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Okey doke, Boys and Girls! This will be a very, very short fic. It was inspired by my need to do something about the atrocity committed by TPTB in "Wither."
Chapter 1 - Realization
Lana was curled up on a couch in one of the many rarely used rooms in Luthor Mansion, mindlessly watching television. Lex was, yet again, out of town on business and she had nothing to do except gestate. Ever since the charity ball, Lex had become more and more distant. Their times together were shorter and spread increasingly farther apart. She had been wondering for some time if she had made yet another in a long line of blunders, and that was before she learned about her pregnancy.
The only time Lana and Lex had had unprotected sex was the first time, and she was paying for that bit of stupidity on a constant basis. She wanted to be a mom, desperately so at times, but not now…and she was increasingly unsure if he was a man she could raise a child with.
The baby was the only reason Lana was hanging on. She had few resources and even fewer options, and now with a baby on the way, that list of options had dwindled to none. She was stuck with Lex for the time being, for the good of the baby. A small voice in the back of her head told her it was good for her health, too.
Once, in a drunken rage, Lex had threatened to have Lana declared an unfit mother after the birth if she ever tried to leave him. More and more, he was making her feel like equal parts trophy girlfriend and breeding machine. The ever-flowing river of love that had once poured from forth from him had all but dried up.
Lex had made it crystal clear to Lana that her duty was the baby. No trips were allowed, to the point that he didn’t want her to leave the mansion unless absolutely necessary. She was to take every precaution, reasonable or otherwise, that would ensure the good health of his heir. No mention was ever made of the child being hers, too.
Finally facing what she had known deep down inside for some time, Lana admitted to herself that she wanted out of this relationship, but she had no idea how to get free. The only person she knew who had ever been able to stand up to the Luthors was not available to her any longer. She was pretty sure that any call to Clark Kent would be turned away unanswered.
And why should Clark help me? Lana wondered bitterly. Sure, breaking us up was his idea, but since then I’ve been a royal b!tch to him. News of my pregnancy probably hasn’t helped matters very much either. My one-time best friend and lover is lost to me. I just wish I had listened to what he and Chloe had had to say about Lex.
Lana was so wrapped up in her misery, that she didn’t notice a beautiful blonde woman entering the room. Lana might’ve gone on not noticing her had the blonde not stepped up and introduced herself.
“Hello, Lana Lang, I am called Raya,” said the blonde.
Pulled out of her dark thoughts by her basic politeness, Lana wondered who this woman was. She knew this woman wasn’t a new member of the house staff. The staff members doted on Lana and she knew all of them by name. They were her one constant source of happiness these days.
“Who are you again?” Lana asked.
“My name is Raya.”
“And how do you know my name? Do you work for Lex? Has he hired a new personal assistant?”
“Lex Luthor?” Raya asked. “From what Kal-El has told me, there is not a man on this world I would be less likely to want to know, much less work with.” Proudly, she stated, “I was the primary research assistant for Jor-El of Krypton. None other than a member of the House of El may claim my assistance.”
Lana immediately latched onto the name Kal-El. Kal-El, she thought, he’s the being that Aethyr and Nam-Ek were seeking after the second meteor shower…and this Raya knows him, too. Does that make her an alien? Instinctively, Lana began to edge away from Raya, who merely raised an eyebrow in response.
“You’re…you’re one of them,” Lana said fearfully, “an alien like Aethyr and Nam-Ek.”
“If by alien you mean, not native to this world, then you are correct. I am from Krypton, a long-dead planet in a different galaxy. The fact that you know and fear the names of those criminals bodes well for you, Lana Lang.”
“If you’re one of them, I know I can’t do anything to you since Lex's meteor rocks are locked in the vault, and I can’t get away from you, so…what do you want with me? I’m just an ordinary college girl.”
“One that is newly pregnant,” Raya added, “with Lex Luthor’s baby.”
“How do you know that?”
“I could say that I can hear the baby’s heartbeat or that I can see the baby in your womb, both of which are true, but I learned that information in conversation with Kal-El.”
“Who is this Kal-El you keep talking about? Aethyr and Nam-Ek came to Earth looking to find him.”
“If it is answers you want, Lana Lang, I have them for you.” Raya reached into a pocket and pulled out what looked to Lana to be a long, clear crystal. Setting the crystal on the coffee table in front of the couch Lana was on, Raya said, “In that crystal are all of the answers you have wanted for so long.” Lana reached out to take the crystal, but Raya stopped her. “Do not touch that until you are sure of what you want and know what you are doing.”
Hungry for answers, Lana said intently, “Then teach me.”
Raya smiled for the first time and said, “Gladly.”
They spent a long time together as Raya explained the origin of the crystal and its function. “I found the time crystal amidst some rubble while trying to repair Kal-El’s Fortress of Solitude. That crystal should not have been there unless it had been created by Jor-El for a specific reason, its only purpose is to alter the time stream. When I touched the time crystal, all of Kal-El’s memories from the original time stream entered my mind.”
“Original time stream?” Lana asked.
“Yes, Kal-El changed time, what you would call ‘changing history.’ It is a risky process, normally undertaken only in the most dire of circumstances. In this case, his reason was woefully insufficient.”
Curious, Lana asked, “What reason did he have?”
“To save the life of a single woman, a woman of no significance beyond her small circle of acquaintances.”
“Who?”
“The woman he loved, and still loves to this day, his betrothed, Lana Lang.”
“But…but…but that’s me. I’ve never been engaged and I was dating…was dating…” Oh my God, I was dating Clark at the time. She can’t be talking about Clark! But then everything fell into place, like the tumblers in a lock, and Lana realized that Raya was talking about Clark. All of her suspicions about him and his abilities, all of the things about him that never quite made sense came into focus: Clark was Kal-El, he was an alien!
Chapter 1 - Realization
Lana was curled up on a couch in one of the many rarely used rooms in Luthor Mansion, mindlessly watching television. Lex was, yet again, out of town on business and she had nothing to do except gestate. Ever since the charity ball, Lex had become more and more distant. Their times together were shorter and spread increasingly farther apart. She had been wondering for some time if she had made yet another in a long line of blunders, and that was before she learned about her pregnancy.
The only time Lana and Lex had had unprotected sex was the first time, and she was paying for that bit of stupidity on a constant basis. She wanted to be a mom, desperately so at times, but not now…and she was increasingly unsure if he was a man she could raise a child with.
The baby was the only reason Lana was hanging on. She had few resources and even fewer options, and now with a baby on the way, that list of options had dwindled to none. She was stuck with Lex for the time being, for the good of the baby. A small voice in the back of her head told her it was good for her health, too.
Once, in a drunken rage, Lex had threatened to have Lana declared an unfit mother after the birth if she ever tried to leave him. More and more, he was making her feel like equal parts trophy girlfriend and breeding machine. The ever-flowing river of love that had once poured from forth from him had all but dried up.
Lex had made it crystal clear to Lana that her duty was the baby. No trips were allowed, to the point that he didn’t want her to leave the mansion unless absolutely necessary. She was to take every precaution, reasonable or otherwise, that would ensure the good health of his heir. No mention was ever made of the child being hers, too.
Finally facing what she had known deep down inside for some time, Lana admitted to herself that she wanted out of this relationship, but she had no idea how to get free. The only person she knew who had ever been able to stand up to the Luthors was not available to her any longer. She was pretty sure that any call to Clark Kent would be turned away unanswered.
And why should Clark help me? Lana wondered bitterly. Sure, breaking us up was his idea, but since then I’ve been a royal b!tch to him. News of my pregnancy probably hasn’t helped matters very much either. My one-time best friend and lover is lost to me. I just wish I had listened to what he and Chloe had had to say about Lex.
Lana was so wrapped up in her misery, that she didn’t notice a beautiful blonde woman entering the room. Lana might’ve gone on not noticing her had the blonde not stepped up and introduced herself.
“Hello, Lana Lang, I am called Raya,” said the blonde.
Pulled out of her dark thoughts by her basic politeness, Lana wondered who this woman was. She knew this woman wasn’t a new member of the house staff. The staff members doted on Lana and she knew all of them by name. They were her one constant source of happiness these days.
“Who are you again?” Lana asked.
“My name is Raya.”
“And how do you know my name? Do you work for Lex? Has he hired a new personal assistant?”
“Lex Luthor?” Raya asked. “From what Kal-El has told me, there is not a man on this world I would be less likely to want to know, much less work with.” Proudly, she stated, “I was the primary research assistant for Jor-El of Krypton. None other than a member of the House of El may claim my assistance.”
Lana immediately latched onto the name Kal-El. Kal-El, she thought, he’s the being that Aethyr and Nam-Ek were seeking after the second meteor shower…and this Raya knows him, too. Does that make her an alien? Instinctively, Lana began to edge away from Raya, who merely raised an eyebrow in response.
“You’re…you’re one of them,” Lana said fearfully, “an alien like Aethyr and Nam-Ek.”
“If by alien you mean, not native to this world, then you are correct. I am from Krypton, a long-dead planet in a different galaxy. The fact that you know and fear the names of those criminals bodes well for you, Lana Lang.”
“If you’re one of them, I know I can’t do anything to you since Lex's meteor rocks are locked in the vault, and I can’t get away from you, so…what do you want with me? I’m just an ordinary college girl.”
“One that is newly pregnant,” Raya added, “with Lex Luthor’s baby.”
“How do you know that?”
“I could say that I can hear the baby’s heartbeat or that I can see the baby in your womb, both of which are true, but I learned that information in conversation with Kal-El.”
“Who is this Kal-El you keep talking about? Aethyr and Nam-Ek came to Earth looking to find him.”
“If it is answers you want, Lana Lang, I have them for you.” Raya reached into a pocket and pulled out what looked to Lana to be a long, clear crystal. Setting the crystal on the coffee table in front of the couch Lana was on, Raya said, “In that crystal are all of the answers you have wanted for so long.” Lana reached out to take the crystal, but Raya stopped her. “Do not touch that until you are sure of what you want and know what you are doing.”
Hungry for answers, Lana said intently, “Then teach me.”
Raya smiled for the first time and said, “Gladly.”
They spent a long time together as Raya explained the origin of the crystal and its function. “I found the time crystal amidst some rubble while trying to repair Kal-El’s Fortress of Solitude. That crystal should not have been there unless it had been created by Jor-El for a specific reason, its only purpose is to alter the time stream. When I touched the time crystal, all of Kal-El’s memories from the original time stream entered my mind.”
“Original time stream?” Lana asked.
“Yes, Kal-El changed time, what you would call ‘changing history.’ It is a risky process, normally undertaken only in the most dire of circumstances. In this case, his reason was woefully insufficient.”
Curious, Lana asked, “What reason did he have?”
“To save the life of a single woman, a woman of no significance beyond her small circle of acquaintances.”
“Who?”
“The woman he loved, and still loves to this day, his betrothed, Lana Lang.”
“But…but…but that’s me. I’ve never been engaged and I was dating…was dating…” Oh my God, I was dating Clark at the time. She can’t be talking about Clark! But then everything fell into place, like the tumblers in a lock, and Lana realized that Raya was talking about Clark. All of her suspicions about him and his abilities, all of the things about him that never quite made sense came into focus: Clark was Kal-El, he was an alien!
So Lana finally knows Clark's biggest secret! Now to find out what she does with that crystal. Can't wait for more. PPMS!
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