Jimmy

Now:

Jimmy glanced over to Penny, standing with the bridesmaids. She returned his glance, grinned at him. He hadn't realized how long a full-blown Roman Catholic wedding with all the bells and smells would be. Oh, he'd been warned it would be long, a lot longer than running off to the Justice of the Peace, or Vegas, but still... He wondered at how CK and Esther were holding up. Neither of them were people who craved the limelight. From all reports, CK was still more than content to be an investigative journalist, even though Jimmy was sure an offer for promotion to an editor's post had already come his way. Esther seemed content doing what she was doing, being an Air Force officer, mother and now wife to a journalist.

Archbishop Blackie started reciting the Lord's Prayer and the congregation started reciting along with him. It wasn't quite the translation that Jimmy had learned from his grandmother, but close enough. At least it wasn't in Latin. Clark had jokingly threatened to ask Blackie to do the mass in Latin. Esther had managed to talk him out of that, at least.

"For yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory Forever and ever, Amen"

The little Archbishop turned to the bride and groom and they joined hands. Even standing on the step above them, the Archbishop was much shorter than Clark. He was almost invisible behind the bride and groom.

"My dear friends, let us turn to the Lord and pray that he will bless with his grace Esther Krystin now married in Christ to Clark Joseph and that through the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, he will unite in love the couple he has joined in this holy bond."

A moment of silent prayer. Then the little Archbishop raised his hands for the blessing.

"Father, by your power you have made everything out of nothing. In the beginning you created the universe and made mankind in your own likeness. You gave man the constant help of woman so that man and woman should no longer be two, but one flesh, and you teach us that what you have united may never be divided.

"Look with love upon this woman, your daughter, now joined to her husband in marriage. She asks your blessing. Give her the grace of love and peace. May she always follow the example of the holy women whose praises are sung in the scriptures. May her husband put his trust in her and recognize that she is his equal and the heir with him to the life of grace. May he always honor her and love her as Christ loves his bride, the Church.

Father, keep them always true to your commandments. Keep them faithful in marriage and let them be living examples of Christian life.

"Give them the strength which comes from the gospel so that they may be witnesses of Christ to others. Bless them with children and help them to be good parents. May they live to see their children's children. And, after a happy old age, grant them fullness of life with the saints in the kingdom of heaven.

"We ask this through Christ our Lord."

"Amen."

Maybe he could talk Penny into eloping.

Then:

Clark had moved to Chicago. Then exactly four months later, Cat Grant took a job with Galaxy Broadcasting, working with Morgan Edge himself. Rumor had it, at least the rumors that didn't start out 'About time Perry got rid of that lush, did you hear...?' had it that Edge himself had made the offer for her to join his team. Cat was extraordinarily photogenic.

Jimmy knew there was more to her leaving than the rumor mill suggested. He'd seen Cat with Perry in his office late, only a few days before she left. Jimmy had been working late as well, sorting through his proofs, trying to organize his mess. Cat and Perry had a long discussion. Jimmy couldn't hear what was being said, but he could read their expressions.

Perry was worried, like he usually was before Lois or any other reporter went out on a dangerous undercover assignment. Cat's expression was exactly the same as Lois's used to be when trying to talk Perry into letting her go on an undercover assignment that promised to run too many risks. There was no shouting, no outraged tears. Only concern from Perry and earnestness from Cat.

Then Cat simply didn't come into work the next Monday. Instead, she was on the WGBS news as a reporter. She'd toned down her wardrobe for the camera. Worsted suits in blue and gray, silk shirts and scarves instead of her usually garish, skin-tight outfits that left little to the imagination.

Lois was furious that Clark had left without saying good bye to her. Jimmy didn't bother to tell her that Clark had said good bye to his friends, and she was no longer considered among them.

Lois had grabbed onto the rumors about Clark and Cat, the nasty little comments about Clark's old habit of disappearing without rhyme or reason, Cat's alleged problem with alcohol. Lois had never been one to feed off the rumor mill, but Clark and Cat had gotten under her skin, especially the day the photo of Cat and Clark together showed up in the society column of the Daily Star with speculation that Clark Kent was Cat Grant's newest boy toy.

When Clark left, Jimmy had hoped Lois would calm down, stop sniping at her co-workers. When Cat left, Lois got a little better, but seeing Cat on the monitors five days a week... it took Lois a long time to get over that. But finally, things settled into place. Perry hired new people to fill the vacancies Clark and Cat had left. But Jimmy started to notice odd things. Perry would take calls and shut his office blinds for privacy. It was something he only did when he had something big on the fire, something he didn't want people to know about just yet.

Life went on.

"Olsen!" Perry yelled from his office. They were both working late. The flu was going around the office and a number of reporters were down with it, leaving the rest to pick up the slack. Perry had even allowed Jimmy to write a few simple pieces for the third page.

Jimmy jumped at the sound of his name. "Yes, Chief?"

"WGBS is on fire," Perry told him. "Get down there, NOW!"

Jimmy grabbed his camera and some extra SD cards and ran to cover the story.

The Galaxy Communications Building was about a mile east of the Daily Planet. Traffic was tied up, probably from the emergency vehicles trying to get to the building. Jimmy stayed on foot – it was faster than trying to find a cab in this mess. When he finally got there the fire was already out, although the upper three stories of the skyscraper were scorched, windows shattered. One upper corner looked like it was completely gone. He snapped off a dozen pictures.

He spotted something, someone, that hadn't been seen on the ground in Metropolis in over a year: Superman talking to the fire chief and police officers. He clicked his telephoto lens into place and focused on the hero. Through the camera he saw Superman looking back at him, and for a moment, Jimmy thought he saw a smile flicker across the Man of Steel's face. His expression went impassive once more and Jimmy pressed the shutter button. He got several more shots of Superman before the superhero took off into the sky. Perry is going to be so happy.

Jimmy hurried back to the Daily Planet, to his desk to down load the photos onto his hard drive for cropping.

The blinds to Perry's office were down, but Jimmy could see the shadow of a second person on the blinds. Perry opened his office door and looked out, spotting the young photographer.

"Olsen," Perry called. "In here please."

Jimmy all but ran to the office door. Something was definitely up. Perry never, ever, said 'please' to a staffer. He stepped inside and Perry shut the door behind him, making sure it was closed. Standing by Perry's desk was a woman wearing a gray suit that was covered in what looked like ash. Her hair was disheveled and also streaked with ash. She turned to look at him.

Cat Grant. In Perry's office.

"Jimmy, you used to be pretty good with computers," she said, pulling a hard-drive out of her purse. "Do you think you can access the data on this?"

"Where'd it come from?" Jimmy asked, taking the device from her hand.

"Never mind that," Perry told him. "Can you do it?"

Jimmy shrugged. "Maybe, but I know somebody who definitely can." Jimmy picked up the phone on Perry's desk and tapped in an extension. "Penny, Jimmy. Are you free for a while? Perry's got a hard drive that needs some help getting data off it."

Penny was in Perry's office within ten minutes. She and Jimmy had dated a few times, had hit it off. It was too early to tell yet, but Penny said she liked him and it was looking promising.

It took Penny about forty-five minutes to access the data on the hard drive. "Now, what are we looking for?"

"Anything incriminating," Cat said. Two hours later, Penny and Jimmy handed the woman an encrypted CD with the damning documents on them.

"Thanks, Jim," Cat said as she started to leave. "You kids be good to each other, okay?"

Clark's series on the depredations of Intergang ran in the Chicago Star and the Daily Planet. It was picked up the next day in every major newspaper in the country. Within a week it was around the world.

Lois's reaction surprised Jimmy, though. She didn't seem angry that Clark had gotten the story out first, just resigned, almost as though she'd known it was going to happen. Jimmy knew Perry had given a copy of the incriminating files to her. He didn't know whether she even looked at them.

Cat Grant was not on WGBS evening news that following Monday. If Perry knew where she was, he wasn't saying.

Jimmy checked his pocket for his wallet and passport as he stepped off the plane in Berlin at Berlin-Brandenburg International. He wasn't sure why Perry sent him along with Walter Smith to cover the Tazarastan peace conference, except that Superman was one of the key mediators between the warring parties. Smith was International, working under Richard White, Jimmy was just a photographer.

The press was being housed at the Mercure Hotel Berlin, not far from the Swissôtel, where the meetings were being held. The hotels were only a short train ride from the airport and the E.U. customs agents at the airport had been polite and efficient. It was Jimmy's first time in the European city, but Smith had been here many times before and had promised Jimmy a tour of the town during their off hours.

Clark was waiting in the lobby of the Mercure for them. With him stood a tall blonde woman with blue eyes. She gave Clark a kiss on the lips. He murmured something to her. She smiled as Jimmy wove his way through the lobby toward them.

"CK! Great to see you!" Jimmy pulled the big man into a hug. He pulled back, a huge grin on his face. "Man, it's great to see you. You're looking good." Clark did look good, more relaxed, calmer, happier. Jimmy finally remembered his manners, holding his hand out to the woman. "Jimmy Olsen, Daily Planet."

"Esther Straker," she said. She turned to Clark. "See you tonight," she told him and kissed him again. Jimmy felt a pang of jealousy as she strode away. He and Penny were friends, working on moving to the next step.

"Way to go, CK," Jimmy said. Clark ducked his head and Jimmy thought the tall man was actually blushing.

"Oh, her?" Clark chuckled. "That was Major Straker. She's my... she's my fiancée."

Jimmy almost laughed at the bemused expression on his friend's face. Way to go, CK.