NOTE: Here's a nice long chap. for everyone. It deals more with Superman/Jason relationship and Lois/Clark stuff too. Enjoy!
twin03: Thank you very much for your kind words. I also want to say that I do agree with the fact that Lois knew Jason was Superman's from the beginning, but I realised I didn't make that very clear in the story. I put that she didn't want to admit it or think about it too much, but thank you for pointing that out. I hope everyone knows my opinion now :).
Crafty: Ah yes, it was sad but it gets better ;).
Kala Lane-Kent: I'm glad it's coming across more realistically and thanks a lot for your lovely reviews!
Thank you also to:Matt-luv-Sora, mugglecastlover31, Starlight63, Stelmaria, Mr. Firenze, Angel 452, red lighting, Jacqueline Roqet, and Sunny2006. You are all very encouraging.
Lois sat at her desk still typing out what she hoped would be her second Pulitzer Prize to make up for the first. She took a break and looked at her coworkers bustling about the office. There was someone though who wasn't scurrying about the room or anxiously piecing stuff together.
Clark Kent sat in a quiet sanctuary a good fifteen to twenty feet away. His head was down and his foot was tapping to a soundless tune. He pushed his thick glasses up his nose, and she smiled. Clark had always been a quirky, sweet kind of guy. She still wondered why he chose to be a reporter of all things and in the craziness of the past few weeks had forgotten the sort of friendship she had had with him.
I suppose that's natural now that I'm with Richard.
But Richard wasn't there today and it was lunch time.
Clark was startled when Lois was suddenly standing over him.
"Oh! Hey Lois. I…I didn't expect you." He grinned. "Did you need something?"
"I asked Jimmy and we're going out to get some lunch. You coming?"
"Gee, thanks! I mean, sure I'll come. Sounds like a great idea."
He stood up quickly, and she had to step back to keep from being knocked over. Jimmy joined them and they stood in the elevator. Lois stood next to Clark.
Richard was right. I didn't realize how tall he was. She carefully examined him out of the corner of her eye. There was something familiar about his profile. Of course it's familiar! I've known him for years.
She was distracted when Jimmy started talking about the latest word on Lex Luthor and his whereabouts.
"Yeah, they're bent out of shape over that one. He seems to disappear really well."
"I hope he's learned his lesson," said Lois. "I don't want to see his bald head ever again." Especially since he knows about my son, she added to herself.
Clark didn't say anything.
They walked down the street to a small café where they often got lunch or dinner for at the office.
"Do you guys want to sit and eat?" Lois suggested.
"Um…don't you have to get back and work on your report?" asked Clark.
"I'm writing a piece Perry's going to flip over, and it's almost finished."
"What is it?" asked Jimmy.
"I'm not going to tell."
"Ah, come on, Lois. You can trust us," said Clark.
She shook her head, her dark waves shimmering in the sun.
"It's probably about Superman if I know anything," Jimmy mused.
"Maybe."
They grabbed the food and sat down together, Clark nearly colliding with two people on the way.
"So, Lois," Clark began, "how's Jason after the whole, you know, incident?"
She was slightly surprised by the question, her mind going back to the throwing of the piano. "What?"
"With the boat and Lex Luthor and all that."
"Oh, yeah, he's fine. He is quite the trooper like…" She almost said 'his dad' but stopped.
"Like his mom," finished Clark with one of his silly grins.
"Yeah," she said looking at him. It almost seemed like he had been covering for her. Yet again she was distracted by the rest of their conversation, and she was pretty sure Jimmy talked most the time while they were there.
During that time, Clark excused himself to use the restroom she thought. He was gone for a lengthy amount of time.
A cry for help only he could hear interrupted their lunch, and Clark got up from the table. He hoped Lois and Jimmy wouldn't notice how long he might be.
Once he slipped outside into an empty alleyway, he tore the clothes away and leaped into the air in his 'S' emblazoned suit. People looked up in the sky and pointed as he soared past in a blur. He soon came to the river and saw a young boy splashing in the deep water and flailing in panic.
Superman dove down straight towards him but had to go into the chill water to grab the drowning child. The boy finally calmed once in his arms and looked up at him with warm brown eyes.
"Thanks, Superman!"
He set him on his feet on the docks and knelt to his height. "Are you all right?" His vision allowed him to check for extra water in his lungs or any other damage. All was well.
The boy nodded his head and turned as if searching for someone.
"Are your parents around?"
"I…I think so. There they are." He pointed to a man and woman hurrying their way.
Superman laid a hand on his slender shoulder. "Well, make sure you know how to swim before jumping in the water next time, and I'd recommend a pool instead." He smiled and lifted off once the boy's parents arrived and back to the café.
Clark returned to the table and sat down. It wasn't until then he realized he was still a little wet in some places including his feet and torso. I really hope Lois doesn't notice with those keen reporter senses. How would I explain that? He made sure his suit jacket did not open much.
A few minutes later they got up to leave, and he heard his shoes squeak with water. Lois and Jimmy both looked at him or down at his feet.
"Oh, I must have stepped in something," he offered. "People always seem to leave messes and don't clean them up. That's rude, you know, to those of us who have to…"
Lois and Jimmy forgot their curiosity, and they all returned to the Daily Planet. Yet it was just another strange occurrence added to the back of Lois Lane's mind she would not remember until the time came.
Superman had to see his son again where he could watch him without guardedness and as himself. He admitted that it was not just Jason he wanted to see though either. In a world where most had family or close friends to talk to and lean on when times were hard, he felt separated and unable to confide in anyone; even Lois. She still did not realize Clark Kent was also Superman and was still a mystery to her in many ways.
He found that the window was already open, so he looked in before stepping through. Lois was sitting on the floor against Jason's bed with her eyes closed. He caught his breath for she appeared angelic in the silvery moonlight with flawless, pale skin gleaming softly and her dark hair like silken waves falling a little past her shoulders. Her steady, gentle breathing made it clear she had fallen asleep there.
Was she waiting for me? He went inside and gazed on his beautiful son and sweetheart. I suppose Lois and I will talk another time.
Superman laid a hand on Jason's head. "Sleep well, little one." He then knelt to caress Lois's cheek. "I'll always be watching over you both."
He did not realize Jason had awoken as soon as his hand had left his head. Jason opened his eyes—still partially asleep—and saw as Superman turned from him to his mom. Being a child, he did not quite understand all that was happening lately between certain adults, but one thing he understood completely was that Superman was good and cared for them. It seemed natural to him to see Superman tenderly treat his mother and his mother do the same while Superman was in the hospital.
As Superman turned to go, Jason slipped out of bed and grabbed his hand before he could. The tall hero faced him with a somewhat stunned expression that gradually transformed into great warmth.
"Do you have to go?" asked Jason.
Superman smiled and crouched down to look the boy in the eye. "Yes, I can't stay long. I didn't mean to wake you either."
"That's okay. I'm glad to see you."
"And I'm glad to see you."
Jason glanced over at his mother. "She said she was tired," he whispered.
"Then she should sleep in her own bed where she'll get more rest." But how could he wake her when she looked so peaceful?
"You could carry her." Jason gazed up at him with eyes so very much like his own.
"Richard can as well. It's not my place."
"Daddy's gone right now for work."
Superman's heart lifted, and he smiled again at his son. He stepped over to Lois. He gently lifted her in his arms and carried her down to her bedroom where he carefully settled her on the bed. The room smelt faintly of her mildly sweet perfume and fresh flowers. Jason had followed in his blue pajamas and stood beside his father, only reaching Superman's hip.
"Hey, how about you keep her company tonight?"
"Okay."
Jason scrambled up into his mom's bed and got comfortable. Superman pulled the blankets over them both and bid the boy farewell.
"Goodnight Jason."
"Will I see you again?" He sounded just like his mother.
"I'm always around."
"Mommy, mommy! Wake up."
Jason bounced on the bed where he was sitting. Lois opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around and frowned in bewilderment.
Didn't I fall asleep in Jason's room?
"Mom, Superman was here last night!"
Lois was suddenly paying close attention. She gathered him onto her lap. "What do you mean? Did you have a dream?"
"No, he was here. He was lookin' out for us. I wish I could fly like him." He wriggled out of her arms and stood on the edge of the bed ready to leap.
"No, Jason." She lightly caught his arm. "Let's stick to walking for now." He had been much more eager to be active lately even though he didn't seem to have lost his weaker physicality as well. Would he eventually grow stronger like his father as Superman suggested? Or would he still have problems being part human and part Krypton? Was it her imagination that he had not used his inhaler as much in the past few days? I hope you can fly some day.
Richard would be gone for another day, and she felt it was her chance to ask Jason about the piano incident. She waited until lunchtime. She fixed a sandwich he could actually eat and sat down at the table with him.
"Jason," she said, "can I ask you something?"
He nodded with a mouthful.
"Do you remember being on Lex Luthor's—the evil bald man—boat?"
He nodded again. "Yeah."
"Is there anything that happened you want to talk about?"
He stopped chewing and shrugged his shoulders.
"Like when…when you saved mommy from the bad man?"
She watched as his eyes got bigger, and he grew very still. He set the sandwich down and stared at it.
"I'm sorry sweetheart. I shouldn't have brought that up." She sighed and rose from the table. "You go ahead and finish." She went around the corner and leaned against the wall. I don't want to do this to him, to disrupt how life has been till now. How would he fully understand? But then he is smarter than we give him credit sometimes and he's going to start to have things happen only one man can explain.
Jason lost his appetite, but he still sat at the table alone.
Another thing his mom had failed to notice in all the turmoil of the past few weeks was that he had not touched their keyboard in the living room since being on the bald man's boat. It reminded him all too clearly of what happened to the last piano he played.
When he felt a strange flow of new energy coursing through him then and shoved the piano out of pure impulse and fear, he had not been more frightened in his entire life—as short was it was. It had shaken and astonished him to see what he had done and without knowing what had really happened in him. There was a sliver of excitement after the fact mixed with the rest, but it was the suddenness and strangeness of it that worried him.
"Mommy!" he cried, suddenly feeling alone and troubled.
She came hurrying into the dining room. "What's the matter, Jason?"
He got up and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Am I going to be okay?"
"Oh, sweetheart, you're going to be fine. There's nothing wrong. What makes you say that?" She stroked his dark hair and held him tight.
"I don't know." He leant back to look up at her. "When is dad coming back?"
"Tomorrow. He'll be back tomorrow." She thought that would satisfy his unease, yet he surprised her with his next question.
"Is Superman coming again tonight?"
"I…" She pressed her lips together and thought about it. "I don't know. You know all you have to do is call out for him, and he'll come. He may be Superman but he still cares about all of us. Just remember he may be busy though, so we should let him be for a while."
That night Jason watched out of his window for a sign of the Man of Steel soaring through the night air. He didn't see anything, but he also didn't try calling out for him just yet.
NOTE: next chap. deals with Lois and Richard and telling him a little bit of info...
