The White's house was simpler than Clark had imagined it would be. It was a big Craftsman style house in one of the older suburbs of Park Ridge west of New Troy Island. Four bedrooms, two and a half baths thanks to a recent remodeling. Perry and Alice had kept with the 1920's theme in the furnishings, real wood, real leather. In fact, it reminded him of how the other Lois and Clark's house looked. Functional, homey, unpretentious really, but real. No fabulous fakes here, no photo-wood or vinyl pretending to be something else.

"Clark, you look all done in," Alice observed. "I made up your room, first one on the left at the top of the stairs. Why don't you get a little nap before dinner? I'll have Perry get your bags."

"No, I'll go get them," Clark insisted. "They're pretty heavy."

Wordlessly, Perry handed him the key to the trunk of the Acura.

"Perry, what's really going on?" Alice asked as soon as Clark was out the door. "How the devil could those two disappear off the face of the Earth for three days and come back with a baby that can't be more than a day old?"

"I'm not sure," Perry admitted. "It could very well be, most likely is, everything Lois and Clark have told me. Clark got into a relationship while he was away traveling, found out she was pregnant, tried to get her into the country, couldn't. Then Lois found out, got involved, and got Superman involved."

"So, what can we do to help?" Alice asked. The baby had started to fuss again. Alice handed her to Perry and started rummaging through the bag of baby things. "She's probably hungry again, poor thing..."

"Lois fed her before we left," Perry said. "I'm not sure she trusted Clark to do it yet. I have no idea what she has planned."

"Neither do I," Clark answered, shutting the front door behind him. "But I'm positive I'm not going to like it much."

"You'll get through this," Perry promised. "Tomorrow we'll see what the lawyers downstairs can do about getting a birth certificate for our little princess here." If Perry hadn't been looking, watching for it, he might have missed the flicker of... what? Worry, fear, something else... that crossed Clark's face. We are definitely going to talk, boy.

"Aren't they libel and copyright attorneys?" Clark asked.

"They're clever fellows. At least that's what they tell me," Perry said, gently bouncing on the balls of his feet to sooth the baby in his arms. It'd been a while since there'd been a baby in the house, since Jason was a baby in fact. Jerry's widow and kids and Keith and his wife and kids lived away from the city. Perry and Alice didn't see them very often.

"And I'm sure they're capable of doing more than just keeping Lois and Ralph out of jail," Perry continued, grinning. "At least you're not on that list...yet. But I have hope."

"Go get settled in, take a nap," Alice ordered. She'd found the formula and bottle in the bag.

"Yes, ma'am," Clark said with a faint smile and took his bags up to the indicated room. He locked the bedroom door behind him and unpacked some of his things. The room had a large window facing the back yard. He opened the window, leaning out to look around. There were tall trees blocking the view of the window from the neighboring houses.

He was tired and he really couldn't remember the last time he'd been able to unwind enough for a good couple hours sleep. He didn't need much sleep, could go days without it, but he did need dreamtime. He hadn't been getting much of that either, not since Luthor stabbed him in the back with a kryptonite shiv. He had nightmares, and would wake up sweating and more tired than he'd been before he fell asleep.

He took one last look around the yard, shed his street clothes in favor of the primary colored Suit then launched himself into the sky at just less than the sound barrier.

In the stratosphere the sun's light was less filtered. It felt good just to float where the sound was muted to near nothingness. He dozed and dreamed. Lex Luthor stalked his dreams, his nightmares. After a short while, he opened his eyes and headed back to the White's home, back to his new responsibilities. What have I gotten myself into?

Lois, Richard and Jason sat down to dinner. Tandoori chicken, biryani, chapathis, amti.

"Mommy, where did you go with Superman?" Jason asked.

"Well, Clark and I went to Superman's Fortress of Solitude to find out some things from Superman," Lois began.

"Mister Clark was with you and Superman?" he asked. He frowned at her, obviously confused.

"Yes, he was," Lois said. "Why?"

He just looked at her, bright blue eyes, troubled. "Nothing, Mommy." He toyed with his food, watching his mother carefully.

Lois continued, trying to ignore Jason's eyes on her. "Well, then Mister Clark told us a secret he hadn't wanted to tell anybody at work..."

"Mister Clark told you his secret?" Jason asked. He looked more confused than before.

"Yes, he told us he got married while he was on his trip and he was trying to get his wife home to Metropolis so they could have their baby here. I asked Superman to help him."

Jason just looked at her like he didn't believe her story. "Did Superman help?"

Lois looked over to Richard. He was pointedly staring at his plate.

"Yes and no. He found Clark's baby girl and she was okay and he brought her to Metropolis, but her mother was dead," she told he son. "Clark's pretty upset," she added.

"Does this mean I have a baby sister?" Jason asked. He gave his mother a speculative look.

She looked over at Richard again. He was staring at Jason, mouth open in surprise.

"What makes you think that, kiddo?" Richard asked.

"If Mister Clark is my bio... biol …"

"Biological?" Lois suggested. Jason nodded his head.

"Biological father, then his baby girl is my sister, too," he explained.

"Jason, who told you that Clark was your biological father?" Richard choked out.

"People at your work," he said. "Miss Cat, and Ralph, and Gil all said Mommy and Mister Clark were 'friends with benefits' before he ran away." He looked between the two adults at the table. "What does that mean, friends with benefits?"

Trust Cat and Ralph to put the worse possible spin on the whole thing. "Um, it means that before Mommy met Daddy, Mister Clark and I were very close and did grown-up things together," Lois explained, trying to keep her expression neutral.

"And I heard you tell Mister Clark I was his son, when we were at the hospital," Jason added.

Lois looked at him, wide-eyed. "You heard me say that?"

Jason nodded. Lois looked over at Richard again. He was staring back at her.

"Clark was at the hospital that night, too?" Richard asked. "He didn't mention it to Perry or me. In fact, we're not sure where he took off to after I left to look for you that day."

"Clark is a reporter, remember? He went to cover the disaster, got hurt, ended up at Met General about the same time they brought in Superman. I saw him there as we were leaving," she told him. "We started talking and it just came out."

Jason looked at her, worried, eyes bright with tears. "Mommy, did Mister Clark run away because of me?"

Lois's heart broke. "Oh no, honey. Mister Clark had something he absolutely had to do, that's why he left. He didn't know about you. Even I didn't know about you before he left. But if he had known, I know for a fact he would never have left."

Jason nodded his head, brown hair falling into his eyes. He gave his mother a tremulous smile.

Richard sighed and Lois gave him a curious look. "You said you had something to talk to me and Jason about?" she reminded him.

"Maybe now isn't the right time," Richard said. He ran his hand through his hair. Lois couldn't remember the last time he looked so... concerned, distressed?

"Richard, we promised never to keep things from one another..." she started. He stared at her. "Not that I've done a very good job of that," she added. I told you I didn't love Superman, and now you find out I was sleeping with Clark? That Jason is his son?

He snorted. "Yeah, that's an understatement," he said, then promptly looked ashamed. "You guys remember I told you a couple weeks ago that there was an opening in Paris?"

Lois nodded, sensing where he was going.

"You told me you weren't interested in moving, so I didn't think any more about it," he said. She nodded, not saying anything, letting him continue at his own pace.

"Considering what's been happening, everything that's happened, Superman, Clark, Luthor," he went on. "I'm taking the post in Paris. I'm leaving next Monday."

"And you decided this without bothering to talk to me? I'm your fiancée, for God's sake," Lois said sharply. She wasn't surprised, really. A little hurt that he'd made the decision without letting her explain, without giving her a choice. Angry, definitely.

"Lois, you disappeared for three days without a word to me." He held up his hand as she started to protest. "I know you told Perry you were going to be out on a story and it might not pan out. But you didn't talk to me. Even when you came back, you called Perry, not me. What am I supposed to think?"

"That I'm dedicated to my job?" Lois suggested.

"Lois, I fell in love with a woman who as it happened, was on the rebound from an encounter that... well, probably shouldn't have happened but did," he said. "I was in love with a woman who I didn't really know, who never showed me who she really was, because she wanted to leave the past behind. But that past has come back with a vengeance and now I'm seeing the woman you used to be, the one who was in love with a hero who can fly. How the hell can I compete with that?"

"You're not being fair, Richard," she protested, but she knew her complaint was weak, even in her own ears.

He just looked at her a long moment. "You're the one who's not being fair, to Clark. I can only imagine what he's going through right now. And if you hurt him the way I know you can, he may never recover."

"Clark is stronger than you think," she told him. She pulled off her engagement ring and set it on the table between them.

"Lois, Superman is afraid of you. What chance has Clark Kent got?"

Clark slipped back into the bedroom through the open window and switched to his street clothes. He could smell meatloaf and potatoes baking in the oven downstairs. He smiled to himself. It had been ages since he'd had meatloaf. He'd heard that Alice White was a good cook.

He heard Perry's heavy tread on the steps to the second floor, laid down on the bed and waited for the knock on the door.

The knock came right on time. "Clark? Alice has dinner ready."

"I'll be right there," Clark told him, getting up and going to the door. He followed Perry down the stairs to the dining room.

Alice had set the baby in her carrier on a dining room chair. The infant was asleep again.

"So, Perry says you've been in South America the whole time you were gone. You weren't in the middle of all those drugs and all that fighting, were you?"

"I did my best to avoid it. Getting involved in that is a good way to get killed," Clark said. "Especially for an American."

"Well, how did you meet her? The baby's mother, I mean," Alice asked.

"I was trying to avoid getting shot and wound up in this little village on the border. It seemed like a nice enough place, and the jefe's daughter took a liking to me, and one thing led to another and you know the rest," Clark explained. His eyes widened as he remembered something he'd overlooked.

"Clark, what's wrong?" Perry asked.

"My mother," he blurted out. "She's going to kill me. It was bad enough when I told her about Jason. I am so dead." How could I be so stupid? If anybody's called her... I am so dead.

"You didn't tell your mother you got married while you were gone?" Alice asked. Disbelief was evident in her voice.

"No, it was the other part I may not have been clear on," Clark said. "May I borrow your phone?"

"The wireless is in the kitchen," Perry told him. Clark nodded thanks and went to the kitchen to grab the phone. He walked out onto the back deck, closing the door behind him as he dialed his mother's cell phone number.

"Mom?" he said as the other end picked up. "It's Clark. Um, are you alone?"

"Yes. Ben is outside," she said. "Is there something wrong? Perry called me yesterday asking if I knew where you and Lois were."

"Lois and I are fine," he said. "But things have gotten kind of weird. While we were gone, we were given a baby, a little girl. Her mother is dead and her father...that part I'll explain later. It's complicated."

"So, what does this have to do with you?" his mother asked.

"The baby isn't from around here. I mean she really isn't from around here. And Lois and I decided... actually Lois decided," he amended, "the best way to explain the whole thing was if I got married while I was gone, my wife had a baby while I was trying to bring her into the country and Superman found the baby alive but the mother dead."

"What was her name?" Martha asked. "The woman you married?"

"Conza Nor-Et," Clark answered. "I've named the baby Esperanza Ester."

"Clark, have you any idea what you've gotten yourself into?" Martha asked. "Taking on the responsibility of a baby isn't a spur of the moment type of decision."

"Mom, if I hadn't done it, the people who brought her to where we got her would have killed her," Clark explained. "Her existence was politically inconvenient. We couldn't let that happen."

"Do you want Ben and me to fly out there?"

"Mom, I don't even have a place to live yet, the city's so messed up," Clark said. "Perry and his wife are putting me and the baby up in one of their guest rooms for the time being."

"What about Lois? Is she going to help?"

"She said she would," Clark said. "But I'm not sure how much she can. She has a fiancé so I'm not sure what she can do, except be supportive. Look, I'll call you in a few days, let you know what's going on."

"Clark," Martha said gently. "I know you'll do the right thing. I just hope you'll be okay. And remember, I can always come out there if you need me to."

"I know, Mom. Love you, and thanks." He hit the end button on the phone and sighed. At least she didn't yell at me. Maybe she figures the responsibility lecture stuck.

"Ben and I were in Metropolis to see you," Martha had told him. "I wanted to be there for you, be there for my boy. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to... I was afraid I'd be burying an empty coffin next to your father's… We saw Lois and her son leaving the hospital. He's a fine looking boy."

"Yes, he is... Mom, Lois told me – at least I think she did, it was when I was in the hospital, when they thought I might not make it. She told me that Jason might be mine. Although I can't quite figure out how."

"Babies are a common hazard of sex, you know."

Clark had chuckled. "You know what I mean. I didn't think humans and, you know, I didn't think we'd be compatible."

"We know better, now. I'm a little disappointed though. I thought your Dad and I..."

"You thought you'd taught me better," Clark had completed for her. "You did. Before the article about Krypton was published, before I decided to leave, I asked Lois to marry me. I gave up my powers to be with her, Mom. And yes, I spent the night with her. At that moment, it was absolutely right."

"But you haven't lost your powers."

"No. It became obvious pretty quickly that for me to do that was the worst decision of my life. I couldn't do it. Maybe I was selfish and wanted it all, but it wasn't going to work. As much as I've always wanted to be normal, to be human, I couldn't. Lois... Lois couldn't handle it. So I erased her memory of us. I didn't know she'd gotten pregnant. I swear to God I would never have left if I'd known."

"I know that, son. What do you plan to do?"

"Her fiancé is a good man... It's probably better if I don't do anything. But it's tearing me up inside."

"Clark, I know you'll do what's right."

But what the devil is right when your world has been turned upside down and inside out? When two entire universes conspire against you?

"I'll get the guest room ready for you," Lois announced, getting up from the table. Jason watched her with confusion written across his small face.

"Mommy, what's going on?" he asked, voice small.

"Daddy is moving to France on Monday," Lois explained. "Across the ocean."

"Does that mean he won't live here any more?"

"Yeah munchkin," Richard told him, ruffling his hair. "But I can come back for holidays, or you and Mommy can come visit."

"But I don't want you to live across the ocean," Jason complained, breaking into tears. "I want you here to tuck me in and read me my stories. Don't you want to be my daddy anymore?"

"Jason, Richard will always be your daddy, I promise," Lois tried to reassure him. "And we can visit him in Paris, just like he said. It's just that... when Clark came back, and Superman came back too, things changed and your daddy and I have decided it would be better if we didn't get married and we didn't live together right now."

Jason looked from one adult to another. "Are we still going to the zoo Saturday?"

"Sure thing, sport," Richard told him. He poured himself another glass of wine, finishing off the bottle.

Jason nodded, content for the moment. Then: "If Daddy is moving across the ocean, then is Mister Clark going to move in here with my sister?"

Richard choked on his wine. "What makes you ask that, Jason?"

"Well, if Mister Clark is my other daddy, and my first daddy isn't around... You said Mister Clark's baby doesn't have a mommy. A baby should have a mommy," Jason told them solemnly.

"Yes, a baby should have a mommy," Lois agreed. "And I did promise Mister Clark I would help. But that doesn't mean he and the baby are going to move in with us."

"Yet," Richard murmured under his breath, softly enough Lois shouldn't have been able to hear. Jason gave him a puzzled look. He heard me?

"When can I meet my baby sister?" Jason asked.

"How about now?" Lois offered.

Richard shrugged. "I'll clean up here, get my stuff moved out." He ruffled Jason's hair once more. "See you later."

"How did she take it?" Perry asked.

"Better than I thought she would," Clark admitted. He sat back down at the table. Alice had brought in dessert – apple pie – and poured more coffee.

An alarm went off somewhere in Midtown followed by a siren. Clark stopped to listen for a moment, to determine what, if anything, was happening. A report on the police band indicated a convenience store robbery, a little cash taken but no one was hurt. The police had the situation under control.

"Clark? Clark?" Alice's voice intruded. He turned to see her watching him worriedly.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered. "I, um, just heard something. A siren, I think."

She didn't look convinced. "Clark, have you seen a doctor about these seizures?"

"Seizures?" Clark asked. He had no clue as to what she was talking about. He took a bite of the pie. It was very good. Not as good as Mom's but very good.

"You were just staring off into space for a good thirty seconds," Alice explained. "Although from what I've read, you are a little old for petit mal seizures."

"Petit mal seizures?" Clark repeated. She thinks I have epilepsy?

"Alice, leave the boy alone," Perry admonished. "I'm sure if I turned on the police band we'd find out there's something happening three streets over. Clark's just been on the city beat for so long he's positively psychic when it comes to sirens and alarms." Perry smiled at his own joke as he picked up his coffee cup, beckoning Clark to follow him.

Clark picked up the baby, making sure she was well wrapped in the pink and yellow blankets Polly had bought for her, and followed Perry out onto the back deck.

"When you do that, it really does look like you've completely spaced out. The sirens were over in New Troy somewhere, weren't they?"

"I don't know what..."

"Don't lie to me, boy," Perry warned him. "You're the second best investigative reporter I have, next to Lois. That puts you as one of the top five in the world and that buys you a lot of slack, a lot of unexplained disappearances, and a lot of tardiness. But I've been in this business longer than you've been alive and right now, I want the absolute truth. Who are this child's biological parents?"

"You'll have me hauled off to Belle Reve," Clark muttered.

"Clark, I live in Metropolis. A man who flies saved the city last week. A man who looks an awful lot like you. Try me."

"You've heard of the theory that there are multiple parallel universes? That every decision made, every random event creates a new time-line, a new universe?"

Perry nodded. "I've heard of it. I'm not sure I buy it, but I'm familiar with it."

"It's not a theory," Clark said. "That's what happened to me and Lois. We ended up in an alternate time-line. We were there for maybe twenty hours."

"You were gone for three days," Perry reminded him.

"I know. We were lucky to have gotten back at all," Clark said. "This little one comes from that time-line and her biological parents really were a woman named Conza Nor-Et and Clark Kent. Clark Jerome Kent. My alternate. He's about six years older than I am, been married for ten years, has four kids, and he's the editor in chief of the Daily Planet."

"So he what, had an affair with this woman?"

"Nothing so simple. He hadn't even seen her in over ten years. In that time-line their Clark ended up involved in some political issues before he got married, enough to make him a target for their version of terrorists. They managed to get a sperm sample or something, impregnated the daughter of one of the terrorist leaders when she was old enough. I won't go into the government structure of the place they were from there except that this little girl's existence would be enough to completely destabilize their government and plunge the place into civil war."

"So you and Lois decided to bring the child here for safekeeping?"

"It seemed to be the right thing to do."

"So, why are you going through with the charade that she's yours?"

"Perry, her mother was Conza, daughter of Nor, Lord of the House of Et, of the colony of New Krypton," Clark told him. "She's Kryptonian."

"Does Lois know?"

"Oh yeah. She knows." Lois knows everything. Oh God, what have I gotten myself into? Perry knows too.

"Will she like the toy I picked out for her?" Jason asked as they crossed the Bakerline Bridge to Park Ridge. Before they'd gotten into the car, Jason had run back upstairs and picked out one of his old baby toys, a little blue bear with a rattle inside. Luckily, the one he chose was one of the lesser used ones and actually almost looked new.

"Jason, Baby Esperanza is a very very little baby, like your friend Joey's little brother, remember? It'll be a while before she can play with the bear," Lois told him.

He looked crestfallen. "What if she loses it before she can play with it?"

"I'm sure Mister Clark will take care of it for her until she's old enough," his mother assured him.

They stopped in front of Perry's house and Jason was out of his seat belt almost before Lois had the key out of the ignition. She came around and let him out of the car, grabbing his hand before he could run up to the front door without her.

They walked together up to the front door and Lois pressed the doorbell button.

Clark opened to door, carrying the baby in his arms.

"Is that my sister?" Jason was bouncing with pent up energy.

"Uh, yeah," Clark said, pushing his glasses up with this free hand. He stepped aside to let Jason and Lois into the house. Clark gave Lois a puzzled look.

Lois shrugged and gave him a grin. "Cat, Ralph and Gil told him we were 'friends with benefits' before you left. He figured the rest out pretty much himself."

"Oh," Clark murmured.

"I told you he was a smart one," Perry told her.

"I brought her a toy," Jason said, holding the little bear up high for everyone to see.

Clark settled into one of the leather chairs in the living room, arranging the baby and her blankets across his arm and lap. Jason looked at her, wide eyed. The baby looked up blearily at him and yawned.

"Can she see me?" Jason wondered aloud. "Brandon's dog, Misty, had puppies and they were born blind."

"Well, she probably sees you as a blob right now," Lois explained. "But in a month or so, she'll see you much better."

"She's too little to play, isn't she?" Jason commented. He looked disappointed.

"Well, all she wants to do right now is eat, sleep and grow," Lois told him. "But it won't be all that long before she'll be big enough and strong enough to play with you."

"Would you like to hold her?" Clark offered.

"Can I? Mommy, can I?" He was jumping in excitement.

Lois nodded. "Sit down on the floor," she instructed. He plopped down on the floor facing Clark. Lois took the infant and handed her to Jason whose eyes widened in wonder.

"Mommy, was I this little?"

Lois knelt on the floor beside him, one hand ready in case the baby moved and he dropped her. "Jason, you were even littler. You were so little the doctors put you in a special box to keep you warm and so they could keep an eye on you."

"Oh, Jimmy has pictures of me in the hospital," he said, reminding himself. He peered down at the infant he was holding in his lap. "What's her name?"

"Esperanza Ester," Clark told him.

"There's a girl in my class named Esperanza. Her name means hope, like my name means healer. What does your name mean, Mister Clark?"

"Clark means 'man of learning,'" Clark said. "And Kent means 'shiny,' or 'from Kent' which is in England."

"And what does Mommy's name mean?" He looked from Lois to Clark and back again.

"Lois means 'famous warrior,'" Clark answered, choking down a laugh.

Jason looked up at his mother in surprise. "Are you a famous warrior?"

"Without a doubt," Perry answered him with a grin.

"In that case, we should be careful what we name babies, shouldn't we?" Jason observed.

"That's very true," Lois agreed.

Jason's expression turned pensive again. "What does Superman's name mean?"

"Well, 'Superman' should be pretty obvious," Perry told him.

"No, I mean his other name," Jason explained. "Kalil."

"Kal El," Clark corrected, emphasizing the space between the two syllables. "El is the family name and means 'star' or 'from the stars.' Kal means 'child.' So his name means 'star child.'"

"Do I have another name too?" Jason asked.

"Well, you have a middle name," Alice put in.

"No, I mean another name like Superman has."

"Jason, why don't..." Lois began. Then she noticed the familiar far off look that had come into Clark's eyes. She reached for the TV remote on the coffee table but found that Perry had beaten her to it. He turned on GNN and they found themselves watching coverage of an oil refinery fire that was raging out of control. It was only fifty miles up the coast from the city.

"Perry, keep an eye on the kids, will you?" Lois said, grabbing her purse and heading for the door. She stopped when she realized Clark wasn't behind her. "Get the lead out, Kent!' she ordered and was gratified to see him start to follow her.

"Mommy, are you sure you don't want Mister Clark to move in now that Daddy's leaving?"

She and Clark both stopped and looked back at the little boy sitting on the floor. Lois shook her head and grabbed Clark's arm, leading him out the door. "I explain on the way," she promised. She turned back momentarily and glared at Jason. "Listen to Uncle Perry and Aunt Alice." The implied 'or else' was understood by all.

Outside, Clark took the lead, going around the side of the house. The side gate was partially hidden by shrubbery and Clark spun at high speed, stopping in front of her wearing the familiar blue and red.

"Sweeeet," Lois murmured as he picked her up and shot straight into the air.

"Hey, I did learn something from the other Superman, aside from the fact he considers me a first class jerk," Clark said as they leveled out, heading north-east toward the fire. "So, what did Jason mean when he said...?"

"Richard had an offer from our bureau in Paris," she explained. "He's decided to take it."

Lois felt the air slow around them.

"Are you going with him?"

"No."

The air sped up and she could make out the black smoke spewing into the air in the distance from the heavy oil that was burning.

"Jason has decided that his baby sister needs a mother," she added. "He's elected me. And he thinks I need a roommate. He's elected you."

"I think we really need to talk," Clark muttered, coming to earth away from the fire and away from watching eyes. "A car wouldn't get you here for nearly an hour, remember?"

"I caught a ride with Superman?"

"Not a good idea. Wait for Clark to come back, okay?"

She nodded, tapping her foot in impatience.

He tried to give her a stern look. She just looked back at him, arms crossed in a fairly good imitation of his own stance. With a resigned shake of his head he flew off, toward the fire.