This is in repsonse to the numerous requests that the ending of this story was too short. Although I don't blindly follow all criticism, some points were brought up that are very valid, so I took people's advice and reviewed the ending of this story. I'm still planning on doing some changes to the last few parts before I send it off to the archive, but hopefully this little bit of candy will help keep people happy until I start posting on the already in progress sequel. Extra special thanks to Nancy for giving this a quick read and giving a response that was faster than Superman, Supernova, and Nebula combined.
EPILOGUE
To my personal satisfaction, I didn’t faint the second time I was hit with the red Kryptonite laser. Instead, I just let the warm tingle flow through me and into Jon as we stood together in STAR labs.
“Ok, that should be it,” Brad announced cautiously. I peeked up from my place tucked against Jon’s shoulder.
“How do you feel?” Jon asked anxiously.
“Fine,” I replied. “Did it work?”
“There’s no reason why it shouldn’t,” Ellie told us. “It worked one way, so it will the other.” I cautiously tried to peek through the countertop. Nothing. And I wasn’t surprised either. I could feel the change in energy in my body and I knew that I was back to normal. But was Jon?
“Try doing something,” I suggested. He smiled back at me.
“I think I know just what to do,” he said. Then before I could even realize what was happening, he scooped me up in his arms and we swooped out the window. “Are you okay?” he asked when we finally stopped.
I nodded breathlessly. “Just maybe save anymore joyriding until I’m not a passenger, okay?”
“Sorry,” he apologized sheepishly.
“Now that I’m up here, though, it’s not so bad,” I admitted.
“It’s amazing,” he said, gazing at the clouds around us. The sun filtered through the mist and cast shadows on our faces.
“You really missed this, didn’t you?”
“Like crazy,” he told me. “Even though it was only for a few days, I never realized how strange it would be to go completely without powers. It was like I had forgotten how it was to be normal.”
“Funny how when you were fifteen, all you wanted to be was normal,” I commented.
“When I first got my powers,” he reflected, “I felt so completely isolated and confused. It was like the whole world had conspired against me to make me feel as different and alone as possible. But now that I’ve accepted that part of myself, I can’t imagine it any differently. And to have those powers taken away from me was like… An important part of me had been taken away. And I wasn’t quite myself without it.
“You know, when I think about it,” he continued, “that’s kind of like the way it is with you.”
“So being with me feels like the world is conspiring against you?” I teased. “I know I come with my own challenges, Jon, but I didn’t think I was that bad.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Explain it then,” I told him as I shifted in his arms to get closer.
“Before I met you, I didn’t know what it was like to be with you,” he explained. “I thought life was supposed to be the way I had always experienced it. Maybe I was a little lonely, and maybe I was a little empty, but I didn’t see anything really wrong with that. I didn’t know what I was missing. But then you came into my life and you just blew apart all of my expectations. You changed my whole outlook on life. And now,” his arms tightened around me, “we just fit so perfectly together…”
“That we’re a part of each other,” I finished. “And to be separated from you would be like missing a part of myself.”
“So I guess what I’m saying,” Jon told me, “is that being with you is like flying.”