Author's Notes: Whew! It's been a long weekend. Are you still there? Oh, I hope so.

Chapter 5

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts." – Arnold Bennett

Something made of glass fell to the floor and shattered on impact. The three trespassers turned to find themselves staring into the barrel of an old rifle. Richard raised his hands immediately whereas Kal stood frozen when his eyes strayed to another set of familiar ones.

"Clark?"

"What is it, Martha?" Ben asked, keeping his focus on the three people in front of him. He cocked his rifle and told them to stop. "Don't move!" he warned them. "I've called the police, so don't even think of running."

Slowly, Kal removed his baseball cap. Flashes of his life as a young boy in Smallville came to his mind at lightning speed.

"Mom?" he spoke hesitantly. Kal's memories confused him, feeling as if bits and pieces of it were out of context. All he knew for sure was that the old woman in front of him reminded him of his mother.

As memories of Kal's life unexpectedly returned, a different set of memories were rising, and this time, it was Lois Lane remembering. For years, she had repressed them. Moving on with Richard White and raising a child together could not be done with Superman's shadow following her every move. In the end, she knew she could never escape him and she finally did what she couldn't do the moment she promised herself to let Superman go.

Long before he left for Krypton, a part of her suspected that there was more to the hero than met the eye. Even though he was honest with his feelings for her, she got the impression that he was holding something back. For years she'd worked with Clark Kent, spending plenty of late nights talking shop and breaking down cases to the most minute detail and building them back up again without the slightest thought that maybe, he too, had something to hide.

They'd shared dozens, if not hundreds of bylines. At one point, they were dubbed Lane & Kent, the Hottest Team in Town. Their faces littered several gossip magazine covers. Lois remembered growing annoyed by the name and the talk that circulated around it, but Clark was always humble about it, if not just a little shy. Nobody at the office thought of them as a couple no matter how much Clark followed her around like a lost puppy.

Lois was headstrong; Clark was a little too sweet. It might've crossed her mind a couple or so times how similar Superman and Clark were, but she quickly dismissed them as impossibility.

Apparently she was wrong.

She wanted to speak, but she couldn't. She didn't know what to say. Her voice was trapped between her thoughts and words; there were too many things to say and far too many emotions for her to say them rationally. For the first time since Superman disappeared from her life, she felt lost all over again.

"Ben, put it down," Martha said gently, putting her hand above the rifle and slowly guiding it down.

"Are you sure?"

Martha nodded before stepping closer to her son. She reached out and laid a hand on the side of his cheek, tears welling in her eyes. Ben finally took a good look at the third trespasser and recognition immediately followed.

"My God," Ben said the tone in his voice apologetic. "I'm sorry there, son. I didn't realize it was you." He put his rifle away and placed it in a nearby corner. When he turned, Martha's arms were already around her son tightly.

"Oh, my boy. My special boy. I was so worried about you." Automatically, Kal slid his arms around her waist. The warmth of the old woman's embrace calmed him. He hugged her back but he didn't know quite what to feel because his mind had yet to process the brief memories that surfaced.

Martha continued showing her relief. "I was so worried when you didn't call. I was afraid I lost you again."

Ben, bless him, stood back and watched the reunion, his own heart thanking God that He had taken good care of Martha's precious son. Martha had been expecting his call for a couple of days now, and when he didn't return hers, she began to worry. He turned to his companions and apologized once again.

"I'm sorry about earlier, we don't get many visitors, so seeing the three of you in the house was quite a surprise."

Too shocked to respond, Lois remained silent, leaving Richard to answer. "We're sorry, too. We tried calling earlier, but there was no answer." With all the control he could muster, he turned to Kal. "Clark?"

But Kal didn't react; instead, he continued to hug Martha like a son would his mother. Involuntarily, he hugged her a little tighter.

When Martha released him, she finally noticed the silence that enveloped the room. She eyed Ben first before her gaze fell on the other two people. She recognized Lois Lane, but the other man she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Lois Lane?" Martha already knew her name but thought it wise to say it all the same.

Before Lois could find her voice, they were interrupted by a fifth person. Sheriff Adams.

With her hand close to her gun, the Sheriff slowly walked into the living room. "Is everyone all right here? I came as soon as you called, Mr. Hubbard."

"Everything is fine," Ben replied. "It was just a false alarm. Turns out it was just Clark and his friends."

"Clark?" Sheriff Adams finally remembered the well-rounded quiet boy who left Smallville several years ago. She relaxed and turned to Clark finally. "Look at you, all grown up. It's good to see you after all this time."

Kal blinked, the small number of memories he had recovered were still a bit hazy. "Thank you," he said kindly before looking between Lois and Richard, who, surprisingly, had nothing to say. All they did was stare at him as if he was suddenly a stranger.

"Well, since it looks like everything here is under control, I'll leave you all to it," Sheriff Adams said.

"Thank you, Sheriff," Ben said.

When the Sheriff finally left, it dawned on Martha that not all seemed right after noting the surprised expressions on Lois and the other man's face. Swallowing deeply, she addressed them.

"I believe we have a lot to talk about." She looked over to Ben and added, "Do you mind stopping by the store and getting us some food? I don't think I have enough here for all of us."

Ben immediately agreed and set forth for the town store.

Martha looked back at her son who was behaving remarkably unlike her son. "Clark?" she began softly. "Do you know who I am?"

"I know you, but…"

Martha's breath caught in her throat and turned to his companions for answers. "What happened to him?"

Lois glanced between mother and son cautiously. Her mind was sorting out the pieces that suddenly had become apparent within the last few minutes when the amazing familiarity in the picture Richard earlier held, was further enhanced by Martha's startling words when she addressed him.

"We were looking for Clark," Lois said numbly.

Richard sensed the silent shock in her voice and immediately reaffirmed to himself that he wasn't the only surprised person in the room. It appeared that Lois hadn't known about Superman's alternate identity either. Selfishly, he was glad he wasn't the only one.

Martha responded with a resounding "Oh."

"Umm… Mrs. Kent?" Richard interrupted reluctantly.

"Please. Call me Martha." She led Clark to the couch and insisted that he sit down. Martha looked at her son once more, her parental instincts kicking in making sure he was all right. "You seem tired. Are you okay?"

Kal smiled weakly. "My name is Clark?"

Finally, the question that was on Lois and Richard's mind finally looked like it would be answered. They waited with baited breath when Martha answered, "Who else would you think you are?"

Kal pointed to Lois and Richard. "They said my name was Kal-El."

Martha let out a small gasp and looked over to Lois and Richard with astonished clarity. She realized too late that neither of them knew that he was Clark Kent. Seeing her son safely at home, without the glasses and in the company of his co-workers made her automatically believe that he had finally revealed himself. She had no idea until now how wrong she had been.

"You didn't know?" she asked knowingly between Lois and Richard. Richard nodded 'no' for the both of them. "What's wrong with him?"

With Lois' voice still out of commission, Richard was the one to answer.

"We found him unconscious at his…" Richard didn't know if he was supposed to refer to his ice fortress as his house or something else given the revelations just discovered, so he decided to be deliberately vague on that subject. "Well, he was hurt when we found him, he woke up a few days ago not knowing who he was."

Fearful for her son's welfare, she forced herself to stay strong and continued her inquiry as bravely as she could. "Then why are you here?"

"We were looking for Clark. He hadn't called in and Perry, our boss, thought it wasn't like him."

Martha sighed in relief and sent a silent prayer thanking this Perry for looking into her boy when nobody else did. She looked back to her son and noticed the lost look in his eyes that had been common when he was a little boy growing into his powers.

"When the news said that Superman wasn't around, I knew something must've happened."

The mention of Superman's name sparked Lois out of her shocked reverie. "You know about Superman?"

Martha softly smiled at the young woman, and Lois shifted uncomfortably at her warm, almost comforting gaze.

"His birth name is really Kal-El," she spoke aloud. It was the first time she was finally able to discuss her son with other people. It was a new feeling and not at all unwelcome. "But he was raised Clark Kent."

Kal's eyebrow rose with interest. "I don't understand."

"You came to us as a little boy. We adopted you when you were just three years old. You were such a small sweet little thing. I held you in my arms and knew that you belonged there."

Kal frowned at the thought that he wasn't her biological child. "So I'm not really yours?"

Martha held his cold hands in hers and assured him otherwise. "I am your mother. I will love you the rest of my life and that will never change. Never. You were a gift from the stars. Quite literally, actually."

Lois blinked away the tears forming in her eyes as she allowed herself to hear Martha's loving words. Her anger at the situation and her lack of knowledge about it softened. As much as she would love to yell at Superman right now, she knew he wasn't quite together enough yet to deserve it.

"Are you remembering things?" Lois asked, finally addressing Kal – Clark. Her mind was still putting together all the pieces. His outward appearance should have been proof enough, but years working side-by-side with the soft-spoken reporter made it a little hard to believe.

"A little," he said. "Mostly childhood memories."

"That's good, right?" Richard said. "I mean, at least you're getting your memories back, even though it's taking time. You're going to get them all back."

"I hope so," Martha said, concerned for her son's welfare. "How much do you remember about yourself?"

"Not much. I see another man; he was tall, kind."

Martha smiled. "That must be Jonathan. Your father. He loved you very much."

"Loved?" Kal gulped, noting the past tense use of the word. He bowed his head unknowingly finding himself suffering the loss a second time.

"I'm sorry." Martha placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It was hard on you, on all of us the first time. I'm sorry you have to feel it again. It breaks my heart to see you sad."

"So let me get this straight," Lois abruptly interrupted as the tension became too much to bear. "Your real, real name is Clark Kent."

"I guess so," Kal shrugged.

"So all this time – you lied to me – to everyone," she added matter-of-factly. Kal looked at her, confused to see her angry at him for something he didn't quite remember doing. She continued, pacing in front of mother and son while Richard was powerless to stop her. "You made me believe that you were two different people, and all this time, you were right in front of me!" she exclaimed, raising her hand to calm an impeding headache. "I can't believe this is happening!"

"Miss Lane," Martha said to the woman gently, sympathetic to her feelings. "If you don't mind, can I speak with you alone?"

Lois stopped and looked at the older woman with slight fear in her eyes. Alone, with his mother? With Superman's mother? That was not something she was looking forward to.

"Right now?" Lois asked in a child-like manner.

"Of course she will, Martha," Richard answered for her, which earned him a decisively angry glare from Lois. He sort of pushed her forward as Martha gave her son a kiss on the cheek before letting him go for a little while.

"Please," Martha pleaded. "There's a lot you don't understand."

"That much is obvious," Lois replied with her usual sarcastic wit, hoping that it would help her alleviate some of her distress.

"Then give me a chance to explain, on Clark's behalf."

"You shouldn't have to," Lois shot back, her anger returning. "He should've told me himself. Instead, I'm finding out now, and it was all completely by accident."

Kal looked between the two like he was watching a tennis match. I should've told her what exactly? He didn't know where Lois's anger was coming from, or her reasons behind it. So instead, for lack of anything else to do, he sat quietly as the silent observer.

"I understand you're upset, in some ways, I am too. Even though I supported his decisions, I didn't agree with some of them," Martha said vaguely, and while Lois knew exactly what she meant, it was completely lost on Kal.

"Excuse me," Kal raised his hand in a Clark-ishly sheepish way. "But can somebody tell me what's going on?"

Martha stood up and gestured to Lois to come outside. The young woman looked absolutely terrified.

To be continued…