Lois I

Wanda had never seen Kal-El looking as glum as when he came into the living room where she and Lois were sitting. Or maybe she had and just couldn't remember.

"We have to talk," he said, head bowed, hands in his pants pockets. His posture was so familiar, so Clark-like. She almost had it... and it was gone again.

Lois gave Wanda a little nod. Wanda stood up and followed Kal-El out to the back deck.

It was about an hour before sunset and the western sky was beginning to glow pink and red.

"They're happy," Wanda said, looking at the clouds. "Married ten years, four kids, two cars, a mortgage. They're in love and they're happy." She glanced at Kal-El. His head was still down, looking at his feet, not at her.

"She was trying to convince me that Superman was nothing more than a character, a job. Somehow I can't quite get my head around that either."

"I think Mister Kent was channeling my father," Kal-El said. "I know my dad would have been terribly disappointed in me for what I did to you. And he asked me some questions I'm not sure I have good answers for."

"And what were the questions?"

"Just one really. Who am I, really? And I don't have an answer. I've spent seventeen years trying to be the person my birth father's AI thought I should be. And in that time, the person I ought to be, the person I really am, has turned into someone I don't even like. He's a clumsy, cowardly fool and I'm not even sure how it happened."

"Do you always refer to yourself in the third person?"

That brought a touch of a smile. "It helps me keep on track. I don't really have disassociated personality syndrome. It just looks like that sometimes."

There was a long silence as she tried to put more pieces together. "I know, intellectually, that you're also Clark. But I still can't quite believe it."

"He told me that Kryptonians are telepathic. He suspects I may have used that talent on you without intending to."

"Can you undo it?"

To answer, he stepped closer, tipped her head up with his hand and kissed her. She remembered the sweetness of his mouth, the soft lips, the fervent promise of more.

He pulled back and the memories of that night, the night Jason was conceived, the night in the Fortress of Solitude came flooding back, overwhelming her senses. There was more than just that night – all the things she hadn't put together afterwards, all the sly comments at work when it was discovered she was pregnant and Clark Kent, her partner, had disappeared to parts unknown, the understanding looks from Perry, the orders from Perry to go with Clark to do a story at Niagara Falls. Clark's unconvincing arguments against it. It all came into focus and she was furious.

She slapped him as hard as she could.

He took a step back and she could see the confused pain in his impossibly blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Was it your idea to do that story at Niagara?" she demanded.

"Is that what you remember?" he asked, confusion obvious in his voice.

"Was it?"

"Hardly. It was an idiotic fluff piece and you know it. Jimmy could have written it," he answered. "Perry went and gave the story I was working on to Mike. You have no idea how furious I was." He paused, watching her warily.

That was something. The Man of Steel was afraid of her. She felt the beginnings of a hysterical laugh and ruthlessly quashed it.

"What else do you remember?" he asked.

"I remember Niagara Falls. And things I didn't put together then, that didn't make sense at the time," she said. "We were set up. Somebody had a great laugh sending Mad Dog off on a honeymoon with her dweeby partner. Even if nothing had happened, they would have said it had. Only something did happen, and then you took off and they blamed me for it. Oh, nobody actually said it, and Perry was so understanding, and you hadn't placed any blame on anybody for you needing to leave. And then when Jason was born and he looked just like you, only you didn't come back..."

"Lois," he said quietly. "You're babbling."

She stopped. To her horror, she was crying. She stepped toward him, recognizing through her tears that oh-so-familiar deer-in-the-headlights ready to bolt look. "I'm sorry," she said. "It just came at me too fast." He seemed to relax just a bit, enough for her to put her arms around him. "I missed you. I missed my friend."

"I missed you, too. I should never have left," he said, resting his cheek on the top of her head.

"If I had stopped you, you would have ended up resenting it, resenting me," she said. "We both know that."

"So where do we go from here?"

"I have no idea," she admitted. "But it's a moot point if we can't get back home."

"You know, you're not nearly as mad at me as I thought you'd be," he said. "How's your hand?"

She flexed it experimentally. "Nothing broken. And I haven't decided how mad I am. When I do, you'll be the first to know. We have some serious trust issues to deal with. Not to mention how the devil I'm going to explain all this to Jason, and Richard, and Perry. This isn't over yet." She looked over at the house, into the room beyond the French doors. "We seem to be the floor show."

Lois II

The couple on the deck seemed to have come to some agreement. Lois saw them glance back at the house, and then start for the doors. As they came into the living room the doorbell rang and once again, CJ ran to get it.

"CJ, wait," Lois yelled. The eight-year-old opened the door instead. Three figures, a man, woman and small child, all dressed in form-fitting black, stood on the porch. The man was holding a metal case about a foot high and wide and two feet long.

"Kindred in the bonds, I greet thee thrice," Clark greeted the newcomers with the slightest of bows, hands held out in the Kryptonian fashion. "Lady Zara, welcome to my home."

Zara smiled, moved forward and gave Clark a hug. The Kryptonian woman was un-customarily friendly, given how formal Clark had been. Lois knew that Kryptonians were not given to public displays of affection. It was one of the problems Clark had during his year on New Krypton – he was a very physical person and having to deny that part of himself, his need for physical contact, had hurt him very badly.

"Clark, it's so good to see you," Zara said. "But we need to talk privately when this is done." Lois saw the strain in Zara's face and wondered how things were faring on New Krypton.

Ching had followed Zara into the living room, ushering the child before him. Clark crouched down in front of the small boy. "And who is this little guy?"

"This is Jos-Ra, heir to the House of Ra. My son by my consort Ching."

The boy looked to be Lara's age with medium brown hair and hazel eyes like CJ. His long hair was secured by a blue headband.

Zara looked around the room, stopping at Richard and Penny. "Mister and Missus White?"

Richard nodded. "Yes, Lady Zara?"

"It is our custom to foster our male offspring to allied Houses," Zara explained. "However, one of the Great Houses, the House of El, does not currently have a presence on New Krypton and is not readily available for this type of alliance."

Richard looked to Clark for guidance, or at least an explanation.

Clark gave him a crooked grin. "Among other things, I happen to be the equivalent of the Consul General for New Krypton," Clark said. "I have been asked to facilitate such fosterage on Earth on behalf of the House of El. I wasn't going to go into details until they got here. I didn't want to get your hopes up."

"Oh, wow," Richard muttered. "When you said foreign, you really meant it. The House of El is Superman's family, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Clark answered.

"Does he, I mean will he, have Superman's powers?" Penny asked. "He's so small."

"Superman has said his powers didn't fully manifest until he was nearly eighteen years old," Clark explained "So it's unlikely Jos-Ra will show any powers or anything to mark him as being anything other than human until he's an adult,"

"Unless he's under great stress," Kal-El added. "Strength shows up first and it is possible for that to manifest at an early age if he is under life-threatening stress."

"How do you know that?" Richard asked.

"I know," Kal-El said with a sigh. "It's complicated."

Zara gave Kal-El a curious look. The tall man pulled to his full height and gave the Kryptonian woman a polite nod.

"Lady Zara, may I present Charles King and Wanda Detroit," Clark said. "They're new here."

Ching had moved closer to Lois and now leaned over to speak with her. "Lady Lois, which house is he with?" Ching asked softly.

"The House of El from an alternate time-line," Lois said. "Like he said, it's complicated."

Ching stared at her in obvious disbelief.

"Clark and I have had some experience in this sort of thing," she explained. Ching didn't look convinced. "How did you know he's Kryptonian?"

"His life aura is as strong as Kal-El's," Ching said quietly. "Earth humans don't radiate quite as strongly."

Lois's attention was drawn to Zara crouching down beside her son. "Jos, this is Richard and Penny. Lord Protector Kal-El, Superman, has arranged for you to stay with them."

The child looked at his mother with wide worried eyes. "But I want to stay with you and father and Suren. Why can't you stay with me?"

"We've talked about this. Your sister has to stay home with your father and me. You will be under Lord Kal-El's protection and you will learn many things here, many things you can bring back to us when it's time," Zara explained patiently. "Mister and Missus White will take care of you just as though you were their child and Clark and Lois will be here for you too."

Lois wasn't sure how she would act if their positions were reversed. Her heart broke at the thought of leaving one of her children with strangers, giving them up for treaty obligations, even if it did make political sense. Children shouldn't be pawns in political games, and if that was the price of being royalty, she wanted no part of it. They were never getting one of her babies.

Constance cleared her throat. "It's getting late and we need to get these documents squared away."

"Yes, of course," Ching agreed.

The document signing only took fifteen minutes or so. Constance had everything ready and the signature lines were highlighted for them. Legally it was simply an open adoption. In the documents, the child's name was now 'Jason Ryan White'.

As soon as the papers were signed, Clark hurried Richard, Penny, Jason, and Constance out the door.

"File the rest of the Goldman murder story tomorrow from home, then take the next couple days off. Family leave," Clark ordered with a smile.