A/N: The title of this fic is the title of a song by Arcade Fire, and the first couple of sentences aren’t unlike the lyrics either, so, um, I claim no ownership. I wrote this little vignette ages ago – well, I assume about the time the song was released because otherwise it wouldn’t have been played on the radio enough for it to inspire this fic – and promptly forgot it. I found it a little while ago when going through my WiP folder, and realised that it just needed a little fine tuning to be postable, so I grabbed hold of Aoife (my muse – she’s given herself a name since I last posted anything), sat her down to work, sent it over to Carol who kindly BRed it, et voila!
Standard disclaimers apply – I can give you a full list of what I don’t own if you want.
*.*.*.
No Cars Go
by Alisha Knight
*.*.*.
I know a place which no cars can get to, no boats, and no feet. No aircraft either, there’s no place for one to land. The only person in the world who can access it is me. Me alone.
It was mine, my place. My sanctuary. My secret sanctuary. Not my Fortress of Solitude, my childhood hideaway that my parents assume was my sanctuary. That wasn’t secret enough. My mother always knew when I was hiding there, I’d spend hours brooding in those wooden walls, then I’d get called in for dinner. And if I didn’t come, she'd get a ladder and come and get me.
This place was safe even from her.
This was where I came when I really needed to be alone.
A lush valley hidden in a mountain range, completely inaccessible to the outside world. No river ran through it, but there was a deep lake near the centre, formed in a natural depression in the rock formation. There was wildlife, fish in the water and birds in the trees. Small rodents scurried along the green floor with only the birds to prey on them. They didn’t fear me; they didn’t know what I was. Although, throughout most of my life, neither did I.
I land in the clearest spot that wasn’t overtaken by trees and shrubs. Then I let my passenger out of my arms.
“It’s beautiful,” Lois gasps as she stares around her, eyes shining in delight. “Clark, why have you never brought me here before?”
I glance down at my left hand and twiddle with the golden band that signifies my union to that wonderful woman beside me. “I don’t know. I’ve never brought anyone here before.”
“Why not?”
“It’s... my place. This is where I come when I need time alone – really alone, where I don’t need to worry about keeping myself airborne while I relax.”
“It means a lot to you?”
She’s the sharpest woman in the world. How I managed to keep her from discovering I was Superman right away I’ll never know. “Yeah. It’s hard to explain just what this place means to me.” Then as soon as I say those words I knew how to explain it to her. “But, I guess it’s pretty close to how you feel about the Daily Planet.”
Lois smiles as she bends down to smell a flower. “I expect it means more. The Daily Planet’s lost a bit of its charm, you know.”
I’m surprised to hear that, to say the least. “Really?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I adore the place, I would be lost without it. But I found something better. I found you.” A massive smile plants itself on my face as she leans up to give me a brief kiss.
“I guess that’s why I brought you here,” I tell her. “I wanted to share everything with you, even the things and places that I always thought I’d never share with anyone.”
Her eyes shine with the beginnings of tears, but I know she isn’t unhappy. I kiss her again. “Do you want to go back to our honeymoon now?”
She nods. “Yes please.”
fin.
