Summary: S2 AU! When he broke up with her, all Conner wanted to do was to keep M'gann's abuse a secret and let things lie. But it seems everyone else just can't seem to forgive him for breaking her heart.

The World Is Still Beautiful

Chapter One: Endings

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry," M'gann repeated like a mantra as her eyes turned back from bright green to its normal brown.

Conner blinked away stars as he picked himself up from the floor of her bedroom. His head was pounding from the effects of the unexpected psychic attack she had just unleashed. He forcefully pushed away the false memory she had tried to implant to replace the past few minutes away, vanishing from his mind as quickly as it entered.

"I'msorry i'msorry," she continued. The martian made herself as small possible while she clutched her arms tightly,. Considering the vast range of her power set, it was a good possibility she had actually shrunk. "It was an accident! I swear, Conner. I didn't mean to." Tears were falling freely from the green girl now. "You have to believe me. I love you. You know that, right?"

Conner did know that.

He just knew at that moment it didn't matter anymore.

It was nearly four at the morning and lightly snowing by the time Conner made his way to the penthouse apartment of the Kents with Wolf and Sphere at his side. He could have used the zeta beams to make the trip between the two locations instantly. But the ride on the super-cycle halfway across the country had helped clear the muddling thoughts running through his head. He tried desperately not to think of the fact that the team was still probably still off quelling riots in the middle of Northern Rhelasia, leaving M'gann all alone in the mountain that had been their home together for so long. Landing the super cycle on their balcony, Conner pulled his key and slid the door open.

Wolf bounded for a comfy spot on the couch while Sphere transformed back to her more compact form, beeping quietly as she rolled around the living room looking for a perfect place to rest.

Clark was probably out saving cats from trees at the moment or talking kids off of ledges and from the sounds of snoring lightly filtering in from the other room Lois had already turned in for the night. He walked as quietly as possible to the room that they had given him five years prior and entered.

He passed out as soon as he touched the pillow.

He awoke up to the scent of something burning and a string of colorful curses that he had never even heard before. It seemed Lois despite her better judgement must have attempted to cook something again. The previous night was completely fresh in his brain, leaving him still numb from the shock that a five year relationship could simply disappear in a single night. Briefly, he once again wondered what M'gann was doing right now back at the mountain and if the team had returned by now. But he brushed the thought away as quickly as it came once more with a hard swallow. She had made her choice about what she had wanted last night. He changed into some of the spare clothes he had lying around and made his way to the kitchen where he saw the tell tale figure of his young, step mother standing over the stove top. She was wearing indigo blouse and jeans today and her long, dark hair was tied into a ponytail.

Lois Lane-Kent had been the very first person Clark had introduced Conner to when he had accepted that New Years eve. Due to the fact that kryptonians and humans were unable to have children together, she had instantly adopted the Kryptonian clone as her own the moment she saw him, demanding he move in with them that instant while Clark and he were in the midst of defining their relationship. She had proudly presented him to all her friends and acquaintances as her step-son. She was a warm, caring woman that Conner wouldn't trade for the world.

But the woman couldn't cook to save her life.

Her lack of skill was almost miraculous. Despite years of attempts, Conner was certain that the woman could burn water if she wasn't properly supervised.

"This pan is broken," Lois complained when she saw the Kryptonian enter the room as she pulled a burning pan off the stovetop and into the sink. She turned on the faucets and plumes of smoke and steam came from the ruined pan.

"Oh yeah?" he asked wryly.

"I wanted to make some eggs for my precious little son," Lois explained. "Even I can make eggs."

"I believe you," Conner assured her without a hint of sincerity. The inability of Lois' cooking was far too ingrained in him to make a proper attempt at patronizing her.

"Of course you don't." Lois sighed in disappointment as she got a new pan from the dish rack. "Nobody does. I can make eggs."

Taking initiative to make breakfast before Lois accidentally burnt the apartment down; Conner grabbed the fresh pan out of her hands and asked Lois to pass the bacon, eggs and fruit. The reporter opened the fridge and passed the frozen package sullenly. "Turkey bacon?" he asked reading the title on the package. It was an uncharacteristically health conscious decision for the reporter.

"Doctor's orders. He's worried about me and banned the regular kind. Almost made me give up coffee too. All this stuff is supposed to make me live longer but at what cost? You know?"

With a shrug he turned his attention back to making breakfast, occasionally asking the now defeated reporter to grab something for him . Conner rarely cooked out of habit. Despite the encyclopedic knowledge about food and cooking that he had been given by the Genomorphs that could give many chefs envy; he had always let M'gann take over the kitchen. Her passion in cooking had always dwarfed his, even though she wasn't most experienced. Shaking his head, he pushed thoughts of the green girl away. After twenty minutes, he placed several strips of turkey bacon, fresh orange juice, a fruit salad and a cheese omelette on a plate in front of Lois sitting in the kitchen table with her arms crossed and a plate of meat and fruit in front of Wolf. The reporter lowered her head to plate level, as if examining it for a possible trick that Conner had used without her noticing.

"Where's Dad?" he asked, wondering when the older Kryptonian would make his appearance.

"He and Flash are dealing with a mudslide with Markovia. Some teenage meta triggered it." Lois said before taking a particularly large bite of one of the pieces of bacon. She blinked in surprise, examining the piece closely as though it would change right in front of her. "You actually made it taste like bacon. I didn't think that was possible. Clark couldn't."

Conner let out a grunt at that before turning his attention to his own food. He wasn't particularly hungry but the last thing he needed was the nosy reporter asking questions about what had happened to his appetite. His mother was a dog with a bone when she thought that she had a story and if she thought something was wrong she would keep hounding him until he said everything. As soon as he finished his plate, Lois grabbed his and hers, brought them to sink and started washing them.

"Not that I don't love visits from my darling son," Lois said casually as she returned to her seat. "But what are you doing here? Your puppy gave me quite a start in the morning, you know?"

Wolf let out a bark of annoyance at that from his seat, showing that she wasn't the only one who was startled.

"You sat on him?" Conner guessed, looking at Wolf almost blending seamlessly with the bright white couch.

"What do you expect?" Lois asked as crossed her arms defensively. She sent a sharp glare to the canine. "And you didn't answer the question."

"Stuff," he said.

"Truly, you are a master of words," she drawled. "Red Tornado could take lessons from you."

Conner grunted.

Realizing she was getting nowhere, the reporter decided on a different approach. "So how long will I get to spend time with you?"

"Not sure."

Her violet eyes narrowed and her lips turned into a thin line. Conner could see the internal struggle that she was wrestling with her maternal instinct to let him come to her and her reporter instinct to keep digging for the truth no matter the cost. After a few seconds, she had apparently made her choice. She leaned over the desk and kissed him on the forehead.

"Well it's always nice to have you here."

Putting the matter to rest the morning passed without incident and the duo moved to the couch. Lois had caught him up on her life. Her recent investigation into Lexcorp. "I'm being careful. You sound like Clark," she assured when he worried about her attempt to break into a secure facility. That she had a new neighbor that kept hitting on her as soon as he saw that she was married to Clark "He keeps bragging about his muscles." And that she discovered that eating healthy wasn't worth the years that it added. She occasionally threw out question to fish for information but Conner bounced it away.

Conner had thought M'gann would have wanted to keep the break up a secret, at least for a few days at least.

But like many things he thought about the Martian over the past few months, he was proven wrong. It was around two in the afternoon when the team had learned about his break up. He knew this become of the amount of texts that started getting sent around that time, shattering his brief reprieve.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

That was Artemis. Karen and Zatanna sent messages of a similar tone with varying amount of expletives. All in defense of the green skinned girl and her honor. He didn't know whatever she had told them but it was apparently not that kind to him. Whatever she did said, she obviously omitted her part in their end.

"Man, what did she do?"

Mal sent that one. As an occupant of the Mountain he had been privy to the fact the past few months, the long silences, slammed doors and raised voices that their relationship devolved to despite their public appearance of everything being fine. His job had mostly been to keep the sender of the next message in the dark.

"Come back. Sis, she won't stop crying. I don't care what happened. Just come back. You guys can fix this."

That was Garfield.

Even more than M'gann, he was the reason Conner couldn't stay in the mountain last night. The younger boy he had adopted as a little brother was probably losing his mind right now and he had no idea what to say. There was no way he could look at Garfield's pleading face right now to forgive his sister. Conner didn't think his resolve was strong enough for that. Not yet at least.

With a swipe of his finger, Conner deleted that one instantly in a desperate attempt to keep it out of his mind. Putting his phone on silent, he put it back in his pocket. If an emergency occurred he had his communicator. He hoped no such thing occurred for the next few days. He had no idea what he would do if he saw M'gann or the rest of the team this soon.

He could see Lois trying to peek into messages with the peripherals of her eyes. But he kept his phone close to his chest. He heard a beep and checked his phone again but to his surprise the screen was still blank. The reporter right beside him grabbed her phone instead. She spent several moments looking at her text before she put it away.

Conner grimaced. He prepared himself for the bombardment of questions that was sure to spill out of her mouth. Instantly wishing he had had chosen to go to his grandparents house instead for peace and quiet.

After several moments of awkward silence, Lois finally opened her mouth. "Pizza or Chinese?"

"What?' he asked in surprise.

"What do you want for lunch?" She said. "Your choice."

"You're not going to ask?"

"About you and M'gann breaking up?" The reporter asked with a raised eyebrow. "While I'm a bit put out that Black Canary had to be the one to tell me instead of you, If I asked your right now? Would you tell me?"

Conner shook his head.

"Then there's no point. Here's something you learn quickly on the job. A reporter knows when not to ask." Lois said wrapping one arm around the younger boy. "And right now a mother knows that the best to help her broken-hearted son is some incredibly unhealthy food and so many hugs you'll die of embarrassment."

End Notes

Added and changed some things

Since Clark and Conner spoke about two words with each other in season two after a season of Conner looking for a father in him, I'm changing their dynamic back to father and parent. Since I can't see a single version of Clark Kent ever leave a child he accepted into his family to live alone, in the five year gap, Conner lived with Clark for a few years until he moved back in with M'gann and Garfield for University.