Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Metropolis sky was a special shade of gray that would shine green-ish when thunder lit the sky. Two weeks of the most awful weather was not only inconvenient, it was also dangerous. Car accidents, fallen trees, thunderstruck buildings, floods, fires. Whatever disasters you could derive from inclement weather, it had happened.

Lois approached the Daily Planet’s revolving door fighting both a gust of wind and her umbrella, which was now half bent upwards, but she wasn’t ready to give up just yet. When it failed to close, she walked to the bin on the curb, tossed it, and came back—soaking wet—into the building.

The hall was empty. The city’s state of emergency meant personnel were sent home last week. Only the lonely or the crazy would come to work from the office. And she hated that she was actually both.

She pressed the elevator up when, from the corner of her eye, she caught a shadow. It looked like a person. Lois immediately reached into her bag for the pepper spray.

“Who is there?” she asked, but still no response.

Moving closer, she could see under the shadows. It was a child. A young girl, maybe seven. Blue eyes, black hair—and Lois felt like she was looking into a mirror. Except she was a child. And her black hair was curly.

“Honey, can I help you find your parents? I don’t think many people are here now.” She looked around.

The elevator door dinged. She extended her hand to the girl. “Come. You must be cold and hungry. Let’s fix that first.”

The girl nodded and grabbed her hand but didn’t move. Lois squeezed her hand quickly a few times. The girl shot her a wide glance and moved silently.

On the bullpen floor, there wasn’t a person or any lights on. The storm had finally cut off the power in the newsroom. Only essentials were on: computers, coffee maker, and vending machine.

Lois opened her drawer and got an old Smallville High hoodie, wrapping it around the child. “Here, this will help with the cold.”

Lois studied the girl. She looked determined but scared. Like deep down.

“Do you know where your parents are?” Lois asked, moving to the vending machine and feeding it coins. She pressed for M&Ms and Lays. She gave the girl a quick glance. “That okay?”

She nodded with a sly smile, and Lois’s heart skipped a beat.

“Can you tell me your name at least?”

“Ella.”

“Nice to meet you, Ella. I’m Lois.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

The girl’s lips started to quiver. Instinctively, Lois reached to tuck away an unruly curl. The touch caused the girl to jolt and immediately break down. Before Lois knew it, Ella wrapped her arms around her neck so tight she could barely breathe.

“I miss you so much.”

Frowning, confused, she returned the intensity of the hug, letting out a breath.

“Miss me?”

Ella let go of Lois and reached into her little backpack. She pulled something out, wrapped in a towel. When she opened it, it was a light blue crystal. Like the ones from the Fortress. She’d only been there once, but her eidetic memory saved all details.

Lois looked at her, then at the crystal, and reached for it. Ella let her have it. She examined it, tracing the Kryptonian scribblings Clark had started to teach her to read. These were not ones she had learned, though. Maybe… “time?”

“Space and time,” Ella said. “This can find Daddy. If we save him, he can then save you.”

It was Lois’s turn to be speechless, her chest tight. “Save Daddy?”

She nodded. “You told me he said we could find him with this. You died so you couldn’t tell me I couldn’t use it.”

“I see,” was all Lois could manage. She blinked and shook her head to center herself. “Ella, honey, I don’t know what the crystal did, but I’m not your mom. And the man who I think is your daddy… we are not—we aren’t together, honey.”

The little girl blinked. Lois studied her, worried this was too much for a child.

“Time and space,” she said, as if in deep thought. “Maybe this is another Earth.”

“Another Earth?”

“Mommy, you got a prize for this. There are a bunch of Earths with different versions of us. Maybe this is a different one. But maybe you can help me anyways?”

“Okay, kiddo. I think we better go home. The newsroom is hardly the place for this conversation. Come on.”

Lois’s apartment was the opposite of the Daily Planet. Warm, well lit and the overwhelming smell of cocoa filled the place.

The living room was filled with target bags. Ella was sitting, legs curled up on the couch in a newly acquired cozy pajama set watching a cartoon on Lois’s phone.

A plate of grilled cheese and two steamy hot cocoa mugs appeared in front of Ella, whose attention was completely on the cartoon.

“Let’s eat something that is not fully junk. And I need my phone back.” 

Ella started to eat and Lois called Clark. Once. Twice. On the third time she went into the kitchen to leave a message “Hey, so I know things are not the best with us but I really need you to call me back. Or show up. Okay. Please? I lo– bye.” 

She can hear Ella laughing at whatever she is watching and her laughter is just delightful. Lois can’t help but chuckle with her.

Lois sits down and watches. How Ella’s eyes are so focused on the screen, how her lips twitch up and a pair of familiar dimples creep on her smile. Lois doesn’t touch her food.

“I like that it burns and then you scrape off. Uncle Jimmy made me some the day you died but he didn’t let it burn.” She takes another bite. ‘Thanks.” Ella hides behind the cup of cocoa.

All Lois can do is nod. Her lips quivered. She licked them. The words on her brain exit her mouth as an inaudible exhale. Since this girl arrived, words seemed harder and harder to find. 

They ate in silence which Lois was thankful for. There was way too much already on her mind.

“Where is the bathroom?”

“I guess I do move”, she mutters to herself, “through my bedroom the only door that’s not a closet.” 

Ella gets up and Lois suddenly jolts moving in front of her, “just let me make sure everything is in order, hold on.”

In the bathroom Lois takes a second look at herself in the mirror and closes her eyes. Just for a moment. Then she grabs the three different, and very positive, pregnancy tests from the counter and shoves it in the trash can. Covering it as much as she can with new and old tissue. 

She washes her hands and clears the path for Ella, “All yours.”

As soon as Ella enters the bathroom, her door bell rings. She moves to the door and is surprised to greet him, “Terrific? This is not good, is it?”

Chapter Text

If anyone knew how to enter a room with casual authority, it was Michael Holt. The way he carried himself was really, always, very Terrific.

“I don’t know what is going on between you and Big Blue. And trust me, this is not me asking, but he left me in charge of giving you this.” In full Mr. Terrific costume, he handed her a blue paper bag.

She moved the hand that was absently touching her lower stomach and reached for it. His eye caught sight of a small child behind her.

“Lane? Who is the kid?”

Ella was standing shyly behind Lois. She tried a small smile and looked down. Uncle Michael was always her favorite, but also a little scary.

“I thought you said you didn’t do personal,” she said, not looking up from the bag.

Lois frowned when her hands touched something cold and stone-like in the bag. She sat down and pulled a crystal. Not any crystal. Ella’s crystal. The one she was supposed to use to “find Daddy.” Her chest tightened, her breathing slightly quickened.

She looked up at Ella, who came to sit next to her. “We have two?”

Mr. Terrific looked around and saw another exact match of the crystal on Lois’s coffee table.

“How come you have two?”

It wasn’t dramatic, but the world started spinning, her vision tunneling whenever she thought of the possible answers to his question. Because my future daughter brought one back? Because whatever is wrong is seriously wrong and will leave her as a single mom who will eventually leave a seven-year-old orphan?

“Can you give me a second?” She closed her eyes to stop the world from spinning. Ella took her hand and sandwiched it in hers, much smaller palms.

Slowly, Lois opened her eyes again. Mr. Terrific pulled a piece of folded paper and handed it to her. “He asked me to give you this, too.”

With trembling hands, she grabbed the paper, unfolded it, and read:

Lois,

We can’t seem to agree on which emergencies Superman should take or which ones he can pass on to spend some quality time with the woman he loves.

And I do love you, but I can’t keep having you fighting me on this. So I’m doing what you asked and I’m taking an emergency on another Earth. Think of it as parallel universes.

Anyway, if you don’t agree, use the crystal and it will find me.

Love you.
C

She held the bridge of her nose. Her throat closed.

Ella got up and threaded into the kitchen. Terrific, just looked at Lois; this was not his comfort zone. The sound of doors opening and closing in the kitchen filled the air.

Without opening her eyes, she said to him, “Can you help her find what she’s looking for?”

Terrific frowned as much as his T-mask would allow and headed in cool strides to the kitchen. “Hey kid, can I hel—” He stopped in his tracks when he saw the little girl, floating down with a cup in her hand.

“I got it.” She said with a mischievous smile that was very Lois.

Terrific stayed frozen. “…Terrific.”

“Ella!” Lois came with a confident stride and her mad-dog Lane attitude. “How did you say this works? Because Clark says we use it, and we can find him.”

Ella moved past the frozen Terrific and closer to her mom, bringing her a water glass, which Lois happily took. She scratched her head. “I don’t think I did it right. Because if I did, he’d be here.”

Lois had her crazy reporter, I-am-on-to-something look. “Michael, can you take us to the Fortress? I’ll explain everything, but Clark might never come back on his own if we don’t go get him.”

“No problem. Cram in as much detail as you can in the thirty minutes we need to get there.”

They walked into the T-Craft parked on top of Lois’s building. It was on autopilot, hovering with a rope ladder down.

As they climbed the wobbly ladder — Ella in front, then Lois, and Terrific last — Lois couldn’t help but comment. “I get that this rooftop is hardly a heliport, but… rope ladder?”

“Don’t start, Lane.”

“You know a civilian would never be able to break the TAA code like this.”

Ella chuckled at the interaction. It was all too familiar for her.

“I’m just saying I think Lorde could help you with a transport beam or something,” Lois mutters under her breath, eliciting a tired sigh from Mr.Terrific.

Once inside the craft, Lois started to guide her on where to sit and how to strap in, but the girl was extremely familiar with the T-Craft. Lois froze. Ella moved like she’d done this a hundred times.

Chapter Text

As soon as the T-Craft door opened, Ella was out and ran toward where the Fortress should roughly be. Mr. Terrific had the right coordinates to stop within a safe distance, considering how much everything rattled when the construction came out of the ground.

Ella moved quickly. Very quickly. Lois frowned, squinting. She turned to Mr. Terrific, “Does she seem too fast for a regular kid?”

He looked at her with a mix of annoyance and astonishment. “Are you serious? She is Superman’s daughter. Of course, that’s too fast.” He shook his head and kept walking. Lois stayed frozen for a beat, boots heavy in the snow.

“She was floating in your kitchen, too. Just so you know,” he called out.

Lois let out a tired breath, pulled her coat tighter, and forced herself forward.

Ella pressed against the gap, frustration rising. “It opened before,” she muttered. Half complaint, half disbelief.

Mr. Terrific pulled her out gently. “Hey, kid. Let’s wait for the key .” Looking over his shoulder, he saw Lois approaching. The instant she stepped near, the crystalline doors shuddered and finished opening completely.

Ella stopped dead in her tracks, but didn’t move forward. Her hand tightened at her side.

The sun spilled in, light breaking against the jagged walls. Every surface fractured into a shimmering rainbow. For a moment, the entire chamber glowed, alive with color. Ella’s eyes widened. Awe flickered there—then something else. Unease.

Lois slowed beside her, laying a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve been here before, right?”

“Yeah.” Ella frowned. “It just looks different.”

Different how? Lois wondered.

“Hello, Ms. Lane.”

Gary’s voice boomed warm, cheerful as always. Ella startled, immediately stepping back to hide behind Lois. Lois’s arm came down instinctively, protective, shielding the girl. She looked at them intensely, as if she were scanning them in detail.

His head tilted. “I sense a Kryptonian present, but I don’t see Superman.” His optics swept the room. “I know he went on a mission, and I didn’t know when to expect him back. We’ve been keeping the place tidy.”

He gestured to the other Superman robots lined up in the back. Their metallic faces turned in unison. One of them, Twelve, offered Ella a shy wave and muttered, “Adorable kid.”

But Ella’s grip tightened on Lois’s coat. She felt the sharp tug and registered it.

Lois knelt down to be eye-to-eye with Ella, fixed her hair again. This time, she didn’t break down; she actually gave her a shy smile. One that looked a lot like Clark’s. Double dimple and everything. Lois let out a breath.

“Are you okay?” Lois asked.

“Yeah. It’s just that… when I come here, it’s just me.” The girl’s words were barely audible.

Lois felt the weight of that pause. 

“Got it. Well… here, Clark has all of these robot friends. Gary, Twelve, Eight—I’m not sure why only Gary has a name.” Her wonderment pulled her off topic. Turning her attention back, she continued, “They are safe. Okay?”

Ella nodded to her. Lois gave her a smile and stood back up, and drew the crystals from her bag. “Gary, do you know how we use these? Clark left them.”

“Yes. Superman asked me to create these especially for this mission. You see, when traveling in the multiverse—” Gary paused at Lois and Terrific’s baffled looks. “There are multiple, infinitely different Earths. Different realities in each.” He paused again, glancing at Lois and Mr. Terrific before continuing. “Traveling across them can take an unpredictable amount of time. These crystals will allow you to locate him and bring him back.”

Ella drifted closer to the console. Small fingers brushed the buttons, the knobs. She pointed with casual certainty. “You just need to put it here.”

Gary turned, surprised. “You are correct.”

“Ms. Lane,” he added after a pause, “why does the child know so much?”

Lois’s throat went dry. She walked up to Ella by the console, holding the crystal tightly. “The chil—Ella comes from the future and somehow used this and got here.” She gave the crystal in her hand a shake.

Gary’s joints whined as his hands lifted, cupping Ella’s face. His LED eyes narrowed to slits. For a beat, the chamber went quiet. Then he dropped his hands and looked back at Lois.

“The child has Kryptonian DNA.”

Lois stiffened. “Yes, she does, Gary.” She pivoted quickly, turning to Mr. Terrific. “Maybe you should stay and be our backup, just in case?”

“And tell Superman I sent his pregnant girlfriend and his kid-from-the-future alone to find him in whatever elseworld he’s stuck in? No. Thanks.” Terrific folded his arms, glaring. “Gary can be our backup. Right, Gary?”

“That seems to make the most sense, sir.” Gary’s head swiveled toward Lois. “Congratulations, Ms. Lane.”

She managed a faint smile, pulling Ella closer to her side. The girl’s hand crept around Lois’s waist and held on tight. Lois let her.

Chapter Text

On the other side, everything was wrong. Gone was the brightness of the Fortress, the bustle of their Metropolis. They were on Metropolis’s main street. Lois could see the Daily Planet a few blocks away.

The sky was crimson red, the red sun impossibly large, like a planet close by. Its rays, ice-cold, the air suffocatingly warm. Ella immediately got goosebumps.

Four whooshes split the sky. Ella glued herself to Lois. Even closer than she was before.

Mr. Terrific pocketed his T-spheres. He looked up at the sky. “Let’s find a place out of sight.”

Holding Ella’s hand tight, Lois pulled them into an alley and pushed through the back door of the building.

Once inside, the T-spheres were released and scanned the location for safety. Then they projected a radar map with a blip that said Superman.

“Overlay the Metropolis map,” he instructed the device.

“It’s the basement of the Daily Planet,” Lois said, recognizing the map clearly.

“We need to save him. It’s the red sun. Clark doesn’t have powers here.” She turned to Ella. “You need to listen to me, okay?”

The girl nodded.

“We can get there by going through the alley here, and then we need to cross 14th. There’s another shortcut through Lincoln, and then we’ll be at the back of the Planet.”

“Good plan, Lane. I can send the T-spheres to guide our next steps there.”

Lois nodded.

“And keep this,” he said, handing her a much smaller T-sphere.

“What’s this for?”

“A portable shield. This one moves with you.”

“Quite an improvement.”

Mr. Terrific exhaled and rolled his eyes. “Let’s go. I don’t want to stay here any more than we have to.”

They moved in as much stealth mode as possible. Mr. Terrific guided them through the alleys in between the buildings of Metropolis. Lois moved more surely, knowing the path was as clear as possible. When they got to 14th Street, they needed to be out in the open. There’s no hiding.

Ella was trembling. A whoosh flew to the left, another in the middle. A man landed right in the middle of the street. Lois, Ella, and Mr. Terrific had just enough time to hide in the shadows. His suit, similar to Superman’s but black. The symbol, not the familiar “S,” but rather something that looked more like a “Z.”

He looked around as if he was sniffing, hunting. Lois could feel her heart pounding in her ears. She barely heard Mr. Terrific say, “Now!” before he pulled hard on her. So hard that her hand slipped away from Ella’s.

Before she could react, she was across the street, looking at the terrified look on her daughter’s face. She held her palms up, silently asking her to keep calm. “Fuck, Michael,” she said in between gritted teeth as she pretended to be cool.

“I’ll get her.” Mr. Terrific started to move, and suddenly things moved in slow motion. A woman, also with a “Z” on her chest, landed behind the man. When he turned, he caught a glimpse of Ella.

He turned around again. She was gone.

Lois brought her hand to cover her mouth; otherwise, her squeal would sure make things much worse. Where is Ella? she thought to herself. Her throat closed, her eyes watered. Then she felt it. A hand on her waist.

She looked down, and somehow, Ella had materialized herself next to her. Too happy to ask questions, she pulled them into the Daily Planet just before the man looked their way.

“How did you cross the street?” Lois asked, baffled.

“I don’t know.” Ella lowered her eyes, not meeting Lois’s gaze.

Kneeling down, she lifted the girl’s chin. “Hey? It’s okay. I’m used to things we don’t understand happening to us,” she said with a smile.

Ella looked at Lois. The first time, they were really looking into each other. The girl blinked once. Twice. “I– I just–,” she sighed. “I was scared. I just wished to be next to you.”

Lois nodded. “Just wished?”

A small, silent confirmation came as a shy nod.

“I saw me with you. In my mind.” Ella says, poking her head with her index finger.

Now it was Lois’s turn to lose her words. “Okay. Good to know.” She gave the girl a kiss on the forehead that surprised both of them.

They followed the T-spheres and found Superman unconscious, beaten up. Lois ran to him, and Ella’s feet lagged behind with Mr. Terrific.

She ran her hands on the side of his face, dried blood. His left eye was purple shut. With a force that came from anger and fury, she started to pull his 6’4” frame from the floor. Mr. Terrific rushed to her side. 

“Lois, let me do this,” and took Clark from her.

She couldn’t fully let go and kept support on his right side.

Ella took the crystal and the device Gary gave them to return. The portal opened, and they stepped back into the Fortress, closing that nightmare Earth behind.

Gary and the Superman robots took Clark’s body and carried him to his recovery chair.

“Twelve, double-check the vitals. I’m unable to locate his pulse.”

Chapter Text

Everything happened fast. Clark was strapped into the crystalline chair, the Fortress itself groaning as it rotated on hidden mechanisms, turning its great spires to catch the sun.

The round lenses slid into place with a grinding hum, aligning until they snapped together. A shaft of pure sunlight condensed through the prisms and slammed into Clark’s chest. The impact was so sharp it crackled across the walls like electricity. Despite the flood of energy, his body stayed slack. Unmoving. Unresponsive.

The glare seared white across the chamber. Lois squeezed her eyes shut, lashes damp from the sudden heat, and pressed Ella tighter against her. Even through her closed lids, the brilliance throbbed, painting veins of fire across her vision.

Beside her, Mr. Terrific turned his face away. Ella didn’t. The little girl trembled, fighting the urge to look away, forcing herself to watch. She needed to see it. To see if it worked.

A shrill alarm blared, sharp enough to make Lois’s teeth ache. The console lit up in furious red, and the Superman robots scurried like soldiers, hands flying across controls in jerky, mechanical bursts.

The air thickened, and the temperature increased by the second. Lenses ground against each other with a high-pitched whine, rearranging for another strike. The light surged again, brighter, harder. The Fortress itself seemed to pulse, heat radiating from every crystal. Lois’s grip on Ella tightened, feeling the girl’s small frame lean toward Clark, as if something invisible was pulling her.

The glare sharpened, unbearable. The air smelled scorched, tasted acrid, stinging Lois’s tongue. She threw an arm across her face, skin prickling, and in that motion, she lost her hold on her daughter.

Ella slipped free, darting forward.

“Ella!” Lois choked out, but the sound was swallowed by the Fortress’s mechanical roar.

The child wove around Gary, climbing onto the console like she’d done it before. Her fingers danced across glowing glyphs. Sparks hissed as she pressed a sequence of commands. The sunlight changed color, shifting in a violent wash from gold to blood orange, the chamber painted in fiery hues.

Clark’s body jolted. His chest arched, his fists clenched. Then the sound came—raw and guttural. A growl that wasn’t human, wasn’t Superman. It tore from him like an animal’s cry, shaking the Fortress down to its bones. The nearest spires cracked, shards raining across the floor in a crystalline storm.

“Shut it down, Ella!” Lois cried.

Ella’s tiny hand slammed one last control. The beam snapped out, plunging the chamber into half-dark.

Clark collapsed back against the chair, gasping like a drowning man breaking the surface.

“Vitals strong. Strength at sixty-eight percent,” Twelve reported, its mechanical voice steady against the chaos.

Gary turned his head toward Ella. His voice, usually flat and precise, held the faintest note of admiration.

“You have outstanding Kryptonian instincts. It’s quite remarkable.”

Lois peeled her arm from her eyes, blinking past the afterimage burning her eyes. Slowly, she staggered forward, reaching the console. Reaching Ella, she wrapped her arms around her shoulders and kissed her head.

Mr. Terrific stayed back, glad to be forgotten at this moment.

Clark’s eyes shot open—wide, unfocused, unsettled—darting across the room as if searching for something familiar.

He blinked and forced a smile. “You always come for me.” His hand reached for Lois.

She didn’t fight the lump in her throat this time. The tears spilled freely—joy that he was alive, relief that he was safe, and guilt sharp enough to hollow her out. 

Because she knew the truth: she saved him now because, once, she hadn’t. There was a version of Lois who’d let him slip away, who raised their daughter alone. And who, in the end, left that daughter with no one.

And Ella—her daughter from that broken life—was the reason she wasn’t that Lois anymore.

Chapter Text

Gary wanted Superman to stay for a much longer sun-beam infusion session. Despite the full force and whatever configuration Ella had pushed in, his strength was still only forty-eight percent.

Lois argued that forty-eight percent of Superman was the same as three hundred percent of a regular human. The debate over the accuracy of her comment was enough to distract Gary and Twelve, giving Lois ample time to haul Clark away.

Within an hour she was back at her apartment. Clark lay passed out on her bed, still in the Superman suit. Mr. Terrific and Ella were in the kitchen trying to get something to eat. From the clacks and bangs, they clearly weren’t having much success.

“Lois?” Mr. Terrific called out from the doorway. “I think it’s best if I take the kid out for dinner. There’s nothing edible in your kitchen. What was edible is already being eaten by something else.” The girl chuckled behind him.

Lois shook her head playfully and caught Ella’s gaze. “You okay?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah, I like Uncle T?”

Lois and Mr. Terrific exchanged an amused smile. He nudged the girl on the shoulder but she paused for a second. She ran to Lois, gave her a big hug and kiss on the cheek, “I love you, mom.”

Ella gave her mom another kiss. Lois cupped her face and, with a knot in her throat, whispered, “Me too, kiddo.”

Then she watched her kid go. Her kid. She took a deep breath as reality hit her.

This wasn’t it. Her hand touched her stomach. She wasn’t done. They may have rescued Clark but there’s still so much unresolved.

Lois closed her eyes and let her head fall back, the palm of her hand still warm against her lower belly. She wasn’t sure how long she rested that way, but her eyes snapped open when she heard her bed creak.

She pulled herself up and walked slowly to the bedroom, leaning sideways against the doorway.

Superman sat with his head hanging low, as if it were too heavy for his neck.

“How are you feeling?” Her voice was soft and still heavy enough that it startled him. Lois had never seen him this fragile.

“I’ll be alright.” He lifted his head but didn’t look at her. “Can you ask Terrific to give me a ride? I appreciate you rescuing me but I’d rather be home.”

“Michael is not here and you are not going anywhere.”

“Lois.”

“Don’t ‘Lois’ me. We’ll talk about how I found you half dead later. For now, get out of that suit. Take a shower if you want. But you are not going anywhere. We need to talk.”

“I don’t have anything to wear.”

Lois nodded to the corner. “Those are your boxes. You should find something in there.” She pushed herself to her feet and turned around. “I’ll make you some hot cocoa.”

Clark waited until she was turned away to look in her direction. His chest felt tight looking at her. Pushing his fists against the mattress, he got up and dragged himself to the corner where eight large moving boxes sat stacked.

The Superman suit felt like an extra weight on his body. Before moving any further, he reached behind his neck to loosen it. The cape fell to the floor.

Curving his shoulders forward, he got the back of the suit undone and the whole top was off.

Standing in only the bottom half of the hero’s costume, Clark opened the first box. A plaid shirt lay on top. He took that out and fought a lump in his throat when he did so. A dark-blue velvet box was casually turned on top of a Smallville High t-shirt and some other articles he couldn’t process at the moment.

He took the little box out and opened it. The ring he’d chosen was unique. Lois had once caught him doodling geometric and floral zentangles during the most boring HR presentation in the history of the Daily Planet. He always made a special mental note on anything he did, or said, that got a compliment. Even after knowing each other for five years and dating for two. He was smitten that way.

Remembering the patterns she liked the most, Clark had the ring designed. It wasn’t flashy. It didn’t have a giant diamond in it either. Instead it had tiny ones marking the outline of the zentangles.

Jimmy had made him doubt, for a second, that this ring was the right choice. Honestly, it wasn’t Jimmy’s fault. It was Clark whose insecurities about being different grew almost unmanageable in high stakes situations—like proposing to the love of his life.

In the end he was glad he hadn’t listened to Jimmy, because Lois Lane didn’t get emotional often — and that ring got him a “yes” backed by happy tears.

She had said yes to that ring.
And then she’d taken it back.

He closed the box. She was right. He needed a shower.

Without another thought, he put the ring back in the pile, fished out a pair of pants, and went into the bathroom.

There was still water dripping from a curl at his temple when he sat on the couch next to her. The cup of hot cocoa marked the seat, making it impossible for his Midwestern self to sit anywhere else.

His eyes darted to her. He hadn’t planned on staring, but there was something in the way she looked at him that made him want to shove his hurt feelings and inadequacies deep down his throat.

Blinking a few times, he turned his body, sitting on his side and fully facing her.

“What’s going on, Lois?” His brows creased—a classic Clark concern trademark.

She opened her mouth. No words. She licked her top lip, averted her eyes, and exhaled.

“I honestly don’t even know where the story starts.”

Chapter Text

Lois decided to start the story from when she went back to the Daily Planet and found Ella lost in the hall, clearly looking for her.

“It was the weirdest thing because this kid… Oh god, Clark, it’s like I was looking into an old picture. It was unsettling. I just acted on instinct.” She let out a slight sigh, as if admitting she felt a connection to this kid.

Reliving that moment, her eyes welled up and tears slid down her face when she recalled Ella hugging her tight and saying how much she missed her. “I’m a two-time Pulitzer-winner and I don’t have the right words to describe how it feels.”

Clark looked at her. He saw her lips move but was having a hard time hearing the words over the sound of his own blood pumping. They had known each other for a little over five years now. He knew she had a past relationship that hadn’t ended well, and she never talked about it.

Of course. That’s why she never talked about it. She had a kid.

Clark remembered fighting for consciousness on the way back from the Fortress, but he didn’t miss how tenderly Lois comforted the kid. It was both heartwarming and heart-wrenching to see that side of Lois in a life that did not belong to him.

“What’s her name?” he asked quietly.

“Ella.” The pride in her face was unmistakeable.

He fought the wave of jealousy that washed over him. Of the family he always wanted to have with her. Shaking the thought away, he told himself he could be happy for her. He even managed a nostalgic smile.

Lois got up from her seat, disappeared into the kitchen, and came back holding two crystals.

“She had this.” She placed the first in his hand.
“Then Mr. Terrific showed up and gave me this.” She held out the other.

Clark’s mouth hung open, his brow furrowed deeper than she expected. He had made this crystal just today. How could this kid have the exact same thing? His heart raced and his palms started to sweat. He fisted his hand to prevent his body from physically shaking.

She ran her fingertips across the Kryptonian engravings. “Time and space? I’m thinking… a snafu with your alien tech, only hitting the ‘time’ spectrum?”

He continued to look like he had no idea what she was talking about, but at least he found his voice.

“Lois? You always accuse me of being too trusting, but I think you are the one being too trusting here. A kid shows up with what should have been a uniquely made crystal. Heck, I don’t think I had it made yet! And you just trust her?”

Clark shoved himself to his feet and began pacing the living room, running his hand through his hair, the engines in his head clearly churning behind his lost gaze.

“I find it very odd that the day the Justice Gang picks up a signal in this unexplored Earth—” Lois tried to interject, but he held up an index finger and continued, “—and I get there and, Lois, it’s a trap. I didn’t expect that orange-red sun. They were waiting for me, like they knew I’d come.”

It was Lois’s turn to stare, a mix of confusion and worry edged with interest.

“And your offspring shows up with a crystal I literally made today. You don’t find that odd?”

“My what?”

“The little girl just appears, carrying this… and we have no idea what it means.”

“No. Wait. What did you call her?” Lois started to make her way to him. They may not be together but he was not a hurtful person like this.

“Look, I didn’t mean it in a bad way—I didn’t mean—”

Clark didn’t finish the sentence because the front door swung open. Ella came running toward Lois, Mr. Terrific lagging behind.

“I hope you don’t mind, but we took the keys. Needed for the front door.” He stopped, taking in their faces, and hesitated mid-step. “Do you all need more time?”

Ella had already rushed to Lois’s side.

“No but I need food. Did you bring it?” Lois asked, giving Ella a side hug and a kiss on the top of her head.

Clark stared, studied the girl. Her blue eyes, her nose, her mouth — all Lois. It was uncanny. He couldn’t help but smile at her. She glanced up at him through long lashes, a shy smile flickering across her face.

The double dimples made him frown.

He looked at her curly hair.

In all the things she wasn’t a copy of her mom, she also looked like him. Physical traits aside, he watched how she looked down, like she was afraid of being seen.

Suddenly she looked right at him. Looking into her eyes he could almost see it all. The longing, the sadness, the desire to belong and be loved.

“Ah man, forgot it in the T-ship. Kid, wanna come with me?” he said with a wink.

Ella nodded and ran to him with a giggle. Lois shook her head, smiling. Mr. Terrific bonded really quickly with her daughter. Come to think of it, Ella had Clark’s magnetic energy that people just naturally gravitated towards.

Clark waited for the thud to confirm the door was closed before he quipped, “She’s from the future?!”

Lois blinked at him. “Maybe Gary was right and you do need more sun?”

“What? How? Why is she here?” His confusion shifted into concern.

As the question hit her, Lois’s face fell serious. The lump in her throat was hard to control. She bit her lip.

“She came back to save you, Clark. Because you didn’t come back from whatever this Earth was you went to.”

“What do you mean I didn’t come back?”

“I mean the Zod men probably succeeded in killing you.”

Clark frowned, his eyes searching nothing in particular. “This makes no sense, Lois.”

The pacing restarted.

“You would never let her time travel. Not on her own.”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t.” A beat. “But it seems like I’m no longer there either.”

Then everything he saw in Ella’s eyes just now replayed back to him. She was lonely. She was all alone. Like him but backwards. He was lucky to have been found as a baby and to grow with parents that loved him even if not his own.

Imagining growing up with your parents and suddenly being left all alone made his chest hurt.

Then it hit him.

“If I never made it back then how would she be our kid?”

The combination of a tired sigh, a long blink, and her hand that insisted on giving her away, trying to protect her unborn child in her lower belly, preceded the obvious revelation: “I’m pregnant, Clark.”

That stopped his pacing. His eyes locked on hers. As if on instinct, he closed the gap between them in a stride and a half. A large Kent-MegaWatt smile on his face.

As much as he was smiling, Lois could also see sadness shining through his baby blue eyes.

The door clicked open again.

“We have pad thai, spring rolls, and drunken noodles. And for dessert we have ice cream. Rocky road, chocolate, vanilla, and wild cherry. I really didn’t know what we would walk back into.” Mr. Terrific announced as he made his way into the kitchen to drop off all the take-out bags.

Lois and Clark stood frozen as Mr. Terrific nonchalantly acknowledged the weirdness around them.

“I would love to stay, but I have to go,” he said to the statues in front of him.

Kneeling down to Ella’s level, he said, “Bye kiddo. Can’t wait to meet you again.”

She hugged his neck. “See you later, Uncle T,” and kissed his cheek.

Another Ella superpower was making Uncle T. smile.

Lois’s stomach growled and she immediately responded by getting some food plated for them.

Clark walked up to Ella, who was standing a bit awkwardly between Lois’s kitchen. He was about to kneel down when she floated up to be face-to-face with him. His eyes went wide, enough to make the girl chuckle.

He lifted a hand to tuck her hair. Just like Lois did earlier. Just like Lois used to do it every day.

Her arms crashed around him and she sobbed. His arms went around her. And it happened. She was not a floating mini-hero anymore, she was just a little girl who was hugging her daddy for the first time in the almost eight years of her life.

Being just as sensitive as his daughter, Clark too cried. Tears of happiness for something he never thought would happen to him.

Tears of sadness, too, because his happy ending wasn’t neat or picture-perfect. The dream of him, Lois, and a child as the classic family was gone. In its place was something messier — and he would have to learn how to accept being a weekend dad.

With Ella wrapped around his torso, he sat on the couch and just enjoyed holding her.

Chapter Text

It had been a while since Ella stopped crying, but she didn’t lift her face from his neck. She held him as her breathing calmed and started to sync with his. Clark’s hand rubbed her back, his eyes fell closed, and he rested his chin on the top of her head.

He could feel her heartbeat syncing with his own, finding their rhythm together. Lost in the sound, he barely noticed when Ella lifted her head. Her hands came to the side of his face, and her fingertips lightly touched his temple.

The touch was soft, like a butterfly kiss.

A strange feeling crept up. His gut tightened, then his chest. Suddenly his skin crawled in a mix of heat and cold. The feeling started to grow deep in his head. It wasn’t a vision but feelings — like receiving a lifetime of emotions in twenty seconds.

First, an overwhelming feeling of love. A love he had never experienced. Not from his parents. Not from Lois. He realized she must have gotten all that love from the woman in the kitchen, sorting through takeout bags.

After love came trust, confidence, and a sense of believing — in yourself, in the world, in the good. It made him smile. Knowing he wasn’t there to pass on those teachings to her, he could only conclude it came from Lois. The same Lois who once claimed he believed everyone is beautiful, even when she questioned everything, had passed on his values to their daughter.

He didn’t think she’d ever admit he’d rubbed some of his optimism off on her.

Suddenly the warm and fuzzy feeling that had been building in his chest crashed down. Not even when Lex Luthor released that video about his parents sending him to rule Earth had he felt this alone, this different, this much of an outsider.

And he had definitely never felt this much anger, rage, and… loss.

And then came happiness. But not pure. It was layered with anxiety and a little bit of fear.

She lowered her hands. His face was wet with tears. And just like that, he knew what his daughter’s life had been — the happy life despite him not being there. What an amazing mom Lois had been. And how broken Ella felt when Lois passed away.

Any doubts about who she might be wavered, thinning under the weight of what he felt.

Ella lowered her face, hiding behind her eyelashes again, while the corners of her mouth gave away that she was happy to share this with him. Her shoulders relaxed for the first time since she’d walked in, as though touching him had eased a weight she’d carried all her life.

Clark blinked once. Twice. His smile spread across his face and he whispered to her, “Thank you,” before kissing her cheek.

Ella’s giggle was watery, but it clung to him like a promise.

Coming in from the kitchen with two plates in her hands, Lois stopped at the scene in front of her. For one dizzy moment she let herself take it in — Clark’s arms around Ella, Ella’s small body curled against him like she’d always belonged there. Lois’s chest tightened, knowing they still needed to figure out them.

She breathed a sigh of relief and cleared her throat.

“I–I brought you a plate. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to eat. Ella? You already ate, right?” Lois asked, catching her nodding in the corner of her eye as she took a seat next to Clark and set his plate on the coffee table in front of him.

Ella climbed off Clark’s lap and sat between them. “Mom, can I watch something?”

Her voice was lighter now, playful even, but her hand stayed tucked against Clark’s knee, as if afraid he might vanish if she let go.

Lois reached into her back pocket and pulled her phone, handing it to Ella after unlocking it. Their fingers brushed, and, with a sigh, Lois caught the way her daughter’s dimples flashed.

Side by side, they ate in silence. The background was filled with the indistinct noise of the cartoon Ella was watching and her light giggles along the way. Lois tried to focus on her food, but her mind spun. She managed one forkful. The next clattered onto the plate.

Clark and Ella looked up just in time to catch Lois’s shadow slipping into the bedroom. The bathroom door slammed shut.

The sound of her throwing up filled the air.

Father and daughter shared a look before he got up to gently knock on the door. One more gag before the toilet flushed and the sink ran.

“Lois? Can I help?”

She didn’t answer but opened the door. They stared at each other for the first time after both finally being on the same page as to what had just happened. How there was an alternative timeline where she didn’t go after Clark. And how she raised their kid on her own until, one day, she also died. Neither asked Ella about how or when it happened. It didn’t matter because they had changed the timeline, and rewriting was up to them.

Clark swallowed hard. Lois lightly pushed on his chest, intending to get enough space to feel the entrapment in which she found herself. He didn’t budge. Instead, he rested the palm of his hand on her abdomen. Firm. Warm.

“She already feels how much you love her, you know?”

Lois chuckled, rolled her eyes, but her heart raced. “That power is pretty wild.”

For the first time in all the years they’ve known each other, she couldn’t read his face. 

He slid his hand from her belly to the small of her back, drawing her closer to him.  Shifting his gaze between her eyes and her mouth he settled for a kiss on her forehead.

When they get to the living room, Ella has fallen asleep while still holding the phone in her hands. Lois retracts back into her room, pulling down the covers on her bed.

“Can you bring her to sleep on the bed? I just need to change real quick.” She dove into her closet and pulled a pair of short pjs.

Carrying the girl was an effortless act for Clark despite being currently low on energy. After placing Ella in the middle of the bed he stood next to it. Awkwardly. Waiting. 

Lois came back from the bathroom in very short shorts and a sleep tee. She only needed one look at him to shake her head. His puppy dog eyes were more pleading than usual.

“I’m so tired, Clark. It was a long day. Physically, emotionally. Can we please do this tomorrow?” Seemed like the right moment for her turn to plead.

He nodded his head, reached for the nearest pillow. Lois frowned at him. He hugged the pillow and walked to the living room. 

She held him back by the wrist. 

“That’s nonsense. We can all fit just fi–” His lips interrupt her in a kiss that is firm and soft. She kisses him back before pushing him away. “Darn it. Cla–”

“Darn it?” He asks mockingly.

Lois’s eyes grew impatiently wide as she pointed to the sleeping kid “You know.” 

He chuckled and placed his pillow back on the back. Lois climbed on the opposite side. 

They would need to talk about them. About why Lois accepted his marriage proposal only to later take it back. What does it all mean now that they know there’s a baby on the way who will grow up to be an awesome girl. 

Clark’s mind couldn’t shut up but any real conversation would have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime he let the rhythm of three Lane women put him to sleep.

Chapter Text

Unsurprisingly, Clark was the first one up, even though he had been half-dead when they found him the day before. He got up quietly and closed the French doors to Lois’s bedroom behind him.

In the kitchen, he found the secret stash of pancake mix. In a quick whoosh, he was in and out of the window, bringing back milk and eggs from the Kent farm. Ma and Pa had been confused about the sudden visit at super-speed, but Clark had promised to explain later.

Clark poured the first pancake onto the pan. It splashed. He waited until it fluffed up, but it had not cooked enough. He flipped it too early, and the whole thing smudged.

Ella giggled behind him.

“The first always gets funky,” he said, looking over his shoulder and finding Ella floating at eye level, just a couple of feet behind him.

Clark chuckled. “Yeah, it’s the test one. I snack on it.” He slid it onto a plate, tore a piece, and stuffed his mouth with a grin.

He poured more batter. The batter hissed on the hot pan. He tossed it into the air, and it landed perfectly on the other side. The top was already a crispy brown.

Ella tilted her head and squinted at Clark’s perfectly round pancake. “I think she always starts each one from scratch.”

Clark laughed out loud. Lois might never make it as a great cook, but she was most certainly a wonderful mother who would try again and again.

The laughter died dry. His stare was lost in the steam rising from the hot pancake pan, caught in a trance.

Maybe they had changed the future, and he was not gone. Did it mean they got to do it together?

He knew that having Ella was a blessing and also a challenge in being able to have the adult conversation they needed to have. About Ella. About the baby. And how, try as he might, he couldn’t help but believe she blamed him for what had happened to Perry.

It was hard to go back to the newsroom knowing Lois’s mentor and their dear friend was in critical condition because Superman hadn’t made it in time. Clark knew why: he had tuned everything out that weekend, lost in the glow of Lois saying “yes.” And though Lois never said it outright, he couldn’t shake the feeling she held it against him.

Eventually, Superman saved Perry — just not before the heavy beam struck him in the head, causing the severe brain swelling he was currently recovering from.

Grief did funny things to people. Clark remembered the look in Lois’s eyes when it hit her — their time together meant Superman wasn’t somewhere else, saving someone else. Her blue eyes were so dark it reminded him of the black hole in the pocket universe.

For Clark to be Clark, it meant the world wouldn’t have Superman for a while. It was a sacrifice he was always willing to make.

That night, he realized she also needed to be okay with it.

She wasn’t.

She slid the ring off. She wasn’t saying yes anymore. Lois decided the world needed Superman more than Lois Lane needed Clark Kent. He wasn’t sure if it had occurred to her, she was stripping away the part of himself that needs connection.

Her voice broke him from his trance.

“Pancake-Sunday is my favorite day.” The light-hearted tone and smile were clear in her voice. To hear her reference a “them” tradition warmed his heart.

Lois walked up behind Clark and rubbed his back lightly as she said, “Thanks for breakfast. I feel like I should be the one taking care of you after yesterday.”

She circled around him, kissed Ella on the cheek. “Good morning, kiddo.”

“Mommy, his pancakes look like they are from the diner!” Ella was very excited to have the crispy-brown pancakes.

“Yeah, cooking might be the only thing he is really better than me at,” she said with a playful wink to Clark, who faked insult.

Reaching for the cupboard, she pulled three plates, three glasses. Opening the fridge, Lois inhaled. There were two gallons of milk. One closed. One half-full. She picked up the opened one, shaking her head. Clark would easily drink a gallon of milk a day. She had gotten so used to it that now she was stuck with these giant bottles of milk, even though she was lactose intolerant.

Clark was on the last of the batter when Lois and Ella moved what was ready onto her small coffee table in the living room. Lois sat on one corner, legs up, with their daughter leaning against her tight as if this was the most common thing in the world.

Briefly pausing at the scene, Clark took the armchair. Somehow, sharing the couch felt like he would be intruding on them.

“What is the plan now?” Lois asked and continued in between large bites. “I have to be in by 7 tomorrow. I got a message that power is back and there’s a ton I need to work on before the staff meeting.”

Clark nodded, the engines in his head visibly were turning.

“How is Perry?” he asked tentatively. This time her eyes locked on his.

She licked her lips, took a sip of her OJ, “He is home and doing really well. I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up this week.”

His brow creased the slightest, almost uncatchable.

“When will Clark Kent be back in office? I’m running out of things to say.” She pushed him.

“I’ve been in the office.”

“For twenty minutes two weeks ago. I had to put you on FMLA saying you needed to help your mom with your dad’s broken arm.”

“Thanks. You didn’t have to.” The intensity of his stare made it clear. Without a relationship status between them, even something she would do out of friendship made him uncomfortable.

“That might be handy. Actually. I can fly Ma and Pa for a few days. Ella can stay with them. It’s not like we can take her to the office or leave her alone.”

Choosing the moment to participate, Ella chimed in, “I always go to the office with mom.”

Lois looked at her with a half-smile, “You pay attention to everything we say, huh? I’ll remember that.”

The little girl chuckled, “This is how we break stories, right?”

Both adults couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Looking up at Clark, she said, “She is right. We could just bring her.”

“And say what? This is our kid from the future?”

“Have you told your parents yet?”

So many events had happened, but somehow he knew exactly what she was asking about. Did Ma and Pa Kent know they were no longer together?

“I was secretly hoping there wouldn’t be anything to tell them.”

Lois nodded again. “Well if your plan is to bring them into this, then you need to tell them the whole story, Clark.”

“Right.”

“Why don’t you go see them today? This is not over-the-phone news.”

“I uh, I was going to the Fortress. See what the Superman robots have to say.”

“About?”

“What do you mean about? How to restore the timeline.” Clark purposefully avoided saying “send Ella back”. 

“What else would it be?” He looks confused at Lois.

“How about who lured you into an Earth commanded by General Zod? Aren’t you curious about that?”

“Lois!” This wasn’t a child-safe conversation. The count of those kept increasing by the hour.

“General Zod was working with General Lane,” Ella said quietly, not looking up from her plate.
Lois shifted in her seat, crossing her legs and facing Ella. 

“My dad?” Lois asked with a frown, and Ella nodded. “How do you—”

Lois couldn’t believe she would have shared something so sinister with her daughter. Unless… she had to. Clark also frowned.

“We ran into grandpa once, and you were really scared. You said he took dad, and I could not show my abilities to him.” Ella’s voice was firm. 

Lois searched her face and she saw both confidence and fear.

She could sense Clark’s eyes on her but didn’t look up. 

His jaws were locked. The tight grip on the arms of the chair, made his knuckles white. The amount of self control required to contain his anger made his body shake.

Lois’s pulse quickened. She had tried to bury that thought, but Ella’s words dragged her back to the events from only a few months ago: Superman and General Lane having a public spat as the General lobbied to get Lex Luthor out of jail with a full pardon. 

That day, the General also was bombarded with attacks from Mad Dog Lane who accused him and his military group of running a shadow organization that experiments and creates new types of metahumans to fight alien dominion.

Chapter Text

Ever since their son had started dating Lois Lane, having the T-Craft land in the back of their field had become a common occurrence. The first time it happened, it scared them so much. Not because of the flying saucer itself, but because it carried a close-to-dead Clark. Then it became more common, since Lois wasn’t fond of Superman Airlines.

Ma was doing the dishes when she saw the familiar UFO landing. “Jon, we have some company.”

Jonathan Kent stood behind his wife, looking over her shoulder with a smile on his face. “Well, emergency breakfast ingredients and now this?”

“Oh, Jon, I think it has finally happened!” Martha could barely contain the excitement in her voice. Over a month ago, she had caught Clark’s doodles, and he told her he’d propose to Lois. That was the last she heard, but now, seeing the T-Craft made her giddy.

“I’ll start a fresh pot for Lois,” Jon said, moving around slowly in their kitchen to get the pot ready.

Martha startled and frantically made her way to the pantry, grabbing the large flour container and sugar. “Well, I wasn’t expecting to have to celebrate today... a cake will have to do!”

Ma Kent was on. She turned on the oven, then quickly got the egg whites beaten fluffy while she sifted the flour. By the time she heard the door hinge squeak, she was putting the batter in to bake.

The trip from Metropolis to Smallville wasn’t too long, but Lois’s nausea kicked in within minutes. Clark slowed down, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Eventually, she asked him to speed up. Going slow wasn’t helping, so she’d rather get there sooner.

Lois’s stomach continued to twitch and spasm even after they landed. Clark and Ella rubbed her back.

He offered to carry Lois to the house, but she profusely refused to be treated like a “sick or invalid person simply because she had some morning sickness.” He wasn’t about to argue.

“I’m going to need more time. Why don’t you go ahead and break the news?” she said, as she let her head weigh heavy against her hands.

Clark nodded, looked at Ella, who gave a reassuring nod herself. He stepped outside and whooshed to the Kent farmhouse.

“Ma?” Clark called out tentatively, pushing the door open while he still held the bugscreen.

Martha smiled, dried her hands on a cloth, and rushed to the living room.

She frowned when she saw Clark alone, his expression serious. The muscles of his jaw twitched.

“Clark? What’s going on?” She searched his face, and he avoided her eyes.

“You should take a seat.” He pointed to the couch. “Where is Pa?”

As if on cue, Jonathan came in. “Martha, I got the eggs you asked—” He stopped in his tracks when he saw the worried look on his wife’s face and the tense expression on Clark’s.

“Son?” Jonathan was already shaking.

“Pa. Sit down, please,” Clark urged.

Martha took Jon’s hands in hers as soon as he sat down.

“Everything okay, Son?” As much as Jonathan tried to sound cool and collected, his voice trembled.

“Yeah… I… I can’t explain how yet, but yesterday something happened.” Clark tried to explain, not knowing how to break it to his mom that his child from the future was here.

“Clark, where is Lois?” Jon asked almost inaudibly.

“She didn’t take well to the ride, needed a moment outside. She’ll come in a few.” Clark was careful not to reveal too much. He looked over his shoulder and saw Lois and Ella approaching. His expression softened, lips curving up.

Turning back to his parents, he took a deep breath and started. “Yesterday, Lois met this little girl, Ella. Ma…” he sighed, “I don’t— Ella… she is our daughter from the future. She traveled back in time to help save me.”

“Save you?” Martha moved quickly to his side and pulled him into a hug.

He circled his arms around his mother. “I’m okay, Ma. Nothing happened.”

A moment passed. Jonathan, who had seemed lost in space, snapped back, focusing on them and asking, “You have a daughter?”

Clark’s smile was fast and wide. “She’s wonderful, Pa. And we—” he looked over his shoulder and saw Lois and Ella walking to the house, “need for her to stay with you for a while. We need to look for some things at the Fortress.”

Jonathan nodded vigorously, rubbing a lonely tear from his face. “I never imagined we would get grandkids.”

The bell outside the door rang when Lois opened the screen door. Martha and Jonathan waited giddy, fists tight and their bodies almost vibrating. Ella smiled immediately, nostalgic, as if she were looking into a memory.

Clark noticed the look, and his chest tightened. His folks were older, and their time would come. He knew that. What broke his heart was realizing how long the list of loved ones Ella had already lost must be.

Ella hugged her grandparents tight. It didn’t matter that they were from a different time.

“Oh honey, you look so much like your mother.” Martha smiled at Ella, and then her eyes met Lois’s. Ma Kent made her way to Lois and pulled her into a hug. “Lois! Congratulations!”

Lois frowned, her eyes searched Clark, who very discreetly shook his head.

Martha pulled away and held Lois by the shoulder for a beat longer. “She looks just like you. With Clark’s curls.”

“Thanks, Martha,” Lois responded, letting out a relieved breath.

Lois noticed how the girl’s body moved more lightly and confidently, but she still needed to make sure she was okay with them gone. She knelt down and motioned for Ella. “You okay staying here for a while, kiddo?” She tucked Ella’s hair back.

Ella responded by giving Lois a kiss on the cheek and turning immediately to Martha. “Grandma, can we make a cake?” Ella asked, clearly very comfortable with the Kents and the farm.

“It’s ready for the oven!” Martha said, taking the girl’s hand and going to the kitchen.

Clark gave them a shy wave, a smile that would hurt his face if it wasn’t for superpowers.

Before completely disappearing, she called out, “You two take your time. Ella can stay for as long as you need,” she finished with a giggle.

Pa Kent lingered on, looking at Clark. There was an unusual distance between his son and Lois. His inquisitive gaze started to make Lois uncomfortable. She shifted her weight from one leg to another.

Clark cleared his throat. “Mmm, Pa? We need to go. But we’ll come back as soon as we can.” Without waiting for an answer, he moved to hold the door open for Lois, keeping his head down.

Jonathan continued to look as they walked back to the T-Craft. He watched as Clark tried to put his arm around Lois but stopped before trying. Shaking his head, he hoped these kids would figure it out.

Chapter Text

The ride to the Fortress was heavy with silence. Something had shifted from the prior night’s stolen kiss to the awkwardness between them. Not even when he had first started at the Daily Planet and found her to be intimidating on so many levels was he this unsure of what to say or do around her.

There wasn’t a question or subject they could talk about that wouldn’t lead to the need to address their current relationship status. He knew Lois way too well not to know it would annoy the hell out of her if he even tried to start this when there was so much more hanging over them — like how did General Lane know General Zod?

General Sam Lane was not on the Superman camp for sure, and alongside General Rick Flag, had tried to better contain the actions of the superhero despite clear evidence the flying Kryptonian was on Earth to help.

When they walked into the Fortress, they kept the same distance as before — the same distance she kept when walking with Jimmy or Perry. Friendly. Comfortable, but not intimate.

Gary’s laser eyes zeroed on Lois, and he greeted her in a stern tone. “Ms. Lane.”

Lois rolled her eyes at the robot. “I’m sorry for the other day, but as you can see”—she gestured to Clark’s presence next to her—“he is fine, like I said he would be. So, can we move past this? We need your help. I need your help.”

The intensity of Gary’s eyes diminished as his tone softened. “Yes, Superman is at one hundred percent. That was quite a fast recovery for only using natural sunlight. How can we help?”

“We need to look for signals for this particular portal. If it was some kind of trap for Zod to get me, then someone must have gone in to make that deal,” Clark said confidently.

“Sir, we don’t have historical data,” Twelve interjected, disappointed.

“Start tracking now. Zod didn’t kill you, which means the mission is not done yet. If I know my father, he will need some answers from Zod,” Lois encouraged, and the robots immediately moved to pull a map. Clark inserted one of the crystals that took them to the other dimension.

It didn’t take long before a blip blinked on the screen. “Zoom in, Twelve,” Clark said in his Superman voice. When the map focused on Fort Stanton, he and Lois exchanged a look. On the top of the screen, Clark noticed a date. “September 18th, 2028.”

“That’s like six months from now,” Lois said, frowning.

“Ah, precisely. This crystal will allow us to see events regardless of the fallacy of the time-space construct humans created to simplify the understanding of reality.”

“So I was right. He is going back in there and talking to Zod — but in six months. Which means he is probably planning for all this right around now.” Lois easily concluded and turned to Clark. “We can stop him before any of this starts.”

“Lois, I think there’s been enough timeline changes. This is dangerous. We can’t predict what changes history.”

“This is not changing the past; this is changing the future — which is literally what we do every day with every choice. And right now, I choose to find out what’s the problem the General has with Superman, because… Clark…” 

Her hands traveled to her stomach, “I don’t want the reality where you are not here for this.”

For the first time since the day she gave him back the ring, he saw her letting him see her vulnerability, fear, and most of all, love — for their baby and for him.

They held their gaze on each other until Gary inadvertently interrupted the moment. “Ms. Lane, we can do a pre-natal scan, if you wish. Given the unique Kryptonian DNA structure I would highly recommend we check it all first, sir.”

Clark blinked twice before he could process Gary’s words and form a response. “Of course.” He agreed and turned to Lois. “Is that okay?”

“Is that okay?” Lois asked him in mocking disbelief. “Clark, when did you lose the ability to behave normally around me?” she asked, clearly annoyed at him.

Clark looked around, uncomfortable with the robots suddenly all silent. “Could we not do this here?” His whisper was a plea.

Without a word she hopped onto Superman’s console chair.

Gary pulled a translucent crystal from the console while Twelve gently moved Lois’s shirt up, just enough to get it out of the lower abdomen. 

Clark moved an ice block to use as a seat next to Lois’s chair.

Gary waved the crystal in front of Lois’s stomach a few times.The Fortress was suddenly filled with a heavy, fast, muffled mix of a boom and a whoosh. On the screen, the familiar black and white grainy and unreadable image of an early pregnancy sonogram. 

A tiny white dot.

Both Lois and Clark had the biggest smiles on their faces. His hand instinctively found hers and brought it to his lips. More of an act of intimacy than an actual kiss as he simply kept her hand close, touching.

When their eyes met, Clark’s heart felt huge in his chest. He couldn’t help but lean down and kiss her. Before their lips touched, Lois’s hand was already intertwined in the curls of his hair.

It started as an emotional kiss but quickly the accumulated desire from four weeks of not being a couple became impossible to manage. This wasn’t the position or the setting for what this kiss was starting to ask for. 

Reluctantly, Lois pulled away, her eyes dark-blue stared deeply into his. Clark smiled at her, gave a set of quick pecks on the lips whispering against her, “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She said as she kissed him back.

Gary fake cleared his throat as he motioned to grab Lois’s left arm. “Excuse me, I need to get a blood sample.”

Lois let Gary have her arm and re-arranged herself on the chair. “We should get going soon.”

Clark nodded, running a hand through his hair. “I can take you home and pick up Ella after.” Turning to Gary he asked, “How long until you have the results?”

“Twenty minutes or so. We can send the results to print on the T-Craft, sir.”

“Perfect.” Clark said, extending his hand for Lois who jumped off of the chair without any assistance. 

They were halfway to the door when Gary stopped them asking, “What about sending the child back to her time, sir?”

Clark stopped and turned around while Lois kept moving, eager to start investigating her father. “We need to make sure Zod is not a threat first,” Clark said calmly to Gary.

That made Lois stop and turn around.“Excuse me?” She had her Lois Lane death stare directed at him. “She’s not going anywhere, Clark.”

“Lois. She came back to make sure things would be okay. We will do that and send her back.” Clark’s eyes were warm and understanding, like when he needed to explain why someone was morally wrong. It got under her skin.

“Are you insane? There’s not a world where I’m going to let that happen!” She was quickly getting red in the face.

“We can’t do that, Lois. There’s a you and a me in the future waiting for her!”

“You don’t know that, Clark. You think that. But you don’t know. So no, I’m not sending her anywhere. Whatever we can offer right now might not be perfect, but it is sure more certain than a future that maybe you are there and maybe I didn’t die!”

Clark looked into her eyes and he saw an emotion that was very un-Lois like: despair. Before he could try to offer any kind of comfort she broke down in sobs. He pulled her to him in a tight hug, kissed the top of her head as her tears soaked him.

Chapter Text

When she opened the door to her apartment, he didn’t follow her inside.

After her breakdown at the Fortress, the moments of silence were not awkward anymore. If anything, reading into each other’s need for space was one of the first harmony-building skills they had developed as a couple.

To experience it again, in the middle of this chaos, was the kind of comfort they both craved.

Lois flipped the switch. She was physically tired from everything — the throwing up, the crying, the need to spell out to Clark what the problem was. She was spent.

With a sigh, she asked Clark, “Are you not coming in?”

His thumb pointed behind his back. “I thought I should go back and get Ella.”

“Well, I think we need to be able to talk… just you and I and… well, now seems like a damn good time.”

He nodded quietly, stepped in, closed the door, and followed her into the living room.

“How is Perry?” Clark asked, going directly to the heart of their fallout.

Lois, who had just flopped onto the couch, held a breath to get the words out, surprised he wanted to start there. “He’s been home since Monday. It wouldn’t surprise me if he shows up in the bullpen this week.”

“I’m glad to hear it. It didn’t look very good when I was there.” Clark carefully sat opposite her again. She noted how his body seemed tense as soon as he stepped in. Whatever resemblance of comfort from before was now gone.

“Perry has always been a fighter,” she said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone that denied how scared she was when she first got to the ER, facing a pale Superman and a blood-covered Perry White.

“I shouldn’t ever be so distracted.” His voice was low, his eyes distant.

The moment grew between them, heavy with guilt. More than what she had imagined. More than what was truly due.

“Clark — I’m so sorry. I didn’t — it wasn’t about you.”

“Are you sure about that? Because, from where I was standing, you said you couldn’t marry me after I failed to save him.”

Lois rubbed her face, running a hand through her hair. “Oh, what a mess. I told you I wasn’t good at this. Maybe I fooled you in the last two years, but you should never underestimate me.” She ended with a self-deprecating laugh that didn’t suit her.

“Clark, I learned a while ago that I will never be able to comprehend what it’s like to live like you — aware of the entire world the entire time. I would never — ever — judge you for needing to disconnect from it. And I know it’s not easy for you, but, Clark, one way or another you chose it, and you figured out how to balance it.”

He scanned her face, taking in every micro-reaction. He could see the utter admiration she had for him, but this time it carried a heaviness he had never felt before.

She took a moment to breathe, collect her thoughts, and finally say the truth out loud.

“I never realized that, when I’m with you, I too need to be okay with the fact you will be unavailable or late for an emergency that might arise. And I felt guilty. And I didn’t know how to deal with it. But, Clark, it was never about me blaming you or being disappointed in any way. You still are the best man I have ever met.”

Clark got up and sat next to her, taking her hand in his. “Lois. I don’t want you to feel guilty. Because of you, I know I can do so much more. I wouldn’t be the Superman I am if it wasn’t for you, and… we can’t control when things happen. All we can do is do our best.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear, his gaze dropping to her lips. “Please, don’t make me live without you.”

She leaned forward and crashed her lips into his. Her fingers laced through his hair as she pulled her body flush against his, as if the proximity could heal wounds left by a decision made during a moment of guilt, grief, and darkness.

“I can’t believe I almost had to do this without you,” she whispered against his lips, never stopping kissing him.

“Well, I’m not going anywhere,” he reassured her as he trailed kisses down her neck and behind her ear. “In fact, I was wondering if you’d like to have your ring back.”

She pulled away to look him in the eyes, full of love and desire. “Yes, I do.” Her sly smile proved her play on words was not accidental.

Chapter Text

Lois knew Clark didn't buy her excuse for a second.

She could see it in the way his jaw tightened when she insisted she needed to be at the Planet by seven-thirty to "get everything organized for Perry's first day back." The way his eyes searched hers, looking for the real reason she wanted to go in alone.

They'd picked up Ella from the farm the night before—ring back on her finger, walls finally down between them—when Alice's text had come through at 10:47 PM: "Perry's too agitated to stay home. He'll definitely be in the office tomorrow. Sorry!"

Lois didn't understand the apology. Perry being back was a dream come true. Especially now, with everything she was going through.

The truth was, she needed to not walk into that bullpen at nine o'clock with Clark Kent and a seven-year-old girl who looked exactly like both of them. Not because she was embarrassed or ashamed in any way. But because she needed to have a few moments in her day where she was not pretending.

She didn’t want to have to deal with Jimmy’s incessant questions or keep her sharp come-backs coming as Cat sure would provoke her and she expected at least one “evil step-mother” joke. She knew those things would happen. 

But no one could blame her if she wanted some positive interaction and a nice cup of coffee before that happened. Right? Even if it wouldn’t be real coffee. From now on, her life was on decaf. Decaf, which was about as useful as a screen door on a submarine and was exactly the opposite of what she needed. Still, it’d beat Steve Lombard joking about Clark and “how many offspring did he produce in the back of a barn”.

The worst part would be having to restrain herself when it came to being close to Ella. To look at her daughter, whom she instantly fell in love with, and have to tell her friends she was someone else’s kid. It was the story they'd settled on. It was the only story that could work. But that didn't mean Lois wanted to be there for the performance. Didn't mean she wanted to stand three feet from her daughter and pretend they were strangers.

"I just need some time to start turning people to Perry," Lois said, without turning from her closet. "The newsroom loves a gossip, I need to not be interim editor-in-chief before everyone arrives and I have to—"

"Before you have to pretend Ella isn't yours?" Clark's voice was quiet.

Lois's hand stilled on the black blazer. The one that made her look serious. Professional. In control.

She turned to find him standing in her bedroom doorway, already dressed for work in gray slacks and a blue button-down that made his eyes impossible to ignore.

"Well, the Daily Planet doesn't get to know that, do they?" The words came out sharper than she intended. "They get to know she's yours. And I get to stand there and smile and be the gracious almost-stepmother who's so understanding about the whole situation."

Clark was quiet for a moment. "You raised her alone. You are the one she trusts the most."

It wasn't a question. They both knew it was true. Lois had heard it in Ella's voice when she talked about "Mom." Had seen it in the way the little girl knew exactly how Lois took her breakfast and which side of the bed she slept on.

"Yeah," Lois said softly. "It's fine. It's the only way this works. The timeline makes sense if she's from your past, not mine. Everyone knows I haven't been pregnant. Cat Grant would have reported on my morning sickness like it was Watergate."

"That doesn't make it fair."

"Since when is any of this fair?" Lois held the blazer against her chest like armor. "She lost both of us. We're lying to everyone we work with. My father is apparently teaming up with General Zod to kill you. Perry almost died a month ago because Superman was too busy proposing to his girlfriend to hear the distress call. And I can't even have real coffee."

The last part came out more bitter than she intended. Clark's mouth twitched despite the tension.

"The coffee thing is really bothering you."

"It’s just another thing I can’t complain about in public." She threw the blazer on the bed. 

Clark pulled her into his arms. She let herself lean into him for just a moment, breathing in the familiar scent of him—soap and something else, something that was just Clark.

"I hate this," she mumbled against his chest.

"I know."

She pulled back to look up at him. "Do you know what the worst part is?"

"Tell me."

"She knows. Ella knows she can't call me Mom. Knows she has to pretend we're just meeting. And she's seven, Clark. She shouldn't have to be that good at lying."

"She gets that from you," Clark said softly.

"That's not funny." She said with a smile and gave him a light peck on the lips. “I’ll see you two later.”

Before Clark could argue or use other convincing methods she headed for the door.

It was almost ten when Clark came juggling his messenger bag, Ella’s backpack and a tray with three cups as he walked down the block. He checked his watch and couldn’t believe how quickly he went from “we have ten minutes more” to being exactly an hour late. 

The little girl was glued to his leg when they pushed the Daily Planet’s revolving door together.

The security guard—Marcus, who'd been at the Planet for at least ten years—looked up from his desk and did a visible double-take when he saw Clark with a little girl.

"Morning, Marcus," Clark said with his usual easy smile, signing in. Putting the backpack on the floor and the coffee tray temporarily on the counter.

"Morning, Mr. Kent." Marcus's eyes were fixed on Ella. "And who's this beautiful lady?"

"This is Ella," Clark said, as naturally as possible. "My daughter.”

Marcus looked at him quizzically with an incredulous smile. Clark immediately felt like he needed to explain and started to stutter. “Sh– she's—it's a recent development. Long story."

Marcus's eyebrows climbed toward his hairline. "Your... daughter."

"Yep." Clark's ears were turning red but he didn’t shy away from picking her up with a smile and giving her a proud kiss on the cheek.

"Well," Marcus said finally, "welcome to the Daily Planet, Ella. You'll need a visitor's badge." He said as he clipped it on the collar of her shirt.

Clark smiled at Marcus and set her back on the floor. She glued herself to his side again, making Marcus chuckle. “You know, my girl gets a little shy too when she comes to work with me but they do end up having fun.”

His words helped both father and daughter relax. Ella even giggled.As they got to the elevator hall, he knelt down next to her and said softly, "It's going to be okay." With one more kiss on her forehead, he stood. 

The elevator dinged. The doors slid open.

 Ella's hand found his and squeezed tight. She wasn't smiling anymore, but her chin was up—determined. Ready. 

Just like her mother.

Chapter Text

Lois was standing by the copy machine when she saw them. She'd been watching the elevator for the past twenty minutes, her third cup of terrible decaf growing cold on her desk. Clark was so lost in the logistics of having too much to carry that he didn’t see her.  

The morning had been productive in all the wrong ways—she'd successfully directed people to wait for Perry until he arrived at nine-thirty. Quickly she found herself able to focus on researching what her father's squad's official operations were these days.She even managed to keep her left hand out of sight and avoid Cat's questions about how the proposal was, where her fiancé was and if she had a wedding date.

Now, watching Clark and Ella emerge from the elevator, she felt her chest tighten. Ella looked so small next to Clark. So scared despite that determined chin.  Her eyes swept the bullpen—looking for exits, for threats, for safe spaces. Looking for her. 

Their eyes met across the room. Lois gave the smallest nod and a smile. *I'm here. You're okay.* 

Ella's shoulders relaxed, just slightly. 

Clark put his messenger bag on his desk and the backpack on the floor as Ella climbed into his chair, rolling closer to the desk and picking up a piece of paper and pen to keep herself busy.

Then Cat Grant's voice cut through the morning chatter like a scalpel and her heels clicked and clacked rhythmically across the floor. "Well, well, well. Look who has shown up in the bullpen finally. Clark Kent. Your tardiness continues to be spot on." She stopped in front of them, her smile sharp as glass.

“And who is this?" Cat said with a smile, causing the girl to look up. Quickly, Cat scanned everything about Ella. The baby-blue eyes, the dark hair and, even with tight lips she could make out the double-dimple that seemed very familiar to her.

"This is Ella." Clark rested his hand on Ella's back as the girl looked uncomfortable between her dad and her mom's best friend. She was very familiar with Aunt Cat and she could tell that her father, much like her mom, easily squirmed under her interrogation. She couldn't help the small smile that tugged at her lips.

“My daughter.” Clark quickly answered the unasked question.

That shook the cool out of Cat who looked over her shoulder immediately and caught Lois making her way to them. At first, Cat thought she was blinded by the glowing smile from her friend but then realized it was something else entirely. A lost sunbeam found its way into the diamond on Lois’s left hand.

And then Cat was speechless.

Lois could see Cat’s confusion splashed across her face and she couldn’t help but milk this moment in a double satisfactory way. 

She moved past Cat, stepping right into Clark's personal space, and rose on her toes to press a quick kiss to his lips. Her right hand came up to touch the side of his face, the diamond on her finger catching the light deliberately. Clark's surprise lasted only a second before his smile broke through— genuine and warm—his hand settling briefly on her waist. 

She heard Cat’s breath catch and decided to use the entirety of this moment for herself. 

She knelt down to Ella's level. The two shared a deep look—it wasn't clear to others what it meant, only that it meant something more than "dad's girlfriend" making sure her kid was okay.

Lois kissed Ella’s forehead. “Sorry I had to leave so early. You okay?” 

Ella nodded, giving her a small smile and a kiss on the cheek.

Lois stood, turned back to Cat, and raised one eyebrow challenging the gossip columnist to make her move.

“Okay. What kind of “Twilight Zone” parallel universe have I woken up to today?” Cat asked, looking around as if someone could pull her back into the real world.

Cat was so close to reality that Clark let out a nervous chuckle. He looked at Lois, the question silently playing in his features: “What if we told her?”  

The death stare that met him made it clear he should just stick to the plan.

Cat's eyes narrowed, focusing with the precision of a heat-seeking missile. "Alright. Let's start with the easy one." She pointed at Lois's hand. "When did THAT happen? Because for the last few weeks I was debating asking if you two were still together." 

Lois opened and closed her mouth and decided to answer things rather objectively and ignore what she knew she wouldn’t be able to convince Cat with anyways. “We got officially engaged this weekend.”

"Officially? Was it unofficial before?" Leaving her rhetorical question hanging, her gaze shifted to Clark. "And you? You have a daughter? A ten-year-old daughter that none of us knew about." 

It was time for Ella to look up and correct her, “I’m seven.”

“You are SEVEN? I guess your dad is a giant.” She said playfully but her questioning stare went back to Clark as she tapped her foot on the floor in her best bugs-bunny-impatience impersonation.

"It's... complicated," Clark said. 

"I'm sure it is." Cat's smile was sharp enough to cut glass as she eyed Lois. "Never pegged you for the instant family type."

“Instant?” Lois asked with a small laugh as she put one arm around Clark’s waist while the other rested against his stomach, an unusual display of public affection in the office. “If you ask his parents, this was more of a slow brew.”

"Uh-huh." Cat's eyes slid to Clark. "And Ella's mother? Where does she fit into this slow brew?"

Lois opened her mouth to respond, but before she could— "Kent! Lane!" Perry White's voice cut through the bullpen. He stood in his office doorway, leaning on a walking cane—the only evidence of what he'd been through.

Ella looked at Lois, not Clark, expectantly, unsure if she should follow them. Cat frowned at the unexpected interaction.

Perry noticed the child for the first time and tilted his head, “Bring the kid too, whoever that is.” The save was perfectly timed. Lois smiled apologetic to Cat and led the way as Clark and Ella followed her, three steps behind.

"I still need answers, Lane!" Cat called out, not ready to drop the bone.

Chapter Text

Perry White’s office had never felt smaller.

Lois followed Clark and Ella inside, the door clicking shut behind them with a finality that made her chest tighten. Through the glass walls, she could see Cat Grant watching with her hawk eyes. Lois flipped the shutters shut.

“Sit,” Perry said, gesturing to the two large armchairs across his desk. His hand lightly scratched the scar on the side of his head.

Clark took one. Ella hesitated, quickly realizing there were more people than seats. She was scooting closer to Clark when she felt her mom’s hand pull her by the waist and settle her next to her, sharing one chair.

Perry watched the exchange, squinting at the oddity. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, a hand absently rubbing his leg — the one that had been crushed under three tons of steel a month ago. 

“First things first,” Perry said, looking at Lois. “I wanted to thank you for stepping up these past few weeks. Taking over as interim editor was no small thing, especially with… everything else you had going on.”

“It was nothing,” Lois said.

“Take the compliment, Lane. Not everyone would have handled it the way you did. You kept the ship steady, kept the team focused, and you didn’t let the quality slip for one second.” He smiled slightly. “I trust you, Lane. More than I trust most people in this business. And I want you to know that.”

Lois felt her throat tighten. “Thank you, Chief.”

“I, uh… also heard you were a bit absent these last few weeks. I hope whatever was keeping you away is resolved, because I need my best reporters back on deck.”

Clark looked down at his feet with intense interest.

Perry pulled a couple of manila folders and slid them across the table to Lois and Clark, acting as if he hadn’t just casually acknowledged Clark’s biggest secret.

“That site where I got hurt? I was following a lead. Related to—”

He stopped, his attention landing on Ella, who had been watching this entire exchange with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry, honey,” Perry shook his head, his tone softened. “Who are you?”

Ella’s eyes immediately darted to Lois — checking, seeking permission.

“This is Ella,” Clark said. “My daughter.”

Perry’s eyebrows climbed toward his hairline. He looked at Clark, then at Ella, then at Lois. His gaze lingered on Lois’s face, studying her reaction.

“Your daughter?,” Perry repeated in disbelief. Clark nodded. 

“How old are you, sweetheart?” Perry continued his editorial interview.

“Seven,” Ella whispered.

Perry’s eyes moved back to Lois, watching her carefully.

“I was traveling after college,” Clark said, launching into the cover story. “I spent some time in Europe — met someone there. We had a brief relationship, and then I moved on.”

Perry’s gaze was dynamic and intense. He was studying how each of them reacted to each word.

“I didn’t know about Ella until a few weeks ago, when her mother reached out. She’s sick, dealing with medical issues, and she needed to make sure Ella would be taken care of.”

As Clark spoke, Lois felt something uncomfortable twisting in her chest. The story — the pretend relationship, the other woman — even knowing it was fake, made her jaw tighten. Her hand curled into a fist on the armrest.

Perry caught it. His eyes flicked to Lois’s tense posture, the way her expression had gone carefully neutral in that specific way that meant she was bothered by something.

“Must have been serious if you remember her after all this time,” Perry said. 

“It was brief,” Clark said quickly, clearing his throat. “Very brief.”

Lois’s jaw tightened further. She knew it wasn’t real. She knew Ella was theirs. But hearing Clark describe some fictional relationship — some other woman who had his child — made her want to throw something. It was so irrational she was sure she could blame it on hormones.

Perry’s expression shifted slightly, almost believing the story based purely on Lois’s visible jealousy. If Lane was that bothered by the idea of Clark with someone else, maybe the story was true after all.

But then Perry turned his attention to Ella.

“That must have been scary,” he said gently. “Meeting your dad for the first time. Coming to a new city.”

Ella nodded, but before she answered, her eyes went to Lois.

It wasn’t the first time he saw the girl visually check in with Lois. Not Clark. His gaze sharpened.

“It’s okay,” Perry continued, watching the exchange. “Big changes are always hard. Are you settling in all right?”

Again, Ella looked to Lois first before answering. “Yes, sir. Everyone’s been really nice.”

Perry leaned back in his chair, his expression thoughtful. “You know, I’ve been watching since you walked in here, Ella. And I’ve noticed something interesting.”

Lois’s hand went instinctively around Ella, pulling her just a little closer — protecting her just enough, even though there was no threat at all.

Perry then looked at Clark. “Every single time I ask her a question, she looks to Lois before she answers. Not to you. To Lois.”

Clark opened his mouth, but Perry held up a hand.

“When I called you all into my office, you know who she looked at? Lois. When she sat down, she sat next to Lois. When I asked if she was settling in, she checked with Lois.” He paused. “Now, I’ve seen a lot of family dynamics in my time. And that”—he gestured between Ella and Lois—“that’s not how a child looks at ‘dad’s new girlfriend.’ That’s how a child looks at her parent.”

Ella’s breathing quickened. Her hand reached out, seeking Lois’s.

“Perry—” Lois started.

He looked directly at Ella. “Sweetheart, I need you to do something for me. I need you to look at the person in this room who makes you feel safest. Don’t think about it. Just look.”

Ella’s head turned immediately — automatically — to Lois.

Perry nodded slowly. “That’s what I thought.”

The girl’s eyes started to glisten, and Lois pulled her onto her lap, legs sideways, holding her daughter as the child gripped around her mom’s neck.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Lois whispered, her arms wrapping around Ella instinctively. “You’re okay, baby. I’ve got you.”

The silence in the room was absolute.

Perry watched this unfold — the way Lois held the child with practiced ease, the way Ella melted into her embrace like she’d done it a thousand times before, the way Clark moved to stand behind them with his hand on Lois’s shoulder, protective and unified.

“Lane,” Perry said softly. “I need you to tell me what’s really going on. Because I’m about to show you some documents related to military operations — documents that involve your father. And I need to know if it’s safe to discuss that in front of her. I need to know who she is.”

Lois looked up at him, her eyes bright with tears. “She’s mine,” she said quietly. “Ours. But it’s—Perry, it’s complicated in ways I can’t begin to explain.”

“Try me.”

Lois looked at Clark. He nodded slowly.

“She’s from the future,” Lois said.

Perry stared at her for a long moment. Then he closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and let out a long breath.

“Time travel,” he muttered. “Of course it’s time travel.”

Chapter Text

They left Perry's office in a daze, the weight of everything pressing down on all of them. Perry was investigating a military operation where his source said "humans and other… beings from different worlds were being tested on." That sounded way too much like the place they rescued Clark from.

The evidence of her father's involvement was way too clear for her to ignore. Before, all she had was correlation—a signal coming from the General's home base—but now she had a half-ripped military contract with his signature on a site where someone almost killed Perry.

The break room on three was mercifully empty. Clark immediately went to the coffee maker, then remembered Lois couldn't have any. He turned to the hot cocoa maker instead. Lois collapsed into one of the chairs at the small table, pulling Ella into the seat beside her.

Lois read the papers in front of her. Pictures, documents and Perry's handwritten notes. The picture he managed to snap on his phone matched exactly the type of portal they used. Did her father get himself some Kryptonian technology? Is this how Zod comes into play?

Clark sat down across from Lois, three cups of hot cocoa in hand. "We need to collect all of these notes first. We don't need to do anything in a rush." He reached to squeeze her hand and she squeezed back despite her frustration.

"We don't know that, Clark."

"We know something happens on September 18th. That's six months away, Lo." Clark's reasoning was clear. And naive.

"And? Clark, we don't know anything about the circumstances of the future!" Her voice rose more than she intended. Almost immediately she took a deep breath, shook her head in defeat.

"Mommy?" Ella said quietly, her hand touching Lois's leg. 

In the two seconds it took for Lois to turn around, the girl's eyes widened and her hand snapped to her mouth. The slip-up was so overwhelming that whatever she'd wanted to say flew completely out of her head. "I'm so—"

Lois did a quick scan of the room. "It's okay, honey. It's just us in here." She rubbed Ella's back and the girl visibly relaxed.

Ella took a breath, remembering. "I—I have something in my backpack."

"What is it?" Lois asked gently.

"A phone. I don't know how to use it. You left it with Uncle T. With the crystal."

Clark and Lois exchanged a glance—a phone from the other timeline, from the Lois who'd investigated this and died for it.

"Where's your backpack, sweetheart?" Clark asked.

"On your desk. In the bullpen."

"Okay. Clark, can you—" 

A breeze came and went. The backpack materialized in front of them.

"Clark!" Lois hissed.

"What?" He looked perfectly innocent. "You didn't even see me leave."

Lois and Clark watched as Ella pulled the backpack to herself possessively, giving them a sly smile as she opened an invisible pocket. She pulled out a phone that looked purposefully old. Well, old for eight years in the future.

Lois and Clark shared a look. Ella then pulled a piece of paper. “This is what you left with the crystal. The letter is for Uncle T. And this phone. But I don’t know how to turn it on.” She pushed the buttons but the screen was still all black.

Another whoosh. Clark returned with a charger, already plugging the phone into the wall outlet. 

Lois couldn’t even with him as she read the words she left for Terrific. She was asking him to take care of Ella if anything happened to her. And to follow the lead to her father. 

Then it got a little personal. Nothing inappropriate but definitely telling that maybe their relationship grew beyond friendship. 

The heat radiating from Clark and his twitching jaw told her he'd super-read the note—and was bothered. Lois ignored it. They didn't have time for him to be jealous of a relationship that hadn't happened in this timeline and never would.

The phone screen flickered to life—one percent battery, but enough. The lock screen displayed for a moment: a photo of Ella, maybe four years old, laughing at something off-camera. Lois's chest tightened at the sight.

Then the facial recognition activated, scanning Lois's face.

Unlocked.

The home screen appeared. Dozens of app notifications. Missed calls. Text messages. A notes app with what looked like hundreds of entries.

Lois's hand hovered over the screen, not sure where to start. Clark leaned closer, and Ella stood on her chair to see better.

"The recent calls," Clark suggested quietly.

Lois tapped the phone icon. The call log loaded. She grabbed her notebook and started to jot down the details about each call. Two to Perry White. Both lasted over twenty minutes. Both on March 7th. 9AM and then again at 11PM.

Next to it she wrote: Checking in?

Then the last call she made. Michael Holt. 47 minutes. March 9th. 10PM.

Ella reached into the backpack again and pulled out a piece of newspaper, folded in quarters. 

Lois unfolded it carefully. The Daily Planet. March 10th. 

The headline, in bold type across the front page: 

Daily Planet's Editor-in-Chief Disappears in Secret Military Base Explosion

Below it, a photo of herself. Professional. Smiling. The caption: Lois Lane, 41, missing and presumed dead.

Lois stared at her own face looking back at her from the page.

"The day after they confirmed it," Ella said quietly, not looking at the newspaper. "I didn't bring that one. It didn't have much about the accident."

Lois's throat tightened. The day after they confirmed her body. The day after Ella became an orphan.

Terrific had been her last call. The night before she died.

Clark shifted in his seat, the leather creaking slightly. His jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

Lois navigated to the photos. Scrolled through quickly—there were hundreds. She found what she was looking for: recent photos. Evidence photos.

The same portal technology from Perry's file, but from a different angle. Clearer. Taken from inside the facility.

Notes on a location. Coordinates. A map with a red pin dropped near the army base—but not at the base itself. Somewhere close by. A secondary location.

She swiped again.

A selfie. Lois—other-Lois—with Ella. Both grinning. Ella had ice cream on her nose. They looked happy. Unbearably happy.

Another swipe.

Ella at the Daily Planet, sitting in a big office chair. Behind her, visible on the wall: Editor-in-Chief, Lois Lane.

Lois stared at the image. She'd made it. In that timeline, despite everything, she'd—

Clark's hand gently lowered hers, pushing the phone down to the table. "Lo. We should stay on topic. That’s not the future anymore."

She blinked, pulled herself back. He was right. Looking at the life she'd lived once wasn't going to help them stop it from happening here. Especially after they have already altered a key fact: Clark’s death.

"Right." She cleared her throat, swiped back to the evidence photos. "This location. It's not the main base."

"A satellite facility?" Clark leaned in, studying the coordinates.

"Or a black site." Lois pulled up Perry's notes, compared them to the location on the phone. "Perry was investigating the main base. But this—" she tapped the phone screen, "—this is somewhere else. Somewhere she found on her own."

"Two locations," Clark said slowly. "One public-facing, one hidden."

"Which means the real work is happening here." Lois zoomed in on the map. "Not where Perry got hurt. Somewhere they thought no one would look."

“Clark? Where are the coordinates for September 18th?” Lois said as she flipped through her notebook. “I don’t think I have them. Do you?”

“Might be in the papers Gary sent. I’ll go to the Justice Hall. Get the papers from Terrific and check out the two locations—”

“Clark!” 

"As Superman," he added. "Fast reconnaissance. In and out. No confrontation."

Lois wanted to argue, but she knew he was right. They needed to know what they were dealing with before they made any moves.

The break room door opened. All three of them startled.

Perry stood in the doorway, leaning on his cane. His eyes took in the scene—the phone on the table, the papers scattered everywhere, Ella standing on a chair, the tension in the air thick enough to cut.

"You three look like you're planning a heist," he said dryly.

"Chief," Lois said, instinctively moving to cover the phone. "We were just—"

"Don't." Perry held up a hand. "I don't need to know. Not yet." He stepped into the room, closed the door behind him. "But I do need to tell you something."

They waited.

"Work from home," Perry said. "Unless you need access to the hard copy archives or something you can't get remotely. The newsroom is already buzzing about Clark's daughter,” He said smiling at Ella.

“Perry is right, Lo. Why don’t you two go home? You can do all of the research from there.” Clark says, squeezing her hand.

“Lane, if you need anything from the hard records, call me.” Perry reassures Clark’s request.

Lois sighed and nodded. "Okay. We'll work from home." Clark and Perry exchanged a glance—the kind that needed no words. Perry understood this was bigger than a story, and Clark understood Perry was trusting them to handle it. "Thank you, Chief," Lois said quietly. Perry nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

Chapter Text

Superman flew over the site of Perry's accident. The now-deserted army base looked like an ordinary abandoned base if it wasn't for the somewhat fresh tire tracks.

The exact area of Perry's accident was still taped off, but it didn't look like much of an investigation had happened in the last six weeks. A military site half-collapsed in a documented explosion and no one was bothered to investigate it? That thought alone was enough for Clark to bend on his promise to simply conduct reconnaissance and land for a closer look.

Careful not to step on anything, Superman hovered over the debris. Clark pushed his x-ray vision deeper through the rubble. Beneath the collapsed concrete were the twisted remains of laboratory equipment. But not Earth technology. Not entirely.

The equipment was hybrid: human engineering fused with crystalline structures he recognized from the Fortress, but wrong somehow. The molecular patterns were off. Artificial. Someone had tried to replicate Kryptonian crystal technology.

A crackling noise, someone stomping on a fallen beam, shattered his concentration. Clark's instincts took over. He shot upward, then slipped behind a mass of twisted steel support beams, pressing himself into the shadows where collapsed ceiling met broken wall. His cape wrapped tight against his body; he held himself perfectly still, hovering silently as two figures entered below.

The first man was tall and built, moving with military precision. His black-ops uniform was pristine despite the wreckage. Clark focused his vision on the name tape: Lt. Trask.

Behind Trask came a second figure, clearly a scientist from the tablet clutched against his chest and the pristine lab coat. The man was thin, almost gaunt, with wire-rimmed glasses and nervous energy. In his other hand, he carried a small containment case and specialized excavation tools.

"General Lane has started to see things clearly. The tech demonstration blew him away. He didn't even ask who Zod was. Dumb old man," said Trask. 

They walked around, lifting pieces of ceiling and wall that fell during what Clark assumed was some kind of accident when they were opening the portal. But that was weeks ago. This could not be the same location they used on Friday.

Superman hovered around, circling them, always finding the darkest shadow. He couldn't leave now.

"Superman hasn't been seen in three days," the scientist said with a proud smile.

The only way they would know this didn't work is if I never show up. I think Superman will need to go on hiatus, Clark thought to himself. The risk of being seen now was not one he could play with.

"You and I both know that can be circumstantial."

"The new crystal is almost ready. We need more of the compound."

"General Lane hasn't secured new funding. With everyone's eyes on Maxwell Lord... we need to branch out." Trask picked up a small flask and turned it in his hand.

"Well, if we can't produce more, then we can also look into alternative sources of energy."

Trask tossed the flask to the scientist as he said, "We'll do both. We can't risk this. Which is why we need to harvest whatever we can from here." Trask gestured around and left.

The scientist remained behind, methodically scanning the debris with a handheld device that emitted a soft blue glow. Clark watched from his hidden vantage point as the man moved with practiced efficiency, pausing occasionally to extract fragments of crystalline material from the rubble.

Each piece went into the containment case with careful precision. The scientist muttered to himself: calculations, formulas, observations Clark couldn't quite make out even with his enhanced hearing over the ambient noise of settling debris.

Then the device beeped. Sharp. Insistent.

The scientist froze, staring at the readout. His face went pale behind his wire-rimmed glasses.

"No, no, no," he whispered, frantically adjusting settings. The beeping intensified. "The half-life shouldn't—it's too fast, it's—"

The small flask Trask had been playing with earlier began to glow. Faintly at first, then brighter. A sickly green light that made Clark's skin crawl.

The scientist grabbed for the containment case, trying to seal away the fragments he'd collected. But his hands were shaking too badly. The case slipped, cracked against the concrete.

Green light flooded the space.

Kryptonite. Not natural kryptonite. Something synthesized. Something unstable. It didn't make him completely weak, but rather heavy, with slow reflexes.

Superman's vision started to tunnel and he quickly scanned the exits and hovered as quietly as possible, with his vision blacking out every few seconds.

If he didn't move soon, this would not end well.

Clark didn't stop. Didn't look back. He flew until the weakness began to fade, until his vision cleared and his strength returned. Only then did he slow, hovering at altitude where the clouds provided cover.

Superman took the opportunity to recharge in the sun before flying back home. He had a lot to tell Lois.

Lois and Ella had gone home to research. Perry had left a lot of threads for her to pull, but before she got to it, she needed to inspect her future phone better.

But before getting to any work, both of them needed something to eat. She went into the kitchen and improvised the only thing she made reasonably well: grilled cheese. For Ella, a glass of milk; Lois herself stuck to water.

On the couch, mother and daughter enjoyed the silence of each other's company. The phone from the future sat on the coffee table, looking back at them. After a quick "check-in" sideways glance, Lois reached for the phone and opened the camera roll.

The sequence of videos that loaded made her eyes widen. The first frame of all those videos was clearly a confessional. She was documenting herself and leaving it for whoever would find it.

Lois was shocked. The only time she ever felt that need was when she was covering the war zone in Boravia in her short stint as an international war correspondent. She got goosebumps as she remembered how fearful she was for her life at that time.

She scrolled down; the sequence seemed to have around fifteen videos. Too anxious to wait, she figured the last one recorded would be a better place to start. She leaned back on the couch, Ella snuggled to her side, holding her breath.

The video flickered to life, and Lois found herself staring at... herself.

Future-Lois looked tired. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and there were dark circles under her eyes that even the phone's mediocre camera couldn't hide. She was wearing a dark blazer over a black turtleneck—the kind of outfit Lois reserved for covert meetings and dangerous interviews.

The background was unfamiliar. A hotel room, maybe. Bland beige walls, generic artwork. Somewhere anonymous.

But it was the details that made Lois's breath catch. A thin scar above Future-Lois's left eyebrow that she didn't have. The way she held her shoulders, curved inward, protective, like someone who'd learned to make herself smaller. The absence of any jewelry except for a simple chain around her neck with what looked like Clark's house key.

No engagement ring. Just a dead man's key.

"If you're watching this," Future-Lois began, her voice steady despite the exhaustion in her eyes, "it means something went wrong. Or very right, depending on your perspective."

She let out a hollow laugh that made present-Lois's chest tighten. She knew that laugh. Had used it herself when interviewing warlords, when confronting corrupt politicians, when staring down the barrel of situations she couldn't control. It was the laugh you made when the alternative was screaming.

Lois's hand trembled slightly as she reached for the pause button.

"Honey, I don't think this is appropriate for you."

Ella reached for the earbuds on the coffee table and handed them to her mom. "Can I just watch? I won't listen, I promise." Her eyes were pleading, desperate in a way that made Lois realize this wasn't about curiosity. This was about seeing her mother again, even if it was a version from a timeline that no longer existed.

Lois couldn't say no. Actually, finding her voice at all was hard, so she simply nodded and pushed the earbuds in.

The sound quality was tinny, compressed. Like Future-Lois had recorded this on a burner phone in the middle of the night.

"I'm documenting this because I need someone to know. If I don't make it out—if they get to me before I can publish—then at least there will be a record. Evidence. Truth."

Future-Lois glanced off-camera, as if checking that she was alone, then leaned closer to the phone. Close enough that Lois could see the fine lines around her eyes, deeper than they should be. Close enough to see the way her jaw was set with grim determination.

This was a woman who knew she was going to die.

And was doing it anyway.

"It's March 8th, 2036. Eight years since Superman disappeared. Seven years since I took over as Editor-in-Chief at the Planet. And approximately three months since I figured out what my father has been doing."

Lois felt Ella's hand find hers, small fingers threading through her own. She squeezed back, anchoring herself.

Future-Lois sprawled various documents and pictures on the table in front of her and would choose and show them as she explained how General Sam Lane created Project Scion: a portal to another dimension ruled by the ruthless Kryptonian, General Zod.

In that dimension, Zod's powers are fueled by torture, not the sun. Their quid pro quo deal was perfect: General Lane would ship off the worst of the worst of the metahumans on Earth and Zod could feed off them easily. In exchange, Zod gave Lane access to the most advanced alien technology to help capture and detain metahumans faster.

On screen, Future-Lois held up a classified document. Her hands were steady but Lois noticed the white-knuckle grip, the way her thumb worried at the corner of the page. A nervous habit. One Lois recognized because she did it too when she was trying not to fall apart.

"Their first experiment was Superman, almost eight years ago."

Future-Lois shook her head, her eyes welled up. For just a moment, the professional mask slipped and Lois saw the woman underneath. The one who lost everything. The one who had to keep going anyway for the little girl sleeping in the next room.

Present-Lois felt her chest tight, her stomach twitch. The grilled cheese sat heavy and wrong. She hit pause.

The apartment was too quiet. She could hear the refrigerator humming in the kitchen. A car alarm going off three blocks away. Her own heart hammering against her ribs.

"Mom?" Ella asked, almost a second or two after the video went still. "You okay?"

Lois blinked and kissed the top of her daughter's head, breathing in the scent of her shampoo and something uniquely Ella underneath. "Yeah, baby. Just needed a moment."

But she didn't need a moment. She needed hours. Days. She needed to unsee the resignation in her other self's eyes. She needed to not know that somewhere, in another timeline, she'd failed.

She hit play almost immediately because stopping meant thinking and she couldn't afford to think right now.

"If my research is correct, Superman was taken to Zod's dimension where he was probably executed upon arrival. The US military, under the direction of General Lane, ensured Zod would have the means to weaken Superman."

Future-Lois was now showing pictures of large Kryptonite rocks that were so dark they looked black. Lois leaned forward despite herself, reporter instincts overriding emotion for just a moment. That wasn't natural Kryptonite. The molecular structure looked wrong, artificial. 

On screen, Future-Lois set the photos aside with the careful precision of someone handling evidence. Because that's what this was. A case she was building. A prosecution she'd never live to see.

She then pulled a massive pile of folders. "I have evidence of all the metahumans General Lane illegally detained, illegally murdered, since then."

Another pile came into the picture with a thud that Lois felt in her chest even through the tiny phone speakers.

"Michael Holt has a copy of all of this hard evidence. My copies are in the Daily Planet's safe."

Future-Lois paused, and for the first time in the video, she looked directly at the camera. Not at some hypothetical viewer. At herself. At Lois. As if she knew somehow that this phone would find its way into her own hands.

"I'm going to bring General Lane to justice even if it kills me."

Her voice didn't waver. Didn't break. It was the voice Lois used when she'd made up her mind about something and nothing—not threats, not violence, not death itself—would change it.

"I owe it to Clark and to Ella."

The video ended.

The screen went black, and suddenly Lois was staring at her own reflection in the darkened glass. Younger. Less worn. Still engaged to a man who was alive and safe and currently doing reconnaissance over a military base.

She pulled the earbuds out with shaking hands.

Ella was watching her face with those too-old eyes, reading every micro-expression the way kids learned to when they grew up in unstable situations.

"I miss her," Ella said quietly. Not a question.

Lois looked down at her daughter, this impossible, brave little girl who shouldn't exist and yet was pressed against her side like she was afraid Lois would disappear if she let go.

"I know, baby. I know you do," she said as she pulled Ella into a hug and they sat in silence for a moment. The phone felt heavy in Lois's hand. Evidence of a life she'd never live. A death she was determined to avoid.

"There are more videos," Ella offered hesitantly. "If you want to watch them."

Lois did and didn't. She needed to know everything, every detail, every clue, every mistake Future-Lois had made so she could avoid them. But she also wasn't sure she could stomach watching herself slowly unravel under the weight of an impossible investigation.

"You know, I'd rather hear you tell me some stories. How about that?" Lois tried to smile and lighten the mood.

Ella beamed. Before she could decide on which story to tell, a familiar sound of the window sliding open distracted her. Clark, moving quieter than someone his size should be able to, stepped into the apartment, still in his Superman suit and having a hard time carrying the weight of his own body.

Lois got up to help him. "Hey, babe. What happened?" She eyed him up and down and helped him take a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Kryptonite?" Lois asked, combing his hair with her fingers.

"Synthetic." Clark nodded. "Not as strong, but effective enough."

Lois reached behind his neck, under the cape, to get the suit undone. She slid it over his shoulders. Superman sat there just with the bottom of his costume on.

Ella sat next to Clark and hugged him. Her delicate arms were warm around him. The touch he didn't know he was craving. He pulled her to sit with her legs across his lap.

Lois handed him a white t-shirt that he threw over his head.

"I found something," Clark said. "At the base. Trask was there, Lieutenant Trask. He was talking to a scientist about..." He paused, noticing the way Lois's eyes were red-rimmed. "What happened?"

Lois picked up the phone, held it up. "I watched a video. From the other timeline."

Clark scooted over and made space for Lois to sit next to him as he patted the mattress next to him. She sat down and he put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her close, kissing the side of her head.

Understanding flickered across Clark's face. "What did you find?"

"My father created Project Scion. A portal to Zod's dimension. They've been using it to dispose of metahumans they deem too dangerous." The words came out flat, professional. Reporter voice. The only way she could say them without breaking.

Clark's expression hardened. "That tracks with what I overheard. Trask was talking about needing more 'subjects' for testing. About how Lane was impressed with their 'demonstration.'"

"Wait." Lois frowned. "Lane was impressed? As in, he didn't know about it before?"

"That's what Trask said. That Lane 'finally saw things clearly' after the tech demo. That he didn't even ask who Zod was."

Lois frowned. "Clark, that doesn't sound at all like my father. Nor like anything I heard on the video."

Lois and Clark stared at each other as the discrepancy sank in.

In the video, Future-Lois said General Lane created Project Scion. That he not only signed off on everything, but he architected it. That Superman was their first experiment eight years ago.

But based on what Clark just heard, her father was only recently brought into the loop and maybe not even with all the information. And after the demonstration. After they'd already trapped Clark.

"That doesn't make sense," Lois said slowly. "According to the video, my father was in charge. He created the project. But here..."

A gentle knock on the front door interrupted her. Clark got up, but Lois held his hand before he would move any further. There were not a lot of people who could knock on her door and be greeted by a half-Clark, half-Superman person.

"I'll get it. You should finish putting your costume away."

Reaching the front door, she was surprised to find Mr. Terrific standing on the other side with a small stack of medical paperwork.

"Lane. I figured you two were too busy if you didn't have time to come take all of your prenatal work in the T-Craft." He handed her the papers and followed her into the apartment.

Clark came from the bedroom. His body was tense and he told himself he was still reacting from the synthetic Kryptonite when in reality, this was a new feeling he had when he thought of Mr. Terrific and Lois in the future.

"Thanks, Terrific." He couldn't not be polite to his friend and ally and knew it was nonsensical to be jealous of a what-if. "I was going to get it after my visit to the base. I didn't expect to get Kryptonite poisoning."

"Poisoning? Do you need me to take you to the sun?" Mr. Terrific was already moving with urgency.

Clark was calm and sat on the couch, grabbing the papers from Lois as she sat next to him and Ella.

Terrific took the armchair across from them and said, "If you are sure."

Clark nodded and tossed the papers on the coffee table without really looking at them.

"So, what have you found out so far?" Terrific asked, and Lois and Clark proceeded to tell him of their findings with Trask, Zod, the weapons and the synthetic Kryptonite.

As the adults discussed facts, examined documents and tried out different theories, Ella reached out for the paper that Uncle T brought with him. The ultrasound and other prenatal exams Gary and the Superman robots did for Lois.

She scanned through the document. Most of these medical words were not in a seven-year-old's vocabulary but Ella Lane was not any seven-year-old and could understand a lot that was in this file.

Suddenly her eyes widened and she poked her mother's leg. When Lois looked at her, she could see the girl was spooked as she handed her the page she was reading.

"What is it, honey?" Lois asked as she scanned through the page, but nothing out of the ordinary stood out to her. Then Ella pointed to the bottom left corner where it said: 

Baby Gender: Male

Chapter Text

Terrific didn’t do personal for a reason and the reason had a lot to do with these prolonged moments of silence that were uncomfortable for everyone involved. He doesn’t think Clark or Lois noticed when he left. 

Ella, who was sitting next to Lois, knees pulled up, gave him a shy smile. A shyness that wasn’t there on the day they met. He could also see her shoulders rising slightly in tension. With a warm smile he left.

“How can this be?” Clark asked, holding the paper and looking at it as if it was an incredible scientific discovery.

“Don’t you see it, Clark? You said you heard Trask talk about this project as if he is not being really truthful with the General about it. That’s not what Ella tells me. It is not what I saw myself say either. General Lane is supposed to be the architect of it all. That’s not my dad, Clark.”

“And you don’t think something can make your dad change into that?” He crossed his arms in his defiant Superman pose.

“Even if I did, Clark.” Lois said, bringing her hand to her stomach, “this is not Ella.”

Ella tightened the grip she had around her knees. Instinctively, Lois held her by the shoulder and pulled the stiff body next to hers. The fact this baby was a different baby didn't change the fact that she knew, in her gut, that Ella was hers.

For a moment, Ella resisted—stayed rigid—then slowly, carefully, let herself lean in.

Clark looked at Lois completely confused and lost, “What are you saying, Lo?”

“Multiple dimensions. It’s been right in front of us the entire time. If there’s a world out there ruled by Zod why wouldn’t there be a reality that is like ours but not quite?”

Ella's voice came out small, muffled against Lois's shoulder. "I didn't save him, did I? My Daddy. He's still—"

She couldn't finish. Didn't need to.

Clark's Superman pose crumbled. He crossed the space between them in two strides and sat across from Ella on the coffee table, too big to try to share the couch with them. Leaning forward he hugged both mom and daughter and kissed the girl’s head. 

"You didn't save him," Clark said quietly. "But you saved me, kiddo. Thank you. We are a family because of you."

Ella pulled back just enough to look at both of them—these parents who weren't hers but somehow were—and saw so much love that it was easy to push down the wave of grief in the realization that in her reality, nothing would be changed. 

The only change is that she could say she finally met her dad.

Ella climbed on Lois’s lap, making space for Clark to sit next to them. She positioned herself in between, resting her head on Lois's chest and her legs on Clark’s legs. They enjoyed the warmth of each other.

"Do I have to go back?" Ella asked quietly, almost inaudibly.

This time it was Lois who pulled back, creating distance to look into her daughter's eyes. Framing Ella's face with her hands, she said, "Baby, you don't have to do anything you don't want. I love you and if you want to stay with us—" Lois's voice cracked as her throat tightened. She paused to sniffle. Ella reached up and wiped away her mother's tears. "—I would be very happy. But honey, I know you also have Uncle T back there, right?"

Ella nodded.

Clark kissed the side of Lois's head, then gently brushed back Ella's curls. "You don't have to decide anything right now. Okay?"

Ella nodded again and reached up, throwing her arms around his neck.

With another kiss on the girl's forehead, Lois finally spoke.

"We need to talk to my father."

Chapter Text

The argument Lois tried to make—that she should go see her father on her own—was short-lived. Not even Ella, who usually sided with her mother, backed the idea of going alone.

Clark was in civilian clothes. A Superman sighting now would jeopardize them. He'd already texted Mr. Terrific, asking the Justice Gang to cover any immediate emergencies. Superman needed to lay low so Trask would continue to believe he was dead.

Lois opened the left-side back door and blinked. There was a booster seat installed—she had no memory of getting one. On the other side, Clark opened the door for Ella, who rolled her eyes in Lane fashion.

"Dad, I don't need a booster seat," she said, hopping up anyway.

"You're seven. State law requires—" Clark's righteous tone got under Lois's skin. Ella's expression said she wasn't alone in that feeling.

"Also says I'm too tall for it," the girl shot back, exasperation in her voice that made Lois simultaneously dread the teenage years and want to laugh.

Clark ignored her protest and snapped her in.

"When did you go get this?" Lois cut in, deflecting the quibble as she slid into the backseat beside Ella.

"Friday, after you were both asleep," Clark said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lois stared at him, wide-eyed. After nearly dying, he'd snuck out to buy a booster seat no one needed.

He leaned over Ella and kissed Lois. She kissed him back, tasting coffee and something sweet.

"You two kiss a lot," Ella said, frowning while fighting a smile.

They couldn't help but grin against each other's lips.

"Surprises me too sometimes, but your dad brings it out of me," Lois said. She cupped Clark's face and turned it toward Ella. "I mean, look at this face."

Ella planted a wet kiss on one cheek; Lois took the other. Clark did a theatrical flinch, his eyes betraying him, beaming with joy.

For a second, they all forgot what was coming. Ella let the warmth grow in her chest—steady, calm, entirely new. She didn't want it to go away.

Clark kissed Ella's forehead, pecked Lois once more, then moved to the driver's seat.

"You riding in the back?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Lois met his eyes in the rearview mirror and nodded.

"What's the plan when we get there?" he asked, glancing between her and the traffic ahead.

"Ideally, you two stay in the—"

"Not happening, Lo."

"Then neither of you says a word. Sit outside the room. If you come in, he'll make you talk, and I need to control this conversation."

Clark nodded and found Ella's eyes in the mirror. "We'll follow Mom's lead, okay?" he said, winking.

"You're telling him everything, aren't you?" Ella asked, studying her mother's face.

Lois's Cheshire-cat smile was answer enough. The rest of the ride was spent in an intense competition of thumb war that Lois was sure there were some sort of super-powers involved because she had always been the winner of the Lane Thumb War Championship.

Their laughter died at the sight of the military base. Fort Stanton was secured by concrete K-rails, and an overwatch post sat elevated above the checkpoint. Two officers worked the security booth; a third watched from the shadows of the guard tower.

Clark rolled up to the gate. "We're here to see General Lane," he said.

"No memo about visitors today, sir," the sergeant replied, his tone apologetic but firm.

"We don't have an appointment, but—"

"Tell him his daughter, Lois, is here," she interrupted, her voice carrying the same command her father's always did. "It's an emergency."

The sergeant straightened immediately. No one knew much about General Lane's personal life. What they did know was that he had two daughters he was fiercely protective of, and that no one should ever mess with that. "Yes, ma'am."

Five slow minutes later, he returned, passed back their IDs, and nodded to the barrier operator. The gate lifted with a hydraulic hiss.

An officer slid into a parked Jeep in front of them.

"Follow your escort. General Lane's staying off base, sir," he said.

Clark thanked him and eased the car forward. He met Lois's eyes in the mirror. Nothing good could come from not being in the main building.

It was a three-minute ride in the dirt when they approached a much smaller construction. Clark looked around, over the rim of his glasses, and he could tell they were well surrounded even if it looked deserted.

Secure and private. Too private.

After they parked, the escort led them to the door where another private took over. Walking down the main corridor, the air smelled like floor polish and stale coffee. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting everything in harsh white. They were one left turn from the office when Ella stopped short, making Clark halt with her.

He knelt. "What's up, honey?"

"I—I forgot to go to the bathroom," Ella stuttered slightly, her shy smile tightening when she looked at her mother.

Lois winked at her.

Clark looked to Lois. She glanced between him and the escort, then made the decision. "Take her and meet me in my dad's office."

"I don't know how to—"

Lois turned to the young soldier, her father's command suddenly in her voice. "Restrooms, then General Lane's office. Still the third door on the right?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said, immediately pivoting them toward the signs.

Lois made a discreet "okay" gesture with her hand, just for Ella, then turned and moved like a missile down the hallway.

She entered the third door on the left without knocking.

"Hi, Dad," she said, letting the door click shut behind her with a soft, final sound.

Her strong strides carried her into the room as she took inventory. The office was smaller than she expected. A wooden desk that had seen decades of service. Facing it, two plain chairs, uncomfortable by design.

Behind her father, a single window looked out over an unexpected flowery garden. The blinds were half-drawn, covering the direct sunlight from invading the sterile environment.

No commendations on the walls. No plaques or certificates. No ego.

The only giveaway this wasn't a staged office was the hinged frame with two photographs on the corner of his desk: Lois and Lucy on one side and Ella Lane, Lois's mom, on the other. In the picture she was pregnant with Lucy, a three-year-old Lois proudly holding her mom's hand.

Cancer was far from their minds back then.

She focused on the picture with her sister. She was probably ten in the picture, gap-toothed and grinning, Lucy barely seven. Both in matching dresses their mother had insisted on. Lucy was laughing at something off-camera. Lois was looking at her sister.

She looked exactly like Ella.

Lois swallowed hard.

"Lois." Her father's voice cut through her. She shook herself out of those memories and took in the rest of his office. The windows were squeaky clean, no dust anywhere. Everything about this space screamed control, discipline, order. Except for that one photo frame.

And his pulse. She could see how the side of his neck moved up and down, pulsating. His pupils had dilated the moment she walked in.

"I thought we agreed our differences make any relationship impossible," Sam Lane said, looking up to meet her eyes.

"I'm about to test that," she muttered under her breath, dropping onto the chair without invitation. "I know you want to protect Earth. But I've always believed you wouldn't double-cross your own values."

"I'm an Army man. My values are how I make the right calls." He leaned back, trying to regain the high ground. "Why start like this? Did something happen to your alien friend, Superman?"

At the direct shot, every muscle in Lois's body clenched. Was she wrong? Did he know exactly what he was doing? The thought was enough to trigger the nausea that had stayed dormant for days. Hot, insistent, undeniable.

Her mouth flooded with saliva. Her vision tunneled slightly. Her face went pale, then green.

Before he could finish asking if she was okay, she had his trash can in her lap and was throwing up. The sound echoed in the small office. Undignified. Loud. Completely derailing every plan she'd had.

This was definitely not part of the plan.

But it seemed to surprise her father enough that he almost looked concerned. He was half out of his chair, one hand reaching toward her, when Lois finally exhaled and set the trash can back on the floor with a metallic thunk.

"Sorry about that," she said, her voice hoarse. She could taste bile. Her face was hot with embarrassment and exertion.

"Are you sick?" he asked, frowning. His fists clenched involuntarily around the arms of the chair as he debated getting up to help. The fear in his eyes was undeniable.

Lois couldn't help but openly look at the picture of her mother, pre-cancer, over the General's shoulder before reaching for a tissue and answering, "No." She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, meeting his eyes directly. "I'm pregnant."

The words landed like a grenade.

Her father's face went through three distinct expressions in two seconds: shock, calculation, something that might have been joy before he locked it down.

"Lois! That's—" The General couldn't finish his sentence.

Lois had other plans.

"What's Project Scion?" she asked, her voice steady again despite everything. She watched his pulse jump visibly at his throat.

"Scion?" Sam asked with disdain, forcing a scoff. "Don't know what you're talking about, Lo."

"Oh, come on, General." She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, reporter mode fully engaged. "I'm sure you'd be deep in the details of an attempt to leave metahumans for dead in an alternative universe. You were the one who started this by mentioning Superman. Not me."

Her tone was matter-of-fact, almost conversational. A satisfied smile played on her lips.

His jaw tightened. "That's a top-secret project."

"Oh, that part I know." Lois reached into her bag, opened one of the files, and pulled printouts of the coordinates they'd read from the Fortress and Perry's notes on the first site that collapsed.

The General looked unconvinced.

Without a word, she pulled photographic evidence from future-Lois's phone. The secret location for the portal they were still building, fully operational in the picture. These were real pictures of a facility he had only seen renderings of.

"How did—" General Lane could not believe his daughter had pictures that wouldn't be possible today. They wouldn't be possible for at least another three weeks. The construction had only started two days ago.

"Who is your source?" he asked, still staring at the impossible photographs in disbelief.

"A reporter doesn't reveal their sources, Dad. Unless they're already dead, which is why I know I can show you this." She hit play on future-Lois.

The woman on screen looked like his daughter but older, exhausted, marked by a thin scar above her left eyebrow. Scarred physically and emotionally, her eyes were filled with revenge and dark with sorrow.

He watched in silence as alternate-Lois methodically laid out Project Scion and its consequences. Watched her hold up documents with signatures that looked like his own. Listened as she said, voice steady and cold: “Superman was their first experiment. General Lane made sure Zod had everything he needed to kill him, and we have never been so exposed to intergalactic threats”.

The video stopped.

Lane's hand was shaking when he set the phone down.

"When was this recorded?" His voice came out hoarse.

"March 8th, 2036."

"The future?"

"And a different dimension. Just like the one where Trask wants to send Superman and all metahumans." Lois watched his face carefully.

The General's nostrils flared in anger. Lieutenant Trask had mentioned a technology that could be used in case of emergency against Superman and others of his kind.

"That's not possible. I would never authorize—"

"I know. That's why I'm here." Lois leaned forward. "But someone is using your authority to do exactly what that video describes."

“Where is Superman?” The General asked but before she could answer, a sharp knock at the door interrupted them. Three quick raps, military-precise.

"Come in," General Lane called, his eyes not leaving Lois, still processing the impossible video he'd just witnessed.

The door opened. The young escort stood at attention. "The rest of your visitor party, sir."

"The rest of my visitor's—" The General was incredulously annoyed by the interruption.

Lois's eyes went wide. She turned to glare over her shoulder as Clark stepped through the doorway.

"I said to wait outside," she said through gritted teeth, her reporter smile fixed in place.

"There are no seats outside," Clark said simply, his tone mild but his eyes apologetic. The corner of his mouth twitched—almost a smirk, but not quite.

"Dismissed," the General said to the escort, who saluted and left, closing the door behind him.

And then Clark moved fully into the room. Behind him, half-hidden by his legs, a small figure with dark curls and nervous hands.

Ella.

General Lane's gaze slid past Clark to the child.

And stopped.

His expression—controlled, measured, military-perfect—cracked. Just for a second. But Lois saw it. The widening of his eyes. The way his breath caught. The slight forward lean, as if drawn by gravity.

Ella stepped fully into the room, still close to Clark but visible now, naturally gravitating into her mother's orbit. Her eyes found the window behind the General.A tree outside. A bench. Grass. 

Exits.

The General stared. It was like looking at a ghost. No, like looking at two ghosts. His wife's eyes, sharp and intelligent, in the face of his daughter. His daughter's face, young and uncertain, in the body of a child whose identity he wasn't sure of.

"Dad," Lois said carefully, watching him process. "This is Ella."

The General didn't respond. Couldn't. His mind was racing, military training battling with parental instinct, logic warring with emotion. That name.

On instinct, he pushed his chair back to get up from his seat. The loud screech of the chair on the floor startled the girl. Ella's heart rate peaked.

Clark's hearing was in overdrive with so many different heartbeats all at different levels of distress. He had a hard time having any reaction. Everything moved fast and in slow motion at the same time.

Lois looked back at Ella. Her eyes looked lost but focused. Her pupils moved at super speed, so fast Lois almost didn't see it.

Ella's breathing quickened.

Her eyes darted. Window. Door. Window again. The tree outside, clearly visible through the half-drawn blinds. She locked onto it, memorizing every detail. The rough bark. The low branch. The distance.

Lois recognized the look. She moved slowly, doing her best not to scare her. Keeping her voice soft, she tried, "Ella, honey, it's okay. He's—"

Lois raised her palm, a gesture to hold back, but the General had already taken another step forward, his hand outstretched. Not threatening. Gentle. Reaching.

In Ella's reality, this man—this face—had been part of the machinery that killed her father. She'd been too young to understand all of it, but she'd heard the adults talking. Seen the way her mother's face changed when his name came up. Learned to fear the uniform, the authority, the military presence that meant her dad wasn't coming home.

And now he was walking toward her.

Her heart hammered. Her vision tunneled. The room felt too small, the air too thick.

She couldn't breathe.

Behind the General, through the window, she could see the courtyard. The tree—right there. She could see it. She knew exactly where it was.

"Ella—" Clark started, sensing the shift, his hand tightening on her shoulder.

The General reached out, instinct overriding protocol, wanting to comfort this impossible child who looked like his daughter and his late wife and every regret he'd ever had about choosing duty over family.

"No, no, no," Lois said as she tried to hold the world still.

His hand was inches from her shoulder when—

"Dad, don't!" Lois begged her father, but—

—she was gone.

Not running. Not hiding.

Gone.

The air where she'd been standing rippled slightly, like heat shimmer, and then nothing.

"What the—" The General spun, scanning the room with a soldier's efficiency.

Lois opened the door and checked the hall. Nothing.

Clark's head snapped toward the window, his vision already piercing through the glass. "By the tree," he said, his voice tight with barely controlled panic.

Lois was already moving, shoving past her father, throwing open the office door.

"Lois—" The General held her arm tight. She looked ready to explode when he quickly continued, "Let me get the security system first."

Moving back to his desk, the General started typing away, disarming the door. He nodded to his daughter, who tapped her foot impatiently. Taking a few extra moments, he halted the cameras and started a data scrub.

Clark's long legs outpaced Lois's run, but not by much. With one turn to the left and one to the right, they found an exit that took them right to the courtyard.

Beneath the oak tree in the courtyard, Ella was on the ground. Her back pressed against the trunk, knees pulled up to her chest, breathing in short, sharp gasps.

Hyperventilating.

Clark knelt in front of her but didn't touch. Not yet. His hands were open, visible, non-threatening. "Ella, baby, I've got you," he said softly. "You're safe. You're okay. It's just us."

Lois burst through the door at a run, the General behind her, and immediately slowed when she saw them. She approached carefully, dropping to her knees beside Clark.

"Stay back," Clark said quietly but firmly, holding up a hand toward the General without looking at him. "Please."

The General stopped immediately, hands raised slightly in a gesture of non-threat. His eyes were fixed on the child, this impossible granddaughter who'd appeared and vanished and now sat trembling against his oak tree.

"Honey, look at me. Look at me, sweetheart," Lois said gently. "You're safe. You're safe, Ella. It's just us."

Ella's eyes were unfocused, panic-wide, her chest heaving with ragged breaths.

"Breathe with me, okay? In—" Lois took a slow, deep breath. "—and out. In. Out. Just like that. With me, baby."

Gradually, Ella's breathing began to slow. Her eyes found Lois's face and locked on. Anchor. Safety. Mom.

"That's it. You're okay. You're safe. It's just us." Lois reached out slowly, telegraphing the movement, giving Ella time to see it coming.

Ella launched herself into her mother's arms.

Lois held her tight, one hand cradling the back of her head, the other wrapped around her small body. "I've got you. I've got you, baby. You're okay."

Clark's hand came to rest on Lois's back, connecting all three of them.

Over Ella's shoulder, Lois met her father's eyes.

The General was standing fifteen feet away, looking at this impossible scene: Clark Kent, a man he only knew by name, and his daughter, whom he hadn't spoken to in five years—not since she became the ruthless defender of Superman—and a little girl who looked like his Lois but seemed like she could teleport.

A teleporting child. A teleporting child who was likely from another dimension.

The General's jaw worked. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough, thick with emotion he hadn't allowed himself to feel in years.

"Inside," he said finally. "All of you. Now. We need to talk."

Chapter Text

The four of them walked back into the General's office without needing to interact with any other officer. The halls were deserted, not an uncommon sight at this facility. The General's strides were urgent and confident.

Sam circled his desk and took his seat, immediately typing furiously on his computer. The keys clacked loudly in the room.

Clark looked at Lois, who was holding Ella, legs around Lois's waist and curled up so small against her shoulder that it was hard to notice the little girl was only a foot shorter than her mom.

He motioned to take Ella but Lois shook her head.

"You shouldn't be holding—" Clark said carefully, concerned about her condition, and Lois decisively rolled her eyes and puffed.

Her father saved Clark from an earful.

"Why are you standing there?" he asked. "I need to restore the systems," he added, continuing to type.

Lois sat across from her dad. Ella had her face buried into the crook of her mom's neck, still straddling Lois.

Resting her face against Ella's head, Lois closed her eyes and tried to calm her own heavy breathing. Clark's hands tracing circles on her back were the magic she needed.

Slowly opening her eyes, she faced her father, no space or use for lies between them.

Sam blinked twice and the stern military exterior gave room to the face of a sixty-three-year-old man who had denied himself a family the day his wife died and suddenly realized he still had much more to give them.

"There's a lot that you are bringing at once, Lo. Another dimension, time travel, General Zod." Sam let out a breath as he recapped what happened less than twenty minutes ago. "Lois, where do you want to start?"

"Ella is from another dimension. A reality where neither…" Lois motioned between herself and Clark. "Neither of us are there anymore. I can't fully explain this part, but she has a crystal that allows her to travel through time and space, and she ended up here."

"That covers another dimension and time travel." The General gestured for her to continue.

Lois proceeded to tell him, and showed him the videos from the other Lois. Clark shared what he saw when investigating the site of the explosion that almost killed Perry White.

"I'm going to need some time to plan this. Trask is my most trusted man. Anyone who is tipped off on this can be easily compromised." The engines in his head twisted as the words came out of his mouth. 

He shook his head slightly, cataloguing plans.

Lois bit her lip, took a side glance at Clark, and decided to ask, "You could work with Superman."

"This is not about Superman, Lois," he immediately shot her down.

"Well, sir—" Clark fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. Lois's brows creased as she touched his leg. He wasn't sure if it was reassurance or astonishment.

She came here with the decision to tell him all, and he was ready to do just that.

Clark removed his glasses, straightened up in his seat, and looked into his future father-in-law's eyes. "It's about me too."

Sam let out another chuckle, this one out of pure nervousness, and he let his body relax back onto the seat.

"I didn't know you could disappear into thin air," the General said in true awe.

Ella started to relax her grip around Lois. Slowly she lifted her face to look around.

"Oh, no. I can't. She can,” Clark said. His nervous laughter died as soon as he realized he had no idea what to expect. His own eyes grew wide. "We don't really know what to expect," he admitted quietly. "There's no roadmap for Kryptonian-human genetics."

Always observant, Ella took it all in. Her grandfather's laid-back posture, her father putting his glasses back on, slowly. Her parents' fingers intertwined. Her mother smiled at it all.

"And you are pregnant?" Sam asked, still processing.

"Due in October," Lois said, and Clark gave their linked hands another squeeze.

"Is it…" The General's question trailed off, but his eyes traced all the way to Ella, who was now confident enough to look directly at him.

"A boy." Clark's voice caught slightly. He looked at Ella, almost as tall as Lois, and felt the weight of all those years they missed.

His chest tightened. He was mourning a reality that only existed for Ella.

“Ella, your name was my wife’s name. Did your mom tell you that?” The General’s eyes looked for hers but didn’t force it. She nodded.

“It makes you even more special to me. Okay?” he said quietly.

It took all he had in him to keep his hands to himself. He was a four-star General, and yet here he was, afraid of scaring a little girl he'd just met. The realization settled in his chest—he'd do anything for her.

He swallowed hard, fixed his posture, and with two blinks he was fully back in service.

“Superman would be of great help. I must warn you, there are some dangerous chemicals there,” Sam said, giving Clark a respectful nod.

“I’ve seen what Trask was using in the lab,” Clark said. 

A blip on the General’s screen caught his attention. Holding a breath, he reached into his drawer, pulled out a burner military phone, and tossed it to Clark.

“You three should go. I’ll call you.”

Chapter Text

The ride back from the base was quiet. Lois sat in the back again, holding Ella's hand, the girl's head heavy against her shoulder. Ella's eyes were closed, a soft little snore, mouth tipped open.

No words were needed. Every few miles she glanced at Clark and found so much love her chest would hurt.

As the highway rolled past them, Lois allowed herself to feel her daughter's hand, the love in Clark's eyes. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and touched her stomach. It didn't take long, and she heard it.

Muffled. Low. Rhythmic.

Tum-dum-dum. Tum-dum-dum.

Her eyes snapped open.

Her hand slid from her stomach to her thigh. The friction of her hand over the denim was a needed distraction from the way her body hummed with each beat, in sync with the life she was creating.

Looking up, she found Clark in the rearview mirror. His eyes were glistening, his smile sparkling.

"I guess this goes on the list of what we didn't know to expect," Lois said with a smile, then closed her eyes again and let out a contented sigh.

She didn't remember getting out of the car or making it to the couch. When she woke, the lights were dimmed, the room warm. Even though March was already spring-like in Metropolis, Clark had the fireplace going, its gentle crackling a soothing backdrop to the quiet apartment.

The next time Lois opened her eyes was because something soft and damp touched her cheek. Blinking reality into focus, she found herself staring up at Clark and Ella, both fresh from the shower with damp hair, matching striped pajama bottoms and white tees.

"How long was I out?" she asked, pulling herself up on the couch.

"It's okay, Mommy. Daddy said the baby makes you really tired," Ella said proudly, moving from the coffee table to sit next to Lois.

Clark's jaw dropped and Lois's eyes both widened and then zeroed in on him.

"Honey? That's not how I remember saying it," he chuckled nervously, his eyes pleading with Lois to believe he could be more sensitive than that.

Ella shrugged, gave Lois a side hug, and said, "You can rest. I can take care of Daddy."

Lois wrapped her arm around Ella and sniffed the top of her head. "Good night, kiddo."

With a final kiss on Lois's cheek, Ella got up and extended her hand to Clark. "Can you read me a book?"

He took her extended hand and pulled himself up from the couch. Before leading her away, he leaned down and kissed Lois on the lips. "There's carbonara in the kitchen," he whispered, then kissed her again.

He squeezed Ella's hand, signaling he was ready. "Sure. I don't know if your mom has any kids' books," he said, letting her lead him toward the bedroom while pretending to look around.

"We were reading Little Women before," Ella suggested, not mentioning the accident.

"Little Women? Aren't you seven?" Clark teased. Ella laughed it away.

"Oh, that's on my nightstand. I started re-reading it the other day." Lois's tone carried the awareness of the coincidence.

"Can we leave the hallway light on?" Ella asked lightly, like a kid who wasn't asking at all. That was the last chatter she could make out before Clark closed the bedroom door.

Lois took a moment to gauge her body's reaction to Clark's carbonara—normally a favorite, but lately, nothing sat right. Taking her chances, she made her way into the kitchen and breathed in relief when the smell didn't turn her stomach.

In less than twenty minutes, Clark was back. Lois had spread the files across the coffee table and was back in planning mode.

He quietly approached, stepping between her and the coffee table, and paused in front of her. His eyes locked on hers, halting the questions she'd been about to ask.

Gently, he took the papers from her hand and placed them back on the table. Then he sat next to her, resting his elbow on the back of the couch and his head on his hand.

Their eyes were locked the entire time.

She leaned back and mirrored his position. He reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. "Hi."

His eyes traveled to her mouth, unashamedly.

She leaned forward, so close they could feel the heat of each other's breath.

"Hi." She licked her lips, barely touching his.

Clark shifted in his seat but didn't move his face any closer. "You are a very hot mom, do you know that?"

She couldn't help but burst out laughing. "I love you despite your pick-up lines, Clark."

He didn't mind that his lines were lame. She was kissing him senseless either way.

Somehow he pulled her fully into his lap without her realizing. "I'm serious," Clark mumbled against her neck. She ran her hands through his hair. "You are amazing with her." Trust Clark to break a heated moment in the most earnest way.

She sat back on his knee, slowly peeling his confused face away from hers. The desire was still behind her eyes, her face tight as she swallowed the lump in her throat. As much as she'd love to make out the rest of the night—God, did she need him—there were pressing things for them to discuss.

"What if she doesn't stay, Clark?" Her eyes filled with tears.

Chapter Text

Clark cupped her face, using his thumb to brush away the tears that escaped. 

It was going to be Ella’s choice. They had made it very clear.

Before having the phone and the letter, Lois was confident. The choice was clear. Why would she go back to a reality where her family was still gone?

But now. 

Now Lois wondered how much of her alternate self's relationship with “Uncle T” was known to Ella. Or how much it mattered to her. She couldn't rule out that Ella might choose differently than Lois hoped.

"If she wants to go back, then… we'll help her get there safely and never forget the time we got to spend together." His voice cracked at the end.

Lois lowered her head onto his neck and let her tears roll, dampening his shirt. His arms wrapped tightly around her.

“She’s been through so much. And it may sound crazy because she’s only seven, Lo, but… I trust she knows what’s best for her,” Clark whispered into her ear.

The words had a different impact than what he was hoping for and he felt her start to tremble. He rubbed her back, his large, warm hands helping soothe the sobs.

Kissing her temple, he tried a different perspective. "This seven-year-old girl opened an interdimensional portal all by herself. Went on a mission to save me from Zod. All because she wanted her mom back, Lo. I don't want to have false hope, but…"

That did it.

Her breathing started to settle, but she didn't feel like lifting herself up from him. Clark's body was naturally hot, a fact that made him her winter personal warmer.

He trailed butterfly kisses along her neck.

"We need to look for a bigger place either way," he said, a smile starting to form on his lips.

The baby.

They hadn't talked about how their lives were about to change one way or another and how they also needed to prepare for that on top of saving Clark and all metahumans.

Lois sniffled, bringing her right hand around his neck to play with a little curl that was teasing the nape of his neck.

"Are you inviting yourself to move in?"

"I thought that was part of the package with that ring on your finger."

"Right. Right. We can look for a three-bedroom. How is that?"

"Sounds perfect."

"And I'm not sharing a bathroom with two boys."

Clark laughed a genuine, happy laugh. She joined him. His laugh melted into a chuckle that quickly dissolved into silence.

It wasn’t his first attempt to start that conversation. About the baby who wasn’t Ella but a boy they still needed to meet and have no idea what to expect. A baby he was sure she was happy about, but she couldn’t quite stop mourning Ella.

She always deflected.

Lois Lane was a master at that and, over the years, Clark learned that all she needed was space. Which he was more than happy to give her.

He turned to the side as much as he could and gave a soft kiss on her forehead.

His lips lingered for a beat. For a moment, the sound of their breathing and crackling of the dying fire was all they could hear.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly. "If you don't want to talk about the baby, that's okay. As long as you are."

Clark felt her hand continue to play with his hair. He felt her lick her lips once. Twice. She shifted her weight, sliding closer to him. He brought his arms around her waist, giving her a full bear hug.

"I don't know." Her answer was quietly whispered in his ear. His grip on her instinctively tightened.

She sniffled again and continued, “I feel like I should be feeling happiness but I’m not. And I feel guilty about it.” Her voice was barely audible, muffled against his shoulder.

Clark exhaled. “There’s no right way to feel, Lo.”

“I know I will be. Happy. I just can’t feel it right now,” she said.

“That’s okay, babe,” Clark pressed his lips to the side of her neck, humming as he breathed her in. She raised her head from his shoulder, her eyes dark with raw need.

She ran both hands up his torso and into his hair, curls wrapping around her fingers. He bit his lip, exhaled hard, and pulled her tighter against him. She fisted the back of his hair and crashed her lips into his.

There was no teasing or sweetness in the kiss. It was passionate, needy. Healing.

They were lost in loud, wet kisses when Lois’s bedroom door clicked open. Lois jumped off of Clark’s lap. 

She wasn’t about to traumatize Ella in this dimension too.

The little girl came in, rubbing her eyes, adjusting to the much brighter living room. “Mommy?”

Lois's fingers flew over the buttons of her blouse, hastily fastening them before tugging the hem down to hide her undone pants. 

Behind her, Clark sat frozen, face red and a pillow strategically covering his lap.

Lois cleared her throat and found her voice. “Yes, honey?” 

Ella had her mother’s phone in her hands. “This was beeping. It woke me up.”

The girl threw the phone on Lois’s lap and curled next to her with eyes half-open. Lois took the phone and slid it onto the coffee table without looking. 

She nudged Ella up and took her hand in hers. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s get back to sleep.” Turning to look over her shoulder, she mouthed “be right back” to Clark.

Clark reached for the phone. A notification displayed in the corner. He pulled it down.

A filestore application update: “New file available”. 9 days ago.

He frowned at the time tag. Then he checked the clock; the phone was still stuck in 2036.

“This was around the day she died.” Clark thought to himself and clicked on it. 

A blank screen with a single input. Passcode.

He tapped the photo album and scrolled down to when Ella was born. She had never told them her birthday, but it wasn’t hard to ballpark the right month.

A tiny baby. No more than a couple of days. Tapping on details, he checked the date 10/13/2028.

Within a few attempts, he got in. If the photo was taken on the 13th and she was a couple days old... The passcode: 10112028.

The app looked like a bare-bones directory. A video file was listed under the date March 9, 2036. The day Lois died.

Clark’s thumb hovered over the play button. Then moved away.

He’d wait for Lois for this.

Chapter Text

The room was dark but not pitch black. The curtains were thick enough only to keep the harsh light away. Lois wasn't a fan of total darkness, a fact she hadn't realized until she had stood on the edge of that pocket universe and saw what black holes looked like.

Since then she had changed to this set of shades.

Ella slipped back under the covers on the right side of the bed, typically Lois's. Sitting on the edge of the bed, next to her daughter's head, Lois's eyes took in all of Ella's expressions.

Her eyes were blue, her hair black and curly. Dimples on both sides, just like Clark, and a long face with a pointy chin, like her. Lois couldn't help but be in awe at how much this girl seemed to be the perfect mix of her and Clark. And, just in this moment, she realized how powerful their love could be—it had created another human whose courage and strength humbled her to her core.

She couldn't help but lean in for a kiss on the forehead, her hand lightly cupping Ella's cheek.

"Was it just the phone that woke you up?" Lois asked as she peeled her lips away, brushing off any moisture with her thumb.

Ella broke the gaze.

Lois tilted her head. Clark would do the same thing—avoid her gaze when he had a difficult confession to make. She reached to tuck her hair for the millionth time since they'd met. No need to say anything else.

Ella held the comforter all the way to her chin, so tightly her knuckles turned white.

Taking a deep breath, she answered with a question of her own. "What would happen if I didn't want to go back?"

"Well, if you don't want to go back, then I'd hope you'd stay with me. And your dad. We may be from another dimension, but we love you," Lois answered calmly.

She studied Ella's reaction the entire time.

Unreadable.

Lois waited. There was no point in rushing it.

Ella nodded and pulled Lois's hand into hers. Then she asked, quietly, "And if I want to go back?"

The question felt like a punch in the gut.

Lois licked her suddenly dry lips at the thought of the possibility. Swallowing hard, she answered, "Then we would need to make sure you can get there safely."

"And how would you do that?" Her voice was low but sure.

The thudding of her heart was now deafening. The blood was pumping so fast she almost felt dizzy. It was such a simple question, and one that felt oddly like fact gathering. 

Ella was like a mini reporter and Lois dreaded the story she was writing.

"I– I think that's more of a Gary-question. I'm sure he and your dad—"

"No. I mean. How are you going to make sure it's safe?"

Lois was glad the room was so dark because the last thing Ella needed was to see the depth of emotions in her eyes.

"W-who is your family there?" Lois had a hard time finding her voice.

"Now?" Ella asked.

Lois closed her eyes and nodded. The tears started to flow.

"Uncle T." Ella beamed when she said his name.

Of course, Lois thought to herself.

"Gary would have to create the portal and your dad and I would take you to Uncle T. Make sure everything is okay before we go."

Ella's smile only grew.

Lois's heart shrank proportionally.

"Good night, mom."

"G'night, kiddo."

Lois never wanted to leave her bedroom so fast and so quietly in her life. She held herself together as much as she could, breaking down on the third step into the living room. Sobs and tears jolted Clark from the couch, and he dropped future-Lois's phone next to him.

"Hey, what happened, Lo?" he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her neck as he lifted her a few inches from the ground.

"I don't–," sob…sniffle…sniffle, "I don't think she's going to stay, Clark." Lois clutched his shoulders.

Clark lifted his head from her neck and looked at her. Her face was all puffy and red from crying. "Why are you saying that, Lois?"

And just by looking at her, he knew. Ella had said it herself. 

It was his turn to swallow hard and not find the strength to use his voice. His eyes watered, lips quivering. He buried his face in her neck again.

Clark held her tightly. This reality had not really crossed his mind. So she cried on his shoulder. And he cried in hers. And they held each other more. Until they were both done.

With a sniffle, he kissed her neck and carried her to the couch, her legs wrapped around him. They sat tangled together.

Clark's eyes fell on the phone beside him. He'd found something that might change everything - or make it worse. Part of him wanted to throw the device across the room, to pretend he'd never unlocked it. But Lois needed to know. 

"There's something here you need to see," Clark said, reaching out for the phone.

Lois raised her eyebrow.

He flipped the phone around in his hand, almost testing its weight on his hand. “This is more than a phone, Lo.”

She continued to eye him quizzically. 

“I was looking to see what else was in there—”

“Clark Kent, were you snooping around?” She tried to playfully ease up the mood. By the roll of his eyes she knows it worked.

“This is set up as part of a peer to peer system. You had a lot of devices all cross-syncing ”

“Backups,” Lois said to herself. Clark nodded.

Clark unlocked the phone, slid twice and hit play on an audio file. 

At first the sound was muffled, as if recorded from a bag or a pocket. The voices were hard to make out and Clark started mouthing them to her.

"We have a deal with Zod, General. He will give us the pow—" The voice, which seemed to be Trask, was interrupted by a loud thud. A crackling sound clearly showed the recording device was likely thrown on the ground.

Then her own voice came in clear, "You are done, dad."

"What are you doing?" His tone was filled with anger.

"Earth doesn't need a super-powered General Lane." Lois could hear the disdain she had for her dad at that moment. She couldn't picture herself feeling anywhere close to this toward her father. It almost made her throw up.

"Lois!" General Lane went from anger to despair.

"I'm not going to let you destroy the world. Even if I don't get to—."

An explosion in the background.

The audio file ended.

“I triggered the bomb.” Lois's voice was low and full with terror.

Chapter Text

Clark stood making scrambled eggs, trying not to think about audio recordings and explosions and shocked there was a version of Lois who killed her father in a suicidal mission.  

The padding of small feet gave him something else to focus on and brought a smile to his face even if, this time, it didn’t spread to his eyes.

He felt her hovering presence next to him and greeted her without turning, “Good morning, Ella Bella.” 

The girl giggled, “Grandma says that too. G’morning.”

Clark turned around to place the eggs in a large common plate and found her face beaming at him, clutching on a spiralled notebook and a pen. He chuckled at the familiarity of the sight.

“What do you have there?” He asked, never stopping to mix the eggs.

“I’m collecting facts for my story.” She said with a smile on her face

“Oh is that so?”

“Yep. And I have questions for you.” The P popped in her mouth when she said it. Like mother, like daughter. He thought to himself.

“Do you? Is this like an interview then?” He turned to look over his shoulder and cast her a smile.

“Kinda.”

“Okay. Ask away.” He turned off the stove and motioned for her to hand him a plate for the eggs. Moving around her he grabbed the last two toasts and added them to the stack.

Ella hopped off of the counter, and grabbed the two mugs.

“Need help?” He asked her. With one cup in each hand and her notebook trapped between her lips she simply shook her head.

When they plopped down on the couch, he asked “Should we get your mom?”

“She really needs to sleep.” Ella answered, shaking her head.

Clark went back to the kitchen to get them some smaller individual plates where he placed a toast and two spoonfuls of his Kent’s scrambled eggs.

“Okay. First question. Can you fix the crystal that takes me back?”

Clark took an opportunistic sip of his hot cocoa before answering, “Yes. Gary and I can fix it.”

Ella carefully jotted down the answer, moving to the next question,“And where will it take me?”

Clark smiled to himself, catching a side glance of her notebook with the questions all prepared. “What do you mean, it will take you to your world.”

“I do but, will I get there and be at school, or home, or the street?” Ella openly gestured with her hands as she talked.

“Oh, I— Mmm. Good question. I don’t know. I’m sure Gary can figure out. Where would you like to go?”

“Hall of justice.” She was quick on the answer. Clark was glad she didn’t need to think too hard as to where “safe” was.

“How long is the portal open for?” She asked objectively.

“I— It’s a— It’s a bit complicated because it depends on if we want to keep it open and kinda how many people are going. Gary can calculate that for us.” Clark took another bite of his toast.

“Mmm. Okay”, she didn’t seem too satisfied with his answer, “When will you and Gary work on the crystal that takes me back?”

He shifted in his seat, not expecting that to be the line of questioning she’d be going into. Shaking his head to recompose he tried, “After General Lane and I can put an end to Zod's plans.”

She scribbled on her notes and continued, “And when is that?” 

This time she stared right at him. The intensity of it made him adjust in his seat. “I— I need to meet with your grandfather. It shouldn't be too long. Why?”

Her eyes dropped, her face got serious. 

“I’m worried.”

With a deep breath, Clark wrapped his arm around her shoulders, comforting, “Honey, what are you worried about?”

“It’s just… It’s been a long time.” She said quietly, her voice heavy with sorrow.

“Since you’ve been gone?”

She nodded as her pout got bigger and bigger.

“Ella, you don’t need to worry or be afraid. I promise you, we can get you back but we do need to make sure it is safe.” He hugged her tightly as if he never wanted to let her go.

“I know. It’s not that.”

“What is it then?”

She dropped her gaze, “I don’t want to make you mad.”

“Nothing you can tell me will make me mad at you, Ella.” He said cupping her face and gently lifting her chin to face him. There was so much pain in her eyes that, in that moment, he would trade all of his superpower for just one: the power to take her pain away.

“I worry about Uncle T.”

His heart wrenched.

Clark swallowed hard, opened his mouth to say something but words didn’t come out. 

Ella decided to put an end to their uncomfortable silence and added, “He is all alone now.”

He took a deep breath, leaned to kiss her forehead and whispered, “He probably misses you a lot and is worried too, right?”

All Ella could do was nod her head against Clark’s embrace.

“I’ll ask your grandfather for us to go as quickly as possible okay?”

She sniffled tears that never got to come out and pulled away to put some toast in her mouth. 

They both ate in silence for a few seconds until Clark asked her, “That was it? One question for an interview? Woof that was easy.” He faked relief, teasing her.

“I was going to ask more but now I think you and mommy don’t know a lot.” She said very nonchalantly, eliciting a full belly laugh from Clark.

“What? But I know who my next source is.” She had a mischievous smile.

“Is that so?” He asked in between bites

“Yeah. I need Gary.”

They were still laughing it off when Lois made her way to the living room, taking a seat next to Clark and stealing the toast that was on the way to his mouth. Her smile didn’t even try to be apologetic.

She kissed his cheek before taking a bite.

“Feeling better, mommy?” Ella asked as she fixed a new plate and handed it to Lois.

Lois reached for the plate with a smile and a frown. She was so careful to hold her cool in the conversation last night that she was truly surprised Ella picked up on anything.

“Yeah, I just needed a good sleep. Thanks you guys for letting me sleep in.”

“It’s nine on a Sunday, Lo.” Clark pointed out.

“Oh God, really?!” She faked getting up, “I’m going back then.” 

Ella laughed at Lois’s dramatic performance. Clark simply pulled her back down.

“I think we should go to the farm today.” Lois said as Clark got up to bring her a cup of hot cocoa.

“Yay!!” Ella squealed. 

He came back, stopping briefly for a heat-vision warm up before handing the mug to her. Lois winced at the heat but took a sip anyway, whispering “Thanks.”

“That’s a great idea. I have five missed calls from Ma.”

Lois turned to Ella and asked, “Baby, would you be okay maybe to stay with grandma and grandpa for a few days?”

“Where are you going to be?”

“I need to help daddy and my father so we can stop Zod, honey.”

“I don’t want to not be with you.”

Lois’s chest tightened again. She didn’t want to be away either. “Honey, I know. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

“That’s what you said before you went to see grandpa Lane too.”

She pulled Ella to her immediately, kissing her face as if she needed to remember how it felt to have her lips on Ella’s skin, the heat of her body, the slight tremble that she wasn’t sure if it was her body or Ella’s. 

Lois was memorizing it all.

“I’m not going anywhere dangerous, I promise.”

“Then how are you getting Zod?”

There was no safe way to face Zod. This, all three of them knew.

Chapter Text

Since she first found out about Ella, Lois started having these flashbacks. These memories from her childhood. From a time that was so buried that the richness of the events and emotions overwhelmed her.

Probably hormones, she thought to herself.

Even the rationalization didn't push away the images that started playing in her head. In this memory, she and Lucy were in the back seat of her dad's old station wagon. They were going to see her grandma for the weekend. The ride was always filled with music. Ella, her mom, loved to sing and played singing games to distract them from the long ride.

Her family was creating a very different memory of visiting grandma. 

No music or singing but, hey, they were in a flying saucer. At the age of seven, looking out the window at the Delaware Bridge, she would never have imagined this would be her reality.

The T-Craft landed with a light jolt.

Lois opened her eyes, looking around, realizing they were already at the Kent farm. "Definitely faster than the station wagon," she muttered.

Martha was at the T-Craft door even before they had laid out the stairs.

"Clark, we were scared to death you didn't call."

"Sorry, Ma," Clark called out, still from inside the craft. Ella came down first, not thinking twice before crashing into Martha.

"Oh my sweet pie, I missed you!" Martha hugged her back and filled her with kisses.

"Your father went to town.” Martha continued to call out loudly to make sure Clark could hear her from the inside, even though she knew he had super hearing. “We ran out of coffee," she brought her hands to her hair in mock despair, "and I told Jon, 'Jon! Lois is coming! We need coffee!'" She chuckled at herself as she embraced Lois.

Clark simply looked at his fiancée and said nothing. He hugged his mom, whispering another apology in her ear.

It didn't take more than twenty minutes for them to be seated in the small farm living room, the coffee pot still crackling as the water boiled. Lois looked at her watch, calculating how much time she had before the coffee brewed and made her unavoidably nauseous.

"Martha, Jon, we have something to share."

"Honey, I don't want to burst your bubble, but it's very clear," Martha said with a smile.

Lois desperately looked at Clark, Ella, then down at herself, smoothing out how the shirt wrinkled around her stomach.

"Just look around," Jon said. 

And Lois did. She looked up and around and it was like the whole room was twinkling with invisible stars.

It took her a moment to realize it came from the sun shining on her engagement ring. Right. We didn't tell them about this either.

Her heart raced as the clock advanced. She probably had a minute and they were still zero for three on the bombshells they needed to drop.

"Oh, right! Can't believe I almost forgot—" Lois turned, eyes wide, to Clark. "Oh, Clark, I don't mean—" Clark cut her off with a kiss, whispering, "It's okay."

"Congratulations!" Both Martha and Jon exclaimed even though they were really just waiting for the "when."

“I was waiting so long. Clark showed me the ring ages ago!” Martha said laughing.

“Ages, huh?” Lois cast him a sly smile and a light peck before she turned back to her future in-laws.

"We have some other news."

"Oh. Two surprises in one day? That might be too much for this ol'mush." Martha pushed her husband's shoulder playfully.

Ella quietly got off the couch and headed for the kitchen. She closed its door and came back. Her grandparents had a funny look on their faces. Her mom mouthed, "Thank you." 

With the door closed, Lois should have more time.

Clark shifted forward, with a huge smile on his face. He looked at Lois, his heart skipping a beat at her slight nod. 

He cleared his throat and announced, bracing himself for it, "Ma, we are having a baby."

The couple was expecting a reaction bigger than the engagement announcement. They expected the opposite of what they got. Martha's mouth was hanging open not from surprise but confusion. Jon let out a nervous chuckle.

Lois started to sweat, heart racing, palms clammy. The Kents had been so warm and welcoming that she never, for a split second, thought they'd get anything but that loving reaction.

The gears in her mind went into overdrive as she tried to read in any and every bit of unspoken communication. Clark said they were traditional but open-minded. Was this about having a baby "out of wedlock"? she thought. 

Martha was the first one to break the silence. "Honey, it's not that we're not happy. But… she is sitting right here."

Clark let out a breath and nervous laughter all combined in the same rattling sound. He draped his arm around Lois, trying to get her to relax. "Ma, we are not talking about Ella. Lois is pregnant. It's a boy."

Wide eyes and an "oh"-shaped mouth froze on Martha's face for several seconds. Like she was stuck in a moment. When she released it, it was a mixture of laughter and tears. 

She got up from her seat and gave Lois a big hug. Then Clark. Jon followed suit. 

There were a lot of tears between hugs and kisses. 

Martha didn't hold back in asking questions about when she was due; if they were getting married before the baby was born; when they were moving in together. The ring was proof there was no "if."

Turning to Ella, Martha asked, "Are you excited about being a big sister?"

Ella blinked a few times and decided for a shy smile before giving her grandma a barely visible nod.

"I don't think you need that coffee after all!" Jon smiled at her.

"Not only do I not need it, I'm physically fighting the smell. If you guys will excuse me." Her calm excuse became hurried steps as soon as she stood up.

"Grandpa?" Ella's voice broke the silence.

"Yes, honey." Jon met her gaze.

"Can we groom the horses?" Her question was innocent. 

Behind her tone was a sense of familiarity that Jon decided to welcome. "Groom the hor— you know? They do need a good brushing."

Clark watched it with a dumbstruck flair. The last time they were over, Ella and his mom were inseparable, but today, for some reason, she needed her grandfather. He looked for a clue from his mom, but her wise stare was also impenetrable.

"Clark, you look like more has happened."

"Ma, there is. Ella is not from the future. She is from a different reality."

"What do you mean, Clark?"

"I mean there are other worlds out there. Where things happen differently. We are all there."

"Oh."

"Yeah… and Ma? That place is not a very good place. She doesn't have any of us anymore there."

He studied his mom, trying to give her enough time to process his words. "We now know more about how she came here. I'm working with Lois's father to make sure we can make both worlds safe."

"Clark Joseph Kent, you are not sending this child back, are you?"

The shimmer in his eyes was probably “answer” enough, but he didn't want to leave room for questions. "She will choose, Ma. I just don't think she will choose to stay."

In the barn, Ella worked on the horse quietly. Methodically she brushed the side of Buttercup, following her fur, with each stroke a cloud of dust. She sneezed once and rubbed her nose against the back of her hand. 

Jon saw and chuckled. On the second sneeze he had time to reach for his handkerchief and offer it to her. "She is very dusty," she chuckled back.

"You know, I have a big sister. She and I used to do a lot of horse grooming," he said.

"I can't wait to meet my brother," she said.

"Small babies… They cry a lot," he commented.

"That's why I want to help mommy with it. I can be very careful."

"I can see that. Buttercup is enjoying her… beauty spa." 

"Mommy wants me to stay here for a while. She and daddy have work. She says it won't be dangerous but I know it will."

Ella brushes Buttercup some more and this time, it is Buttercup who sneezes.

Ella and Jon laugh.

“But mom said she will be back”. Ella said before giving Buttercup a kiss and a neck hug.

“Good job,” Jon said, approvingly. 

After a beat, he continued,"Your mother is very smart, Ella. I have never seen her not keep her word."

Ella nodded. She put the brush away and started to pick out the blankets for the saddle. Jon smiled every time she reached for the right next step.

"I hope you are right." She smiled at him.

"I am." He extends his hand to her so they can walk back together. She held his hand but walked, skipping a step. Jon chuckled at the amount of energy she had.

It wasn’t just the way she was walking but her face was also shining.“You are happier,” Jon said.

Ella looked up at him with a toothy grin, “I can’t wait for mom to be back. She said she will help me say goodbye to Uncle T after Zod is gone."

"Who?"