They had met in a small Kansas town.
She had come closer than most to learning his secrets.
He had come close to learning some of hers.
They'd been in each others lives, with small town living, it was unavoidable. But they'd gone their separate ways years ago.
Clark Kent was seeing the world, delivering food, clean water and supplies to where they were needed most, while teaching people all the skills of the farming trade. Trying to figure out what to do with his life and where he should be. Because he had no intention of working at the Daily Planet just because somebody waived an application form under his nose. Doubly so while it was still owned by Lex. No matter if he was missing.
Helen Bryce was one of the resident doctors for the woefully underfunded travelling clinic. After how things had ended for her, she had decided to go back to basics. Of course, she couldn't continue with the wreck that was her old life, having thoroughly burned her bridges there. So Helen Bryce MD, decided to go where the work was, the fact it was half a world away from the farce that had been her marriage and the complication after complication that was the relationship leading up to it, was just icing on the cake.
They'd both been living in the same village for close to a month before they'd bumped into each other.
To say it had come as a shock would be the understatement of the century.
An accidental meeting, the usual thoughtless question of "What are you doing here?" blurted out. Then the rushed answers and the equally awkward pleasantries of "How are you?" and "What have you been doing lately?"
After that first accidental meeting they soon started noticing when the other was nearby.
At first just being civil, later spending time together. Small amounts at first, they had jobs to do after all. He in the fields from sunrise to past sunset. She in the clinics until the last patient had been seen. They would share lunches when they were able to.
In the place they were living it was nice to have someone familiar to talk to. Someone who shared a little history, who didn't look and listen with polite curiosity to you as you tried to explain something they couldn't possibly understand unless they'd been there.
Anonymity was a wonderful thing. But it could be lonely, so to have someone you could talk to who just knew what you'd been through was truly unique.
Lunches became dinners, because it afforded them more time. And because they often skipped lunch due to both being workaholics.
They'd reminisce about a town in Kansas, about what seemed perfectly natural when you lived there, but was in fact downright weird with distance and time. They'd laugh about things only they could laugh about, because if you hadn't been there, you'd never see the funny side. They'd toast the people who had been in their lives, people they'd lost, people they'd loved and the people who had become unrecognisable.
In their shared attempt to combat homesickness, they became comfortable with each other.
It was a gradual change, they would talk about safe topics, asking about each others day, about the work and the people they were trying to help.
She wouldn't mention his ex-friend, so as not to draw attention to what he considered a very personal failure.
He wouldn't mention her ex-husband, so as not to bring up her chronically bad taste in unstable men.
When they exhausted the safe topics they started on the trickier ones. She'd ask about his family, he'd ask about her career in medicine.
When it finally came up, she was shocked to hear that he didn't blame her for her involvement in the power games of the rich and powerful. While it was true everybody had a price, it had been shameful to learn she had in fact, found out her own. So she had been pleasantly surprised to learn he didn't bare her any ill will over what had happened.
He'd learned a long time ago that everybody made mistakes, his own list was as long as his arm in that regard. He'd trusted people he shouldn't have, held people to impossibly high standards and then blamed them for falling short. He couldn't really blame her for getting stupid when it came to relationships. Especially when he got stupid when it came to trusting people when they'd given him no reason to.
In retrospect they could admit that they'd both done their best to limit the damage that had been done. She'd never revealed his secret, he'd never blamed her for wanting to solve the mystery she'd discovered.
It was after these revelations that they became friends.
On the good days they could both smile in satisfaction at a job well done.
On the bad days they could rely on each other to lift their spirits. Usually with an anecdote about home.
Their working week was gruelling, six days on, one day off, barring emergencies. On their shared off day they'd explore the surrounding countryside, seeing for themselves the wild beauty that could only be experienced in person.
If they noticed their co-workers placing bets about the irritable doctor and the considerate farmer, they gave away no sign.
They were funny like that.
Things finally came to a head when one of the village boys came staggering into the clinic screaming in broken english about his father and a truck crash.
Helen and Clark were able to get there first, while the other workers assembled a team with equipment that would be needed.
They had been able to use their own skills and abilities without restraint. With Helen as the only witness, Clark had been able to lift the wrecked truck off it's trapped driver without frightening anybody. Helen had been able to stabilise the driver, the whole time cursing a blue streak far and wide, making Clark blush, without fear of being put in another anger management class.
It was a rare thing to be able to turn a bad day into a good day. So when the others showed up, they didn't question how it had happened, only that it had.
Later that evening when the driver was stable, the night had drawn in and somebody had managed to find some music and booze for the impromptu celebration. Helen and Clark were able to share a smile over something new.
If they noticed money changing hands in the background, they gave no sign.
They were funny like that.