Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Good Night, Lois - Straight On 'Till Morning

Good Night, Lois – Straight on ‘Till Morning

I hover in front of her window, hesitating to knock as I watch Lois sitting on her bed, her shoulders slumped. She should be out celebrating instead of spending her sixteenth birthday at home with her sister.

It's past ten p.m. and Lucy has already gone to bed. I look at the pitiful package in my hand, suitable perhaps as a birthday present. As a farewell gift - not so much.

Should I tell her that I’ve decided to go back to drifting after I broke up with Lana? That I believe it's easier to upend my roots altogether than continuing to live in the same city as Lana or move to Metropolis where Lois is so tantalizingly close?

At least as a drifter, I'm not going to put any of the people I'm close to in danger.

Lois rolls over onto the bed and stares ahead at the ceiling. She looks way too unhappy for someone who just turned sixteen. I just can't deliver another blow.

With a heavy sigh, I tap on her window. Her head whips around and a smile spreads across her lips. She jumps up from her bed and rushes over to the window to let me in.

As soon as I’ve made it past the window sill, she wraps her arms around my shoulders and buries her face in the crook of my neck.

“Happy Birthday.” I mumble into her hair.

“I'm so glad you came,” she whispers, her voice cracking with tears that she's managed to keep in until now.

I'm fooling myself when I think she doesn't need me anymore, that my leaving is just speeding along the inevitable. And as I breathe in her soft scent, feel the comfort of her presence wash over me, chasing away the troubling thoughts, I know that I need her too.

For a while we just stand there, leaning onto each other for support. There's no room here for someone like Trask who's desperate for a way to get rid of Superman. No place for parents that leave their daughter alone on her sixteenth birthday.

“I'm so sorry I couldn't come earlier,” I rasp.

She shakes her head. “No need to apologize. You rescued people from that avalanche.”

“Still, you shouldn't have been alone on such a day.”

“Yeah, it figures that Daddy had to work.” She snorts. “At least Mom is in rehab trying to get her life back on track. If she manages to go through with it this time, maybe Lucy will have a sixteenth birthday worth remembering.”

Her gaze drops to the package in my hand and the bitter lines around her mouth soften.

“What’s this?”

My cheeks grow hot. “Nothing much.”

Suddenly I'm embarrassed about the pen and notebook I got her to write down the notes for her next big story. I put the present on her desk and reach for her hands.

“You can open your present later. First, let's see if we can make your birthday memorable after all.” With a sudden rush of excitement, I pull her towards the window. I’ve never taken anyone flying before. Not as Clark.

“Where are you taking me?” Her eyes sparkle like they did the very first night I met her.

And suddenly I remember what I learned from her and why I have to make this work, regardless of where I am. No matter how dire life is, it needs a little fantasy.

I wink at her. “Past the second star on the right and straight on ‘till morning.”