Author's note: Quite some time ago, there was a thread on the boards that posed a whole bunch of 'what-ifs'. The list ended up being pretty long, and I copied it for possible future story ideas.
One of the ideas was "What if Lois made it to CLark's apartment after he'd already left (in Whine Whine Whine)". I started writing this story, then forgot about it. It's been languishing on my hard drive ever since... until this week.
Thanks go to KenJ and Trina for their lightning-fast beta reading. I know I've bombarded you with chapters this week. Thanks for being so willing and on the ball.
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters, story lines, etc. are property of DC Comics, December 3rd Productions and Warner Bros. I'm not making any money off this, etc. etc.
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Lois regarded the diamond ring glinting on her left hand with a feeling of unreality.
Rekindling her romance with Dan Scardino in the abyss left by Clark's disappearance had been a thing born of impulse, an attempt to stave off the loneliness that came from losing her best friend.
It was never supposed to get this far.
But now she found herself engaged for the second time in three years. She should be over the moon, blissfully, ecstatically happy.
Instead, all she felt was... indifferent. She'd accepted Dan's proposal because it seemed like the sensible thing to do, the next logical step in their relationship, and she intended to see this wedding through. So what if there was no real spark between her and Dan- at least on her side? Plenty of people went their whole lives without feeling the 'grand passion' described in romance novels. That sort of thing never lasted anyway. Even between her and Clark, she was sure the fire would've burnt itself out- that is, if he hadn't just up and left...
Stop it, she told herself fiercely. It had been months since anyone at the Planet had heard from her ex-partner. It was like he'd just vanished off the face of the Earth. His by-line hadn't cropped up anywhere in the world, as far as Lois could tell- not even in one of the tiny obscure papers of the type he'd favoured when he'd travelled before arriving in Metropolis. She'd had to conclude that he didn't want to be found, even though part of her wondered where he was and if he ever thought of her.
But this wasn't getting her anywhere. She'd rebuilt her life just fine without him. She had a job she loved and a fiancé that loved her, and Clark no longer had any place in her life.
She brought up the search that had been continuously running in the background of her computer for as long as he'd been gone, looking for any clue to his whereabouts. With a decisive click of the mouse, she cancelled it.
***
Clark let the sound of the El train mask his landing in an alley nearby. He spun into his street clothes, thankful that he'd remembered a jacket. Chicago was colder than he'd anticipated, and the last thing he wanted was to be noticed or remembered. Skirting around the stairways that led to the elevated train platform, he blended into the crowd of commuters and stopped at the newsstand halfway down the block. There, he picked up a copy of the Chicago Tribune and more hesitantly, the Daily Planet.
He tried to avoid the Planet. Reading Lois' work just made the constant, yearning ache worse. Her distinctive writing style brought back memories of the woman herself, and on her good days, it was almost like he could see her and touch her once again. He'd pay for it later, but for those shining moments, he was almost happy. It hurt, but it was like an addiction.
He succumbed about once a week.
He paid for his papers and melted back into the crowd, waiting until the opportune moment before he took to the skies once more.
***
Back in the relative privacy of the tiny hotel room in central Mexico that was currently his, he spread the papers out on the foot of the bed before putting the kettle on to boil. He'd returned to the nomadic existence of his pre- Metropolis days, eking out a living as a freelance travel writer for a small local newspaper in Florida. Writing under an assumed name, it had been hard going at first but now, almost a year later, his columns were starting to be picked up by larger papers. That was the reason behind his trip to Chicago. One of his columns had been published in one of the Tribune's Sunday supplements. With his travels- and thus his articles- centring on destinations off the beaten track, it was quicker to fly to Chicago to find a copy of the Trib than it was to find one out here.
Coffee mug in hand, Clark forced himself to read the Tribune from cover to cover at normal speed before starting on the Planet.
It wasn't one of Lois' better days, he noticed. While she had a story on the front page, it was minor, a follow-up to an earlier story. He was both relieved and disappointed, reading on to catch up with the news from the city he still considered home.
Skimming the classifieds, he was about to close the newspaper when a single announcement caught his eye.
'Scardino- Lane
Dennis and Alice Scardino are pleased to announce the engagement of their son, Daniel, to Lois, daughter of Samuel and Ellen Lane. Wedding arrangements will be disclosed at a later date'
The paper slipped from his suddenly nerveless fingers onto the floor as he struggled to catch his breath.
Lois was getting married. To Scardino. He felt like he'd been kicked in the guts, and despite his best efforts, tears sprung to his eyes.
Although she'd chosen Scardino on that terrible day back in
Metropolis, while she remained unengaged and unmarried he'd been able to kid himself that there was still hope, that one day she'd come to love him as much as he loved her.
Now it was all at an end.
Shaking his head in rejection of the news, he felt the familiar stabbing ache intensify as his heart broke once more. Trying to escape, he launched himself through the window, rattling the surrounding buildings as he broke the sound barrier.
He landed in the Arctic, in the same place he’d visited that long ago day when Lois had accepted Luthor’s proposal. As he had on that day, he screamed out his pain to the empty landscape, hearing his voice echo back at him before sinking into a heap on the ice.
Last edited by NostalgiaKick; 01/28/16 10:09 PM. Reason: spacing
