It's not an S // Superman

Chapter 12

15 years later

"Lake, get your behind in here now," Perry White the Editor in Chief of the Daily Planet called at me on only my second month in the job.

"Yes Mr White," I answered breathlessly, darting across the newsroom to his office when I heard him shout.

"What job exactly did I hire you for?" He asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Investigative journalist sir."

"That I did. So why when you should be investigating and writing stories have I just watched you stand at that coffee machine for the last 15 minutes?" Perry more or less yelled.

Ooops. Truth was I'd simply gone over to the machine to grab a cappuccino and I zoned out. I got lost in thoughts of HIM. I'd last seen Clark almost 9 months ago and we parted ways after going for a coffee to talk things over. Just a simple cup of joe jogged the memory.

After graduation I started my journalism major at the community college, spending any spare time I had researching meteors, aliens, strange occurrences. Anything that I could link back to Clark. I was pretty unsuccessful. I literally couldn't find anything.

Soon after my college enrolment Clark up and left Smallville in search of answers, clues and information. He promised he'd return every month to check in and make sure me and his Mom were ok. For the first year or so he kept to his word. Without fail on the last Friday of every month there he would appear on my doorstep. We'd spend the entire weekend with his Mom just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. On the Monday's when he went zooming off again I'd miss him so much, his daily phone calls being the only thing that helped me through his absence.

There would be particular moments when the time really stretched on and I'd say to myself "Why didn't you just go with him?" "Why don't you just pack up and find him?" I came so close to acting on these questions time and time again, but then I'd just take one look at his Mom and realise I couldn't leave her, not after everything. We both knew that Clark wouldn't be happy til he'd exhausted every avenue, every resource, until he'd overturned every rock in search of finding out about his true self. He couldn't do that in Smallville. He had to leave and someone had to watch over his Mom whilst he was gone. That was a job I was happy to take on. Clark could go away without having to worry about us. He could immerse himself in his search.

So yeah, for the first year or two it wasn't so bad. I saw him every few weeks, spoke to him on the phone every day and when there was times that I really missed him I was so busy with college work that it kept me distracted. All in all it was ok.

After that two years though it all began to change. I was busier and busier with lectures and assignments, trying my best to help Clark and also looking out for his Mom. I didn't have time for anything. Clark seemed to be more occupied also. The phone calls became less and less until it was down to a couple a month, if that. He'd come home less often and when he did come back he was too tired to talk never mind do anything else.

From one of the rare deep conversations that we did have I learnt a lot. Not only had he been scouring the globe for information, but along the way he'd also been taking on various jobs in the most random places. He'd take on a fake name, fake life, he'd save people. It was all part of the journey.

After finishing college with my journalism degree I got a job at a local newspaper in Metropolis, meaning I had leave to Smallville. It wasn't the Daily Planet, but it was something. I started out just proof reading other people articles, assisting on investigations and doing some editing. On one particular story my chief had trusted me with I came across some pretty sticky information about a government official. My resulting tell all article on the subject became nationwide news and it wasn't long before newspapers all over the country were offering me jobs. I didn't know what to do. Where to go. I made a decision ultimately to go freelance. Different newspapers and publications would ask me cover a story for them as a guest reporter. It was great. I got to travel all over the place, meet all different kinds of people. The only downside was that it made me even busier. Literally the only quiet time I had was on planes and at weekends when I made sure to keep to my word.