A/N: So…Chapter Four…This one is Richard alone…The song is definitely out of context, so please don't tell me that, I already know…Please, please review! I love reviews, they keep me sane…

Disclaimer: I do not own the Superman universe or the lyrics to the song "Guernica"...

I am Too Weak to be Your Cure

I sat alone and waited out the night.
The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed.
So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick around.

He studied her profile as she slept, heart aching. She was right there and yet…He knew she was already gone. She had never been his. Carefully, not wanting to wake her, he got out of bed and walked through the house then outside to the pier.

When he had met her, she'd been hurt, a giant hole ripped in her heart for everyone to see, though she tried to hide it. At first it hadn't mattered that she had missing pieces, ones that would never belong to him, because she needed him, needed his kindness and stability and he had given it willingly, loving her more every day. He had hoped that, with time, those holes, the missing pieces would be filled by what he offered. Until recently he had thought it still possible. Until Superman returned.

The day the world had witnessed the return of the hero, Richard felt a jolt to the bottom of his soul as Lois spoke forcefully about how she didn't want anything to do with the icon, that she had already covered his story before, that someone else could do it now…(The lady doth protest too much, methinks…) But as quickly as the thought crossed his mind, he dismissed it, remembering that she had been closer to Superman than anyone else on the planet, as far as the world knew, anyway. She had every right to be hurt when he left without a word—and she had been. He had forgotten, briefly, that it had been the hero's disappearance that seemed to be the core of her hurt when they'd met. He'd managed to fool himself into believing it was something else as they raised a son together, as they grew closer.

But there was always a distance there that he had never seemed to be able to cross. That was why they had been engaged for so long—she had never felt ready to set a date. Now he wondered where all that time had gone. Five years and it hardly seemed more than a few days. He had always looked forward to what they would have, the time they would spend together. And in looking forward so steadfastly, he wondered how he had managed to miss the best part of what he had. Something he was losing more and more as the days ran on. He hadn't wanted to accept it. It was only when he saw the pair together—Lois Lane and Superman—that he had realized what part of him had always known. He wasn't strong enough. He was too weak to be the cure for her broken heart and shattered soul. In the moment he realized that, Richard White suddenly understood the pain he'd tried to rescue her from far better than he ever would have imagined.

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