Superman Movieverse Forum

The Middle Path

Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so.
David Grayson
American Journalist (1890-1990)

Our own heart, and not other men's opinion, forms our true honor.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
English poet and philosopher (1772-1834)

All three women watched after Clark as he headed out and disappeared around the corner of the building.

“Funny, I figured you guys were on vacation,” Rachel commented. “Not that it’s any of my business,” she added.

The girl at the counter moved to change the channel on the radio.

“No, leave it, please,” Lois called out. The girl grimaced but moved away from the radio. Lois listened a moment: Superman had arrived on the scene. She turned her attention back to Rachel. “I’m not sure Clark knows what ‘vacation’ means,” Lois stated with a chuckle. “Besides, our editor obviously had a hot lead for Clark to look into.”

“Hopefully, he’ll be back in time for the dance,” Martha said. “I would hate for that cake to go to waste.”

“I’m sure he’ll show up in plenty of time,” Lois assured her. “He usually does.” Unless he goes missing for weeks or years.

“I’ll see you all tonight at the Grange Hall then.” Rachel nodded to Martha and headed out the door.

“Maybe we can finish our conversation later,” Lois said quietly, glancing at Jason who had settled next to her in the booth.

Martha reached over and patted her hand. “That’s okay. I just wanted some reassurance that the two of you…” She sighed. “That you two didn’t rush into this blindly. And I do understand more than you realize. I married Jonathan less than a year after I lost my first husband. Dan and I hadn’t been married very long when he died of cancer. Then Jonathan came home from the army and it was like a lock and key fitting together. But still, people said I was using Jonathan to get away from Dan’s family and mine, to get away from Smallville. But Jonathan never saw it that way, even if his father did. And we certainly didn’t move away from Smallville.”

“Clark never mentioned you’d had a previous marriage,” Lois commented.

“I don’t talk about it very often.” Martha paused, sitting back in her seat. After a moment: “Clark is happier than I’ve seen him in years. You’ve given him something none of us ever thought he’d have. A family, a place to call home, a child. Promise me you’ll stand by him, be there for him.”

“I’ll do my best. And I do love him.”



Unseasonably heavy rains had threatened to overtop an earthen dam above several small villages perched precariously on the sides of the steep valley. Landslides were threatening the simple houses and farm buildings. Superman reinforced the top of the dam with boulders and compacted dirt and then proceeded to move the villagers and as much of their property as he could to higher ground.

Several of the older women complained vociferously as he carried each one along with their hurriedly stuffed bags of clothes, linens, food and cooking utensils. They complained about being taken out of their homes, that the government in the capital had promised to repair the aging dam and now it was failing, about the roughness of the ride in the pouring rain. He couldn’t do anything about the rain and little about the landslides, but he could get the villagers to more stable ground and he could pitch tents at near lightning speed so they could have a dry place to sleep and store what little they had left.

The rest was up to the various government and international aid agencies – with a little prodding from the U.S. and international media. He knew where the nearest Red Cross warehouse was and a quick trip garnered enough shelter and food to keep the refugees in good stead for several days, assuming nothing else happened.

The dam and villages were near the border of two countries that historically had difficult relations. Superman had personally brokered the treaty between them, but that was nearly seven years ago. He wasn’t sure exactly what the status was between the two nations was now. That was something he was going to have to check. Latislan and Podansk had been staying out of the news, so at least they weren’t actively at war.

“This should get you through the next few days,” he told one of the old women, the one the other villagers seemed to look to for leadership.

She shrugged eloquently in the darkness. “We will be all right unless the militia comes. And I doubt they want to drown.”

“Is there anything else I can do, little mother?” he asked.

Another shrug. “Can you stop the rain, boy?”

“I would probably only make things worse,” he admitted.

“Then we are in the hands of God,” she said. “May He watch over you as well, boy.”

“Thank you, little mother,” he said as he floated away. Then he sped off towards Geneva to let them know where the refugees were waiting out the storms.



Lois looked around the hall where the dance was already in full swing. Tables had been set against one wall of the hall and the wedding cake was the centerpiece of the display. There were plates of finger food and cases of canned soda and beer packed in ice. The dancers were in the midst of a line dance. Before Lucy settled down and got married, she and Lois had taken dancing lessons, including country dancing. Lucy thought it would help them get dates.  Well, it may have helped Lucy. She had a husband, two ten year old kids, an old dog and a mortgage.

It had taken Lois a lot longer. Lois Lane had been looking for a superman. She found Clark Kent.

She looked down at her new dress and smoothed out the skirt.  She hadn’t brought any dresses or skirts with her and in any case, all of hers were either business or formal wear. But the little clothing store a block from city hall had a dress that didn’t look too bad on her.

After the disaster of the previous night, leaving Jason with a baby sitter was not an option. Martha was showing Jason some dance steps on the edge of the pine dance floor while Ben looked on indulgently from the sidelines.

Clark hadn’t shown up yet although GNN had announced that Superman had managed to avert the dam break. Hopefully he would show up soon. Some of Clark’s old high school friends were giving her odd looks, including Rachel Harris. The sheriff had shed her pressed khaki uniform in favor of an embroidered skirt and peasant blouse.

“I guess being married to a reporter is a lot like being married to a cop,” Rachel said coming to stand beside her. “You know the odds are they won’t get into trouble…”

“But there are still a lot of nut cases out there,” Lois completed for her. “I look like a cop’s wife?”

“It’s in the eyes. That look that says ‘We have it worked out: he doesn’t get himself killed and I don’t play the worried spouse,’” Rachel explained. “Who’d’a thunk lil’ ol’ Clark could get himself into so much trouble.”

“He’s talented,” Lois said with a chuckle. She looked out at the dancers and Rachel followed her gaze.

“Not a bad turnout,” Rachel commented. “Lana’s already left for Wichita, so you don’t need to worry about her spoiling things. Clark is something of a celebrity in these parts. Not just because of that winning pass. He’s the hometown boy who made it good in the big city, not to mention knowing Superman. Smallville’s probably the only small town in Kansas that carries the Daily Planet daily in the stores.”

“We make quite a pair. We even scare Superman.”

“That we do,” Clark agreed, hurrying over to Lois. “Sorry I’m late. I stopped at the medical center to check on how those two kids were doing.” He gave her a kiss.

“And?” Lois prompted. She let her hands linger on his shoulders.

“The doctors are hopeful they’ll both recover without too many long-term issues,” Clark told her.

“Good.”

Martha spotted them and beckoned to Ben, who started tapping a spoon against the beer glass in his hand. The music was turned down and the dancers slowed to listen.

“Now that the guests of honor have both arrived…” Ben began. “First, a toast.” He held up his glass. “There is nothing more admirable than two people who see eye-to-eye keeping house as man and wife, confounding their enemies, and delighting their friends.”*

The audience laughed and lifted their cans of soda and beer to join in the toast.

“And now may I present, the bride and groom, only a little late,” Ben said with a grin. “Lois Lane and Clark Kent. And their first dance with us.”

Clark took Lois’s hand and led her to the center of the floor. The DJ in the corner grinned and the song started its instrumental intro. It was a different song than the one he chose at the reception her mother had given them. Clark took her into his arms.

Se tu fossi nei miei occhi per un giorno
Vedresti la bellezza che piena d’allegria
Io trovo dentro gli occhi tuoi
E nearo se magia o lealta

If you were in my eyes for one day
You could see the full beauty of the joy
I find in your eyes
And it isn't magic or loyalty

There was no trace of the clumsy farm boy who tripped over his tongue and feet in the newsroom of the Daily Planet to the combined horror and delight of his co-workers. Clark and Lois spun together across the dance floor, flawlessly in tune with one another. “I learned from a Nigerian princess who studied ballroom dancing in England.” Clark had told her once. He softly murmured the translation of the lyrics into her ear.

Se tu fossi nel mio cuore per un giorno
Potreste avere un’idea
Di cio che sento io
Quando m’abbracci forte a te
E petto a petto, noi
Respiriamo insieme

If you were in my heart for a day
You would have an idea of what I feel
When you hold me strongly to you
Heart to heart,
Breathing together

Protagonista del tuo amor
Non so se sia magia o lealta

Protagonist of your love
I don't know if it's magic or loyalty

Se tu fossi nella mia anima un giorno
Sapresti cosa sono in me
Che m’innamorai
Da quell’istante insieme a te
E cio che provo e
Solamente amore

If you were in my soul for a day
You would know what is inside me
That I fell in love
At that instant, together with you
And what I sense
It's only love.**
 
The dance ended and the audience applauded. Clark and Lois separated, taking a bow to everyone’s amusement.

“And now the groom and his mother,” Ben announced. Clark took his Martha’s hand, speaking to her softly. Finally she accompanied her son to the center of the room. Clark towered over her. He started to slouch and Martha hit his arm. He straightened up, a sheepish grin on his face as the music started. Lois grabbed Ben’s hand and pulled him onto the dance floor.

It must have been cold there in my shadow
To never have sunlight on your face
You've been content to let me shine
You always walked a step behind

I was the one with all the glory
While you were the one with all the strength
Only a face without a name
I never once heard you complain

It was just like Clark to choose that song for the mother’s dance, Lois realized. Luckily the hidden meaning was lost on everyone outside the family.

Did you ever know that you're my hero
And everything I'd like to be
I can fly higher than an eagle
But you are the wind beneath my wings

It might have appeared to go unnoticed
But I've got it all here in my heart
I want you to know I know the truth
I would be nothing without you***

The song ended and the dancers parted. Rachel called out from the sidelines. “One more toast. Clark, just reminding you what Oscar Wilde said: No man should have a secret from his wife. She invariably finds it out.”

Lois laughed and Clark’s cheeks turned pink. I wonder how much Rachel really knows.

Martha grabbed both Lois and Clark, guiding them toward the table with the cake. “I figure now would be a good time, before you disappear again,” Martha murmured.

Martha and Maisie had outdone themselves. Lois hadn’t noticed the decorated silver cake knife while they were at the park. The ribbons on the knife were the same colors her own mother had chosen for the reception in Metropolis: cream and lavender. Martha had even found the same pattern for the paper plates and napkins.

“You talked to my mother?” Lois whispered.

Martha just chuckled. “Cut the cake so we can get on with this shindig,” she ordered.

Chuck had brought a camera and was acting as the ‘official’ photographer. He snapped photos as Clark put his large hand over Lois’s smaller one and they cut the first piece of cake.

*Homer, 9th century B.C.
**Cinema Paradiso (Se) Lyrics by: Alessio De Sensi, from the album Josh Groban
***Wind Beneath My Wings, © Larry Henley/Jeff Silbar



The dance was threatening to last until the wee hours of the morning. Lois and Clark begged off early since Jason was so tired he could hardly keep his eyes open.

“You know, despite what happened on the river, I enjoyed this party a lot more than the reception my mother put together for us,” Lois told her husband. “And Jason really enjoyed learning about your family. That was all he would talk about after you left. Sheriff Nathaniel and Silas the publisher. I had no idea how important your family was.”

Clark chuckled. “I didn’t tell him about the family black sheep. Nathaniel’s brother Jebediah rode with Quantrill, came to a bad end. He’s buried over in Lawrence next to his parents. And I wasn’t going to even try to explain the complexities of the Civil War to a six year old.  Silas, Nathaniel’s father, was murdered in late 1855, shot in the back for being an out-spoken abolitionist. The war started early in Kansas.” He sighed, watching the road in front of them. “My dad was a bit of an historian, especially after he found a trunk buried under where the original house was. It was filled with keepsakes, old letters and journals. Dad had it pretty well organized before he died. He was planning to research the east coast part of the family but he never had the chance. Apparently the war split that side of the family, too. There were Kents on both sides at Gettysburg.”

“I remember hearing my Aunt Esther talking about one of her great-uncles,” Lois said. “He was a slick politician, managed to get elected to the U.S. Senate. From Kansas, as a matter of fact. I remember her saying he was pro-abolition, but he was also a con-man and a womanizer. Aunt Esther disapproved of him.” She glanced back at Jason sound asleep in the back seat of the rental car. “I almost wish he didn’t have to find out about things like slavery and war. How ideas can turn good men to killing one another.”

“But the only way to keep things like that from happening again is to know how they happened in the first place,” Clark reminded her. “And to realize there are no simple problems or simple solutions.”

They drove on in silence for several miles. “I was thinking,” Clark began softly. “It might be a good time to introduce Jason to the other part of the family.” He avoided looking over at her but he could hear her heart rate jump, could sense her sudden tension.

“You know what I think about him,” Lois reminded him.

“And I can’t guarantee the AI has changed its little programmed mind about you, either,” Clark said. “But Jason needs to at least be aware of that part of his heritage.”

Clark pulled the car up to the front of the house. Jason only stirred a little bit when Clark eased him out of the back seat, carried him into the old farm house, and up to his room.

“So, when do you want to do it?” Lois asked when he came back down stairs.

“I was thinking tomorrow morning,” Clark said. “After breakfast?”

“A hearty meal for the condemned?”

Clark laughed. “Hopefully it won’t be that bad. Plus, we have tonight by ourselves…”



Morning came earlier than Lois wanted. Jason and Clark were already up and Lois knew they were hurrying through the morning’s chores. She could hear Jason cajoling the chickens to give up their eggs, Shelby woofing along with him.

She showered quickly and dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt – she remembered her last visit. The arctic fortress had been alien and cold, cold in more ways than one. But the evening dinner he had prepared had surpassed her wildest expectations and afterwards she had been astonished to discover she was his first. Despite his inexperience, he had been a gentle, sweet, considerate lover. 

But the morning after turned her dream to nightmare.

They had made love again when they first woke up and she fell back asleep afterwards, sated, loved, dreaming about their future together. When she finally woke up enough to get up, she was alone. She heard voices coming from the central chamber and had put on his blue ‘Suit’ shirt to cover up. It was part of him and it felt good. She walked out to see Clark speaking with the holographic image of Jor-El. It glared at her as Clark protested that he loved her, was willing to do anything to be with her. But the price Jor-El had demanded was high: Superman’s existence and the lives of all those Superman could save.

She had seen the pain, the regret in his eyes while he watched the tragedies unfolding on GNN and she knew it was only a matter of time before he realized he had given up too much to be with her and resented the fact. An eagle cannot live in a cage, even one with bars made of love. Lois hadn’t protested when Clark elected to return to the fortress to see if he could regain his powers, to see if the AI of Jor-El would allow Superman to be resurrected. None of them knew that a miracle had occurred.

And now that miracle was going to meet what remained of his Kryptonian grandfather.

“Ready?” Clark asked as soon as the breakfast dishes were put away.

“You don’t think we can wait until he’s eighteen, do you?”

Clark chuckled. “I don’t think so, no.”

Jason was watching them both with wide eyes. Clark sped into the blue and red. After a quick look through the walls to make sure the coast was clear, he led them onto the back porch, grabbed them both around their waists and took off north.

The trip took longer than Lois remembered, but then last time it had just been her and Superman zooming over the cities, plains, and forests of Canada, toward northern Alaska. This time there was Jason to worry about. Even though he was half Kryptonian, he was still a fragile six-year-old.

Jason spotted the fog bank that hid crystal spires sooner than Lois did. The last time she and Superman had landed and simply walked into the structure. This time, he rose to the top of the crystal building and stopped for a moment. Lois heard him speak softly to the air. “Pass phrase: to kill a mockingbird.”

Then they dropped through an opening at the topmost part of the structure, where the longest of the crystal pillars met at odd, unearthly angles. She felt an electric tingle as though they had passed through an invisible barrier of some sort.

They landed and Superman set them both on their feet in the center of the main chamber. “Wow,” Jason breathed as he looked around in wide-eyed amazement. Lois followed his gaze. The chamber hadn’t changed much since last time. There was a rough side chamber she didn’t recall, as if something had been broken away, but otherwise it was the same. Clear blue-white crystals of unearthly size and clarity, glowing from an inner light.

It was warmer than she remembered from last time.

“I programmed the AI to detect if I had company with me and to adjust the temperature in the complex to something comfortable for humans,” he explained when she gave him a curious look. “I don’t mind the cold so sometimes I forget that other people might have a problem with it.”

“Did you build this?” Jason asked.

“No,” Kal-El told him. Over the past few months Lois had discovered it was easier for both of them if she called him Superman while he was in the Suit in public, even in her thoughts. Clark Kent wore three-piece suits to work and jeans at home. Kal-El was the man who was both of them, someone she was still learning about, the Kansas farm boy who could fly. It was Kal-El standing in the Suit inside this crystal palace.

“My father, my birth-father, sent a Kryptonian version of a computer along with me when he sent me to Earth,” Kal-El explained. “It grew this place, kind of like how Luthor grew that island. Only the computer did it right and it stopped when it was supposed to and Luthor did it wrong.”

Jason looked around at the chamber, at the various platforms. Again Lois was struck at how much it looked like a lecture hall or a theater.

“Did you live here?” Jason asked.

Kal-El shook his head. “The computer wanted me to. It wanted me to stay here and learn to be a good Kryptonian. I decided that learning to be a good Kryptonian was a little silly since I wasn’t living on Krypton, and living on the North Pole was just plain dumb.”

“So, what is this place, then?” Jason asked.

“A monument to a dead race,” Kal-El answered softly. “A library where everything they knew, everything they were, could survive them, allow others to know them, learn from them. A monument to a proud people who let their vanity get in the way of their survival.” Lois watched as Kal-El’s expression turned sad and distant and Jason reached up to take his hand, patting it comfortingly.

They are so much alike.

“You said I was going to meet Grandpa Jor’l,” Jason reminded him. Kal-El lifted his son onto his hip and floated up to a platform that extended a little ways into the chamber. He waved his free hand once over an apparently empty spot on the platform and a podium-like console began to grow out of the floor. Lois had thought Jason’s eyes couldn’t get any bigger, but they were positively huge as he watched the crystal control console appear.

Lois made her own way up to the platform to stand beside them.

Kal-El waved a hand over the console and the crystals began to glow like the walls of the structure, only brighter.

“Father?”

The familiar holographic head appeared, floating in the center of the chamber. The image of a distinguished older man with a thick mane of white hair. “Yes my son?” The voice seemed to echo in the chamber.

“I want you to meet someone.” Kal-El nodded, indicating the boy on his hip. “This is my son, Jason.”

The image stared at them for a long moment before speaking. “The initial biological scans of the planet Earth indicated that reproductive compatibility was unlikely. You are certain of his parentage?”

Lois answered. “He threw a grand piano across a room. Yeah, we’re sure he’s Kal-El’s son.”

The image looked at her. “This is the child’s mother?”

“Yes,” Kal-El told the image. “Her name is Lois and she is my wife.”

“And you live with her as a human?”

“Yes, and no,” Kal-El replied. “If you had wanted me to remain celibate, you should have ordered me to become a priest. I thought my father sent me here to save my life and preserve some small piece of Krypton. Was I wrong? Or did he send me here so that Krypton would die with me instead of him?”

“You were sent to this world to be a beacon, to be the light to show them their way,” the image stated.

“And to do that, I must deny myself those things every human being has a right to expect? Companionship, children, a life?” He had let Jason down and was clenching the edge of the console so hard that Lois was afraid he might crush it.

“You do not have the right to question my motives or authority,” the image stated sternly.

Lois had enough. “If he doesn’t have the right, who the hell does?” She found herself shaking in anger.

The image turned its attention on her and she saw Kal-El stiffen as if anticipating the worst. Then the image simply winked out.

“Mommy?” Lois looked down to see her son worriedly looking up at her. “Why was the head being so mean? Didn’t he like me?”

“Oh honey, it’s not you…”

“Of course it isn’t, child…” a very gentle woman’s voice said. Lois looked up to see a tall woman standing nearby. She was wearing a long white dress that shimmered in the light of the crystal illumination. Her eyes were the same unearthly blue as Jason’s and his father’s.

“Mother?” Lois heard Kal-El murmur.

The woman smiled at him. “I must apologize for Jor-El. He was an innovative and brilliant scientist, but he is also very much a traditionalist.” She turned and looked at Lois again. “You are Lois. I recognize you from before. I am Lara, Kal-El’s mother.” She crouched down to look at Jason. “And you must be Jason.”

He nodded warily. Kal-El picked him up again and he snuggled into his father’s chest.

“I’m not giving them up,” he told the woman. “I tried it his way once. I won’t do it again.”

“You shouldn’t have to, my child,” Lara said. “But you must understand. Jor-El was not trying to be cruel, or difficult. On Krypton, you would still be considered to be in your minority and under the authority of your father. You would still be involved in your studies.  The choice of a life-mate is hardly appropriate for one so young. And having a child so young would be inconceivable.”

“We’re not on Krypton,” he reminded her.

“No we are not,” she agreed. “But you are still Kryptonian. You still have a destiny.”

“‘You cannot serve humanity by investing your time and emotion in one human being at the expense of the rest.’ That’s what he told me.”

“You chose to give up your mission, your gifts,” Lara said quietly.

“If you will live as one of them... love their kind as one of them, then it follows that you must become... one of them,” he quoted back at her. “I refuse to accept that I must choose one or the other. I won’t accept that there’s no middle path. I don’t accept that I can’t have a life and a mission. I love them. Is that so wrong?”

“When you spoke to Jor-El that day, you did not choose the middle path,” Lara said gently.

“That wasn't one of the choices he gave me.”

Lara smiled, but Lois saw a sadness in her smile. “That was always one of the choices. You were too young to understand it.”

“I’m not that much older now,” he told her.

“My darling Kal-El, you know that it is not years that make a man wise.”

Lois watched as the realization hit him.  Jor-El had presented him with two choices: the woman or humanity.  But the real solution was the one he hadn’t presented to his son – the one that neither she nor Kal-El had recognized that day. The middle path. The path that meant balancing on the knife’s edge between family and the world. The path they were on now. For better or for worse.

“Is that why the head didn’t like me?” Jason asked softly.

“Oh Jason, no. That’s not it at all,” Kal-El told him gently. “Jor-El is unhappy with me because I made some very foolish decisions that ended up hurting a lot of people, including your mom.  With great power comes great responsibility. And once we take on those responsibilities, we can’t simply walk away from them. Always remember that.”

“I wanted him to like me,” Jason said. “Grandma Martha likes me, and Grandpa Sam does too, even though he doesn’t like that I have asthma and I get sick and Mommy didn’t marry Daddy Richard.”

“I do not dislike you,” Jor-El’s voice said. Instead of the disembodied head, the image was of a tall man with thick white hair. He was dressed in shimmering clothes similar to what Lara had been wearing. The symbol of the house of El was woven into the fabric of his tunic.

“I was not made aware that my son had fathered a child. I was… surprised,” Jor-El said very calmly. He looked straight at Kal-El. “But as you said, we are not on Krypton and to expect you to abide by the rules of a dead world was… inappropriate.” He turned to at Jason again. “You do not know me, Jason, but I am your grandfather, Jor-El.” The image’s expression was softer, kinder than Lois had ever seen it.

“I hope that Lara and I will be allowed to teach you about the world your father was born on,” he continued. Jason nodded his head, watching the figure warily.

“Jason,” Lara said. “Would you like to know about the games children played on Krypton?”

He looked up at his parents. With a glance at Kal-El, Lois nodded. Kal-El set him on his feet and he followed the image of Lara across the chamber, disappearing into one of the side areas.

“The initial biological scans of this planet indicated a high level of biological compatibility although reproductive compatibility was unlikely due to a number of factors,” Jor-El stated. “Lara will conduct the appropriate tests, as well as those normally conducted on a child of his apparent biological age.”

Lois stiffened and saw that Kal-El’s eyes were on the chamber Lara and Jason had disappeared into. Jor-El didn’t seem to notice.

“The child indicated he was considered frail, even for a human?”

“There is quite a lot of kryptonite in the air over Metropolis,” Kal-El stated. He had relaxed slightly and Lois relaxed with him.

“That may be a contributing factor,” Jor-El said. He looked at Lois. “I understand you and my son are bonded under the customs of your people.” His expression was blandly curious.

“Yes. We’ve been married for ten weeks,” she replied. At least he wasn't openly glaring at her for corrupting his son. She linked her arm with Superman’s, a possessive move she was certain the computer generated image would recognize.

“And the world?” the image asked.

“I am married to Clark Joseph Kent,” she responded. “As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Superman is an alien. He cannot have children by a human woman, cannot have a relationship with a human woman.”

“And you are satisfied with this?”

“It’s the way it has to be,” Lois told him. “If I had married a police officer or an emergency worker, it would be the same. He just has a larger territory to cover.”

“And you?” Jor-El asked his son. “Is this arrangement satisfactory? Or do the innocent suffer for your choices?”

Lois felt Kal-El stiffen.

“When I brought Lois here the last time you made a comment, made an assumption I didn’t respond to but I should have,” Superman said slowly. “You said: ‘The people of your planet must be well pleased with you… You have served them faithfully and they are surely grateful for it.’ I didn’t respond because I didn’t have an answer then. I do now.” He looked over at Lois and gave her a crooked smile. “Gratitude is a fleeting thing. In a world where all the risk is taken away, all the danger removed, why should anyone be expected to risk anything? Why bother to do what is right when someone else will pick up the pieces? I was doing them a disservice by allowing them to rely on me to keep them safe instead of themselves. The world doesn’t need Superman.”

“I warned you it was their habit to abuse their resources. That you needed to defend yourself against this. So you allow the innocent to suffer due to this failing?” Jor-El asked.

“The innocent always suffer,” Kal-El responded. “All I can do is to help alleviate it and allow others the privilege of doing the same. You also told me to guard myself against vanity and to protect my life as a human so that I would not be at their beck and call twenty-eight hours a day. This is how I choose to do it. With my wife by my side. If you cannot understand that, then we have nothing more to say to each other.”

Lois found she had been holding her breath. Even as Superman he was always mild-mannered, self-effacing, rarely even raising his voice – although he did have a dry sense of humor that occasionally showed itself. But mild sweet Kal-El had just faced down the AI representation of his father.

The image of Jor-El seemed frozen in place, unblinking, unmoving. Lara entered the chamber with Jason at her side. Jason was actually jumping with excitement.

“The son becomes the father,” Jor-El stated solemnly, coming to life once again as Lara moved to stand beside him. “I know you asked it once, and I did not give it. We give it now. There will be trials and tears. There will be triumphs and rejoicing. But above all this, two souls joined as one in love will make the trials more bearable, the rejoicing more sweet. We add our blessings to those Rao has already given you.”

“Thank you, Lois, for allowing us to meet our grandson,” Lara added. “As you surmised, the kryptonite increased his fragility, but I believe he will outgrow it, assuming he is no longer exposed to the poison. The Kryptonian portion of his genetics does appear to be fully dominant. That will need to be monitored. His intelligence is quite high, as was expected considering his parents, but his education…”

Lara waved a hand and something slim and square appeared in a small opening in one of the crystalline pillars. Jason ran over to grab it. It was a metallic tablet about the size of a small laptop computer.

“A learning tablet keyed to Jason and Kal-El,” Jor-El explained. “It is currently programmed with Kryptonian language, history, and culture.”

“Thank you!” Jason was clutching the tablet to his chest.

The two holographic images smiled, faded, and disappeared.

“That went astonishingly well,” Kal-El said. There was a bemused look in his face.

“I love you,” Lois said. She started laughing. “In ten years or so when, if, we catch Jason with a girl in his bed... Promise me you’ll be less damnably subtle than Jor-El was and actually tell your son the reasons why you’re upset about him throwing his future away on a girl.” She watched the growing comprehension in his eyes.

“I was acting like a spoiled child, so he treated me like one.”

“And when you stopped acting like a spoiled child…”

“And had workable solutions to the problems he was worried about, he accepted that I’d grown up.” He bent down and kissed her. “Let’s get out of here. A monument to a dead people isn’t exactly the most comfortable venue for what I would like to do now.”

“And getting caught doing it in your father’s house is never a good idea,” Lois added. “I’ve heard that hay lofts are very popular places for you farm boys…”