This chapter is a bit longer than the rest because I couldn't cut it shorter without taking away from the story. I'll leave my AN short because my mom wants me off her computer and I have to go to a Recruit meeting in a bit.

To Hiya: Bruce is in town for so long because he's overseeing the aquisition of a bunch of property, and decided that he might as well make the trip instead of an underling because he wanted to see his friend Clark Kent.

When Charlie met Clark at his desk for their usual lunch, he wasn't there. She sat in his desk and stared blankly at the screensaver on his computer. She knew Perry wouldn't be upset at her sitting at Clark's desk. He'd already told her that she could wait for the reporter to get there the last time he'd been out of the office when she came for him.

"Hello." A voice said from above her.

Charlie looked up to find Lois Lane looking down at her. The curly haired reporter was watching her was an expression of concern.

"Oh, hello." Charlie stood. Feeling nervous around the star reporter. But standing up just emphasized the differences in their sizes. Charlie was three inches taller and had a more voluptuous build than the almost anorexically slender reporter.

"Hi, I'm Lois Lane." She held out her hand for the other woman to shake it.

Charlie nodded. "I know, I read the Daily Planet every morning. I'm..." she paused. "I'm Charlie Thomas."

She saw Clark come up towards her out of the corner of her eye. His face was a mass of confusion and a little bit of hurt. He started walking away, obviously thinking she hadn't seen him yet. She said something polite to Lois, although later she couldn't remember what exactly, and followed Clark out of the building.

"Clark!" She called as she caught up to him just outside the front doors of the Daily Planet. "Clark, would you hold on a moment?"

He swung around to look down at her. "Charlie Thomas." He repeated. "You know your name?"

She nodded. "I just found out today. Bruce called me as soon as I was out of the shower to tell me what he had found out about my past." Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm all alone in this world Clark, now I know for sure." She sniffed. "My parents are dead. And even worse, I was adopted."

Clark's face lost all of its anger as he pulled her into his arms and squeezed her tight. She cried against his chest silently, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed out all her anger, sadness and tension. After a minute she pulled slightly away from him and looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes.

He pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and kissed her gently. He smiled gently down at her and took a deep breath. What he was about to say was something he'd shared with only a few people, but was something he thought about a lot.

"I'm adopted too Charlie."

Clark and Charlie went back to her hotel room to have some privacy to talk. Somehow, talking in front of the Daily Planet building, the most recognizable building in the city, didn't seem like the best plan. They settled onto the couch in the luxurious living room, sitting close together, with Charlie's legs flung over Clark's lap.

"How old were you when you found out you were adopted?" Charlie asked, curious to learn more about him. Their whirlwind romance had left little time for sharing pasts, especially when that was one area he avoided for her sake.

He took her hand in his own, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles as he looked at her thoughtfully. "I always knew. My parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent, didn't hide it from me. Mom always said that they chose to love me, that that made me all the more special."

Charlie smiled at that, liking the woman already. "How old were you when you came to them?"

Clark smiled to himself as he took in her exact words, how right she was and didn't even know it. "I was three years old."

Charlie imagined Clark at that age, a mop of messy dark hair and those amazingly blue eyes of his. "I was six months old, according to what Bruce told me when he summarized the file. So even if I ever got my memory back I wouldn't remember my birth parents." She sighed. "Do you remember yours?"

He shook his head, knowing they were entering dangerous territory. "No, no I don't." He was about to say something more, but the sounds of a far-off disaster drew his attention. He made a big show of checking his watch. "Oh man," He said somewhat dramatically. "I better hurry or I'll be late for the afternoon meeting."

Charlie nodded, she knew how devoted he was to his job. She smiled and kissed his slowly. When he pulled away she swung her legs off of his lap and stood up with him. "Have fun." She said with a smile, knowing that Perry liked to rant during the afternoon meetings.

"I will." Clark gave her a quick peck on the cheek and hurried out the door.

Charlie was bored, with Clark at work and Bruce heading back in Gotham, she had nothing to do. There was still the report sitting on the coffee table to read, had been since she'd been given it the day before, but she was doing her best to avoid looking at it. Then inspiration struck.

"Most women like shopping right?" Charlie asked herself. "I could try that, I only have a few sundresses and this outfit after all. And, Bruce had purchased these for me, 'out of friendship,' he said."

When she got to the shops Clara, the woman behind the counter in the hotel lobby, had suggested, Charlie had reached a conclusion. She hated shopping. Absolutely abhorred it. She stayed in the first shop maybe five minutes before she fled like her shorts and tanktop combo was on fire.

The boutique next door caught her attention and she quickly walked through the door. It was a toy store, one that sold over-priced toys for spoiled little children. But Charlie was entranced, she wandered through the store with wide eyes and a broad grin. A spiral staircase led her to the second story, which was filled with small action figures and dolls.

The one that really caught her eye was an action figure, designed for the spoiled little boy who had everything. For a reason she couldn't identify, she picked it up and decided to buy it. Although it was somewhat pricey, she didn't worry about it.

Money wasn't really an object after all, Bruce had informed her during their breakfast, He'd given her cards that went with the accounts she'd inherited from her adopted parents and statements of all the accounts she had. Although she was nowhere near as wealthy as Bruce Wayne, she had more money than she'd ever need.

A few minutes later, her purchase made, she headed out of the building. Spotting a nearby landmark, she decided to go sightseeing. She'd seen much of the city on her lunchdates with Clark, but she still wanted to do touristy things. She wanted to go to the park, and to the zoo, and to the tallest building in the city. So, she decided, she'd go for it.

The tallest skyscraper was just a few blocks away, so she decided that she'd walk there first. The elevator was playing an old Jefferson Starship song and she began to nod along to the beat, drawing attention to herself. After a moment she realized what she was doing and stopped, her face pink with embarrassment. One of the men in the elevator smiled at her, but she didn't even notice, her thoughts centered on Clark.

After nearly half an hour of staring out over the skyline of Metropolis, Charlie wasn't even close to being bored, she was too entranced. A few men had gravitated to her wide, brilliant smile, but every time she didn't even notice. All she could think of was Clark Kent and the marvelous sight Metropolis afforded from her perch on the viewing platform of the Kiniki Building. She wished he was with her then.

The cry of a child tore her attention away from the beautiful sight in front of her. She looked over to see that a small, blonde toddler had climbed beneath the barrier cutting tourists off from the brink of the building. She heard the mother yelling the name she assumed was the child's, but she was far away and looking around, unable to see the toddler.

Charlie rushed over to the little tow-headed girl, anxious to get to her before she fell off the ledge. As it was, the girl was six mere inches from the edge. She fought through the throngs of people, who complained and cursed as she pushed them out of her way.

Charlie's breath caught in her throat when she saw the toddler whirl around as she heard her mother's calls. Her tiny sneakers slipped on the cool metal and glass structure and flipped out from under her. She shoved the last person out of her way and dove.

She caught the girl's tiny body with her right hand. She hung on to the bottom bar with her left hand, as her body swung with the momentum of her jump. She curled her right arm around the child, pulling her against her chest, trying to shelter her with her body. The sounds of shouts and screams filled her ears, but she purposefully blocked them out.

Her grip on the bar slipped, causing the crowd to gasp. Everyone seemed to be frozen, not a single one of them moved. She knew she was going to fall, and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She lifted the child back up onto the building, pushing her gently away from the edge. Then she lost her grip completely, and she fell.

My first real cliffhanger in this story, well, skyscraper-hanger anyway. It's my first real action sequence in this story and I hoped it kept you interested.

Please review, I've had to up my review quota to ten reviews because of all the attention. I'm fighting to stay ahead, and you don't even know how glad I am that that's my only complaint :D :) :D