Author's Note: Most of my author's note is at the end, after the chapter. ;)

It had been too long since I updated this fic. So I hope I can write more than one chapter within a pretty brief window. I had been wanting to write a lot of this fic before the show resumed in January. I hope maybe that can still happen. Also, some spoilers for the 2013 film Man of Steel are included in this chapter. I believe everything I mentioned happened in the first half of the movie, though. I've never seen the film, but from what I can tell, these plot points are more set-up than surprise conclusions. (I've seen all 10 seasons of Smallville and all 4 seasons of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman so I do know something about this universe, which is part of why I chose to have that be the movie Travis and Mary Beth went to see.)

I also name Travis' brother in this chapter. Hehe.

Um… enjoy!

Chapter 3: "Brothers"

Mary Beth looked over at Travis, trying not to take her eyes off of him as they walked away from the theater and toward the ice-cream parlor. They had decided to see Man of Steel, which overall Mary Beth had enjoyed, although she'd felt some of the action sequences had lasted too long, and there were a few other things preventing her from considering the movie "amazing". Her date was recounting what had happened in the film. He seemed to be excitedly acting out one of the action sequences. She smiled at him, and then glanced ahead briefly, seeing that they were nearing a crosswalk. They needed to pause in their tracks and wait for the light to allow them to walk.

Travis finished his reenactment of Zod killing Jor-El and they ended up going the rest of the way to the shop without any new thoughts being shared. Travis kindly gestured for "ladies first", and had his date not only walk into the store before him, but also place her Mint Chocolate Chip order prior to his. She smiled, flattered in a small way by his chivalry. It was so nice to have the chance to feel like a girl. Travis then wanted to order his own ice cream, without verbally talking to the employee, and Mary Beth stepped back, watching in intense curiosity to see how the effort would play out. At first the young woman behind the counter was impatient for him to begin his order. Then the worker realized he was pointing, and she asked him a question which he not only didn't hear, but which Mary Beth also noticed he didn't see her ask. The young woman in the apron got a bit confused, and Mary Beth was tempted to go over there and help. But she lingered back a few seconds longer, and sure enough the employee finally caught on to how Travis needed to communicate his order to her. She then started scooping some Rocky Road ice cream into a cone for him.

Travis paid for both of their orders while Mary Beth fidgeted with the strap of her purse and thought about how maybe she should have paid for her own. She wasn't sure what to think of the tradition of the guy always paying. She had a bit of cash, after working all summer at Maui Kansas. But she didn't stop him. She let it happen.

They took their ice creams outside, since it was a very pleasant summer evening, and sat across from one another at one of those small round tables. Travis licked a stray drip, then smiled widely, clearly enjoying the treat.

With his free hand, signed slowly for Mary Beth's sake.

"Is your ice cream as delicious as mine?"

She smiled, pretty sure she understood him, and then nodded, not feeling the need to talk or sign in this moment. She took another taste of her own. This was a great ice cream place.

She wanted to ask him how he enjoyed the movie, one of the few ASL things she'd carefully been sure to memorize and really learn before leaving for this date tonight. But now here she was with one of her hands busy holding onto an ice cream cone, so she couldn't say anything. She wasn't ready for this one-handed signing stuff that Travis was so adept at. Besides, she needed to focus on eating her ice cream before it all melted and she made an embarrassing mess all over the table, or worse, herself.

Travis ended up asking her the question. And because of her studying in preparation for the date, she understood exactly what he said. She nodded. It had been a good movie. A slight shadow passed over her face, though. She didn't intend to let Travis see it, but he did.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and again, Mary Beth understood his question. She felt a little proud of herself. ASL communication was working between them, so far.

"Oh," she answered verbally, not sure how to answer. What was wrong was that her brother would have loved to have seen this movie. She was never as into the superhero stuff, but her older brother? He lived for it. Even being a badass military dude, he was somehow never embarrassed to admit to loving men in spandex saving the world. And seeing the movie had made her miss him so terribly. It didn't help that Jonathan Kent had died and Clark had been all sad that his father hadn't gotten to see who he had become. Things like that… Justin's death was too recent. It still hurt so terribly. She related to it on far too deep a level.

Travis was patiently waiting for an answer. He wanted to know what was troubling her. She ate another bite of her cone and smiled at him. Being here, on a date with Travis… she was having a really nice time. It helped make her grief not feel overwhelming. She didn't want him to think anything was wrong.

She started to try to sign with her only free hand.

"I… thinking…" she hesitated. How did you sign, 'brother'? How did you sign, 'I was thinking about my brother'? She was very frustrated.

"You can talk," Travis offered, ready to read her lips.

"I was just thinking about my brother," she tried to explain.

She didn't really want to explain that he was dead, but it was inevitable that if they really got to know each other, it'd come up. And she liked Travis a lot. She wanted there to be a second date, and a third. She wanted him to eventually get to know her that well. So she continued.

"He would have loved to have seen that movie."

Travis nodded, successfully having read her lips and fully understanding what she'd said. The only thing he didn't understand was the subtlety that "would have loved" actually meant "he is dead". But Mary Beth had not expected him to pick up that little detail. He finished his ice cream dessert.

"Brother," he signed for her benefit, and then he spoke with the voice he was always so hesitant to use. She understood that he was teaching her a sign.

She finished her ice cream as well, and then imitated him.

"Brother?" she asked nervously, wondering if she was signing it correctly. It was a pretty big motion. She'd later go home and learn it was actually a compound word – "boy" and "same", as if a boy from the same parent or something. So that would explain why it was two distinct movements she had to make – a closing of her hand up near her head, and then in front of her body her two index fingers lining up together, palms down.

She followed his lead about three times until she was pretty sure she'd gotten it.

He shook his fist, the ASL sign for yes, and she smiled, pleased that she had learned a new word.

He then proceeded to use the word in a sentence of his own.

"My brother would love to see this movie too," he signed.

"Oh?" she asked. She moved back to signing, realizing she should try to avoid using her vocal chords whenever possible.

"You… brother?"

She wasn't very good at the process yet. He understood that she was trying to ask, 'You have a brother?', though, and he was gracious enough to reply accordingly.

"Yes," he began, continuing to be careful to sign slowly and read her face constantly for understanding. "My brother is 12, and his name is A-u-s-t-i-n."

"Austin," she replied, sounding out what he'd just finger spelled. It reminded her far too much of her own brother's name. In fact, every letter was the same except for one.

"My brother… 21," she explained. "J-u-s-t-i-n," she spelled out. It was easier to remember those letters because of Travis having just moments ago signed most of them. She then wanted to tell him he was dead, but she didn't know the sign for that.

"He's…" she began, hesitantly, using her voice.

He stared at her mouth intently.

"Dead," she finished.

Travis's eyebrows shot up in shock.

"Dead?" he asked in ASL, slowly turning his hand over.

Mary Beth didn't know the sign, but she felt like it definitely could be 'dead'. She nodded, then decided to start elaborating. She spoke slowly, looking right at him, hoping he'd be able to understand her.

"He was in Afghanistan."

Travis continued to listen with his eyes, seeming to understand so far.

But he didn't die over there, she mentally added. She wasn't sure she really wanted to try to explain. The war was what killed him, in the end. Was it necessary to bring up that it'd been suicide? She decided, for now, to try to just move past this subject.

"I just really… miss him, sometimes," Mary Beth said simply.

Travis reached out and placed his hand on hers, comfortingly.

The date ended not long after that, with almost nothing new being shared. They parted ways in the parking lot where they'd both driven separately to meet each other, sharing a sweet non-verbal goodbye including lingering stares and some waves. Mary Beth had been kind of hoping he'd kiss her goodbye. But maybe he was waiting for the second date for that, she figured. She got in her car and drove herself home, ready to tell her mom that her first date ever had gone quite nicely. She tried not to think about how badly she also wanted to share her story with Justin. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, and wondered if Travis might be telling his little brother anything about her. Mary Beth had no idea that Travis was not going home to Austin that night. They both had so much to learn about each other still. This had just been the very beginning.

Author's Note (continued): I never saw the film Man of Steel lol. So hopefully I didn't make a fool of myself by having them talk about it. Let me know, please, if I have any glaring errors. Also, I'm not 100% sure it'd still be in theaters by the time Mary Beth and Travis would be going on this date. I don't really know what month this was supposed to be. But I figured generically that a summer 2013 movie would be acceptable.

On a very different note, my uncle just committed suicide about ten days ago, and I was there. He had been spending the day at a museum with his wife, his son, his wife's brother (my dad), and me, when he decided to jump off what I suppose was a very tempting high ledge. None of us actually saw him jump, but we heard the thud and saw his body afterwards. He had attempted suicide once seven years ago, and again only two months ago, both times with sleeping pills – but he had also successfully been treating and living with his depression for the majority of his life. His wife and son were so sure he had been getting better and was even well enough to fly 500 miles across the country to visit me and my family. We were all supposed to be able to have a fun Thanksgiving week family vacation. It is so sad that he was not able to be saved this time.

Going through this experience in my own personal life has made me feel tempted to explore Mary Beth's experience with her brother, Justin, committing suicide. For a soldier, the underlying factors are a bit different than what they were for my uncle. But still, all stories about suicide have a lot in common. And the differences between different people's experiences are hard not to think about too. There are always so many "what ifs" you have to ask yourself. So that is the direction I started to take this chapter. I hope it was okay. I hope to write more in this vein asap as well. I'm not done exploring Justin's suicide and what it means for his sister. But don't worry. I also have been planning since the beginning to explore more of what growing up has been like for Travis, and other stuff too. I want this story to evolve naturally, so if that means not exploring the suicide stuff as much as I want to, whatever. My main goal is to write a compelling little story for all Mary Beth and Travis fans to enjoy.

Please leave me a review so that I know people are actually reading this fic and that people want me to update it! Thank you.