Happy Ficlet Friday. This is another bit of magic. Thanks to Kathryn84 for her beta.Origins of Magic Clark unfolded the chair and set it up for Lois. “Do you want some tea?”
Before he’d even given her the chance to answer his question, Clark was already on his way inside his trailer. His hands went through the motions of taking the kettle and filling it with water. Then he lowered his glasses, focused on the water, shook his head as he thought better of it and pushed his glasses back up.
“Clark, why don’t you sit down?” Lois asked softly.
He flinched, startled. As he turned to look at her, the water spilled over the rim of the kettle. Smiling sheepishly, he put the kettle on the stove and ran his hand through his hair. He let out a long sigh and felt a gentle nudge of Houdini’s snout against his leg. The setter positioned his head right under Clark’s free hand and looked at him with what could only be described as a concerned expression.
Clark couldn’t help but chuckle, but quickly he sobered. It was his own imagination running wild. He knew that dogs didn’t have much of an expressive face, though sometimes it felt like Houdini was the exception to the rule. And right now, the way he looked at him seemed to mirror the concern that was radiating from Lois. Clark sighed again, switched the stove on with a trembling hand, and hung his head.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I guess I’m pretty restless.”
“You can say that again,” Lois commented. “Relax, Clark. Whatever’s got you so worked up, you don’t need to worry. I told you that I’m not going to print anything I learn here and I’m not going to run away screaming either like you seem to believe I would.”
He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
“It’s not that, exactly.” He chewed on his bottom lip, wondering for a moment, if her assessment of his erratic behavior was correct after all. Maybe it was a part of it, but when it came right down to it -
“I just want to get this right the first time, because I’m not sure I’ll get another chance,” he blurted out. “This - you - I’d never imagined that anything like this was possible. I mean, even before my powers went completely out of whack I never expected I could tell anyone who I really am and have them be okay with it. I never imagined I could tell anyone that I’m an alien and not have them look at me as if I grew a second head and a spare set of arms.”
She grinned. “As far as I can tell, you grew no extra appendages. Though Houdini might appreciate it if you did because the poor dog is still waiting for you to pet him.”
Houdini barked his agreement and licked Clark’s hand. Some of the pent up tension seeped out of Clark as he scratched Houdini’s favorite spot. He looked at Lois, who was still smiling at him. There was a gleam in her eyes that made his heart leap with joy because he thought he saw the same kind of affection there that he felt for her. But he was getting ahead of himself. All things considered, he wasn’t even sure if he really was in love with Lois, or if his heart was just so desperate for contact with another person that he wasn’t thinking straight.
“I don’t need tea,” Lois said gently. “But if it helps to calm you down, then I’m all for it.”
Clark cracked a smile and wiped his face. “I believe I might need something a lot stronger, but unfortunately alcohol has never had an effect on me.”
He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose, slowly. Then he pulled out tea bags and two mugs. Houdini looked up expectantly and licked his lips as a quiet reminder that he still needed to be fed. For a short while, Clark could occupy himself with the mundane tasks of daily life and it helped him bring his emotions back under control.
By the time Clark had the tea ready and invited Lois to sit down on the chairs outside the trailer, he felt a lot more collected than he had before. He sat down and rolled the steaming mug between his hands before he took a slow sip, more out of habit than necessity.
Lois mirrored his motions and when she lowered the cup again, she leaned back in her chair and looked at him. “So there was a time when your powers weren’t out of your control?”
He nodded and took another sip of tea.
“What happened?”
Clark gave her a brief shrug. “The whole story or just the gist of it?”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You really have to ask?”
He laughed.
“Just checking - okay, the whole story…” For a moment, he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to tell her all of it. There was no going back from that. But it felt so good to finally tell another soul what he’d kept a secret all these years. “I was born on a dying planet called Krypton. The core had turned unstable and my birth parents knew that the planet was doomed. They sent me to Earth so that I would live. The rest of my people died as the planet exploded. I was just a few months old when I arrived here. The Kents saw a meteor and found my ship in a field in Smallville, Kansas.”
Lois sat straight. “You grew up here? Did you even know where you came from? Did you have these powers right from the start?”
Clark shook his head in amusement. She really was a force to be reckoned with.
“Yes, no and no,” he replied. As he saw frustration flash across her face at his short answer, he couldn’t help but grin. “My parents were pretty open with me about the way they found me. But for a long time, we had no idea where I could have come from. They thought that I might have been a Russian experiment. I believe I was in elementary school when the first signs of my powers showed up. I couldn’t control them at first, but I learned quickly.”
He took another long sip of tea, losing himself in wistful memories of the times when his powers had been a new, frightening part of his life. But he also remembered the pride he’d felt whenever he’d mastered yet another one. Sometimes he wished life could be that easy again. What he wouldn’t give to just go back and relearn control. But he’d been trying that for years now.
“That must have been scary,” Lois said quietly.
“Yeah,” Clark admitted. “It was scary and sometimes lonely, too. But it was nothing compared to the way life feels now. Learning control had been a huge part of my teenage years and I had really thought that I had put that behind me.” He took off his glasses and put them down in his lap.
His hand brushed against Houdini’s head, who had just finished his meal and had returned for another round of ear scratching. Clark set his now empty cup down on the ground and ran his hand through the setter’s fur. Houdini’s presence, soothing though it was, also served as a painful reminder of the day his life had changed forever. While he stroked the dog, Clark told Lois how he had saved Houdini from the hole he’d been trapped in and how he’d helped the dog to climb out, only to find himself writhing in pain.
“Houdini must have run to my Dad,” Clark finished his tale. “I was unconscious by the time he found me and I didn’t wake up until after he’d gotten me out and brought me back home somehow. My powers were gone for days and when they finally returned, I kept getting these hiccups. Some of them were so intense that I realized I couldn’t stay with my parents or anyone else for that matter. Only Houdini refused to leave my side.” He smiled at the dog who had closed his eyes and rested his head in Clark’s lap.
Houdini, who had inadvertently changed his life forever, had changed it again by helping him create the illusionist and thus find this amazing woman sitting beside him. The setter was the best friend anyone could hope for. There was no place for hard feelings and right now, he wasn’t even sure if he would go back and change what had happened, if he were given that chance. Who knew if he’d ever met Lois if Houdini hadn’t fallen into that hole?
“Do you have any idea what causes these hiccups?” Lois’ voice was trembling slightly, as if she was fighting with her own emotions.
Clark shook his head. “No. But it’s been years since they started. I’ve learned to live with them, for the most part. Whatever was in that hole affected me temporarily. I’ve never again encountered anything like it. Perhaps, it also did some lasting damage.”
“Did you ever go back to find out what happened?” Lois asked softly.
“And risk that it’s getting even worse?” The words came out more forcefully than he intended. He flinched and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. You mean well, I know that.”
She laid her hand on his. “Think about it, Clark. If you don’t know what happened to you, you have no chance to fix it.”
He swallowed hard. “What if it can’t be fixed?”
She ran her thumb over the back of his hand in a slow circle. “You’ve come this far since I met you, Clark. Don’t write yourself off just yet.”
Her warmth spread through him and his heart felt inexplicably light. Perhaps, just perhaps, there really was a slim chance that his life could be normal again, or less crazy than it was anyway. She’d taken a huge leap of faith with him, trusting him enough to be sitting here with him. So much had already changed in so little time. And while asking for more seemed foolhardy, hope stirred inside him.
“I’ll think about it,” he said quietly.
She nodded, saying no more. And for a while they sat in front of Clark’s trailer, taking turns in stroking Houdini and just enjoyed a companionable silence. Clark wondered if he’d ever felt this at ease. Any remnants of the tension that had made him so restless was gone. He picked up her heartbeat that was a welcome addition to the sounds that surrounded him - the gentle breeze of the wind, the soft sounds of pleasure that now and again escaped Houdini’s throat.
Maybe his life was actually about to take a turn for the better. Perhaps it really was too early to write himself off.
Clark felt peace settle upon him. Right in this moment, life was good.
