A/N: Sorry it's been so long- almost a week, I think! Which for me, is long, I suppose. . . . =D This is short, but I had to put something else up. For those of you desiring Superman's powers to return. . . wait no more! I'll have more up and coming soon, hopefully.

Oh, and by the way, all mistakes are my own. No beta, but I'm usually okay without. Let me know of any glaring mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or fictitious settings in this story- the majority of which belong to DC, Warner Bros., or originally I suppose Siegel and Schuster, the brilliant creators of a man who inspires so many. . . and of whom I am both forever thankful and envious. The only thing I can lay claim to in here is the basic plotline that I hope is varied enough from any other previous ideas. . . . so yeah. Read! Review! Enjoy!

*****Chapter Ten: Superman Returns*****

Upon walking into his soon-to-be son's room, Ben was greeted at first by terror. Clark was gone. Oh no. What would he tell Martha? She had asked him to check on him, to make sure he was alright and still sleeping- and hadn't accidentally destroyed anything.

Frantically, his eyes scanned the room, only to find the corner of a blanket hanging down in his peripheral vision. Surprised by the strange sight, Ben followed the trail upwards with his eyes to be greeted by the still more shocking sight of Clark Kent floating on the ceiling, grasping the corners of the blanket as if it were his only security. Once the initial shock wore off, Ben chuckled. That boy was definitely exceptional- and kind of weird. But that came with the territory.

He had carefully closed the door, shaking his head to himself before heading downstairs to tell his fiancee that her son would most likely sleep through the entire day, then relating how he had spotted him asleep on the ceiling.

Martha just laughed. "Yes, it made waking him up for school in the mornings rather difficult when he found he could do that. Not to say Clark wasn't a morning person- he's up with the sun everyday. But in winter time, or when he got bored with school. . . let's just say he's stubborn and leave it at that. Clark sleeps upside down more often than not now."

It was a strange conversation to be having, if one listened to it out of context. But Ben grinned as he realized they would probably be having a lot more conversations like this in the future. And he didn't mind that.

***** S *****

Clark awoke not knowing where he was. It was an odd feeling. Having never been drunk (enough) or this disoriented before, he found himself confused. Then he looked around. And he practically jumped out of his skin.

He was in the air.

Not just floating or hovering over his bed, like usual, but in the air, outside of the farm house. Make that way outside. And above. For a moment, he was scared enough to allow a small scream to surface, moving his arms around in a circle as though he were trying to swim through the air. But despite his intial fright, nothing seemed to happen. No falling millions of miles- okay, so it was only about five miles, but still. No bumpy air turbulence that the rather rudementary airplane had provided. Experimentally, he tried controlling his power of flight, finding himself bobbing up and down in midair. Unexpectedly, Clark's features broke out in a large grin. He started laughing, then shot off into the air.

The wind felt so good rushing past him. He couldn't help himself, he just couldn't stop laughing. He throttled through the air, picked up a boulder out of the middle of a field, and tossed it in the air, juggling it as though it was nothing. Finally he set it back down and rocketed up, as high as he could go, enjoying the moment of peace he had. He thought it was funny; he rarely ever flew as Clark Kent, and never in Batman pajamas. It was invigorating. He went to the upper levels of the atmosphere and then stopped, allowing gravity to pull him back down. He sobered for a moment as he remembered his fall from a little bit higher up a little more than three weeks ago- the day he had almost died. This was entirely different.

The air rushed past him in a flurry, and Clark allowed a contented smile to remain spread across his face as he fell from the heights to which he had flown. Everyone always wanted to fly like Superman, but all Clark ever wanted to do was just fall- to completely give in and release his body from any sense of control. Just let go. He had done it before- and his most recent attempt that he tried, it was not of his own conscious doing. But being able to fall, after three days without his powers, was completely refreshing.

Superman was back.

Suddenly he burst through the kitchen door with incredible speed and stood before the rest of the household guests proudly, noting the shock on their faces. Jimmy allowed a spoonful of his oatmeal to fall on his pants, Perry had his mouth hanging open, and Richard looked scared out of his wits as he dropped the glass he had been holding. Clark quickly swooped down and caught it a millisecond before it would have shattered on the ground, and replaced the tumbler on the table. There was no mistaking the wide grin spread across his features.

As suddenly as he had appeared, Clark disappeared again, and then reappeared before them dressed in his regular Clark clothes- not the dorky suit he wore to the office, but a tee-shirt and jeans. He couldn't seem to remove the silly grin from his face- Clark was giddy with delight.

Martha recovered the quickest, used to her son's random appearances and disappearances from her kitchen- often to scavenger for some food and chat for a little bit before taking off again. "So, I take it you slept well?"

Clark nodded vigorously, his smile widening. Then he noticed the glasses on his face. His heart skipping a beat, Clark gently closed his eyes and removed them.

He opened his eyes.

And everything was clear.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He hated being blind, with a passion. His mother feared his grin would split his face in two. "Yeah," he continued. "Yeah, I slept great. It was just what Superman needed." After a second's thought, he asked, "Hey, Ma, did you fix up the suit yet?"

She gave him a scathing look. "No. I'm afraid this one's beyond repair- much like the last one. You're going to have to run home and grab another one- but not just yet, alright Clark? You just got your powers back, plan a little bit. Let Lex think you're really dead."

At this Clark scowled and promptly took his seat at the breakfast table. Everyone else was conveniently feigning distraction, while eagerly listening in on the conversation. "I know, Ma, but it's so hard to just. . . let it go. I can hear now. All of it. Don't you know how much that tortures me? And Lois-"

"Will be fine for the time being."

"How can you be so sure?" he whispered, the grin that previously occupied his features now gone without a trace.

"I just know, Clark. Call it a mother's intuition, if you will."

He cast a glance at the floor. "I hope you're right."

Jimmy suddenly tripped over the leg of his chair and sent everything on his plate flying through the air. Luckily, Clark was now there to save the day. For good. He collected both JImmy and the food in one swift swoop, then, realizing he had some housework to do, grinned at his mother. "Hey, I'm gonna go fix up that wall. Be back in a jiff. And then maybe after breakfast I can take Jason up flying, like he wanted."

Jason's grin rivaled Clark's own. "YEAH!"

He ruffled the boy's hair, and walked off confidently once again.

"Make sure you clean up after yourself- and don't you dare break anything else!" his mother shouted after him.

He shot her a lopsided grin. "I always do, don't I?" With that, he was off to work.

It felt good to be back.

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

A/N: short, sweet. . . hope this is sort of what you guys were looking for with this. I didn't want to detail his powers-recovery any more since i had already put so much into the last few chapters about that. . . and let's face it, there's only so many ways to describe a headache. =P Anyways, hopefully i'll be back soon with more- and i swear! I'm about done with the angsty, introspectives that I've been going through these last. . . um, six chapters? I'm finally ready to write some action into here! get this story rolling... for those of you that like that, however, don't worry. more emotional stuff is always on the way. just need a break from it for a while... XD

Show Clark you love him and Review this please!