Chapter 3 - Third Time's the Charm

For the merest fraction of a second, Lana felt dizzy. Her eyelids were scrunched tightly together and she was afraid to open them because she didn't want to be disappointed if these crystals didn't work. Finally, one eye started to creep open despite her fear. If the crystals had worked, she knew what she should be seeing, and she wasn't disappointed.

It was the floor of the Kent barn.

Her other eye shot open and she drank in her surroundings. Lana's excitement was rapidly building to a fever pitch, but there was one more thing she had to see to be sure. She charged up the wooden steps to the loft, and, facing away from her over by the half open Dutch doors, right where her memory said he was supposed to be, was Clark. Lana just exploded. Heedless of what he might think, she started jumping up and down like a loon and screaming "YES!"

Clark's mind had been so fixed on what he was going to say that Lana's sudden appearance startled him, and her unbridled excitement was doubly startling. He hadn't seen passion like that from her since she came to the house and discovered he hadn't died after all.

Lana saw him face her, and though she knew what his concerns were this morning, she couldn't wait to get her hands on him and tell him that she loved him. Clark's mind barely had time to register the fact that Lana was running toward him before she launched herself into the air. Reflexively, he dropped his piece of coal and was rewarded with a double handful of crying, kissing Lana as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. All she said was 'I love you,' but she said it at least once in between each kiss, and her kisses were falling like rain.

Clark was enjoying her attentions. In fact, he was beginning to enjoy them a little bit too much, so he finally lowered her to the floor and they both took a seat on the comfy couch.

"Lana, I love you, too, and your kisses are purest bliss, but, umm…what brought this on?"

Lana slumped over to rest the side of her face on his shoulder as she said in a plaintive tone of voice, "Oh, Clark, I've just survived the most horrific nightmare! Seeing you here, and being able to be with you after all of that, was more than I could take. So…I…kissed you."

Clark thought 'survived' was on odd thing to say about a nightmare, but he wrapped her in his arms, and said, "Repeatedly."

"Huh?"

"Kissed me…repeatedly," Clark said smugly.

Being playful with her reply, Lana asked, "And that's a problem for you?"

"No. As I said, your kisses are bliss."

"I believe 'purest bliss' is what you said."

Clark grinned and said, "I stand corrected. Your kisses are purest bliss." He stretched forward, snagged his lump of coal off of the floor, and continued, "I know things have been weird between us lately, but I asked you to meet me here because I have something important to tell you, something that I should have told you a long time ago."

Thanks to Raya and the time crystal, Lana already knew exactly what he wanted to tell her, but she wanted to experience this, she wanted Clark to actually tell her of his own volition. This was to be the most magical of days, and Lana didn't mind in the least that she had already had a sneak preview.

Lana could feel Clark's heart pounding as she leaned against him, but she thought it wasn't pounding as hard as it had been the first time. Maybe my kisses relaxed him a little bit. An unintended side effect to be sure, but I'm not above taking the credit.

Haltingly, Clark began by confirming what she had long suspected about him having 'special abilities.' Only, he had more of them than she had thought. She hadn't experienced too many of them during the one day she spent inside his head, and two of those, the strength and speed, she had already suspected. But alongside strength, speed, and heat vision, and the long-suspected virtual indestructibility, he added two kinds of x-ray vision and hearing.

"Keeping secrets from you is going to be hard with you having those last two abilities, Clark."

"I thought you didn't like secrets," he teased.

"I'm not talking about big, important secrets. I mean the kind of small, personal secrets that a girl needs to keep from her guy, if only for a little while."

"So things like…surprise birthday parties are okay?"

"Yes. I just don't want you hiding the big stuff. I can handle anything you can throw at me, but I can only handle the things that you share."

Clark digested that thought for a bit and then cautiously asked, "Are you okay with my abilities?"

"Perfectly."

She said that with such serene confidence that Clark began to wonder.

"Okay." Clark stood and held out his hand. "Then come with me, I have one more secret to tell you. This one…this one is the big one."

Lana knew she would've been apprehensive to hear that Clark had a secret that was bigger than all of his abilities, but now, since she knew what he wanted to say, she confidently took his hand and stood. "Wherever you lead, I will follow, Clark."

"Hold onto your hair then." Clark dipped and lifted Lana into the air, cradling her at shoulders and knees. He gave her a moment to gather her long hair and hold it in both hands, and then was off like a shot. Seconds later he sat her down in the Kawatche caves. He lead her past the key slot to a room she had never seen on her own before. Somehow the room seemed more vibrant and the runic symbols on the table seemed more sharply defined now that she was seeing them for herself.

When Clark said that what he was about to show her may change the way she feels about him, Lana stepped in close. Staring into his eyes, Lana willed him to feel her love and absolute confidence in him. "No, Clark. Nothing you say will change the way I feel about you. Trust us like you trust me and everything will work out."

Incredulous, Clark asked, "You mean that, don't you?" He shook his head in disbelief. "All this time, I've been sure I was losing you and here you show me hidden reserves of strength, love, and compassion that humble me. How could I ever deserve you?"

Thinking that maybe she'd overplayed her hand just a little bit, Lana said, "Don't nominate me for sainthood just yet. There are things going on in my life that we need to talk about once you are done telling your secrets."

Once Clark slid the octagonal key into the slot on the table, he told her, "It's okay." The transformation that came over him when he placed the key in the slot was amazing. He switched from being nervous and in need of reassurance to being a confident man that was offering her some support in the blink of an eye.

As the room lit up with a golden radiance, Lana couldn't help but look around in wonder, even though she knew what was going to happen next. A sudden breeze whipped their hair around and Clark offered her his hand, asking her, "Do you trust me?"

Without even a moment's hesitation, Lana slipped her hand into his and gave him a quick squeeze. In Clark's memories, she had noticed that his eyes had never left her face from the time he put the key into the slot until after he had proposed, and so it was this time. Already knowing what she would see and not needing to see it again, Lana decided to keep her eyes focused on him.

Clark and Lana shot through the coruscating tube of blue-white energy, ending up in the Fortress of Solitude. There was no looking around like a tourist for her this time, instead, her eyes were still locked on his. The intensity of her gaze let him know he had her undivided attention, so he decided to plunge on ahead before the strength of his intentions failed him.

"When you asked me if I believed in life on other planets," Clark said, "you had no idea how ironic that question was." Lana waited patiently as Clark gathered himself. "I'm from a planet called Krypton."

Lana remembered how desperately nervous he had been when telling her his big secret, and she wanted nothing more than to reassure him, to let him know that everything was going to be fine. Just as before, she stepped in close and let her right hand slide up to caress his face.

"Clark, it's not where you're from, but who you are that matters to me." As his head began to lean into her caress, she added, "You're still Clark Kent, still the man I love."

Clark's heart soared when he heard that. It was what he had most wanted from Lana ever since they first met. She knows everything about me, Clark thought, and she still loves me. Clark couldn't contain his joy, so he scooped Lana into his arms once more and leapt for a small outcrop of ice and crystal far overhead. Once again, his eyes remained fixed on her face, and again, Lana made the choice to do the same. As they soared to the top of the Fortress, they were off in their own little world, each thinking only of the other.

Completely thrilled with the way she was responding to his secrets, Clark couldn't help but break out into a smile. His biggest fears had just melted away like the last snow of spring, leaving more room for their relationship to grow. Lana felt his joy, and when his serious look gave way to a dazzling smile, she responded in kind.

By the time they landed on the small outcrop Clark had chosen for them, they were engaged in a full lip lock. How he pulled off the landing with his eyes closed was a mystery to Lana…or it would have been had she been paying attention to anything other than his mouth.

When they finally broke the kiss, Clark set Lana down and she leaned her head against his chest. This was their moment and neither one wanted it to end, so they each wrapped the other in a warm embrace and held on. Clark finally remembered he had one more item on his agenda, so as much as he didn't want to, he let Lana go and reached into a pocket for his lump of coal.

Clark's hand came up and opened, clearly showing Lana that it was a lump of coal. She knew what was coming and had to struggle mightily to contain her excitement. Then, he closed his hand around the coal and began to squeeze. The compressing lump of coal gave off light, some of which snuck from between his fingers. When he was done, all that was left of the coal were a few grains of coal dust and a perfectly-faceted diamond.

Clark blew the coal dust away and then produced a simple gold band with an open, four-prong setting. He placed the newly-formed gem into the setting and then fixed it in place by heating up the setting with his heat vision. She had seen this all before from his perspective, but she was still in awe, and her excitement was building with each passing second. If he doesn't propose this very second, she thought, I'm gonna rip that ring out of his hand and put it on my finger all by myself. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait.

"There are many clever things that I've thought about saying at this moment, but what they all boil down to is this: I love you, Lana, and I always will. I can't imagine a future for me that doesn't have you by my side." Still holding the ring up high, Clark dropped to one knee. "Will you do me the very great honor of becoming my wife? Lana Elizabeth Lang, will you marry me?"

Lana had thought she was ready for this proposal, after all, she knew when and where it was coming, but that didn't matter at all. She had begun to shake halfway through Clark's short speech and by the time he said the magic words, she was crying tears of joy. Words were impossible but she furiously nodded her head 'yes' as she stuck out her left hand.

In his haste, Clark dropped the ring, but he used super-speed to snag it out of midair. He then took her left hand in his and used his right hand to gently slide the ring on her ring finger. Lana's emotional outpouring was affecting Clark and he began to cry right along with her as they celebrated all alone at the top of the world.

Finally, the river of happy tears slowed to a trickle and Clark said, "I think it's time to get back to Smallville. I can't wait to show off you and that ring to everyone we know."

Regretfully, Lana shook her head 'no' as she said, "I'd love that, but we don't have time. We need to talk about my secrets and we need to do it now while there's still time left."

Clark was bewildered by Lana and asked, "What secrets? And still time left for what?"

"There's still time to save the life of someone close to you…you know, the payment for your resurrection. Apparently the bill comes due tonight, and I don't know which one of us will die this time."