Chapter 7: Meeting Martha

The next day, Clark picked up Lois from the hospital, and took her back to his apartment. He lived in a semi-upscale apartment complex not too far from the Planet. It was 3 bedrooms 2 baths, including the private bath in the master bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a dining room. It was very similar to the apartment she used to have before Jason was born. It was even in the same 3-building apartment complex, but what caught her attention was his balcony. They were in the top floor, though she knew this wasn't the penthouse apartment, and his balcony was as huge as the one she used to have in her old place, even had the rooftop garden and the patio. Lois looked over the place as Clark fidgeted. "How can you afford this?" she asked amazed.

Clark fidgeted some more, "Well, before I left, I sold everything I owned and invested the money. I have a couple of friends who whiz kids when it comes to playing the stock market and they made some great investments for me. I was actually shocked when I got access back to my accounts and saw the change in value." Change in value's an understatement, he thought. I can't believe Ollie and Bruce made such a large change in my accounts in such short time. Guess they really did know their way around the stock market. It's no wonder they're both billionaires.

"They didn't involve you in insider trading did they. Some of that stuff is extremely dangerous, you know?"

"Nah, they just had a knack for picking out starting companies that looked promising. They even invested a good portion of their own capitals, and got great returns for it."

Whatever Lois was going to say next was cut of as Jason came barreling out of one of the rooms and straight to his mother. "MOMMY!! YOU'RE BACK!!!" he yelled as he hurled himself into her arms. Clark reached him first and grabbed him out of the air before he would plow into her since she still had a couple cracked ribs and didn't want him to accidentally hurt her more.

"Whoa there Jason. Take it easy. Mommy just got out of the hospital," he said as he placed Jason back on his feet.

"Oh yeah," he said contritely, scratching his head in a gesture eerily reminiscent of his father. Lois got on her knees and reached her arms out for a hug. Jason quickly, though carefully went into her arms and the two shared a long tight hug, even with Lois' cracked ribs.

"So how's my little boy been? Did you have fun with Clark?" she asked as they pulled apart and Clark helped Lois to her feet, and led her to the couch to sit down.

Jason beamed at her with a 1,000 megawatt smile, identical to the one on Clark's face as he began to tell her all about his adventures with daddy the previous day, "Daddy and I went home to get my stuff and we found Superman with a cut on his side, and then we packed your stuff, and then we went to the planet and I asked daddy if he was Superman, and he said that he was, but told me it was a secret, which is so cool. My daddy's Superman. And then we flew to grandma's farm and it was so cool, and I met grandma and she gave me dinner. She's a really good cook and I love her cooking and then we played monopoly and I won and Grandma fixed Superman for me. I love grandma! and then daddy tucked me in and we talked, and he told me why he left and that he would never ever in a million years leave us again, and then I went to sleep, but I had a bad dream and Daddy made me feel better and rocked me in the air and told me about the bad green rocks and then tucked me in again. But then Richard came and he pulled out some of the green rocks but I made him stop and daddy's OK now, see. And then grandma got rid of the bad rocks and tied up Richard, and then daddy flew me and Grandma and Richard in grandma's truck to Metropolis and Grandma and I came here while daddy took Richard to the police 'cause he tried to hurt us and that's a bad thing. And then Grandma made me breakfast…" Jason continued on and on, but it all went clear over Lois's head. She was focusing only on the fact that Jason was calling Clark daddy.

"Whoa Jason wait a sec," Jason stopped and looked up at his mother, "You know Clark's your daddy?"

Jason got THE MOST adorable look of guilt on his face, as Clark switched up his smile another 10,000 watts. "I kinda heard ya tell him at the hospital… I'm sorry mommy I know I'm not supposed to eavesdrop…" he nearly wailed, thinking of his mother angry with him.

In truth, Lois didn't know how to feel. Should she be annoyed that Clark had told the truth of his identity so easily to their son, an innocent child, while he guarded it so carefully from everyone else? Or should she feel touched that Clark was finally able to be honest with his own flesh and blood? Or should she feel proud that her little investigative reporter had figured it out? Or worried that Jason would share what he knew with the wrong person? She decided that she felt a little bit of all of these emotions. "It's okay Jason, I'm not mad. I'm just shocked you figured him out so quickly when it took me years to finally figure him out."

Jason beamed at the praise; "Well there was that time at your work, where I saw him standing next to a picture of Superman on TV. He looked exactly the same, just with glasses and different clothes." Lois smirked a little. Leave it to her own son to see through Clark's façade before any of the adults around him. "But there were a few times it didn't make sense. Like… why did everybody else think he was just Clark?" Jason got a proud grin on his face as he finished, "And so I asked him 'Are you Superman?'. And he can't lie, so he had to tell me."

Clark was about to say something then he suddenly stiffened, back straightening, half-rising from his chair. It was a look she was learning well, the 'I-have-to-go-save-someone' look. "I… I need to—"

"I know…" Then she pierced Clark with a frosty 'we're-going-to-have-words-about-this-mister' kind of look, and said, "Go!" She shooed him with an impatient wave of her wrist.

He smiled apologetically, and started to head for the bedroom. Then he seemed to decide that was unnecessary. In a blur of color, he was standing before them in his red and blue uniform. Even annoyed as she was, his rapid transformation took her breath away. He nodded regally once, and was suddenly gone, vertical blinds rattling in his wake. Amazingly, the sliding glass door was shut behind him, though the plants on the balcony were swaying with the sudden breeze. Jason was smiling widely again. He seemed completely unfazed by the huge revelation that must have occurred between them last night. "Isn't that cool?"

He had certainly not inherited that calm acceptance from her. She sighed, only able to nod. Last night had been momentous for all of them, it seemed! "Yeah very cool," she answered.

It was then that Martha came out of her guest bedroom. She had been staying out of the way to allow Clark time to explain things to Lois. Jason hopped of his mother lap and barreled into his grandma, giving the old woman a huge good morning hug. Spinning around abruptly, Lois found herself face to face with a familiar woman she couldn't quite pinpoint where she first saw. She opened her mouth to greet her but nothing other than silence came out. Lois was extremely nervous about meeting Clark's mother, specially with him not there.

"Hello." Lois was struck at the light and pleasant tone of Martha Kent's voice.

"Oh. Right. Hi," she said as soon as she remembered where her tongue was. She started to introduce herself like a nervous wreck. "I'm Lois Lane. I'm your son's… I mean, I'm Jason's mom. He's my son. I'm…" Giving up, she looked to Jason embarrassed. "I'm babbling aren't I?"

Jason chuckled. "A little bit."

"Miss Lane," the sound of Martha's voice took her concentration away from her son. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Clark has talked about you for years."

"I hope Clark hasn't said anything too bad about me."

"Not at all. He said you gave him a hard time a lot."

Lois laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, I was just… testing him. Seeing what he's made of and all." Poor Lois could

T even form a coherent sentence in the face of Clark's mother, her gift for garb had totally deserted her now that she needed it the most.

"Miss Lane –— "

"Please, call me, Lois. Formality seems wrong at the moment." Her heartbeat started to get erratic again.

Martha smiled. "It's okay, Lois. I don't bite."

Lois's response ran away from her before she could chase after it. "Are you sure?"

Martha laughed, and looked towards the balcony as her son came back in. "I see now why you're so taken with her. You did well, Clark. You've done really well." Without notice, Martha grabbed Lois's hand and pulled her into a hug, and after an awkward embrace in return, Lois released her fear and anxiety and simply relaxed in his mother's arms.

Lois looked over at a smirking Clark and realized something, "You abandoned me!" she accused.

Clark tried in vain to hold in his laughter trying to maintain an innocent façade, "There was an accident 5 blocks from here. I decided to check it out. I didn't abandon you, honest!" he said while putting a hand over his heart.

Jason was standing behind his daddy with a mischievous smile on his face, "Daddy, why are you crossing your fingers behind your back like that?" he asked INNOCENTLY.

Clark blushed beet-red, Done in by my own son, he thought as he looked over at Lois, who looked ready to draw blood. I'M SO DEAD!!!!

Author's Note:

Hey everybody! I know I said I wouldn't be able to post any more chapters till January, but I couldn't sleep last night so I thought maybe I should work on my story. Please continue to review me, I love hearing from my readers. BTW, what do you guys think of the stories I mentioned in my last note. They're all still works in progress but I'd really love some feedback and if anyone has any ideas for me, I'd love to hear from you. Oh, before I forget, my friend Vgerland mentioned to me that using Luthor in my story would be to predictable, but I kinda got to. Can't leave him out there plotting against Supes now can I. Don't worry he's not my only villain.

BTW, while I was working on chapter 8 I got a great idea for a new one-shot story. It's called Martha's Stories and it's a memory story where she's telling Lois all the embarrassing stories of Clark's childhood, and I was thinking my readers would like to help me with it by sending me e-mails with their own ideas. There's only one rule: You gotta make Supes squirm. If your ideas do it, I'll write them up, and those i write up will get credit for it.

Well, gotta go, Mr. Sandman's waiting for me. Merry X-mas everyone and happy New Year.

Sailor FoxFire