Chapter 5: Separate Ways
The last week of October was cooler, and the days more dreary. Richard had stayed in London an extra week not because of the meeting, but because he and Lois agreed that they still needed time to decide on whether to push forward on their relationship, or simply to put an end to it. Now he was back, and the two of them agreed that it was time to go their separate ways. Even though Lois had offered time and again to move out of the house, Richard wouldn't have it. He told her to stay there as long as she needed, because he was intending to go back to London. With both of them in agreement that their engagement was now off, they both faced having to try and explain to Jason about the change in living arrangements.
Unaware of what was about to happen, Jason was excited just as every other child his age, at the thought of going trick or treating, and was telling Richard all about the party his class was having in a few days as the two of them walked through the park. "I want to be a Pirate," he said as he held onto his daddy's hand.
Next to his son, Richard listened to what the little boy was saying, and let his excitement wash over him. He and Lois agreed that tonight they were going to tell Jason, though right now he was doing his best not to think about it. "So what kind of Pirate do you want to be munchkin?" Richard asked as they arrived at the swings. These particular sets of swings were not the standard type. They were almost like horses on a carousel, the difference being, that the horses on the set were made to swing on.
After picking out a horse painted mostly black, Jason climbed on and let his daddy get him going, and laughed as the wind caught in his face. He loved this set of swings the very best of all, and could spent hours on them if his parents would allow that. "I want to have a patch over my eye," he called out as Richard watched him from a bench a few feet away.
When Jason finished his time on the swings, it was time to head to the house. He complained about having to leave even though they had spent most of the time after school here, but Richard got his mind off leaving by grabbing him from behind and tossing him once in the air before he settled him on his shoulder.
"We have the best time daddy," Jason said, not knowing how much his words hurt. When they got to the car, Jason let his daddy strap him in, and almost the entire trip across town and over the bridge that led into their neighborhood, Jason talked about being a Pirate.
Seated on the porch which faced the lake, Clark sat talking to his mom, and Ben, who now shared his secret. He had seen little of Lois since she told him about Richard moving back to London, and felt responsible for all that was happening. "I don't know, sometimes I think it would have been good to just stay away," and as soon as he said that he shook his head. If he would not have returned, Lois and all those on the plane would have been killed, and Billions of other lives would have ended because of Lex Luther, likely Jason among them.
Ben could see that these two needed to talk and stood up. He gave Martha a kiss on her cheek and a nod to Clark, before he walked back inside the house he shared with her.
Seeing her son in so much pain made her want to cry, but Martha was a strong woman and knew she had to help Clark through this. "Clark, Lois is capable of making her own choices, and from what you have said about their relationship, it sounds to me like she would have made this decision with or without your return," she said, not realizing Lois had told him something similar to that.
A light breeze blew in off of the lake, and Clark looked out seeing the sun setting in the reflection of the clear almost blue water. He thought about what his mom had just said, and knew she was right, but his thoughts were more on how this would hurt Jason. "Jason loves Richard, and has only known him as a father. I know that I have been around too, but he doesn't yet see me like that, and I'm not sure he ever will." He said. He hated this worrying, hated it because right now he couldn't do anything but wait.
"Jason will pull through this, children are resilient in that way," she said as she reached out from beside him and put her hand over his, glad he had come home for a visit, even though it was a time of stress in his life. "Come on, if we don't watch it, Ben will start dinner without us," Martha said trying to lighten the mood.
After quiet family dinner, and a family game of Go Fish, Lois and Richard sat down with Jason who was already dressed for bed, wearing Simba pajamas. They both gave him lots of hugs and kisses, and as well tickled him mercilessly, and then they looked at one another and did what they both agreed was necessary.
"Jason, daddy and I have to tell you something that is going to be very hard for you to hear and to understand, but we both want you to know how much we love you," Lois said. Jason was sitting between them, and as she looked at him she watched his small brow furrow.
Jason heard the words his mommy told him, and tried to figure out what she meant, and even as smart as he was he could not. "I don't understand mommy," he finally said as he looked at her seeing a tear slide down her cheek. Jason bit his lip and looked at his daddy, who was also looking very sad, but Richard gave him a wink, and Jason knew that meant it would all be okay, and he relaxed a little.
Richard could tell Lois was struggling and he took a very deep breath and let it out. "I have to go back to London, and I need to stay there for much longer than a week," he said. Richard watched as Jason tried to comprehend what he had just said, and then he saw a smile on his little face.
"Good, mommy and me can come too," he tried, not realizing that it wasn't going to be that way.
Lois reached out and took Jason's hand in her own. At this point they really couldn't tell him why they were separating, and then Lois told Jason that they could not go because daddy was not going to come back. The look on her son's face as she said those words tore at her heart, and when he began to cry, and shake his head, they both held him and tried to comfort him.
"Daddy don't leave us," Jason said climbing onto Richard's lap. He clung to Richard shaking his head back and forth. "Why won't you come back daddy?" he said through his soft cries.
Richard tried to explain why, but in the end it only made Jason cry more and all either he or Lois could do was hold their little as he sobbed softly in their arms. Nearly an hour later he had fallen asleep with his head resting on Lois's lap and the rest of his body stretch out over Richard's. When he was sure Jason would remain asleep, Richard put his arm over and under Jason's neck and head cradling him in his arms and then together both he and Lois went upstairs and put their son down in his bed. Tomorrow, very early in the morning, he would take his plane to the airport, and from there take a jet to London. In the room he and Lois had shared over these past five years, Richard continued the packing he had started three days ago.
As Richard packed, Lois went downstairs to the office, and sat at her computer. She recalled her conversation with Clark, before she knew he was Superman, about his leaving without saying good bye, and now she understood with clarity why he had chosen to do things the way he had. Lois still considered it cowardly, but she also saw his reasoning, much more than she had before. After starring out the window beyond her computer, Lois shut it off and spun around in her seat, looking at the rows of shelves which lined the walls of this narrow room. The shelves were full of books of every sort, books such as the self help sort she had gotten to try and stop smoking, books on how to raise a healthy happy child, and even photo albums. Those she eyed, and was tempted to look through them, but she knew doing that would only make the pain she was feeling now more unbearable. When she walked upstairs she found Richard standing at the entry of Jason's room watching him sleep.
Hearing Lois come up the stairs, Richard turned and looked at her, and could tell she was hurting just as much as he was. "I thought maybe I should head out now," he said, not knowing what to do about Jason, and that frustrated him. For the first time since becoming his father, Richard didn't know how to help him, or which would be the best way to leave, either telling Jason goodbye and stand helpless as he cried, or to leave now which might be easier on all of them.
Just as lost on what to do as he was, Lois couldn't offer him any advice, though what she wanted to do was to take his suitcases and hide them and keep him here. "I think you should stay and tell him goodbye," she finally said. He agreed to that, and as well to take the couch, and both of them headed their separate ways to try and get some kind of rest.
The next morning was really hard for Jason, who had begged Richard not to leave, and had locked himself in his room when he did leave. Lois managed to get him calmed down enough to get his medicine into him, and wanted to stay home with him, but she had a deadline at work, and she also knew that sending Jason to school would keep his mind hopefully off of what had just happened.
Sitting in his booster, in the back of the car, Jason watched Lilo and Stitch, holding Trampster on his lap. Stitch had just arrived on earth, when the car pulled to a stop, and Jason peered out the window seeing Miss Pelfrey headed in his direction. "Mommy, I don't want to go today," he said softly.
"I know munchkin, but we both need to try and make it through today," she said as she unlocked the automatic locks on the doors, as Miss Pelfrey arrived to take Jason to his class. His teacher opened the door, and when she got him unbuckled, Jason went the other way opposite of the door, until he was able to reach his mom for a hug. Lois held on to him for a few moments and then kissed him. "Be good for your teachers," she said and then looked to her right, and behind as Jason left the car to head for his class. His walk was slow and drawn, and Lois had already informed his teachers about the separation and had given them Clark's phone number in the event that they could not get her. Once on her way, Lois geared her mind toward work, trying not to think about how much she already missed Richard, trying not to think about facing everyone at the office.
The same boys who had always teased him, had been at it all morning, and finally at recess, Jason found a way to get away from the watchful eyes of his teachers. He had known about the loose bar on the black fence that was supposed to keep them in, and other people out for a while now, and as he managed to slip through he heard her voice and looked wide eyed as Rebecca squeezed through as well. "You have to go back there," Jason said sounding a little like his mom; he could be authoritative when he wanted to be.
Rebecca Davies had soft blond curls and pretty blue eyes, and was not the least bit afraid to disobey the rules. "Two is safe, one is not," she reminded him. Even though Jason threw her a look of exasperation, he grabbed on to her by the hand, and led her away from the school down the long dirt lane which led back out to the main road. "Where are we going Jason? She asked as they hid behind a tree while a car passed by.
"To the airport to get my daddy back," Jason said not realizing that Richard was already on a plane bound for London England. Sometimes, since he had saved his mommy from the ugly baddy on the ship, Jason could hear things better than he ever had, and as he held Rebecca's hand while they trekked onward, he wondered what Lex Luther had meant when he asked his mommy about his real daddy.
No longer worried about having to take the medicine from his inhaler, Jason was able to race with Rebecca, and soon the two of them were laughing and carrying on. Neither one of them had any idea of the panic they were soon to cause, nor were they aware that the police were already on their way. Soon they saw several cars pass them by, but they were in the overgrown weeds that lined the narrow country road, and while they saw and heard the cars, the people in the cars did not see or hear them.
Seated at her desk, Lois was going through several pieces of paper trying to get the notes she needed to finish up her most recent editorial, but she was missing a crucial part of what was required to be able to do that. Throwing her hands up in the air, she shut her eyes wanting nothing more than to go home, crawl in bed, and stay there for a week. Since last night, Lois had been wondering if she did the right thing, as far as Richard was concerned, and even though it had caused Jason great pain, she knew that sometimes the most difficult decisions were the right ones to make, at least she hoped that was the case.
"Uh, Hi Lois," Clark said as he walked up to the left side of her desk startling her. He had seen her throw her hands up in the air, and was worried about her, having known about last night.
After a moment's hesitation, Lois turned to face her co-worker and friend. "Hey Clark," she managed though her enthusiasm sounded fake even to her ears.
Clark could tell she was uncomfortable with him there, but he wanted to try and help her if he could. "Anything I can do for you?" he asked.
Lois thought about that for a second, wanting him to go away, but she knew he meant well and she knew he was concerned for her. "No, I just need to find this paper I had, so that I can sketch out this editorial, but I think I may have…" Before she could finish what she was saying her phone began to ring. As she picked it up, Clark began to walk away. "Lois Lane," she said expecting it to be someone wanting to report a story.
On the other end, Principle Newberry was on the line, and began to speak. "Miss Lane, we have a problem here at the school. When the children were coming in from Constructive Play, your son and another girl were not among them."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Lois nearly dropped the phone. "What, could you repeat that?" she asked. Suddenly her mind began to race, her worry since encountering Lex Luther, and the fact that he likely knew about Jason's parentage, was that he would try and take him away, and now maybe that was happening.
Just as he sat down at his desk, Clark heard Lois's panicked voice and went back to her, standing behind her as she began to answer questions that related to their son. She was answering questions about what he looked like, and from that Clark knew that he was missing. Now he wanted to leave, but did not, instead waiting for her to finish. When she hung up the phone she spun around to face him.
"It's Jason, he and another child are missing Clark, what if Lex found a way to get him," she said doing her best not to panic, but as it was her hands were shaking. As he was about to answer her, Jimmy came over to them, and Clark took charge. "Jimmy, Lois and I have to go to Jason's school, I need you to tell Perry there is an emergency, and that we might not be back today," he said, praying that when they arrived the children would be found safe and sound. The young photographer sprung into action, and as soon as he was gone, Clark helped Lois into her coat and they headed out to her car, though when they got there she agreed that he should fly there and see if he could help find them.
"Knock, knock," Jason said to his friend as they drew closer and closer to the main road. He was still holding her hand having the grandest of times.
"Whose there?" she asked. Rebecca was also having a grand time, even though she worried about what would happen if they were found out.
"Orange," Jason replied as he started to laugh.
"Orange who?" asked Rebecca as she laughed with him.
"Orange you glad I didn't say Banana?" As he finished Jason laughed so hard that they both stumbled and ended up on the soft grass. Even Rebecca liked his Jokes, and that gave him a little more confidence. When they stopped laughing, they heard cars speed by, and Jason crawled as close as he could get to the road without being seen.
There were police cars and as Rebecca saw she gasped. "Jason, we are in big trouble," she said. She had seen the shows on TV where the police guys arrested people and now she was afraid that she and Jason would have to go to jail because they were out where they should not be.
He could tell that she was afraid and held her hand. "We have to hurry, because I still gotta go tell my daddy not to go," Jason said. They stood back up, and both of them began to run toward the main road.
As soon as he landed at the school, the principle greeted him and told him about the loose bar on the fence. Superman set about fixing that fairly fast, relieved that they had gone off on their own free will. After he did that he flew up over the school, and used his hearing, listening for Jason's voice over all of the other voices that he could hear. When he finally did hear him, his words put him into action. What he heard was, "Take my hand and when all the cars get done going by we can cross over there."
Superman rocked toward the main road, and when he got there he found the two children half way across with huge truck barreling toward them. The man of steel swooped down, and grabbed both of the children pulling them against his chest as he flew them into the air. He heard the little girl scream, but Jason did not, seeming to know that everything would be okay. After they were out of danger, he landed not far from the school, putting each child down on their feet. "Are you all right?" he asked, seeing that the girl still had her eyes shut.
"That was fun, can we do it again?" Jason asked.
As he said that, Superman had a hard time not chuckling, but this was quite serious. "Will you tell me her name?" Jason told him, and Superman addressed her, and got her to open her eyes. "Now then, where were you two headed?" he asked, wanting to hold his little boy and never let go of him. He wondered if Jason had ever done anything like this before, and then noticed the pained look on his son's face, and suddenly he realized exactly what Jason had attempted to do. "All right, let's get you two back to the school," he said. As he stood up Jason looked at the ground and hunched his shoulders over. He heard Jason say that he didn't want to go back, and wasn't sure how to handle that, and then he saw Lois running toward them with Mrs. Davies right on her heals.
Lois had been talking to Mrs. Davies when she saw Superman land with both children in his arms and now as she arrived at their side; she knelt down and pulled Jason into her arms. "Don't you ever do this again," Lois said as her little boy began to cry. Superman flew off as the two mother's tended to their children, and a few moments later, Clark Kent arrived by Lois's side as she continued to hold their son.
"What were you doing Jason?" she asked as he began to calm down some.
He sniffed and looked at her with sad eyes. "I wanted to tell daddy not to go to London," he replied and was again in her arms.
Lois felt Clark's hand on her shoulder, and was grateful that he was there with her. "Jason, daddy is already on his way there, and it is very important that you promise never to do this again. When you are at school, you have to stay here until I come to get you," she said. Jason was crying again, and she managed to stand up with Clark's help. She turned to face him asking him if he would tell the Principle that she was taking Jason with them. When Clark had gone, Lois carried Jason to the car and opened the passenger door with one hand, and then leaned inside and got him strapped into his booster seat.
"Mommy, can I watch Stitch?" Jason asked through a yawn as Lois blotted his tears.
"No. You won't be able to watch any movies for a few days, and when we get home you will have to stay in your room," she said as she placed a kiss on his forehead. Jason seemed to know without asking that this was his punishment, and when he hung his head she felt guilty again.
The ride back to the house was quiet, Lois had already decided that she and Jason needed to stay at the house and try and get used to being the only ones there. She was also glad that Clark was driving them, because her nerves were again frazzled, and all she wanted to do now was go home, put Jason down for a nap and take one for herself.
The cool evening air blew across the patio beneath the awning, drawing Lois out of her thoughts. Jason was already asleep in her bed, after they read about ten of his favorite stories, and she was glad to have this time to herself. He had spent the day in his room, his punishment for leaving school, and nearly getting himself killed in the process. Neither one of them had gotten that nap she had hoped they would get, and as a result she was now exhausted. The house seemed empty without Richard there to share her time with, and it mirrored the way she felt in her heart.
She lifted her head up, and shook it wondering when life had become so hard to deal with. As she shut her eyes, she heard a soft whooshing sound off to her left, and without opening her eyes she knew Superman was there. "He's asleep," she said as she opened her eyes to look at him. Lois almost felt like blaming him for all of this, but she knew it was more her fault than anyone else's and when she saw the look of concern in his eyes she looked away.
Tired of not saying anything, Superman took the seat next to Lois, and then he looked at her. "Lois, I'm sorry about what has happened with you and Richard," he began, not really knowing where to start. This was just as hard for him as it was for her, but for different reasons. Time and again he came back to one of many things his father had told him on the recordings left with him at the Fortress of Solitude; even though you live among them, you are not one of them. As much as he had tried all of these years to hold to that, since meeting Lois, he had desired to have what other men could have.
Once he said that, Lois looked at him and watched him struggling with something, perhaps some inner conflict, and she too felt guilty, as well as tired, sad, and still a bit put off. "Sometimes," she said drawing his attention away from his thoughts and back to her. "I," she hesitated not wanting to hurt him more, but for some reason she needed to let him know how she felt. Lois sighed, and then said, "There are times when I wish that I would never have allowed my relationship with Richard to go as far as it has, but after you left, I would sit up at night crying, wondering what it was that I had done to keep you away." Thinking about that time was nearly as painful as what was happening now between she and Richard, though when Superman reached out to take one of her hands, Lois shook her head, he needed to hear this and if he even touched her, she knew she would cry again, and that was something she would not allow. "When I met Richard, I had just found out I was pregnant with Jason, and after our second date, and even though he knew I was pregnant, he kept wanting to see me." Lois shut her eyes then, "God what I mess I've made."
Superman stood up and turned away from her for a moment, and then he looked down at her. "This is not your fault, if I would have had any courage at all I would never have gone away, I would have known that what was out there was not the home I was born in, but a graveyard, and I would have been here for you, but I did leave you, and I now have to live with that regret for the rest of my life," he said.
Lois stood up then, and in an instant she was in the arms of the man she had always loved. At first she was content just to hug him, but soon she lifted her head to look up at him, and found him looking down at her. There was longing in his eyes, the same sort of longing she had been feeling since she saw him as a flash through that airplane window, the day she thought she would die. As he slowly lowered his head, and for half a second she thought of Richard, but then their lips touched, and all that she had wanted was right there.
The kiss he shared with Lois was like a gentle caress, and when he drew away from her he smiled because her eyes were shut. He wanted to kiss her again, but as soon as he was about to, his super hearing picked up sounds from upstairs, and then he heard Jason calling out for Lois. "Jason needs you, and I hear trouble," he said. Before he could leave her, Lois reached up and when he felt her hands on the back of his head, he willing went back to her lips, giving her a more demanding kiss, and then he drew away looking at her for a brief moment before he flew away into the night.
For a moment, Lois stood rooted where she was. A million thoughts were going through her head, but she ignored the guilty thoughts, and actually managed to smile as she turned to go inside her house to tend to her child's needs. She wasn't sure what would happen now, but for right now things were looking pretty good.