- - - Chapter Twelve

"I think he's developing super-hearing," Lois told Clark that evening when they finally had a moment to talk alone. They were standing out by the fence watching the sun set and talking. Jason had just gone to sleep, and Perry and Jimmy were sitting in the living room with Martha watching more of the old tapes, still trying to wrap their brains around everything.

"What do you mean?" Clark asked, not really surprised. Jason had heard what was going on in Sydney, after all.

"Well, after you left this afternoon he said that everything got really loud. He stood on the porch with his fingers in his ears for at least two minutes "

"Did he get it under control?"

"I think so," she shrugged. "He said he listened to his heartbeat and everything else got quieter. He was fine all through lunch and, I don't know. I think he'd say something about it to you if it was bothering him."

"I'm surprised he didn't mention it even if it didn't bother him," he said thoughtfully.

"Me too," Lois said. They stood in silence for awhile, looking out over the sea of corn at the last rays of the sun. "What makes this place so special, Clark?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why did your ship just happen to crash here and two people so remarkable as Martha and Jonathan Kent just happen to take you in? Why is it that even though you can do such amazing things you always come back to humble places like this to be yourself? What makes this sunset so special? You could choose any place on Earth, or in this solar system for that matter, to relax, and you come to Smallville and watch the sun set."

"Well," Clark said, thinking about it. "I don't know why my ship just happened to crash here, but I'm glad it did. Without Mom and Dad being who they are and teaching me what they did I would be a very different person," he shrugged, pulling her close as they both continued to gaze at the horizon. "I never wanted to be a superman, Lois. I just want to help people, and I've got a few remarkable talents that I can use to do that. I didn't ask for the fame or attention, but if that's what I've got to put up with to help people then so be it."

"Can I use that in the next Superman exclusive?" She asked, joking.

"Sure," he said, kissing her cheek and keeping her close. "As for choosing where I watch the sunset from… There's no place like home," they both smiled. "There's only one place better to see the sunset than right here, anyways."

"Where?"

"I'll show you," Clark said, and Lois smiled. They hadn't been flying in so long. She turned around in his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist and stepping onto his toes before they ascended. Clark took her straight up, above the clouds above the farm.

Lois sucked her breath in when she saw the sunset from their new vantage. The clouds below them were painted with color, rippling and changing like the reflections in a sea but much more brilliant. Above them, the oranges and reds melted to purple and navy, and then to black. "Clark," she breathed, taking it all in. Clark smiled at her, caressing her back gently

They stayed like that until the sun had completely set, and they were left hovering in the darkness. The tinge of purple on the horizon was the only thing to remind them of the beauty they had just witnessed.

"Thank you, Clark," she murmured into his chest, kissing his collarbone before looking up at him.

"For what?"

"For bringing me up here, for being here, for loving me as much as I love you," she listed off a few.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Lois," he said, smiling shyly. She smiled back at him before raising her lips to his. He quickly deepened the kiss, pulling her even closer, if that was possible.

Clark pulled back suddenly, and Lois made a noise at the back of her throat in protest. Clark smirked, kissing her forehead and dipping down into the clouds. "Clark?" She asked, kissing his jaw near his ear.

"There's a plane coming our way," he explained, closing his eyes and fighting back a pleased shudder that threatened to disrupt their flight pattern.

"And we wouldn't want them to recognize Lois Lane in a rather intimate flight with Superman?" She asked before taking his earlobe in her mouth and sucking gently. Again, it was all Clark could do to keep his mind on their flight.

"Well, there's that," he smiled. "And the fact that I'm not exactly dressed like Superman right now."

"I hadn't noticed," Lois said, moving back down towards his collarbone, and moving his shirt away. The bright blue of his suit peaked out at her and she smiled, resting her head on his shoulder and looking up at him, smiling.

"I like where you're going with this," he said, bringing them down slowly, "but we don't exactly have our bed to ourselves tonight."

"Crap," she sighed, but didn't move. Clark chuckled.

"Tomorrow night," he promised, kissing her forehead and quickening their descent. Lois heard the plane pass overhead just as they were touching down. "When we're home."

They landed and Clark bent his head and kissed her deeply one last time before they headed back into the house. Everything was dark now, the moon shining through the clouds. They walked back towards the house hand in hand, Clark already looking through the house and checking on its occupants. Jason was sleeping soundly, comfortable in his parents' bed, Martha was in the kitchen again brewing a pot of coffee, and Perry and Jimmy were sitting on the couch in silence. Whatever tape they had been watching had finished and they had moved onto the news.

"How's everybody inside?" Lois asked.

"I don't know," Clark said, narrowing his eyes. "I don't think Perry and Jimmy are taking this very well."

"I know," Lois agreed. "It'll be awkward on Monday when Perry gives the staff meeting to tell us to try and get a story on you."

"Yeah," Clark sighed. "I almost wish they'd be mad at me or something instead of just being… stunned."

"Well, it's kind of a big thing to find out," Lois shrugged, and he pulled her closer. "You know, mild mannered Clark Kent who makes a habit of tripping on himself can deflect bullets and fly."

"You took it alright," he said, sighing.

"I had that whole evening on the couch to think about it first, though," she shrugged. "But then I did get made at you, if you remember."

"I remember," Lois wrapped her arm around him as they walked up the porch steps.

Whatever conversation there had been in the living room stopped when Lois and Clark entered, the screen door slamming behind them. "You have something that belongs to me," Clark's voice came from the television. Lois and Clark both looked at the screen in surprise.

There he was, walking up the dark steps of New Krypton towards Lex Luthor in his white trench coat. All eyes in the living room, including Martha's who had just come in with coffee for everybody, were glued to the TV. The quality of the tape wasn't very good, but there was a clear picture of four or five men kicking and beating Superman. Kitty Kowalski was to one side, clutching at her dog. Luthor stabbed Clark then, twisting the kryptonite shard in his back. Whoever was doing the filming was too far away to hear exactly what was being said, and the rain and wind were filling the microphone with static and whistling, but Clark's scream when Luthor twisted the kryptonite came through just fine. Clark got up then, limping away from Luthor and his goons, stumbling backwards before falling over the edge.

The sound of ceramic crashing onto the floor brought them all back to reality. Martha had dropped the three mugs and the pitcher she'd been holding, sending them crashing to the floor. The mugs had shattered, and the dropped pitcher had sent coffee all over the rug. She blinked and stopped looking at the TV, turning her eyes instead to her son. Clark just stood there, his arm still around Lois; they both had frozen in place with their eyes on the TV. Clark's face was inscrutable.

"The footage you just saw was found on a digital video camera found on New Krypton when the Genesis II was sent to explore what they could of it last week," the anchor explained, looking uncomfortable after seeing the footage they'd just seen. "The Genesis was redirected after suspicions arose concerning the aliens from the park. It was suspected that they could've landed on New Krypton in an attempt to excavate kryptonite, yet when the Genesis landed there was no sign of them. Instead, the astronauts found the digital camera and several clear crystals among other things resting on the surface of the continent," she said. The image shifted and showed a white lab room with silver tables; the crystals stolen from the Fortress were spread on one of the lab tables, the video camera and its memory chip were on a table nearby.

Perry turned the TV off when an official-looking scientist started explaining what they thought they'd found in the crystals. All faces turned to Clark, who hadn't moved.

Martha, still shaking, bent to pick up the things she had dropped. Clark bent down and took his mother's hands. She wouldn't meet his eyes, but she let him pull her upright and hug her. After a moment, she hugged him back. She wasn't crying, but she couldn't stop shaking.

"You shouldn't have had to see that," he told her softly.

"They shouldn't be playing that on national television," Lois said softly, "at least not without your permission."

Clark closed his eyes, keeping his mother upright as he moved her to her favorite chair. He crouched by her feet, holding her hands in her lap. "Mom?"

Martha looked at him, and Clark looked like he was about to say something, but then his head jerked to the side. He sighed, exasperated. "Why do tourists have to do stupid things now of all times?" He asked nobody in particular. Lois smiled, he'd given similar sentiments previously at one time or the other; in the middle of dinner when he'd commented on the stupidity of road rage, or their first real minute of alone time in almost a day when he'd had to go put out a raging fire somebody had started by smoking in bed.

"I'll be right back," he promised, striding out of the room, squeezing Lois's hand gently when he passed.

"Did you know they did… that to him?" Martha asked after a moment, staring at the dark TV.

"I," Lois started, trying to think of what she could say to Clark's mother about what had happened so many months ago. "I didn't know they'd beat him like that," she said carefully. "I knew he was hurt, that he was stabbed… Richard and I found him in the water and got him into the seaplane and I pulled the kryptonite out… It didn't look like he was hurt other than that, though. He was fine as soon as I threw the kryptonite out the door; he flew off to go lift New Krypton into space."

"Why would they do that to him?" Martha asked, addressing no one in particular. "All he's ever done is help people…"

Lois couldn't answer that, she just sunk onto the couch next to Jimmy, not making eye contact.

- - -

"How did it go?" Lois asked when he returned. Everybody else jumped, not having heard him come in when he hadn't let the screen door slam behind him. Lois, of course, had been listening for the telltale whoosh of his landing.

Clark sighed, shaking his head and sitting at the table with everybody else. They all had coffee in front of them and looked worried. "Oh, you know," Clark shrugged. "I don't think I've ever gotten more pity when rescuing someone."

"What?" Jimmy asked, surprised.

"Well, anybody I rescued in the days after I left the hospital asked me if I was alright, but… Everybody I rescued tonight pitied me, apologized for what Luthor did…" he shook his head again. "It was a year ago, it's ridiculous."

"But nobody knew it happened," Lois said, almost accusingly.

"I was supposed to tell people I got beat up?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes… no… No, but," she sighed. "It would've been nice to know before they played it on TV."

"It would've been nice if they hadn't played it on TV at all," Clark said.

"I have a feeling Superman is going to be avoiding channel twelve news cameras for awhile," Perry said, smirking. "And possibly writing a rather angry editorial? Or maybe just giving an interview for one?" Finally, Clark chuckled.

"Thank goodness," he said, draining the coffee his mother had put in front of him and standing up to refill it.

"What?"

"You two have both been so quiet," he said. "At least now you're talking like yourself." Perry pursed his lips. "And yes, it would probably be a good idea for Lois to write something about this."

"Are you okay, Clark?" Martha asked, watching him carefully as he returned to the table. "I know you're tired of us worrying, but… you're okay, right?"

"I'm okay, Mom," he assured her. "It's been one helluva Thursday, though."

"I'll second that," Jimmy said. Clark looked at him with pity.

"I'm sorry everything is coming out like this," he sighed. "When it rains it pours, I guess."

"Speaking of rain," Jimmy said, remembering the storm almost a week ago that Clark and Ron had gotten stuck outside in. "How do you feel about that type of weather?"

"It's just peachy," Clark said sarcastically, chuckling. Lois looked amused, but Perry and Martha looked lost. "When it rained last weekend," he explained after a moment, "we had a conversation about what Superman must think of flying in the rain."

They nodded, and Jimmy smiled, waiting for the rest of the answer. "Well," Clark shrugged. "I usually just fly above the clouds whenever I can, it's sunnier up there to begin with… The rain is just wet and annoying, I guess."

"You know what we should do?" Perry asked, looking around the room, waiting for somebody to read his mind.

"What?" Lois finally asked.

"We should have kids write into the Planet with questions for Superman. Simple questions that kids would ask that adults wouldn't think of, like how Superman feels about the rain. It would make a great article in Features, Lois could write it up…" Perry was already planning the spread.

"Perry," Lois started, planning to shoot the idea down.

"Sure," Clark said, shrugging.

"Really?" Perry and Lois asked at the same time in completely different tones.

"Why not?" Clark asked.

"Why?" Lois countered.

"Great!" Perry said cheerfully.

"You do know that you're going to get thousands of questions in the mail as soon as you print that Superman will be answering questions," Lois informed them. "And that half the questions will come from adults pretending to be children."

"We could send representatives," Perry directed his gaze at Lois, "to school classrooms around Metropolis to pick up questions from children we know are children."

The night continued almost pleasantly, but Clark was withdrawn throughout it all. He was dwelling on Luthor. He'd swept all of Metropolis and found no sign of him. It was strange; impossible, really. How could a man escape from prison and then fall of the face of the Earth? To be reasonable, it was Lex Luthor he was dealing with. But even Lex Luthor is just a man.