YOU GO BACK TO HER

hotch's sigh was rather deep. you swore he only really ever sighed that deep around you. it was quite the accomplishment.

sharp piercing sounds echoed through your ears like a rattle of death. gunfire rippled, sinking into random targets in front of you quick enough to be a semi-automatic. ducking, you hid behind a flower stand, keeping your head low while trying to catch a glimpse at what exactly was going on.

despite all your time with the FBI, you were not cut out for this sort of field work.

hotch said your name, your first name, with enough urgency that your breath caught in your throat. he repeated it when you didn't respond. "can you hear me? ca—"

"the florist is dead," you managed to get out, trying to crawl out of the line of sight. "send— send whoever you can . . ."

the man waving the gun around was large. he looked like some sort of trigger-happy gun-for-hire with enough muscle to be a professional heavy-weight wrestler. he was walking towards you, his steps hard against the floor and the gun aimed in your direction. one twitch and you'd be riddled with more bullets than you can count.

"trace my location," you said definitely, your voice picking up speed with an urgency you rarely ever displayed. "i think this guy's after me."

hotch said your name a myriad of times, more than you had ever heard from him before, but you hung up the call without speaking again once the man was dangerously close.

"get up," the man growled out like some sort of animal. "you're comin' with me."

you squinted up at him. "i'm just a bystander," you tried to reason, scooting back from him. "i—"

"get up."

you did so that time, unsteady on your feet as his arm reached out to grab yours. his grip was iron. he dragged you unceremoniously through the bullet-ridden flower pop-up until he made it back to his navy blue hatchback. he opened the boot and stared at you like a silent invitation.

with your lips pulled into a tight-line, you glanced between the burly man and the open boot. "fantastic," you mumbled, awkwardly climbing inside. it wasn't awkward because it was small — you fit just fine — but it was awkward because this was the first time you had ever been in the back of the car. that was for groceries, and you were fairly certain you weren't your weekly shopping.

the man didn't say anything more. he grumbled something and slammed the boot shut, locking you in darkness. the car started up, the engine spluttering a little, and all you could do was keep your eyes shut as the car began to move.

"DROP WHAT YOU'RE DOING, i need all hands on deck."

hotch's voice carried enough finality to have morgan's back straightening immediately, his teasing smile at garcia morphing into a thin line.

"was there an update in the case?" reid bundled all his manila folders into his leather briefcase. they were due to leave in just under an hour — hence why hotch was incredibly annoyed that you were late — and it wasn't like their current case was in a fragile enough state that they needed to leave as soon as possible. the unsub hadn't hit the stage where they were devolving just yet; reid was under the assumption that there was even a chance that it wouldn't come to that at all.

"we're not going to arizona," hotch moved through the bullpen, and his stride was enough to tell everyone that it was imperitive they follow. rossi was the first one to follow, then the rest all shared jumbled looks before doing the same.

hotch didn't speak until everyone was situated at the round table. The arizona case's notes were still written on the whiteboard — hotch was quick to erase it so that no one could focus on it. he uttered your last name in a way that had everyone's spine straightening. "local cops are on the scene just out of town for a homicide. she was there when the unsub opened fire . . . i think this may be a potential kidnapping."

"wait," morgan said, holding up his hand. "you're saying that someone was after her?"

"it's a possibility."

"i hate to say it, guys," emily jumped in, "but we are talking about her. she's probably made more enemies than i've got cutlery."

garcia nodded. "i'll make a list of all the people that have written in complaints about her." she then paused. "and i'll extend my list into her life before the FBI."

"thanks, garcia," hotch nodded once, and then she left to her office.

rossi huffed, "between everyone's she's pissed off both here and as a con-artist . . . may as well get comfy." he leaned back in his chair, staring straight through hotch. hotch wasn't giving much away on his face, but rossi had always been able to read him in a way that not many others could.

you could read him, though. and he knew that if you were sitting at this table, you would be making fun of how stupidly easy this probably was to solve by now.

"feels kinda wrong to be looking into her personal life," reid mumbled, his lips pulling into a slight frown. after a rocky start, he'd gotten around to liking you eventually. the two of you had a lot in common, and it had gotten easier to work with that in more recent times.

"yeah," jj agreed, standing up with. a sigh. "i'll go check her desk."

"good," hotch nodded. his eyes turned on reid and morgan. "morgan, take prentiss to the crime scene with you." the two nodded and left. "reid, i want you to start reading through the complaints the second garcia hands them to you."

reid nodded. he figured he wouldn't be out in the field at least until most of the complaints had been read through. he read the quickest, and that meant that he could start stitching together potential people a lot more efficiently than someone else being handed this task. every second counted — and now that emily and morgan were being sent out to confirm it was a kidnapping, time was of the essence.

once everyone much had their respective tasks, rossi stood up from his chair and walked over to where hotch was staring at the blank whiteboard. "what're you gonna do, aaron?"

hotch didn't bat an eye. "whatever i can," he mumbled.

THE BASEMENT WAS COLD. and it had absolutely nothing to do with the dead body laying on the ground within inches of where you were standing. wrists zip-tied to metal pole holding up the supports of the floor above you tried to keep your eyes off the large dead man that had abducted you in the first place.

it had happened so fast — one minute he had been binding your wrists, and the next he was flopping to your feet with a bullet piercing through his thick head. the blood splattered across your face. trying to wipe it off on your shoulder had proven to be futile.

heavy footsteps echoed down the stairs. chunky black heels appeared first, and then a woman with frizzy black curls and smudged makeup appeared. she had a sneer on her face, and you hazily remembered that same sneer from when she pulled the trigger on the large man maybe thirty minutes ago.

you were currently trying to ignore the fact that that same gun was now pointed in your direction. you were the furthest thing from any sort of weapon, you liked words and body language instead of bullets and gunpowder. the second amendment was not something you held dear unlike your colleagues, and so currently staring down the silver barrel of one was less than ideal.

"do you remember me?"

she did look awfully familiar. something about her eyes and her nose mixed with the exact curl pattern i her hair sat so obviously on the tip of your tongue but you just couldn't figure out who.

"i don't know," you said slowly, trying to shield yourself from the gun by scooting back a little more. your wrists screeched, the zip-ties tearing into your skin from the added pressure. "i'd see you better if you moved the gun away—"

bang.

you gasped, ducking your head lower and brandishing your hands as best you could to surrender. the bullet buried itself in the wall a few inches to the right of where you were crouched. "noted," you coughed, trying to keep your face shielded.

"you haven't changed," the woman sneered, waving the gun around in your direction, her trigger-happy finger taunting. "still the same—"

"you're mary," you peered up at her in a way that made yourself look small. you couldn't assert power in this situation, but you also couldn't be too calm. mary thinking that she was all high-and-mighty here would stop any devolving from occurring. "mary whittler."

the gun wavered, so you continued. "your mother was my client . . . i'm sorry for your loss." you ducked your head. the metal of the gun pressed against your skull.

"you're not sorry!" she sneered. "you fucking killed her! killed her!"

you had not murdered mary's mother, but the angry letters you had received from mary for years said otherwise. selene whittler was a woman who had been severely unwell mentally after her husband passed. she spiralled and booked hundreds of appointments with you, so much so that you didn't have the heart to charge her for all of them. all she wanted was to be able to connect with her husband again, and when you eventually couldn't keep telling her you could contact him any longer, she committed suicide. mary had blamed you ever since.

she probably wasn't wrong to blame you. you were the con-artist that had tricked her mother for so long, and then suddenly her mother was gone. you knew that selene would've been dead long before talking to you had she not found you when she did: you had given her hope for just that little bit longer, even if mary couldn't see that.

"okay," was all you said, "and i'm sorry about that . . . but i don't know what you want from me."

mary laughed, pulling her gun away from your head. there was a slight jingle as she waved it, the metal clattering against the metal against her bracelets. "just you wait," she squinted at you with a nod as if telepathically sharing a secret you couldn't hear.

"I'VE GOT SOMETHING," REID leaned across the circle table to pass the letter he found to hotch. the older man grabbed it without a second thought.

hotch read the letter as quick as he could. "wait, i've seen this name somewhere . . ." holding the letter reid found in one hand, hotch sifted through the piles of letters on the table.

there were hundreds. between complaints made against you from victims' families and other police units to letters garcia had tracked down from your previous life, it seemed no one was ever happy with anything you ever did. hotch would be lying if he said he wasn't mildly amused by it all.

once he found it, he picked it up and scanned it over once again. "same name: mary whittler."

reid shot up. "mary whittler wrote death threats," he reached across the table to the death threat pile. there were so many that they couldn't take them super seriously unless they had reasonable belief that they were actually enactable. "sometimes she didn't leave her name, sometimes she just wrote 'mary' at the top . . . but this is the same pattern of her writing. see," he pointed to specific ways she would start and end the letters, and that was more than enough for hotch to quickly dial garcia.

garcia, who was in her office, picked up immediately. "penelope garcia's office of supreme genius."

"i need an address on a mary whittler," hotch was already moving, picking up his car keys and signalling through the glass for emily to follow him. she was up and grabbing her blazer in seconds. "mother's name was selene whittler."

"one moment . . ." garcia trailed off, the sound of tapping keys echoing in hotch's right ear. "got it. i've sent it to you all."

"thanks," hotch said, barely getting the word out before hanging up. "reid, grab morgan and rossi, and alert the local PD."

reid nodded wordlessly, scrambling out of the room to do as he was asked, his phone to his ear calling the police department from the location that garcia sent him. hotch was out of the building as quickly as he could be, emily close behind.

THE DEAD MAN WAS in direct sunlight. the sun passing through the only window in the basement was the root cause of your current issue — he was starting to smell. the basement was so hot with so little ventilation that all your knowledge on dead people taking a few days to properly decompose went out the window. this was so much different than all the dead bodies you had encountered out in the field . . . this man's blood was splattered across your face and your hands and you had watched as it happened. sure, he had killed in front of you and had kidnapped you shortly afterwards, but you didn't want to see him dead. and you certainly did not want to be covered in it.

mary's heels clomped down the stairs once again. this time, she had a slightly less crazed look in her eyes. her gun was tucked in the waistband of her jeans; your shoulders lost a bit of their tension. "i think we got off on the wrong foot," she descended the stairs until she was only a few metres from where you were sat on the floor. wrists aching, you moved them up the pole so that you could stand at her eye-level.

"did we?" it took you a second to get the words out, your throat dry from all the hours without water.

"i just want the truth," she stood too far away from you, still wary, but her head seemed clearer than it had been earlier. whatever meds she had downed in however long it had been since she last came down seemed to be working at least somewhat. "i knew you were a fucking fraud from the beginning."

"all i did was tell your mother what she wanted to hear," you reasoned, not really trying to change her mind on anything, but to prolong a bullet lodging itself in your brain. "she missed your father, mary . . . i'm sorry, but you would've grown up without a mother if i hadn't . . . y'know. i'm not saying what i did was right, but i couldn't get your mother the help she needed. she refused to go see her psychiatrist."

you couldn't tell her that her mother was a ticking timebomb ready to detonate the second she knew her husband was truly gone. you had met mary once a very long time ago, and it wasn't fair that she would have to grow up without a mother. you had even charged selene less per session because you'd felt horrible.

none of that was worth telling mary. it wouldn't change the fact that her mother was still gone.

sometimes things were better left unsaid.

"i don't believe you," mary sighed, her hand inching closer to her gun. you grimaced when you realised that that was where her hand was absentmindedly going. "you could've done better, you should've—"

"mary whittler? FBI!" hotch's voice was loud as the basement door flung open. cautious footsteps moved down the stairs; you saw hotch's gun before you saw his face.

within seconds, mary was hiding behind you, her gun pressed snugly into your neck like a threat. hotch's face was stern when you finally saw him, but there was something in his expression that you couldn't read. emily was by his side to cover.

"not another step," mary flexed her finger on the trigger, the gentle clicking taunting your ears.

"okay, okay, easy," emily called out, slowly holstering her gun. hotch's stance didn't waver, and neither did his own weapon. not even when emily stepped down a step lower than the one he was on. "we're not here to hurt you."

"you should leave," mary said. unknown to her, you were trying to get emily's attention through facial expressions. widening your eyes, you subtly tried to tell her that you had a plan. it took a few moments, but eventually emily gave you a slight nod to signal that she understood.

"i'm afraid we can't, mary," emily kept answering as if hotch wasn't there. it was certainly for the best — hotch could feel that his heartrate had elevated just from the glimpse he'd gotten of you covered in blood with a dead body by your feet. he wasn't level enough to speak free from anger. your hair was a mess and you had bruises and cuts on your left cheek. he couldn't help but feel obliterated by the sight of your eyes, the hollowness drowning in tiredness and horror. you kept it masked so well that it was almost scary how easily it was.

there were times you kept it together so well that he forgot what your life was like before you came to the FBI. he forgot about all the bloodshed and the nightmares of mangled corpses and twisted riddles. it came back to him now that he was staring into those same eyes that greeted him when you had first stumbled into his life all that time ago.

emily went to speak again. mary sat her finger tighter on the trigger.

you sucked in a deep breath, winked at emily, and then slammed your head backwards as hard as you could into mary's face.

a gunshot rang out as mary stumbled backwards, your own body falling forwards from the sharp pain at the back of your skull. your right ear was ringing, and somehow you tumbled straight into hotch's arms.

glancing up through blurred vision, you could see his lips moving but couldn't hear any of the words coming out. his eyes kept drifting from you to emily, who made quick work of restraining mary and wrestling her into a pair of handcuffs while she was stunned. blood dripped down her nose as emily tugged her towards the basement door, half-dragging her up the stairs in the process.

hotch's large hands were warm as he held you by the shoulders, gently lowering you to the ground away from the dead man so that you could catch your breath. you vaguely saw him mouth ambulance and so you assumed you'd be looked over for any sort of injury before heading back to quantico.

"i . . ." you trailed off, unsure if you were even speaking loud enough over the ringing. hotch didn't mind that you were borderline shouting in his ear. "i didn't get your tulips . . ."

maybe you imagined the smile that rose to his lips. "of course that's what you're worried about," he didn't bother to mumble it considering you couldn't currently hear him. "fuck, you had me worried."

it was the lowest voice he could muster, and he certainly said it too fast for you to be able to read his lips. all you did was stare up at him with wide eyes. "can you get me some tea? my throat's super sore."

chuckling quietly, she placed her hand on her boyfriend's arm. clark's shoulders lost their tension. he wanted things to be perfect: kara had finally decided to spend some time with him in metropolis after he had spent months begging for her to stop galavanting around red sun planets and come back to earth. kara had only just opened up about the week of her twenty-third birthday and all the drama that came with it, so it made sense that she was taking some time off partying and drinking to sober up at full-strength in the force of the yellow sun. overall, this meant that clark had his girlfriend to officially acquaint with his cousin . . . and he was slightly worried about that.

"it's fine, clark," she cracked a smile. red glasses perched up on her nose, she lifted them to sit atop her head. "i can't actually see you, but i can see around you, if that makes sense." it clearly did not when kara's nose scrunched up. "i can see the silhouette of you because all my other sense are enhanced, i guess," she tried to explain better. "but i can't actually see you, no."

kara whistled. "probably for the best," she nodded rather solemnly, "clark over here isn't too easy on the eyes."

"hey!" clark interjected, crossing his arms over his chest. "i don't think i should leave you two alone today if kara's gonna keep acting like this," his words were directed at his girlfriend rather than his cousin this time.

she shook her head with a gentle smile while kara blabbered on about how she didn't need a babysitter. "go to work, clark. there's nothing to be worried about."

"mhm, if you say so," clark didn't sound convinced, but he picked up his blazer and his briefcase nonetheless. "see you tonight," he kissed her cheek before looking at kara. "and you behave yourself. i don't need to look up and see you on the news."

"go to work, clark," kara huffed. "leave us alone."

clark begrudgingly said one last goodbye before disappearing. kara stood up and clapped her hands together the second the door clicked shut. "so . . ." she trailed off. "what are some girly things to do around here?"

the concept of a girls day was still rather new to kara. she had watched movies to better understand humans when clark first found her, but since then she had only really used them to understand english better before she flew back into space with krypto and refused to return.

"we could go shopping?" she suggested to kara, joining her in standing up. "i don't really think there's much that i need but i think we could expand your closet to better fit your tastes . . ."

kara looked down at her clothes. they weren't her aesthetic in the slightest, and what she did have on was old, a little weathered, and definitely more of clark's taste than her own. kara needed baggy jeans or cargo pants with band shirts and eye-catching jewellery to match. she knew that kara loved her coat, that wouldn't change, but she needed to get kara out of flannel shirts that probably looked like they came straight from smallville.

they probably had come from smallville anyway, clark held onto some of his old clothes and it was clear that the smaller ones had been handed down to kara. it was sweet but it was also very obvious that kara was not giving farm girl and intead punk rock princess.

"please," kara groaned, shrugging off the brown flannel that had seen better days. she only really wore it around the house when her coat wasn't necessary. now that they were going out, kara was moving towards the coatrack to pick up her favourite part of her outfit. "clark keeps giving me his clothes. they smell like cows."

she laughed at kara, sliding her glasses back down to rest over her eyes. "we can buy whatever you want, don't worry about it," she waved off. the lawyer money was coming in good now, and kara was starting to feel like a sister-in-law anyway. who better to spend her money on than her? walking over to the door, she picked up her white cane and jacket. "just remember that i'm blind and we've gotta keep up appearances."

"i'll be an excellent guide," kara brushed off like it was nothing, opening the front door with a newfound excitement in her step. "no one'll think you're kinda not blind at all."

KARA HAD MANAGED TO buy quite a few things to the point where she raced the copious amounts of bags to the car and met her back inside at a good coffee spot at the mall.

it was quite the success. she couldn't see what kara bought, but they had all been described to her: band shirts, some of whom kara knew the artist and some where she was interested to listen to them, some darker shirts with casual graphic designs on them, two pairs of baggy jeans, some sweatpants, and accessories such as chunky belts, necklaces and bracelets to go with it. there weren't really any earrings that kara liked, but this was a pretty good start for someone who was going to be living on earth for quite a while.

"what did you order me?" kara asked as she sat back down at the table, dropping the car keys and her phone on the table. they had been two things that kara had somehow managed to convince clark that she needed: the car was clark's and he had finally started trusting his cousin enough to use it, and the phone meant that he could keep tabs on her in case of emergency. and so that he could contact her whenever he wanted. kara was like the sibling he never got, and he was making the absolute most of it.

her head moved to follow kara's sudden appearance. "got us both a hot chocolate. this is, like, the only place that makes it with belgian chocolate in metropolis and god is it good."

"yum," kara grinned, resting her chin on her hand that she had propped up on the table. "so . . . i think i need to get to know you better."

she tilted her head. "why's that?"

"because one day clark is obviously gonna wanna marry you, duh," kara rolled her eyes. "he's so in love with you it's gross. he used to call me all the fucking time when i was in space and just ramble about you to try convince me to come back here. he's sickening, i swear."

she laughed a little too loud, covering her mouth with her hand to try silence the noise before people started looking over. "you'd be my maid of honour if we got married," she said softly. "i know we don't know each other super well but you're everything to clark . . . and it's finally kinda nice to hang out with more people like me, you know?"

like me was the only way she could really put it. obviously clark and kara weren't human like she was, but they shared they same traits that she had as a metahuman. there were things that regular people didn't understand, like how certain smells and sounds were so sharp it felt like the world was caving in, or days where everything was so overwhelming because everything was so prominent. kara understood that the second she first came to metropolis. everything was so loud in a city; it was daunting. plus, it was refreshing to be around someone who knew her secrets so that she didn't have to pretend to be normal all the time.

"aw," kara ducked her head, stiffening her posture as if that would combat the sudden warmth flooding her face. "i appreciate that . . ." she cleared her throat, tucking her hair back behind her ears. "but first i've gotta teach you kryptonian. clark doesn't know any which means we can talk shit."

"i don't think i have much 'shit' to talk, but sure," she shrugged, smiling in agreement. "i'd love to learn." it meant spending more time with kara and that felt nice at the moment.

"that's fine," kara said just as a waitress brought over the two cups of hot chocolate. the two girls thanked her before kara continued to speak. "i have plenty of shit to talk." she dunked her spoon into the mug to gather some of the froth. "y'know he kept yelling at me in english as if i would understand him when i first got here?" she shook her head and rolled her eyes. "fuckin' idiot— holy shit!" her eyes widened after scooping the foam into her mouth. "this is the best thing i've ever had ever. oh my god."

view all comments . . .

user1 whoever she is she's gorgeous omg

user2 she looks kinda familiar??? ⤥ user3 lowkey looks like antonelli's friend?? idk though

user4 she seems so quiet or shy? like sky sports cut to her walking by herself multiple times and not talking to anyone ⤥ user1 that doesnt mean anything lmao she's probably just minding her business

user5 lowkeys its none of our business

user6 alexandra is prettier ⤥ user7 than you? absolutely

yourusername

yourusername they finally invited me to monaco its about time 🙄

view all comments . . .

kimi.antonelli you were always too busy??

kimi.antonelli we asked you all the time??? ⤥ yourusername didn't try hard enough </3

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alexandramalenaleclerc 🤍 ⤥ yourusername omg hi queen

user14 hi queen you're gorgeous wdym ollie managed to pull you ⤥ yourusername girl ive BEEN saying 😭 ⤥ yourusername im kidding i love that boy ⤥ user14 sooo is this like a secrets out thing abt you 2 ⤥ yourusername i fear we were never secret we just were super private about our relationship bc we were like sixteen lmao ⤥ user15 youre out here with the hard hitting journalism user14 and i respect that

paddocknews

paddocknews ollie and girlfriend yourusername over the monaco gp weekend! she admitted to have been dating ollie for at least four years in the replies on her instagram post!

view all comments . . .

user15 no way...

user16 why are they only coming out as a couple now though? or were we lowkey just blind ⤥ user17 to be fair she used to go watch kimi's races a lot and hang out with prema years ago so. i just think they were keeping it private while they were still kids but now theyre in their twenties so its a bit different? ⤥ user16 yknow what yeah that makes sense

yourusername damn i look good in these photos fr ⤥ user18 OMG HIIIII ⤥ paddocknews hey queen

user19 honestly her and ollie are so cute together im happy for them :)

user20 her outfits eat ⤥ user21 right??? it looks like she got ollie out of skinny jeans too 💀

bearmanpriv

bearmanpriv who leaked that my gf and i were dating i'll find you 🫪

view all comments . . .

kimi.antonelli bro i think you leaked it when you brought her to monaco ⤥ bearmanpriv yeah but we've gone to races together before and no one said anything then ⤥ yourusername yeah but monaco's lowkey a boring race they need something to gossip about ⤥ georgerussell63 facts

yourusername youre so adorable i wanna put you in my pocket ⤥ bearmanpriv thank you 🥰

estebanocon lowkey think i accidentally leaked it because i shouted out to you in the paddock and everyone heard me and so they looked at you two 😭 ⤥ bearmanpriv esteban!!!!! you're evil!!! ⤥ yourusername esteban you could never do any wrong ⤥ bearmanpriv 10 second penalty to ocon

gabrielbortoleto_ holy shit you breathe water ⤥ bearmanpriv waterbender 🥱💁‍♂️ ⤥ dinobeganovic_ nerd

he tried the usual things. he cleaned the apartment at human speed to make it drag out longer. he put an old rock record on the turntable to fill the empty space. he prepared dinner and set everything in the fridge so it was easy to throw together when she got home. he even got his clothes out for the next day and reviewed notes he had taken so he could start the following day at the office with a focused mind.

that was getting boring.

clark kent wasn't a jealous person. he never had been. he grew up in a loving family that humbled every aspect of his superhuman abilities until he could function like every one else on the surface. they spoiled him with love and taught him important values that he held close to his heart today. they worked him on the farm until he no longer felt the anger and frustration at being different and therefore being able to show who he really was to people.

jealousy therefore didn't register. he worked hard for everything he achieved. he got good grades and used those to get into a good university. he used all the HDs he got in his degree to propel him into an internship that eventually got him enough credit to be working for the daily planet. with that, he became such an established investigative journalist that he got to follow one of the most important metahuman trials in the city, one offered to him before lois lane got a chance to jump at it, which then got him in with his girlfriend; the absolute love of his life. he worked so incredibly hard for everything he had ever achieved in every part of his life, so why would he ever need to be jealous?

the reason for his jealousy came not from the reason she was spending so much time in the office, but from who she was spending so much time with. his name was lucas and he was the new paralegal. he was a few years younger than her and was known around metropolis as a damn good paralegal. he had been up for grabs and every law firm had down their best to tie him down, but ultimately it had been her law firm to seal the deal.

he was efficient, and originally that had her coming home from work earlier with less of a workload on her shoulders. that abruptly changed when the clients started rolling in after the last two wins had proven that she fought to hell and back for those she represented. even with lucas and a few more staff members in the mix, things still dragged on late.

clark was jealous of his girlfriend's paralegal simply because he got to spend more time with her than he did.

it was stupid. he spent hours with lois lane and she never seemed to be jealous, so why was he suddenly jealous of her coworkers?

CLARK'S head snapped up when he heard the front door unlock. he looked up from where he had been aimlessly flicking through tv channels on the couch to watch as she tossed her white cane to the side and kicked off her heels to land beside them. a gentle moan of relief escaped her throat now that her feet were free from the uncomfortable pair of heels she had begrudgingly chosen to wear to the office today. they were a more expensive pair, one that she had treated herself to after winning a big case a few months ago, but god they fucking hurt to wear after a while. had she not been talking to the press today she would've settled for a comfy shorter pair.

"sorry," she sighed, shutting the door behind her and reaching to lock it. "but i brought home some bread to go with dinner . . . i was thinking of throwing together a quick pasta?"

she froze when something seemed off. she could feel that clark was in the room, could hear him take gentle breaths, but they were deep as if something heavy had attached themself to every exhale of carbon dioxide. "what's wrong?" she asked pointedly, slowly moving in his direction. she set the bread and her bag down on the coffee table once she made it to it, the table the only barrier between her and her boyfriend.

clark's shoulders slumped. her head tilted when he sighed. it was a mix of annoyance and neglect, it reminded her of the time they had left krypto in the apartment and he was sad that he couldn't go out with them. she imagined his eyes conveyed that same look of a sad puppy, too. it would be the same look she used to give her father as a child when he said she couldn't have ice cream, and the sparkle of sadness in her eyes were all he needed to give in. she doubted she would ever be able to replicate it ever again, but she pictured it so clear it was almost like it was yesterday instead of so many years ago. perhaps that was how clark looked now.

"nothing."

"you're a terrible liar, clark," she pushed her glasses up until they sat atop her head. "let's try again. what's wrong?"

clark sighed even louder. "nothing," he pouted this time, unable to help the way his lips contorted and the way his voice rose so high it was almost a whine. he certainly didn't miss the way he watched the corner of her lips twitch.

"sure, okay," she shrugged, feigning being unbothered and walking past the coffee table. before she could make it past the couch clark was on, his hand shot out to grab her, and suddenly she was tumbling on top of him in the blink of an eye. too fast for her to comprehend, she was momentarily dizzy as she felt her surroundings to figure out what she was facing. her hands found clark's face, the pads of her fingers tracing the pout lines in his face, from his forehead down to his lips. he pressed a kiss to her fingers before sighing once more.

"i'm sorry," clark mumbled, his hands resting gently on the exposed skin on her neck. he brushed her pulse point and felt it flutter under his touch. "i don't know what's wrong with me."

instinctively, his words had the back of her hand pressing to his forehead. "did you get enough sun today? you feel fine . . . so—"

"i think i'm jealous of you and your paralegal and i feel so very stupid for even bringing it up because it is stupid because obviously he works for you and you're my girlfriend but i just haven't really seen you lately and i know it's because you're busy but i miss you so much and you get to spend more time with him — which is fine — but he's clearly attractive so i think that's not helping how i feel and . . ." clark trailed off to suck in enough oxygen that he coughed.

his rambling was so rapid fire that it took her a moment to process it all properly. "'clearly attractive'?" she quoted, and felt as clark nodded. "babe, you do remember that i can't, like, see him, right?" clark was silent on that one. "how am i supposed to know if he's attractive? i don't know what he looks like."

which seemed to bring up a whole new lot of spiralling thoughts in clark. she shifted so sit on his lap better, and his hands came to circle her middle, locking her in place. "wait," his eyebrows furrowed, "then how do you know that i'm attractive. like, you can't see me either but you always say i look good so . . ." he squinted, "does that mean you're lying?"

"i can't tell if this is worse than your jealousy tangent or not," she muttered under her breath. "i just know, okay. i can feel you," she lifted her hands back to his face just to prove her point. she dragged her index finger over the bridge of his nose and traced the outline of his lips before trailing up his jawline. "you have perfect physical traits . . . but who you actually are is the important part to me. that's how i'm very lucky to have someone as good-looking as you."

she could feel clark's face heat up under her hands. "and i, once again, forgot for a second that you see differently," his voice dropped into a mumble that she heard perfectly clear. "which means you can't see lucas . . . not like i thought you were gonna think he was better than me or anything anyway . . ." he sighed. "and suddenly i feel really stupid again for even thinking any of this. i just miss you and it's making me feel weird."

"aw, baby," she hummed, kissing him gently. "i was gonna take tomorrow off anyway . . . you should do the same."

clark perked up at that. "i'll call out tomorrow morning," he grinned so hard she could feel it without even needing to feel his face. "i think i can pull off a pretty convincing sick voice."

she knew that his sick voice was very unconvincing because he had never really been sick, but she nodded anyway. "oh totally," she nodded like she was truly convinced. "and then you can have me all day."

"just you," clark nodded, the idea of it perfect, "and me." she could feel his smile against her face when he brushed their noses together. "and no one else."