"Hey, Chloe. Do you want to write about my latest save?" Clark asked, going over to her desk.

"Why? You're a reporter now. You got Perry to hire you. Why don't you write about it?"

"It's not fair that I always get the stories just because I'm the subject 9 times out of 10 and it would look a little suspicious if I got every single Superman story and I'm never around when Superman is."

"Do you ever give Lois the story anymore?"

"She's not speaking to either one of me. She'll have to get her own stories."

"When was the last time you spoke to her?"

"It's been almost a month."

"Aren't you going to ask me how she's doing then? I can't even remember the last time you eavesdropped on one of our conversations."

"I don't want to know anything about her personal life."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to hear about her boyfriend."

"She doesn't have one."

"She's in love with someone."

"I'll give you that. Are you ever going to date again? Lois would want you to and it might help."

"No!"

"You don't have to get snappy. I promise no more trying to set you up. You can stay a bachelor. She asks about you, you know."

"She does?" he asked, genuinely surprised. "Clark or Superman?"

"Just Clark. She had me email her a picture of you with glasses."

"Probably to laugh at me or to use it as a dartboard. She won't even permit friendship."

"Don't be so hard on her. You never know what's going through someone else's mind."

"I listen to her heartbeat."

"That was a little random. You do what?"

"It's like listening to the sound of a familiar clock. The ticking is kind of soothing and you barely even notice it, except when it slows down or speeds up and isn't its normal, steady tick."

"How do you know it's hers?"

"No heart is exactly the same, therefore they don't all beat the same way. They all sound different."

"I suppose that's true but there are billions of people in the world. How do you tell them apart?"

A little color crept into his cheeks. "I only listen to and can recognize hers and I check on her when it's irregular."

"I still think it's unbelievable when she's halfway around the world and in a crowded city."

"I can tune my hearing to what I want to hear usually."

"Well, I'm glad you keep an eye on her."

There was a long silence, as Clark sadly stared off into space and Chloe watched him. He was sinking deeper and deeper into depression. She feared he would he would drop all human contact soon, other than necessary interaction. "You know what you need?" she said. "You need fresh air, fun, and a change of scenery. You're coming to the carnival with me."

He came back to reality with a determined look. "No! That's when it all started, when Lois insisted on taking me to the carnival."

"Maybe it'll be therapeutic."

"No."

"Don't make me drag you there."

"You can't drag me anywhere and you know it."

She stood and somewhat like a stern mother, took him by the hand like she would a child and dragged him out of the office.

---

"There's the fortune teller," Clark remarked bitterly. "There's the fortune teller," he said again but this time in an inspired voice. He wanted answers and it looked like the same tent, so maybe it was the same fortune teller. "I'm going to go get my fortune."

"I don't know," Chloe said hesitantly.

"You're not going to stop me," he said, ducking through the tent flap.

"Sit down, Clark Kent."

"How do you know my name?" he asked.

"It appears in the crystal ball."

He looked at her, not sure whether to believe it or not. He sat down. "Do you remember Lois Lane? She was in here last year."

"Ah, yes, poor girl."

"What did you say to her? What was the fortune you gave her?"

"I said nothing to her. It was the work of the ball and I can't tell you what she told me she saw. It is not my place. If you want to know, you must ask her yourself. I assume you're the friend."

"Not anymore."

"Would you like your fortune told? You can see the past, present, or future."

"What did Lois choose?"

"Future."

"Then I want to see the future."

"It won't be the same vision she saw, especially if she succeeded in altering it like she wanted. There is no predictability about what you will see."

"I still want to see the future."

"You will be a mere observer," she explained and then she rubbed the ball, causing swirling clouds and he felt the sensation of his soul being ripped from his body and falling forward.

He was outdoors in the daylight. It looked like Metropolis. There were a crowd of people, reporters it seemed. He looked toward the platform they were all watching and saw an elderly Superman at the podium.

"As you are all aware, I called a press conference," his older self said. "What you don't know is why. I'm dying."

There were gasps in the crowd.

"I know it may seem a little hard to believe. After all if anybody was going to live forever, it would probably be me and there was a time I thought that may be the case but death is a part of life. 82 years had been plenty for me, at times too long. I'm stronger than your average man even now but I'm nowhere near what I was in my younger days. I can do very little anymore. You have effectively been weaned off the need for my help. In the end, it's the everyday people who must help their fellowman. I have gotten kryptonite into my system and while it has been removed, I am not able to bounce back from it. I may have a few days left, maybe a couple of months. This, however, is not the sole reason I have called you here. It is my last press conference. No question that you ask will go unanswered. My life is an open book."

A woman in the 3rd row was the first to raise her hand. "Metropolis Star. Have you ever had children or a significant other?"

"I never had children. I did have someone I loved but she didn't love me back."

Clark wasn't surprised to hear it. This proved that his destiny was to be alone and without Lois.

Superman called on a man in the front row next. "Daily Planet. Do you have an alternate identity?"

"It's ironic that someone from the Planet would me that, since I used to work there. I do. I am really Clark Kent. It's not just an identity, it's who I am. My only memories are of this planet. I was adopted by the Kents, the only parents I have ever really known. I have lived among you working and paying taxes, the same as anybody else. I'd like to be buried as Clark and not as Superman, in my hometown of Smallville."

There was silence as everyone took this in. No one knew what to ask next. One reporter stood up. She was very old. "I haven't covered a Superman story for years. I haven't been in America in years, for that matter but I had a strange feeling that this was one press conference I shouldn't miss and I was right," she croaked out in an unnaturally raspy voice.

"Lois?" his older self asked.

"Who else would still be working as a reporter in their eighties? Obviously not as an investigative reporter though. As you well know, I haven't been in real danger for at least 30 years."

Clark hadn't been aware of her presence with everything that was going on and Superman hadn't noticed it either apparently. Her heartbeat, that he was normally tuned into, sounded different, as was bound to happen in old age.

She laughed, although it sounded more like coughing. "You must wonder what I have to laugh about. I'm laughing at the cruel irony of life because otherwise I would cry. I'm dying too you know. I finally got lung cancer like you said I would but before you get cocky, I still lived longer than you because I'm a year older and truthfully, I didn't even want to live this long. The cruel twist is that you're both Clark Kent and Superman." For the benefit of the others, she said, "I'm the one he loved. I had a vision of the future a long time ago and it gave me the impression that I was an adulteress. What I really saw was you and you as Superman. You were and are my best friend, Clark. I didn't want to see you hurt but I ended up hurting you anyway and if I had just left things alone, we would have had a happy life together."

Both Clark's mouths were agape. They had finally discovered why Lois had shut them out.

"I understand if you can't forgive me. I ruined our lives after all," Lois said with tears glistening in her eyes.

His old self stepped off the platform and went to her, wrapping her in their first hug in over 60 years. "I can always forgive you. I love you."

"I love you too. I should have consulted you and told you everything."

"You did what you thought was right. No one can blame you for that but I don't want to spend our last days debating this. Let's go somewhere where we can be alone."

Clark had a pretty good idea he was thinking of the fortress. That was one part of Superman's life that would remain unknown. The arctic fortress was likely to house their bodies as a lasting monument.

"The press conference is over," Superman announced. He flew away with Lois. Granted it was a very labored, awkward flight but they were too happy and in love to care.

Clark sighed. It was a bittersweet ending and it was perfect in a tragic sort of way but not one he cared to have. Too many years had been wasted. He didn't think it was an accident that had been taken to see this. Providence often seemed to lend a helping hand to fix the future when there was a need. Things were looking up in Clark's life for the first time in a long time. He and Lois wouldn't just get a happy ending but a happy story as well.

TBC