Okay, it's officially morning where I live (barely) and I can't sleep, so here's part 7...
***Just a little reminder FoLC's about the WHAM warning I posted at the beginning...
Table of Contents From Part 6:
“Lois, I...”
She halts and when her voice comes, it’s hollow and anguished. “You’d better go, Clark. I wouldn’t want you to miss your flight.” She doesn’t make a motion to turn around, to face me. My heart is breaking.
“Goodbye, Lois,” I say softly. I walk up behind her and place a kiss, ever so gently, in her hair. I feel a slight hesitation in her, as if she might want to turn around. But she doesn’t.
And then I walk away.
*********
PART SEVEN:
“So when are you going to tell Lana, Honey?” Mom asks me.
“Tomorrow night, when she gets home from work. I haven’t even figured out exactly how to break it to her, but I just can’t stay with her any longer. Dad asked me if she was the *one*. I know now that she’s not.”
I sigh and rub my hands up my face and over my eyes. I’m so tired, but I know I won’t sleep.
“I don’t know how I’m going to get any sleep tonight,” I tell her. “I was actually going to fly back in the morning, in time to watch the colonist shuttle launch with you guys, but I just couldn’t stay in Metropolis a minute longer. Chad’s going to be peeved at me that I didn’t stick around and say goodbye. I left him a note taped to his door. I’ve gotta call him in the morning and apologize.”
“Well, you need to try and get some sleep, honey, because I’m going to get you up bright and early in the morning. There’s something we need to do,” she tells me, getting up from the table and walking out of the kitchen into the living room.
“Bright and early? What are we doing, Mom?” I ask, chasing after her. I walk into the living room to find her holding a bag of various cloths and materials. I raise my eyebrows at her.
“Well, you said you wanted some kind of disguise. You know how much I love art projects,” she smiles at me. “I’ve got all kinds of ideas. Come on, let me take some measurements and then we can get started first thing in the morning.”
I look down into the bag of items she has. Leopard skin? A mask? Colored spandex? Suddenly I’m not sure if this is such a good idea.
**********
I look down at the latest outfit mom sewed for me. This one isn’t *bad*. A heck of a lot better then the last two or three. I look down at the pile of rejects, the mask and the hat are definitely out. And that animal print? It made me look like Tarzan. Ugh!
“Well, what do you think about that one?” Mom yells from the other room.
“It’s certainly colorful.” Colorful yes, bright red and blue spandex, but definitely doable. As I’m staring at my reflection in the mirror and moving back and forth to see how the cape reacts, Mom comes walking back into the room.
“What do you think?” I ask her. She looks exhausted. I think whether I love this one or not, I’d better stick with it unless I want her to fall asleep at her sewing machine.
Then I notice she’s staring at the yellow belt... actually, directly at the red briefs below it. Mom? What is she thinking?
“One thing’s for sure. Nobody’s going to be looking at your face,” she says, as if in answer to my question.
“Mom!” I feel my face get hot. How embarrassing.
She laughs lightly. “Well, they don’t call them ‘tights’ for nothing, Honey. Hmm, I don’t know, I still think something’s missing,” she says, moving off to the bed and pulling an old trunk out from underneath it. She retrieves a red blanket from the trunk; it has a red and yellow S crest on it. “This is the blanket we found you in, so long ago.” She holds the crest up to my chest and smiles at me. “You’re parents would have been proud of you. We are.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
A few cuts and several stitches later and I’m once again standing in front of the mirror. She was right, there was something missing. I turn from side to side and the cape swishes behind me. “I don’t know. I’m still not sure about the cape.”
“Really? I love it. It’ll look great when you’re flying.”
“Hey you two, get in here, launch vehicle’s about to go up,” Dad calls from the living room.
Mom and I walk into the room to find Dad glued to the TV. She sits down next to him on the couch and I stand behind them.
“The colonists are just about all on board,” he tells us. “You know this is a historic occasion. Remember when you were little, Clark, and we saw the first moon landing?” As he’s speaking her turns to look at me and then shakes his head. “Are you sure no one will recognize you?”
“I don’t think so, Dad, because it won’t be me,” I say and reach up to pull my glasses off my face. I put them back up to my face and pull them away again for added effect. He smiles at me and turns his attention back to the launch.
“Forty-five seconds and counting,” the public affairs announcer states.
“There she blows,” Dad says, excited.
We all wait in eager expectation and then it seems as if something has gone wrong. The announcer’s voice comes back on, “Due to a mechanical failure, we have suspended the countdown at twenty-nine seconds. We will advise.”
It looks like I might have gotten my new outfit just in time to try it out. I run out the front door and take to the sky, hearing my dad’s voice as I go, “I don’t believe it. Something’s gone wrong. Clark do you...?” And then I was gone.
**********
On arriving at the shuttle, I carefully pry the doors apart and let myself inside. Where could the problem be? And would I even know what to do with it if I found it?
“Help! Someone!” I could hear a voice yelling. Wait! No! That isn’t just any voice... that’s Lois! Oh, Lois, what are you doing here?
Exactly what I had expected of her, to try and sneak on board. I shake my head and smile.
“Help! There’s a bomb!” I hear her shout. A bomb?
I quickly locate where her voice is coming from and enter into the room to find Lois, dressed as one of the colonists, staring at a bomb in front of her. Part of me worries that she might recognize me, but I don’t have time for that now. If I don’t do something, she’ll die, along with the rest of the colonists on board. I move towards the bomb, gently prying on it with my fingers. She’s not going to die. Not today. Not if I can prevent it.
“Hey, what are you doing? Get away from that!” she scolds me.
I ignore her, pulling the bomb off the wall.
“What kind of lunatic...” she ponders out loud.
I turn the bomb over in my hands and find the C-4 explosive buried inside of it. What do I do? There’s no time left. I do the first thing that comes to my mind. I *eat* it. I’m sure later, if I live through this, I’m going to realize that this was an insane thing to do – Lana would die if she knew I’d eaten a bomb – but right now my mind just keeps screaming, ‘She’ll die! She’ll die! Just eat it!’
Lois gasps as she watches me put the C-4 into my mouth and swallow it. A second later and I feel an eruption inside of me. It’s mildly uncomfortable, but I don’t think it did any damage. I’m amazed! I *ate* a bomb! And then I feel it coming. Uh-oh. “Brrrrrpp.”
I look at Lois. She doesn’t seem to know whether to be amazed or disgusted. “Excuse me,” I tell her.
“What...? What are you?” she asks me.
**********
“I think, considering the fact that I saw you first, you owe me an exclusive,” Lois tells me as I fly her down towards the floor of the Daily Planet newsroom. Everyone is staring at me. Surely someone will recognize me. Lois? Jimmy? Perry? But no one seems to.
“Is that the rule?” I ask her, setting her down.
“Well, um, no. But... I’d appreciate it, very much,” she says, and she rubs a hand across my chest, fingering the edge of the S crest.
I smile at her as I lift back up into the air, feeling regret at having to leave her touch. I had been relishing in her touch the whole flight back to the Planet. Her arms had been around my neck at first. I think she was a little afraid of flying with me. But after a time, she had gotten braver and moved a hand down to my chest to feel my suit with her fingertips.
But it’s time for me to go now. I don’t want to push my luck that someone might recognize me. I fly back towards the open window I came through.
“Wait! How will I find you?” she asks me.
“I’ll be around,” I assure her.
“Real smooth.” I hear Jimmy say behind me. I hide a smile to myself.
As I sail out through the window of the Planet and up into the sky, I’m flying high, both literally and figuratively. I had saved Lois and saved the shuttle mission, even managing to get the shuttle into space and docked with the space station.
And... she hadn’t recognized me. No one had. I could do this. I could lead a normal life and still be able to help. I could do both!
I’m so excited. I have to go to Smallville and talk to my folks. I have to let Mom know that it worked. I increase my speed a little in my enthusiasm to get home.
As I get closer to Smallville, though, I hear something.
First, a loud crash... then a soft moaning coming from someone. It’s coming from the highway below me.
There’s been an accident.
I accelerate even faster, trying to get there as quickly as I can. Maybe I can help.
I listen for the moaning, trying to pinpoint where it’s coming from, and then I see it, the wreck. My heart falls. It’s Lana’s car.
It’s lying upside down on a caved-in roof, wisps of smoke coming from under the hood and fluid leaking from the radiator. I can see the spot where the car had hit the concrete divider on the highway. It had apparently hit with enough force to flip the car. What was Lana doing on the highway headed out of Smallville?
I land next to the car, leaning down to look inside. Lana’s inside, her body suspended by her seatbelt. My breath catches in my throat. I reach out with my senses and I can hear her heartbeat. She’s not dead.
I rip off the driver’s side door and reach inside. I hesitate, knowing I should probably let the paramedics get her out, but if I wait that long she could die. I carefully release the seatbelt and lower Lana down and outside the car to the ground. I kneel down to the ground beside her. I don’t think I could find the strength to stand.
Her face is cut up and bruised and there is a lot of blood on her clothes. “Lana?” I whisper. No response. “Lana!”
Her eyelids flutter and she opens her eyes to look at me. “No! No, get away from me. Who are you?” she wheezes. I had forgotten I was still dressed in my red and blue suit.
Before I can answer her, she’s trying to talk again. “Wait, I know who you are.”
Yes, it’s me, Lana. Everything will be okay.
“They described you on the radio,” she continues breathily. “You’re the one who saved the shuttle.”
“Yes, Lana...”
“How do you know my name?” she asks and then a groan escapes from her lips and her body spasms.
“You’re hurt. I need to get you to the hospital.”
“No, don’t touch me. Get away from me,” she rasps, trying to lift an arm to fend me off.
She’s hysterical. I’ve got to get her to relax, to trust me. She has to get to the hospital. “Lana, it’s me. It’s Clark,” I tell her.
“Clark?” She stops struggling and looks up at me. Her eyes widen and then she closes them as she starts to cough.
“Yes, Lana, it’s Clark. Now come on, I’ve got to get you to the hospital,” I tell her, gathering her carefully up into my arms.
Her face takes on a look of sadness as she opens her eyes and looks at me again. “I was coming to see you. A car... swerved over in my lane,” she whispers and places her hand against my chest. “Please don’t leave me. I’m so sorry.”
My heart aches. That’s what she was doing on the highway; she was on her way to the airport... to fly to Metropolis, to see me. I hadn’t called her, talked to her, since the night we had argued. “I... I won’t,” I tell her. No, I won’t leave her... at least not right now. “I’m right here. I’m going to get you to the hospital. Everything will be all right.”
“Clark?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
I feel my eyes start to fill with tears. She really does love me. She always has. And I do love her, even if we aren’t meant to be together. I start to tell her that I love her, too, when I realize she isn’t breathing. “Lana! Lana, don’t do this. Stay with me. Please.”
She doesn’t respond. I fly as fast as I can to the hospital, taking care to shelter her body with my own as much as I can. She can’t die. Not like this.
**********
To Be Concluded...
