From last time:

"Whoever you are, you are not Kryptonians, they're all dead," Clark said.

"Wrong," Zara replied. "Not everyone perished when Krypton exploded. We can prove it to you." She produced a globe, much like the one Clark had found with his ship. It glowed as it hovered a few inches above her hand. She reached her hand toward him and the globe floated just above it. "Take it," she said.

Hesitantly, Clark took the globe in his own hand. It flashed a brilliant white and suddenly a rapid series of images filled his mind - images of a dying world, of families being separated, of transports leaving a doomed planet, of the survivors arriving on their new home: a dark, desolate rock spinning off in space. He could feel the fear, the panic, and the sadness. With another brilliant flash it ended.

"What is it, are you all right?" Lois asked, the concern plain in her voice.

"I don't think they're lying," Clark replied quietly. He turned toward the two strangers. "What if I say I believe you?"

"Then we have much to show you, Kal El," Zara replied.


********


Part 6:


"How is this possible?" Lois asked as she surveyed her surroundings. She was standing on the deck of a cloaked Kryptonian ship hovering above the Earth. Crewmembers did whatever it was they were doing, oblivious to her presence. On the other end of the deck, a crewman was showing Clark something or other; she assumed it was a navigation system.

"The cloaking, the hovering, or the fact that we're Kryptonians who've traversed hundreds of billions of miles to find Kal El?" Ching asked.

"Yeah," Lois replied. "All of it, the last part, whatever."

"He was supposed to lead our people. We all believed he had perished when Krypton died, then we discovered that he had been sent here. Our current leader is dying and the succession is in jeopardy. Zara is to take his place, but cannot rule without a co-First Minister at her side. The man who would take Kal El's place is a ruthless tyrant who must be opposed at all costs."

"I think I need to sit down," Lois blurted.

"Certainly," Ching replied obligingly as he directed to her to one of the chairs in front of the command console.

"So what you're basically saying is that Clark is your king."

"Not exactly a king, but close enough," Ching replied.

Lois rubbed her temples. "This is a joke right?"

"A joke?" Ching seemed offended. "Of course not."

"My Clark is a terrific guy," Lois said. "Don't get me wrong. He's a hero, even, but he's no king. He doesn't want to rule anyone."

"Lois is right," Clark interrupted as he approached them. "I have no interest in ruling."

"And we respect that," Zara replied.

"It is not a perfect situation we find ourselves in, Kal El," Ching continued. "You have missed your training, all of the preparation you would have been given to ready you to accept this responsibility."

"Look, Ching," Clark began, annoyed. "I get that you wanted to know if I was up to the task, and while we're on the subject, I'm still really unhappy with how you decided about figuring that out, but what you don't seem to understand is that my life is here and I'm not leaving. What would you have done if I had died on New Krypton? You would have found someone else."

"War is about to break out on our planet. Our colony is on the brink of self-destruction," Ching replied. "Nor's supporters are not above using force to subdue his opponents into accepting his rule. He will seize power and enslave our people. Only you can pose a legitimate challenge to him. Our people will accept you as leader."

"Why? Why me?" Clark asked.

"Because you are the son of Jor El," Zara said simply. "Your father was our savior. He and your mother above all others were responsible for our survival. They sacrificed everything for us, giving up even their own lives. People will trust you."

The words hit Clark hard and he sat down absently in the chair beside Lois's, taking her hand in his. "Why didn't they save themselves, and why did they send me here, instead of to New Krypton?"

Zara shook her head. "When it was discovered that you had been chosen to lead, an attempt was made on your life. My father, as well as yours, suspected Rae Et, Nor's mother, but there was no evidence. Jor El knew that you wouldn't be safe in that world, so he sent you here. Your parents gave up their places on the final transport to New Krypton so that others would live. We thought that you had perished with them, until my father told us the truth."

"And you?" Clark asked, looking at Zara.

"Like you, I was selected in infancy to lead. From childhood I was raised to accept this responsibility, but the law is plain. I cannot rule alone. It is either you or Nor, and Nor's selection will be the end of our people and all of your parents' sacrifices will have been in vain."

"Why don't you guys just elect yourselves a president and give up the archaic practice of king worship?" Lois asked irritably. Clark squeezed her hand gently.

"Our leaders are all elected," Zara explained. "Except our First Ministers. A pair is chosen when both are still infants, and they are raised with the knowledge that it will be their duty to watch over their people and serve them. We serve at the pleasure of the people and our powers are largely ceremonial. Those that aren't are well constrained by the Council. Since the move to New Krypton, people have wanted to put their faith in a leader. Fear has caused them to cede much of their freedom out of a hope for some security. Our current leader has not abused his power, but Nor's selection as First Minister would likely change all of that. There are deep fissures in the Council; a war now will likely tear the Council apart. A unifying force is needed to bring the factions back together. I can see you are still not convinced."

"You're asking a great deal," Clark replied.

"We know," Ching said somberly.

"When your strength has returned, retrieve your own globe. We will contact you. I'm certain that it contains the information you'll need," Zara replied. "Until then, we shall take you home."

********

Hand in hand, Lois and Clark ascended the stairs to his apartment. He opened the door silently and they entered the apartment. Before the door was even closed behind them, Lois threw her arms around Clark's neck, hugging him fiercely. He felt her shudder and he wrapped his arms around her slender frame, one hand threading through the soft strands of her dark hair. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "It's all right," he whispered.

"I can't lose you, Clark, I can't," she murmured.

"I'm not going anywhere," he vowed. He gathered her up in his arms and carried her to the couch.

He didn't know how much time passed with them simply holding each other on the couch. At some point, they'd both fallen asleep and it was now dark outside. He smiled. He could tune into Lois's heartbeat again; his powers were back. "You need to get the globe," she murmured almost inaudibly.

He hadn't known she was awake. "Huh?" he asked.

"The globe," she repeated. "Your globe. I know it's eating you up inside. You need to know the truth."

"The truth is right here," he said, brushing an errant strand of hair away from her face.

"Clark," she said softly. "You have to know."

"Whatever it says, it won't change my mind," he replied.

She merely nodded. She took his hand in her much smaller one and raised it to her lips, dropping a kiss in the palm of his hand. "Go," she whispered.

He bit his lip, conflicted, but finally he stood up and spun into the suit. "I'll be right back," he said. Then he was gone.

Bare moments later, he returned. He spun out of the suit and took the globe out of its little wooden box. He stared intently at it, but it did nothing. With a sigh, he replaced it in its box, not bothering to close the lid, and sat beside Lois again. She curled up next to him, but as soon as she did, the globe began floating. It hovered over toward an open window and remained there for a long moment before darting out.

"What's it doing?" Lois asked.

"I have no idea," Clark replied before spinning back into the suit. "But we're going to follow it." He picked his fiancée up in his arms and they set out after the globe.

They followed the globe as it flew high over the city in a haphazard flight path. It finally slowed when they were beyond the city limits, in a remote area in the forests outside Metropolis. It descended toward the ground, Lois and Clark close behind. It stopped in a clearing, where Zara and Ching and the other globe were waiting. The two globes hovered next to each other. Clark landed, placing Lois back on her feet and stretched out his hand. His errant globe dropped into its master's hand after it's long sojourn. Zara likewise reclaimed her globe, tucking it away.

"Hold it out like this," Zara said, gesturing with her palm up. Clark complied and she placed her hand on the globe beside his.

A brilliant flash startled all four of them and suddenly, an image of a tall, gray haired man with sad eyes appeared before them. The image began to speak. The sound seemed to come from all around them.

"My dearest son. If you are seeing this message it is because the globe has been activated by your touch as well as that of another Kryptonian. Such an occurrence can only mean that the colonists have found you."

A beautiful woman appeared next to the man, long, strawberry blonde hair framed her features. They both wore long, white robes, giving them an ethereal look as they spoke to their son from across space and time. "Kal El," she began, her eyes seemingly bright with unshed tears. "By sending you to Earth, we denied you the fate that otherwise lay before you - leading the people of Krypton. We believed in our hearts that we were doing what we had to in order to protect you from harm. We also believed that whether you would accept the responsibility of leading was a decision only you could make. My son, forgive us please, for not being able to live to see the man you have grown to be. And do not doubt, for one moment, our love for you. Whatever you decide, know that you have made us proud, my child."

The man put his arm around the woman and in another blinding flash the vision disappeared.

"No, please," Clark whispered. "Come back."

Lois squeezed his hand tightly. She bit her lip and fought tears, struck by what they had sacrificed to save their son. They sent him here to save his life, and many times over he'd saved hers, and the lives of everyone else on this planet. They had sent her the greatest gift imaginable and they had never had the chance to live to see what a wonderful man their son had turned out to be. They would have been so proud of him.

"How did you know that message was there?" Clark demanded softly.

"I didn't," Zara replied. "From your knowledge of your birth name, your parents, and Krypton's fate, I knew that that they must have included messages in the navigational globe of your ship. It only seemed logical that they would provide you with the information you would need in the event that these circumstances came to pass."

"We must return to New Krypton post haste," Ching added. "We will contact you again in two days' time for your decision."

"I can't leave," Clark replied simply.

"So be it, but we will contact you again in two days, Kal El," Ching repeated.

********

Lois sat down at her desk, her stormy expression warding off anyone potentially foolish enough to disturb her that morning. She had both hands wrapped around her coffee mug, the one with all the little Superman shields on a blue background, hoping the caffeine would wake her up a bit. She hadn't slept at all last night. Clark had vowed that he wasn't going with them, that the Kryptonians would simply have to find another way to solve their problems, but could he ever really turn his back on someone who needed him?

He'd told her about Ching's other tests and she grew even more annoyed with the poncy, self-righteous alien. Who did he think he was? First he'd demanded to know if Clark would save someone at the cost of his identity. Then he'd made Clark choose between his own life and hers. And all of this for what? Who were they to question Clark's ethics, his character? They came here looking for his help and they ask by threatening to expose his secret identity and by threatening to kill his fiancée. Yet despite it, Clark had listened to them and had refrained from tossing their butts off the planet. She doubted that she would have been able to exercise the same control.

And yet...

An entire world was on the brink of destruction. Did it matter that she didn't like the representatives that they'd sent or their methods? In the end, this wasn't about Zara and Ching. It was about an entire world full of people. A world of people Clark's birth parents had died saving. Clark's birth parents had placed that world above their own lives and Clark's life above that world. They sacrificed everything. And she didn't like it, but Zara was right. The destruction of that world would mean that sacrifice was in vain.

Well too damn bad! If the Kryptonians were too stupid to know what had been sacrificed in order to save their necks, that was their fault, not Clark's. It wasn't his responsibility to save them from themselves. This was problem was of their own making, they'd have to find their own solution. Without her fiancée.

But did Clark work that way? Did he refuse to save people from problems that were of their own making? To him, a life, any life, was worth saving, and he always did. He always did what he had to in order to help others. That was Clark, her noble, selfless, often lunkheaded fiancé. And she loved him for it.

She sipped her coffee and mused that she ought to switch to tea if she were likely to get this worked up before her first cup of coffee on a morning following a night of no sleep. Lois thought about the previous night. She'd wanted Clark to stay so badly, and he would have, it seemed, except some emergency had called him away. God, she'd needed to be with him last night, needed to know that he was there and that he always would be. But he had been needed elsewhere, and she couldn't stand in the way of that. She couldn't be responsible for that. She would not get in the way of his being Superman. Ever.

Which meant...what, exactly? It meant that she would stand by whatever decision he made, she realized. Even if that meant leaving. Even if it meant she would have to let him go. With one word, she could have made him stay. She knew that.

One word from her.

That's all it would take. But she couldn't do it. Dammit, she wanted to. She wanted to tell him to stay, to tell the Kryptonians to take a hike (well, take a hike was likely the way he would put it; her language would doubtlessly have been more colorful). Yet all she could do was support him. And love him. Unconditionally, eternally.

Well this is a mature and self-defining moment you're having, Lane, she mused wryly to herself. She continued to sip her coffee as she began sorting through her mail.

"Lois?" A women's voice that she didn't recognize called her name.

"Yeah?" Lois replied without looking up from her NOWJ newsletter.

"May I speak to you for a moment?" Suddenly the voice was altogether too familiar. Lois looked up at the last person she wanted to see in the newsroom. Well maybe Lex Luthor had the woman beat, but dammit, she was a close second.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded of Zara.

"I wanted to speak with you," Zara replied.

"Yeah, I get that," Lois snapped irritably. "What about?"

Zara looked around nervously. "Perhaps it would be best if we discussed this in private."

"Conference room," Lois replied evenly as she got up and headed in that direction, trusting her not-so-welcome visitor would follow. She ran into Jimmy on the way to the conference room. He seemed eager to discuss something but she shot him a look that quickly nixed that idea.

"All right, what's going on?" Lois demanded after closing the conference room door behind them.

"I wanted to talk with you about what we're asking of Clark," Zara began. "We understand that we are asking a great deal of you as well."

Lois arched a brow but said nothing.

"We know that you two are to be wed this week. I suppose our timing could not be worse."

"Well, you and every supervillian in the world are kinda in a neck and neck competition," Lois replied drolly. At Zara's blank expression, she continued. "Never mind."

"I am truly sorry, Lois," Zara replied earnestly. "I imagine you resent me, a usurper in your life..."

"Usurper? Wait a minute? What?!" Fit of pique did not begin to describe Lois's mood.

"Oh dear." Zara sighed. "The First Ministers of Krypton. In this case Kal El and I..."

"Hypothetically, you and Kal...Clark!" Lois replied.

"Hypothetically, Clark and I, would be married."

"What?!?!" The entire newsroom heard that and Lois frankly didn't care.

"It's a formality, a sham marriage..." Zara continued, a distinct look of unease on her face. "No one expects...no one expects a real relationship. The marriage is designed to prevent divided loyalties."

Lois laughed. It was a frail, hollow sound. "Well that's rich. Is there anything else you want to take from me? Anything else I have that you want?" she demanded angrily. She felt tears of frustration prick at her eyes. This is no time to get emotional, Lane, she thought to herself, unless that emotion is righteous indignation. You've always been good with that one.

"This isn't an ideal situation for any of us."

"And yet, I'm feeling very little sympathy for you at the moment," Lois retorted. "You come here to take the love of my life away from me so you can have a phony marriage with him all the while putting him in danger to stop some war that your people have started and you want me to see things from your perspective? I'm sorry, I'm having a tough time doing that right now. You wanted Clark to stop your war, now you're expecting him to play house with you? For how long? Months? Years?"

"We don't know," Zara confessed. "Possibly."

"Wow," Lois gasped in amazement. "The nerve of you people!"

"We're both being asked to give up the men we love for the greater good, Lois," Zara replied, frustration creeping into her voice.

Lois glared at the woman standing not five feet from her. Zara's posture was tense, but she looked as though she was trying hard not to appear uncomfortable. Was she making Zara uncomfortable? Well, good, then, she thought petulantly. So I guess Clark isn't your first choice as a husband?" she asked icily.

"No!" Zara began, but seemed to regret the outburst immediately. "What I mean, is, I am in love with someone else," she confessed softly. "Someone I cannot be with, because of my responsibility to my people."

"It's Ching, isn't it." It was a statement, not a question. Lois eyed Zara critically. She was pretty, she mused. Tall, dark hair, intense eyes, strong, striking features, but too formal, too stiff. Not at all Clark's type. God, what was she thinking! Clark wouldn't do that to her. He'd be just as outraged as she was.

"Yes," Zara admitted. "We've known each other since childhood, but our duties keep us apart. I hate asking you to go through what we go through everyday."

"But you can still see him everyday. He's always with you. You're asking me to say goodbye to my husband and to wait, not knowing if he'll ever return to me. He could...something could happen to him...and I'd never know," Lois's voice was barely above a whisper as she finished.

Zara looked away. Lois was thankful to not have another awkward apology or platitude to have to deal with at that moment. The situation itself was too much to bear.