Title: Pillow Talk
Chapter: Sunlight
Rating: PG-13 for adult situations
Word Count: 1,052
Spoilers: SR and my own Shadow-verse
Summary: "I took the sun away, didn't I? The one thing that you need and I took it away."
Author's Comments: This is a quickie and something I've seen in my head for a long time. In fact, I refer to this in a one shot that I did a while back called "The Article." Thanks go to the few of you who reviewed the first section: Willa1317, Lilbit4, lere, Nanou1983, JJ the elusive, Kairan1979, Eviefan, and lilyoftheval5. I didn't think anyone would read it but I still had to get this stuff out of my head! And thanks to htbthomas and Eviefan for the beta read. It makes me feel better when it's been given the once over.
Sunlight (Sun Jan 8)
I was asleep. Soundly, deeply asleep. It had been an easy night. I'd managed to go to bed with Lois at a reasonable time, and it felt so good to be asleep now. Actually, I was just waking up from a deep sleep, but fought it all the way as I slipping into consciousness. I only slept this deeply for a few hours at night when it was pitch black outside and the majority of the world around me was asleep as well. That was why it surprised me to hear sounds of life, activity going on around me. More surprising than that, Lois was awake. I could tell from her heart beat and the aroma of fresh coffee.
But it was dark outside. And a Sunday. Why would Lois ever get out of bed before sunrise on a Sunday?
I blinked my eyes to find her sitting up in bed next to me, reading e-mails and text messages on her phone and sipping a mug that read, "Babe In Total Control Of Herself" on the side. She smiled down at me, placed both the phone and the mug on her bed side table, and snuggled up against me.
"Good morning, sleepy head."
"Morning," I grumbled. "Why are you awake?"
"Because my stomach growled and demanded to be fed. So I grabbed a piece of toast and came back in here to wait for you to wake up so we can go get a real breakfast."
"What time is it?"
"Almost ten."
Her statement left me floored. "Ten?" I looked over at the window where it was dark with no sign of any sunlight.
"Darkening curtains. And blinds. I put them in while you were in South Africa the other day. I thought it might be nice to sleep in on Sunday. And since you always wake up with the sun, I figured this would be the only way to do that." She kissed me quickly. "Looks like I was right."
Ten in the morning. And the sun had set around seven o'clock last night.
"That explains it then," I groaned as I stretched my body and rolled over onto my stomach. My yawn was muffled as I buried my face in my pillow.
"Something wrong?" Lois asked.
"No. Just that it's been…" I yawned again, "about fifteen hours since I've seen the sun."
She gasped and I felt her body stiffen beside me. "Are you… okay? I mean, should I open the blinds?"
I yawned again. "No, I'm fine."
"Really, Clark. I can open them." She set her mug down and pulled the covers back as she started to get out of the bed. "Damn. I should have known better."
"Lois," I reached for her, "I'm fine, really."
"Are you sure?" Concern dripped from her voice.
"I'm sure."
"I just wanted to sleep in. That was all."
"I know."
She scooted closer to me, but still felt tense. "I took the sun away, didn't I? The one thing that you need and I took it away."
"Sweetheart, you didn't take it away," I chuckled. "It's still there."
"You are so right that I should have known about this. Jason was always awake at daybreak. Always. I feel so stupid."
I pulled her to me and placed my hand lightly over her mouth. "Will you stop that? I'm fine. I'm not used to being in the dark for so long, but you don't have to worry about it. I've been without the sun for longer than this and all it took was a quick flight to get me back to normal. This is not a big deal, Lois."
The frown on her face only deepened. "You've been without sunlight longer than this?"
Had I said that? Crap…
"When?" she asked.
I sighed, telling the first half truth that came to mind. "When I went to Krypton. I was away from the yellow sun for years."
Her eyes narrowed. "No. What aren't you telling me?"
I looked into her worried eyes, knowing that what I was about to say would not make her feel any better about the situation, but that if I didn't tell the truth she would only grow angry at me.
"When I told you who I really was."
The frown on her face was replaced by a look of sadness and regret. "You mean when I told you I never wanted to see you again. Shit," she said with a scowl.
"Lois, please, it's not—"
"I knew you had left. No one saw you anywhere. And Jason all but freaked out when I told him you were gone. Where did you go?"
I rolled over and took in a deep breath. "Kansas. I went to the farm and just…" Swallowing hard I said, "I closed all the shutters and made the house as dark as I could get it. Then I went into the den and lay down and waited."
"For what?"
With pursed lips, I shrugged at her. "I didn't know what else to do."
"How long where you there?"
"A week or so. Jason… came and basically told me to snap out of it."
Lois brushed my bangs away from my face and chewed at the inside of her lip. "Jason, huh?"
"Yes. And you know what? As horrible as that moment was for my relationship with you, it was actually a huge step forward in my relationship with Jason. Strange how that works."
"I bet you thought you'd never be able to please us both," she smiled sadly.
I closed my eyes and nodded. "That's exactly how I felt."
She slid down on the mattress and snuggled up against me. "God, we really did a number on you, didn't we?" Her hands slid around my waist and she pressed a gentle kiss on my neck.
"I… you both… I just…" I shook my head and made a conscious decision not to fall in the regrets of the past. "Can we just enjoy the fact that we get to sleep in this morning and forget about all the rest?"
Her smile was still a bit sad, but she didn't dwell on it. Instead she kissed me in agreement, thus sealing the deal that we would stay in bed together for at least another hour… or two.
