Lois lay back in the bath and let the water soothe her aching body. She was so much better now than she had been earlier in the week, but it still felt nice to rest in the warm water. When she rose from the bath, it would be time to get dressed and ready to go to Smallville. And while she was looking forward to meeting with Pete and Lana and then having dinner with Clark’s parents, she couldn’t stop the fluttering of butterflies in her stomach.
When Clark had arrived Thursday night, straight from dinner with his parents, it had been like a weight had been lifted from him. They were both exhausted from a long day, and they had gone straight to bed, curling up together and cuddling while he filled her in on his emotional day.
She had listened with rapture as he described his conversation with Lana in detail, her own eyes filling with tears as he whispered the end of their conversation, when he had confessed his greatest fear and been met only with her love. His awe was palpable, as tears shined in his eyes. And she had held him and whispered words of love and comfort as he shook with the relief of knowing they knew and still loved him. Lois had liked Lana from the beginning, but in that moment she loved her with a ferocity that caught her off guard. She was so incredibly grateful to Lana, not just for the years she spent loving Clark and giving him the space he thought he needed, but also for knowing when he was wrong and needed her support.
The report from his parents had been less emotional, but just as uplifting. There had been no arguing, no fighting, and no indication that they were angry he had told her. They were worried about them both and wanted to get to know her better. She was invited to family dinner on Sunday. And Martha had sent home leftovers for her. Lois had laughed at Clark’s assurance that the leftovers alone were proof that her parents were welcoming her into the fold, because Martha’s chicken noodle casserole was a favorite in the Kent home and leftovers were always a hot commodity.
He had told her also how his parents had gushed over his byline on the front page of the Daily Planet and how they kept a scrapbook of all his published articles. She had tried and failed to imagine having the kind of parents who still kept a scrapbook of your work at nearly thirty, and then breathed a sigh of relief that whatever strife she might have caused between them last week didn’t seem to have done any permanent damage.
There was a gentle knock at the bathroom door. “Honey? It’s four o’clock.”
“Okay,” she called back. “Thanks.”
She smiled, so happy just to have him there, to hear his voice on the other side of the door.
“Do you need help?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“Okay, just call me if you need me.”
She heard his footsteps fade away and was grateful once again for how selflessly he had cared for her since her rescue. After nearly a full week, her bruises had faded from a horrifying purple to a sickly greenish yellow and her wrist was starting to be a little more functional. She had managed to wash and dry her own hair that morning with just a little help and felt confident she would be able to do it on her own tomorrow without him. Though maybe she would ask him to stay one more night just in case.
She laughed at herself as she braced her good hand on the rim of the tub and stood, then drained the water and stepped out, reaching for a towel. She didn’t need to come up with reasons to compel him to stay. He wanted to stay. He didn’t want to go home and sleep alone in his own bed any more than she wanted him to go. Still, he was going to have to start sleeping at his place – at least during the week – eventually.
She dried off and put her wrist brace back on, then wiggled into loose gray slacks and a black sweater. She dabbed on some makeup, trying futilely to cover the bruising under her eye and down her cheekbone, then applied mascara and lipstick. At least the large bandage on her head was gone, replaced by a small butterfly bandage. She assessed herself in the mirror, hoping she didn’t look too much like someone who had nearly died a week ago. Then she released her hair from the clip that had held it from the water and ran a brush through it a couple of times.
When she emerged from the bathroom and padded down the hall, Clark was sitting at the kitchen table working on his lesson plans. In front of him on the table lay four crumpled up pieces of paper that she assumed held notes he no longer needed, because she watched him shoot them one at a time across the room into the trash can. The last shot fell short, and her mouth dropped open as she watched him blow a stream of air, catching the paper before it could hit the floor and propelling it the rest of the way into the trash.
He turned and caught her watching and winked.
She laughed and went to him, sitting on his lap and stroking his cheek. “Your life is so weird,” she teased.
He laughed and kissed her. When he pulled back, he grinned at her with that heart-stopping smile, and she couldn’t help but smile in return. All weekend he had been like this – laughing, teasing, playing with her.
“What?” he said.
“You,” she replied. “All weekend. You’ve just been so….Clark.”
He laughed again, tightening his arm around her waist in a little half hug. “Well, that’s who I am, Lois. Clark.”
It was as if everything she loved about him was amplified though. He had been under so much stress for so long – for his whole life – keeping his secret, hiding what he could do from even his closest friends, trying to convince himself that he could accept a life without love, without the possibility of a family of his own. And now it was as if being freed of his secret had allowed him to set down his burden and be the true extent of who he was, rather than holding back.
“We should get going,” she said, making no move to stand and free him to do the same.
Finally he lifted to her feet and stood. “Go on. Get your coat.”
She walked to the coat rack and retrieved her loosest coat, and he helped her into it, draping it over her left shoulder to cover her arm in the sling. They were almost out the door when she remembered to grab the purse she had hung on the coat rack earlier.
Together they walked downstairs and meandered into an alley near her apartment. They had gone for a walk the previous day, looking for a nearby spot for takeoffs and landings so they wouldn’t need to drive out of town every time.
Clark slid his glasses down and took a look around, then slid his glasses back up and gave her a grin. “Ready? I’m going to take off fast so we can disappear above the clouds.”
Lois nodded eagerly, not even attempting to hide her smile. He scooped her into his arms, shifting her until he was convinced she was comfortable, and then they were gone in a woosh. Her stomach dropped as they soared upward in a blur and then came to stop above the cloud cover.
“Okay?” Clark asked, hovering. She nodded, her stomach settling, and he set off at a leisurely pace, gradually building speed until everything around them was a blur. She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, just enjoying the twin sensations of flying and being in his arms.
The flight was over before she knew it, and then they were drifting to a gentle landing on his back deck. Clark set her gently on the ground and tucked her wind-ruffled hair behind her ear. A quick trip through the house – and quick scan on his part to ensure no neighbors were watching – and they were in his truck, headed the few blocks to Pete and Lana’s.
The Ross home was a two story white colonial with black shutters and a small covered porch. The yard was neatly landscaped, and the front door sported a wreath of fall leaves and blooms surrounding a large white letter R.
Clark kept one hand on her back as he led her up to the porch and knocked briefly and perfunctorily before opening the door and ushering her in.
“Lana?” he called.
“Kitchen!” came the reply.
Clark led her through the entryway and living room, and into a cheerful yellow kitchen where Lana was pulling glasses from the cabinet, her back to them.
“Pete will be back in a minute. He’s just dropping the kids at his parents’ house.” She turned around, holding a pitcher of iced tea in one hand. “I made-”
She stopped abruptly when her gaze landed on Lois, her eyes filling with tears.
“I’m fine,” Lois said unconvincingly. “I know it looks bad….”
Lana nodded, biting her lip. “He said the bruising was the worst of it, but I didn’t realize…. Are you really okay?”
“I’m getting there,” Lois said softly, disarmed by Lana’s gentle concern.
They were quiet for a second, and then Lana turned back and began pouring the tea. “I have so many questions. I don’t even know where to start. But we should wait for Pete.”
As if on cue, Lois heard the sound of the garage opening. A minute later, Pete was entering the room from the side door that obviously led to the garage, greeting them both and evaluating her injuries. After another round of reassurances that she was fine, they migrated to the living room, glasses in hand, and settled themselves on the couch and loveseat.
Lois felt the twist of nerves in her stomach and glanced up at Clark’s face, seeing the evidence of his tension in the tick beside his eye and the clench of his jaw. She knew that despite Lana’s reassurances a few days earlier, he was still terrified of this discussion. She set her glass on the coffee table and slid her hand onto his knee, squeezing gently.
The silence lingered, no one sure how to broach the subject at hand.
Finally, Pete cleared his throat. “I know this is…awkward,” he said tentatively. “We’ve never discussed it. And we wouldn’t have ever brought it up, except….”
He trailed off, and Clark nodded.
“I’ve wanted to,” Lana confessed quietly. “A few times over the years, I thought maybe we should rip the bandaid off. I thought maybe…if we just got it out there, we could talk about it and it wouldn’t be a big deal.”
“Why didn’t you?” Clark asked quietly. “What stopped you?”
Lana and Pete exchanged a look.
“It didn’t matter to us,” Pete said, his voice quiet but firm. “We didn’t need to know more than we did. It was your secret. We decided that you would tell us what you wanted us to know. We never wanted you to feel like we needed that information.”
Lois felt tears prick at her eyes and swallowed back the lump forming her throat.
Clark took a slow breath. “What…do you know?” he asked finally.
There was a pregnant pause, a heavy silence as Lana and Pete communicated again without words. This time, Lana spoke for them both.
“You’ve always been…special,” she said softly. “Maybe not when we were really little. Or maybe even then, and we just didn’t realize it. But by middle school…you would overhear things there was no way I could have heard. And you were always…fast and strong. Not just strong like Pete or the other guys on the team. But…you know. And you never got sick or hurt. I never really thought about it. It just was just…you. But then that day in the barn….”
Clark stiffened beside her, and Lois turned to look at him. He shook his head, unable or unwilling to talk about it. His eyes fell to his lap, obviously overwhelmed by the mention of this memory. She slid her hand into his, and he squeezed it gently. She stroked his hand with her thumb, and looked to Lana for an explanation.
Lana turned her gaze from Clark to Lois, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “We were in high school,” she said, her voice thin and wavering. “It was the spring before graduation. Young and stupid and bored. We were up in the hayloft of my parents’ barn. We were supposed to be stacking the bales, organizing and cleaning up. But there was this rope – my dad had hung it for the boys when they were little, and we’d all swung on it over the years. But no one had touched it in at least five years. The boys were all grown, and we had decided a few years earlier that we were too mature and too cool for kid stuff like rope swings.”
“I dared her,” Clark said quietly, still eaten up with guilt more than a decade later.
“Clark,” Lana chided softly, years of practice deflecting Clark’s undeserved guilt evident in her tone. “We were bored and talking about how we used to compete to see who could swing the most times before their hands got tired and they fell. Clark was the undefeated champ, but I said I could beat him now. He was stronger, but he was also a lot bigger. I figured he’d have a harder time holding up his body weight.”
Pete snorted beside her, and Lana smacked him on the thigh. Lois felt a giggle well up inside her despite the heaviness of the conversation, and she understood yet again why Clark loved them so much.
“Anyway,” Lana said pointedly before continuing her story. “I grabbed the rope and took a running leap. It never even occurred to us to examine it first. We had no idea it was full of dry rot.”
Lois felt her stomach plunge. She turned her head to Clark, who was looking at her, grimacing. “She swung all the way out, and then…I heard the rope start to fray.”
Lana lifted an eyebrow, surprised by this detail, and nodded slowly, resuming the story from her point of view. “As I swung back toward the loft, I could feel the rope giving. And then the next thing I know, I’m on the ground, and Clark is under me. I was sure he was going to have multiple broken bones and probably a concussion too, but….” she trailed off and shrugged helplessly. Lois understood all too well how shocking that would have been, to walk away unscathed from an accident that should have led to serious injury.
She glanced at Clark, but his gaze was still in his lap.
“He just brushed it off,” Lana continued. “He said he jumped. He said he knew how to take a fall – that it was no different than taking a tackle. But I was ten feet in the air above a solid concrete floor. And I wasn’t even halfway back to the loft. How could he have possibly jumped that far and landed in just the right spot? And even if somehow adrenaline had propelled him that far, he should have broken multiple bones, slamming into that floor like that. And then I landed on top of him. There was no way he should have walked away unscathed.”
Clark was shaking his head. Finally he lifted his gaze and looked at Lana. “I kept waiting for you to ask questions. For you to demand to know how we made it out without injuries.”
“You were so adamant,” she said softly. “That it was nothing, that it was normal, no big deal. I could tell you didn’t want to talk about it.”
“We were used to not asking questions. We never talked about it,” Pete said, joining the conversation finally. “Not back then. We both saw things. We both knew you were…stronger and faster than we could ever explain. But we didn’t even talk about it with each other for the longest time.”
“When I told him about the rope,” Lana interjected, “Pete just shrugged and said, ‘You know Clark.’ But I…. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My mom-”
“Your mom?” Clark interrupted, his head snapping up. “Does she know?”
Lana sighed. “I don’t know, Clark. I don’t know what she knows. I just know that she sat on my bed that night, like she used to when I was little and she would read me bedtime stories. And she listened to me go over it all again, listened to me speculate about how it could be possible that neither of us broke anything. How you could land in the exact same spot, and I could land on top of you, without either of us being injured. And she looked at me and said, ‘It doesn’t matter how, Lana; it only matters why. We’re so lucky. So lucky that sweet boy is a part of our family, so lucky he was there. This time and all the other times. It doesn’t matter how.’”
Clark pulled his hand from Lois’s, and buried his face in his hands. Lois watched tenderly as he tried to hold himself together, overwhelmed by the silent love and acceptance that he had doubted for so long. She gently tugged his hands from his face and pulled him to her, sighing happily when he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. She stroked his hair and held him until she felt him relax.
Finally he lifted his head and swiped at his eyes, before sliding his hand into hers again.
“That was all she ever said about it,” Lana said. “We never talked about it again. But after that, I started thinking about all the other times. Like the time I almost stepped on that copperhead out by the pond, and you snatched me back just in time. And the time you caught that baseball with your bare hand just before it hit me in the head.”
Clark shook his head ruefully. “I swear you had a death wish,” he said softly, a tiny sliver of amusement sneaking into his voice.
Lois felt the laughter bubble up inside of her, and felt all eyes turn to her. “I guess I should thank you,” she said to Lana. “For helping him hone those rescue skills.”
Clark rolled his eyes, but Pete and Lana both laughed.
“It wasn’t just Lana,” Pete said, finally. “He’s done his share of rescuing others over the years too.”
Lois nodded, thinking of the little boys in the ocean, the baby in the stroller.
“It’s true that we didn’t talk about it when we were younger,” Lana said, glancing at Pete. She shrugged nervously and then continued. “But by the time we were engaged…by the time we were married…it came up from time to time. After each rescue, I would want to discuss it, but Pete was usually more reticent. A few times I even brought up the possibility of talking to you about it. I thought maybe we could just get it out in the open and stop pretending not to know. But Pete didn’t think you wanted that. He said if you wanted to talk about it, you would bring it up.”
“It’s none of our business,” Pete said awkwardly. “I didn’t want to speculate. I figured you would tell us when you were ready. And if you were never ready, then so be it. We don’t need to understand you to accept you. You’re our best friend. You always have been. You always will be. We don’t need to know every detail about you to know that.”
Lois couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. She knew exactly how much Clark needed to hear that, and she was so thankful to the man sitting across from her for saying it so clearly and firmly, leaving no room for doubt.
At the sight of Lois’ tears, Lana began to cry too, and Pete looked between them and sighed the sort of long-suffering sigh that was born of years of managing a woman’s emotions.
“Lana told me what you said Thursday,” Pete said finally, addressing Clark directly. “About the kids.” He stopped abruptly, and Lois realized that for all his bluster about Lana’s tears, he too was struggling to control his emotions.
“I’m going to say this once, and then we never need to discuss this again,” he continued, his voice gentle but clear. “There is no one in the world we trust more with our children. Not our parents. Not our siblings. No one. There’s a reason we asked you to be their godfather. You’re our best friend. You’ve been more of a brother to both of us than either of our own biological brothers. Those kids love you more than anything in the world. Half the time I think they love you more than they love us, and we’re glad for it. We do not care why you are different or exactly what kind of different you are. You are our family. And we have never once – not for one single second – worried that those differences could hurt our kids. I don’t ever want to hear another word about that.”
He paused and took a shaky breath, running his fingers through his hair before continuing softly. “And I’m sorry. I’m sorry for whatever we ever did or said or didn’t say that made you think that could even be a possibility. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Lana was right, and we should have said something to you years ago so that you knew that we knew. Maybe we could have told you that without demanding any sort of information that you didn’t want to share. I thought we were doing the right thing by respecting your privacy, but it never occurred to me that you might think we wouldn’t trust you with the kids if we knew. If I’d had even the slightest idea that was in the back of your mind somewhere, I would have told you all of this years ago.”
Lois was stunned, not by the sentiment of the words, which she could have predicted, but by the sheer quantity of them. Pete had spoken more words in one uninterrupted string that she had heard him speak in total to that point.
“That day in the barn,” Clark said softly, drawing all their attention. His eyes were on the floor, and Lois could feel the stiffness in his body, as he anticipated the conversation he was opening. “That was the first time I ever flew.”
Lana inhaled sharply, and Pete sat up straighter. Lois squeezed Clark’s hand and he looked up at her, his eyes terrified. They had speculated over the last few days about exactly how much Pete and Lana knew, and they suspected that though they surely knew about his strength and speed and invulnerability, they likely were still in the dark about the flying. This shocked response seemed to confirm that suspicion.
Lois held Clark’s gaze and nodded, silently encouraging him to let them in. He hesitated, his eyes dropping to the floor again, and her heart broke for him all over again, imagining the years of fear and self-loathing.
She stroked his cheek and waited for him to meet her gaze. “Tell them, sweetheart,” she whispered. “Like you told me. It’s not going to change anything. We love you.”
Slowly, he nodded, and then turned back to face them. She let her hand fall back into his lap, lacing her fingers through his, and turned to face them as well, returning Lana’s watery smile.
He took a slow breath, obviously bracing himself, and then began. “My parents didn’t adopt me from a teenaged family member the way they’ve always said. They found me. In Schuster’s field. They were out for a drive and saw what they thought was a meteorite. But…it wasn’t. It was a tiny spaceship with a baby inside.”
Pete and Lana nodded slowly, taking in this information and waiting for him to continue. Lois watched as Lana began to cry silently, wiping away the tears as they fell, and she wondered if she was imagining her own babies lying alone in a cold, dark field.
Their calm, empathetic reaction seemed to bolster his courage, and his voice was steadier as he continued. “They didn’t know then that I … wasn’t human. They thought I was a baby sent up by NASA. Or the Russians. But we know now…that isn’t what happened. My planet…was dying. It’s gone now. I’m the only one left. The only one who made it here.”
Lana began to sob in earnest, bending forward at the waist and burying her face in her hands. Pete rubbed her back soothingly, but his jaw was tense and Lois could see him swallow thickly.
“I’m so lucky,” Clark said softly. “I could have died with them. Or I could have wound up anywhere. Not just in another field in Smallville, or in a different part of the world, but anywhere in the universe. My parents…. My life…. All of this…. I’m so lucky.”
“No!” Lana said suddenly, lifting her head to look at him. “We’re lucky. My mom was right. We’re so, so lucky.”
Lois felt the tears roll down her cheeks, and pulled her hand from his just long enough to wipe them away. She saw the corners of Clark’s mouth twitch up, as he listened to Lana’s passionate response, and felt some of the tension leave his body.
Slowly, and with much encouragement, Clark told them everything he had told her. About the years when he seemed just like every other child. And then the years when he didn’t; the long, strange years when his powers began to emerge.
“There have been so many times I wished I could just be like everyone else,” he said finally. “So many years I hated the things I could do because they made me different. But without my powers….” His voice trailed off, and he turned to look at Lois.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here,” she finished. He nodded, both agreeing and encouraging her to continue. She turned her attention back to Pete and Lana, ready to fill in the gaps of the past week for them. “After I was taken, after Clark called my work and discovered I was missing, he flew to Metropolis and searched for me. The police had no idea where I was. He was the one who figured it out. And while the firefighters were evacuating people from the upper floors of the building, Clark used his x-ray vision to find me underground, and then he flew through the flames to get to me, and then he used his strength to break the ropes that held and gagged me, and then he wrapped himself around me and flew me through the flames to safety. Without his powers, I would have died in that building.”
It was Clark’s turn to squeeze her hand, to offer her support and comfort, and she turned and smiled at him, overwhelmed by her love for him.
They stayed for another half hour, answering Pete and Lana’s questions about that terrible day and about incidents they remembered from the past, slowly becoming comfortable with discussing the truth. Finally, Lois and Clark finally stood, preparing to leave and make their way to his parents’ home for another emotional conversation.
“You can ask me anything,” Clark said quietly as they stood. “You know now. We don’t have to pretend you don’t. We can talk about this anytime. It feels…good to be able to talk about it.”
Lana sprung forward, as if finally free from her self-imposed restraints, and wrapped her arms around his neck. And then, as soon as she released him, she wrapped her arms around Lois, though with considerably more restraint due to her injuries.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I know he wouldn’t have come here without you. Thank you for helping him be ready to tell us everything.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Lois saw Pete and Clark embracing, and her heart clenched at the sweetness of it. She squeezed Lana as tightly as she could manage with her good arm. “Thank you for Thursday. Thank you for pushing for this. For telling him you knew. He needed this so much. He loves you both so much. You have no idea what this means to him. How much….”
Lana pulled back and nodded, and Lois knew she understood exactly how much this meant to him. To all of them.
Lana stepped aside, and much to Lois’ surprise, Pete stepped over to her and opened his arms to her. She smiled as he hugged her gently. “I knew you were out there somewhere,” Pete said softly. “He thought he was destined to be alone forever, but I always knew he’d find you eventually.”
Lois let out a little surprised sob, the tears flowing again. She wanted to say something, to tell him how much his friendship meant to Clark, to tell him how grateful she was to him, but there were no words. He nodded with understanding, and then opened his arms to release her, and tilted his head toward Clark, who was gazing at her with so much love that it took her breath away. He opened his arms to her, and she fell into his embrace, resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes for just a moment to compose herself.
After another round of goodbyes, slightly more cheerful this time, and promises to visit soon, they made their way out to the truck and began the twenty minute drive to his parents’ house.
