it would be better for now to keep things the way they were, but she did not agree with that. "You are his father, and you have every right to claim a part in his life, but I see what you are saying about the danger."
"There is more you should know," Superman told her, and when she nodded her head he continued. "What do you remember about before I left for Krypton?"
It had been a long time since she had thought about any of this, but for him she was willing to try. Lois was no longer angry with him, now that he knew what she had been through and set her mind back to that time. "Shadows mostly, I have glimpses of things, an ice fortress, having dinner with you there, possibly the night Jason was conceived, but I thought that was all some sort of dream."
Superman considered what he was going to tell her, and knew that they needed to let Jason know in some way that he was his father, but the only way was to tell her his secret and see if she remembered. "You and I did all of that, but there is more you should know," he said, and then he told her all of the truth.
"Do you remember Perry assigning us to do that investigation at Niagara Falls?" When Lois nodded her head he continued. "I need to know how much of that you remember," he said.
Lois shut her eyes for a moment thinking back to that time. "I remember being at the observatory and you wanted to hold my hand because everyone else around us was doing that." As she recalled that she smiled, and then it faded as she remembered about the little boy. "When he started to fall all I could think about was how to save him and then you were there, and I remember wondering why Clark always disappeared when you came around." Lois tried to remember the rest but could not. "That's all I remember, well that and the tacky room we had to stay in."
Now it was time for Superman to shut his eyes. He had debated taking her memories from her but at the time it had seemed like the proper thing to do. "After I saved that boy you and I took a walk to some of the other site areas around the falls," he told her as he opened his eyes to look at her. The look of confusion in her eyes was evident so he went on. "What you knew before was that I am also Clark Kent."
As soon as he said those words some of her memories began to resurface. "I wanted to prove that you were Superman, but I thought that was just some sort of dream because it was Clark who saved me, or you." Lois grumbled because all of it was so cloudy. "What else?" she finally asked unable to recall much more than that.
"When we arrived back at the hotel room you were sitting by the fire letting your hair dry from being in the water. You asked me to bring me your hair brush and when I did I tripped over a polar bear rug and landed with my hand in the fire." He waited to see if she remembered any more.
"You hid your hand from me, and I remember being so determined to help you. When I saw that you didn't have any sort of burn I knew I had been right," she said as she relived that time in her life. Why did I forget all of that? Why is it coming back to me just now?"
"You struggled with that knowledge, and I have the ability to suppress memories in people if I want." He could see her getting angry, and then it passed. "I should have asked you before I did that, and I am sorry."
What he had done made her angry until she remembered how confused she had been, how each time he would fly off into a disaster she worried about him to the point of almost making herself sick. That was a different time, and now that she remembered, it was a weight off of her shoulders. Superman asked her if Richard could be trusted with his secret. "I think in some way, he knows. He almost had it figured out one night while we were all working," Her voice trailed off as she realized what must have happened that night. "Wait! You heard us didn't you?"
"I did. I may have to find a better way to hide my identity," Superman admitted, and Lois shook her head smiling at him. Seeing her smile made his heart beat a little faster. He liked seeing her happy and liked being the cause, as human as that sounded.
"Richard has always known that you might come back, though I never told him you were Jason's father. He loves both of us, and I think he can be trusted, but where does that leave us?"
Superman had been prepared for that question. "I want to be a part of my son's life, and was thinking that we should tell him that Clark Kent is his father for now."
Lois had thought along those lines, but at work she had always avoided any sort of relationship with Clark. She didn't know if that would be something that anyone would believe unless it could be explained as a moment of mutual weakness, when they were at Niagara Falls. Lois yawned and watched as Superman stood up. When he walked in front of her and offered his hand she took it and let him help her up.
"I should let you get some sleep," he said as they still held hands. Lois was looking at him and he wanted to kiss her, but right now, as it had been before on the rooftop at The Planet, he knew that he could not let that happen. He let go of her hand and lifted off the ground. "Goodnight Lois," he said and then he was gone.
The week seemed to fly by and on Friday night, Lois and Jason picked Richard up from the airport. As soon as Richard came into view, Lois watched as her son ran to his father, and hugged him with all he had. She had missed Richard too, and when he and Jason got to where she was waiting she hugged both of them, and then kissed Richard. "We missed you," she said as the parted.
"Mommy, can we go to Ducky Bills," Jason asked as they walked out to the car as a whole family.
Lois smiled, holding Richards's free hand as Jason skipped in front of them. "Not tonight baby, maybe tomorrow night," she added before he could pout.
When they arrived home from the airport it was close to 10pm, and Jason had fallen asleep in the back of the car. Again Lois watched Richard with Jason, and had always been amazed at how he could get him out of the car, and up to his bed without waking him. While he tended to Jason, Lois got his bags and was in their room starting to unpack when she heard the door close. She felt his hand on her shoulder and when he gently pulled her against him, she shut her eyes. Lois knew what he wanted, because it had always been their way to spend their first night together after a long separation making love, but tonight her heart wasn't in the right place. Lois hesitated and then she gently pulled away from him.
Richard had been ready to spend the rest of his night in bed with the woman he loved, but when she moved away from him, he could tell something was on her mind. While he had been in England, he had been doing a lot of thinking about things, mostly about Superman. Since his return, Lois had been more distant, and even though she told him that she had not loved the Man of Steel, he knew that wasn't the truth. Now she was unpacking his things, and Richard decided that maybe they should talk. "Lois," he said.
With most of Richard's clothes in a pile to be washed, Lois was getting ready to put his suitcase in their large walk-in closet across from their queen sized bed when he called out to her. She stopped moving and slowly looked at him. When he asked her what was wrong, she wanted to assure him that nothing was different, but the love she saw in his eyes demanded respect and with that respect the truth needed to be told. "We need to talk, Richard," she said as she left the brown suitcase on the bottom of their bed, and walked over to where he was standing, on the side of the bed closest to their bedroom door. Lois reached out, took his hand, and led him over to the love seat near the outer wall of their room where a small fireplace was. They sat down and then she began.
Never had Richard dreamed that Jason's father could be Superman, and then again he didn't know why he hadn't thought of it. Lois told him about the night Superman had come to the house, and revealed to her something she had known and then forgotten. "Wait," he said, feeling hurt and a bit angry when she told him that part. He stood up and began to pace. "So he has a way of making you forget if he wants to? Don't you think it is possible that he made you think he was Jason's father, when it might well be he is not?" Richard asked as he stopped pacing to look at her.
Lois knew he had a right to be mad, and she answered him truthfully. "Jason saved me from being killed by one of Lex's baddies. He shoved a piano at super speed and killed the man. At first, I thought it was Superman but then when I only saw Jason standing where the piano had been, I knew it was him."
Richard moved beside her and sat back down shutting his eyes. "So what now?" he asked, wondering if he needed to leave now that Lois knew that Superman was the father of her child, a child he had raised as his own.
"He wants to be a part of Jason's life, but he can't as Superman." When Richard looked at her a bit confused, Lois told him the next part of the secret. "Superman isn't always saving people, he has another identity one that you nearly guessed that night we were all working late at the Planet." Lois watched the expression on his face as he recalled that night.
Richard could hardly believe that he was right, because Clark Kent was so unsure of himself, always stuttering and sometimes clumsy, and then it did add up. As Clark Kent Superman could have a normal life and really it was the perfect disguise, and so obvious now that he knew the truth.
This was the most difficult challenge that his family had faced, and Richard made a decision not to let it pull them apart. "Do you love him? You told me that night when I asked you that you did not." He looked at Lois and could see the pain in her eyes. "You do, don't you?" When she nodded her head he sighed.
"I don't know what to do, Richard. I love the life I have with you now. You and I have been through so much together and with Jason, and I don't want to see that taken away. Maybe I just need time to think, and I know that isn't fair to you," she said. Her voice was shaky, and when he put his arm around her she took in a deep breath, and let it out, wondering how he could stay here knowing that at any time things could change for them.
After holding her for a few minutes, Richard moved his arm from behind her, and they stood up together. He kissed her, and when her arms reached around his shoulders to pull him closer, he didn't resist what was about to happen.
The next morning as he had done since he learned how to climb out of his crib, Jason ran into his parents' room, and pounced on their bed, waking Richard and Lois, who had night clothes on in anticipation of this routine event. She and Richard took turns tickling their little boy and then Jason settled in the middle of them.
Lois turned on her right side, and looked over at Richard who nodded his head. "Jason, daddy and I need to talk to you about something," she said.
"Am I in trouble?" he asked, not sure what he might have done wrong. His mommy kissed him on the cheek and told him he was not and he felt better.
Lois didn't know how to tell Jason this without hurting him, but she took a breath and began. "Jason, what I'm going to tell you will be very confusing, but this is something you need to know. You see, you have another daddy who wants to know you," she said. When she said that Jason sat up looking upset and confused, and she felt horrible.
"I have daddy right here," he replied as Richard sat up and hugged him.
As Richard held him, Lois did her best to explain Clark's place in his life, telling Jason that he was his biological father, and what that meant.
Even though Jason was just five years old, he had a rough idea of what she was telling him. He had an IQ level well above that of any other five year old and it was because of that score that he was at a special Montessori school that kept him challenged. "I don't want another daddy," he said when she had finished. He pulled away from Richard, and turned on his belly lowering himself to the floor, and then he ran from their room and they both heard his door shut.
Lois shut her eyes and was glad when Richard took her into his arms. "There are times like now when I wish, as mean as this sounds, that he would have found someone on Krypton and stayed behind," Lois admitted, but Richard knew that she was saying that more out of hurt for their son than heartfelt words.
While Lois and Richard were trying to get Jason to come out of his room, Clark had found a place to live in a historical neighborhood. He had purchased a house with the money he had put into savings before he left for Krypton. The house had three bedrooms, two baths, a large living room and a small kitchen, as well as a half acre of land in the back for Jason to play in when he came to visit, if that happened. Lois had said she and Richard would tell him today, but so far he had not heard from them. The house was all ready for living, and Clark was grateful that he had the gift of super speed for such tasks.
He sat in his living room watching TV on a 37 inch model television, eating a sandwich. As he was finishing lunch, his phone rang, and when he answered Lois was on the other end. "How did it go?" he asked, hoping for the best.
On her end Lois again felt emotionally exhausted. "He locked us out of his room, and doesn't want another daddy," she finally replied. "I think for the time being you need to steer clear of this place, and let him have time to adjust to all of this."
Clark agreed to do that, and told her to call him if there was anything he could do. As he hung up the phone his super hearing picked up a news broadcast about a rebellion breaking out in another country. Turning off the TV, he quickly changed into his Superman suit, and headed off to try and stop the conflict and save as many people as he could.
Eventually Jason came out of his room, and Lois and Richard decided a trip to Ducky Bills would make him feel better. While they were there he seemed to perk up a bit, but when they got home around 5:30 p.m., he was sad again. Now as Lois sat down to work on a report she was investigating for work, Richard found his son in his room pushing his yellow pickup truck around on the floor. "Jason, are you afraid that I will leave you because of Clark?"
His daddy always seemed to know what was on his mind, and slowly Jason nodded his head, and then found himself in a hug, one that he returned.
"I'm not going anywhere little guy, you are my boy, and I will always be here for you, okay?" Richard felt Jason nod his head and just held him. He wasn't sure what changes would happen once Clark came into their lives, but even if he moved out; he would always keep Jason as his son, and hoped that both Lois and Superman realized that, and Superman as well.