Hello everyone. Okay, I know I said I wouldn't be back till tonight... but my company left early, so I figured no one would mind.
So here we go!
Table of Contents From Part 5:
Clark looked behind him - the ground was coming up fast. He exerted one last effort to slow them further and then he closed his eyes and waited.
This was going to hurt.
When he felt the air compact beneath his body, between him and the ground under him, he gave Jason a toss into the air. “Push! Now!”
And then he felt the breath knocked from his lungs as the weight of his body slammed against the hard, unyielding concrete beneath him.
The last thing he saw before he passed out was the image of his son coming down to rest against his chest. Small hands were groping at his chest and face.
“Dad?”
**********
PART SIX
**********
Lois broke free from the thug that had been holding her. Her head was pounding from being used as a battering ram, but she didn’t care.
They were gone.
Both of them.
Jason had gone over the railing and when Clark had seen what was happening, he had followed him.
She ran as fast as her legs would carry her and leaned against the railing, straining to look down towards the ground.
She searched the scene below frantically and then she spotted them. She could barely make them out. They were falling fast and they were approaching the ground beneath them at a frightening pace.
It looked like Clark had Jason in his arms.
Why wasn’t he flying?
He had Jason, they were safe. Why wasn’t he getting them out of there? It didn’t make any sense to her. Unless...
He didn’t have the strength to fly, she realized, feeling disheartened.
Her stomach sank and a bit of acid came up the back of her throat, making her feel nauseous. They were going to hit the ground.
She wanted to scream, beg, cry, plead, but no words, no sound would come. She watched in horrified silence as they plummeted towards the ground below them. The closer they got to the ground, the less she was able to make out. She could hardly even see them anymore - they were so small.
But she kept watching, kept praying that Clark would find the strength to fly them away.
She barely even felt his hands on her shoulders when Richard walked up behind her.
“It’s over, honey,” he said softly.
She turned and looked at him with tears burning in her eyes. “No!” she screamed. “You don’t know that. You don’t know if he was able to do something. They might be okay.”
They had to be, didn’t they? Wells knew their future.
<<<Ms. Lane, Mr. Kent, I have so enjoyed getting to meet you. And I’ll be keeping my eye on you in...” he lifted his eyebrows at them, “the future.” He chuckled at his own joke.>>>Wells wouldn’t have dropped them back here in their world and told them he wasn’t willing to change anything if he had known that Clark and Jason were going to die two days later...
Would he?
They had to be alive.
Didn’t they?
Unless something had happened to Wells or was preventing him from coming to help them...
“Oh, they might be okay,” Luthor snipped from behind them. “But I seriously doubt it. Don’t worry, Ms. Lane, you and your dearly intended, here,” he pointed towards Richard, “aren’t going to have to worry about it much longer. Boys, take care of them.”
Lois looked over to find two guns pointed at her and Richard.
And there was no Superman to save them.
She looked up sadly into Richard’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you... about Jason... about Superman... about everything.”
Wells, she silently prayed, where are you?
Richard returned the pain in her eyes and nodded at her. “I know...” He stepped in front of her, wrapping his arms around her as if to shield her from what was going to happen. “I love you.”
She let her tears flow freely. She knew he loved her. He had always loved her. But even as her heart grieved for him and for what was about to happen to them, it ached with a universe-spanning loss for the future that would never come to be – and for her little blue-eyed boy and his father, a super man.
“Hands up, Luthor. You’re under arrest!” Someone shouted from the doorway.
Lois opened her eyes, not realizing she had even shut them. She leaned over Richard’s shoulder to see a handful of armed guards with their guns drawn and pointed at Luthor and his henchmen.
“Drop your weapons and step away from the hostages,” one of the guards instructed him.
Richard turned around, releasing her. She had a better view of what was happening now and she could see the thinning, white-haired head of Perry White standing just behind the guards.
Oh, Perry. Bless him. She could kiss him. “Richard, did you tell Perry what was going on?”
Richard looked perplexed. “No. I didn’t. You know, I always knew that he had a nose for news, but this...?”
Lois smiled, tears of relief streaming down her face as the guards apprehended and handcuffed Luthor.
They were safe... but what about Jason? And Clark?
She ran to the edge of the roof and looked down. She could see the lights from police cars and ambulances flashing brightly below. People were swarming around the scene.
She had to get down there.
Pushing past Richard and half the guards, she worked her way back inside the Daily Planet – only to be stopped by Perry.
“Let me go, Perry. My son’s down there.”
“I know, Lois, I know. He’s being taken to the hospital, along with Superman. Come with me, you need to get checked out too.”
“No, I’m fine. Are they okay? I couldn’t see what happened. Please...”
“Jason’s fine. Superman... Well, just come with me, Lois.” He took her by the arm and led her to the elevator.
As they boarded the elevator, Lois looked up at him suspiciously. “How did you know what was going on? Richard said he didn’t tell you anything.”
“When the iconic globe of the Daily Planet broke loose it demolished everything in its path before falling off the roof. When I started the repair process to the roof and building, it was recommended by the building inspector that we beef up our security measures, including adding some more security cameras to the ones we already had. I agreed, and since Superman had approached you on the roof of the Daily Planet to give you an interview, I thought it might be a good idea to know when he was around.”
“So you installed a camera on the roof of the Daily Planet...” Lois finished for him.
He nodded at her.
Camera... roof... Superman...
“Those cameras don’t capture... sound, do they?” she asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice. They had discussed some delicate issues up on the roof. She couldn’t remember if she had actually called him Clark or not, but...
“No. They don’t pick up sound. They’re purely visual security. The cameras caught Luthor coming into the building and we used them to follow him as he made his way to the roof. Once I confirmed it was Luthor, I knew he was up to no good and I called the police and sent the guards up.”
He raised a suspicious eyebrow at her when she let out a noticeable sigh.
“Umm, I guess I’d better save any further questions for later,” she told Perry quickly. “I need to get to the hospital. I need to see my son.”
**********
Clark felt a pair of tiny hands resting against his chest.
The fall...
He felt the small hands trace an S-shaped pattern across his chest.
The impact...
He felt the sharp pain of his body weakened by Kryptonite slamming into the unyielding concrete surface of a sidewalk several hundred feet below.
<Dad?>The sound of his son’s voice calling out to him...
His son was okay. He’d saved him. He remembered.
And his son was here with him now.
Here where? Where was he? He couldn’t seem to move, couldn’t even open his eyes.
It was like before, when Lois had come to visit him in the hospital after his fall from orbit had almost killed him.
He could hear her then too, but he couldn’t respond.
It was so frustrating. He could hear his son’s soft breathing and feel his tiny hands still playing across his chest.
He wanted to sit up and take him in his arms, hug him to him tightly... He wanted to tell him that he was okay.
The squeak of a door alerted him to the fact that someone was either coming into the room or going out.
“Richard! Perry! I’m so glad you’re here.” It was Lois’ voice. She was in the room with him.
“Jason, why don’t you go with Mr. White for a minute, okay?” This time it was Richard’s voice. “He’ll take you down to the vending machines and get you a soda. How does that sound?”
“Oh, not soda. Get him juice, Perry,” Lois interjected.
“Lois, I think the boy’s been through enough today that he can have a pop if he wants. Hmm?” Richard said convincingly.
No one else said anything in the next few seconds and he heard the door shut. Perry and Jason had left.
Clark must be at the hospital again.
He felt a loss at his son’s departure. It was comforting to know he was there, soothing to feel his touch.
“Lois, you should go home... get some rest. You look wiped out,” Richard was saying.
“We’ve been through this already. You know I can’t do that. I left him once... I wasn’t there when he woke up. This time I have to be here.”
Clark could hear the emotional drain in her voice. He wished he could tell her to go home and rest - that she didn’t need to be here.
“But what about Jason? You can’t expect him to stay up here with you the whole time.”
“No, I know that. I don’t. Listen, don’t worry about me. This is the ICU and visiting hours will be over soon. They’ll escort me out whether I want to stay or not. They make everyone leave. I’ll take Jason home then and I’ll get someone to stay with him when I come back up here.”
“Do you want me to stay with him?” There was an odd sadness in Richard’s voice.
“No... I mean, unless you want to. I understand if you have packing you need to do.”
Packing? Richard?
Was he going to take that job in Paris?
Clark’s heart sank.
Were Lois and Jason going to go with him?
“The packing can wait,” Richard told her. “I’d rather be the one to stay with Jason. He shouldn’t be with a stranger right now, not after everything he’s been through the past few days.”
“Thank you.” There was a long pause and then she said the words again. “Thank you... for everything. I’ll see you back at the house.”
Clark strained to listen... would he kiss her goodbye? But after a few seconds all he heard was the opening and closing of the door.
And then he heard her voice, talking to him.
“Clark?” she whispered his name close to his ear. “I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but since you heard me last time...” She went quiet and Clark wished he could do something or say something to get her to continue.
He felt the bed dip next to him as she sat down beside him.
“I don’t know how I know this...” she continued quietly, “maybe it’s because of Mr. Wells... but I know you’re going to be okay.” He felt her fingertips as she brushed them across his forehead and feathered them lightly through his hair.
“You left me once and I thought I would never see you again... and then I left you... I’m not going to leave you this time, I promise.” Her fingers made another pass across his forehead.
He heard her sniffle and then she let out a soft sob. It made his heart swell to know she cared so much about him – yet at the same time it broke his heart to hear her in pain.
Why was she so upset? Was she just afraid for him?
Or was it something else?
Was she crying because she... was going to Paris, with Richard?
<I’m not going to leave you this time, I promise...>What did that mean? Did it mean she wasn’t going to Paris with Richard? Or did it just mean that she wouldn’t leave him until he got better?
If that were the case he’d make sure he never woke up, he thought wryly.
He felt the warmth coming from her body as she leaned down close to his face. He could feel her breath in his ear as she whispered softly to him. “I told Richard that he should take that job in Paris. It isn’t fair for him to stay here. But I told him that Jason and I couldn’t go with him.”
Clark wanted to jump out of the bed and fly laps around the room. He wanted to scoop Lois up into his arms and hold her, kiss her, touch her everywhere, all at once... but he couldn’t. So he just waited for her to continue.
“I told him that I wanted him to be part of Jason’s life. He *is* Jason’s dad and he was a big part of his life. I told him that I wanted him to remain a big part of his life, if he wanted to be.”
She went quiet again and Clark realized that she was right. Richard had been a wonderful father figure. He had been there all along for Jason. It wouldn’t be fair to Jason or to Richard to take that away from them.
“He said he still wants to be. We worked it out so that Jason could spend some of the holidays with Richard and a couple of months in the summer with him. And Richard is going to come here to visit Jason as often as he can.”
It seemed like they had worked a lot of things out. How long had he been unconscious?
She draped one arm across his body and hugged him gently. “Oh, Clark. I wish I knew if you could hear me.” She sniffled again and hiccupped softly against him. “I was so scared when I saw you in the emergency room. You looked like you were dead. You were so pale and your body was so limp. The doctors told us that they thought you would recover but that they didn’t know how long it would take...”
Her hands tightened against his shoulders and she shook him, ever so lightly... but with what almost seemed to be a measure of desperation.
“Please, Clark. Please. Wake up. I need to look into your eyes again. I need you to hold me. It’s been three days...”
Three days... He’d been out for three days with no indication that he was doing any better...
Oh Lois...
“Please...” He could feel her lips as they pressed against his own in a tender kiss. “I love you, Clark. I love you. Please come back to me.”
Lois! I love you, too! His mind screamed frantically at her.
He heard the door to his room open again and a woman’s voice spoke. “Ms. Lane, visiting hours are over now. I need for you to leave so we can run some tests...”
“I know, I know. You’ll call me if there’s any change before I can make it back, right? Even the slightest change?”
“Yes, Ms. Lane. We have your home number, cell phone number, and Mr. White’s contact information. We’ll let you know if he makes any recovery.”
He could feel Lois begin to pull away from him and he desperately wanted her to stay.
Don’t go...
Her lips pressed against his forehead lightly. “Goodbye, Superman. I’ll be back soon.”
No! Please don’t leave.
“Lois...”
**********
Lois was pulling away from Clark to let the nurse shoo her from the room when she heard it.
Her name.
“Lois...”
He had mumbled her name ever so slightly.
“I’m here...! Superman, I’m here,” she told him excitedly. She looked up at the nurse. “Did you hear that? He said my name!”
“Yes, I heard. I’ll go get the doctor. Stay with him, keep him talking.” And then she left the room and the door shut behind her.
“Lois?”
“I’m here, Clark. Talk to me. Keep talking, Clark.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly. He was going to be okay! “You’re in the hospital and you’re here as Superman, so be careful what you say...”
She watched in expectation as his eyelids fluttered a few times.
“Please don’t leave me...” he murmured, his voice thick with sleep.
“I won’t. I’ll stay as long as they let me.” Her voice was unsteady and it cracked a little at the end.
“No... ever.” His eyes were barely open, searching for her.
“What?” She sniffled again.
“Don’t ever leave.”
She smiled at him through eyes still brimming with tears. “Well I do have to work you know.”
He smiled back at her and started to close his eyes again.
“No. No, you can’t go back to sleep. The nurse is going to get the doctor. You have to stay awake... Look at me... Talk to me.”
“Is Jason all right?” he asked quietly, his eyes still closed.
“Yes. You saved him. He didn’t even have a scratch, well besides the one Luthor gave him on his throat with the knife... but that’s healing up just fine.”
“No,” he murmured. “I heard everything you said... before. Is he *all right*?”
“Oh... oh, you mean... about you... and Richard? Um, I don’t know. I think he’s still confused. He knows that Superman is his dad because that’s how he has his powers, and he knows you love him. But Richard is the only dad he’s known...”
“And Richard *is* still his dad... too. He was there for him when I wasn’t. I can’t just ask him to forget that... either of them,” he told her softly.
She felt tears trying to start again. “I think Jason might have some suspicions about Clark, too.”
Clark finally opened his eyes again and they held a curious twinkle in them. “Really?”
She nodded at him, relieved that he was looking at her again. “He asked me why Clark hadn’t come by to see you. I told him that Clark wanted to be here, but that he had to work. He said that *I* didn’t have to work and *Perry* didn’t have to work, so why should Clark? I told him it was difficult to explain... And then you know what he said?”
Clark gave her a very small shake of his head. She squeezed his hand again and smiled at him. “He said that maybe it was because Clark was already here. Then he smiled at me and skipped out of the room. I think he knows. We may need to try and find out what he knows. If he has figured it out, we have to get him to understand that it’s a secret and he can’t tell anyone. Because I mean it could be really dangerous if he has this knowledge and we just go on pretending like he doesn’t. It would be better to just confront it head-on before...”
“Lois?”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t worry. We will. We’ll sit down as a family and talk about it. All of it.”
A family...
Darn those tears. If they didn’t quit she was going to look like a raccoon.
Who was she kidding?
She probably already did look like that... or like something the cat dragged in. She reached up and wiped under her eyes, doing her best to make herself presentable for the doctor when he came.
“Stop.”
She paused, one hand still wiping across her cheek.
“You look beautiful,” he continued, reaching up for her face with one hand. She leaned down towards him and he slid his hand behind her head, lacing his fingers through her hair, and drew her in, tightly embracing her.
She tried to pull away, not wanting the nurse or doctor to catch them, but the strength in his arm and hand held her firmly in place. He slid his other arm around her waist, drawing her against him as he enfolded her into his arms. His hands moved across her back, clutching her desperately.
His touch electrified her in a way that no man ever had before him and no man ever had since him.
His soft lips placed a tender kiss next to her ear and his quiet voice sent a shiver through her body. “Oh, Lois, I’ve missed you.”
He was definitely feeling better.
The click of the door handle made them both start, and he released her from his embrace, sliding his hand down her arm to catch hold of her hand. She stood up quickly, trying to straighten her clothes one-handed and compose herself before the person, whoever it was, entered the room.
“Superman, it’s Dr. Skinner,” the doctor announced as he came into the room followed by the nurse who had come in earlier. “Ms. Lane, I’m afraid we’re going to need you to step outside.”
“I don’t mind if she stays, doctor,” Clark told him. He still had her hand in his and didn’t seem like he wanted to let go of it anytime soon.
“I’m sorry, but it’s hospital policy. Visiting hours will recommence in two hours, Ms. Lane. You’re welcome to come back then.”
She nodded at him in compliance and leaned down to kiss Clark softly on the cheek. “I’ll be back, I promise.”
He squeezed her hand one more time before he let it go. Her body was blocking his face from the doctor and nurse and he quickly mouthed ‘I love you’. She mouthed it back and smiled at him.
She walked over to the door, stepping out of the way to let the nurse and doctor by and then she closed the door behind her, stealing one last glance at him before she left.
**********
To Be Concluded...
