Stars and Water
by Colleen Joy
Summary: Alien boy meets human girl, romance and adventure occur, peril and conflict happens (this is Smallville) love is a distinct possibility.
AN: AU Season six-ish, Smallville and the characters in it aren't mine (but Clark should be) Maria and the other non Smallville characters and the plot are my own.
Chapter 1.
Maria's muscles relaxed as the warm sun soaked into her aching back. She sighed and stretched her shoulders, rolling them up to her ears and letting them fall. After spending the day helping her Mom to move all their belongings, hauling boxes up stairs and putting the couch in just the right place, she needed this peace.
Looking out at the sparkling, clear waters of the lake she smiled. There was no sound other than the lapping of the waves on the rocks and the sigh of the soft breeze in the pine trees. The air smelled of warm pine needles with a hint of fresh moisture from the lake. She adjusted her drawing pad across her knees and prepared to work on a new drawing, gazing out at Crater Lake through the long grass that surrounded her. Her dark, wavy hair kept sliding forward into her face so she impatiently pulled it into a ponytail, then she refocused her attention on the lake.
The sound of gravel crunching startled her and she turned her head to see a tall young man with chestnut brown hair walking onto the dock about 20 yards from where she sat. He walked slowly to the end of the dock and stretched his arms up over his head. Then he kicked out of his boots and slid off his socks, wiggling his toes on the warm wood.
She watched as he reached down and in one smooth motion stripped off his shirt. Maria stared at his lovely back, broad muscular shoulders, and narrow waist. She was so absorbed in the beautiful, smooth, curves she saw there she didn't notice he was unfastening his pants until he slid them down and stepped out of them. Suddenly she realized he was probably going to take off the rest and she was pretty sure he didn't know she was watching. Should she make a noise? Leave? Maria felt frozen to the spot as the right moment to say something passed and he stepped out of his blue boxers and stood naked before her.
God, he was beautiful! He looked like some statue from a Greek temple. The sunlight made his skin glow golden and the shadows caressed every naked curve, showing off his well defined muscles. Then he ran to the end of the dock and did a cannonball into the water, leaping high with an exuberant yell.
Maria seized the moment he disappeared under the surface to leap to her feet and sprint from the clearing. She didn't want him to know she had seen him. Later at home she added a new element to her sketches of the lake. She drew him as he stood on the dock just before diving, the image was burned into her minds eye and she had no problem recalling the details. "Smallville has more going for it than I thought!" She murmured to herself. "I wonder who he is."
The next day Clark was walking slowly down the sidewalk on his way back to his truck after stopping off at the hardware store. He looked at the Talon and thought about Lana. In the end they'd both agreed it would never work. They had both changed and although they still cared for each other, they had grown apart. She was like a stranger to him now. The pain of their parting had dulled to a bearable level but it was still there. It was such a habit to think of her he couldn't shut it off. He wondered if he was just destined to be alone.
Since returning from the Phantom Zone he had had a hard time shaking off a feeling of isolation. Chloe was wrapped up in Jimmy, or at least she should be, and he didn't want to get in the way of that. Lois was working two jobs, one for his Mom and one for the Inquisitor. His Mom was gone much of the time and when he did see her he hated to worry her. He was dealing with creatures that had the power to inflict terrible damage to the people of earth and they could apparently hurt him as well. He had to be fast and discrete about taking them out without getting himself killed in the process. Fighting with the Zoners made him feel more alien than he ever had and without his Dad to talk things over with sometimes he felt lost.
Clark heard a musical voice laughing and turned to see a tall girl with long, wavy, dark brown hair walking down the sidewalk holding hands with a little boy about three years old. The boy was talking animatedly and the girl had her head bent to listen. As she walked away Clark saw her bend down and turn to tie one of the boy's shoes and he caught a glimpse of her face. He also got a rewarding view of how well her jeans fit before he hastily moved his eyes back up with a blush. She was too young to be the boy's mother and he wondered if they were siblings.
Her smile as she looked up at the child lit up her whole face, her eyes twinkled, and she had dimples in her cheeks. Clark thought he had never seen anything so beautiful. Everything from her voice to her beaming smile radiated a beauty and joy in life that Clark felt drawn to like a thirsty man looking at a glass of cool, clear water. He wondered who she was. He stood by his truck and considered following her, then decided not to for fear of looking like a stalker. He got in and drove home but the rest of the day he had this image in his mind of a musical laugh and a dazzling smile.
To be continued…