Fandom: Superman Comics
Characters: Clark Kent, Lois Lane
Words: 431
Tags: Missing Scene, Light Angst, Canon Continuity
Warnings: Mild spoilers for Action Comics #1035
“Never again, Clark.”
The soft words spoken into the darkened room carried a special weight to them that caught his attention. Clark stirred from his half-asleep haze and tightened his arm around Lois at his side. Her soft and cool skin was a soothing contrast to his own perpetually sun-warmed and battle-hardened flesh.
“Never what again?” he asked, his tone equally as hushed. There was something very serene yet fragile in the stillness of their apartment. Something he didn’t want to break. He knew he wouldn’t be experiencing it again for a long while.
“Do you realize how many times we say goodbye?” his wife asked, the quiet words settling heavily around them. There was no accusation in the tone — there never would be — but maybe a hint of longing that he understood too well. “How many times we’ve been separated when one of us probably wasn’t coming back. When we didn’t know if it’d be the last goodbye.”
Clark rested his cheek against the top of her head. His hand sought out hers under the blanket, their fingers entwining out of instinct. “And it never was,” he murmured back to the darkness. “We’ve always found each other again.”
“That’s why I don’t want to say goodbye this time. I don’t want to think about the worst case scenarios, or be scared of what could happen. This is your last night on Earth for… however long it is. I don’t want to be sad tonight.”
He gently shifted her closer, his free hand sliding through her hair. “Neither do I.”
She turned finally, violet eyes deepened by the moonlight seeping in from the balcony. “So let’s not.” And it sounded so simple, whispered across the small space between them. “No more goodbyes. You’re coming home this time.”
“I know,” he promised. “And we’re going to be okay. We always are.”
“I know.”
She closed the distance between them, sealing the pact with a kiss that held both promise and hope, and he responded with the same. Maybe a small amount of longing as well — because they would see each other again, but neither of them could promise how soon that would be.
They didn’t say goodbye that night. And when Clark finally slipped out of their room in the silent predawn hours, he didn’t need to wake her one last time. He put on his uniform and flew down to meet the team and knew beyond any doubt that it was only a matter of time before they would be back together.
They’d said goodbye too many times before. Never again.
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