Say Nothing at All

By Wendy Richards <wendy@kingsmeadowcr.freeserve.co.uk>

Rated PG

Submitted February 2000

__________

It had been a long, hard night, and Superman was exhausted. He had  been alerted, in the early evening, by a news broadcast stating  that there had been an earthquake in Southern California; he'd  been with Lois at the time, snatching a rare quiet evening in  together. It was one of the few opportunities they had managed to  get since she had finally learned his secret, and he'd determined  that she would have the opportunity to ask as many questions of  him as she needed. He had finally understood that her reply to his  proposal had not been 'No' but 'Not yet.' He realised that she  needed to get to know him all over again now that she was aware  that the man she was in love with was neither Clark Kent nor  Superman, but someone who was a strange amalgam of the two, and  yet also someone completely different.

Then the newsflash had come, just as she had begun to ask him when  he had developed his powers, and she had thrown him a wry,  resigned glance. "Go," she had told him. He had stared at her,  torn. "You have to go," she repeated. "We can do this another  time."

"I love you," he had told her, the words coming from his heart. He  had quickly spun into his Suit, eliciting another gasp from Lois;  she was still getting used to the sight of him doing that.  Stealing a swift, yearning kiss from her, he had hurried to his  balcony and set his course for California.

Dawn was now breaking, and he was finally heading for home. Lois  would have left his apartment hours ago, he knew; she had probably  left shortly after him knowing that he would probably be gone all  night. He was briefly tempted to visit her apartment, just to see  her, but he dismissed the thought. He needed to get cleaned up,  and she needed what was left of her night's sleep.  No, he should  go home.

Landing on his balcony a few seconds later, he spun out of the  Suit and into a pair of shorts, then strode through into his  bedroom on the way to the bathroom for a shower. He came to an  abrupt halt at the sight which greeted him. A slight figure was  curled up on his bed, fully clothed, fast asleep.

Lois.

She had waited for him. His heart melted; all the terrible sights  and sounds he had experienced that night faded into the distant  memory as he stared at her.

Forgetting his intention, he allowed himself to float upwards and  sat cross-legged several feet away from the bed, just watching  Lois sleep.

It wasn't the first time she had spent the night in his apartment,  of course. But on previous occasions, he had never had the right  to watch her like this; would only have been able to dream about  kissing her awake, or having her welcome him home from a night of  arduous and distressing Super-hero activities. The difference now  was that, whatever the formal status of their relationship, this  was his woman. His love; his soul-mate. The woman he wanted to  marry; the woman who loved him as he loved her.

He listened to her breathing, the soft sounds she made bringing a  gentle smile to his lips. His Mad Dog Lane, the woman he had  privately labelled a 'little tornado,' looked so peaceful as she  slept.

She shifted, and her sleeping face turned towards him, allowing  him to observe the curve of her cheekbones and the errant lock of  hair which flopped over her forehead and fell onto her closed  eyelids. He smiled slightly again, and with his Super-breath sent  a light gust of air towards her which lifted the strands back and  away from her face.

Clark couldn't believe how much he loved this woman, how much she  had come to mean to him in the two years he had known her. He had  never known that it was possible for one person to mean so much to  another; it seemed a miracle that she felt the same way about him.  And yet she did. Her love for him radiated from her eyes every  time she looked at him. The words of a song he'd heard recently  drifted into his mind:

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart

Without saying a word, you can light up the dark

Try as I may, I can never explain

What I hear when you don't say a thing

He floated closer to her sleeping form, hovering a few inches off  the bed so that he could watch her more closely. She moved  slightly in her sleep again, her mouth curving delicately into a  smile. Sweet dreams, Clark wondered. He gazed at her in wonder,  his heart overflowing with love for her.

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me

There's a look in your eyes saying you'll never leave me

The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall

You say it best when you say nothing at all

He wondered how he had managed before she had come into his life.  How had he survived for twenty-seven years before he had known  her? How was it that he had never noticed the enormous gap in his  life which she had filled?

He had spent most of his adult life travelling the globe: the  misfit, the not-quite-human who possessed such strange powers,  trying to find a place where he belonged. He hadn't belonged in  Smallville, much as he loved his parents. He was too...  *different* for that; he could never have stayed on the farm. He  had needed to travel, to find somewhere he could fit in.

And yet, he had never felt at home anywhere, until the day he had  arrived in Metropolis and had been interviewed by Perry White for  a job at the Daily Planet. The office door had opened and in had  come this human tornado, this stunningly beautiful and incredibly  *alive* woman; and in that instant he had known. He had found the  place where he belonged; he had fallen in love.

And that incredible woman had fallen in love with him. He shook  his head as he continued to gaze at her. What had he done to  deserve her love? What had he done to earn her trust, her loyalty,  his place in her life?

His life had changed completely since Lois had entered it; he had  found a way to belong as himself, and to use his powers to help  other people. He could protect his privacy and that of his family.  And he was now able to share his true self with the woman he loved  with every breath in his powerful body.

All day long I can hear people talking out loud

But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd

Try as I might, I can never define

What's been said between your heart and mine

She understood him, in a way in which even he had never done. She  was able to see through the exterior he showed to the world to all  the fears and hopes beneath. Even before she had known his secret,  she had understood that Superman was more than a two-dimensional  hero. She had seen through to his vulnerabilities and had rescued  him from himself more times than he cared to remember. And even  when she had finally guessed the truth about his identity - before  he had told her - she had forgiven him sooner than he'd had any  right to expect.

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me

There's a look in your eyes saying you'll never leave me

The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall

You say it best when you say nothing at all

She stirred again, and her eyes flickered open. As she came to  consciousness and realised that she was being watched, she smiled  up at him: a slow, dazzling smile of love and welcome.

He drifted lower, so that he could trail his fingers along her  jawline. She kissed his fingertips as they brushed her lips, then  dragged herself upwards and raised her lips for his kiss.

A long moment later, Clark drew back. "Good morning, sweetheart."

She gazed at him, all the love she felt for him evident in her  expression. "Welcome home, my love."

He stilled, recognising that what she had said was more than the  mere words. He had come home; *she* was his home.

- The End -

When You Say Nothing At All'

Written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schultz Recorded by Ronan Keating c 1999, Polygram Ireland Ltd.

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