Summary: Mayson doesn't die in the car explosion. What happens next?
A/N: There were a lot of things about Mayson I didn't like, and some of them weren't her fault. It got me thinking; what if she had lived? How would Clark have handled the aftermath?
Story is complete. Will post a chapter every other day, or every day as real life permits. Enjoy!
Many thanks to Blueowl for beta reading this story.
****
Chapter 1
He heard the ticking too late. As he had shouted his warning, the bomb exploded with Mayson in the car. He ripped the door off the car, pulling Mayson out, gently lowering her to the ground. She was hurt; he could see blood beginning to soak through her blouse, her exposed skin on her arms, legs and face was covered in shards of glass. He could hear her heart beating, quickly and weakly, but it meant she was alive.
“Mayson?” he called as she opened her eyes.
She reached a hand up to his shirt, brushing his tie to the side.
His heart lurched as he glanced down. His shirt was torn, exposing the recognizable spandex to Mayson’s gaze, and touch, as she ran her fingers over the fabric before she reached up towards him.
“So this is what you’ve been hiding,” she gasped as she lost consciousness.
****
“Oh my God,” Lois exclaimed as she caught up to him. “Clark! Is she…?”
“She’s breathing,” Clark stated softly as he gently laid Mayson on the ground before standing, discreetly holding his blazer over the tear in his shirt. “I need to go call 9-1-1.”
“Clark!” Lois called as he started to jog away.
He turned and saw Lois’ distraught expression as she knelt next to Mayson’s unconscious body.
“Here,” he said as he returned to Lois’ side, removing his blazer and draping it over Mayson, taking care to round his shoulders and not face Lois directly, hoping that his efforts and the cover of darkness would hide his secret. “I’ll be right back. I promise.”
Without a backwards glance, running as fast as he dared while people started to gravitate toward the still burning car, he ducked into the closest alley and spun into the Suit. Within seconds, he landed next to Lois.
“Superman! Oh, thank goodness. I don’t know what happened. Clark saw it, or heard it, I’m not entirely sure. He went to call for help.”
While Lois talked, Clark crouched next to Mayson and gently scooped her into his arms. She was still unconscious but he could hear her heart still beating weakly. He was vaguely aware of Lois asking bystanders if they’d seen Clark.
“Lois, I’m taking Mayson to the hospital. Don’t let anyone near the car until the police get here.”
Without waiting for a response, he took off, cradling Mayson’s fragile body close to him.
****
“I need some help here!” Superman shouted upon entering the hospital. A moment later, a gurney was in front of him and he placed Mayson gently down while several nurses began to attend to her.
“Superman, what happened?” asked one of the nurses.
“A car bomb. She was in the driver’s seat,” he answered as Mayson was wheeled away from him, behind the double doors into the emergency room. He tried to follow but the nurse stepped in his path.
“Let the doctors take care of it, sir.”
He watched with his super vision as Mayson was taken to a trauma room and several more people rushed over to attend. “I’m sorry?” he asked, vaguely aware the nurse was asking him a question.
“Superman, do you have any more information?”
Snapping his attention back to the nurse, he gave Mayson’s name and profession, and a brief description of what had happened. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to contact the police,” Clark abruptly ended the conversation and exited the hospital, rocketing into the sky heading toward the precinct.
As he approached the main desk, the people lined up fell back to give him space, some wearing looks of awe, some turning away in shock.
“You need to send some officers down to the courthouse,” he stated.
“Yes, we’re aware of an explosion,” the officer at the desk responded.
“It was a bomb. Mayson Drake was the target.”
The officer nodded and picked up the radio to relay this new information before leaning closer and whispering to Superman.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
Clark, initially puzzled, looked down at his hands which were covered in blood.
“I’m fine,” he responded while wrapping his hands in his cape, noting the blood on the front of his suit too.
He was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to get away from the people staring at him.
“I, uh, have to go,” he stammered before turning sharply and walking quickly outside. He took off into the night sky.
Landing in the alley by the courthouse, he changed back into his Clark clothes, incinerating the bloodied Suit with his heat vision. Wiping his hands on his pants, he exited the alley, running toward the crowd that had gathered in his absence.
The car was still smoldering, though some quick thinking bystander had put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. Clark kicked himself mentally for not taking care of that. People could have been hurt while he had been more preoccupied. He excused himself as he pushed through the crowd.
“Clark, thank goodness!” Lois called as he reached her. “Superman said to keep people away from the car, but someone put the fire out. Are the police on their way?”
He nodded as the sound of sirens grew closer. Soon after, the bright flashing lights of the emergency services rounded the courthouse and the police took charge of the scene.
“Sir, are you ok?”
Clark tore his gaze away from the destroyed car to answer the paramedic. “I’m fine, really. It’s not my blood.” There was only a small amount on his shirt and just thinking about the amount of blood on the Suit made him nauseous. He’d tried to wipe his hands a bit, but it hadn’t done much. Another paramedic joined them, wrapping Clark in a blanket and wiping his hands clean. He knew he should fuss as he didn’t require medical attention, but so far all they’d done was check his pulse and ask him some basic questions. He glanced over to Lois to see she was receiving similar treatment, but was protesting vehemently that she was fine.
His hands clean, and the paramedic satisfied that he wouldn’t need further medical attention, an officer began taking Clark’s statement. His speech was wooden and stilted as he recalled the explosion, the fear that Mayson would be dead, and the relief of finding her alive. By the time he was done, Lois had joined him.
“Are you ok?” she asked, slipping her hand into his.
He gently squeezed her hand in reassurance before letting go, still feeling like he needed to scrub his hands clean. “I think so.” He turned to the officer. “Are we free to go?”
“Yes. We’ll contact you if we have any more questions.”
Looking around, Clark finally noticed the crowd had dispersed a little, though there were a few people still hanging around including a few reporters.
“Let’s go this way,” he said, steering Lois away from the crowd.
“The Jeep’s back at work,” she stated and they changed direction, heading down a side street toward the Planet. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
“I’m…I think so,” Clark stammered.
“Did anyone say how Mayson was doing?”
He shook his head. The officer hadn’t known anything and Clark wondered if he could stop by the hospital after ensuring Lois got home ok.
They walked briskly back to work, Clark walking as if in a dream, trying to process the events of the last few hours. How had their evening gone from kissing the love of his life, to a desperate flight to save another woman’s life; a woman he’d brushed off so many times.
He gulped back tears. If Mayson died, he’d never forgive himself for how he’d treated her. All those moments where she’d made it perfectly clear where her affections lay, and the times he’d been too cowardly to tell her the truth. Too busy castigating himself to notice their surroundings, Clark was startled when they arrived at the Planet.
“Are you coming in?” Lois asked as she stood in front of the revolving door at the entrance.
He stumbled over his thoughts and his words. “I thought your car was parked here?”
“It is, but we’ve got to write up the story. We don’t have much to go on, but we were witnesses. There were enough reporters at the scene that the story is going to be in the morning’s papers, and Perry will have our heads if he finds out we were there and had nothing for the Planet.”
Clark felt as though most of the air was being knocked from his lungs. While Lois had a point, he wasn’t in any frame of mind to write about the bombing and almost death of Mayson Drake.
“Clark? Are you ok? I mean, I know you guys were close but I thought…”
Since they’d kissed, Clark filled in subconsciously. Since that wonderful kiss less than two hours ago, since he’d told her there was no more running away.
“I’ll write it,” Lois said softly as she gently tucked her hand into his again, squeezing lightly. “Why don’t you take my car and head to the precinct? See if they have an update.”
He nodded in agreement. “I’ll walk over; I could use the fresh air. I’ll call you if I hear anything.” He squeezed her hand in what he hoped was a reassuring manner, smiled weakly, and they parted. He waited as she entered the building, only leaving once she got inside the elevator, ducking into the alley before remembering he didn’t have a Suit on. Muttering under his breath, he began to jog in the direction of his apartment, taking advantage of the darkened and empty side streets to increase his speed.
Once home, he jumped into the shower and started scrubbing his skin where the blood had been. He scrubbed and scrubbed his entire body, never feeling clean, knowing that his invulnerability was the only thing preventing himself from scrubbing his skin raw. Feeling his control on his emotions beginning to slip, he turned off the water and changed into sweats and a t-shirt, before wandering into the kitchen. He grabbed a clean mug, popped a tea bag in, filled the cup with water, and stared at it. He wanted to shout in frustration and fear, his conflicted emotions starting to tear him apart.
He felt the mug crumble in his hands and left the shattered pottery in the sink. Drying off his hands, he walked over to the window in the living room, staring out at the clear night sky. If he was in Kansas, there’d be a blanket of stars above him. Here, under the bright city lights, he could only see the brightest of the stars unless he looked carefully. Making a split second decision, Clark changed into a Suit and took off, heading up into the sky. He needed to get himself under control before he went anywhere near the precinct.
He flew away from the city lights and stopped high in the atmosphere. He was being selfish, he berated himself. He was more concerned with what Mayson would do or say now that she knew his secret than whether or not his friend was ok, and he felt disgusted with himself. Trying to shake the fear that life as he knew it as Clark Kent was over, he flew slowly toward the hospital.
****
“Superman, how can we help you?” came the friendly greeting as he approached the reception.
“There was a woman I brought in earlier. Mayson Drake. Do you have any updates on her condition?”
The receptionist’s smile faltered. “Let me go check.”
He felt his stomach plummet as she walked away. He resisted the urge to follow her with his x-ray vision, not wishing to invade the privacy of others in the emergency room. Instead, he stepped awkwardly from one foot to another in an effort not to pace. At least the waiting room was mostly empty at this late hour. What time was it? How long ago had he left Lois to write up the story, and would she still be there if he called an update in? Where had the receptionist gone?
“Superman.”
He almost jumped in fright, so lost in his thoughts that he’d not been paying attention to his surroundings and hadn’t heard the doctor’s approach. He followed the doctor away from the waiting room into a quiet corridor.
“Ms. Drake was seriously injured and is still in surgery. It will be a while before we know the outcome.”
“Is she… will she…” Clark couldn’t form the words to the question he didn’t want answered.
The doctor patted his arm reassuringly. “She’s expected to pull through, barring any complications. There won’t be any official statement on her condition until we track down her next of kin.”
He felt a small wave of relief. “Thank you, doctor.”
The doctor nodded and smiled. “You saved her life. Any longer and we wouldn’t have been able to save her. No matter what the outcome, your assistance gave her a chance.”
The doctor’s praise didn’t ease the guilt he was feeling, but he thanked her, and hastened to the exit. Once more cruising over the skies of Metropolis, he found himself drifting near the Planet. He looked in the newsroom through the large overhead window and while there were a few people around, Lois was not one of them. After flying quickly around the city and not seeing anything that required his assistance, he flew home, exhausted. He ignored the blinking of the answering machine long enough to have a quick shower, still feeling as though he had blood on his skin, and made himself another cup of tea. When he pressed play on the machine, Lois’ voice filled the apartment.
“I called the precinct but they hadn’t seen you so I assumed you’d gone back to the hospital. The police won’t release anything yet so I just submitted a brief article and we can follow up in the morning. Just… are you ok? Call me back when you get home, please, Clark.”
The softness in her voice at the end of the message had Clark considering flying over to her apartment, but only briefly. He wanted to see her, hold her again, remind himself of the wonderful evening they’d been having, but he couldn’t. Instead, he picked up the phone and called her back.
“Hello?”
“Hi, did I wake you?”
“Clark!” Lois exclaimed. “No, I’m not in bed yet. Were you at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She was still in surgery.”
“Ok, tomorrow I’ll pick you up and we can head to the precinct first and get whatever information we can about the bombing, and then go to the hospital. I’ll leave a message for Perry so he knows where we are.”
Lois paused, as if waiting for Clark to agree to her plan of action. “Yes, ok.”
“Are you ok, Clark? You were much closer to the explosion than I was. I know the paramedics checked you over, and one said they thought you were suffering a little bit of shock. Were you hurt at all?”
“I’m not hurt,” he said, warmed by her concern.
“Still in a bit of a shock?”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“Ok, well, I’ll let you go to bed, get some rest. I’ll be there at seven.”
“Thanks, Lois. Goodnight.”
“Night, Clark.”
Leaving his tea unfinished, Clark headed to bed, hoping he could sleep without the images of Mayson’s limp body in his arms.
****
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