Ah, evilness? Not me. Surely not. Couldn't be.
As for the Sceves - my thinking was that they weren't actually with the family but at a nearby entrance or two [like where the walkway comes out under the seats from the concourse or something] and got lost in the crowed.
Thanks - as always - to Nancy, Alisha, and Beth [the end of 130 is all her fault btw - but since it's the middle of the day's posts you probably won't be too annoyed...].
Last time:
Lois
There were whoops and hollers all around us. I turned to Clark to find his arms wrapped around my waist as he picked me up. My arms wrapped around his neck and I laughed as he swung me in a very tight circle.
After what seemed like an eternity, he set me down and gave me a quick kiss – the same as always when other people were around.
I smiled as I turned towards a friend who was sitting on the other side of me and one of the other guys in our class smacked him on the back.
It was the first day of the rest of our lives.
Or at least the first day of the next two years.
Because that was all we had until the threat was gone.
I kept a smile on my face until we made it outside and found the rest of our family. I noticed they'd gotten separated from the Sceves but I was sure they'd catch up in a few minutes – they knew where we were supposed to be.
We exchanged hugs with everyone and then took pictures – a friend from one of Clark's classes took one of all of us.
Nate was resting his head on my shoulder when I felt a chill go over me.
I couldn't explain it but I started looking around.
Then it hit me.
"Where's Christopher?"
*~*122*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
We met the rest of our family near a big oak tree in front of Luthor Forensic Science and Criminology Center.
We exchanged hugs all around then took a few pictures and headed towards the parking lot.
"Where's Christopher?" Lois asked suddenly. Nate was resting his head on her shoulder.
We all looked around.
"Christopher Kent!" she called sternly.
He didn't appear.
I looked around. "Christopher!" I yelled.
"Split up," Sam said, his voice tight. "Call if you find him."
We all headed different directions, calling for him.
Scott and Steve had gotten separated from us in the crowd and were just making their way back towards us. Sam was apparently filling them in as I kept calling for him.
"Christopher!"
I tried to tune in my hearing but it was too loud – even outside.
"*Christopher*!" I called again.
Even without my hearing on, I could hear everyone else trying to find him, too.
Five minutes later, I still hadn't found him and hadn't gotten a call from anyone else either.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I glanced at it as I answered. "Do you have him, Sam?"
"Not yet," he answered grimly. "Scott is coordinating with campus security and Steve's calling the police and FBI. If he isn't found in the next few minutes, they'll lock the area down."
"That'll be too late," I said, my voice sounding strangled I was sure. "If he's got him..."
"We'll find him," Sam assured me.
"Call me if you hear anything," I said, hanging up. "*Christopher Kent*!"
"Clark!"
I looked around trying to see who it was. The voice was familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.
"Clark!"
I looked again.
There.
Lewis Lang.
"Have you seen my son?" I asked him.
"Lana has him. She's looking for you."
"What?" I shook my head. "No. Which way did she go?"
He pointed. "That way. She saw him and she and Laura went to look for you."
By then we were attempting to walk briskly through the crowd in the direction he indicated. I dug my phone out of my pocket and punched a button.
"Sam? Lana found him. She's looking for one of us. I'm with her dad – looks like she headed back towards the Luthor building."
His voice came over the phone. "I'm not calling off security until we find him, but I'll let them know that if they find him with her, that's okay – she's not a suspect or anything like that."
"No, she's not," I said firmly. "Her dad said she saw him wandering around and that's the end of it." Another thought hit me. "Is Lois with you?"
"She's right here. Do you want to talk to her?"
"We'll be there in just a minute. Make *sure* she understands Lana had nothing to do with this, though." That wouldn't be pretty. "It looks like he just wandered off. We'll be right there." I punched the end button without waiting for his response.
"I don't think he wandered off," Lewis said as we hit an open space and started to jog. "Someone had him and when Lana said something, he dropped him and ran."
I stopped in my tracks. "What?"
He grabbed my arm and hurried me on. "Somebody had him..."
We came upon the tight grouping of Sam and my parents and Lois and Nate and...
"Where is he?" I asked.
"We haven't found them yet," Sam told me.
"Clark!" This time I recognized Lana's voice and I turned towards it.
"Christopher!" It was little more than a breath.
"Daddy!" He twisted in Lana's arms until she had to put him down and he ran towards us. "Mommy!"
Lois practically shoved Nate at me, trusting me to get a good hold on him as she ran towards Christopher.
"Christopher Jonathan Kent, where were you?" she asked as she swept him into her arms.
I could see Lewis talking to Sam as I followed them, wrapping my free arm around both of them, relieved beyond words to see him.
Tears were streaming down Lois' cheeks and I rested my forehead against her hair, my eyes closed as I breathed a prayer of thankfulness.
"Let's go." The words were quiet but insistent. Scott tugged on one of my arms. "We have to get him out of here."
"What?" Lois looked puzzled. "Why?"
We were already being rushed out – Scott on one side, Steve on the other, campus security surrounding us.
"Just go," I said quietly, one arm still protectively around her as we headed towards the dark sedan pulled as close to us as possible.
We were practically shoved into the back seat. The door was shut behind us and there were two sharp raps on the roof of the car. It pulled away from the curb immediately.
Steve twisted in the front seat. "The rest of your family and the Langs are on their way to the house."
"Why? What's going on?" Lois asked, insistently. "I thought he just wandered off."
"Lana saw someone with him," I told her gently. "When she confronted the guy, he dropped him and took off."
"What?" Her face turned ashen. She turned to Christopher. "Hey, little guy..."
"Mrs. Kent," Steve interrupted. "I know you want to know what happened, but I need you to let us talk to him first, okay? You can be there, but we can't risk tainting his memory, okay?"
She nodded and pulled him closer to her.
Between the lack of rush hour traffic and the police escort, the normally forty minute or so drive took just under twenty. Christopher was enthralled with the patrol cars complete with lights and sirens both in front and behind us.
It wasn’t until we were in the house that I breathed a sigh of relief.
The house was locked down behind us and a few minutes later we were settled on the couch in the living room. Christopher asked for and received a cup of juice as he settled in between me and Lois.
Jessica was already home and gladly took Nate from me so he wouldn't interrupt the talk we were about to try having with Christopher.
"Christopher, I need you to tell me what happened," Steve said gently.
He nodded. "'Kay, Mi'ter Ste'."
"Can you tell me where you went today?"
Christopher giggled. "Mommy, Daddy sc'oo' to see Daddy in a d'ess."
We smiled despite ourselves.
"Tell me about the building."
"Big," he said. "Lo'sa pe'ple."
"Where did you go when you left?"
He thought for a minute. "Too' pi'tures by t'ee."
"Then where did you go?"
"Wit' ice c'eam man."
"Ice cream man?"
He nodded. "'Ice c'eam man ha' ice c'eam." He frowned. "Den he ba' man."
"He's a bad man?" Steve asked.
Christopher nodded. "He say I no' see Mommy, Daddy fo' lon' time. He d'op ice c'eam and not pi' i' u'."
"Then where did you go?"
"'Ice yady sa' le' me go."
"Do you know the lady's name?"
He shook his head. "She ta' me ba' to Mommy an' Daddy. She wear dress yike Daddy and Mommy."
The front door opened and people spilled inside. Sam, my parents, Lana and her family.
"Dat yady ta' me." Christopher pointed at Lana.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
Lana looked shocked. "I didn't..." she started, but Steve held up a hand and she stopped.
"Where did that lady take you?"
"Mommy an' Daddy."
"Do you remember what the man with the ice cream looked like?"
Christopher bit his bottom lip. "B'own hai', yike Mommy an' Daddy hai'." He shrugged.
Steve nodded. "Thanks, little man. You did great."
Christopher grinned. "T'anks, Mi'ter Ste'."
"Why don't you go see if Miss Vicki will get you a snack?" I told him, giving him one more squeeze.
He scrambled down. "'Kay."
The rest of everyone made their way into the living room as Steve picked up his cell phone. "Ms. Lang, I'd appreciate it if you don't discuss this anymore just yet."
She nodded.
He spoke quietly into his phone for a minute, then came back.
"Ms. Lang, can you tell me what happened?"
She took a deep breath. "I met my parents near the athletic center and we started towards a less crowded area to take some pictures. We did and a couple of my friends were there. We talked for a few minutes and then I saw this guy carrying Christopher. I didn't think it was him at first, but then he said 'Daddy!' pretty loud and started wiggling and the guy wouldn't let him go."
She stared at her hands. "I called out to him – his name – and he turned towards me. I said something like 'that's not your kid' to the guy. I said it pretty loud, I guess, because everyone turned to look at him. He set Christopher on the ground and ran off. I stayed with Christopher. Daddy tried to follow him but I don't think he got very far."
"I didn't," the man I now knew was Lewis Lang said, "but a minute later, I heard someone calling for him and saw Clark."
"I asked him where his daddy was," Lana continued, pointedly not looking at me. "He thought for a minute and said something I thought sounded like 'Luthor' so Mom and I headed towards the Luthor building. A few minutes later, we saw you guys and then we were all rushed off."
"Could you describe the man?"
She nodded and gave a fairly generic description – medium height, medium build, dark hair, sunglasses, baseball hat, red shirt, blue jeans. She thought she'd recognize him if she saw him again and so did her parents.
"Thank you," I said suddenly, swiping at the tears on my cheeks.
"I couldn't let someone take off with him," she told me.
Clark squeezed my shoulders slightly. I hadn’t really realized he still had his arm around me.
"Still, thank you," I said again.
Steve was back on his phone. "They found the ice cream," he said as he hung up. "We may get prints off of the cup but don't hold out too much hope on that."
I sighed and leaned against Clark a little more. His arm tightened around me even more.
"He's okay," he told me quietly, rubbing my arm gently. He kissed my hair. "He's safe."
"For now," I whispered, pushing myself up and practically running off.
Clark was right behind me, stopping me before I got too far. "We'll *keep* him safe," he told me, taking me by the arms and turning me towards him.
My hands were balled into fists and they rested on his chest as he wrapped me in his arms. My tears soaked his shirt as I unclenched my fists just enough to grasp it in my hands.
I didn't know how long he held me but it was the closest we'd been, for the longest period of time, since I didn't know when. His hands rubbed up and down my back, soothing in their motions as sobs wracked my body.
"Why?" I whispered.
"Because he's crazy," Clark reminded me. "We'll do whatever we have to to keep him safe, you know that."
"He only has to get lucky once," I reminded him, turning my head so my cheek was resting on his chest instead of my forehead and I slowly loosened my grip on his shirt to let my arms slide around his waist, shifting closer to him as I did. His arms tightened around me. "We have to be lucky all the time."
"I know."
"I don't suppose you know anyone willing to perform assassinations?" I asked with a sigh, unwilling to move out of the circle of his arms just yet.
"Sorry, no. I did hear a rumor about another attempted coup or something though. Maybe he'll be ousted soon."
I sighed. "Not with our luck."
"Lana got a good look at him. I think I might be able to draw him if she describes him for me," he said quietly. "Do you want me to try?"
"I don't care if you sleep with her if it catches the bastard that did this." I hoped no one else was close enough to hear that, but I didn't really care.
He sighed. "Don't do that. Please."
"Fine, but I don't."
I didn't. I'd do anything to protect my son, though I'd prefer to avoid my husband sleeping with the love of his life to do it.
"Are you going to be okay?"
"What do you think?" I asked, irritated, pushing away from him. "Just go. Draw or whatever. I'm going to find my son and not let go."
I heard him sigh as I walked off, heading towards the kitchen without going through the living room.
"Come on, bud, it's about naptime," I said, picking him up off the stool. "How about I lay down with you for a while?"
"Wa' Ja' Ja'?" he asked.
"Sure, we can watch Jack Jack," I told him as I headed through the house.
Ten minutes later, we were curled up on my bed – the one I usually shared with Clark – watching Jack Jack.
I'd double checked all the doors before I started the movie. Christopher and I were securely locked in.
He was as safe as Daddy could make him.
I held him close and we both finally dozed off watching superheroes.
I just wished I *really* had one of my own.
*****
TBC
