I stopped hoping this moment would ever happen. But yes, after six years of either writing other stories or even dabbling in another fandom (hi, Wendy
), I decided to bite the bullet and start posting the sequel to
Near Wild Heaven, which I started immediately after finishing the first part, and which is... well... still going.
For those relatively new to the fandom,
Near Wild Heaven was the second story I posted, and my first long one. It holds a special place in my heart, mostly because it explores a situation that has always fascinated me and takes off from my favourite episode:
Barbarians at the Planet.
Considering the first story was posted six years ago, I don’t expect people to go back and re-read that monster, so here’s a reader’s digest version in case you don’t remember it all:
Left without a job after the Planet’s blow-up and wounded by Lois’s rejection and her attempt at seducing Superman, Clark leaves Metropolis without a trace. He changes his name to Jerome Kane and settles in Paris, where he gets hired by a national newspaper and tries to pick up the pieces of his life. Of course, that means Superman also left Metropolis, which he “officially” explained by pretending his abilities are equally needed on the other side of the Atlantic.
Lois remains alone in Metropolis. She’s lost her job, her best friend, and the superhero she loved. Perry followed Lex’s suggestion and retired. Jimmy decided to leave New Troy. Isolated, Lois’s only support is Lex Luthor, and so she accepts his proposal and goes through with the wedding.
Near Wild Heaven I - Half a World Away starts six months after the wedding. Lois is sent to Paris for an investigation, where she accidentally runs into Clark. They decide to work together, and one thing leading to another, they get closer (a lot closer) than they originally bargained for. The following morning brings doubt and guilt in both their heads (sleeping with a married woman is NOT something Clark’s morals approve, and cheating on her husband is also not something Lois is proud of).
They still manage to uncover illegal scientific activities run by a certain Professor Miller, but what they don’t know is that those activities consisted in creating a powerful poison based on Kryptonite, and were funded by none other than Lex Luthor.
Miller behind bars, Lois goes back to Metropolis after making a quick promise to Clark that she’ll sort herself out of her marriage.
We left our heroes just as Nigel St-John, watching them from afar, witnesses the goodbye kiss between them at the airport and dials Lex’s number.That’s basically all you need to know (I think. I hope.) And now, without further ado, here’s the long-awaited sequel... or at least, the first part of it.
I intend to post once a week, every Sunday. I’m counting on all of you to keep the motivation going with the Muse, because I want it off my hard drive so badly that I truly need everyone’s help in getting in finished.
Comments, suggestions, screams of frustration all welcome. I might not always agree with you, but I always appreciate constructive criticism and it often helps me improve the drafts I write. So feel free, especially as the story here is not finished yet.
Right. So now, seconds away from hitting "add new topic", I feel like I'm on the edge of a very high cliff, wind blowing me towards the precipice, and I have no parachute or superpowers to save me. Oy.
*taking deep breath and trying to ignore huge precipice below*
*jumps*
~ Near Wild Heaven II - Belonging ~
By Kaethel (where’s my parachute???)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Whenever dark turns to night
And all the dreams sing their song
And in the daylight forever
To you I belong”
B*Witched - To You I Belong
Written by B*Witched, Brannigan, Ackerman
(c) Sony Music Entertainment UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Her kisses. Nothing compared with the taste of her kisses, sweet with tenderness and spicy with passion. Her kisses had the power to destroy him or bring him to the brink of ecstasy. Her kisses pushed him over the edge, making his body heady with the sensations brought on by the soft and pliant body in his arms.
Quickly, inexorably, he was losing control. The barriers he had so carefully built around himself over the past few months were crashing down with the force of his feelings for her. Leaving Metropolis hadn’t made him stop loving her. The ocean between them hadn’t helped him forget her. How foolish of him to think that he could ever cross her out of his life! He had never fallen in love before he met her, and he was certain that he could never fall in love again if she broke his heart.
Her curves moulded to his chest, the intimate contact making every inch of his skin burn with desire for her. She was whispering incoherent endearments into his ear, and he crushed her against him, wanting, needing to reaffirm his love for her in every possible way. He was lost, falling over the edge of sanity. He didn’t want to go back to that dark, cold and empty place in time where Lois Lane was absent. Never again.
Her fingernails dug at the smooth flesh of his back, and he silenced her gasp of pleasure with another kiss. Her hands clasped his waist in response. She opened her mouth under his. Her eagerness made it difficult to take things slowly, but he was determined to take his time and let them both enjoy every minute of their lovemaking.
He grasped the hem of her thin cotton shirt. She raised her arms above her head, letting him peel the garment off her. Her eyes shone with complete and unconditional trust. A small voice at the back of his mind whispered that he didn’t deserve that trust. He crushed it to silence. He wouldn’t let anything cloud that moment. This was his dream come true. There was something surreal about the way her hands undid the buttons of his shirt. Her movements were slow and sensuous, and he fought the primal urge to pin her back to the mattress and smother her with kisses. And more. So much more. He wanted to be with her again, to love her even more thoroughly than he had on their first night, to erase the memory of the long months they had spent apart.
She hooked her arms around his neck and brought his head down for a soft kiss that calmed his ardour. His lips trailed down her neck and to her shoulder, and Lois stayed still beneath him, her soft breathing tickling his cheek and her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. Peacefulness invaded him, and he felt himself drift to the edge of sleep.
Her hand slid down his arm and seized his, stirring him back to awareness. Without breaking eye contact, he raised their entwined fingers to his lips and kissed them softly, reverently.
It was his vow to love and cherish her for the rest of their life.
It was her vow to never leave him.
He felt her fingertips quiver slightly under the soft pressure of his lips. She looked down at him, eyes dark and clouded with longing, exerting a spell on him that nothing could break. The desire radiating from her hypnotised him completely. Nothing could jerk him out of his fantasy. Nothing could come between them. No twisted hand of fate could rear its ugly head and tear them apart...
Nothing at all...
Not even the cold, solid object contrasting with the warm softness of her fingers. Not even the bright spark of diamond reflected in a stream of moonlight. Not even that sharp tug of reality that reminded him that this night of bliss was only a figment of his imagination, a dream that would fade with the first rays of dawn.
He fought silently against the force that tore her away from him. He felt paralysed against the shadows that suddenly surrounded their entwined bodies, prying them apart, pushing him away, tugging her out of his hold and swallowing her into darkness. His heart racing, he watched her image disappear, helpless.
The death grip paralysing his limbs still didn’t release its hold on him. He could feel Lois struggle against that invisible force; he could hear her crying his name and begging for help. Her fingers were clawing at his hand, but they slipped out of his grasp. Panic seized him. His breathing became more laboured. The buzzing in his ears got louder. The shadows crowding the room edged closer, clouding his vision and pressing his limbs to the mattress. Darkness closed its edges around him, surrounding him, gnawing at him and -
Thump!
Hard, cold tiles under him.
Dim light sifting from the small window at the back of the room.
Rain pattering on the glass.
Sweat on his forehead, at his nape and the base of his throat.
He never sweated. In fact, he could remember only two occasions when the foreign sensation had been noticeable. One had been caused by Kryptonite, the other by... well, it had happened two nights earlier. Heat burned his cheeks at the memory.
He brought up a hand to his forehead to smooth back his hair. The last shreds of his dream quickly slid away, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. It wasn’t the first time he’d dreamed of Lois; in the six months he had spent here in Paris, nights had brought him the solace he hadn’t found in their separation. Sleep had been the only moment when he could still pretend that they were together, as friends and sometimes more, and that Lois hadn’t married Luthor.
This dream felt different, though. It had been so real, so close to what they’d lived together only a few nights before. Loneliness had haunted him since Lois had flown back to Metropolis. She was gone, back to her life as Luthor’s wife. Her quick declaration of love, spoken in a crowded airport a few minutes before her departure, seemed unreal right now. Had he heard the words correctly? Did she really love him? It sounded almost too good to be true. It *was* too good to be true. After all, she hadn’t stayed. She had left him.
No. No, she hadn’t truly left him. She’d been reluctant to leave. They had parted on a promise that what they had shared was a beginning, not an end.
Struggling to his feet, Clark looked about the room, shaking his head at the mess. The sheets were crumpled from his doubtless jerky movements to escape his nightmare; the comforter was a heap on the floor; the bedside lamp had been pushed to the edge of the nightstand.
Dreams couldn’t be all he had left. The past six months had been hard enough; if she broke his heart a second time, he wouldn’t be able to go on. Life without Lois Lane was inconceivable. He wouldn’t let her go this time; not after what they had shared. Love... love had gone beyond all his expectations. Oh yes, the physical side of their relationship had been fantastic, of course. But it wasn’t the main memory he kept from their night together. What he remembered was the tenderness, the soft whispers of love, the sensual rustle of clothes against her skin as he helped her undress, and more than anything, the look in her eyes as he loved her.
Open. Trusting... Loving.
How could he be sure that their love would survive another separation? She had promised that she would come back. As if it was the most natural thing in the world to take a plane and fly halfway across the world to see her lover. He didn’t like the idea. Sure, it was much better than giving up on their relationship altogether, but he wouldn’t be content being her secret lover, knowing they had to hide and that there would never be more between them than a very physical passion.
She had tried to soothe his concern. She would talk to Luthor and call a lawyer to get divorce proceedings under way. At least that was a relief; she had no intention of staying married to her current husband. The thought should have cheered him up; instead, it filled him with dread. But he’d been too chicken to talk to her about his suspicions regarding Luthor; the topic had led to too many fights before.
Nevertheless, he had to face the truth. The man wasn’t the kind to let go of a possession so easily, and there was no doubt that it was what he considered Lois to be: a possession. And what would happen if he flat out refused to let her go? It might take weeks, maybe even months for the divorce procedure to complete – a length of time during which their relationship would have to remain a secret, during which he would feel remorse and guilt every time he made love to her, a married woman.
He’d vowed he wouldn’t touch her again until she was completely free, but he knew how hypocritical that was. Their last night together, he’d been content to simply hold her as she slept. He was far from sure he could do that much longer. A taste of heaven wasn’t easy to forget when it was still within reach.
But then, fighting against his dwindling ethics wasn’t the worst scenario. The worst scenario was Luthor using his criminal connections to make sure Lois stayed his. She had married him for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, until death did them part. Clark shuddered. If Luthor tried to hurt her...
He hadn’t, though. They’d been married six months, and Lois had sworn that her husband had never laid a hand on her in anger. That at least had been a relief. Even though Lois’s fiery temper should have reassured him that she would never stay with a man who treated her badly, Clark hadn’t been able to get past that nagging concern that maybe, on the other side of the Atlantic, Luthor had managed to reduce his once strong and passionate partner into a submissive and passive wife.
He hadn’t. Thank goodness he hadn’t. The same fire that had made Clark fall in love with her still inhabited her.
Luthor hadn’t killed Mad Dog Lane.
*********
Lois checked the clock on the wall across from her desk and buried herself in her notes again. She had scheduled an interview with the mayor for the next day, battled with Metropolis Steel Industries to gain access to their South Side premises, and picked a fight with Linda Montoya over the angle from which her colleague had covered the President’s press conference.
Biased and close to corruption, Lois had called it.
Perfectly reasonable and supportive of the country’s general policy, Linda had argued.
Dave had jumped out of his office and ordered them back to their desk, using a tone that his reporting staff rarely heard. The sniggering look that Linda had given Lois as she turned away had made her anger increase another notch, and she had lashed out at her editor for not taking her side. Of course, Dave had reminded her in no uncertain terms he would not accept that kind of attitude from *any* reporter. She had well and truly heard the emphasis he had put on ‘any’, and she had stormed off to her office, which she hadn’t left since.
She knew David was right. Who was she to criticise Linda’s way of handling reports, when in fact she was the newbie around here? Linda Montoya had been LNN’s top reporter for the past three years; she’d never been friendly to Lois who, she thought, had been hired only because she was married to the boss. But then how could Lois blame Linda for thinking what was, after all, the truth? Lex had offered her this job because the Planet had been blown up and she’d found herself unemployed. He hadn’t even asked for qualifications or a recommendation letter from Perry. She hadn’t even had to go through an interview.
The editor in charge of LNN at the time had been mightily angry with Lex’s orders, but he hadn’t clearly said so. Instead, he’d spent most of his time trying to prove that Lois wasn’t as skilled a reporter as her fiance claimed she was, and she’d been sent on all kinds of investigations, all around the world, facing more dreadful situations that she would ever have dreamt of.
She’d enjoyed every minute of it...
... until Lex decided that he’d had enough and that endangering his wife, his precious possession, was out of the question. Peter Jenkins, LNN editor in chief for over 15 years, had been fired and replaced by a new recruit who was as young as inexperienced. Lex had probably imagined that David would be easier to manipulate. A couple of threats to take away the dream-job he’d landed, and he would become meeker than the meekest of lambs.
David had proven himself a trustworthy ally, though. More than anything, he’d been aware that she missed the regular rush of adrenaline that her job at the Planet used to give her. Although he’d preserved his job by not sending her on wild missions, she hadn’t been stuck with reports on rodeos in Texas or the thrill of gambling in Vegas.
Nevertheless, she thought as she pushed her notes away and leaned her elbows onto her desk, her head resting in her hands and her gaze unfocused, she resented David for sending her to her office without more to chew on than a few phone calls and the preparation for her interview with the mayor. No doubt he’d want to talk about his upcoming re-election and make her buy that his project of a gigantic harbour on Hobb’s Bay wouldn’t do any harm to the buildings he was planning to destroy or the families he would evict. No doubt he would point out that LexCorp financially supported the project.
She sighed wearily and buried her head in her hands.
“Never thought I’d see you collapse.” The teasing voice of her editor snapped her out of her reverie.
She straightened, embarrassed. “Dave! I didn’t hear you come in.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and fumbled with her notepad.
“So I see.” He laid his hand on her arm, stopping her mad search for her notes. “I wanted to check on you. You looked upset with Linda earlier and I guess my reaction didn’t help, but you know I can’t play favourites around here. Especially to you.”
“Yes. Yes, I know that. I’m sorry that you had to get involved.” She sighed. The situation was difficult for David; she couldn’t blame him for not taking her side. “It’s no big deal. Linda and I have never been the best of friends. Actually sometimes I wonder if it has something to do with her name; I had a friend in college with whom I had a spat and we never talked to each other ever again and as a matter of fact, her name was Linda. I never believed in those stories about your name determining who you are. That’s just plain bogus to fool gullible people. But hey, there’s something about our Linda that reminds me of the Linda I knew in the past, maybe in the way she talks or the way she thinks that everyone should be at her beck and call and looking up to her because she’s *so* talented and has been in place for more than three years, like that’s a big deal! I mean I stayed at the Planet for six years, and I would still be working there if it hadn’t been blown to pieces by some moron who thought it funny to - ”
“Lois...”
“ - make us all lose our jobs and - ”
“Lois!!”
“What?”
“I know you don’t like Linda any more than she likes you. You two got off on the wrong foot and it seems the bridge can’t be mended now.”
“Not because of me,” Lois muttered resentfully.
“Whatever. The point is, you’re working two offices away, and I’m not about to shuffle my staff around so that you can - ”
“Live in peace? Be realistic, Dave. She’s the ringleader of those who keep saying that I only got the job because I sleep with the big boss.”
Dave shrugged. “And what do you want me to do, fire her?”
“I know you can’t. After all, she’s right: I do sleep with the boss.”
“That’s not what I meant, but you do have a point.” He circled around the desk and perched himself onto it. She felt the weight of his gaze on her. “Lois, will you tell me what’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” she replied quickly. “Nothing’s wrong. Why would anything be wrong?”
“Because since I arrived here, I’ve always known you as quiet and subdued. Then all of a sudden, you’re irritable, pig-headed, you pick a fight with Linda, then you storm out and slam the door of your office, where you sulk for most of the afternoon - ”
“I don’t sulk!”
He cocked his head to the side and smiled. “You did today.”
“Well, all right, sometimes I do. So what? I just hadn’t had any good sulking-occasion since you got the job, that’s all.”
“Lois...”
“Dave, if you talked to Perry White, he would tell you that I *am* irritable, that I pick fights and bark at half the other members of the staff, that I can storm out and slam doors on a daily basis, and that sulking is an art at which I’m rather skilled.”
“So am I seeing the real Lois at last?”
She grinned. “Possibly.”
“I think I like her.” He grew serious again. “Lois, what happened in Paris?”
“What?”
She wanted to shrink into a tiny hole in the floor and never reappear. How had he figured it out? Wait, wait, wait! *What* had he figured out? His gaze didn’t waver as he waited for her answer. She wouldn’t escape that one, would she?
“I’m starting to know you pretty well. And one thing I’m sure about is that you’re not the kind to share information with a stranger just because he has sources and connections. You find those sources. You make those connections.”
She didn’t bother hiding her irritation at Dave’s probing. “It’s harder in a foreign country. Especially when you can’t string three words of the language together.”
“You didn’t let that stop you in Brazil last month, and yet you speak even less Portuguese than French.”
“That was... different.”
“What was different? Lois, who is Jerome Kane? Who is he to you?”
Her eyes narrowed at Dave’s question and what it implied. Anger rose in her gut, but she held it in check. Getting infuriated would make her editor even more convinced that there was something going on, and the last thing she needed right now was for someone - *anyone* - to find out about Clark and her. “Kane is a reporter. A colleague. And you should know better than to imply anything else, when I’m happily married!” she couldn’t help but add.
“Happily married?”
She cocked an eyebrow. Even though she had never made a secret to David that attending social functions with her husband bored her to tears, she had never implied that she wasn’t happy with her marital situation.
“I’m not blind, Lois. I actually pride myself on being quite perceptive.”
“Dave, whatever made you think that... it’s all nonsense! Must be one of those rumours again. I never thought you’d believe one of those.”
“No rumour. The grapevine has it that you’re very happily married indeed. But I know the signs. I’ve gone through divorce once, and that was one time too many.”
“Dave...”
“I won’t pry, Lois. Now, and this is the chief talking right now, what I would like to know is why you gave the exclusive to a foreign paper when you had an LNN crew ready for any footage you assigned them to. We could have beaten every other media outlet in the world – instead of that, we ran a report barely ten minutes before CNN.”
“My report gave information than none of the guys at CNN could access.”
“Which is gonna save my butt tonight when the big boss asks about what he’s already called a major mistake.”
“Lex asked to see you?”
“You bet he did. Called my personal line, and he never does that. Trust me, he didn’t sound very happy about us being scooped.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
David grimaced, then shook his head. “Don’t. I don’t want you getting involved. Not that I don’t have faith in your diplomatic skills,” he said with a wink, “but I need to handle that one myself.”
“And not end up as Mrs Luthor’s protege.”
She understood the awkwardness of David’s position. Most of the time he treated her more like an equal than a subordinate or worse, someone to look up to. His respect for her was genuine and was related only to the quality of her work, not to her husband’s name. She was certain that he would take the blame, but she didn’t have to like it. “I can’t let you take the blame for a mistake I made,” she protested.
He ignored her, changing the subject instead. “Lois, I did a little research on the guy when I saw that paper scoop us. I saw a picture of him. He’s gorgeous – got to give him that.”
Lois raised an eyebrow. “And not gay.”
“Pretty well informed, aren’t you?”
“I – Dave!”
“Lois, I’ve worked in journalism long enough to have read a lot of Lane and Kent stories. And we’ll say that’s why you decided to work with him on that investigation instead of calling the shots and scooping him. That’s also why I don’t want you to tell your husband that you decided on your own to share a byline with him. Chances are he’d try to find information about Kane.”
She stared at him, shock and disbelief making her feel weak in the knees. Her hand gripped the edge of her desk. Her knuckles turned white. “How did you...”
“Lois, I’m a reporter. I got a hunch and explored it. Considering I’d been an avid Planet reader before its demise, I was very familiar with your style. Once I found a picture of Jerome Kane, it wasn’t difficult to put two and two together.”
How had she not thought about that possibility? How had she been so blind? So stupid? She should have known that linking her name to Clark’s alias would uncover his secret identity in no time. She glanced up at Dave. He didn’t seem reproachful. He didn’t look approving either.
“We wrote that story together,” she said carefully. “But before I went, I had no idea he was working in Paris! I didn’t care about that foreign newspaper and whoever worked for it. But that source of yours wanted me to work with that guy, and so we set up a meeting. I was amazed when I realised that it was Clark. Until then, he was just another rival I’d have to get rid of so that I got the exclusive.”
“I don’t need you to justify yourself. I was just surprised... heck, *amazed* that Lois Lane, *the* Lois Lane I thought I knew, had agreed to work with a partner, even a temporary one. But knowing that the partner in question is Clark Kent explains a lot.”
“It explains *what*?” She rose from her seat and strode to the window, tapped her fingers on the glass, swivelled around, and crossed her arms. “I couldn’t send my former partner to hell. Yes, our roads parted a long time ago, and we don’t have much in common any more, but we still worked together for almost a year. That counts, believe it or not.”
Dave blinked, and she became aware of her ragged breathing as she glared at him challengingly. She had got carried away. She had let on a lot more than she should have, and now Dave must think the worst had happened between Clark and her. Not that he was wrong. The *worst* had happened indeed...
He looked puzzled by her outburst. “Why are you being so defensive about it?”
“I’m not being defensive,” she muttered.
His eyebrows raised in response to her denial.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about it, all right?” She walked back to her desk and sat down, suddenly fascinated by her computer screen. The more she said, the worse it became. Dave already knew way too much about her stay in Paris. If he talked... no, he wouldn’t, she reasoned in an attempt to calm down. He wouldn’t put her in an awkward situation. Right?
She felt his hand on hers and looked up at him reluctantly.
“Lois, be careful, okay? Whatever is happening in your life, be careful.”
Any smart put-down died on her lips at her editor’s genuinely concerned face.
“I will.”
*********
tbc...
