61 Reviews! happy dance
If I had the powers I'd so have a party with all my reviewers. One that included three familiar males as entertainment.
I have to up my quota again, to 15. I'm running to stay ahead, but feeling very loved! Thanks to all my reviewers, you are so in my imaginary party. And, if the males aren't your 'thing,' I'll even throw in an Angelina Jolieclone. Causeshe's my idol.
Bit of trivia for you: the guy who played Richard White, he was considered for the role of Superman before Brandon Routh was. Shocking I know.
Another: Tom Welling once saw a woman getting her purse stolen. He rushed over and scared off her attackers (after all, he is 6'4" and built). She said 'you really are Superman.' and he blushed.
Charlie dropped to the floor, Clark was barely able to catch her in time, her movement was so quick. For a minute they just sat there, Clark kneeling on the floor, Charlie, stunned, in his arms. Then Clark stood and carried her up with him. He released her and she just stared at him.
"Sheevoran." She said finally, as if trying to assimilate the information. "I'm Sheevoran."
He nodded. He hadn't quite wrapped his mind around the fact either. Then a thought hit him. "I guess this explains how we're able to be...active ...without me killing you or something." He blushed, his mid-western upbringing showing through.
She smiled at the memories, and at Clark's blush. He was so adorable when flustered. Then she smiled as she thought of something. "Do you think I have powers like yours?" She asked him eagerly.
He smiled at her enthusiasm. Then he looked fully at her and his eyes widened. She looked down and gasped. She was hovering about half a foot up into the air. As they both watched, she floated back down to earth.
She looked up at him excitedly. "Can we go flying?" She nearly hopped up and down with eagerness. "If I can't fly on my own, can you take me?"
Clark smiled, amazed at her ability to bounce back. "You know, you're taking this whole 'we're both aliens thing' rather well."
Charlie flashed that brilliant grin of hers. "Well, think about it. My entire memory consists of just under a month, my boyfriend I met the first day I can remember is an alien, and to top it all off, my birthparents turn out to be friends with my boyfriend's birthfather." She shrugged. "My life's been so abnormal so far, only something normal could shock me."
He smiled at that. " I know the feeling." After he looked at her for another minute, he smiled. "Let's go flying."
Clark flew in the open window of Charlie and his apartment, knowing that the cover of darkness protected her from anyone seeing him come in. He stood in the open doors of the sitting room, still wearing his red and blue uniform, and sighed.
Immediately hearing him, Charlie came out of the bathroom, closing her robe around her. She was wet from the shower and her eyes were filled with concern.
"What's the matter Kal?" She asked, reverting to her favorite nickname for him. The past couple of weeks had been hard on him, it seemed like ever since the discovery of Charlie's true past things had become more hectic than ever. A heat wave had hit the city, making tempers flare and criminals commit crimes like there was no tomorrow. But there was something else, some extra bit of tenseness in Clark that she just couldn't explain. It didn't exactly help that Bruce had returned to Gotham to continue to 'strike fear in the hearts of men.'
He sighed again, relaxing slightly as she walked into his arms. He leaned against the wall and looked down into her face. It was time for him to come clean about one last thing. Something that had been troubling him ever since he learned all of her secrets, reminding him that he wasn't being completely honest with her.
He told her of his travels to Krypton, what had happened when he returned, and of the son he and Lois shared. They eventually moved to the couch where he poured out his thoughts and feelings about Lex, Lois, Richard and Jason. And through it all Charlie listened quietly, laying a reassuring hand on his arm in some parts, letting anger flash through her eyes during others and finally squeezing his hand compassionately.
When Charlie finally spoke, it was not what he had been expecting her to say. He'd expected her to tell him that she needed some time to think about it all, or at least something to that extent.
"You'd like to be involved in Jason's life, wouldn't you?" She told him quietly, understanding clear in her voice.
He nodded, surprised at her insight. "More than anything. But there's the whole fact that Lois only knows me as Superman, she doesn't even know I exist as Clark Kent."
She slid onto his lap. "Well, she isn't exactly the brightest fish in the barrel is she?" She replied, referring to Lois' inability to recognize that noth Clark Kent and Superman was the same person. He laughed and she laughed along with him. After a minute she sobered. "You need to talk to her for Jason's sake."
Clark nodded. With one final squeeze, one that'd crack the ribcage of a human, but didn't even faze Charlie, and a kiss, he stood and set her on her feet.
Charlie watched with a mixture of admiration and love as he took of from the balcony. Life had certainly gotten more interesting since they'd discovered her origins. She and Clark had discovered a little more of the extent of her powers. She had almost invulnerability, they hadn't tested it to its limits, too afraid to seriously injure her. The ability to fly, she had been deliriously happy when she discovered that fact. And, although it had only appeared during the crisis with the toddler, increased speed and strength.
She picked up the bag Lois had handed her when she'd come by the Planet at lunchtime. It was the toy she'd bought at the little boutique before her plunge of the Kiniki building. Lois had been given the bag when she interviewed the mother of the toddler Charlie had grabbed as she'd gone over the edge, the young woman had picked it up and kept it safe when she was told it belonged to the woman who saved her daughter. The item inside made Charlie smile, and she lifted it out.
The Superman action figure was actually quite a good image of him. The mini-Kal-El was only about eighteen inches tall, much smaller than the six foot four Kryptonian giant. Charlie laughed and set it in the middle of the coffee table. She couldn't wait to show Clark.
Being the girlfriend of a superhero was daunting at times, and days like this, when secrets she hadn't even suspected existed came into the open really sapped her energy. Clark loved her and she loved him. That's the only thing that had made her resist the urge to throw a punch at Lois Lane. Even before she knew that a punch from her would send the reporter flying, she knew she had to put it out of her mind. Lois was in the past, she knew that instinctively, together she and Clark would create their own future. Besides, Jason was a sweetheart, Charlie could never wish away Kal-El and Lois' past relationship, not if it meant wishing away Jason.
Lois Lane stood on the shore outside her home, staring out into the water. She wrapped her arms her middle as a cool breeze hit her off the water. She pulled out a cigarette and placed it between her lips. She flicked open her lighter and cupped her hand around it to stave off the slight wind whipping around her. The flame blew out. She tried lighting it again, but it again blew out.
She sighed and looked to her right, catching sight of a familiar figure. "I know, I know, I shouldn't smoke." She commented petulantly.
Superman smiled at that. "You're right, I'm not your boss, I shouldn't be making commands." Lois wondered at his changed behavior. He seemed more...human, somehow. "We need to talk." He said simply, not bothering to beat around the bush. "About Jason."
She nodded, knowing that he was right. "Can we go inside? I'd rather not have this talk while you're...hovering." He seemed to agree, and landed gently on the ground. She motioned for him to follow her and he did.
When they got inside her living room, he looked around the room curiously but with some detachment. She sat in on the couch and motioned for him to sit in one of the armchairs. He lowered himself into his unself-consciously as if unaware of the fact that her eyes were glued to him.
"Richard knows that Jason isn't his." Lois said without preamble.
Surprise flashed through Kal-El's eyes. Whatever he had expected, that was not it. "Has he always known?"
She nodded. "I told him before we ever went on our first date. You'd been gone a month, and he kept asking me out over and over and I just told him, figuring that he'd give up." She smiled at the memory. "He asked me out again, said it didn't matter."
"What did you tell him about...Jason's father?" Kal-El said, pain all too human evident in his voice. They both knew how much he regretted not being there for their son in those five years.
"I just told him that it was a short-lived relationship that didn't end well." Lois replied. "That he didn't know I was pregnant when he left."
He nodded. "Listen, Lois, I want to be there for him. And I know I can't be there for him as this." He gestured to his suit, indicating Superman. "But I could be there as..." He paused, watching her carefully.
She was watching him right back, knowing that he was about to tell her earth shaking. The reporter side of her was itching to know. But the woman side of her was grieving for the fact that she hadn't known already. "As...?" She whispered.
"As Clark Kent." He finally replied, searching her eyes.
She froze. "Clark...?" She inspected him closely. She finally saw the resemblance. Richard had been right when he had remarked on how much Clark Kent and Superman were alike. Same blue-black hair, same azure eyes, same build...obviously the list was endless, for they were the same person.
"I can't believe I didn't see it." She said after nearly five minutes of silence. Then she remembered how much time that she'd spent ignoring, mocking and/or yelling at him as Clark Kent. She colored and placed one hand on his. "Oh Clark, I'm so sorry. I can't believe how badly I've treated you over the years. No wonder you did not want to tell me your secret identity."
He was surprised that she was taking it so well. He nodded slowly, and somewhere in the back of his mind he marveled at the fact that her touch did nothing for him. A single touch or look from Charlie and his entire body was buzzing with electricity, yet either from Lois did no more than the same would from anyone else.
She looked at him compassionately as a thought struck her. "Does Charlie know?"
He nodded and smiled slowly. "The day she saved that little girl and fell from the Kiniki building, and I caught her..." He paused as a memory of that day hit him. "She knew it was me immediately, called me by name."
Lois was surprised, and yet wasn't, it was odd. "She's an amazing woman Clark." There was grudging admiration in her voice. "I'm glad that you found her, especially if she was able love all of you. I sadly, was never able to look beyond the cape."
He didn't know how to respond. But luckily for him, she wasn't expecting him to.
"It think we should present you as Jason's father as...as Clark Kent." She looked up at him. "I know you want him to know you. Richard and I told him when he was small that he had two fathers, one here and one who had to leave."
He took a sharp breath, shock evident on his face. "You did?"
She nodded. "I didn't know if you would ever come back, but I wanted to make sure that if you did...that he would accept you as a father."
Ten chapters, 61 reviews. Wow, this story has gone pretty far for a story I started writing last Friday for myself.
Some people thought the story was over with the last chapter, but I'm not done yet. There is still some adventures to catalogue in this story first!
Please review. Takes ten seconds, makes me deleriously happy.
This chapter's poll: You're being chased by two creepy guys through an alley in the bad part of town. Who do you call to rescue you? Christian Bale, Brandon Routh and Tom Welling.