Previous Fic in Series: Worth Remembering
Series ToC
A/N: Warning - Angst
A big thanks to KSaraSara for being an awesome Beta! 
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Just Another Day at the ParkThe sounds of children playing faded into his awareness. He was seated on a bench in what looked to be a park of some sort; kids dangled from a jungle gym in front of him or clambered over a slide a few feet away. One broke free from the herd and ran straight to him.
“Push me on the swing!”
The girl tugging on Clark’s sleeve could not have been more than six years old. Clark looked around, bewildered. “Uh…where are your parents?”
His wife appeared from somewhere just behind him, holding a squirming baby in her arms. “Right here.” She freed a hand to rest on Clark’s shoulder and sat down beside him. Her name dangled on the far side of a vast chasm. “Jenna's ours.”
The girl's heartbroken look nearly destroyed him. “You forgot me again?”
His wife reached for the girl and tugged her closer. …Lois! His wife's name was Lois. Clark seized that fragment of memory and held it as tightly as he could.
Lois pulled their daughter into a one-armed hug. “Don’t worry, Sweetie. Daddy’s head might forget a lot of things, but his heart remembers you just fine.”
**********
Clark blinked. He was in Centennial Park again, though he wasn’t sure why. The playground his children loved was several yards away and completely empty.
A man smirked at him. “You’re going down, Kent!”
He took a step back.
Almost immediately, a brunette rushed up to him and caught him by the shoulder. “Clark? Clark, it’s okay. This is Barry Allen. He's a friend. You play sports together.”
“Wha—?” He looked again at the stranger.
The man's smirk had vanished, and he looked nearly as alarmed as Clark felt. “Wait, what? We were just talking a few seconds ago!”
The woman squeezed Clark’s shoulder. “I know, but I saw the lights go out.”
He stared at Clark, then shook his head. “And I thought *I* was fast!” He extended a hand. "It's cool. Yes, I'm Barry, and all you need to remember is that I just beat you twelve-to-one."
"No, he didn't!" The brunette glared at Barry, though the corner of her lip was twitching.
Clark felt his shoulders relax.
"Are you still up for a game?" Barry asked, looking worried.
Clark looked at the woman again. She would probably know what he should do…
She gave his arm a squeeze. "It's entirely up to you, Honey."
He nodded slowly. Clark took a minute to gather himself back together, then turned back to the man. "Yeah, I think so. Um…what are we playing?"
**********
Everything was dark and shadowed. He was lying on his side on a rough floor…concrete? His head rested on his hand. A couple was arguing somewhere nearby.
"—and he does good work!"
"Is that all you care about?! Work? How *useful* he is to you?!!"
"Lois…"
Lois. He knew that name.
She was crying. "Just shut up! I can't lose him again! Do you understand that?! Just crawl back into your cave and leave us the **** alone!!!"
He forced her name past his lips. "...Lois…"
She was kneeling at his side in an instant, lifting his head onto her lap and running her fingers through his damp hair. "Clark! Honey, can you hear me?"
He took a couple breaths before managing to answer. "Yeah."
Her fingers on his scalp felt soothing. "Do you know where you are?"
The basketball net above him slowly swam into focus, faint stars dotting the sky beyond. He managed to sit up a little. His concrete island was surrounded by a sea of grass, deserted except for himself, a distraught Lois, and someone in a strange, black costume. His gaze was drawn to a distant stand of trees. Something was missing, but his brain refused to explain what. "...notebook…"
Lois frowned. "Honey?"
His hand found the small notebook in his pocket. It held everything his brain could not. "It's…it's front page stuff," he remembered. Ghostly shadows drifted through his mind; he couldn't remember their words, but he had done so much frantic scribbling. "We can't print it, but we can get these guys." A satisfied smile found its way to his face.
He'd just managed to hand the booklet to Lois when the entire left side of his body developed a mind of its own. The stranger immediately pulled her out of the way of Clark's jerking limbs.
Lois swallowed. "We need to get him to STAR Labs."
"I'll take you there."
Lois's eyes met Clark's as he struggled in vain to keep from falling apart. "Okay."
**********
Clark wasn't sure what he'd expected to see in the day's newspaper, but the story about the new Superman memorial being built in Centennial Park surprised him. The article waxed poetic about a noble hero who was tragically killed in action in the depths of outer space. Clark dropped the paper back onto the table, his lungs burning. He took a deep breath, then another. Blessed noise filled his ears as his children played nearby.
A hand covered his, and he opened his eyes to see a beautiful woman looking down at him. His…wife? Yes, she was certainly his wife. Her name came to him briefly but then fluttered away.
"I'm sorry." The words escaped before he could think of why he wanted to say them.
She squeezed his hand. "Don't be. You saved billions of lives."
"You're left with the pieces."
"I'll take having pieces of you over having none of you any day of the week!" She lowered herself into the chair next to his. "I love you."
"I know." He brought their hands to his chest and smiled at her. "I remember it in here, just fine."
-End-
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