Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic The Homecoming - A Wendy and Tank challenge - 2/2

The Homecoming - A Wendy and Tank challenge fic - part 2/2
by Tank

previously in part one...

In his arms, Clark saw then, Jimmy held a small, wriggling bundle: a boy, no more than two years old. He had Jimmy’s hair and chin - and in case there was any doubt in Clark’s mind, he had Lois’s eyes.

The child saw Lois and held out his arms eagerly, crying, “Mommy!”

Lois cast Clark a glance; he saw apology, together with burning love for the child in her husband’s arms. She hurried over, taking the boy from Jimmy and cuddling him against her. He buried his face in her shoulder, chattering away to her, clearly delighted to see her. As she was to see him.

Standing beside her husband, Lois said, “Clark, this is Clark James Olsen. Our son - Jimmy’s and mine.”


And now part two....

Clark didn't know how he'd gotten back out to the street. He'd literally blacked out when Lois 'introduced' him to her son. Her son! Her's and Jimmy's. He couldn't wrap his head around the idea. His heart was shredding in his chest. He'd lost her. Lost her to someone who he'd thought was a friend.

He began to run. He ran down the street, not conscious of where he was heading, only knowing that he had to put as much distance between himself and Lois as possible.

After only about a half an hour of running, the out of shape, non-super, Clark Kent found himself gasping for breath while leaning against the rough brick of wall in a debris-littered alley. He allowed himself to slide down the hard surface until he was seated in the grime of the deserted alleyway.

Happy Homecoming Clark. The woman you can't live without has gone on to live without you. Clark's anger flared, then died just as quickly. What had he expected? It had been ten years! Had he really expected her to sit by and wait for him, never knowing if he was ever coming back? Never even knowing if he were alive or dead. His head dropped to his chest. Of course he had. The thought that she'd be here - waiting, had been what had gotten him through all those black times. The times when he felt like throttling those pig-headed counselors. Or the times when he cried for all the brave young soldiers who died under his command. His one life line had been Lois, and the thought that he'd hold her in his arms again. That they would be eventually reunited... forever.

He pounded his fists against the dirty pavement. All those hopes and dreams were gone. Lois had finally given up on his return and had turned to someone who'd been able to be there for her. He never doubted that she had experienced her share of fear and heartache while waiting for him. She claimed to still love him, but - she - had - moved - on. And if he was to be fair, he couldn't really blame her. Ten years is a long time to wait without any word, any evidence to support your hope. No, he couldn't really blame her.

But now, what did he do? His whole reason for coming back had been taken away from him. He didn't know if his powers would ever come back, and he wasn't sure that, under the circumstances, that he cared. He doubted he could generate enough enthusiasm to become Superman again. Suddenly he was hollow inside. That fullness, and the brightness that had filled his soul was now missing. It had been taken away just moments ago.

He stuck a hand in his pocket and fingered the tiny communication device that lay there. He had tried to refuse it when Zara had given it to him, saying that he had no plans to ever revisit his life on New Krypton. But she had insisted. She had warned him that things might have changed a lot more than he thought they might in ten years. Even if he never touched the small communicator again, he should take it... just in case.

Clark knew that Zara had been thinking along the lines that Lois might have died, or some such thing. This was worse. If he'd discovered that she indeed had perished while he'd been gone, he could mourn her and deal with his broken heart with his memories. But knowing she was alive and happily married to someone else destroyed all that. He couldn't mourn what should have been because it apparently hadn't really been destined to be. And all his memories had now been tainted. He could never think of the two of them again without it reminding him that she was still out there with someone else. With someone who he had once called a friend.

He sat staring at the far wall for several moments before he roused himself and got up from his filthy resting place. He'd made up his mind. By now, Lois would probably have alerted his folks that he was back, and he did want to see them again. So, the first order of business would be for a non-super Clark Kent to find a way to get to Smallville. Then, after a nice visit with his parents, he'd use the tiny communicator... and go back to New Krypton.

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

"Mommy!"

Lois shook her head, as if trying to clear the cobwebs, as the tiny bundle of energy wriggled in her grip. She was surprised to see she was holding the little boy.

"I'm right here, little Jimmy." Lois turned to see her sister come out of the back bedroom and move quickly toward her and her squirming burden.

Lois handed the boy to her sister, his mother, and stepped over to the couch. She was confused. She noticed that Jimmy had come back, but she didn't remember seeing him come in. In fact she didn't remember coming in herself. She ran her hand through her hair. The last she could recall was getting out of her car and trying to wrestle the bags of groceries into the apartment. She looked up at her brother-in-law. He had a look of concern on his face. She then turned to her sister, Lucy, who was holding her son close, and saw the same look of concern.

"Hey, sis, you don't look so good." Lucy rocked her son back and forth but kept her gaze on Lois. "Anything wrong?"

"Yeah, Lois," Jimmy piped in. "You look a little pale. Maybe you should go in and lie down for a while. We'll call you when dinner is ready."

Lois was a bit shaky when she stood up. "I think you're right. I don't know what has come over me, but I can't seem to remember that last few minutes. It's a complete blank."

Jimmy put his arm around his sister-in-law and guided her toward her bedroom. "You've been working way too hard lately. Maybe your body is just trying to tell you to take a break." He gave her a gentle shove toward the bed once they crossed through the room's doorway. "Go lie down. You'll feel better once you've slept."

Lois just nodded. "I will, thanks." She moved carefully to the edge of her bed and, without taking off her clothes, stretched out. Her head no sooner hit the pillow then she was asleep. She never saw Jimmy hit the light switch.

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

Lois pulled her self out of her fitful slumber. She been dreaming of Clark, again. But it was a different Clark this time. He had looked different... older. She was momentarily disoriented by the darkness but was soon able to identify her surroundings. She was in her bedroom, in bed. She glanced at the clock on the small side table. It told her it was a little after nine. Was that morning or evening?

She was just about to get out of bed when she heard voices in the other room. Jimmy and Lucy were talking, but she couldn't quite hear what they were saying. Normally she would just go out and join in the conversation. The three of them, and her little boy, had been living together for a few years now. What with rising inflationary real estate prices and the drop in available housing, it just made financial sense for them to live together. There was plenty of room and ... they were family.

But something in the tone of their voices prompted caution on her part. She carefully got out of bed and crept toward the door. Kneeling down next to the doorjamb, where an accidental glance toward her room wouldn't give her away, she held her breath as she was finally able to make out what they were saying.

"How long do you think she'll be asleep?" Lucy asked.

"I imagine she'll be out for a while yet." She couldn't see him, but she recognized the other voice as Jimmy's.

"I know you told me that it would work, but I didn't really believe it until I saw it for myself."

Jimmy chuckled. "I told you that post hypnotic suggestion would work. It wasn't just a parlor magic trick. This was a carefully crafted scenario implanted in Lois' subconscious by the foremost criminal psychologist in Intergang's employ. All it needed was the trigger."

Lois was bewildered by what she was hearing. Post hypnotic suggestion? Intergang? What the heck was Jimmy talking about.

Lucy's voice broke through her confusion. "It was a stroke of genius to use a kiss by Clark as the trigger, but how did you know he was coming back?"

Clark! Lois had to bite down on her hand to keep from crying out the name. What were they saying? It sounded like Clark had been here, but that wasn't possible... was it? It wasn't possible that she'd not remember Clark's return - just wasn't possible. Jimmy was talking again, so Lois pressed her ear to the wall.

"I didn't get to be the head of Intergang by not cultivating allies in high places." He laughed. "Do you remember when the emissary from Lord Nor of the New Kryptonians came to visit?"

"The one you killed with the kryptonite?"

"That's the one." Jimmy's chuckle caused a chill to streak down Lois' spine. "Well he had a communication device on him that I've been able to use over the years to eavesdrop on the goings on back in New Krypton." Lois heard the couple moving to another part of the room, but was thankful that they didn't move out of hearing range. Jimmy continued. "That's how I found out that Clark Kent was actually Superman, and that's how I knew that he was coming back."

Lois was having trouble breathing. What was happening here! Clark was back, but she didn't remember it. Jimmy was the head of Intergang. And Lucy knew about it. None of it made any sense.

"So," Lucy said. "Why didn't you just kill Kent with some kryptonite?"

There was no noise, but Lois could imagine Jimmy shrugging. Then he spoke. "Truthfully? I don't remember where I put it. And did you see him? I don't know that he's even super any more. Would it have had any affect?"

"Yeah, he looked like a fat old man. What happened? No offense, honey, but Clark Kent was one hot guy back ten years ago."

"If you say so. But some guys get better with age, and some guys just get old." Laughter filled the room as shadows told Lois that the couple had passed by her doorway and were headed toward their own bedroom.

Lois waited for several minutes trying desperately not to cry out in anguish. She was sure that Jimmy and Lucy must be able to hear her heart hammering in her chest and her breath coming out in ragged gasps. Her mind was swimming, but she forcibly shut it down. Now was not the time for thinking, it was the time for action. She had to get out of there. She had to find Clark.

She crawled back to her bed, and feeling around in the dark located her tennis shoes. Holding them in one hand she moved as silently as she could toward her bedroom door. She peeked around the jam, but saw no one. She held her breath and listened. She could hear the sounds of lovemaking coming from the other bedroom... from their bedroom. At least that meant that it would be some time before they'd notice her missing.

She crept out of the bedroom and moved quietly through the living room. Pausing only long enough to grab her bag, and a light jacket, she made her way to the front door. Holding her breath as she eased the door open, she stepped through into the hallway, then closed it just as quietly. She was out.

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

Lois sat in an all night drug store dinner sipping a tepid cup of terrible coffee. She didn't notice. She had finally reached a point where she felt safe enough to sit and think. But the jumble in her brain threatened to overwhelm her. It was like a bad Twilight Zone episode, or maybe some horrible prank being played on her. Her rational mind just kept rejecting what logic told her she had overheard. Her sister and former good friend and now brother-in-law were part of Intergang. Clark had finally come home to her but, because of some post-hypnotic psychological tampering, she had caused him to run from her. That, she still wasn't sure about because she couldn't remember anything, but it obviously happened between the time she had taken the groceries out of her car and when she seemed to wake up with little Jimmy in her arms.

But it made no sense!

Jimmy Olsen, and her sister could never be involved in Intergang. He was Jimmy Olsen for crying out loud! Sure, Jimmy seemed to have changed some over the years, gotten more of an edge, but he was still her long time friend. How could he have turned to organized crime? And her sister. Yes, she always seemed to pick losers and deadbeats when it came to men, which was why Lois had been so happy when she had hooked up with Jimmy.

Now she finds out that Lucy had made the worse choice of her life, and seemed to be embracing it. Lois shook her head. She was in a nightmare, and there didn't seem to be a way out.

She pushed the coffee cup away. She needed to find Clark. If he was here, then together, they could work this out. Together they were unbeatable.

But where had he gone? She prayed that he hadn't already gone back to New Krypton. Did he have some space ship hidden away somewhere? Or did he have to make a call for one to come get him before he could leave?

Jimmy had made it sound like he didn't think Clark had any powers. That made some sense. He'd been on a world with a red sun for ten years. It was bound to take some time before this planet's yellow sun could recharge him.

So, assuming that he hadn't left already, where would Clark go if he couldn't be with her? Simple! His parents.

Lois sucked in a breath. Omigod, she thought, he doesn't know. He had no way of knowing that after Jonathan's heart attack, his folks had retired to Florida. They currently had a small beach side bungalow outside of Tampa. But he didn't know that. Which meant that Clark must be on his way to... Smallville.

She checked her wallet and pulled out the small stash of cash that she had. She was going to have to do something about that. Credit card purchases could be traced, and she had no illusions that by tomorrow morning people would be looking for her. If Jimmy was indeed the new head of Intergang, that meant that he had significant resources at his command to find her. And she had no desire to be found before she had a chance to find and talk to Clark.

She figured that she had until morning before Jimmy would notice her absence. After that, the dogs would be loosed. She needed to get to Kansas, and to get there she would have to either fly, or rent a car. Jimmy would think of that too, though she was sure he wouldn't figure out where she was going. He might guess that she was going to try to find Clark, and that Clark would probably try to see his folks. He too knew that Clark's folks lived in Florida now, but wouldn't make the connection that Clark didn't know. He wasn't that bright, but he would try to have the logical places covered. The airport, bus stations, and car rental places would likely all be watched. She sighed. That meant she had to come up with a disguise.

Not having access to her stuff back home, she didn't have the advantage of her vast array of wigs, clothes, and tricks of the trade. She'd have to improvise.

Clutching her remaining cash in hand she moved over to the drug store side of the place and quickly selected some hair dye, and a sharp pair of scissors. It looked like Lois' flirtation with long hair the last few years was about to come to a swift and dramatic end.

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

Clark shuffled along the dirt road leading up to the old farm house that he'd grown up in. It had taken him three days to get to Smallville. When he'd decided to go see his folks after running away from Lois' place, he had forgotten that he didn't have any money. So he'd been forced to thumb it all the way from Metropolis. It was too bad that Metropolis wasn't in Kansas.

He managed to panhandle enough change to phone a few times but he kept getting a disconnected number. That worried him. Lois had mentioned that his parents had been very supportive during his absence. They had helped each other. She also mentioned that they had encouraged her to 'get on with her life'. She had never mentioned if she had kept in touch even after she married Jimmy. Were they even still alive?

He could understand her keeping that from him. At least initially. She had just crushed his heart by telling him she had married someone else and had even had a child. Telling him that his parents were gone would have just completed the devastation.

But now, given his inability to contact them, he grew more worried with each mile he covered. It took all his willpower not to break into a full run now that he was close. He had to get control of his emotions. It could be as simple as his folks having gone on a short vacation, or they could be visiting relatives. There was no reason to get all worked up before he had some real evidence.

Of course, he could rationalize all he wanted but that still didn't stop the twisting he felt in his gut. He continued to fight his apprehension until he got close enough to really see the old homestead. The place looked much more weatherbeaten than he would have imagined, and that fact would have added to his fears if he hadn't seen the car in the driveway. It wasn't a utility vehicle like a pick-up. It was a newer model sedan. He thought that rather odd, but it didn't matter. He'd be seeing his parents soon, and be able to salvage a small part of this visit home, before leaving... forever.

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

Lois paced the dusty living room of the old farmhouse. She had been there for two days, yet there had been no Clark. Where was he? She was so certain that he would come here. Could he have just decided to go back to New Krypton? Or maybe he was just wandering the world again, like he had when he got out of college. Back then he'd been trying to find his place in the world. Perhaps he felt like that again. If what she'd overheard was true, Clark thought that she'd rejected him for some reason. She could only imagine what that must have felt like. She knew how she would have felt, and knowing how much Clark loved her, she had to think that he would have been devastated.

It had been easy to break into the old Kent homestead. The land had been bought and was being farmed by a corporation. The house, and the out buildings had been left to decay over time. There were still a few pieces of furniture that had been left behind. Thankfully one of them had been an old couch, which had served as Lois' bed the last couple of nights. There was dust everywhere, and she hadn't eaten in two days.

After pulling as much cash out of her bank account, using an ATM, as they allowed, she had gone to the airport and had purchased a ticket to Wichita. Once she'd arrived she risked using her credit card to rent a car. Knowing that they wouldn't actually be running her card until the end of her contract, she'd hoped that she would find Clark before Intergang could catch up with her.

The circle of clean flooring amidst the normal layer of dust widened as she continued to pace. She was hungry, tired, and scared. And she didn't know what to do next. If Clark didn't show up she was lost. It was at that moment she heard a noise out on the front porch.

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

Clark stepped onto the front porch and was dismayed by the condition of the house. It didn't look like anyone had lived there for a long time. But whose car was out front then?

"Hello, Ma, Dad? Is anyone home?"

Clark pushed open the front door. The rusty hinges for the second time in as many days loudly protested the unaccustomed use. It was dark in the kitchen. The only light was that coming through the window over the sink. Suddenly he was drawn to movement in the living room. A woman was coming toward him.

"Clark!"

"Lois?" He stared in shock at the apparition in front of him. It was Lois, of that there was no doubt, but she didn't look anything like the woman who had crushed his dreams a few short days ago. This woman looked like some cheap floosie.

Her clothes were a simple blouse and pair of jeans, but her make-up was too thick, and the large hoop earrings looked like she'd gotten them out of a vending machine. But it was the hair, or rather the lack of it, that surprised him the most. The dark, silken, shoulder-length bob was gone. She had ruthlessly chopped it into some sort of short spiky mess. And she was blonde!

He was suddenly rocked back on his heels as the tiny blonde doppleganger for his one true love launched herself into his arms. She began to smother him with kisses as her hands dragged themselves through his hair. Before he had a chance to think, his treacherous body began to respond to her. He kissed her back, hard, for several moments until the events of three days ago pushed themselves back into his mind. He pushed her off him.

"Lois what are you doing? You're a married woman." Clark's voice only held a slight note of disgust. Truth was, he'd enjoyed her actions, married or not.

"What?" It was clear she was confused.

Clark glanced around. It was now obvious that no one lived in this house any more. "What's going on here? Where are my parents?"

Lois sighed, clearly not happy to have had her kisses interrupted. "They don't live here anymore."

Clark felt that knot in his stomach again. "Oh no, they're dead aren't they."

Lois placed her hand on his chest. "No, Clark, they're not dead. They just don't live here anymore. Your folks sold the place about three years ago and moved to Florida."

Clark scrubbed his hand through his hair. "I don't understand."

Lois laughed. It had a hollow ring to it. "That makes two of us." She grabbed his hand. He allowed her to lead him into the living room. "I think we need to talk."

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

The shadows had grown much longer and the light that still came through the windows was rapidly dimming. Lois couldn't see Clark's face all that well in the grayness of the room, but she could easily imagine his thunderstruck look.

"So let me get this straight," he began. "You aren't really married. The ring I saw you wearing was just some costume jewelry?"

She nodded even though she wasn't sure he'd be able to see it in the growing gloom. "Yeah, I wear it when I don't want to be bothered by guys hitting on me. You wouldn't believe how bad it gets at the grocery store sometimes. There's this old guy who keeps running his cart into mine."

Clark was silent for a couple of heartbeats. "And Jimmy is not your husband and that little boy is not your child."

"No, Jimmy and Lucy are married, and little Jimmy is their son."

She heard him sigh. It sounded like a grateful sigh. "But you told me that story because of a post-hypnotic suggestion you were given, and that Jimmy is really the head of Intergang?"

It was her turn to sigh. "Yeah, that's the part that is so unbelievable to me. It's all pretty fuzzy, and I only have what I overheard Jimmy and Lucy saying to go on. But that seems to be what happened. They must have figured that you would just go back to New Krypton if there was no hope of the two of us getting back together."

Clark leaned back into the cushions of the old couch. "I was planning to. Right after visiting with my folks. I can understand that Intergang wouldn't want to have Superman back interfering in their business. But why all the complicated deception? From what you've told me, it sounds like Jimmy was pretty sure I didn't have my powers back. Why not just shoot me?"

Lois snorted. "In all our run-ins with Intergang, have you ever know them to use a simple, straight forward approach to anything?"

Clark chuckled. "I guess you're right. They always did have a flair for the overly convoluted." She saw him tilt his head back as if staring at the ceiling. "But Jimmy was our friend. A bit of a pest, maybe, but still our friend. How - why, would he turn to Intergang?"

Lois' grim expression was lost in the darkness. "I've been thinking a lot about that while waiting for you to get here. And I think I might have hit upon when it happened." She reached out and grasped Clark's hand. "About three years after you left Perry was killed in a car bombing." Her voice softened as the memory brought back the feelings of loss she'd suffered back then. Clark gave her hand a squeeze. "We never knew who was responsible, but we were convinced Intergang was behind it. Perry had just completed a series of editorials attacking them."

Lois found she needed to move around, so she stood and began to pace as she continued. "Jimmy had been devastated and was determined to bring Perry's killers to justice. Against my advice he went undercover to infiltrate Intergang. He figured he'd be able to do it since he was still just the low profile researcher, photographer, gopher. It was doubtful that anyone in Intergang really knew who he was." She paused for a deep breath. "He was out of touch for several months and I feared he had been killed also, but suddenly one day he reappeared. He claimed that his investigation had proved to him that Perry's death hadn't been at the hands of Intergang so he came back."

Lois came back and sat down. "I didn't think much of it at the time, chalking it up to his way of dealing with the loss of his mentor, but Jimmy had changed. He'd become harder, more intense. He'd, in effect, grown up. But not in a nice way. I should have known something more was wrong than just..."

"Hey." Clark grabbed Lois hand and gently rubbed his thumb over the back of it. "You couldn't have known that Jimmy had been seduced by the evil of Intergang."

"Yeah, well, after he and my sister got married he seemed to be more like his old self and I forgot about my fears."

She could barely see the shake of Clark's head in the nearly completely faded light. "Lucy always did have a thing for bad boys."

"Tell me about it." Lois, for the first time in years, was frightened. She was frightened of the future and what it now might hold. "Clark what are we going to do?"

She sensed, rather than saw, the negative shake of his head. "I don't know."

"Hold me."

He pulled her close as the last grays of twilight diminished to black.

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

(And now gentle readers I give you a choice of endings. You can either pick the big wham, Evil, with a capital E, ending; or you can skip choose the happy, bright, all is right with the world ending. The choice is yours.)