- - - Chapter Five
The next few months passed in a blur.
For the first weeks the situation at Clark's apartment was awkward at best, especially after Jason had gone to bed. Eventually, though, Lois and Clark got over themselves. They let themselves move on, putting the past in the past and looking at the future. They both wanted what was best for Jason, and Jason was very happy exactly where he was. It helped that they also happened to still be desperately in love with each other, though they were too stubborn to admit it.
When they finally agreed to officially explore a romantic relationship, the entire world seemed to light up. Though they refrained from doing anything couple-y at the Planet, they spent all their time together, and often wrote stories together much like they had before Clark had left. If anybody noticed a change they didn't say a word, but Clark was very good at keeping secrets.
Lois stopped looking for an apartment, and started looking for more homey things to decorate Clark's, now their, apartment with. That was the balcony came to have its first set of drapes, and how there came to be a pretty woven rug just inside the door. Clark liked those little changes, though he'd never say so. Jason settled in quickly, learning where the best places to play were and making use of them. He settled easily into his new life with Lois and Clark.
The three of them would get up and eat breakfast together. Sometimes Clark wasn't there, or he'd come in late or leave early, but mostly he was there in the mornings. After they were all ready, Clark would fly them within a few blocks of Jason's school and they would all walk him to the door. After goodbyes, Clark and Lois would turn down an alley and fly to the roof of the Planet. Lois would go inside and scope things out while Clark did a quick scan of the city for criminals, and then would pick up coffee or lunch, depending on how many criminals he found. It was easier this way, Clark found, because Lois was very good at coming up with believable excuses.
They worked on their articles, often hitting the streets to follow leads, giving Clark an even easier escape when he had to go save the day in Mongolia. Clark would go pick up Jason after the afternoon deadline; it was common knowledge in the office that the three of them were living together, but not that it was a permanent situation. Why wouldn't Clark go and pick Jason up from school? He was a nice guy, and Lois was usually working on her next front page article. Clark would bring Jason back to the bullpen with him and Jason would color at their desks or do his homework while he waited for them to finish. They'd all be home by about five-thirty, and Clark would do another scan of the city while Lois made dinner. After dinner, he'd take Jason out flying or to practice using his developing powers, mostly strength, in the shadows, unless of course the world needed saving.
"No desperate situations out there tonight?" Lois asked one night almost four months after they'd decided to have a relationship. They were sitting on the couch, the TV off, and Jason in bed.
"Nothing that they need Superman for," Clark said quietly, kissing the soft spot under her ear. There was always something going wrong somewhere, but he wasn't the only one capable of bringing criminals to justice, he was just a lot more efficient.
"Well, I know what Superman is needed for," Lois said, smirking. Clark smiled as well; he truly loved his life now. He spun her around on his lap, capturing her mouth with his own.
Clark lifted them off the couch, flying in this horizontal position over to the light switch so he could turn the lights off before they floated into the bedroom they now shared. Lois smiled when he spun them around and she found herself on the bed instead of the couch; she hadn't even noticed they'd been moving.
"I love you," she murmured.
"I love you, too," Clark said before they were both lost to their passion.
Clark woke many hours later for no apparent reason. He was still tangled in the sheets with Lois; she was lying mostly on top of them with their legs twined together in a mess below the sheets. He had his arms around her, and she had both her arms up around his neck, she'd been playing with his hair when they fell asleep. He did a quick inventory of the apartment, trying to figure out what woke him. Jason's heartbeat and breathing were normal for that of a sleeping boy in the next room, neither he nor Lois were hurt, far from it actually, the doors were locked, the windows were closed… he extended his search out into Metropolis, looking for any reason for him to be awake.
And then he sensed it. There was no telling where it came from, how it had gotten to where it was, but now it was there. There was kryptonite in the alley under his window. There wasn't much, but there was some. It couldn't stay there, and he couldn't go get rid of it. "Lois," he said softly, brushing hair from her face to try and wake her. "Lois?"
"Hmm?" She sighed contentedly, burrowing deeper into his chest. Any other morning he would've been happy to lay there with her, but today wasn't any other day. He shook her shoulder, feeling the kryptonite sapping at his strength even from such a distance. Another thought flashed through his brain, Jason. Jason in the next room who was much smaller and just as affected by kryptonite.
"Lois!" She woke up, startling and looking blearily at him.
"What?" She said grumpily. "If you've got to pee just get up and pee…" she still wasn't truly awake.
"Lois, kryptonite," he said. How much kryptonite was in the alley? His fingers and toes were tingling from it.
"What?"
"Kryptonite."
"Where?"
"In the alley, somewhere close… Jason…?" Lois was out of bed in a flash. She grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be one of Clark's dress shirts, and buttoned it quickly. Finding her panties underneath the shirt, she put them on too, but then jogged into Jason's room to check on the boy.
"He's still asleep, but his breathing's really shallow," she told him.
"You have to get rid of the kryptonite," Clark told her. His fingers and toes were completely numb now, and he had pins and needles in all of his joints.
Clark was not feeling good at all. He could hear Jason in the other room, his breathing ragged. Clark's own breath patterns were quickly approaching a similar rate, but he had more body mass for the radiation to absorb into; it would take longer for him to feel the effects, and longer for him to heal from them. He couldn't hear Lois anymore, but he'd heard her close the door and he'd heard her enter the alley. If anything had happened in the alley Clark wouldn't know about it. He felt a wave of guilt for not being able to help.
Slowly, Clark pushed himself up, cursing the fire in his joints. He made it to the window and pushed the curtains aside, searching the alley for Lois. Then there she was, darting from trash heap to trash heap in his overlarge shirt. If she wasn't noticeable, nothing was. Normally it would've been incredibly stimulating to see Lois only wearing his shirt, but not when she was in an alley four stories below searching for the one thing that could kill him.
His world got fuzzier. He must've passed out because the next time he looked, Lois was gone. He panicked and only managed to stand upright for a second before falling backwards. He landed partially on the bed, partially not, falling somewhere in between in a crumpled pose that nobody could've expected the Man of Steel to ever assume.
Lois made it up the stairs less than ten minutes after she'd made it down them. She was breathless and cursing herself for grabbing the shirt. She was glad she had because it was so warm, but there was also the fact that it was way too big and it billowed around her when she moved, making her a little self-conscious out of Clark's bedroom. She'd grabbed Clark's shoes too.
She'd found the kryptonite after a few minutes, but then had been indecisive about how to get rid of it. There was so much; a cardboard box full of it sitting directly below their windows in the alley. In the end, she threw it in the sewer, unloading it piece by piece. She'd barreled up the steps, nearly killing Clark's landlady, and burst into her son's room. Jason had slept through the entire experience. Though he was looking a little worse for wear, he looked like he would be okay. He had dark circles under his eyes, his skin shimmered with sweat, but he was breathing fine and his pulse was normal so far as she could tell.
She wanted to cry when she entered the bedroom she shared with Clark. Clark had been closer to the kryptonite, and his going to the window hadn't helped either. He had been too preoccupied to put on clothes, and now he lay naked slumped against the bed and the nightstand. He was unconscious. He looked uncomfortable, so Lois stretched him out on the floor, not even wanting to try to pull him onto the bed. She lay his cape over him, covering his nudity, and put a pair of her jeans on. She assumed a position on the bed, walking in to check on Jason every couple of minutes; waiting for one of them to wake up.
What if I didn't get all the kryptonite? She wondered. But Clark was stirring, so of course she had gotten all of it, right?
Clark woke up a moment later, if just a little bit. "Lois?" He asked groggily.
"I'm here," she assured him, crouching down next to him.
"Why am I on the floor?" He asked. Lois didn't say anything, just helped him back onto the bed and pulled the covers up.
"The kryptonite's gone now… you just rest now…" her voice was unbelievably tense.
"Jason…?" Clark said, but he was in no shape to do anything other than to rest.
Lois spent the rest of the day pacing between the two rooms, waiting for one of them to wake up. Remembering what Superman had once said about sunlight, she opened all the windows in the house, even going so far as to bring Jason, the one of them that she could lift, to the living room couch where the sunlight was coming through the balcony door.
"Mommy?" Jason asked a few minutes later, disoriented and looking sick.
"I'm here, honey," she said, moving closer.
"I don't feel good."
"I know, honey," she said, brushing the hair off his face gently. "You'll feel better soon, just go back to sleep."
"But I'm not tired anymore."
"You'll get better faster if you sleep," she said, hoping it was the truth; Clark still hadn't stirred.
When she went back into the bedroom she shared with Clark, he was gone. She hoped that was a good sign. She couldn't really do anything if it wasn't. Sighing, she returned to the living room where her son was watching cartoons. She had called him in sick to school already, telling the nurse that he had the flu, then she'd called the Daily Planet to tell them that neither she nor Clark would be in. Perry wasn't happy, but he knew that Lois wouldn't call in unless they were really sick.
Clark appeared a half an hour later. He looked like nothing had happened. He was wearing jeans and another plain white shirt, the sleeves rolled up and the collar slightly open. He looked so normal, so hot; it took Lois' breath away.
"You okay?" He asked, noticing the change in her breathing.
"I'm fine, how're you feeling?" She asked, shaking off her momentary distraction and proceeding to look Clark over for any signs of weakness, of course, that only brought that weakness in the knees back full force.
"I'm better," Clark said, his face clouding. "I searched the city for more kryptonite," he said in a hushed voice so Jason wouldn't hear. "I couldn't find any other than those warehouses we already knew about."
"That's good."
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"I'd almost rather find some and be able to get rid of it, than have it randomly show up sometime."
They were both silent. Lois watched Jason until he noticed and glared at her.
The rest of the day passed easily. Jason was shaky all day, staying in his pajamas and watching cartoons for the most part. Clark wouldn't show it, but Lois could tell he wasn't feeling quite himself either. They spent most of the day sitting on the other end of the couch from Jason and switching their gaze from the TV, to their son, and back.
"What're you looking at?" Jason finally asked, deserting the TV for his crazy parents.
"You," Lois said casually.
"Stop it," Jason instructed. Lois laughed and settled into Clark's chest more securely. It was odd how her life worked. She'd gone from extremely angry with Clark in the past months, to making the most amazing love she'd ever made with him, to sitting and watching their son complain that they were watching him. Sometimes it seemed so normal, but then she would remember that the reason they were all home for the day was because the two men in her life got sick whenever they were exposed to rocks from a different planet; that was something she'd never quite wrap her brain around.
Right after dinner, Clark took Jason up above the clouds to see the sun. When they came back, they were both practically glowing. Jason was bouncing off the walls, telling Mom about how big the sun looked from up there, and how little the town looked. The sun-high quickly wore off, though, and Jason was able to go to bed at his normal time, leaving Lois to sit on the couch and watch Clark rescue people on TV until he came back to her.
More kryptonite showed up as the week wore on, but none so close to home. Superman had to try and help from a distance on a few rescues because of its presence. He would use his x-ray vision to tell the firefighters where it would work best to start, or where a person was trapped; he felt guilty that he couldn't just rush in and get them himself. He would come home frustrated, usually overwhelmed by guilt if somebody even got hurt. Lois tried her best to console him about this, but he didn't want consolation, he wanted to get rid of the kryptonite.
It became really serious when the police reported that they'd found a lead-lined warehouse full with crate upon crate of kryptonite shards. Lois promised Perry a great story on the kryptonite, and dragged Clark around the city to figure out what was going on.
It was raining, pouring actually. It had been all afternoon. The traffic was slow and all the drivers were ornery.
"You don't have to come check out the warehouse with me, you know," Lois said softly, noticing the sweat on Clark's forehead as they got closer to their destination.
"This doesn't make sense," Clark said, almost a whisper so the cab driver wouldn't hear them. Lois raised an eyebrow to encourage him to elaborate. "I shouldn't feel like… this so far from the warehouse."
"Hey, you're Lois Lane, right?" The cab driver asked out of the blue. All he'd done when they'd gotten in was scowl at them and waited for their destination.
"Yes," Lois said, trying not to encourage more conversation.
"So, you know how to contact Superman, right?"
"What? Why?" Lois asked, startled. She glanced at Clark, he looked interested, but not as interested as he would normally be.
"I was thinking he could come blow this storm away," the driver said, smiling at her in the mirror as though he'd just had the idea of the century. Lois debated whether to just glare at him, or come up with something witty to say. The driver seemed to move on though, starting to yell at the driver in front of him in fast Spanish.
"Are you saying there's some nearby?" Clark nodded. "How do you feel?" She asked nervously after a few blocks had passed and Clark only seemed to get worse.
"Like I got hit by a train… no, um… not good," he shrugged and then wished he hadn't. Lois smiled at his reference to the train, he was probably the only one who could use it and mean it, but then frowned when he slumped slightly to the side.
"Do you need to go to the hospital?" She asked softly.
"No," he paused. "I should probably go, you know…" he made a vague gesture upwards. Lois nodded, and Clark got out the next time the taxi stopped. The driver complained loudly until he realized that Lois was still inside and would be paying. Clark stumbled into the closest alley and changed into Superman, taking off and heading above the clouds to get some much needed sunshine.
Lois interviewed all the right people on the mysterious warehouse without Clark. Of course, she could feel Superman's eyes on the top of her head the entire time she was asking the police and owners questions. She was about to hail another cab when she felt a rush of air and her feet left the ground.
"Clark!" She cried out, surprised. "But, I thought…?"
"We need to get to Jason," he said. He was covered in a glimmering sheet of sweat and rain. It would've been sexy if he hadn't looked to be in so much discomfort.
"What's wrong with Jason?" She asked, ignoring her own discomfort; Clark had grabbed her under the armpits instead of his usual almost intimate, much more comfortable hold, and the raindrops were whipped into their faces by the wind.
"There was kryptonite on the playground at his school, his teacher will be calling in a moment to tell you to come and get him," her cell phone rang just as he finished the sentence.
"Hello?" Lois asked nervously after digging the phone out of her purse while trying not to drop anything. "Mrs. Patterson, what's the matter? Is he okay? I'll be there in a few seconds… no, I'm just interviewing- somebody who can get me there quickly," she would've smiled at Clark, but Mrs. Patterson had just told her that Jason had passed out during recess and was only just coming around. Clark had heard, of course, and they sped up.
Superman landing in the playground with Jason's Mommy did nothing to help the poor teachers control their charges. "Superman!" The crowd of first graders squealed. The teachers looked equally excited, but they didn't gather around.
Clark put Lois on the ground and prepared to take off again, but found that he couldn't. Lois was focused on one thing, the door to Jason's school, and she had an iron grip on his hand, her fingers entwined with his. Clark wasn't sure what to do, he beat down a blush when he noticed the teachers watching, and followed Lois into the school. He could feel the kryptonite nearby and it was making him woozy. He leaned on Lois and she immediately knew what was going on, and pulled him faster towards the school.
"Not you too," she muttered, practically dragging him up the steps by his hand she still held, and the shoulder where she had grabbed to support him.
"Of course me too," Clark returned with a weak smile.
Mrs. Patterson's eyes were a big as the moon when Lois and Superman entered the room. She was still standing by the phone, having just put it back on the hook. Then, of course, there was the fact that it looked like Superman and Lois were a couple, only until Superman collapsed, though.
"Kal-El!" She cried, bracing against him to keep him from falling all the way to the floor.
"Superman?" Jason whispered just loud enough for the pair on the floor to hear him. Jason was still too woozy to move, but Superman's bout had passed, and he crossed the room and took his son on his lap.
Lois glanced from the pair on the chair, to Mrs. Patterson and back nervously. Clark looked at her imploringly; his eyes weren't as clear as they usually were and she immediately remembered the kryptonite. "Where is it?" She asked quietly. Clark closed his eyes for a second before pointing out the window. Lois ran out of the school and began searching the area of the playground he'd indicated.
The piece she found was bigger than the largest shards she'd found in the box in the alley, almost the length of her forearm and twice as thick. It was just lying on the ground in the middle of the playground. She took the kryptonite and threw it in the closest sewer, hearing it break to bits in the pipes below with satisfaction.
All of the kids were trying to get back in the school to see Superman, but Lois barely noticed. She brushed past kids she'd had visit her house for a play-date before, making sure the curtains were closed as she passed through the door. Clark and Jason were sitting in the same spot, but Jason was smiling and Clark looked more relaxed. Mrs. Patterson was rooted to the spot, her face written with complete shock: Superman was sitting in her classroom holding one of her students on his lap to comfort him.
Ignoring Mrs. Patterson in the same way that she'd ignored the other students, Lois took the seat next to Clark and felt Jason's forehead. "How're you feeling, sweetheart? Better?"
"I'm fine, Mommy," Jason said, leaning back so she would move her hand.
"What about you?" Lois said, quieter. Clark just shook his head to indicate that his was alright.
"Is the kryptonite gone, Mommy? Can I go out and play again?" Mrs. Patterson watched, shocked, when Lois replied to the question like she heard it every day.
"No, honey, Superman's going to take us home."
"Okay, bye Mrs. Patterson!" Jason wrapped his arms around his father's neck with a smile.
Before they left, Lois turned to Mrs. Patterson, searching the corners of her brain for some sort of explanation. "Ever since that... incident a few months ago on Luthor's boat... when we were so close to New Krypton and all that kryptonite," Lois started, hoping the woman would buy it. "Jason's been weirdly sensative to the stuff. We can't explain it," she shook her head, glancing at Clark for back up. He just nodded solemnly.
"It doesn't make any sense."
After Superman had confirmed it, Mrs. Patterson didn't feel like arguing.
"I'll, um, see you at conferences," Lois said, flipping the latch on the window and pushing it open before wrapping her arms around Clark's torso. Clark just gripped Lois' waist and put a hand on Jason's back before floating off the floor and out into the rain.
Mrs. Patterson sat in her chair for a full ten minutes before she closed the window and let the rest of the school in.
The three of them spent the rest of the day at home. Lois insisted that Jason stay inside, though she didn't put him on the usual at home sick schedule. She spent most of the afternoon filling Clark in on the kryptonite in the warehouse. If anything, it made them both even more nervous.
"Where did it all come from?" Clark asked, flipping the channel to a different news station for a different version of the same information.
"Nobody knows; the owner of the warehouse said it was on schedule for demolition because of the lead in the walls… updating everything. They said something about building an apartment complex in its place, but…" Clark just nodded.
- - -
The rest of the week passed like that. Leads would show up, but they would only lead to huge stockpiles of kryptonite that appeared out of nowhere in buildings that didn't officially exist.