More Powerful - Chapter 2
- Remembering Dreams –

Lois clawed at the ever-tightening hand around her neck, choking and gasping for air. Strong, long-nailed, chilling her with its embrace. She was so cold – whether it be from the lack of air or the ice under her feet, she didn't know.

She felt the strength in her legs beginning to give way as she lost her battle with unconsciousness. Suddenly everything went red, and the hand loosened its grip.

Gulping hungrily for air, she opened her bleary eyes and took in her surroundings. A man stood smiling with cruel satisfaction to her right, the redness of the light casting a demonic glow upon his features. His attention seemed to be fixed on a block of ice, the one thing in this place untouched by the haunting crimson hue.

Inside, a figure of blue more familiar to her than her own reflection looked back, his impossibly blue eyes calm yet sad as looked at her helplessly from behind the wall of ice…and yet too clear to be ice. Glass? Crystal?

His gaze held hers more intimately than any embrace, his lips soundlessly forming her name.

"Lois…"

"Lois? Lois! Wake up!"

She started awake, snapping into a sitting position, her wide terrified eyes meeting the concerned blue eyes in front of her.

"S-Superm—"

Richard's face came into focus. His expression darkened momentarily, a flicker of pain flashing in and out of his eyes before the concern was there once again.

"You were dreaming, Lois. Are you all right? You were moaning and struggling."

Lois shook her head to clear the cobwebs. "Yes, I..." Phantoms of a forgotten world slipped back into the shadows of her mind. "I'm fine, Richard. It was just a nightmare. "

His hand stroked her hair. "You've been through a lot this month." He pulled the blanket around her shoulders as he noticed the shivers that had more to do with fear than cold. "Do you want to take it easy today? I'm sure Perry won't blame you at all."

The concept of going back to sleep for some reason terrified her and she responded a little more sharply than she intended. "I'm fine!" She put her hand over his. "Sorry. I just need to get up and clear my head. Go ahead without me. Tell Perry I'll just be in a little late. It's nothing a nice long shower won't fix." She chirped with mock cheerfulness.

Still unconvinced yet not willing to push the issue, Richard stood and sighed. He was quiet a moment before spoke. "Were you dreaming of him again?" He spoke quietly, but the weight of the question screamed. The implied name hung in the air like a fragrance. Lois's eyes dropped to the comforter and she pulled at a loose string.

She sighed. "I don't know Richard. It was like the others, hazy and confusing." She offered a weak smile. "I need to go get ready. I'm right behind you though, I promise."

With a final nod he left her, when she heard his footfalls on the steps, Lois reached for the nightstand next to her for the notepad and pencil that lay tucked inside.

She flipped through several pages of scribblings before finding a fresh page. Pulling the pen cap off with her teeth she began to write feverishly, chasing at the shadows once again before they were lost for good.

"Another dream in the same place, I woke up feeling like I was choking and the dreams seem to be more and more realistic every night. I was being choked by someone I couldn't see but from the nails biting into my skin I think my captor was a woman. An exceptionally strong woman. And there was a man, with a neatly trimmed goatee. There were others, but I couldn't see them. Superman was there. And he was inside this block of ice. But it was clear like crystal….. He seemed so helpless. And there was nothing I could do to help him. And there was this horrible red light...and then I woke up."

Lois took the pen cap from her mouth and replaced it on the pen. With a sigh, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, her bare feet squeaking slightly on the cool wood floor.

Her brow furrowed as she flipped absently through the ever-lengthening number of pages she had been keeping since the dreams started. It was nearly every night now and it was getting harder to hide from Richard.

One entry caught her eye:

"I woke up this morning in a sweat. I had this amazing feeling of security around me. I remember the taste of him on my lips. I was warm and safe as I felt his arms holding me so closely I could feel his heartbeat against my skin. I admittedly have had dreams like this in the past, many, in fact. But none so real – achingly real. I swore I could still catch the faint scent of him as I woke up. I remember running my finger across his brow, wiping away a bead of sweat from his brow, and wondering at the thought that I would have such an effect on him. He could support a helicopter in one hand, but holding me in the other made him tremble. I could feel him shaking beneath my hands as if he were as nervous as I. He never seemed so vulnerable as he had at the moment his eyes met mine. So many things to read there: love, desire, hope and …fear?

Lois laid a cool hand against her flushed cheek. Snapping the pad shut, she laid it carefully back in the nightstand drawer.

"I'm going out of my mind." She muttered to herself as she padded across the bedroom to the master bath. Turning on the water, she shed her night clothes and waited for the water to heat.

Leaning against the tiles, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to remember. A smile spread slowly across her lips as she lay each moment out carefully before her mind's eye. The heat from the steam reached her and still she shivered, her eyes open, but her heart carried away on the wings of a dream well-loved like the pages of a favorite storybook.

She mentally shook herself and stepped under the warm water. "Get a grip, Lane!" With a final laugh, she turned the knob just a bit to the left to lower the temperature.

----------------------

He had spent the night flying the night skies, his mind and heart back in a small house in Metropolis. He dashed from continent to continent until the sun chased him across the sky and reminded him he couldn't afford to be late for work again.

He hadn't slept much since he'd been back. Partly due to still lacking an apartment, but mostly, he was afraid, once he succumbed, where sleep would take him.

He focused on the menial stories Perry assigned and patrolled the skies longer than usual just to avoid the call of his mind to take him back to places he never should have been.

His feet gently touched down on the roof of the Planet. He'd placed a change of clothes in the storage cell in the new water tower after repairing the one destroyed a few days ago. He really needed to get an apartment, but part of him needed to alienate himself for a while longer. Settling in to an empty place seemed an obstacle best tackled later.

The sun peeked over the horizon as he guided his tie into place over his suit. The roof was empty this morning. Leaning against lip of the ledge, he took a moment to take in the beauty of the sunrise. In the years he'd been gone, that was the thing he missed the most. He'd come to think of the sun almost as a confidante, following him across the world, giving him the strength needed to do what he was born to.

The early morning rays found their way to his face, infusing his body with the energy he'd lost during his busy night. Refreshed, he pushed off the ledge and headed inside. Floors below him, he could hear the bustle of the newsroom and he looked forward to the distraction today's events would bring him. He mentally steeled himself for another day of seeing Lois, but never being seen by her. The guise of Clark seemed more painful after being away for so long. Something inside him reached out and the internal battle was tiresome.

He opted to take the stairs to burn off some of the new energy. Soaking in the morning sun tended to make him giddy if he wasn't careful, and in the guise of Clark, that translated to being more spastic than he wanted.

Rounding the 7th floor he found a winded and wheezing Jimmy sitting on the steps.

"Hey… C.K…" Jimmy gasped. "Are you working in some morning exercise too?"

"Um…"

"I have one extra slice of pizza last night and she makes me feel like a pig."

"She?"

"My mom. Last night was pizza night and I was famished what with the renovation going on and everything. I'm still picking plaster out of my hair. So I go over last night and Mom is like, 'James, you're not getting any younger and if you ever want to nab a lady friend you need to watch that spare tire you've got growing there.'" Jimmy gave an exasperated growl. "Clark! I'm a beanpole! And here I am running up and down steps so my mother will stop pinching my 'love handles'!!"

Clark smiled as the two descended to the fifth floor newsroom. Jimmy continued on, his breath seemingly returned as they pushed through the glass doors. The wall of sound hit Clark with palpable force, organized chaos buzzed all around him as his eyes took in everything.

In the corner office, Perry was barking orders at one of the new interns. He appeared to be well on his way to breaking his record to get someone to cry before lunch.

Across the room, he saw Richard bent over his desk with his head in his hands. He looked preoccupied and tired. He noticed Lois' desk was empty and a frown furrowed his brow. He murmured his goodbyes to Jimmy and plopped down at his desk.

Clark steepled his hands in front of him and rested his lips on his fingertips. His thoughts were filled with images of Lois from last night. She stood there so small and proud out on her lawn, yet so vulnerable. With no one to be brave for, he got a rare glimpse into her soul rather than the front she presented for everyone else.

They were such similar creatures. Both wearing masks to hide themselves from a prying world. Both in one way or another protecting themselves from harm.

He'd always been able to see through her tough, no nonsense exterior.

For him he didn't need the benefit of x-ray vision. Their hearts had always just seemed to speak the same language. It was what made them great, in work, in love…

"Kent!"

Clark was snapped from his revere by Perry's loud tenor. "Stop daydreaming and get in here! I'm already missing one reporter in body today, and I don't need to be lacking one in mind as well!"

Clark hurried to the editor's office and closed the glass panel behind him.

"What's up, Chief? Is everything okay?"

"Lois is going to be coming in late today. With all she's been through I told her take a couple days off, but she listens to me like you listen to GQ." Clark absently straightened his tie as Perry barreled on, "With this whole blackout thing, where did it take you? Lois is sniffing around cruise ships and putting herself on the line when she is supposed to be covering Superman and this is your story?" Perry slammed the article down on the desk and turned to Clark, his gruff exterior firmly in place. "I want something printable on my desk by this afternoon. We're the first paper in the city to be back online after the earthquake. I want to have something worth putting out. Now get out of here – go pow wow with Lois or whatever it is that you two do, and bring me something better than your last expose on the dairy farm scandal."

Thinking it wise not to disagree with the chief while he was having one of his tirades, he collected his coat and headed out the door.