Author’s Note: This idea popped into my head yesterday afternoon and refused to leave it until I got it all down in two hours last night. Although I don’t actually wish that this particular scenario happened, I thought it was an interesting take on how Lois would come to Smallville. It’s also highly implausible, and I would consider it a form of child abuse if any parents did what the Lanes did. (But that’s just me.) Please read and review. Also let me know if I have any grammatical errors.

All characters belong to DC Comics and/or Warner Bros. I am not making any money from this story.

“Alias” by KMP

Sam Lane walked through the familiar corridors of the Federal Building. He had another meeting with the head of the Metropolis division of the FBI. He wanted to say that he was quitting, that this life was too hard on himself and his family. He wanted to retire and spend more time with his wife and daughters, and get a job doing something ordinary instead of this cat-and-mouse that he had been doing for too many years.

But he knew that it was next to impossible. He signed a contract; he had to follow through. But at the time he didn’t know how much it would affect his family and his time with them. As it stood, he worked 14-hour days, six days a week. His daughters complained about not seeing him. He missed his oldest daughter’s graduation from elementary school. At midnight that night he had walked into her room to congratulate her only to be greeted by soft snores. Her green graduation gown hung from her bedpost, and a stack of greeting cards an inch thick was scattered on her nightstand. He had kissed her good-night, and she had opened her hazel eyes and said, “Hi, Dad. You missed a fun party.” Then she smiled and fell asleep again.

Sam cherished moments like those, and in his opinion they were few and far between. Fortunately, his wife was understanding. She asked few questions about his line of work and supported him unconditionally.

He walked through the swinging double doors to Section 8: the undercover division.

“Agent Lane,” the Director said, standing up. To Sam and to most of his fellow agents, he was only known as the Director. It was safer this way. The Director’s massive desk was covered with stacks of papers. Reports, Sam knew. He wrote a twenty-page one every week. Video monitors lined the walls, following the seemingly ordinary lives of supposedly ordinary people who were actually involved in various federal crimes.

“I have some … interesting news for you,” the Director said, gesturing for Sam to sit as he settled back in his chair. “You’re getting a promotion.”

“Thank you, Director,” Sam said, quite surprised.

Sam thought he caught a hint of a smile on the Director’s lips. It disappeared quickly. “It’s not what you think. LuthorCorp is promoting you, effective tomorrow. And you have to spend a few years in a small town –“

“What about my family?” Sam asked.

“They can stay here in Metropolis,” the Director said, not skipping a beat. “Your stipend should be more than enough to pay for your mortgage here, and we’ll pay for your apartment rental in Smallville. The cost of living there is very low.”

“No,” Sam said, getting up. “I see my family very little as it is. I can’t go.”

“You have to,” the Director said matter-of-factly. “It’s your job.”

“How long?” Sam asked.

“Two, three years. Four, tops.”

Sam shook his head. “I can’t go. My wife, my daughters …”

The Director looked him in the eye. “Lane, you know you can’t refuse this. It’s too important to our investigation. We’re close.”

Sam didn’t say anything for a moment, then said, “If we’re so close, then why will I be there for so long?”

The Director sighed. “You know how these operations work, Lane. Besides, after this assignment, you’ll be looking at retirement.”

Sam slowly began to nod his head. He looked up, as if the ceiling and fluorescent lights would hold the answer to his predicament. “Let me talk to my wife first.”

***

Sam Lane came home early for once; at seven o’clock he was still usually at his desk, slaving away. When he came home, his wife was usually relaxing in front of the TV, and his daughters were doing homework or getting into bed. Tonight he found his family sitting at the kitchen table, about to start dinner.

“Daddy!” When Lucy Lane saw who walked in the door, she stood up from her chair and ran to her father. She gave him a big hug and a wet kiss on the cheek.

Lois turned around in her seat to look at him. “Hi, Dad.”

“This is a pleasant surprise,” Ellen Lane said, rising to set another place at the table. “What brings you home before nine o’clock?”

“It was slow today,” Sam said, sitting down at the head of the table. Ellen laid a plate, utensils and glass in front of him. Sam eyed the fried chicken in front of him with hunger. He usually came home so late that Ellen would leave a dish warming in the oven, or ready to go in the microwave. This was the first time in years that he had been able to enjoy one of her dishes fresh.

“I’m glad, Dad,” Lois said, smiling. “I miss having dinner with you.”

Sam merely smiled back at his oldest daughter, who was now sporting pierced ears. When did she have that done? He looked to the other side watched Lucy spooning all the peas out of her vegetable medley. Since when had she been doing that? Ellen wiped her hands on a dish towel and sat down across the table from Sam. How could he tell her? How could he tell her that they had to leave this big old house for some town they had never heard of before? As they ate dinner, Lois and Lucy told stories about what happened at school that day. Lois was about to finish seventh grade, and Lucy third. Sam interrupted often to find out details, of which Ellen obviously already knew. Although he knew that they didn’t mind, Sam felt like an outsider in his own family, and that feeling increased every day that he was working for the Bureau.

He could not leave them.

***

“Ellen, we’ve got to talk,” Sam said as they got ready for bed. Ellen was standing at the mirror, brushing her long blonde hair. She wore a dressing robe and bedroom slippers. She turned around to look at her husband, who was pulling the covers back from the bed.

“What is it, honey?” She looked concerned. “Is it about your coming home early today?”

Sam sighed. This was going to be difficult. “Yes.” Ellen raised an eyebrow. As the wife of a federal agent, she knew not to ask any questions. She allowed him to continue without saying anything.

“I have to go on assignment,” Sam said. “It’s about three hours from here, and …”

“No,” Ellen said, her eyes swelling with tears. She hardly saw her husband as it was. And now he was going out of town. She fought her tears back. “For how long?”

“Two years,” Sam said quietly. “Four at the most.”

“Sam,” Ellen said, sitting down on the bed. She looked scared. “Sam, no. Your daughters need you. I need you. You can’t leave us.”

“I know,” Sam said, sitting down on the bed next to her and laying a comforting hand on her back. “That’s what I need to talk to you about. I don’t have to leave you. But it’s going to take a little cooperation.”

“Anything,” Ellen said. “We’ll go anywhere with you. You know that.”

“It’s not that simple.”

Sam began to explain, rubbing his wife’s arm comfortingly as he spoke. “My assignment for the past six years has been working as an assistant foreman at the Metropolis sanitation plant owned by Lionel Luthor. The Bureau has suspected Luthor of very shady business practices, most of which I won’t go into for practical purposes – the less you know, the better.” Ellen nodded. “Luthor’s got a fertilizer plant in a town called Smallville, a hundred-fifty miles from here. The Bureau has determined that there have been several cover-ups at the Smallville plant, which range from unreported explosions to underground experiments with the soil. Tomorrow, Lionel Luthor will announce that I will be the new manager of that plant.”

“We’ll go with you to Smallville,” Ellen said. “What’s the problem?”

“The problem.” Sam began to knead the tense muscles in his wife’s back. “The problem is that I’m working under an alias. Smallville kind of lives up to its name – it’s a small town with a small-town mentality. It’s not like Metropolis where a family can get lost in the shuffle. Everyone knows everyone there. If you and the girls come to live with me in Smallville, you’ll have to take aliases too.”

Ellen frowned. “So … if we move to Smallville, we’re going to have all new names and backgrounds?”

Sam nodded.

“I don’t know if I want to put the girls under such pressure,” Ellen said, a telltale wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. Sam knew that it was a sign that she didn’t like the idea.

“You’d be completely safe,” Sam assured her. “Some agents are coming along. One will be assigned to you and the girls.”

“What happens if we stay here?” Ellen said. “How often will we be able to see you?”

“Sundays,” Sam said. “Monday through Friday I’d be at the plant. Saturdays I’d have to work at the Bureau.”

“And if we go? How would life change for us?”

“Well, we’d all have new names, as you said,” Sam said. “But you’d see me a lot more. I’d only be working eight-hour days at the plant, and I’d work from home for the Bureau. We’d be able to spend a lot more time together.” Sam could tell that Ellen was debating hard with herself over the decision. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you sleep on it? You can tell me tomorrow afternoon when I come home from work.”

Ellen nodded. They both got under the covers, and Sam turned out the light. After a short moment, Ellen could hear his steady inhale and exhale. He was already asleep.

She turned away from him and watched her digital alarm clock change numbers until her eyes drifted closed. The last number she remembered seeing was 4:38.

***

Lois Lane sat in her history class, tapping her textbook absent-mindedly with a pencil as Mrs. Edison lectured in a monotone about the War of 1812. She glanced at her watch and then brushed a strand of long brown hair out of her eyes. Thirteen minutes and six seconds before the bell rang for lunch. Her stomach grumbled and her hand instinctually went to her abdomen.

Mrs. Edison’s voice was interrupted by the telephone. She frowned and went over to pick it up. Lois sat up a bit straighter. Maybe she would be on the phone until the end of the period. Lois pushed her textbook aside to reveal today’s edition of The Daily Planet. She skimmed over the front page stories, noting the reporters’ names. One day, she told herself, her name would be on the front page too.

“Lois Lane?” Mrs. Edison called. Lois looked up. She slid her textbook over to cover her newspaper and walked over to the teacher.

“Your mother is here,” she whispered, covering the phone with her hand. “It seems that there is a family emergency. You’ve been instructed to go to the vice principal’s office.” Mrs. Edison handed her a slip of pink paper, her hall pass.

Lois’s heart jumped into her throat. She collected her things from her desk quickly. Kelly Chang leaned over from her desk nearby and said, “Is everything OK?”

All Lois could do was swallow and shrug. As she ran out into the hallway, her mind went over all the possibilities, fighting back tears. Her mother was probably OK since she was here to pick up Lois. Lucy? Her father? What could possibly have happened?

Ellen Lane stood up as she saw her daughter burst through the office door.

“Mom!” Lois exclaimed. “What’s going on? Where’s Dad? Where’s Lucy?”

“Lois, calm down,” Ellen said. “We’re going home. Dad and Lucy are fine.”

“What’s going on?” Lois was puzzled.

“I’ll explain when we get home,” Ellen said. The school secretary handed her a clipboard, and she signed her name. “We need to have a family meeting.”

Ellen and Lois stopped at the elementary school to pick up Lucy, who was just as puzzled as Lois was. Normally she would have chattered all the way home, but perhaps she could sense the tension because the ride home was unusually quiet. Lois noticed that her father’s car was not in the driveway.

“Where’s Dad?” she asked as she got out of the car.

“He’s still at work,” Ellen answered curtly.

All Lois knew about her father’s work was that he was a very important man in the federal government. Because of his position, he couldn’t say much about work, and Lois understood that. Many times she had to fight the urge to ask all the questions that had been building up inside her, but she knew it wouldn’t be fair to her father. She knew she was probably cursed with both a curious nature and a father who couldn’t tell her anything about his work.

As soon as the girls had settled on the living room couch, Ellen stood facing them, trying to decide the best way to break the news to her daughters. “Mom, you’re scaring me,” Lois said. “Tell us what’s going on.”

Ellen looked at her eldest daughter. “All right. I am going to tell you what’s going on, but you have to promise that you will not tell anyone about this. Anyone. This is important. Do you understand?” Lois and Lucy nodded solemnly. “We’re moving to a place called Smallville,” she said, her voice quavering a little bit.

“Smallville?” Lois tested the town’s name on her tongue. She had heard about it once before, and then remembered. “The meteor shower place?”

“Yes,” Ellen said.

“Why did you take us out of school?” Lucy said. “Are we going today?”

“No,” Ellen said carefully. She began to pace. She did that when she was nervous, and Lois noticed. “I pulled you out of school because when we move to Smallville, we’re not going to be ourselves.”

“What?” Lois was thoroughly confused. She didn’t like the sound of this one bit.

“Your father is an undercover agent,” Ellen explained. “His undercover work is taking him to Smallville. And when we get there, we have to be undercover too.”

“Like spies?” Lucy whispered.

“I suppose so,” Ellen said wearily. “We’re moving in two weeks, so I’d suggest you both start packing your things today.”

Lois was in shock. She was getting a whole new identity! She wondered what her father did for a living that he had to pretend to be someone else. She went up to her room and looked around. She had lived here most of her life. Spelling bee ribbons, photographs and mementos from the past thirteen years were right here in this room. She realized she wouldn’t be able to take most of it with her. A new identity meant she couldn’t bring anything with the words “Lois Lane” on them. It was incredibly unfair to uproot a thirteen-year-old and give her a whole new identity, Lois thought. But she knew that her mother gave a lot of importance to family, and she was only trying to keep theirs together. Everything was changing, she realized. Nothing was going to be as it used to be. And maybe it was time to take advantage of it.

Lois came downstairs and found her mother at the kitchen table, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “Mom?”

Ellen looked up. She sniffed and opened her eyes wide, as if to hide the fact that she was crying. “Yes, sweetie?”

“I just wanted to say that whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do it,” she said bravely. “Even if we have to move to Smallville and be different people for awhile.”

Ellen’s eyes began to water again, and she held out her arms to take her oldest daughter in an embrace.

Lois pulled away and looked at her mother. “Can I dye my hair blonde tonight?” Ellen smiled through her tears, almost laughing. And finally, she nodded.

***

The next day, the Lane children didn’t go to school. Instead they accompanied their mother to the Federal Building, where they were fingerprinted and got pictures taken for new passports. Lois still didn’t know what her father did, but she knew that he would be working undercover at the LuthorCorp plant. She actually didn’t see her father all day. She assumed he was at work at LuthorCorp.

After lunch in the Federal Building cafeteria, Ellen, Lucy and Lois sat for a long time in a room. They were told to wait for Sam there. It was boring. Lois had brought along a book, but she found that she couldn’t concentrate. She gave up and instead watched Lucy play her Game Boy.

“How are my girls?” Sam Lane said as he entered the room with a smile on his face. Ellen stood up and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He eyed Lois’s new blonde hair. “I like your new hair, Tinkerbell,” he said, rustling her hair a bit. “You look more like Mom.”

Lois grinned. “What’s going on, Dad?”

“Everything is in order,” Sam said. “We all have new identities, new histories, new everything. Lionel Luthor has arranged for us to buy a house in Smallville, and in two weeks we will be moving there.”

“Will we be able to go to school?” Lucy asked.

“Yes,” Sam said. “You will have to take the bus into town, but there is junior high school and elementary school.”

“What’s our new names?” Ellen asked.

“Well,” Sam said, pulling a stack of passports out of his pocket, “I’m Gabriel. Lionel Luthor has only known me as Gabriel. You, Ellen, are going to be Elizabeth.” He handed her a passport and a Kansas driver’s license. “Lucy, you’ll be Celia. And Lois,” he handed his older daughter her passport, “your new name is …”

***

“Chloe Sullivan.” The teacher called the name, but no one answered for a moment, so she repeated it. Lois realized that it was her, and answered.

“Um, here,” she said, raising her hand. The teacher glanced at her quickly and made a notation in her notebook. Lois subconsciously smoothed her new short haircut with her hand and then began tapping her pen softly on her notebook.

It was Lois’s first day of eighth grade at Smallville Middle School, and her first class, math. She had been using the name Chloe Sullivan for almost four months now, but it was still jarring to her.

The boy in front of her turned around. He was a black boy with a big smile. “Hi, I’m Pete,” he said, offering his hand.

“Lo – Chloe Sullivan,” Lois corrected herself. She shook his hand and smiled back. “You guys got a school paper around here?”

-Fin-

01.26.2002