A/N: My dear readers, a new update!

Thank you very much for reviewing Busard and Supesfan18 :)

Jremme, you are so amazing, thank you for your help to get my English right!

15.

Celeste slowly opened the gate to the place she was about to go. Looking up in the sky, she realized that her mood was matching the dark and miserable winter weather she had to face back in Metropolis.

Walking through the rows of old stones, she felt the drizzle falling into her face. She was already soaked as she was only wearing a coat and hadn't bothered to bring an umbrella, but she couldn't care less.

Very slowly, she approached the monument where he rested. Biting down on her bottom lip, she suddenly felt unable to move closer. Again, she looked up at the sky, exposing her face to the small droplets falling from the sky, the icy cold water mixing with her tears.

She didn't know if she was able to do this, but she also couldn't bear to be back in her apartment, which was, even though her parents were with her, cold, abandoned, and felt strangely different with him not being around.

The worst part was that she could still somehow feel his presence. More tears brimmed in her eyes. His scent was still lying in the air, and she didn't know if she would ever be able to sleep in their bed again.

Deep in thought, she hadn't realized that she was already in front of the tomb where Superman had been laid to rest forever.

Sighing, she sat down on the marble platform and stared at the simple engraving.

Superman died as he lived, defending mankind.

A cold wind blew around her and she tried to tighten her coat a bit, as desperation hit her full force. Up until now, everything had been so unreal. She hadn't been able to tell her parents or Martha and Jonathan, who had welcomed her back in Metropolis with such a warmness that she had almost lost it, or even Mathieu, what had happened to her in the Phantom Zone. There was no way she would burden the people she loved with any of the events she had to go through to get back to Earth. But now, sitting at the grave of her deceased husband, she could not hold back the tears anymore. Surprised that there was still a drop of the salty fluid left in her exhausted and sleep deprived body, she sobbed.

I'm sorry, she thought, well aware that she would never be able to speak out loud what she was thinking. Clark, I am so sorry. Panic welled up in her as she tried to calm down just enough to continue her inner train of thought. She had to do this to find some peace of mind, if ever. I'm so sorry what happened to you and I'm even more sorry that I wasn't able to keep my promise to always be there for you.

Sniffing, she closed her eyes, knowing all too well, what he would have had to say to that statement. Celeste my love, you were there for me, always. You saved the world! That is more than I could have ever asked from you.

No, Clark, I failed you. I failed our love and my promise. I know I was the one to get that monster away from Earth, but at what expense? I couldn't save you from Lex Luthor and I certainly didn't kick his ass like I promised you to do if he would ever try to hurt you again, can you remember? A slight smile flashed over her face by thinking of the day he had proposed to her. Well, I didn't keep my promise and I feel very sorry for that.

I had a strange experience after the monster. The newspapers all over the world called it Doomsday; after Doomsday kidnapped Jason and me, I somehow defeated it with the crystal your birth mother gave to me. I was transported through time and space and woke up in the Phantom Zone, while Jason was sent back home to Lois and Richard. The Phantom Zone was a very strange place if you ask me, but I met somebody. An amazing woman who gave her life for me… and I also met somebody very special. Sobbing, she tried to not lose her composure. Clark, we… we have a daughter. She started sobbing again, her vision getting blurry. She was born in the hostile environment and I had to use her blood to escape the Phantom Zone… No, don't be mad at me, I didn't hurt her. I used the blood from her umbilical c…

"Are you okay?"

Celeste jumped when she realized the stranger, checking up on her. Looking up, she could just notice a very expensively dressed man, his face covered with an umbrella.

Brushing the tears out of her eyes, she nodded mutely. "Sort of."

Crouching down, he revealed his graceful face, smiling warmly at her and glancing cheekily into her green eyes. "You don't seem so okay from my point of view," he stated.

Pressing out a smile, she said. "It's just a little tough at the moment."

Nodding, the stranger got up and looked down at her. "Can I offer you my umbrella?' he asked, this time a bit more serious.

Just then he realized who was sitting in front of him. He almost hadn't noticed her with her puffy eyes, wet hair hanging in loose locks over her shoulders, and her very desperate posture.

"Celeste Kent?" he asked surprised.

Celeste looked up again, brushing some more tears out of her face and nodded.

Sitting next to her, he put the umbrella over both of them and smiled. "I saw you dancing at the Daily Planet fundraising gala. That was truly amazing," he let her know, drifting into the memory.

She just shrugged. "Thanks."

"I almost won the dinner with you," he revealed with a side glance and a huge smile on his face.

Now she looked up. Totally stunned, she narrowed her brows, her breathing getting a bit irregular. "You are Bruce Wayne!" Celeste realized out loud, mentally slapping herself for not having noticed that before.

"Guilty as charged," he smiled. "How did your dinner with the notorious lady eater go?"

Celeste glanced straight into his eyes. "And that's coming from you?" she asked. "It was not like I expected it to be," she answered.

"Did he harass you?" Bruce asked surprised.

The young ballet dancer just nodded. "Yes, but I had a guardian angel."

Now, she could see his eyes twinkling and was really surprised by the slight smile appearing in his face. Bruce couldn't suppress his chuckle by thinking of Boy Scout getting all worked-up about the richest man in the world sexually harassing his wife.

"I bet you had," he said lightly, at the same moment regretting that sentence had slipped out.

"What are you doing in Metropolis at this place?" she asked a bit more seriously.

"I had to visit somebody," he explained sadly.

"Oh," Celeste realized the dumb question. "I'm sorry."

He just nodded. "What are you doing here?"

Turning back, she looked at the solid marble stone. "Just thinking," she explained as she bit her bottom lip.

"Did you lose somebody, too?"

She let out a long sigh. "My husband has been missing since Doomsday showed up," she told him shamelessly the official lie about the whereabouts of Clark Kent.

"And you are here at this grave why?" he asked, interested, gesturing at the engraving.

Wow, this man didn't come even close to the reputation he had in the tabloid press. From Celeste's point of view, Bruce Wayne was anything, but spoiled and boring. He was something much more. Most of all, he was dangerously clever.

"I don't know," she lied. "Maybe to expect a miracle?"

"Don't we all need one?" he realized out loud.

Shrugging, she turned away from him, starting to sob again, when all of a sudden a little baby started to cry.

Bruce watched her unzipping her coat and lifting up and soothing the newborn in a sling she was wearing around her torso. Dumbfounded, he looked at her, surprise plastered all over his face, revealing to her for just a fraction of a second that something wasn't quite right about his reaction.

As the baby started to cry more intensely, Celeste shrugged away the strange feeling and nursed her for her afternoon feed.

"You have a child?" Bruce asked, still taken aback.

"Why is that such a surprise?" she asked.

He realized that he was on very shaky ground. "I just didn't notice that a baby was with you," he tried to squirm out of it.

Celeste nodded. She still had to come to terms with being a mother, especially with the little time she had had in Earth-time to prepare for motherhood.

"I was in Paris, when I heard what happened," she started to explain, wondering why she would even tell a stranger her story. "It was where I gave birth to my daughter. There I heard that my husband was missing after the Doomsday attack."

Bruce just listened, still not able to digest the fact that Clark had a newborn child. "But I saw you just two months ago, you didn't seem to be pregnant at the gala."

"I didn't show." She told him the lie to cover up her extremely short pregnancy.

"Ooooookay," he said slowly, wondering why his friend hadn't told him such exciting news.

They were sitting next to each other for more than ten minutes, their silence only interrupted by the soft sound of the rain falling on the umbrella spanned over them, and the occasional grunting sounds of the baby feeding.

When the baby was finished, Celeste lifted her up, showing Bruce for the first time the face of the little child. He extended his hand, brushing over her velvet cheek, feeling very sad about the fact that she and Jason would have to grow up without their biological father.

"Her name is Lara," she told him.

"What a beautiful name," he said sincerely at the same time getting up, but still holding the umbrella over the woman and her child. "Can I escort you home?" he asked, not able to suppress his sadness.

Putting the baby back into the sling, Celeste also got up and smiled. "I'm okay Mr. Wayne. It was really nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he said. "But please call me Bruce and take the umbrella," he pleaded as the rain had become more heavily in the last couple of minutes.

"But then you haven't got one," she contradicted.

"That's okay. All the best Celeste," he said as he walked away. "And I really hope everything will be all right for you and your daughter some day."

Then he was gone, leaving back Celeste with the strange feeling crawling up her spine that something was very off about the extremely generous and sympathetic playboy billionaire.