A/N: Hello my loves! Again, I'm posting out of avoidance of homework, only this time it's art! (my teacher's so gonna kill me. . . but i've just been so uninspired lately. . . .) Besides, I seem to find Superman's life much more interesting for the time being. :)

BTW. . . for those of you reading and running. . . I've noticed the amount of hits this story has got in comparison to reviews, and frankly it's depressing! I'm trying to get better at reviewing myself, so I understand, but please! It helps me focus and post faster (even though this is pretty darn fast). So here's a little guilt trip for you, reminding you to do a friend a favor, and REVIEW. Who knows? Your review might be just the thing to keep Clark safe. Otherwise who knows what kind of torture I might put him through. =] *evil laugh*

Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own nothing, you laugh politely at my barely tolerable "funny" story about daydreaming of Clark, I end up in tears, and you skim the rest of this paragraph waiting for the story to begin. And I cry some more.

*****Chapter Four: So Blind*****

Clark still felt the kryptonite within him, coursing through his veins. But he wasn't about to tell them that. Instead he forced a pained sort of smile. He realized then he was only sitting in half of his suit- the suit, he amended. Perry and Jimmy must have moved his other clothes. Part of his smile became genuine at that.

"Superman, are you alright?" Jimmy asked nervously. "You were out for about forty-five minutes after the doctors removed the bullet."

At this, Clark frowned. "What? No, it was only like, five minutes, for the whole procedure." At the dubious looks on their faces and their glances at one another, his heart sunk. "Wasn't it?" he whispered, suddenly fearful everything would be too late.

Perry spoke up slowly. "It took about thirty minutes for the procedure alone. We thought we'd lost you for a moment there. And then you didn't wake up afterwards. . . the only hope we had that you were alive was your sporadic breathing."

Clark's eyes went wide. So that was how he missed out on an entire two days after the whole new Krypton issue. After visiting Lois and Jason, he went home, to his mom's and slept next to an open window facing the sun for what felt like a solid night's rest. If time was equated that differently. . . he shuddered.

"That. . . would explain a lot, actually," he acquiesced. He squinted, looking around the office.

The head doctor was suddenly excited. "What is it? Did you hear something? What do you see?"

Clark frowned deeper, glancing in the direction of the doctor before continuing his search, and slowly reattaching his suit so that he was no longer bare chested. His gut clenched up as he spread his gaze across the entire office. "I'm. . . not sure." He managed to stand up and winced in pain. Turning around he gestured towards the conference room, which conveniently had shades and door intact. "Mr. White, may I have a private word with you, please?"

They all seemed curious, but they let the two men have their peace. Perry approached apprehensively, staring at him with a sense of awe. The man had taken a bullet a mere hour and a half ago, and there he was, once again standing in all his glory, his suit (the suit) back on him, though it was still stained crimson and the bullet hole was obvious.

Dropping his voice, Clark began. "I think we have a problem, Chief. I mean, I do."

For once, Perry let the chief line slide. He frowned. "What do you mean?"

Clark struggled with what to say, but was finding it very frustrating. His blurred vision was not making the situation any better. "I, uh, I mean. . . can you find my glasses please?"

For a second Perry stood still, before he realized he was talking about his Clark Kent disguise. Nodding, he turned around, scanned the floor, and picked up the thick rimmed frames. He outstretched his hand with the glasses, in an attempt to return them, when he suddenly froze. Clark couldn't see his expression, but by the very still and quiet form of the blur before him, he knew Perry had just realized it.

"Wait. Do you mean that-"

"Yeah. I can't see real good right now. Probably some of the effects of the kryptonite leftover," he said vaguely, trying to hide his pain.

"What do you mean? And besides, I thought these were fakes?" He held up the glasses and looked through them. Whoa. Strong perscription. Perry reeled slightly before Clark took them blindly from his boss's hands. Glancing around, after having slowly closed the blinds as he walked about the room, and finally sure that they were alone, he put the glasses on his face and breathed an enormous sigh of relief. He rubbed his temples, now not as sore from either the kryptonite or the blindness. Perry, shocked at the appearance of Superman wearing Clark Kent's glasses, allowed his jaw to hang open as the superhero sunk heavily into a chair. How could Perry White have been so blind?

Finally, he mustered up the courage to ask a question. "Kent, what's the matter?"

Clark thought about that, allowing himself a slight laugh at his own expense. "Gee, Perry, I don't know. I was shot by my best friend and mortal enemy, who I just found out today knows my secret identity. He also knows I have a son- he knows every person I'm close to. Then you threatened to fire me when my other work got in the way of this one. Lois knows I'm Superman, the father of her child, and now Luthor's gone and kidnapped her. Not to mention she'll be really peeved when she comes back." If she comes back, then Clark mentally kicked himself. Of course she will. He just had keep moving forward. "Oh, and to top it all off, I apparently can't see without my glasses that until now, for the most part had been a disguise." He paused, debating whether or not to continue, chewing on his lip. Keep moving forward, he reminded himself. "And I'm not sure what powers I have left right now, if any."

Perry hadn't moved, but that last line shocked him out of his frozen state. "What do you mean? You don't have your powers? How is that possible? We got rid of all the kryptonite I thought! There must be more in the office here, somewhere." He began searching the conference room frantically, looking under the chairs and desk, before returning his gaze to Clark, mouth open as if to speak again.

Clark raised up his hand to silence his boss. "No, there's not. What's left is in me." At the quizzical look Perry was giving him, Clark sighed and continued.

"There's something- one thing, really- besides my secret identity- that I haven't exactly told the press of. Not even Lois. I don't want lunatics the likes of Luthor getting any other ideas.

"After my stabbing, Lois pulled the majority of the blade out of my side, but Luthor had broken it inside of me, and so the little that was left I had to manage with. The wound was in my side, mind you," he gestured to where it lay, covered only by the most infamous suit known to man. "But most of it was gone, and what was left wasn't flowing to my blood stream fast enough, so I could fly up to the sun to get enough power to lift that island. But between that and the island, and kryptonite that infested the whole thing, it drained me to the point of nearly dying in space. That's when I fell, and went comatose. All of the kryptonite poisoning had caught up with me, and I seriously didn't know I would make it."

"Kryptonite poisoning?" Perry interrupted, almost in a whisper.

"And that's the part I haven't told the news about. The kryptonite in my bloodstream: only a full on coma or a really long period of time in the sun can isolate it and kill it. Sunlight for me is kind of like radiation for a cancer patient. It can kill the kryptonite and bring back my powers."

"So you're saying that you need some sunlight to get better."

Clark walked over to the outside window, absorbing the light that came through. "Yes. And no. See, that little bit of sunlight should be enough to get me back to my normal vision- not even super vision. Just average vision. And yet, without the glasses, I'm still as blind as a bat." He smiled at his clever little reference to his other caped friend. Then he sighed. "The last time I actually needed my glasses was before I even learned how to fly. Back before my junior year in high school."

"Wait, you actually needed glasses? No- scratch that. You went to high school?"

"Yeah Perry. I was taken in by my parents when I was three. My whole life is true, not some clever little backstory I invented on the spot."

"Oh," Perry just said, and frowned. Another thing the man of steel had kept from the papers. Then he remembered Lex's earlier words. "So. . . was Lex Luthor. . . you know. . . is it true?"

His face fell. Suddenly he looked every bit Clark Kent- his shoulders slouched over, head hanging down, shuffling his feet, nervously fidgeting with his glasses. "He didn't. . . I-I mean. . . He did. . . That's not the same Lex Luthor I grew up with." The steel returned to his voice, but his face remained mournful. "Lex kind of lost it a few years before I ever showed up at the Planet. No epic battles, in case you're wondering how you missed it," Clark added wryly. "He didn't know who I was. I wasn't even Superman then. But he didn't know anything about. . . me really. We had a falling out of sorts over a girl, then he had some family issues to deal with. . . it got complicated. Then after his mental breakdown and then being institutionalized, and then escaping and then his whole steroid incident. . ." at Perry's shocked expression, Clark stopped himself. "But I digress." He blushed, and looked down at his shoes. Lex Luthor was another story he had never told to anyone, for fear that they might make the connection between himself and . . . well, his super self.

Perry realized how much more depth Clark Kent had to him- in both personnas. Not just the superhero who went around sacrificing himself for the world; nor was he a mere mild-mannered reporter who was hopelessly in love with his coworker. His character was more fleshed out- he was some of both, and at the same time, little of either.

He was a man.

The only thing standing between Clark Kent and the rest of humankind was his alien birth and foreign powers. And even the powers thing was iffy now.

Perry processed the information before continuing. "Listen, I know that you want to- need to," Perry corrected at the look he shot him, "to go save Lois. But right now, he'll just kill you for real. You need to be smart about this, Kent. Get some sunlight. He won't hurt her because he wants to get to you."

Clark nodded, willing himself to believe it was the truth, not allowing himself to imagine otherwise. Then a thought crossed his mind. "How long has it been? Since it all happened?"

Perry shrugged. "A few hours, maybe. But you can't think with your heart on this. Lex Luthor is a smarter man than you give him credit for. For the most part, I've assumed that you're pretty smart yourself."

Clark smiled wryly. "Yeah, idetic memories helped in school. Particularly tests."

"Then be rational about this, Clark. You can't just barge in there, without your powers, telling him to let her go. You've been around Lex enough to know he'll have something up his sleeve. Probably kryptonite."

"Or worse," Clark mumbled.

"What could be worse for you?"

Clark turned very pained eyes on his boss, stung at his words. Even through the thick glasses, Perry saw Superman. It was impossible to not notice now. Blind. That was the only way to describe how he now felt about it. "Do the words "Luthor knows about Jason" mean anything to you, Perry?"

Perry looked flustered, then looked down at his shoes. "Yeah. But I'm serious, Kent. Maybe he won't know you lived. How could he? You're in the clear, for now. The longer you wait, the more difficult it may be for you, but Lex will start to slack off. Cut corners. If you want to save Lois, you need to keep a low profile. Which should be relatively easy, all things considered."

Clark looked sullenly at the floor. "Yeah, I know."

There was a pause before Perry spoke up. "So. . . what do you want to do?"

Clark smiled sadly, as the idea he had been rolling around in his head for the past few minutes came to life. "Perry, you're gonna have to get me on a flight to Kansas."

*****Act Drop*****

To be continued. . .

REVIEW! Now! Before you have chance to secondguess yourself- I don't care what you say so long as I know what's on your mind. It's just a little blue button and a few thoughts from your head. . . .