Chapter 53

Epilogue

Two years later.

I woke with a start, my left eye smarting with pain. Sitting up in bed, I realized the reason. Clark had turned over in bed and accidentally elbowed me in the face.

Slipping out of bed as silently as possible, not turning on any lights so I wouldn't wake him, I picked up my glasses – residing on the nightstand as usual – and left our bedroom as soundlessly as I could.

Entering the hall I slipped past Jason's bedroom door, making sure it was closed so I wouldn't wake him. He was spending a few weeks of his summer break here while his mother and stepfather were traveling. Making sure to not accidentally walk into and thus tip over Georgia Juniors tank – why we insisted on having the stupid fish planted right smack dap in the middle of the hallway was beyond me - I slipped into the bathroom and closed the door so it was only slightly ajar, leaving behind a small sliver of light in the otherwise dark hallway once I turned on the lights.

Blinking in the sudden brightness, I took a moment to let my eyes adjust to the sudden change in light. Once my eyes had gotten used to the brightness, I faced the mirror above the sink.

The area around my eye was already starting to color and swell and I turned on the faucet, wetting a cloth to sooth the tender skin.

It wasn't the first time it had happened that I'd accidentally gotten a minor injury while we slept. Clark didn't have control of his strength when he was sleeping so I was always just a bit at risk.

Superman was a restless sleeper, who knew?

I took off my glasses and held the cool cloth to my eye, sighing in relief when the pain subsided immediately.

Outside, a soft padding sound could be heard and then there was a scratch and a whine by the door.

I had succeeded in not waking up Clark or Jason, but apparently Clark Junior wasn't so easily fooled.

Pushing the door open briefly before closing it again, I bent down to pet the Labrador retriever I'd let in.

"Don't make such a ruckus, Junior." I shushed him, scratching behind his ears affectionately. "You'll wake Clark senior."

I stood up to look at my eyes again, smiling to myself when Clark Junior settled down by my feet, wagging his tail affectionately.

The floorboards in the hallway creaked and the bathroom door opened, revealing a bleary eyed and messy-haired Clark. Guess Clark Junior's whining had woken him. "Georgie?" He asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes to rid them of sleep, yawning. "What are you doing?"

He found my face, his eyes instantly spotting the cloth I held to my right eye. "Oh no, did I? Again?"

I smiled softly at him as he gently laced his fingers around my wrist and pulled my hand down so he could assess the damage. He let out a small noise of regret. "I'm so sorry.." He sounded like a kicked puppy, his eyes wide and sad.

"Don't worry about it." I whispered so I wouldn't wake Jason. "It's not that bad."

"Maybe we should sleep separately – at least for the next few months – "

"Clark," I interrupted. "I'm perfectly fine, honestly. Don't worry. I know you'll never hurt either of us."

He smiled softly, the hand that had been gently touching my sore eye coming down to cup my cheek. "How did I ever get so lucky.."

He reached down to kiss me briefly before enveloping me in a hug I returned tightly.

I turned around in his arms so I could look at myself in the mirror. The swelling had already gone down. "See?" I said triumphantly. "The swelling's almost gone. And there's barely any pain anymore."

He smiled ruefully and settled his chin on top of my head as he watched us in the mirror, his large hand caressing the small, but steadily growing, baby-bump on my stomach.

"I guess." He relented eventually.

"Let's go back to bed." I decided, ushering him out of the bathroom. "You promised Jason you'd take him to the Fortress of Solitude tomorrow." I reminded him.

Clark Junior stood up quickly and followed up into the hall, where he proceeded to sit down and watch us mournfully as we approached our bedroom door.

Clark slipped inside and I paused to watch our dog. "Oh don't give me that look." I told it mock sternly. "Come here boy!" I clapped my side twice and the dog leapt up excitedly and followed after me into our bedroom, tail waggling enthusiastically.

Clark was already back under the covers and I slipped in beside him, Clark Junior jumping onto the bed and settling by our feet.

Clark wrapped his arms around me from behind and I leaned into his warm frame.

"Love you." I whispered.

"Love you too." He sleepily murmured a second later, no hesitation I his voice. I smiled to myself in the darkness.

We'd moved out of our old apartment a year and a half ago and found an actual house on the outskirts of the city with two floors and everything. The house had four bedrooms so we had two – soon to be only one as the other would be occupied in six months – guest rooms.

A month after Clark had told Lois about his true identity, he'd managed to score me a very well-paying job at Wayne Enterprises. It was one of the company's smaller branches that they'd decided to place in Metropolis. I worked as the CEO's secretary. She was a woman in her fifties with a wit as sharp as a blade and more intelligent than the rest of the office combined and we'd immediately clicked splendidly.

I'd wondered how Clark had gotten me the job but when I asked him about it, he'd just said he knew someone that worked there personally and it really hadn't been that hard.

So obviously I'd figured out the truth long ago. It had only taken a single look of Bruce Wayne at some company Christmas party a year back to make me suspicious and, after doing a bit of research on his background – his dead parents, his long absence and sudden reappearance in his youth, all the rumors about him inviting a new woman to every party he was at but never bringing them back home with him which was just all around suspicious, his adopted son who happened to look almost exactly like Robin sans the mask, all the mysteries and unanswered questions that seemed to circle him – I had lost all doubt. Bruce Wayne was totally Batman. Maybe, considering how good I was a snooping, I should've been a reporter anyway.

I hadn't told anyone that I knew. These heroes had fragile egos; I didn't want to break him.

Anyway, because I was apparently that good at being a secretary, I doubled as Martian Manhunter's helper at the Watchtower in the weekends. In the past two years, a wave of new heroes had appeared and the team had made Martian Manhunter the team's mission delegator. There was a lot of paperwork, profiles and things like that he needed to take care of and I'd volunteered to help out when I could.

The League had affectionately dubbed me their 'mascot'.

Clark and I were still going steady, obviously.

And that's really all there is to it.

But just to make sure the title of my little story isn't totally misleading, I'll follow with a small list of things you should do if you find yourself suddenly loving a superhero:

Guidelines to Loving an Incognito Superhero:

Guideline Number 1: Make sure to tell him that you know about his secret. It's a good way to establish contact and he'll find you more trust worthy when you tell him yourself.

Guideline Number 2: Realize that saving the world is more important than being on time for your appointments. (Seriously, how is that not a given?)

Guideline Number 3: Be supportive of his crime-fighting. Don't make him feel bad for going out there to do good. But at the same time, make sure he doesn't get reckless. Keep him grounded and make sure he knows he always needs to come back to you.

Guideline Number 4: Make sure to take self-defense classes. Trust me; you'll need them.

Guideline Number 5: Don't become publically known as this Superhero's girlfriend as this will endanger your life, his life, and also his secret identity.

Guideline Number 6: Save his life every once in a while just to remind him that he has his limitations and you have your strengths.

Guideline Number 7: Oh, and if your own personal superhero has super strength, you might want to be prepared for your unborn child's super kicks to the stomach. (Seriously, ouch.)

Guideline Number 8: Love him for his strengths and his flaws. Love him unconditionally and revel in the fact that you've managed to find something as pure and as rare and as perfect as loving another person with all that you are and all you'll ever be.

Guys I can't believe this is the end.

175.000+ words, 53 chapters, 578 followers, 466 favourites, 1000+ reviews and 18 months after posting the first chapter, the story is officially done.

I'm not sure how I feel right now.

(Small sidenote: The story's tumblr blog's URL will be changed to match my newest story. The new URL is feathers-in-the-night)