Title: Epilogue
Author: SuperSarah
Rating: PG
Summary: Sequel to Prologue. This is the end of the Clois story.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or this universe. No infringement intended.
Notes: Thanks to Jenni for her amazing beta work!
She had lived a good life. For the majority of her life she had been happy. She had had a job that she liked, was good at, and for which was often recognized for by her peers. More importantly, she had found her soul mate.
Looking back at her life, Lois Lane had very few regrets. Her secret to her happiness was the love of her life, her husband, Clark Kent. As far as husbands went, Clark was one of the most loving and supportive. Lois never had reason to doubt his love for her, or hers for him.
They had worked and lived together for over sixty years. Their two children had grown up in a loving and secure home, and now both were successful and caring adults with families of their own. Lois and Clark had started a legacy of love that would be passed down from generation to generation, culminating into a utopia on Earth.
But that would not come about for many decades to come. At this moment, Lois was succumbing to the cancer that had invaded her body a year prior. It had been a difficult year, full of tears, triumphs, and pain.
Clark had not taken the news of his wife's cancer well. He had gone to specialist to specialist, in hope of a miracle cure. None had come. Clark had battled his feeling of failure as Lois had battled the mutant cells inside of her. Clark had been there for Lois, every step of the way. He had held her hand at doctor's offices, stayed with her at the hospital, held her hair back as the chemotherapy made her sick, and finally accepted her decision to stop fighting.
It had been difficult for Clark to stop fighting. He had spent his life fighting the evils of the world as Superman, but he was unable to fight this evil. Feelings of inadequacy surfaced in Clark, and he had to resign himself to the fact that there was no way he could have cured his wife.
Lois had done her best to help her husband through her cancer, as he did for her. She knew what he had put himself through, and she made it as easy for him as possible. She had reassured, comforted, and consoled him. When she had decided to stop fighting and accept her fate, she had expected an argument form him. But being married for so long, Clark knew that her decision was final. He knew the pain she had gone through, and knew that she was tired. He was grateful that her pain would soon come to an end.
When Lois and Clark had gotten married, they both knew this day would someday come. Though Clark had battled death before, he had always come back. His powers had protected him, powers that Lois didn't have. Though Clark knew this day would come, he was still angry at the situation. But he had learned to set his anger aside and just enjoy the time he had left with Lois.
He wasn't sure how he would live without her. Clark hadn't allowed himself to think that far in advance, a part of him was still in denial. So he spent his days caring for Lois, spending every second with her and burning their time together into his memory.
Their children had come home with their families to say goodbye. They too were unsure how the family would survive without its matriarch. But they also put those thoughts aside and spent time with their mother.
Her sense of humor shone through in her final days, as did her beauty. Lois had kept everyone laughing, preferring their laughter to their tears. She had known that she had had a great life and had no right to ask for more. She was grateful for all that she had had. But she was sad to leave her husband.
"Good morning." Clark greeted Lois in bed when she woke up.
"Hey there, Smallville," Lois said groggily.
"Do you need your pain medication?" Clark asked.
"No, I'm alright," Lois replied. "Clark, do you know how much I love you?"
"Yes, of course."
"Because I love you so much. You have made me so happy."
"Sweetie," Clark began, "you have made me the happiest man in the world. I could never have hoped for a better wife."
Clark gently lifted Lois to rest her head on his chest and held her as tight as he dared to.
"Clark, it's happening," Lois stated as a single tear dropped down her face.
"I know Lois," Clark gently replied as a tear of his own escaped down his cheek and joined hers. "Don't be scared. I'm right here with you. Always."
"Me too. Always," Lois said with her final breath.
Lois body relaxed, as all the pain she had felt left her body, as well as her soul. Clark clung tighter to her and sobbed.
It was the day the world remembered as the day Superman disappeared. Clark and Lois' children remembered it as the day they lost their parents. That afternoon their two children found their bodies in their bedroom, holding on to one another. It was known that Lois died of cancer. And though he had survived many encounters with evil and Kryptonite, their children knew that what had finally killed Superman was a broken heart.
The End