Chapter Twenty-One

Disclaimer: I don't own Superman or any of the DC characters, or the setting, I'm just playing in their universe for the first time. Also, as a reminder, my Lex Luthor's modeled after Smallville's Lex in my head (played by Michael Rosenbaum).

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, I love hearing from you guys!

"But I don't know the first thing about writing. My English is improving, and I understand the rules of grammar fairly well, but I have no idea how to write something that will capture anyone's interest," she protested, and Clark just smiled.

"That's where I come in. I was thinking we could work on it together. You give me your story and I'll find a way to tell it that's compelling and fair."

"And you really think people will want to read this? Read about me?"

"Kyria, you're easily one of the most interesting people I've ever met, and people are dying to know more about you and where you came from. Besides, who wouldn't want to know more about you?" he smiled, resisting the urge to touch her face. He'd learn to accept that she wanted to be with Lex, but at least they could remain friends, and he'd get to see her often if she agreed to this venture.

"Alright, let's do it!" she declared with her boundless enthusiasm. "How do we begin?"

Clark drew his notebook out of the bag. "I was hoping you'd say that," he grinned.

"I feel like I've been talking for hours," I sighed, leaning back against the couch cushions.

"You have been talking for hours," Kal chuckled. "How about we take a break? Go and stretch our legs outside?"

"Can't we stretch them here?"

"It means to get the blood circulating a bit and get some exercise, like taking a walk."

"Oh, that sounds nice," I readily agreed, glad he didn't want to go home yet. I felt a tad guilty for monopolizing so much of his time, but it had been his idea to work on the book, after all.

The process so far had consisted mostly of him quizzing me about my childhood and taking copious notes. It hadn't felt like work, not really. He'd talked a bit about his childhood as well, and it felt like we were getting to know each other on a deeper level. But I knew this was a project for Kal, him trying to help me earn my way instead of relying on Lex's charity. That took some of the pleasure out of it for me, so I tried not to dwell on that and just enjoy his company.

"How has Martha been?" I asked once we reached the park.

"Good. She asked about you when I went to go pick up the cook book. I think she really took a shine to you. I mean really likes you," he clarified before I could ask.

"The feeling is mutual. I should stop by soon and thank her personally for such a nice gift."

"Hey, how about we go there for dinner?" he suggested. "I can call her and see if she has any other plans, but I can almost guarantee she'd love to have us over." He seemed excited by the notion, but nowhere near as excited as I was at the prospect of spending another evening with them on the farm. But then I remembered my previous engagement.

"I would love to… but I already have dinner plans with Lex."

"Oh. Of course," he nodded, disappointment flashing before he smiled. "It's short notice, I know."

"I'm sorry. I could try to postpone them…" I'd much rather have dinner with Kal and his mother than Lex any day.

"No, you don't have to cancel for me." He shook his head. "But maybe we can make plans for later this week?"

"I would very much like that," I smiled warmly back at him. Maybe I could cut my evening with Lex short and even try to make it for dessert on the farm? But that wouldn't be courteous to Lex, and Martha kept much earlier hours than Lex did. I could probably even manage to eat dinner with Martha and Kal first and then have a later dinner with Lex. It was on the tip of my tongue to suggest it, when Kal's face got that faraway look.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"About ten blocks that way, bank robbery. Want to have some fun?" he grinned, waggling his brows at me, and I couldn't resist a laugh.

"Lead the way!"

The robbers had already fled the bank and were piling into a dark SUV parked in the alley behind the building. "You want front or back?" Kal called out as we hovered above.

"I'll take the back," I decided, setting down behind the car while Kal landed directly in its path.

"Go, go, go!"

"Holy smokes, it's Superman!"

"Gun it!"

The robbers all yelled at once, and though I knew Kal would emerge the victor in a confrontation with a mid-sized SUV, I couldn't let him have all the fun, could I? The vehicle surged forward, but only made it an inch before I grabbed it by the bumper and lifted the rear wheels to spin harmlessly in the air.

They didn't know where to look, at me or Kal, their heads pinging back and forth, and I let go of the car with one hand and waved to them cheerfully through the rear window.

"Showoff," Kal grinned on the other side of the car.

"What should we do with them?"

"Hmm, we could take them to the police station, or keep them here. The SWAT team's almost here," he replied, listening for a moment.

I really envied how honed his hearing was, able to pick things out at will. "I vote we keep them here. But we have to make sure they don't escape. How shall we detain them?"

"I have just the thing," Kal decided, stepping to the side and using his heat vision to spot weld the doors shut.

"Ah, but that won't keep them from driving away and possibly harming others," I pointed out.

"Good point," he conceded, flipping the hood open.

"Are you going to melt the engine block?" I asked, using my x-ray vision to see through the car and passengers to watch what he was doing.

"Nothing so flashy," he replied, pulling a part free. "They won't get very far without these coils," he grinned, and I set the car down as the engine sputtered and died.

"You'll have to teach me how you did that sometime."

"I'd be happy to. I've still got all of my father's books at the farm."

The police funneled into the alley in full riot gear, expecting… probably anything but the pair of us leaning against the car chatting about auto repairs. They were delighted to have the criminals in hand, especially after Kal tore the doors free and disarmed them so they could be easily extracted.

"That was fun," I agreed after we flew away.

"Want to do it again?"

"Do you hear another bank being robbed?" I frowned, listening, but not picking up anything that sounded like a bank alarm.

"No, but there's plenty of crime in the city. I have an idea. How about a friendly game of pick up the criminal?"

"Pick them up?" I smiled. "How is this a game?"

"We keep score. You and I split up and chase after criminals, drop them at the police department, and then meet back here. Whoever stops the best crime wins."

I cocked a brow at him. "How do we decide what the best crime is? Is a theft better than an assault?"

"Okay, whoever stops the most crimes in the allotted period of time wins."

"Alright," I nodded. "How long do we have?"

"An hour?"

"That's a long time, it only took us a few minutes to apprehend those bank robbers."

"Yes, but you have to take them to the police as well, and explain what their crime was."

"That's hardly fair. They're far more likely to accept your word for it, you're Superman." I didn't even have my more distinctive clothing on. Even if they did recognize me, I was likely to encounter fear and distrust.

"Okay, we… both snatch a criminal and then meet back here and take them in together? Whoever gets here first wins that round."

"I accept your challenge," I smiled, after all, I was faster than he was. Then again, he had far more experience listening for danger. Feeling slightly less confidence, I still agreed.

"Alright," he grinned. "Ready… set… go!"

We took off, and it took me longer than I liked to spot a crime in progress. Kal was already at the rendezvous point when I arrived with my criminal. "I caught a purse thief," I reported proudly.

"Nice, I got a mugger," he replied, explaining to me what that meant on the way to the police station with our criminals in tow. The police did very easily accept Kal's explanation of why we were dropping off the thieves, and took down our description of the crimes and locations for their logs.

The next round went quicker, but Kal still beat me back to the meeting place.

"I caught this guy littering," he explained, and I wrinkled my nose at that.

"Littering? That's not even a crime!"

"Yes, it is, it counts," he insisted stubbornly, and I rolled my eyes. We could hardly bring him in to the police for that, they'd laugh us out of there.

"Whatever. Assault with a knife," I said, hands on my hips, and he nodded in approval.

"Assault with a gun!" he declared smugly at the next round.

"Show off," I muttered. "Domestic abuse!"

"Ooh, good one!" he grinned.

"Yes, I accidentally dropped him on the way here."

"You didn't!"

"He slipped," I shrugged.

The next time I beat him to the point, but he looked no less pleased with his criminal when he arrived. "Breaking and entering," he boasted.

"Drug dealer. And selling to children! I might've dropped him as well."

"You're going to have to watch that," he laughed, leading the way to the police station with my criminal alone.

"What for? Maybe it will knock some sense into him."

"This is so much more fun with a partner," Kal declared as we stepped out onto the street again.

"Is that what we are? Partners? You keep going after litterbugs and you're going to end up my… what's the word… sidekick?" I teased.

Kal just laughed again. "I would gladly be your sidekick. Superman and the Angel of Justice."

"You mean Angel of Justice and Superman? The sidekick always comes second."

"Of course, my mistake."

We kept walking down the street, the sun had started to set, and humans were all hurrying home after work. "Is that how you see me? The Angel of Justice?"

"That's what they called you at the children's shelter, their guardian angel."

"I'm hardly an angel." Not even close.

"I don't know about that."

I looked over and he had the oddest expression on his face as he regarded me. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, his gaze falling to the pavement. "It'll be dark soon. I know you have plans tonight, but maybe sometime we can try this again at night? Crime seems to get much worse after dark. And we do make a good team."

"We do, don't we?" I agreed, beyond pleased by the invitation. Maybe in time he'd come to see me as an equal instead of a kid to be protected? And then maybe… I shook my head, there was no point in following that line of thought. He probably had to get back to Lois, and I was supposed to meet Lex for dinner soon. "I would very much like to patrol the city with you some night, but I should be going. Lex will be waiting for me."

"Right, we wouldn't want to keep Lex waiting," he said softly. "I'll see you tomorrow to work on the book though, right?"

"Of course. I'll see you then." I reached up to hug him, not trusting myself to kiss his cheek again, and really, I had no business doing it in the first place.

Thanks to my super speed, I wasn't late in getting back to my apartment, but I didn't have long to get ready. Lex hated to be kept waiting. Luckily, it didn't take long to change into the dress I'd already selected for our dinner date.

His smile of appreciation told me I'd picked the right dress when I opened the door.

"Don't you look nice?"

"I don't?" I replied, confused by his phrasing, despite the smile.

"No, you do. You look lovely, as usual," he assured me, leaning in to kiss my cheek. I'd grown used to it as his normal greeting, and didn't think twice about him taking that liberty now.

"Did you have a nice day today?" I asked as he tucked me into the limousine beside him. It seemed silly to me for him to fetch me in his vehicle only to return to his penthouse apartment when I could easily meet him there, but Lex said a gentleman always picked up his lady on a date as a sign of respect.

"I did. I acquired a company I've been after for a while, and closed a major deal with one of our distributors that should cut costs significantly over the next year. Overall it was a very satisfactory day. What about you, did you have a nice day?"

For the first time, I had something to contribute to the conversation that was more than shopping or job searching. "I did, I had a fantastic day!"

"Oh? What did you get up to?"

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about fighting all the crime, as that was the most exciting part of my day, but at the last minute I changed my mind. Kal wasn't his favorite person, and he probably wouldn't want to hear about our friendly competition. "I've started working on my memoirs. I think that might be a good way for me to earn some money," I replied instead, and his face lit with avarice.

"That's a genius idea, we'll make a fortune!"

"We?"

"Well, you, of course," he amended, "with my help."

The offer surprised me, as I didn't know he had any interest in literary pursuits. And while I was certain he'd have helpful contacts (he did for everything else under the sun), I didn't want to give up my one reason to spend any real time with Kal. "Oh, well Kal has offered to help me with the book."

Lex's expression darkened. "I'll just bet he has."

"He is a writer, after all."

"A few college pieces, nothing to brag about," he said dismissively. "Why don't you let me put together a few names of some acclaimed authors? Someone who has experience with this kind of memoir? We'll get a team assembled to take this project right to the top."

It was easy to let Lex have his way most of the time, but this time I stayed true to my instincts. "No, I think we're doing fine so far."

"You've already started then?"

"Yes, today. You know, I've thought more about my childhood today than I have in a long time?" I smiled fondly. "Kal said it would help to explain my story to start at the beginning."

"See that's where you need someone with experience," he said, leaning forward, his words growing more impassioned. "Nobody cares about whether you got a skinned knee as a kid, they want to read about the drama. They want to know more about Zod and his agenda. They want to know about what went down in the hours leading up to the attack."

"I'd rather not lead with that," I frowned. "Father was more than that, and so am I."

"Kyria, I'm only trying to help…"

"And I appreciate that," I cut him off. "But I trust Kal to help me tell the story I want to tell."

"And you don't trust me?"

"I didn't say that," I said gently, as he'd started to look positively grumpy. Covering his hand with mine, I scooted a little closer, as my proximity seemed to soothe him. "Of course I trust you. But I'm sure you have other things to focus on. What's on the agenda for you this week?"

"I do have some significant deals are in the works and…" He shook his head. "Well, it's nothing I can really get into at the moment."

"Why, don't you trust me?" I teased, but he remained serious.

"It's not about trust, Kyria. Sometimes you blurt things out at inappropriate times, and I can't take the chance that you'll accidentally leak something."

"Oh, I see." I tried to cast my mind back and figure out what exactly he referred to, but it was hard to say. How would I know if I was being inappropriate or not?

"It's not your fault, sweetheart," he said in a kindly tone, leading me up to his apartment. "But I don't want to talk about boring old work stuff. Let's talk about us."

"What about us?"

"I was thinking maybe we should go away for a while? Take a vacation, see a bit of the world? There are a lot of things I could show you."

"Like where?"

"I was thinking of starting in Nassau. Now there's a place to chase away the winter blues," he smiled

"Oh, I've been there, it's beautiful," I agreed, and his smile faded.

"You have?"

"Yes, I've been to many places. I like to take an early morning flight, to… stretch my legs," I smiled, glad to have used the phrase appropriately.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you've seen the places I can show you. I guarantee I can get you into places you don't even know exist."

"What kind of places?"

"Restaurants, clubs, private resorts. All the best beaches."

"But I've seen the beaches."

"We don't have to go to Nassau if you don't want to," he muttered, withdrawing with a scowl, and I felt bad for rejecting his proposal. After all, Lex was only trying to do something nice for me.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be troublesome. I would like to see the world you wish to show me," I said, and he instantly brightened.

"You would?"

"Yes, of course."

"Fine, I'll make all the arrangements," he declared warmly. "We'll leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" It seemed awfully sudden. I'd much rather take the trip after working on the book with Kal, but sensed that Lex wouldn't like being put off for very long, especially if my excuse was to work with Kal. And maybe it would be for the best to take a break from seeing Kal for a while? As much as I loved spending the day with him, it was far too easy to want more than friendship from him. Maybe it would be best to give my relationship with Lex a chance to deepen first so he was easier to resist? Then again, I wasn't exactly sure where I stood with Lex.

"Lex, are we dating?" I asked, and his lips parted in surprise.

"You don't know?"

"How could I? The definition of dating seems to be so varied. We don't go to movies, but we do have dinner pretty regularly. You do romantic things like bring me gifts and sweets, and frequently put your arm around me, but you haven't tried to kiss me beyond my cheek."

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

"I… don't know," I replied honestly.

"But you've been thinking about kissing me?" he smiled, leaning in closer.

"Well… only in the respect that I've been trying to decide if we're dating or simply good friends, and I know you said before you wanted to touch me, and it was implied that kissing would be part of that, and that seems to meet the definition of seeing someone whom you have a romantic or sexual interest in…" I had to pause to take a breath, intent on finishing my thought that I wasn't certain if it counted as dating if only one party had a romantic or sexual interest, but instead, Lex pulled me close, his lips covering mine.

Of course, I had the strength to pull away at any time, but I was curious. What would it be like? His lips were warm and surprisingly soft, lightly brushing against mine at first, gently coaxing. I knew what kissing looked like, I'd seen it plenty of times in movies and on television. I knew it involved tongues and saliva, and somehow people found that pleasurable. So it was no surprise when I felt his tongue seeking entrance. I kissed him back the best I could, wondering the entire time if I was doing it correctly, but Lex seemed pleased.

It wasn't bad, it was an interesting experience, but it wasn't thrilling either. How strange that I'd felt so much more sensation in the brief brush of Kal's lips against my cheek than this intimate tongue stroking from Lex? But Kal was with Lois, so I knew I it would be wrong to try the experiment with him. And Lex was handsome and sweet to me and obviously interested, if his heartrate was an indicator.

"How was that?" he asked when it was over.

"It was nice," I replied conservatively, and his smile turned sly.

"I'll have to try harder then." He kissed me again, more firmly this time, his mouth growing more insistent. It was harder to keep up this time, my senses easily overwhelmed, especially when his hands roamed from my shoulders to my back, and lower, pulling me closer until I felt like I was drowning in him.

I wrenched my lips from his and pulled back, and to his credit, Lex let me go immediately.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying not to rush you into something you're not ready for," he said, his breathing harsh.

I immediately felt better once the tender assault on my senses was over. "I want to be ready for it, it's just very overwhelming."

"Of course it is, I should have realized," he frowned. "Your senses are hyper-aware, I should've anticipated that and been more careful to ease you into it. I apologize, Kyria. Next time you can set the pace. If… you want there to be a next time?"

There was a hint of vulnerability in his eyes that touched me, and I picked up his hand. "Well, we are dating after all. I imagine it will grow easier with time, especially if we spend more time together on our vacation."

He smiled, his entire face lit with delight. "We'll have the most wonderful time. Let me go make some calls, I'll be right back."

He was so happy, I knew I'd made the right decision. Hadn't I?

It was still early when Lex returned me to my apartment, cutting the evening short so he had time to wrap up some business before our trip. I knew I had to talk to Kal, but instead of reaching for my phone, I tried calling out to him directly. He'd sworn he could hear me if I called his name from anywhere in the city, and it seemed somehow more intimate than using the device.

"Kal?"

Sure enough, his response came almost immediately. "Hey, did you change your mind about running out to the farm? We can still make it for hot apple pie and ice cream."

"No, I… I wanted to tell you, I can't meet you tomorrow to work on the book."

"Oh?" There was curiosity in his voice, and also concern.

"Yes, is that alright?"

"Of course it's alright," he said quickly. "You gave me a lot to work with so far. I mean, I'd like to outline the rest of what we have planned so I know what parts to focus on to tie it all together, but I definitely have enough to get started with for a while."

"Good," I replied, breathing an inward sign of relief. If it was Lex, he'd have been far more upset at me cancelling plans with him.

"Are we still on for dinner at the farm later this week though?"

"I'm not sure," I replied, realizing that Lex had been light on the details of our trip. "I don't know when we'll be back."

"We?"

"Lex is taking me to Nassau."

"Oh." There was a funny tone to his voice that I couldn't identify without seeing him, but before I could ask him about it, he said, "That's nice."

"Yes, it should be. It's beautiful there."

"Yes, it is," he said softly, and then fell silent.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, of course not," he said quickly.

"You don't think I should go?"

He hesitated and then said, "It's not up to me whether or not you go away with your boyfriend or not."

"But you think it's a bad idea?"

"No, it's… Just… remember what I talked about, about Lex making you do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"Lex has been very patient with me. He doesn't wish to rush me either." The kissing experiment had proven that well enough.

"That's good," he said woodenly, and the silence stretched between us again, as I wasn't sure what else to say.

"But I would like to see you when I get back," I added.

"You would?"

"Of course." Didn't he know that? "We'll have dinner at the farm, yes? Like we talked about."

"Yes, right. I guess just let me know when you're back."

"I will." It was the most awkward conversation we'd had so far, and I wished we could get back to our easy familiarity with each other, but I didn't know how to accomplish it.

"I hope you have a fantastic time," he said with an air of finality to his voice.

"Thank you," I replied, feeling a little glum about the exchange.

"And if you need anything…"

I felt a rush of warmth at the offer. Whatever the reason for his strange mood, he did care about me in his own way, and the implied promise that he would rush to my side lifted my spirits. "I'll call."

A/N: I know, it's ending on a bit of a bummer, but I promise it'll be okay.

~~~Feedback is Love~~~