Oooh, I am *really* enjoing this series! This part was an excellent glimpse inside Clark's head, and really did help explain his actions.
You meet my gaze with that determination that so often leaves me agape with awe. "I'll, um, always need you. And I'll always be your friend."
I'm shaking, I realize vaguely. Friend was once a word on which I pinned all my hopes; now it is a trap from which I cannot escape.
"But," you say more firmly, "there's someone here who needs me, and I just need to figure out how to get him to see that."
No!
I always loved Clark's response, his aborted "_I_ need you!" I like it even better after reading the bit quoted above.
So, what's the harm in answering the door?
What's the harm? The harm is that the very sight of you freezes the breath in my lungs and pours salt into the open wounds of whatever broke inside of me. The harm is that everything I successfully bottled up as Superman can more easily explode from Clark. The harm is that I love you, and it's so much harder for me to stop Clark from acting on that than Superman. Superman has a cape and tights and boots and the specter of Kryptonite hanging over him to keep him from confessing his love. Clark has only his love for you to keep him from making the same admission.
Off to read Part 3.....
