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Joanne is Lois Lane-Kent (2007), mother of 4.
Jerome is Clark Jerome Kent (2007), husband of 'Joanne'.
Clark is Clark Joseph Kent, 6'4", blue eyes
Lois is Lois Lane, mother of Jason White.
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“Can I go in and see my son?” Lois asked the doctor.
Maher nodded. “He’s still weak and we have him on the respirator,” Maher reminded her. “But I think it would be a good idea if you’re there when he wakes up.”
“And the baby? Can I see the baby?” Joanne asked. Maher gave her a questioning look. “I’m her aunt too, remember? Her mother’s dead. And if you happen to have a breast pump I can use, I’d appreciate it. I left my four day old home with my mother-in-law.” She saw Richard’s jaw drop. “You have no idea how much I hurt…” She held her hands, fingers spread, a few inches from her chest.
A thoughtful look came over Maher’s face. “You know, one of the problems we’ve been having with her is she’s not tolerating formula very well. Maybe mother’s milk will do the trick. We do normally have a stock, but…”
“Lead on MacDuff,” Joanne said, ushering the doctor in front of her. She looked back over her shoulder. “Richard you really need to get home and get some rest. You might want to give Perry and my husband a call, let them know that Jason’s better. And ask my Clark to come over here. I think he might be able to do something.”
* * *
The loud noises had stopped being quite so loud and the pain in his joints and belly had dulled to something manageable. He cracked open his eyelids, moving his head just enough to see the person sitting next to his bed. “Perry?”
“Right here, son,” Perry told him. “Just rest. You’ve had a rough night.”
“What happened?”
Another voice, impossibly familiar. “We think Xon left a booby trap.” The Clark from the alternate world was standing in the doorway watching him.
How did he get here? “And I was the booby?” Clark asked.
The other Clark chuckled. “A sense of humor is a good sign. By the way, I’m going by Jerome, and my wife has decided we’re brothers.”
“Mrs. Kent is here? What are you two doing here anyway?” Clark asked. He managed to lift himself up on his elbows without being overcome with dizziness. “How did you even get here?”
“Remember I told you about the usual suspects?”
“Yeah. A guy called Tempus, and H.G. Wells.”
“And there are the Peace Keepers. Well, somebody realized something was wrong over here and did the usual,” Jerome explained. “Enlisted our help. So we brought over some of the medicines Zara gave us for the kids for you. And it looks like they worked.”
“Richard called a little while ago,” Perry said. “It looks like Jason will be okay.”
“And the baby?” Clark asked.
“It’s too soon to tell,” Jerome told them. “My Lois is with her and she wants me over at the hospital to help out.”
Clark studied his counterpart. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
Jerome nodded. “What attracted the Peace Keepers’ attention was a major disruption of this time-line. We were working under the assumption that your death was the initiating factor.”
“Only?”
“Only you’re alive and the time-line hasn’t reverted to what it was,” Jerome explained. He seemed to come to a decision. “As soon as you’re up to it, we need to figure out what happened last night that you weren’t able to handle so that we might be able to do some damage control.”
Clark sat up and ran a hand through his hair. Then he realized how dank and sticky he felt. “Let me get a shower and some clothes on.” He started to swing his legs over the side of the bed and found Perry’s hand on his shoulder, forcing him back down.
“You’re not going anywhere, son,” Perry told him. “At least not for a while. I’ll have Polly and Mike go over last night’s police calls, check the wire, come up with a list of emergencies where Superman might have been shown up if he hadn’t been busy elsewhere.”
Clark noticed the look of understanding that passed between Perry and ‘Jerome’. They were doing the same job, had many of the same employees. Again Clark felt a pang of jealousy. Jerome seemed to have it all – a loving wife, a good career, beautiful children. Everything he had thrown away when he left. Jerome had been in this universe for how long? He already had the respect of Perry White and that wasn't easy. Perry was hard to impress.
“Plus, I have a couple ideas, too,” Perry continued. “I had to change the channel on the radio last night because there was something being reported on the news that you were determined to take care of, even though you couldn’t.”
“Oh…” Clark peered at his boss. “Perry, you haven’t been sitting here all night, have you?”
“It takes more than an all-nighter to get an old warhorse down,” Perry replied. “Get some rest. We’ll get this figured out.”
“In the meantime,” Jerome said. “I’m wanted over at Met General and I need to do it as Superman. That’s not something I would normally do in these situations. It causes too many issues for the resident Superman, especially when we’re not identical twins.”
“Your Metropolis took it in stride,” Clark reminded him, pulling the blankets up as he settled back onto the pillows.
“My Metropolis knows that Superman wasn't the only survivor of Krypton. Their assumption was that you were a member of the House of El and just visiting,” Jerome told him. “I don’t think that will fly with your people.” Jerome spun into the blue and red Suit. “I’ll be back.”
Clark watched after him as he disappeared out of the doorway.
“He’s pretty young to have my job,” Perry commented.
“I’ve seen the list of his awards,” Clark told him. “Four Kerths, two Merriweathers, three Pulitzers and on the shortlist for three others, all in international affairs or investigative journalism. The team of Lane and Kent won even more. They are very good. I don’t think Lois and I are anywhere in their league. I know I’m not.”
Perry clapped in on the shoulder. “Don’t sell yourself short, Clark. He’s been at it a lot longer than you have.”
“Yeah… About twelve years. He didn’t take off for nearly six years on a fool’s errand.”
* * *
Jerome came to ground just outside the main entrance of Metropolis General Hospital. It looked such the same as the hospital his Lois had been four days before, giving birth to their fourth child. He’d been away from home for less than eight hours and he was missing his family.
One of these days I’m going to learn to say no to these little adventures… Nah. Won’t happen.He walked into the building and stopped in front of the reception desk. The white uniformed woman at the desk looked up, indifferently at first then her expression changed to recognition, then confusion. “Superman…? I… How can I help you?”
“Could you direct me to the neonate ICU, please,” Jerome asked, giving her his most ingratiating smile.
She gave him the directions then chuckled. “It’s a little early for Halloween, you know.”
He looked down at the Suit, then back at her grinning. “I know.”
“And you don’t look anything like him.”
“I know that, too,” he said before he headed off to the stairwell.
He sped up the stairs to the tenth floor then slowed to normal as he stepped into the corridor by the elevators. He walked over to the large window overlooking the newborn nursery. The intensive care nursery was in a side room. He could see ‘Joanne’ sitting in a rocking chair, holding an infant with tubes snaking around her.
“Can I help you, sir?” another uniformed woman asked, giving his uniform a curious look.
“Missus Kent asked me to come,” he told her. “I might be able to help with the Kent baby.”
“Sir, I thought you were taller,” she said, stepping in front of him.
He sighed and looked around for something that was safe to destroy. He settled on one of the metal clipboards at the nurses’ station. He pulled off the paperwork and set it on the counter then proceeded to crush the board in one hand like it was aluminum foil. He handed the metal ball to her.
Her eyes widened, suitably impressed. “Right this way, Superman,” she said, leading the way through the nursery to the ICU.
Joanne looked up, relief washing across her face as she caught sight of him. The baby was limp in her arms, too weak to even cry. “We’ve managed to get some mother’s milk into her, and her fever’s come down a little…”
“Let me take her,” he said, unclipping the cape and pulling the uniform shirt off so he was bare-chested. She carefully handed the infant to him as she got up from the chair, allowing him to slide into her place. He cuddled the infant against his skin, willing his aura to expand and protect her. Doctor Klein hadn’t been able to come up with an adequate explanation of why his bio-electrical aura differed from Earth-humans or how it worked. He only hoped he could make it work the same way here.
“What the devil is going on here?” a gray-haired woman in a lab coat hissed at him. The nurse who had allowed him into the nursery was following the woman, flapping her hands like a butterfly.
“Doctor Matsen, this is Superman…” the nurse was saying.
Matsen stopped in front of him, hands on her hips. “And what, Mister Superman, are you doing with that child?”
“I am attempting to extend my aura to assist in her healing,” Jerome replied.
“You can do that?” Matsen asked.
“Sometimes,” he said. “It would be helpful if you could find a full spectrum sunlamp for us. Extending my aura for healing can be quite taxing and it’s been a long day.”
Matsen checked the monitor readouts and shook her head. “I think it maybe working… Her vital signs are getting stronger.” Matsen looked back at him. “I didn’t know this was one of your powers.”
“I’m not sure how it works,” he admitted. “But it’s how I can sometimes stabilize the injured until I can get them to medical help, and even then it’s not always enough.”
“I had no idea," Matsen responded.
“I’m going to check on Lois and Jason,” Joanne told him.
“I’ll be here,” he promised before he bent his head to watch the little one in his arms. She was looking better already.
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