When Irene finally arrived at her apartment, she felt some sense of relief to finally be home. And as much as she dreaded having to talk to Clark about what happened, she also was eager to see him.

He had become such a big part of her life that not seeing him for almost twenty hours felt like torture. Irene found herself slightly disappointed to find that he wasn't home, but he had probably just left the Daily a planet for the day.

Setting her purse down she pulled out her leather journal, she hadn't spoken with Perry but she wondered if he would make her write about what happened in the desert.

She was tempted to begin writing, to maybe be able to write something that would help prove Superman as innocent. But she doubted that Perry would publish it, it would be too controversial and could possibly give the Daily Planet negative press.

Thinking against it shoved her journal back into her purse where the small gift box the Cat had given her was. Against her better judgment Irene opened it again looking at the bath salts, wondering it Cat was right.

With a sigh Irene took the box into the bathroom and started to run a bath. Her apartment had a large bathtub, one that Irene had never even thought of using. That was until now.

"This is so stupid." Irene muttered as she took all her clothes off before stepping into the bath.

After a few moments of sitting in the bath she had to reluctantly admit to herself that there was something soothing about being in the warm water. But nothing could really clear her mind of what happened.

Suddenly she heard the front door open, and she couldn't help but panic for a moment wondering how Clark was taking everything that was happening.

"Hey." Clark greeted as he opened the bathroom door, he was carrying a grocery bag in his arms. A bouquet of flowers was peaking through the top of the bag, because of course he had gotten her flowers. His eyes widened slightly as he looked at her, but said nothing.

"Hey."

"I was gonna cook. Surprise you." He said with a soft smile as he stepped into the bathroom. Irene returned his smile with one of her own, but he clearly saw through her as he frowned. "Talk to me."

Irene wished that they could just pretend that it all didn't happen, but she couldn't ignore it.

"They held hearings about what happened." She replied slowly, and any traces of joy vanished from Clark's face. It seemed like he wanted to move one from what happened, but the problem was that the world hadn't. "They're saying that..."

"I don't care. I don't care what they're saying. The woman I love could have been blown up or shot." He countered, and she could see that he didn't regret for a moment going out there and saving her. Even when they were trying to blame him for the deaths of multiple people in that village. "Think of what could have happened."

"Well, think about what did happen."

Clark set the bag of groceries down on the sink as he stepped closer to the bathtub. "I didn't kill those men, if that's what they think. If that's what you're saying."

Irene immediately shook her head knowing that he would never do anything like that. That he would never take a human life, or hurt anyone in a cruel way. He had dedicated himself to helping people, and that would never change.

It was one of the things that she loved so much about him. Clark was the most powerful being on the planet and he chose to help people. Chose to make himself small in his daily life and be like everyone else.

"No of course not." She assured him at she moved to the edge of the bathtub, remembering that she hated being in the damn thing. "I'm saying I want to understand what happened. I'm saying thank you for saving my life. I'm saying there's a cost."

Clark sat down on the edge of the tub placing her hand on her shoulder trying comfort her. But the truth was that him touching her only made what she was about to say more difficult.

"I just don't know if it's possible."

"Don't know if what's possible?" He questioned slowly, almost like he really didn't want to know that answer. It was an answer that Irene didn't wast ether. She was afraid that maybe voicing it out loud would only make sense of it. That maybe it was true, and that they shouldn't be together.

It took Irene a moment to reply as she studied the worries look on his face, she just didn't know how he would react. "For you to love me and be you."

"Irene..."

"Clark you belong to the world, not me." Irene muttered as she looked away from him. She couldn't even say the words directly to him, it hurt her so much. It was a difficult thing for her to admit. "And it's selfish of me to hold you back."

Clark reached behind him and pulled a red tulip out of the bouquet of flowers and handed it too her. "We're a team remember?"

Taking the flower Irene looked up to find him smiling at her, and she couldn't help but smile back up at him. She loved his smile.

And if he had hope that everything would turn out okay, so would she.

Clark stood up then, kicking off his shoes before stepping into the tub.

"Clark!" Irene exclaimed, but she couldn't help but laugh as water began to spill out of the bathtub. He was being ridiculous stepping into the tub with his clothes on. "Clark, you're going to flood the apartment."

"Mmm-hmm." He muttered before pulling his shirt over his head and sinking into the bathtub causing more water to spill out.

Any of her concerns about flooding left mind as he leaned over and kissed her roughly. He placed on of his hands behind her neck, deepening the kiss, as the other softly massaged one of her breast.

He pulled away to brush some wet strands of hair away from her face, and Irene reached forward to take his glasses off. She let them fall on the tile floor, before pulling him back into the kiss.

As much as she liked the idea of this, Irene simply couldn't ignore how uncomfortable she was. She was sitting in a position that she knew she wouldn't be able to stay in much longer, at least not with Clark's weight over her.

Placing her hand on his chest she pushed him back so that he was sitting on the other end of the bath tub, as she positioned herself on his lap.

"I like this better." Clark muttered, pushing her wet hair aside as he kissed her collar bone, slowly working his way up her neck as she struggles to get his jeans off or at least past his hips.

Clark paused for a moment almost like he was just noticing his surroundings. He seemed slightly amused as he smiled up at her. "You've never taken a bath before."

"Cat thought it would be a good idea." Irene defended, remembering all the times that she had voiced how disgusting she believed baths to be.

"I'm just saying that anytime that I've suggested anything like this you always say that baths are disgusting." He reminded her clearly trying to suppress a laugh. "I'm just surprised considering how stubborn you are about these kinds of things."

"Okay well now I don't want to do this." Irene muttered as she moved to stand up, but he stopped her by pulling her closer to his chest.

"Wait." He practically begged.

The problem was that she was never able to really deny Clark anything. And the truth being that she always wanted him just as much.

They both lay in bed, Irene's head rested on Clark's chest as she attempted to finally get some sleep. But her hair was still wet from the bath, not that Clark seemed to care at all but it was bothering her.

She was wearing one of Clark's old t-shirts, because as comfortable as she was around clark she simply couldn't go to bed fully naked like he could.

"What's wrong?" She questioned, beginning to get unsettled by his silence. Normally, he enjoyed talking until they both fell asleep. Maybe, he had realized that there was some truth in what she had said earlier. Or maybe he was finally accepting that what they were saying about Superman was affecting him in some way.

"I just don't think you really know how much you mean to to me." He told her as he finally looked away at the ceiling to meet her eyes. She was incredibly confused, as he reached out and brushed his thumb across her cheek. "How much I love you."

"I know you love me." Irene stated, not sure sure tunderstanding what all of this was about. It seemed a little ridiculous for him to say considering that he went to great lengths to show her how much he loved her. Since they had first started dating there was not a single moment that she ever questioned his feelings. "I don't know where this is coming from."

"I don't think you realize that there is no Superman without you. Every day that I'm out there the thought of coming home to you is what keeps me going."

His words were sweet, but she knew there was more to it. More than him feeling that she didn't understand him.

"Okay, but what's the issue here?"

"If you knew how important you were you would have never suggested that we aren't good together." Clark stated firmly, and she was so surprised by how badly he had misunderstood what she had meant. It's wasn't that she thought that they weren't good together, she thought that what they had amazing.

But that didn't change the fact that while he was laying here with her, there was someone out there that needed Superman.

"If I remember correctly you tried to break up with me once when we first started dating."

Clark sighed as he rested his head on his hand so that they were both having each other. "That was cause....that was before."

"Before what?"

"Before I knew what it was like to wake up with you every morning and have dinner with you every night. At that point I thought that it was possible to just step away and keep you safe." He told her and she didn't think that it was possible to love him more than she already did. But of course he had to prover her wrong. "I can't live without you anymore."

"I think that you believe that you love me more than I love you." Irene told him feeling slightly annoyed by the idea. Sure she wasn't as expressive with the pay that she felt like Clark was, but he knew that. "That's not true. You're everything. It's actually a little embarrassing."

Clark sat up, with an offended expression on his face. "Embarrassing?"

Irene reached forward and pulled him back down into bed. "I didn't mean it like that. I mean my boyfriend is Superman, some people might find that pretty cool."

"Only some people huh?" He questioned with raised eyebrows, but his good mood was returning.

"Some." Irene repeated with a smile, still find their conversation silly but knowing that she had to ease any insecurities that Clark could be having. "What I meant was that I've always independent, and now there's you. The thing is I can't live without you either."

"You are still the same passionate, ambitious, talented and annoyingly stubborn woman that I first fell in love with." He assured her, knowing that she would be horrified with herself if she changed who she was for him.

Satisfied with how their conversation had ended Irene put her head back on Clark's chest. For the first time since what happened in the desert, Irene could feel herself finally slipping into what she hopes would be peaceful sleep.

A/N: Alright this is the last filler chapter, after this we're fully just going to dive into the BVS plot. Because the plot of BVS is a little dark I still want to add some lighthearted and fun moments between Irene and Clark. There's so many story points I need to cover, so things will be moving in a really fast pace. But I hope that you are all enjoying so far.