Top Banana
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,099 |
Oooh! I recognised this one immediately (sorry, Terry, been away from the thread for a few days  ). It's Dawning 9 - Daybreak or Call to the Mild, by Debby Stark.  Next cluechie: She ran a hand through her hair to try to tame it, tugged her robe tighter, and walked back the hall to her bedroom. Superman was still there, which she supposed was good, but he was restless, twitching a bit in place, and muttering to himself in his sleep. She leaned against the door jamb, frowning, and once again debated the wisdom of trying to medicate him.
As she stood there, some of his mutterings became clearer, and she listened with half an ear until one phrase brought her up short. Did he just say, "Mom, I got the job!"? It had sure sounded like it.
Funny, she'd never given much thought to the possibility of Superman having a mother, although she supposed there was no reason to think that he didn't have one -- and she remembered now, the first time she'd seen him, he had mentioned a mother; something to do with his costume. She'd been so much in shock at the time, that it hadn't registered. So that covered the mom part -- but a job?
Well, she thought whimsically, maybe he'd been back on Krypton, reading the classifieds, and had come across an ad taken out by the Intergalactic Peace Corps. "Needed: One Superhero for a picturesque, out-of-the-way planet called Earth...."
As she continued to listen, bits and fragments of words and phrases washed past her. Something about Perry, it sounded like, and Dr. Platt? No, surely she was imagining that, Superman hadn't even been around then ... the sound of her name caught her attention.
"Lo-Lois in trouble, gotta help ... Put down those guns or I'll ... Stupid, Clark, stupid!"
He sounded quite vituperative on that last phrase, which startled her. She'd always thought that Superman and Clark were friends ... although come to think of it, had she ever seen them together? Well, that didn't prove anything, Clark had never seen *her* with Superman either ... hey, wait a minute....
She sank to a chair, her eyes unfocusing, as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit themselves together with startling rapidity. Of course, it all seemed so obvious now. "Stupid, Lois, stupid," she muttered to herself. She gazed ruefully over to where Clark was lying on the bed -- lying being the operative word. So handsome, so strong ... and with so little time to live. "Hurry up and get better, you," she muttered, "so I can kill you." Kaethel
- I'm your partner. I'm your friend.
- Is that what we are?
- Oh, you know what? I don't know what we are. We kiss and then we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each other's arms, but we never talk about it, so no, I got no clue what we are.
~ Rick Castle and Kate Beckett ~ Knockout ~
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