Lizzie turned over on the bed which she rested on, nestling her head further into the pillows. Clark had stood and watched her for a short while. He'd managed to get her back to New York in record time, wondering what she would think of him after he had done this. Clark had to go. He had a duty which needed to be fulfilled. She couldn't come with him. He couldn't let her risk everything for him. She needed to move on. She needed to realise that there was so much more to life than what she thought.
He'd kissed the top of her head gently as she slept on top of the duvet cover. He apartment was empty, James nowhere to be found. Clark swept her hair from her face, his hand lingering on her cheek for a moment before he left her.
...
She awoke to the sound of traffic bustling outside around her. She slowly opened her eyes to see the sights which sat around her. She was back in her bedroom in New York. She pressed a hand to her forehead, her eyes widening and then narrowing as she felt a headache come over her. She vaguely remembered how she had managed to get back home.
Clark.
He had taken her back to James, urging her not to throw him away. He loved her, and she needed someone like that. He'd told her to go to counselling.
She didn't honestly know what to think about his words. She thought that he had cared for her. She thought that maybe he was the one who she wanted. It had been years since she had felt like that. And then she saw him again and it all came back to the surface. How could she deny it?
"I brought you a glass of water and an aspirin."
Lizzie looked over to the doorway, her eyes falling on James as he stood there. He held the spoken of items in his hands. He wore his suit like normal. It looked like he was ready to go to work already.
"So I see," Lizzie nodded, moving on the bed to sit on the side of it.
"You came home last night. I was out...but...I know how you always got a headache after travelling. You never were any good at it," James recalled to her.
She blinked profusely, dropping her head into her hands as he sat beside her. He gently placed the glass and pills into her palm. She drained them quickly, remembering how he had looked after her during the honeymoon to California. She'd spent most of her travelling time complaining over her headache. But it wasn't brought on by travelling this time. It was induced by Clark.
"I...I didn't expect you back until tomorrow," James whispered to her. "I saw the thing on the news, of course. Hopefully this guy will turn himself in."
"Yeah," Lizzie agreed lamely. "Hopefully."
"Look...Lizzie...I need you to understand that...before you left...I should have stopped you from walking out." James told her, shaking his head back and forth, pulling at his tie.
Lizzie shook her head. She didn't need to listen to James try and guilt trip her.
"No, it doesn't matter-"
"-It does," he interjected. "I should have stopped you from walking out that door. I should have kept you here instead of watching you leave me for a few days. I love you, Lizzie. I love you with all my heart. We've been together over a decade. You can't tell me that you don't feel the same. Don't tell me that you want to give up on us...please...sweetheart...don't tell me that."
She closed her eyes, feeling her tears begin to well up. She placed the glass of water on the bedside table, watching as James grabbed hold of her hand. He looked down at her engagement ring and wedding ring.
"It has to mean something to you, Lizzie."
James wrapped his arm around her waist, daring to pull her closer to him. She kept quiet, her mind in a complete mess as she thought about what she should do. She did care for James. Of course she did. She'd been with him since university. She'd been with him for so long. How could she note love him in her own way? It just wasn't the way she wanted to love.
"I know the past few months have been hard, Lizzie," James whispered to her. "I know that they haven't been ideal. I could have been more attentive...I could have done more...you could have confided in me. You could have told me about your doubts. You're my wife. I don't want you to hide from me. We're not broken, Lizzie. We just need help. We need help to get us back on track."
James was pleading with her to do this. He was begging with her to make sure they had another shot at marriage. Lizzie didn't say anything as she stood up and moved into her wardrobe, looking for her uniform for work. She needed to get away from the apartment and do something.
"I'll think about it," Lizzie said weakly, her eyes focused on the clothes in her wardrobe. She couldn't look back at James without wanting to end up crying.
"Okay," James said back to her. "That's all I wanted, Lizzie."
"You should go to work," Lizzie replied. "I'm assuming the world doesn't stop because of an alien invasion."
"No," he replied. "I've had more appointments in the past night than I have in the past week."
"People need to talk about it," Lizzie declared, dragging the pink uniform out.
"You stay safe, okay?" James demanded her. "I'm sure we'll be safe against these aliens anyway. We have the best military known to man."
"Yeah, of course," Lizzie agreed weakly.
James moved across to her, hesitantly resting his hands on her shoulders and kissing her on her forehead. Lizzie inhaled sharply, her posture rigid as she did so.
"We'll work this out," James whispered. He sounded as if he was trying to convince himself instead of her. "We have to, don't we?"
"I don't know," Lizzie answered truthfully. "Anyway, you should go to work. I'll see you tonight."
"Ten years, Lizzie," James whispered. "You don't want to think of it as a waste. I know that I don't."
Lizzie watched as James turned on his heel and left her in the early morning. She changed her clothes before turning the news onto the TV. She looked at it as it covered the entire event which was unfolding. Apparently a man had been taken into questioning. Lizzie drank her coffee with haste, leaving her mug in the sink.
She reached for her shoes before she heard a familiar name.
"The Daily Planet's Lois Lane knows who this man is."
Lizzie looked at the screen with wide eyes, wondering how much Lois knew about Clark. He said that he trusted her. She wondered when the breaking news would come that it was Clark himself who had been taken into custody.
...
Clark walked down the hall, his mind completely in a whirl as he was led into an interrogation room. He kept telling himself that he had done the right thing. She was his best friend. She always had been. She deserved to be safe and happy. James could offer her that. Clark couldn't offer her any of it. He'd hurt enough in the past. He wouldn't do it anymore.
"They have you in handcuffs?"
Clark heard the door slam behind him as Lois sat at a steel table. Clark smirked at that, moving to sit on the other chair opposite her. He crossed his legs underneath the table, resting his hands on the table as he did so.
"Wouldn't be much of a surrender if they didn't," Clark shrugged nonchalantly. "Have they hurt you at all?"
Lois looked at Clark for another few moments, slightly shocked at the concern in his voice.
"No," she assured him.
"Besides, being handcuffed makes them feel more secure."
"What does the S stand for?" Lois suddenly asked him.
'You're Superman. Super...duper...Clark Kent.'
Clark did his best to push Lizzie's voice from his head, smirking as he thought of what she would say if she saw his suit. She'd definitely be naming him already. He was sure of it.
"It's not an S," Clark said. "On my world it means hope."
Lois arched a brow at him, pointing to his chest and shaking her head before sitting back in her seat. "Well, here, it means an S."
"I have an idea what it could mean," Clark whispered to her, looking down to the table and thinking about what she would be doing at that moment in time. He hoped that it would be fixing her marriage.
"What's that?" Lois wandered.
"Superman," Clark admitted ashamedly. "She used to call me it."
Lois arched a brow, crossing her own legs under the table as she watched Clark with intrigue for a few more moments.
"She?" Lois replied. "The girl in the graveyard."
"Yes," Clark said, not wanting to give her name away. He didn't need the FBI going after Lizzie. She had done nothing wrong. He didn't want her to play any part in what was going to happen. He knew that much.
"I'd heard of a girl," Lois admitted. "A girl who was your childhood friend. Apparently you two were very close."
"That would be the same girl," Clark admitted to her. "She's a good friend of mine."
"And does she know about you?"
"No," Clark instantly lied, protecting her to keep her safe.
Lois looked at him for another moment, noting the way his gaze avoided hers. She could tell he was lying. Years of interviewing people gave her an advantage over a lot of people. She could easily tell when someone was lying.
"She's married now," Lois tested the water.
She had done her research, but had never gotten round to find Elizabeth Lowe.
"She is," Clark agreed with her. "She's not a part of this. She never has been, and never will be. She was simply there for me when no one else was."
"I see," Lois was the one to speak.
Clark nodded curtly, indicating that the conversation had come to a close. Lizzie wasn't to be brought into any of this. Clark wouldn't allow for that to happen.
...
"Hey, sweetie, where's my apple pie?"
Lizzie winced as she felt a hand make contact with her backside. The pain stung as she walked off, refusing to move her hand to rub the affected area. She stood at the diner counter, ordering another apple pie before she went back to clean the table next door to the man who wanted the apple pie. She bent over and ran a cloth over it, groaning as he slapped her ass again.
"I don't see any apple pie." He commented.
"Look, asshole," Lizzie snapped. "It'll be coming in a moment."
He turned to look at his friend with a smirk on his face before he looked back to Lizzie. She slung the towel over her shoulder and dropped her hands to her hips.
"You've got a filthy mouth on you," he drawled. "I know how that could be put to good use."
"Dream on."
"Oh, I will."
She wandered back to the counter, shaking her head as she looked up to the TV in the corner. She had been checking the news all morning, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for Clark to be spotted.
"Ignore Bill."
She looked up to the woman who had spoken to her. Roberta had been working at the diner longer than Lizzie had been. She didn't know how long exactly. She was in her late fifties, trying to hold down a job to support her daughter who was a single mother. It seemed the diner was the place for down and outs. She placed the apple pie before Lizzie as she spoke.
"He's been coming here for years. You're just his latest victim, honey."
"Lucky me," Lizzie mumbled.
"Most of the others just ignore him...don't wind him up too much."
"Got it," Lizzie grunted before hearing the sound of breaking news enter her ears.
"This mysterious Kal-El character has been spotted travelling at this moment in time. Security is tight as they head for the top secret meeting location. The Daily Planet's Lois Lane is travelling with them. Rumour has it that she has been investigating this Kal-El character for months on end. Another rumour says that she is attached to him in some way. Who knows? Perhaps she could be the secret girlfriend to this man of mystery."
Lizzie shook her head as Roberta chuckled.
"An alien invasion threatens us," she spoke, "and all we can do is work and wait to see what happens."
"Do you think anything will happen?" Lizzie wondered from her. "Do you think the news is talking sense?"
"No idea, honey," Roberta said, beginning to clean out the coffee machine. "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we? There's no use hiding indoors until this clears."
"No," Lizzie mumbled in agreement. "I suppose not."
...
"I know that she knows," Lois whispered as she stood with Clark in the middle of the wasteland. She was stood opposite him, her face one of worry. "Lizzie Lowe. Your childhood sweetheart."
"She wasn't," Clark replied solemnly. "She was just a friend."
"Whitney Fordman seems to think differently. He told me the two of you were inseparable."
Clark shook his head, a dark chuckle eliciting his lips as he did so. "Whitney Fordman was a nasty piece of work. He tried to make my life hell. He beat Lizzie up when I left. She wouldn't admit the truth about me."
"He seemed like a nasty piece of work when I met him," she admitted to him. "Not someone who Superman would be around."
"No," Clark replied, looking to the sky, thinking about those days.
"You still love her, don't you?" Lois wondered from him. "You still want to be with her."
"I can't," Clark replied. "She's one of the few who know about me. She'd one of the few who have kept my secret, and I've hurt her so many times before. I've never been there for her before. She moved on."
"Do you wish she hadn't?" Lois asked.
"No," Clark spoke truthfully. "Everyone deserves a chance at happiness, don't they?"
"Even Superman," Lois said, reaching out to pick up Clark's hand.
He looked down as she held onto it tightly. His brows furrowed as she stared back at him, her eyes wide as she watched Clark look at her with confusion in his eyes. He said nothing for a few moments, choosing to remain silent before he whispered out his thanks.
"Thank you, Lois."
"What for?"
"Understanding," Clark spoke. "You didn't run the story."
"The world is full of decent people," Lois shrugged. "You weren't ready. I appreciate that. You're a good guy, Clark. You deserve more than this after everything that has happened to you."
Clark had never heard anyone speak to him like that before. The last time had come from Lizzie. He had no chance to reply to her as he heard a sound in the distance.
"They're coming," he declared. "You should go Lois."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," Clark assured her. "Go."
She did as Clark had said, rushing back to the barricades behind him. Clark turned around to face whatever was coming for him, knowing that this moment would change everything.
...
"And Lois Lane has been taken onboard of the spacecraft along with the mysterious Kal-El. We do not know anymore than that. Nothing has been spoken about General Zod or what he intends to do. We can only sit and hope that this is the end of the threat of attack. Kal-El has done what is required of him. Now, we can sit and wait, and hopefully rest easy."
Lizzie continued to watch the news as she dried off the mugs behind the counter. She waited patiently, time seeming to tick by slowly as she looked out the window to Metropolis. She worked in the lower area near NY of course, easy to get home to. She kept quiet for the rest of the day, the news becoming a murmur in the background as they replayed the same thing over and over again.
It wasn't until the evening almost stuck when she heard a loud booming sound. Roberta came out the back, the other waitresses also rushing to the window along with the customers. Lizzie dropped her towel onto the side, looking to Roberta as she shrugged.
"No idea, honey," she said, walking over to an empty gap by the window. Lizzie stood by her, looking over to the thing which towered above the skyline, engulfing everything in a large shadow.
"What the hell is that?" a man shouted out.
"It looks like a giant tripod," another one spoke.
Lizzie said nothing for a moment as the machine dominated the Metropolis skyline.
"It isn't good," Lizzie mumbled to Roberta.
"You can say that again, sweetheart."
"What should we do?" she whispered back as the thing continued to remain stationary. "Shouldn't we go?"
"I don't know," Roberta said. "How far can we go?"
Lizzie's eyes widened as a loud screech sounded trough the Metropolis. She covered her ears, watching as the thing began to move up to the skyline. But that wasn't the thing which scared her the most.
"Oh shit..." Roberta drawled.
They all stood and watched as buildings began to move up to the machine, floating in mid air. It wasn't just buildings. It was everything that could be found. Lizzie backed away from the window, screams echoing through her as everything collapsed back onto the ground, shaking it as it did so.
It was only then when she left the diner and ran as fast as she could.
...
A/N: Once again, thanks to everyone reviewing and do let me know what you think. More to come soon!