Given our rearranged plans... we also convinced them to hold the shindig earlier in the day - 2pm instead of 5pm so that we don't get home at 1 in the morning on a work day... [well, for DH...
]. That said, I *should* have time to post later tomorrow night
.
Last timeHe stopped at the local grocery store and picked up a copy of the Daily Planet. He gave a satisfied smile as he read through the story he and Lois had written. The two of them complimented each other nicely, though she hadn’t been happy when he'd tried to edit her copy.
"'And, in the end,'" he read aloud, "'Jason Trask's obsession caused him to search for a mystical rock he alone imbued with destructive powers, and to entangle two reporters and a small town family in his web while trying to get to the target of his fixation, Superman. He came to see this strange visitor from another planet where he was not, and to see enemies where there were none. It was an obsession that for Jason Trask would prove fatal.'"
That had been all Lois. She had an ability to skate the fine line between telling the truth and protecting his secret. He tossed the paper onto the front seat and headed towards the Festival.
*~*22*~*Lois rested her head on her fist, her elbow hanging out the window, as she drove to Smallville. The reality was that Clark was too perceptive for her own good. She *did* look like hell and no amount of make-up could cover it up. It *helped* some, sort of, but didn't hide the fact that she'd had a rough night. The 800mg of ibuprofen had helped some, too. She'd made sure she had more with her before she left the house. She had a feeling she was going to need it.
She hadn't told Clark where she was going to sleep but after that good night kiss, she'd known she couldn't trust either of them to just sleep if she went in after a nightmare. She'd slept well in his bed the night before. No more nightmares which had surprised her. They'd come two, three, even four times a night for months after Lex had tried to kill himself. She'd been there when he had, watching from the sidewalk as he plummeted to his near-death. She'd finally gone to see a psychologist in Independence who helped her work through it.
Intellectually, she knew she wasn't to blame for Jason Trask's death. It was him or her and him was by far the better choice. And if he'd killed her, he would have killed Clark, too.
He would have killed Superman without realizing it.
The world needed Superman.
And she was rapidly coming to believe that she needed Clark.
She wasn't quite sure in what aspect yet, but she needed him. She wanted to be his friend, the person he could come to when something went wrong and he didn’t want to go to his parents for whatever reason. She'd watched Superman carefully over the previous months and she'd seen him after a difficult rescue – when he got there as fast as he could but people still died, when he left India after spending three days straight searching through the rubble for survivors of an earthquake and finding only bodies near the end, when he'd wrapped a little girl in his cape after he'd pulled her from the freezing pond she'd fallen in and he didn’t know if he'd made it in time.
She'd never believed that he was only Superman. From the beginning, she'd wondered if he had another identity or at least other clothes to wear so he could wander among the masses when he chose without being recognized. Everyone needed downtime – from her dad the farmer to the President of the United States. Superman was no different.
It had never *really* occurred to her that he might have been on the planet his whole life. She figured he'd been around for a few months before making his big debut at the Prometheus launch but no more than that, not years and certainly not since he was a baby.
To see his ship, to touch it, to see the message from his father, to hear his voice in her head – it was surreal.
She was sure she needed Clark in her life and she was pretty sure that he needed her in his. It scared her. The way she felt when he kissed her – the way her toes curled and she had to forcibly keep her foot from 'popping' the way it did for the women in the old black and white movies. No man had ever made her feel that way from kisses alone – or from anything else either.
And it scared her. It really scared her.
So instead of sleeping and having dreams that likely would have eventually driven her back to her own bed, his bed for the night, she sat in the swing on the front porch, dozing occasionally, but mostly waiting for the first light of dawn to chase away the cobwebs and any possibility of nightmares.
She sighed as she pulled into a parking spot near the arena. It could easily be a long day regardless and the lack of sleep wasn't going to help.
All of the baking competitions she and her mom had been in had been judged the night before so she didn’t have that to worry about. Instead, she headed for the family barbecue booth to help set up. Her dad had been there for several hours already working on his secret recipe pulled pork. It was her favorite thing in the world to eat.
She'd miss it if she moved to Metropolis.
Where had that thought come from?
It had come from Clark, from his invitation, from the way he kissed her.
And she knew Superman – if she really wanted pulled pork, he'd come get her some, wouldn’t he?
That would make the move to Metropolis easier – her own superhero airline at her beck and call.
Well, maybe not at her beck and call, but he'd bring her for visits, she was sure.
His father's voice had resounded in her head all night long. 'In the absence of the House of Ra, you have my blessing.'
What did that mean? House of Ra? His name had been Jor-El. Clark's name was Kal-El. Maybe they were the House of El. So the House of Ra... would that be the family of the birth wife Jor-El had mentioned?
That gave Lois an unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she wasn't sure why. If Kal-El, Clark, was the only one to survive, why would the birth wife be able to find him? Maybe there was more than one ship being made and they weren't sure how many of them would make it?
That might make sense, but it didn't mean she liked the thought that Clark might have a birth wife out there. She still wasn't sure she could trust him with her heart, but she was sure that she didn't want him to already be taken by some Kryptonian chick.
But if this Kryptonian birth-wife chick had arrived when Clark had, wouldn’t she have shown up looking for Superman after he made his debut? Presumably, she'd have the same powers, so wouldn't she have tried to find him?
Lois sighed, putting it out of her mind as she gave her dad a big hug when she entered the small tent.
"You look like something the bull dragged in," he said holding her tightly for a long moment.
"Thanks. Appreciate it." She let him go and picked up a piece of bread lying there.
"So when are you leaving?" he asked quietly.
"What?"
"For Metropolis. For the Daily Planet. For Clark Lane."
She rested her head against his shoulder. "You think you know me so well."
"I do."
"I know."
"So when are you leaving?"
She sighed. "I don't know, Daddy. I just don't know."
*****
TBC
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
