A/N: To Juniper617: And that is the heart of the matter.

And to all my U.S. readers: Happy Thanksgiving! And don't forget to review! Please….

After lunch was cleared away, Jason was ready to go out and play, but it had already begun to rain. Martha went into the upstairs closet and pulled out a square board and a jar of marbles: One of Jonathan and Clark's woodworking projects were to make a wooden game board. On one side it was a six-player Aggravation game, and the other side was Chinese checkers. Martha figured that would keep the boys occupied for a while.

Just as Jason was about to knock Richard's last marble back to start, Richard's cell phone rang.

"Richard White," he answered.

"Where the hell are you, Richard, and why aren't Lane and Kent answering their phones?"

"Um, Perry, I'm ah, in Kansas, at Kent's farm. I'm waiting for Lois and Clark to show up, they went somewhere with Superman earlier, and they told me to come here and wait after I was finished up at the prison. They must not have any cell service where they are. Actually, I'm surprised I have service here, in the middle of nowhere.

"What's up?" Richard finished.

"There's a feeding frenzy going on, and you all are the main dish, is what's happening. The media is having a field day. There are people trying to track down Jason, who wasn't at school today. CSD couldn't get his nanny to cooperate with them, and let them speak with him. When they came back to the house with a court order, they were gone. Heck, I didn't even know he had a nanny!" Perry said.

"We don't have a nanny, Perry. That was Clark's mom. Since she was in town, Lois arranged for her to watch Jason while we were on assignment. When Superman caught wind of what was going on, he brought them to the Kent farm in Smallville; he feels it isn't right to put a child in the middle of all this, and I agree," Richard replied. "As a matter of fact, Jason is cleaning my clock at marbles right now."

"Do you know the real reason why Lois didn't want Kent involved in the Zod interview?" Perry interrupted.

Richard looked over to Jason, who was placing marbles from the jar in a colorful pattern around the board, and sighed dejectedly. He knew that now that he was in the inner circle he was going to have to do whatever it took to protect not only Lois and Jason, but Clark's secret as well. The weight on his shoulders was even greater now than ever.

"Clark is a great writer, and an even better reporter. But Lois was nervous about having to face Zod with him. Be honest, Perry, Kent isn't known for being very protective, or aggressive. Come on, Lois told me he passed out the first time he got mugged. For being such a big guy, he's a pushover.

"What if Zod had decided to try and use her to get back at Superman, that this interview was some sort of trap. There would have been no way Kent could protect her. What's more, the guy seems to always disappear when there is trouble. Lois was just scared that he would pull a disappearing act in the middle of the interview. So I went instead."

"Besides, my main job, my most important job is to protect Lois Lane. That's why you hired me in the first place. I couldn't protect her very well if she was inside a maximum security prison, and I was outside, now could I?"

"And that's another story altogether: Where's Superman during all this chaos?" Perry interjected.

"Perry, I told you, he's with Lois and Kent."

"You know, Richard, they pulled this disappearing stunt when Zod first showed up. They were missing for days. Then Lois shows up with some story that Superman needed Kent to help him with some stunt to get Zod and his crew, and when it was all over and done with she couldn't remember a thing and Kent took off. It seems that when those three get mixed up with Zod all hell breaks loose. I swear if Kent takes off again, I won't ever bring him back."

"I don't think Kent is going to go anywhere again. I'm sure that they are working on some sort of plan, and when they have it all figured out, they'd let us know what they are up to. At least I hope they will." Richard paused as he noticed Lois and Clark enter the room. Something seemed to have changed between the two, but Richard didn't know what. There was just something about the way Lois looked at Clark, a look he wished that she would bestow on him.

"I need to go, Perry, they just got here. I hope that I'll have some answers for you in a little bit." Richard turned off his phone as Clark scooped Jason up.

"Perry is going crazy. CSD is looking for Jason, the secretary of state is looking for Superman, and the publisher wants all our hides," Richard said in greeting.

"Looks like everything is finally getting back to normal," Lois quipped, turning to Clark. "It should be dark enough in Metropolis for you and Jason to get in unobserved. I'll bring Richard up to speed, and then we'll meet you back at the house. You are sure this crystal thing will get us there in one piece, right?"

"It will get you there just fine, Lois. It isn't like the transporters in the movies, you are moved inter-dimensionally. You stay in one piece," Clark said and then left with Jason.

"Would you like something to eat, Dear?" Martha asked as she entered the living room, unfazed by the sudden departure of her son and grandson.

Lois realized then that she hadn't eaten at all today, and was starving. "That would be great, Mrs. Kent, uh, Martha," She smiled as she corrected herself, and followed the older woman back into the kitchen.

It looked like Martha had been cooking all day, though she assured Lois that most of what was out was stuff she prepared in advance, and kept in her freezer for the unexpected. She never really adjusted to cooking for just one.

"So, Lois," Richard started, as they sat down at the table, "where have you two been all day, and where did Superman just go with our son?"

"Richard," Lois sighed, putting her hand on his, "I just spent the day getting a crash course on Kryptonian society and customs. I need some time to get my head around it," she sighed as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Did you know that Kryptonian women didn't carry their babies in their womb? They had a machine carry it for them. Kal El's father modified that device to carry him here. But when it came to marriage, they were very traditional, they had some very old-fashioned customs."

"So?" Richard asked.

"So, when he took me to the fortress the first time, he was taking me home to meet the parents. Apparently, we did more than just meet the parents."

"I know that, Lois, Jason is proof of that," Richard retorted, obviously irritated at the reminder of how little he really did know about Lois and the hero's prior relationship.

Lois was trying desperately to find a way to tell Richard everything she had learned, about Krypton, about Zod, about what had to be done now. How could she tell him that everything they had worked to build together the last few years was for naught? How do you tell your fiancé that you are married to someone else?

"You know how that some cultures put a great value in selecting the proper wife for their sons?" Lois asked.

"You mean a 'Bride Price'?" Richard answered.

"Something like that," Lois said. She picked at the food on her plate, and glanced nervously over to Mrs. Kent and smiled meekly.

"Bride Price?" Martha asked. "What would they have to pay a bride price with?"

"On Krypton, the bride would accept a gift of the groom's most precious possession. Something that defined him," Lois answered

"According to Krytonian custom, Kal El and I are married. He paid the price his parents offered, and I, unknowingly, accepted it. That is all that we need to get Zod to leave us, leave Jason, alone."

Martha and Richard looked at each other, then over to Lois. Lois looked down so that they could not see the tears forming in her eyes. That he loved her so much that he was willing to pay such a high price for her still amazed her.

"What was his price, dear?" Martha asked quietly, gently placing her hand on top of Lois's.

"His powers," she said almost too quietly for them to hear, "he gave up his powers to be with me."

Both Martha and Richard were taken aback by that revelation. They both knew that Clark, that Superman, loved Lois Lane, and that she in turn loved him, but they had no idea he was willing to give up being Superman to be with Lois.

"But he has his powers now," Richard mentioned.

"After he gave up his powers, when we had to return to Metropolis, to our jobs at the Planet, Clark used a transport crystal to send us back to Niagara Falls. On the drive back to Metropolis, I got hungry, so we stopped at a diner for a bite."

Lois gave a bittersweet smile as she remembered the most heart-wrenching day of her life.

"Some jerk was trying to pick up on me, and then he challenged Clark to a fight. It was the only time I can remember Clark not backing down."

"But then, he didn't have to worry about revealing his powers," Martha interjected.

"No, he didn't," she answered. "It was a quick fight, a couple punches to the kidneys, one to the gut, and Clark was down. That was the only fight I have ever seen him lose," Lois shook her head sadly. She didn't want to think about the fight that occurred between Superman and Luthor; the one that ended with Superman nearly drowning, with a Kryptonite shard in his side.

"The lady who ran the diner turned on the TV to distract the customers from what happened, and that is when we first learned of Zod's arrival. Clark was furious with himself for giving up his powers. He knew that there was no way he could stop Zod without them, so he went back, and somehow got his powers returned to him."

Richard finally understood what Lois had been telling him the night he learned the truth about Clark Kent: "…once I knew who he was, all of him, I knew that I could never really have him. Superman is the hero the world needs, but because of that need, I can't have the man…."

He was pulled back to the current conversation as he heard Martha ask: "But, if Clark acknowledges Jason's paternity wouldn't that mean that he would have to reveal Jason to the world, reveal himself?"

"Where did he take Jason, Lois?" Richard asked forcefully as he realized that Martha had a point.

Richard noted the look of shock on Lois's face. He usually let her just go with whatever lead she was chasing, but this was different. This was his family, and he wouldn't do anything to put them in danger.

"Lois, where did Superman and Jason go?" Richard asked again.

"He took Jason to Star Labs," Lois answered.

"Why?"

"To run some tests," Lois answered cryptically.

"What kind of tests?" Richard asked. Richard noticed that she started to bite on her thumbnail. It was a nervous habit that she displayed when she knew that someone wasn't going to like her answer.

"P—" Lois started, as she was interrupted by the chirping of Richard's phone signaling a text. His heart sank as he looked at the screen, realizing that even more of his life was about to change.

"Lois," he started, hating what he was about to do, "I've been recalled. I have to leave, this afternoon; they're expecting me to report into Langley tomorrow morning. I'm sorry, Lois, I have to go." He tried to express his feelings to her, but could not find the words to tell her. It was funny, really; ironic, even. Here he had been the international editor of a major metropolitan newspaper, and he was at a loss for words.

Lois's countenance fell, and Richard could see her struggle to keep from breaking down. He realized that this was going to be very difficult for her, just as it was for him. Rising from his seat, he walked around the oak table to where Lois was seated and pulled her out of her chair and into a hug. Kissing the top of her head, he breathed in the smell of her, knowing that this would be the last time he would be able to hold her like this. He longed to do more than just hold her, but he knew that she was no longer his, not that she really ever was. He knew that this day would come; he just hoped that it wouldn't be so soon. Now that it was here, he wondered how he would be able to go on without the family he had grown to love, his family.

Richard knew that Lois understood that this was his duty. Having a father who was a general took care of that. But Jason was a different story, he was still just a little boy, and Richard was still his daddy, no matter what any paternity tests showed. Jason wouldn't understand why he had to leave, only that he was gone, and it broke Richard's heart to know he would be causing his son such pain.

They stood in the kitchen for what seemed an eternity, just holding each other, saying their last farewells, wishing that things had been different. As he stood the Kent's home he realized what that word meant, it wasn't a place, it was a feeling. It was the love he felt as he held Lois in his arms, the pride he felt as he watched Jason. He wondered what kind of man Jason would grow to be, if he would remember him, if he would be angry that his daddy left him. Somehow he didn't think that would happen, but he still wondered about it. He knew, that no matter what happened now, he had a home, a family, even if Lois was married to someone else.

When Lois stopped shaking, Richard let her go and walked to the door, fishing in his pocket for his keys, fingering the crystal key-bob from the agency.

As he walked down the stairs, he turned to Lois, looking at her with all the love he felt in his heart and said, "Good-bye, Lois."

The air outside was leaden with the smell of the rain that had fallen all afternoon. The yard around the house was a giant mud puddle. If the situation was different, she knew that Jason would be out slathering himself in it; becoming the Mud Monster from one of the movies he loved to watch with his dad – with Richard.

Lois stood on the porch as Richard walked around to the driver's side of the car, her heart in agony at watching him leave. She knew that she now had Clark, that they belonged together, but she had to lose another part of herself to get that. She closed her eyes to hold back the torrent of tears that threatened to spill once again. She didn't know how she was going to survive without Richard; he had become such a major part of her life.

"Richard," She said, "I –"

As Richard reached for the door, the car exploded, the heat of the blast engulfing everything in its proximity.

Lois slumped to the ground in anguish.