Chapter 5
Clark had delivered Diana, still sleeping, back to his apartment for the night. He quickly checked on Mara as he dropped her off and was pleased to find that she was fast asleep on the couch. He took Diana into his bedroom and lay her down on his bed. He contemplated for a moment whether he needed to change her out of her armour but decided that she would appreciate neither being woken up nor being undressed in her sleep. He sat on the side of the bed as he gently wiped the dried dark blood from her face with a warm towel. He tucked her in under the duvet and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead. He paused at the doorway, just as he was leaving the room, to take another look at her whilst she lay asleep on his bed. He saw her body slowly rise and fall with every breath; he saw the beautiful curl of her thick, dark hair that had fallen in front of her face and he took a deep breath in. He stood there for a minute just listening to her heartbeat. What a lucky man I am, he thought to himself. He gently closed the door and made his way back out into the living room and then onto the balcony. Now it's time to see what's happening with my powers he thought to himself, and he shot off like a rocket into the night.
Once he arrived at the Fortress he used the large golden key to unlock the door and step inside. He loved the beautiful crystalline architecture here and he took a moment to look at the grand white crystals that stood, almost like pillars, in a symmetrical pattern around the room. He found the colours soothing. This truly was his Fortress of Solitude.
"Fortress," Clark said, clearly and firmly, "run a scan for any foreign poisons in my body". A strong woman's voice replied, seemingly originating from every point at once.
"Small traces of Kryptonite found, sir". Clark was relieved that he at least hadn't found another substance that could have this effect on him; his recovery time would depend on the size of the dose and the duration of his exposure but he could already feel that his strength was starting to build up again. Still, Clark thought to himself, where would I have encountered Kryptonite? The monster I fought wasn't concealing any, I checked for it ... didn't I? Clark began to think that maybe the creature was hiding it and he had simply missed it. Maybe it was lead-lined? Yes, Clark thought, that's the only explanation. Apart from that beast I haven't been in contact with anything that would be in possession of Kryptonite. In spite of his best efforts to convince himself, Clark still wasn't entirely happy with his explanation.
"Fortress," he said again. "I need the hydraulic press".
"Yes, sir" the woman's voice replied. A large metal object shaped almost like an arm, but with a metal handle at its stump rather than a hand, slowly emerged from out of the ceiling. If Clark was going to understand what was happening to him, he needed to be able to ascertain the effects that the Kryptonite exposure was having on his powers. Leaning forward slightly, he raised his hands to chest height and gripped onto the metal handle at the end of the hydraulic arm. He'd constructed this machine almost as soon as he had built the Fortress, in order to truly understand how strong Earth's yellow sun had made him, and the idea was that he would push against it with all his strength and the contraption would tell him the maximum force that he exerted. He didn't know what it was made from, as the crystal that had built the Fortress had also built this for him, but he guessed that it was designed to push against forces far greater than he alone could exert. With that in mind, he focussed all of his strength against the machine and pushed with all his might, straining to engage every muscle in his body. After about six seconds he collapsed to his knees, looking downwards and breathing heavily. There was a smile on his face.
"Take that, Kryptonite!" he said, "How much was that?" he asked the Fortress.
"Readings show that you were able to exert a force of over five quadrillion kilograms" the voice replied.
"Alright!" said Clark, pleased with himself. He had almost fully recovered from his Kryptonite exposure now. He did remember a time when he had flown straight into the heart of the sun, amassing so much solar energy that he had been able to move the entire planet, nearly six septillion kilos, but that amount of energy had nearly killed him. We can live with five quadrillion kgs he thought. With that, he left the Arctic and flew straight back home to Diana. He was desperate to figure out where the Kryptonite had come from but, for now, he decided to push the thought slowly to one side of his mind. He slowly made his way home, singing the lyrics to his new favourite song:
But that's not why I love her,
And it's not why I think
She's the most wonderful girl a man could ever meet.
By the time Clark arrived it was morning. He checked on Mara as he landed on the balcony and walked through the living room. He smiled as he saw that she was still asleep and he took hold of the empty hot chocolate mug that she had been using and placed it into the kitchen sink. Then he walked through into his bedroom just as Diana was waking up.
"Good morning!" he said to her cheerfully.
"Clark" she said as she sat upright, still rubbing her eyes. Her hair was a mess and she still looked a little tired. Clark just stood there, speechless at the sight of her. How could she possibly be so beautiful?
"Why do you do that?" Diana asked him, slowly getting out of the bed.
"Do what?" Clark replied as he broke out of his trance.
"Stare at me! It makes me think there's something wrong. If you don't like the way I look when I get out of bed then we need to end this now. I hate to break it to you, Kal, but I get out of bed every single morning and I don't give a damn how I look". She gave him a glare. Clark tried to glare back at her but instead he just burst out laughing,
"What?" Diana said, getting a little angry, "What's so funny?"
"You are!" Clark said to her "You're so funny! I was staring at you whilst thinking about how remarkably beautiful you are, Diana, of course. You could never be anything but beautiful". There was a time when Diana would have melted to have heard him say that to her, but she noticed that he was just using the same compliment over and over again. She decided to ask him something that had been playing on her mind.
"Clark," she said, "would you still want to be with me if I weren't beautiful?" She looked up at him and prayed that he would say what she needed him to say. Regardless of what she felt for him, and regardless of the fact that she never showed signs of ageing, she wouldn't continue with him if he were only interested in how she looked. She knew plenty of guys like that. She hoped that Clark wasn't one of them.
Clark's smile faded. He could tell that this was a serious question and that it had been plaguing Diana's mind. He thought carefully about what he would say. After a while he straightened his posture and looked deeply into Diana's eyes, a single look that seemed to convey everything that Diana needed to hear. Diana smiled when he looked at her like that. She was about to speak when she was caught off guard by what Clark said next.
"No" he said to her, "I wouldn't". A pained and confused expression shot across Diana's face; she didn't know what to say. Then Clark continued. "I wouldn't be with you if you weren't beautiful, Diana, but I would be with you if you weren't pretty. I'd want to be with you if you didn't have your enchanting blue eyes, if you had red angry skin and warts all over your face. I'd want to be with you if your voice was hoarse and not at all like the sound of a choir of angels. I'd want to be with you if you were four foot tall and bald. I'd still be with you if you couldn't dance like flickering lights on a moonlit pond and I'd be with you even if you didn't have the world's most perfect smile. Diana, I would want to be with you in spite of all of that, because it's not only your body that makes you beautiful, Di. You, Diana Prince, Demi-Goddess-princess of Themyscira, are more than just a perfectly formed face: you're the person behind it. And it's you that I find beautiful". Diana stood there for a moment, overwhelmed by what Clark had just said. After a moment she finally managed to stutter something.
"Oh" she said "wow". Clark held his serious expression for a little while longer. If anything, he was a little embarrassed at what he'd just told Diana. They hadn't been dating for that long and he worried that he might have come across too strong. He knew though, and she must have known as well, that they were destined to be together. The man of steel and the woman of gold: they'd be alone if they didn't have each other. In fact, before Wonder Woman, Clark was alone, and he never wanted to feel like that again. After a few more moments he broke back into his goofy grin.
"That being said though, Di… You might want to brush your hair and get changed into something a little more comfortable. There's something I'd like to show you".
"Oh" Diana said. She was smiling with her mouth, almost an exact response to his own grin, but inside she was shaking. It almost sounded like Clark wanted too much of her. She didn't know if she was ready to give herself to anybody like that. Did she feel for him what he felt for her? Would she ever be able to feel like that about anyone? On Themyscira, warriors were encouraged to build bonds with one another of course (it helped their teamwork in battle) but never to the blinding extent that Clark had just described to her. A terrible thought welled up inside her, starting from her stomach and moving slowly upwards. It made her feel ugly and dark and sick inside, but it occurred to her regardless. If everything that he had just described happened to him, not her, would she still want to be with him? Would she fall for Clark if he were four foot tall? Would she still want him if his skin were red and angry and he had a croaking, hoarse voice, nothing like the slow, soothing one that she had grown so close to over the past two years? Would she be able to love him for the man he was, no matter the face that he was behind? She couldn't bear to think about it anymore. She was ashamed of herself. I want to feel like that about you, Clark. I really do. She decided to just shake it off. She gave a graceful spin and her armour magically changed into a long, loose purple summer dress and her hair had restored itself to its usual perfection.
"Alright then, Clark" she said, "Where are you taking us?" Clark smiled.
"Dinner" he said simply. "I owe you spaghetti".
"Nowhere's going to be open for dinner; it's eight o'clock in the morning!" Diana exclaimed.
"When you can fly around the Earth several times in a second, Di, you'll find that you get a few perks. One of which: there's always a place open for dinner". Clark winked. Then he gave a big smile and took Diana by the hand. His skin felt warm against hers. "Come on" he said, slowly floating them upwards "To Italy and beyond!" Clark seemed to find that funny. Diana didn't get it. She repeated him anyway, giving his hand a light squeeze. "To Italy and beyond!"
A/N Would have loved to have continued on with this chapter tonight but I'm afraid that I simply don't have the time. I hope you enjoyed this section anyway! Read chapter six tomorrow to find out how Clark and Diana's dinner date unfurls and learn more about the mysterious source of the Kryptonite. As always, thank you for reading and please hit me up with a review to let me know which parts you liked and which parts you didn't - I will adjust how I write the later chapters accordingly!
