I hope it's not too messy but The following italicized part is a flashback!

Together again Chapter 3

Lois almost tiptoed into the room. Clark was sitting near the child and he was caressing his face.

"You didn't leave!" she said with wonder.

"I promised you."

"I... I'm a little late... I took a bath and I fell asleep in the bathtub ... I'm sorry." Lois was clearly embarrassed but Clark simply smiled.

"Jerome had a nightmare, but he's fine now."

"Again?!" Lois sighed, and Clark looked toward her again. "He has nightmares over and over. I don't know why... and he refuses to tell me what scares him so much. I guess he's afraid about... you know... this..." She pointed at her son.

Clark nodded.

"He asked me to come again... May I?" Clark was quite insecure.

"Of course you may!" she answered without thinking. "I mean, you can come back whenever you want."

Clark moved toward her. "It's pretty late, Lois, go to sleep, Jerome will be fine." She nodded sadly.

"See you tomorrow?" Clark saw her eyes sparkle.

"Tomorrow," she repeated. "Clark... Thanks so much..."

"Goodnight, Lois."

"Goodnight Clark." she whispered. She stared for a long time at the door after it had closed.

Clark walked slowly towards the door of the stairwell, then when he closed it behind him he flew up to the roof even faster than usual. He didn't know why, but instead of going home, he flew towards the window of Jerome's room. He avoided the usual sonic boom he made when he moved as Superman so as not to alarm anyone. For some unknown reason he felt like he had to see Lois again before leaving.

Lois was still there, staring the door. He saw her tremble. She wasn't crying, just trembling so much, so badly. Her arms were holding herself defensively.

Clark was tempted to run back and hold her tightly, warm her with all the love he could give her. She needed so much from him. Probably she had never needed anyone as much as she did now.

Then Lois moved slowly, she walked toward Jerome's bed and kissed his head lightly. Clark smiled. His mother had done the same thing when he was a child.

"I love you, Jerome," she whispered to her baby. Then she took the blanket that was on the chair near the bed and wrapped herself in it. She picked up a notebook and after a few moments she started to write. Clark saw a trace of a smile on her face.

Then, silently, he flew away.

--OOO--

Clark closed the door carelessly behind him. He hadn't felt this way in a long time. His head was messed up. He wanted to fly to Lois, be near her, and yet get as far away from her as he could, all in the same moment. He felt so happy to have seen her again and so deep a pain for her, and for her son. He felt such a wide range of emotions, because Lois was alone and no one was close to her. Right then she needed her family, her parents, her sister, the monster she had married... yet all the people she needed had abandoned her. Becky's words were impressed in his mind as though they were branded there in fire.

At the sound of the door, Martha came out of the kitchen.

"Clark... You are late... What's ..." She paused.

The expression her son had printed on his face was different from usual. There was a lot of pain but also a peace she barely remembered in his gaze. It was as though her son had started to live his life completely again. But still this deep sadness made her worry.

"Clark," she called him again with a worried tone. "Sweetie, what's happened?"

Her son looked at her without the strength to answer. After some seconds he moved his gaze away from hers.

"I saw her," he simply said.

Martha smiled lightly. Of course, there was only one person able to make Clark lose his equilibrium like this.

"Lois?" It was enough to breathe this name. Her son stared at her again. He nodded after a couple of moments.

Lois. Lois Lane. A name almost taboo in this house. It had been so long since Clark had pronounced it. Even now he didn't. But it had never stopped hurting her son.

"Oh, Clark..." For a moment Martha wondered how to respond, looking at her son collapsed on the couch. She had always wondered about Lois' reasoning. She had liked that girl since the first time Clark had spoken about her. But Lois had hurt her family so much. Martha didn't know if she was ready to forgive her all that pain.

Clark's voice trembled as he added, "Her son is ill... he's dying." He looked into the horrified gaze of his mother. He knew what she'd been thinking a moment ago, he had seen it in the way that her jaw had contracted.

"Oh my God!"

"And she is still so beautiful, but so pale and thin and tired... And Jerome is so cute.

A doubt sparked in Martha's head. Was it possible?

"Jerome?"

"She named him after me." The smile on her son was so sad. She wondered what she could do. But there was nothing she could.

"Sweetie, do you wanna talk about that?" Martha was now just a few inches from her son. She put her hand on his shoulder. Clark looked at her for a moment, then he lowered his head.

"No." But as he usually did he paused for a moment and then he started. "We simply talked a lot, a couple of hours I guess."

"And?" Martha knew it was so hard for her son. But she also knew he needed to talk about it. He'd tried to forget Lois and all the things she had meant to him so long ago. The last time she could remember he'd mentioned Lois was when he'd written his book. He'd never admitted it, but she was sure it had been dedicated to Lois.

"And she talked about him." The disgust in his voice made it easy to understand who the 'him' was. "He doesn't care about her or the child... He's still betraying her, just like he always did." He paused, looking his mother's eyes. "Mom, she is so alone... I don't know how she can bear this! She's lost contact with Perry and Jimmy years ago... Lucy is now a doctor like their father and she is working with him in Europe... her mother is with them too." He paused again.

"And you? What about you?"

"Well... when I heard her voice in the hospital, I wanted to run away... but you know... I... Well you know what I feel for her..."

"In spite of all you went through?" Clark closed his eyes breathing deeply. All the memories ran in his head like a river rushing to meet the ocean.

/eight years and half ago/

It was early afternoon. Clark was leaning up against the elevator wall reading his newspaper. Even without using superpowers he read it in a flash. Again no interesting news.

The elevator stopped at the seventh floor. The elderly couple sharing his journey went out and Clark heard someone enter, almost running, just before the door closed. He gave a quick glance at the brunette woman in front of him. She had her back to him, but she looked like his former partner. This woman had her hair a little shorter but she was so much... "Lois?" he whispered with wonder.

The woman turned suddenly. "Clark?"

She seemed to have forgotten their last encounter, almost a year before, a few days before her wedding. She hugged him before thinking about what she was doing. When she realized, she stepped back.

"Sorry..." she apologized. But the look on Clark's face made her stop being embarrassed. He was happy! He was happy to see her again.

"Lois..." he said again, this time with a big smile and sparking eyes.

"What are you doing here?" she almost yelled.

"The awards..." Clark was at a loss for words. He was barely able to breathe again.

"Are you a nominee?"

He nodded. "You too?"

"No, this year I'm awarding one of the prizes ... I'm not in the running any more. TV reporters have a separate category," she said, with a disappointed tone in her voice.

"That means I'll have some chance of winning if you're not in the running!" he joked.

She pointed at his chest with her right index finger. "YOU won my Kerth last year! I'm not going to forgive you!" Clark laughed, then the sudden shift of the elevator almost made them lose their equilibrium. Only Clark's hand stopped her from falling.

"What..." The lights in the elevator had gone out. Lois froze.

"I guess there's a blackout." Clark rested his hand on Lois' arm. "It's nothing, Lois." In the same moment the emergency light switched on. It was a dim light, but it wasn't dark any more, at least.

Lois started to hit the elevator door, calling for help. They were alone there. She kept yelling until someone answered that 911 had been called and that they were coming soon.

"What are we going to do?" Lois stared at Clark, almost as though he had the solution to get them out of there.

"Wait?" His voice was doubtful, he knew Lois wasn't going to appreciate his idea.

"Clark!" Lois' tone was almost scandalized.

"Well, the only other choice is to try and climb out. But even if I decided to do it..."

"It's dangerous! No... I'm not going to let you do it!" Lois said, grabbing his sleeve as though she wanted to stop him.

"So? What do you want to do?" Clark had a satisfied smile on his face.

"Okay, we wait, together!" Clark wasn't able to decipher her tone.

Lois saw him sit on the floor and she did the same.

An uneasy silence fell.

Clark could hear her heart beating furiously. "So... how are you?" he said after a long pause.

"I still miss the Planet so much!" she said softly.

His voice became a whisper. "Me too..."

"But I'm fine." Clark didn't know why but he was sure she was lying.

"Well, I'm glad about that."

Silence again.

Then Lois remembered something.

"Where are you working? I've been keeping an eye out for your articles, but..."

"I'm not working for a newspaper... I'm working freelance. I don't want work for any paper but The Daily Planet." His tone was so sure, so firm. Lois felt a deep pain for him, for her. For what they'd missed. The Planet had been her home and her family since she'd left school. Clark had been there for less than a year and yet he loved the place as if it had closed just the day before.

"Clark... I know how much you loved it... I loved it too! But..."

"Don't say it... please... Don't say..." Lois smiled sadly, caressing his face without saying anything.

"Lois, sooner or later the Daily Planet will be back! I don't know how, but... I'm sure of it!" She didn't remember Clark being quite so optimistic.

Silence fell again in the elevator.

"How are your parents?"

"They are fine... sure... they are fine..." Silence again.

After a long while Lois looked at him. "Clark why is this so difficult? I know that I missed you so much... I missed your stupid teasing! I miss my partner!"

Clark smiled at her. "My teasing wasn't stupid!" he said teasingly.

"It was. But I miss it anyway." She moved toward him in order to hug him again, unsure if she were allowed to do it. Clark realized it and took her into his arms.

"I miss you too... Lois... "

They held each other for a long while, until a voice from outside brought them back to reality.

"Hey! We're opening the doors!"

"It's about time!" Lois cried in answer. Then she looked at Clark and realized that this wasn't being kind to him. "I didn't mean... I mean... I'm so happy we talked... but..."

"I know... I understood what you meant..." he said calmly.

"Yes... but ... I didn't ..." Lois seemed panicked.

"Lois... Calm down!" He smiled her and she smiled back.

"Clark... do you have plans for dinner? We can have lunch together... if you want..." Lois was a little embarrassed and excited at the same time. She only knew she'd love to spend an evening with her former partner.

"Sure..." Then he stopped. Luthor. He couldn't bear the thought of being near him. "No, sorry, I can't."

"Oh..." Lois lowered her head. "I understand... you have other plans..." He simply nodded.

Clark helped her out of the elevator. It had stopped shy of the floor and she needed a little push in order to exit from it.

Lois waited until he was out too. Then she looked at him sadly and added, "Now, are we going back to not talking to each other?

Clark breathed deeply. "Lois, it's not like that. But... I'm sorry, I don't want to see Luthor. Please... try to understand..."

"You don't have to meet Lex. I have no idea where he is right now. I haven't seen him in two weeks!"

"What?"

"Yes..." She lowered her head again. "We've been having some problems... but I don't want to talk about Lex now... I want to talk about you... about us... we were friends, Clark... Please, I don't want to lose that again."

"I'm not going to lose your friendship again and I never wanted it to happen ... Is that invitation for dinner still available?"

"Let me check... "Lois was smiling and her eyes was sparkling. "Well the President, Superman and Brad Pitt can't make it tonight... I guess so... "

"Fine. Right now, I should get to work..."

"And I've got a run-through to do before the show."

"So we are going to meet after the show?"

"Sure... I'll try looking for you... or else we can meet at the bar. It's late... I must go..."

"Go... and have fun..."

"You too..." She turned to run away but she stopped and turned toward him again. "It's good have you here again."

"It's good be here again."

She smiled at him, and ran away.

To be continued