- - - - -
Dirt between his fingers, snow in his hair. It was freezing, but face burned with tears. He looked up to see a dozen black outlines of people- friends, family, strangers -all of them walking away from him. Abandoning him. He wanted to shout, to tell them to come back. But they faded like shadows.
A hand slipped into his, but when he looked to see who was standing beside him, they were all ready walking away, their back to him. They didn't even look around when he called after them.
"Clark…Clark?"
He walked across the snowy ground, now completely alone. Up ahead there was a tall archway made of ice. He ran to it. As he walked through the doorway, he suddenly realized he was holding something in his arms. He looked down. It was a man.
He carried the man through the snow, setting him down gently on a great, pearly slab of ice. He knelt beside him, tears coursing down his cheeks. "Dad…I'm sorry."
Kal-El?
Clark jumped to his feet, the snow around him kicking up like a whirlwind. "Bring him back! I'll kill you, you hear me?! He's my father!" His swore he heard his heart snap. "I need him! I can't do this without him! I…I can't." Suddenly he had no strength to shout. He sank to his knees, a splinter of Kryptonite sticking out awkwardly from his chest. "Dad…"
He fell over, sprawled on the snowy ground. But the snow was gone, replaced with dry, spongy dirt. He gazed upward, staring into the rafters of his barn.
"Clark."
He sat up slowly, aching a little. He rose to his feet, shakily running to the barn door. He heaved hard on the door, but when it sprang open, the light beyond it blinded him, and he stumbled back, arm over his eyes. Someone was coming out of the light. He squinted painfully, trying to see. Then-
"Dad."
"Hello, son."
Clark ran, throwing his arms around Jonathan, resting his chin on his father's shoulder. Hoping never to let go. And Jonathan gave him the biggest, strongest, hardest hug he'd ever had.
"I can't believe it's you."
- - - - -
Clark jerked awake. He sat in the darkness for a long time before fumbling for his watch and hitting the indiglo. 5:14 am. He lay back down, arm over his forehead, thinking. Sure enough, it had been the dream. The one that haunted him for weeks now.
But that last part…the light in the barn, the…the hug. That was new. He found himself smiling for some reason. Maybe he was moving on after all. Maybe Jonathan was going to be just fine, maybe…His heart sank a little as he woke up a little more. Maybe not.
Clark rolled over, bunching his pillow up under his head, trying to get comfortable again. His fingers brushed the photo that still lay beneath his pillow. Shutting his eyes, breathing deeply, he chose to believe everything was going to be okay. His dad had promised the two of them would go looking for a tree tomorrow, give them a chance to talk. They hadn't done that for awhile.
Yeah. This was what real life looked like. Nothing lasted forever, he knew that, but…some things did.
That night, he dreamt Chloe arranged a Smallville High reunion and invited Lex, who brought Shelby as a date. Then Lois came three hours late, and spent the whole time drinking punch and complaining about how Curtis kept trying to ask her out, and finally she told him to go ask Lana instead. Clark went to find Lana, not wanting her to be alone with Curtis, but when he found her, she was sitting perfectly peaceful in a field of strange, bluish flowers. The dream ended somewhere in the middle of a very gentle, vivid kiss. Clark's eyes opened to a golden light spilling off his bedroom windowsill.
"Hey, sleepyhead." He rolled over and found Jonathan standing in his doorway.
"Hey," he murmured running his hands up and down his face a few times. "Time is it?"
"8:05."
"Really?" He sat up.
"Yep. C'mon, hustle hustle! The cows-"
"Aren't gonna feed themselves, yeah yeah…" Clark pulled his socks on. "Be there in a sec."
"Hurry up, your mother's oatmeal isn't great but it's even worse cold," Jonathan said and left, his heavy footsteps resonating loudly as he went downstairs.
The End