DISCLAIMER: I claim none of the characters. They are all DC's; a good majority of the characters are from the Superman comics, but there are a few of them from the Supergirl comic series. In short, they're not mine; I'm just borrowing them. I'll return them, I promise!
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Linda opened her apartment door and walked in, closing the door behind her. She stopped and just stared at her dwelling, cheerfully decorated for the holidays, but the last thing she was feeling was cheerful. She felt depressed, hurt, resentful . . . lonely. She knew her remark to Jimmy at the Planet was a low blow, and part of her regretted it, even though part of her felt like he deserved it. He had treated her unfairly, lying to her for no reason. She didn’t want to be around that; she wanted things the way they had been before they started fighting, but she doubted that was ever going to happen. He was pushing her away, she was angry at him . . . everything was a mess. She deposited her stuff on the couch and walked over to her bedroom, where she shed her civilian clothes and glasses, letting her hair down. In less than three seconds, Supergirl walked out onto the boundary and took to the skies.
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Jimmy didn’t know where he was until he looked up and saw he had stopped near the steps of Lois and Clark’s house. He started up the stairs, and he was just reaching for the front door knob when he just stopped. He suddenly remembered that no one was home; they were in Australia, checking out Lex’s story. Jimmy could feel his throat tighten and his stomach churning at just the thought of that man. He didn’t care if he was a Luthor or a lemur, Jimmy hated him. He wanted someone to talk to, so he came to the only people he thought would listen, but even if they had been home he wasn’t sure he *could* talk to them. If he told them what was going on, he knew they’d take Linda’s side in a heartbeat. They were family; that's what family was supposed to do. Or, at least, he thought so - he didn't have much to go on there. Letting out a painful sigh, Jimmy removed his hand, turned, and left.
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Soaring above the city, Supergirl tried to let the cool air clear her thoughts as she soared between buildings, letting the snowflakes tickle her cheeks, but it was no use. The super heroine couldn’t keep her composure up any longer, and she let the tears fall freely as she flew up into the clouds, trying to get away from the world so no one would see her cry.
- - - -
Jimmy wandered aimlessly until he found himself standing outside of the LexCorp building. He stopped and stared at it, remembering all the hell that Lex Luthor had put the city - and Lois and Clark - through; not once, but three times. And then there was all that stuff with Luckabee . . . Jimmy shook his head. Things in his life were complicated enough without trying to figure out the whole Luthor mess; that was Lois and Clark’s job.
Jimmy turned toward the street and saw a limo approaching. It stopped beside the curb, and the driver got out to open the back passenger door. Jimmy didn’t see anyone get out of the limo, so he turned toward the building and saw Lex coming out, wearing a brown winter coat over his outfit and carrying a briefcase. He was reading a paper in his other hand, but he looked up, saw Jimmy, and stopped.
“Mr. Olsen,” he said with his accent, smiling. “Good to see you again.” He saw the expression Jimmy was giving him, and he deduced the reason behind it. He pretended to remember something. “You know, it’s a good thing I caught you here. Could you do me a favor? I let Linda borrow my coat earlier; she was without one, and she looked to be a bit chilled from the weather. If you see her before I do, could you remind her to bring it with her when I pick her up tonight? I would call her myself, but I’m afraid I don’t have time. Thank you so much.” He left Jimmy’s side and walked to his limo. He got in and the driver closed the door behind him.
Jimmy felt a new form of low. Up until Lex talking to him it hadn’t registered in his mind what Linda had told him. Now, it was reality. Jimmy couldn’t help but feel like he was going to throw up as he watched the limo drive off. Taking a ragged breath, he turned and walked in the opposite direction, heading for his apartment.
(End of Chapter 7)
