Well, here it is. The companion piece to 'Reality'. Anna has assured me that it was the right way to go, though I contemplated going another direction with it.
Here it is for your reading pleasure
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The toys still aren't mine. Wish they were… wouldn't be working… Could write full time…
Ah, wishful thinking!
Alternate Reality
Clark peered over Jimmy's shoulder looking at the website for the fantasy baseball league they were a part of. Clark was so far ahead, even this early in the season, that Jimmy and the rest had little chance of catching him. He knew he really should be working on their next story, but he was too preoccupied to really talk to Jimmy about the pros and cons of one player or another, much less actually work
Where on earth had Lois gotten that birthday card from?!
He remembered purchasing the card for Perry the week before, knowing that Lois, as usual, would forget one. Her responsibility was the gift, which she promptly delegated to Jimmy, and his was the card, which he promptly did himself. That was the way they did things. It worked for them.
But then she had pulled that card out of her briefcase.
The first question in his mind was how did it get there. The second was about what was written on the card.
Clark = Superman.
How on earth had that gotten there? It looked like Lois' handwriting, but how could she know? And if she did know, where was the blow up that he knew was inevitable when she did find out?
He'd grabbed it from her, but knew that she would be suspicious about it. He tore it up and threw it in the trash and he desperately wanted to rip it into tiny little shreds but he knew that the super speed necessary would bring even more suspicion. He just needed her to do… something. Go to the bathroom, look for a story without him, anything that would get her out of the newsroom for a few minutes so that he could destroy that card. He even contemplated faking a phone call from an anonymous source.
It wasn't that he didn't want her to know that he was Superman, it was just that he wanted to be the one to tell her the truth – preferably on a deserted island where no one else could hear the yelling – and hopefully make her understand that Superman was what he could do, but Clark was who he was.
He shook his head wondering why he could hear himself saying those very words in his head. He didn't remember ever saying that to anyone, but somehow he knew he had. Vague images of Smallville bounced around his mind. He'd been there the night before talking to his mom and dad about this very thing, but the images weren't of the kitchen table and a tall glass of buttermilk, but of Lois and a car that he couldn't quite make out, and Schuster's field of all places. He hadn't been there in ages!
Something had been a bit off all morning and he still couldn't quite place what it was.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her peeking in his trash can.
Drat it all! She was looking for the card. He should have known she would.
He could see her look around surreptitiously and then walk towards her desk. He looked pointedly at her while she walked, hoping to distract her or at least make her wait to look in her trash can where the incriminating evidence was hiding.
She pulled some trash out of the bottom drawer of her desk – why hadn't he insisted she clean it out last year when they reorganized her desk?! – and heard her mumble about a phone message.
He was going to stand up and distract her when he was distracted himself by a 'help, Superman' call.
Why now?!
He made a lame excuse to Jimmy – something about a movie or book, he really wasn't sure – and headed for the stairwell, conscious of Lois' eyes in his back.
He spun into the suit as he exited the top of the stairwell at super speed. As usual, a sonic boom followed him.
The emergency didn't take long, but longer than he'd hoped. A single car accident. A teenage driver had skidded on some oil and hit a guard rail. Fortunately, the teen had taken a driver's education course and done well and her injuries were minimal. The car was another story, but she'd been wearing her seatbelt and he noticed no major injuries. He quickly flew her to the hospital, just to be on the safe side. She asked him to find her mom at her job and bring her to the hospital. That flight was filled with unsuccessful attempts to reassure the mother that her daughter was just fine. He then flew the car to their home so that they could avoid towing charges.
After all that, he flew back to the Daily Planet, knowing that he would never get there in time to prevent Lois from finding the card. He could only hope that something had distracted her while he was gone.
He paused for a minute on the roof, trying to collect himself for the explosion that was sure to come when he made it to Lois' side.
The reality of the situation was that he wanted Lois to know, no matter how she found out. Surely she would understand.
Eventually.
She would have to realize that Superman wasn't reality, Clark was. Clark was the one who would be there for her no matter what. Clark would hold her when she cried, share double fudge crunch with her without judging, rub her shoulders after a long day of sitting on a nuclear weapon waiting for Superman to save her.
He walked into the newsroom, tightening his tie as he went. He walked quickly toward Lois and saw her reaching into the top drawer of her desk. He cringed as she pulled out the pieces of the card.
"You might want to burn this."
Fin
