The Day After

Chapter III

"...I... I can't fly."

Lois stared at him in horror, disbelieving. He'd been about to fly out the window, but he just stood there as if he'd been anchored to the floor. She had been so angry with him for deceiving her all these long years, but now, she feared for his life. If Superman couldn't fly, then that meant he really was sick.

"What do you mean you can't fly?!" she screamed, "What happened?!"

He just stared out the window, hoping that his feet would leave the ground, but nothing happened. "Oh god," he whispered. He lowered his gaze and stared at the floor, shocked that his feet were still touching it. "I can't fly," he repeated, still in shock. The only times he couldn't fly was when he was suffering from kryptonite poisoning. His eyes widened in horror at the realization that maybe the lack of sunlight was making him relapse. And to make matters worse, he could no longer fly to the sun. This is bad. This is really, really bad... He was mentally kicking himself for not sleeping the night before and for not calling in sick to work in the morning. Now he was paying the price and it terrified him.

"Does this have something to do with your missing suit...?" she asked tentatively. It didn't seem likely, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

He looked at her incredulously for a moment, then remembered that she didn't know much about his powers. He looked out the window again. "No, no... I can fly without the suit," he said, still staring blankly into space. He felt weak at the knees again, but he wasn't sure if it was because of the shock or because he really was getting worse. His entire body felt cold, except for the wound, which felt like it was going to burn a hole through his shirt.

"Okay, that's it. Sit down!" She rushed to his side and pulled him back to the bed. He didn't hesitate as she pushed him down on the bed and felt his forehead and face. "You're cold," she said, worriedly.

He unconsciously leaned into her hand, smiling, enjoying her warmth. He was so cold that feeling her warmth on his skin made him feel a lot better and helped him forget the pain. And besides, he couldn't remember the last time she had touched him so tenderly. He knew that she was with Richard, and he wouldn't dare break up their family, but just this once... he wanted to enjoy being close to her. Just this once, all was right in the world.

She stroked his cheek, then moved her hand to his hair and ran her fingers through his dark locks. She watched as he closed his eyes and appeared to become lost in a sea of memories. "Clark, you're going back to the hospital."

He was snapped back to reality with those words and he stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "What...?! But, Lois... I..."

She didn't let him finish. "No buts! In case you haven't noticed, you can't even fly!" Clark gave her a 'what does that have to do with anything' look, but before he could speak in his defense, she interrupted him. "You can't fly to the sun! You're in serious danger! So get up!"

He really didn't want to go back to the hospital. He felt helpless when he awoke from his coma, stripped of his suit and wearing nothing but a hospital gown. No, he did not want to go through that again. "Lois, I just need to get out of the house and into the sun," he said, but he knew Lois wouldn't listen to him. He was hunched over in pain, speaking with a strained voice, and clutching his burning side.

The look she gave him shook him to the core, and then...

"We are going back to the hospital, SO SHUT THE HELL UP!"

He had fixed the San Andreas Fault, fought super-powered Kryptonians, lifted an island laced with kryptonite into space, and fell down to Earth and lived through it, but none of that could compare to the angry woman before him who looked like she was out for blood!