Author's note: Part two of five. Thank you, the people who reviewed.
And Back in Rain.
You can hear her heart.
Growing up, you could hear your parents' hearts beat all the time. You slept, woke and lived to the rhythm of those beats, and you set personal speed records around Smallville the day one of them faltered and died.
Lois' beat joined your mother's shortly after you met her. No matter what, no matter where you were, those two beats were steady inside your head.
When you left Earth, you held onto them for as long as you could, but eventually they slipped beyond even your senses. You almost turned back that day, unable to bear the silence; but you were driven to this, unstoppably, the thought of finding your people—of finally being one-among-many instead of the Last Son—forcing you on.
You were drawn back to Earth by the sound of your mother's heartbeat; that one you could hear from outside the solar system. But Lois was smothered, one among ten million, and until you saw her on Questor you didn't dare believe she was alive.
And now she's in your arms again and you can hear her heart, can feel it, see it. Whatever she says about her almost-husband you know what she's feeling; you've always known her better than anyone.
When you land again she rises and you hold absolutely still, knowing this is her choice, has to be…
"Richard's a good man," she whispers, and you're broken. You'd kill for Lois, die for Lois, have done and will again…
But all to make her happy, and she deserves a good man. One who can love her, and her son, the way she should be loved.
"And you've been gone a long time," she adds, and you force yourself not to react, desperately trying not to think of the day her heartbeat fell silent in your ears.
"I know," you answer, letting her go in more senses than one and moving away.
"I…" Her heart jumps and you wait, turning to look at her. "Will we see you? Around?"
Always, you think, whenever you need me, Lois, you know that…
But she has a son now, and a life that doesn't include you, and she deserves it, always has.
"I'm always around, Lois," you say instead, pretending not to see the relief in her eyes. Taking off, you fly out of her range…and you know just how far that is, too…and hover there until she turns to go back inside.
She's unsettled when she comes to the table, though Richard passes it off with some reference to smoking that you pretend to accept. She doesn't react to you, never did, but you don't care. Because she did react to Superman.
Her son's heartbeat is strong; his father's a little less so. He's obviously worried about something. You keep your silence, concentrating on your food and quietly burning the sound of their beats into your mind. Nothing will touch Lois' family if you can stop it.
You woke some days ago in your mother's home, in your childhood bedroom. Two days ago you stepped into the Daily Planet, the place you all but lived in for years. But it's only now, watching Lois with her family, that you finally feel at home.
You can hear her heartbeat.