Chapter 15: In the Blink of an Eye
The next few weeks that passed by were both busy and stressful for Lois. The house wasn't selling like she had hoped it would, but her realtor assured her that it was just due to the cold whether outside and that once things warmed up people would be more likely to come out and see it. Aside from the stress of trying to sell the house, Lois was dealing with a distraught child. Lucky had gone from being a sweet quite puppy to a playful puppy who wanted to chew up everything. Since she was trying to sell the house, Lois knew the puppy couldn't stay, so she talked it over with Clark, and he took Lucky to live with him for the time being.
For Jason life had gone from bad to worse. Not only was his other daddy still in China, but now his puppy was gone, and it hurt. Everyone in his life was busy these days, and all Jason wanted was for things to go back the way they had been when his daddy lived at home. At school Rebecca had even abandoned him, because she was more interested in doing girl stuff, and he knew he couldn't be mad at her for that, but it just added to the hurt he was already feeling.
One night after dinner with his mom, and while she was cleaning the dishes, Jason went into the Living room and grabbed the cordless phone from its cradle. The little boy walked into the kitchen and stood behind his mommy. "Mommy, can we call my daddy, my daddy in China?" Jason asked looking at her expectantly as she turned around to face him.
Lois had noticed how quiet Jason had been over the past few days and as she looked into his blue eyes she saw hope there. "I think maybe I can arrange that," she said as she knelt down taking the phone from his small hands. She dialed in a code she used for making that call and then the international number. The phone began to ring and after only two Richard was on the other end. "Hey, I hope I didn't disturb you," she said realizing as he began to talk how good it was to hear his voice. When he was ready, she passed the phone to Jason and smiled as her little boy began to jabber away.
As he talked to his daddy, Jason carried the phone with him up to his room and after he got the door shut he got straight to the point of his call. "Daddy I want to come and live with you in China," he said.
The last time they had talked, Lois told him how much Jason missed him but now Richard could hear the hurt in his small voice and it made him feel guilty. "I don't know pal, they have some pretty strange foods around here, and they don't have all the shows you like on TV," he tried.
"I could learn to like the food there," Jason said as he swiped at a tear that was threatening to slide down his cheek. "I got a doggy for Christmas and my daddy took her to live with him because she chewed up one of the good quilts mommy had, and she didn't mean too but it made Mommy mad, and I want to live with you why can't I live with you?" he asked as he began to cry.
All Richard wanted to do at that point was to get the earliest flight out of China, and go hold his little boy. He had agreed with Lois and Clark that what was best for Jason initially was letting him adjust to having Clark around, but now he wasn't so sure. "Shh, hey little guy, don't cry," he said as he shut his eyes.
Jason wasn't aware of his mother's presence until she was holding him in her arms, and he didn't protest as she took the phone out of his trembling hand. He wrapped his arms around her waste wishing more than ever that they could go to China and live there, all three of them and Lucky too.
After getting Jason put to bed, Lois phoned Richard as she had promised, and they had an argument. "Richard, it's just this whole move thing that has him so upset," she said, though she knew that the move was only a small part to a larger problem.
"Lois, I thought leaving was what was best just like you did, but now I'm not so sure, he sounds miserable, and if moving back helps him then it does," he said as he sat down on his bed. It was early morning and already he felt tired.
Having Richard come back home would only serve to confuse her more, and she felt a headache coming on. She knew that maybe he had a point, that maybe if Jason could spend time with him as well as Clark he would adjust better, but she was afraid of his return and what that would do to her feelings. As she thought along those lines she felt guilty, because she knew as a mother she had to think of her son first, and lately she had not been doing that. "Look it's been a long day for me and Jason, I'll call you later," she said. They said their goodbyes and as she hung up the phone she hung her head trying to remember a time when life actually made some sort of sense.
As the world slept, Superman hovered in space with his eyes shut. Space was a quiet place, but he had his hearing tuned to the planet, and could hear everything. When he had first started getting his powers, controlling his hearing had been next to impossible, and he remembered well getting headaches from all of the voices. Now, after years of practice, he could control whether or not he wanted to hear it all or just one singular voice, or he could do both. As he listened to the world he heard a low rumble among the billions of voices in his head. He pushed the voices aside and focused on the rumble and heard it getting louder. Superman opened his eyes and flew around the world over China as the screams began. He shot down to the earth so fast that a double Sonic Boom sounded in his wake.
Seated in his office at The Daily Planet located in the middle of the business district in Shanghai, Richard had just started typing up a report, though his mind was on Jason and his son's cries. He knew Lois was afraid of his return, not merely for Jason, but also for herself and he didn't want to cause her pain, but he wasn't sure what else he could do. As he got into his story, he heard something rattle. He looked to his right at the picture taken of all three of them at the lake house in Maine, and then all at once everything was moving, and pieces of the ceiling began to fall. The glass behind him broke and Richard ran for the door getting in the frame as he covered his head with his hands. Suddenly he was falling, and everything got very loud, and then it was dark and his body hurt all over. The screams and rumbling, and breaking glass just stopped, and Richard White realized that he was dying. As he tried to breathe and to see, he thought of Lois and Jason, and willed his body to calm itself. Suddenly the dark turned to light and as he looked up he saw the face of a man who had come to take his place in their lives.
Superman looked at Richard and knew the man was dying. The lower half of his body was pinned beneath tons of rubble and steel, and as he x-rayed Richard, Superman knew that as soon as he moved the rubble away Richard would bleed to death. "Don't try to talk," he said as he tried to figure out the best way to get the man out of this mess. He had a lot of work to do, but Richard was his priority right now. As much as Superman envied this man for having five years of Jason's life, he knew that his son still needed him.
"I can't," Richard said as he coughed and spit up blood in the process. "You tell Jason that I love him and that I'm sorry I hurt him," he finally said. The Man of Steel moved fast and Richard cried out as his body was freed from the rubble. His breathing was labored as Superman tried to help him, and Richard tried to cling to life but suddenly all of the pain he was feeling was lifted away. "You tell him for me," Richard sputtered and then with one last labored breath of air he was gone
As he held Richard in his arms, flying him out of the disaster, Superman felt guilt for everything. Richard had asked him to tell Jason he was sorry for causing him pain, when it was his own fault for that. He knew in his heart he should never have gone to his son's room that night that if he wouldn't have and just stayed away, Richard would be alive and his little boy would grow up happy and confident. After he flew Richard's body back to Metropolis, and asking the hospital to contact Perry White, he flew back to China to help with the clean up efforts.
The usual morning rush was on in the Lane house. Jason was stalling getting dressed, and Lois was trying to coax him into doing so without getting mad at him. She knew he wasn't happy with school, but she also had things to do after he was dropped off. "Jason, you don't have too long before fall break," she tried as he continued to remain under the desk in her room.
"I miss daddy," he said hugging Ollie to his chest. Ollie was a fuzzy brown possum, his oldest and very best pal, and someone Jason loved more than anyone else, especially now that his dog was at his daddy's house.
Lois shut her eyes and took in a few breaths. "I know baby, but he would want you to be happy, and to listen to me," she said out of tactics to draw him out. She finally did manage to get him dressed, and after putting his cereal into a plastic zip lock bag, the two of them headed on their way to his school.
It was not habit for Lois to listen to the radio as she drove her car, mostly because Jason always complained when she did, due to his need to watch his DVD movies. After she dropped him off at school, the young mother thought about her conversation with her Ex Fiancé and wondered if Richard coming back to be a part of Jason's life was what their little boy needed.
At the planet, Lois parked in the top level of the parking structure, unaware of the disaster that had occurred in China. As she approached the entry of the building she saw Clark waiting for her. He had on a brown suit, and looked handsome as ever. "Morning Clark," she said as she started past him but she stopped when he reached out and gently took her arm.
"Lois we need to talk in private at your house," he said in a serious tone.
As she looked at his face, really looked, Lois could tell something wasn't right. "Lighten up Kent, it can't be that bad," she said hoping to get her partner to at least smile. She could tell he was serious and dug her keys from her purse.
Once they were on their way, Clark instructed her to drive home, not saying anything on the drive and that frightened her. As she drove, Lois thought of Lucky and then decided nothing could be wrong with her, if something had happened to the dog they would still be able to work. When she got to the house she was agitated and as she turned off the engine and he went to open the door she stopped him. "No, I want to know why I had to come home, and I want to know now."
There was no easy way to tell her about Richard, and as he started to speak her saw her eyes grow very big, and then she was out of the car running toward house. Clark waited only a moment before getting out of the car to go after her. "Lois," he said as she spun around to face him.
"No, don't you dare say it," she said as tears threatened to fall. Somehow she knew why he had asked her to come back home, and she was angry and hurt all at once. "Don't even think about saying it, he's always been able to take care of himself, better than you. He's always been dependable and I won't listen," she all but shouted as she went inside.
Clark knew this would be the most difficult thing he had ever done, and he braced himself as he followed her down the four stairs to the living room. "Lois," he tried again, but she avoided him as she passed him to go upstairs. In one quick move, Clark was at her side and held her still facing him. "Lois I'm sorry but he's gone," he said.
His words cut into her like a dull knife being stabbed into her chest, and Lois shut her eyes and shook her head. "No, no," she said as a sob caught in her throat. Lois pushed away from him for a moment before she turned to look at Clark. "How did it happen and why didn't you save him," she said feeling angry again.
Somehow he managed to get her downstairs and seated on the sofa, and then he told her about the quake in Shanghai. "It happened so fast Lois, faster than I could get to them. I sought Richard out first, but when I got to him he was buried beneath a ton of rubble," he said knowing that he had to tell her the truth, because that was what she expected.
Hearing the details of Richard's death pained her more than anything else, but Lois wanted, and needed to know. She realized as Clark relayed to her the events that had unfolded in China that it hurt him too, and when he finished she stood up. She walked over to the double bay doors and looked out at the dock where Richard's plane once sat, and then she balled up her fist and punched the glass breaking it and in the process cutting her hand right open. "DAMN HIM, DAMN YOU," she yelled before she dropped to her knees and began crying.
Clark went to her then, and despite her protests he stood her up and then lifted her into his arms cradling her against his chest as she cried soul wrenching cries. His tears fell silently down his face as he got her to the kitchen, and once he was there he put her back on her feet but held her as he got the water in the sink turned on. While she held on to him with one arm, he put her injured hand under the water and tended to it. The cut wasn't deep amazingly enough, and after he cleaned it, and put a band aid over the worst part he led her back to the couch and sat down holding her as she continued to cry.
Eventually the pain she was feeling dulled, and Lois finally pulled herself together enough to sit up and look at Clark. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," he said as he reached out and wiped away her tears.
"How do we tell Jason that his daddy is dead?" she asked as a fresh set of tears began to course their way down her cheeks. When he reached for her, Lois went willingly into his arms. Her heart still hurt, even with his arms around her, and she had no idea how to tell her five year old son that his other daddy was gone.
At school Jason was blissfully unaware of the tragedy awaiting him when he arrived home. Today when he arrived in his class there was a new boy introduced named Simon, who had moved to Metropolis from California. At constructive play, Jason was the first boy to go and talk to Simon and soon the two of them were having a grand time. When play was over and they sat down at their desks, Mrs. Davies put Simon next to Jason and while they were supposed to be listening to the story during reading hour, the two boys told jokes and had a grand time.
When School let out, and Jason waited in the carpool line, Simon stood with him. "What does your mommy and daddy do?" he asked his new friend.
"My daddy works at the loading docks and my mommy is an attorney," the little red headed boy said to his new friend. "What do your parents do?"
"I have two daddies. My old daddy lives in China now because my new daddy came back and he thought it would be too hard for me having both of them around but it's harder this way," Jason said, and then he saw his Aunt Lucy's car as well as Mrs. Garret approaching him. "I'll see you tomorrow," Jason said and hurried with is teacher to his Aunt's car. As soon as they were on their way, Jason asked her where his mommy was.
Lucy had been informed of Lois's loss by Jimmy, and had called her sister offering to pick up the munchkin. "Oh home, she wasn't feeling all that well," Lucy said, not sure of how else to put it. Jason seemed satisfied with her answer and she was relieved. On the drive to the house, Lucy laughed at her nephew's jokes, and the two of them sang along with the Disney Songs she had on a CD she used when he was with her. Lucy wasn't rich enough to afford a car with a DVD player but Jason had never seemed to mind that. By the time she got him home both of them were laughing and carrying on.
"Aunt Lucy, do you want to come inside and play a game with me?" Jason asked.
Lucy felt bad, but she really didn't want to be around while her nephew found out about Richard, and she sighed. "Sorry kid, but I have work in a little bit at the restaurant, but I'll try and come by later," she said. He got out of his seat and managed to climb in the front. When he gave her a kiss, Lucy felt even worse. As she pulled away he waved at her, and Lucy decided to go to the toy store and buy him something nice, to make up for what he was about to go through.
As his small hands opened the front door, Jason was greeted by his daddy. "Hi daddy," he said in a cheerful tone. When his daddy knelt down, Jason gave him a big hug and kiss. "How is my Lucky girl?" he asked as they parted.
"She is doing very well but she misses you," Clark said. Again as with Lois, he wasn't required to stutter or mess up on his wording, Jason knew who he was and there was no need for disguise. "Why don't you head upstairs and get changed out of your good cloths, and then come down to the kitchen." He watched his son as he ran up stairs, and once Jason was occupied, Clark went back to the Kitchen where Lois was sitting at the table holding a cup of tea with both of her hands.
When he walked in, Lois looked at the man she loved, or thought she loved and shut her eyes. "How do I tell him this, how do I break his heart?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper. Again she found herself in his arms and even though she was hurt and confused about where her love should be, she could not bring herself to pull away from him.
"We will tell him together," Clark said as he placed a kiss on top of her head.
By the time Jason arrived downstairs they had moved from the kitchen to the living room, and when Lois asked him to come sit between them Jason did as he was told. "Jason, I have something to tell you that won't be easy for you to hear," Lois began and already felt a lump forming in her throat. She saw her baby's innocent blue eyes gazing at her and had to shut her own eyes.
"Mommy are you sad?" Jason asked suddenly just a little afraid. Without anyone telling him, and on his own, Jason climbed on her lap and hugged her pressing his face against her chest as he heard her take a deep breath. "Don't be sad mommy, it will be okay now," he said repeating the words she had told him time and again when he had been sad.
Lois fought not to cry as he hugged her, but as it was she couldn't find the words to tell him what he needed to know. She felt Clark's hands gently lift Jason away from her, and when Jason was off of her lap she got up and walked outside feeling worthless. It should not have happened. Richard should be here now, and he wasn't because of her uncertainties.
Inside Jason sat on his dad's lap confused. "Is mommy okay, is she mad at me?" he asked as he watched her outside.
Clark held his little boy secure in his arms and knew that Lois didn't have the strength to tell him. "She will be better soon. Jason," he said as he turned Jason on his lap so they could look at one another. Peering into his son's eyes, Clark could see the fear there and he so wanted to back time up to save Richard White from that fate. "Your daddy was in an earthquake in China, one that took his life away," he said watching as his little boy took in that news.
Jason furrowed his little brows trying to figure out what he was saying. "Is daddy hurt, maybe we need to go and get him and make him better like when you were hurt," he said not understanding.
Even though he was the strongest man in the world, Clark was having a hard time trying to find a way to tell his son that the daddy he had always known and loved would no longer be in his life. "Your daddy was hurt very bad Jason, and his injuries were so bad that he died from them," he said.
"But we can go see him like when you were in the hospital, because if we go and tell him we love him he will get better like you did," Jason said. The little boy suddenly realizing what he was being told. He remembered the time Rebecca's cat died, and how her mommy said that they would never see her again, and right now he wanted to see his daddy more than anything else.
Clark reached out and moved a strand of dark hair out of Jason's eyes. "We can't see him pal, he is gone," he said as Jason pursed his lips.
"No he's not, don't say that he's not gone," Jason balled up his fists and hit his daddy on the chest as hard as he could. When his daddy held him close, Jason fought with all he had. "LET ME GO. LET ME GO," he screamed as his mommy came back inside. In a moment he was being held by both of his parents and Jason cried harder than he ever had. His heart hurt worse than it ever had before and he wanted to stop crying but he could not.
Jason was still on Clark's lap and Lois hugged both of them letting her own tears fall silently as her son cried. Almost a half hour later Jason's cries subsided and even though he had fallen asleep, he held tight around his daddy's waist.
Lois left her two guys briefly and came back with a warm washcloth as Clark eased Jason's arms from around his middle. Jason remained asleep as his mom wiped his face, and once that task was done, Clark turned to his left and gently laid Jason down on the sofa. As he stood up he watched as Lois draped a blanket over him, and when she turned around he drew her back into his arms. "What do you need for me to do?" he asked knowing that she might want time alone.
He always thought of others before he thought of himself, and it was that quality in him, one of many, that had drawn Lois to him all those years ago. "I don't know, I thought maybe I wanted to be alone but I feel like I'm dying. I don't regret what he and I shared but, well I don't know anymore," she admitted. She felt his lips on the top of her head, and didn't mind that kiss, or the fact that he had been the one to hold her when she found out about Richard. Lois didn't know what would happen now but she prayed that somehow she wouldn't have to be without him, that somehow they could find a way to work things out.
Something woke Jason from his slumber and as he opened his eyes he found that he was in his bed in his room. As he sat up he remembered the bad dream he had, and after grabbing Ollie Possum, he slid out of bed realizing that he was in his warm fuzzy blue feety PJs with the yellow stars printed on the soft fabric. Those pajamas were his favorites because they were so soft. Jason walked downstairs and found only his daddy in the kitchen. "Daddy I had a bad dream," Jason said as he walked through the living room past the sofa, and then the table until he reached where Clark was standing.
Clark knelt down and hugged Jason close. "What did you dream?" he asked as he placed a kiss on Jason's left cheek. He heard Jason sniff and held him closer as he softly cried. Clark rocked him and rubbed his back until his cries subsided, and then he stood up and carried his son over to the sofa where he sat down cradling Jason in his arms so that they could see one another.
"Can you fly me to heaven so I can go see daddy?" He asked softly. Jason watched his father's face and knew the answer before he said it.
"If I could do that I would, but heaven is a place that even I can't reach," he said as he kissed Jason's nose getting a smile before Jason's next question arrived.
"How come you can't go there?" Jason knew about that sort of thing because a few times in his life he had been to church with his Nanna and The General and the man in the robes who yelled a lot said that good people went there, and Jason knew for a fact that his daddy was a very good person.
Clark's mom had been a very devout church goer and as a child he attended Sunday service with her. But as an adult, and now that he knew of his Kryptonian heritage, he still had belief in a higher power, though sometimes he wondered where he fit in. "We are still alive, and we haven't finished with our lives yet, when we die we will go and see him, but that will be a long time from now. Jason's face drooped and he sniffed again.
"My daddy wasn't done with his life yet," he said and he began to cry again. Soon he found himself resting against his father's chest, with his left ear against his heart. Jason was still sleepy, but fought to stay awake. "Daddy will you teach me to fly?" he asked as his tired eyes finally shut.
Clark could only smile at his little boy's request. He didn't know what abilities Jason would inherit from him, but if one day Jason could fly then he would teach him that and so much more.
AN: I ask that you not kill me for taking this route with Richard, and I have noticed a lot of fics out that have gone this way, but if you read any of my other works mostly mummy related you will realize that My Muse likes the dark and sad aspects of life, probably because I had a loss early in my life, so anyway its done and I hope you guys will forgive me and still want to read this.
Also I need a Beta Reader, a few reviewers have caught some mistakes here and there and as one person it is hard to try and find them all. Anyone wanting that job just send me a message. Thanks.