Finally... Here's Part 12
I have made a few minor changes to Part 11.
< > around words denotes telepathic thought.
The usual disclaimers apply.
*************************
From Part 11
Zared still had the washcloth over his eyes when the nurse walked in.
The nurse said, "Uhhh.. I don't know what to call you... " He took Zared's pulse, then said, "Here let me take your blood pressure."
Zared just put his arm down to his side and grunted. He really wished this headache would go away. And now he could feel his dad's discomfort, also.
The nurse said, "I'm kind of new here. As a matter of fact yesterday was my first day. I'll mostly be working in the lab with Dr. Klein. I've wanted to meet him for some time, so I'm really pleased to be working for him."
Yeah, yeah. I don't care. My head hurts. "Hmm..."
"Feeling pretty rotten, huh. Dr. Klein explained some to me, but I don't know a lot about you and Superman. I think it's pretty great that you gave him blood. You know, my daughter would sure like to meet Superman. She's already met you."
Huh? What's he saying? He muttered, "Sorry, I'm not much for conversation right now."
"Oh, I understand. You've just been exposed to something poison to you. Oh, by the way, my name is Danny."
********************
A New Hero
Part 12
Zared's eyes flew open and he pulled the washcloth off his face and just looked at Danny with his mouth hanging open.
Danny had his head down and was taking his blood pressure again. "Your blood pressure was a little low. It's okay now."
He looked up at Zared and smiled. Zared had *not* composed himself and *Danny* quickly became the one with his mouth open.
Both of them said, "Uhh...."
Zared thought, "Oh, great, I've been careless around Danny once again." He thought that he was *really* going to have to work on the whole stern Superman look. After a minute, Zared tried to speak but choked instead. He sat up coughing.
Danny said, "Here, here's some water. Are you okay, Zared?"
Zared nodded and drank some water. "Ohhh.... my head." He lay back down. "As soon as my head quits hurting. I didn't know you'd left the hospital."
"Well, I'd applied here a while back. They called early this week and I took the job. I had vacation left at the hospital and was able to use that for most of my two week notice." He picked up Zared's hand. "I guess this explains your hand."
Zared rubbed his head and nodded. "Can you go check on... Superman, please?"
Danny nodded and got up. He thought that there was more they needed to talk about but right now Zared looked like hell so that could wait.
Zared was so mad at himself. "Well so much for Danny not knowing."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Danny knocked lightly on the door. "May I come in?"
Caitlyn looked up, "Yes, come in."
He nodded, "Dr. Kira, Dr. Klein, Superman. Uhhh... He wanted me to check on you." Danny had been informed that anything he saw or heard here was classified, so he didn't say 'Zared'.
Dr. Klein answered, "He's doing okay. Stay here a few minutes and I'll go check on... him."
Danny sat down. Caitlyn said, "Danny, will you take his blood pressure for me." Danny nodded.
Clark looked over towards him. He shook his head and muttered something unintelligible.
Danny looked up and said, "Excuse me, did you say something?"
<Zared.>
<Yes. Are you okay?>
<Don't ask. Does Danny know?>
<Yes. I'm afraid I didn't keep myself very composed when I realized who he was.>
Clark then answered and said, "How ya' doing, Danny. I haven't seen you for a while." Danny was surprised and didn't seem to comprehend. Clark thought how Jenni and Brook hadn't made the connection between himself and Zared, and that he probably shouldn't have said anything, but since he had said something he decided he might as well plunge ahead, "So... we're going to be grandparents."
At that moment Zared thought, <Dad, he may have not realized who you were.>
<Yes, I realized that, too, after I said something. It must be this headache.>
Caitlyn looked at him and mouthed, "Jenni's father?" Clark nodded.
Danny was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say. Then he looked at Caitlyn and said, "Dr. Kira, his blood pressure is a little low, but I assume that will come back to normal when the procedure is done."
Caitlyn nodded. "Most likely. Thank you. You can call me Caitlyn."
Clark looked at him and said, "You can call me Kal or Kal-El here in the lab." Clark motioned with his thumb towards Zared. "You can call 'him' Zar-El in the lab."
Danny just nodded and looked as if he may faint.
The blood transfusion was completed and Caitlyn removed the IV and returned the kryptonite to it's lead container.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zared walked in the room where his dad was and closed the door. He looked at Danny then at his dad. "Weeellll, this is awkward, isn't it."
Danny just shrugged. "I'm in shock." He looked at Zared, who was now in a super pose, from head to toe. "Hmmm... Had I seen you like this, I don't think I would have recognized you. Of course having seen you pale and anxious when we were sitting with Jenni and then having seen you the same way a few minutes ago may have made the difference, too."
"Good, I hope no one else recognizes me."
"How's your headache?"
"It went away a couple of few minutes ago." <When they were done with you, dad.> Clark just nodded in understanding.
"Zared, are you really the father of Jenni's baby?"
Zared's eyes got wide. "Yeah, Danny, I am."
"How? I wouldn't have thought such a pregnancy could occur."
Clark answered, "Well, the specifics are quite complicated and Bernie and I didn't even understand it for awhile. You can get Bernie to explain it to you sometime. It has to do with the combination of triple and double DNA helixes." He shrugged. "But it's definitely possible. You know how many kids I have."
Danny looked at Zared, "You are half human, then?"
"No, I'm from New Krypton. Mom and dad adopted me." He decided not to explain further.
"Oh." He looked at Clark. "Your other six kids are... hybrids?"
"Yeah. We say Kryptonian-Human, though. Hybrid makes them sound like flowers or something." He grinned then became serious. "Danny, you understand that this is a very dangerous secret, right? You can't tell anyone. Most of the people here don't know. Bernie knows because he's a family friend. Caitlyn knows because we are... dating."
Bernie walked in. "Hey, why's the door closed?"
Clark looked up, "Close it back." Bernie did so. "Bernie, Danny is Jenni's father and he recognized Zar-El prior to his... recovery."
"Oh. Well, I knew I had talked to you on the phone, but I didn't make the connection. I guess it's a good thing for you I didn't. It's doubtful you would have been hired."
Danny answered, "Good thing, then. I've wanted to work here for a long time. I find research fascinating. And since there are still occasional patients, I'll still get to do hands on care, too." He looked pensive. "How is it possible to combine a triple and a double DNA helix? A triple DNA helix sounds like there is a third sex."
Clark shook his head no and smiled. "No, there are only male and female Kryptonians. I promise. Three sexes. Hmmm. That's something that never occurred to me."
"Okaaay, then. I'd really like to hear how the DNA combination works."
Bernie launched into an explanation, "Well, you see, Kryptonians don't have xx or xy DNA. They have xxz or xyz. We used z because we couldn't figure what else to call it. Of course the z has no determination in the sex, but..."
Clark said, "Bernie, Bernie! Stop. Explain it later, okay?"
Bernie nodded. "Okay. It does take a while."
"Later." Danny agreed. "I'm curious. I know rapes occurred during The New Kryptonian Crisis. Thank you very much for saving the planet, by the way. Are there other Kryptonian-Humans?"
Clark said, "Probably. Maybe. There wasn't as many rapes committed by the Kryptonians as what some people believe, though. Among the reported rapes during that time period, about 90 percent turned out to have definitely been done by humans who unfortunately took advantage of the situation. Among Kryptonians, rape is a crime that is usually punishable by death, and humans or not, Nor could not have ruled if he was found guilty of rape. Of course I doubt he would have been very worried about the word of a human, and I'm not saying he didn't commit any rapes, I'm just saying that he would have been well aware of the law. He also had plenty of willing Kryptonian *and* Human concubines."
Zared interrupted, "I thought Nor more or less threatened Lady Zara with rape during their short lived marriage."
"Among Kryptonians, as once was also true on earth, legally there is no rape between a married couple." Zared nodded then Clark continued. "Jen-Mai would have also been concerned about being found guilty of rape because he was on the council. Ran, Drull, and Nor's other followers that were on earth, though, would have had no concerns about committing rape because they knew that Nor would have protected them. As for other Kryptonian-Humans, I only know of two. I've never come across any others, but I don't generally go about checking everyone's DNA, either. I've just always thought they would come to me. I didn't tell the two that I'm aware of that I know because I wasn't sure if *they* even knew yet. I just told both of them that if they ever needed anything to contact me."
Zared looked at his dad in disbelief. "You've never told any of us that."
Clark just shrugged. "I figure that's up to them to decide who they want to tell. Even if I had mentioned it, I wouldn't have told you who they are."
Zared said, "Oh, yeah, kind of like you knowing who Batman is and won't tell anybody."
Danny said, "I thought he was a myth."
Clark had to wonder if Bruce's daughter, Hannah, even knew. He rather doubted it. "Some people think I'm a myth, too. Now how about you all get out of here so I can get dressed and go home." He sat up and said, "Wow. I feel better. Bernie, Caitlyn, I guess you were right. I didn't expect to feel that much better."
Bernie said, "Don't get any ideas. I don't want you to do any super activities for a while. You can leave that to Zared for a while. You still have a long way to go before you are back to normal. You absolutely could not tolerate another bad injury or huge kryptonite exposure anytime soon. You would very likely die. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Bernie. Don't worry, I have a feeling I'm going to have a near constant babysitter for a while. My kids have been hovering and since school will be out tomorrow, I'm sure it will only get worse."
Zared said, "You gave everyone quite a scare. You'd better behave. You're the only parent we've got!"
Clark just nodded. "Now, scoot. Let me get dressed."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Danny was finished for the day, so he went ahead and left work. As he was walking out, he thought, "I wonder if Jenni knows? I forgot to ask about that." Then he thought that she'd *better* know.
As he thought about the evening's events during his drive towards home, he decided he would drop by for a visit with Jenni first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Zared was flying his dad home, he said, "How did you get here today? I don't really think you can fly or should be flying by yourself right now. Did you change in the car or something?"
Clark nodded. <Thank you, Zared, my son. I feel better.>
<You are welcome, my father. Do you think we will have any problems with Danny?>
<I don't think so. He's definitely got a few more hang ups than most folks, but Danny's not a bad guy. He might not be the best father in the world, but he's not going to do anything that would put Jenni's life in danger. If I had been more myself, I probably could have taken the knowledge away from him, but it takes a lot of... effort.. energy... I don't really know how to explain it. By the time I'll be able to do it now though, the memories will be ingrained and it will probably be too late.>
<Take... it?>
<Yeah, Bernie and I have been working on some stuff like that - also a little tele...>
<Uhhh.... That's okay. *That's* okay. I don't think I want to know anymore. We're home anyway. And I need to talk to Jenni.> They entered in through the master bedroom window. Zared gave a quick spin and walked out of the room. Zared walked down the back stairway. He was rather disturbed. Take it? What the heck does that mean?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, readers, you tell me... Does Danny get to remember... or not?
