The obligatory "I-don't-own-any-of-the-characters" line: Of course Superman doesn't belong to me.
Setting: immediately post-Superman II
A one-shot chronicling what should have happened at the end of Superman II.
The obligatory "Please-review-on-my-story" line: They are nice after all
After leaving the Fortress of Solitude, Superman headed back south, to Metropolis, to drop off Lois. She was uncharacteristically silent the entire ride, and Clark was not about to force her to speak to him. He understood that she now had a lot to think about and to decide, what with her recent discovery of his secret identity. He wasn't going to influence her decision one way or the other, no matter what his personal feelings were.
When they alighted on Lois' balcony, Clark set her down and waited for a beat. Deciding that she didn't want to discuss the obvious source of tension, he merely said, "Good night, Lois," and began to lift off, raising his right arm above his head.
"Wait," she called after him, at which he looked down and descended, keeping a safe distance from her, both for her sake and his own.
He rested his fists on his hips. "Lois, I understand if you aren't ready to discuss this right now. You've been through quite an ordeal the last couple of days. I can wait."
She lowered her head and sighed. "But I don't want to wait. And I don't want to have to discuss it." He could hear tears in her voice, which unnerved him. The strong, formidable, on-top-of-her-game, ruthless journalist Lois Lane was about to cry, because of him. He stepped forward, wanting with everything in him to reach out to her, hold her, comfort her. But she turned around and studied the Metropolis skyline. "Everything's going to change now. It has to. I won't be able to look at you the same way in the office, not now that I know who you really are, not now that I'm in love with Clark Kent."
"But if people saw you act differently toward me –"
She whirled around, frustrated. "I know that, Clark!" She faltered. "Or should I say 'Superman.' Hell, I don't even know what to call you."
"Call me whatever makes you most comfortable," he said softly.
"None of this makes me comfortable! This shouldn't have happened. I can't handle this; you were right in not telling me sooner." Her voice lowered to a whisper, which he could still hear clearly. "I almost wish I had never figured it out."
He stepped forward again, now within arm's reach. She looked up when he put a hand on her shoulder, and she fought the tears. "I can help you forget, if you want me to," he said, pain evident in his own eyes.
She sniffed back the eminent tear and looked up at him hopefully. "You can? How?"
"Hypnosis. I can take away your memories of the past couple of days, up until we were in that hotel room. You'll have a bit of a blank spot in your memory, but things will go back to normal." He reached down and took her hands. "I can't have you hurting like this, Lois. I would love to be able to give myself to you completely, but that can never happen. I belong to the world. My purpose is to help people; it's what I was sent here to do. And if I can help you by giving you up forever, then I'll do it." He pulled her up against himself. "It's up to you."
She gazed up into his eyes and felt his heat flowing through her own body. She remembered the night in the Fortress, how wonderful and right and simply glorious it had been. But look what had almost happened because she had caused Superman to give up his powers for her. She couldn't even dare to ask him to do it again. She wanted to tell him that she didn't mind sharing him, but she also didn't want to lie to him.
"I feel so selfish," she said, lowering her head.
"No, Lois, you're not selfish."
She looked back up, the tears now glistening in her eyes. "Yes, I am. I am selfish when it comes to you. And I'm jealous of the entire world." She rested her cheek on his chest. "But I know that I can't have you all to myself, and I also can't bear to share you." Again her voice dropped to a whisper. "Help me forget." A single tear fell.
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly before pushing back a little bit to look into her face. "If that's what you want, I will do it." She merely nodded. "All right, then," he continued. "To do it, I'll have to kiss you, and you may feel faint afterwards. But I'll keep you steady until you can stand on your own. Are you ready?" She nodded again. He looked down at her sadly. "Good bye, Lois."
"Good bye. I love you," she said as he brought his lips down, almost stopping at the words.
Just before he made contact, he replied quietly, "I love you, too."
The kiss was long, slow, and deep, and tears were falling down both their cheeks. Clark brought his hands up to her face and wiped the tears away, then rested them on her cheeks. He had to make sure not to kiss her too long, or she would lose more than just a couple days. When he finally forced himself away, he looked down at Lois, who was standing with her face up, mouth open, and eyes closed. Then she began swaying, and just as he caught her, her eyes fluttered open.
"What happened?" she asked weakly, bringing her hand to her face. "I feel so funny." Then she spotted Superman. "Superman, what happened?"
He held her at arm's length until she was steady enough to stand on her own. "It was a very difficult rescue this time, Miss Lane, and I'm afraid that you lost consciousness. The paramedics said that you would be all right, so I brought you home. I hope that's okay."
"Yes, yes of course. I'd rather be here than at a hospital."
He released her. "Good. I'll let you get some rest then." He began ascending. "Good night, Miss Lane."
"Good night," she called after him.
As he left her on the balcony, no one saw the tears falling down his cheeks. He had lost her once before, but in his grief, he was able to fly at much faster than normal speeds to reverse time and bring her back. But there was no reversing time in this instance. He had to do it. He couldn't bear the thought of Lois becoming a target for people like Lex Luthor. Though it was the hardest thing he had ever done, he knew that he had to give her up to save her.
As she watched him fading from sight, Lois wondered at the man in red and blue. At first, she was a bit disoriented, but when she regained her composure, she thought back to where she had been that he had had to rescue her, again. She racked her brain, but the last thing she remembered was the newlywed suite in Niagara Falls. But there were also strange flashes of other things: the Flames of Love, a large building made of ice, her own face contorted with moan of pleasure, Superman laying asleep beside her, three strangely-dressed people, Superman whispering the words "I love you."
None of it made sense. She must really have hit her head hard. Sure, she was enamored with Superman and she wished that they could become something more, but there's no way that he felt the same; he must have had millions of women swooning over him. Plus, he belonged to the whole world. There's no way she could ever think to claim him all to herself. She shook off the flashes as delusions caused by a mild concussion, went into her apartment, and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Clark Kent was not looking forward to going to work today. He knew that it would be hell seeing Lois and not being able to treat her like she and he had had anything, because to her amended knowledge, they hadn't. To her, he would just plain old bumbling Clark, and not the strong, confident man that she had fallen in love with, and had even made love to.
As he approached the doors to the newsroom, he inhaled deeply and reminded himself that this was for her own good, that this was what she wanted. And he would never be able to deny her what she wanted.
He saw her sitting at her desk, already hard at work. As he walked to his desk, she looked up and smiled.
"Hey, Clark."
"M-morning, Lois. Have a good weekend?"
"The strangest weekend of my life," she replied, pulling her story notes back to her. "Hey, Clark, is 'disastrous' spelled 'd-i-s' or 'd-e-s'?"
"D-i-s."
"Thanks a bunch." Then she turned back around and starting typing furiously at her typewriter.
Clark set his briefcase down and tried his best not to look too disheartened. Not that anyone would notice or care: Clark was practically invisible. He sat down and began sifting through a pile of pictures that Jimmy had captured of the alien invaders from the Phantom Zone, quieting cursing their very inopportune arrival on Earth.
If only they had just stayed where they belonged…
But he knew better. If it wasn't Zod, Ursa, and Non, there would have been some other huge catastrophe that would have prompted him to take back up the role of Superman.
"There's no escaping who I really am," he whispered to himself.
"What's that, Clark?"
Clark whirled around and met the puzzled face of Lois Lane.
"Oh, n-nothing. What's up, Lois?"
"Well, I was just wondering if you would do me a favor?"
"Anything, Lois."
"Could you go get me hamburger?"
"A … hamburger. At –" He glanced at his watch. "— 9:30 in the morning?"
"Yeah, and with everything on it."
"Okay." He got up and grabbed his coat.
She called to his retreating back, "Oh, and some orange juice –"
"Freshly squeezed," they said together.
"Got it," said Clark, exiting the newsroom.
As she watched his retreating back, Lois couldn't help but think about the memory that had flashed through her mind when she first saw Clark that morning: he was standing before her in the newlywed suite, and when he removed his glasses, Lois could swear he looked just like Superman. He even looked taller and more confident.
Lois shook her head. That was ridiculous. There's no way that he could be Superman. But she still couldn't shake the feeling.
Clark soon returned with her burger and orange juice. She looked up at him as he placed the food on her desk and shot her a goofy smile. When she didn't say anything, but merely continued to stare at him, Clark became fidgety.
"Is s-something wrong, Lois?"
"No." I'm just trying to picture you without your glasses.
"Ok, then. I'm going to get back to work." He turned to go back to his desk, and she continued to stare after him.
"Thanks, Clark," she called finally, deciding to put the matter out of her mind.
He turned around and waved a "You're welcome," smiling widely.
She tore into her burger and ate it ravenously.
But try as she might, she just couldn't get that image out of her head.
Clark can't be Superman.
"Why not?"
Because Clark is so shy and awkward and accident-prone, whereas Superman is strong and confident and utterly captivating.
"But Clark is never around when Superman shows up. Remember when Superman saved that little boy at Niagara Falls? Where was Clark? 'Getting hot dogs'?"
But I feel absolutely no attraction to Clark, and with Superman … he just takes my breath away.
"Maybe you've just fallen in love with the suit and extraordinary power. Have you truly looked beneath the surface to the man inside the cape? Maybe under all that red and blue is a bumbling, awkward, shy farmboy."
Lois was shaken out of her reverie by a tap on the shoulder, and before she even registered who it could be, she was bombarded with one final memory flash: she and Superman were standing on her balcony, and he was looking at her sadly. Are you ready? She nodded, and he bent down to kiss her. Good bye, Lois. She gazed into his sad eyes. Good bye. I love you. He hesitated. I love you, too. Then he kissed her.
And she understood what had happened; she remembered everything. But she couldn't think about it right now, because Clark was right behind her, wanting to ask a question.
She whirled around and met his blazing blue eyes. She had to refrain from any sign of recognition.
"Sorry, Clark. What's up?"
"I just wanted to ask you about this story."
She explained it to him, and after another goofy grin and a "thank you," Clark returned to his desk.
She knew that he still thought that the hypnosis had worked, which was easing his guilt about what had happened, and what had almost happened. She knew that, hard as it was, she had to keep up the charade, because letting him know that she knew would only make things complicated again. Plus, she could be content with the thought that she would see him everyday.
She turned around in her chair to steal a glance at him, but his own chair was empty and spinning slowly. Just as she furrowed her brows, wondering where he could have gone off to in such a hurry, she heard what the reporter on the television was saying.
"And it's another daring rescue by Metropolis' resident superhero, who flew instantly to the scene and put out the fire with his super-breath. Everyone involved is unharmed, thanks once again to the Man of Steel.
"In other news…"
Lois smiled and returned to her work.
Maybe someday…