A/N: Okay, I'm back. I wanted to get away from Supernatural after being put through the emotional, and almost physical wringer during my last fic. It's something I'm really proud of, but I needed out of that world. So, my eternal refuge... Smallville.

That's not to say that this won't be traumatic though. It probably will be.

It picks up right after the events of Salvation, so don't read it if you haven't watched the episode. I had very clear intentions when I sat down to write this. It's a 'shipper' fic. No doubt about it. But I hope it's different from the ones I've written before. i want to be brave, and bold and new.

Of course, i won't know if I succeeded until we get to the end - and you tell me if it's a pass or fail.

That means, please review. I love hearing from all of you. And so... onto...

…the journey to you…

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…prologue – so far away…

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The song on the radio played her heartbreak.

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If someone said three years from now

You'd be long gone

I'd stand up and punch them out

Coz they're all wrong…

That last kiss, I'll cherish

Until we meet again

And time makes it harder

I wish I could remember

But I keep your memory

You visit me in my sleep

My darlin'…

Who knew…?

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Unable to take it anymore, she switched it off, and opened the book held in her lap. Leather-bound, with a raised print in beautiful pastels of a man and a woman by a lakeside in early spring. She ran her fingertips over the image, trying to recapture her own memories of a similar day… many years ago.

But the memories wouldn't come.

So acute was her grief, so great her longing that they blocked even the thoughts of him that would bring her comfort.

Three months had passed.

Three months since that day when he'd woken her with the sweetest kiss, fixed her coffee just the way she liked it and gone out, as he always did, to save the world.

Only on that day, he hadn't come back.

The Justice League had been scouring the globe and, at the same time, trying their best to fill the void he'd left. It did little good. Even a team of heroes could not compare to him. None could produce that light that flared in the human heart at the sight of him streaking across the sky.

And so they searched, but there was no trace, no sign…

And, increasingly, no hope.

The world was missing it's Guardian.

But she was missing her husband.

Stemming the flood of tears, she opened the book. A gift from him on their anniversary a year ago. It was almost like he knew she'd come to a day like this.

A day when she needed his reassurance. A day when she needed his voice – even so stark and hollow as words on a page. She needed it.

The distinctive curl of his handwriting brought a familiar fond twinge. She hadn't even started, and already she was losing the battle against the tears. Taking a deep, calming breath, she flipped to the introduction he'd penned, and started to read…

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Sugar…

It's funny how fast the time goes by.

It's been two years since you answered every prayer inside of me, and became my wife.

Two years of love, joy and a greater peace than I have ever known.

They say a person can only know peace when they're with their soulmate.

It's true. I know that now.

I didn't know how empty I really was in the time we were apart.

It hurt like nothing I'd ever felt before… like nothing I ever want to feel again.

And the surprising thing, the miracle of it all, is that I know you feel the same way.

Why you choose to stay with an idiot like me is a question I hope you never ask

Because I'm the lucky one.

I found the most beautiful girl in the world, and she looked at me like I was the one.

I try, every day, to be the one for you.

And that's what this is…

I know that who I am, and what I do, scares you.

You think I don't notice but I hear you sometimes, crying soft tears in the night.

You're afraid that one day I'll meet someone I can't defeat – face a challenge I can't live up to.

I wish I could promise you that that will never happen, but… I can't.

I face danger every day for the people of this city, this world, and I know the risks.

But you have to know that, deep down and most of all, I face them for you.

So that you can live in a better world, free of tyranny and fear.

That's why I can never stop being who I am.

But maybe there will come a day when you're lonely, or lost, or find me far from you.

So, I wanted to give you this.

It's a story.

A story you're familiar with.

It's about the days just before I donned the shield, when us being together in the end seemed nothing more than a distant dream.

The story of how I found you all over again.

Some parts will be painful – even the second time around, but I promised to always be honest with I'll tell the tale as it happened. I'll pull no punches.

I'll lay the truth out there and hope it brings you comfort.

I hope it reminds you that whatever happens, and wherever I am, I'm thinking of you.

Loving you.

That I will do anything to find a way back into your arms.

Happy Anniversary,

Clark…

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