After that, it was a matter of tying up loose ends. Perry stayed with Richard until the younger man fell back to sleep – a troubled, restless sleep, judging by Richard's mutterings and thrashings.

Then Perry went to the Daily Planet, ignoring the curious looks of the night editor. He composed a short piece on the Luthor breakout. Perry managed to put the emphasis on the quick response of the Metropolis Police Department Special Crimes Unit, rather than on the fact that Luthor had escaped from prison after only a few hours in custody. Perry also downplayed the injuries, and made it seem as if Richard and Lex Luthor's henchman had been the only victims of gunplay – definitely not that Superman had been shot. Perry also gave the strong impression that Superman had come too late to prevent the injuries. No sense in denying Superman's presence – everyone in Lois and Richard's neighborhood had seen him, along with most of the SCU. Perry didn't mention kryptonite at all.

Perry ordered the story placed on page 12B, along with other local neighborhood news. If that was too obvious a news manipulation, he didn't care. He wasn't going to lie in the Daily Planet, but that didn't mean he had to print everything he knew, either.

Perry waited until the day assistant editor came in, and turned over the Planet to him. He went to the police precinct, catching Clark leaving as Perry came in. The two men didn't talk, but Clark gave Perry an encouraging smile and a "thumbs-up" gesture.

Maggie Sawyer took Perry's statement herself. Based on the careful way she phrased her questions, and her hints about answering only what was asked, Perry figured that she had some things to be concerned re: investigation into how Lex Luthor got out of MPD custody. Perry stuck to the story that he and Clark had agreed upon, and was relieved to find that Maggie Sawyer seemed to believe him. Although, of course, she was subtle. If she did suspect Perry, he'd never know it until the cuffs were on his wrists.

And after that, Perry went back to his regular job. Afterwards, he remembered that fortnight as a curiously nightmarish time. He'd be immersed in normality, and then something would happen, and bam, he'd be back remembering recent events.

The worst was remembering shooting Lex Luthor's henchman. More than once Perry woke up from his sleep, gasping, heart pounding. He saw the blood blooming on the man's chest, red bubbles frothing at the man's mouth, the life in the man's eyes fade away.

Perry grew short of sleep and irritable. When Clark came to him the next day, Perry only barked, "What?"

"Thought you'd like to know, Perry," Clark said diffidently. Perry noticed the curious glances from the bullpen inhabitants – they all knew that Lois, Clark, Richard, and Perry had been involved in a shootout with Lex Luthor. Perry had done his best to squelch the gossip and rumor but it was too juicy a story not to be talked about. Clark, knowing they were watched, kept to his nerdy reporter persona. Perry found that persona even more irritating than usual today.

Clark continued, "Lois is still the same."

Still dead, then? Perry carefully didn't say. He did bark out, "And Jason?"

Clark couldn't help but smile, as he did with every mention of his son. "He's fine."

"Who's taking care of him?" Perry asked rhetorically. He knew very well who.

"My mother," Clark said, confused.

"Then what the hell are you doing here, Clark?" Perry asked him. "Your seventy-year old mother is taking care of a five-year-old? An active five-year-old?"

"Well, actually, my mom's pretty active herself," Clark began defending himself.

Perry slammed papers down on his desk, cutting Clark off in mid-flow. "Go take care of your son, Clark." Suddenly a deep weariness overtook him, as he remembered the wasted days with his own children, days that could never be regained. "Check in here once a day and turn in some sort of filler stories so you don't have to use your vacation days." Perry sat down heavily. "Go be with your son."

Clark straightened up and gave Perry a searching glance. He must have seen something in Perry's eyes, for he only said, "OK," and left the office. Clark gazed steadily at all the curious eyes watching his exit from the editorial office, and abashed, most of the bullpen looked away. Clark picked up his coat and walked out, the chatter of conversation slowly returning to normal levels.

Perry turned his attention back to his editorial duties. A vision of Lois lying dead on the floor of the den…..No. He took deep breaths, calming his racing heart. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to read the papers on his desk, reading them out loud softly to himself when reading silently could not hold his attention.

*******************

That afternoon, Perry visited Richard in the hospital. Richard seemed feverish and incoherent. Perry reached to touch his arm, and Richard cried out. Richard's bedclothes slipped back, and Perry sucked in his breath at the sight of Richard's wounded arm – painful, red, and swollen.

He cornered the charge nurse, and the Pit Bull soon had the story from her. What she had to say wasn't a real surprise to Perry.

"Your nephew?" This seemed to reassure the nurse. "Mr. White has got a wound infection in that arm."

"He's on antibiotics, isn't he?" asked Perry, concerned. Perry hadn't seen a wound looking like that since he was in Vietnam.

"Yes, they put him on a broad spectrum antibiotic while they're waiting for the culture results," the nurse told him. "He's going to be out of it for a bit from all the medication."

Perry nodded his head slowly. "I'll be back tomorrow," he told the nurse.

Perry had another nightmare that night.

******************

True to his word, Clark checked in every day. The third day, Perry quizzed him.

"What about Jason? Does he know?"

Clark smiled. "He knows I'm…you know," Clark said. "It was kind of hard to hide that from him."

Perry had to smile back. Yeah, seeing Clark turn into Superman in front of you (the change from business suit to superhero Suit happening too fast for the human eye to see), while mindblowing, did make it pretty obvious that they were the same man.

"Actually, Jason knew it when I first came back to the newsroom," Clark said. "He figured it out early."

"What?"

"Yep. I was standing by Lois' desk, and on the TV above there was a picture of Superman, and he made the connection," Clark said. "When I was flying him to Kansas, he wasn't surprised at all."

"I guess kids see the truth," Perry muttered. Then a thought came to him. "Or, if he's your son, is he resistant to…" Perry indicated Clark's glasses.

"Good question, Perry," Clark said. "I really don't know."

"Can Jason keep his mouth shut? He's only five," Perry said, his thoughts automatically progressing from the glasses to the necessity of keeping the secret.

Clark had a comfortable smile again. "Don't worry, Perry," he said. "Yes, he's only five, but – " Clark patted the glasses again, " – I asked him if I could do something to help him keep the secret and Jason said yes. So Jason isn't forgetting anything, but he'll just have a little help in holding his tongue."

"Um, that's good," Perry said. Inwardly he was a little jealous. Perry had had his memory wiped, but five year old kid got special treatment? He assuaged his feelings by asking Clark, "Does he know you're his father?"

Clark sighed. "No." He sat down wearily, his smile extinguished. "I want to tell him, but that's really up to Lois. And I have to run it by Richard, too….but Lois first. I have to talk about it with Lois first."

"Any change?" Perry couldn't help asking.

"No, still lying there like Sleeping Beauty," Clark said.

"You're a prince, give her a kiss then," Perry said, not sure himself if he was joking or not.

"Oh, Perry, I have." Perry turned to Clark to see the other man holding his head in his hands. Clark's voice was muffled. "Every day."

"Oh."

Silence.

"Well, get back to work, then," Perry said.

"Right," Clark said. "I'll check in with you tomorrow."

"Oh, one thing, Clark?" Perry asked, as the tall reporter turned to exit his office.

"Yes?"

Perry looked away, a little abashed. "Richard asked, um, he said that you don't need to come to the hospital every day for an update."

Silence for a moment, then an expression of understanding on Clark's face. "I make him uncomfortable, right?"

Perry paid him the compliment of being direct. "Yes." He hated to say it, because the word wiped the smile off Clark's face, and Clark got that thousand-yard stare and weary expression Perry had seen all too often. "You can update me," Perry said, "and I'll tell him when I visit."

Clark nodded.

**************

Clark continued to check in daily. He also submitted articles on various topics, but all newsworthy. If Perry hadn't interrogated him and gotten reassurance, he would have been afraid that Clark was still working full-time. But the other man swore that, no, he was spending most of his time in Smallville with Jason, Lois (although Lois remained in her "coma") and Martha Kent. Superman rescues were way down, however.

Perry wondered if Clark was even checking in at his own apartment. Shortly after Perry had teamed up Lois and Clark, but before Lois' Big Revelation, as Perry thought of it, Lois had learned that Clark still didn't have a place to live. Perry had no idea what story Clark had spun to hide that he was still commuting from the Kent Farm in Kansas – that is, when he slept at all.

Lois had used her connections – she "knew guys who knew guys" and had lined Clark up with an excellent apartment at a decent rent, not too far from the Planet. Perry was impressed with Lois's contacts, as housing was at a premium after the Luthor-caused crystalquake.

The time away from Metropolis, and contact with his son, seemed to do Clark good. He regained the spring in his step that had been missing ever since he returned from his five-year trip. The worry lines on his face smoothed out. He seemed more content than Perry had ever seen him.

Perry, on the other hand, became more irritable and twitchy, as every day, Clark reported that Lois was still "out of it" – their code phrase that she was still, to all intents and purposes, dead. But Clark swore that all Lois needed was more time, and who was Perry to gainsay him? After his one moment of doubt in Perry's office, Clark had put on a careful attitude of confidence.

Perry realized that he wasn't the only one becoming irritable and twitchy when Lieutenant Sawyer came unannounced to his office one morning. By coincidence (or was it truly coincidental? Perry knew that Maggie Sawyer worked hard, and as the proverb said, luck favored the prepared), Clark was there for his daily report.

"Mr. White. Mr. Kent," Sawyer said quietly.

"Hey, Maggie," Clark said in an ingratiating tone. Perry barely caught the expression of trepidation crossing his face before Clark schooled it back into its customary affable mask. "What's up?"

Sawyer gave them a searching look. Perry kept his poker face. He knew he didn't have to worry about Clark giving away anything.

"Have either of you two seen Superman?" she demanded.

Perry kept himself from glancing at Clark. "Not since that night," he said truthfully. I've seen Clark Kent, not Superman, he told himself. It wasn't a lie, really.

"What about you, Kent?" Sawyer asked Clark directly.

Clark shook his head. "No," he said.

Perry looked at him carefully. Clark wasn't a good liar (maybe because he'd sworn not to tell lies in his Superman persona), but obviously Clark knew that the best way to lie to Maggie Sawyer was to keep the words to a minimum. So far the police lieutenant didn't appear to suspect an untruth.

"Damn!" Maggie cursed quietly. "I was hoping you'd seen him, given that you're his press contact and all…"

Perry felt that tingling of wicked amusement he got at times. "Kent isn't his only media contact, you know, Lieutenant," he said. "There's Johnson at the Star, and Lee at Channel Two, and Swirsky at WABL, and – "

"You know what I mean," Sawyer said sharply. "He deals with the Daily Planet the most, and Lane and Kent most of all." She fixed the two of them with her gimlet gaze. "What I want to know is, where is Lois Lane?"

Silence.

Perry said, after a moment, 'He said he was taking Lois for medical care, as I recall." That was cautious enough, and true enough.

"Yes, but where did he take her?" Sawyer asked, starting to pace. "I mean, usually Superman is pretty good about telling us where he took the witnesses. But Lane? I haven't heard from him at all about her." She whirled to face Clark. "What do you know, Kent?"

"Not much," Clark said. Perry restrained an inappropriate giggle at the barefaced lie. Clark deftly turned the tables on their questioner. "Have you checked local hospitals, ER's, and the like?"

"Of course."

"She was unconscious, and being chased by Lex Luthor," Clark went on. "Might she have been admitted under a different name?"

Sawyer stopped pacing and pinched the bridge of her nose, looking tired suddenly. "It's a possibility," she said. "We'll go back and check again." She muttered, "Damn aliens, can't be found when you want a witness statement….delay my report…can't close the case…." Perry didn't think Sawyer knew he'd heard her. He glanced at Clark, who had a frozen expression.

"Um," Perry said, a non-specific noise of agreement. Anything to buy time.

"Well, if either of you see Superman, tell him I'd like to speak with him about Lois Lane," Maggie Sawyer said, standing straight, the momentary bit of tiredness now concealed under the tough police façade. Dear God, Perry thought, she has a mask too. Do we all hide behind our masks?

"Um, yes, lieutenant, if I see him, I'll pass on the word," Clark said earnestly. Perry nodded too.

"You do that," Sawyer said, and strode out of the room, her confident stride and erect posture telling the world that this was a woman not to be messed with.

Clark and Perry looked at one another. Clark shrugged. "What I am going to tell her?" he said rhetorically.

Perry shrugged back.

"I guess I'll just have to wait for Lois to wake up and talk with Sawyer directly," Clark said. "Then she can deny all knowledge of where she was taken. Lois is better at lying than I am."

"That's for darn sure," Perry said. It made him nervous to lie to Maggie Sawyer. Better to have Lois do it. Clark would be hopeless.

"I'd better get back," Clark said. "Jason and I are going to the zoo today." A tiny smile crept across his previously-grave face.

"Well, what are you waiting around here for? Go take your kid to the zoo!" Perry shooed him out, not wanting to dwell on Sawyer. "Check in with me tomorrow." Sincerity filled his tone as Perry concluded, "I hope Lois is better."

"Me too." Clark nodded at Perry and left.