Silvia winced as she sipped her coffee - it was tepid, overly bitter and lacking real cream. It was a source of caffeine though and so she drank like a sailor new to whiskey. She hated coffee but she had been out all night searching for a runaway; a fifteen year-old daughter experiencing the more rebellious years of her life.

It was daylight by the time Silvia convinced the girl to return to her family, and now she was waiting for Clark at the cafe they use to meet at for interviews. Speaking of which, she still hadn't seen that article be released... but she tried to convince herself that it was just delayed.

The customers around her spoke about the days events, some in hushed tones and others obnoxiously loud. Silvia heard it all. One couple was discussing the working week, whilst another was whispering things to each other that Silvia wished she hadn't heard.

It had been a few days since she revealed the truth to Clark and he still hadn't left her. Silvia feared that it was about to happen as Clark had asked her to meet him here. He said that he had something he needed to tell her.

Silvia took another gulp of her regretfully weak coffee and felt the urge to gag at the taste. She saw Clark enter and held the sound in her throat, never to find air. He looked just as nervous as she did... maybe even more so.

"Sorry, Sil." Clark said, rushing over to her table and taking a seat on the opposite side. "Were you waiting long?"

"Long enough to regret ordering this coffee." Silvia laughed. "Which honestly isn't very long at all."

Clark's lips formed a small smile but his body remained in a stressed state; his shoulders were lifted so high that she could see the muscle through his jacket.

Silvia's expression fell and she placed her mug on the table with a quiet 'clink'. "Are you alright, Dorothy?"

"Y-Yeah..." Clark tried to reassure her but it was extremely unconvincing. His fingers were twitching against the cloth draping over the mahogany wood. "Just fine."

"Clark..." It was the first time she had used his name outright in a awhile, but she needed to relay her concerns. "I don't believe you."

Clark gave a shaky sigh. "There's no fooling you, is there?"

"Not when it involves you." Silvia reached across the table and held his hands securely in hers. "It's okay, you can tell me."

"Sil... I..." Clark started but was quickly cut off by the sound of something exploding.

Flames erupted outside the window, smashing the glass they were sitting near. Clark quickly shielded Silvia from the shrapnel, then just as the roof was collapsing, he caught it with his bare hands. As he held the large slab of concrete above his head the customers fled... but Silvia was stuck staring at him. She was on her back like some helpless civilian, mind hardly processing what she was seeing.

Clark wasn't even breaking a sweat. It was like this was easy for him; as simple as picking up a feather from the ground. With all of his strength and speed he could have very well did this without her seeing, but either way she was going to find out... It would be suspicious if she was suddenly out of harms way and he was missing. Though he regretted greatly that he hadn't been given the chance to tell her himself she deserved to know. She needed to see this.

Silvia's eyes were wide and never seemed to relax. She refused to accept what she was witnessing. Clark was holding a roof up like it was nothing, his muscles barely stirring in his coat... and his glasses had been flung off at the impact. Not long ago she was looking at the dorky reporter with all outstanding features being mask by his choice of wardrobe, and now her gaze was fixed on the bluest pair of eyes on Earth.

They were piercing, almost glowing, and unmistakable in their prominence. Silvia felt her heart sink then rise again to boil her blood. He was Superman.

Clark peered around to make sure the civilians were out of danger and that no one else was watching. He threw the roof effortlessly and it went spiralling into the distance. He stepped back and gave Silvia a regretful look.

"I'm sorry..." He said sincerely, pulling the buttons of his shirt and jacket apart to reveal his costume. "I've got to handle this... but I'll be right back."

In the blink of an eye he was gone and Silvia was left there, eyes fixed on the spot he use to be standing and mouth agape. Her heart felt like it might explode in her chest, her skin became clammy and her lungs were hyperventilating as she leaned against a crumpled wall. Her eyes finally flickered down to see Clark's glasses laying amongst the rubble. She leaned down and picked them up.

Silvia brought the lenses to her eyes and found that they were so thick that even her enhanced vision had difficulty seeing through them. She looked into a shard of glass that was pointing up from the ground and saw that her eyes had lost all colour to them. They were almost pure white with those things on.  Now she knew how he tricked so many people with a simple pair of glasses... They washed out the glow in his eyes; the most noticeable thing about Superman.

Silvia took off the spectacles and balanced them in her right hand. Her eyes narrowed and she clasped her fingers shut around it, breaking the glasses into multiple pieces.

In the distance she could hear the sound of running, and of Superman trying to convince them to stand down. The enemy gave a high pitched, maniacal laugh but when it fell silent she figured Superman had picked him up and taken him to jail regardless.

Her heartbreak was grief that came in waves, gruelling, stealing appetite and paralysing her on the spot. It was a knife in her guts that never left. In those quiet moments it choked the breath from her body and short circuited her mind. What was once whole felt shattered.

Silvia slowly walked to the front counter, mind going through emotions faster than a kid flicking radio channels. She reached her hand down behind the front desk until her hand brushed against something familiar. She brought it up into plain sight to show a shotgun; most stores had one nowadays encase of emergency.

"Sil?" She heard from behind her and she swiftly turned, gun clasped in her hands. Superman's eyes lingered on the weapon with a heavy sigh. "You can't hurt me. You know that."

Brick by brick, her walls came tumbling down. The ones that kept her alive and strong. Her hands held the gun tighter and her face scrunched up. She looked hurt, betrayed even. She knew she couldn't hurt him, but that only encouraged her to pull the trigger - which she did.

A loud bang echoed through the air, bullets shooting towards Superman and bouncing right off of him. She shot again... and again until the gun gave an empty click. She growled and tossed the weapon at him. It hit him square in the chest and broke in half.

Silvia reached beneath the waist of her pants and pulled out the pistol that was strapped to her thigh. Her eyes never left him but they were glossy and on the verge of tears. She bit back any urges she had to cry, no matter how difficult it was... She refused to do that in front of him ever again.

"Sil, just let me explain..." Clark said in a tone sadder than she'd ever heard him bare.

"I trusted you!" Was Silvia's only reply before shooting off another round at him. "I told you things I've never told anyone!"

Over the loud banging and crunching of each bullet against his skin Clark tried to speak. "I know... and I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?!" Silvia was caught between rage and sorrow, unsure which to focus on. "You knew who I was the entire time! And those stupid interviews were just a device to get close to me, weren't they?!" 

There was no answer this time. He simply hung his head guiltily. He hadn't expected it to go this far... Least of all to start caring about her the way he did now. Clark had just wanted to change her perspective of people, to stop her killings.

Silvia squeezed the trigger again and there was a barren click. With a groan of frustration she tossed that too at the man but it had the same effect as everything else... absolutely nothing. Her hands clenched into fists at her side, and with one more pained glance at the man, Silvia turned on her heel and headed out of the rubble.

"Sil, wait!" Superman yelled from behind her. "We need to talk about this!"

"I don't need to do anything." Silvia hissed, continuing to walk away from him. "Just leave me alone."

The wind that day took a drastic turn. Once it had a warmth to it, but now as Silvia walked back home broken-hearted she could feel it chill against her.

Superman could have stopped her from leaving if he chose to, Silvia knew that, but he was not the kind of man to force anyone against their will. So he had just watched her leave with a look of utter devastation. She didn't care. Why should she? He lied to her, practically used her own weaknesses against her, and now she was meant to feel some kind of sympathy for him? It wasn't going to happen.

Still, when she was out of view and alone inside her small apartment, Silvia felt tears spill from her eyes. The first person she had allowed herself to care about in years... and he only got close to her because he wanted to change her. He hadn't admitted it, not outright... but he didn't need to. There was no other reason for him to suddenly take interest in her.

Silvia's back bumped against the wall of her apartment. The feeling sent a shiver up her spine. Everything reverted back to the way it was before she met Clark; the atmosphere of her apartment, and her distrust of superheroes. These were blessings compared to the aspects that became worse.

Silvia sniffled, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt and hugging her legs up against her chest. She wished she had never met him... not Clark or Superman. She would have been lonely but at least she wouldn't have been hurting.

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