8:49 BST
Meet me later tonight?

4:50 CST
Of course. Where?

8:51 BST
My place, your place. Doesn't matter.

4:52 CST
Am I still in the doghouse?

8:52 BST
What have you done to get out?

4:53 CST
Point Diana. I'll see you in London.

8:54 BST
I don't get a say?

4:55 CST
…My place?

8:56 BST
London is fine.

4:57 CST
So difficult woman…

8:59 BST
You wouldn't want me any other way.

5:00 CST
Never.

"So where are you off to Smallville?"

"I've got a date with Diana." Clark blew his hair off of his forehead and glanced at Lois Lane. If he was honest, he'd missed her lately. She always seemed to have the one perspective that he didn't think of. It was refreshing.

"Oh? So does she know—"

"Lois." Clark glanced at her over her dining room table. She'd asked him to meet for a drink at her place, and he'd been more than happy to oblige.

"I mean it has to be hard to hide, you know—"

Clark narrowed his eyes slightly. She also was a bull in a china shop when she decided she wanted something, or in this case wanted to know something. You'd think watching the fallout of ripping his secret from him would have been enough.

"Lois. I have to go."

"Clark."

"Lois," For a moment their eyes locked in a battle of wills. What Diana chose to keep secret was her business, but he'd never let those secrets leave his lips. Suddenly, Lois broke into peals of laughter and lifted her wine glass to her lips to take a sip.

"Alright, alright Smallville. Message received. I'm done." Setting the glass down she held her hands up in surrender. "But what you're saying is I didn't ruin this too, right?"

Shaking his head, Clark didn't answer. Lois' laughter followed him all the way to the balcony and into the night.

Glancing around the night, Clark landed soundlessly on Diana's bedroom and took a moment for himself. The London air was cool, the sounds of the city surrounded him, but it barely registered. What did register was the light on in her apartment, the soft sounds of her voice singing softly in Greek through the open window and the feeling of just how fragile this all was. She didn't tell him why she wanted to see him and a part of him was afraid to ask.

Pulling his cellphone out of his pocket he glanced at the texts she had sent him earlier, and the one he didn't send.

I miss you.

"Chickenshit."

Her glass door opened abruptly and she stood looking at him curiously, a small frown marring her features.

"You going to come in…or just keep talking to yourself out here."

"I haven't decided." His honesty sounded cowardly even to his own ears. This was all wrong. The last time he was here, he'd had her wrapped in his arms and even now his hands itched to reach out to her. But the rules had changed, hadn't they. Ever since he'd made the mistake of getting so lost in his own head that he'd let untruths leave his lips. Honesty really was the best policy and there was no time like the present.

"Oh." Diana wrapped her arms around her waist and Clark could see the door closing even if the physical door between them remained wide open.

"Actually Diana, I was thinking that I missed you and that I wanted to tell you that earlier tonight and didn't. "

"Oh?" Diana perked a brow and the arms around her waist slipped down a little before she stepped back into her apartment. Her heart was racing. What was she doing? When had this all gotten so complicated? Everything between them used to be so easy. "C'mon in."

Taking a deep breath she turned around felt more than heard him following her. He was so close, closer than before and maybe that scared her a little. What if…what if she put herself out there again and he broke her heart again? What if they did this and he realized that he really didn't love her after all. Wrapping her arms around her waist she finally turned to face him, heart in her throat and found him watching her with heat in his eyes.

"Have I told you how absolutely stunning you are?" And she was. Dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a tank top that kept moving up to show off her taut stomach, she was the picture of effortless beauty; so casual but so perfect it was nearly intoxicating.

The compliment caught Diana off guard, but not as much as him stepping forward and brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. The shock must have been written all over her face because Clark looked down and stepped back.

"Sorry. I just, I don't know. Crap timing. Sorry. I just…"

"What Clark?" Somewhere in Diana's chest, hope flared. Hope for what she wasn't sure, but the feeling was enough for her to unwrap her arms from her waist.

"I don't know…" Clark watched something start to fade in her eyes and continued on faster than his mind could keep up, but it seemed that his heart was keeping time for both of them. "I missed you Diana. So much. And I've been so caught up in myself and all of my crap that I almost feel like I'm seeing you for the first time."

"But I never left, Clark."

"I know. I know. I just—" Frustrated, Clark blew out a harsh breath. " I did. Okay? You didn't leave, I did. And God, Diana, it was a stupid, selfish thing to do."

"You didn't just leave, you left, slammed the door in my face and welded it shut. And it hurt. It hurt. And I didn't deserve that, Clark. I didn't deserve that. I loved you. I gave you my heart and you shut me out."

"Di, I'm sorry."

"You're sorry but I'm the one with a broken heart."

The silence that followed was a light as a lead balloon.

"Do you want me to go?"

"No!" Fury flashed in her eyes as she threw her hands up and turned away. When she turned back around seconds later a flush crawling up from her neck, painting her olive skin nearly cherry red. "Sweet blessed Aphrodite, don't you get that's what got you in the doghouse in the first place?!"

On the warpath, Diana stalked forward until she was well into his personal space.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes." Finally! Something in Diana snapped and she lashed out in a tone that was sharp as the glass that had reminded her that love was such a beautiful, aching, delicious mess.

"Then fight for me! Fight for us! Stop thinking you can just shut this out when it gets hard!" Chest heaving Diana glared up at Clark. "Don't let me go, Clark. Stop letting me go!"

Throwing her arms around him she pressed her face into his chest and clutched the back of his t-shirt not caring that for the moment his arms didn't embrace her back.

But when he did, it was glorious.

All of the breath shuddered out of Clark before his arms wrapped around her in a vice grip; one hand in the center of her back, the other on the back of her neck. How had he forgotten that this woman was the air in his lungs? How had he let her go?

"I love you with every beat of my heart, you stupid man. Why won't you just let me love you?" Her whispered words were nearly thunderous even over the sound of his pounding heart.

"I'm sorry, Di," Turning his head he buried his nose in her loosely tied up hair and inhaled the ever present of orchids and fire. "I lost more than my powers, I lost myself out there. I didn't want to bring you down with me."

"Clark," Diana pulled back, even as he tried to keep her pressed against him. "We are so much better together than we are apart, remember? As long as one of us can fly, we both fly. As long as long as one of us stands, we will stand together. How do I help you understand that?"

"I know but—"

"No. No. I get it. You're Superman to the world. You save the day. But I'm not with you to be saved. I don't need anything from you but this." Pressing her hand against his chest, Diana let the feeling of his heartbeat soothe her frayed nerves. Looking up into his eyes, she caught something dark in his cerulean irises. Something he was still struggling with. It was something that she didn't have the magic to fix, a wound too deep to simply kiss and make better.

But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try.

"You're something more than Superman to me," Cupping his face in her palms, she brushed her thumbs over his cheeks and leaned in until she pulled his very breath into her lungs.

"But that's just it. I wasn't Superman," His words were a broken whisper against her skin.

"But you were still mine."

Diana's lips crashed into his, her kiss as fierce as her claim. It was a little bit desperate, a little bit raw but Clark never noticed, her feelings too closely mirrored his own. Her tongue sought out his as his hands sought out that tempting skin above the waistline of her shorts.

Home, this was home. When the world turned on its ear, this would be his North Star, when she couldn't make out up from down, this would be her compass.

Pushing her shirt up and throwing it to the side, Clark's hands molded along her curves like he was made for loving her and with the way she sighed against his mouth, maybe he was. Intoxicated by his taste, Diana bit down on his lip and held his face tighter, her fingertips pressing against his spine. If for one second he'd doubted what they had, the desperation in her touch as she lifted off his shirt washed the slate clean.

This need, this desperate need that their touch expressed, this was love. Suddenly, Clark had to know, he absolutely had to know that she knew, down to the marrow of her bones that he loved her. Ripping their mouths apart, he gasped in enough air to breathe the words past her lips, hoping and praying like hell that this would start to heal every wound he'd caused.

"Baby, I love you. I love you so much," Holding her face in his palms he watched her melt against him as the dawn washed over them and painted her skin a brilliant gold. Apart of him imagined that gold was the result of his love within her, becoming as integral as the magic in her veins. That maybe, just maybe in his darkest moments he would remember this and allow her to be his light guiding him home.

Jumping into his arms, Diana wrapped her legs around his hips and smiled a challenging smile.

"Show me."

So he did. Again and again...and once more, just for good measure.