"Did you get there alright?" Martha asked Evelyn as she walked back into the café. Evelyn nodded and went to pick up her apron, throwing it back over her head and quickly tying it behind her waist in one motion.

"Yeah. He nearly got in trouble with his boss though," she let out a little chuckle. Martha frowned as Evelyn started up the Espresso machine and hummed a little tune to herself.

"What did his boss say?" Evelyn looked up at her and felt her cheeks tinge a light pink.

"Her boss thought he was on a date," she admitted, diverting her eyes back to the coffee machine in front of her.

"A date?" Martha laughed as she crossed her arms, leaning against the other side of the bar. Evelyn nodded and gave a little amused giggle back. There was no denying that Clark was beautifully sculpted but…that was all. His personality wasn't altogether there yet because he seemed so shy, and she didn't expect to see him again anytime soon. She really wasn't interested. There were other things that she had to sort out within herself before she could be in a relationship of any sort.

Still, deep down, she knew that if the opportunity to date him was right there in front of her - she wouldn't exactly decline.

"Well, you two would make an adorable couple," Martha quietly pointed out with a small smile. Evelyn dropped the coffee mug she was holding so that it bounced into the sink as soon as the words left Martha's mouth.

"Martha, you're not about to set me up with your son," Evelyn drawled whilst picking up the mug and going back to making the coffee. "You cannot. I won't let you in fact." Martha laughed again as she picked up the dishcloth from next to the sink and started wiping down the surfaces.

"I can't help what Clark feels," she hummed innocently. Evelyn rolled her eyes and shook her head, knowing that Martha was just teasing her at this point.

"Well would you look at that, my shift is done!" she giggled at Martha's cheeky smile. "But, I will leave you with the idea of your son and I getting married!" Martha picked up a moist chocolate chip muffin from behind the cake stand next to her and chucked it over.

"Oh, I can imagine the grandchildren already," she grinned as she watched Evelyn catch the muffin, take off her apron and grab her leather bag and raincoat with dancing eyes.

"Keep imagining. Not gonna happen. Goodbye Martha," Evelyn laughed before sweeping out of the dimly lit shop.

…

Evelyn opened the door to her studio apartment with a yawn and waited for her cat to walk over to her, which he did. "Hey Bruce," she cooed at her beautiful Siamese cat. Bruce stretched his back before casually lying down in front of her as a hello. Evelyn smiled at him and carefully stepped over so that she could get past. She whistled another tune as she walked over to the kitchen to turn on the kettle, and flicked the television on so that she could have some noise in the background. She wasn't expecting it to be the news, and it put her off slightly. Of course the news anchors were addressing the recent tragedy to hit Metropolis, with the gravest looks on their faces. Evelyn knew she should've turned it over but found that she couldn't, as much as she tried to.

"And the death toll for the Metropolis Incident has officially hit two hundred and sixty, with an unconfirmed number still critically ill," the reporter informed. Evelyn felt her heart plummet. The walls were getting too small all of a sudden and she heard a white noise ringing in her ears. She distantly heard her breathing hitch in her throat and found that her hand, which was on the handle of the now boiled kettle, was shaking involuntarily. Deep breaths, deep breaths, but it wasn't working. It, wasn't, working. Then she remembered the lasers. She saw the red lasers. Flaming hot. They nearly hurt her, they nearly killed her, they-

Evelyn scared herself as she let out a piercing scream and felt something scalding hot slap onto her wrist. Her eyes shot to where the pain hit her the most and she gasped sharply. Her skin was raw red and looked like it was bubbling and blistering up, leaving Evelyn to stagger back in complete shock. She was too stunned to realise what had happened and it left her in a state of total confusion. Trying to make sense of it all, Evelyn glanced at her right hand and saw the kettle still there, with hot water sloshed over the side. Then, she realised – she was shaking so much during her panic attack that she had accidentally burnt herself with boiling hot water.

Then, the pain really kicked in.

…

"Evelyn," her best friend Lily panted once she had skidded across the polished hospital floor to where Evelyn was getting bandaged up by her mother. She looked up with a small forced smile before looking back down at the floor.

"What are you doing here?" she hummed casually.

"I called her, Ev," Katherine told her before Lily could even think about answering. Evelyn rolled her eyes and said nothing whilst Lily took a closer look at the blistering burn that her mother was tending to, which was now covered in a cooling gel.

"How did you do this? That looks awful," she breathed, placing a hand over her mouth.

"It is. She burnt her wrist, she's lucky to only have what she has," Katherine told Lily as if Evelyn wasn't sitting right in front of her.

"How did she do it?" Lily frowned back.

"Oh I am sitting RIGHT HERE," Evelyn snapped.

"Well tell us how you did it then!" Lily exclaimed, slamming herself down into the armchair in the corner of the room. Katherine looked up as she finished dressing the burn, also interested in what the reason was since Evelyn refused to tell her.

"It was just an accident," Evelyn shrugged them both off as she stood up and grabbed her coat. "Thanks ma." She really didn't want everyone making a fuss over something that she knew was her fault. If she told them how it happened, they would try and get her help and she didn't want that.

"No, I'm concerned Evelyn," Katherine cut her off abruptly. "You come to me in floods of tears, having a panic attack with a huge burn on your wrist. You can't pretend that you're okay." Lily raised her eyebrows when the words 'panic attack'' left Katherine's mouth.

"You're still having panic attacks?" Lily hissed, not very discretely. Evelyn groaned and Katherine's eyes narrowed.

"Still?" she repeated. "Why still? When did you start having panic attacks?"

"After that flying FREAK caused all of that stuff to happen downtown," Lily explained to Evelyn's mother under her breath. "She says she can see the red lasers and-"

"ALRIGHT, I'm leaving. I don't have time for this. Thanks again ma, I gotta go and get some sleep, been a long day!" Evelyn trilled, already letting herself out of the hospital doors so that the girls couldn't say anything else. Before she knew it, she was outside in the rain with an aching arm and an uncomfortable disposition. She panted as she grabbed her arm and bit down on her lip at the constant pain. Whoever the flying man was and whatever he wanted it didn't matter…she never, ever wanted to see him again.

But she found herself daydreaming about Clark, as much as she thought she wouldn't. She definitely wanted to see him again.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you guys see where I'm going with the Clark/Superman/Evelyn storyline. I love writing about Evelyn, she's one of my favourite characters that I've ever written about in any of my stories by far! Let me know how you found this