Usual disclaimers apply...
Thanks to Tahu for her beta
TOC From Part 12:A little unsteady and with wobbly knees, Clark landed on a near skyscraper. He felt seriously drained. His breath came in short gasps and black spots were dancing in front of his eyes. Using this yet unknown power had taken its toll on him. Carefully, he sat Lois back on her feet. She stared at him, adoration and surprise written on her face. Self-consciously, she went over to Clark and fixed his tie and straightened his jacket. Then she got up to her tiptoes and kissed Clark gently.
“And I wanted to practice first...” she mumbled. “You saved my life, Clark.”
* * *
Separate Lives or Till Life Do Us Part
Part 13:Lois and Clark stood at the edge of the skyscraper, looking down onto the streets. The crowd had reasonably diminished. Only a small amount of stubborn people continued to look around for Lois and Clark. Now and again, they heard their shouts up till the roof, Clark more often than Lois.
“They’re perfectly fine, Clark,” Lois said at least for the fifth time since they had landed on the top of the building. “Look, there is no ambulance down there. And be sure that they would have called one if one of those guys had as much as a scratch. You didn’t hurt them,” Lois repeated.
“But I was so furious, when they suddenly attacked you,” Clark replied.
She couldn’t deny that she was a bit surprised about Clark’s ability to leave them all unharmed despite his incredible powers. Surely, he had also inherited the hero’s strength. Actually, she had thought that handling Superman’s powers would be more difficult. When Waldecker had had them, he had seemed to deal with them pretty easily. But then, Lois didn’t know how much time he had spent practicing. Not so long ago, Clark had suffered from his hearing abilities. And he had accidentally set a head rest on fire. That certainly counted for having difficulties. But then he had taken her flying almost like Superman would have in a similar situation.
“I still think that I should better turn myself in,” Clark resumed the topic Lois had hoped he had forgotten about.
“Give me a break! You didn’t hurt a fly down there, even though they gave you every reason to defend yourself. And you still think that you could have done anything to hurt Superman, let alone kill him?” Lois objected angrily. “I can’t believe it. I’m doing my very best to trust in you but you don’t exactly help me here with your self-incrimination.” She stood there with her hands on her hips, her breast raising and falling with each breath she took. It wasn’t difficult to tell that she was indeed furious.
“I’m sorry, I mean, I don’t know anything about me and the only memories I have seem to indicate that I... that I....” his voice broke and he stepped away from the edge, putting more distance between him and the abyss. “I don’t know what to do, Lois. Handing things over to the police seems... reasonable.” Clark shrugged, indecisively. He shot her a pleading look, trying to convince her that he was right. But he wasn’t.
“And what do you think they will do? They’ll take your guiltiness for granted and will deal with the upcoming crimes that will soon flood the city. Do you think that anyone of them will have time to find out if Lex Luthor’s dead British friend may be responsible for killing Superman? Besides, people don’t want to learn that the murderer is already dead. Didn’t you hear them? They already scream for your blood.” Lois gestured towards the streets to illustrate what she was talking about. “They want you in jail, no matter what really happened with Superman. They want revenge.”
It was a strange situation for both of them to have an argument on a skyscraper. Even more disturbing was the reason for their argument. Lois almost missed the times when she had admonished Clark for running away right in the middle of a conversation. He hadn’t done that ever since she had found him, hadn’t even tried to get away from her. But now she would have loved to hear him make one of his awful excuses and leave her, just to make things a bit more normal. If only Clark would get out of this unharmed, she would forgive him all the tiny lies he had told her over the last two years.
“And what do you want to do know?” Clark asked, sitting down.
He wrapped his arms around his knees, bending his head. He didn’t look at her anymore and Lois knew that he was about to lose hope. This was too much for him, like it would be too much for about anybody, including her. As glad as she had been to get out of the furious crowd, she couldn’t help but feel that the top of a skyscraper would be the last safe place in Metropolis. But they couldn’t spend the rest of their lives up here, could they?
As Lois didn’t reply, Clark looked up at her again. “It would be best if I turned myself in, Lois. I can’t do this to you. You’d spend your life on the run, never sure if someone will recognize us, and never sure if I didn’t kill Superman after all. I couldn’t live with that,” he said quietly.
“Would you please stop this?” Lois grumbled impatiently.
She needed to think. Lois Lane had to come up with a solution. She simply had to. Her glance wandered to the horizon. The city was bathed in golden light. There were a few clouds, painted in a dark shade of red as the sun prepared for touching the earth like it did every evening. It was rare that Lois had the time to watch the sun go down and she didn’t know if it had ever been this spectacular. There were colors Lois had never seen in her life before. She wanted to share this with Clark. Not only this day, but many times after that. There had to be a way.
* * *
Italy, somewhere in Tuscany “They think he did what?” Martha stared at her husband, unable to belief what he had just told her. He didn’t repeat it, knowing very well that she had heard him perfectly fine. “So – Clark is alright and Superman is dead?” Martha continued, shaking her head. “I don’t understand this. I mean, I know that Clark had sometimes thought about stopping his Superman activities. But even if he had decided to quit his life as a hero, he certainly wouldn’t have been so drastic as to kill his alter ego.”
Jonathan nodded thoughtfully. “But you’re forgetting something, Martha. Perry told me that Clark had been gone for four days before showing up again. And there was no major disaster anywhere in the world where Clark had helped,” he objected “We would have read about it or seen it on TV, wouldn’t we?” He reached for the phone again, taking the receiver only to hang up again. Then he took the registry, rapidly flipping through the pages.
“Something must have happened to Clark,” Martha agreed. “Airport is *aeroporto* in Italian,” she added helpfully. “The next one is in Florence, I guess.”
Jonathan only muttered something incoherent while he was doing his best to deal with the Italian registry. At the same time he made a mental list of the things they needed to do before they could leave. They both couldn’t imagine enjoying a holiday when their son might be in trouble. Unfortunately, Jonathan had hung up the phone before they had had the chance to ask if Lois was with Clark or whatever else could be useful to know.
“We need to call the hotel that we won’t sleep there tonight,” Jonathan said and started to search for the number of the hotel.
Martha laid a hand on his arm. “Calm down, honey. We won’t get a flight back right now. You’re forgetting that we don’t want to travel from Kansas to New Troy, but from Europe to the USA. Besides, I’m not sure there are any non-stop flights from Florence to Metropolis.”
He looked back at her, first of he seemed to be a bit annoyed at her stopping him. But he knew that she, too, would have liked to fly back sooner rather than later. With a sigh he gave her the registry and let Martha deal with the language. He knew that she was better at it. And, though he didn’t quite understand how she managed it, she was a lot calmer than him. It didn’t mean she wasn’t worried. But somehow his wife had the incredible talent to act prudently despite her fears.
Not so much later Martha had succeeded at booking a flight to Paris. Shortly after that she had gotten a second flight from Paris to Metropolis. Both were as early as possible, but that didn’t change that they wouldn’t reach Metropolis until tomorrow evening. Until then there wasn’t anything they could possibly do, maybe aside from trying to call Clark once again. But with the recent developments it was even less likely that he or Lois would take the call.
* * *
Metropolis, on the top of a skyscraper The sun had set and Lois still hadn’t had any idea how to get Clark out of the line of fire. In fact, the only things that came to her mind were supper and a place to rest. The view from the top of the skyscraper was amazing, but unfortunately that didn’t serve to make her forget that she had neither had breakfast nor lunch or anything else resembling food or water. She had only fed Bobby Bigmouth. They hadn’t stayed in the take-out restaurant long enough for anyone to recognize them. There certainly hadn’t been time to get food for themselves.
“God, I’m hungry,” Lois groaned, annoyed that she didn’t have stamina to get through this without wailing.
“Me too...” Clark conceded. “But it’s not as bad as it used to be,” he added.
“Well, maybe you don’t need to eat, anymore. Superman said he didn’t have to, he just liked it,” Lois said wistfully. “I shouldn’t have started to talk about it – that only makes things worse,” she grumbled, angry at herself. After all, she knew that they wouldn’t get anything to eat easily, if people considered her guilty for helping Clark.
But she couldn’t get it out of her mind, either. Instead she became more and more convinced that after a long, rich dinner thinking would be much easier. Lois looked at the city that was now dark, speckled with a thousand tiny spots of lights. Which place could be deserted enough for them to stay, besides this roof? And suddenly it hit her as if the idea had already been waiting in the back of her mind.
“You’re place! Why don’t we go to your place?” Lois suggested excitedly. Clark furrowed his brows as if to ask her if she had now completely lost her mind. “Don’t look at me like that, buster. Who will ever think that we would be so stupid to return to your place?” She grinned at him broadly, prompting him to praise her genius.
“Oh, and how do you think we can get there unseen? Besides, I think that the reporters will already have ransacked my apartment,” Clark objected, not changing his expression. He still wasn’t convinced and didn’t hide his doubts.
“Well, getting there will be pretty easy. You fly me to that balcony of yours and I’ll make sure that we’ll get inside. And concerning any nosy reporters – you could check for them with your x-ray vision gizmo first,” Lois explained, still smiling happily.
“My what?” Clark asked confused.
“I’m sorry, of course you don’t know about that... You have x-ray vision, at least I think so,” Lois replied, wondering how she was going to tell Clark about something she didn’t know that much about. “You should be able to look through things. That was one of Superman’s abilities. All you need to do is find out how it works.”
Clark laughed, but it was a brief and sad laughter. “All I need to do?” he asked incredulously. “You seem to think that this will be pretty easy, don’t you? I didn’t do any of these things on purpose and I’m not sure if I could fly again or if I could do this x-ray thingy if I wanted to. Besides, I don’t want to use these powers. They can harm anyone around me and for all I know, I could have stolen them.” He turned his back on her, not willing to discuss this any further. It was obvious that he couldn’t come up with a better idea, either. But it would take a lot of convincing to make him try hers.
“How did you manage to fly in the first place?” Lois asked softly, trying hard not to get angry at him. She wanted to understand that this was difficult for Clark and that it was natural that he wasn’t all excited about having those powers. Even Lois wasn’t sure she would like to have them if places were reversed.
“I badly wanted to save you,” Clark said quietly. “I thought of Superman and how great it would be to just fly out of the danger.”
“Maybe that’s the key,” Lois suggested. “You really wanted to do it and suddenly you could. And I bet you could do it again.”
Clark was about to tell her that having to want something was different from actually wanting something. The flight had really scared him and he didn’t want to do it again, or did he? Honestly, the feeling had been incredible. He certainly hadn’t felt anything like this as far as he could remember. It had been pure freedom – and once he had realized that Lois and he had indeed escaped, he had been almost proud to... But he couldn’t be proud of something he hadn’t deserved to get.
“Clark, you did it!” Lois said, thrilled. “Well, at least for a moment,” she added, after Clark had found himself floating, but touched the ground almost as quickly as he had taken off.
“Lois, I...” Clark began, but then fell silent.
This wasn’t only for him, but for her as well. He might not know much about Lois, but it was pretty obvious that she would stubbornly remain at his side, ignoring any evidence for his guilt. He had to help her – he couldn’t close his eyes and weep about how pitiful his life had become. She tried to help him and she deserved that he did his best to do the same thing for her.
He closed his eyes once more, thinking back to what flying had felt like. He concentrated, hard. And as he opened his eyes he was floating once again. He was no more than a few inches above the ground but it already took all his willpower to remain there. It was futile to try and get any higher, much less fly.
“Maybe it will help if you think of something else, before trying it again. You need to relax Clark. Superman never looked that strained before he took off,” Lois suggested.
Involuntarily, Clark’s mind drifted off to the morning – to waking up next to Lois. The mere memory of her gentle lips on his and her warm breath in his face almost made him forget about the many problems of the past hours.
“Wow, what did you think of?” Lois asked and had to look up to him.
Clark blushed deeply and floated back to the ground.
“You,” he replied hoarsely.
As he landed beside her, he took her hand and pulled her a little closer. She followed his invitation and laid his arms around him, holding him tightly. Lois rested her head against his chest and sighed. Then she looked at him and blushed as well. Briefly she stepped on her toes and placed a soft peck on his cheek, wandering to his neck and down to his shoulders. Their feet were no longer touching the ground and Clark felt a wild energy course through him. He couldn’t have said whether it came from the soft pecks she kept placing on his cheek or if it was also the flying that excited him so much. Her kisses made his skin tingle and the feeling spread from his cheek through his whole body. The air around him was warm and seemed to be full of energy, vibrating with new hope.
This power was new to him and at the same time strangely familiar, as if he had been born to fly. It no longer scared him that the giant skyscrapers looked almost small. High above the city the world was peaceful and held no threat to him. Being together with Lois made it all the more wonderful. It seemed to be something he had wanted to do for a long time. Nothing would keep him from enjoying the moment as long as it lasted.
Her embrace was promising a better future, filled with love and lacking the angst that had reined his life until this very moment. He so much wanted to trust her, wanted to believe that all his fears were no more than awful nightmares. His life had been such a mess since Lois had found him. But right now he felt save in her arms and the shadows began to fade. All his problems were far away, looking so small from above the clouds.
By some mysterious instinct he found the way. Sometimes he recognized buildings, he had seen earlier this morning. He followed his mental map and only now and then Lois helped out, telling him where to go. Clark did no longer hold her in an embrace, but had swept her up into his arms, feeling that she would be safer that way. Lois had her arms wrapped around his neck and so they were approaching the apartment building they had left in the morning.
Outside it was relatively silent. There were only few people who had decided to spend the night in front of 344 Clinton Street, waiting for the unthinkable. But in the very moment it happened none of the reporters, police men or whoever was actually down there, was looking up to the sky. The apartment, or what Clark could see of it, was dark. He listened carefully and Lois heart beat next to him became louder. But he didn’t hear anything that sounded like someone was indeed ransacking his place.
“What do you see?” Lois whispered and Clark sighed.
He stared at the roof under which his apartment was, but it remained stubbornly opaque. Clark blinked and tried again, telling himself that for their safety he needed to see through these walls. It occurred to him that maybe he wouldn’t be able to do it. After all this could be a power Superman had kept to himself, if something like this was possible.
But suddenly, the walls seemed to disappear and Clark could see his bedroom as if someone had miraculously removed the ceiling. His eyes wandered to the place where his kitchen was situated, and then he observed his living room and finally the bath room. They were all empty; nobody was sitting in front of his door waiting to hear something from inside the apartment. It was obvious that not even the nosiest reporter actually considered it possible that Lois and Clark would return.
Silently, Clark floated down to the backside of his apartment. He quietly landed on his balcony and set Lois back down onto the ground. Then they were looking at each other, Lois grinning with excitement, because they had actually made it to Clark’s place. She stepped on her toes to kiss him, touching her lips to his, feeling the intoxicating warmth of them. He placed his hands on the small of her back, steadying her gently. Pleasant shivers ran down her spine as she felt a soft brush of his tongue against her lips. She opened them a bit and welcomed the silky intruder.
* * *
They didn’t dare turn on the lights as they got inside. Just like Clark had seen it from above the apartment was deserted. Lois didn’t waste any time and stormed into the kitchen, obviously too hungry to wait until they had cooked something. In the darkness she went from one cupboard to another until she had found food in the fridge.
“You still eat like an eight year-old,” Lois remarked as she searched through his provisions, looking for something that would serve to still her hunger. “Promise me that as soon as you get your memory back you’ll tell me how you manage to keep your body in such an incredible shape!”
Clark joined her and watched as she took several things out of the fridge and placed them next to the sink. He wondered how the pile she built could add up to a meal anyone could enjoy eating. Thoughtfully, he went to his oven, taking the pan that was hanging at the wall.
“That is taking too long!” Lois complained and longingly looked at the pile of food.
Clark reached for a few slices of toast and looked at them intensively. Soon the incredible smell of freshly toasted bread filled the kitchen. Clark smiled at Lois and gave her the slices, gesturing towards his fridge.
“Help yourself with the sandwiches while I prepare dinner,” he suggested.
Lois stared at him, her mouth open. “You practiced that, didn’t you?” She could only vaguely see the toast. But it looked just perfect, like she wouldn’t have managed it with the most expensive toaster available. And Lois was actually proud of her toasting skills, one of the few things in kitchen she wasn’t a complete loss at.
“Not that I know,” Clark replied and went on picking some things from the pile Lois had created.
A little later, Lois gladly ate her sandwich, though it meant no more than a drop in the bucket. Figuring that she would only disturb Clark, she wandered through his apartment. She knew it by heart because of all the evenings they had spent there working or watching a film. But being here was different this time. She felt safe here, although there was no place that could possibly be more dangerous than this with all the people waiting outside. Even so, it was her harbor, the place she had come to when she had been afraid to have lost Clark. It was the place that wouldn’t change, no matter how difficult the world had become.
It was kind of ironic that people were compassing this place again. Last time, they had done it because they hoped to prove that Clark was Superman. And now that he practically was Superman, they were getting at him for being Clark, the supposed murderer. Thinking of Clark’s problems with Diana Stride, Lois started to wonder if he might still have Superman’s spare capes. Maybe they would finally help Lois to convince Clark that Superman and he had actually been friends. He had to realize that there had been no reason whatsoever for one of them to kill the other.
More determinately, Lois went into his living room and had to look for a moment to find his closet in the darkness. It didn’t take her long though and soon she had opened it and started to search for the secret compartment that would contain Superman’s suits. Again, Lois proved her investigative skills to be excellent. She could vaguely discern the blue and red in the bit of light that came from the streets. Looking at the suits without Superman in them was new to her and it was particularly strange to know that their owner wouldn’t return to claim them.
Lois reached for one of the suits and took it with her, closer to one of the windows so she could look at it more thoroughly. She estimated that Clark would be able to wear it, though he might be a little shorter than Superman. Thoughtfully, Lois went to the kitchen. While she had been gone, Clark had found something to put in front of the windows so that no light would come out. As she entered the room, he smiled at her, but the smile soon faded as he saw Superman’s suit.
“Dinner’s almost ready,” Clark announced somewhat gruffly and regretted it instantly. He bit his lip in shame, trying not to look at the flashy colors of the fabric Lois held in her hands.
“I found this in your closet, Clark! Believe it or not, but Superman asked you to keep his belongings, he trusted you.” Lois said and held out the suit. “How much more proof do you need to understand that you’ve got nothing to do with his death?”
“Lois,” Clark groaned. “Didn’t you say you were hungry?” He gave her a pleading glance, trying to convey that she should drop the topic. He was tired of it and the last thing he needed was for Lois to make him wear that suit. Before he could finish his thought, Lois began to speak.
“Why don’t you try it on, Clark?” Lois asked pleadingly and held it out to him, the expression on her face leaving little doubt that she was going to insist on it.
“Why, Lois? Why should I? I couldn’t replace him anyway,” Clark said. “The people will think that I stole his power, his life and his identity. You might be right that I’m bound to use his powers if he actually made me his heir, because he... whatever. But I don’t see how I could under the circumstances.” He turned his back on her and concentrated on the pot with the sauce and pasta. It didn’t need his attention, but he pretended it did. Keeping his hands busy seemed to be the best way to avoid this conversation. But it was Lois he was dealing with and she didn’t feel like stopping to talk about the issue.
“You could at least look at the suit, Clark! After all you washed and dried them. Maybe they could help you get back your memory,” Lois said angrily and threw the suit on the ground, turning her back on Clark. “I just want to help you, but you won’t let me! I wanted to help you understand why all this might have happened to you, but you just keep telling me that you can’t face it, Clark. Superman tried to tell you something, but you listen to him no more than you listen to me.” She didn’t know why she did it, but she stormed out of the room. Her hunger was forgotten for the moment, all she wanted was to get as far away from Clark as possible.
to be concluded
