Okay... laying down on the bed with the laptop for this part. Figure it's a safe bet - can't fall out of the chair that way.
Now... if for some reason (so shocked I roll off the bed or rolling from laughing too hard) I fall off my bed and hurt myself... you have reader's insurance, right, CC? I'm just asking. It's okay if you don't... I'm sure extra story parts before everyone else sees them might make me feel better...
Lois felt Clark go slack against her. She slipped an arm around his waist, and he leaned in close enough for her to feel his shaking. “I’ve got you,” she whispered, her face blushing hotly even as she registered the words, hoping suddenly he hadn’t heard them.
Oh wow!! That is... just more sweet that I have words for!
On her other side, Silas stood at mute attention, eyes wide and unblinking. Glancing between the three men, as she did, Lois could now see similarities which were impossible to miss.
You know... fascinating choice to have this from Lois's perspective.
His presence went beyond ethereal. In the moment, in the room, he seemed as real as they did. And Lois would swear he looked right at her, if only fleetingly. But in that glance had been... recognition.
WOW! That's just... wow!
Clark seemed unaware of the tears on his cheeks. Lois blinked hard against her own. His hand found its way into hers, clinging tightly. And she understood.
OH!!!!!!!!!!! GAH!!! *snuffle*!!!
Something she would have sworn she was incapable of. In the face of a big story, a huge story, she had relented. Instead of looking across the desk and seeing her Pulitzer, she had seen...him.
You know how I said your Lois POV choice was fascinating? I lied. It's brilliant. Inspired!
One person, who alone carried the legacy of an entire world on his shoulders.
That is one heck of a sentence right there.
No matter who he was or what he could do, how could one person operate under that kind of weight?
He couldn’t. He wouldn’t be able to. Not without someone to share it with. Not without a partner. She had said it to him that first night, and now she felt its echo whisper in her heart.
"You're going to need help."
Lois closed her eyes for just a moment and let it all sink in.
Had she ever really been needed?
WOW! WOW! WOW! *This*, my friends, is why we didn't get much from Lois before. All of it before... though emotional, was really all just intellectual realizations and revelations. She really hasn't seen it til now. None of it, even after she accepted the veracity of the whole thing - Utopia, the Museum, the marriage, the legacy... she really didn't truly understand until now. Now, it's her heart's turn. This is her heart and her soul realizing her place in the world. Realizing that she does *belong* somewhere. That she's needed. Wow, CC... I'm just blown away by this!
And I can't believe I've just waxed on like that... but really, there isn't any other way to say it.
This, however, was an entirely different kind of need. It was hard to imagine its scale and scope. If they managed to get back to their lives, what Clark would need from her would be life-changing, all encompassing. It would require everything she had to give. And no doubt much more than that, many times over.
You know how I said there wasn't another way to say what I was going on about? That's it. Right there, up above.
Lois opened her eyes, looked into the face of Clark’s father, and before she could talk herself out it, she decided. She silently promised Jor-el to be family to the son he had been forced to abandon to the stars. To help him as he steered his course.
And to love him as she did so.
“But there will be no hair bow on the wedding veil,” she murmured to herself. “A girl’s got to draw the line somewhere.”
WOW! So great. So wonderful. So sweet! And then.... LMAO!!!!! The bow.
“God, he weighs a ton! He doesn’t look it.”
“Dense molecular structure. I got him, don’t hurt yourself.”
Wow... see... more smart dialogue!
For an instant, he considered faking it. Keeping his head rolled to the side and simply lying there until they lost interest and went away.
But if they really were Lane and Kent, the actual ones, in the flesh, and they wanted something from him, they wouldn’t leave him alone. Ever.
LOL!!! So very true and so very smart of Silas to know that.
“Passed out cold, and your Gramps and Gram were worried about you.”
“Lois, don’t tease him.”
Have I mentioned this dialogue is just SO fun?! Great stuff!!
“Well... no,” Silas acknowledged. “And I researched that quite a bit my freshman year in college.”
LOL! And AWWWW! Poor guy! And... they have alcohol in Utopia??
“Drugs don’t affect me, Lois,” Clark cut-in firmly. “At all. In no way. My mind is... scramble proof.”
Lois uttered something that sounded like “...not how it looked when you met Cat Grant.”
ROTFL!!!!
Before they could get started again, Silas cleared his throat noisily. “Ok. I’m finished freaking out. What can I do for you both?”
LOL!!!!! Poor guy! <G>
At their nods he grimaced and shook his head, immediately sorry he had done so, as the dizziness returned. “That isn’t possible. Tempus isn’t real. He’s just a... a... fictional character. Like the boogeyman or... the Loch Ness Monster. The bad guy in one of those stories told around the campfire to scare little kids. There is no such thing as a Tempus.”
OMG!!! That's... brilliant! And... oh so scary!!! Now what are they going to do?
Donuts! That's what they should do! They should get donuts!
“No way,” said Silas, aware that his heart was pounding unnaturally hard. “No way. You’ve got it wrong, somehow. Tempus isn’t real. He isn’t. He can’t be! If he was then... then... the world as we know it is... is... oh... dear God...” He paused, unable to compute the consequences of a real Tempus.
“What?” Lois prompted.
OH NO OH NO!!!!!!!!
“He uses my filing system,” he was dimly aware of Lois commenting with some pride.
LOL!!! That's great! And that she's proud of him... very sweet!
“More like *endangered*... on the verge of... extinction.” Silas lowered himself slowly into his chair, studying the determined and calm face of the man in front of him.
Superman.
He didn’t know how he hadn’t seen it before. How many holograms were there of this man on record? How many personal family photos had Silas seen over his twenty years? Hundreds, maybe thousands.
But it was all in the expression, Silas realized now. In the eyes. In the solidness that radiated from them. Things that couldn’t be captured in vids and holophotos, no matter what their quality. He looked so capable standing there.
So smart! And I love it! Goes hand in hand with the non-recognition of Clark as Clark. And it also means that Clark's growing into his role more and more. Maybe it was seeing his father, or maybe it's because he's feeling a little paternal himself.
Silas hoped with all his heart he was a capable as he looked. That he was everything legend heralded him to be. God help them all if Superman couldn’t save them.
And wow... what a line, that last one!
And thank *you*, CC, for saying *those* three little words. Though... I'm a bit worried about this two weeks thing... you sure you can't have a proxy? I mean, you wouldn't want to come back from vacation and find us all dead from the suspense, right? In the immortal words of... well, you... I'm just saying...
Sara
