Oblivious ~ Superman Love Story ~ Completed

42: Hope

I JUST POSTED 3 (THREE) chapters in a row make sure you read chapter 41 first so you don't get all confused!!!

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"What?"

"We didn't meet for the first time in that daily planet elevator..." Clark said.

"I know. We met when you saved me as Superman and I took that picture." I said. "Couple years back."

"Yes that's when you meet me as Superman for the first time. But the first time you meet me as Clark is always different. And you have met me for the first time as Clark more times than you can imagine."

"What the hell are you talking about? You aren't making any sense." I said, crossing my arms and shaking my head.

Clark sighed and sat down on the grass, patting the spot next to him, signaling me to sit down; which I did.

"The real first time we met as Clark and Fay you had just got the internship at Daily Planet and you arrived while I was getting yelled at by Mr.White." Clark chuckled.

"You sweeped in like an angel asking me to help you find your desk; which they didn't have then either, forcing Mr.White to stop his lecture. During the first year, you fell in love with me just as Clark." He had an almost sad smile on his face. "You didn't even meet Superman during that first year. I was always there to catch you when you stumbled. We spent all our time together and we were so in love." He sighed.

"Soon you found out I was Superman and you were okay with it and I ended up proposing." Clark dug out a picture from his back pocket and handed it to me. In it I was in a gorgeous wedding dress. It was the same one that had been on the video in the news except this picture was faded. Clearly been looked at a lot. "We got married and it was the happiest day of our lives. Everything was perfect. We moved in together and you won your first Pulitzer just two years after we met. When our third year together started you got diagnosed... Cancer. And it was bad. You were dying. We also found out you were pregnant. And what was meant to be the happiest announcement of our lives was the one that broke my heart. You were so full of joy... Until you realized that you couldn't get chemotherapy if you were pregnant. It would kill the baby. You wanted to keep it. I tried so hard to... To..." Clark's voice broke as I saw a tear roll down his eye.

"To make you see that we could have children later. That you could let this one go, get chemo and have a child after you were healed, but you wouldn't listen. You and the baby... You had some bond with it even when it wasn't even born yet. I hated the idea of abortion, but I was ready for it to keep you. But you wanted to give your life, so our child could live..."

There was a long pause when neither of us said anything and I just stared at Clark... This all seemed like a lie, he was talking about me, but none of this had ever happened yet the emotions in his voice and on his face were so strong I didn't doubt what he was saying for a second.

"So we went along with the pregnancy and I watched it destroy you. Cancer and the baby. It was all too much. The day the baby was born healthy you were in so much pain but you couldn't stop smiling and crying from happiness." Clark handed me another picture, one that I hadn't seen before where I was in a hospital bed, looking like a skeleton, with a baby in my arms, smiling down at it.

"For three months you were the happiest I have ever seen you; even with cancer. The baby kept you going and you wanted to spend all your limited time at home with us so I quit my job at The Daily Planet to stay home with me... The day I woke up and you were dead beside me... I have never felt such agony. So I acted on instinct. I flew up into space and started flying faster than light around the earth to the opposite direction of the earth spinning to turn back time." He silent once again, tears now streaming openly on his face.

"What was its name?" I asked after a moment. I was crying too, but I wasn't sure why. I don't have a child, but just the idea of losing one was painful.

"What?"

"The baby. The baby we had. What was its name?" I asked, moving a bit closer to Clark.

"Hope."

"I always wanted to name a baby girl that... That's what I called the food baby on the night I first came to your apartment remember?"

"I remember... We loved her."

"But you were ready to... To abort her?" I asked feeling sad. I wasn't judging him. I don't know what I would do if Clark was dying and something was stopping him from getting treatment.

"Yes, to save you. I didn't have the same attachment as you did at the beginning. I saw Hope as something that was stopping you from getting better... And I am so ashamed of that. You changed my mind during the pregnancy. And we did the right thing in the end. I don't think you would have been the same if I had forced you to give it up." Clark sighed.

"We can bring Hope back. Let's just make a baby." I suggested, seeing the pain Clark was in and being ready to do anything to make him whole again.

"It doesn't work that way... We've tried."

"When you say you went back in time... You didn't end up here, did you... You've gone back in time before?" I said, nodding, understanding what he meant with us having more than one first meeting.

"I have traveled back in time nineteen times. And I always end up in the same day: June first; the day you start your internship at Daily Planet. We always meet slightly differently." He nodded.

"So... Why do you keep coming back in time?" I ask and take Clark's hand in mine.

"Because you keep dying..."

"Oh... So I have cancer now too?" I ask, letting my gaze fall to the ground.

"No. That's something that changed too. When I traveled back in time the first time and saw that you didn't have the tumor I was ecstatic. Thinking that now we would be able to live old together but it never happened."

"So if I didn't get cancer then why did I keep dying each time?" I asked, looking for answers in everything that Clark had told me.

"Accidents, sickness... Murder." Clark whispered like sin coming out of his mouth at confessional.

"Oh..."

"And no matter what I do... I never stop it. You always die at the end." For the first time, Clark looked at me. "I am so sorry." He said before breaking down and starting to sob.

"Hey, it's okay." I said, wrapping my arms around him and allowing him to cry it out against my chest.

For half an hour he was in such a state that I didn't ask any questions. I feared they would break him...