Chapter 10 [That Evening]
Clark stood in the Loft looking out over the cornfields again. While he had flown over them many times of course coming in and out of Metropolis during the last few years, he 'd rarely taken the time to simply look down much less see what was going on in them.
Other priorities had concerned him….
The next major battle with a super villain….
The next deadline at the Daily Planet….
Lois' priorities and the next star in the sky so to speak….
He sighed and gulped from his coffee. "I've really been missing out on the small things." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and paced about his childhood/teenage haunt. The oak planks creaked under his work boots but held up. The old couch still welcomed him with comfort as he sank into the cushions. Overhead he heard the birds cooing in the rafters. "Almost like I never left," he marveled.
Closing his eyes he reclined back into the cushion farther. He perked his ears and listened…
…no really listened….Kryptonian listened….
Through the night air, an antique truck puttered down the road by the farm's entrance.
KHDR out of Granville spun its oldies shows out over the airwaves much as it had for the last three quarters of a century.
From Crater Lake, he heard two splash downs into the wet surface followed by other romantic sounds….
He smiled warmly to himself while recalling when Lana and he had been drawn into Sarah Conroy's dreamscape. His heart warmed with the simplicity of a desired skinny dip with the brunette ex-cheerleader/then-girlfriend. If only we could just take off there now and leave the world behind. If only we could leave the pain and cancer in a box too…. He sighed.
Such thoughts, as much as we wish for them, Kal-El, are hopelessly naïve, a familiar voice echoed back to him from the building itself, it seemed.
Not having heard the voice since the last encounter in the Arctic eight years earlier, he sat up on the couch. He listened more curiously than ever. Jor-El?
Yes, my Son. It is my voice. For long have I watched you unbalance yourself. We should discuss matters of great import, Jor-El advised telepathically. Your disguise as a mortal consumes you as I feared it would. The Lane mortal has fallen to her own vices and pride like most of her kind. While I admire your crusade to protect them, Kal-El, it is time for you to lead them to a better society.
I can't force them, Jor-El. I'm sorry. Clark felt a pang of sadness stabbing at his heart. He thought that he'd worked out an entente with his father on the day of the latter's blessing a decade earlier. He hoped that peace had been established. They have their own wishes and dreams.
So did we on Krypton, Kal-El. We destroyed ourselves. So shall they if they are not held in check, Jor-El argued. As has Louise's descendant. Yes, I know Lana Lang has returned from her quest to deal with the disease consuming her. She sought that same power. Like the human character of Icarus, she flew too closely to your yellow sun and damaged herself. She falls toward her inevitable demise.
Clark burned with indignation and rage at that assessment. "That happened because she stopped a madman! She absorbed Kryptonite to SAVE ME AND OTHERS! If anyone messed with the natural order, IT WAS LEX NOT HER! SHE PUT THE SUIT ON TO KEEP IT FROM HIM!"
Oh how human you have become, my Son. DO NOT speak with such anger to me! I told you what being with the mortals would do to you. I allowed you to be with the other mortal to please your mother. And now you are so lost, you would fall back into THAT ONE'S arms? Kal-El, she is human and mortal. Even by their standards, her time will run out all too quickly. Jor-El seethed.
Clark paced while trying to force his anger down unsuccessfully. "So you won't help her then?"
Help her? My Son, it is too late for her. You three repeated history. You desire a woman of another world despite your duty. She dared to climb higher than her station. She bonded with the contraption to be at your side. Lachlan's descendant has effectively killed her to gain revenge on you both. The Earth woman cannot be helped now. If you both had come to me before you faced Alexander Luthor, I might have raised her to full Kryptonian status. Alas now I cannot. The growths throughout her body would instantly kill her. I am sorry, Kal-El. I sought to protect you for my own heartache. Your insistence to love Lana Lang as a human has caused our family tragedy to repeat itself. There is nothing I can do. Nor is there anything you can do.
Clark ground his teeth. "You don't talk to me for years. Now you come back to berate me and deny me AGAIN?"
You haven't LISTENED for years to me! If only you'd finished your education! You should act like a KRYPTONIAN! Let Martha Kent and Chloe Sullivan tend to Lana Lang in her final days. You have bigger duties than tending to a broken mortal whose purpose is already served!
"No! I'm not leaving her! What else is out there? How are you SO cold? Dad was right. You are a monster!" Clark spat in anger.
So be it. Jor-El's voice went silent for a minute before continuing. If you think me so, I will not speak to you again. You have so much potential, my Son. I wish you would overcome these disgusting human emotions and be the Kryptonian you were meant to be. Farewell, Kal-El. You will not hear from me again. With that he went quiet.
Clark threw himself down on the couch in disgust. As Jor-El had overstated, his emotions ran amok with his head and heart. "How can he say that? HOW?" Secure that his sanctuary shut everything and everyone else out, he broke down into a crying fit….
….his chances at love were being snatched away left and right….
He couldn't believe that he'd allowed Lois to sweep him off of his feet as she had. The times after Lana's traumatic departure had left him vulnerable. He still had the Planet, Tess, Doomsday among other things still out there. He was at Oliver's throat for killing Lex (supposedly).
And conveniently Lois was there to sweep him off of his feet…
It almost seemed like one of those cheap scripts you'd see on television if it weren't true….
What a joke! He rubbed his eyes in consternation and shut everything else out. He didn't care about the circumstances. He didn't care if the animals heard. He needed to let out his emotions.
He didn't hear the halting footfalls coming up the stairs in cadence with the tapping of something hard on each step.
He didn't smell the cocoa approaching.
Nothing fazed him…until a gentle hand brushed across his shoulder. He jumped…
….and literally almost put a hole in the roof before coming back down….
"What's wrong, Clark?" Lana wondered while setting a mug of cocoa down on the old table in front of him. "Is it still about Lois? I never got to say I'm sorry about that. That's why I stayed away. I never wanted to come between you two."
"I know. You were looking out for my happiness. It's okay. I appreciate it." He hugged her shoulders and drew her close. "I just wish that it hadn't come to that. Jor-El might have done something if we'd…."
"Wait. Jor-El might've done what? Clark, we're going to go and see him. You didn't use the key, did you? We agreed to talk to him together," she reminded him.
He put his hands up defensively. "I didn't seek him out, Lana. He spoke to me telepathically like in high school. And well….there's not going to be any visit."
"He can help us through the Caves? Clark, that would be awesome! We can go and be back…" She noticed his grim countenance. "But." She stared incredulously at him. "He doesn't want to help me, does he?"
"He can't. He claims that your tumors are beyond treatment. If he makes you a Kryptonian like he tried to with Dad and did with Kara, the kryptonite in the tumors would kill you instantly. I can't believe him! He wants me to…to…." He sprung off the couch and started pacing across the boards.
She tried to wrap her head around that notion. A being of tremendous knowledge claiming that there was nothing out there that could excise her tumors across the entire damn universe. But worse still she smelled the smoldering of something else under the surface. Despite her instincts telling her she wouldn't want to hear it, she pressed on, "There's something else, isn't there? Clark?"
He wanted to keep it from her. Really. He could feel those expectant eyes boring into the back of his head. "Yeah. He told me that you were a broken mortal. I'm wasting my time nursemaiding you when I have bigger responsibilities. He thinks I should just dump you on Mom and Chloe and just get back to Metropolis. Really great, isn't it?"
She gulped at the coldhearted logic. She recalled how Jor-El had toyed with Clark to get his aims accomplished when they were all at SRHS. "He really said that?"
"He did."
She felt her eyes tearing up; the balloon of hope being popped right under herself. "And?"
He gulped at his cocoa trying to stop his mouth before anything else came out.
"Clark…what else did he say?"
He shuddered. "Lana, I don't want…"
"It's okay, Clark. I know you want me around. You wouldn't be reacting like this if you didn't still care about me," she assured him. She slid in front of him. "Now what else did he say about us?"
He gulped while forcing himself to effort the words past his leaden lips. "He…he said…that we defied his warnings and repeated history. Just like with Louise, him and Lachlan, we and Lex did it to ourselves. This is just so stupid! I…."
"So he's decided no. Fine," she affirmed.
"Fine?" He stared at her incredulously.
"Fine." She set her jaw as Pain's dagger shot up her leg. "I'm used to doctors saying no to me, Clark. I can deal with your father doing the same. I'm going to make the rest of my time count."
"And I'll do my best to make sure it does," he affirmed. He locked eyes with hers and moved closer.
"I've always loved you, Clark Kent," she declared. She leaned close to him allowing her lips to settle firmly on his.
Despite the suddenness of the whole thing, he didn't fight it. Rather he returned the gesture. It felt natural for them to be embracing each other….
…for their hearts to be in concert with each other….
….for the energy to spark between them like that….
For two long minutes, they continued the kiss allowing the energies to soak through them…to reestablish that sympatico link.
"It's going to be okay, Clark," she assured him with surprising strength after they came up for air. She drew him back onto the couch. "Let's just watch the stars and be with each other. I've had money and everything else. Now, at the end, I have a good home again with your Mom, Chloe and you. You, my Plaid Prince, the man I've always wanted. I'm content." She snuggled against him.
He sipped his cocoa and glanced into her eyes. He felt excited beyond anything to have her like this again. He still thought life was unfair however.
Still he wasn't going to shake the moment.
And so it went for the two lovers as the clock ticked down…..