He rested his head against the table, shaking the entire table with the force he had laid it down- though he had been trying to be careful. They had no idea what it was like. None whatsoever. The constant calls, the cries for help, the pain and suffering. It became unbearable at times. But how could he make them understand? There was nothing he could do to make them see what he was going through- and despite his anguish, he didn't want to taint his friends and family with the issues he alone had to face. At times he wondered what his life would be like if he never put on that cape, never went around saving the people he could get to in time. As soon as that thought had entered his head, he quickly shook them away. No, he thought. People would die and hurt each other every day anyways. And whether or not I was Superman, I would still hear it. I can't stand by and do nothing. He sighed as he sat up, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't even notice his wife enter the room and walk up to him. As she put her hands on his shoulders, she felt him tense up like iron, then slowly relax as he realized who it was. Steel, she corrected herself. After all, wasn't that one of his catch phrases? How do you get a piece of steel to relax?
Clark sighed as he tried to give in to his wife's soothing hands, the motion on his shoulders alleviating some, but not all of the pain. Finally, Lois got up the courage to ask. "What happened?"
He gave no response for several moments. Finally, he mustered up the power to speak. "I didn't. . . I mean, I couldn't. . ." he let his sentence trail off there, trying to keep a grip on his feelings.
Lois simply nodded. "It wasn't your fault. You can't be everywhere all at once. You may be Superman, but you can't save everyone."
He sighed dejectedly. "No, you don't understand, Lois. You don't know what it was like. He. . . he got away because I was trying to save them and it ended up I couldn't even save them all, and it was terrible, and-" a sob escaped from his throat. Lois shushed him, trying to ease his flow of thoughts. For the man of steel, he could sure get himself worked up easily. She knew it must have been a lot of pressure- he juggled being Superman and being a star reporter for the Daily Planet, and being a good father to Jason, and now, what with her being pregnant- Clark was more stressed than ever before.
It was showing in every aspect of his life.
"Lois, they were children. Three children didn't make it. Three. I helped them carry out the bodies, and one of them looked like Jason, with brown hair and blue eyes that fluttered as his life just left him. . ." he shut his eyes at the image. "I stayed with him until. . . until he was gone. And I couldn't help but feel like I was losing my own son."
Suddenly he broke down into tears.