Sorry about the delay. Life and stuff.
She noticed a cloud out of the corner of her eye that quickly passed and descended. What do you mean went down? She looked around them and held Clark tightly. Metropolis was far below them. "Smallville?"
"Yes?"
"I don't want to scare you but... we're flying!"
"Actually, I'm flying, you're just joining for the ride." She looked back at him. He smiled at something he saw in her eyes and Lois looked around again.
Moments later, holding the hand that was holding her Lois turned so her back was to him and then fully trusting that he was holding her spread her arms out to her sides like an airplane. Clark laughed and flew faster. The clouds passed under them. Clark spun around in the air with his back to the ground. He didn't have to look at her face to know that she had a huge smile on her face.
"Do your legs still hurt?" he whispered in her ear. She shook her head refusing to ruin the moment with words.
They flew like that for a long time, Clark getting bolder and bolder, making Lois smile and her eyes sparkle like he'd never seen her. As the sun began to set, he descended over the fields of Smallville until he reached the farm. He landed gently in the farmyard. She clung to him.
"Why did we land?" She sounded like a little girl who wasn't happy that the roller coaster ride was over. He brushed her hair away from her face.
"I said I wanted to show you something."
"You mean there's more?" She opened big eyes full of curiosity and excitement.
"There's a lot more. I'm having a hard time choosing where to start."
"Well, there's the beginning."
"There are many beginnings." She hesitated for a moment. It was Clark but her journalistic sense was starting to tickle, not that she would ever write about it or tell anyone about it but he really seemed to be struggling to get started and if it would help…
"When did you start flying?"
"About four years ago."
"It has to do with your disappearances." He hugged her and took a breath. Her hands were on his chest, and she could feel how stressed he was.
"I'm not from Kansas..." She held back from responding but a mischievous smile crossed her face, he replied with his own. "I'm not from Earth either."
"How? What?"
"Or from the Milky Way galaxy." He took a breath. "You can say that I am proof that there is intelligent life outside the Earth." Oh! He's not… He can't be… "I'm an alien. Although I'd rather be called an intergalactic traveller."
"You're not an alien!" she said firmly. He looked at her surprised. "You're Smallville!"
"Still?"
"Always!" She hugged him. "How can you be anything else?"
"Not everyone will see it like you do."
"Well, I'm unique." He smiled, "One in a billion!"
"You won't hear me argue."
"So, you came from... where exactly?"
"A planet called Krypton. It was destroyed, it's not there anymore. My parents, my biological parents put me as a baby in a small spaceship at the very last minute and sent me to Smallville."
"And the Kents found you."
"Only I didn't get here alone." She looked at him questioningly. "All the meteors in the two meteor showers are parts of Krypton. We call it kryptonite. The green weakens me and could kill me."
"So, growing up in Smallville must have been a fun life!" He smiled but her face filled with worry. "I'm not leaving you here! You'll sleep in my apartment." She won't let him stay in this poisoned place for even one moment. "Let's go back to Metropolis now!" He kissed her still smiling.
"I grew up on this farm and here I am standing here in front of you safe and sound. It's okay, I'm okay." She still looked worried. "Let's go up to the loft, okay? It's getting cold and this conversation has only just begun."
"Ok." He grabbed her hand and pulled her after him. They sat down on the red couch and Clark smiled.
"Remember the last time we sat here?"
"After your first drunken night?"
"Yeah, I don't get drunk. My body breaks down alcohol too quickly. I don't even feel the initial buzz. The martini we drank had kryptonite."
"But..."
"Blue kryptonite. Blue kryptonite neutralizes my powers, and I can get drunk and get tattoos and get a headache like any normal person."
"Oh, Clark, I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"Hey, that was fun. After a pretty crappy year I forgot all my troubles for one night and really had a good time with you. The tattoo went away when my strength came back and in general it could have been a lot worse. Luckily you were there to protect me."
"I made you drunk in the first place!"
"And for a whole night you were there and kept me from getting into even bigger trouble." He touched his temple. "Believe me, I remember everything."
"Oh?" She pushed him onto the sofa and laid on top of him.
"Don't start." he said with a smile.
"Oh, come on. I won't even be mad if you call me Fudge again." she kissed him. His eyes closed, enjoying every touch with her.
"Lois..."
"Come on. We can recreate that picture." He chuckled.
"Not yet."
"Come on! I'm starting to understand why I handcuffed you!" He kissed her sullen face.
"I want you to know everything before we get there."
"What else is there to know? You fly and are allergic to green stones."
"And shoots fire from my eyes, can freeze with my breath, sees all spectrums of light, can hear mom drinking coffee right now in Washington and your heart beating, faster than a bullet and stronger than ten men. Much stronger, in fact." She looked at him with big eyes. He looked at her worriedly. A moment later her eyes narrowed.
"The flying barn door is that you?"
"Oh, yes?"
"And Green Arrow saves me in the alley when we tried to expose him..." He swallowed apprehensively.
"Me too."
"That means you two worked against me! And that you know Oliver is…" Clark nodded. Lois quickly got up from him and walked angrily to the other side of the loft, as far away from him as possible. Clark sat down on the couch.
"I told him he had to tell you, several times, he was afraid of losing you. I didn't want you to get hurt. You just hinted that you knew Green Arrow's identity and got kidnapped and almost killed!"
"You're one of those heroes of his! What did Watchtower do? Send you to spy on me?" Clark looked at her in shock. He expected her to be angry, but he didn't expect her to jump to that conclusion. "I can't believe I let you into my apartment! I'm such an idiot! It was all one big show to get me to trust you!" She couldn't look at him. She hurried towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"To find kryptonite!"
"There's one in the left drawer." She froze in place and turned to him. He didn't move from where she left him. "We always kept one on the farm just in case."
She wanted to know what kind of emergency would cause Martha Kent to keep close at hand the one thing that would kill her son but more than anything she wanted to know why he was telling her this. She went to the drawer and saw a lead box inside. She didn't open it. She turned to him. His gaze went from her hands to her eyes.
"I don't work with Watchtower, but I am here because of her. Because of you, actually."
"To silence me for good?"
"No. The first part of my training ended a year ago and since then I've been touring the world." She looked at him hurt. "I didn't talk to anyone, Lois. Not even Mom. The patrols were the last part of my training, to get to know the world I live in, the world I've sworn to protect. Only it didn't go exactly according to plan. I kept running into heroes that the difference between them and the criminals they were chasing after was so little that I preferred not to be noticed. At some point I couldn't watch everything from the side anymore and then I met some heroes who understood the meaning of being a hero."
"And you couldn't tell me?"
"Looks like you're out of business and things are coming to a head and I wanted you as far away from the fallout as possible and then you crushed Lex's computer and that was no longer an option. You got closer to the Watchtower than any of us, so I was called back to watch over you, protect you. And since I decided back to the world, we decided to combine it together. But I didn't find you on the Planet, I started looking everywhere until I got to the Atlantis club."
"So, you're not with Watchtower?"
"I know who she is, and I went to talk to her in the morning, but she refused to help. She is responsible for Lex firing you. She made him think your story was about Luthorcorp and not Watchtower."
"But..."
"She replaced the article you sent Lex."
"How do you know all this?"
"One of the people I work with is really good at things like this. If she's a first year in computer science, he's Bill Gates and Steve Jobs combined." And richer than both put together, Clark thought. She opened her mouth to ask. "I can't tell you, Lois. It's not my secret and right now the safest thing for everyone is for my people to stay out of the picture completely."
"So, Watchtower wouldn't know they existed."
"Exactly." She sat down next to him on the couch. "Originally I was supposed to come back in the next two months, start working as a freelance journalist, get accepted to the Planet after a certain event I can't talk about and try to do a better job than Green Arrow in protecting Metropolis."
"Would you reveal who you are?"
"No, with a double identity. Clark Kent is a silent, mild manners journalist and... a superhero. That's, um, why I brought you here. I wanted to show you the uniform. It's in the box." She didn't get up and he didn't dare touch her, fearing she would run away again.
"Lana knew?" She said very quietly, not looking at him.
"She found out on her own and Chloe knows too." She looked at him, the hurt look returning to her eyes. "I've never told anyone willingly without threats, Lois. You're the first. The first person I told was my best friend, Pete. He found the spaceship and I knew if I didn't tell him I'd lose him as a friend and then he left because the secret was too much for him to bear and I had no intention of forcing anyone to carry that secret. Alicia found out because she was Alicia and then she told Chloe."
"In high school, before Alicia died?" He nodded quietly.
"Lana suspected for a long time until on her wedding day she set a trap for me and saw me using powers. I told her I was an alien right before she staged her death, I was afraid of losing her." He touched the ends of an unruly hair that fell on her face as if he feared it would shatter into pieces. "I don't want to lose you, Lois. From the first moment you filled a huge hole in my life that was always cold when you weren't around. I didn't even realize it before I left. I told you considering I might lose you because of it but I don't want to lie to you anymore. I didn't want to start with a lie." She didn't answer and he put his hand on his leg. "Okay. I don't blame you." He got up. "I'll go into the house and call to order you a taxi." He went down the stairs and out of the barn, his heart breaking within him.
Lois continued to sit like that for a while and then went over to the large box that served as a table. She opened it and found a large box inside, inside was a blue suit with a big red S on a yellow background on the front and a rich red robe made of a fabric she didn't recognize. There were also red boots inside. She caressed the S that protruded above the fabric and thought of Clark wearing it.
From the moment he returned he felt different to her, more mature, more confident but it was more than that. From the first moment they met he was a piece of mystery mostly shrouded in nothing and with an inability to lie convincingly, no poker face. This time he felt real and honest, at least near her. He didn't tell everything and in fact, he was more silent than talking most of the time but everything that came out of his mouth rang as the truth.
How well does she really know him?
But to tell the truth he wasn't the problem; she didn't trust herself. The last few days made her question her judgment. Can she trust Clark? He and Oliver collaborated at some point; he admitted it himself. On the other hand, he did his best to tell her everything. He revealed his biggest secrets to her, and everything told her to trust him but the last few weeks rocked her world and the way she saw herself. The people she trusted the most betrayed her. She didn't trust her instincts like she used to. She brought the suit closer to her and smelled the fabric. The suit had a clean smell.
Clark lied to her for years, hiding such a big secret. She opened her eyes. He trusted her, her ability to carry this secret, by not telling anyone about it. He trusted her judgement, her instincts. Lois grabs her suit and boots and runs up the stairs and into the farmhouse.
"Smallville!" She looked at him panting. He was with his back to her just hanging up the phone, his shoulders hunched.
"The cab will be here in fifteen minutes."
"I'm not going back to Metropolis without you." He slowly turned to her, his face full of hope. "I... I suspected that Chloe was a Watchtower ever since I discovered her existence and I felt sure that it was Chloe, who is more reliable than her? Who knew how to help people better than her?" She tightened her grip on the suit. "Chloe was the one who bought the laptop for me and every time I had a computer problem at the Planet, she helped me solve it. Always ready to jump in to help her cousin. Then Lex fired me, and she didn't answer the phone. Her secretary told me she was busy and when I got to the Isis Foundation, she kept me waiting in the waiting room. I was kicked off the island and I didn't even know I was in the competition. Then you came and... it's Chloe, Clark, and my whole world turned upside down. I don't know who to trust, I don't even trust my instincts anymore." She looked up and met his eyes. "But you trust me, my judgment, my instincts and no matter how many secrets you hide, you always accepted me as I am and if you..."
"Lois, you'll be risking my identity when pigs learn to fly, and I'm not talking about Kryptonian pigs." He smiled at her, and she managed to smile back. "I don't know what Chloe thinks but she's wrong about you and if she kicked you off the island." He shrugged, "Her loss." Lois ran to him and hugged him. He hugged her back.
"How do you always know what to say?" She dug into him, and he kissed her head.