Free Fall [8/?] (Smallville // Clark/Lois)

[krysyuy]

Title: Free Fall (8/?)
Author: Krys Yuy
Summary: Clark isn’t willing to risk his heart again. But when Fate gives him a glimpse into his future, the only question is – how hard will he fall?
Pairings/Characters: Clark/Lois, Chloe/Bart, Oliver/Dinah, Bruce/Zatanna, Justice League
Warning: Spoilers up to Hex.
Rating: PG-13/T
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters used. This fic is purely for entertainment purposes only.
Author’s Notes: I hope you guys enjoy how I handled the suit in this chapter. I really tried to keep it in line with how SV!Clark would view it. I don’t have much to say this time around, except sorry for the cliffhanger. ^o^;; Though I’m sure most of you aren’t surprised there is one. :P Something feels a little off, but I did end this chapter how I always intended to, so… Well, I’ll let you find out for yourself. :) And forgive me for any wrong facts about wetsuits and neoprene – I don’t do any ocean-y activities at all!
Big thanks to all my loyal readers and reviewers! I love you, guys. ♥ Please read, review, and enjoy!



Chapter 8: Attempt

Lois deflated a bit at his lackluster response. “… you like the colors,” she repeated dully.

Clark looked from the cape to the suit to the belt. “Red, blue and yellow,” he said. “My three favorite colors.” He hoped his smile didn’t seem too unenthusiastic.

Lois’s eyes narrowed. “That’s all you have to say?” she asked.

Clark nodded, not meeting her gaze. He had a sneaking suspicion that Lois was going to make him try it on. Maybe if he didn’t look her in the eye…

“Clark.”

He winced at her no-nonsense tone. He slowly looked away from the suit to her face. “What?” he asked.

Lois draped the cape and belt over the back of the couch. She propped her now free hand against her hip, as she prompted, “Why don’t you like the suit?” She sounded offended, and he thought carefully about his answer.

With her stare boring into him, Clark knew he wouldn’t get away with a flimsy excuse. He looked again from her to the blue one-piece suit she held loosely in her left hand. He spoke as if the answer was quite obvious. “They’re tights.”

Lois went from disgruntled to amused with that one sentence. Comprehension lit her eyes even as she said, “They’re not tights…” She shifted the costume from one hand to another and shrugged. “… exactly…”

Clark looked at her skeptically. “What are they, then?” he asked, tone challenging.

She picked at the material of the leg section innocently. “Tight-looking…” she replied.

He sighed. “Lois.”

“What? You look amazing in it!” she exclaimed. Lois held up the bottom half of the suit pointedly. “And they’re not tights! It’s more like the material scuba divers wear.”

Clark turned his whole chair around, so now he was sitting facing her. He crossed his arms. “… tights,” he reaffirmed.

Lois brought the suit down to her side as she placed both hands on her hips. “Is this about your physique? Are you afraid to show it off? ‘Cause let me tell you, you have nothing to be bashful about,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“Lois!”

She threw up her hands at his mortified expression. “You don’t!” she declared, reaching out for his hands. “Try it on, and you’ll see.”

Clark reluctantly let her pull him out of his chair, but declined the offer. “No, thank you,” he said.

Lois laid the costume down on the back of the couch in exchange for the long flowing cloth of red. “Not even the cape?” she said, holding it out enticingly.

Wear that silly thing? Was she kidding? Clark stared back blankly. “Especially not the cape,” he replied. He wasn’t a little kid.

She waved it back and forth, letting it flutter gently with her movements. “Why not?” she asked. “It’s the best part.” Her eyes took on a soft, far-away expression as she rubbed her right wrist.

He almost snapped his fingers in front of her face. Instead, Clark regarded the cape with a dubiously raised eyebrow. “It looks ridiculous,” he stated aloud.

Lois’s gaze snapped back to his as she frowned. Her hands dropped to her sides, the cape tucked under her arm. She stared at him for a long moment. “You have absolutely no sense of superhero style,” she concluded a few seconds later. She roved a critical eye over his choice of clothing.

As Clark looked down at himself – what was wrong with jeans and a T-shirt? – Lois stated, “I suppose style in general.” She sighed. “Why am I surprised? I dressed you for your first day at work.”

He had style! Plenty of it, in fact. “You didn’t dress me!” he protested, though he recalled her shoving him into a phone booth.

The right side of her mouth curved up in a knowing half-grin. “If I remember correctly, I got your big boy clothes from a co-worker. You came to work in your ‘nice’ plaid shirt,” she said, using air quotes.

He stood by the fact that there was nothing wrong with that shirt. It was perfectly presentable. “It was a nice shirt,” Clark defended, lips set in a stiff line.

Lois stared at him incredulously. Then she laughed, shaking her head. “Smallville, what would you do without me?”

Clark crossed his arms again, a bit sulky, as he murmured under his breath: “I’d be a lot less embarrassed, that’s for sure.”

“Just try it on,” she ordered. Lois pushed the cape at him, but he refused to take it.

“No,” he repeated. No way, no how. His current costume was fine. Easy to handle and not skintight. Why mess with what worked?

“Clark!”

Clark almost expected Lois to stomp her feet if he didn’t now any better. “Lois,” he replied pleasantly.

Being stubborn was typically a Lane trait, but a little known secret was that Kents had streaks just as long and fierce. They went about it more subtly, plus it all depended on the subject. And right now, he definitely had no intention of giving in.

Lois grit her teeth, frustration apparent. “Try it on once, and see how you look in it before you judge,” she said.

While he was sure he wasn’t going to give in, Lois obviously wasn’t going to stop pestering him about it any time soon. He dug around his head for some other defense besides his own preferences.

“You’re not supposed to show me anything from the future, right?” he pointed out. Ha! Something working in his favor. “Doesn’t this –” He gestured from the cape in her hands to the one-piece costume on the couch. “– count?”

Lois didn’t even blink. “You already know about ‘Superman’. I didn’t think it would hurt to look at the suit,” she answered readily. She shook her head. “And I didn’t think you would object this much.”

Clark stepped closer to the couch, but not too close. He didn’t want Lois to think he was giving in or anything. He studied the costume from a few feet away, deeming that a safe enough distance. It did look rather… formfitting. Because they’re tights, his mind supplied. Tight tights.

He really wasn’t going to let that go. “It doesn’t look very comfortable,” he finally said after several seconds.

“Have you ever gone to the beach to do anything but swim?” she asked. The random nature of the question almost had him scratching his head when she added, “What am I saying? I know you haven’t.” She laid the cape down next to the blue costume so her hands were free. “It’s like wearing a wetsuit. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s what Mom bought for your prototype.”

Clark started, eyes flicking over to meet Lois’s. “Mom?” he echoed. He knew Lois’s mother had already passed, but that meant…

She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten your mom,” she said.

Truth be told, he had. Kind of. He hadn’t thought of her since he arrived in the future. When his mother had moved to Washington, she was deemed ‘safe’ in his mind, away from all the craziness of Smallville. He never had cause to worry unless she called him directly. With her duties in the capital, how did she have time to make his costume? Was she still a senator?

There were so many questions, but only one stood out at the moment. It was more like an uncertainty, though. “She designed my suit?” he asked doubtfully, giving the costume another once-over. He trusted his mother unconditionally. If she made it, then surely it wouldn’t make him feel as inane as he expected it to.

Lois seemed to read his thoughts and she scowled. “Oh, so now that your mom vouched for it, it has more credibility?” she asked. “Did you think I made it?”

He chuckled. That hadn’t even crossed his mind. “You don’t sew,” he stated sensibly.

She huffed. “I could have learned!” she protested. Her narrowed eyes cut him off in mid-scoff. “How would you know? You’re six years in the future!”

Clark met her challenging stare. He patiently asked, “Do you know how to sew?”

Lois kept her eyes on his for a long while, but ended up looking away first. “… no,” she grumbled.

He gave her a smug look.

Lois rolled her eyes. “What reporter needs to know how to sew, anyway?” She waved her hand in the air as if that would dismiss the actual action of sewing. “Since Mom made it, are you willing to try it on now?”

Lois called his mother ‘Mom’. That was the second time already. Yet another thing he had to get used to. “…”

“What did she say it was? Nao- no, neo…” Lois bit her lip as she was prone to do when deep in thought. “Neopra- no… Neoprene! That’s it!” she exclaimed. She grinned triumphantly and reached out to touch the material of the blue suit. “Neoprene is pretty comfortable, y’know.”

Clark cocked his head to the side. “What’s neoprene?” he asked.

Lois snapped her fingers. “Listen, Smallville! It’s the stuff wetsuits are made of. That’s what Mom used. She told us that,” she explained. She brought her hands together and then drew them apart, mimicking a stretching motion. “It’s like rubber… a ‘synthetic polymer’, if I remember the definition right.”

A rubber suit? He didn’t know if that was better or worse than tights. He straightened his head. “Huh.”

“Just don’t ask me to spell it.”

Clark felt his resolve waver slightly as his eyes roamed over the blue costume, curiosity peeking its way through his conscious. He tried to swiftly shut down the impulse. “And how would you know neoprene is comfortable?” he asked.

“I like surfing,” she said, surprising him. He never knew that. Lois picked up the costume and held it out to him. “So?”

It wouldn’t hurt to get a closer look. Hesitating, Clark took the suit from her hands and fingered the material. “Hmm…” He turned it over and for the first time, noticed the shield adorned on the front. He had to admit, it looked rather striking against the blue background of the suit. He traced the raised ‘S’ with his index finger.

“Hope.”

Startled to hear his thoughts voiced aloud, he looked up to find Lois smiling at him.

“It’s the Kryptonian symbol for hope, right?” she asked. She stepped closer to him and he was too engrossed in studying the suit to become self-conscious.

“Yeah,” Clark replied, voice low and subdued. “It is.” He wondered briefly how she could know, but the answer came before the thought finished. He – his future self – had told her. There seemed to be nothing he – his future self, he corrected again firmly – wouldn’t share with this woman.

The other times he saw the symbol flashed through his mind, shown to him in what was a dark void, save for the light and wind whirling up and down his body. His mind turned from thoughts of how and where, directing itself instead to the emblem’s other meaning.

“It’s also my family crest,” he added quietly.

Lois placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s beautiful,” she commented just as softly. There was no untruth in her tone, no hint of a white lie. She was honestly moved by something from his Kryptonian heritage. It touched the portion of him he constantly shied away from, the part he often hated, the part that felt alienated because of his origins.

The ledge he had staunchly tried to ignore materialized in his mind again. Another step.

Clark didn’t look at her as he murmured, “Thanks.” He held up the suit and looked at it from top to bottom.

The costume was a full one-piece suit, collar-less and the majority of the color a vibrant blue. The other color was a deep red, which was cut in a short Y-shape reminiscent of briefs. If he chose to wear the suit, the red would cover that section of his body exactly. Pinching the fabric, he confirmed what Lois said about it not being tights. Relief registered somewhere in the back of his mind. He knew his clothing preferences in the future couldn’t have altered that much. It didn’t feel like nylon or cotton beneath his fingers; it was the neoprene Lois mentioned. It was thinner than he expected it to be, but still thicker than tights. The sleeves of the suit cut off at the wrists and the legs at the ankles. There was a zipper on the backside that ran from the top to the middle of the back. The seams were practically invisible, a testament to his mother’s sewing skills. Red belt loops were attached along the top of the briefs-shaped section, which would allow for him to wind the yellow belt around his waist.

Emblazoned on the chest of his costume was his family crest. The ‘S’ was a deep red, and the vivid color also outlined the diamond symbol. The only other yellow of the costume was the negative space around the ‘S’ inside the shield. The emblem was raised slightly above the blue of his suit, made up of something a bit tougher than neoprene. He ran his hand along the edge of the collar-less section and felt two flat latches sewn under either side of where his neck would be. He assumed that was where his cape would be attached.

Clark confirmed his supposition when he carefully laid the suit over the back of the furniture in exchange for the cape. He found matching fasteners on two corners of the flowing red cloth. He turned the material over in his hands, and found it to be thinner and lighter than even the blue suit. The cape was simply a rich red with no other designs or symbols marring its surface. He picked up the belt with his right hand as he set the cape down again. Running his hand along the smooth metal, he noted that the yellow was a bit darker than the normal bright shade of the color, more like a mustard hue. The belt buckle was in the shape of the House of El family crest, the edges raised and the spaces between the ‘S’ and the outline of the diamond the same bold red as his cape. He deposited the belt on the sofa and took a step back.

The blue one-piece suit, the red cape, and the yellow belt lay side by side on the back of the couch. Clark took in each and every detail. All in all, he admitted it was a rather impressive costume.

Clark looked at Lois to find her staring at him, a gentle expression on her face. Sometime during his examination, she had taken her hand off his shoulder, but from the way she was gazing at him, he knew she had watched him the entire time.

Uncomfortable at how much that actually didn’t bother him, he concentrated once more on the suit. He gestured towards the legs section of it and asked, “I don’t go barefoot in this, do I?”

Her gentleness leveled out into her usual amusement. She shook her head with a grin. “No, you have boots that go with it,” she answered.

He remembered the picture from the article he found at his desk. “Red, right?”

“Yep. Red boots to go with your red cape,” Lois replied, indicating the size with her hands. “Almost like combat boots, but custom made. Leather-type material. They’re in the closet.” She made a vague gesture in the direction of the bedroom.

While his mother was a master at sewing and creating clothes from bolts of fabrics, her skills didn’t extend to shoemaking. Unless she had taken up a new hobby alongside her duties in the Capitol building. “From where?” he asked.

“Oliver and Bruce know,” Lois answered. She shrugged, indicating that she had more important things to worry about than the maker of his boots. “I never did ask.”

“There’s someone out there who specializes in this kind of thing?” he asked. Clark found it hard to picture a person who designed custom-made accessories for superheroes.

Lois seemed more accustomed to the idea as she casually answered, “You never know who those two have on retainer.” She looked from him to the costume several times. “So, do you need a phone booth to change in?”

His fingers twitched towards the suit. Clark quickly curled his hand into a fist. Surely his mother and Lois wouldn’t let him go around in something that made him look silly. Lois, maybe. His mother, though? Never. Plus he had to confess his curiosity was growing. Was it comfortable? And from the hushed whispers and anticipating looks of the public, Superman was an impressive figure, not a comical one. It was like the night when he had asked Oliver and Chloe to help him throw Jimmy off his trail.

There was no fear. Only hope.

Clark was startled from his reverie by Lois’s excited cry. “Yes!” she exclaimed.

He turned his head and saw Lois beaming at him. “I didn’t agree yet!” he said hastily, backpedaling.

“You didn’t have to. Your face said everything,” she replied. Her smile curved into a Cheshire cat grin as her eyes glinted mischievously. “Let’s go find that phone booth!”

Clark sighed.

Before he wondered how exactly he was supposed to go about putting the costume on, the phone rang. Saved!

“I’ll get it,” he offered, eager for a distraction. He jumped at the phone on the bar counter as Lois opened her mouth to protest. Normally, he wouldn’t go around answering other people’s phones, but it was technically his apartment. Plus he really, really wanted to put off wearing the suit.

“Lane-Kent residence,” he said. He pretended not to notice Lois nearly pouting in the corner of his vision.

“You shouldn’t be answering the phone,” replied a smooth voice.

Clark held the receiver out to Lois. “It’s Bruce.” The dark haired billionaire managed to set off Clark’s defenses with only his tone and a few words.

She took the phone from him and placed her hand over the mouthpiece. “You’re only delaying the inevitable,” she pointed out.

He shrugged, simply thankful for the respite, and sat back down at the table to finish his now soggy cereal.

Lois rolled her eyes at his response as she took her hand off the receiver. She started talking and Clark began to inconspicuously listen in.

“What do you want, Bruce?” she asked. Her voice was cool and professional, but Clark noted its hint of agitation.

“You’re sounding lovely as ever, Lois,” Bruce replied drolly.

“No sleep does wonders for a person’s social skills,” she retorted. She was in no mood to chitchat. “Why did you call?”

“Bring Clark to the Clock Tower at two o’clock.”

Lois prodded, “And then?”

Bruce replied as if the answer was obvious. “Zatanna works her magic.”

“Or we could just send him back now.”

Clark recalled Bruce’s parting words the night before and the billionaire’s sidelong glance at the black haired mistress of magic. They’re really eager to be rid of me. His own feelings only supported his wry observation. He was ready to go home as well. Things in the future were too different. Too altered for him to make real sense of anything. He had to get back to where up was up and down was down.

While Clark wasn’t looking at her, he knew Lois’s lips were pursed and her eyes were drawn together in displeasure by her tone. “Sending him back doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll bring my Clark back,” she said.

“We have to assume so, since this Clark is in our Clark’s body.”

Bruce was more observant than Clark initially gave him credit for. He ran his conversation with the two suspicious JL members in his head, and realized he had never repeated what he told Lois about being in the body of his future self.

Apparently though, Lois forgot that tidbit of information as her widened eyes darted to his. He nodded in response to her unasked question. Her gaze roamed over his face and she bit her lip, tilting her head. Seconds later, she groaned and pressed a hand to her forehead.

“… ugh. My head is not liking this at all,” she said, wincing.

“Bring him to the tower and we can fix this whole mess,” Bruce instructed.

Lois closed her eyes. “…”

From her pause, Bruce knew she wasn’t exactly pleased. “Lois, this is the most immediate solution,” he said in what Clark assumed was supposed to be his placating voice. “We all want to resolve this as soon as possible.”

“I heard you,” Lois said tersely. “We’ll be there.” She hung up.

Clark waited for her to say something, but she remained silent for a few moments longer. Then she gave her hair a good tug in frustration.

“Agh!” Her footsteps treaded heavily as she disappeared down the hallway.

Clark watched her go and listened as she entered her bedroom. Everything was quiet. Concerned, he left his mushy cereal behind with a mental memo to clean up later, and followed her. He found her face down on the bed, arms crossed above her head on a pillow. She wasn’t crying, but she wasn’t raving either.

He didn’t want to invade her privacy, but he couldn’t leave her alone. Worried, he asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

There was a long pause and then her muffled voice answered.

“What?” he asked.

Lois lifted her head and moved her arms so her chin could rest on her crossed wrists. She stared at the headboard of the bed. “I’ve been running through it over and over since last night. But I can’t recall anything unusual.”

Clark had a vague suspicion as to what she referring to, but prompted anyway. “It?”

Lois turned over, her hair spreading out like a halo around her. Her gaze fastened on the ceiling as she said, “The day before yesterday.”

The day before you came.

Clark heard her unuttered words and guilt stung him again. However, knowing Lois wouldn’t take too kindly to him wallowing, he forced the emotion down as far as he could. If he wanted to make things right for her, he had to act. Investigate.

Clark sat on the desk chair by the computer in the corner, and rolled it towards the edge of the bed. “Tell me,” he requested.

Lois stared at the ceiling some more, as if she were weighing options in her head. She seemed to have made her decision when she pushed herself up on her elbows and met his eyes. “It was just an ordinary day,” she said. “Nothing different happened.”

“Go through it again. Step by step,” Clark said, leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees and his hands clasped together.

Lois scooted back on the mattress and sat up, crossing her legs. She reclined against the headboard. Not once did she look away from him. “Yo- Clark woke me up in time to get ready for work,” she began. “We went through our usual morning routine – me attempting to make breakfast, him fixing my breakfast, and then our walk to the Daily Planet. We grabbed two coffees at the cart outside and then headed in. Perry held the morning staff meeting and we updated him on the status of our articles. Your- his with the power plants in the Philippines and mine with the string of small bank robberies on the outskirts of Metropolis…”

Lois continued on, recounting the day with an odd sort of nostalgia, though it had only been a little more than twenty-four hours prior. While he already planned on paying careful attention to everything she said, Clark found himself getting lost easily in words and scenarios that would have bored anyone else. She described the day so factually, but no one could deny the affection in her tone. She was happy with her life. She mentioned only first names and her details, if there were any, were brief and to the point. Lois talked about co-workers he knew and those he would know, about an article he would research and work on, about times he would leave as Superman, only to come back to work that day as Clark Kent. It seemed like another life.

But that’s just it, his mind whispered to him. This is your life.

Lois was no longer looking at him. She had turned slightly so her whole left side was leaning on the headboard, both knees bent up. Her fingers traced the delicate curves and twists in the wood he would one day carve himself. The words flowed from her mouth, her mind clearly immersed in the events of that day.

“I was chasing down a lead and Clark was up in the clubhouse with all the other heroes well into the evening. He didn’t return to me until late, and we fell asleep after...” she trailed off.

“After?”

Her index finger circled up and over the same peculiar flower etching again and again. She looked over at him, and her cheeks were dusted a light pink as she said, “After a certain endorphin-inducing activity.”

“Or, there’s another kind of activity two people share, repetitive motion… builds to a climax…”

His Lois’s teasing words came back to him. “Oh.” He coughed.

Lois smiled at his reaction and seemed to take great pleasure in his flushed cheeks. She murmured something to herself, but he was too distracted by his embarrassment to hear her properly.

Clark centered his thoughts on the mystery of the whereabouts of his future self and away from musings of tangled sheets and bare skin. Nothing stood out to him from Lois’s review of her day, and he understood why she was so frustrated. No clues equaled no leads. No leads equaled dead ends.

“Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in your schedule?” he asked. He already knew the answer, but another confirmation couldn’t hurt.

It could apparently annoy though, if Lois’s glare said anything. “Same old, same old,” she replied.

While it wasn’t the ‘same old’ thing to him, Clark had to admit there wasn’t anything that stood out from what appeared to be a routine day. The key lay in the lost hours his future self spent as Superman. While Lois was unmistakably a close confidante, she wasn’t given an all-access pass to superhero dealings.

“We’re going to need to talk to Ollie,” Lois said aloud, voicing his thoughts for him.

Evidently, she still retained that strange ability of staying one step ahead of him when it came to investigations. “Plus whoever else your husband had contact with in the League,” Clark added. He straightened in his seat. “Let’s go.”

Lois blinked, her fingers paused in their tracing. “Now?” He nodded and she continued, “Well, what are we waiting for?”

Lois jumped up from her huddled position and bounced towards him on the mattress. Her last bounce was a little too big and he scrambled to stand up, the chair rolling behind him. He caught her around the waist and her legs wrapped themselves around his hips, her arms loosely around his neck. He looked up at her and she smiled down at him. Then she gave his forehead a brief kiss.

What the-? Clark loosened his hold, shocked at how much that brief contact sent a jolt of warmth through him. Lois took the opportunity to drop down to the ground. She walked away and he heard sounds of her rummaging through the closet. Clark pressed a few fingers against the spot she kissed. By the time he emerged from his stupor, she was tying the laces of her sneakers.

She saw him staring and she patted her shoes. “Much better to run in,” she commented offhandedly.

“Are you planning on running from anything in particular?” he asked, trying to get his mind to focus. He caught the boots she tossed to him.

He put them on as she replied, “No. It’s just good to be prepared.” Lois grabbed his upper arm just as he finished lacing his boots and pulled him along.

When they reached the living room, Lois let go and picked up the three pieces of his costume. She held them out to him and he shook his head.

Lois rolled her eyes. “Spoilsport,” she muttered. She took the costume and brushed past him and back to the hallway.

Clark didn’t follow her, but assumed she was going to put it away. His guess was confirmed as he spotted, through the walls, Lois opening up the closet. What he didn’t expect was her reaching up in the closet and above the frame. She pressed something and to his astonishment, the insides of the closet slid back and then apart, separating perfectly in the middle. Lois hung up the suit, cape and belt on separate hooks on the wall. He noticed a few pairs of red boots on a lower shelf before he looked away.

That hidden chamber couldn’t be a feature of all the apartments in the building. Lois appeared in front of him a moment later, and he asked, “So, is that secret compartment an option in the floor plan?”

Lois didn’t even pause to question what he was talking about. She picked his glasses off the coffee table and handed them to him. He looked at them doubtfully but slid them on as she replied, “This building is owned by a smaller company under Queen Industries. Ollie pulled a string or two, and Victor helped out with the design.” She grabbed his hand and started leading him towards the balcony. “Only you and I can open it.”

“Huh.” Clark looked again at the closet with his x-ray vision. When he turned back, he found he was already outside. He yelped when Lois jumped at him sideways and this time he caught her with an arm under her knees and one around her back.

Clark frowned at her even as his hold tightened. “You have to stop doing that,” he said.

Lois winked, entwining her arms around his neck. “No promises,” she replied. She lightly tapped the back of his head. “Let’s get out of here. We have some Leaguers to interrogate.”

“Um, Lois…”

She looked at him expectantly and then at the clouds. “What are you waiting for, Smallville?” she asked. She lifted up her left hand as a fist pointing to the sky. “Up, up and away!”

“Lois…”

“What?” she asked, looking back at him.

Clark fidgeted under her stare. Suddenly, with her trusting eyes focused solely on him, he was unable to admit his shortcoming to her – this woman who seemed to believe he could do anything. He had never wanted any of his abilities, was never truly excited when a new one would manifest itself. Each unique power only felt like another weight upon his shoulders. However, he had learned to accept them over time, and he was thankful when they helped him save those he loved and nowadays, the people of Metropolis, too. Still, that didn’t mean he wanted another power. With the vast array already at his disposal, he certainly didn’t need one.

Lois seemed to believe him capable of moving worlds. He had seen that despite the short time he had been in the future. He was not oblivious to the way she saw him. It was the way she saw her husband. He was nothing more than a poor stand-in. But now, with a beautiful hazel gaze centered on him, he wanted that special power, the exceptional one that lay among what was already extraordinary.

Never had he wished so much for the ability to fly.

“Clark?”

Her voice brought him out of his brooding. He met her eyes, but couldn’t say anything. She smiled at him, though it was a little uncertain, and lightly rapped his forehead.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Shouldn’t I be touching a cloud by now?”

Her genuine confusion had him ducking his head again.

“Hey, look at me.” Lois curled her hand under his chin and lifted it, forcing his gaze up. “What is it?” she asked, concerned.

I can’t say it. Don’t make me say it. His eyes pleaded with hers until understanding dawned a moment later.

“Oh crap.”

–

“What do you mean you can’t fly?!”

“He’s been moonlighting as a paper boy,” Lois snapped, hands on her hips. “Honestly Ollie, what is so hard to understand?”

Clark stood rigidly to the side as Oliver and Lois squabbled with each other. The three of them were standing in the center of Oliver’s loft, while Zatanna was on the platform, leaning against the panel hiding the billionaire’s Green Arrow equipment. Unlike Clark who was paying attention to the other two, Zatanna’s eyes were focused on the floor beneath her. She muttered to herself, completely absorbed in her own world.

Well, he was clearly on his own. Clark tried to get a word in. “Look, guys –”

“Forgive me for being a little surprised that Superman can’t fly,” Oliver retorted, pulling at the cuffs of his white button up shirt. Black slacks and sleek black oxford shoes completed the casual look of a man worth billions. “Next thing you know, I’ll be shooting sticks instead of arrows!”

“An arrow is like a stick,” Lois commented, crossing her arms.

Oliver groaned, bringing a hand up to his forehead. “That’s not the point,” he said.

“There is no point at all,” Clark interrupted firmly. Lois and Oliver turned to him as he continued, “Me not being able to fly doesn’t matter. You wanted to send me back today, right?”

“Where is Bruce, anyway?” Lois asked, looking around for the missing Wayne CEO.

“He got a call,” Oliver said. “He had to follow up on something in Gotham.”

Lois’s ears perked up. “Anything the public needs to know?” she asked. “Like, a Wayne Enterprises crisis or a criminal crisis?”

“Let the Gotham Gazette take care of it,” Oliver stated. He ignored Lois’s glower. “Besides, he’ll be back around two.”

“Is that why he wanted us to come here then?” Lois asked.

“Should I be flattered that he wants to wish me a personal goodbye?” Clark added dryly.

“Frankly, you should be happy. He’d be giving you a tougher time about not flying,” Oliver said.

“I’m ready.”

Everyone turned their heads to look at Zatanna, who looked perfectly alluring in a black mini-skirt, maroon halter top, and black leather jacket. Her matching knee-high boots made her legs seem even longer. She leaned forward with both hands on the railing of the platform.

Oliver walked up to Clark and patted his shoulder. “Guess you’re going to have to go without that goodbye, though I’m sure Zee has a kiss from him to you,” he commented.

Zatanna brought a finger to her lips. “I’ll never tell.”

“Ha, ha.” Clark rolled his eyes. “So, you’re both absolutely sure that my, umm, future self didn’t have any unusual saves that day?” he asked once more, changing the subject. They were ready to send him back, but something didn’t sit right with him. He was missing something.

“Like we said, it was relatively quiet,” Zatanna replied.

“Clark only checked in once to talk about that mission,” Oliver said. “And that day, it was all petty crimes. Not even a natural disaster. He didn’t come across any of our more… eccentric… villains.”

Clark didn’t like where this was going. He was eliminating everything from his future self’s side, which only brought it back to –

“You.” Lois peered up at him. “Are you sure you’re not forgetting something?”

He shook his head in the negative. “I didn’t do anything except reverse time, and I already destroyed the Legion ring,” he said, unable to come up with anything new.

“All the bases we already covered,” Oliver said. “It can’t be a delayed reaction.”

Lois sighed. “I’m no good at this scientific theory stuff. Give me a criminal to shake down any day,” she said wistfully.

Did she always have to be on the lookout for trouble? “You’re not a cop, Lois,” Clark reminded her, frowning.

She waved her hand in the air dismissively. “I’m an investigative reporter and army brat. One lethal combination,” she said.

“You’re telling me,” Oliver muttered, rubbing his shoulder. Clark wasn’t sure if it was still hurting or if his friend was just reliving the memory.

“Are you ready?” Zatanna asked, looking directly at him.

He nodded, though he noticed she seemed a bit tense. He returned the question in kind. “Are you?” he asked softly.

She smiled reassuringly. “Yes,” she said. “I just don’t often do a spell of this magnitude. That’s why I was chanting earlier. It centers me.”

“Should we do it now then?” he replied. He didn’t want her to lose focus and have to meditate again. He felt a touch upon his shoulder and looked down at Lois’s worried face.

“Are you sure?” she asked quietly. “We still don’t know why you were sent here.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he replied. I don’t belong here, anyway. “Bruce and Oliver are probably right – there must have been a switch of some kind. This will work and he’ll be back with you.”

Lois squeezed his hand. “Stick to your guns, Smallville,” she said. She rested her palm against his cheek. “You have to trust yourself.”

Clark nodded. “Thanks for everything,” he said. He allowed himself a small moment of indulgence and leaned into her touch. It would be so easy… He straightened and stepped back. “See you.”

“Not if I see you first,” Lois replied. She stepped back as well and she leaned gratefully against Oliver when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Zatanna led Clark up to the center of the platform. “Stay right here,” she instructed.

He nodded again and watched her go. Zatanna stopped at the base of the stairs and turned around to face him. Oliver and Lois stood behind her by the couches. Oliver’s face didn’t reveal anything. Lois, however, seemed a little more anxious. She smiled, though, when she realized he was looking at her.

Clark didn’t bother looking anywhere else. He kept his eyes on Lois. He heard Zatanna somewhere in the background and vaguely registered the crack of thunder on what was a sunny day.

“Eerf siht drawyaw luos!” Zatanna cried. “Dnes mih kcab ot sih lufthgir ecalp ni emit dna ecaps!”

Pain ripped through his chest then and Clark fell to his knees, unable to stifle his screams.

Previous | Next
Complete Chapter List HERE.


Crossposted to clois, cloisfic, Divine Intervention.

Comments

[psychme.livejournal.com]

Ah! I love this story so very much. Future Lois is just fabulous and leaves me rather speechless with her awesomeness. You write her so beautifully in character.

Love the discussion about the tights; this is *exactly* how I'd expect SVClark to feel about the suit.

Was the mistake in the Zatanna spell ("nad" instead of "and") at least part of the reason for its presumed misfire?

Just a great chapter all around. The fic gets better and better. I can't wait to read see what comes next.

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

WOW, you are so fast. XD;;

Thank you! Future Lois is quite awesome. I've grown rather fond of her, and I'm glad you think she's in character. I try!

Yay~! So happy you think so. I pictured how SV!Clark would react and this is the result. :D

Umm, I want to say that was some subtle author thing I did, and that you're a very astute reader. Unfortunately, that's just a typo. XD;; (Ugh, backwards writing!) I'm sorry!! But still, you are very astute. I would have never noticed that blunder if you hadn't pointed it out, so thanks. :D Zatanna, actually, performed the spell perfectly. Something else is going on.

Thanks again for your awesome comments! :) I hope you continue to enjoy this wild ride, wherever I end up taking it. ;)

P.S. Still writing Chapter 9, of course, but another piece I'm working on is taking priority. It's a response to the 12days_of_clois challenge - however, it takes place in the FF universe, a little something between future Clark and Lois. FF readers may enjoy it as I'll probably reference it later in FF itself. ;) So once you see it posted, please, take a gander. :D

[psychme.livejournal.com]

Heh. The backwards writing forces me to be a particularly careful reader and that's just why I caught it. :-p I figured it was something else, because otherwise Z would just say the spell again correctly and then succeed in sending Clark back. ;) Out of curiosity, how far are we through the story? Halfway through? Still in the early stages?

I'm thrilled to hear about the plan for more frequent updates over the summer. I'll certainly look forward to them, and wish you luck.

Future Clark and Lois? Oh, I definitely would like to see that!

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

No matter the reason, it was a nice catch! ;)

I want to say we're about halfway, but I'm not 100% sure of that. I have up to Chapter 12 briefly outlined, but then plot points that go beyond that (they just haven't been assigned a chapter yet). However, I can honestly say I don't see this going beyond 20 chapters at the most. Unless I go crazy.

Thank you! I definitely need it. I want to finish this so bad, but my track record with finished multi-chapter fics is not good. I'm trying my best, though!

As for my "future Clark and Lois" piece, I'll be more specific as I don't want to mislead you. The piece I'm writing is fluff and set sometime in or post S9 when my Clark and Lois are dating. When finished, it can be read as a Smallville standalone. However, FF readers can read it as a companion piece and I'll be referencing it in a future FF chapter.

I'm thinking of writing Free Fall interludes where we get a peek into the universe from someone else's perspective (probably Lois). Good? Bad? Will probably break the monotony of a Clark POV story?

[psychme.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks. And eek, I hope things are different this time around. I'd be so sad if this story were abandoned.

Ah, so the story will be about this Clark and the Lois he left at the coffee shop, in the future, as opposed to Future Clark who's gone missing, and this Future Lois? I get it now, and I'm certainly up for a tie-in.

I'd consider interludes quite lovely. I mentioned in a previous review that I was surprised that Lois wasn't as concerned about where her Clark went as I thought she might be, and I'm glad you clarified that as her simply not showing this Clark how she really felt. I think expanding on her POV (and other characters' in this future universe that I'm really enjoying) would be an excellent way to fill out the story even more, although as I hope you can tell from my reviews, I'm not finding the story monotonous or lacking as it is. :)

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :) I'd hate to disappoint you or my other readers, so I'm trying to figure out a regular updating schedule that works for me.

Yep, you got it. ;) Though later, I will definitely have some Future!Clark and Future!Lois stuff as some of my other readers have also expressed interest in that as well. So much to write! Yikes.

Thank you very much for your input on this. I wasn't quite sure, so it's nice to get a reader's perspective. :) I thought it would be nice to shake things up a bit and not keep readers completely in the dark. Lol. I'm glad you don't find the story lacking though! :D But I do know a few who do, so I thought this might be a solution for everyone. ;)

Anyways, thanks again for responding and lending me your ear. :) Till next time! ♥

[scullymulder123.livejournal.com]

I love this bunches! Awesome job :] Can't wait to see where it goes :]

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! ♥ I appreciate you taking the time to comment. :)

[leonhart-17.livejournal.com]

aww great chapter! I loved that Clark was more willing to accept the suit when he found out his mom made it!

great chapter!

I can't wait to see what happens next!

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D Lol, glad you liked that. Originally, Clark's reaction was going to be different when he found out his mom made it. Then I started thinking and I realized duh, of course Clark would be more willing once he knew who designed it. ;)

Again, thanks for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time. :)

[babettew54.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, that was some cliffhanger! *bites nails* Poor Clark! That was some spell..

I couldn't help chuckling at Lois' unsuccessful attempts to get him into the suit. I was really wondering what would happen, if anything, if he did put it on. What if it didn't fit? He's still a growing boy!! *giggles*

I guess Lois can't help herself, the way she flirts with him and kisses him.. Humm, interesting.

But where is Future!Clark? I'm at a loss here ... where could he be? In the past, in the future...??

You have me asking all kinds of questions..!!

Can't wait for the next installment! :D:D

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

My cliffhangers are evil. I'm sorry. I don't know if Chapter 10's is any better. ^.^;;

LOL, true. I didn't take that into account. Oops! But yeah, Future!Lois trying to get Clark into the suit was made for comedy.

My Lois is kinda touchy-feely. I'd like to think that once in a relationship, Lois would become comfortable touching him, being affectionate. Not enough to be extreme PDA, but sorta.

Sorry, can't say just yet. But I've laid out a couple clues, especially in C9 and C10.

Thanks for your comments! :D

Sorry for the really late reply. :(

[pueblo-01.livejournal.com]

I've been collecting the chapters since I found the post for the first one. I just read it up to the latest chapter all today and you have me hooked. I can't wait to read the next chapter and what you have in store for the final one :)

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm so glad you like this story. :D That makes me really happy. It'll be kinda awhile before the story ends... A lot has to happen beforehand, but I hope you enjoy it while it lasts. :D

Thanks for commenting!

Chapter 10: Bullpen is here. Enjoy~!

Sorry for the really late reply! :(

[pueblo-01.livejournal.com]

I know I posted a comment but I wanted to ask before I did it... Can I friend you :)

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

Oh my! I'm sorry - your comment got lost in my mail. I'm so sorry! :( But of course, please friend me if you want! I have no problems with that. :) But as you probably guessed, I'm awful at replying on time - just a sad but true warning.

Sorry for the really late reply! :(

[htbthomas.livejournal.com]

Hee! The whole situation with the suit was really hilarious. :D

And the ending was killer! As I catch up with everything, I can't wait to see what happened!

[krysyuy.livejournal.com]

Regarding the suit, I really tried to look at it from S8!Clark's POV. And it is rather hilarious. Lol.

Oh yeah. If there's one thing you should know, it's that I sorta write really, really awful cliffhangers. As in, you might want to read what's next, but I'm so horrible at updating that it'll take awhile kind of awful. XD;;

Thanks for your comments! Hope you like where I take this! :)

Sorry for the really late reply! :(

[eternal-moonie.livejournal.com]

Such a very awesome chapter honey!