Author's note: So... I know you all probably thought I was dead, but I'm not. I was attempting to write the rest of this story in one go and post it all up at once when it was done, but clearly that didn't work. What I'm trying to do now is to stop being pathologically perfectionistic, and just post whatever I have finished as soon as I finish it and hope the momentum keeps me going. I figure anything is better than leaving LaHA unfinished, so here we go again!
Chapter 20
Clark climbed up the wooden slat staircase, some of the steps creaking under his weight. The smell of old straw and machinery oil filled the air, and for the first time in years, Clark felt at home. 'The Fortress' his father had dubbed it, when Clark was small and fond of pretending he was the king of a hay bale castle. When he grew older and more prone to quiet, lonely moods, it became his 'Fortress of Solitude'.
He reached the landing and stepped into the loft. Clark had spent many an afternoon writing and drawing at the dusty, old desk in the corner, or reading on the ugly brown two seater couch his mother had happily banished from the house when one of the legs broke. His old telescope was packed away in a box against the wall behind it; exactly where a younger, angrier Clark had shoved it when he'd decided he was better off focusing things that were more attainable.
Clark walked across the floor to the window and opened the shutters his father had constructed. The early morning sun spilled in, making visible the dust spinning around in the air. He looked out over the cornfields that were now grown by the farm's overseer and the workers he had hired to keep the place going in his absence. The view was as familiar to him as the back of his hand, despite all the time he had spent away.
Almost without his permission, his left hand trailed down the window side, across a wooden strut and behind another that crossed over it. His finger tips delved into the shadows and brushed over a piece of cold, hard metal that was as smooth as ice - it was still there.
After a second's hesitation, he grasped the edge of the hexagonal disc and pulled it from its hiding place. He stared out the window as his fingertips skimmed over the engraved characters, mouthing the words as he traced them.
"There you are!" Lois's voice broke the silence, accompanied by her thudding footsteps as she bounced up the stairs, "Clark, could you give me a ride into town?"
Clark slipped the disc into his pocket before turning to smile at the brunette as she approached him, looking around the loft as she came.
"Of course, Lois," Clark told her, snagging her wrist and pulling her into a good morning kiss.
Lois's hands wrapped around his waist as she eagerly returned the greeting. They broke the kiss and Lois tucked her head under Clark's chin and relaxed into him.
"What do you want for breakfast"
"Coffee," she mumbled into his shirt.
"You've had coffee," Clark said confidently - Lois wouldn't be bouncing up the staircase at seven in the morning without caffeine, no matter how important the project.
"More coffee."
"Okay," Clark chuckled, running his fingers through her hair. "More coffee."