Thanks again to Kathy and for all of you sticking with me for the ride
.
Last time
She gasped as she felt her feet leave the ground. They twirled around the room as the song played. "I love this song," she sighed, resting against him.
"Gramps has the whole house wired to a central stereo system."
"So the whole house is hearing 'Fly Me to the Moon'?"
Clark laughed. "No. I just set it for this room."
They floated in silence as the music filled the room. Clark set her gently on the floor as the moonlight streamed through the French doors to the balcony.
One hand came up to frame the side of her face and he kissed her, soft and sweet.
He pulled away to look into her eyes. "Lois, can I bunk in here tonight?"
*~*19*~*Clark watched her as she looked at him, slightly startled. "No," he backpedaled. "I was just wondering if I could sleep in here with you tonight, that's all."
"Oh," she said softly.
"I mean, after nights like tonight, I tend to not sleep well. Bad dreams and all that. I just don't want to be alone. That's all."
She smiled up at him. "Of course."
"Did I tell you that you look amazing tonight?"
She ducked her head and blushed. "Yeah, you did."
"I love the pendant," he told her. He'd recognized it the moment he'd seen it as the family heirloom. He was quite certain his mom wouldn’t have loaned it to Lois if she wasn't giving her implicit approval of their relationship.
"Your mom loaned it to me."
"I know." He pulled her closer to him as she yawned. "You ready for bed?"
"Yeah."
They stood there for another long moment before Lois headed towards the bathroom to change. He spun into his tux before heading for his room and returned in less than a minute dressed in a pair sleep shorts and a dark green sleeveless t-shirt.
He stared out over the pasture where he could see three horses still out grazing. Beyond that was the New Troy National Forest.
Lois had been right.
He *couldn’t* be Superman full time. He knew that intellectually but sometimes it was hard for him to accept that he couldn’t be everywhere, couldn't save everyone.
He just needed a knock on the head sometimes to knock some sense back into him.
He heard the door open behind him. He turned to see her standing awkwardly near the bathroom.
And then he saw what she was wearing and groaned. "Really, Lois?"
She looked down at the blue Superman shirt and the red pajama pants covered with his yellow 'S' emblem. "What?"
"Seriously?"
She laughed. "Lucy gave them to me for my birthday last year. They seemed appropriate."
"I guess." He gestured towards the bed. "Um, which side do you want?"
She shrugged. "I don't care." She pulled the covers back on the side closest to her. "This one's fine."
He went to the other side, mimicking her actions until they were both under the covers. They rolled to face each other.
"Thank you," he told her again.
She rolled her eyes at him. "You're going to have to quit saying that. I'm just glad I was here when you needed me."
He lay on his back and reached out a hand towards her. She snuggled in next to him, her head resting on his chest, one arm thrown across his stomach and one leg across one of his. "I've never really had anyone I can talk to like that. I mean, my parents are here for me but I don't like to burden them, you know? That's one thing I've been searching for for a long time, but I could never really define it. Before I became Superman, I was looking for someone I could tell about *me*, who I could really be myself with. Superman helped with that, some, but I could still only really be *me* around my parents. I mean, I couldn’t exactly make Mayson a cup of tea using my eyes or reheat cold pizza that way if she was around."
He brushed a kiss against her hair. "And when I found you, when we were hiding together, I knew that I'd found someone I could be that way with, someone I could turn to when it's really bad out there. And that's not the only reason why I'm so glad you're here, but it's one of many and I don't mean to just dump stuff on you but..."
She put her fingers to his lips. "Shh. That's one of the many reasons I came. To be here for you. I've seen you leave rescues and hoped that you had someone you could go to. When I came here, I hoped I could be that someone for you. Even if I hadn't come, I'd hoped that you knew you could come see me on a night like tonight. You do so much for other people, both as Clark and as Superman, and I want to be able to do this for you."
"Thank you," he murmured against her fingers.
"I thought I told you stop saying that," she said, a trace of humor in her voice.
"I will. Someday. But right now... thank you for coming to Metropolis. Thank you for being here for me tonight. Thank you for just being you."
"You're welcome. Besides, I don't know how to be anybody else."
He held her a little tighter to him and before long her deep, even breathing told him she was asleep.
It would be a while before sleep claimed him, he knew, but he also knew the dreams wouldn't be as bad as they usually were on a night like this. He knew it was because of the woman lying next to him.
It amazed him that he'd only known her a week but she'd turned his life completely upside down in that time. And she accepted and was coming to love him for him – for Clark Lane from Krypton. She wasn't falling for Clark the reporter, adopted son of Sam and Ellen Lane from New Troy or Superman, the powerful figure from outer space – but for the amalgamation of both of them.
For *him*.
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of her papaya shampoo or conditioner or whatever it was that he'd noticed on her pillow when he'd slept in her bed in Smallville. The real thing was much better, he decided.
He took another deep breath and let it out slowly as the sandman came much sooner than he ever would have expected.
He fell asleep in her arms as she had in his.
Together.
FIN
[or... TBC in Backwards III: House of Lane]
