Hey, it's Alley here. I finally got inspired to write a new Superman Fanfic. It is a one-shot featuring my OC, Martha Kent. Which I choose instead of Jonathan. He could have worked here, but I feel that it works better with two girls in the story. My rule with her is this: If it makes no difference who is in the story then I choose Jonathan. I also try to incorporate him as often as I can. Even if she is in the story. That way I have limits when it comes to inserting the character. Anyway, enjoy the story and let me know what you think!
Can't Be Everywhere
It had been a long, hard day for Clark Kent. There had been a slew of fires in Metropolis. One of them that was just a block away from his house. There was an Earthquake in Alaska that caused a tsunami in Japan. Then there was a terrorist that tried to plow through a crowd in Beirut. His daughter had been sick all week. Making sleep nearly impossible. And if that wasn't enough, Perry had been on his ass all day. Clark was late with the Taste of Metropolis story that he was asked to write. He knew that it was important to get stories in on time, but he wished that Perry could just lay off of him for once. He was not having a good day. Besides, the festival was not for another two days. The story could wait. He needed a break!
He had not seen his family since 5 am when all the insanity started. When he left, they were both sleeping and he had chosen not to wake them. Neither Lois nor Martha reacted well to being jolted out of bed. He got the fire put out quickly anyway. They were quite safe. There was no need to wake the bears. They were cranky enough as is. It was best to leave them alone.
This meant that he had little idea what his family did today. Or why they were so moody when he got home. Lois was in the office - pounding away at the keys, muttering to herself under her breath. Martha was in her room, holding on to her teddy for dear life. The girl was dead silent. Which was an eerie sight to behold. A toddler of her age should be bouncing off walls - not sitting still. It made him wonder: What had he missed? What the hell was going on?
He tried to talk to Lois first. However, that did not go well. She barked, "I'm busy, Clark!" Then went back to her work. He thought about taking a peek at what she was writing but decided against it. Lois hated that. She would ream him a new one if he tried. The last thing that he wanted to hear today about was boundaries and respect. Not after the day that he had. He figured that he could get it out of Lois later if it was important. If it wasn't then he would let it go. He knew better than to try to stop her when she was like this. One had to choose when to 'poke the bear.' He figured that now was not the time. It was best to let her be.
Instead, he decided to go check in on his daughter. Martha was on the floor, hugging Mr. Bear. She looked up for a second when he entered the room then went back to looking at her teddy. She was as quiet as a mouse. Which was very disturbing. Normally, he couldn't get her to stop talking. It wasn't like her to be like this. It made him wonder what the hell had happened? Did Martha get into trouble? No, that couldn't be it. For Lois would have told him about it right away. Even if she was pissed off. She would have told Clark. It had to be something else.
Clark sat down on the floor next to her quietly. He choose not to speak. Instead, opting to let Martha be the one to start the conversation. Clearly, whatever happened had traumatized her. He could not force it out of her without doing more damage. It had to be her choice to speak, not his. He would wait for her for hours if he had to. It was his way of supporting her. For sometimes all that you needed was a person to listen. And he had a way of getting people to talk. Clark Kent was good at listening. One would say that it was his strong suit. That is if you ignored all his powers and other things that he was good at. People trusted him and he respected that trust. He would wait for her to speak.
Fortunately, he did not have to wait long. Martha was too much like her mother to remain silent. She could not keep it in any longer.
"Pa, what does 'Half Breed' mean?"
That caught Clark off-guard. They had taken great care to shelter her from the crap people said about their family. He knew that one day they would fail but he had hoped that it would not be so soon. She was so young. They hadn't even told Martha that she was half Kryptonian yet. It didn't make sense. She hadn't really developed powers yet. He wanted to tell her, but he was trying to wait until she was older. Clearly, he had no choice but to try and explain her mixed heritage and why some people would not appreciate it. All while not going into too much detail. This was going to be difficult.
"Did someone call you that?" He asked her. She nodded in response. "Who was it?"
"A man on the subway."
Great, it was some stranger. That means I have little way of finding the Son of a Bitch. "What did he say, honey?"
Martha shook her head. "Dun't know. Mean things."
"Did he try to hurt you or mommie?"
She was quiet for almost a minute. Finally, she said, "Only a little."
It was like pulling teeth to get her to tell him what happened. She did not want to talk about it. Just as Lois did not. But he needed to know whether or not this man had hurt his family. Clark had little choice. He was going to have to get stern. Something that he hated to do. He liked being the cool dad, not the stern one. Lois always said that he was far too lenient with her. She had a point, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to keep her safe from the world. Even if that wasn't possible. The last thing that he wanted to do was hurt her.
"Martha, what did he do?" He commanded.
"He . . . yelled at us. Called us bad names. Said that mommie was a . . . 'Slut and a whore.' Whatever that means . . . Mommie said they were 'bad words' and that 'I'm not allowed repeat them".' Why is that? What does it mean?"
Clark took a breath and then responded. "They are mean ways to describe a woman. They insult her honor. They suggest that your ma is not faithful to me. Which is ridiculous. There is no one more loyal than your mother. She would never betray me."
Martha was quiet for a moment then she asked. "So, what does 'half breed' mean?"
And on to the next uncomfortable explanation. Thank you whoever you are. You've taught my daughter so many words that she is not ready for. You Son of a Bitch . . .
She looked down when she noticed the look on his face. Clark had tried to hide his rising anger but had failed. He could take insults hurled at him but insults to his family were something different. It was unacceptable. It made him want to find that SOB and hit him in the face. Not that he could mind you. He could never be that free. Not when he lived with such fragile creatures. He had to be in complete control of himself and his powers at all times. One slip-up could be deadly. It was a burden that he would not wish even on his worst enemy. A curse that Martha would likely one day bare as well. It was not fair. She deserved a lot better than this.
Clark made an effort to better hide his growing rage. He took a breath and then forced his face to become blank. He softened his tone. "I am sorry, Honey. I'm not mad at you. You did nothing wrong. You are not in trouble."
She looked up. "I'm not?"
"No, you are not." He forced himself to smile. "You are not in trouble at all."
Martha brightened just a little bit. "Can you tell mommie that?"
"What?" Once again his daughter threw him for a loop. "Why would I need to tell mommie that?"
Martha looked down again. "Mommie's mad at me."
"Now why would she be mad at you?"
"Dunno."
"Martha, please!"
"I don't know, okay?!" She screamed. She huffed and then threw her teddy. Finally, she continued in a hushed tone. "Mommie got mad at me. Said 'to leave it alone.' But I can't! I don't understand, daddie. I don't understand! Is there something wrong with me?"
Clark scooped her into his arms. Then kissed her on the top of her head. "No, honey, there isn't. That man was wrong to say what he did. A real man does not talk that way to ladies. He treats them with the love and respect that they deserve. Any man who does not see that is pathetic. You are beautiful the way you are."
"Daddie, what is a 'half breed' and why am I one?"
There was that word again. 'Half breed', how ugly and nasty it sounded. And how he hated hearing his daughter say it. It was not a term that he wanted her to learn. How the hell was he going to explain it?
"Well, a 'half breed' is a nasty way of describing someone of mixed race. Someone who has a daddy from one culture and a mommie from another." She gave him a puzzled look. He sighed. "You see honey, your mommie is from . . . US and I'm not."
"You're not? You're not from Kansas?"
"Well, I am. But I am also not from there too. You see I was adopted when I was a baby. That means that Grandma and Grandpa weren't my birth parents. Someone else was."
"And they weren't from Kansas?"
"No, they weren't. They were from very far away. Their country was destroyed. There was a terrible disaster and our people died. Only myself, Aunt Kara, and a few others were able to escape. No one else did. Not even my parents."
"Do you remember them?"
He kissed her head again. "Only a little. I was younger than you are now when they died. In every way that matters, I am an American. Just like you and your ma. It's just that I was born to a different people, that's all. Some people don't like that. Some people don't like that you have a mixed heritage. So they call you names. Try to take you down. You can't let them do that. There's nothing wrong with being you. You are beautiful the way you are."
Martha brightened for the first time since Clark had come home. She sprang up and hung him. "Thank you, daddie. I love you."
He returned the hug and said. "I love you too." He took her out of his lap and then stood up. "I need to talk to mommie for a bit. Can you play for a little bit on your own?" She nodded "Good. I'll be back soon, okay?"
"Okay."
Clark left the room. It was time to find out from his wife exactly what happened and if he needed to step in.
He found Lois exactly where he left her, typing away like a madwoman. Once again she barely acknowledged his presence. Preferring to focus on whatever she was typing. Which he normally would respect, but he needed to find out what happened. He was going to have to force the issue. "Lois . . ." He began but was cut off right away.
"Clark, can we talk about this later? I am really busy and I don't really want to talk about it."
Clark sighed. "Lois, it's nearly 9:30. Stories rarely ever keep you busy this late anymore. Somehow I doubt that tonight is the exception."
"I didn't say that I was working on a story. I said that I was busy. There is a difference."
"Yes, it means that I can interrupt you if I need to."
"No, it doesn't. Now, please go away."
It was clear that he needed to be more persuasive. So, he grabbed a chair. Placed it next to her desk and sat down. Now, he didn't need to sit down. He could have stood there for hours, but it made his point. He wasn't going to go anywhere until they talked about this.
Lois finally stopped typing and sighed. "You're not going to give up, are you?"
"Nope. Not really."
"Then I guess that we will have this conversation."
They talked for a few minutes. Lois tried to downplay the incident, but he got the gist. She was heading home on the subway after picking up Martha. The train was packed and there was little room to move. A man got on who clearly inebriated. He harassed a lot of the riders until he locked onto them.
"The guy didn't like my articles or my relationship with you. Well, the other you anyway. You've heard the rumors: I'm cheating on you with Superman. Which is dumb, but I digress. He wanted to share with us how much he didn't like me. At first, I thought that I could ignore him. But when he started going after Martha I realized that I couldn't."
Anger rose up in the pit of his stomach again. He could take someone going after him. He could not take it when they went after his family - particularly Martha. She was so fragile and young. She did not need to deal with this shit.
"Did he hurt her?" Clark asked tersely.
Lois exhaled slowly. "No, thankfully. I was able to keep myself between the two of them. He couldn't get access to her to do anything serious. The worst of it was a little shove. Which was able to stop. He never actually got a hold of her."
Clark was glad that he did not hurt Martha, but now he had to make sure that Lois was alright. "Did he hurt you?" He asked as he scanned his wife. He didn't see any noticeable damage. Which was a relief.
"Of course not I can defend myself, y'know."
That was true. Lois was actually quite good at martial arts. Not as good as Bruce, but few people were. She had a mean right hook that you had to watch out for. She could hold her own in a fight with the average human. Still, it did not mean that Clark liked what happened one bit.
"You could have called me."
Her eyes bored into him. "Oh really? We were on a speeding train, suspended in the air, like what? 20 feet."
"Eleven feet" He corrected her.
"Fine, Eleven feet. Whatever." She shook her head. "There was no way in unless you wanted to rip the door off and endanger everyone. Including our daughter, Clark. Do you really want to do that? Would that really be helping?"
"I can get into the train without ripping the door off." He retorted.
"I'm sure you could, but that's not the point." She growled. "My point is that any attempt to help us would have garnered a lot of attention. Attention, that we have worked hard to keep away from us. Now, you want to throw it all way? What do you think would happen when it hits the news? And you bet that it would hit the news. I'll give you a hint: Our family would be screwed. No, Clark, you couldn't help us."
God, she had a point. The only way that he could help without causing a scene would have been if he was there as Clark. Which he wasn't. He was busy doing Superman things at the time. The truth was that most people would forget the day that Lois Lane kicked the ass of a drunk on the subway. They would not forget the day that Superman forced his way onto a speeding train to protect Lois Lane. There was nothing that he could have done. He hated it.
"This was why I didn't want to tell you. Stuff like this eats you alive, Clark. You want to keep us safe from the world. Only you can't do that all the time. Sometimes we have to fight our own battles."
He took her hand into his. "I know. It doesn't mean that I have to like it, Lois. Call me old-fashioned, but I am not going to ever change. I don't like the idea of someone trying to hurt you. I want to keep my family safe. Even if it is just from some drunk on a train."
Lois stood up and kissed him. "You're an idiot." She said.
"Yes, but I'm your idiot." Clark grinned.
"That you are. Now, get those clothes off so I can punish you properly."
"Yes, ma'am!" He flew to his feet then he remembered his promise to Martha. "Hold on to that thought. I need to check on Martha and get her to bed."
She kissed him again. "Fine, do that then get your ass into our room. I will not wait long."
He smiled. "Yes ma'am!"
Thank you for reading!