After the Storm By Dandello Rated: PG Submitted: December 2007 Copyright: January 4, 2007 Country of first publication, United States of America. Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. -o-o-o- "What have I gotten myself into?" Clark Joseph Kent asked aloud as he sat down on one of the chairs in the newsroom conference room. The baby, Esperanza Ester Kent, a refugee from another time-line, started to wail and he held her to his shoulder, making sure to support her head. "What have I done?" "What you always do," Lois answered, noting how natural he seemed with a baby in his arms. "What you're best at. Rescuing people. And I can't think of anyone who needed rescuing more than this little one." "I can't do this by myself," he protested. It was finally sinking in as to what was happening. What Lois had planned for him. "You won't have to," she assured him. "We'll all be here to help." "I don't know if I can do this." "Clark, I promise you, we'll make this work," Lois said. "And besides, despite the fact that I would like nothing more than to knock your block off for lying to me, erasing my memory, *and* running off for six years, I'm in love with you. *All of you*." "And I've loved you since the first time I saw you. Will it help if I promise never to do those things again?" "It won't hurt." Perry knocked on the door then opened it. He walked in, followed by Polly who was carrying a large bag from the nearby Costmart. Jimmy was behind her, carrying a box with a picture of a baby carrier/car-seat on it. Clark tried to reach for his wallet once more even though he knew all he had were two credit cards and about ten dollars in cash. "Don't worry about it, Clark," Polly told him once again. "Consider this the baby shower we couldn't throw you and your wife." Polly peered at the younger man. He looked lost, overwhelmed, sitting there with a newborn in his arms. The Daily Planet newsroom staff had found out less than an hour before that during Clark's five plus year absence from the Planet, he'd gotten married to a foreign national and then discovered he couldn't bring her into the U.S. Now his wife was dead, murdered with the rest of her village with the only survivor being their newborn daughter who'd been rescued from certain death by Superman himself. The newsroom of course didn't know – could never know – the real story. That Clark had not been in South America at all, but had spent five plus years in space, traveling to and from the dead world of Krypton. That the child was not his, exactly, but was from an alternate time-line where *their* Clark Kent was the high lord of the House of El and the baby, *that* Clark's biological child by the daughter of a vicious warlord, was a pawn in dangerous political game. She promised to be a serious liability if left alive, only neither set of Clark Kent/Lois Lane had been willing to make that choice, opting instead to send the child into an alternate time-line for safety. This time-line, this reality. "Thanks," Clark murmured. Lois started opening the packages, starting with the baby bottles and formula. She handed a filled bottle to Polly. "Could you warm that up, please?" "Be back in a jiff," Polly promised, heading over to the women's lounge. Lois took the baby from Clark and started dressing her in the diapers and new clothes Polly had bought. The pink fuzzy jammies were huge on baby, but Lois knew from experience that the clothes would be just right in less than a month. She handed the dressed baby back to her 'father'. Clark took the child again, her tiny hands waving around impotently, fingers splayed like wrinkled little starfish. A strobe flash went off and both Clark and Lois looked up to see Jimmy with his camera. He grinned at them. "Hey, I am the official baby photographer around here, you know." "Clark," Perry said. "Do you even have a place to live yet? Your bags are still in the storage room." Clark shook his head. "There's nothing available, with the crystalquake and all, unless I want to commute two hours each way, and even then, who can afford it right now? Rents in the greater metro have more than doubled in the past week." "Let me call Alice, let her know we're going to have company," Perry said, heading toward the door. "You don't have to do that, sir. I'll figure out something," Clark protested. "You haven't got anything yet and we both know it'll be at least a month, if not more, for the housing situation to sort itself out," Perry pointed out. "Besides, Alice would have my hide if she found out I had a homeless new dad with a baby working here." "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Clark said softly. He'd looked overwhelmed before, but now he looked exhausted as well. "Son, when's the last time you slept?" "I honestly don't remember." Perry shook his head. "Let me call Alice, then I'll get you both out of here." "What about the story?" "Lois can handle it." -o-o-o- Perry maneuvered the black Acura out of the Daily Planet parking garage, over to Clinton, then to Ordway Drive towards Park Ridge. Baby Esperanza was safely ensconced in her car seat in the back. Clark was in the front passenger seat, head resting on the door frame. He was so quiet Perry wondered if he had fallen asleep, but no, his eyes were open, watching the traffic. "What was the name of the village?" Perry asked. "Hmm?" "The village you ended up at? What was its name?" "Santa Clarita," Clark said. "Not too far from the border between Colombia and Peru, up in the hills. Not a bad place, except for the drug lords and the warring factions." "What was she like, the girl you married?" "Young. She was the daughter of one of the local militia leaders. I wandered in, stupid American, and she decided I was her best way out," Clark explained. "I figured she was my best way to stay alive. A marriage of convenience. At least we liked each other." "So what did you do, aside from boinking the jefe's daughter?" Clark looked momentarily confused then his expression cleared. "A little of this, a little of that. Bookkeeping, clerical stuff. The jefe's son-in-law didn't have to worry about manual labor, at least." "Then she got pregnant and that's when you started trying to get her into the States?" Perry speculated aloud. "Pretty much," Clark agreed. "Interesting," Perry commented mostly to himself. *The boy's gotten better at lying, at least.* -o-o-o- Richard White looked around the newsroom. Perry's domain, but his when Perry was out. That was one of the roles of assistant editor, although he was giving it up as soon as he had plane tickets for Paris. *"She's decided," he'd told his uncle. "Is that post in Paris still open?" Perry had nodded 'yes.'* Lois was at her desk, no doubt working on the article that she and Clark and Superman had been working on, about Homeland Security's impact on families with cross border ties. *I guess that describes Clark right now. The poor guy looked completely shell shocked when Perry took him away.* Richard searched out one particular person in the crowded room. The noise levels had returned to relative normal after Superman's unexpected appearance, walking in with a newborn baby in his arm. *Clark Kent's baby.* Funny, but Kent just didn't seem to be the type to marry some exotic beauty then run away when she got pregnant. He was honest, wholesome, honorable, a real boy scout. *It must have been a hell of a shock to walk into work to find Lois telling him his wife was dead and he was a daddy.* He finally found the person he was looking for: Penelope Landris, the new girl, rather woman, in research. She came from well respected Metropolis family, had attended college in Paris, and spoke French fluently. Her first journalism job had been with a small broadsheet in Paris. It had also been Penny who made sure Richard was okay when Lois and Clark disappeared for three days without a trace. "Penny," Richard called to her. She stopped what she was doing, dropping off papers at various desks and trotted over to him. "Yes, Mister White?" "Mister White's my uncle, remember?" Richard said with a grin. "The Daily Planet has a couple openings in Paris. Mister White wanted me to ask you if you were interested in moving to France for a while to work for us there." He studied her face as she considered what he'd asked. "Who will I be working under?" she finally asked. "Me," he said. He noted her glance over at Lois still seated at her desk, reviewing her notes, typing her story. "Happened pretty fast, didn't it?" she asked, concern in her eyes. "Not really," Richard said. "I always had a suspicion that if Jason's real father showed up one day, out of the blue, he'd still be in the running for her." "Does she know what you're planning?" He shrugged. *Will she care?* "I'm planning to tell her as soon as we both get home." -o-o-o- Lois finished the first section of Clark's write-up on immigration problems that Norm Parker had started investigating. It had become Clark's story when Parker died and Clark was rehired, taking over both Parker's desk *and* his assignments. Now, with Clark supposedly personally involved in the issue, it was Lois *and* Clark's story. Funny, she could tell when Norm's writing left off and Clark's began, could see Clark's edits, his change in point of view on the subject. He had obviously not been working on it very long otherwise it would have been a seamless whole. Her job in taking it over was to make it a seamless whole, using Clark's voice, one she knew almost as well as her own, even after him being away from more than five years. She sent the article over to Perry's printer and also to Perry's in-folder. That finished, she picked up her coat and purse, turned off her computer and started to head home. *Jason! Where is Jason*? When she was in the alternate time-line, she wanted nothing more than to get back home to her son. But when she got back to her home dimension, her worry about Clark and the baby had pushed her own son to the back of her mind. *What sort of mother am I that I can put someone else's child before my own? * She looked around and saw Richard standing near the elevators taking with Penny Landris. *Clark was right. This Penny is the counterpart to Richard's wife in that other place. They look right together.* "Richard, are you picking Jason up, or am I?" she called to him. "You can, if you want. I signed him up for that new aftercare at his school. They'll watch him till about six," he told her. "I know I should have talked to you about it before I signed him up, but I wasn't able to get a hold of you. None of us were." "It's been a really bizarre last couple of days," she told him. "Well, why don't you tell me about it over dinner? I'll grab some Indian on my way home," he said. She gave him a grateful smile. "Sounds good. I'll meet you there." She watched Penny smile at Richard and head back into the newsroom to do her work. *I wonder how long she's been here. Oh God, how do I tell Richard that Clark's back in my life? How do I begin to explain it?* -o-o-o- Alice White hadn't changed, really. Oh, she was thinner, with more silver tracing metallic lines through her hair, but she hadn't really changed, Clark thought as she opened the front door and pulled him into a hug, despite the baby carrier in his hand. "I'm so sorry, Clark," she said letting him go. "It must be a horrible shock for you." "Yeah, I certainly wasn't expecting..." He ran his free hand through his hair. "Uh, yeah," he ended up mumbling. He followed her through the door into the house. Perry was behind him with the baby things. Clark would go out later and get his bags out of the trunk of the car. He still wasn't sure how he felt about the invitation to stay with Perry and his wife, how he was going to handle his 'other job' while under the intense scrutiny of the editor-in-chief of one of the most influential newspapers on the east coast, if not the country. "Um, I want to thank you for letting me, I mean us, stay till I find someplace to live. I..." "Don't mention it, hon'," Alice assured him, taking the baby carrier from him and leading him into the living room. "The Planet is family, and family helps each other, warts and all." *"It's about family," the other Clark had said. "You can love them, you can hate them, be ashamed of them, despise them. When family calls, you help. Despite the wrongs they've done, you care."* Alice peered into the carrier, at the small life wrapped in baby blankets. She picked the child up. "She is so adorable... Look at all that hair..." -o-o-o- The cab dropped Lois and Jason off in front of the house at 312 Riverside Drive. The house she'd left three days ago to go to work, the same house that her counter-part lived in with four kids and Clark Kent. She opened the door with her key and walked in. Jason ran past her to the kitchen. "Daddy, Mommy's back! She picked me up at aftercare just like you promised!" "I told you she wouldn't be gone too long," Richard told him. "Now, go get cleaned up for dinner, and we'll have Mommy tell us all about her adventure with Mister Clark and Superman, and then I have something to talk to you and Mommy about." She could hear Jason's little elephant feet pounding on the stairs as he ran up to wash his hands and face. She walked into the dining room and found the table set, most of dinner in serving bowls ready to go. She entered the kitchen beyond and saw Richard, a glass of wine in his hand. "Starting without me?" she asked, trying to keep her voice light. To answer, he pulled a second wine glass from the cabinet and filled it for her. She took a sip. "Not bad for 'two-buck-Chuck,'" she said. He took a sip of his wine. "Perry and I were really worried about you." He looked up and saw her annoyed expression. "We were worried about Clark, too, but I figure he's a big boy. He can take care of himself." "And I can't?" she asked. "That's not what I meant and you know it," he explained. "For Clark to disappear is just 'Clark.' It's not like you to take off for days without telling anyone where, or what." "I called Perry before we left that I was with Superman and Clark and that we might be gone for more than a day." "But three days without contact? On an INS story?" he asked. "And where was Superman? His arrival at the Planet this afternoon was the first sighting of him in three days. Perry and I were watching for him, any sign of him, so we'd have an idea where you and Clark had gone off to. So, where *was* he?" "The Arctic, for one. Then other places, places without cell phone coverage," Lois said. "You're not going to tell me, are you?" Richard said. She shook her head. "It's complicated." -o-o-o- The White's house was simpler than Clark had imagined it would be. It was a big Craftsman style house in one of the older suburbs of Park Ridge west of New Troy Island. Four bedrooms, two and a half baths thanks to a recent remodeling. Perry and Alice had kept with the 1920's theme in the furnishings, real wood, real leather. In fact, it reminded him of how the other Lois and Clark's house looked. Functional, homey, unpretentious really, but real. No fabulous fakes here, no photo-wood or vinyl pretending to be something else. "Clark, you look all done in," Alice observed. "I made up your room, first one on the left at the top of the stairs. Why don't you get a little nap before dinner? I'll have Perry get your bags." "No, I'll go get them," Clark insisted. "They're pretty heavy." Wordlessly, Perry handed him the key to the trunk of the Acura. "Perry, what's really going on?" Alice asked as soon as Clark was out the door. "How the devil could those two disappear off the face of the Earth for three days and come back with a baby that can't be more than a day old?" "I'm not sure," Perry admitted. "It could very well be, most likely is, everything Lois and Clark have told me. Clark got into a relationship while he was away traveling, found out she was pregnant, tried to get her into the country, couldn't. Then Lois found out, got involved, and got Superman involved." "So, what can we do to help?" Alice asked. The baby had started to fuss again. Alice handed her to Perry and started rummaging through the bag of baby things. "She's probably hungry again, poor thing..." "Lois fed her before we left," Perry said. "I'm not sure she trusted Clark to do it yet. I have no idea what she has planned." "Neither do I," Clark answered, shutting the front door behind him. "But I'm positive I'm not going to like it much." "You'll get through this," Perry promised. "Tomorrow we'll see what the lawyers downstairs can do about getting a birth certificate for our little princess here." If Perry hadn't been looking, watching for it, he might have missed the flicker of... *what? Worry, fear, something else...* that crossed Clark's face. *We are definitely going to talk, boy.* "Aren't they libel and copyright attorneys?" Clark asked. "They're clever fellows. At least that's what they tell me," Perry said, gently bouncing on the balls of his feet to sooth the baby in his arms. It'd been a while since there'd been a baby in the house, since Jason was a baby in fact. Jerry's widow and kids and Keith and his wife and kids lived away from the city. Perry and Alice didn't see them very often. "And I'm sure they're capable of doing more than just keeping Lois and Ralph out of jail," Perry continued, grinning. "At least you're not on that list...yet. But I have hope." "Go get settled in, take a nap," Alice ordered. She'd found the formula and bottle in the bag. "Yes, ma'am," Clark said with a faint smile and took his bags up to the indicated room. He locked the bedroom door behind him and unpacked some of his things. The room had a large window facing the back yard. He opened the window, leaning out to look around. There were tall trees blocking the view of the window from the neighboring houses. He was tired and he really couldn't remember the last time he'd been able to unwind enough for a good couple hours sleep. He didn't need much sleep, could go days without it, but he did need dreamtime. He hadn't been getting much of that either, not since Luthor stabbed him in the back with a kryptonite shiv. He had nightmares, and would wake up sweating and more tired than he'd been before he fell asleep. He took one last look around the yard, shed his street clothes in favor of the primary colored Suit then launched himself into the sky at just less than the sound barrier. In the stratosphere the sun's light was less filtered. It felt good just to float where the sound was muted to near nothingness. He dozed and dreamed. Lex Luthor stalked his dreams, his nightmares. After a short while, he opened his eyes and headed back to the White's home, back to his new responsibilities. *What have I gotten myself into?* -o-o-o- Lois, Richard and Jason sat down to dinner. Tandoori chicken, biryani, chapathis, amti. "Mommy, where did you go with Superman?" Jason asked. "Well, Clark and I went to Superman's Fortress of Solitude to find out some things from Superman," Lois began. "Mister Clark was with you and Superman?" he asked. He frowned at her, obviously confused. "Yes, he was," Lois said. "Why?" He just looked at her, bright blue eyes, troubled. "Nothing, Mommy." He toyed with his food, watching his mother carefully. Lois continued, trying to ignore Jason's eyes on her. "Well, then Mister Clark told us a secret he hadn't wanted to tell anybody at work..." "Mister Clark told you his secret?" Jason asked. He looked more confused than before. "Yes, he told us he got married while he was on his trip and he was trying to get his wife home to Metropolis so they could have their baby here. I asked Superman to help him." Jason just looked at her like he didn't believe her story. "Did Superman help?" Lois looked over to Richard. He was pointedly staring at his plate. "Yes and no. He found Clark's baby girl and she was okay and he brought her to Metropolis, but her mother was dead," she told he son. "Clark's pretty upset," she added. "Does this mean I have a baby sister?" Jason asked. He gave his mother a speculative look. She looked over at Richard again. He was staring at Jason, mouth open in surprise. "What makes you think that, kiddo?" Richard asked. "If Mister Clark is my bio... biol..." "Biological?" Lois suggested. Jason nodded his head. "Biological father, then his baby girl is my sister, too," he explained. "Jason, who told you that Clark was your biological father?" Richard choked out. "People at your work," he said. "Miss Cat, and Ralph, and Gil all said Mommy and Mister Clark were 'friends with benefits' before he ran away." He looked between the two adults at the table. "What does that mean, friends with benefits?" *Trust Cat and Ralph to put the worse possible spin on the whole thing.* "Um, it means that before Mommy met Daddy, Mister Clark and I were very close and did grown-up things together," Lois explained, trying to keep her expression neutral. "And I heard you tell Mister Clark I was his son, when we were at the hospital," Jason added. Lois looked at him, wide-eyed. "You heard me say that?" Jason nodded. Lois looked over at Richard again. He was staring back at her. "Clark was at the hospital that night, too?" Richard asked. "He didn't mention it to Perry or me. In fact, we're not sure where he took off to after I left to look for you that day." "Clark is a reporter, remember? He went to cover the disaster, got hurt, ended up at Met General about the same time they brought in Superman. I saw him there as we were leaving," she told him. "We started talking and it just came out." Jason looked at her, worried, eyes bright with tears. "Mommy, did Mister Clark run away because of me?" Lois's heart broke. "Oh no, honey. Mister Clark had something he absolutely had to do, that's why he left. He didn't know about you. Even I didn't know about you before he left. But if he had known, I know for a fact he would never have left." Jason nodded his head, brown hair falling into his eyes. He gave his mother a tremulous smile. Richard sighed and Lois gave him a curious look. "You said you had something to talk to me and Jason about?" she reminded him. "Maybe now isn't the right time," Richard said. He ran his hand through his hair. Lois couldn't remember the last time he looked so... *concerned, distressed?* "Richard, we promised never to keep things from one another..." she started. He stared at her. "Not that I've done a very good job of that," she added. *I told you I didn't love Superman, and now you find out I was sleeping with Clark? That Jason is his son?* He snorted. "Yeah, that's an understatement," he said, then promptly looked ashamed. "You guys remember I told you a couple weeks ago that there was an opening in Paris?" Lois nodded, sensing where he was going. "You told me you weren't interested in moving, so I didn't think any more about it," he said. She nodded, not saying anything, letting him continue at his own pace. "Considering what's been happening, everything that's happened, Superman, Clark, Luthor," he went on. "I'm taking the post in Paris. I'm leaving next Monday." "And you decided this without bothering to talk to me? I'm your fiancée, for God's sake," Lois said sharply. She wasn't surprised, really. A little hurt that he'd made the decision without letting her explain, without giving her a choice. Angry, definitely. "Lois, you disappeared for three days without a word to me." He held up his hand as she started to protest. "I know you told Perry you were going to be out on a story and it might not pan out. But you didn't talk to me. Even when you came back, you called Perry, not me. What am I supposed to think?" "That I'm dedicated to my job?" Lois suggested. "Lois, I fell in love with a woman who as it happened, was on the rebound from an encounter that... well, probably shouldn't have happened but did," he said. "I was in love with a woman who I didn't really know, who never showed me who she really was, because she wanted to leave the past behind. But that past has come back with a vengeance and now I'm seeing the woman you used to be, the one who was in love with a hero who can fly. How the hell can I compete with that?" "You're not being fair, Richard," she protested, but she knew her complaint was weak, even in her own ears. He just looked at her a long moment. "You're the one who's not being fair, to Clark. I can only imagine what he's going through right now. And if you hurt him the way I know you can, he may never recover." "Clark is stronger than you think," she told him. She pulled off her engagement ring and set it on the table between them. "Lois, Superman is afraid of you. What chance has Clark Kent got?" -o-o-o- Clark slipped back into the bedroom through the open window and switched to his street clothes. He could smell meatloaf and potatoes baking in the oven downstairs. He smiled to himself. It had been ages since he'd had meatloaf. He'd heard that Alice White was a good cook. He heard Perry's heavy tread on the steps to the second floor, lay down on the bed and waited for the knock on the door. The knock came right on time. "Clark? Alice has dinner ready." "I'll be right there," Clark told him, getting up and going to the door. He followed Perry down the stairs to the dining room. Alice had set the baby in her carrier on a dining room chair. The infant was asleep again. "So, Perry says you've been in South America the whole time you were gone. You weren't in the middle of all those drugs and all that fighting, were you?" "I did my best to avoid it. Getting involved in that is a good way to get killed," Clark said. "Especially for an American." "Well, how did you meet her? The baby's mother, I mean," Alice asked. "I was trying to avoid getting shot and wound up in this little village on the border. It seemed like a nice enough place, and the jefe's daughter took a liking to me, and one thing led to another and you know the rest," Clark explained. His eyes widened as he remembered something he'd overlooked. "Clark, what's wrong?" Perry asked. "My mother," he blurted out. "She's going to kill me. It was bad enough when I told her about Jason. I am so dead." *How could I be so stupid? If anybody's called her... I am so dead.* "You didn't tell your mother you got married while you were gone?" Alice asked. Disbelief was evident in her voice. "No, it was the other part I may not have been clear on," Clark said. "May I borrow your phone?" "The wireless is in the kitchen," Perry told him. Clark nodded thanks and went to the kitchen to grab the phone. He walked out onto the back deck, closing the door behind him as he dialed his mother's cell phone number. "Mom?" he said as the other end picked up. "It's Clark. Um, are you alone?" "Yes. Ben is outside," she said. "Is there something wrong? Perry called me yesterday asking if I knew where you and Lois were." "Lois and I are fine," he said. "But things have gotten kind of weird. While we were gone, we were given a baby, a little girl. Her mother is dead and her father...that part I'll explain later. It's complicated." "So, what does this have to do with you?" his mother asked. "The baby isn't from around here. I mean she really isn't from around here. And Lois and I decided... actually Lois decided," he amended, "the best way to explain the whole thing was if I got married while I was gone, my wife had a baby while I was trying to bring her into the country and Superman found the baby alive but the mother dead." "What was her name?" Martha asked. "The woman you supposedly married?" "Conza Nor-Et," Clark answered. "I've named the baby Esperanza Ester." "Clark, have you any idea what you've gotten yourself into?" Martha asked. "Taking on the responsibility of a baby isn't a spur of the moment type of decision." "Mom, if I hadn't done it, the people who brought her to where we got her would have killed her," Clark explained. "Her existence was politically inconvenient. We couldn't let that happen." "Do you want Ben and me to fly out there?" "Mom, I don't even have a place to live yet, the city's so messed up," Clark said. "Perry and his wife are putting me and the baby up in one of their guest rooms for the time being." "What about Lois? Is she going to help?" "She said she would," Clark said. "But I'm not sure how much she can. She has a fiancé so I'm not sure what she can do, except be supportive. Look, I'll call you in a few days, let you know what's going on." "Clark," Martha said gently. "I know you'll do the right thing. I just hope you'll be okay. And remember, I can always come out there if you need me to." "I know, Mom. Love you, and thanks." He hit the end button on the phone and sighed. *At least she didn't yell at me. Maybe she figures the responsibility lecture stuck.* *"Ben and I were in Metropolis to see you," Martha had told him. "I wanted to be there for you, be there for my boy. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to... I was afraid I'd be burying an empty coffin next to your father's... We saw Lois and her son leaving the hospital. He's a fine looking boy." * *"Yes, he is... Mom, Lois told me – at least I think she did, it was when I was in the hospital, when they thought I might not make it. She told me that Jason might be mine. Although I can't quite figure out how."* *"Babies are a common hazard of sex, you know."* *Clark had chuckled. "You know what I mean. I didn't think humans and, you know, I didn't think we'd be compatible."* *"We know better, now. I'm a little disappointed though. I thought your Dad and I..."* *"You thought you'd taught me better," Clark had completed for her. "You did. Before the article about Krypton was published, before I decided to leave, I asked Lois to marry me. I gave up my powers to be with her, Mom. And yes, I spent the night with her. At that moment, it was absolutely right."* *"But you haven't lost your powers."* *"No. It became obvious pretty quickly that for me to do that was the worst decision of my life. I couldn't do it. Maybe I was selfish and wanted it all, but it wasn't going to work. As much as I've always wanted to be normal, to be human, I couldn't. Lois... Lois couldn't handle it. So I erased her memory of us. I didn't know she'd gotten pregnant. I swear to God I would never have left if I'd known."* *"I know that, son. What do you plan to do?"* *"Her fiancé is a good man... It's probably better if I don't do anything. But it's tearing me up inside."* *"Clark, I know you'll do what's right."* *But what the devil is right when your world has been turned upside down and inside out? When two entire universes conspire against you?* -o-o-o- "I'll get the guest room ready for you," Lois announced, getting up from the table. Jason watched her with confusion written across his small face. "Mommy, what's going on?" he asked, voice small. "Daddy is moving to France on Monday," Lois explained. "Across the ocean." "Does that mean he won't live here any more?" "Yeah munchkin," Richard told him, ruffling his hair. "But I can come back for holidays, or you and Mommy can come visit." "But I don't want you to live across the ocean," Jason complained, breaking into tears. "I want you here to tuck me in and read me my stories. Don't you want to be my daddy anymore?" "Jason, Richard will always be your daddy, I promise," Lois tried to reassure him. "And we can visit him in Paris, just like he said. It's just that... when Clark came back, and Superman came back too, things changed and your daddy and I have decided it would be better if we didn't get married and we didn't live together right now." Jason looked from one adult to another. "Are we still going to the zoo Saturday?" "Sure thing, sport," Richard told him. He poured himself another glass of wine, finishing off the bottle. Jason nodded, content for the moment. Then: "If Daddy is moving across the ocean, then is Mister Clark going to move in here with my sister?" Richard choked on his wine. "What makes you ask that, Jason?" "Well, if Mister Clark is my other daddy, and my first daddy isn't around... You said Mister Clark's baby doesn't have a mommy. A baby should have a mommy," Jason told them solemnly. "Yes, a baby should have a mommy," Lois agreed. "And I did promise Mister Clark I would help. But that doesn't mean he and the baby are going to move in with us." "Yet," Richard murmured under his breath, softly enough Lois shouldn't have been able to hear. Jason gave him a puzzled look. *He heard me?* "When can I meet my baby sister?" Jason asked. "How about now?" Lois offered. Richard shrugged. "I'll clean up here, get my stuff moved out." He ruffled Jason's hair once more. "See you later." -o-o-o- "How did she take it?" Perry asked. "Better than I thought she would," Clark admitted. He sat back down at the table. Alice had brought in dessert – apple pie – and poured more coffee. An alarm went off somewhere in Midtown followed by a siren. Clark stopped to listen for a moment, to determine what, if anything, was happening. A report on the police band indicated a convenience store robbery, a little cash taken but no one was hurt. The police had the situation under control. "Clark? Clark?" Alice's voice intruded. He turned to see her watching him worriedly. "Are you all right?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," he answered. "I, um, just heard something. A siren, I think." She didn't look convinced. "Clark, have you seen a doctor about these seizures?" "Seizures?" Clark asked. He had no clue as to what she was talking about. He took a bite of the pie. It was very good. *Not as good as Mom's but very good.* "You were just staring off into space for a good thirty seconds," Alice explained. "Although from what I've read, you are a little old for petit mal seizures." "Petit mal seizures?" Clark repeated. *She thinks I have epilepsy?* "Alice, leave the boy alone," Perry admonished. "I'm sure if I turned on the police band we'd find out there's something happening three streets over. Clark's just been on the city beat for so long he's positively psychic when it comes to sirens and alarms." Perry smiled at his own joke as he picked up his coffee cup, beckoning Clark to follow him. Clark picked up the baby, making sure she was well wrapped in the pink and yellow blankets Polly had bought for her, and followed Perry out onto the back deck. "When you do that, it really does look like you've completely spaced out. The sirens were over in New Troy somewhere, weren't they?" "I don't know what..." "Don't lie to me, boy," Perry warned him. "You're the second best investigative reporter I have, next to Lois. That puts you as one of the top five in the world and that buys you a lot of slack, a lot of unexplained disappearances, and a lot of tardiness. But I've been in this business longer than you've been alive and right now, I want the absolute truth. Who are this child's biological parents?" "You'll have me hauled off to Belle Reve," Clark muttered. "Clark, I live in Metropolis. A man who flies saved the city last week. A man who looks an awful lot like you. Try me." "You've heard of the theory that there are multiple parallel universes? That every decision made, every random event creates a new time-line, a new universe?" Perry nodded. "I've heard of it. I'm not sure I buy it, but I'm familiar with it." "It's not a theory," Clark said. "That's what happened to me and Lois. We ended up in an alternate time-line. We were there for maybe twenty hours." "You were gone for three days," Perry reminded him. "I know. We were lucky to have gotten back at all," Clark said. "This little one comes from that time-line and her biological parents really were a woman named Conza Nor-Et and Clark Kent. Clark Jerome Kent. My alternate. He's about six years older than I am, been married for ten years, has four kids, and he's the editor in chief of the Daily Planet." "So he what, had an affair with this woman?" "Nothing so simple. He hadn't even seen her in over ten years. In that time-line their Clark ended up involved in some political issues before he got married, enough to make him a target for their version of terrorists. They managed to get a sperm sample or something, impregnated the daughter of one of the terrorist leaders when she was old enough. I won't go into the government structure of the place they were from there except that this little girl's existence would be enough to completely destabilize their government and plunge the place into civil war." "So you and Lois decided to bring the child here for safekeeping?" "It seemed to be the right thing to do." "So, why are you going through with the charade that she's yours?" "Perry, her mother was Conza, daughter of Nor, Lord of the House of Et, of the colony of New Krypton," Clark told him. "She's Kryptonian." "Does Lois know?" "Oh yeah. She knows." *Lois knows everything. Oh God, what have I gotten myself into? Perry knows too.* -o-o-o- "Will she like the toy I picked out for her?" Jason asked as they crossed the Bakerline Bridge to Park Ridge. Before they'd gotten into the car, Jason had run back upstairs and picked out one of his old baby toys, a little blue bear with a rattle inside. Luckily, the one he chose was one of the lesser used ones and actually almost looked new. "Jason, Baby Esperanza is a very, very, little baby, like your friend Joey's little brother, remember? It'll be a while before she can play with the bear," Lois told him. He looked crestfallen. "What if she loses it before she can play with it?" "I'm sure Mister Clark will take care of it for her until she's old enough," his mother assured him. They stopped in front of Perry's house and Jason was out of his seat belt almost before Lois had the key out of the ignition. She came around and let him out of the car, grabbing his hand before he could run up to the front door without her. They walked together up to the front door and Lois pressed the doorbell button. Clark opened to door, carrying the baby in his arms. "Is that my sister?" Jason was bouncing with pent up energy. "Uh, yeah," Clark said, pushing his glasses up with this free hand. He stepped aside to let Jason and Lois into the house. Clark gave Lois a puzzled look. Lois shrugged and gave him a grin. "Cat, Ralph and Gil told him we were 'friends with benefits' before you left. He figured the rest out pretty much himself." "Oh," Clark murmured. "I told you he was a smart one," Perry told her. "I brought her a toy," Jason said, holding the little bear up high for everyone to see. Clark settled into one of the leather chairs in the living room, arranging the baby and her blankets across his arm and lap. Jason looked at her, wide eyed. The baby looked up blearily at him and yawned. "Can she see me?" Jason wondered aloud. "Brandon's dog, Misty, had puppies and they were born blind." "Well, she probably sees you as a blob right now," Lois explained. "But in a month or so, she'll see you much better." "She's too little to play, isn't she?" Jason commented. He looked disappointed. "Well, all she wants to do right now is eat, sleep and grow," Lois told him. "But it won't be all that long before she'll be big enough and strong enough to play with you." "Would you like to hold her?" Clark offered. "Can I? Mommy, can I?" He was jumping in excitement. Lois nodded. "Sit down on the floor," she instructed. He plopped down on the floor facing Clark. Lois took the infant and handed her to Jason whose eyes widened in wonder. "Mommy, was I this little?" Lois knelt on the floor beside him, one hand ready in case the baby moved and he dropped her. "Jason, you were even littler. You were so little the doctors put you in a special box to keep you warm and so they could keep an eye on you." "Oh, Jimmy has pictures of me in the hospital," he said, reminding himself. He peered down at the infant he was holding in his lap. "What's her name?" "Esperanza Ester," Clark told him. "There's a girl in my class named Esperanza. Her name means hope, like my name means healer. What does your name mean, Mister Clark?" "Clark means 'man of learning,'" Clark said. "And Kent means 'shiny,' or 'from Kent' which is in England." "And what does Mommy's name mean?" He looked from Lois to Clark and back again. "Lois means 'famous warrior,'" Clark answered, choking down a laugh. Jason looked up at his mother in surprise. "Are you a famous warrior?" "Without a doubt," Perry answered him with a grin. "In that case, we should be careful what we name babies, shouldn't we?" Jason observed. "That's very true," Lois agreed. Jason's expression turned pensive again. "What does Superman's name mean?" "Well, 'Superman' should be pretty obvious," Perry told him. "No, I mean his other name," Jason explained. "Kalil." "Kal El," Clark corrected, emphasizing the space between the two syllables. "El is the family name and means 'star' or 'from the stars.' Kal means 'child.' So his name means 'star child.'" "Do I have another name too?" Jason asked. "Well, you have a middle name," Alice put in. "No, I mean another name like Superman has." "Jason, why don't..." Lois began. Then she noticed the familiar far off look that had come into Clark's eyes. She reached for the TV remote on the coffee table but found that Perry had beaten her to it. He turned on GNN and they found themselves watching coverage of an oil refinery fire that was raging out of control. It was only fifty miles up the coast from the city. "Perry, keep an eye on the kids, will you?" Lois said, grabbing her purse and heading for the door. She stopped when she realized Clark wasn't behind her. "Get the lead out, Kent!' she ordered and was gratified to see him start to follow her. "Mommy, are you sure you don't want Mister Clark to move in now that Daddy's leaving?" She and Clark both stopped and looked back at the little boy sitting on the floor. Lois shook her head and grabbed Clark's arm, leading him out the door. "I explain on the way," she promised. She turned back momentarily and glared at Jason. "Listen to Uncle Perry and Aunt Alice." The implied 'or else' was understood by all. Outside, Clark took the lead, going around the side of the house. The side gate was partially hidden by shrubbery and Clark spun at high speed, stopping in front of her wearing the familiar blue and red. "Sweeeet," Lois murmured as he picked her up and shot straight into the air. "Hey, I did learn something from the other Superman, aside from the fact he considers me a first class jerk," Clark said as they leveled out, heading north-east toward the fire. "So, what did Jason mean when he said...?" "Richard had an offer from our bureau in Paris," she explained. "He's decided to take it." Lois felt the air slow around them. "Are you going with him?" "No." The air sped up and she could make out the black smoke spewing into the air in the distance from the heavy oil that was burning. "Jason has decided that his baby sister needs a mother," she added. "He's elected me. And he thinks I need a roommate. He's elected you." "I think we really need to talk," Clark muttered, coming to earth away from the fire and away from watching eyes. "A car wouldn't get you here for nearly an hour, remember?" "I caught a ride with Superman?" "Not a good idea. Wait for Clark to come back, okay?" She nodded, tapping her foot in impatience. He tried to give her a stern look. She just looked back at him, arms crossed in a fairly good imitation of his own stance. With a resigned shake of his head he flew off, toward the fire. -o-o-o- Jason turned and watched the television with Perry and Alice. The GNN news team wondered aloud at the absence of Superman. Then: "Superman!" The cheer went up from the firefighters as Superman landed and sought out the person in charge of the effort. Jason propped the baby against his chest so she could watch the TV screen. "That's Superman," he explained to her softly. "He flies, and he's real strong, and he's friends with my mommy and our daddy. And when you're older, I bet he'll take you flying, too." "Superman's taken you flying?" Alice asked. Jason nodded. "I like flying." -o-o-o- Superman listened attentively as the plant's senior engineer explained the problem. One of the main feed valves had cracked. It probably wouldn't have been a problem, had the technician working to repair it followed proper, or even common sense, procedures. But something happened and the valve exploded into a fireball, killing the technician. Now the fire was out of control with most of the plant involved. The engineer, Joshua Farger, had a schematic of the plant. "If we could cut the fuel supply here and here," he said, pointing out the two valves in question, "We should be able to starve the main fire out and get the fire teams in to take care of the rest. But be careful," he warned. "You mustn't allow the oil to atomize or create a spray effect. With the air currents in the fire..." "Venturi effect?" Superman asked. Farger nodded. "Nasty piece of business. It'll go off like a bomb." Superman nodded, peering into the inferno, looking for the two pipes Farger pointed out. "I see them," he said and flew off, toward the refinery. First, cool the oil enough that it became viscous, almost solid, while taking care not to cool the pipes so fast that they would crack even more. Then, flatten the pipes and seal them. The fire screamed at him. He'd forgotten how incredibly loud fire was, especially large fires. It threatened to overwhelm his senses. He spotted the first pipe and sealed it off. The second pipe was harder to find and it took several minutes. Finally, that one too was sealed. The noise level hadn't gone down. The fire was still raging all around him. Superman launched himself into the air then stopped only a hundred feet above the flames, using x-ray vision to assess the rest of the fire. Other feed pipes had also been compromised. He took note of the locations. The pattern didn't fit – some of the spewing pipes could not have been damaged by the current fire. *Sabotage? Terrorists?* A blast of cold to congeal the fuel source and cool the combustion. Then seal the cracked pipes, by warming the metal enough to make it flexible, flatten the end, and seal the end with laser-vision. Finally, after five minutes that felt like an eternity, the fire was out. There were still some hot spots, but the fire crews should be able to handle them. He flew up, making one last survey of the scene before coming to ground beside Farger. "There are still hot spots, so tell your people to be careful," Superman told him. He peered at the schematic. "May I have this?" Farger shrugged. "Sure, but why?" "I saw some things, and the fire marshal will need to know about them." "Like what?" Lois Lane asked, walking up to them. She flashed her press card at Farger. "Daily Planet." She turned back to Superman. "What did you see?" "Good evening to you too, Ms. Lane," Superman said. She nodded at him. "What did you see?" she repeated. He looked over at Farger. "Some of the damage I observed was not consistent with a single point ignition." "You're talking arson?" Superman shrugged, a small almost non-motion. "Sabotage, possibly." He turned to Lois. "You realize this is going to be a criminal investigation." "I know that, Superman," Lois reminded him. "No details until the fire marshal approves. By the way, have you seen my partner around, tall fellow, dark hair, glasses, trips over his own feet?" Superman simply looked at her for a long moment. Long enough for Lois to start to feel nervous about joking with Superman. "I think you'll find him somewhere around the GNN camera crew," he said finally. He looked over at Farger. "Let the fire marshal know I'll check in sometime tomorrow." With that, he disappeared into the sky. "Does he always do that?" Farger asked Lois as more reporters arrived on the scene. "Disappear?" Lois asked. "Yeah. He's a busy man." "Must be tough," Farger said. "Always looking out for everyone else, always on call." "It's not easy," Lois said. "But it's what he does." "Lois!" Clark called out, trotting up to them. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he stopped beside Lois, watching her expectantly. "Clark, there you are." She looked up at him, smelling smoke in his jacket, in his hair. There was a dark smudge across his cheek. She reached up to brush it off and discovered the dirt didn't want to come off that way. *That's odd.* She grabbed a tissue from her purse, spat on it and started scrubbing the spot. "You are as bad Jason," she commented. "Oh, this is Joshua Farger, the senior plant engineer." She looked over to Farger. "My partner at the Planet, Clark Kent." She turned back to Clark, satisfied his face was passably clean. She took his arm and led him away from the other reporters. "Okay, what have you got?" "Five employees unaccounted for, presumed dead," he told her. "And someone called GNN. The timing indicates they were contacted a good fifteen minutes before the emergency alarms went off." "Do they have any idea who called them?" Clark shook his head. "Call was ID blocked, but apparently, the call was recorded." "Any chance we can get a copy?" "GNN doesn't want to share it with the police," he told her. "Think they'd share it with Superman?" she wondered softly. He just looked at her. She shrugged. "I had to ask." He sighed. "Actually, they might give Superman a copy of the recording, or the police might. According to Mark Hadwyn, Superman was specifically mention by the caller." "To stay away?" Lois asked. "Or to make sure he knew this was going down?" "Mark didn't hear the recording," he told her. "But he was given the impression that the caller wanted to make sure Superman was on the scene." "Why would a saboteur want Superman here?" Lois asked. "That is a very good question," Clark said, looking over her shoulder at the group surrounding Farger. He absently reached under his jacket to rub the right side of his back with the back of his hand. "Are you okay?" He gave her a surprised look. "The place I got stabbed is hurting a little," he admitted. "Funny, though, it hasn't bothered me in a couple days. I figured it was healed up." "Maybe you should have somebody take a look at it?" "Whom do you suggest?" he asked. "Our Met General isn't exactly set up to treat my kind." "Maybe we should suggest it to them." "Maybe we should get this story written up," Clark suggested. -o-o-o- He flew them both to the roof of the Daily Planet building. He switched back into his street clothes and followed her down the stairs, then down the elevator to the newsroom. It was late enough for the rest of the staff to have gone home except for the cleaning crew. Mahalia glowered at them as they made their way around her cleaning cart. It took less than an hour to finish the story. Perry would have it first thing in the morning. Lois noticed that Clark was still absently rubbing at the wound Luthor had given him. "Take off your jacket and let me look at your back," she finally ordered. "It's fine, really," he protested. "I just strained it a little." "Clark..." she warned. "Okay, okay," he reluctantly agreed. She beckoned him to follow her into Richard's office. He trailed after her and she shut the office door behind him and then lowered the blinds for privacy. *No sense in giving Mahalia a show.* "Off with the jacket and the shirt," she ordered. *He's just like Jason. A grown man as shy as a little boy when it comes to taking off his clothes. It's a wonder we were able to make love.* "Lois, please..." "Off with them." With a sigh of resignation, Clark shrugged off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. His tie was at his desk, thrown over the back of his chair. She pulled the shirt off his shoulders and dropped it on Richard's desk. She'd forgotten how well muscled he was, forgotten how broad his shoulders were, how tapered his waist was. The Suit left little to the imagination, but seeing Clark naked to the waist sent shivers through her belly. *How blind was I that I didn't see it?* The wound on his back just above his right kidney wasn't healing, at least not as fast as she knew it should. It was still red and swollen and there was dark bruising around it. She touched it and he hissed in pain. "I know you normally heal faster than this," she commented. "How bad is it?" His head was down and she could hear the pain, the worry, in his voice. "It doesn't look infected or anything. Just badly bruised," she told him. "I wonder if an ice pack would help." "Lois, I have my doubts," he told her. "Heat and cold don't usually bother me." "Clark, pain isn't usually a problem for you either," Lois reminded him. "There should be ice down in the cafeteria. You wait here and I'll go get some." -o-o-o- The house had been too quiet after Lois and Jason headed over to Perry's so Jason could meet his new baby sister. Richard turned on the television. A fire at the oil refinery up the coast. Superman was already there and the GNN camera crew had pictures of him conferring with plant officials. A dark-haired woman was in the background, watching – Lois. Lois was at the fire. Within minutes the fire was out, thanks to Superman. The GNN crew approached him, waving a microphone in his face. He gave them his patented smile. "Superman," Hadwyn, the man with the microphone began. "Can you tell us where you've been the past three days?" Superman paused, the smile fading a little. "Helping some friends," he said with finality. Hadwyn didn't seem to get the message. "Doing what?" Superman looked at the man for a moment, arms crossed over his chest. "Doing what I do well. Being helpful," he told them. "Now, if you'll excuse me." He turned on his heel and walked away. *Lois went to the fire?* Richard grabbed the phone and called Perry's house. "Perry, is Jason with you?" "Of course," his uncle answered. "Lois asked us to watch him while she and Clark headed out to that fire. Looks like they must have hitched a ride with Superman." "I saw Lois on TV," Richard told him. "Do you want me to come over and take Jason home?" "Jason's fine," Perry assured him. "He's helping watch the baby with us. I expect the two of them will be back here after they write up the story." *Of course Lois would run after a story like that. Of course she would drag Clark along with her. Of course Superman would be there.* The drive to the Planet took less than twenty minutes. Richard wasn't sure why he was heading to his office. Maybe because he no longer felt comfortable in Lois's house – it was her house, not his. Bought with the proceeds of the sale of her penthouse condo just before Jason was born and a best-selling book on the life and death of Mayor Berkowitz. Some of the furniture was his, but not much of it and it was foolish to try to ship it overseas. Some of the art was also his and that he would have shipped. But his prize was the seaplane. He hadn't given much thought to what he was going to do with it. He doubted he could take it to Paris with him and he wasn't going to have much time to rent moorage space. Maybe he could talk Lois into letting him keep it at the house. The newsroom was dark, except for the glow from the monitor on Clark's desk and the lights peaking through the blinds from his own office. The blinds were down and closed, although he remembered them being up when he left for the day. He opened the door to his office and walked in. Clark was standing in the middle of the office, head bowed, and his shirt off. Lois was standing behind him. Richard couldn't see what she was doing but he had an ugly suspicion. Clark raised his head at the sound of the door opening. "Couldn't you at least wait until I was out of town?" Richard asked. "Richard, don't be stupid," Lois warned. She looked up at Clark, then back over to Richard. "There should be some bandages around here, in one of the first aid kits," she said. "Lois, it's okay, really," Clark protested. "It's not that bad." "Richard, go find some bandages, now please," Lois ordered. "Lois, what's going on?" She stopped and stared at him as if surprised that he hadn't already left. "I told you Clark got hurt during the crystalquake. Well, they didn't put stitches in like they probably should have and he won't rest like he's supposed to and it's all inflamed now." "Lois, please. I'm not a child," Clark protested. "I can take care of myself." She snorted and then glared at Richard. He left to find a first aid kit and some bandages. *If Clark was that badly hurt during the crystalquake, then why the devil was he out with Lois and Superman to wherever it was they'd disappeared to for three days?* -o-o-o- The baby was asleep in Jason's lap and Jason was beginning to nod off as well. Alice gently picked the baby up and placed her back in her carrier then beckoned for her husband to follow her into the kitchen. "Perry, is it true what Jason said? That Clark is his father too?" she asked quietly. Perry nodded. "That's not why he left, was it?" "No," Perry assured her. "He didn't know. Neither of them knew at the time." "What about Richard? He's been Jason's father ever since he was born. He was there when Jason was born." "I know, Alice," Perry said. "But he's decided to take over the Planet's operations in Paris. And I know Lois won't be going with him." "It's Superman, isn't it?" Alice asked. "She's still in love with him. Despite everything Richard's done for her, she's willing to chuck it all for an alien? Does Clark know that part?" "All I really know is that Richard is the one who decided to leave," Perry told her. "Maybe he just didn't want to be her second choice. I know he was waiting for her to decide between them. And when he saw Lois and Clark together with the baby, he made his decision to leave. And Alice, he's taking along a young, pretty female assistant. One he's been hanging around with for the past month." "You're telling me it was Richard who decided to break up with Lois?" Perry nodded. "He was making noises about her needing to make a decision between him and Clark even before they came back from wherever they went with Superman. I know he accepted the post in Paris before he even had a chance to talk to her," he told his wife. "So, you tell me who broke up with whom?" "Does Clark have any idea of the mess he's caused?" "He certainly didn't intend to," Perry said. "I don't think he intended any of this to happen and I think he and Lois have a lot of issues to work out. But I think Lois is a lot more likely to walk down the aisle with Clark than she ever was with Richard. I mean, let's face it. She and Richard were engaged for nearly five years with no wedding date in sight. It was an engagement of convenience for both of them," "What about Superman? I mean, Lois was practically his press agent," Alice said. "And speculation was they may have been more than just friends. That article she wrote definitely came from a woman scorned." Perry chuckled. "I'm sure *he* will be high on the list of things Lois and Clark will be discussing soon, if they haven't done it already." -o-o-o- "Clark, do you think there was kryptonite at the fire?" Lois asked. She'd found some ice in the tiny refrigerator in the corner of Richard's office and had wrapped it in Clark's handkerchief. *How old fashioned can you get? He carries a cloth handkerchief?* She knew the ice was hurting him as she placed it over the angry looking wound. She could see how the muscles in his back bunched as he held himself rigid against the pain. "Sorry," she murmured. "It's okay," Clark told her though clenched teeth. "I'm not used to actually feeling pain. It's something of a comeuppance. I never really appreciated what being human meant. I didn't understand how people could just keep going despite the pain, despite everything." "And now you do?" she asked. There was a sharp intake of breath as she moved the improvised ice pack. "Yeah, I think I do, a little," he admitted, although there was a tremor in his voice. "I've always respected police and fire fighters – they go out everyday to do their jobs, knowing that the next call they get, the next run they make could be their last. But I'm not sure I really understood that it applied to everybody. It's scary." "Being alive is scary," Lois said. "But it's got to beat the alternative. By the way, you didn't answer my question about the possibility of kryptonite contamination at the refinery." "I honestly don't know," he told her. "But I don't think so. I'm sure Superman would have mentioned it to one of us." The way he phrased his statement confused her until she looked over to see Richard standing in the office door. He had a package of gauze and a roll of surgical tape in his hands. "This is all I found," he explained. He looked closer at Clark. "You're not looking so good." "I'm not feeling so good, actually," Clark said. He shivered when she put her hand between his shoulder blades. He wasn't sweating, but he was very warm – too warm, even for him. She took his wrist, searching for a pulse with the first two fingers of her hand. "Like I didn't know where Jason got it from," she muttered to herself as she gave up on his wrist and sought out a pulse at his throat. All the color had gone out of his face. "What's your normal resting heart rate?" "Forty-five or so... why?" "Because Richard's right. You look like hell and I think you're running a fever." "But that's..." Clark started. Lois looked at him with eyebrows raised, waiting for him to finish – *Impossible?* "Um, that's not good, is it?" he said instead. Lois shook her head. "That's not good. I'm going to bandage your back and then we'll get back to Perry's and get you into bed. With any luck you'll be able to fight this off in a few days." Clark just nodded as Lois took the gauze and tape from Richard and began to cover the wound in his back. -o-o-o- Richard and Lois managed to man-handle Clark into the back seat of Richard's Passat without too much trouble but he was shivering violently by the time they reached Park Ridge. "Lois, I think he needs to be in a hospital," Richard told her, looking at Clark worriedly in the rear-view mirror. Clark's face seemed faintly green-tinged, although it was hard to tell in the dim light of the car's interior. "Richard, please trust me on this one," Lois said softly, placing a hand on his arm as she looked back at Clark. "There isn't a hospital anywhere near here that can handle this." Richard parked the Passat behind Lois's A3 and then helped her get Clark into Perry's house. Clark's skin was unnaturally hot, even for a fever. "What happened?" Perry asked Lois as he helped Richard get Clark upstairs to his room. "Clark got hurt during the crystalquake," Lois said, following them up the stairs. "Only he hasn't been taking it easy like he's supposed to and he's not healing up like he should. And now he's running a fever." "I've already told Lois he needs to be a hospital," Richard told his uncle. "I doubt there's anything they can do for him," Perry responded. Richard and Perry got Clark onto the bed and started to undress the semi-conscious man. Clark roused enough to try to push them away. "I can undress myself, thank you," he managed to say through gritted teeth. It was obvious he was trying to keep from shaking. "Richard, run downstairs and ask your aunt for some aspirin and a maybe a jug of water and a plastic glass," Perry ordered. Richard looked from his uncle to his former fiancée. Both had turned to the chore of chivvying Clark out of his shirt and slacks and into the bed, over his weakening protests. *The man is obviously very sick,* Richard thought. *So why won't either of them accept that he needs to get medical attention?* With a shrug of annoyance, he headed downstairs. Jason was asleep on the sofa in front of the television. Richard stuck his head into the kitchen and asked for the supplies Perry had requested. Then he went over to where Jason was lying. *At least I can get Jason home and into his own bed.* Jason's face seemed pale, but he wasn't having any trouble breathing, really. Just snoring softly as he normally did. Then Richard touched him and realized that Jason's skin was hot to the touch. As hot as Clark's skin felt. "Lois!" —In Another Universe (Earth II)— "Clark, are you sure you're up to going to work?" Lois Lane-Kent asked her husband as he sat down to breakfast. "I mean, you've been out of the hospital only two days." "I'm fine" he assured her. "All healed up. Not even a scar. And the powers came back last night. So everything's back to normal." "You're sure?" "I'm fine," he assured her once more, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Besides, I've been away from the office for four days. They might figure out they don't need me if I don't show up." There was laughter in his brown eyes, laughter that hadn't been there for several days, not since he was attacked by the assassin sent by the now-dead Lord Xon of New Krypton. "Well, even if they don't need you, I do," Lois said, grabbing his tie to pull him down into a kiss. "As much as I'd like to stay home with you and the baby, I need to get going." He pulled his tie out of her grasp and smoothed it against his shirt. "I'll see you tonight," he promised. "Have fun with the flooring people." She grimaced. The flooring people were scheduled to come in today to replace living room carpet. Carpet soaked with the blood of Lord Xon and of her husband. They were having hardwood installed. It was easier to get blood off. Lois watched her husband leave, but she still felt uneasy. It felt like a storm was brewing on the horizon, flashing lightning she could just see out of the corner of her eye but disappeared when she tried to look straight at it. Four day old Martha Michaela started fussing in her carrier. Lois lifted her out, putting her to her breast. "One good thing about Kent babies," Lois told her daughter. "I might not be able to have chocolate or regular coffee for another year, but I'll be back in my old clothes in no time." She stepped out onto the back deck and settled into one of the chairs, watching the skyline of Metropolis. Martha suckled wetly at her mother's breast. "Wind's in the east, mist comin' in. Like something is brewin', about to begin," Lois murmured to herself. Lara and Jordan loved watching Mary Poppins, especially the penguins. She shivered as the wind started to kick up and went back inside. Thinking of Xon reminded her of their alternate-timeline visitors. She wondered how that Lois and Clark were managing with their new baby – a refugee from New Krypton. She shivered again, only this time there was no wind. --Earth I-- Lois ran down the stairs at Richard's shout, skidding to a halt at the wide-eyed look of near panic on his face as he leaned over Jason lying on the sofa. "He's burning up," Richard told her as she hurried to her son's side. She could hear the tension in his voice. She felt Jason's forehead, then put her hand down his shirt to feel his chest. The boy's temperature was well above normal. He started shivering at her touch, his breath catching in his throat. "Lois, Jason and Clark both need to be in the hospital," Richard told her. "I don't see any choice here." She could see the earnest concern in his eyes. "Lois, maybe Richard's right. Maybe you should get Jason to the hospital," Perry said. Lois looked over to see him coming down the stairs. "They might be able to help Jason." "And what about Clark?" Alice asked. She'd been standing quietly in the kitchen doorway, watching. Lois held her breath, waiting for Perry's answer. *Does he know? * "Like I told Richard upstairs. I seriously doubt there's a damn thing they can do for him." "Perry, that doesn't make any sense at all," Alice told him. "Of course they can help." Richard straightened up and Lois saw a flicker of comprehension cross his face. "No Aunt Alice, I think Uncle Perry and Lois may be right. All they'd be able to do it monitor him and hope he recovers on his own. Isn't that right?" Lois found herself nodding. "It makes sense now," Richard said softly. Lois assumed he was really talking to himself. "The partner you never talked about. The anger, then running off with him, everything." He looked down at her, still kneeling beside Jason. "You weren't on any INS story." It was a statement. "But I'm sure it would make interesting telling sometime." "Richard..." Lois began. "No, please," he said, cutting her off. "Let's get Jason to the ER. A fever that high can't be good for him." Esperanza began to wail and Jason woke up enough to cover his ears, scrunching up his eyes as if in pain. Lois reached over to check the baby and then pulled her hand back. The baby's temperature was at least as high as Jason's. Her breath caught in horror as she looked back at Richard and Perry. "What ever it is, she has it too." -o-o-o- Richard drove Lois's car to the hospital. Jason was buckled into his booster seat with a blanket wrapped around him. Esperanza was in her car seat next to him. Lois was seated next to Richard in the front passenger seat where she could at least keep an eye on Jason. The boy had started shivering when they got him into the car. The baby simply wailed in inchoate misery. "They're going to want to know where they've been, what they may have been exposed to," Richard told her. His mind was still reeling from what he'd figured out and what Perry and Lois had confirmed with brief nods. *Clark Kent, the nerdy reporter from Kansas, was Superman.* "Clark and I were in upper Alaska, then we were in Metropolis," Lois told him. "You told me you were out of cell phone range," he reminded her, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice. *She lied to me again.* "Richard, in the Metropolis we were in, the Wanamaker building was still standing and Lex Luthor had been dead for ten years." "You're joking, right?" He glanced at her and saw the grim seriousness in her face. *She's not joking.* "I wish I was," Lois told him. "Something happened when we were coming back to Metropolis. A storm, something... We wound up someplace where Lois Lane, their Lois Lane, was pregnant with her fourth child, Clark Kent was editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, and Richard White was married to Penny Landris and was considered one of the hottest reporters in Metropolis. It was an interesting visit. Our counterparts weren't very impressed with us." "That I find hard to believe," Richard commented. The traffic wasn't very heavy and they were making good time. Jason had finally stopped shivering and was watching Richard and Lois with worried eyes. "Mommy, I don't feel so good," he complained. "Do you feel like you're going to throw up?" Lois asked him. He shook his head and grimaced in pain. "My throat hurts and I'm real cold and Baby Esperanza is really noisy and my head hurts," he said. "We're almost at the hospital, kiddo," Richard assured him. "They'll figure out what's wrong and get you all fixed up." "Are they gonna help Mister Clark, too?" Jason asked. There was a plaintive note in his young voice. "Uncle Perry and Aunt Alice are helping Clark," Lois told Jason. "So I'm sure he'll be okay." Richard noted that she didn't sound very convincing. -o-o-o- The light hurt his eyes through his eyelids and everything seemed horribly, impossibly loud. Even the gears of the bedside clock sounded like grating heavy machinery. His skin hurt, the sheets rubbing like sandpaper. He tried to keep from moving, but even breathing brought his skin against the cotton weave of the bedding. One part of his mind was dispassionately observing his symptoms. Fever, joint pain, sore throat, abdominal pain, headache, sensitivity to touch. The wound on his back hurt like hell, a sharp, digging pain. Of course the operative word in the entire list was 'pain.' *This is what being sick is like. I don't like it. It hurts almost as bad as Luthor's beating only that didn't last as long. Kryptonite hurts this bad, but there wasn't any kryptonite at the fire. Didn't I hear that Jason and the baby had it too...?* The damp cloth felt cool on his forehead. And the weight and warmth of the blankets was comforting, despite the sandpaper feel of the sheets. He tried to protest when he felt a hand against the back of his neck, lifting his head. A voice cajoled him to swallow bitter tasting pills followed by sips of lemon-lime soda mixed with water. He preferred ginger ale – it tasted less artificial – but they didn't know that. After a while the pain lessened slightly and the clock stopped making quite so much noise. Finally he was able to fall asleep. -o-o-o- "Perry, please explain what's going on here," Alice White demanded, fists on her hips as she watched her husband of nearly forty years. "Why are you still insisting he can't go to the hospital?" "Alice, aside from the fact that I know he'd refuse to go," Perry said. "There's little or nothing they can do for him. From what I know about him, he'll either recover completely on his own in a day or so, or he'll be dead. And if he dies, I seriously doubt that Jason or the baby will survive either, 'cause if it's nasty enough to kill him, it'll be more than enough to kill them." --Another Universe (Earth II)— "How was your day?" Lois Lane-Kent asked her husband as he came through the garage door with three of their four children in tow. The kids stayed in the family room as their father continued on into the kitchen. "Not bad for being gone four days, unexpectedly," Clark replied. "Margot and Eduardo kept things together without too much trouble. And the city was pretty quiet too. That's always nice." He gave her a kiss, then reached over to the baby carrier on the counter and tickled Baby Martha's foot. "So, how was your day?" Lois managed a chuckle. "Not bad for almost no sleep the past four days." "You know I would take the three AM feeding if I could," Clark responded. "But since I can't..." He peered into his wife's face. "There's something else." She nodded. "I've had this strange feeling all day that's something's about to happen, like waiting for the other shoe to drop." "You too?" Lois's forehead creased in concern. "I've had this odd feeling all day, too. Like the weather's going to change or something," Clark told her. "It doesn't make sense, but I was looking behind me all day, even on patrol, to see if someone was there. It's creepy." "Do you think...? Nah," Lois began. "Do I think what?" Clark asked. "I know that look. Something's just clicked." "You and the other Clark, you telepathically communicated, right?" "Yes," he answered. He watched her process the information. He still found it fascinating to watch her as she put things together. It was rarely logical in any 'normal' way, but she was usually right on in her intuitive leaps. "And I was linked to them through you, right?" "Right." "What if the link wasn't completely broken when they left?" "And you're uneasy because *I'm* picking up something wrong?" Her expression cleared. "It makes sense, doesn't it? Kryptonians are telepathic, even if he didn't know it till he got here, and I'm linked to you..." "But from another universe? Lois, I can't even contact New Krypton." "But maybe, since there's a physical connection..." she said, thinking aloud. "You have some of his blood in you. Maybe that made the link stronger between you." "But, honey, even if you're right, there's nothing we can do if they're in trouble," Clark reminded her. "We are talking about Superman here, right? He should be able to take care of himself, right?" She just looked at him, hazel eyes shining, lips in a half-smile, as if she couldn't decide to be amused or annoyed. "Okay, I take that back. He's Superman, and he *thinks* he should be able to take care of himself," Clark amended. "But unless you have a plane-hopping device hidden around the house somewhere, there's nothing we can do but be supportive." Her eyes got wider as she looked at him. Puppy-dog eyes. "Lois, I know that look," he protested. "You're trying to come up with some way to contact Wells, aren't you?" "Well, he and Tempus and those Peace Keepers are the only ones with time travel that works and Wells and Tempus are the ones with plane-hopping machines, and I'm certainly not going to try to get hold of Tempus..." He couldn't keep from grinning at her. "What have you got in mind?" "Oh, something simple. Like an ad in the Planet. H. G. Wells, please contact Clark Kent. Superman needs to talk to you... something like that." Clark chuckled. "Okay, you place the ad and I'll start dinner." "Pasta with creamy garlic sauce?" She gave him a saucy grin. "Woman, you are incorrigible! You know what pasta does to me." "And you love me anyway." --Earth I— "Miss Lane, you say neither of these children has been out of the country?" the very young pediatrician said. Lois was thirty-three, but the young man with the braided hair and stethoscope looked to be a teenager. Jason and Esperanza had been rushed from the emergency room up to the pediatrics floor. Jason was now in the pediatrics ICU while Esperanza was in the neonate ICU one floor up. "No, they've not been out of the country," Lois told him trying to stray calm in the face of her child being deathly ill. She ignored the annoyed look Richard gave her at her lie to the doctor. *But Esperanza hasn't been out of the country. She's just from another planet.* "Have they been in close contact with someone who's just returned from overseas?" "The baby's father returned from traveling in South America a little more than a week ago," Lois told him. "Where in South America?" "The mountains in Peru." The doctor noted that down. He read through his notes again and sighed. "Look, I've got a call into a specialist and a call in to the CDC. We're hoping to have a better handle on this once the cultures come back. In the mean time, we've started broad spectrum antibiotics to try and knock it down and we're taking measures to reduce the fevers. But I do have to admit, your son's history of allergies made it a little difficult to find a suitable antibiotic." "But you did find one?" Richard asked. "Yes, we did find one, and hopefully, once we identify the cause of the illness, we'll have a suitable treatment then as well," the doctor told them. "When can I see my son?" Lois asked. "In a few minutes," the doctor promised her. Richard cleared his throat nervously. "Doctor, the baby was in close proximity to Superman just this afternoon. In there any chance that he...?" "Richard!" Lois said in horror. *How could he?* "It was my understanding that Superman was immune all Earth diseases," the doctor said, giving Lois an apologetic glance. "I seriously doubt he could be a carrier of any sort." "I'm just thinking, we don't know what other horrors Luthor cooked up while he was making that island of his. And Superman did get hurt there..." Richard went on. "I'll make a note in her chart that Superman was around her," the doctor promised. —Earth II— As usual, dinner conversation was dominated by world news and school. Jason White, Zara and Ching's son, was in Lara's kindergarten class at school. Lara announced he was fitting in well, for a boy. An emergency over the Ordway called Clark away from the table for nearly an hour. He looked worn when he got back. "Bad accident?" Lois asked. He nodded. "Tanker truck hit the median wall. I'm guessing the driver fell asleep. Wasn't much left since the tanker blew up. I think he died instantly." "I'm sorry," Lois said. "Any sign of Wells?" She shrugged. "It was a stupid idea. I'm sure they're fine." They shared a moment of silence, just enjoying being in one another's company after a long day. CJ and Lara were in the family room, arguing over battle tactics on the game they were playing on-line. CJ hated admitting it but Lara's sense of tactics and strategy was excellent, even better than his. Jordan was playing with Legos, creating something only he could identify. The door bell rang. CJ ran to get it. "No running in the house!" his mother yelled. She turned to Clark and whispered: "Are you sure he doesn't have super speed yet?" "I think he just likes to run," Clark replied as he went to see who CJ was greeting at the door. "Plus he knows it annoys you." --Earth I— "Uncle Perry," Richard said into his cell phone, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "I think I need to delay going to Paris, at least for a little bit." "What's going on?" Perry asked. "How are Jason and the baby?" "They've both been admitted and they're both in ICUs," Richard told him, his voice cracking. My baby boy is sick. "Perry, I'm scared. They have Jason hooked up to machinery and they have no idea what's wrong except that he's barely holding his own. And the baby... Clark's baby is dying, Uncle Perry." He heard Perry's sharp intake of breath, then: "How's Lois doing?" "They let her scrub up so she could be with him in the isolation ICU," Richard said. "They can't identify the disease agent and they're afraid he might be contagious even though Lois has been around the baby almost as much as Clark has and she's fine. And you and Aunt Alice are okay, so far. I did tell the doctor that the baby had been around Superman..." "Why did you tell them that?" "Uncle Perry, Clark is sick with the same thing the kids have. What if Luthor had a backup plan? What if he managed to infect Superman with a space bug of some sort? We both know who Jason's real father is." "I see what you mean," Perry said. "Tell Lois we're all behind her and not worry about work." "Uncle Perry, I think you could announce that World War Three had started and she wouldn't budge from Jason's side," Richard told his uncle. "I'll keep you posted," he promised and hung up his phone. He leaned back against the wall outside the ICU. Only one visitor was allowed at a time, so all he could do is look through the glass partition at the woman he'd been engaged to and the boy he had raised as his own for five years. Lois's head was bowed and he couldn't see her expression beneath the surgical cap and mask she was wearing, but he thought he saw tears on her face. *Dear God, let Jason be okay. And Clark and the baby. The world needs him. Lois needs him. Please don't let them die.* -o-o-o- "How are they?" Alice asked as Perry hung up the phone. "Both the kids have been admitted to intensive care," Perry told her. "It doesn't look good." Perry occupied himself by tipping the ice Alice had brought up into a plastic bowl with water. He replaced the folded damp cloth on Clark's forehead with a fresh cold one. Clark's temperature wasn't coming down and he was having fewer and fewer lucid moments in between his fits of uncontrollable shivering. Clark had tried more than once to get out of bed, to get to the window in response to something only he could hear. It had taken both he and Alice to get Clark back into the bed. That was when Perry noticed the gauze bandage on Clark's back and realized the wound Luthor had given Superman had opened up and was oozing blood and green pus. Alice changed the bandage without complaint – she had been a practical nurse before she married and had children. She burned the soiled bandages in the fireplace. Perry had the radio set to a news channel for a little while then changed it when he realized the reports were making Clark more agitated. Easy listening music was doing a better job at keeping the younger man calm. "Perry," Alice said, placing two fingers against Clark's carotid artery to check his pulse. "He's not doing very well." "I know," Perry told her. "His breathing's gotten shallower." "He needs a doctor," she told him, worry darkening her eyes. "Alice, I haven't a clue as to who to call for him," Perry admitted. "And you still think he shouldn't be in the hospital?" "Honey, they can't help him more than we can." --Earth II-- A slender gray-haired man wearing an old fashioned suit, wire-rim glasses, and a moustache was standing in the entryway – Herbert George Wells. He blinked, breaking into a relieved smile when he caught sight of Clark. "Mister Wells, you got our message?" Clark asked, ushering the man into the living room. "Oh, watch your step. We're having the flooring replaced. Hardwood cleans up better than carpet." "Oh, you tried to get a message to me?" Wells asked. He seemed confused as he sat on the edge of the sofa. "Yes," Lois told him, coming into the living room, holding the baby to her shoulder. "Isn't that why you're here?" "Actually Missus Kent, I came to ask some questions," Wells said nervously. "If you don't mind." "Okay," Clark agreed, settling into one of the chairs opposite the sofa. Wells was normally a little on the nervous side when he visited. Of course his visits were usually as a result of some catastrophe he was trying to avert that negatively affected mankind's future. But tonight he seemed unusually diffident. "Pardon me if I speak bluntly, but did you have any 'odd' visitors in the past few days?" "Define 'odd,'" Lois said with a grin. "Zara, Ching, and their son were here from New Krypton along with an assassin and Lord Xon. They're both dead, by the way." Wells frowned. "Was there anyone, anything else?" "Well, that's what we were trying to get hold of you about," Clark said. "A Lois and Clark from an alternate time-line also showed up, courtesy of a tempocane." "A tempocane? Oh my," Wells murmured. "Do you happen to know which variation they were from?" Clark shrugged. "I don't think it's one Lois and I visited while we were doing our involuntary tour of the multiverses. He was born in '72, became Superman in '98 or there about. That Lois has a son named Jason who's the same age as our Lara, but she's engaged to someone other than Clark. And their Clark was missing for over five years." Wells seemed troubled by Clark's description. "I was afraid of that." He seemed to lose himself in thought for a long moment before looking over at Lois and Clark. "Did they take anything from this time-line back with them?" Lois and Clark shared a worried look. "Ching and Zara had a baby with them, in a stasis device. The baby went with them for safety." Wells nodded thoughtfully. "Was the stasis device still sealed when they took it?" "I believe so," Lois told him. "Mister Wells, what's going on? If you didn't get our message, why are you here?" "Because there are certain time-streams that seem to be keys, almost like the keys in an arch," Wells told them. "When a key is disturbed in a serious manner the vibrations, if you will, affect the neighboring time-streams. Rarely for the better." "Is their time-stream one of the key ones?" Lois asked. Wells nodded. "Mister Wells, what's happened there?" Clark asked. "I don't know, exactly," Wells said. "Except that their version of Utopia has been destroyed. In their universe, Superman was never publicly revealed as being Clark Kent. So there were no biographies of Mister Kent, no journals saved, nothing that can be used by Peace Keepers to trace back problems. The one thing I know is that Superman came back to Earth from a nearly six year absence, and disappeared again less than two weeks later. His disappearance corresponds temporally with a minor change in *this* time-stream." "And what was that change?" Lois asked. Martha was fussing a little. Wells swallowed hard and Clark and Lois watched him worriedly. "Originally, your fourth child, a girl named Martha Michaela, died of a sudden, undiagnosed illness when she was only a day old," Wells told them, not meeting their gaze. "The older three were critically ill for a few days but recovered. Another infant girl died of the same disease, but she was never identified." "But Martha's four days old now," Lois reminded him. "And the other kids are just fine..." "Exactly, my dear." --Earth I— Alice Jeanine Spencer White was not a stupid woman. In her sixty-two years she had raised two sons and buried one of them. She'd worked as a nurse and supported her family while her husband was working as a journalist overseas. She was married to one of the top newspaper editors in the world. She knew there was something very odd going on and she was annoyed that her husband seemed unwilling or unable to trust her with the truth. She fixed another pot of coffee and carried a fresh mug up to her husband. Perry was in the process of changing out the damp cloth on Clark's forehead when it finally occurred to her. Clark's hair was pushed back, revealing a high forehead and dark eyebrows normally hidden by glasses. His nose was straight, almost Grecian. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized she'd seen that face on the television, in the newspapers, especially the front page of the Daily Planet. He was famous, not just in Metropolis, but around the world. "Perry," she finally spoke up, handing her husband his coffee. "Were you ever going to tell me?" His gray eyebrows rose in momentary surprise. She picked Clark's horn rim glasses up off the nightstand beside the bed and looked at her husband, then over at their patient. "Who could possibly imagine it? He walks among us and hides behind a pair of glasses?" Perry took the glasses from her hand and put them back on the table. "Actually, I think it's more that he hides behind a blue body suit and red cape." "How long have you known that Clark was...?" Perry chuckled softly. "Not as long as I should have. If I'd figured it out earlier, I might have been able to talk him out of making a really stupid mistake. Saved him and Lois a lot of heartache." "Perry, what are we going to do if he doesn't make it?" "I honestly don't know," Perry admitted. "We should call his mother." "He really does have a mother? I thought...?" "He used to send money to her every week. Lois thought it was funny," Perry told her. "Her number's probably still on redial on the kitchen phone. If not, then I have her number at the office." "I think maybe you need to be the one to talk to her," Alice suggested. --Earth II-- Clark sat back in his chair, watching Wells worriedly. "So, what do we do? Not about Martha, obviously, but about the problems over there." "Actually, Martha remaining alive was only a minor change. If anything, her presence actually strengthened the Peace Keepers, although it's hard to quantify," Wells explained. "Originally, when the child died, you adopted an orphaned baby girl several months later." "But what do you want us to do about the destruction of Utopia over there?" Lois asked, trying to get him back on track. Wells looked troubled. "I believe the situation requires the unique talents of Lois Lane and Clark Kent to determine why their Superman has, or will, disappear." "Do you know what happened to their version of Clark Kent?" Clark asked. "There was an obituary in the Daily Planet and in the Smallville Post indicating he had died suddenly. There were no other details," Wells told them. "The date on the obituary in the Daily Planet corresponds to the day Superman disappeared the second time. The Peace Keepers of that world were unable to determine if it was his body that was cremated without risking further damage to the time-line." "Considering how screwed up their time-line has to be right now, why are they worrying?" Lois asked. "I may have invented the time machine my dear, but I am still boggled by the complexities of temporal mechanics." "You're sure Tempus isn't involved?" Clark asked. "I have been assured that Tempus is safely out of the way," Wells told them. He checked his pocket watch. "We need to start moving. Time is of the essence." Clark started laughing, although it sounded a trifle strained. "You're joking, right? You have a time machine." Lois just shook her head. "I'll call your mom and get her to watch the kids for us," she told her husband and the strange little man sitting on the sofa. "I'll bring Martha with us." "Lois, I don't think that's a good idea," Clark said. Something was stirring in the back of his mind. "If the problem is what I think it is, you'll be putting her at risk. She'll be safer here." "What do you mean?" Wells asked. Clark shook his head. "Lois, did Zara drop off some vaccines for the kids?" "They're in the refrigerator," Lois told him. "They dropped off some other stuff, too." "Pack them up in a cooler," Clark ordered. "They're coming with us." "You think Xon's behind this," Lois stated Clark nodded. "Originally, we must have opened the stasis box here and the kids were exposed. I'm betting Xon didn't realize that we've had the kids immunized against both Earth and New Kryptonian diseases. In fact, he probably had that baby infected with something fairly virulent, since they were supposedly affected despite being vaccinated. Maybe even engineered something." "Like Johnny Bermuda did?" Clark nodded again. "Well, all he did was figure out how to culture the stuff, but yeah," Clark said thoughtfully. "In fact, one of the first things Zara did, when I came aboard her transport the first time, was give me full spectrum immunizations against Kryptonian childhood diseases. She figured I had no immunity. She was probably right." "And chances are, their Superman doesn't either," Lois said, thinking aloud. "And if you're right, then he..." "He set off a time bomb meant for our kids," Clark completed for her. "And he got caught in it. And it may be killing him." "But we can't be sure until we get there," Wells reminded them. --Earth I-- Perry picked up the phone in the kitchen and hit the redial button. Alice was staying upstairs with Clark. Clark had fallen into a deep sleep, or possibly a coma, Perry couldn't tell which. The phone rang several times before he heard the other end being picked up. A man's voice, muzzy with sleep, answered. "Is Missus Kent there please?" Perry asked. He heard a hand go over the microphone on the other phone but could still hear the conversation on the other end. *"Martha, it's for you..."* *"At this time of night?"* a woman's voice asked. There was the sound of the phone being handed over to someone else. "This is Martha Kent," the woman said into the phone. "Sorry to call so late, but I'm Perry White," he said. "We spoke the other day?" "Yes, Mister White...?" she began. "Is there something wrong?" "I'm afraid there is. Clark, Jason, and the baby became very ill a couple hours ago. Jason and the baby are in intensive care," he said. He heard her gasp. "We're trying to take care of Clark here so..." he added. "You said *Clark* is ill?" "He's running a very high fever and is in a lot of pain," Perry explained. "And I know that taking him to the hospital is out of the question. Although, frankly if he gets any worse, I may just call an ambulance anyway and hang the consequences." "Do what you have to do for my boy, Mister White," Martha Kent instructed. "I'll be there as soon as I can." --Earth II-- "Thanks for watching the kids for us, Martha," Lois told her mother-in-law. "We're not sure when we'll be back. Hopefully soon." "Be careful," Martha told them. She gave Lois a hug and then pulled Clark to her. "You come back, okay?" Wells cleared his throat. "We need to get started." Lois nodded, picking up the small cooler with the vaccines in it and taking Clark's arm. Wells had a small device in his hand that resembled a PDA. He stepped close to them and pressed a symbol on the small screen. The room shimmered and changed. --Earth I— Richard had wanted to stay at the hospital, but Lois had come out of Jason's room while the nurse came in the check on him. "Look, there's no sense in us both being here," she told him. "You go home, get some rest and come back in a couple hours so I can get some rest, okay?" She must have seen the pain in his face because she stretched up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Please, Richard, go home. I promise I'll call you if there's any change." He nodded, shaky. "I'll give you a call if I hear from Uncle Perry. Hopefully Clark's doing better than the kids are. I mean, he's... you know..." "I know, Richard. I know. I think right now all we can do is pray for all three of them." Richard felt his heart squeeze in his chest. She sounded like she was running on the edge of exhaustion, her eyes like bruises in her pale face. He wanted to give her a hug, send her home instead, but he knew it was no longer his decision. She had made hers and he was lucky to be included in it. "I'll be back in a few hours," he promised. -o-o-o- Clark looked around the room they were now in. It looked both strange and familiar at the same time. It was the living room they'd just left, except the furniture was different, the colors lighter and muted. The art on the fireplace wall was different, naturally – photographs rather than the native art Clark and Lois collected from their travels. There were family photos on the mantle. "She didn't tell me the name of her fiancé," Clark told Lois nodding to one of the photos. The younger Lois was with a boy that looked like the New Kryptonian boy being fostered on their world. The man with them very much resembled the Richard White they knew. "Richard," Lois noted. "Let's hope he's like ours. Someone who will help." Clark nodded, hearing something oddly familiar outside the range of human senses. He scanned the room, then the house. Listening devices. He put a finger to his lips and Lois nodded her understanding. He took care of the bugs within a minute. "Do you think they have any idea?" Lois asked quietly. Clark shrugged. "Somehow I doubt it. Question is who would want to do it?" Wells had walked over to the French doors that looked over the back deck. "Oh my. How exciting. They have an aeroplane." -o-o-o- Richard was surprised to see the lights on in the house when he pulled into the driveway. He was sure he'd shut them off when he left to go to Perry's house. He left Lois's car and walked to the front door. He and Lois didn't keep money in the house, but they did have computers and electronics that thieves might be interested in. He quietly turned the key in the lock and opened the front door. "Richard White, I presume?" a dark-haired man with brown eyes and glasses said as the door opened. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?" Richard found himself yelling. There was a dark-haired woman standing beside the man who spoke and behind them another man, older, wearing wire-framed glasses. "We could say we're waiting for you, but we've just arrived ourselves," the dark-haired man said. Richard simply looked at them for a moment. The man was a little taller than Richard, athletic-looking with broad shoulders. The woman was slender, but carried herself with ease. They were both a few years older than he was and both were well dressed – the man in a dark tailored suit, white shirt with an open collar, and expensive shoes. The woman was wearing a slacks and a loose knit top. "Actually, we're looking for Clark Kent," the man continued. "Please tell us you know where he is." "He's at my uncle's house," Richard responded. "Who are you people?" The older man spoke up. "Um, I'm Herbert George Wells and my companions here are Clark Kent and Lois Lane-Kent. We're from an alternate time-line and we're here to prevent a terrible catastrophe." "I beg your pardon?" "He's H. G. Wells the writer and we're the counterparts for the Clark Kent and Lois Lane you know. We're from another dimension," the woman told him. "We have reason to believe that there is something terrible going to happen here and we've come to help stop it," the older man added earnestly. Richard looked at him. "Aren't you dead?" "Sometimes," all three of the strangers said as though sharing a sad old joke. "Look, we really need to talk to your Clark, so we can figure out what's wrong," 'Clark' said. "That might be a little hard," Richard said. "He got sick, really sick after going out on a story. And then so did Jason and the baby. The two kids are in intensive care at Metropolis General and Clark is at my uncle's." "Oh dear," Wells said, looking to 'Clark'. "It looks like you were right." "I'd much rather I wasn't," 'Clark' said. There was a grim tone in his voice. "Who are you people, really?" Richard asked. *This is ridiculous. H.G. Wells, alternate universes. They don't even look like Clark and Lois.* "We've already told you," 'Clark' said. "Now, are you going to help us or not? Because if you're not, then you're not the man we'd hoped you were, and our job just got a whole lot harder." Richard took a shaky breath. "I'll help. But there's no way I can call you 'Clark' and 'Lois'. You're not anything like them." "You might be surprised," 'Clark' commented. "You can call me Jerome." "And you can call me Joanne," 'Lois' said. "That's my middle name." She placed a small cooler that Richard hadn't noticed before on the coffee table. Jerome bent over her as she opened the case and pulled out a sheet of *something* with strange writing on it. It didn't quite look like paper. She handed the sheet to Jerome who unfolded it and read it. "It looks like Zara sent along some antibiotics and anti-virals this time," Jerome told her. "The yellow is the anti-viral. This also says the antibiotic and anti-viral can be given intravenously if necessary." "That's good to know," Joanne said, picking out three vials and a small trigger-like device from the case and handing them to him. She looked back over her shoulder at Richard. "I need to get to the hospital with these. Hopefully we haven't lost too much time." "I'll get these to Clark," Jerome told her. He looked over to Richard. "Where does your uncle live, by the way?" "Over in Park Ridge," Richard answered. He gave the address and Jerome nodded, heading for the French doors and the back deck. Wells started to follow him. "And how are you planning on getting there?" Richard asked. Then it hit him. *He's Clark Kent.* "Unless you're Superman, too." He caught the slight widening of the eyes, the flicker of surprise that crossed Jerome's face then was replaced by calm, detached observation. Jerome took a step then disappeared into a blur the color of his suit which morphed into the primary colors of blue and red. The blur of movement slowed and Superman was standing in his living room. Not the Superman Richard was familiar with. This Superman was a little shorter, stockier, more like a quarterback than the swimmer *his* Superman resembled. *His Superman? What the hell was going on?* "Let's get everyone into your car," Superman instructed. "I'll fly the car to the hospital then take Mister Wells over to Mister White's house. Hopefully, we'll be in time." Numbly, Richard followed instructions and went out to the car. -o-o-o- Again, Lois was waiting outside Jason's room as a doctor took more blood samples and a nurse checked the IVs and sensors. Jason's fever wasn't coming down and they'd put him on a respirator to help him breathe. *My baby is dying.* "Lois?" She looked up to see Richard hurrying down the corridor toward her, followed by a familiar-looking woman with dark-hair. "Lois?" Lois Lane asked in disbelief. "I'm going by Joanne," the alternate Lois responded. "How are the kids?" Lois shook her head. "Their fevers won't come down. They say the baby..." Suddenly everything came crashing down on her and Lois started to cry. The older woman pulled her into a hug. "It's going to be okay, I hope," Joanne told her. "I have some drugs that might help. Can you get Jason's doctor out here?" Lois pulled away, wiping her eyes. She knocked on the glass partition and the doctor looked over at her. Lois beckoned for him to come out. He frowned, shed his gloves and gown, putting them in a container labeled bio-hazard, and came out into the corridor. "Yes, Miss Lane?" the doctor asked. He gave Joanne and Richard a curious look. "Doctor Maher, this is..." "I'm Jason's Aunt Joanne," Joanne interrupted. "I've brought some experimental medications that might be able to knock down the infection in both Jason and the Kent baby." "What sort of medications?" Maher asked. "An anti-viral, an antibiotic and a special vaccine," Joanne replied, handing him one of the vials. He peered at the glyphs on the side of the vial. "Where are these from?" "The writing is Kryptonian," Joanne told him. Lois watched his eyes widen. "Superman?" Joanne shrugged, not denying his speculation. "We have reason to believe someone created an organism specifically designed to attack him. Both Jason Lane and baby Kent spent time in close proximity to him within the past twelve hours, so it's unlikely their illness is a coincidence." "And how is Superman?" Maher asked. "He seemed fine at the oil refinery fire earlier," Lois told him. "But who knows where he is now." "Are you sure these will work?" Maher asked. "I mean, if they're experimental..." "Doctor Maher, have you got anything that can help them?" Lois asked. Maher chewed on his bottom lip. "Frankly, no. We haven't even been able to identify the disease organism. We haven't been able to culture it and the antibiotic shotgun approach doesn't seem to touch it. But we do have rules about using untested or experimental drugs. There are protocols to follow." Lois's nostrils flared in anger. "Doctor, you would let my son die because of some idiotic rules?" she hissed. "Give him the drugs. I swear we won't come after you if it doesn't work. I mean, what have we got to lose?" "And the Kent baby?" Maher asked. "Who's authorizing this treatment for her? We haven't been able to get hold of her father." "I'll authorize it," Joanne stated. "Her father is my brother-in-law and I am authorized to act on his behalf. I can assure you he won't object. Now please, just do it. The yellow and red can be given intravenously. The blue is intramuscular." Maher shook his head but reentered the ICU room where Jason Lane laid in a bed that looked far too big for his small form. Lois watched as Maher prepared the three vials for injection and then injected the first two into an IV line. The clear fluid in the line turned light orange. -o-o-o- Superman set Wells down in an area hidden by trees before spinning back into his white shirt and dark suit. The Craftsman style house reminded him a little of the older house *his* Perry White had lived in before he died. It was even in the same neighborhood. He rang the doorbell. He figured it was unlikely he was getting them out of bed and a quick check with x-ray vision confirmed that. An older man with gray eyebrows and closely cropped gray hair was coming to the door. The door opened. The man looked exhausted as he peered at him. "Perry White?" the alternate universe Clark asked. "Yes... who are you?" "I'm sorry about the time, but we're friends of Clark Kent, and we're here to help," he said. "May we come in? Time is of the essence." Perry looked at him, then past him to Wells who was standing nervously behind him. "Is this some sort of joke?" "Mister White, my name is Clark Jerome Kent, and this is Herbert George Wells," 'Jerome' said. He watched Perry's eyes widen in surprise. "Your Clark and I met several days ago, along with your Lois Lane. I have reason to believe something very unfortunate has happened to him. We're here to help if we can. Now, may we come in?" Perry backed away from the door and let them enter. Wells closed the door behind them. Perry peered at the little man curiously. "Herbert George Wells? As in the writer?" "Oh, yes, quite," Wells agreed cheerfully. "And you're Clark *Jerome* Kent?" Perry asked. He nodded. "You can call me Jerome." He ignored the questioning look Perry was giving him as he scanned the house. No listening devices at least. He pulled out the three vials and the injector. "He's upstairs. I'll be right back," Jerome told Wells as he started to head for the stairwell to give the medication to Clark of this world. He stopped when he felt Wells's hand on his arm. "Mister Kent, I don't know that you're immune to the disease," Wells said. "But you said it was just the kids that got sick in the unaltered time-line," Jerome reminded him. "And I've been vaccinated." "But I don't believe you were exposed to the disease in that time-line," Wells told him. "I believe Missus Kent opened the case while you were still indisposed. Please allow me or Mister White to handle this." "What is that?" Perry asked, nodding to the vials in Jerome's hand. "Kryptonian medicine," Jerome said, handing the vials to Perry. "Where we're from, Kal-El isn't the only survivor. But you need to hurry." Jerome looked through the ceiling to the room above to where Clark lay. Whether he was unconscious or sleeping, he couldn't really tell, but Clark's heartbeat was weak and irregular. "He's not doing well." -o-o-o- Joanne put her arm around Lois's shoulder to comfort the younger woman. Doctor Maher hurried off to give the new medication to the baby, leaving a nurse to monitor Jason's condition. "How did you get here?" Lois asked. It had finally registered on her exhausted, panicky mind how impossible it was for the woman standing with her to even be there. "Why are you here?" "It's complicated," Joanne said. "Let's just say that Clark and I, my Clark, had reason to believe something bad was happening here and it was related to your visit. Then somebody with a planar travel device agreed with us." "Is your Clark okay?" Lois asked. The tempocane had returned before she and Clark could be certain that everything was going to be okay in 'Joanne's' time-line. "He went back to work this morning," Joanne told her with a crooked smile. "Both jobs." Richard cleared his throat and both women – one with brown hair and hazel eyes, the other with dark brown hair and darker eyes – looked over at him. "Lois, you know her?" Lois nodded. "Clark and I ended up at their house while we were gone. Like I said, it was an interesting visit." "Her husband is the E-n-C of the Daily Planet?" Richard asked Lois. She nodded. "Youngest in the paper's history," Joanne said proudly. "Increased circulation by nearly twenty percent in three years." "Sex, tragedy, and Superman," Richard muttered. "Uncle Perry's mantra. Guaranteed sales." Joanne chuckled. "When Superman's been around for fourteen years, he's not headline news unless it's Earth shattering." Richard's eyes widened. "Fourteen years? Are there any criminals left?" "Violent crime is almost nonexistent, the petty stuff at least," Joanne told him. "White collar crime hasn't changed much. Organized crime has changed its tactics, less violence, more extortion, gambling, that sort of thing. Superman does more work dealing with accidents and natural disasters these days. Of course, there are still the criminals who think they can get away with attacking Superman. Needless to say, that doesn't fly very well with us. We're quite fond of our Superman." Doctor Maher had come back, hurrying into Jason's room with only a nod to the three people waiting outside the room. The nurse was explaining something to Maher and it looked like he couldn't decide whether he should be astonished or simply pleased. Lois noticed that the tracing on the cardiac monitor seemed more normal, assuming she knew what normal looked like, and the temperature monitor reading was dropping slowly. Lois watched him give instructions to the nurse then he came out of the room and walked over to them. He was shaking his head and grinning. "Miss Lane, I'm having a hard time believing it, but the medication appears to be working. Your son's fever has broken, his vital signs are improving. Assuming there's no reoccurrence of the fever, I think the prognosis is good." "And the baby?" Joanne asked. Maher's expression turned more serious. "She's very weak, and she hasn't improved nearly as quickly as the boy. Plus her blood work shows some abnormalities. We don't know if it's from the disease, or something else." Lois turned to Joanne. "I know she's not... Clark missed so much with Jason... If the baby doesn't make it, it'll break his heart." "I promise you, we'll do everything we can for both of them," Joanne said earnestly. "But you should know, according to Mister Wells, in the original time-line – the one where you and Clark didn't show up – both that baby and little Martha died." "Oh my God..." Lois murmured. "Is she...?" "She's fine," Joanne assured her. "My mother-in-law's watching her and the other kids." -o-o-o- Perry hurried up the stairs to the guest room where Alice was tending to Clark. "Who's downstairs?" she asked. "Friends of Clark's," he answered. "They brought some special medicine for him." "What kind of medicine?" "Kryptonian medicine." Perry handed the injector to his wife and watched as she inspected it. He quickly passed on the instructions he'd been given. She exposed the inside of Clark's elbow and pressed the device to his arm. Perry was surprised that the device even worked. *He's not invulnerable any more.* Clark roused from his stupor enough to try to move away from the touch of metal on his skin. To Perry's additional surprise, Alice was easily able to overcome him, holding his arm still until the medication in the vials disappeared. *Dear God, the story of the decade is in my lap and I don't dare publish a word of it. Superman is sick in my guestroom and people claiming to be from a different universe are sitting in my living room claiming to be his friends.* "Easy, hon', easy..." Alice was telling Clark. He seemed to relax at the sound of her voice and his breathing became easier. Alice checked his pulse. "It works fast, what ever it is," she said. "His pulse is stronger. I'm no doctor, but I'd say he might actually live." The lights in the room were dimmed, but Perry had the impression that Clark's color was improving as well. He was still pale, even a little blotchy, but not as bad as earlier. "Perry, I could use another cup of coffee," Alice said. "And maybe bring up a 2-liter of soda and another jug of water. He's pretty dehydrated." "I'll be right back," he promised. "Mister Wells, how long before we know if what we've done is enough to correct the problem in the time-line?" Jerome was asking as Perry came down the stairs. "It does take a little time for the changes to propagate forward," Wells said. "Although I still don't completely understand why that is. Professor Brown at the Academy of Temporal Studies tried to explain it to me once, but I guess I'm just a mechanic at heart." "You didn't answer my question," Jerome pointed out. "Oh, yes. You're quite right my boy," Wells said. He checked the screen on what looked like a PDA. "Oh dear..." "What is it?" Perry asked. Both men seemed surprised to see him standing in the archway leading to the living room. "It would appear that we have been successful in saving the life of Clark Kent, and of course, Superman – but the future time-line still appears to be in disarray." Jerome took a deep breath in and out. "Obviously something happened, or will happen, while he's indisposed. Do you have any idea what it might be?" Wells shook his head. "Only that the event had, or will have, repercussions large enough to destroy the future that was." -o-o-o- "Can I go in and see my son?" Lois asked the doctor. Maher nodded. "He's still weak and we have him on the respirator," Maher reminded her. "But I think it would be a good idea if you're there when he wakes up." "And the baby? Can I see the baby?" Joanne asked. Maher gave her a questioning look. "I'm her aunt too, remember? Her mother's dead. And if you happen to have a breast pump I can use, I'd appreciate it. I left my four day old home with my mother-in-law." She saw Richard's jaw drop. "You have no idea how much I hurt..." She held her hands, fingers spread, a few inches from her chest. A thoughtful look came over Maher's face. "You know, one of the problems we've been having with her is she's not tolerating formula very well. Maybe mother's milk will do the trick. We do normally have a stock, but..." "Lead on MacDuff," Joanne said, ushering the doctor in front of her. She looked back over her shoulder. "Richard you really need to get home and get some rest. You might want to give Perry and my husband a call, let them know that Jason's better. And ask my Clark to come over here. I think he might be able to do something." -o-o-o- The loud noises had stopped being quite so loud and the pain in his joints and belly had dulled to something manageable. He cracked open his eyelids, moving his head just enough to see the person sitting next to his bed. "Perry?" "Right here, son," Perry told him. "Just rest. You've had a rough night." "What happened?" Another voice, impossibly familiar. "We think Xon left a booby trap." The Clark from the alternate world was standing in the doorway watching him. *How did he get here?* "And I was the booby?" Clark asked aloud. The other Clark chuckled. "A sense of humor is a good sign. By the way, I'm going by Jerome, and my wife has decided we're brothers." "I don't have a brother... wait... Missus Kent is here? What are you two doing here anyway?" Clark asked. He managed to lift himself up on his elbows without being overcome with dizziness. "How did you even get here?" "Remember I told you about the usual suspects?" "Yeah. A guy called Tempus, and H.G. Wells." "And there are the Peace Keepers. Well, somebody realized something was wrong over here and did the usual," Jerome explained. "Enlisted our help. So we brought over some of the medicines Zara gave us for the kids for you. And it looks like they worked." "Richard called a little while ago," Perry said. "It looks like Jason will be okay." "And the baby?" Clark asked. "It's too soon to tell," Jerome told them. "My Lois is with her and she wants me over at the hospital to help out." Clark studied his counterpart. "There's something else, isn't there?" Jerome nodded. "What attracted the Peace Keepers' attention was a major disruption of this time-line. We were working under the assumption that your death was the initiating factor." "Only?" "Only you're alive and the time-line hasn't reverted to what it was," Jerome explained. He seemed to come to a decision. "As soon as you're up to it, we need to figure out what happened last night that you weren't able to handle so that we might be able to do some damage control." Clark sat up and ran a hand through his hair. Then he realized how dank and sticky he felt. "Let me get a shower and some clothes on." He started to swing his legs over the side of the bed and found Perry's hand on his shoulder, forcing him back down. "You're not going anywhere, son," Perry told him. "At least not for a while. I'll have Polly and Mike go over last night's police calls, check the wire, come up with a list of emergencies where Superman might have shown up to if he hadn't been busy elsewhere." Clark noticed the look of understanding that passed between Perry and 'Jerome'. They were doing the same job, had many of the same employees. Again Clark felt a pang of jealousy. Jerome seemed to have it all – a loving wife, a good career, beautiful children. Everything *he* had thrown away when he left. Jerome had been in this universe for how long? He already had the respect of Perry White and that wasn't easy. Perry was hard to impress. "Plus, I have a couple ideas, too," Perry continued. "I had to change the channel on the radio last night because there was something being reported on the news that you were determined to take care of, even though you couldn't." "Oh..." Clark peered at his boss. "Perry, you haven't been sitting here all night, have you?" "It takes more than an all-nighter to get an old warhorse down," Perry replied. "Get some rest. We'll get this figured out." "In the meantime," Jerome said. "I'm wanted over at Met General and I need to do it as Superman. That's not something I would normally do in these situations. It causes too many issues for the resident Superman, especially when we're *not* identical twins." "Your Metropolis took it in stride," Clark reminded him, pulling the blankets up as he settled back onto the pillows. "My Metropolis knows that Superman wasn't the only survivor of Krypton. Their assumption was that you were a member of the House of El and just visiting," Jerome told him. "I don't think that will fly with your people." Jerome spun into the blue and red Suit. "I'll be back." Clark watched after him as he disappeared out of the doorway. "He's pretty young to have my job," Perry commented. "I've seen the list of his awards," Clark told him. "Four Kerths, two Merriweathers, three Pulitzers and on the shortlist for three others, all in international affairs or investigative journalism. The team of Lane and Kent won even more. They are very good. I don't think Lois and I are anywhere in their league. I *know* I'm not." Perry clapped in on the shoulder. "Don't sell yourself short, Clark. He's been at it a lot longer than you have." "Yeah... About twelve years. He didn't take off for nearly six years on a fool's errand." -o-o-o- Jerome came to ground just outside the main entrance of Metropolis General Hospital. It looked such the same as the hospital his Lois had been four days before, giving birth to their fourth child. He'd been away from home for less than eight hours and he was missing his family. *One of these days I'm going to learn to say no to these little adventures... Nah. Won't happen.* He walked into the building and stopped in front of the reception desk. The white uniformed woman at the desk looked up, indifferently at first then her expression changed to recognition, then confusion. "Superman...? I... How can I help you?" "Could you direct me to the neonate ICU, please," Jerome asked, giving her his most ingratiating smile. She gave him the directions then chuckled. "It's a little early for Halloween, you know." He looked down at the Suit, then back at her grinning. "I know." "And you don't look anything like him." "I know that, too," he said before he headed off to the stairwell. He sped up the stairs to the tenth floor then slowed to normal as he stepped into the corridor by the elevators. He walked over to the large window overlooking the newborn nursery. The intensive care nursery was in a side room. He could see 'Joanne' sitting in a rocking chair, holding an infant with tubes snaking around her. "Can I help you, sir?" another uniformed woman asked, giving his uniform a curious look. "Missus Kent asked me to come," he told her. "I might be able to help with the Kent baby." "I thought you were taller," she said, stepping in front of him to keep him out of the nursery. He sighed and looked around for something that was safe to destroy. He settled on one of the metal clipboards at the nurses' station. He pulled off the paperwork and set it on the counter then proceeded to crush the board in one hand like it was aluminum foil. He handed the metal ball to her. Her eyes widened, suitably impressed. "Right this way, Superman," she said, leading the way through the nursery to the ICU. Joanne looked up, relief washing across her face as she caught sight of him. The baby was limp in her arms, too weak to even cry. "We've managed to get some mother's milk into her, and her fever's come down a little..." "Let me take her," he said, unclipping the cape and pulling the uniform shirt off so he was bare-chested. She carefully handed the infant to him as she got up from the chair, allowing him to slide into her place. He cuddled the infant against his skin, willing his aura to expand and protect her. Doctor Klein hadn't been able to come up with an adequate explanation of why his bio-electrical aura differed from Earth-humans or how it worked. He only hoped he could make it work the same way here. "By the way, Clark's doing a lot better," he told her, keeping his voice low. "But the time-line's still screwed up." "What the devil is going on here?" a gray-haired woman in a lab coat hissed at him. The nurse who had allowed him into the nursery was following the woman, flapping her hands like a butterfly. "Doctor Matsen, this is Superman..." the nurse was saying. Matsen stopped in front of him, hands on her hips. "And what, Mister Superman, are you doing with that child?" "I am attempting to extend my aura to assist in her healing," Jerome replied matter-of-factly. "You can do that?" Matsen asked. "Sometimes," he said. "It would be helpful if you could find a full spectrum sunlamp for us. Extending my aura for healing can be quite taxing and it's been a long day." Matsen checked the monitor readouts and shook her head. "I think it may be working... Her vital signs are getting stronger." Matsen looked back at him. "I didn't know this was one of your powers." "I'm not sure how it works," he admitted. "But it's how I can sometimes stabilize the injured until I can get them to medical help, and even then it's not always enough." "I had no idea," Matsen responded. "I'm going to check on Lois and Jason," Joanne told him. "I'll be here," he promised before he bent his head to watch the little one in his arms. She was looking better already. -o-o-o- Lex Luthor looked around his domain and growled. Between Superman's searches and an international bounty on his head, he'd been forced to move back into one of his old lairs under the city and he hated it. It reminded him too much of his first defeats at the hands of the damned alien. Defeats he had sworn would never happen again – yet it had. Despite all of his efforts, the damned do-gooding alien had survived to return to foil Luthor's plans once again. Kitty was cowering in the corner with her stupid little dog. His 'associates' were ignoring her whimpers. Not that Luthor really cared anymore. She was only alive because he wanted her to see what happened to people who disappointed him – and she had disappointed him quite severely when she dropped the Kryptonian crystals out of the helicopter and onto the accursed crystal island. "What have you got for me?" he demanded. One of the men, Baxter, shrugged. "Not much, boss," Baxter said. "Supes went missing for three days, along with two Daily Planet reporters. Not a sign of any of them anywhere on the planet." "I told you to track him with the alpha-wave detector," Luthor grated. "We were," one of the others said – a man known only as Smith. "Four days ago he went north. A while later he was flying in the direction of Metropolis and simply disappeared. Three days later he reappeared in just about the same place. He flew to Metropolis then we tracked him to South America and back to Metropolis. When he showed up in Metropolis the second time, he had a baby with him. He claimed she belonged to Clark Kent and some South American woman he shacked up with." "The place where he disappeared and reappeared... anything special there?" Luthor demanded. Baxter shook his head. "Pennsylvania farmland. But..." "But...? *But?*" "But, weather radar in the area detected a severe storm front that appeared without warning and then simply vanished at the time same time *he* disappeared," Smith reported calmly. "The national weather bureau claims it was an equipment malfunction. But the local papers claim to have found a field that looked like it had been thrashed by a storm. A very small, intense storm." "And you didn't think that was *special*?" Luthor yelled. Smith shrugged. "I thought it was a little more interesting that the only emergency the alien has dealt with since his return has been the refinery fire. He left the refinery and flew to Metropolis and hasn't been seen since, even though there were several emergency situations that should have attracted his attention. The two warehouse fires on Hobs Bay and a train derailment in Turin." "No sign of him at all?" "We tracked an alpha wave signal heading west from just north of the Hobs River and then several hours later, east from the suburbs to downtown New Troy, but there were no sightings of him. No rescues, not even a cat in a tree," Smith said. "All we're getting now is faint readings like he's doing something that takes energy and concentration, but not as much as flying." "So, where is he?" Luthor demanded. "We would need to triangulate his position," Smith reminded Luthor, who turned and glared at him. "We know what direction. We can extrapolate distance by signal strength," Luthor grated. "Do I have to do all the thinking around here? Is there anything important in that direction?" Smith shrugged again and pulled out a map of New Troy. He double checked the readings on computer monitor then traced out a line on the map. "Metropolis General Hospital." Luthor turned on the fourth man in the room, Trivas. "Find out what's going on over there, overnight admissions, anything that might interest that flying blue boy. 'Cause if he's interested, so am I." -o-o-o- Lois looked up to see Joanne outside the glass partition. Jason's breathing had improved to the point the respirator could be removed and he was conscious, holding onto his mother's hand so tightly it hurt. "Jason, I need to talk to Joanne, okay?" Lois murmured. Jason nodded and let her hand go, but she knew he was watching her as she went to the door of the room. "How's it going?" Joanne asked. "I think he'll be okay," Lois told her. "What about Clark?" "Better," Joanne said. "But I'm told the time-line's still not back to normal." "And what does that mean?" "It means we have to fi