Anybody's Baby
By Annie M <nicholsm@email.unc.edu>
Rated PG-13
Submitted: January 2002


Author's Notes

I just want to thank everyone who has helped and encouraged 
me while I was writing and editing this.  This is my first 
full-length story, and it's certainly more than I bargained 
for.  It took on a life of its own, and wound up being a 
completely different story than I originally envisioned.

Special thanks to Sarah and Kathy, my BRs, who were more 
help than I can possibly put into words.  And thanks to 
everyone on Zoomway's Boards and IRC who encouraged me to 
post, and then to send it to the archives.  

For those of you who aren't familiar with the episode 
references at the beginning, this takes place directly 
following Season's Greedings.

**********


 - North Hollywood, CA -
        
"Just think about what you're saying!  I know this is hard, 
but it's the best thing to do.  We decided this ages ago - 
you can't just back out now."  The tall blond man paced 
back and forth in the small apartment's living room.  

The young woman clutched the baby in her arms.  "I know, 
Jason, I know!  It's just different now that he's here, you 
know...  He's so sweet and tiny.  I want to keep him, 
Jason.  We can do it!  Come on, it won't be that bad.  
It'll be fun once we get used to it.  I know lots of girls 
I went to high school with who already have babies."

The man heaved a heavy sigh and ran his fingers through his 
hair roughly.  "How?!  How are we going to keep it?  How 
will we afford it?  I'm an artist, you know that.  I can't 
be tied down like this.  And you don't even have job. And 
the agency already paid all of the medical bills, you know.  
We don't have health insurance; how will we ever repay 
that?"

"I don't know!  I don't know!  I just know that I don't 
want to give him up." She paused, then said hesitantly, 
"You know, I could always call my parents..."

"Oh, that's a great idea!  Why didn't I think of that?" 
Jason asked sarcastically.  "You haven't talked to them in 
a year.  They don't even know that you were pregnant - you 
*said* you didn't want to tell them.  How are you going to 
explain this to them?  And do you really think they are 
going to support you?  I know this is hard, but this is why 
I told you that you shouldn't even see the baby after it 
was born-"

"HE! Jason, he's not an *it*, he's your son and his name is 
Jacob. Stop referring to him as 'it' or 'the baby!' He's 
two weeks old and you haven't even held him yet!  God, 
Jason - He's *your* son too, not just mine!"

"That is not helping!  Don't you see that?  Naming him and 
bonding with him is just going to make it harder when you 
have to give him up.  And let's stop kidding ourselves 
here, we both know that eventually we *are* going to have 
to give him up."

"No, Jason.  No.  I'm not giving him up," she whispered 
forcefully.

The man grabbed his black leather jacket from the chair and 
fled the apartment, slamming the door behind him. 

The slamming door startled the baby from his sleep and he 
began to cry.  The young woman collapsed wearily onto the 
sofa and rocked the baby gently.  "Shh...it's OK, Jacob.  
He'll change his mind.  He'll be back."

When he continued to cry, she stood and began pacing, 
jiggling him gently.  "Come on, Jacob. It's OK.  I've got 
you.  Everything is going to be OK."

His cries escalated, and her sympathy began to fade.  "Come 
*on.*  Stop crying!  What is *wrong* with you?!"

The baby only cried louder, and she began to cry too.  
"What do you want?!  I can't take this!  Just stop crying!"

**********

"I don't know what her problem is," the blond man said 
agitatedly.  He sat in the back of the quiet cafe and spoke 
in muted tones into a small cell phone. "No, I'm sure she 
doesn't suspect anything, she's just freaked out and 
changed her mind."

He ran his fingers through his hair and nodded as he 
listened to the voice on the other end of the line.  "I 
know, I know.  I told her all of that.  She said we could 
ask her family for help-"  

"You don't think she'd actually call them, do you?" The 
voice asked.

"No, I don't think she'll actually call them.  You know 
she's not close to her family, that's one of the 
requirements.  I think she just needs a little time to see 
that it's not going to be the fun and games she's 
imagining.  I'll keep an eye on her from a distance for a 
couple of days, and when she realizes she can't handle the 
sleepless nights and calls from creditors alone, I'll 
'return' and offer her a way out.  She won't be able to 
resist."

"Well, for your sake, you better hope so. I can't have 
business dealings with failures."

"Yes sir," he replied, but the line had already gone dead.
        
**********

 - Metropolis -

Lois smiled as she read through the final draft of the 
story on her screen.  The article wasn't earth-shattering, 
but it was solid and she was pleased with her work.  

Clark glanced up from his desk, letting his gaze rest for a 
second on his partner as she typed the keys to send the 
story to their editor.  He smiled reflexively at the self-
satisfied grin on her face.  

Lois felt his eyes on her and looked up slowly.  Their eyes 
met and locked for a second before Lois yanked her eyes 
away, blushing shyly. 'Get a grip Lane!' she told herself 
sternly.  She couldn't believe she was acting like a silly 
school girl.  This was just Clark. Well not *just* 
Clark...that wasn't what she meant.  He was a pretty 
incredible guy, she didn't mean to imply that...  But, he 
was just *Clark*...her best friend.  She'd never felt giddy 
around him before.  

When Lois looked up again Clark was approaching. "You look 
awfully pleased with yourself," he grinned, perching 
himself on the corner of her desk. 

Lois pulled herself together rapidly and grinned back, 
"Ahh.  Another day, another success.  Just a typical day in 
the life of Lois Lane!"

Clark's grin widened as he shook his head.  "All right, 
what do you say we celebrate?  Why don't you come over for 
dinner and a movie?"

Lois faltered for just a second.  "It's a date!" she agreed 
before realizing what she'd said.  

Immediately she froze, her mouth half open, "I mean...It's 
not a date-date.  It's just a date...well not even a date 
so much as a get together...I mean -"

"Lois, calm down.  It's just dinner and video.  Nothing to 
panic about."  Clark's calm smile belied the myriad of 
thoughts swirling in his mind.  Why did she say date?  Was 
it a Freudian slip?  Did she wish it was actually a date?  
Could it be a date?  Perhaps he should ask her...

Lois, calmed considerably, asked, "Do you want me to come 
straight over, or should I meet you there later?"

"Why don't you go home and change into something 
comfortable and grab a video on the way over?  I'll go home 
and get dinner started."

Lois nodded in agreement, "I have to talk to Perry, then 
I'm ready to leave.  Do you want me to give you a ride 
home? It's pretty cold out there."

"I'll be OK.  I'm gonna take off now so that I can pick up 
a few things on the way home.  I'll see you in a little 
bit." Clark smiled and rested his hand on Lois' arm for a 
moment before turning to go.

Lois headed toward Perry's office and Clark began to gather 
his things, trying unsuccessfully to stop analyzing Lois' 
use of the word 'date' and focus, instead, on planning the 
menu for dinner.

"Clark?"

Clark's head snapped up at the soft, familiar voice.

"Mayson?  What are you doing here?"

"Well, I...  I just wanted to talk to you for a minute."

"Sure.  Is there something we can do for you?"

Mayson shifted nervously, and it began to dawn on Clark 
that the reason for her appearance was not professional.

"Well, actually-"

"Mayson.  What do you want?"  Lois appeared again, and 
wasted no time on niceties.

"Hi, Lois.  I just came to speak to Clark for a minute."  
She turned back to Clark.  "Can we go somewhere and talk?  
I just wanted-"

"Don't bother," Lois said quickly.  "Clark already has 
plans tonight, and they don't involve you."

Clark was surprised by the possessiveness in Lois' voice.  
He was well aware of her feelings for the Assistant DA, but 
he had always chalked it up to competition.  He knew that 
Lois saw Mayson as a professional rival and that she didn't 
like having to share his time and attention with her, but 
for a moment he allowed himself to feel just a flicker of 
hope that perhaps there was more to it than that.

Mayson looked to Clark for guidance.

"I'm sorry, Mayson.  Lois and I already have plans.  Maybe 
another time?"  Clark kicked himself mentally.  He knew 
there was no future between him and Mayson, and he felt 
terrible leading her on, but this just didn't seem to be 
the time or the place to have that discussion.  Maybe he 
could meet her later in the week and explain to her that he 
couldn't have a relationship with her, that he just wasn't 
attracted to her that way.  The idea didn't sound like a 
lot of fun, but it really was necessary - regardless of how 
things turned out with Lois.

"Actually, that's why I'm here.  It turns out that someone 
I prosecuted this year is now being extradited to San 
Antonio to be tried there.  The DA's office in San Antonio 
has requested that I come and help them with the case, 
since we believe the two are related.  I'm leaving 
tomorrow."

Clark wasn't sure what to say.  Lois had returned to her 
desk, but was stealthily watching for his reaction.  She 
was trying to convince herself that she didn't care what 
Clark's response was, but she felt her stomach twist at the 
thought that he might cancel their plans to spend time with 
Mayson on her last night in town.

"That's great, Mayson.  I mean, it sounds like it's a great 
career move."

"It is," she said hesitantly.  "It sounds like a great 
opportunity.  Look, Clark, I just wanted to let you know 
that I'm going to be gone for awhile.  It may be a month or 
two before I get back to Metropolis."

Clark fumbled for a minute, no idea how to respond to this 
statement.  Perhaps he should tell her now that there was 
no future for them?  He glanced at Lois, still allegedly 
straightening her desk, and decided this was not something 
he wanted to do with an audience.   

"Well, I just wanted to let you know.  I'll call you when I 
get back, OK?"

Clark nodded dumbly.  Finally he found his voice.  "Sure, 
Mayson.  Have a good time in San Antonio.  Good luck."

"Thanks."  She hesitated, then leaned forward and kissed 
him on the cheek.  "Bye, Clark."

"Goodbye," he said as she turned and walked away.

He turned and nearly ran into Lois.  She raised an eyebrow, 
but said nothing about the exchange.

"All right, I'm going home to change," she said.

Clark's face lit up in grin.  He hadn't realized how 
worried he was that she would be upset.  "Great.  I'll see 
you in a little bit."

She smiled back and he beat back the temptation to kiss 
her.  Instead, he reached out and tucked her hair behind 
her ear.

"Come on," he said, sliding his arm around her place his 
hand on the small of her back.  "I'll walk you out."

**********

Lois kicked the door shut behind her, knocking the piece of 
greenery from the back of the door to the floor.  She 
retrieved the decoration and hung it back on the door 
before tossing her briefcase and purse on the floor and 
surveying the rest of the room.  Christmas decorations 
still hung around the room, but Lois' attention was 
immediately drawn to the "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree 
across the room.  When she and Clark had gone looking for a 
tree she told herself she would choose a beautiful tree and 
have a beautiful Christmas.  Well, it may not have been the 
most beautiful tree on the lot, but she couldn't just leave 
it there...and her Christmas had turned out to be pretty 
wonderful after all.

Lois stopped in front of the tree and lightly traced the 
star at the top.  She still couldn't believe that Clark had 
given up his plans to spend Christmas with his family, just 
to stay with her.  Sure, he had originally claimed to be 
snowed it, but when she looked out the window and informed 
him that it wasn't snowing, all he could do was shrug and 
smile, "It isn't?" 

'He's amazing,' she thought.  She knew how much he was 
looking forward to seeing his parents, and the thought that 
he was willing to give that up in order to spend that 
holiday with her was a little overwhelming.  And it had 
been an incredible Christmas - the best she could remember.

Lois closed her eyes for a minute and let herself relive 
the moment she and Clark placed the star on the tree.  
Clark smiling at her, holding her hand, and then leaning 
down ever so slightly...it was as if he was going to kiss 
her.  For a second she was so sure he would...but then 
nothing.  And then the carolers began to sing and they 
moved to the open window.  She had wanted so badly to kiss 
him, but she hesitated, and then settled for threading her 
fingers through his and resting her head on his shoulder. 
Lois sighed and opened her eyes again, shaking her head as 
if to clear the memory.  

She had begun to suspect that there was a great deal more 
to their relationship than friendship during her wedding 
debacle. She had tried to tell him then how she felt about 
him, but he had insisted on speaking first, and the words 
he spoke broke her heart and destroyed the courage she had 
worked up to tell him the truth.  And so she had backed 
away, telling herself that it was not meant to be, and that 
she was obviously mistaken.  

But as Clark had nursed her broken heart and wounded pride 
it became harder and harder to deny the way she was feeling 
about him.  The final straw had come when she thought she 
had lost him forever.  Ever since she had thought Clark was 
gone - stolen from her by Professor Hamilton's goons- she 
hadn't been able to deny the way she was feeling about him.  
Again, she tried to tell him.  Silencing the nagging voice 
of doubt that told her vocalizing her feelings would 
destroy the peace and joy she had been given by just having 
him returned safely to her life, she forged bravely 
forward, and for the first time she put into words her 
desire to move their relationship further, deeper.  When 
Clark didn't reply she began to fear that he had been 
telling the truth that day in front of the Planet, and that 
he was just trying to think of a way to let her down easy.  
The last thing she expected to see when she glanced over 
was Clark sleeping soundly, oblivious of the agonizing 
confession she had just uttered.  

And so, again, she pushed away the feelings and desires 
that had arisen, and tried to move on with their lives in 
as normal a fashion as she could.  And the next time she 
was temped to tell him how she felt about him - when he had 
appeared at her apartment on Christmas Eve with his 
obviously false assertion that his plane had been snowed in 
- she just couldn't bring herself to tell him.  After two 
foiled attempts she couldn't help but wonder if it was a 
sign from the Gods that this was not meant to be.  So when 
she looked deep into his eyes, longing to hear him tell her 
that she was not crazy, that he felt the same way... she 
just couldn't go first.  Not this time.  This time she was 
too scared.  Because as much as she wanted to believe that 
it was his second confession that was the lie, she just 
wasn't sure.  And after having felt the pain of losing him 
once, there was nothing she would do to jeopardize what 
they had.  So any changes in their relationship had to be 
Clark's decision.  He would have to be the one to make the 
first move this time.  

Lois glanced up at the clock and was dismayed to see how 
much time had passed while she stood in her reverie.  She 
dashed into the bedroom hurrying to change and praying that 
maybe tonight Clark would give her a sign of what he 
wanted.

******


"I don't know, Mom.  She just said, 'It's a date,' and then 
she about had a heart attack back-pedaling.   I don't know 
why she said it.  I don't think *she* knows why she said 
it."

"Oh, Honey, this is so exciting!  I told you she would come 
around -"

"Mom!  Let's not get carried away," Clark sighed.  "As much 
as I would love to believe that Lois wants to move forward, 
I just can't get my hopes up yet.  If I pour my heart out 
to her again, and she doesn't feel the same way..." Clark's 
voice trailed off and he silently stirred the pasta and 
peeked at the bread warming in oven.

"Oh, Clark, I know.  Just give her time...I just know you 
two are meant to be together.  I think she's been in love 
with you for a long time, but she's scared, and she needs 
to work this out.  Don't give up, Honey, I'm sure you'll 
find each other."

"Thanks Mom.  Oh! Here she is. I've got to go.  I love 
you."

"Love you too.  Good luck!"  Martha grinned gleefully as 
she hung up the phone.

Outside the door Lois smoothed her hands over her jeans 
again and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, her 
heart pounding beneath her tight violet sweater.

Clark swung the door open confidently, then faltered 
slightly when he saw her.  "Hi," he whispered.  She was so 
beautiful.  He wondered if she had any idea what she did to 
him...

  "Come on in, the pasta's almost finished."  He ushered 
her into the room and slipped her coat from her shoulders, 
his hands tingling at the contact with her arms as he slid 
it off, just slightly slower than strictly necessary.  "Why 
don't we have some wine while we wait."

Lois looked up at him, at a loss for words.  She swallowed 
nervously, then nodded almost imperceptibly.  Their eyes 
met, and for a moment neither of them moved.  Then Clark 
reached out and placed his hand on the small of Lois' back 
drawing her closer.  She came willingly, almost as if she 
were in a trance.  Clark, bolstered by Lois' tacit 
agreement, slowly lowered his face toward hers.  Lois felt 
her eyelids slowly flutter closed and silently pleaded with 
Clark to kiss her, to make the first move, to assure her 
that he felt the way she did, the way she suspected he did.  
Clark saw Lois close her eyes and tilt her chin up to 
receive his kiss.  His lips curled into a slight smile and 
he sighed softly as he brought his other hand up to cup her 
cheek.  He closed his eyes and felt her breath, warm on his 
lips, then moved to close the nearly indiscernible distance 
between them.

"BZZZZZ!!!!!!!!" The kitchen timer demanded suddenly, 
startling them out of their blissful moment.  Their eyes 
snapped open and Lois drew back sharply.

Clark was torn between his need to calm the fear he was 
sure Lois was feeling over what had just nearly happened, 
and his yearning to pull her roughly back into his arms and 
finish what he had finally succeeded in starting.

He took a deep breath and tried to beat back the desire 
welling in his chest, wanting to reassure Lois of his love, 
not just his desire; to show her that he was her friend 
first, not just another man trying to take advantage of 
her.  He raised his eyes to meet hers slowly, cringing at 
the fear he expected to see there.  But instead of horror 
he saw - disappointment? Longing?

Clark moved instinctively, pulling Lois back, closer even 
then before.  "Lois..." he whispered, looking deep into her 
eyes and raising his hand to cradle her face again.

"Clark..." Lois replied shakily, anticipation still 
battling back the nerves and fear just beginning to emerge.

Clark needed no further encouragement.  In one swift move 
he lowered his face and captured her lips with his.  Lois 
melted completely against him, surrendering completely to 
his touch.  Clark ran his hands through her hair and 
deepened the kiss, emotions threatening to overwhelm him as 
he felt Lois respond hungrily.  She opened her mouth and 
moaned softly as she felt his tongue slip into her mouth.  

They basked in the glow of the kiss for another minute 
before pulling away.  Clark caressed her cheek again and 
smiled.  Lois smiled and ducked her head shyly.  Clark took 
a ragged breath to clear his mind.  

"I have to get the bread out of the oven before it burns." 

"What?" Lois said, her mind reeling.  Bread?

"The bread, Lois.  In the oven?  The timer."
        
"Oh...right." Lois smiled again and stepped back from his 
arms.

Clark strode to the oven and, remembering just in time to 
grab potholders, removed the Italian bread from the oven.  
Lois joined Clark in the kitchen as he dished the pasta 
onto the plates.

Clark picked up the plates and nodded towards the bottle of 
wine and glasses on the counter, "Why don't you grab the 
wine, and we'll eat."  Lois nodded and reached for wine.  
As she leaned past him, Clark couldn't resist brushing a 
kiss across her cheek.  When she pulled away he thought 
that perhaps he had stepped across an invisible line.  
Instead, Lois turned and smiled at him, then pressed a 
quick kiss to his lips.

Clark smiled widely and said, "Come on, dinner will be cold 
before we get around to eating at this point."  

They ate in a comfortable near-silence, just enjoying each 
others company. 

After dinner Clark cleaned up quickly while Lois leaned 
against the counter watching.  

He dried the last dish and wiped his hands on the towel 
before placing one hand on her hip and drawing her close.  
Lois smiled and reached up to place her hands around his 
neck, toying with the curls at the nape of his neck.

"Is this really OK, Lois?  You don't know how long I've 
dreamed about this...I just don't want to push you.  I need 
to know what we're doing here."

"Why don't we go sit down and talk?" Lois whispered. 

Clark took Lois' hand in his and gently led her to the 
couch.  They sat facing each other.  Lois leaned back 
against the arm of the couch and stared at their joined 
hands.  Slowly she threaded her fingers through his and 
took a ragged breath.  

"Lois..." Clark began hesitantly.  Lois raised her eyes to 
meet Clark's and tried to calm the butterflies wreaking 
havoc in her stomach. "OK, here we go....If you're half as 
nervous as I am right now, the best thing we can do is just 
get this out in the open."

Lois nodded and gripped Clark's hands a little tighter. 
Clark closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath.  This 
was so important; there was no room for error.  He had to 
tell her how he felt, but he had to be careful not to 
overwhelm her.  The last thing he wanted to do was to scare 
her away when he was finally this close...  

He looked into her eyes again, and the words came without 
thought.  "Lois...I have been in love with you from the 
moment I saw you.  I never believed in love at first sight 
until I met you.  And then there you were, and I couldn't 
breathe, I couldn't think, I couldn't do anything but 
stammer because I felt like I had just found the part of me 
that I had been searching for my entire life.  And I 
thought I could never love anyone as much as I loved you in 
that moment.  But you know what?  I was wrong..." 

Lois flinched and ripped her eyes from his gaze.  This was 
it.  She'd blown it.  He had been in love with her, but now 
it was too late.  If only she had known...  If only she 
hadn't taken so long to see what was right in front of her.

Clark felt her stiffen and raised his right hand to run it 
through her hair and cup her cheek.  He lifted her chin and 
waited until her eyes met his again. "Lois, I was wrong 
because I love you so much more now than I did then.  I 
love you more every day.  The more I learn about you, the 
more I get to know you - the more I love you.  And I don't 
know *how* I know, but I just *know*, that I am *always* 
going to love you.  I've tried to stop - oh God, I've 
tried.  I thought that you could never love me the way that 
I love you, and your friendship meant so much to me that I 
tried to make my feelings for you go away.  I tried to 
convince myself that I could be satisfied with your 
friendship because you couldn't offer me anything else 
and...and...and I can't live without you.  I can't even 
imagine my life without you.  I would do anything to keep 
you in my life.  So I tried so hard to push aside my 
feelings for you, but I can't, Lois.  I just can't do this 
anymore.  I love you.  I need you..."

Clark stopped and just stared at Lois.  Where had that come 
from?  It was too much too soon.  He had just meant to tell 
her that he had feelings for her and wanted to try dating - 
not declare his undying love!

"Clark?" Lois' whisper broke into Clark's internal 
diatribe.  

"Lois, I'm sorry.  I really did mean to take this slow.  I 
don't want to push you, I swear."

"Clark, please don't apologize. Do you realize that was the 
single most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me?  
I...I don't know exactly how to respond, but I do know that 
what you just said touched me like nothing else ever has."

"I meant it, Lois.  I didn't mean to lay it all out on you 
like this, but it's the truth.  I meant every word...and so 
much more."

"Clark." Lois took a deep breath and drew on the utter 
sincerity she saw in his eyes for courage.  "Clark, I love 
you too.  I don't know when it happened, or how.  I just 
know that somewhere along the line I stopped thinking of 
you as just a friend.  I think on some level maybe I've 
known all along.  But I didn't want to accept it.  Clark, 
I've never been in a relationship that didn't end in 
disaster, and I don't want that to happen to us! You are my 
best friend.  You make me feel so real.  When I'm with you 
I feel safe in a way I've never felt before.  I trust you, 
Clark, and I love you.  But I'm terrified that I can't have 
both of those - that if I love you, I won't be able to 
trust you anymore."

Clark opened his mouth to protest, but Lois held up her 
hand to stop him.  "I know, Clark.  I know what you're 
thinking.  And I believe you. I believe that you love me 
and you would never want to do anything to hurt me.  But, 
you see, I don't think it's malicious.  I don't think that 
you *want* to hurt me, that you have to some latent plan to 
break my heart.  I just...I just can't believe in a happily 
ever after the way that you do, Clark.  I want to!  You 
have no idea how much I just want to jump into this the way 
I jump into everything else.  But this is different..."

Clark shook his head trying to organize his thoughts.  
"What do you want, Lois?  What can I do?  What can I say to 
prove to you how much I love you?  I'd do anything for you, 
you have to know that."

"Oh, Clark!  I don't want you to *prove* anything.  I do 
believe you.  I'm just scared, that's all, and I'm babbling 
again.  I just need you to understand that I'm probably 
going to panic from time to time, and I'm going to need you 
to help me believe the way that you do. It's just a big 
risk, that's all."

"But it's a risk you are willing to take?"

And with that Lois realized that Clark was still waiting 
for an answer.  That her declaration of love had not 
answered his unspoken question of whether or not she would 
give him - them - a chance.

"Oh, yes, Clark!  Yes, of course I am.  I didn't mean to 
make you think that I didn't, I was just nervous.  But, 
Clark I love you, and - "

Lois didn't get any further into her rambling before Clark 
swooped in to claim her lips.  Lois' words of apology died 
on her lips as she rechanneled her energy into returning 
his kisses.

Through each kiss and caress ran an undercurrent of passion 
that held a promise for the future, but these kisses were 
meant more to soothe and affirm than to arouse. After a few 
moments Clark pulled back and rested his forehead against 
hers.  Gently he stroked her hair with one hand as his 
other arm held her tight against him.

"I love you, Clark," Lois whispered.

Clark pulled back just enough to look deep into Lois' eyes.  
He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.  Lois 
held Clark's gaze, frozen by the intensity of the love she 
saw there.  She raised her one of her hands from where they 
rested on Clark's chest to stroke his cheek.  As if freed 
by her touch, Clark finally found the ability to speak 
again.  "I love you too, Lois."  Gently she pulled his head 
to her for another gentle kiss.

After another moment, they pulled apart again.  Clark 
cleared his throat as Lois nervously smoothed her hair.  
Clark reached out and tucked her hair behind an ear.  "What 
do you say we watch that video now?" 

Lois smiled and nodded her agreement.

Two hours later the final credits finished rolling and the 
screen went blue just before the VCR stopped itself and 
began to automatically rewind.  

Sometime during the movie Lois and Clark had wound up 
stretched out along the couch.  Clark lay against the back 
of the couch.  Lois' head rested on Clark's bottom arm, 
while his top arm curled protectively around her waist, his 
fingers intertwined with hers.

The TV clicked back to cable and the voice of an obnoxious 
political commenter on LNN's late show began railing on his 
latest crusade. 

Clark awoke slowly and grinned when he realized exactly 
where he was.  "Mmmm," he smiled as he nuzzled against the 
side of Lois' neck, tightening his grip to cuddle her 
closer.

Lois began to stir.  "Hey," Clark whispered.  "Are you 
awake?"

"Shh...I'm still sleeping." She whispered back.

Clark's laughter rippled through Lois, coaxing her to laugh 
too.  "OK, OK.  You win, I'm awake."  Lois made no effort 
to move.

Clark moved his upper leg to nudge against the back to 
Lois' leg.  "It's pretty late, sweetheart.  Do you want to 
stay here tonight?"

Lois opened her eyes and struggled until she had situated 
herself to look at Clark.  "Did you just call me 
sweetheart?"

Clark blushed and dropped his eyes.  "Um...yeah, I guess I 
did."  He looked back up timidly, one eyebrow raised. "Is 
that OK?"

Lois laughed softly. "Yeah, I guess it is," she said 
brushing his hair from his forehead.

Clark leaned down and brushed his lips lightly over hers.  
He pulled back and smiled again.  "Seriously, are you going 
to be OK to drive home, or do you just want to crash here?"

"Mmmm...I'm awake now.  I'll be fine."  Lois still made no 
move to get up.  "I just want to stay like this for one 
more minute..."

"Lois," Clark laughed.  "You can stay like this for as long 
as you want."

Lois nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck and sighed 
contentedly.  

"What time is it?" Lois mumbled into Clark's neck after a 
few moments.

"It's about 11:30." 

"Ungh," Lois responded.  "I guess I should get going.  We 
have to work tomorrow."

 Lois pulled away a little, but didn't really make an 
effort to leave.  Finally Clark sat up and pulled her with 
him.  "Come on, let's get you home so you can go to sleep." 
They stood and made their way toward the door.  Clark 
helped Lois put on her coat and let his hand linger on the 
small of her back as he opened the door and led her out.  
"Come on, I'll walk you to your car."

When they reached the jeep, Lois unlocked the door and 
opened it.  She turned to Clark. "I'll see you tomorrow, 
then."

"Yeah," Clark whispered.  He leaned down and kissed her 
softly.  "I'll see you in the morning."

He hesitated for a minute and Lois looked at him 
quizzically.  "What is it, Clark?"

"Lois, will you be my date for Perry's party tomorrow?  I 
mean, I know we were planning on meeting there anyway, but 
can we make a real date?  You know, I'll pick you at your 
apartment and we'll actually go together..."

"You mean you want me to hang on your arm decoratively 
and..." Lois teased.

"Yeah, something like that," Clark laughed.  "Think you can 
handle that?"

"Yeah," Lois said softly reaching to brush a wayward curl 
from Clark's forehead.  "Yeah,
I can handle that."

"I'll pick you up at nine-thirty then," Clark said brushing 
another kiss across her lips.

"OK," Lois murmured, pulling Clark close for a deeper kiss.  
"Hey, why don't you come over around seven-thirty and we'll 
have dinner first?  I promise not to cook," she said, 
smiling

Clark's face broke into a grin, betraying his pleasure at 
her request.  "That sounds wonderful."  He traced her jaw 
and leaned in to kiss her one last time.

"Goodnight," Clark whispered as they pulled apart.

"Goodnight," Lois replied, climbing into the jeep.

Clark watched Lois drive off, then stepped back into the 
shadows, and with a quick glance changed into the suit and 
shot upwards into the night, executing a few barrel rolls 
as he watched to make sure Lois got home all right.  As he 
cruised the sky doing his nightly patrol he thanked God, 
and the fates, and anyone else who was listening for 
keeping the city quiet for one perfect night.  

**********

 - North Hollywood, CA -

The young woman watched the door slam behind the man she 
loved for the second time in a week.  The tears streamed 
down her face as she slid down the wall and wrapped her 
arms around her legs.  She laid her head on her knees and 
sobbed.  The room was in shambles.  Clothes and dirty 
dishes lay strewn around the room.  Anyone walking in now 
would have been hard-pressed to recognize the beautiful 
girl who had moved into the apartment just seven months 
ago.  The baggy sweat clothes she wore were dirty and her 
once perfectly coifed hair hung in a stringy ponytail.  The 
dark bags under her eyes testified that she hadn't slept in 
days.

The girl stayed immobile as the phone began to ring.  The 
answering machine clicked on. "Mr. Crawford, this is Olivia 
Johnson from Carson Apartments.  This message is just to 
remind you that with the termination of your rental 
agreement you will have two weeks to vacate the apartment.  
Please have everything moved out, the apartment cleaned, 
and all copies of the key turned into the front office by 
January 15.  If you have any questions please call me at 
555-5327."

"Oh my God.  What am I going to do?" she sobbed.  "I can't 
do this...  I just can't do this."

Just then the baby woke and began to cry again.

"ARGH!" she screamed, scrubbing at her face to wipe away 
the tears, but making no move to comfort the crying baby.  
"Don't you *ever* stop crying?  God, this is not how it was 
supposed to be!"

Finally she stood and walked over to the wailing infant.  
She picked him up and grimaced as she smelled the dirty 
diaper.  She sighed and laid him on the bed, yanking a 
clean diaper from the stack.

"You were supposed to be sweet and cuddly, and we were 
supposed to go out and have everyone ooh and ah over you.  
We would be a perfect little family.  Instead I'm stuck in 
this stupid apartment all day with a screaming baby and no 
one to talk to.  I used to have friends!  I used to have a 
life!  Now my boyfriend is gone, I can't pay the rent, and 
I'm going absolutely crazy.  What am I going to do?"

Jacob just continued to cry.

**********

Lois was pulling the last curler from her hair when she 
heard the familiar knock.  "Just a sec!" She called, 
running her fingers through her hair and making sure her 
dress and makeup were in order.  She hurried to the door, 
then took a deep breath, chastising herself for being so 
nervous.

Clark stood on the other side of the door wearing a well-
tailored charcoal suit and a nervous grin, carrying a dozen 
red and white roses.

Lois swung the door open, and Clark felt his jaw drop.  Her 
simple straight black dress was held up by the tiniest of 
straps.  The material gathered loosely around her chest, 
revealing nothing, but creating a suggestive illusion.  The 
dress clung to her curves and the slit that began at her 
right ankle reached dangerously high, showing generous 
portions of her thigh every time she took a moved. 

"Wow...You look so beautiful."  Clark ripped his eyes from 
her body and focused on her face again.  At her knowing 
smile, his face flushed a deep crimson.  "Here, these are 
for you," Clark said, handing her the roses, hoping to 
divert her attention from his still glowing face.

Lois smiled and took the proffered flowers.  "Thank you.  
They're beautiful.  Dinner is in the oven warming up.  Come 
on in," she said, opening the door wider to allow Clark 
access.
	
**********

Clark held Lois tightly as the next song began, swaying 
gently to the beautiful music. Lois took a deep breath and 
sighed.  Clark tightened his grip around her waist and 
pulled her closer to him.  Ducking his head, he whispered, 
"What's the matter, Lois?"

"It's nothing," she replied, refusing to meet his gaze.

"It's not 'nothing'.  I can always tell when something's 
bothering you, and something is definitely bothering you 
right now."

"It's just...I feel like we're on display.  Ever since we 
walked in here, I feel like everyone is looking at us."

"Honey, I can hardly blame them.  You look incredible.   I 
know I can't keep my eyes off of you."

Lois blushed and rolled her eyes.  "Clark, that is *not* 
what I meant."

"I know," Clark said softly.  "They're just curious.  Two 
weeks ago they were placing bets on how long it would be 
before I finally got the hint, and -"

"What?"  Lois asked, pulling back enough to look at him.

It was Clark's turn to blush now.  "Lois, I guess I'm not 
very good at hiding how I feel about you.   So my feelings 
for you haven't exactly been a big secret.  The whole 
newsroom could see I was madly in love with you, and you 
certainly didn't seem to return the feeling.  I overheard 
some of the guys a couple of weeks ago..."

"Oh, Clark, I'm sorry," Lois sighed, leaning her head on 
Clark's chest.

"I'm not."

"What?" She pulled back, surprised.

"Lois, I don't care what people say about me.  You should 
know that by now.  Besides," he said, pulling her tight 
against him and dropping a soft kiss on her head.  "I got 
the girl in the end.  That's all that matters to me."

A few yards away, at the punchbowl, an already inebriated 
Ralph swaggered over to a group of Planet reporters.  

"So, looks like our resident ice maiden has finally melted, 
huh?" Mark said.

"Ehh, I give 'em two weeks," Ralph replied.  "Lane's a cold 
fish.  Once Kent realizes he's not going to get her into 
bed, he'll go back to that blonde piece of work from the 
DA's office.  Now there's a woman who looks like she knows 
how to have a good time!"

"I don't know about that, Ralph," Eduardo argued.  "Check 
them out.  Lane doesn't look like such a cold fish to me.  
Maybe you just didn't have what it takes."

Ralph, unable to think of a comeback, staggered away to get 
another drink.

**********

The crowd had stopped dancing and socializing and was 
gathered around the big screen TV in the White's family 
room.  Clark took a step behind Lois and wrapped his arms 
around her waist, pulling her close.

The gesture did not go unnoticed by members of the party 
crowd.  Lois and Clark had been inseparable the entire 
evening, and while it was not at all uncommon for them to 
attend social events together, and to even appear 
affectionate towards each other throughout the events, 
there was something different in their demeanor tonight.  

Alice White leaned toward her husband and whispered 
something in his ear.  

"I know, honey," he replied.  "I think it's safe to say 
that we weren't the only couple that benefited from the 
Christmas spirit this year."

"10...9....8...7...6..." Lois turned in Clark's arms to 
face him.  Their eyes met and they were suddenly the only 
people in the room, on the planet.  

"Happy New Year, Clark," Lois whispered over chants of, 
"5...4...3...2..."

"Happy New Year, Lois," Clark whispered in return.

"...1.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" As strains of Auld Lang Syne 
rang out from Times Square, Clark lowered his face and 
claimed Lois' lips in a sweet tender kiss.  

"You know what they say Lois: whoever's arms you're in when 
the New Year comes in is whose arms you'll spend the year 
in."

"Is that so, Mr. Kent?" Lois asked mischievously.

"Yes, Ms. Lane, it is."

"Well in that case..." And with that, Lois tugged his head 
back down and kissed him passionately, wrapping her arms 
around his neck.  Finally, their lips pulled away just far 
enough for them to catch their breath.  "I just didn't want 
there to be any doubt about it." Lois grinned.

"No doubt, Lois.  No doubt," Clark murmured cupping her 
cheek in what was, by now, an already familiar gesture.  

As he brushed a final tender kiss across her lips they 
suddenly became aware that they had an audience.  As they 
pulled apart they heard muted catcalls and whispers of 
amusement.

Lois and Clark both turned a brilliant shade of red and 
averted their eyes from the crowd.  

The sound on the TV had been muted again, and the music had 
resumed.  "Dance with me, Lois." Clark whispered in her 
ear.  The sound of his voice and the feel of his breath on 
her ear made her knees go week.  Lois couldn't speak 
through the lump in her throat, and simply nodded her 
agreement, allowing him to guide her to the dance floor.

Clark slid his arm farther around her waist pulling her 
tight against him.  His other hand claimed hers and as she 
rested her head against his chest she intertwined her 
fingers with his and rested their joined hands against his 
chest as well.

As one song ended and the next began, neither of them 
moved.  Clark's hand began to caress Lois' back and he felt 
her sigh contentedly.  "Clark?" Lois murmured.

"What, sweetheart?" he asked, letting go of her hand to 
reach up and stroke her hair.

"After this song, what do you say we say goodnight to Perry 
and Alice and head out of here?"

Clark hesitated.  It was late, and it had been a long day.  
It didn't surprise him that she was ready to go home, 
but...he just couldn't bear to let her out of his arms yet.

"Clark?" She prodded.

"Yeah, sure.  Whatever you want, Lois," he answered 
quickly.

"Clark?"  Lois pulled back enough to look in his eyes.  
"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he responded, immediately chastising himself for 
upsetting her.  Lois looked deep into his eyes, searching 
for the cause of his hesitation.  

Lois," Clark said sheepishly.  "I'm just not ready to let 
go of you, I suppose.  It feels so good to hold you like 
this, I just don't want tonight to be over yet," he tore 
his eyes from her gaze and looked down, embarrassed.  

"Clark," Lois laughed.  She waited until his eyes met hers 
again.  "Honey, I just meant for us to take this somewhere 
a little more private, somewhere without a hundred pairs of 
eyes watching for our next move."  

She reached up and caressed his face.  "I'm not ready to 
let go of you either."

Clark felt his throat tighten at the sweet, yet sultry tone 
of her voice.  

"Oh God, Lois, let's get out of here!" He laughed, hugging 
her close again.

He released her and guided her off the dance floor.  As 
they retreated through the crowd, he casually asked, "Lois, 
did you just call me honey?"

**********


 - North Hollywood, CA -

Standing in the shadows of the apartment building he tugged 
the black knit cap over his hair, completing the all-black 
cat burglar look.  But it wasn't jewels or furs he was 
planning to steal.   

He found himself wondering how this could have happened.  
He had chosen her so carefully.  He had been sure that she 
would comply.  Everything had been going so smoothly.  

*This* was not in the plan.  This transaction needed to be 
completed - the deal had already been finalized and the 
funds had long cleared.  He didn't want to think about what 
would happen if he was not able to deliver.  He knew far 
too much about the program to simply be fired, but failure 
was simply not acceptable in the program.  As far as he 
knew, no one had ever backed out this late.  He would 
simply have to deliver, and this was the only way.

He climbed stealthily up the stairs on the outside of the 
building.  Slowly he eased his key into the lock.  In his 
nervousness the click of the turning lock seemed 
indescribably amplified.  He took a deep breath and eased 
the door open.
	
**********

Clark unlocked the door to his apartment and opened the 
door to allow Lois to enter first.  He had barely got door 
closed before she launched herself into his arms.  "Thank 
you, Clark," she whispered as she kissed him again.

"For what?" he asked between kisses.

"For tonight.  I had such a wonderful time."

"So did I," Clark whispered, trailing kisses from her mouth 
to her ear

"Oh, Clark," Lois breathed, running her fingers through his 
hair.

Clark carefully eased her into the living room.  He lowered 
himself onto the couch and pulled Lois onto his lap.  They 
exchanged a few more sweet kisses before Lois pulled back.

Clark ran his hand through Lois' hair, and waited for Lois 
to ask whatever it was she obviously wanted to ask.  Lois 
nervously bit at her lower lip. "What, sweetheart?" he 
asked, brushing a kiss across her forehead.  "What?"

"Clark, will you dance with me again?"  she asked timidly.

Clark smiled and stood, sliding Lois gently to the floor.  
"Of course.  Why wouldn't I want to dance with you?"

Lois shrugged, reminding herself that Clark was different 
than other men; that his goal was not just to get her into 
bed as quickly as possible. She moved to turn the stereo 
on, and as the soft music wafted from the speakers Clark 
pulled Lois close again.  He inhaled deeply and whispered, 
"God, I love dancing with you."

A few songs later, Lois was nearly asleep on her feet.  
Clark kissed her gently on the top of her head and 
whispered, "Come on, sweetie, you're half asleep.  Stay 
here tonight. You can sleep in my bed."

Lois started to protest, but realized there was no way she 
could drive herself home, and finding a cab this late on 
New Year's Eve would be next to impossible.  "Are you 
sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!  Let me find you something to sleep in 
and you can have the bathroom first." Clark disappeared 
into the bedroom as Lois turned off the stereo and slipped 
out of her shoes.  Clark reappeared a minute later with a 
pair of sleep shorts and a faded Midwestern State U. T-
shirt.  

Lois took the clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.  
When she reemerged, Clark had straightened up the living 
room and had placed an extra blanket and pillow on the 
couch.  

He looked up at the sound of the bathroom door opening and 
smiled at her tussled appearance.  He pulled his sleep 
shorts and T-shirt from the dresser and approached the 
bathroom.  As he passed her, he snagged her arm and pulled 
her close.  

"Hey." He smiled into her hair.  "Everything's all set.  
Get some sleep, OK.  I'll see you in the morning...I love 
you."

"I love you too, Clark.  Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sweetheart," he said, releasing her with a 
quick kiss and disappearing into the bedroom.

Lois sat on the edge of the bed, then pulled her legs up 
under the covers.  As she sat in bed, she couldn't help but 
think of what a wonderful couple of days it had been.  *** 
And he's so amazing.  He invites me to stay, and not only 
does he not expect me to sleep with him, he expects me 
*not* too.  He just goes right ahead and makes up the sofa.  
God, I love him. *** 

When Clark came out of the bathroom, Lois was still sitting 
up in the bed.  "Hey, you," he whispered.  "I figured you'd 
be sound asleep by now.  You were dead on your feet a few 
minutes ago."

Lois just smiled and reached out her hand to him in a 
silent invitation.  He took a couple of quick steps and 
perched on the edge of the bed, reaching to caress her 
face.  He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and pulled away 
again.

"What, Lois?"

Lois took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  "Stay with me, 
Clark.  Don't spend the night on the couch - I want you to 
hold me."

Clark looked deep into her eyes, trying to read her.  "Are 
you sure?  Lois, I don't want you to be uncomfortable..."

"Clark, trust me, I'm never more comfortable than when I am 
in your arms."

"Good," Clark growled playfully, climbing over Lois to the 
other side of the bed.  Lois giggled and let herself be 
pulled into his embrace.  

He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her, fitting 
his body to hers.  "I love you," he whispered into her 
hair, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

"I love you too," she replied, half asleep already.

**********

 - North Hollywood, CA -

His eyes adjusted to the dark of the apartment and he 
scanned the living room.  Not finding what he was looking 
for, he quickly moved toward the bedroom.  In the bedroom, 
the young woman lay draped across the bed sound asleep.  
The door stood mostly ajar, and he listened to her steady 
breathing as he spotted the car seat next to the bed.  
There, swaddled in a baby blue fleece blanket, lay the 
answer to his dilemma.  

A stab of fear shot through him suddenly.  Even if he could 
grab the child and escape the apartment, surely she would 
go to the police and he would be the prime suspect.  He 
wondered if he could reasonably count on someone in the 
organization to construct an airtight alibi.  

Smothering all doubts he took another step forward, and 
stepped directly onto a creaky floorboard.  In the silent 
apartment, the creek echoed ominously.  Immediately she was 
awake and sitting up.  Panicking, he took a step back, 
ready to flee, but she saw him first.  "Jason?"  She asked 
as she rubbed her sleep deprived eyes.  "What are you doing 
here?  Have you changed your mind?"

He stood mute, suddenly unable to vocalize any explanation.  
Even the perfect excuse that she had handed him, that he 
had changed his mind and come back to be with her, would 
not come out.

"You haven't, have you?!  You're not here to stay.  What 
are you doing here, Jason?  And why are you dressed like 
that?  What is going on here!?"  Frantically, she leapt 
from the bed and stood in front of the still-sleeping 
infant.  "You were going to take him, weren't you?  I 
wouldn't give him to you, so you were just going to take 
him!  You are sick!  That's kidnapping!"  
        
And then suddenly she began to doubt herself.  He *was* the 
child's father, and she had no more legal right to Jacob 
than he did.  And she had no proof that Jason was actually 
going to take him.  Would the police even give her a second 
thought if she tried to explain the situation?  Would it 
even be worth calling them?  Probably not; the police in 
this area had a lot more "important" things to deal with 
than a possible attempted domestic kidnapping.  They 
wouldn't listen to her, and they wouldn't be able to 
protect Jacob.

"Just get out, Jason.  I don't ever want to see you again!"

For a moment he hesitated.  He couldn't try to overpower 
her and take the baby - that would never work.  Even if he 
escaped, there was no way he could get away with it. He 
would simply have to leave, and think of a new plan.  
Quickly, he spun on his heel and exited the apartment.

Once he left, the girl broke down into sobs.  "Oh, God.  
Now what?  He was right, you know, I can't do this.  I'm a 
horrible mother.  I just don't know how to do anything, and 
I'm so exhausted," she said gazing at the baby who was 
sleeping for what seemed like the first time since he was 
born.  She sighed, and shook her head.  "I'm not giving you 
to him.  I don't trust him.  I don't know how I could have 
ever thought I loved him.  How could I have ever trusted 
him?"

She pulled her suitcases out of the closet and began 
throwing things into them.  When she flipped the TV on for 
a little company, she was surprised to see Dick Clark.

"New Year's Eve," she said quietly.  "I totally forgot."

She looked at the sleeping infant and felt a twinge of 
resentment.  She hadn't spent a New Year's Eve at home 
since she was sixteen.  Last year she'd celebrated with 
friends in New York, watching the ball drop not on a TV 
screen, but in person.  They'd partied in the streets until 
the wee hours of the morning, then they'd gone back to 
someone's apartment and continued the party there.  
Definitely a New Year's Eve to remember.  She watched the 
revelers on the television with unabashed jealousy.  Her 
gaze fell to the sleeping baby, and she sighed.

"I probably should have just listened to him in the first 
place and given you up.  I can't do this.  I thought this 
would be so different.  I didn't know how hard it was going 
to be.  I'm going to take you to someone who can take 
better care of you.  I'm sorry.  I really thought I could 
do this, but I just can't."  

She called a cab, and took the suitcases to the front door.  
"Come on," she said lifting Jacob's car seat.  "Let's go."

**********

 - Metropolis -

Lois awoke groggily to the phone's incessant ringing.  
Something seemed out of place, but she couldn't put her 
finger on it.  As she groped for the phone, she noticed an 
unfamiliar weight around her waist.  She pushed that 
thought aside and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" she answered blearily

"Lois?  Is that you?  This is Jimmy."

"Yes of course it's me.  What do you want?  What time is 
it?"

"Well, actually, Lois, I was looking for Clark.  The chief 
asked me to call and confirm a quote in his story about the 
dock strike."

"Why are you calling me if you're looking for Clark?"  
Before the words were out of her mouth she knew exactly 
where she was, and why Jimmy had called there.

"Because I called Clark's apartment, Lois," Jimmy laughed.

Lois didn't hear his reply because she was already 
mumbling, "Oh my God," and rolling over to wake Clark up.

Jimmy heard Lois' voice even through her palm over the 
receiver.  "Oh, God, Clark, wake up.  Clark!  Jimmy's on 
the phone, wake up!"

A second later Clark's voice came on the line, "Jimmy?  Do 
you realize what time it is?  This is our day off.  What do 
you want?"

Lois struggled to get out of the bed.  Clark pulled her 
back to him and brushed a kiss across her forehead before 
releasing her and mouthing, "Good morning."

Lois shut the door to the bathroom and leaned up against 
it, her heart pounding, scenes of thinly veiled innuendos 
and suggestive looks from her coworkers of five years ago 
flitting though her head.  *** Damn it!  Why did I have to 
answer the phone?  As if everyone at the Planet isn't 
already going to be gossiping about us.   I never learn my 
lesson!  And Clark doesn't seem to be fazed at all...of 
course not - he's a guy!  He'll get slaps on the back, and 
everyone thinking he's the resident newsroom stud.  Never 
mind the fact that we didn't even actually have sex.  Not 
that anyone would actually believe that. ***

Lois finished splashing water on her face and brushing her 
teeth with the extra toothbrush Clark had given her last 
night.  She took a deep breath and reached for the door, 
but froze when she heard Clark's voice.

"Hey, Jimmy, do me a favor, OK?  Don't tell anyone that 
Lois answered the phone when you called. This is our 
personal life and I don't want it to be fodder for the 
newsroom gossip mill."

Lois opened the door wider and smiled at Clark's serious 
expression and nervous fingers running through his hair.

"Thanks, Jimmy.  I appreciate it.  I'll see you tomorrow."  
Clark hung up the phone and looked surprised to see Lois 
out of the bathroom again.  "I, um...I asked Jimmy not to 
say anything about you being here."

"I heard," Lois replied quietly coming to sit next to him 
on the bed again.  

"He wouldn't have said anything even if I hadn't.  I 
just..." Clark faltered.

"Thank you," she whispered, kissing him softly.  "Thank 
you," she repeated slipping her arms around him.

Clark held her tight and answered, "You don't have to thank 
me."

**********

 - Los Angeles International Airport -

The young woman paced up and down the corridor with the 
fussy baby.  "Come on, Jacob.  Give me a break," she 
pleaded.

It would be another four hours until her plane left, and 
then a four hour layover in Minneapolis.  

As the baby's cries quieted, she made her way to a 
payphone.  She punched in the phone number and waited for 
her friend to pick up the phone.  When the answering 
machine picked up she sighed, and waited for the beep.  
"Hi, Maggie, it's me.  I just wanted to let you know that 
the plane seems to be on time.  I'll see you soon.  Thanks 
again for letting me crash with you on such short notice.  
I'm sure it won't be too long before I am able to get on my 
feet again."

**********

Lois woke up early and found herself humming in the shower.  
*** Good grief, Lane.  You sound like a love-sick teenager. 
*** Lois grinned at the thought, and went back to humming.  
They had wound up spending all day yesterday at Clark's, 
cuddling on the couch and watching old movies.  After 
spending all day with him, she was surprised at how 
reluctant she was to leave that night.  She had never been 
the clingy type.  She always subscribed to the school of 
thought that said relationships were better off if both 
participants had their own lives and just saw each other 
when it was mutually convenient.  The few times she had 
actually attempted to have a serious relationship, she 
found herself feeling stifled.  But suddenly she was in a 
relationship, and she didn't want more space.  She didn't 
find herself getting annoyed at him, and when they were 
apart, she actually missed him.  She hurried through her 
shower, and as she wrapped herself in her robe she tried to 
convince herself that the reason she was so eager to get to 
work that morning had nothing to do with her incredibly 
gorgeous partner.

Lois walked to the closet and, after considerable 
deliberation, pulled out an outfit and tossed it on the 
bed.  As she headed back to the bathroom to dry her hair, 
she heard a knock at the door.  Lois looked at the clock, 
and wondered who could possibly be at her apartment at 6:00 
a.m.   She pulled her robe tighter and cursed herself for 
not taking down the Christmas decorations that blocked her 
peephole.  

Leaving the sliding lock bolted, Lois opened the door a 
crack and peeked out.  "Lucy!  What are you doing here?"  
Lois exclaimed, unlocking the door and opening it wide.  "I 
thought you weren't going to come to Metropolis for the 
holidays because you were staying with your boyfriend."

Lois was stunned when Lucy simply began to cry.  "Oh, Lois.  
It's so complicated.  I'll tell you everything, but first 
there's someone I want you to meet."

Lois watched in utter disbelief as Lucy reached down just 
outside the door, and lifted a baby carrier holding a 
sleeping infant.

"Lois, this is Jacob.  My son."

**********

Clark cruised over Metropolis feeling a small twinge of 
guilt for neglecting his duties as Superman lately.  
Amazingly, no major emergencies had clamored for his 
attention during his time with Lois, but he knew that would 
not last long.  In fact, it seemed like the opposite was 
normally true.  Whenever he needed to spend time with Lois, 
or more accurately whenever he needed to tell her something 
important, he would suddenly have to disappear to be 
Superman.

Clark defused a quick traffic incident and resumed his 
patrol.  After this week it was clear that he would have to 
tell Lois his secret, and the sooner the better.  But, 
things were going so well, better than he ever imagined, 
and the thought of having her mad at -having her hate him - 
for lying this whole time, was a terrifying thought.

Clark began to run through different revelation 
possibilities, but was quickly becoming frustrated.  

Suddenly Clark forgot all about his personal dilemma and 
shot out of Metropolis towards the Pacific Ocean where an 
oil barge had been struck by another vessel and was rapidly 
leaking oil.

**********

Lucy sat curled up on Lois' sofa as Lois paced back and 
forth in front of her.  

"Oh Lucy.  Honey, I'm so sorry.  How could this happen?  
Why didn't you call me?  I can understand why you didn't 
call Mother or Daddy, but you know that I would have done 
anything I could to help you, right?"

"I know, I'm so stupid," Lucy cried.

"You are *not* stupid, Luce.  This is not your fault.  Not 
all your fault anyway.  Sure you made some mistakes, but 
everybody makes mistakes.  And this guy -" Lois cut herself 
off right before she launched into a tangent on what a jerk 
this guy must be.  For once in her life Lois was able to 
realize that it would not help the situation any *before* 
the words were out of her mouth.

"Look, Lucy, that doesn't matter now.  What matters is that 
you're here now and we'll get this all worked out.  You can 
stay here for as long as you need to, and I'm sure I can 
help you find a job -"

"Lois!" Lucy interrupted.  "It's just...I can't stay here.  
I have to do this on my own.  I hate Metropolis, you know 
that.  I couldn't wait to get out of here and move to 
California.  My friend Maggie, in New York City, said that 
I could stay with her, and she's got a job lined up for me.  
Once I get back on my feet everything will be fine, and 
I'll get an apartment, and I'll be able to take care of 
Jacob again and..."

"Again, Luce?  What do you mean by that?  Who is going to 
take care of him in the meantime?"

"Well..." Lucy paused, waiting for Lois to understand.

"Oh no!  No way, Lucy!  I can't take him! I don't know 
anything about babies; I wouldn't have the first clue what 
to do with him.  I have to work.  Who would watch him while 
I'm at work?  Oh, Luce, you can't be serious."  Lois shook 
her head, trying to make it clear to Lucy that she could 
not possibly be expected to do this.

"Lois, you have to.  Please!  There is no one else I can 
count on for this.  I've already made arrangements with 
Maggie.  I have to leave now to catch my train to New York 
City. You have to take care of him for me.  Please!"

"Can't you take him to Mom?  Lucy, I have to work!"

"I can't take him to Mom!  I'd never hear the end of it!  
'I just knew something like this was going to happen.'  
'You're so irresponsible, Lucy.'  Besides, you know I'm not 
speaking to her.  I'm sick of her trying to tell me what to 
do.  I'm not going to tell her about Jacob."

"Lucy!  How in the world do you plan to hide him from her?  
If you're going to keep him, you can't keep him a secret!"

"I know that!  I just meant that I don't want to tell her 
about him until I've got it all worked out.  Once I'm all 
settled again, I'll tell her.  But I just can't stand to 
listen to her gloat.  Look, you have to help me out.  
You're the only one I can go to, Lois.  Come on! You're my 
only sister!"

"Lucy!" Lois began as Lucy stood and picked up the two 
larger suitcases.  

"I'll be back as soon as I can."  Lucy brushed a kiss 
across the forehead of the still sleeping infant.  "Mommy 
loves you, Jacob, but she can't take care of you right now.  
Auntie Lois will take good care of you.  Be a good boy."  

Lois sat in shock as Lucy headed quickly for the door.  
"Lucy, wait!  Lucy!  How will I get in touch with you?  
When are you coming back?  Lucy!"  Lois called, going after 
her.  Lucy quickly ducked out the door and disappeared down 
the hall.  Lois stood in the doorway torn between going 
after her sister and staying with the baby.

A second later the decision was made for her when the baby 
began to cry.  Lois quickly approached the baby and looked 
at him warily.

"OK, buddy," she said pulling him from the seat and holding 
him at arms length for a moment before gingerly arranging 
him in her arms.  "We're going to work this out.  It's 
going to be OK."

Jacob nestled into her arms and immediately fell back to 
sleep, his tiny lips puckering.  Lois sighed in relief and 
smiled down at him.  He looked so sweet cuddled in her arms 
that for a moment she found herself thinking this might not 
be such a bad thing after all.  

Lois settled into the couch and let herself enjoy holding 
him for another minute before settling him back in the seat 
and carrying him into her bedroom where she could watch him 
as she finished getting ready for work.

As she put the finishing touches on her makeup, Jacob began 
to whimper, and reality set in. 

"Oh, God!  How in the world am I going to take care of him?  
I don't know the first thing about babies... Clark!  Clark 
will know what to do!"  Lois, nearly hysterical at this 
point, dashed for the phone and quickly dialed Clark's 
number.

When Clark's machine clicked on Lois assumed he had already 
left for work.  "OK, Jacob, here's the deal," Lois said 
seriously to the tiny baby who was now staring at her wide-
eyed.  "You and I are going to go to work. Let's make a 
deal.  You be very good - no crying and not stopping and 
making me panic - and I will do everything I can to keep 
you happy.  Oh - and we're going to go meet Clark.  Clark 
is from Kansas, and he lived on a farm, so he'll probably 
know what to do with you."  Lois nodded, satisfied with her 
logic.

Lois grabbed her purse, briefcase, and looked at the small 
pile of things Lucy had left behind.  There was a diaper 
bag with a couple of diapers and bottles, and Lois figured 
that would be plenty for the time being.  She'd have to go 
to the store this afternoon though.  

She threw the bag over her shoulder, then turned back and 
surveyed Jacob.  He was wearing only a lightweight blue 
baby sleeper.  Lois rummaged though the pile again, but 
couldn't find anything warmer.

"How can she not have anything warm for you to wear?  I 
know it's warmer in LA than in Metropolis, but it's not 
*that* warm."  She sighed and looked around for an 
alternative.  Finally, she strapped him into the seat and 
tucked the fleece blanket tightly around him, hoping it 
would be enough to keep the cold air out long enough to get 
him to and from the car.

Forty minutes later, a heavily-laden Lois made her way from 
the elevator to her desk, scanning the newsroom for any 
sign of Clark.  

Jimmy was standing near her desk as she approached.  
"Morning, Lois.  I got those notes you wanted on the - Hey, 
who's this?"

"This is Jacob."  At Jimmy's raised eyebrows Lois 
continued.  "It's a long story, Jimmy, but basically, Jacob 
is Lucy's son, and he's going to be staying with me for a 
little while.  I have no idea how I am going to manage 
this, but I don't seem to have any other options."

"Wow.  I didn't know Lucy was pregnant."

"Neither did I," Lois said tersely, setting Jacob's carrier 
and bag on the floor by her chair.  

Jimmy fumbled for something to say and came up empty.  

"Look, I need to go explain this to Perry.  Can you just 
sit here and watch him for a minute?  He's sound asleep."

Jimmy nodded a little warily, and Lois dashed to Perry's 
office.  When she reemerged she found Jimmy sitting in her 
chair holding Jacob and talking to him animatedly.

"Did you make a friend?" Jimmy jumped at Lois' voice.

"Yeah, I guess so.  He's pretty cute, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is.  Of course, I've only had him for about two 
hours.  Any minute now I expect he'll figure out I have no 
idea what I'm doing.  Then all hell is going to break 
loose."

Jimmy laughed and placed Jacob in Lois' arms.  "I don't 
know, Lois.  You look like a natural to me." He grinned.  
"What did Perry say?"

"He's pulling some strings to get him admitted to the 
Planet Day Care Center.  Until then he said I can have some 
time off, or work from home or keep Jake here with me.  
He's being really great.  He also said Alice would probably 
love to babysit on occasion.  Apparently she misses having 
little ones around the house."

"Well, if you need anything just let me know."

"Thanks, Jimmy."  Lois glanced at Clark's empty desk again.

"He hasn't come in yet."

"What?  Who?"

"Clark." Jimmy laughed.  "He hasn't been in yet this 
morning.  To tell the truth, I expected you two to come in 
together..."

"Jimmy -"

"Lois, I'm just teasing - I'm thrilled for you guys.  Heck, 
I've been pulling for you two to get together for ages.  
Anyway, Clark hasn't been in yet today."

"Thanks, Jimmy."

Lois settled down into her chair and flicked on her 
computer.  She propped her left arm on the armrest and let 
Jacob lay in the crook of her arm.  He began to fuss and 
she pulled the bottle from his bag.  As he began to suck, 
her phone rang.  She propped the phone to her ear with her 
right shoulder.  "Lois Lane..."

The elevator dinged, and Clark stepped into the newsroom, 
immediately searching for Lois.  Spotting her at her desk 
with her back to him, he smiled and headed in her 
direction.  He was about halfway down the ramp when he saw 
Jimmy catch Lois' eye and gesture to him.  Lois glanced 
over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at him.  He smiled 
back, then stopped dead in his tracks when she swiveled in 
her chair.  Suddenly Clark found himself face to face with 
the most precious of all of his fantasies.  Seeing Lois 
with a baby awoke a longing in him that he didn't even know 
existed.  For a moment Clark was unable to move, or even 
breathe.

Lois hung up the phone and gestured for Clark to come over.  
Clark forced himself out of his stupor and quickly made his 
way over.  

"Hey." He smiled, crouching down to stroke Jacob's cheek 
with his finger.  "Who is this little guy?"

Lois felt a lump rise in her throat at Clark's tender 
expression.  She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.  
"This is Jacob.  He's Lucy's son."

"What?!" Clark exclaimed.

"It's kind of a long story.  I'll tell you everything 
later, but basically Lucy didn't tell anyone she was 
pregnant because the father had talked her into giving the 
baby up for adoption.  After he was born Lucy decided she 
didn't want to give him up after all, and the father walked 
out, leaving her basically homeless.  She came to me, but 
then proceeded to inform me that she was going to stay with 
a friend in New York City where she is going to try to get 
back on her feet.  Until then, could I please take care of 
her baby?  Great, thanks.  And then she was gone."

"She left?"  Clark asked clearly still reeling from the new 
information.

"Yes, and now I have to take care of him.  But I don't have 
the first idea of how to take care of a baby!  What am I 
going to do?  This is really serious!  I can't take care of 
a baby!  I don't have any of the things that go with taking 
care of a baby - a crib, diapers, formula!  Clark, it took 
me twenty minutes just to figure out how to strap his car 
seat into my Jeep!"  Lois' voice was becoming increasingly 
panicked.  She took a shaky breath and continued quietly.  
"I've never even given any thought to having children, 
except to acknowledge the fact that I would be a horrible 
mother.  Clark, I can't do this."  

"Hey, hey, hey.  Calm down." Clark reached up to rub her 
arms.  "Lois, calm down, everything is going to be OK.  
Now, you are looking at the most requested babysitter in 
all of Smallville.  I haven't actually taken care of a baby 
quite this little, but I haven't met a kid yet that doesn't 
like me.  And I happen to have the world's best mother who 
would love nothing more than to be asked for advice on 
taking care of a baby.  Sweetheart, I know this is a shock, 
but we can do this."  Lois looked up at him and smiled 
weakly.  

"On the other hand," Clark said suddenly,  "If you call my 
mother for advice, she will probably tell you all sorts of 
embarrassing stories about me.  Maybe *I* better be the one 
to call my mom!"

Lois laughed, and reached out to stroke Clark's cheek.  
"Thank you, Clark."

"See," she said turning to Jacob.  "I told you Clark would 
know what to do."


*********

North Hollywood, CA

"You idiot!  You did what?"

Jason flinched, and started again, "Well, sir, I knew that 
it was important to obtain the child so I thought that if 
she wouldn't give it to me I could -"

"You could what?!  You could kidnap the child and draw 
national attention to the program?!  This is *one* child!  
There are many others to replace it. The reason we have 
been so successful is because the mothers comply willingly.  
This kind of behavior could jeopardize the whole program!  
Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you would have 
caused had you actually succeeded?" 

"I'm sorry, I just -"

"Don't bother apologizing.  Look, I don't want to have to 
explain this since you are under my supervision.  I'll just 
report that the girl changed her mind and could not be 
persuaded to give up the child, and we'll leave it at that.  
I'll make no mention of the attempted kidnapping, and if 
you know what is good for you, you will never mention it 
again either."

"Yes, sir."

"Now, why don't you get back to work.  And we'll try to 
forget this ever happened.  But I'm warning you, you mess 
up again and I won't protect you."

**********

"It was really nice of Perry to give you the afternoon off 
too so you could help me," Lois said unlocking the multiple 
locks on her door.

They had spent the last hour stocking up on the basics like 
diapers and formula, and had decided to take everything 
back to Lois' where they could sort through what little 
Lucy had brought, and decide what else needed to be bought.

"Yeah, it really was.  Perry likes to pretend he's tough, 
but he's a softie at heart," Clark said.

Jacob began to fuss loudly and Clark freed him from the 
carrier, cuddling him close.  "I think he's hungry, Lois.  
Why don't you go make him a bottle while I try to calm him 
down a little."

Lois looked at the canisters of formula in grocery bag 
skeptically.  "Just follow the directions on the label, 
honey.  It's not hard."

Lois disappeared into the kitchen and reemerged a minute 
later with the bottle.  Clark was walking back and forth in 
front of the windows gently bouncing the somewhat quieter, 
but still crying, baby.

She handed the bottle to Clark, who immediately presented 
it to Jacob.  "Here you go buddy.  That's better isn't it?  
You were just hungry.  Poor little guy," Clark cooed as he 
gently rocked him back and forth.

Lois couldn't help but smile at Clark's ease; he seemed so 
at home cuddling the little guy.

Clark looked up blushed when he caught Lois watching him.  
"I just love babies.  They're so sweet and innocent."

"Yeah.  You know, I was never really into babies, but he's 
kind of growing on me.  He's a cute little guy, isn't he," 
Lois said stretching up to peer at his contented face as he 
downed the bottle.

Clark leaned over and kissed her cheek.  "Come sit on the 
couch with me.  We'll feed him together."

Lois sat in the middle of the sofa and Clark placed Jacob 
in her arms.  Then he sat in the corner with his back 
against the armrest and tugged them gently into his 
embrace.   

With his arms wrapped around both of them it was so easy to 
believe that this was his life.  His wife, his child.  *** 
Stop it!  You cannot think like this!  Do you know what 
Lois would do if she could hear you right now!  She'd freak 
out, that's what!  She is not your wife.  This is not your 
child. *** Clark willed himself to listen to the voice of 
reason in his head, but when Lois turned her head and 
smiled at him all rational thoughts went out the window.

"I love you, Lois," he whispered. 

Lois' smile brightened and she replied, "I love you too, 
Clark."

Unfortunately, Clark wasn't able to process that because 
all he could hear was, "We have a hostage situation here.  
The gunman has..."

Clark's tender voice suddenly became panicky.  "Lois, I 
have to go.  I...uh...there's something I have to do!"

As Clark gently slid out from behind Lois she looked back 
at him stunned.  "Clark, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing!"  He protested backing away and grabbing his 
coat.  "I'll be back as soon as I can, there's just 
something I have to do."  And with that, he was out the 
door before Lois could say another word.

"I don't know about him sometimes," she said to the baby.  
Jake looked up at her, wide-eyed.

"I know, I know.  He's a great guy, don't get me wrong.  
And he *will* come back, he always does...it's just...Where 
is he going?  And why did he have to run off so suddenly?  
He does that all the time! And why didn't he tell me 
*where* he was going?"  Lois shook her head and then 
laughed at Jacob's serious expression, "It's OK, Jake.  
Don't worry."

**********

Six hours, one hostage situation, two fires, one bomb 
scare, and three traffic accidents later Clark found 
himself nervously approaching Lois' door.  Even without 
super hearing he could hear the wailing baby inside.  

He knocked and braced himself.  Lois, baby in tow, flung 
open the door.  "Thank God!  Where have you been?  I've 
been calling you for hours!  He won't stop crying, he just 
won't stop!"

Clark took the baby from her arms and tried bouncing him 
around a little.  "Come on, buddy.  It's OK."  Jacob's sobs 
only got louder.

"See!" Lois cried frantically.  "He just keeps doing that!  
I've tried everything I can think of.  He hates me!  That's 
what!  I'm horrible at this!  What in the world ever 
possessed me to make me think I could do this?  I can't -"

"Lois!  Stop!"

Lois froze at Clark's sharp tone.  He tugged her into a 
one-armed hug.  "Honey, you've got to calm down.  He does 
*not* hate you.  He's just crying.  *All* babies cry.  And 
you are doing a wonderful job with him.  You're going to be 
fine."  

She relaxed a little against him, and he reached up to 
stroke her hair.  "Why don't you go relax?  I'll take care 
of Jake, you go take a bath, or read a book, or go for a 
walk, or something.  Take your mind off him completely."

Lois pulled away a bit and nodded.  "OK, thank you."

Clark smiled at her one last time and turned to focus his 
energy on the baby.  Lois retreated to her room and shut 
the door.

"Come on, pal.  Work with me here.  You gotta give Lois a 
break, she's nervous enough about this as it is.  If you're 
gonna have a meltdown, at least wait until I'm here."

Fifteen minutes later Clark was still pacing the floor.  
"On second thought," he sighed.  "I'm not so sure I want to 
be here for these meltdowns of yours either."

When Jake finally calmed down and fell asleep Clark laid 
him down in the carrier and tucked the blanket snuggly 
around him.  "There you go, little guy.  Get some sleep."

Clark approached Lois door and knocked quietly, not wanting 
to wake her if she had fallen asleep.  "Come in," Lois 
replied.

Clark opened the door to find Lois sitting up in bed 
reading a book.

"What are you reading?"

Lois tipped up the cover so he could read the title.  Clark 
grinned.  "'What to Expect The First Year.' When did you 
get that?"

"After you left.  I couldn't remember how often I was 
supposed to feed him, so I went to the bookstore..."  She 
sat up and gestured to a stack at least a dozen babycare 
books.  "At first I didn't want to take him out in the 
cold, but then I started realizing how many things I didn't 
know, and I was starting to panic.  And the more nervous I 
got, the more I just needed to get out of the house.  
Finally I decided to just go - the bookstore is only a 
couple of blocks away.  And he was fine for the trip.  He 
actually slept the whole time.  But then, when we got back, 
he started to cry, and..."

He strode to the bed and sat next to her.  Immediately, 
Lois climbed into his embrace.  "I'm sorry," she mumbled 
into his neck.

Clark pulled back a little, and asked, "For what?"

"For freaking out.  I didn't mean to yell at you."

Clark burst out laughing.  "Lois, you freak out and yell at 
me all the time.  How come I get an apology this time?"

Lois gave him a watery smile.  "I don't know.  I am sorry 
though.  Is he asleep now?"

Clark pulled her back into his arms.  "It's OK.  I'm sorry 
I wasn't here.  And, yes, he's sound asleep now.  He should 
be out for a while.  Why don't you try to get some sleep 
too?"

Lois tried to stifle a yawn and grinned.  "I am pretty 
exhausted, and he'll be up again in a few hours."

"Why don't you just plan on taking tomorrow off?  If 
anything big comes up, I promise I'll call you."

"I hate to do that...but I guess you're right.  Perry said 
there is no way he'll be able to get Jake into the day care 
center tomorrow, so I doubt I would be any good there."

"OK.  Call me if you need anything.  I'll call you around 
lunchtime."

Lois smiled and nodded.  Clark leaned down and kissed her 
sweetly one last time.  "OK, I'll see myself out.  You get 
to sleep."

**********

"Hello?" Lois' voice was groggy, and Clark mentally kicked 
himself for waking her.

"Hi, sweetheart.  I'm sorry I woke you."

"It's OK, I feel rather lazy for sleeping in the middle of 
the day."

"You're not lazy, Lois.  That's what you have to do when 
you have a newborn; sleep whenever they do."

"Well, I'm up now.  I'm feeling a little better."

"Well, I'm not going to be able to get away for lunch, but 
I was just thinking I could bring over some dinner after 
work. Do you feel up to company?"

"That sounds wonderful."

"How's Jake doing?"

"He's OK, I guess.  I mean, I'm not really sure what he's 
supposed to be doing.  I've been reading these books, but 
still..."

"Lois, I'm sure you're doing just fine.  If you need 
anything, just call me, OK?"

Five hours later, Lois answered the door wearing jeans and 
a sweater, her hair still wet from her late shower.  "Hi," 
she said smiling.

"Hi, yourself," Clark responded, reaching to tuck a strand 
of hair behind her ear.  

"I brought Chinese," he said, holding up a bag.

"Thanks.  Come on in.  Jake's still asleep, but I imagine 
he'll be awake any minute."

No sooner had Lois and Clark sat down to eat than Jacob 
began crying from the bedroom.

"I'll get him," Clark said quickly, hopping up from his 
chair.  Lois looked up at him questioningly and he replied, 
"You just eat.  Let me take care of him for a while."

Clark reentered the room a few minutes later cuddling Jacob 
and cooing to him softly.  As Lois watched him snuggle the 
tiny baby, she was overwhelmed by a wave of tenderness.  

An article she had read years ago in a woman's magazine 
flitted suddenly into her mind.  Something about women 
naturally being more attracted to men who were good with 
children. Lois focused in on Clark's lips as he whispered 
softly and then placed a tiny kiss on Jacob's forehead.  Of 
course, Lois thought, it certainly didn't hurt when the man 
was already as attractive as Clark...

"How long has it been since he ate?"

"What?" Lois asked, trying to focus on Clark's question.

"How long has it been since he ate?  Do you think he's 
hungry?"

"Oh.  It's been about two hours.  He's probably ready to 
eat again."

Clark walked to the kitchen, and Lois watched as he deftly 
prepared the bottle, gently juggling the baby as he did so.  
The he strode back to the table and settled into his chair, 
ignoring his food in order to focus on the baby in his 
arms.

Lois cleared her plate and pulled Jake from Clark's 
reluctant grasp.  As Clark finished eating, he filled Lois 
in on the day's happenings in the newsroom.  

Two hours later, Clark was seated on the sofa feeding Jake 
when Lois hung up the phone dejectedly.  

"Well, that's it.  I am totally out of ideas.  I have no 
idea where Lucy is, or how to get a hold of her.  What if 
something goes wrong?  What if he gets sick?  How could she 
just dump him like this?  She's so irresponsible!"

"I'm sorry, honey.  But no news is good news, right?  I 
mean, she'd call you if something was wrong.  And let's try 
not to think about the 'what ifs.'  Jake is fine and 
healthy right now, we'll take good care of him, and 
hopefully Lucy will call soon.  Maybe she just got to New 
York, she'll probably call as soon as she can."

"Yeah, that's true.  But, I just can't help worrying about 
her, and I have no idea how long she's expecting me to take 
care of Jake.  She said until she gets back on her feet, 
but that could be anywhere from two weeks to two years, 
knowing Lucy!"

Clark shook his head and looked down at the baby in his 
arms.  "Well, hopefully she'll call and check in soon.  In 
the meantime, we'll just do what we can."

Lois met his eye with a slightly raised eyebrow.  "I mean 
that, Lois.  I'll do anything I can to help you.  Just say 
the word."

"Thank you, Clark.  You've already been more help than you 
know.  I'm sure I would have totally panicked by now 
without you."  Lois smiled at him, and tried to stifle a 
yawn.

"You're tired," Clark said smiling.  "Jake's just about 
asleep.  I'll tuck him in, and then why don't you get some 
sleep too?"

Lois yawned again and grimaced.  "I don't know why I'm so 
tired.  It's only nine o'clock, and I took a nap today."

"Lois, taking care of a newborn is exhausting.  Besides, I 
know you didn't get much sleep last night, and tonight 
isn't going to be any better.  Just sleep whenever he 
does."

"I guess that makes sense.  I hate to say it, but I don't 
think I should come in to work tomorrow.  Why don't I work 
on that story about the mayoral candidates from home?  I 
can make phone calls while he's asleep."

"That's great.  I'll send a messenger over tomorrow with 
the files...or maybe I'll bring them by myself."  Clark 
grinned impishly and Lois laughed.  "Give me a call when 
you're up and ready to work.  I don't want to wake you."

Clark rose from the sofa and Lois followed as he carried 
Jake into the bedroom.

"Oh, by the way," Clark said as he tenderly tucked Jake 
into the carrier and situated the blanket around him.  "I 
talked to my mom, and she said the best place for him to 
sleep, since he doesn't have a crib, is in a drawer."

"A drawer?!" Lois was aghast, ludicrous visions of placing 
Jake in her underwear drawer for the night, flitting 
through her head.

Clark laughed quietly.  "That was my reaction, too, but my 
mom assured me that lots of people have done it.  You just 
need to take a drawer out of the dresser, empty it, and pad 
it with blankets."

Lois looked skeptical, but nodded.  "OK, if you say so.  
I'll do that in the morning."

She slipped her hand into his, and Clark slowly led her out 
the bedroom and to the door.  He leaned against the 
doorjamb and raised a hand to caress her cheek.  

For a second neither of them moved.  Then Clark slid his 
hand from her cheek to the back of her neck and gently 
pulled her forward as he lowered his lips to hers.  
"Goodnight, Lois," Clark whispered, pulling back.

"Goodnight, Clark.  I love you."

"I love you, too," he whispered emotionally, pulling her 
back into his arms and resting his forehead against hers.  
After another second he pulled away.  "If you need 
*anything,* I'm just a phone call away.  Don't hesitate to 
call." Clark paused just long enough to brush a feather-
light kiss across her lips, then slipped from her arms and 
disappeared out the door.

Lois leaned up against the door after he left, trying to 
collect her thoughts.  After a moment she sighed deeply and 
headed for the bedroom.


**********

Over the next two weeks they settled into a comfortable 
routine of Lois working from home, and Clark spending as 
much time there as possible.  He arrived immediately after 
work each day, bringing with him either takeout or fresh 
ingredients for dinner, and he often stayed late, spending 
time with Lois, and giving her a chance to spend some time 
alone while he cared for Jake.

Lois spent what little free time she had during the day 
working on stories from home; making phone calls while Jake 
was asleep, and emailing drafts of stories and revisions 
from her laptop.  She was honestly surprised to discover 
how much she enjoyed taking care of the tiny baby who had 
taken over her life.  She had always thought that women who 
gave up careers to be stay-at-home mothers were either 
crazy, or they never actually had high career aspirations.  
So she was amazed not only to find herself enjoying the 
time she spent with him, but even catching herself thinking 
that maybe there really was something rewarding about 
staying at home with children.

Increasingly, though, she was beginning to feel cut off 
from the paper, and her work, and she was anxious to get 
back into her routine of going to The Daily Planet each 
morning, and working on truly interesting stories, as 
opposed to the mostly fluff pieces she'd been working on 
from home.

When Clark showed up at Lois' after work, bearing dinner 
and flowers, Lois nearly pulled him into the apartment.  
"Clark, I'm so glad you're here.  I've been working on 
something and I want your opinion."

"OK, just let me get some plates and you can tell me over 
dinner."

"How was your day, honey?" Clark asked.  "Everything go OK?  
What's all this?" he asked, clearing a stack of printouts 
from the kitchen table.

"Oh, I was just doing a little research on infant first 
aid. You know...just in case."

Clark smiled at her and finished setting the table.  Over 
dinner, the topic strayed, and Lois seemed to forget what 
she was so excited to tell him.  It wasn't until after 
dinner when they were seated on the sofa that Clark 
remembered that Lois had been eager for his input.

"OK, so tell me what you were working on.  You finished 
that story on Johnson and Montero right?" 

Lois grinned, recalling the story they had written a month 
earlier exposing major corruption in the mayor's office.  
The mayor had been forced to resign, and was still awaiting 
trial for many of his indiscretions.  So, while Lois hadn't 
been thrilled to write the puff piece introducing the two 
new candidates running the upcoming special election, she 
had to admit it was nice that the special election itself 
was a result of their hard work. 

"Well, it's not exactly a story.  Not yet, anyway.  See, 
it's just that I've been thinking a lot lately about what 
Lucy had told me about Jason - Jake's father.  And there's 
just something I can't figure out."

"Like why a man would abandon his child," Clark muttered 
under his breath.

When he looked up Lois was looking at him quizzically.  

"Sorry, it just bothers me," Clark said sheepishly.  "Go 
ahead, what is it that you thought was strange?"
 
Lois placed her glass on the table near where Clark had 
just set his.  She turned back to look at him, and took 
Clark's hands in hers.

"What?" Clark asked at her intense gaze.

"You would *never* do that, would you," Lois stated 
quietly.  "I mean, you honestly can't even imagine why a 
man would desert his family, can you?  It's just not in 
you."

"No, Lois, I can't imagine that.  Family is the most 
important thing in the world to me, and when we have 
children, I -"

Clark was cut short by Lois' stunned expression.  It took 
only a second to realize what he had said.  *** Oh my God.  
What have I done?! ***

Lois took in Clark's horrified expression.  Then she smiled 
a slow, seductive smile.  "When we have children?  My, my, 
Clark, aren't you jumping the gun?" she said, sidling 
closer and placing her hand on his thigh.  

Clark's face took on a deer in the headlights quality.  "I 
just...um..."

Lois couldn't take it anymore and burst into laughter.  
"God, Clark!  You should see your face!  First you're 
afraid I going to kill you, then you're afraid I'm going to 
jump you!"

Clark looked at Lois, still fumbling for words.

"It's OK, Clark.  I can assure you I'm going to do 
neither."

"Sorry," Clark said, somewhat recovered but still 
embarrassed.  "I just..."

"Clark, I'm just teasing you.  You looked like you were 
about to have a stroke, I just wanted to calm you down.  I 
thought a little humor might do the trick."

Clark smiled at her, relaxing.

"Do you really think about us having children together?" 
Lois asked shyly.

Clark reached out for her and pulled her into his embrace.  
"Yeah, I do.  I mean, I guess the thought had always been 
at the back of my mind.  I never *really* thought about it 
until Jake came along... but when I walked into the 
newsroom and saw you with him... I just..." Clark tried to 
swallow through the lump from his throat.

Lois reached up and smoothed his hair out of his face.  
"You know, I've never really given much thought to having 
children.  I've always just been so focused on work and my 
career, I never thought about having a family. But if I did 
have children... I can't imagine a better father for them 
than you."

Clark pulled her close and slowly brought his lips to hers.  
Lois sighed and parted her lips inviting Clark to deepen 
the kiss.  

Clark slipped a hand behind her neck and tangled his 
fingers in her hair.  His other arm pulled her even closer, 
gently caressing her back.  Lois slid her hands up Clark's 
chest until they rested on his neck, then she tugged him 
gently forward, leaning back until she was lying on the 
couch with Clark on top of her.  Clark slid his arm out 
from under her and used it to prop himself up a little.

He slowly lifted his face from hers, his heart clenching 
when she softly moaned, protesting the loss of contact.  
With his free hand he tucked her hair behind her ear, and 
took a ragged breath.  "I love you, Lois.  I love you so 
much," he whispered, bending his neck to kiss her jaw, just 
below her ear.

As he trailed kisses down along her neck, Lois shivered and 
murmured, "Oh God, Clark!" as she ran her fingers through 
his hair.  She rolled her head back to allow him better 
access.

As he pressed a kiss to the hollow of her throat Lois 
gasped his name, and urgently tugged on his arms, pulling 
him back to her and blindly seeking his lips.  Clark met 
her hungrily and felt himself groan into her mouth.

"Oh God, Lois," he moaned pulling away.  "We've got to cool 
this down.  I can't..."

Lois met his glazed eyes and smiled.  "I know," she replied 
breathlessly.

Clark kissed her gently one more time, then forced himself 
to sit up, gently pulling Lois up with him.  For a minute 
he just held her, taking deep breaths and forcing himself 
back to reality.

Finally, he pulled back and asked, "So, what was it that 
you were going to tell me before we got so pleasantly 
distracted?"

"Oh, yeah."  Lois grinned.  

"Well...I've been running through everything that Lucy told 
me, and there is something that just doesn't add up.  From 
what she says, she met this guy, Jason Crawford, about a 
year ago.  They were 'totally in love' and when she found 
out she was pregnant he wasn't upset at all; he was just 
stressed and suggested that they put the baby up for 
adoption.  Lucy said she readily agreed to give the baby up 
for adoption because she was unemployed and had no way of 
supporting a baby.  He suggested that they not tell anyone 
about the pregnancy because it would make it harder for 
them later.  She agreed and everything went incredibly well 
through the pregnancy.  Jason knew of an agency that did 
private adoptions and he helped her set the whole thing up.  
The only snag hit when the baby was born and Lucy decided 
she didn't want to give him up.  At first he tried to 
gently persuade her to change her mind, but when she 
refused he freaked out.  He yelled and screamed and 
eventually deserted her, breaking his rental agreement and 
leaving them basically homeless."

"Oh, my God."

"But that part all makes sense."  

At Clark's horrified look Lois clarified, "Clark, not every 
man is as wonderful as you are, believe me.  As horrifying 
as this story is, it happens every day, all over the 
country."

"I know, but..."  Clark grimaced, and Lois reached up to 
caress his cheek.  His eyes met hers and she pulled him 
down for a quick kiss.

"What I don't understand," she said, pulling away, "is what 
happened next.  Instead of just staying gone, Jason 
reappeared one night. Lucy said she woke up in the middle 
of the night to see Jason standing in the doorway of her 
bedroom.  She said her first reaction was relief; she 
thought that he had changed his mind and that he was coming 
back to stay.   She said she had been miserable since he 
left.  I think that when she decided to keep Jake, rather 
than give him up for adoption, she had this picturesque 
view of what her life was going to be like - a cute little 
baby, a perfect little family.  But, with Jason gone, she 
was exhausted and disillusioned.  She didn't know what she 
was doing, and could barely take care of herself, let alone 
a baby.  So, when she saw him in the bedroom, she was 
thrilled.   But when she spoke to him, he froze, totally 
panicked.  Then she realized that he was dressed all in 
black and had been sneaking into the apartment in the 
middle of the night.  She accused him of trying to kidnap 
Jake, and he didn't deny it, he just left."

"What!  He tried to kidnap him?  That doesn't make any 
sense!"

"I know!  That's what I'm telling you.  Why would a man who 
is *that* opposed to having a child try to kidnap him?  I 
wasn't really thinking clearly when Lucy told me the story, 
or I would have asked more questions.  But, I did ask her 
why she thought he would want him, and she said she didn't 
know, but that he was pretty obsessed with giving the baby 
up for adoption and that maybe he was planning on taking 
him to the agency that had placed him.  She said she 
thought he had gone crazy, and that maybe he thought by 
getting rid of the baby, things would go back to the way 
they were before."

"And you think there is more to this than what it appears 
to be?"

"Well, don't you?  I mean, maybe it's nothing.  Maybe this 
particular guy is just a lunatic.  God knows, with Lucy's 
taste in men that's a distinct possibility.  But, I just 
wanted to look into it some more, so..."

"You've already started?" Clark grinned. "So, what did you 
come up with?"

"Well, I called a friend of mine and pulled a couple of 
strings, and I was able to get his police records.  The guy 
is pretty clean, a couple of traffic tickets, etc., but 
nothing suspicious.  Then I ran his name through a couple 
of other databases though, and I can't find any employer 
listed for the last two years.  Now, Lucy said he was an 
artist, so maybe he is just self-employed.  From what Lucy 
said, he must have been doing pretty well financially, 
because she said he really wooed her with all sorts of 
expensive gifts and dates and he completely supported 
almost a year.  But I did a search on the Internet and I 
called some contacts of mine in that general area that deal 
with art, and none of them have ever heard of him."

"Hmmm.  That is strange.  An inheritance or trust fund, 
maybe?"

"That's possible; I want to run his financial records 
though.  I just have a feeling about this, Clark.  
Something is missing here."

"OK.  It's too late to do anything about it tonight.  Why 
don't we work on it tomorrow?  Even if it's not a story, 
I'm sure that Perry won't mind us using some of the 
Planet's resources to check it out.  We can have Jimmy run 
a bunch of searches on him."

"But, Clark, what am I going to do with Jake?  Perry is 
pulling a bunch of strings to get him bumped to the top of 
the waiting list for the Planet Day Care Center, but they 
don't have a spot for him yet.  I don't know anyone that 
can babysit in the meantime.  I'm dying to get back to 
work, but there's just nowhere for him to go.  I finally 
broke down and called my mother the other day.  I've been 
putting off calling her and telling her about Jake, because 
I figured it was something that Lucy would want to do, but 
I still haven't heard from Lucy, and I have no idea when, 
or even if, she's coming back.  Anyway, I finally bit the 
bullet and called my mom, thinking that maybe once she got 
over the initial shock she would be able to help me out a 
little, and maybe watch Jake while I go to work, but I 
called her at home and all I got was her machine with a 
message saying she was going on an African safari and 
wouldn't be home for six weeks!  I called my father's 
office to see if he knows anything about this, and his 
secretary said that he had gone, too.  Apparently, this is 
another lame reconciliation attempt."

"Well, you never know, honey.  Maybe this time it will 
work."

"Don't hold your breath.  Anyway, the point is, I have no 
one to take care of Jake so that I can go to work."

"We'll just have to bring him in with us.  We can take 
turns watching him, and if there is something we both 
absolutely have to do and we can't take him, I'm sure we 
can talk Perry, or Jimmy, or someone into watching him for 
a little bit.  I know you're going stir-crazy at home.  
Bring him in; we'll work it out.  What?  Why are you 
smiling at me like that?"

"You're doing it again.  'We'll just have to...'  'We can 
take turns...'  What would I do without you?"

Clark laughed.  "Lois, you know I'll do anything I can to 
help you with him.  Besides, I really like the little guy."

Just then a cry a came from the bedroom, and their eyes 
met.  

"Speak of the devil," Clark grinned.

**********

The next morning Lois was running around frantically trying 
to get ready when Clark knocked on the door.  

Lois flung the door open, still in her robe, hair wet, and 
crying baby in tow.

Clark immediately reached for Jacob.

"His bottle is on the kitchen counter; can you feed him 
while I finish getting ready?"

"Good morning to you too, sweetheart," Clark said, brushing 
a kiss across her forehead as he strode to the kitchen to 
grab the bottle.

"Sorry," Lois said sheepishly.  "Good morning."

Jacob nestled into Clark's arms hungrily sucking down the 
formula.  "Hungry this morning, Jake?"

"I don't know how he can possibly be hungry.  He was up all 
night eating."

Clark looked up worriedly.  "Did you get any sleep?"

"A little, not much."

"Oh, honey.  You should have called me."

"So you could what, Clark?  Come all the way over here in 
the middle of the night?"

"Well, you need your sleep."  Clark felt a twinge of guilt 
as he silently finished the sentence, 'more than I do, 
anyway.'

"I'll be OK.  I'm just a little tired."

"Why don't you let me stay here tonight?  I'll get up with 
him so you can get some sleep."

"We'll see," Lois said with a raised eyebrow.

"What?  *Now* you think I'm thinking I'm trying to seduce 
you?"

Lois burst out laughing.  "Well...you can't sleep on my 
sofa, you know.  You'd have to sleep with me," Lois said 
slowly approaching him.

Clark juggled Jacob and freed an arm so he could pull her 
close.  "I think I could handle that," he whispered.

Lois pressed a quick kiss to his lips, and darted from his 
grasp.  "I'll be out in a few minutes," she said as she 
dashed into the bathroom.  

**********
Lois emerged from the bathroom dressed for work and stopped 
short when she saw Clark standing in the light from the 
window holding Jake aloft.  He was stretched out along 
Clark's forearm with his head cradled in Clark's hand. 

"Hey, look who's here!" Clark said, propping Jake up.

"Clark!" Lois exclaimed.  "Be careful!  You're going to 
drop him!"

"He's fine, I've got him.  Besides, he likes it.  Look."  
Jake waved his arms around and gurgled happily, 
illustrating Clark's point.

Lois looked at him doubtfully and reached over to scoop the 
baby into her arms.  "God, Clark, you're going to give me a 
heart attack.  He's just a baby," she said, cuddling Jake 
close to her chest and planting a kiss of the top of his 
head.

Clark smiled at Lois' protective reaction.  "Come on, Lois, 
you know I would never do anything to endanger him."

Lois hugged the baby tighter.  "I know.  It just makes me 
nervous."  


**********

Two hours later, Lois was sitting at her desk typing 
furiously on the keyboard.  Clark sat perched on the edge 
of her desk, holding Jake in his arms.

"Look at this, Clark!  If he's an artist, where are these 
monthly deposits coming from?  It looks like he deposits 
$1000 around the 15th of every month.  And look, there are 
two bigger deposits of $5,000 each; one about a year and a 
half ago and one three years ago. There are no other 
deposits in the five years since he opened this account."

"Jimmy!" they both hollered simultaneously.

Jimmy appeared and bent to coo over Jacob.

Lois waited impatiently until she had Jimmy's attention, 
"Jimmy, I need you to find everything you can on this guy.  
Specifically, I want you to figure out where these monthly 
deposits are coming from.  It looks like he's been getting 
it for about three years now.  And see if these two larger 
deposits are coming from the same place.  Also, find out if 
he has any other bank accounts.  Aside from that, just find 
out anything and everything.  I want to know this guy 
better than he knows himself. Oh, and I need a list of 
every adoption agency in the Los Angeles metropolitan 
area."

As Lois finished her dissertation, Jake began to cry 
softly.  Jimmy took one look at the crying infant and began 
to rapidly back away.  "Uh, I'll get on this right now..."

"I think he's hungry, Lois." 

"Yeah, his bottles are in the bag by your desk.  I'll go 
get it and warm it up."

"No, I'll get it.  You take Jake - I think he wants you."

Lois looked at Clark doubtfully, but when he placed Jake in 
her arms, the baby did in fact quiet a little.  Lois looked 
up at Clark, stunned.

"Lois, don't look so shocked.  Jake trusts you, he loves 
you."

Lois blushed and looked back down at the baby.  She stroked 
his head and smiled down at him.  "Well, just hurry with 
the bottle or neither of us is going to be able to reason 
with him."

A minute later Clark returned with the bottle and leaned 
against Lois desk as she cuddled Jake and held his bottle.  
He stooped over and stroked Jake's head, smiling as the 
baby closed his eyes and nestled closer to Lois.  Clark 
looked up and caught Lois' eye.  As they smiled at each 
other Perry walked by and shook his head silently.

He motioned for Jimmy to come into his office.  "Olsen, 
have you seen those two?"

Jimmy grinned and nodded in the affirmative.  "You know, I 
always knew this was going to happen.  But I have to admit, 
I didn't expect it to happen overnight."

"Well, you know, when something is right, it doesn't always 
take time.  Did I ever tell you the story about how Elvis 
met Priscilla?  Well, it was back in '59 and he had just 
been stationed in Germany.  He knew right away that she was 
the one, and that they would have a family together, but 
she..." Jimmy sighed and let his mind wander to where he 
would take Angela on their date that night, while Perry 
launched into one of his most repeated Elvis stories.

**********

Lois kicked the door shut behind her, juggling her bag and 
a large stack of papers.  Clark set the carrier on the 
table and unbuckled Jacob, pulling him gently out.  "Come 
on, buddy, let's get you a bottle."

"And I thought Bobby Bigmouth ate a lot," Lois muttered.

Clark grinned as he pulled the bottle from the bag.  "Do 
you want to feed him?"

"Yeah," Lois said sheepishly.  "It was nice of everyone at 
work to turns with him today, but I kinda missed him."

"I know; me too," Clark said, pressing a kiss to Jake's 
forehead as he passed him to Lois.

Lois walked to the sofa and cuddled with Jake.  Clark 
watched them lovingly for a moment, then turned his 
attention to the stack of papers on the table.

He flipped through them, skimming them as he went along.  
"Hmm, looks like those deposits are coming from an 
Oceanside Realty.  Why in the world would he be - Lois?"

Clark turned and smiled as Lois remained oblivious.  She 
was curled up on the sofa, snuggling Jake and humming 
softly to him.  His eyes were closed, and he was just 
barely still sucking.

Just then there was a sharp knock at the door.  Lois looked 
up, startled.

"I'll get it," Clark said, striding to the door.  On the 
other side was a deliveryman with a large box on a dolly.  

"Delivery for a Ms. Lois Lane?"

"Yes, come on in," Clark said.  Lois came around the corner 
as the deliveryman wheeled the package through the door.

"Were you expecting something, Lois?"

"No," she said, peering at the label on the box.  "Clark!  
It's from your parents."

"My parents?  What in the world?"

Lois signed for the package and Clark showed the man out.

"Open it, Clark."

Clark pulled the long strip of duct tape down the side of 
box, and swung open the flaps.  He smiled and shook his 
head when he saw the contents.  "Lois, look."  He rolled 
the bassinet from box.  "It's my bassinet."

"Oh, Clark," she breathed.  "This was yours?"

"Yes.  Oh look, there are baby blankets and some clothes.  
Oh, and look at these old rattles and toys.  My mother must 
have raided the attic.  I didn't even know she still had 
all of this stuff...Lois?  Honey, are you OK?"

Clark pulled Lois close as she wiped a tear from her eye.  
"I'm fine, I just...I can't believe your mom sent all of 
this."

Clark smiled tenderly and brushed a kiss across her 
forehead.  "Let me get all of this out of the bassinet, and 
we can lay him down in it.  It looks like he is down for 
the count."

Clark quickly moved everything to the table.  Then he 
carried the bassinet into the bedroom.  Lois laid him down 
gently on his back and tucked the blanket snugly around 
him.

Clark stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her.  
For a moment they stood in silence watching the baby sleep.

"I can't believe you used to sleep in this," Lois 
whispered, finally.

"This bassinet has actually been in my family for years.  
My grandmother gave it to my mom when she married my 
father.  It sat in my bedroom for years while they tried to 
have a child.  My mom told me once that she used to catch 
my dad used to staring at it, but only when he didn't know 
she was around.  She said he didn't want her to see how 
badly he wanted a child, because he knew how much it was 
hurting her already.  But she said she never gave up, she 
just knew that they would have a baby to fill the bassinet 
someday.  And when they found me, and brought me home, and 
laid me in this bassinet, my mom said it was the first time 
she had ever seen my father cry."

Lois turned to face Clark.  Her voice quivered as she 
started to speak.  "Clark, that's so... And I can't believe 
your mom sent the bassinet out here for Jake... I just... 
That's such beautiful story."

Clark said nothing for a moment, reaching up to stroke her 
cheek.  "They were - are - incredible parents.  I couldn't 
have asked for better."  He paused, then smiled and started 
again, "They adore you, you know.  My mom asks about you 
every time I call.  She's been predicting that we would get 
together for ages, and when I told her that we had, she was 
ecstatic.  I'm not surprised that she sent the bassinet for 
Jake.  I'm sure they think of him as family already."

"They really like me?"

"Yes sweetheart.  Almost as much as I do," he whispered, 
leaning in to kiss her.  

After a moment they pulled apart and walked hand in hand to 
the living room.  

"Clark?  Did you say that your parents 'found' you?  I 
mean, I know you were adopted, but... Do you know anything 
about your birth parents?"

Here was the perfect opportunity he had been waiting for.  
He had to tell her the truth; he couldn't lie to her any 
longer.  His stomach churned at the thought, his mind 
reeling with her possible reactions.  Would she hate him?  
Could she ever forgive him?  Would she even listen to his 
reasoning?  And how would he ever explain why he had waited 
so long to tell her the truth?

Clark took a deep breath and pulled Lois toward the sofa.  
"Yes, I do.  Although a lot of what I know, I didn't find 
out until just pretty recently."

Lois looked up at him questioningly and silently urged him 
to go on. 

"My parents found me in Schuster's field when I was just a 
baby," Clark started nervously.  

"You were abandoned?" Lois asked, horrified.

"That's what I always thought, up until a few months 
ago..." Clark paused and shook his head, his apprehension 
threatening to make him physically ill.  

"Clark?  Are you OK?"  Lois reached up and smoothed his 
hair.  "Honey, you don't have to talk about this if you 
don't want to.  I didn't mean to upset you.  I'm sorry," 
she said tenderly, stretching to kiss him gently on the 
cheek.

"No, I have to!"  Lois was taken aback by the sudden 
intensity in Clark's voice.  

"I should have told you about this a long time ago, and I'm 
sorry that I didn't.  I'm *so* sorry.  I just had to wait 
until the time was right, and then I was scared.  I was so 
scared about how you would react, I just couldn't tell you.  
But I have to tell you now."

"Clark?  What are you talking about?  You were afraid about 
how I would react?  Why would you be afraid of how I would 
react to the story of how your parents found you?  You have 
to know that it wouldn't make any difference to me.  Why 
would it?  And I've known for ages that you were adopted. I 
don't understand."

"Lois, please.  Just let me tell you, then you'll 
understand.  And afterwards I promise I will answer any 
questions that you have. Just let me get this all out 
first."

Lois nodded silently and reached for Clark's hand.  He 
smiled at her and reached up to cup her cheek with his 
other hand.  He loved the feel of her skin under his 
fingers.  'Enjoy it while you can; this is probably the 
last time she'll ever let you touch her,' a cruel voice 
taunted.  It was true, though.  Once she found out that 
he'd been lying to her this whole time... Clark forcibly 
pushed aside the distressing voice in his head and willed 
himself to go on.

"I wasn't abandoned, Lois.  I -"

The sharp ringing of the phone startled both of them. 

"Go on, Clark.  Just ignore it.  We'll let the machine get 
it."

The phone rang again and Clark pulled back.  "Maybe you'd 
better get that.  We can finish this later."

"Are you sure?" Lois asked doubtfully.

Clark nodded, mentally castigating himself for ruining this 
opportunity and cursing whoever was on the phone.

"Martha, hi! Yes, we just got it.  Thank you so much, it's 
beautiful.  You have no idea how much this means to me."  
She paused for a moment, then continued, "Yes, he's 
sleeping in it right now.  He looks like a little angel."

Suddenly, Clark heard the sound of gunshots in the 
distance.  He tried to motion to Lois that he had to leave, 
but she just looked at him quizzically.  

He tried again, and Lois said into the phone, "Excuse me 
for a second, Martha.  Your son is acting out some kind of 
bizarre charade that looks something like hula dancing.  I 
can only imagine that means he's going to disappear out the 
door in a minute without giving me any indication of where 
he's going or when he's going to return."

"Lo-is," Clark hissed.

"What?  Go... you can explain later."

Clark looked visibly relieved and nearly flew out the door.

"I don't suppose you know where he goes when he does that?" 
Lois asked Martha doubtfully.

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask him," Martha replied, 
wishing briefly that Lois already knew, and that she didn't 
have to talk around the truth.  

Lois sighed and went on.  "Anyway, thank you again for 
sending the bassinet, it's just beautiful..."

**********

It was nearly nine o'clock before Clark was finally able to 
get away from his duties as Superman and return to Lois.  

Lois answered the door, Jake in her arms, and simply raised 
her eyebrow before opening the door to allow him in.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me where it is that 
you suddenly had to go for hours on end?"

Clark sighed wearily, and placed the bag on the table.

"Lois," he started, bracing himself for the argument that 
was sure to follow.

"Clark, are you OK?  You look exhausted."

Clark's face registered his surprise at her sudden change 
of topic.

"I'm fine.  It's just been a long day.  I'm sorry that I 
had to run off suddenly, I just -"

"Forget it.  We'll talk about it later.  I was just about 
to feed Jake and put him down again; do you want to do it?"

Clark's eyes lit up as he reached for the baby.  Lois 
turned to grab the bottle, but Clark pulled her to him 
before she could move.  He held her close and rested his 
cheek on the top her head.  "Thank you," he breathed into 
her hair, the tension draining from his body.

"I just worry about you, Clark," she said, pulling away.

"I know, Lois.  I..."

"Just go spend some time with Jake.  I think he missed 
you," she said, smiling.  "I want to take a look at these 
files Jimmy was able to pull for us.  Jake woke up almost 
as soon as I got off the phone with your mom, so I wasn't 
able to get anything done."

He nodded and carried Jake over to the sofa where he 
settled in and relaxed into the cushions.  Lois smiled as 
she watched him press a kiss to Jake's forehead, then 
turned her attention to the papers in front of her. 

A half hour later, Lois heard Clark rise from the couch.  
He walked quietly into her bedroom, and emerged a few 
minutes later.

"He's asleep," he said quietly, coming up behind her and 
resting his hands on her shoulders.

Lois turned in her chair and took his hands in hers, 
pulling him into the seat next to her.  "Are you feeling 
better?  I was really worried about you when you got here."

"Yeah, I'm fine now.  It's amazing what a little quality 
time with a baby can do for you."

"Good," she said quietly, gently strOKing the back of his 
hand.  

"Any luck with that?" Clark asked, gesturing to the papers 
spread across the dining room table.

"Well, I've been looking through these, and there are some 
things that don't make sense.  These deposits of his are 
coming from an Oceanside Realty, but nothing in any of 
these personal files shows that he has any prior experience 
in real estate, and he doesn't have a real estate license.  
So, if he's not *selling* real estate, and Lucy 
specifically said he was an artist and he didn't have a day 
job, so it's not like he's the receptionist or something, 
then *why* is a real estate agency paying him $1000 a 
month?  *And* if he is supposed to be this up and coming 
artist, why is there no record of him having any showings 
in the area?  He didn't attend art school, there is no 
record of him selling any artwork, and no gallery in the 
area has any record of him."

"Hmmm.  But we still don't have any idea what any of it 
means."

"Not really.  I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, 
though."  Lois sighed, and raked her fingers through her 
hair.  "I just wish I could get in touch with Lucy.  I have 
no idea who this Maggie friend of hers is.  I just wish I 
knew if she was OK, and it would be really helpful if I 
could just ask her some of this stuff instead of having to 
investigate it."

"Well, maybe she'll call soon.  She must be worried about 
Jake."

"Yeah," Lois said doubtfully, stifling a yawn.

"Oh jeez, I didn't realize it was so late.  I'll get up 
with Jake tonight, and you can sleep in tomorrow.  Thank 
goodness tomorrow's finally Friday."

"You're really going to stay?"

Clark gestured to the duffle bag, sitting forgotten by the 
door.  "Well, I was planning on it.  But if it makes you 
uncomfortable, or if you don't want me to, I won't.  And I 
can always sleep on the couch if that..."

"Clark?" She waited until he was looking at her to 
continue.  "I'm exhausted; let's go to bed."

They quickly took turns in the bathroom.  When Clark 
entered the bedroom Lois was already in bed half asleep.  
She smiled when she heard him enter and pulled down the 
blankets next to her.

Clark made his way to the bed, pausing for just a second to 
peek at the peaceful baby tucked into the bassinet.  

"Shh.  Don't you dare wake him up," Lois whispered, teasing 
him.  "I want at least a few minutes with you before you 
have to get up with him."

Clark face broke out into a grin at her words, and he 
quietly slid into the bed, wrapping his arms around her and 
pulling her close.  Lois snuggled close to him, resting her 
head on his chest and letting his steady heartbeat lull her 
to sleep.  "I love you, Clark," she whispered, half asleep 
before she finished speaking.

"I love you too, Lois."

An hour later, Jacob's cries woke them from their peaceful 
sleep.  "Shh.  Don't move, sweetheart.  I've got him," 
Clark whispered, trying to disentangle himself from their 
jumble of limbs.  

When Lois awoke the next time, the early morning sun was 
just beginning to rise through the window and Clark's side 
of the bed was cool.  She sat up and peered into Jake's 
bassinet and saw that he was missing too.  For a moment she 
sat still, listening.  

When she heard nothing, she got out of bed and padded into 
the living room.  There she found Clark half-laying on the 
sofa.  His soiled shirt lay discarded on the floor next to 
the sofa. His head was lolled awkwardly to one side and 
Jake was sprawled across his bare chest sleeping 
peacefully.  

Lois tiptoed over and cautiously lifted Jake from Clark's 
chest.  Clark started when he felt the sudden loss of 
Jake's weight.  Lois cradled Jake in her arms and nodded 
her head in the direction of the bedroom.  "Come back to 
bed, Clark."

**********

Clark sat on Lois' sofa, halfheartedly flipping though what 
little information they had on Jason.  Perry had assigned 
them a number of new investigations, so it looked like 
their little personal project was going to be relegated to 
the back burner.  They were both committed to working on it 
in what little spare time they had, but they hadn't been 
able to dig up anything new, and they were both beginning 
to believe that Jason was nothing more than a small-time 
scam artist with no desire to be a father.  

When Clark had offered to spend the night a second time, 
Lois had eagerly agreed.  Ultimately, Clark had wound up 
spending nearly every night of the next week with Lois, and 
she had to admit that having him stay overnight was a 
Godsend.  Not only was she getting more sleep, but now that 
she was able to get out of the house on a regular basis, 
she was beginning to feel more like herself.  And if she 
happened to enjoy the perks that went along with it, well, 
that wasn't such a bad thing either, she thought as she 
tucked Jake into his bassinet.

Lois returned from the bedroom and perched herself on 
Clark's lap.   "He's down for the count.  At least I hope 
so."

"Good," Clark growled, bending to kiss her neck.

Lois giggled as she drew her legs up, causing the hemline 
of her short dress to nudge even higher.

He leaned in, capturing her lips in a slow, sweet kiss.  
Lois slid her hands up to tangle in his hair, sighing 
softly and parting her lips in invitation.  Clark deepened 
the kiss, wrapping his arms firmly around her.

She gasped as he ran his free hand down her side, gripping 
her firmly at the waist before flipping them so that she 
was beneath him on the couch.

"How did you -" He recaptured her lips before she could 
finish the question, and Lois decided that the how didn't 
really matter for the moment and lost herself in his touch.

After a moment she slid her arms from around his neck and 
slipped them between their bodies, running them down his 
chest.  Slowly she began unbuttoning his shirt, longing to 
really touch him.

"Oh, honey," Clark moaned, shifting on top of her to 
dispose of his shirt.  A small voice in the back of his 
head warned him to cool it down unless he wanted to spend 
the rest of the night swimming in the Arctic.  Lois' 
fingers grazed the waistband of his slacks, and Clark 
suddenly decided he didn't care how many hours it took him 
to recover.

He slid his hand up her side, his fingers tentatively 
grazing the side of her breast through the thin material of 
the dress.  Lois mumbled incoherent words of encouragement 
against his lips, and Clark moved to cup her breast.

"Oh God, Lois!" he moaned.

"Clark," she gasped, arching her back to press herself more 
firmly against him.

Clark withdrew his hand and immediately began unbuttoning 
her dress.  After quickly undoing a couple of buttons, he 
reached up to brush the two sides apart.  He stilled for a 
second, waiting.

"Yes, Clark.  Please," Lois gasped, pulling him forward for 
another searing kiss.

That was all the encouragement Clark needed.  In one swift 
movement he brushed the sides of the dress apart and began 
kissing his way down her neck.

He pulled back for a second, his hands still caressing her.

"Clark?" Lois asked, worried that something was wrong.  

"Just let me look at you for a second, honey," he said, 
reaching to caress her face and dropping a quick kiss on 
her lips before pulling back to gaze at her again.  "God, 
you're so beautiful."

His eyes roamed her body for another second before coming 
back up to meet her gaze.  "I love you, sweetheart.  I love 
you so much," he whispered.

The sincerity in his voice, and the love she saw staring 
back at her, brought tears to Lois' eyes.  "Oh, Clark.  I 
love you, too."

Slowly he lowered his face back to hers and captured her 
lips in a sweet, tender kiss.  Within seconds their passion 
flared again, and their hands began roaming wildly.

"Clark," Lois gasped, straining to look around.  "Did you 
hear something?"

"What?" Clark asked, trailing kisses from her ear down her 
neck to her collar bone.  "I don't hear anything," he said, 
obviously not attempting to actually ascertain if there was 
a noise or not.

Lois dropped her head again and stretched to trail kisses 
along his jaw.

"Clark, someone's knocking at the door," she murmured in 
his ear once she figured out where the noise was coming 
from.

"I don't care," he said, scooting lower down her body, 
trailing searing kisses along her stomach and causing her 
to forget why she had interrupted him in the first place.

He raised his head to look into her eyes as they both heard 
another louder knock.  "Whatever it is, it cannot 
*possibly* be as important as this."

Lois shivered at the throaty intensity of his voice.  She 
nodded, unable to form her thoughts into coherent words, 
and reached for him again.

"Besides," he said in lighter tone.  "I am in no shape to 
answer to the door right now."  He raised his eyebrows and 
glancing down meaningfully.

Lois tried unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle and reached up 
to pull him to her again.  As Clark deepened the kiss, Lois 
felt her mind swirling, unable to focus on anything except 
the incredible sensations he was creating in her.

Suddenly they were both ripped from their haze of passion 
as they heard the door slam and Jimmy's stunned voice, 
"Whoa!  I'm sorry...I knocked, but...oh my God."

Clark's head snapped up and he immediately grasped the 
dangling sides of the dress together to cover Lois' chest.

"I dug up some more information on that story you're 
working on.  I knocked, but you didn't answer so I just let 
myself in... you gave me the key when you were going out of 
town last month...I was just going to leave them on the 
table..."  Jimmy's face turned increasing shades of red as 
he continued to stutter, his eyes never leaving the floor.

"Oh, God," Clark gasped through gritted teeth, desperately 
trying to regain control of his body.

Lois quickly finished buttoning her dress.  "What the hell 
were you thinking?" she demanded, as she scooted from 
beneath Clark and lunged toward Jimmy.

As she rubbed against him, Clark groaned and dropped his 
head back, desperately fighting his body.

"I'm really sorry," Jimmy said again as Lois took the 
files.  "I had no idea..."

"Give me the key!  I gave you this so that you could feed 
my fish, not so that you could have ready access to my 
apartment anytime I'm not home!  What do you think this is?  
Your own personal -"

"Honey, calm down," Clark said softly.  "It was an 
accident.  I'm sure Jimmy didn't mean to -"

"Yeah!" Jimmy interjected, grabbing on to the hope Clark 
gave him.  "It was an accident.  I never thought that you 
would be...I mean that you guys were... I mean..."  When he 
saw that his fumbled apology was getting him nowhere, he 
stopped trying, and silently handed her the key.

Lois said nothing, but looked pointedly toward the door.

"Umm, well...I better get going.  I'll see you guys on 
Monday," Jimmy said, hastily retreating toward the door.

As Lois shut and locked the door she felt Clark's arms 
around her again.  He spun her gently around to face him.

"Are you OK?" she asked, reaching to smooth his hair from 
his forehead, her anger fading rapidly.

Clark responded by kissing her passionately, pinning her to 
the door, his arms resting on either side of her head.  
Lois ran her hands over his chest, then settled her hands 
at his waist.  

He pulled back, allowing them to catch their breath, and 
Lois held up the key, still clutched between her fingers.  
He watched in fascination as she slowly and deliberately 
lowered the key, sliding it into the pocket of his jeans.

"I've been meaning to make you a copy of the key," she 
said, her voice husky.  "I guess that kills two birds with 
one stone."

In an instant, Clark's lips were on hers again.  Lois' arms 
snaked around his neck as she wrapped one of her legs 
around his.

His hands went to her waist, but before he could lift her 
to carry her back to the couch, a plaintive wail rose from 
the bedroom.

"No," he gasped.  "Oh God, no," he moaned, pulling his lips 
from hers and dropping his head to rest against the door.

"I'm sorry, honey," she whispered against his neck.  
Planting one last kiss on his collar bone, she slipped 
under his arm and headed for bedroom.

**********

It was late, and Lois was already in bed when Clark 
returned.  He had left under the guise of needing to run 
some errands, and had been gone longer than he anticipated.  
He slid carefully under the covers, trying not to disturb 
Lois.

"Mmm.  There you are," she whispered, laying her head on 
his chest and snuggling next to him.  "Where have you 
been?"

"Swimming laps in the Arctic," he mumbled, telling her the 
truth even if she would believe it was only a euphemism.

Lois cringed.  "I'm sorry, honey."

"It's not your fault," he murmured, wrapping his arms more 
securely around her.  "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you, too, Clark."  Lois paused, remembering her 
resolve to talk to Clark about what had happened.  They'd 
been so out of control.  If Jimmy hadn't stopped them, 
there was no way they would have been able to stop 
themselves.  

It wasn't that she didn't want to make love to him.  On the 
contrary, she wanted very much to make love to him.  She 
just wasn't sure they were ready.  That almost seemed 
silly.  She knew