Richard

Now:

To Richard's surprise, Lois joined him and Perry at the altar rail for communion. He knew that technically none of them should have gone up to the rail. They weren't Roman Catholic, but somehow he suspected the Archbishop wasn't going to call them on that.

He couldn't remember the last time Lois had even gone to church aside from their wedding. Richard took Jason to church on Sunday. Jason didn't especially like it, but he was resigned to it. Lois spent her Sunday mornings in the office even though it was technically her day off.

Richard and Jason had stopped going in to the Planet to join her for lunch, choosing to go flying instead. Jason loved going up in the plane. After only two years of marriage, Richard and Lois were further apart than they had been before their wedding.

The little Archbishop had come to the top of the altar steps again, peering out at everyone though his thick glasses. Then he settled on Clark and his new wife who had come to stand before him once again. He smiled broadly at them, as if overjoyed and a little surprised that they were there.

"May almighty God, with his Word of blessing, unite your hearts in the never-ending bond of pure love. May your children bring you happiness, and may your generous love for them be returned to you, many times over.

"May the peace of Christ live always in your hearts and in your home. May you have true friends to stand by you, both in joy and in sorrow. May you be ready and willing to help and comfort all who come to you in need. And may the blessings promised to the compassionate be yours in abundance.

"May you find happiness and satisfaction in your work. May daily problems never cause you undue anxiety, nor the desire for earthly possessions dominate your lives. But may your hearts' first desire be always the good things waiting for you in the life of heaven.

"May the Lord bless you with many happy years together, so that you may enjoy the rewards of a good life. And after you have served him loyally in his kingdom on earth, may he welcome you to his eternal kingdom in heaven.

"And may almighty God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

He looked out at the congregation again. "May I present Mister and Missus Clark Joseph Kent!"

Clark leaned over to kiss his bride. She reached up and pulled him closer into a deep, sensuous kiss. Applause broke out as the pair came up for air and Clark held out his right arm for Esther.

Earlier Richard had noticed six uniformed air force officers in mess dress, white gloves and sabers standing with the wedding party. Now they moved away from the party, arranging themselves on either side of the aisle, sabers held upright at their right shoulders. A command from the last man on the left: "Present Sabers." The officers moved their sabers to in front of their faces, hilts at their chins.

"Arch sabers." Right arms were extended, wrists rotated so the cutting edge of the saber was up, away from the couple. The bride and groom walked under the arch, stopping just beyond the last officer.

"Present Sabers... Order Sabers ... Carry sabers." Richard found himself smiling. At least they didn't swat Clark on the behind to welcome him into the military like they would have a woman.

The recessional music began: The Finale to Handel's Water Music. The wedding party followed the Clark and Esther down the aisle.

Richard looked over at Lois. Her face was blank, frozen, but he thought he saw tears brightening her eyes.

How the hell are we going to get through the reception? How the hell do we ask Clark Kent to ask Superman to help us again?

Then:

Richard checked the business card in his hand against the brass nameplate on the office door. Barbara Lassiter, family psychology. He opened the door, and ushered Jason in.

The reception area was comfortable, functional, all beige and brown. A young woman sat at a desk behind an interior window. She looked up incuriously as he stepped closer, taking the clipboard she held out to him.

"Fill out both pages, please."

He sat down on the sofa next to Jason to fill out the paperwork.

"Isn't Mom supposed to meet us here?" Jason asked.

"She's supposed to, but you know how she gets when she's on a story," Richard told him. They both knew Lois wasn't likely to show up for this initial meeting with the psychologist. The only reason Lois had even given Richard the woman's business card was that the councilor at Jason's school had insisted Jason go see her.

"I guess Mom also forgot to tell Uncle Clark he needed be here," Jason said matter-of-factly. He was just seven, but sometimes he seemed far older than Richard.

"You're probably right," Richard admitted. "Your mom isn't real happy that Clark beat her out on a couple big stories. But it still wouldn't be easy for him to be here. He's overseas somewhere."

"Jimmy told me Clark has a girl friend, Esther something. She's a pilot."

"I've heard the same thing," Richard said. He finished filling out the form and handed it back to the receptionist. After a few minutes the inner door opened and a short, gray woman smiled at them.

"Mister White and Jason I presume?" Doctor Lassiter asked. "I don't see Missus White."

"She had to work late tonight," Richard told her. He assumed he wasn't lying, that Lois really was on a story and not just avoiding her responsibilities, avoiding facing the truth. The truth that things were falling apart. The truth that they had made a mistake.

He gently pushed Jason ahead of him as they headed into her office.

"Lois, you promised Jason and me that you'd come to see Doctor Lassiter with us," Richard began. "You've promised us that every week for the past three weeks."

"You know I'm working on a big story and it's taking a while to put together," Lois told him. She brushed her hair back from her face. "I will go when I have time."

"Jason needs you there with him. We need you there," Richard insisted. "Jason isn't the only one with a problem here. I never see you anymore. Jason never sees you. We're supposed to be making a life together! Isn't that why we got married?" Richard found himself shouting at her.

Her cell phone chimed and she opened it, listened to the voice on the other end. "I'll be right there," she said, then folded up her phone. "I've got to meet a source. Don't wait up for me."

"Lois," he said as she grabbed her coat from where she'd thrown it on the sofa. "If Jason and I weren't here when you came home, would you even notice?"

She stopped and stared back at him. "We'll talk about this in the morning." She ran out the door.

"No we won't," Richard said to himself.

Jason had woken up screaming. Richard ran into the boy's room to find him huddled in the corner, hands over his ears. Richard didn't wonder where his wife was. She had headed off to work early, or maybe she hadn't come home at all. He wasn't sure which.

"Jason, what's wrong? Tell me what's wrong." Richard asked, crouching in front of the boy.

"Make it stop," Jason moaned. "It's so loud, make it stop."

"Jason, listen to my voice, concentrate on my voice," Richard urged, keeping his voice soft. "Concentrate on my voice," he repeated.

After a several moments, Jason pulled his hands away from his ears, eyes wide with worry. "What happened, Dad?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"

"Everything got really loud, like it was really close and I could hear things really far away, too," Jason explained. "And I couldn't stop it." Jason looked up at the man he'd always thought was his father. "Do you think that's how Superman hears?"

"I don't know," Richard admitted. "Maybe we can ask him, sometime."

"But Superman doesn't live here anymore," Jason reminded him. Jason put his hands over his ears again. "It hurts..."

Richard hurried to the master bedroom and grabbed his cell phone. He hoped he'd hadn't deleted the one number he was looking for, equally importantly, he hoped the number he had still worked.

Thankfully, the number was still in his phone.

"Kent here," the voice on the phone said after about three rings. Thank God.

"Clark, it's Richard White," Richard announced. Don't hang up! "I need to get hold of Superman." He said it in a rush, trying to get the words out before Clark hung up on him.

"Why? What's wrong?" Clark asked.

"Jason," he said. "A few minutes ago he started to hear things, like he has super-hearing. I don't know how to help him."

"Where's Lois?"

"I don't know," Richard admitted. "Can you get a message to him?"

Almost as if in answer, there was a tapping on glass. Superman was hovering outside the locked window. Richard opened the lock and threw open the window. Superman floated into the room, settling silently to the floor. He knelt on the floor beside Jason, his crimson cape flowing onto the floor. Superman pulled Jason's hands away from his ears.

"Jason, can you hear your dad's heartbeat? Find your dad's heartbeat..."

Jason nodded, eyes wide as he watched Superman's face.

"Concentrate on his heartbeat, block everything else out but that sound..."

Richard watched Jason relax, relief evident in his face.

The other man stood up, one effortless, graceful motion, and helped Jason to his feet. "Now all you need to do is practice. Blocking the sounds, picking out the important ones. Your dad's heartbeat will be your anchor."

"Is that how you do it?" Richard asked softly. "There's a heartbeat you listen for? That you use as an anchor?"

Superman looked at him and Richard felt the inhumanly blue eyes watching, studying him. When he started speaking, Richard had to strain to hear.

"When I first came to Metropolis, it was so loud, so confusing. I thought I was going to lose my mind. Then I found a heartbeat that I could use as a beacon, as an anchor. That was my compass until the day I left Metropolis to find Krypton. That was the sound I listened for when I came back."

Richard found himself afraid to ask the next question. "Do you still listen for it?"

"No," he said very quietly. "She got married and I was a complication she didn't need. Definitely one she didn't want around."

The silence between them was heavy, pregnant. Richard half expected Superman to vanish out the window.

"Before you go, what's the next thing I should expect?"

Superman gazed at Jason and Richard mentally kicked himself for not seeing it earlier. They had the same eyes. Oh, the resemblance to Clark Kent was there in the face, the body language, but there was no doubt in Richard's mind who Jason's real biological father was. Did Clark know he wasn't Jason's father?

"Vision will probably be next, telescopic, microscopic, x-ray," Superman said. "Heat vision shouldn't show up for a few years, sometime around puberty, I should guess. You'll want to get him glasses with flint glass lenses. It'll help remind him to focus on the visible light frequencies."

"Is that why...?" Jason started then he stopped as Superman raised an eyebrow. They have a secret.

"Your strength was coming in over a year ago," Superman said. "What about speed?"

"I'm getting pretty fast," Jason admitted. "But I make sure I don't go too fast."

"Good," Superman said. "Remember, humans fear what's too different, what they don't understand. Fear can make them dangerous. You're very fortunate to have your Mom and Dad. They understand quite a lot."

"I know," Jason said, matching Superman's solemnity. "Thank you, father."

Superman bent down and kissed Jason on the top of his head. "Good bye, son. Remember, you are never alone."

Then he was gone. The only sign of his having been there at all was the open window and Jason's tears.

What are we going to do? We're raising Superman's son! And Lois didn't say anything.