Chapter 42: Truth, Justice, All That Stuff
“Superman! Superman!”
The fire chief had listened, somewhat dazed, as Superman had detailed what they’d done, the condition of the damaged floor, and the fact that the stairwell was now sound enough to evacuate the people who’d been trapped above the fire. Firefighters and EMTs were already on their way up to assist.
Kara had watched her dad in awe. He was so practiced at dealing with emergency personnel, at speaking their language. He radiated confidence and authority. She felt proud and hoped that someday, she’d be as good a superhero as he was.
Once he was done with the fire chief, the press had surged forward, eager to question them, but her father was holding them off, his hands raised.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m truly sorry, but Supergirl and I don’t have time for questions right now. We’ll try to hold a press conference in the next day or two. For now all I’ll say is that we’re both very happy to have found each other again.” He waved and lifted into the air; Kara followed suit.
As they headed out over the Hudson River, her father pointed out the heavy air traffic around Newark International Airport; they swerved to avoid it. Soon they were above the air traffic lanes and heading back to Wilmington.
In the quiet above the clouds, all of Kara’s questions came flooding back. “Dad, I was so worried when it took so long for you to get here. What happened?”
He reached over and gave her a one-armed hug. “It has to do with time travel, honey. I’ll explain later, but it’s only been a bit over one week for Mom and me, not eight. We’ve been doing nothing else but look for you.”
Kara tried to understand all that, but focused on one part. “Wait, Mom is here too?”
He smiled. “Yes, she is. We’ve been staying with your friend Megan’s family.”
“You didn’t just get here?”
“No sweetheart, I lost my powers when we got here Tuesday night. I had to wait a couple of days to get them back before I could come looking for you.”
Kara mulled that over. “Dad…”
“Yes, Kara?”
“Why didn’t you and Mom tell me about Superman?”
He sighed. “We were getting ready to, honey. We told Jordy when he started to get his powers, and since you were starting to get yours we were going to tell you too. Then you were kidnapped.”
“Wait. I was getting powers?” She frowned.
“I guess you hadn’t noticed, but we had. You’d stopped getting scrapes, bumps, and bruises.”
“Huh.” Kara thought it over, and realized she couldn’t remember the last time she’d needed a bandage.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to tell you before you found out yourself.”
They flew in silence for a while.
“Dad?”
“What, honey?”
She hesitated, then blurted it out. “Am I adopted? Was I born on Krypton?”
Her dad coasted to a stop, and Kara stopped with him. They hovered fifteen miles above Princeton, New Jersey.
He put his hands on her shoulders. “Sweetheart, this is very important, so listen to everything I have to say, OK?”
She nodded tentatively. “OK…”
“I don’t want to get into all the details now but I promise we’ll tell you the whole story later today. Yes, you are adopted, at least according to Earth law. Yes, you were born on Krypton. Your Kryptonian parents were my aunt and uncle, so by birth we’re cousins.
“But the most important thing for you to know is that Mom and I don’t feel any differently about you than we do about Jordy or Laura.” He put one hand on his chest. “In our hearts, you are our daughter. You came to us as a baby, and we have loved you as our own child from that moment on. We don’t care that Mom didn’t give birth to you; that’s an unimportant detail. Just like my parents don’t care that I’m adopted.”
He gathered her into his arms and hugged her. “Do you understand, Kara mia? Your Mom and I love you. You’re our daughter. Jordy and Laura love you too; you’re their sister.”
She nodded, and whispered, “Uh-huh.” She relaxed in his arms.
“If we were a more… typical family, we would have told you you were adopted when you were younger. But we didn’t want to lie to you about how you came to us, and since you came to us in a spaceship we couldn’t tell you about that until we told you about Superman. Does that make sense?”
“I guess.”
He put his palm to her cheek. “Are you OK?”
Kara offered a fragile smile. “I think so.”
“Then how about we go see if we can help your foster family?”
• • •
Somewhere in Maryland, someone was making an encrypted phone call.
“Yes, he was flying… Yes, she called him ‘Daddy’… It was the highest-probability scenario, after all…”
The caller paused to listen.
“I understand. Continue Aviary, initiate Defoe.”
• • •
Since court was still in session in Wilmington, no one had been listening to the news. When the doors opened and Superman followed Supergirl into the courtroom there was an abrupt silence.
Anyone could wear a Superman costume, but Emily saw his hand on Kara’s shoulder and the easy, comfortable manner between them. She knew in an instant he was Kara’s father. He’d finally found her.
Emily felt overjoyed and crushed at the same time.
When Kara had come into her life Emily had thought it would be a short-term foster care placement. But Kara had needed more than just foster care to make it through their eight tumultuous weeks together: she’d needed all the love Emily had to give. Emily had given it freely, but once given, there was no taking it back.
She’d come into the courtroom today afraid of losing one child, only to lose the other.
“Excuse me,” said Judge Quinn. “Are you…?”
Superman stopped at the bar. He seemed to hesitate before replying, “Clark Kent, Your Honor. I’m Kara’s father.” He paused. “Would it be possible to sit in on the proceedings?”
The judge sat back and considered that. “I have no objection to your sitting with your daughter, Mister, um, Kent. In fact, given some of the issues that have been raised I may call on you to testify.”
“Your Honor,” interjected Aunt Aislyn’s attorney. “I have to question whether it’s appropriate for this person to enter the proceedings. Besides, do we even know that he really is her father?”
Aunt Aislyn herself was eyeing Mr. Kent in a manner more appropriate to a singles bar than a courtroom. He studiously ignored her.
Judge Quinn turned back. “Mr. Kent? Can you verify your identity?”
“Certainly, Your Honor.” He floated up, his head nearly touching the high ceiling. He drifted back down to the floor.
Judge Quinn smiled. “I’m satisfied. You may sit with Dr. Jordan’s party.” She paused. “Do you wish to, er, change clothes?”
“Your Honor, my uniform is probably more appropriate courtroom attire than my civilian clothes at the moment.”
She nodded. “Miss Kent?”
“Oh. Yes, please, um, Your Honor.” Again, the clerk opened the door to the judge’s chambers, and again Kara blurred in and out, back to wearing the dress she’d had on earlier.
Mr. Kent smiled at her, and they went to take their seats at the table. Kara reached over and put her hand in her father’s. He squeezed it gently and held on.
Emily smiled at both of them, then turned back before they could see the sheen of unshed tears in her eyes.
• • •
The case against Emily had fallen apart rapidly, and not because of Clark.
The government had managed to dig up a fair amount of dirt on Caitlin’s aunt, including a drug habit. That was the end of her bid for custody. Caitlin had broken down and cried in relief when the specter of being taken from Emily had been laid to rest.
The government counsel had also persuaded the judge to examine the process that had led to the custody hearing. The other side had objected strenuously, claiming irrelevance, but had been overruled. Once that rock had been turned over the government had been able to introduce into evidence internal emails from Delaware Children’s Services. Clark wasn’t sure he wanted to know how that evidence had been obtained, but was glad it had been.
This internal correspondence made it clear that the action was a result of political pressure, not any genuine concern for Caitlin.
Consequently Judge Quinn had ordered Caitlin permanently removed from legal guardianship by the State of Delaware and had promised to recommend that the state Attorney General open an investigation into the case.
The judge had said she was still concerned about the “consequences of celebrity” for Caitlin but agreed to award Emily provisional custody, subject to review in six months. She’d added that barring any problems she was prepared to award Emily permanent custody of her stepsister then.
Aunt Aislyn had sworn to appeal, but had been informed by her lawyer that he’d received a phone call during a break and the financial support for his services had been withdrawn. If she wanted to appeal she’d have to pay his fees herself. That had been the end of that.
At the moment, the Kent-Jordan party stood on the courthouse steps. A crowd had gathered since Clark and Kara had returned from Manhattan, and was watching from behind police barriers. The press was there, too, clamoring for a statement, but the Administration was issuing that from the White House press office, not here. A D.O.J. spokesman was telling the reporters to go back to their offices and read it.
To one side, a small group of protesters had signs opposing Emily and supporting the SMPA. Clark heard them making derogatory comments about him and how he was obviously an actor hired by the government. He didn’t care about that, but they were using language he’d rather Kara not hear.
“Dr. Jordan,” said Jarrod, “I’ve received word from Mr. Douglas. He says you’re free to return to the house in Milford if you like.”
Emily and Caitlin exchanged glances. “We’d like that very much,” said Emily. “We want to go home.”
“Mr. Kent,” added Jarrod, “Mr. Douglas would like to invite you and Ms. Lane to stay at the house as well while you’re here. It’s a converted B&B and there’s plenty of room. He also says that the President would very much like to speak with you and hold a press conference, but is unavailable until tomorrow.”
Clark considered that. “I’ll need to ask Lois, but I think we’ll take you up on that. I don’t want to impose on our current hosts any further if we can avoid it.”
“I guess we’ll take the car while you two fly?” said Emily. “We can… talk when we all get there.”
Clark nodded; that was why he hadn’t changed out of his uniform and had asked Kara to change into hers. “That sounds about right. I need to take Kara to see her mother straight from here. Lois is
very anxious to see her again, and Kara feels the same way. But we definitely want to talk.”
He wondered why Emily looked nervous.
“Can we go home, Em?” asked Caitlin. “I’m totally wiped.” Emily hesitated, then nodded, and they turned to walk to their armored SUV.
“Wait!” called Kara, then went to hug both of them. She looked up at Emily. “It… it feels weird not going with you guys.”
“Go see your mom, sweetie,” said Emily quietly, as she stroked Kara’s hair. “I’m sure she’s missing you. We’ll both see you again soon.” Kara nodded uncertainly. Emily looked at her for a long moment, then continued on her way.
Kara watched as the Jordans climbed into the SUV. Jarrod hopped in the front, and they drove off, escorted by motorcycle police.
Kara walked back to her father and stood next to him, as they watched the Jordans’ motorcade turn the corner. “Daddy?”
“What, honey?”
“What are we going to do about Emily and Caitlin?”
Clark frowned. “What do you mean?”
“They took such good care of me, but it totally messed up their lives. Emily lost her job, and her house, and they need bodyguards, and reporters are always bugging us. We get to go home and have our secret again, but they’re stuck like this. I want to fix it, but I don’t know how.” She looked up at her father, her eyes shining. “What can we do?”
Clark sighed. “I don’t know, sweetheart. I don’t know. But they took care of you, and I promise you we’ll take care of them.”
The reporters were shouting “Superman! Supergirl!” and gesturing for them to come over. Clark just smiled and waved.
He squeezed Kara’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go see Mom.”
He and Kara both shot into the sky as the crowd watched. The protesters gaped, and one of them dropped his sign.
• • •
