Clark opened his mouth and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Thank you…for inviting me to sit with you guys. I'm…I'm really sorry that the conversation got so heavy so quickly. I won't defend Superman again. That was totally unnecessary of me, especially given how I know The Incident effected you," Clark found himself apologising earnestly, maintaining Evelyn's eye contact as always. "I…can get ahead of myself sometimes."

Evelyn laughed lightly and simply ran her fingers through her curls. She wasn't expecting that. But the fact that he genuinely cared so much about stressing her out, albeit briefly, considering Superman was something that she insisted they continued talking about - it actually meant something to her.

"No, don't be silly," she assured him softly. "It was actually pretty interesting - and Lois has these kinda convos with me all the time. Plus, you don't know what actually happened to me during The Incident, so I didn't expect for you to protect me from lingering hurt."

"Yeah," Clark sighed fairly, leaning back in his chair again in what seemed like relief. "You don't have to tell me what happened, by the way. So don't feel like this is that kinda…segway."

Evelyn smirked at him and shrugged fairly.

"Maybe one day, I will," she contemplated lightly. "My mom thinks I should discuss it with more people to try to…process it."

"I mean…it's certainly an idea," Clark began to grimace uncomfortably - but soon realised he couldn't even keep it up.

How could he tell her to process the hurt that he was responsible for inflicting on her? He felt the guilt begin to swell till it was fit to bust in his veins, knowing that the root of her pain was sat opposite her, without her knowing a damn thing.

This wasn't fair on her, actually, and Clark knew that all too well. He couldn't look at her softly smiling face and he couldn't get lost in those beautiful, curious eyes, all whilst pretending what he was doing was right. He was aware that he had a very quickly developing crush on her from their small interactions this far, but it was so selfish of him to peruse.

It was-

"Clark," Evelyn found herself speaking slowly, craning her neck slightly. "You okay? You're kinda…just staring at me." Clark's eyes flew back to her again.

"I…uh. Yeah. Hey, Evelyn, I…" he murmured out awkwardly, glancing back to his hands in an attempt to pull himself together.

He tightened them into a fist and stretched them back out again, attempting to regulate his anxiety. Evelyn recognised it so well, because she did the same.

So she reached out and gently touched his hands, causing his eyes to fly back up to hers again. The feeling of her soft, almost homely skin against his was electric - he wasn't expecting it to feel so comfortable, so perfect, yet so exhilarating at the same time. In fact, the interaction alone made his heart skip a beat or two, and he selfishly dissolved every single concern he held about Evelyn finding out the truth from his mind.

"Clark?" Evelyn spoke again hesitantly. "Are you-"

"Did you…wanna go somewhere, sometime? With me? Well, o-obviously with me, I didn't mean…uh…" Clark suddenly blurted out awkwardly, as if he had no idea what he was saying and why.

As he attempted to gain composure, internally kicking himself, Evelyn's eyes went wide and her mind raced a thousand thoughts per second.

She told herself this wasn't going to happen, that she wasn't interested in pursuing anything romantic - unless the opportunity presented itself. She wanted to refuse, more than anything, but she couldn't. She was clearly attracted to him in all senses, and the fact that he floated into her mind at random points of the day just further proved the fact.

Whilst the thoughts were still running through her mind, Clark was just sat there, half severely regretting his suggestion, half anxious that she may just decline it anyway.

"You don't have to-"

"I would love to," Evelyn finally agreed quietly.

Admittedly, the way Clark's eyes immediately lit up made her heart melt.

"Really?!"

"Really," Evelyn smirked.

"Woah. I don't tend to do this much so…thats…" Clark trailed off, suddenly unable to stop himself from thinking about her and Superman all over again.

It was like a curse that just kept coming back - but he knew he had to pull it together.

"Honestly Evelyn, that's…"

"…fantastic?" Evelyn joked lightly, prodding his fist with her index finger playfully. Clark glanced back up at her and shot her a genuine smile, once again, those concerned thoughts almost disappearing into nothing.

"Fantastic, exactly," he chuckled. His heart was racing but he found himself unable to say anything else.

They'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

…

Evelyn found that she was so much happier the following week, when she'd finally decided to come back to work. Her nerves were still a little jittery from suffering two random panic attacks, but her heart was pretty much full regardless. The thought of Clark still eager to get to know her, even though she'd embarrassed herself awfully in front of him, was so touching. She felt unstoppable.

This was finally the turning point where things were about to get better again, and she was so ready for it.

Martha immediately noticed Evelyn's beaming face within seconds that morning, after she'd skipped into the café with a huge goofy grin plastered on her face. "Wow! You do well with some time away," she commented with a smile.

"I mean, what can I say? Rest is good for the soul," Evelyn informed her as she shoved on her apron.

"Yes indeed. Also, it seemed like you and Clark had a nice little talk after your friend left to catch her flight the other day," Martha nodded, passing her the tray of freshly baked vanilla cupcakes.

Evelyn smirked up and pushed her tongue into her cheek.

"You raised a lovely guy - you should be very proud," was all she hummed casually, unable to stop the blush from crawling to her cheeks.

"Oh but when I tried and tell you that, I was 'intrusive' and 'trying to push agendas'," Martha rolled her eyes playfully. Evelyn stuck out her tongue and went straight to icing the cupcakes, carefully considering each swirl and pattern. "So…what happened between you both?"

"Well…we were just talking really. Lois kinda structured the convo and stuff but then even after she left, Clark backtracked to make sure I was okay with the discussion topic," Evelyn began with a shy giggle, focussing on the thick white frosting.

Martha raised an eyebrow and flung her dishtowel onto the counter.

"What…was the conversation about?" she asked curiously.

"Superman…The Incident…stuff that really, I had no business discussing but at the same time, I suddenly…somehow…found it okay to talk about again," Evelyn bit her lip as she thought back to it.

"Really? And that didn't upset you at all?" Martha clarified in surprise, clearly unable to keep the shock out of her eyes. Her reaction just made Evelyn smile even more.

"No, not really. I don't know, guess it was actually pretty interesting. My opinion on Superman hasn't changed though, as much as I think Clark and Lois wanted it to. I doubt it ever will - and I really hope they're okay with that. I mean, Lois will be, she and I clash about dumb stuff like this all the time, but I have no idea how Clark will handle it." Martha's stunned eyes widened and she bit down on the inside of her cheek, just as the café door opened once again.

Of course, Evelyn glanced up, as she always did. It was none other than Clark, and as soon as they locked eyes, she felt herself blush. He strode in, taking off his jacket so that his muscles were bulging out of his tight white top, already shooting Evelyn a little knowing smile.

Her knees wobbled a little. She couldn't even help it.

"Oh, hello son!" Martha smiled suddenly as Clark hung his jacket up on the coat rack.

"Hey Clark," Evelyn breathed.

"Hey Mom. Good morning Evelyn," Clark saluted her with a slightly shy wink, making her heart flutter. "How are you doing this morning?"

"I'm great, thanks," Evelyn smiled shyly, before going back to the cupcakes. "Don't you have work today or something?"

"I do have 'work today or something'," Clark grinned as he swept over to the counter to join her on the opposite side, perching on one of the stools. "I've been assigned to visit the new funfair that they've got going on the river pier. It's some kinda fundraiser, and my boss wanted me to write a column on it for this week's issue."

"Oh yeah, cute! I saw the posters on the way in," Evelyn acknowledged.

"Well, I was hoping you'd be working today so that I could come in and ask if you'd like to visit it with me…?" Clark quietly suggested. Martha quickly smothered the gasp that was about to exit her mouth, and decided to start noisily cleaning the coffee machine instead, whilst Evelyn was stumped for words.

"Me? Come with you?" she blinked in surprise, her heart racing.

"Yeah. Only if you want, if you're busy I'm happy to go alone," Clark nodded shyly. "Or, you know, I can take my Mom-"

"Oh keep me out of it!" Martha scoffed lightly from behind the coffee machine.

There was a short silence as Evelyn contemplated his words. She hadn't been asked out in years, and even though Clark had somewhat already done it, this felt so much more…real…now that there was an actual event attached.

But her silence was till coating the cafe - and now Clark was getting a little restless.

"So…"

"Just say yes, Ev," Martha groaned, clamping her hands over her face from where she had been silently watching. "You know that if your friend Lois was here, she'd be yelling at you."

"B-but I'm working," Evelyn protested awkwardly. "Well, no, I guess I can go after work but Clark, you need to go now-"

"Evelyn! I will literally close up shop if I have to - this has everything to do with you living it up, remember? Getting your life back together?" Martha hissed knowingly. "I will be perfectly fine without you, it's a slow day anyway - just go!" Evelyn's nervous face broke out into a little smile and she clasped her hands together, before pressing a thankful kiss against her boss' cheek sweetly. "Enjoy - let me know how it goes," Martha smirked quietly, swatting her with a kitchen towel as Evelyn hurriedly unhooked her apron and went to join Clark.

He held out his bulky arm and Evelyn took it carefully, immediately feeling a strange but pleasant rush of warmth and safety as they stepped onto the outskirts of Metropolis. The streets were relatively empty and the weather was pleasant - a cool breeze coated them whilst the sun shone down on the pair.

"So, how has your day been so far?" Clark struck up conversation as they made their way down the street.

"Good! I know I barely started my shift, but I'm so glad to be back at work. Weirdly, I think I've missed your mom more than anything," Evelyn answered honestly, nibbling on her plump bottom lip. Clark laughed then, as in a genuinely hearty laugh, chucking his head back and everything.

"Woah, praise indeed! She is loveable huh?"

"She is so sweet," Evelyn giggled back, before thinking again. "Also, Clark - this is gonna sound so random, but I really appreciated how you took the time to check if I was okay after the whole…Superman conversation the other day. I ended up thinking about it all night and…you could've been so different to me in that moment, and you weren't. And I so appreciate that."

"I mean you're welcome, but we really don't have to talk about him…or The Incident at all today," Clark shrugged, making Evelyn smile to herself.

That was all she needed to hear.

That was all she ever wanted to hear, in fact.

"Deal. So then, tell me more about yourself. I feel like we got off to a weird start, which was all centred on…The Situation That Shall Not Be Named," Evelyn started off, trying to erase off every element and lingering symptom of PTSD still infecting her conscience. It was time to revert back to the old Evelyn.

The original, confident, flirty Evelyn, who used to be able to get any boy she wanted without much hassle.

"Well…I'm Clark Kent, I'm 33 years old, I work as a reporter for the Daily Planet and in my spare time I like to collect nerdy things that would 100% put you off me," Clark started off cheekily, making Evelyn giggle up at him. "Your turn!"

"Okay…I'm Evelyn Romero, I'm 30 years old, I work for Martha's Delights and in my spare time, I like to…huh…" Evelyn trailed off awkwardly.

"Nothing?!" Clark blinked in surprise.

"Mhm…maybe I have less hobbies than I thought," she considered playfully with a thoughtful finger placed on her cheek. Clark let out a little chuckle and rolled his eyes, before Evelyn's eyes lit up in understanding. "No wait, that's not true. I like to cook!"

"Oh - I like to eat, so it works perfectly," he considered as Evelyn laughed a little more. "So what kind of things do you cook?"

"Honestly, everything! Sweet treats, savoury treats, I even like to make up the odd cocktail now and then," she considered as they approached the little pop up funfair on the pier. "And I love funfair food even more!" It was a sweet set-up, with an adorable selection of mini rides, typical funfair games and stalls laced with twinkling lights.

There wasn't too many people there because it was still quite early in the day, but Evelyn really didn't mind.

She and Clark stood outside the funfair, staring at the beautiful sights in front of them in silence for a couple of moments. Before either one of them could say another word, a fundraiser approached them with a blue donation bucket swinging in her arm.

"Hey guys! Would you like to donate some money for a beautiful home-grown rose?" she asked brightly, shaking her donation bucket at them both.

"Oh, of course," Evelyn smiled, immediately reaching for her purse - but Clark was way faster.

"Here, I got it," he muttered, pulling out a $10 bill and slipping it into the fundraiser's collection box. Evelyn shot him a smile before reverting her attention back to the woman again.

"What is this funfair actually fundraising for?" she asked as girl pulled a beautiful stemmed pink rose out of her satchel.

"It's for Helping Hands, the largest leading charity created for The Metropolis Disaster. We're raising money for Riverdown Children's Hospital, so that they can extend their wards and make space for further casualties. Right now patients being flown out of Metropolis to be seen to, meaning their family have to travel - so not sustainable," the woman explained gravely as she passed Clark the rose.

His jaw tensed and Evelyn bit down on both her plump lips. The realisation of where she was hit her.

"Oh wow. My…my sister's being treated at Riverdown," she spoke to nobody in particular, feeling Clark glance down at her in surprise. "Her name's Alana, Alana Romero - but I appreciate you may not recognise her by name-"

"I'm sorry ma'am - there are so many kids being treated now. But I'll definitely keep an eye out for her as soon as I get back," the lady promised sweetly. "Thank you so much for the donation - hope ya'll have a wonderful day."

"Thank you, you too," both Clark and Evelyn nodded back at her, before they continued walking further into the fair. Clark knew he had to say something - the guilt was already swallowing him whole.

"I'm sorry Evelyn, I-I didn't know this fair was to fundraise for-"

"It's fine, Clark. Neither did I. Can we get back to our night of not talking about it? I mean, that was your rule, and I actually kinda liked that rule," Evelyn smiled, giving his sturdy bicep a little comforting squeeze. Clark nodded and took another deep breath as they reached the first funfair stand, with it being one of those ball splat games.

Fling the ball, hit the target, win the prize - simple enough.

"Roll up, roll up! Would the lovely gentleman like to win the pretty lady a prize?" the moustached man at the stall suggested, gesturing to the game. Evelyn jutted her bottom lip out as her eyes fixated on the most adorable fluffy cupcake toy hanging from the stall's hooks. It was so cute, with a little lopsided grin, puppy dog eyes, bucked teeth and flushed cheeks.

Obviously she didn't expect Clark to actually get it for her - but he'd already spotted the look of longing in her eyes, and felt himself dissolve.

It was as if she already had him wrapped around her little finger, and he didn't know whether to find it scary, or extremely endearing.

"Sure, why not! I'll give it a go," he nodded confidently, handing over another cash donation. Evelyn's eyes grew wide and she spun to face him in surprise.

"Clark! You really don't have to!" she grinned, although she was already super excited.

"Alrighty! Now just to warn you, the odds aren't fantastic, but we love to see a trier," the man chuckled, popping the cash into his own bucket and taking a step back to give Clark some space. The entire game was clearly set up to make whoever was targeting it fail miserably but, of course, Clark could do it with his eyes closed.

He just had to be careful how he did it, to make it look like as if it was easy for him not to be able to do it.

"Whoop! You got this, Clark!" Evelyn cheered giddily from the side. Clark chucked the beanbag up and down casually, trying to mark out the target the best he possibly could in preparation.

"Alright. But you heard the man - don't judge me if I fail!" Clark called back out to her, throwing her a cheeky wink on the side. Evelyn giggled girlishly and smothered her face with her hands as Clark took a deep breath, steadied himself and, with about 2% of his might, flung the beanbag towards the wooden target.

Not only that beanbag absolute wallop it, but it also burst straight through the stall all the way onto the other side of the pier. Both Evelyn and the stall man craned their necks in shock, simultaneously blinking through the slightly steaming hole that was left behind.

"Clark!" Evelyn finally burst out laughing as the stunned gentleman hooked his fingers behind his head in awe.

"Man, I've seen some strength before," he murmured as he slowly took off his cap and gripped it in his hands against his chest, absolutely stunned. "But that…"

"Here sir, please take this," Evelyn winced, rummaging into her purse and pulling out extra cash alongside a coupon for Martha's Delights. "Free coffees and muffins on me for the next month, I promise you!"

The gentleman blinked a few times before jutting his bottom lip out fairly.

"Actually, that really would help. The wife loves Martha's Delights. Well, your guy won it fair and square - the cake's all yours!" he announced brightly, unhooking it and passing it over to the eagerly awaiting Evelyn. She took it thankfully and cuddled it to her chest.

"Thank you, sir! Have a lovely evening - sorry again," she giggled before scurrying away with Clark beside her, biting back his own laughter too. "Clark, that was so-"

"No no, don't blame me! Funfair games are kinda poorly made," Clark shrugged fairly.

"Shut uppp," Evelyn grinned up at him.

Suddenly, she stopped walking and stood directly in front of him with the cake clutched to her chest, fluttering her long eyelashes up at him sweetly.

"Thank you, seriously. It's so precious."

"You're most welcome," Clark hummed back. "Hope you enjoy. Shall we?" Evelyn nodded gladly and linked arms with him again.

They walked together for a little while longer, taking in the sweet sights surrounding them with a few bits of conversation here and there, until Evelyn spotted an adorable little Photo Booth towards the north edge of the pier.

"Oh look! One of them cute little Photo Booth things…I've always wanted to use them!"

"You have? My Dad and I always used to use it when we went to the country fair," Clark hummed in memory.

"Should we go in and take pictures? It might be a nice little memory," she suggested brightly as she pointed it out.

"Sure," Clark smiled back, following her through the various visitors across the walkway to where the photo booth stood. Evelyn pulled back the curtain and perched herself on the furthest side of the little bench, already fixing her hair in preparation, with Clark sitting down beside her.

"Hey Mr Thick Thighs! You're taking up most the seat," Evelyn giggled, nudging his side playfully.

"Thick thighs save lives, Evelyn," Clark commented sassily, making her laugh and roll her eyes whilst she worked the touch screen.

She clicked on one of the many options, and wriggled in her seat to get more comfortable. "What are we doing first? Funny faces?"

"Hmm…maybe a funny face to begin with-"

But the switch was immediate. Evelyn cut off abruptly as she took a look at the lens in front of her.

There was a strong, almost too powerful, bright red dot right there in the centre - it was laser like.

Laser like.

And just like that, she was back in that space.

Again.