Plane Storm by Deborah Rorabaugh (SHADO Librarian) © 7-Nov-06 Rating: K+ 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. --Earth I-- Superman was patrolling the city only few days after leaving the hospital where he'd ended up after an uncontrolled fall from high orbit to Earth. New Krypton, the abomination of a landmass Lex Luthor had created, was in a stable orbit beyond Mars. Metropolis was quiet, too exhausted from the past few days to muster a crime wave. The fact that the National Guard had been called out to patrol the streets also helped. He'd only been back to Earth for a month, and only a week back as Superman, after having been gone for nearly six years, searching for something, some meaning. Looking for his home in the depths of space. That was when all hell had broken loose, thanks to Lex Luther. There was no sign of Luthor and his cronies. Luthor had managed to escape the landmass he'd created using stolen Kryptonian technology before Superman flung it into the asteroid belt. Luthor was somewhere, planning something that boded ill for both him and humanity. It was only a matter of time. He heard Lois Lane calling him from the rooftop of the Daily Planet. "We have to talk, Superman!" He came down beside her. "Yes, Lois?" "I need to talk to you about Jason, my son," she said. "What about Jason?" "Do you remember what I said to you in the hospital?" "Yes, I think so," Superman said. "I remember you telling me that Jason was very strong, and that he was my son." "So what do we do?" "Lois, I promise I'll be there for him when, if, his powers manifest. But that's all I can promise." "And what about us?" "You have Richard, Lois. You don't need me," he said, referring to Lois's fiancé of five years. Richard White was the nephew of Perry White, and assistant editor of the Daily Planet newspaper. He was a good man and Superman actually liked him as a person; rather, Clark Kent liked him. Richard was a very likable guy. Lois had moved on in the six years he'd been gone, trying to find his roots, trying to find Krypton. She'd had a son, gotten engaged, won a Pulitzer. He loved her still, but he knew without any doubt that they had no possibility of a future together. It was too dangerous for her. Besides, she only loved the man in the 'suit', Superman, not the man he was raised to be: Clark Joseph Kent from Smallville, Kansas, adopted son of Jonathan and Martha Kent. She didn't see Kent even though he worked beside her every day. Kent was a bumbling fool, not worth a second glance. "Why don't I remember being with you? Why don't I remember the night Jason was conceived? Was I so disappointing that you shut me out, denied me those memories of us?" "It wasn't you, Lois," he said sadly. "It was me. I thought we had a chance together. I was wrong and I hurt you. I'm sorry. I should never have done what I did." "Sorry? You're sorry?" He took a step backwards, away from the venom of her voice. She had every right to be angry with him, but it didn't make it hurt any less. "Lois, I don't know how to return your memories of that time. I don't know if it's possible. But if you're game, we can try." "How?" "Come with me to the Fortress of Solitude, my 'ice palace'," he said. "I need to do some work there anyway. It might jog your memory." "When?" "Now's as good a time as any," he said. "You might want to let your boss know you're going to be out for at least the rest of the day." He watched as she pulled her cell phone from her purse and pulled up Perry White's personal number. "Perry? Lois. I'm going to be out for the rest of the day, maybe longer," she said. "Could you have Richard pick Jason up at school?" She listened for a moment as Perry replied. "No, I don't want to say anything about what I'm working on yet, in case it doesn't pan out." "Tell him Clark's going with you," Superman said softly, almost mouthing the sentence. She raised one eyebrow at him but said into the phone,"Oh, and Clark's coming with me, so I hope you haven't given him anything that can't wait a day or so." "Kent lit out of here like the devil was after him about ten minutes ago," Perry said over the phone. Superman's acute hearing picked up the conversation from Perry's office as well. "You two'd better have something good for me when you get back," Perry warned before hanging up his phone. Lois put her phone back in her purse. "So Clark's coming with us?" Superman shrugged. "I'd rather he didn't get into more trouble than he's already going to be, if this works." "Why would Clark get into trouble? Where is he?" Superman smiled. "Just trust me on this one, Lois. Please?" In his office on the 60 th floor of the Daily Planet building, Perry White looked over at his nephew, Richard. He was Lois Lane's fiancé, as well as the newsroom's assistant editor, a job the young man had earned by being one of the best in the business. It hadn't hurt him, though, to be the boss's nephew. "Richard, what is Clark working on?" Perry asked. "Something Norm Parker was working on before he died. The trouble Americans with foreign dependants have getting through all the bull Homeland Security throws at them," Richard told him. "From what Clark's told me, he's got enough material for a whole series on it." "Isn't he supposed to be working on the building collapses?" "Yeah, and he's already turned in the first two articles." "Good. So what's up with Lois?" Richard looked uncomfortable. "She hasn't been herself since Superman came back. She told me she was over him, but..." He shook his head. "She said she was over Superman, but I didn't think to ask her how she felt about Jason's father showing up again. People have been asking why I haven't left her now that Clark's back. Although," he added,"with the way she's been treating the poor bastard, I'll be surprised if he doesn't ask for a transfer to Tokyo soon. Why did you even hire him back?" "Because he's one of the best writers in the business," Perry said. "And I owe him a second chance after what I did to the two of them." "And what was that?" Richard asked, knowing what the answer was. "I let Cat Grant talk me into sending Mad Dog and the Boy Scout on an undercover assignment as newlyweds, knowing full well what the gossip mongers would do to them. Knowing what Lois would do to him afterwards when she caught wind she was being set up. I'm surprised he bothered to come back at all, considering how he left. He came in one morning and told me he was leaving. I tried to talk him out of it. Even offered him a raise and the assistant editor's post that was open, but he wouldn't budge. He just finished that day's assignments and walked out." --Earth II-- "The next time, you're the one carrying the baby to term," Lois Lane-Kent complained as she sat on the side of the bed, rubbing the small of her aching back. "That's what you said when you were carrying CJ, and Lara, and Jordan," Clark Jerome Kent, her husband of ten years, reminded her with a smile, taking over massaging her back. "I look like a blimp! I feel like a blimp. How can you love a blimp?" He nuzzled her neck. "You do not look like a blimp. You never look like a blimp. You look like a well-loved woman who's having a baby any day now." "I'm a week overdue!" "Lois, they've all been a week overdue," Clark said with an even broader smile. She turned in his arms to gaze into his warm, dark chocolate eyes. She kissed him, hard. "Uh, honey, you keep this up and we're going to be late for work. Again." He said it lightly, pulling away from her only far enough so he could talk. "Besides, I have to get CJ and Lara to school, and I have a meeting at nine with the board of directors." "We are going to continue this discussion later, you know," Lois warned him with a grin as he headed to the master bathroom to get dressed for work. "I'm looking forward to it," he called back as he shut the door. --Earth I-- Lois Lane inspected her surroundings, the white crystals that made up the Kryptonian- designed structure, the control console with shafts of sunlight glistening across its crystal clear surface.