By Mary Potts aka Queen of the Capes <queenofthecapes@gmail.com>
Rated: G
Submitted: June, 2006
Summary: For those who wonder what happened next to the characters they grew to love, there's really no need to worry.
***
His fingers glided across the black keys and the white, enchanting the air around him with chords of "Pathetique". Behind him, he could hear his wife puttering around, getting some important housework done while the children were away at her brother's for the weekend. There was a creak as she descended the stairs, and when she came to stand by the upright he caught a flash of something in her hand.
She seemed to be reading something.
"What've you got there?" he asked, without dropping a single note.
She glanced up. "I was going through some things," she said, "and I found this old Superman comic in one of your boxes. I didn't know you were ever into comic books."
Comic book, eh?
His mind searched for a while, leaving his fingers to execute the remainder of the piece unassisted, which they did with unerring precision brought on by years and years of practice.
Finally, the memory dawned. "Oh, that!" he exclaimed. "Your brother lent it to me long ago, back when we were kids." It had been the sixties, and their little town had been much smaller. "I guess I forgot to return it. It's probably worth something, now."
His wife leaned against the side of the piano, flipping through the pages of the comic. It was a typical old story, with Lois trying to marry Superman and Jimmy turning into something bizarre and random. "What do you think happened to them?" his wife suddenly said.
"Pardon?"
"This comic is pretty old," she said. "What do you think happened? Do you think Lois Lane and Superman ever got married?"
He leaned back a little, pulling his fingers away from the keys. He couldn't help but smile at her.
She shrugged. "I just, you know, wonder."
He reached for her hand and gave it a light kiss. "She probably grew on him, wearing down his defenses little by little, until he finally realized the truth, that he had been in love all along. They went out, and fell even more deeply in love, but had a rocky time because of his career. So they broke up, then got back together, and broke up again, and got back together again, and proposed and were turned down a few times, until they finally realized that they only had eyes for each other. So they got married, and despite all the odds, had a beautiful family." He met her smile with a broad grin. "And to this day, when he's busy working, she probably still comes over, and leans on the erupting volcano, and talks about utter nonsense."
He ducked to avoid her swat.
"But seriously," he said, still laughing, "you know that sometimes there are happy endings. Speaking of which…" He patted an empty space on the piano bench. She sat down beside him, and he slid over further to give her more room. "I want you to hear this song I wrote for you. It's called 'Lucy Has My Heart'."
***
Clark spun into his other clothes before entering the living room. His wife was lying on the sofa with her feet propped up, as he'd insisted, though he wondered how long that would last. Knowing his wife…
For now, though, she seemed perfectly at peace, engrossed in a certain section of the daily newspaper.
Clark smiled. "Reading the comics, Lois?"
"Mm-hmm."
He crossed the room to kneel beside her, and gave her a kiss. His eyes drifted to her abdomen.
Her belly had gotten big quickly… they'd both been surprised. The doctors had assured them that everything was normal, however. He smiled. Soon…only a matter of months…
"Hey, Clark?" Lois was still staring into the paper.
Clark shook himself out of his reverie. "Yes?"
"What do you think happens to the Peanuts when they grow up?"
He stared at her blankly for a few seconds. "What?"
"The Peanuts," she said, not looking up. "You know, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and them. What do you think happens to them when they grow up?"
Clark frowned. "But, Lois, they don't grow up."
"If they did," Lois insisted, finally turning to face him. The paper rustled as she did so. "What do you think would happen if they did? Would Charlie Brown ever kick a football? Would Linus still have that blanket? Would Lucy and Schroder get married?"
He shrugged. "Lois, I honestly couldn't say." As he thought about it, though, a slow smile spread across his face. "I'll bet they'd end up happy, though," he said, gingerly taking the paper from her and setting it on the coffee table. He rested a hand on her belly, and their unborn child within it. "Sometimes there are happy endings."
THE END