A/N: Okay, so quick post before I have to take about a billion major tests this week. . . had this written already and i didn't want to leave you all behind! Anyways, please, please, please review this story! I would love to hear your thoughts on where this should go! I've decided against introducing major villain- hope that's the right choice. But that's not to say there won't be conflict still! You'll soon see what I mean. :D Anyways, here's chapter twelve. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters- I only own the plotline and any of their tendencies that seem a bit wayward from the original source. Also, I have not forgotten Richard White. I just haven't had the time (or, let's be honest, the desire) to include him until now. So there. :)
Richard White awoke that Saturday morning- but let's be honest, it was closer to noon- with his mind in a daze. He blinked a few times to try and figure out where he was before remembering. Oh. He sat up in his bed and rubbed his temples, willing the headache to go away. Finally he mustered enough courage to stand, knocking an empty can of beer off his sheets in his wake.
He sighed. When did this become his life? He had it all- the job, the house, the girl, the kid. Richard felt his chest tighten at that thought. No. He had never really had the girl or the child. It had all been a lie. A cover-up. A good excuse to keep him around, when really all he ever was was a placeholder for a man of made of steel.
How could he have never seen it?
The sad truth of it was that Superman hadn't even been his first guess- hadn't even crossed his mind- when Lois told him that Jason wasn't his own. And he had been pretty pissed, too. Pissed enough that if it were any other name that she'd have given him, he'd have at least tracked the man down and beat the crap out of him. But the name of Superman stopped him dead in his tracks.
How did you beat up the man of steel without compromising Jason or Lois? Or involving Kryptonite? Or getting arrested, for that matter? The solution was quite simple:
You didn't. The man was untouchable.
That's why he left. He had no other options. Richard did not trust himself to stay there anymore, and keep his sanity in tact. That's why he found himself now back in England, in a scummy apartment littered with beer cans and takeout food containers, barely able to pull himself together in time for his job at the Daily Planet in London. Practically an insomniac, depressed, and with some major trust issues. And after flipping out at his new boss, he'd been given a mandatory "mental health" vacation and a one-way ticket to a psychologist's office, to boot.
But hey, no one ever said life was fair.
Richard stepped out the door of his apartment briefly and stooped over to pick up the Metropolis edition of the Daily Planet from the day before. As usual, the front page story featured Superman out on another daring rescue. That alone was enough to irritate Richard.
But he swore as he read the by-line.
"By Lois Lane and Clark Kent," he read aloud to himself. "Of course it is. Just like old times, isn't it, Richard? Lane and Kent, ace reporting team, writing stories on Superman for Uncle Perry. And you're nowhere near the action. Unbelievable," he muttered as he crumpled it up into a ball, walked back inside his apartment and slammed the front door behind him. Part of him still didn't believe it- that Superman was Jason's father, and not Clark Kent. Looking at them, it seemed pretty obvious. He didn't know why he was the only one who saw it.
He thought back for a moment to the email from his uncle he got the other day. Just discussing the usual things: family dealings, life at the Planet mostly- but he glossed over Lois. Taken over by a sudden urge, Richard strode over to his laptop and reopened his uncle's email. His eyes skimmed it quickly, searching for anything about his ex-fiancee, even something as trivial as how many articles she'd written since his departure.
Nothing. Lois Lane's name was not mentioned once.
And surprisingly, neither was Clark's.
The thought occured to him out of the blue. He hadn't been searching for Clark's name whatsoever- in fact, he had only been concerned with Lois and Superman in his speed reading. But the fact remained: Perry White had brought up Superman more times than he brought up Lois or Clark's names combined.
Ridiculous, Richard consoled himself. If there was something going on there, he would have told me. Besides, Lois told me Jason was Superman's son. . .
. . . But she had been so vague about it. It was true. She had even said that she couldn't remember the boy's conception- that he must have done something to her memories or she'd hit her head one too many times or something like that. How was he supposed to believe that? Superman knocking her up and giving her amnesia? Wasn't it easier to just say she'd had a one night stand with Clark?
Then he snapped himself out of it. He was being irrational. She seemed so genuine- it was hard to believe she could be lying. Again, anyways. No; Jason was Superman's son. Not Clark Kent's.
He wasn't quite sure why that was consoling.
The phone rang, breaking him out of his silent musings. He glanced at the clock irritably- realizing just then that it was twelve thirty- before picking it up and forcing a cheerful tone. "Hello?"
"Richard. Are you alright?"
He must have sounded worse for the wear, he thought, glancing at the amount of empty alcohol bottles that littered the confined space. Funny- he didn't feel that bad, excepting the occassional splitting headaches. "I'm fine, Uncle Perry. Funny you should call; I was just thinking about you. How are things going?"
"Um, swell."
Freudian slip, Richard caught himself thinking at his uncle's use of terminology. "Smallville ways creeping up on you already?" he suddenly found himself asking without thinking, with more than a little spite in his tone. Why? Get over yourself, Richard.
"You could say that." There was a slight pause. "Anyways, I just wanted to see how things were going out at the London offices- you transitioning alright? I heard you were, um, taking off a couple of days?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm doing fine here- same as before. Same as ever, really. Say, speaking of Kent, I just read the article he did with L-lois on Superman- not bad. I'm a little surprised he's gotten back into the swing of things so quickly- he did just have a long vacation." He changed the topic conveniently- although somehow, Richard guiltily felt like he was baiting a hook.
Perry took the hint and moved on. He could discuss it later- obviously his nephew didn't want to discuss the forced leave he was put on for a few weeks. "Oh well, yeah, but Kent's an excellent reporter. As good as. . . um, Lois. . . almost. They've always made a good team, anyways."
Richard let his eyes shut briefly as he shook his head. Try as he might, Perry White was almost closer to Lois than he was to Richard himself- and obviously found it difficult to maneuver around her in conversation. "It's okay, Perry. You don't need to avoid talking about Lois for my sake. I can't run away from it forever, no matter how much I might like to." He paused. "How's Jason?"
The silence stretched on for a long time. If Richard didn't know better, he would say he might have felt a little bit of anger radiating from his uncle through the telephone receiver. "Recovering," he finally said. "Slowly but surely. This has been really hard on him. As is it has been on Lois," his uncle's voice sounded pointed.
Richard's heart swelled with anger inexplicably. "I didn't ask about her, Uncle Perry. I don't mind you mentioning her, but it's still a little sore for you to be making jabs at the issue."
"Now listen here, Richard, I don't understand why you would go and run out on them-"
"Perry, I shouldn't have to explain myself to you, of all people," he snapped back.
"Now hold up just a minute there, son. You don't have any right to talk to me like that, you hear? Just cause I'm forcing you to confront the issue-"
"Ha! That's not even the entire issue. Do you have any idea of why I even left them?"
"Yes, I do, and I still think it was a mistake for you. You could have moved on, lived with it, still had a happy family life. Now they're the ones who have moved on, and-"
"Wait a minute. Back up. What? You know why?"
"Yeah, I know."
"You know that Jason's not my son? That Lois had lied to me for five years of my life, that she lied to Jason?"
There was a slight pause before Perry White proceeded. "Yes, Richard. I found out just the other day."
Richard felt floored. "How?" he whispered hoarsely.
"Office gossip runs quickly. Besides, it wasn't so much of a shocker."
"It wasn't?" Richard felt his mouth go dry. Had his uncle known all along? And how could he expect Superman to be the boy's father? Well, yeah, of course there had been rumors that Lois and Superman had a relationship going on in the past- but he didn't think it was that transparent. Did Jason really look that much like the guy? Or was he just hearing wrong?
"Not like that," Perry clarified. "I meant, well, when they're standing side by side it's kind of obvious. Hell, Jason's even got Clark's clumsiness gene. Let alone his eyes and everything else."
The phone dropped from Richard's dead hands and clattered to the floor, his heart plummeting along with it. He stood there frozen for a while, distantly hearing his uncle's voice calling his name from the telephone receiver below, but not registering any of it. He could only think of one thing.
Lois had lied to him.
Twice.
Jason wasn't his son. She'd told him that much. A little late, true, but she'd at least told him. But in the spirit of honesty, she should have at least told him the whole truth. Say, for example, who exactly the real father of her child was. That would have been nice. Instead, she'd mucked it all up again by lying to him, telling him it was Superman and not Clark Kent. And here he found out- from his uncle, no less- that Jason Lane was neither a White nor a Superman (whatever the hell his last name was). He was really a Kent.
God damn that man.
Richard scrambled suddenly to pick up the phone, an idea tugging at his brain. "Sorry, Uncle. My hands were slippery- I was washing dishes before you called, and then I bumped into a chair and I guess the phone went flying."
Perry's voice sounded dubious at best. His nephew's excuse sounded as thin as Clark's were when he was off playing Superman. "Well, alright then. Anyways, I am sorry about all this, Richard."
"Don't mention it, Perry. I'll get over it eventually." He brushed him off. "But hey, um, I'm supposed to be getting a week off coming up, and my doctor recommended that I take a vacation, visit some family."
"Doctor? What kind of doctor?" Perry pried for information once more.
Richard winced. He didn't exactly want to tell his uncle he was seeing a psychiatrist just yet. In addition to the issue at work, it would only upset his uncle more. He brushed him off once more. "Doesn't matter. Anyways, I was wondering if you'd be okay with putting me up for a few days next week."
"Uh, sure. You know we're always glad to have you." There was a pause. "Richard, are you sure you're okay? You seem a little bit. . . on edge right now. Is this a bad time?"
"No, it's alright. Well. . . yeah. I don't know. Why don't I call you back later after I get the plane tickets, so I can tell you when I'll be there for?"
"Okay," his voice sounded guarded. "Talk to you later, then."
"Bye." He quickly hung up the phone. And went about making his reservations for his trip.
After all, he couldn't let Lois get by with this lying unquestioned. And he had some business to settle with Clark- man to man.
A/N: Ta-da! Alright, I told you I wasn't going to drag a villain into this- but I never ruled out dramatic conflict! I'll let you wonder for a while what I'm gonna do next, but because I'm a little torn as to which direction I'm going to take this, I'm still very open to suggestions!
Please, please, please, please REVIEW!