Thanks to those who gave me feedback. And thanks to rkn for betaing again.

Here's part 16

Kiley’s mind kept wandering the next day as she and Larry were watching the second movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean Series. Was Grandma right? Did she not know Larry as well as she thought she did? Then she snuggled closer to him on his on his couch. No, that was disloyal to Larry, she thought to herself, remembering how much it bothered him to be compared to his uncle. She loved him. And she knew he wasn’t deceiving her.

Of course, she couldn’t say the same about herself. She knew she was deceiving him. Kiley could feel the spandex from her costume under her clothes. She had never felt heat before, but having that many clothes on was really bothering her tonight. She sighed and tried to concentrate on the movie. Wasn’t one of the benefits of watching movies that you focused on the characters’ problems instead of your own?

Ten minutes later, Kiley’s mind wandered again. She wished she could just tell Larry what her problem was. But as much as she loved Larry and wanted to tell him about Superwoman as well as the problem with her parents, she couldn’t do that to Mom and Dad.

They had always been a close family, and it had been an agreement between all of the family that if anyone ever felt the need to tell someone the secret, they would discuss it with the rest of the family first, if at all possible. And even though she tried to pretend otherwise, she knew Grandma didn’t count. Especially since she made Grandma promise not to tell anyone else.

The secret was something none of them took lightly. Her parents would probably understand wanting to tell the man she loved. They had been there once, as she remembered Grandma’s story. But they wouldn’t understand her wanting to tell Lex Luthor’s nephew.

She looked deep into Larry’s eyes. His uncle had really locked her father up in a Kryptonite cage and tried to kill Dad! She imagined the amount of pain that would have caused him. Kiley knew how much painful a small amount of Kryptonite could be for her father; she had witnessed it a couple of weeks ago. But a whole cage made of Kryptonite…? And for twenty-four hours…? How could that man do that to her father? And how could Larry’s kind, sweet eyes give her any answers?

“Are you okay, Kiley?” Larry asked as she continued to search his eyes for any signs of his murderous uncle. “Maybe you’d like to watch a different movie?”

“No,” Kiley replied, trying to sound causal. “This one’s fine. We’ve already seen the first one.”

“Well, that’s what I mean,” Larry commented, trying to be helpful. “Maybe you’d like to watch something completely new.”

“No, like I said, this one’s fine.” It didn’t matter which movie she watched, Kiley realized. Focusing her mind on the characters’ problems was just not working for her tonight. She snuggled up against Larry again and tried to think only of how much she loved him, if she couldn’t concentrate on the movie.

Suddenly, without warning, her super hearing kicked in from 20,000 feet. “I’ve lost control!” the pilot screamed. “I can’t get the nose up! We’re going down! We’re going to land in the Alps!”

Oh gosh, trouble or no trouble, she really needed to land that plane! She was really their only hope, and the mountains, particularly high mountains, were a bad place for a plane to crash! Now if she could only come up with a reason to leave. What happened to her list of excuses she was going to work on?

“Listen Larry,” she said as she untangled from him, “I’m going to…um…go upstairs for a minute.”

Larry nodded nonchalantly. Apparently that was a good excuse, although she didn’t know why she would need to go upstairs in his house. Whatever. She raced upstairs, changed into Superwoman, and flew out the upstairs window.

Then she quickly found the plane that was in trouble and carried it to safety. The pilot, crew, and the passengers thanked her for her assistance. But unfortunately, some of the passengers were reporters.

Kiley sighed. She loved her parents and she knew they loved their profession, but she really didn’t like reporters at all. They were too much of a reminder of what half of Metropolis thought would be “the perfect career” for Kiley Kent. And reporters who questioned her as Superwoman made her nervous. What if she made a slip? Add to the fact that Superwoman’s repeated presence in Europe had been questioned a few weeks ago, and Kiley was more nervous and annoyed than usual. She made a conscious effort not to run her fingers through her hair.

Quite frankly, she didn’t want to talk to the reporters at all, especially since she was still in the middle of a date with Larry. But she remembered how her father trained her to deal with the press as Superwoman.

The words, “One of the worst things you can do is make the press believes you have something to hide. Believe me, I know. So when you’re Superwoman and the press comes to ask you questions, answer them to the best of your ability. Don’t just fly off unless there is another rescue you need to go to,” echoed in her mind. And with the European press particularly interested in her right now, that advice was especially fitting. “Be careful,” her parents told her when they had talked about her going to Switzerland. She needed to honor them right now.

Even though Larry was sure to think she was skipping out on him, she thought sadly, remembering the look on his face when she left in the middle of a date last time.

Okay. Try to keep the formal Superwoman appearance, she said to herself.

“Superwoman, we’re glad you were able to help us, but can you tell us why you spend so much time in Europe for the past two months?”

“Europe has needed my assistance. I believe the people were always grateful,” Kiley replied as politely as she could. Reporters! They drove her nuts.

“Yes, they were grateful, but most of these rescues did not qualify as the ‘international disasters’, your family usually helps out with outside your home base. Are you still living in Metropolis?”

“Yes,” she replied, maybe a little too briskly. “Is that everything? I need to be leaving.”

“Okay, sure. But…Superwoman what is the importance of Europe in your opinion?”

Larry! That’s what’s important. And that’s who I need to get back to!

“It has a lot of big cities with crime problems, just like Metropolis,” she replied, just as briskly as the last time. She wasn’t supposed use that voice as Superwoman, but the reporters were really getting on her nerves. And they were keeping her away from Larry. Okay Dad, she said to herself, did I answer enough of their questions? “I really need to be leaving,” she commented taking off.

She quickly arrived back at Larry’s house and spun back into her regular clothes.

Larry was waiting for her downstairs, and he didn’t look happy.

“Hello,” she said nervously. What should she say to him? She ran her fingers through her hair.

Larry looked straight at her and said, “Kiley, where did you go?”

“I went upstairs,” she replied a little confused. She knew he might be a little bothered by the fact that she was gone for about half an hour, but he didn’t seem bothered by her going upstairs before. What was this about?

“You may have LEFT to go upstairs but that’s not where you WENT,” Larry replied, obviously getting angry. I went upstairs about ten minutes ago because I was worried that you didn’t come right back. I had thought you went to use the restroom, or maybe you wanted to um…get more comfortable up there.”

Kiley almost blushed, invulnerability or not, when she realized what Larry had probably thought she wanted to do. Larry’s bedroom was up there!

“But when I went up there, you weren’t anywhere around. So where did you go? And more importantly, WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME?”

Kiley’s face crumpled. How could what sounded like a perfect excuse end up being the exact wrong excuse? And darn those stupid reporters! Why did they have to be so nosy anyway? She was the one who saved them from the plane crash!

“Larry, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m sorry I worried you. But I don’t know what to tell you,” Kiley replied as carefully as she could.

“Well, you need to think of something then!” Larry put his hands on his hips. “Kiley, I’ve known you’ve been keeping something from me for a while. And that bothers me enough, particularly with all of the things I’ve told you. Do you remember the time at the art exhibit I poured my heart out about what it was like to grow up in Uncle Lex’s fortress? Or how I told you how worried I was about my mother? But I was willing to let that go. I figured you’d tell me when you’re ready. And I know something’s been bothering you tonight, even though you tried to pretend otherwise. But I told myself ‘give her time, maybe she’ll come around.’ But then you look me right in the face and LIE to me, Kiley! I’ve had enough!”

Kiley shook her head. She had enough too. She had enough with reporters, she had enough with all the pressure she was under, and she had enough with Larry, too!
“I didn’t lie, Larry!”

“Oh, yeah? Then tell me how you could have gone upstairs and not be anywhere around when I went looking for you?”

Kiley opened her mouth and no sound came out. What should she say, I flew out the window?

“See,” Larry cried triumphantly, pointing at her lack of explanation. “I’ve got to tell you, Kiley, I love spending time with you, but if you can’t even tell me the truth about where you’ve been for the last half hour, maybe we shouldn’t see each other anymore.”

“No!” Kiley cried. Anything but that! “I…I love you, Larry. Give me another chance.”

“I love you, too, Kiley.” He sighed. “But I’m tired of giving you chances on this. If you really mean that, you’ll tell me.”

With that, Kiley got up and left the room. Then she ran down to her normal alley and flew off. In the distance, she could hear Larry punching his couch pillows and yelling “Why, Kiley? Why?”

Well, that did it, she thought to herself as she flew into her window. It was really over with Larry. How could that be? She loved him. Shouldn’t they be able to get through their problems?

As she spun back into her normal clothes, she sighed. Superwoman. That was the problem with their relationship. Her stupid other identity! First he wouldn’t accept Superwoman because he thought she was self-centered. Then, when that was finally cleared up, Superwoman still caused problems because she had to leave without explaining why. Kiley took off her superhero costume, which had still been under her clothes, and shoved it aside. She never wanted to see it again.

************************************************************************

The next morning, Kiley got up and smiled at her abstract portrait of Larry. She reached up and brushed her fingers against the canvas. That was all she had of him now.

After getting dressed, she didn’t even notice what she had put on, she went downstairs. There, hanging in her living room was what used to be one of her favorite paintings. The sun. Its bright rays shined at her, reminding her that it gave her special powers. Powers to become Superwoman. Powers to help that boy when he fell out of the building. Powers to help those children out of the fire about a month ago. Powers to help with the relief effort in the war in South America. She reached up and brushed her fingers on the sun. That was who she was.

Or who she used to be, anyway, Kiley added to herself as she walked away from the painting. She was done with being Superwoman. The painting of the sun was nice, but it only reminded her of times when being Superwoman made her feel good about herself. It didn’t make her feel good anymore. It only reminded her of the problems it created with Larry.

But how could she listen to cries for help and not answer? She asked herself. How could she tell Dad she wasn’t going to work with him anymore? Imagining the hurt look on his face, she sighed. She had already felt disloyal to Dad when she was dating Larry. Larry Luthor. How could her father have ever understood that? And she knew she had been distancing herself from her father and the rest of her family because of Larry as well. She had already hurt her father enough with her actions over the past two months. Kiley knew giving up Superwoman would hurt him most of all.

Still, she knew she couldn’t continue with the charade after last night. Larry was right; she had been keeping something from him. Every time she put on that Superwoman costume, she was pretending to be someone else. Someone more formal, who didn’t feel emotions. Someone who didn’t have anything to hide. Someone who actually liked reporters, she added with a grunt. Those stupid reporters! It was their entire fault she was so late when she left Larry’s last night. If she stopped being Superwoman, she’d never have to deal with those annoying reporters again.

Suddenly an idea came to her. If she left Metropolis, she wouldn’t have to worry about not answering all those cries for help, because she wouldn’t hear them! And she wouldn’t have to worry about the look on Dad’s face when she told him she wasn’t going to be Superwoman anymore, because she wouldn’t tell him.

Grinning, as the idea appealed to her more and more, she picked up her old suitcase and began throwing clothes inside, purposely not adding extra superhero costumes. She’d find an old cave or something that no humans ever went to anymore. Then she wouldn’t have to pretend to be someone else. She wouldn’t have to listen to reporters. She wouldn’t have to listen to Arnold and his snide remarks about her paintings. She wouldn’t even have to feel guilty about what happened with Larry, because she was doing something to correct the problem with their relationship.

Gently, she picked up her abstract painting of Larry that she had hung above her bed and brushed it with her fingertips. She did miss him. The way they had ended things didn’t stop her from loving him. But there was nothing else she could do. She went downstairs and picked up some plastic wrap. Then she carefully rapped the painting and placed it in the sleeve of her suitcase. At least she’d have that to remember Larry.

Kiley picked up her suitcase with one hand easily. She remembered a conversation from one of her dates with Larry.

******************************(flashback)*********************************
“Are you sure you can carry the chair all the way to the park?” Larry had asked her, as they were getting ready for their picnic.

Kiley laughed inwardly. Of course she could! In fact she could carry both chairs and their picnic basket with no trouble at all. But she knew that would be unusual for a woman. So she needed to pretend it was harder for her than it was. Not hard enough for Larry to believe he had to carry the chair himself, of course. Just enough to make it realistic.

****************************(end of flashback******************************

Kiley sighed. She was really going to miss those evenings with Larry. And that night in the park was a special memory for her because of the way he had responded to “Swiss Alps Mystic.” They went to the park because of the way he responded to it. Still, there was another instance where she had to pretend to be someone she wasn’t around Larry. It was nice she didn’t have to do that anymore.

She brought the suitcase downstairs. Even though she wouldn’t be able to sell her paintings anymore if she lived alone like she was planning to, Kiley would never survive without painting. So she picked up some brushes, a few of her favorite paints, as well as one canvas. As for food, she was sure there would be some around wherever she was going. Actually, didn’t she have a book on edible wild plants somewhere? Thomas had given it to her. She didn’t know why she never got rid of it, but it would come in handy now.

There, she was all set. If she took off fast and stayed in the cloud cover, hopefully no one would even notice she was leaving. Briefly, her mind flashed back to what Grandma told her. How Dad had planned to run away once, because he couldn’t bring himself to tell Mom the truth about himself, but had gotten tired of lying to her. This was completely different! she insisted to herself.

She picked up her suitcase and took off from her window, faster than the eye could see. As she started flying above the clouds, she couldn’t believe how liberating it felt to fly without the superhero costume. She was free.

After flying around the world several times, Kiley finally settled on a small cave in northern Russia. She doubted many people lived around here. It was far too cold for a normal person. Perfect.

Kiley spent the next few hours setting up her new home. She turned a big rock into a vanity, placing her brush, deodorant and hair ties in a neat arrangement. She took out a few of her favorite outfits and draped them on another rock. Who cared if they got dirt on them? She put her painting materials in another corner, using a flat rock as an easel.

When she was finished, she knew she needed to get something to eat. She picked up her “wild plants” book and searched for something that could be found in this area. There. Perfect. A few hours after eating, Kiley went to sleep, listening to the wind blow. There was no traffic noise here, she noticed. She always liked traffic noise.

The next day she woke up and ate more plants for breakfast. There was no chocolate available here, she thought to herself sadly. If she wanted more she’d have to go back to civilization to get it. She didn’t think she could handle that now. Of course, thanks to the way her relationship with Larry had turned out, chocolate had some unpleasant memories associated with it. But it was still great tasting.

And she missed her family. She hadn’t really thought about how that would affect her. She had been distancing herself from them for a while because of Larry, what was a little more distance? A lot, she realized. There would be no more Kent family dinners for her. No more working with Dad on the bigger rescues in Metropolis, or all of them working together on an international disaster. No more seeing Mom and Dad cuddle up together, secure in the fact that they loved each other, while Alice grumbled about it.

She picked up one of her canvases and began doodling with her paints while she thought. At least she still had painting. And it was nice that she was alone out here, she repeated to herself several times. She had felt alone for a while because she was the only one who knew Larry. It meant there were no emergencies for Superwoman to get involved in. It was definitely better this way.

She munched on more plants for lunch. She had to admit, they tasted a little bland. She had always enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken soup, and things like that. And her father made wonderful steaks. Larry also made great gourmet dinners. Well, those meals were no longer options for her anymore. It was better this way, she repeated to herself. And of course, there was always the mint chocolate candies Larry had given her.

That night, she went to sleep, listening to the wind again. Why did she miss the sound of traffic so much?

The next morning, she doodled with her paints again. Kiley couldn’t bring herself to start another painting yet. It was too final.

She sighed as she stroked the canvas. Her family would no longer come to her openings and encourage her. She would no longer praise Thomas for helping Grandpa on the farm. Her face would no longer gleam with pride as she looked at another Daily Planet exclusive for her parents. Because despite all the grief that she got from the rest of Metropolis about how she should be a reporter, she WAS proud of her parents’ work.

Still, there was no way she could go home now. She simply couldn’t be Superwoman anymore. And she couldn’t face her parents’ disappointment, especially her father’s if she had to tell them that.

Kiley ate the same plants she had been eating for the last two days for supper. They were really getting old, though. Maybe she’d look around for something new tomorrow.

The next day, she looked through her wild plants book for ideas. Then she walked around, looking for something similar. But all she could find were the same old plants. Maybe if she flew, she could cover more ground. She took a deep breath and took to the air. Within a few minutes, she found what she was looking for.

As she landed next to the plants, she paused. It had been a few days since she had flown. She had forgotten how enjoyable it was. But as enjoyable as it was, it also made her remember her responsibilities. She had always believed she had been given these powers to help others, just like Dad did. How could she have forgotten that so quickly?

Not only that, but how could she have thought running away would solve anything? Because that’s what she had done, even though she tried to deny it. She’d run away from her problems, and she’d run away from who she was.

But what was she supposed to do about it now? She was still no closer to solving her problem with Larry. She reached over and picked up his portrait that she had leant up against a rock. Her Larry. She loved him. And he said he loved her too.

She sighed and picked some more plants for lunch. She remembered Grandma’s voice, “You need to tell your parents, Kiley. Otherwise, you’re living a lie.” Was that the answer? Could she really just go home and tell her parents about Larry? Or would that create more problems than it solved?

She listened to the wind again. Still no traffic noise. It was surprising how much she missed the city. She wasn’t like her mother who liked to have all kinds of things going on at once. And she liked to work alone. But she had lived in Metropolis almost her whole life. She liked its sounds, its atmosphere. And she did miss being Superwoman. Helping people, making a difference in the world, being someone people looked up to was important to her. It was a big part of Kiley Kent even though she had tried to deny it the day before.

Finally, late that night, Kiley gathered her things in her suitcase again and flew back to Metropolis.