Lois & Clark Forums Forums Superman In Other Canon Superman In Other Canon Fanfic Twelve Steps From Smallville 55/57 (Smallville & the Superman movies)

Richard squatted down, looked him in the eye.

"You all right?"

Clark could only give an exhausted, crazy laugh. He returned Richard's direct gaze and took a deep breath. "You know, you're not like Lex Luthor either."

He laughed harder at the surprise in Richard's face.

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

"He isn't, you know," Clark told Perry. "Lex would have piled the kryptonite on me, watched me writhe in pain. Richard…." His voice trailed off. "The first thing Richard did, when he saw what was happening, was help me. He didn't hesitate a second." Clark straightened his shoulders. "He's a good man."

Perry nodded. "What happened next?"

"Well, somehow things were all right after that. I apologized for everything, on general principles. And we just sat there in the mud, talking," Clark said, smiling. "We agreed that I hadn't really taken Lois, because Lois is Lois, and Lois is going to do what Lois wants to do." He smiled again. "And, I didn't say it out loud, but I'm very lucky that what Lois wants is to be with me."

Perry nodded again.

"And I got a lead-lined bag from the house – I don't think you noticed me come in, Perry, I was moving pretty fast – and Richard was kind enough to gather up all the kryptonite pebbles and get them behind lead." Clark grimaced. "I asked him to hold on to the bag for me."

"And Jason?"

"Jason. Well, he's going on a sleepover with Ben Hubbard's grandson tonight. After he leaves, the plan is to talk tonight, and settle on a joint custody schedule of some sort. You and my mom are the umpires."

"Whoa! I didn't sign up for that!" Perry said, alarmed.

"Don't worry, Perry, you won't have to do a thing with Martha Kent in the house," Clark teased. "Just give the appearance of neutrality."

"I can do that," Perry said, relieved. "OK."

"Richard and I were pretty dirty, so he went back to the motel to clean up. You saw what I looked like."

"Like someone that fell into a muddy ditch."

"Yeah, basically, that's what happened." Clark smiled. "You know, I never thought falling in a muddy ditch would be what we needed."

Perry's response was cut off by the sound of Martha's car pulling up. They headed to the door, and met Martha, Lois, and Jason. Clark hugged his son, then pulled Lois close to him for a kiss. Perry exchanged smiles with Martha, and said "Hello" to Jason. Shy, Jason merely echoed the greeting.

"Did you have a good time?" Clark asked.

"I think all of Smallville has seen us traipsing around," Lois agreed wryly. "Jason, why don't you go upstairs and change your clothes?"

Jason looked at Clark, then at Perry. Apparently the older man still had the power to frighten him, for the boy scampered up the stairs without further ado.

"I don't know how that child can get dirty just walking around town," Lois said.

"It's a Kent trait," Clark said. "My mom can tell you so many stories…"

Lois cast an arch look at Martha. "Speaking of your mother, she introduced Jason as my son. But I think a lot of people were drawing conclusions. They were hinting about you being the father."

Martha only smiled. She seemed determined to let Lois do the talking.

"What'd she say?" Clark asked, a mixture of admiration and apprehension on his face.

"Nothing concrete," Lois replied. "Martha is the master of the vague answer and the non-denial denial."

"Anyone that's been in Congress has learned to do that," Martha agreed, laughter in her voice. She changed the subject. "Clark, help me carry in the groceries?"

"No problem, Mom." Clark gave a quick look around (checking for witnesses, Perry thought) then with the usual blur and whoosh of speed, bags of food covered the kitchen table.

"Plans for the afternoon?" Clark asked, looking at Lois hungrily.

"I have to get Jason set up for his sleepover, but that won't take very long," Lois said. "Your mother said something about baking a pie for dessert. Perry?"

"Uh, I've still got some Planet work to get done," Perry replied.

"Maybe you and I and Jason could go out for a walk?" Clark asked.

"That would be nice," Lois replied. She squeezed Clark's hand. "Let me go and get things ready right now."

She headed up the stairs. Martha began bustling around the kitchen. "Cherry or apple pie, Clark?" she asked. "It's not often I get my son home for dinner anymore."

"Um….how about both?" Clark asked.

Perry chuckled. "I second that."

Martha smiled too. "All right then. I'll just double the pastry recipe….what is it?"

Clark had assumed a listening posture and his face fell.

"Train wreck in San Francisco. I have to go." He stared for just a moment at the kitchen that contained the people he cared about most in the world. The expression in his eyes made Perry realize the price Clark paid, every day, in small ways and large, for his powers. "Tell Lois, right?"

"Of course," Martha said, as Clark blurred into the Superman suit. "Honey, it's pot roast for dinner, so if you can get home in time…." Her tone was not hopeful.

"I'll do what I can," Clark said. He bent down to kiss Martha on the cheek. "Perry," he said, acknowledging his editor. He vanished.

Martha sighed. Then she straightened her shoulders and began bustling

around the kitchen, putting away groceries and pulling out cooking items.

Lois came down the stairs. "We're all set," she called out as she entered the kitchen. Her face fell when she realized Clark's absence.

"Train wreck in San Francisco," Perry said. "He had to go."

Lois sighed too. Jason came tumbling down the stairs.

"Clark had to go out, Jason," Martha said matter-of-factly. "Will you help me make the pies?"

The thought of making the pies obviously drove all thoughts of Clark from the boy's mind. "Sure!"

Perry watched, interested in this glimpse of the daily life of the woman who had raised Superman. He found that Martha Kent was quite good at keeping the attention of active five-year-olds. She got Jason rolling the pastry with the rolling pin, flouring the pin cover as needed. Under careful supervision, Jason chopped a few apples. Perry carefully concealed a smile at the irregular chunks which resulted – he was sure that a Martha Kent apple pie would taste just as good with apples in chunks instead of slices. By unspoken agreement, he and Lois kept quiet as Martha showed Jason how to prepare a pot roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots.

It wasn't long after Martha slipped the pot roast into the oven that Richard knocked at the door.

Jason ran to him. "Daddy!"

"Hi, sport," Richard said, hoisting Jason into the air. "Hello, Martha. Lois. Perry." His wave encompassed all three.

Perry saw a difference right away. The old Richard was back. The Richard who had lingered in his hospital bed, who had brooded about Clark, who had confessed his inner fears to Perry about Lois not being human, was gone.

"Where's Clark?" Richard asked.

The adults looked around at each other and it was Martha who replied. "Train wreck in San Francisco. He had to go."

"Oh." Richard sat down at the table, holding Jason in his lap. "Hey, is that pie?"

"Apple," Martha said. "Jason's been helping make the filling."

"Is that right, sport?" Richard asked his son, ruffling Jason's hair.

"Yeah! Grandma helped me hold the knife, and I cut the apples!"

Perry saw Richard and Lois look at each other. Richard quirked his lips in just the tiniest teasing smile. Lois, trying to look affronted, finally gave up and smiled back. Perry would bet that Richard was going to say something to Jason like, Gee, you never did anything like that with your Mommy – she never cooks. And Lois, with her gaze, was telling Richard, Don't say anything like that if you want to keep your spleen. Five years of living together, raising a child together, had given Lois and Richard the ability to communicate with looks. Perry recognized the byplay – he himself had a profound respect for Alice's "family look".

"Coffee, Richard?" Martha asked.

"Sure."

Martha checked her floury hands. "Oh, would you mind getting it yourself? There are some mugs in the cupboard right there."

Richard found himself a mug, and wordlessly offered to refill Perry's and Lois's cups as well. They sat down, enjoying watching Jason "help" Martha in her rolling out the pastry for the second pie.

Richard broke the moment of companionable silence. "Tell me about Clark, Martha." It was a courteous request.

Martha lifted her head in surprise. "What do you want to know?"

Richard took a minute to look at the warm and friendly kitchen, ending at Jason. His gaze lingered on the young boy. "Well, now that I know that Superman has a….civilian identity, I'm curious about how it was when he was a kid. I understand you found him?"

Martha in her turn gazed at Jason, who was using the rolling pin to spread the pie pastry out to a totally improbable size and impractical thinness. She smiled, in reminiscence, Perry thought. "Well, Jonathan and I were driving back from town. And it was one of the most frightening situations I've ever been in. There was a meteor shower. You may have heard about it."

"I remember hearing more about the second meteor shower," Richard said honestly. "I was only a kid at the first one."

"Yes, you would have been," Martha murmured, taking in Richard's relative youth. "Anyway, a meteor – or what we thought was a meteor – crashed right in front of us…." Perry listened, interested, as Martha described the events surrounding Clark's arrival on Earth. He'd heard Clark mention how his spaceship had landed in Smallville, but had never heard all the details. He suspected that Clark didn't know all the details himself – after all, how many two-year-olds would be able to remember?

The auburn-haired woman went on, telling how she and Jonathan Kent had agreed, with one unspoken look, that they would take in the small traveler. And how, later, Jonathan had been reluctant, but Martha had forced his hand, telling the sheriff that their adoption had come through, that they'd gained custody of Clark.

Her voice hardened as she detailed the lies they'd had to tell, the favor they'd used from Lionel Luthor, using the Luthor money and influence to create a false adoption record.

"I wish we'd never done that," Martha said quietly. "If I'd known then what I know now….the Luthors would never have been involved with Clark that early in his life." She smiled at Lois. "Actually, it was Lois who taught me a whole bunch about establishing a new identity out of the blue."

Richard raised his eyebrows. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised….but I am."

Lois preened. "I've always been the law-abiding Lois around you, Richard."

A momentary flash of bitterness. "Well, I guess I just have less to hide."

That took the air out of the conversation. After a few seconds, Richard said, "Sorry."

Martha turned to Jason, still wielding the rolling pin gleefully. "No, no. That's too thin. We'll have to re-roll." She gathered up the pastry and crumpled it into a ball, sprinkling flour over it. "Now it'll be tougher," she murmured.

She took a deep breath. "You might ask when we realized there was something different about Clark." Perry listened, fascinated at this glimpse into Clark's early life.

"Aside from the spaceship in the cellar, of course – "

Richard, Lois, and Perry couldn't help but smile at Martha's tart comment.

" – Clark was a regular little boy. Except, even from the start, he was very strong." She carefully stopped Jason from rolling the pastry into paper-thinness again. Carefully folding the rough circle of rolled piecrust in half, Martha gently placed it into the pie pan. Then she unfolded it, leaving rough edges hanging over the pan borders. She took a small paring knife and quickly slashed off the hanging edges, leaving a floured-but-uncooked piecrust in the bottom of the pie pan.

"He got his speed when he was eight. I remember we lost him in the woods one day." Martha stood, a distant look in her eyes. "No, Jason, don't eat the piecrust." She knocked Jason's hand away from one of the cut pastry bits.

The phone rang, distracting them all. Martha answered, and after a few moments, looked uncertainly between Lois and Richard. "Can Jason go early? Robert wants to show him his tree house."

Jason cried out, "Can I go, Mommy? Daddy?"

Lois and Richard gave each other another look. "Yes, you can," Lois said.

Martha talked some more on the phone, then turned to Lois. "Ben Hubbard can't pick up Jason for two more hours. Robert's mother is wondering if you would bring Jason over."

"Mommy?" Jason pleaded.

Lois sighed. "OK. Get your stuff, Jason. We left it upstairs." The child raced upstairs.

"He sounds like a herd of elephants," Lois said resignedly.

"Not quite a herd," Richard teased.

Perry said nothing, watching Martha. She looked…..happy. Yes, it was happy, Perry decided.