Chapter 22

Lois was flying in the sky of Metropolis, eyes closed and enjoying the quietness of it. The last few weeks had been very stressing and coming up here had helped her to relax. She loves flying.

She opened her eyes to watch the lights illuminating the city. The usual sounds perpetuated Metropolis, but one in particular took Lois's attention. She started to descent to hear it closer.

Once back on the ground, Lois saw the source of the cry for help. A woman had just been robbed by a guy wearing a mask, who was running toward his motorcycle. Lois quickly act and threw the man against a wall and returned the purse to the woman in a blur form.

Lois watched as the woman hugged her purse, happy, while the the robber was lying unconscious on the ground. She started dialing anonymously to the police, the larger-than-life and proud of herself smile not leaving her lips.

-º-

"It a Trojan Horse!" Clark said.

"Yes!" Lois threw her arms up and high-fived her boyfriend. "That's one more point to team Lane."

The couple were playing Pictionary against Chloe and Jimmy at the apartment above the Talon. Lois and Clark had two points over the other team.

It was Jimmy's last night in town for awhile. He got a promotion at the Daily Planet, receiving an assignment to cover the Polar Bear Swim Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"How? There's no way this looks like a horse. It looks like a dog to me," Chloe protested.

"It has mane," Lois retorted, pointing to the drawing on the board.

Jimmy and Clark exchanged looks, staying out of the competitive cousins's battle. "Okay, I think it's our turn," Jimmy intervened. He handed Clark the timer.

"Ready?" Clark asked. Jimmy and Chloe, who positioned herself next to the board, nodded. "Go!"

"It's a wheel! No, it's a car! A bus!" Jimmy tried to guess as Chloe was drawing.

"No!" Chloe said, a little loud.

"A truck?"

Chloe's face told him he was close to the right guess, but he couldn't figure out what exactly it was.

"Fifteen seconds," Clark warned about the time.

Jimmy looked at Chloe, worried. He then looked at Lois, who had a smug smile on her face. Realization dawned on him. "Monster truck! It's monster truck!"

"Yes!" Chloe celebrated hugging Jimmy.

Lois pouted. "Crap," she uttered as Clark rubbed her back.

"Your turn, CK."

Clark nodded in reassurance to Lois as he got up, positioning beside the board.

"One minute. Go!"

Clark started to draw.

"Uh... Err... Is it a flower?" Lois asked.

"No."

"An ET?"

Clark raised an eyebrow at her and then shook his head.

"Lizard? A dragon? Some sort of dinosaur?"

Clark frowned. "No!" He then added two diagonal lines behind the drawing.

Lois looked puzzled.

"Ten seconds," Chloe spoke, excited.

Clark drew a insect leg stretched out.

"Uh... I know, I know! It's a grasshopper!"

"No. Almo..."

The timer went off. Chloe and Jimmy celebrated.

"It was a mantis," Clark told her, disappointed.

"What? How the hell I'm supposed to know that?"

"I drew it praying."

"Was that praying? I thought it was eating something."

Clark sighed.

The couples kept playing. The last round finally came in. "Alright, Smallville, you guess this one and we win this game."

He nodded.

An annoyed Chloe held the timer. "Ready? Go!"

Clark watched as Lois started to draw. "A book... No. An alien? What's your thing with ETs?"

Lois stared at him, annoyed. "Do I really need to say?"

Clark was taken aback, giving her an uncomfortable smile.

"Thirty seconds," Jimmy said.

Lois focused back on the board. Clark kept looking closely. "Uh... A sneak. Water? Loch Ness Monster?"

"No."

"Fourteen seconds."

Lois started drawing faster. "Uh... Err... A woman? What?" Clark frowned at those drawing around the board.

"Eight, seven..." Jimmy and Chloe started the countdown together.

Lois desperately drew arrows connecting the drawings.

"Four, three..."

Clark started to using his super reading., sort of stopping time around him. He started to try to put the drawings together. Book, alien, Loch Ness Monster, woman. Woman, short hair. Clark opened his eyes widely.

"One..."

"It's Tales of the Weird & Unexplained! One of Chloe's favorite book!" Clark said, triumphantly.

The timer then went off. Chloe and Jimmy became quiet, a disappointed look on their face.

"We won! We won!" Lois run to Clark and hugged him.

Clark smiled. "We did."

"You cheated a little, didn't you?" She whispered in his ear.

"Well, sort of. I guess."

Lois gave him a long kiss on the cheek. "I love you." She then looked at the other couple. "Sorry, kids. No one can beat team Lane," she said, smiling cockily.

Chloe looked at Jimmy. "I hate when she does that."

The couples kept enjoying the time together until Jimmy and Chloe left to enjoy a last time alone in his apartment before he went to his assignment.

-º-

Clark placed a kiss on Lois's lips and neck as he rocked his body into hers. He was laying on top of her, the sheet of the bed covering from the middle of his back to his feet. Lois dug her fingernails on his back as the intensity of their bodies colliding increased. They were high on each other.

He put his arm behind her back and thrust harder into her, making his girlfriend moan loudly. They kept gazing at each other fixedly, with desire and passion.

The cry of pleasure came after their moving bodies couldn't take it anymore and released the proof of their satisfaction. They kept kissing each other afterwards.

"It keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Clark said as he laid on his back on the bed.

"You know it," Lois said, bliss all over her face. She then laid on her side, placing her hand on his chest and caressing it. "I knew we could be great together, but this? This surpassed all my expectations."

He leaned in, their noses touching lightly. "You're right. This is everything I dreamed of and more.

"Moi?"

He pulled her naked body closer to his, their lips very close to each other. "You."

"You know, there's nothing more I'd like than suck those delicious lips of yours, but we should eat the croissants I brought from Paris."

"I'm not hungry." His eyes on her, however, said otherwise.

Lois pressed his cheeks together with her fingers. "I am." She then got up and put on a robe, heading to the kitchen.

"With the game and all, I hadn't the opportunity to ask. How was your day?" Clark asked, still lying on the bed, resting on his elbows.

Lois returned to the room with a bag of croissants and two glasses of lemonade, handing Clark his. "It was normal. I'm getting better at my job, but nothing headline worth. But something happened."

Clark took a sip of his juice. "What?"

She sat on the bed. "I helped someone. It happened earlier tonight, I was flying, clearing my mind -"

"You were flying..."

"Yeah. I was flying and then I heard this woman's cry for help. I went down there and saw the thief running away with her purse. I acted quickly and knock him down and returned the purse to her. Finally, I waited until the cops arrived."

"Oh, that sounds amazing," Clark said, giving her a shy smile. There was a hint of uncomfortableness in his voice.

"It was. The happiness on that woman's face, one less bad guy in the streets. It may sound cliché, but it really felt like I made the difference."

Clark only nodded. He was happy for Lois, he really was. But he couldn't shake off the thought bothering him in the back of his mind.

-º-

In the evening of the next day, Lois arrived at the farm. She spotted Martha in the kitchen. "Hey, Mrs. K," she greeted with a smile.

Martha smiled back. "Lois! Hi. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Is Clark here?"

"Um, he told me he had work to do in the field near the woods."

"I'll look for him. Thanks."

Lois went to look for Clark. After a few minutes, she found him. She watched from afar curious as he was standing still in the middle of the field, eyes closed. He was taking deep and long breaths.

Surprise hit Lois when Clark started to hover. The act, however, didn't last long, Clark was back on the ground. He opened his eyes, frustation evident on his face.

Clark positioned himself to start trying again, but he then saw Lois. He gulped. "Lois?"

Lois moved closer. "Y-you were flying?" She asked, confused.

He looked down, avoiding her eyes. "Hovering, actually. I can go a little higher than that, but that is it."

"Was it the first time?"

"No."

Realization dawned on her. "How long have you been practicing?"

He looked at her. "Since when you and I agree we'd not let this interfere in our relationship."

"Why didn't you tell me? I could've help you."

"Because I want to do it on my own. You did it, Raya did it. I should do it, too."

"Not that I don't see your point, but there's no shame in getting help. You helped me and it was great."

Clark shook his head. "It was different. You had just learned your powers..."

"And you're learning to fly now." Lois grabbed him by the jacket. "Let me help you. Please."

He averted his eyes. "I can't."

Lois shook her head in disbelief. "So much for working together." She pulled away and started to walk away.

Clark watched as she started to leave. He sighed. "Lois." She turned around. "I'm sorry. Would you help me?"

She smiled, nodding her head.

Several minutes later, Clark and Lois were up in the air. "Since the taking breaths didn't work, let's try something else."

Clark raised an eyebrow at her. "Which is?"

"I'll drop you from up here."

Clark gave a little laugh. "You're crazy."

Lois made a face that showed she was being serious. "You won't get hurt, Smallville. It's worth a shot."

He nodded, uncertain.

"Ready?"

Clark looked down and gulped. Lois then dropped him.

"Don't let your fears come through, focus only on your task," she yelled.

Clark kept his eyes open, watching himself passing through the clouds in his way. The muscles of his face flexing as he tried to stop his fall. But as he got closer to the ground, he became nervous and only managed to fall onto his feet, creating a small crater in the ground.

Lois approached him, still hovering in the air. "One more time?"

"No," he said, defeated. "It won't work."

"You just tried it once."

"And it didn't work."

Lois rolled her eyes. "You complained about me, but you're an even worse pupil."

Clark crossed his arms, his eyes bored. "Did I nickname you yet?"

"You do that and no nookie for a week," Lois replied, unimpressed.

Clark's lips curled into a smile. "Is that a promise or a threat, Ms. Lane?"

She stopped flying and moved closer to her boyfriend. "I tell you what, you catch me and then we decide what this is." She started to step back, a seductive smile on her lips.

Clark stepped forward, following her steps. "I thought you were helping me with the flying."

"I am." Lois gave him a wink before starting to fly away.

But to Lois's surprise, Clark super jumped at her direction and caught her, making both of them land on the ground. "What are you doing? You were supposed to fly!" Lois said.

They were both lying on the ground, Clark on top of her. "I was supposed to catch you and I did," he told her, calmly.

Lois pushed him off her and got up. "You're avoiding it."

Clark sat up. "What you want me to do? For weeks I've been here and tried to learn to fly and nothing. I tried everything and still nothing. Maybe I'm just not ready to," he said, frustrated.

"So you're just gonna give up?"

"No, I'll just wait for the right time."

Lois started to get annoyed. "So it'll be fine if I start to fly around you all the time, right?" She hovered over him.

"I love you, Lois. I'm happy with everything you accomplishes."

She gritted her teeth. "What if I start to be your personal wings?" She then grabbed him and flew them up.

"I..." Clark looked down and around. "I-I'll eventually get used to it."

Lois shook her head and flew them higher and higher. Clark frowned. "What are you doing?"

She kept quiet, still flying them toward the outer space.

"Lois? Lois?"

They entered the space. "Damn, Lois, answer me!" His voice only reaching her ears through the super hearing powers.

She let go of him once they were in deep space. "If you want to come back home, you'll have to learn to fly."

Clark angered. "Are you out of your mind?"

"You said you tried everything, but that's not true. There's one thing left. Urgency. That's how I got mine."

"That's not how it works. Raya didn't need it."

"Raya had been a kryptonian way longer than you and I, Clark. She didn't deal with the conflict of trying to be both kryptonian and human or to accept who we are. We're both grounded people, and that's a good thing, but it's also our biggest obstacle to overcome."

Clark tried to stay in a stand position, in vain.

"I won't be far away. Just remember, it is in you." She then flew away.

"Lois! Lois!" Clark called, in vain. He tried to use all of his strenght to gain control over his own body, but kept failing.

From afar, Lois watched Clark wandering in space. She was doing this for him, but part of her wonder if she went too far. And this regret increased each time he was pushed further away from Earth.

Clark was angry at Lois. It was irresponsable of her to leave him here, no matter how good her intentions were. He looked around, Earth seemed so small from where he was. He saw the outer space once, but never reached this far into it. Never could.

He wondered if Lois came here before. He then realized he'd been avoiding to talk about her flights for so long that he barely knew this new part of her life. How calming this is, the places she had been. He knew nothing of it. And she must have noticed that.

Shortsighted.

He had it all, what was stopping him, then? He once was afraid of heights, but it was such a long time ago and so much have changed in his life, including that. Was is it the Kal-El part? Raya and Lois helped him to accept this as an important part of him.

What was it, then?

He looked at Earth again. So far away. So tiny. Still his home. Family, friends, Lois. He could never leave it, never want to. He could reach the stars, but would never forget his roots.

In that moment, Clark understood Jor-El's words.

Save Earth.

Save his home.

Clark closed his fists, his body suddenly stopped being moved around. The vacuum of the space had the quietness he needed, but it also had the beating heart that so much inspires him.

He smiled one last time before finally taking flight. A huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He flew towards a heart that beats faster by the second. He could feel she was smiling, proud of him.

Clark finally spotted his lover, gazing into her lovely eyes. A sunshine for his.

"You made it!" She yelled in the soundless space.

He approached her. "I did. Thanks to you."

Lois shook her head. "It's all you, Smallville."

They kept smiling and gazing at each other.

Lois cleared her throat. "So... What's next in store for us?"