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Buffy made her way home at a leisurely pace, a smile playing upon her lips as she thought about all that Spike had said. Of course he would be as intense with caring for her, as he’d been when he was trying to kill her. There really was no halfway with him. He went full steam ahead with whatever mission he was on.



She envied that, she really did. She could get her act together when it came to her job, but she never could when it came to her love life. Especially as of late. Spike had thrown a wrench into things. But then, he always seemed to. She had just gotten to a place where she was fine with the fact that it was her, her job, and her friends. Then Spike came along with the big ‘I love you’, and it’d sent her reeling. Namely because well, he’d tried for so long to kill her, it was hard for her mind to take the leap of Spike trying so hard for so long to kill her, to Spike loving her and protecting her.



How could he really blame her – or anyone for that matter – for being wary of his intentions? She’d been so adamantly against it at first, even if her traitorous mind had pondered the possibility a few times if it’d been Spike instead of Angel who had the soul and met her first. She knew one thing was for sure: She never would have died by the Master. The way Spike ripped apart demons and vamps that dare lay a hand on her, the Master wouldn’t have stood a chance despite how powerful he was.



She wasn’t sure where the switch had happened that she’d started to get over her adamancy that Spike could not and would not love her, to almost accepting it, but keeping at least some of her defenses up – just in case. Sometimes, she even felt as though she were going through the motions of denying and fighting him on it. Of course then Giles would be right there to remind her of all Spike had done in the past – and then of course, he’d turn around and encourage her to patrol with him. Hypocrisy at its best.



Did she want to be with Spike? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she didn’t want to be without him anytime soon. Really, she was taking things in stride and trying her best to figure things out on her own.



“Hello, Buffy.”



Looking up, Buffy found Superman descending to the ground, smiling gently at her.



Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same.



“Hi,” she said as casually as she could. But she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Where were you last night?”



“I had some problems to attend to.”



“I see,” she said nodding and studying him closely.



“Have you come up with anything?”



“No, “and she felt guilty, as though she were about to be scolded. Spike was right. Superman was a commanding presence.



“I see.”



“Giles has not uncovered anything about what could possibly allow vampires to day walk except for the Gem of Amara, and the Council is even working on it now, which is a feat within itself.”



“Maybe you and I could poke around now?”



“Sure, uh, where do you want to ‘poke’?”



“Back to the warehouse perhaps?”



“Better idea, the Hellmouth. Or the former Hellmouth as the case may be. Something could have turned up there by now, and we didn’t really get to scour the other half the school the last time we were there.”



“Fly there and save time?”



She smiled broadly. “Definitely.”



Chuckling, Superman took flight and Buffy, taking the opportunity of Superman concentrating, turned and studied him. The profile, the hair...she tried to picture him with glasses on and a suit.



That was it. She had an idea. And as soon as they landed, she was going to follow through on that idea.



Hovering above a huge gaping hole in the middle of the burnt high school, Superman and Buffy peered down. Buffy couldn’t tell if it was a safe place to land, and she knew Superman could see that far down, so she put her faith in him. When he started to descend, she held onto him a little tighter. No matter what she’d seen in her short life, and done, this place still creeped her out.



She looked up at Superman and grinned. “Their heating bill must be through the roof,” she quipped and took delight in his laughter.



His eyes, she noted, his eyes were the same blue she’d seen on Clark Kent’s. Once they’d landed and Buffy’s feet hit the ground, she reached up and ruffled Superman’s hair. While Superman stood there in shock, Buffy narrowed her eyes and pictured him in glasses. She gasped. “Spike was right! You’re so Clark Kent!”



Superman continued to stare at her, aghast and frozen.



“That curl really does move,” Buffy continued. “Oh my God. You’re...and – how did you get away from Lois long enough to come find me?”



“That’s what you want to know?” he said, trying to fix his hair and glaring at her.



“Oh trust me; I want to know a hell of a lot more, but that Lois is pretty demanding. I can’t imagine her letting Clark – you—out of her sight for very long.” She shooed his hands away and reached up, fixing his hair and twining one strand around her finger to produce the curl.



“She was taking a nap and I left her a note, saying I was going to get lunch in town.”



“How many times do you have to come up with excuses like that?”



“Not often, actually. Usually I just slip out easily. It’s quite easy when there’s a band of people around and no one really pays much attention to you in the first place.”



Buffy wrinkled her nose, “That’s depressing, Clark—Superman—what the hell do I call you?”



Superman smiled. “Call me Clark. That’s the name my earth parents gave me.”



“And Superman is the name Lois gave you.”



“Right.”



“Isn’t it exhausting? Don’t you find it exhausting to keep up both personas?” Buffy asked, sitting down on a slightly charred bench.



Clark sat down across from her on some kind of heap of . . . something she couldn’t make out – and sighed heavily. “Yeah, it can be. It’s hard at times, living a lie.”



“And Superman never lies,” Buffy pointed out.



“Right, and it’s harder when you can’t tell the ones you love and care about, no matter how much you want to.”



“Like Lois, perchance?”



Clark nodded, looking down.



“You do love her.”



“Is it that obvious?”



“Last night when she fainted it was.”



“How did Spike figure it out?”



Buffy relayed all that Spike had told her earlier and Clark started to laugh. “I figured he had an inclination this afternoon. I was quite frustrated, not sure how to get him off it. Actually, I have to say, I was really worried about the both of you figuring it out.”



“Spike is like a dog with a bone, he just keeps going and going and going until you just cave.”



“So then, you’re about to cave?” Clark asked, cocking his head to the side.



“We’re not talking about me,” Buffy grinned. “We’re talking about you. Tell me, Mr. Kent, is there something going on with Lois and Superman? And if there is, how in the freaking hell has she not figured it out yet?”





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