A/N: Many thanks to FoLC4evernaday, Endelda, and NostalgiaKick for their support and ideas (especially Endelda, who gave Lois her new "secret identity" 
) Part One ----------
Part TwoLois sat on the sofa, staring straight ahead. Clark sat in the chair in the corner, watching her. His little daughter—Laurie, if she remembered correctly—sat in her lap, holding her and crying softly. The pizza sat on the coffee table, growing cold.
“You're S—” Lois began, then glanced down at her new, pink-clad attachment. “You're him.”
Clark sighed and looked down. “Yeah.”
“And I'm supposed to be...” She glanced down at Laurie again.
“Yeah,” Clark replied.
She flashed him a glare.
“I mean, not *you*, not if you don't want to be,” he said quickly, looking alarmed. “The other you was. You're...” He swallowed. “Lois, I swear: I don't want to push you into anything. I'm the one who told Wells I'd take them; you don't owe them anything!”
She looked down again at the little girl clinging desperately to a disappeared mother who'd finally come back to her. She sighed.
This was a no-win situation. Lois Lane couldn't do motherhood. Maybe her counterpart had wonderful parents or something, but her own role models were proof that parenting should require a license. She couldn't just take on the role of “Mommy” and play house with her junior partner!
On the other hand, if she left now, then this little girl would probably grow up wondering why her “mother” suddenly walked out on their family... Lois shuddered. “I can't do this,” she whispered.
“Then don't,” Clark said from across the room.
Lois's head snapped up. Oh, right: her junior partner was also Superman, the man she'd idolized and fantasized about and oh good lord had she been making a fool of herself in front of a green-jeans rookie from Kansas this entire time?! She bit her lip to keep from shouting expletives in front of the small child.
“Lois?” SuperClark asked, looking worried.
She took a deep breath in through her nose and let it out. “I think I need a minute.”
In seconds, Clark was helping her to gently peel Laurie off. Lois bolted from the room, dimly aware of the girl's confused cries and Clark's murmured reassurances. She closed the door behind her, leaned against it, and took a gulp of fresh air...
...only to realize that she was now standing in an enclosed balcony.
Lois snorted and began pacing in the confined space. This was insane! Her mild-mannered partner was really an alien raising children from another universe who thought she was their mother! What was she even supposed to do with this information?!
Nothing, Clark had said. Lois stopped, resting her head against the wire screening in front of her. Clark had told her that she owed his children nothing. But how would that fly with someone too little to understand something that was even giving *her* a headache? She didn't have an answer.
With a sigh, she went back through the door...only to find herself in a small room dominated by a large crib. “Seriously?!” Lois hissed to herself.
The door to the nursery creaked open, letting in a sliver of light. “Lois?” Clark whispered.
Lois stormed out that door—quietly, so as not to wake the crib's occupant. If it happened to look like she was tip-toeing, well—that was Clark's problem! At last, she was back in the living room, with a cold pizza sitting on the table and a sniffling little girl sitting in Clark's arms.
Laurie stared up at her with big, brown eyes. “M-mommy?”
“I'm sorry,” Clark said softly, and Lois wasn't quite sure which of them he was addressing. He shifted Laurie in his arms, holding her close. “Sweetie, this isn't your mommy. I know she looks just like her, but...um, she's—”
“—her sister!” Lois said quickly.
Clark turned to stare at her.
Lois ignored him, bending closer to Laurie. “I'm your mommy's sister, Aunt Lo...lo. That's right!”
Laurie's expression slowly melted from heartbreak to confusion.
“Your mommy wants you to know that she loves you very, very much,” Lois added, “and I'm going to help your daddy take care of you while she's away. Okay?”
Laurie seemed to think this over very seriously, then she nodded.
“Come on, Pumpkin,” Clark said, standing up from the sofa with Laurie in his arms, “let's get you back to bed.”
**********
“Thank you,” Clark said as he walked Lois to the door.
“Clark, I mean it,” she told him firmly. “I can't be their mother, or anyone's mother! But if you need me, I'm more than happy to be your friend.”
He smiled at her. “A friend is all I need right now, Lois.”
She smiled back. “Good night.”
She started to turn the knob, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Wait, Lois... You're not going to tell anyone about...you know...are you?”
Lois stared at him, then put a hand to her chin and pretended to think. “Well, I *was* planning to rush home and write up the Clark-is-Superman story so I could have it ready for Perry in the morning...”
He gaped at her, a look of terror on his features.
Lois reached up an hit him on the arm. “Really, Clark? What do you take me for?”
He laughed and shook his head, duly chastened. “Right. Good night, Aunt LoLo!” He opened the door for her, his eyes twinkling.
She snorted. “Good night, Uncle Green-jeans.”
The End.
