As a general rule I can normally deal with any crisis with the minimum of fuss, it must be a mixture of my father's Kryptonian genes and my mother's sense of self preservation but right at that minute I was seriously freaking out. My legs turned to jelly, I could feel a huge bubble of panic in my gut and for one awful minute I thought I was about to do the unacceptable and faint right there in the kitchen. How could this be happening? God knows I was more than used to my parents acting like horny teenagers but how could they have been so bloody stupid? Now I'm not one of those twenty something's who think that they invented sex but surely after being married for 20 odd years they could have waited until they got home! I unceremoniously grabbed for the remote control in order to try to prevent reality from invading the kitchen any more than necessary but as I changed the channel it became apparent that my attempt to subconsciously hide under the proverbial bed was going to be useless as my parents make out session was breaking news on almost every channel.
There was an almost eerie stillness about the room as each person switched their attention from the TV to me and back again as though watching a tennis match. If I had disliked the attention I had received earlier in the day then I positively hated the way I was being scrutinised now. If this news story had broken at any other time I would have been able to get me emotions under control before talking to anyone but I was in the process of meeting my boyfriends family for goodness sake! Making a good impression on them didn't include having my Mom's so called affair with Superman spread all over the news!
It was one of those moments in life when you are aware that your next move could potentially have devastating consequences and I was, if I'm honest with myself, beyond scared. I expanded my hearing and tried to pick out my parents voices in Metropolis, perhaps they could give me some idea what was happening but in the state I was in all I could manage to hear at first was a loud buzzing noise which was coming from their vicinity. Unfortunately once my abilities kicked in I could hear shouting and I realised with a sense of fear that my they were trying to ward off a hoard of news reporters outside the Planet. I could tell from the way Mom's heart was beating that she was as scared as I was. Where the hell was Dad? I soon picked up his distinctive heart beat from my Mom's side and was shocked to hear that it was accompanied by a muttered curse word repeated under his breath over and over again. Jesus …if he was freaking out what chance did I have of staying calm? Dad NEVER swore!
I suddenly became aware that Jack was tugging on my hand, the hand I had clamped to my face when I'd first seen what was on the TV. If I'd have been totally human I'd have passed out by now from lack of oxygen. He was talking to me and I had to concentrate to bring my hearing under control to understand his words, which it turned out were mainly "Shhhing" noises and "It'll be OK". He took control and began to guide me out of the kitchen when his Mother decided to make her thoughts heard.
"Jack, I am ashamed of you!" She stood against the dresser with contempt in her eyes and her arms folded over her ample assets. "This simply isn't acceptable behaviour and this … girl isn't our sort, she doesn't have the breeding. I don't care if she does know Bruce Wayne … for all we know her Mom's been sleeping with him as well! I don't want you associating with people like this. If anyone at the club found out about you and her it would be so utterly embarrassing. Her Mother is being unfaithful to her husband with a … an … alien."
Now let's be frank here, Dad is an alien but that word simply makes my insides boil when anyone associates it with my Dad. He isn't exactly a little green man from Mars with green skin and tentacles now is he? If there was one thing she could have said to make me angry then that was it. Jack was so obviously outraged by his mother's outburst that I could feel the tremor of shock that went through him but before he could react I drew myself away from him and stood to my full height. OK so I may only be 5'7" but it was the attitude that counts when dealing with any kind of confrontation according to my Mom. With my arms folded across my chest to stop them shaking I spoke as calmly as I could manage.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK ABOUT MY MOTHER LIKE THAT? You criticize my family without knowing the first thing about them and simply jump to the conclusion that you are somehow superior to us based on nothing more than your financial status. …. AND HOW DARE YOU CALL SUPERMAN AN ALIEN! He's done more good for the people of this planet than you could ever imagine. You are a SNOB!" With hindsight perhaps coming to the defence of the person my Mom was supposed to be having an affair with sounded a little crazy but whoever said I was sane! My heart was pounding and I could feel an excessive amount of blood pumping through my body. No one spoke about my family like that! I paused for breath and as I did so I heard a familiar voice kick into my sub consciousness, a voice which was out of place in the kitchen. It was my brother, without looking upwards I could only estimate that he was about a mile above the house "DO NOT LOOSE YOUR TEMPER SOL-EL!" . It was my Kryptonian name that brought me back to my senses as well as the realisation that I hadn't been abandoned out here in Gotham in the upheaval of the revelation we were dealing with.
This was one of those moments in my life when I had to bite back my words for the greater good. I could let the old dragon have the good tongue lashing she deserved but to what purpose? She would still be Jack's Mom and anything I say now would haunt me in the years to come.
I felt suddenly deflated and really upset at myself. I should have more restraint than that and given what was currently on the TV I could hardly blame her for thinking I came from some kind of dysfunctional family. If I was a parent I'd be concerned too if my son was involved with someone I didn't feel was good enough for him.
It was time to do what my Dad called 'damage control'. I took a deep breath. "I … I'm really sorry Mrs Granger! I'm just upset that's all. I have no idea what's happening at home and I'm worried about my parents. I can certainly understand that you think very little of my family right now but I promise you that I'm not a bad person and I do care a great deal for Jack. I'm really sorry." My voice sounded small to my own ears and while I knew my words had sounded sincere enough that I was actually lying through my teeth. I wasn't at all sorry and wished I could really tell her exactly what I was feeling!
The need to be with my family clawed at me and I had a sudden wave of something akin to homesickness. I had no idea how to handle the situation and desperately needed to find out what, as a family, we were going to do. No matter what happened in my life I always knew I could always bank on my parents to make the correct decisions but in this case I'm not even sure that they will be able to solve the problem. Did I mention that it was my worst nightmare?
Jack was facing me and I could suddenly hear how fast his heart was beating. I could hardly blame him! He thought he was involved with a nice girl from a nice family … not someone whose Mom had adulterous love affairs with extra terrestrial superheroes on the top of skyscrapers! Usually I have no problem understanding where Jack's thoughts are going but his face was a blank mask. He was staring right past me at the TV screen and with a growing sense of unease I realised that one of Mom's early newspaper articles was plastered on the screen "I Spent The Night With Superman" the newsreader was asking just how long their relationship had been going on … Yep this wasn't good!
"I need to call my parents, excuse me" I left the room without a backward glance but with a sense of dread realised that Jack had made no attempt to follow me. I could tell he was still intently staring at the TV screen with the same blank expression on his face.
I walked straight through the front door, around the side of the house and down to the gazebo at the bottom of the garden. Once I was out of sight of the house I whispered "Jason … Where are you?" He was there in less than a second and we took one look at each other and I found myself in a huge bear hug. He was muttering in my ear about stupid parents, stupid security cameras and how they needed cold water pouring over them. His aim was to make me laugh and it worked, if only temporarily.
"Jase, what the hell are we going to say to everyone? We can't tell the truth but it'll make Mom look like a right two timing bitch if we don't and God knows what it'll do to Dad's reputation … both of them that is. Superman can't be having an affair with a married woman … it's just so wrong and Dad'll be a laughing stock. I have no idea what we should do!"
"I have no idea either! We need to fly to Metropolis like now. They were still at work when the news broke and it sounds like chaos down there. They had to fight their way through a huge crowd to get out and … they need us."
I'd love nothing better than to simply fly home to be with our parents but it was much more complicated than that. It was OK for Jason he didn't have to make excuses to Megan and he was more or less free to do as he pleased.
"I can't just fly to Metropolis, Jase. I've got to stay here and pretend to be … well … normal. The only way I can get home is if Jack'll drive me to the airport. I can fly from there if I can avoid anyone seeing me but I can't officially show up in Metropolis until tonight without it looking weird." I once again had to suppress the panic inside and I had to ask my big brother the question we were both avoiding.
"Do you think they'll figure it out?" he knew what I meant without me going into details. The chances of someone, whether a reporter or a member of the public, figuring out that Lois Lane Kent's lover bore an uncanny resemblance to her husband was pretty high. Never before had we come so close to exposure and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were all standing on a precipice waiting to see if we would fall. He simply shrugged and answered in his usual manner "No point worrying about it Darce! If it happens it happens. We'll deal."
We soon said goodbye after a further hug and I watched with a small amount of envy as the shot up into the sky.
Hope you enjoyed chapter 2! Please R&R!