The house seemed smaller than before despite it being the same spacious design she had fell in love with when she first viewed the place. All that time spent in open labs and an icy cavern seemed to have messed with her perspective. It smelled fresh and things seemed shinier than when she was in charge of keeping everything in order. Lena must have had it cleaned while she was gone. She thought to herself how it would not last long, her lack of time between looking after Ruby and her own work always kept anything other than a quick tidy off the cards. It dawned on her that she no longer had the work side of things, her time was her own.
Whoever had been through here with a whirlwind of cleaning supplies had been extremely thorough and re-arranged a few spots. She spent this time reacquainting herself with all the drawers and shelves. Cutlery clanged together as she put things back in order and did what she could to return everything to its rightful place. As she toured the house she spotted a couple of bags sitting on top of one of her taller cabinets, no doubt cast aside in the cleaning efforts and left above it all. The bag strayed a little too far from her reach, even when she stretched up onto her toes. Her mechanical fingers scraped along the wood and only ended up pushing the bag slightly further out of reach. She huffed and looked around the room, looking for something to stand on. The coffee table and some wayward chairs caught her eye. She grabbed a chair a plonked it next to the cabinet, it creaked as she stepped up, she grabbed the bag and chucked it to the carpet below with a gentle thud. Her attempt to dismount the chair was more careless than she would have liked and it slipped from beneath her feet. Instinctively she lashed out to try and grab hold of something, only to take a chunk out of the cabinet as her grip ripped right through it. In that moment she braced herself, closing her eyes and knowing the floor would show little mercy. When that moment stretched out to a few seconds and she was yet to feel the floor's attack, she opened her eyes to find herself floating. The powers besides her strength had not really occurred to her as she slowly spiralled a few inches above the ground. Disorientation started to kick in as her rotation inched her closer to swinging upside-down. She refused to let go of whatever force was keeping her afloat due to fear of a less than graceful landing. Superman had always carried her between any testing sites and his Fortress, at first it was not to strain her or risk any correlation between her power and Reign. When this was cleared it was her own worries that kept her from exploring this new side of herself. There was no sign of particular negativity or an urge to conquer anything cropping up, only relief that no-one could see her in this moment of clumsiness. Hair flopped over her face as the gradual orbit finally turned her fully upside-down. She tried to blow it off, but it just ended up back in place. She was still in two minds about dyeing it back to what used to be its natural colour. She had never pictured herself with red hair, her unexpected transformation had changed that outlook very quickly.
After spending a few more minutes avoiding the ground she made the decision to try some sort of landing. Being found in a permanent orbit next to a broken cabinet was not how she wanted to be found for the sake of her dignity as well as wanting to at least appear stable for Ruby's sake. Her vision blurred, the prolonged amount of time spent spinning upside-down was giving her a headache. Though she had to admit, the room did bigger from this perspective. A lack of furniture on the ceiling made it seem a lot larger than the floorspace. Her hair was tickling her nostrils as she hung, she blew it away to no avail once more. She closed her eyes, picturing herself righting her slow trajectory. A small dizzying rush came over her as she rotated to the correct position. The world was the right way up again. Her feet dangled away and her toes barely brushed against the soft carpet.
With a concerted effort, her feet hit the ground. It had very much been a case of falling rather than a gentle landing, any more than a few inches off the ground would have made it a significantly more violent return to Earth. Part of her wanted to try again, she hesitated, knowing that a lack of control could end up with her flying off with no solid idea on how to get down again. Testing powers in the house she just got back was decidedly a bad idea. Whether to test them further elsewhere or try and forget would be a decision for later.
She watched the clock as the day went by, unsure what to do with herself. Most of the time she ended up over-preparing for Ruby's arrival. It was late afternoon, no doubt there'd be a small delay due to her last day in Metropolis. The time went by quickly, even when there finally was a knock on the door she did not quite feel ready.
She swung the door open and Ruby immediately pounced on her, holding her tight. She squeezed back, holding her back as much as she could at the awkward angle. They held each other for a long time, neither wanted to let go. After everything it was a moment to savour as the two were reunited in their home. When she finally started paying attention to the world outside of her daughter's return she saw Superman beaming away in the porch, he had a couple of boxes beside him with Ruby's things in. She beckoned Ruby in and went over to him.
"I'm sorry, I'll get out of your way," she said.
"No need to apologise, it's nice seeing you two together. I'll bring these in for you," he said, still smiling. She moved aside and followed him in. Ruby stood in the middle of the room, taking it all in. Superman placed the boxes down in the front room and turned to her.
"Welcome home," he said. It was his turn to get a hug from Ruby.
"Care to stay for a bit," Sam said. Superman turned to her, Ruby, still wrapped around his leg cut in.
"Pleeeeease?" She said. Superman chuckled
"I guess I can't say no to that," he said.
"Pull up a stool by the kitchen bar, I'll see what I have," she said, only now realising after all the rearranging she had done, food or drink had not crossed her mind once. The cold hit her face as she was met with the sight of a largely empty fridge.
"I can offer you water, or squash" she said, slightly embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it," he said, his cape flapping over his side. She was stood behind the counter, elated to see Ruby digging into the boxes and getting comfortable with no hesitation or tentativeness.
"Thank you for this. For everything" she said.
"No need for thanks, happy to help," he said. Ruby pulled up alongside them and plonked a card down on the counter.
"And how was your last day?" she said.
"Everyone was really nice, they got me this card, even the teachers signed it. I got really good grades while I was there, Lois was sad, I didn't get to say goodbye to Clark though," she said, rushing through her words excitably.
"Clark was working, but I'm sure you'll see him again soon," Superman said.
"Do you know what Clark and Lois like? I want to get them a bottle or a gift as a way of thanks," she said. He chuckled to himself.
"I have a pretty good idea, I'll write down some suggestions," he said.
The three of them chatted away, mostly listening to Ruby spout about her time in Metropolis. It was hard not to get caught up in her excitement and a joy to see her so happy again, her other visits had always felt too short. Ruby had dug into the boxes a few times to show off some top marks and a Superman poster. She even dragged him into her old room to show him where she was putting it up in there. It seemed to make him uncomfortable, Sam smirked at his humility. It dawned on her how delightfully odd it was witnessing the famous Man of Steel be dragged around her home by her daughter. After some more time chatting and Ruby starting to calm down slightly, Superman looked to the door.
"It's been a pleasure, but I really should get going," he said. Ruby groaned. "Don't worry, I'll come and visit again," he said.
"You promise?" Ruby said, grabbing his hand
"I promise," he said, kneeling to her level and touching her shoulder. Sam led him over, whilst Ruby waved him away.
"Thank you for this," Sam said, slightly closing the door off and poking her head around it. It was her best attempt to shield him from Ruby's onslaught of happiness.
"Any time. Take care," he said, looking to set off.
"One more thing," Sam said, glancing over her shoulder. Ruby's concentration had waned, fatigue from a long day an excitable couple of hours starting to get the better of her. "The powers, did you get a hold of them quickly?" Superman looked slightly unsure at the question.
"It took me a fairly long time, lots of… interesting moments in my early days. Why do you ask?" He said.
"I took a tumble off a chair earlier and ended up floating around for a bit," she said. His smile quickly returned.
"Ah, yes. Flying takes a bit of getting used too but it comes naturally after a few attempts. As for anything else, it takes a lot of concentration and a concerted effort for them to trigger in any meaningful way so I wouldn't about any accidents," he said.
"That's a relief," she said, a wealth of new worries flooding her head at the mention of potential other powers. Superman picked up on it straight away.
"If you have any concerns or anything unexpected happens, just talk to Clark, Lois or Lena. They know how to reach me," he said. She nodded.
"I'll let you get on your way. Goodbye, and again, thank you for everything." He shot her a wink and blasted off into the sky. The gust from his launch blew the grass around it into a flattened circle, she went over to it brushing back to a more presentable state. As she did, she noticed the house opposite the street had someone peeking through a blind. They vanished behind it when she caught their eye. She spotted more prying eyes as she glanced around the neighbourhood, any hope of a quiet return had just been dashed. There was a boy a few doors over who was brave enough to keep staring despite being noticed. She gave him an uneasy wave, it seemed to make the boy more nervous. It was then she realised she'd waved at him with the prosthetic. She quickly ducked inside, ignoring the lawn and hoping the arm did not appear too outlandish. The door slammed behind her, startling Ruby. Her strength was harder to control when nerves started to set in.
"Are you okay," Ruby's voice settled her quickly. She took a deep breath and smiled at her.
"Never better," she said. Ruby had planted herself in the front room and was rummaging through the boxes again. Her things were piling up on the table, the spotless condition of the house had not lasted long.
"I hope you plan on tidying those up," she said. Ruby ignored her and kept digging. She set herself down next to Ruby. There was not that much to go through, but Ruby picked up the pace as she dove into the second box.
"What are you looking for?" Sam said.
"My phone, I think it fell to the bottom," Ruby said. Sam's heart sank a little.
"Bored of me already are you?" she said.
"No, I want a picture of us," Ruby said. She could not help but smile, such a simple desire from Ruby got right to her core. The love she felt for her daughter and how happy she was to be back in her life was nearly overwhelming. She hugged her and leant forward, she could see the phone under a pile of various knick-knacks. She reached in, her artificial arm brushing against Ruby's hand. She pulled away slightly, surprised by its touch. Sam hesitated before pulling out the phone and handing it to her. Ruby grabbed it quickly, fiddling with it and quickly bringing up the forward-facing camera. She got in close so they were both in frame, clicking away at the button to get several shots. A couple of photos in Ruby stuck her tongue out and Sam could not help but pull a silly face in response.
Ruby laughed as she scrolled through them, she was glad to see her like this. A self-conscious pang crept in as she smiled at her daughter, these were the first photos of her after the transformation. Even having gotten used to her reflection over the past month, seeing the photos with Ruby seemed different somehow. Ruby embracing it so whole-heartedly was enough to reassure her for the most part, it made it much easier to think she would get used to over time.
"Can I stay with you tomorrow, have a day out or something?" Ruby shifted, looking her in the eyes. She was tempted to say yes, one day of school would not be much of a loss. Her common sense prevailed, the school would be expecting her and from what she could tell the staff there had largely been kept in the dark as to her and Ruby's circumstances. The cover story was a rare health concern that only specialists in Metropolis could treat, it was close to the truth all things considered. She thought better of stretching the school's trust any further or having them ask more questions.
"We'll have time at the weekend," she said. Ruby's shoulders slumped slightly.
"Okay then," she said semi-defeated, it sounded like it was the answer she was expecting. She put her arm around Ruby and stroked her cheek with her real hand. Though the differences were subtle, it was so much more real. Ruby cuddled into her.
Sam stared off into nowhere as her hand brushed against Ruby's skin. She ran through the simple tasks for the next day, like the school run and grocery shopping. The muffled whirs of her artificial fingers served to remind her of her neighbours and that a regular day had the potential to be a lot more interesting than she would like. She turned back to her daughter, they were tomorrow's problems.