Chapter 12: The story of Jason

The evening after Christmas, Martha and Ben took Jason into the nearest small town to have dinner, and to see a film about Santa Clause. As they left, Clark had a feeling his mom had planned this outing since she had known he was bringing Lois here, and he couldn't say he was all that ashamed or disappointed. Once the truck was headed down the long drive to the main road, Clark turned slightly to his left seeing a wistful look in Lois's eyes. "He will be fine with them," he said, trying to draw her out.

Lois wasn't worried about her son going with Martha and Ben, both of them knew Clark's secret, and Martha had raised a son from Krypton, who likely had more powers than Jason ever would. She gazed at Clark and smiled. "I thought maybe now that they are gone for a while, you and I could talk. I told you a little about when Jason was born, but I want to tell you the rest," she said. Lois reached out her right hand and when he took it holding it in his left, she offered him a smile and then the two of them went back into the house.

In the TV room, where the tree still stood with all the ornaments, and the piles of toys at its base, Lois sat down on the Burgundy Sofa facing the Television. Clark sat down next to her and she took a breath. "For the longest time after you left, I kept wondering what I had done, or if you even knew about Jason." She saw the shocked look in his eyes but he didn't say anything so she continued. "I know if you would have known, you would not have gone away, but I knew, somehow I knew, that he was your son, that the new life I had in me was our baby, and I had no idea what I was going to do." As she told Clark about the beginning her mind took her back to that painful scary time in her life.

Lois Lane, ace reporter at the Daily Planet, sat in the small examination room of her doctor's office, looking at Dr. Frances Brannon, who had been her doctor for nearly all of her adult life. Her eyes focused on him, and her mind reeled at what he had just told her. She shook her head and even managed a laugh. "No, I haven't been in a relationship with anyone in a long while," she said.

The Dr. who was sitting on a stool across from where she still sat, wearing a paper gown reached out and took her hand. "Lois, I've seen many pregnancy tests in my day, and yours is positive honey," he said.

At that point Lois clapped a hand over her mouth, and when the Doctor gave her a garbage can she threw up what she had eaten earlier for breakfast. When she finished she shook her head, "How far am I, I still smoke on occasion," she admitted.

Her Dr. told her that she was at least three months along, and told her that he wanted to set up an ultrasound so that they could measure the baby and see if everything was developing as it should be at this stage. Lois nodded her head, still feeling dizzy and somehow she managed to get home to her apartment where she fell into her bed sobbing.

Coming out of that memory, Lois looked at Clark and could see the pain in his eyes. "I don't have to continue she said, hoping that he would stop her, but already he was shaking his head, and after he took her hand and kissed the back of it, she found the strength to continue. "After that day, the next day I had another date with Richard and I told him about the pregnancy."

Sitting across from Richard at a round table with a white table cloth draped over it, Lois starred blankly at her plate. She had ordered the house special, Lasagna with red wine, but now she couldn't eat.

Across from where Lois sat, Richard could tell something was wrong and after taking a sip of his wine he called her name. "Lois," he said softly. "Lois," he said again, and finally she looked at him giving him a weak smile. "Do you want to get out of here?" he asked and when she nodded her head, he got up and went around the table to her chair. As he helped her stand up, the waiter came by concerned about them leaving. "I'm sorry, she isn't feeling well," Richard said and gave the waiter a hefty tip before they left the small Italian Café.

Lois held Richard's hand as they walked across the street to Centennial Park, and when they arrived at the fountain in the center of the park, she sat down beside him. "Richard, I have had a really good time with you, but I think this should be our last night out," she said. She saw the sad look in his eyes, and hated it because he was really a great guy. In the past week since they met, and since he had taken her to the fair, she had never remembered having such a great time with any man, and now she was hurting him. "It isn't you, I'm pregnant, I found out yesterday," she said as she felt tears well up in her eyes.

For a moment Richard was shocked, but then when he looked at her, really looked, he could see how hurt she was, and wondered what kind of man could do that to someone as alive as Lois Lane. "Can you tell me anything about that?" He didn't want to pry but he felt there was more to it than what she was saying. He reached out and held both of her hands waiting and hoping that she would talk to him.

"There is not much I can tell, my child's father left sometime ago without a word to me. I don't think he meant to leave without telling me but I don't know. I'm sorry Richard I can't tell you anymore than that," she said somehow knowing that the baby growing inside of her was Superman's child.

"After that night he kept calling me, and I told him that someday you might come back but he said he didn't care, that we would deal with that when it became an issue. I knew I should have refused to talk to him, but I was so afraid and alone and I never needed anyone like I did then," she said as she reached up with her free hand and wiped the tears away from her face. Clark had done the same to his own face just moments before, and after taking in a deep breath she drudged on. "My pregnancy with Jason wasn't out of the ordinary, he was healthy despite me smoking for the first three months after he was conceived, and then right around 22 weeks it happened.

Everyone in the office had gotten over the shock of seeing Lois Lane pregnant. Despite being in her 21st week, Lois was still the top reporter in the office. She still went out on investigations when she needed to, and still put in late night hours. Richard by that point had become a constant companion and they had even moved into a house by the River. He knew he wasn't the father of her child, but Lois was surprised out how excited he was for this baby to arrive, almost as if it was truly his child.

Seated at her desk, Lois was typing up an exposé on the corruption of the city government when she felt a sharp pain in her lower back. She scooted back in her seat and leaned as far over as she could, reaching behind her back with her left hand to try and rub out the stiffness.

"Lois are you okay?" Richard asked as he came out of his office to find her leaning over. When she sat up she gasped and Richard knew something wasn't right. "Stay put," he said as he ran back into his office.

Clark listened as she told him about that day, how Richard stayed by her side while the ambulance made it's way to the office, and he could not get over the guilt he was feeling as she continued on.

"When I got to the hospital they made Richard wait in the waiting room, and he had company, my father and mother arrived not long after they took me into the delivery room. Dr. Brannon told me that if I delivered the baby this early in the game that it would not survive. They gave me some sort of drug and by that evening the labor stopped. They also gave me shots in my IV to help Jason's lungs mature, so that if he did deliver early then he might have a fighting chance. He waited five more weeks and while I was still on bed rest the labor started up again. They let Richard in after they got me ready, and told me to start pushing. I cried, and did my best not to push but nature took its course and our son was born."

A full day had passed by and Lois had not had the courage to go up to the NICU to see her son. Richard had shuttled back and forth between both of them, and she could tell from the look in his eyes that things were not going well for her baby.

The next morning after breakfast she finally got up the courage, and after a nurse came with the wheelchair, Richard pushed her up to the NICU. As she put on a yellow robe, the young nurse told her what to expect.

"He has a lot of tubes hooked up to him, and the first time you see him it will be overwhelming, but you will be able to touch him if you want too," the nurse said as they went inside the unit.

Lois looked around the room at all of the incubators and then looked ahead of her as they arrived at the one that said Baby Boy Lane. Lois put her hand over her mouth as she looked inside seeing her tiny son covered with tubes and wires of every sort. The nurse who brought them in explained what each one did, and then she opened up a small door on the side of his incubator and left them to spend time with their son.

Lois shut her eyes as she thought of that time, and then cleared her throat. "The first time a touched his tiny hand he grasped on with a strength I didn't think was possible. He fought for his life those first few weeks, and then when he was five weeks old, I got to hold him in my arms for the first time.

As she said that, Clark could see the wonder in her eyes and could only imagine what it had been like to hold their baby. His own arms ached to do that, even though he knew he would never be able to get that part of Jason's life back.

Jason, as she and Richard had named him, was wrapped tight in a hospital receiving blanket. He had on a bright yellow cap that his aunt Lucy had gotten him, and the only two things attached to him now was a heart monitor, and nasal prongs that delivered oxygen to his underdeveloped lungs. Lois had been off of work since his birth, and had yet to leave the hospital, refusing to do that until he was ready to go home. The staff had been supportive of that, and had set up a room for her down in maternity, but right now Lois was totally focused on the tiny baby she held in her arms. "One day, I will tell you the truth, and maybe one day he will come back," she whispered as she leaned down and kissed his tiny forehead.

"I was going to tell him, but I just couldn't and it became easier and easier to live the lie that Richard was his true father. I never thought you were coming back," she said as she again shut her eyes. For a moment Lois felt alone again, and then she felt his lips on her right cheek kissing the tears away, while he wiped the tears from the other cheek with the front of his thumb. She felt his lips go lower to her chin, and then felt his heated breath on her lips a moment before she felt the softness of his lips upon her own. Lois turned and leaned back on the sofa and felt the weight of his body cover her own. Her eyes were still closed and she was enjoying the sensations his touch was bringing to her body. In the back of her mind she wondered if this was real, and when she felt his hands pulling her blouse out of her jeans, Lois knew it was very real.

It was close to 9:30pm when Ben pulled the truck up to the house, and in between he and Martha, their grandson was sound asleep. Jason had loved the Santa Clause movie and they had enjoyed laughing along with him at the funny antics of the elves and even Santa himself.

As Ben shut off the truck, both of them saw Clark come out of the house wearing a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, and Martha noticed that he looked like he had been asleep. "You don't need to get him," she said feeling bad that she may have interrupted something.

"He isn't as light as he looks when he's out like this," Clark whispered as he leaned in to the truck un-strapping Jason from his booster seat. He lifted Jason up and managed to get him out of the truck without waking him. He held Jason against his chest for a moment just standing there, glad he was back home.

When they got inside, the house was rather dark, and Clark told his mom and Ben goodnight as he went upstairs to put his son to bed. In Jason's room, Clark laid him down in his small bed and gently pulled his Birkenstock sandals off of his small feet. As he put them on the floor he heard a slight creek of one of the boards, and looked up as Lois walked into the room looking equally as sleep rumpled. He waited as she walked over to Jason's suitcase and pulled out a pair of warm fuzzy pajamas, the one piece sort with feet in them, and when she walked over to the bed, they both got Jason dressed in his warm jammies without even a peep from him. When they were ready, Clark lifted him up and settled him against the pillow leaning down to kiss his soft cheeks. Somehow he would have to find a way to make it up to both of them for his long absence in their life, and already he had started to make up for lost time with Lois.

After Clark kissed their son, Lois took her turn, running her fingers through Jason's soft brown hair. She leaned in and kissed his cheeks, and his nose, and then his lips and smiled before she turned around to face Clark. She found him watching their son, and could see the pride in his eyes. They still had a long way to go, she knew, and there would likely still be obstacles, but right now she was with the two people she loved most in her life and for once she did not feel any guilt of any sort.

This was real, Clark realized as he looked at his little boy. This child, his son, would need his protection and his guidance, and he was ready to do that, ready to be Jason's father. When Lois turned around to face him, he took one last look at their little boy before he extended his hand. Once she had his hand, he led her out of Jason's room, and then to his room, where they had been sleeping when his parents arrived home. He didn't know what would happen when they got back to the city, but right now he had all he wanted, and he wasn't going to waste his time on worries.