Chapter 5: The Ropes of Fatherhood

Clark carried Jason out of the hospital. When they reached the waiting taxi Jason woke up and saw that he was in Mr. Clark's arms, "Where's mommy?" he asked looking around. Jason knew he was safe, after all he knew Clark was Superman, so he wasn't afraid.

Clark looked into the little boy's eyes, "Your mommy is still inside the hospital. The doctors wanted her to stay to make sure she's all right, but since you're not hurt you don't need to stay, so your mommy called me and asked if I could take care of you," said Clark as he sat in the back seat of the car with Jason safely tucked in his lap.

Jason nodded satisfied, "I want my Superman toy," he said innocently. Clark smiled, and asked where it was and they would go get it. "It's home."

Clark nodded, "Mommy gave me the keys, and I know Richard's not at the house and the police had said it would be safe to go there so let's go pick him up, and get some things for you and your mommy too," Clark said gently. Jason nodded and hugged him tighter. Clark slid into the back of the taxi, "312 Riverside Drive, please." The driver nodded and they were off.

Twenty minutes later, Clark and Jason got out of the taxi and Clark paid the driver to wait for them before he carried Jason into house. The police had been there and gone, so no one was in the house and it was locked. Clark took Lois' keys out and opened the door, setting Jason down before closing it behind them. Jason immediately ran up the stairs and to his room. Clark followed behind him at a more moderate pace. Jason's room was decorated with aircraft wallpaper, and there were several model airplanes hanging from the ceiling and on the bookshelf, which was packed with all kinds of storybooks of various sizes. Clark quickly x-rayed the room and found that his luggage was on the top shelf of the closet. He opened it and took out two of the moderate sized ones, which were both engraved with hi name. Clark set them on the bed and opened them, then went to the chest of drawers to grab Jason's clothes. While Clark's back was turned, Jason grabbed a pile of toys from the toy chest and filled both suitcases with. Clark, of course knew what he had done, and had trouble keeping the smile from his face. After schooling his expression into something resembling a "stern father" face, he turned back around.

Jason looked up at him with the most innocent face he could muster, and Clark's mock-stern façade melted way and he chuckled. "You can't take them all with you Jason. Besides, this is only for a couple of days."

Jason giggled, and pulled the two stuffed toys, a stuffed version of Superman in one of his classic poses, and a dark red dragon, from the top of the pile out and held them up as well as a medium-sized box of Legos. "Can I bring these with me then?" Clark nodded and Jason set them on the bed beside the suitcase before taking out the others and putting them back in the toy chest, but when he looked at the Superman toy again he noticed that it had a hole on its side. Two big tears formed in his eyes as he cried, "Superman's hurt, Daddy," he held up the toy for Clark to see it.

Clark's heart nearly burst with unrestrained joy as he heard Jason call him daddy. He took the toy in his hands and looked at it. It was a plush stuffed toy made in the likeness of Superman with his hands on his hips, but there was now a tear at the side of the toy. It looked as thought the toy had been cut and some of the stuffing had fallen out. Oddly enough, the toy was damaged in the exact place where Luthor had stabbed him in New Krypton. "Well Jason, I'm sure we can find a way to make him all better," he said as he crouched down to his son's level and inspected the toy. "We're gonna go to my mother's house and maybe she can fix him for you. I don't know how to sow but my mom is great at it. I'm sure she could fix Superman for you."

Jason beamed, "Good 'cause Superman can't be hurt if he's gonna catch the bad guys," Clark smiled and packed the clothes in Jason's suitcases, taking also a couple of storybooks Jason had selected. He closes the bags and picked them up, taking them downstairs before going to Lois's room. He packed her a couple of bags of clothes and grabbed her laptop putting it on top of the clothes in one of the suitcases before closing them both and taking them downstairs. Clark picked up Jason's bags and carried them to the waiting taxi while Jason walked beside him carrying his two stuffed toys. Clark put the bags in the trunk and slid into the back seat of the taxi beside his son.

"Daily Planet please," Clark instructed the driver and then turned to Jason, "So tell me about your toys, Jason," he said to the little boy.

Jason beamed as he snuggled up in Clark's broad chest making him smile even wider, "Well this is Superman," he said indicating the stuffed toy version of his alter ego, "and this is Eragon my dragon. Mommy got me Superman the day after Superman came back and he is my mostest favorite friend ever. He sleeps with me every night and we're always playing together. And Eragon I had since I was a baby 'cause mommy saw it in a toy store and she says I kicked her a lot when she picked it up telling her that I wanted it and he's slept with me since then, even when I was still in mommy's tummy 'cause she said that I wouldn't stop kicking her, until she grabbed the toy and put it near he tummy. Do you think your mommy will fix Superman, Daddy? And why're we going to your work?"

"Well Jason," Clark said as he pushed his glasses up his nose, "We have to let Perry know that mommy's at the hospital so he'll excuse her from work."

"Like the Principal needs to know when the kids at school are sick and not coming to school?" Jason asked.

Clark nodded, "Yes, after that we'll go to my mom's," Clark reached into his pocket but then thought better of it, "Ooops, I guess I left my mom's house so quickly that I forgot to take my cell phone with me. Well it doesn't matter. We'll surprise her then," he said as the taxi pulled up at the curb in front of the Planet. Clark paid the driver and picked up the luggage, Jason walked beside him, holding onto his jacket since Clark's hands were full as they walked into the building and went into the elevator.

When the elevator doors closed, Jason finally asked the question he had wanted to ask him for weeks, "Are you really my daddy Superman?"

Clark was stunned but he was not about to start his relationship with his son on a lie, so only asked, "Jason how did you know I was Superman? Why would you ask that?"

"I don't know, I could just tell. Can't everybody?" he asked innocently.

Clark smiled. "No son they can't and you mustn't tell either, OK?"

"OK, I won't tell. Promise." The little boy looked up at him his face screwed up in thought. "And well my dad, my other dad, he's not my bilog…biolgc.."

"Biological?" put in Clark.

"Yeah! He's not my biological dad. I didn't know what that was but Mommy told me it meant that I had another dad but she said he died." He took a deep breath and went on in an enthusiastic rush "But the other day I got really strong and my asthma went away and then I heard Mommy whisper to you in the hospital, so I was thinking that Mommy only thought you died 'cause you went away."

Clark was speechless; Jason knew Richard wasn't his father and he'd heard Lois in the hospital, that's why he had called him daddy earlier. "Jason, have you talked to your mother about this?"

The boy just shook his head "I'm not supposed to eavesdrop," he said in whisper "she'd be mad."

"I see," said Clark smothering a smile with his hand. "So you heard everything she said to me?"

"Un-huh, I heard her say that you were my daddy. Is it true Superman, is it?" he looked at him expectantly.

Clark smiled at him and stoked his hair "Yes, its true."

"Oh this is so cool! Am I gonna be able to fly?! Just like you!" They were both grinning like fools but Clark didn't care he had never been so happy in his life.

"Well, I'm not sure, maybe. I couldn't fly until I was much, much older than you so we'll have to wait and see." Jason's face fell a little.

"Oh. But I'm already real strong, look!" he raised his arm in a strong man pose to show off his muscles and Clark laughed.

"I can see that you are! But listen, you can't call me Superman when we're in public and I'm not in the suit, OK?" Jason nodded, and the doors opened to the bullpen. It was after hours so very few people remained in the office including Editor in Chief Perry White, who was still hard at work. Clark set the luggage near his desk and sat Jason down on his chair telling the little boy to wait for him there a minute. Jason nodded and Clark walked to the Editor's office, keeping one ear on his son at all times.

Clark knocked on the door and opened it up a little, "Mr. White?" he called in his usual hesitant tone.

Perry White looked up from his computer and motioned for Clark to come in, "Kent what are you doing here so late?"

Clark walked into the office, "Uh… Mr. White…um… I'm not sure if you've heard what happened… to Lois today but…"

Perry looked up startled, "What happened to her?" he nearly shouted.

"Well… um… sir. Lois was in a car accident today and is in the hospital. The doctors want her to stay in overnight… and well Richard… was involved…."

"Richard, is he…?" asked Perry.

Clark forwent his usual hesitant voice pattern as he spoke his next sentence; " Sir I'm not sure how to tell you this, but… I went to the hospital as soon as I got Lois' call. She told me that she was going to break up with him this morning and took him outside to talk to him away from Jason's hearing. He already knew what I was going to say… The next thing she knew he had pulled a gun on her, but she managed to kick it out of his hand and ran back into the house. She grabbed Jason and tried to go for her keys, but Richard beat her to them. He tried to force her to stay and Jason saw he had the gun. She said kicked him again and threw him against the far wall ran to her car. He pursued her and she said she threw the engagement ring at him, and got on the car. He chased after them and ran them off the road into the light post. Richard hasn't been seen since. Superman arrived just seconds after Lois called him for help and took Lois and Jason to the hospital. Jason's fine, but Lois has a concussion, two cracked ribs, and a broken arm. Lois called me and asked me to pick up Jason since he didn't need to stay at the hospital, and she knew that Richard didn't know where I lived in case he tried to find him. She also didn't want to involve her sister, in case anything happened," Clark informed his boss.

Perry put his head in his hands, "I can't believe Richard would do something like this. I know he must have been hurting but this… Tell Lois that she can forget about work until she's back on her feet."

Clark nodded as he stood, "Yes sir. I'll also be taking a couple of days off to help Lois since she doesn't want to involve her family."

Perry nodded without looking up, "Yes, Kent, you do that and thank you for informing me."

Clark nodded and left the office, but before he did, he turned back around and said, "I'm sorry to have had to tell you that." Perry nodded and he walked out the door. He walked back to Jason and picked him and the luggage up before heading to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed Clark pressed the button for the lobby then smiled at Jason, "Would you like to take my special exit Jason?" he asked with a smile. Jason nodded eagerly. Clark smiled and put him and the luggage down before he spun into his primarily colored suit. Then he picked everything up again and flew out of the trap door, Jason's delighted scream the only echo to be left behind. Clark flew with his son towards the farm in Kansas. "Truth is Jason, that your grandma lives in Kansas so this is the only way to get to her."

Jason was ecstatic, "Wow daddy, so what's my Grandma like? Does she know about me?" he asked eagerly.

"Your Grandma is wonderful and she's dying to meet you, so let's hurry up so we can get to her and surprise her," Jason nodded eagerly and Clark sped up a little. Clark knew his mother would just die at the sight of the unexpected sleep over guest.

Ten minutes later, Clark landed in the driveway of the farm, carrying his son. Clark walked to the quaint little house and stepped inside, "Mom," he called from the door as he set the luggage and Jason down. Clark quickly hid Jason inside his cape so as to surprise his mother. Jason wrapped his arms around his legs as it was the only thing he could reach.

"CLARK, you're back. What happened? You rushed out of here so quickly," said Martha as she rushed over to her son. That's when she noticed the luggage and frowned.

Clark smiled with a mischievous glint in his eye, "We'll talk about that later Mom, but now I would like you to meet someone," he said while drawing his cape apart to reveal the little boy. Martha gasped in delight. This was her grandson; he looked just like Clerk did when he was that age. Clark coaxed Jason into letting go and pushed him forward gently while he crouched down, "Jason this is your grandma," Clark looked up at his mother clearly pleased with himself, "Mom this is Jason,"

Martha dropped to her knees in front of the little boy and hugged him. Jason's lips formed the words help me, as he silently pleaded with his father to help him free from her tight grasp. Martha stood and grabbed his hand as they walked into the kitchen, "Have you eaten anything Jason?" she asked the little boy.

Jason shook his head, "The nurses gave me some pizza but I don't like Hospital food. Hospital food is eeky," said Jason. Martha was puzzled by what Jason had said, but noticed that Clark's hand had tightened on the table in obvious restrained anger and decided not to push as she set about making Jason some dinner. She would ask her son about it later. Jason quickly gobbled up his dinner and even Clark ate some more before they had their pie. Jason quickly fell in love with his grandma's cooking. Father and son gobbled up their dessert and even asked for seconds. Martha had a very hard time trying not to break down and laugh at their antics. They were so much alike it was priceless. After eating, Clark, Martha and Jason settled in the living room with a game of Monopoly, but Clark had to get up to go to the bathroom and left them to continue the game. While he was gone, Jason got up from the sofa and ran to his backpack, retrieving his Superman toy and his dragon. "Granny, can you fix him?" Jason asked, holding his stuffed Superman toy, "He was hurt when we got to my room and daddy said you could fix 'im?"

Martha took the toy from Jason's hand and inspected it. It was hard not to break down and laugh. Now they made a stuffed version of her son! She took a look at the damage and said, "Of course I can Jason," She stood and got a needle and royal blue thread from her sowing basket as well as some more stuffing for the toy as some of it had fallen out, returning to the sofa and sitting beside Jason, "Now let's see what we have here," she said as she placed the toy on her lap. Martha stuffed the toy with a little more stuffing before closing the gash on its side. She did such a good job that it appeared a though it had never been broken at all. She handed the toy back to Jason as soon as she was done, "There now all better,"

Jason hugged the toy to his chest tightly as he climbed into his grandma's lap and hugged her as well, "Thank you Granny," he said. Martha returned the hug as she noticed that they had an audience. Caught red handed, Clark stepped into the room. Jason jumped off his grandma's lap and ran to his father who gladly scooped him up, "Daddy, daddy. You were right. Granny fixed Superman! Look he's all better now," he said showing his father the toy as he snuggled up in his chest.

Clark smiled as he plopped himself down on the sofa opposite his mother and placed Jason on his lap, "I told you she could. Now about that game we were playing…" Clark trailed of as Jason jumped off his lap and picked up his piece. Martha wiped her eyes discreetly, as she joined in the game.

An hour passed. Jason won the game as he owned a large portion of the properties and had a large amount of money, although both Clark and Martha had made sure to let him do just that. Martha owned the rest, with Clark only having three properties of his own. Clark grumbled good naturedly as his son danced around the living room doing a victory 'dance' Clark couldn't help but laugh at his antics. Jason stopped and yawned widely as he rubbed his eye. Clark took his cue and picked him up, "Oh, I think it's time for bed," he said to his son and Jason nodded as he snuggled up to his father. Clark used his x-ray vision to find Jason's pajamas in the luggage and quickly picked up the bag that contained it as well as Jason's toothbrush and carried it and his son up the stairs. Clark helped Jason into his pajamas and Jason went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Clark then picked him up and settled Jason in his old bed in his old room and sat beside the little boy.

Jason looked up at his daddy, "Daddy what's with all the stars in the ceiling?"

Clark looked up at the ceiling and smiled, "Well Jason it's made so it looks like the night sky. When I was younger, I place all those glow-in-the-dark stars in the ceiling in the pattern of the stars of the galaxy where Krypton was." Clark laid down beside Jason and the little boy snuggled up to his chest, "See that big red one in the middle? That was Krypton's red sun."

Jason looked up at the stars, "Daddy what happened to Kryp…crisp…"

"Krypton?" Clark supplied. Jason nodded, "Well a long time ago, when I was just a baby, my parents, my birth parents, put me in a spaceship because our planet was about to be destroyed because our sun was dying. They sent me off just before the sun exploded."

"That's how you got here?"

"Hmmmm, yes. I arrived on earth when I was about 2 years old and mom and dad took me in."

"Mom and Dad?"

Clark gave Jason a kiss on the forehead, "Yes. My mom, the one you met, and my dad; who died a few years ago found me and took me in."

Jason was silent for a second before he voiced his concerns to his father, "Will you leave me again, Daddy?"

Clark was stunned. He hadn't expected any question like that one, but on the other had, he knew he probably should have. "Jason I would never leave you. You mean more to me than life itself. When I went to Krypton last time, neither your mommy nor I knew that you were inside your mommy's tummy. If we had known, I would have never, ever in a million years even thought about leaving," Clark told him sincerely.

"Then why did you leave? Didn't you wanna be here anymore?"

Clark was silent for a moment, trying to think of a way to answer his son, without revealing too much of the relationship between him and his mother that Jason was far too young to understand. He settled for the excuse he had given before, knowing that it was only part of the reason… a very small part. "Some bad guys from Krypton came to Earth and after I defeated them with some help from your mommy, wondered if perhaps other people from Krypton had survived. There was a report in the paper that astronomers had found the remains of Krypton, and that it appeared that the planet was intact and that there were signs that there was still life on it. I kept wondering if it was true, and finally decided that the only thing to do was go and see for myself."

"Why?"

"Well, I thought that maybe my birth father had been wrong and that the planet wasn't doomed to be destroyed like he thought, or that only part of it was destroyed…… I had so many questions but I didn't have anyone that could answer them for me…"

"Not even your mommy?" Jason asked.

Clark shook his head, "No. I know she wanted to be able to, but those questions could only be answered by other Kryptonians like me… I also felt alone because for the longest time I had thought that I was the last of my kind, "the last son of Krypton" and I wondered if perhaps there was someone else that was like me somewhere. So I went to see what I found."

"What did you find Daddy?"

Clark was silent for some time, wondering how to answer without confusing or scaring Jason, "Well, the trip took a very long time, 2 ½ years just to get to the galaxy, and when I got there… I found that my father had been right after all. The sun was gone, and without it there couldn't have been life. But I thought that perhaps they had found a way, so I went to see the planet, and found… that… it was indeed gone. One whole side of it was missing, like someone had taken a bite out of the planet… After that I decided to come back, but that trip took another 2 ½ years, which is why I was gone so long."

Jason was silent for a minute, thinking over what his daddy had said. One thought kept going around in his head, Daddy was lonely. He then threw his arms around his father and hugged him as tight as his little arms could manage. "You're not alone anymore. You have me and mommy now," he said, with a wisdom that was far beyond his years. Tears sprang to Clarks eyes as he held onto his precious little miracle. Jason snuggled up in his father's embrace and was soon fast asleep…

A few minutes later, after Clark had managed to tear himself away from his son and tuck him in for the night, he walked back down to the living room and sat down beside his mother, as she handed him the cup of scalding hot tea she had there waiting for him. Clark took a sip, not even bothering to wait until it cooled down. "This one's new," he said to his mother.

Martha smiled, "Yes it's a new herbal tea blend. It's supposed to be good for helping one relax, and you look very tense," she said as she watched her son drink it down slowly. She couldn't' help the lingering smile on her face. She had always known that Clark would make an excellent father, and tonight, watching him interacting with his son; she had been proven more than right.

"Well if it works I'll drink it morning, noon, and night," he said as he finished the tea and poured himself another.

Martha finally decided to get down to business, "What happened tonight Clark?" she asked.

Clark's eyes went hard as he sighed and told his mother of what had happened. Martha gasped at what she heard, and she was sure it had really upset her son. She put her arms around him, offering comfort. When Clark was finished with the story, he looked up at her, "Mom, can you watch Jason for me? I need to go look for Richard. He cannot get away with this."

"Of course Clark, but do you have any idea where to look?" she asked as she followed Clark to the door.

Clark shook his head, "No, but since I already know that the seaplane is gone, and I know that he couldn't have gone too far as the plane is too small to make long journeys. Besides I need to make sure Superman's presence is known in the world." Martha nodded and gave him a hug before she stepped back and watched as her son spun into his suit before walking out the door and taking off into the sky. However, Clark had not gone more than a few hundred meters away from the house when he heard his son screaming in his room. Clark changed course and few into the window at super-speed materializing in front of the bed just as his mother opened the door. Clark waved her of as he placed his hand on his son's head. Jason's eyes immediately snapped open and he jumped of the bed and into his father's arms, crying. Clark held his son tightly as he sat back on air and rocked him gently trying to soothe his child's cries. Martha shook her head with a small smile on her face and closed the door, knowing that there would be no way for Clark to leave tonight, or at least be gone too long. Clark continued to rock in the air as Jason clung to him. "Shhh, Jason, what happened? Did you have a bad dream?" he asked as he settled on the bed.

"I was hurt daddy, why did the green rocks hurt me?" he asked. He remembered his entire dream, even about the piano, and that confused him so much. "I hurt the bad man with the Piano so he wouldn't hurt my mommy, why can I do those things? I know I'm like you daddy, but you said I was still to little," Jason clung to him, and Clark began to rub his back. "Lex Luthor asked mommy who my daddy was, then when mommy said it was Richard he asked if she was sure as he held a really big cylinder of a green thing. I thought it was sort of pretty, but it really scared me and mommy too. Then he pulled it away and left another bad man with us. I saw the crystals you told me about on the ship and I wanted to touch them 'cause I thought they were really, really pretty, but mommy said not too. Then she told me to go play the piano and the bad man went with me and started to play with me, but then he stood up and started hurting mommy. She was trying to get away from him when I got a really bad asthma attack and then I pushed the piano at the man and it flew across the room and hurt him. I hurt him, I hurt him," said Jason as he began to cry even harder.

Clark pulled his son tightly to him and floated over the bed as he rocked him, in an effort to calm his frightened little boy. "It's alright now Jason. Shhhh, it's gonna be OK. Everything's gonna be OK," he repeated over an over again like chanting a mantra as he cradled his son in his arms, and rocked in the air. It took a few minutes, but he finally got Jason to calm down. When he had finally stopped crying, Clark decided that it was time he explained a few things to his son. "The green thing you described is called Kryptonite. It's a substance that arrived on Earth along with me in the form of meteors. They're pieces of Krypton that crashed on Earth after the planet exploded, and they're the only thing that can really hurt me. Your mommy knew that and I guess she was afraid that it would hurt you too or that Luthor would use it against me. Jason, I need to ask you something. When Luthor put the Kryptonite in front of you, what did it feel like? Did your stomach or head hurt?"

"Not really daddy. But it scared me a lot. I don't know how, but I knew it was bad. Can that stuff hurt me too, Daddy?" Jason asked as he settled down against his father's chest.

"I don't really know Jason. We'll have to wait and see," said Clark as he ran his fingers through his son's tousled locks soothingly.

"Daddy, what about what happened with the bad man? How did I do that?" asked Jason.

"Well, when I was a very little boy, just after I arrived here on earth, I picked up the back end of a very heavy truck. That was the first time I had shown any sign of my powers. Maybe yours was what happened at the boat. But even though what happened may seem bad or scary… I'm so proudof you. You saved your Mommy's life." Jason gave his father a tremulous smile and Clark smiled back at him, kissing his cheek. "Soon, I'm going to start teaching you how to use your powers so that if you're ever in a situation like that again you'll know what to do." Jason beamed at his father as Clark floated over the bed and placed Jason in his place, tucking the covers around him and handing him his Superman toy and his stuffed dragon. "It's really late, Jason. Why don't you get some sleep?" He then turned to the toys and smiled as he spoke in his most commanding 'Superman' voice, though his smile betrayed the tone of his voice, "Now Eragon, mini Superman, I'm charging you with keeping my son safe and making sure he doesn't have any more bad dreams," he said as he took the toys from his son for a minute, "Yes Superman," he said in a tiny voice pretending that the Superman toy was talking to him. He did the same for the dragon before handing them back to his son, who was cracking up and laughing hysterically on the bed as he reached up for his toys. Jason settled against the pillows as he continued to giggle. Clark stood by the side of the bed and bent over, giving his son a kiss on the cheek as he finally close his eyes. "I love you Jason, good night," said Clark as he straightened back up.

"Love you daddy," Jason said as he burrowed under the covers. Clark stayed there by his side until he was sure Jason was asleep, then he floated to the door so as not to make a sound and opened it meaning to float out the door and then leave for "work", but as he opened the door, he found his mother trying in vain to suppress her amusement. Clark had known all along that she had been listening and shook his head as he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Clark made a silent motion telling her that he was leaving. She nodded and he took off.