FIC: HOVERING ON THE BRINK -- Chapter 4 -- Everything
FIC: HOVERING ON THE BRINK -- Chapter 4 -- Everything
Disclaimer: Superman and his fellow characters are the property of Warner Bros. Studios and DC Comics, and created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel.
A CITY 2000 MILES FROM VANCOUVER - ANYTIME
A lone writer stands and wave a brace of decent SMALLVILLE scripts in the void.
KARA-EL
(wistfully)
Look… YOO HOO. Over here - these stories are good… and make sense… sigh.
The sound of a single cricket disturbs the silence.
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(ah -- but I digress... on with the chappie...)
4. Everything
Lois’s mouth hangs open. She shuts it with a clack, “H… Hold that thought,” then touches a finger to her lips to silence him, and pats his chest with the outstretched palms of both hands as if to root him to the spot. With a final nod, to make sure he is locked in place and won’t fly away, she runs in to tuck Jason into bed.
She comes back out almost immediately, searches Kal’s face for a clue, and ventures a guilty shrug.
“He wants you.”
Like a light switch, Superman's expression turns stricken, and speaks volumes to Lois, but she is adamant, so he steels himself to battle a five-year-old lie detector in Keds.
“Hey, Munchkin.” Kal’s mighty form is silhouetted in the doorway, eyes shining in the darkness.
“Dad calls me that -- my other dad -- I guess you can call me that too.”
Superman swallows, and his chest swells as if his heart would burst free and take flight without him. He takes a deep shuddering breath and, when he speaks, his voice is low, with a catch even superpowers can’t hide. “I... I'd like that... son.”
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Kal-El closes Jason’s door, and enters Lois’s sitting room.
“E-everything? What, exactly, are we talking about here?” Lois sits down hard on the beige recliner. It falls open -- springs weak from one too many run-ins with a certain five-year-old dervish. I miss my so sophisticated white divan. That was before… before a night I can’t remember… before Jason.
Superman’s full weight drags his steps, and he settles heavily down on the edge of the fireplace hearth. His world-weary preoccupation is palpable, and Lois’s anxiety rises. What is going on?
Kal seems to need something to hold onto, so he grasps the edge of his cape and worries it with his large hands.
“Lois, Jason heard… everything -- at the hospital. He’s been waiting for the right time to break it to me -- he’s known all along…” Kal's voice cracks. Lois is dumbfounded, witnessing this being from the stars, seated on her hearth, and ready to cry into his cape. Well… your emotions are human. Wait, I knew that… didn’t I?
“Shhh… it’s okay.” She clambers out of the grip of the old chair and rushes to him, all her questions unimportant in the face of his irresistible vulnerability. He needs me.
“Shhh, Super… uh, um… sweetie -- damn -- what is your name anyway? I feel stupid calling you a stupid moniker I... made up, after you dazzled me with the flying thing. It was an adolescent nickname, to meet a Daily Planet deadline -- and it stuck. I hate it.”
“I don’t -- I love it -- you named me, that’s the best part of it… Lois, I couldn’t have had a better name… and --” Kal looks at the crest on his chest, caresses it, and then looks at Lois like she had read his mind, “-- I already had the shirt.”
They both smile, and she impulsively hugs him. “A sense of humour -- you're funny, I like that.” She looks him over, a mix of mirth and concern on her face - that face that can turn hard as titanium in an instant. He blushes and looks down.
I did that to him.
Lois stretches a finger out, to separate the famous curl from the long mane that falls forward over his downcast features, and, for a minute, is distracted by its sensuous silkiness. Caught up in the moment, both hands decide to cradle his jaw. The tips of her thumbs caress his face as if they never had another purpose. “I think I always liked that about you -- but I forgot, didn’t I.”
Lois meets eyes that look up at her under lush eyelashes -- so much like Jason… and… someone, something else. Another something I’ve forgotten, I know it.
He opens his mouth to speak, and she realizes she’s holding her breath, waiting.
They capture each others eyes, and eternity waits. Then Superman clears his throat, averts his gaze, and shifts his shoulders. He seems shy to continue. “Cla… Kal, Kal-El, that’s my real name a… actually.”
Lois raises her brows and seems relieved. She releases his face in slow motion, without awareness, and sits back on her heels in front of him on the fake fur rug.
“Humph, sounds familiar, Kla --”
“--um, Kal -- It should… you knew it once -- you knew me once. We knew each other -- hence Jason… but you… forgot.”
Lois looks at Kal, empathizing with his confusion. She takes his hands in hers and pulls him down to sit with her on the floor. “Forgot? How could I forget? How could I ever forget us?” Lois tilts her head in puzzlement, and their joined hands sink in the plush white rug. It distracts her for a moment, and she looks at it.
Time slows.
Superman pulls his hands back, as if burned with her touch, and his hair falls again over his face. He leans back against the stone fireplace and examines the edge of his cape.
Lois’s eyes blaze and she leaps to her feet. Wait. A. Minute.
“Wait a minute -- YOU… you made me forget -- I can see it in your face, you skunk. How could you? Why?”
She grabs his chin as she would a bratty child’s. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.”
Kal meets her hazel fire with his own cobalt depths. His voice is softer than she can remember; she almost does not recognize its sound. “I stand at the edge of the pit, Lois. I would throw myself in without thought... to avoid causing you any more pain.”
Nevertheless, Lois is locked and loaded, and will not stop until blood is spilled. “How could you use your powers on me like that?”
Superman stands, willing her to stand with him as if to steady both of them, his generous palms heating the curve of her shoulders. His limpid blue eyes search out her soul, making an entreaty that she might understand and accept his words. When he says her name, the resonance of his voice shakes her to her core.
“Lois, you… asked me to.”
Her voice a whisper, her anger deflated, “I asked you?”
Yes, and I have no time to explain; I need to go. I need to keep you - everyone - safe… first, and foremost.
“We are safe… stay with me, us.” tell me… don’t you know this is killing me?
Gathering strength to walk toward the balcony, Superman straightens up, and steels himself to his purpose. “New Krypton is… falling back to earth… and I am the only one to stop it.”
“No - you can’t...”
“I started this, Lois. My property fell into evil hands.”
“You almost died, how can this be worth your life?”
“My life, or all of Metropolis -- and… and… I can’t wait any longer.”
The kiss happens before she knows it, and it is as if he had never left her… as if they had never been apart. It lasts a matter of seconds, it lasts forever, and it’s over too soon as he kisses a line to her ear and whispers there, “Goodbye Lois. Say goodbye to Jason for me.”
“Superman…”
Then, like her spirit, he is gone.