Author: Wendy Richards
Email: wendy@lcfanfic.com
Rated: PG
It had been a long, hard night, and Superman was exhausted. He had been alerted, in the early evening, by a news broadcast stating that there had been an earthquake in Southern California; he’d been with Lois at the time, snatching a rare quiet evening in together. It was one of the few opportunities they had managed to get since she had finally learned his secret, and he’d determined that she would have the opportunity to ask as many questions of him as she needed.
He had finally understood that her reply to his proposal had not been ‘No’ but ‘Not yet.’ He realised that she needed to get to know him all over again now that she was aware that the man she was in love with was neither Clark Kent nor Superman, but someone who was a strange amalgam of the two, and yet also someone completely different.
Then the newsflash had come, just as she had begun to ask him when he had developed his powers, and she had thrown him a wry, resigned glance. “Go,” she had told him. He had stared at her, torn. “You have to go,” she repeated. “We can do this another time.”
“I love you,” he had told her, the words coming from his heart. He had quickly spun into his Suit, eliciting another gasp from Lois; she was still getting used to the sight of him doing that. Stealing a swift, yearning kiss from her, he had hurried to his balcony and set his course for California.
Dawn was now breaking, and he was finally heading for home. Lois would have left his apartment hours ago, he knew; she had probably left shortly after him knowing that he would probably be gone all night. He was briefly tempted to visit her apartment, just to see her, but he dismissed the thought. He needed to get cleaned up, and she needed what was left of her night’s sleep. No, he should go home.
Landing on his balcony a few seconds later, he spun out of the Suit and into a pair of shorts, then strode through into his bedroom on the way to the bathroom for a shower. He came to an abrupt halt at the sight which greeted him. A slight figure was curled up on his bed, fully clothed, fast asleep.
Lois.
She had waited for him. His heart melted; all the terrible sights and sounds he had experienced that night faded into the distant memory as he stared at her.
Forgetting his intention, he allowed himself to float upwards and sat cross-legged several feet away from the bed, just watching Lois sleep.
It wasn’t the first time she had spent the night in his apartment, of course. But on previous occasions, he had never had the right to watch her like this; would only have been able to dream about kissing her awake, or having her welcome him home from a night of arduous and distressing Super-hero activities. The difference now was that, whatever the formal status of their relationship, this was his woman. His love; his soul-mate. The woman he wanted to marry; the woman who loved him as he loved her.
He listened to her breathing, the soft sounds she made bringing a gentle smile to his lips. His Mad Dog Lane, the woman he had privately labelled a ‘little tornado,’ looked so peaceful as she slept.
She shifted, and her sleeping face turned towards him, allowing him to observe the curve of her cheekbones and the errant lock of hair which flopped over her forehead and fell onto her closed eyelids. He smiled slightly again, and with his Super-breath sent a light gust of air towards her which lifted the strands back and away from her face.
Clark couldn’t believe how much he loved this woman, how much she had come to mean to him in the two years he had known her. He had never known that it was possible for one person to mean so much to another; it seemed a miracle that she felt the same way about him. And yet she did. Her love for him radiated from her eyes every time she looked at him. The words of a song he’d heard recently drifted into his mind:
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It’s amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word, you can light up the dark
Try as I may, I can never explain
What I hear when you don’t say a thing
———————————————————–
He floated closer to her sleeping form, hovering a few inches off the bed so that he could watch her more closely. She moved slightly in her sleep again, her mouth curving delicately into a smile. Sweet dreams, Clark wondered. He gazed at her in wonder, his heart overflowing with love for her.
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The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There’s a truth in your eyes saying you’ll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all
————————————————————
He wondered how he had managed before she had come into his life. How had he survived for twenty-seven years before he had known her? How was it that he had never noticed the enormous gap in his life which she had filled?
He had spent most of his adult life travelling the globe: the misfit, the not-quite-human who possessed such strange powers, trying to find a place where he belonged. He hadn’t belonged in Smallville, much as he loved his parents. He was too… *different* for that; he could never have stayed on the farm. He had needed to travel, to find somewhere he could fit in.
And yet, he had never felt at home anywhere, until the day he had arrived in Metropolis and had been interviewed by Perry White for a job at the Daily Planet. The office door had opened and in had come this human tornado, this stunningly beautiful and incredibly *alive* woman; and in that instant he had known. He had found the place where he belonged; he had fallen in love.
And that incredible woman had fallen in love with him. He shook his head as he continued to gaze at her. What had he done to deserve her love? What had he done to earn her trust, her loyalty, his place in her life?
His life had changed completely since Lois had entered it; he had found a way to belong as himself, and to use his powers to help other people. He could protect his privacy and that of his family. And he was now able to share his true self with the woman he loved with every breath in his powerful body.
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All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd
Try as I might, I can never define
What’s been said between your heart and mine
———————————————————-
She understood him, in a way in which even he had never done. She was able to see through the exterior he showed to the world to all the fears and hopes beneath. Even before she had known his secret, she had understood that Superman was more than a two-dimensional hero. She had seen through to his vulnerabilities and had rescued him from himself more times than he cared to remember. And even when she had finally guessed the truth about his identity -before he had told her – she had forgiven him sooner than he’d had any right to expect.
————————————————————
The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There’s a look in your eyes saying you’ll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all
————————————————————-
She stirred again, and her eyes flickered open. As she came to consciousness and realised that she was being watched, she smiled up at him: a slow, dazzling smile of love and welcome.
He drifted lower, so that he could trail his fingers along her jawline. She kissed his fingertips as they brushed her lips, then dragged herself upwards and raised her lips for his kiss.
A long moment later, Clark drew back. “Good morning, sweetheart.”
She gazed at him, all the love she felt for him evident in her expression. “Welcome home, my love.”
He stilled, recognising that what she had said was more than the mere words. He had come home; *she* was his home.
– The End –
‘When You Say Nothing At All’
Written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schultz
Recorded by Ronan Keating
c 1999, Polygram Ireland Ltd.