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Prologue

Chapter Content Warning:

Chapter 1

Two Months Later

Early morning sunlight streamed through the open window of the bedroom. Lois pulled the comforter up over her head to block the light and stretched her arm across the bed. Empty. She ran her hand over her husband’s cold pillow and sighed with disappointment, then turned over and hugged her own pillow, closing her eyes. He’d probably be back soon; then she could have her way with him before they took off to St. Lucia to celebrate their fifth anniversary.

Five years.

She smiled to herself as she stretched again and sat up slowly, pulling the comforter up over her body. Her mind wandered back to their first date, when she’d slammed the door in his face, and then to their almost wedding, when she’d been kidnapped and replaced by an evil clone, and then to their second almost wedding, when she’d nearly been killed. They’d been through so much together. Their final, real wedding had been perfect, surrounded by their closest friends and family. She closed her eyes for a moment as she remembered the first time they’d made love—finally, after so much waiting and so many trials. He’d been nervous, it being his first time, but so eager to please and so in tune with her needs. And he still was.

Lois ran a hand down her side, imagining his touch from the night before, and she frowned, glancing toward the open window. She wanted him now. Where was he?

She reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the remote control for the television. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned on the news. Earthquake in California overnight. A big one. The camera zoomed in on the rescue crews, pulling victims from the rubble of two collapsed buildings. The familiar blue, red, and yellow figure flew in and out of the wreckage, carrying bodies—small, lifeless bodies. Her heart skipped a beat as she read the headline on the bottom of the screen. Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. Another headline indicated the superhero had been on the scene for five hours already. And that the death toll was now over nine hundred. Tears slipped down her cheeks.

Oh, Clark.

Her heart ached—for both the tragedy and for her husband—and she watched for another few minutes, wiping tears from her face as she imagined how he must be hurting right now.

Finally, when the camera panned away from Superman and the rubble and back to the reporter on the scene, Lois pulled herself out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. Clark wouldn’t be home any time soon. She would shower and finish packing, and when he did return, she’d be ready to give him the support he’d need.

An hour later, she curled up on the couch, sipping coffee and occasionally glancing at the television as she flipped through the morning’s paper. Their story on drug trafficking graced the front page, and she lovingly ran her hand over their byline. Lane and Kent. Still the best team in town. To think she’d fought with Perry when he’d insisted on teaming them up. He was easily the best thing that had ever happened to her.

She glanced again at the TV. Superman still worked diligently, but she could see the strain in his eyes and the tension in his shoulders. The death toll continued to climb, and most of the bodies being recovered now were going to the morgue rather than the hospital. The devastation was extensive. He’d moved from the children’s hospital to another nearby collapsed building. She held back more tears as she watched him gently place another lifeless body in the growing row of victims and then turn back to the wreckage. He seemed to hesitate a moment, tilting his head slightly in a familiar gesture, and then he sped off, returning only seconds later carrying a young women covered in blood and dust. He took her straight to the EMTs and softly set her on a gurney before speaking briefly to the emergency workers and rushing back into the building. Several minutes later, three more survivors had been rescued, and Superman paused, appearing to scan the building.

She swallowed hard, set down the newspaper, and picked up the novel she’d been reading the previous evening. Getting lost in the story on the pages was impossible, however, and she found herself distracted again by the TV coverage of the rescue efforts. Downtown Los Angeles had taken the brunt of the quake, with many buildings flattened or in various stages of collapse. Superman moved from one building to the next. She watched his body language, which she knew so well by now, and, as he set down yet another lifeless body, what looked to be that of a teenage boy, she saw the defeat in his stance. The flicker of emotion as he closed his eyes for a moment. The slight drooping of his chin toward his chest as he turned back to the rubble. The resignation as he scanned the building and located yet another body.

Oh, Clark.

She wiped away another tear. And then she closed her book, stood, and made her way into the kitchen to start breakfast.


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Next Chapter: Chapter 2