Chapter Two
*Excitement and Confusion*
Going off of Clark’s stunned look, Lois became worried.
“What is it?” she insisted. “What’s wrong? Clark?”
Suddenly, she was looking into her fiance’s deep brown eyes. He had turned his head while Lois was focused on her questions.
“It’s my mother,” he breathed.
“Your mother?” Lois was confused. “I’ve heard of mothers having eyes in the backs of their heads, but I didn’t know Martha could talk to people in their heads too.”
“No,” Clark explained. “Not Martha--Lara. My Kryptonian mother is talking to me in my head.”
Lois’s eyes widened, then she put her hand on Clark’s forehead. “Maybe there was something weird about the force field, since you’ve never heard voices in your head after Kryptonite exposure before. Come on, let’s order a pizza or something,” she changed the subject, ushering him into the warmth of his apartment from the balcony.
When the pair got inside Clark’s apartment, he spun into some comfortable clothes while Lois rummaged in his dresser for something to borrow. He turned back to her, and Lois noticed the exuberant expression in his eyes as he turned her around and held her at arms length, hands on her shoulders.
“That’s just it, Lois,” Clark continued. “If I hadn’t just seen the ship in orbit with my own two eyes, I’d be thinking the same thing. But I did see it--they’re HERE, and they’re ALIVE!” His hands moved quickly up her neck to her cheeks, and he pressed his lips to hers in a firm kiss, then let her go again, his hands moving to her waist so he could lift her and spin her around him before catching her in a hug and letting her go to smile at her.
A little dizzy from Clark’s happy display, Lois leaned against the dresser, one of Clark’s old sweatshirts clutched to her chest, eyes wide as she digested that information. “Wow, really?”
“Yeah,” was the answer. “I don’t know how, but she said that it took them three decades to get here.”
“Talk about your long commutes,” Lois quipped. She was rewarded with a half-smile from Clark before he seemed to stare into space again, listening. “Is it her again, or is someone in trouble?”
She was a little annoyed when Clark shushed her with a hand motion. “Just a minute,” he said.
Deciding that she might as well be comfortable, Lois finished her search for clothing, and then sat on Clark’s bed to wait while he listened. He must have noticed her movements, because a few seconds later, he was sitting next to her, still staring into the--decidedly upper--distance.
After another minute or two, Clark spoke, startling Lois even though she had been waiting for just that.
“Sorry, Honey,” he said. “It was just a bit of a long explanation they wanted to give me, so I thought I’d better get it all before passing it on.”
“Oh, okay. So . . .” she prompted, waving one hand in a “go on” gesture.
“So . . . what?” he asked, brows furrowed.
“Clark!” She rolled her eyes. “The explanation?”
“Right! Um, well, they said that back when Krypton exploded, the drive that powered my ship was one of only two of that type that existed,” he began. “The other one was supposed to be for their ship, but they didn’t even have time to get it on the ship, much less install it, before the planet exploded. As it was, they were lucky to be able to equip my ship and escape on their own.”
“So, if they could only equip your ship,” Lois asked, changing into one of Clark’s shirts, “how did they survive in their ship for almost thirty years?”
Clark lay back on his bed, hands behind his head while he answered. “I meant they couldn’t equip their ship with the drive in time. Apparently, both of our ships had cryogenics equipment installed. That’s how I made the three-month faster-than-light trip to Earth without any food. Jor-El and Lara had enough food and supplies in their ship for about eight months, so they had the ship’s computer wake them for about a week or so every year.”
“Even then,” he continued, chuckling, “she said that they nearly drove themselves, and each other, crazy the first time they woke up. They couldn’t take the silence, and telepathy just didn’t help.”
“I’ll bet it didn’t,” Lois concurred, snuggling with Clark once she had put on a pair of his shorts. “I’ve always thought people with telepathy might find that using that ability all the time wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”
Lois could hear Clark’s smirk in his cheeky voice as he asked, “Is THAT why you told Trask you hoped I wasn’t telepathic?”
“When did I--?” Lois started to push herself up and look into his eyes.
“The polygraph, a few weeks after I started at the Planet.”
Lois blushed, hiding her face again on Clark’s chest. “No . . .” She laughed.
“Oh, REALLY?” She felt Clark’s hands sliding from her back to her sides. “Why did you then?”
“I’m not telling,” she declared, giving her fiance a look of defiance.
Clark sighed, then Lois watched as his expression turned devious. “Then I guess I’ll just have to--” his fingertips moved, lightning-fast, against her sides-- “tickle it out of you!”
“Oh, no!” Lois squealed between breathless giggles. “Anything but--haha--that!”
“Anything?” Clark asked, still tickling her as he rolled out from under her on the bed onto his knees.
“Yes, yes!” Lois exclaimed in playful capitulation. “Please, stop! I can’t take it anymore!”
“Well,” Clark seemed to think--fingers still inflicting their pleasurable torture--before continuing, “I don’t think you really mean--”
Suddenly, the fingers and the sentence stopped. Confused at the halt of their play, which directly contradicted what she thought Clark had been going to say, Lois wondered, “What?” She propped herself up onto her elbows. “Why’d you stop?”
Clark held his hand up for silence again.
-----
*Kal-El?* This time the voice in his head was masculine. *We cannot see you when you are inside the dwelling.*
*Sorry, Father,* he answered, uncomfortable with calling Jor-El or Lara by their first names when he spoke to them, even though he had not seen them since he was a baby and he had done so before when speaking about them to others. *The nights here are beginning to become cooler, and Lois wanted to get warm and possibly order dinner while we talked about things.*
*Lois is the Earth woman who stayed with you?*
*Yes, Lois Lane. She’s my fiancee,* he replied, wondering if his thoughts came out nearly so full of pride and happiness as his voice would have were he speaking the same sentence.
*Fiancee?* The word begged translation.
*An Earth term for one to whom you are to be married,* Clark explained.
Clark felt a jolt of surprise, as well as something that might have been sudden understanding, that was definitely not his own. He thought to himself that the question of his own emotions was answered.
*Kal-El,* his father asked, *Who were the two other Kryptonians with you earlier?*
*Until just now, Father,* Clark said, *I didn’t even know for certain that they WERE Kryptonian. I thought they were just as human as Lois is, until she told me that they flew.*
*So, flying is unusual here?*
*As far as I knew, I was the only one who could do it,* Clark replied. *How did you know that they were Kryptonian?*
*Our sensors detected their dense molecular structures, just as it detected yours.* There was a pause, and then, *You are able to fly as well?*
*You mean, you didn’t know?*
*Know what, my son?*
*The Earth’s yellow sun gives me--and I’m pretty sure other Kryptonians also now--certain abilities. But can we talk about that later? Why did you ask about the other two Kryptonians?*
*Because I suspect that I know who at least one of them is, but it might be best to have this conversation in person.*
“Clark? Clark!” Lois’s voice and her hand shaking his shoulder brought him back to his surroundings.
“Sorry, Lois,” Clark said, a bit sheepish.
“Well?” she demanded, getting up from the bed.
“Well, what?” Clark asked, then remembered that he had just been speaking to someone whom Lois couldn’t hear. “Do you want some coffee? I think this might take a while.”
Lois blinked, switching mental gears. “Uh . . . sure. Coffee. Yeah,” she said. “Now, what did your mother say that time?”
“Actually,” Clark corrected her as he pulled the coffee and filters out of his cabinet. “That time it was my father. He wanted to know about Sarah and David, if those are their real names. Apparently, they’re really Kryptonian.”
“Then that means,” Lois said, blinking, “that the Kryptonian population of Earth just quintupled.”
Clark smiled at the woman he loved and whispered in wonder, “I’m not the only one anymore.” His smile grew wide as he kissed her gently.
She giggled, “You’re just now figuring that out?”
Clark laughed, shaking his head. “Well, it is kind of a shock . . .”
He poured the coffee into mugs, and Lois said, “I guess so. You’re usually pretty observant, what with your vision gizmos and all. It was just kind of strange for you to be so--spacey.”
Clark groaned at her pun, and the couple sat on Clark’s sofa while he proposed an experiment. “I wonder if I could talk to both--or rather, all three--of you at once.”
“You’d probably have to say the same things to us all,” Lois thought aloud. “And you’d have to be the go-between for my responses to them and their responses to you.”
“Couldn’t hurt to try, though,” Clark shrugged, taking a drink.
Lois rolled her eyes. “So try it already!”
“Okay.” Clark took a breath and concentrated as he said, “*Mother? Father? Can you hear me if I speak and think at the same time? Lois would like to know what we’re all saying to each other, and this seemed easier than relaying everything twice.*”
*Yes, Kal-El,* came the reply from Lara. *We can hear you perfectly. In fact, saying the words aloud is one way young Kryptonians learn to focus their natural telepathic abilities. Gradually, the vocal aspect is phased out, and thoughts come through clearer.*
Clark looked at Lois. “It works,” he told her. “Apparently, that’s how young Kryptonians hone their telepathic abilities.”
“All right then,” she answered, snuggling into his shoulder. She took another sip of coffee, then continued. “Tell them ‘Hello’ for me, and that I look forward to meeting them.”
Clark did so, and then told Lois their reply: “They would like to meet you too, and they also wonder why they found me here, in Metropolis, since they thought they’d sent me to Kansas.”
“Kansas!” Lois sat up straight, almost spilling coffee on her borrowed shirt as she turned to look into Clark’s eyes. “Clark, your parents! They’ll want to know about this too!”
Clark arched an eyebrow at his fiancee, the excitement of the night’s events muddling his brain. “They do, Lois. We’ve been talking to them for the last hour.”
Lois rolled her eyes again and shook Clark by the shoulders. “No, Lunkhead, not Jor-El and Lara. The Kents! The Kents will want to know that Jor-El and Lara are here--and they’ll probably want to meet them too.”
Clark sat up as well and turned toward Lois. “You’re right! Why didn’t I think of that before when you mentioned eyes in the back of Mom’s head?”
“Well, you did just make contact with parents you’ve never really met,” Lois suggested.
“And forgot the parents who raised me.” Clark frowned.
“There is a way to fix that, you know,” Lois smirked.
“What’s that?”
Lois rolled her eyes at him yet again. “Go to Kansas, of course.”
“Okay,” Clark agreed. “It’s only just past five there, so we might be able to catch dinner,” he started to plan, remembering that they hadn’t ordered the pizza Lois had wanted. “Why don’t you change while I tell Jor-El and Lara where we’re going?”
Lois left the room to put her business suit back on, and Clark, at super speed, cleaned the mugs they had used before pacing his living room. “*It’s ironic that you should mention Kansas,*” he told his orbiting parents, also practicing out loud. “*I haven’t lived there myself in years, but Lois just reminded me that the Kents--they’re the farming couple who raised me--will want to know you’re here.*”
*Indeed, Kal-El,* Jor-El replied. *We will wait until you have arrived in that place to converse further.*
*Do you know where in Kansas I’ll be?*
*No, my son,* Lara replied. *We will find you again using the sensor array and the artificial satellites orbiting the Earth, as we did before.*
“*Or,*” Clark countered ruefully as Lois came back into the room, “*I could come up there and tell you where it is.*”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Lois demanded. “You’re not leaving me here while you take an extra trip into space. You’ll meet your parents face-to-face soon, Clark.” Clark stiffened at her words. Her expression softened as she put her hands on his shoulders and brought her lips to his for a brief, tender kiss.
“You’ve waited almost thirty years to see them,” she continued. “A few more hours won’t hurt.”
Clark sighed. “I guess you’re right, Lois,” he said. Spinning into the suit, he reached for her hand. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and make those few hours any longer than they have to be.”
With that, Clark told the Kryptonians that he wouldn’t be visiting their ship just yet after all, and he and Lois took off from his balcony just as her stomach growled.
“Don’t worry. We just want to be smart about this,” she said. “We don’t want someone seeing you going off into space and wondering about whether or not Nightfall Junior’s come to get revenge on us or something. Not to mention, it looks like we’re not leaving for Kansas a moment too soon,” she laughed at her body’s hungry protest. “I could use some of your mom’s home cooking.”
-----
On the way to Kansas, Clark came up with a plan.
He didn’t want Lois or his parents to be cold, but he did want Jor-El and Lara to be able to see them all from the sky. Testing out his idea, he ran it by Lois as they passed over Cleveland.
“You were in Girl Scouts, right Lois?” he began.
She quirked an eyebrow at him, raising her head from his chest as they flew. “Yes, why?”
“Did you ever go camping and cook on a bonfire?”
“Once or twice,” she answered, “even if you don’t count the bananas on that island a few months ago.”
Clark chuckled. “How about, if Mom hasn’t started dinner yet, we have a bonfire instead?”
She smiled at him and asked, “You just want Jor-El and Lara to see all the funny Earth people, don’t you?”
They both laughed, and Clark answered, “No, really. It’s not too hot, not too cold--only just barely chilly, and it would be nice for them to be able to see us while we ‘talk.’”
Lois snuggled back into his embrace. “Okay, count me in,” she said. “But only if Martha hasn’t started cooking yet.”
It was only just past five o’clock in the afternoon in Smallville, so Clark said, “I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Mom doesn’t usually start cooking for another half-hour, at least.”
He came in to land, and stood Lois on the back porch of the Kent farmhouse before opening the door. “Mom? Dad?” he called.
Martha Kent walked out of the studio, wiping her hands on a rag. Her head was partially covered by a welder’s mask, but she took it off when she saw Clark.
“Clark!” she exclaimed with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until Friday.” She gave her boy a hug, and then saw Lois standing behind him. “And Lois too. This is a surprise. Hi, Honey,” she greeted her future daughter-in-law with a hug as well.
Clark watched Martha hug Lois, and then told her, “We weren’t expecting to come either, but something came up we figured you would want to know about.”
A worried look came over Martha’s face as she put a hand on Clark’s arm. “Is everything all right, son?”
Lois, still the night’s voice of reason, spoke up. “Everything’s fine, Martha,” she said. “It’s good news, but I don’t think Clark will be able to tell it more than once, excited as he is. Where’s Jonathan?”
“Out in the barn. I’ll go get him.”
“Actually, Mom,” Clark said, “I was thinking, if you didn’t have any plans for dinner already, that we might have a bonfire.”
Martha looked at her son quizzically. “Sure, Clark,” she said. “Any particular reason?”
Lois answered for her fiance. “It has to do with what he’s practically dying to tell you, but he wanted to tell you both at the same time, and I told him I was hungry, so . . .”
“I see. Well, why don’t you get Jonathan then, and ask him to grab a jug of cider from the cellar before he brings you to the old fire pit out back? I’ll start cutting up chicken and vegetables for dinner, and Clark can get the fire ready.”
At the mention of his name, Clark brought his attention back to his surroundings again. He had been telling Jor-El and Lara that they’d arrived, and that they would be outside shortly.
“Huh?” he said. “Oh, right, the fire. I’ll just make sure the pit’s still deep enough and start the fire going, then. Do you have any marshmallows, Mom?”
“You know what?” Martha asked, pensive. “I think I just might. I hope so.” She walked into the kitchen and rummaged around in some cabinets, removing a few things before she got back into the living room. “Yep,” she said at last. “I have all the makings for S’mores, too. We won’t have to break that tradition, even with such short notice.”
“Tradition?” Lois asked.
Clark looked at her with a smile. “Whenever we have a bonfire, whether there’s dinner or not, there are always S’mores. It’s a Kent family tradition.”
“Why didn’t you say so in the first place, Kent?” Lois playfully slapped his shoulder as she made her way out the door to find Jonathan. “I would’ve agreed even faster if I’d known chocolate was involved.”
Chapter Three
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