Hello, everyone. Thanks to those who have given me feedback so far. Don't forget, the part 22 feedback thread will be open for advice until January.
Thanks, once again, to rkn for betaing this story for me.
Here's the final part!
A Box of Swiss Chocolates
In the next few days, Kiley’s health improved dramatically. She no longer had a fever, and she certainly didn’t suffer from shocks. Her cold-like symptoms had also disappeared. Furthermore, according to Dr. Klein, she suffered no ill effects from the radiation. Apparently, even though her invulnerability did not include illnesses, it did include problems with radiation.
However, the general public was still wondering why Superman had taken a civilian inside a nuclear power plant. Now that Kiley was better, she had heard several people discuss this.
“…so even though Metropolis has always appreciated Superman, we wonder if he might be going too far this time. What right does he have to expose a civilian to harmful radiation like that?...” She heard that one on the neighbors’ radio.
“I heard Superman tried to fry someone with radiation! Next he’ll be using heat vision. We have to be careful about these superheroes!” She heard that when she went grocery shopping.
It really made her mad. Her father had saved her life that day. Why was he getting such treatment from people he offered nothing but service? Of course, she admitted, it would have looked strange to an ordinary person, but couldn’t they give him the benefit of doubt?
So she went to her parents’ home that night to discuss options. She wouldn’t allow her father to be treated like this!
Mom and Dad were overjoyed to see her. They both hugged her as she walked in the door. She knew they still couldn’t believe she was okay. Honestly, she couldn’t believe it either. Her throat was no longer sore, so didn’t hurt to talk. She wasn’t burning up because of her fever. And best of all, she no longer had to go through those horrible shocks that caused her to wonder who her family was.
As well as who Larry was. She still couldn’t believe she didn’t have to choose between Larry and her family anymore. That was the real miracle, that her parents had finally accepted him. Larry had gone home yesterday, since he knew she would be okay. After all, he still had the Choco Bean to run. But she was free to see him whenever she wanted.
But right now, she wanted to help her father. “Hi, Mom and Dad”, she greeted them as they hugged her.
“Kiley, I still can’t believe you’re okay!” Mom exclaimed looking at her daughter in amazement.
“Me neither,” Dad added, hugging her again.
Kiley grinned.
“So, I wanted to talk to you guys about the public’s perception of Superman. What are we going to do?”
Her parents sighed and nodded, no longer looking quite so overjoyed. They all went to sit on one of the couches.
“Jim was talking to us about that today. I told him we could do an interview with Superman on the issue,” Dad mentioned.
Mom nodded.
Kiley wasn’t satisfied with this plan, however. She shook her head. “We need to do more than that, Dad. I mean, I know you guys like to think that everyone in Metropolis reads the Planet, but unfortunately, they don’t. There are a lot of people who really distrust Superman right now. What’s going to happen when you go on a rescue and someone refuses help?”
Dad shrugged. “I know, but right now, I don’t really care. Yes, it upsets me, and yes, I wish more people would give me the benefit of doubt, but I saved you that day. I have my Kiley back,” Dad hugged her again. “That’s what’s important to me.”
Kiley smiled again. “Thanks Dad, I appreciate that. But it really bothers ME when I hear my father discussed so negatively. I want to help clear your name, Dad.”
Mom spoke up, “It bothers me, too, Clark. I mean, I agree with you that saving Kiley was the most important thing, but I want Superman’s name cleared. You know I always want the public to think the best of him.” She grinned at Dad with her last comment.
“Yeah, you’ve always wanted people to think the best of Superman, Lois.” He grinned back. “So what should we do?”
“Maybe we should hold a press conference? We can go over the major points there, and just do a more in-depth interview for Jim,” Mom suggested.
Kiley nodded. That sounded like it might work. “But what are we going to say? I mean, we can’t tell them that you were treating Superwoman, because we don’t want people to notice her without the costume on. It destroys the whole secret identity.”
Her mother nodded, “And anyway, we wouldn’t want people to know you can get sick.”
They all sat on the couch, thinking.
“What if you were treating a NORMAL person for an illness, Clark? Could that work?” Mom’s eyes were starting to light up, the way they did when she got excited about a story, lead, or angle.
Clark shook his head. “I’ve heard of treating cancers and such with radiation, but how do we explain why I had to take her to a power plant?”
They all sighed and continued to think.
“What about getting Dr. Klein to help? I mean, it was his idea in the first place. And even though he’s technically retired, he’s still well respected in the scientific and medical community. So if we got him to say he told Superman to help this woman with a “special experimental treatment”, would that work?” Dad asked, building on Mom’s original idea.
Kiley wasn’t so sure about that, though. “But isn’t Dr. Klein known for treating Superman and family? What if someone makes a connection that way?”
Mom sighed. “That’s true, but he’s also well respected in the scientific community, and has a history of dealing with ‘unusual cases.’ Not all of these cases involved Superman.” She shrugged.
Dad sighed. “Well, I don’t know if it’s going to work, but we should try something. Let me call Jim and Dr. Klein.”
As Dad did that, Kiley sighed. She was so grateful for him for saving his life, but it made her feel guilty for shutting him out before. She loved her parents. Had she put too much pressure on her parents to accept Larry? All they wanted was the best for her, even if they had a misguided view of how to achieve it.
When Dad returned from making his calls, Kiley spoke, “Mom, Dad I’m really, really sorry for all I put you through with Larry. You were right, I wasn’t being truthful, and that’s no way to inspire trust in my judgment.” She ran her fingers through her hair as she talked. Was it a good idea to discuss this, or should they leave it as “water under the bridge”?
But her parents shook their heads, “No Kiley, you were right. We would have never let you continue seeing him if we knew earlier.”
Kiley wasn’t done, though. She shook her head. “I put so much pressure on you to like him. And you believed you were trying to protect me. Like you always do.”
Dad sighed. “Yeah, but I seem to recall hearing that I can’t protect my loved ones from everything all the time. I guess I still haven’t learned that.”
Everyone laughed. Dad and his over-protectiveness! “And I guess some of that has rubbed off onto me, as much as I always found your over-protectiveness annoying, Clark,” Mom added.
‘I still wish I had waited longer before telling him about Superwoman, though Dad. I know, by extension, I told Larry about you, too. That wasn’t fair too you. You had no reason to trust him.
You know, about a month ago, Larry told me he thought the superheroes were egotistical,” At her parents shocked faces, Kiley rushed on. “We dealt with that, and he doesn’t think that anymore. But I didn’t want to tell them they weren’t or we weren’t, however you want to put that,” she sighed. “Because it sounds like ‘believe me because I said so.’ But that’s exactly what I was doing with you guys and Larry. ‘Believe me because I said so.’”
Her mother sighed, “That’s true, but you offered us a compromise to get around that, and we turned you down. We should have trusted you a little more. You’ve always had good judgment before.”
“As far as the Superman thing,” Dad commented, speaking up again, “Yes, I felt betrayed about that, and exposed. But,” he shrugged. “It got Larry to Metropolis, and he helped save you. I may have given you the radiation but he gave you a reason to pull through. I can never repay him for that.”
Kiley smiled bigger than she ever had. “Thanks, Mom and Dad.” She hugged both of her parents again.
************************************************************************
Two weeks later, it was time for another Kent family dinner. Kiley, however, made as special trip to Switzerland before flying to Hyperion Avenue. She landed in her usual spot, near Larry’s house and knocked on the door.
“Hi Kiley! Gosh, I’ve got to tell you, it feels really weird to be eating at midnight!”
Kiley grinned. Because of course, it was 6:00PM in Metro
polis, but it was 12:00AM in Zurich.
“But I’ll do anything for you. I can’t believe your family actually wants me there! I’m Larry LUTHOR for goodness sakes!”
She smiled at him and went inside. “They really are over that, Larry. Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, I’m going to bring some chocolates with me anyway, just in case. I know you love them, and from what you’ve said, your mother will, too.” He picked up a box of the assorted chocolates that had brought Kiley to Switzerland in the first place.
Kiley laughed. “Well, it certainly won’t hurt!” Then she wrapped her arms around him from behind, as was their custom for flying, and they went out the window.
A few minutes later, they landed in her parents’ yard. Kiley smiled and took Larry’s hand to lead him to the door.
“Hi, there!” her mother said as she answered the door. “Hello,” Larry replied nervously.
He held out the chocolates, “I thought you might like these.”
Mom laughed “Definitely. Come in.”
So Kiley and Larry followed Mom into the dinning room. Thomas and Alice were already seated. “Hello,” they commented. Dad was busy finishing the pot roast. Kiley’s mouth watered. That was her favorite meal.
Larry picked up the jug of milk on the counter and handed it to Mom. “I’m told this is your job,” he commented as he sat down.
Mom grinned. “That’s right!” she replied as she filled all the glasses.
Dad turned around and looked at Larry strangely for a second. “You have blond hair,” he commented, quietly.
Larry nodded, looking confused.
“And you own the Choco Bean in Switzerland,” he continued.
Larry nodded, still looking confused.
“So…it was you I bumped into when I was in Zurich!” Dad laughed.
Larry grinned. “Yeah, I guess I was. And I bumped into you.”
Dad sobered then. “The reason I was there was to investigate you, though. I violated your privacy for no reason. I’m really sorry about that.”
Larry shrugged. “Yeah, Kiley told me about that. But it’s not important anymore. Let’s eat.”
Then everyone sat down and dug into the dinner. It was delicious. “So, I guess people seemed to accept Superman’s explanation for why he needed to take someone to the nuclear power plant. Dr. Klein really helped,” Dad commented.
Everyone nodded. That was good news. “I’m glad people trust Superman again,” Mom said softly, looking straight at Dad.
“I’m glad people are trusting Superman and Superwoman,” Larry added. “So have you figured out how she got the anthrax?”
Mom shrugged. “We’re not sure, but we have a few leads. The guy who attacked the campaign for the new city council worked at STAR labs as a janitor. And Dr. Klein said someone WAS working on anthrax at STAR labs. Apparently it’s a slow moving strain or something.”
Dad picked up, “Normally anthrax takes only one to seven days for the symptoms to appear. But this guy is working on a strain that takes a lot longer, anywhere between a month to three months. And Kiley was at that campaign a month ago because he pulled a gun. We just aren’t sure how he released the anthrax. And we haven’t seen anyone else come down with it yet.”
He sighed. “If we were assigned this story back at the beginning, we may have been able to catch it before Kiley got so sick. But it wasn’t ours. We were busy with other things.” Dad shook his head. “And I really wished I hadn’t been cleaning an oil spill that morning. If I had gone, none of this would have happened. Anthrax doesn’t affect me.”
Kiley sighed. “Dad, weren’t we having a conversation a little while ago about you being too over-protective? There was no way you could have known that would happen!”
Larry sighed. “I don’t see how anybody would be able to realize something like that had happened, sir. It wasn’t your fault.”
Dad sighed and nodded in thanks.
Alice, meanwhile, had been listening to this conversation with interest. “You know, I’ve been thinking you guys. About what I want to do with my life. I remember telling Kiley when she was sick how much I looked up to her because she knew what she wanted. And I remember thinking how brilliant Dr. Klein was for helping Kiley. I wish I could do the same. We’re always saying Dr. Klein isn’t going to be around forever. But what if I worked with Dr. Klein so I could treat our family? What if I went to medical school? I think…that’s really what I want in life.”
“I think that’s a great idea, Alice” Dad nodding approvingly.
“I’m sure Dr. Klein would be glad to help you,” Mom added, also approving of the plan.
Thomas nodded as well. “It looks like this family is really changing. Kiley has a boyfriend she loves and Mom and Dad approve of, and Alice finally has a direction in life. What’s this world coming to?” he joked.
Everyone laughed.
Kiley looked around as her family continued talking. Her family was back to normal again. But more than that, it was better than it was before. Because her family included Larry now. She didn’t have to choose between them, after all. She grabbed Larry’s hand under the table, and he smiled at her. She smiled. Maybe it was good that “you never knew what you were going to get” in life. There was so much that had changed because of a relationship that started with a box of Swiss chocolates.
Finished!!!!!!!
