Background: Lana knows Clark's secret and the two dated during their senior year of high school. Lois never showed up in Smallville; Clark met her at the DP in Metropolis.

Author's Note: If you have any questions about the background, setting, etc., feel free to PM me or send me an email. Most likely, your questions will be answered in the reading.

Inspiration: This fic was based loosely on a book/movie, but I won't give it away because it'll spoil my plot.

She was back. He had spent the past ten years trying to cleanse the remaining memories of her and in one split second, they all came rushing back to him.

The night had started out as any other normal night. Superman had taken to the skies once the robbery off of Connoisseur Avenue had been cleared, leaving law enforcement to the perpetrators. It sickened him to think of what the world had come down to. Love and family had been replaced by money and the material things. But then again, money does make the world go 'round.

Clark Kent--simply a mask for Superman, or the other way around? Even he had trouble determining who was made for whom sometimes.

But at the moment, he was Superman, soaring through the clouds, his senses alert and ready to protect the citizens of Metropolis from injustice. He had taken on the identity of 'Superman' nearly five years ago. It was just four years ago that he had been stripped of the title, Caped Vigilante, and recognized for his attempts to deliver justice to Metropolis.

Superman paused, glancing at the tower clock from across the city. It read twelve twenty-two. Perhaps it was time for him to retire for the night and return to his life as Clark Kent, rising star reporter for the Daily Planet. That life, of course, entailed coming home every night to an empty apartment.

On a sidebar, there had been Lois Lane, his assigned partner for the Daily Planet. The relationship had only lasted for two months before he had called it quits. While he enjoyed her company and her ability to take his mind off of the troubling aspects of his life, his heart just hadn't been into it. Lois had commented numerous times before on dates or in the office that it seemed like he was still harboring a broken heart from a previous relationship. "You can't expect someone to give you their heart when you can't even give them yours," Lois had said. That was Lois for you--blunt, sarcastic, but honest. Of course, she had been right.

He was nursing a broken heart--a heart shattered by his own cowardice and mistake. It was his own fault that he, nearing twenty-eight, was without any companionship or anything remotely close to love. Twenty-seven, still plenty of time to find someone, but he knew better. He doubted that he would find anyone that could even compete with her.

After ten years, he still couldn't bring himself to say her name. It was painful enough to be reminded of her everywhere he went...the wind billowing dark locks of hair...the twinkle of bells which sounded like her laughter...the various art museums he visited just to torture himself and to be reminded of the places he promised he would bring her. He never kept that promise, though. In fact, he never kept any of them, even the promise.

Superman slowed and glimpsed the clock tower again. He would have to be getting up in a few hours time to get the scoop on yet another story. Sometimes, he wondered if getting into journalism had been a mistake. His job had a lot of demands and it constantly put him on the spotlight when he and Lois stumbled upon a big story. But there was one aspect of his job that pleased him enough to keep doing it--the search for the truth. With so many lies and secrecy in his life, he was glad that some honesty still retained.

He sighed and rubbed his face. It was definitely time for him to retire for the night. Superman slowly descended to the ground, enjoying the warm breeze playing on his face.

"C'mon, Clark! It'll be fun!" her voice rang out in the warm night.

He shook his head firmly. "You know that I'm afraid of heights."

She shrugged, not concerned at all at his revelation. "You're up here right now with me and you seem fine."

"That's because you're here."

"So, if I jump with you that means you'll be okay, too?"

He watched as she approached the ledge. "Be careful..."

Instead of heeding his warning, she took a step even closer to the edge. "It's not that far down...and besides, there's the lake under us. It'll be like diving."

"I don't think..." he began, but trailing off as she started to shed her shoes and clothes.

"I'll jump first and you can come in after me, okay?"

"It's not safe...wait!" he cried.

Without warning, she dove in, making a little splash. Acting purely on instinct, he jumped in after her, not bothering to shed his shoes or clothes.

After surfacing, he called her name. He turned when he heard giggling.

"I'm over here, Clark." Her hair was wet and he could imagine how she must look underneath the water.

"You scared me!" he gasped, swimming over to where she was treading water. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I am, Clark. What do you take me for, a damsel in distress?" she said, half joking.

"I'm sorry...I just...I don't know what I would do without you," he said quietly, cupping her wet face in his hand.

"I'm not going anywhere, Clark," she assured him, smiling.

"Neither am I."

Superman stopped abruptly, his descent cut short by yet another flashback. Before, it had been of the two of them sitting by the fire on a cold winter's night, feeding each other secrets. This time, it was the two of them out swimming in the warm summer night. It was the same summer that he had explicitly left Smallville in order to fulfill his destiny as the last son of Krypton.

His attempts to dwell on that particular memory and past were interrupted by a sharp cry for help. Immediately, he shot off in the direction of the voice, pushing the memory to the back of his mind for another time.

"C'mon..." he muttered, scanning the streets below him for the source of the cry. Waiting for another hint at where the person could be, he hovered in the sky, his ears perked and ready to receive more cries.

"Help!"

Superman took off to the right, zigzagging through a wealthier part of a neighborhood and finally to the shady end where an alley stood. His feet touching the ground, he super sped to the narrow alleyway where he was met by the sight of a mugger manhandling a woman for her purse.

Shooting forward, he grabbed the mugger by the lapels of his collar and threw him against the brick wall with enough force to knock him out, but not injure him. Bending down, he picked up a black leather purse and silently handed it to the woman.

"Thank you."

Something familiar in her voice made his throat tighten for some odd reason. Shaking it off as an effect of his flashback earlier, he nodded and took a step back, ready to take off into the night sky.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" the woman asked suddenly, making him pause in his actions.

He glanced around, his eyes finally lying on the unconscious mugger over by the far wall. "Oh, right. Thanks." What was wrong with him? He had rescued dozens of women before and none had even come close to fluster him.

The light from the street light suddenly came on. He had rescued others from this part of the neighborhood enough times to know that that particular street light liked to flicker on and off. As he moved past her, he glimpsed her face from the faint light provided by the street light.

He blinked, thoroughly convinced that he was hallucinating. It couldn't be her, could it? After all these years...?

And yet, he felt something inside of him stir. Something that he had been trying to oppress for the past five years came rushing back to him. And it was that something that made him gasp and take a step back.

The image that had haunted him for years was staring right back at him. Her gaze, unnerving and somewhat cold told him everything that he needed to know about how she felt about bumping into him again after all these years. No, this wasn't a friendly reunion. Just like their parting, this was bittersweet.

"Lana?" he gasped, struggling to make sense of the situation. Forget that there was a mugger lying in the corner who could revive at any moment's notice or that he was basically giving away his identity to her--no, there was something bigger going on tonight. For heaven's sake, this was Lana Lang, the love of his life, the catalyst for his flashbacks and the sole reason for his misery and loneliness for the past ten years!

"I'm surprised that you even remember me," Lana said in a low, even voice.

"Of course I remember you," Clark wanted to say, but he held his tongue. "What are you doing here? I mean...so late..."

"Nothing, Clark. Nothing." She made an attempt to move past him, but he immediately blocked her way.

"Lana...I'm..."

"You're what, Clark? Sorry?" she said, her voice betraying her emotions. "I think that it's a little too late for sorrys, don't you?"

The resentment in her voice didn't surprise him. She had every right to be upset at him.

"Lana..."

"Don't," she said firmly, shaking her head and stepping past him. "I've changed and so have you. Let's just leave it at that."

"Wait!" Clark called helplessly. He couldn't let her walk out of his life...he couldn't lose her again, not without her understanding what he had been through for the past ten years.

Lana spun around, her green eyes ablaze with anger. "For what?"

"I just..." After all the times that he had pictured this moment...practiced the words that he would say to her in order to make her understand...he was wordless.

From the corner of the alley, there was a groan, but both of them ignored it.

Finally, Lana tore her gaze away from Clark, starting a brisk walk back to the condominiums.

Just as he was thinking up of something to tell her...to get her to stay with him another moment, she paused and turned around.

"I'm getting married."

Clark, unsure if he heard correctly, repeated, "Married?"

"That's right. I'm engaged." As if driving the nail in deeper, she lifted her left hand and there, sitting on her ring finger, was a sizable diamond, sparkling at him, as if taunting him.

Stunned, Clark said the only thing that came to mind, "Congratulations."

He watched her walk away, her heels clicking in the silence of the night. Once her solitary figure faded into the night, Superman turned back to the mugger who had revived and had obviously seen Lana flash her ring at him.

As if sensing the hero's glare, the man looked up and said, "Ouch. That's gotta hurt."

Superman narrowed his eyes. "Shut up."

Lana inserted her key into the lock and turned. She pushed open the heavy wooden door slowly, trying not to make any noise that would arouse Jason from his office. Quietly, she slipped in, setting her purse on the side table to the right of the door. She then proceeded to close to the door, cursing mentally at the loud creak coming from the hinges of the door. She really needed to get that fixed.

Lana hastily ran a hand through her long raven hair, attempting to straighten out the tangles from her struggle with the mugger and her encounter with...him.

It had been ten years since she had last seen him and in just one moment, those ten years of pretending not to care...pretending that he didn't exist to her...were turned upside down. It was amazing what just one glance at him did to her.

After all these years...he still hadn't changed one bit. His shoulders still held the weight of the world and his eyes...those piercing blue eyes that could see straight through her soul still spoke of misery and loneliness. His face had matured over the past decade...no more was it the face of that young, scared boy who had left her to fulfill his destiny to his biological father and to the world. The masculine, chiseled features on his face were more prominent and told a story of his hardship of a decade. Lana closed her eyes, realizing that he was still as handsome as the day he left.

Slowly, she felt something inside of her stir...feelings of the past. Her eyes snapped open, shaking her head. No, she wouldn't let herself go there again. Every time she did, she either wound up hurt or in grave danger. Lana was certain that her heart wouldn't survive another break up with Clark Kent.

"Lana, is that you?"

Lana jumped slightly, her thoughts of Clark interrupted by the voice of her fiancé coming from his office. "I'm in here," she called back, steeling herself for his usual questionnaire.

Lana forced a smile as Jason emerged from his office, stepping towards her.

"I was worried about you...running out like that," Jason said, hands in pockets.

Lana closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, she found herself leveled with his face. She took an involuntary step backwards, remembering the reason she was out wandering the streets in the first place.

"I'm fine, Jason." Lana avoided his gaze, choosing to stare at the vase of plastic flowers over by the coffee table. She had wanted real ones to be replaced by fresh ones at the beginning of every week, but Jason had insisted on getting silk ones instead. "They'll last a lot longer and you won't even need to water them," he had told her.

"Look, Lana...I'm sorry. If you want to wear that pink dress to the gala, then go ahead."

Lana glanced up, sighing. "You don't get it, do you? It was never about the dress."

Jason continued to look puzzled. "Then what is it about?"

Lana crossed her arms, adamantly staring at the flowers as if trying to set them on fire. "It's about you...and your desire to always please your mother. I can't believe that you want me to wear a black dress just because you know that your mother hates pink!"

"I was only trying to make things better between you two..."

Lana shook her head. "Jason, things between your mother and me will never get better...she hates me."

"No, she doesn't," Jason protested, placing a hand on her arm. "She just doesn't see how special you are..."

Lana bit her lip, sighing again. "Forget it...I gave up trying to win your mother's affection a long time ago." She took a step forward, wanting to retire to her room for the night.

"Hey, Lana..." Jason took a hold of her hand, pulling her back. "I really am sorry."

"I know you are, Jason," Lana whispered, too emotionally drained to argue anymore. Right now, she just wanted to get back to the security of her room and mull the events of the night over.

"I love you," he offered, bending down to kiss her.

At the last minute, Lana turned her head so that his lips caught her cheek instead of her mouth.

"I'm really tired, Jason. It's past midnight...I'm going to bed." Lana wiggled out of his embrace and started for her room.

Back in her room, Lana sat on her bed, wondering why she had even agreed to marry him. Jason, being a lawyer, was stubborn as a mule and she and he often locked horns. Usually, it was over his mother and her attempts to break them up. Jason had always been good at apologizing for his mother's behavior, but when it came down to it, he just couldn't simply choose between the two women.

Lana yawned, not really wanting to venture into that area again. Instead, she lay back against the pillows, feeling the day's events taking a toll on her.

Almost unconsciously, she felt her thoughts drifting back to Clark again. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed him--no, she corrected herself, she missed what they had back in high school. After all, ten years was a lot of time...a lot of time to change and to grow. If they had kept in contact during those ten years, Lana was almost certain, that they would be heading to the altar right about now, but they hadn't.

A part of her still resented Clark for leaving her behind. For the most part, Lana understood why he had to go, but that didn't stop her from begging him to let her go with him. Of course, he had pulled the protective boyfriend card on her and lectured her on how dangerous it would be and how she would feel like a piece of luggage following him around the globe. But she hadn't cared.

Instead, Lana was forced to stay in Smallville to wait for him to come back...waiting for him to act on his last promise to her before he had left. He had never kept that promise.

To this day, Lana was still bitter about that promise. Hence the reason for her callous attitude toward him tonight.

Underneath the warmth from the covers, Lana recalled the way that she had informed him of her engagement and how she had held up her ring for him to see. The poor guy probably didn't know what had hit him, Lana realized sadly, wishing that she could take it all back. As much as she wanted him to feel the pain that she had felt after he had left, she knew that she couldn't do that to him. She was still in love with his memory and somehow, her subconscious had convinced her that the present Clark was the same person as the boy that she had fallen in love with back in high school.

Lana yawned, feeling sleep calling to her. Deciding that she would continue with her thoughts tomorrow, she allowed herself to drift off to dreamland.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Clark was still wide awake, tossing and turning in his bed. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get the image of Lana flashing her engagement ring at him out of his head.

"She's getting married," Clark said aloud, not believing his words. He had spent the past decade daydreaming about showing up on her doorstep one day. He'd always imagined her single and still waiting for him to return to her. Of course, he had been naïve--thinking that she would just take him back with open arms, without any explanation of some sort. No, he hadn't expected her to wait for him...he had just wished it.

"It's too late," Clark whispered. All of his misery and lonely nights spent came down to this. She was back, and yet she wasn't. She was gone.

Psst...hit the purple button down at the bottom to leave a review...