So Much More

Ch4-Truth is…

Two weeks later…

It would be an understatement to say that things at the Watchtower were a bit tense as of late. Apparently, Phase I of the League's plan included round the clock shifts with only four hours rest between. Diana noticed the tension immediately upon her return from Themyscira, some six days ago. She'd initially approached Bruce with her concerns.

" We all knew what we'd be signing up for by joining the League, Diana."

"Always so understanding, Bruce. I can't imagine why half the League scampers when you enter a room." Diana said through a tight smile.

Any further conversation they may have had was cut short with the arrival of Superman and Flash. Diana excused herself quietly as he resumed monitor duty. Bruce kept a straight face as he monitored their progress through the space station, noting that Clark repeatedly tried to terminate the conversation while Wally continued to ramble on.

"…oh, that's a great joke, Wally. We'll I guess I'll be letting you go get some rest." Superman hoped Flash would catch a hint this time. Although the mission wasn't terribly difficult, he was in need of rest.

"Man, I'm so wired right now. Rest is gonna be impossible! No, not impossible, more like not-a-possibility! Dude, the way you took out Sinestro and Faust at the same time while holding that Chevy over your head…AWE-SOME. I got so distracted that I nearly dropped that babe I was whisking off to safety." Wally babbled.

Superman massaged his temples, feeling a headache take root in the center of his forehead.

"Thanks, Wally. I'm glad the mission was a success and no one was hurt."

"Oh, somebody's definitely hurting right now. Somebody named Lex Luthor and it serves him right for banding together that bunch of morons. 'Injustice League' my speedy little arse" Wally paused to laugh at his joke, continuing on after collecting himself. "Man, you were en fuego tonight! It's like somebody pissed in your coffee and you caught'em. Something you wanna talk about, Supes?"

Any reply Superman would have given died on his lips as his best friend rounded the corner. She was stunning in her simple Grecian tunic, the billowing cobalt blue material giving her eyes and ethereal glow; she never failed to take his breath away. Like clockwork, Wally noticed Diana's arrival and instantly became a babbling idiot. Kal chuckled as Wally literally tripped over his own feet then muttered a low curse as a blush crept up his cheeks. He straightened his spine and nodded to Diana before making his escape. Diana smiled as she watched the red suit blur past her down the hall.

"Diana, that wasn't fair," Kal's soft baritone intoned.

"Kal, do you want to discuss fair or do you want to shower me with platitudes and gratitude for freeing you of Wally's presence?" After a beat of silence, a smirk crept across her lips. "Alright, I'll just go find Wally and tell him how desperately you want to relive your adventures together…"

Kal could only chuckle and shaking his head in agreement, "Thank you for saving me from Wally, oh, benevolent Princess. Where would I be without your omnipresence?"

"Sarcasm? Hm, you must really need a nap." Diana replied, raising her brow.

"Diana, I'm not some kid who gets cranky if he misses a nap." Kal protested, looking every bit the cranky child he claimed not to be.

Diana thought the slight pout he gave was endearing, especially with his ever-present forelock grazing his forehead. As she had done countless times before, she reached up to brush the errant strand.

"Don't you gel this back with the rest of your hair?"

Kal closed his eyes and relished her touch. His right hand moved unconsciously to grasp her wrist softly. Diana gave a small gasp and his eyes snapped open at that moment, his stare decidedly warm, "Maybe I don't because I'd miss this."

Seconds stretched out endlessly as the two stood there in the hallway. Diana could feel the heat of his stare as well as the heat of his touch through her Amazonian vambraces; she unconsciously licked her lips as she stared into the eyes of her best friend. Kal's eyes darted from her mouth—that perfect mouth—to her unearthly azure eyes. He chanced one last glance to her mouth again, groaning inwardly when he caught sight of her tongue grazing her lips. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear a small voice yelling, 'What the hell do you think you're doing, mister? This is Diana, your BFF!' When he noticed that Diana pensively worried her bottom lip with her perfect teeth, his inward groan became an all out moan and his heart rate increased. The sound was enough to break Diana from the trance.

"Kal?"

Normally, hearing his Kryptonian name glide effortlessly across her lips was sublimely comforting; however, given their particular situation, it rang out like a claxon and brought him back to reality. He shook his head in an effort to buy himself some time.

"Uh, sorry, Diana. Guess I must've fallen asleep with my eyes open. Maybe you were right about that nap, huh?" His attempt at humor was the only recourse he saw to get out of the situation, hating himself for making her uncomfortable. Imagine his surprise to discover that Diana did not appear uncomfortable; in fact, she appeared just the opposite. She blatantly held his gaze for a second longer before breaking their connection.

"I should leave you to get some rest, then." She took a small step back to put distance between them, not wanting to read too much into what just happened. Thoughts such as those were better left un-acknowledged.

Kal gave a tight nod then proceeded towards his quarters. He walked as if in a daze. 'What the hell just happened?' he thought.

"Kal?" Diana's voice gave him pause mid-stride. "You should give Lois a call after you get some rest."

Her words washed over him like an ice cold shower. He hadn't thought of Lois in …48 hours? How long had it been since they last spoke? He walked the rest of the distance to his quarters by instinct only, for he was too concerned as to why thoughts of his fiancé were so few and far between lately. The sliding hiss of the automatic door broke him from his reverie. He immediately grabbed his cell from the Spartan nightstand and hit Lois' speed dial, however, he disconnected the call before the first ring could be heard. 'Shower, nap, then call Lois.'

Down the hall, rooted in the same spot as before, Diana stood. She had analyzed their brief encounter countless times in the short time it took him to reach his quarters. 'What in Hera's name just happened?'

Four days later…Watchtower Satellite...

Clark Kent finished typing the short email to his editor-in-chief and re-read it to check for any inconsistencies. In it he explained that Queen Industries was being extremely accommodating and helpful in the fact-finding phase of his research regarding the government's stance on the affairs of the Injustice League. Oliver Queen's government ties were no secret, and it was also widely known that he contributed to many political causes, none more so than Homeland Security endeavors. Things were going so well that Oliver Queen himself had referred Clark to meet with some bureaucratic heavy hitters over the next few weeks, further delaying his return to the Daily Planet. Not entirely a lie, Clark thought. Deciding the email was sufficient enough and that Perry would not be demanding his immediate return to the office. He hit the send button. This was easy enough; however, informing Lois that he would be gone another few weeks was another matter. He shook his head while remembering their last conversation.

"Hey, Lois. Diana said you called while I was out?"

"More like she called me." Lois informed him, much to his shock. Lois gave a small scoff at his dumbfounded silence. "Yeah, it's good to know somebody remembers I exist."

Clark gave an exasperated sigh, "Lois, we've been over this a hundred times. I would call more often if I could, but that's kind of hard between monitoring the bad guys' recent activity, patrolling the cities of other superheroes while they're investigating off-world, and picking up my own shifts. I've apologized for this." Truthfully, he was growing tired of this same conversation.

"I know, Clark…" During the silence that seemed to stretch on forever, he could pick up the sound of liquid being poured into a glass. Lois took a long drink of whatever it was before continuing. "It's just that you've been gone for nearly three weeks and correct me if I'm wrong, but the League isn't anymore 'informed' than they were when this all began."

"Lois, I've told you, these thi- "He began before she cut him off.

"These things take time. I know, I know." She finished for him, a hint of sarcasm coloring her words. She took another drink and Clark could hear the opening lines of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" wafting in the back ground.

'Oh, she may be weary

Them young girls, they do get weary

Wearing that same ol' shaggy dress

Yeah, yeah

But when she gets weary, try a little tenderness

Yeah, yeah…'

It saddened him that their conversations had degenerated to this state. When did it get to be so hard to communicate?

"For what it's worth, Clark, I don't know when it got so hard to talk, either." Clark could only stare at the phone. Had he spoken aloud? Clark opened and closed his mouth several times, however, words failed him, for once.

"No, Smallville. You didn't blab out loud, I just know you really well." She supplied. "Look, I know you all are working hard to figure this thing out and prevent something big from happening. It's just…I miss having you here, okay?"

Clark swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. When he finally spoke, his hoarse voice sounded foreign to him, "Lois, if I could be there, I would. You've got to believe that."

Lois' voice was tired, so very tired, "The sad thing is that I do know that, Clark, and it doesn't change the fact that you're there and I'm here. It's always the same old song and dance with us, isn't it?"

As she spoke, Clark could feel her slipping further and further away from him. The pang he felt in his chest was strong, but not as strong as he'd thought it would be. Not wanting to read further into that, he spoke, "Lois, let's…let's not have this conversation over the phone, okay? I can get some time off and we can have lunch at café Du Monde in New Orleans tomorrow and you can even eat my beignets like you always do. What do you say?"

Lois closed her eyes to keep an errant tear from escaping. She never liked hearing Clark sound so desperate, so helpless. She could feel the lump taking form in her throat.

"Clark, I would never ask you to shirk your duties. Never. Look, let's just talk later." She had hoped to end the conversation sooner rather than later.

"Lois. Say you'll have lunch with me. Please." Clark persisted.

Taking a fortifying breath, she replied. "I honestly don't have the time, Clark. Richard and I are busy here in Washington and I won't leave him just to put another band-aid on the gaping wound that is our relationship. I'd rather not do this now, and especially not over the phone. We—you deserve better than that." She winced, the truth sounded so harsh when spoken aloud.

"So, we're going down this road, Lois?" His question held neither spite nor sarcasm, only quiet resignation.

There was a substantial moment of silence on the other end as Lois weighed her next words carefully. As she paced the floor of her suite, a sudden burst of wind blew open the balcony doors. She knew the instant he'd arrived, but deliberately chose not to turn around.

"It's like I've always told you, Lois. I can always make time for us." His voice was steady behind her.

She held the glass of wine to her cheek, catching the stubborn tear. "Doesn't change the facts, Smallville." She finally turned to face him and Clark could see that she was on the precipice of falling. "We're not happy- at least not truly happy, Clark. It's like we're looking at the horizon—we can see how happiness looks, but we can never really reach it." She watched on as the man known to the world as Superman sighed in defeat, gingerly sitting on the edge of her bed. She continued on, "It's okay, you know. I'm not mad at you, Clark. I am a little peeved at those Fates bitches, though." She joked.

Clark gave a small laugh, "You sound like Diana, speaking of the Fates."

Lois smiled at the mention of the woman's name. She was a good friend to both of them. "Yeah, she once told me they never seem to let mortals have true happiness, instead snatching it away at the last moment. My greek is a little rusty, but I'm pretty sure her nomenclature for them was a little more harsh than 'bitch'."

"Do you think you can find some modicum of true happiness with Richard?" Clark asked the difficult question, his eyes warm and understanding.

"I don't know. I don't know if I can find that with anyone. Richard is…available, and attentive…and a good man. But, I have never betrayed you, Clark."

"I know, Lois, you're a good woman; but Clark Kent is not as naïve as some would like to think. We've been circling the drain for months now, and Richard has always been there, in the shadows. He's a good guy and wouldn't want to interfere. Can't say I blame him for patiently waiting for his chance, though. You are remarkable."

It was then that she crumbled, the first indication being her trembling shoulders. Next, small sobs racked her frame as she tried vainly to hold herself together. Clark was by her side, holding her in his strong embrace. He did nothing to stop the wayward tear that slipped from his own eye. He placed a chaste kiss to her temple.

"You've been my everything for so long, Lois." His voice was barely above a whisper, as if saying it any louder would make it reality.

"Not your everything, Clark. At least not always, but I've come close." She replied, her voice also low. "Seven years we've been in this fight together. It was always interesting, wasn't it?"

She smiled as she felt his chest rumble from his small chuckle, "Always…always. Thank you for loving me, Lois."

"Not loving you was never an option, Clark, but I think it's grown into something different." She remained within his embrace as they spoke, a sad smile forming.

"You're right. I guess I just didn't want to face it."

It was Lois' turn to chuckle, "You never do. It never seems to amaze me how stubborn you can be at times, you know?" She pulled slightly from his embrace to look him in the eye. "Friends?"

"Best friends." He replied.

"No," she gave a slight shake of her head. "You've already got one of those and she is the only person I think the title "best" truly fits. And I think I should save my "best" for whomever the Lord decides is my HEA." Clark raised a questioning brow. "H.E.A., Clark—Happily Ever After. Man, you speak nearly every language on this planet and can't keep up with the latest lingos? Sheesh."

They laughed together then. It seemed fitting that they would reach this conclusion together, and would meet it with levity in the end, as opposed to ill will towards one another. A few more tears were shed as they continued to hold each other while Otis Redding's grainy voice continued to croon into the dark spring night.

Superman?

Yes, J'onn?

The meeting will be starting in two minutes. Although, I could delay it further, if you'd like.

No, that won't be necessary, old friend. I'm on my way.