'Good morning, chief,' Lois entered the police station, as she had done every first Monday of the month for the last five and a half years.
'Good morning, ma'am,' the chief greeted her and went back to his work. Lois scanned the three boards, searching for the one face she had not seen in real life. She knew the face by heart. Full, red cheeks. Fierce blue eyes. Small nose and always a smile on her face. Always that smile, which gave her those small dimples in her cheek. She checked every photo, every sketch, but as always the face she was looking for was absent. With a sigh Lois stepped back.
'With all due respect, ma'am,' the chief looked at Lois, 'sometimes the best thing is to let go.'
'Sometimes,' Lois said and turned around, 'But not always.'
'If you say so,' was the only reply she got.
'Good day, sir,' Lois greeted, she placed her hat on her head again and walked back to her car. Outside the police station she was greeted by a cold wind and snowflakes. For a moment she shivered and stood still. It was that moment that she suddenly saw a young woman walking on the other side of the street. Lois gasped as she saw the red cheeks beside the bouncing brown curls.
'Lilly,' she whispered. Quickly Lois started running and almost got hit by a car as she ran towards the girl, but did not care.
'Lilly!' Lois grabbed the girl's shoulders and pulled her over.
'Hey, what are you doing?' a confused face looked at Lois. Sure the girl looked like Lilly from the back, but from the front it was a complete stranger. And she had the same age when Lily left, but by now Lilly would probably be in her early twenties, not seventeen.
'I'm sorry,' Lois said and let go of the girl.
'Crazy woman,' the girl murmured and walked away. Lois sighed and watched the girl leave. Perhaps the chief had been right. Perhaps she had to let go.
After all these years they had not heard a word from Lilly. Not even Clark found or heard a thing of her. Because he had more things to do, he gave up his search. But every time he flew, his eyes were looking for those brown curls and blue eyes. John had felt so guilty he had faked the death of Powerman and now tried to live a normal constructors life. After a year Lois wanted to pick up her job again, but then realized she had kept working all along. That was the moment she fully understood the fury of Lilly. Even when her own daughter was missing, Lois kept working. All of the sudden Lois had packed her bags and left for a solo vacation, only to return two days later. She had already lost her daughter, to lose her husband and be confronted with herself by not working was too much. Right now they were doing fine, but it could still be awkward sometimes. They just had to learn to live with it. Every day again.
John looked around. He sighed as he wondered what he was doing here. Mila was a nice girl, she was alright. But she was just not he one for him. He had been going out with her for three months and since a week they had been living together. Mila was, for some reason unknown to John, desperate to be in a relationship. She would have let him move in after the second week they had been dating but John had been able to postpone it for a bit.
'…and ever since, that's why I always wear metallic blue eyeshadow, you know!' Mila babbled on and on as she made dinner.
'Hm,' John said and stood up to look out of the window. Sometimes that woman just seemed to scream for him to choke her to death. He was bored, so incredibly deeply and thoroughly bored. Would normal people feel like this every day of their lives? How did they even stay alive let alone feel useful? Yes, it had been his own decision to fake the death of Powerman. But he missed it. He missed the rush, the adrenaline. He was born for that. Both to fight for justice, like his father. Despite their differences in fighting.
'-ohn? Johnny?' Mila's voice breached his wall.
'What?' he turned around to find her sighing with a dramatic frown on her face. John rolled his eyes and looked her.
'Baby, where is your mind, huh? What's going on, baby?' She used the same voice she used for dogs and children and it upset him. His heartbeat fastened and his hands became fists.
'Baby?' Mila's voice went even higher as she frowned deeper and tried to look him in the eyes. 'Baby talk to me, come on.'
'Shut up, woman.' The grown came from deep within and for a moment, Mila took a step back.
'Come on, baby, don't be so upsetti!' She giggled that annoying giggle that hurt his ears.
'Mila.'
'Nahw, come on!' Mila reached out and touched him as he continued giggling. John did not even care anymore. He lashed out and she was finally quiet again, completely and fully still. Taking a deep breath, John knew he couldn't stay here. Maybe he shouldn't have done it, but he didn't care that much.
'Want some more lasagne, dear?' Lois asked that evening. Clark nodded and hander his plate.
'You know...' he began, but did not finish.
'What?' Lois said surprised.
'Do you hear that?' he listened again, 'Someone's coming with a crying baby.'
'Baby? Who could that be?'
'Stay here Lois,' with those words Clark walked to the front door. It was snowing heavily.
'Who goes there?' Clark yelled. Slowly a young woman in a black coat and blue jeans appeared. Under her coat, protected with her arms, laid the crying baby. When the woman was a few feet away she lifted her head and looked at Clark.
'My God,' he whispered. The woman kept walking until she stood only inches from the front door. She swallowed and looked at him with tired blue eyes. Her heatbeat was familiar.
'Lilly,' he whispered.