The TOC for this story can be found
here. CK added a third spoonful of sugar to Clark’s coffee, stirred it vigorously and carried it through to the living room. Clark was still lying full-length on the sofa where he’d left him, his eyes closed. His cape lay pooled around him in a crumpled mess.
“Here’s your coffee,” said CK, and waited while Clark sat up slowly and reached out to accept the mug.
“Thanks,” he murmured, sipping the hot coffee and immediately pulling a face at the sickliness of it.
“Drink it,” ordered CK. “You need the energy.”
Clark eyed CK balefully. “Since when did you become my mother?”
“Since you started pulling crazy stunts like an overgrown kid,” answered CK.
“What was I supposed to do?” retorted Clark. “Let those people die?”
“Well, you could have let the emergency services deal with it,” said CK.
Clark shook his head. “You know as well as I do that lives would have been lost.”
“You don’t know that for certain.” CK shrugged. “But don’t tell me – tell Lois. You do realise she’s going to kill you when she gets home?”
“Yeah.” Clark sighed. “But we’ll work it out.” He sipped some more coffee and pulled another face. “Just how much sugar did you put in this, anyway?”
“Probably not enough - you were nearly out cold at the airfield.” CK studied Clark – his face had regained most of its colour but he still looked pretty ragged. “How are you feeling now?”
“I’m fine.” He looked around. “Where’s Jon?”
CK grimaced. “I was wondering how long it would take you to remember him. I gave him to Lois at the Planet before I came to rescue you.” He ran his hand through his hair in exasperation. “What the heck were you thinking, Clark? You left him alone!”
Clark at least had the grace to hang his head. “I was only going to be gone a few minutes.”
“A few minutes is all it takes,” retorted CK. “He was crying when I found him.”
That earned him a guilty glance. “I...I guess I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Too right, you weren’t!” said CK. “You put my son at risk, Clark.”
Clark’s head snapped up. “He’s not your son.”
CK stared. He couldn’t believe he was hearing this, after everything they’d gone through the past few days. “Excuse me?! I think you’ll find that he is my son.”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Clark. He paused, then closed his eyes wearily. “Actually, I’m not sure what I meant. I’m sorry, CK,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That was uncalled for.”
***********
If only his head would stop pounding, he might be able to think clearly. As it was, the words had just slipped out before he’d had a chance to consider them. CK had every right to be angry, especially when he’d just saved Clark from disaster.
But Clark was annoyed with CK for assuming he had any right to tell Clark how to take care of Jon. The guy had only been around for less than two weeks! Clark and Lois had been practising their child-care skills for nearly a year.
“Too right!” said CK hotly. “Jon is my-“
“Look,” interrupted Clark wearily. “Can we just forget it, CK? I’m really not in the mood for an argument we’ve already had about ten times.” He pushed himself stiffly off the sofa. “I’d better call Lois. She probably saw the whole thing at the Planet.”
He crossed to the phone and dialled Lois’s direct number.
She answered after just one ring. “Lois Lane.”
He winced – she already sounded angry. “Hi, honey, it’s me,” he said. “I guess you’d like an explanation.”
“Too darned right I would,” she hissed. “What the heck did you think you were doing? I assume that was you nearly dropping that airplane.”
Did she have to be so indiscreet? “Please tell me you’re not surrounded by a crowd of people,” he said heavily.
“They’re all still watching the TV,” she replied grumpily. “But since you mention it – hang on while I transfer you to the conference room.”
He waited a couple of seconds, and then she came back on the line. “So what’s the answer – was it you or CK?”
“It was me,” replied Clark. “But what would you have me do? Let all those people die?”
“You should have let CK handle it,” she retorted.
“How could I do that?” he said. “He wasn’t even here.”
“Wasn’t there? Oh, this just gets better and better!” she exclaimed. “So you left our baby alone in the house while you went to a rescue you knew you were too ill to deal with. Is that about right?”
“Lois, I made a judgement call, okay?” said Clark, his anger rising. “Jon was perfectly safe.”
“What if you’d been hurt?” she snapped. “What if something went wrong – something you couldn’t foresee? How safe would Jon have been then?”
“No-one can foresee every eventuality,” he pointed out forcefully. “You can’t plan your whole life around the faint chance that you might fall under a bus tomorrow.”
“Maybe not, but you can reduce risks,” she retorted. “I can’t believe you did this, Clark.”
“And I can’t believe you’re being so unreasonable,” he replied.
“Me, unreasonable?!” she exclaimed. “You’re the one who...” She broke off with a heavy sigh. “Oh, forget it! We’ll talk about it tonight. How are you, anyway?”
“I’m fine,” he said, although his head was just about splitting. “How’s Jon?”
“He’s okay, no thanks to you. I take it that was CK who brought him to me?”
“Yeah.”
“At least one of you has got some sense. And did he help you land the plane?”
“Yeah, he did that, too.” Yup, CK was the hero and he was the failure, he thought sardonically. At least as far as Lois was concerned.
“Well, fine. I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that I was able to get Jon into the crèche here for the rest of the day, so you’ll be spared the onerous duty of caring for your own son for a few hours.”
“Lois, don’t be like that,” he said. “You know that’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it? I’m not so sure.” She paused, then sighed again. “Clark, you scared me. I was really worried when I saw you struggling.”
Which was probably at the root of her anger towards him, he surmised. In that respect, she was much like himself – they both tended to yell at the other for putting themselves in danger. “I know. I scared myself, I think,” he admitted.
“Well, then... Get some rest. You sound tired.”
“I’m okay,” he insisted automatically, although he knew it probably didn’t sound very convincing. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”
“Yes. I’ll try to get away on time – I think we need to talk this through some more, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
They bid each other farewell, and Clark replaced the receiver.
“I guess she wasn’t too happy with you,” said CK from behind him.
Clark turned around. “No, she wasn’t.” He made his back to the sofa and sank down into its soft cushions. “On the other hand, you’re a hero.” He eased his head back and closed his eyes. “Man, I could do with some of that Kryptonian aspirin of yours,” he said with a groan.
“Headache?”
“The size of Metropolis.”
“Can’t help you with the aspirin,” answered CK, “but food and drink should help, if you can face it.”
“Drink, yes, food, no.”
“Okay, then get ready for another sweet hot drink.”
Clark groaned again. “Gee, thanks.” This was obviously his punishment for doing the best he could under impossible circumstances. Sometimes, being a husband, a father and a superhero all at the same time just didn’t work!
**********
CK took his time making the second cup of coffee. He was still upset about Jon – his heart had nearly broken when he’d discovered the poor, defenceless infant crying all alone in the house. How Clark, of all people, could have abandoned him like that, he really didn’t understand.
Although that wasn’t quite true, if he was to be honest with himself. As Clark had told Lois, it had been a tough judgement call. Faced with a similar situation, CK wasn’t entirely sure how he himself would have reacted. And if he were to be totally honest, he had to admit that Clark had considerably more experience in looking after a baby than CK. Maybe a few minutes alone wasn’t such a big deal under normal circumstances. Clark’s mistake had probably been in mis-judging his own ability to deal with the emergency, rather than in leaving Jon alone.
He wouldn’t have cut Clark so much slack a few days ago, he reflected. Then, he would have viewed Jon’s safety as paramount, and would have wanted Clark to leave those people’s lives in the hands of the emergency services. Now, though, since talking to Clark’s parents and thinking hard about a few things, he could actually place himself in Superman’s shoes and see things from his perspective.
But he still struggled with the morals of it all.
He carried the coffee through to Clark and sank down on a nearby seat. “Clark, can I ask you something?”
Clark gave him a sideways look. “Yeah...” he said warily. “So long as it doesn’t involve airplanes or childcare.”
CK smiled briefly. “What gives you the right to be Superman?”
“CK, I thought we agreed to drop-“
“I’m not talking about what happened today,” said CK quickly, realising that Clark thought he was questioning his decision to rescue the airplane. “I mean in general. Why do you think you have a right to assume the role of vigilante-cum-emergency worker?”
Clark frowned. “I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of it like that. I mean, do I need a right just to help people any way I can?”
“Well, you set yourself up as a defender of justice,” said CK. “You see someone being attacked, you single out the attacker and deliver him to the police. What gives you the right to do that?”
“I’m just doing what any good citizen would do,” objected Clark. “The only difference is that I can do it more safely and with a higher degree of success because of my strength.”
“Oh, come on, Clark! You’re not telling me you’ve never been faced with difficult moral dilemmas. You’ve been doing this too long never to have come across a situation where you’ve had to judge who’s right and who’s wrong.”
Clark sipped his coffee and fell quiet for a few moments. “Okay, you’re right. But what’s the choice we’re looking at here? Either I make use of my strength to help people, knowing that sometimes I’ll get things wrong, or I do nothing at all. That’s the safe option, of course. But if I do nothing at all, no-one gets rescued.” He took another sip of coffee. “Which would you pick?”
“I...I’m not the one who has to make the choice,” CK stumbled out, caught out by the question and trying his best to evade it.
“Then why ask the question?” countered Clark. “Seems to me you are the one making the choice, CK.”
“I’m just trying to make sense out of all this,” he replied. “My life’s not as easy as yours – I don’t have a wife, a good job, a nice house, and parents to back me up. I have to figure it all out on my own.”
“You think this is easy?” said Clark with a sardonic laugh. “I’ve worked hard to get to this point in my life, and I’m still working at it. But going back to your question, you have to realise that none of us is perfect. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, but I still do what I do because I want to help – it’s nothing more complicated than that.” He drank some more coffee. “Okay, you’ve had your question – do I get to ask one?”
CK eyed him, wondering which difficult question he’d pick next. For a guy with a splitting headache, he was holding his own in this conversation pretty well. Not only that, but he made compelling arguments it was difficult to ignore. Just like his parents, he thought ruefully.
“Okay,” said CK as warily as Clark had responded earlier.
Clark seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing, adding to CK’s apprehension. While he was hesitating, he pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes up. Clearly the headache was still bothering him. “All right, here it is,” he said finally. “How far would you be prepared to go to help us have a child of our own?”
CK blinked in surprise. Of all the questions Clark might have asked, this was the least expected of them all. And quite where Clark was heading with this, CK didn’t like to consider. “I...well, I’m not sure,” he replied. “How far were you thinking?”
“You see, I’ve been trying to figure out why you were able to conceive a child with your Lois, and I...can’t.”
Ck saw Clark snatch a quick sideways glance at him and then look away again. And suddenly CK understood – Clark felt that he was to blame for their inability to have kids together. Because he wasn’t human, no doubt.
“Well, I agree, I’ve wondered the same thing,” said CK. “But what makes you think you’re the problem?” Then, in case he’d misread Clark, he added, “That is, I’m assuming that’s what you think.”
Clark nodded. “There’s no reason for me to think Lois is,” he replied. “Plus, two doctors have independently told us that humans and Kryptonians can’t reproduce. That was based on the tests they did on me, not Lois.”
CK had to admit that made sense. But that led him to all sorts of wild thoughts as to where Clark might be going with this. Tests...embarrassing tests, sperm donation, artificial insemination...they all loomed scarily in front of him. “So...you think you and I are different somehow?”
“Exactly.”
“And...you’d like to figure out what that difference might be?” he asked, feeling his way carefully around the issue.
“Yes.”
Deep breath... “How?”
Clark met his eyes at last. “Tests.”
“Tests.” He could already picture the embarrassing scene...
“Yeah, tests.”
“Well, yes, I could do that...I guess. Erm...have you talked this over with Lois?”
“Not yet. I only thought of it today. So...you’d be prepared to help us?” Clark asked, his anxious expression belying the casualness of his question.
Seeing the look on Clark’s face, CK decided it was time to stop being embarrassed and get very adult about this. If Lois and Clark did decide to give up Jon, the least he could do was to help them have a child of their own. Even if they kept Jon – his heart contracted at the painful thought - he should help. After all, kids were usually better off with a sibling or two to grow up with. He’d be doing his own child a favour if he helped them conceive.
He nodded. “Sure, Clark,” he said firmly. “I’d like to help. I guess we’ll have a few details to figure out, but I’ll do everything I can for you.”
Clark let out a long breath. “Thanks, CK, I really appreciate this. But don’t say anything to Lois until I’ve talked to her, okay?”
CK smiled. “I’ll keep quiet.”
Clark leant back and closed his eyes. “And now my head really is killing me. I think I’ll try and doze a while before Lois comes home to give me a hard time.”
***********
She stomped up the stairs to the house, once more laden down with more than she could comfortably carry. Why was it, with three able-bodied adults currently living in the house, that she always ended up being the one left – literally – holding the baby?
She was about to put everything down to find her house-keys when the door swung open. “Hi, honey,” said her husband. “Want a hand?”
She gave him a look. If he thought he was going to win a place in her good books just by being nice to her, he had another think coming. “Here,” she snapped, holding out her briefcase. “You can take that. I’ll keep Jon.”
His face told her that the significance of her answer hadn’t been lost on him: she was holding onto Jon because she, at least, didn’t abandon him. Well, good. He deserved to feel guilty.
She followed him indoors, where CK was hovering diffidently near the sofas. She walked up to him. “Would you mind taking Jon into the kitchen and feeding him his dinner?” she asked. “Clark and I need to talk.”
“Sure,” said CK, clearly relieved to be excused from the firing-line.
“And I’ve got things to say to you, too,” she told him as she handed over Jon. “So don’t start thinking you’re exempt from this.”
He raised an eyebrow, but refrained from commenting. She waited until he’d disappeared into the kitchen, then rounded on Clark. “So how are you feeling?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Maybe her question had tripped him up - he certainly looked a bit surprised. Well, that was good, too. She was feeling pretty vindictive towards him right now!
His face lost its surprise and took on a resigned expression. “Lois, can’t we find a better way to do this?” he replied, stepping closer to her. “I really don’t want to argue with you,” he added softly.
“I only asked how you were feeling, Clark,” she retorted. “It’s not a trick question.”
He let out a breath. “It kind of felt like one,” he murmured. “But since you ask, I’m okay. I had a really bad headache most of the afternoon, but it seems to have gone now.”
“You look tired.” Because he did – his eyes were dull and his stance sagged.
He shrugged. “Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure.”
“Good,” she replied. “Then since we’ve established that you’re in reasonable health, I can tell you just how crazy and downright stupid a thing you did today!” she exploded, finally letting her emotions loose. “Clark, what on earth were you thinking?! You left our baby alone!”
To her annoyance, he closed the distance between them and deliberately enclosed her in a hug.
“Don’t!” she snapped. She brought her arms up and forced him to free her.
He stepped back immediately and they stared silently at each other for a beat. “I told you,” he said eventually in a soft voice. “I don’t want to argue with you. Yes, I left Jon alone, but do you seriously think I took that decision lightly? Of course you don’t, Lois. You already know I love Jon so much I carry his heartbeat with me wherever I go. If anything happened to him, I think I’d probably curl up and die.”
His voice was so quiet, she had to listen hard to pick up every word. They were heartfelt words, she gave him that much - but she was still incredibly mad at him. “I don’t deny you love him,” she replied impatiently. “I just want to know why you thought it was acceptable to leave him alone.”
“I didn’t think it was acceptable,” he continued in his soft voice. “But I also didn’t think it was acceptable to let those people die. Now, we can argue about whether or not they would have died, but the real point is this - there was no right decision to be made. I did the best I could, Lois.”
“I don’t deny that, either,” she said. “You always do your best. But you’re making it sound like there were only two choices to be made. There weren’t, Clark – you had other options. At the very least, you could have phoned me to let me know Jon would be alone. Or you could have done what CK did, and drop him off at the Planet first.”
He brought a hand up and worried the hair at the back of his head. She recognised the gesture as one of his signs of frustration - often she found it endearing, but not tonight. “Okay, you’re right,” he said, his voice rising. “But the fact is, I didn’t think of those options at the time. I just saw a problem and solved it the best way I could.” He paused and took a deep breath before continuing more quietly. “Honey, I’m not going to apologise for what I did. Superman isn’t perfect – I’m not perfect. Aren’t you the one always telling me that?”
“Yes, but...“ She interrupted herself. The desire to scream with frustration was really quite strong. In fact...
“Argh!!!”
She swung away from him, walked a few paces away, clenching her fists by her sides in frustration, then turned on him again. “I just think you showed astonishingly poor judgement today. It’s not like you, Clark.”
“Well, maybe it’s time for a revision of what ‘like me’ really means,” he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I mean, before I was off work for a week with the flu, would you have said that was ‘like me’?”
“No, but that’s completely different to this!” she said. “This-“
Although, come to think of it, he really did look tired, she realised. And this was his first day up and about after his illness. She sighed – maybe he wasn’t himself because, well, he just wasn’t himself today.
Shaking her head slowly, she continued, “This is crazy. Here we are, yelling at each other when we should be helping each other.”
He nodded. “Yeah,” he murmured.
She crossed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. “Maybe this thing with Jon is making us crazier than we realise,” she suggested.
His arms came around her to complete the circle. “I think you’re right. When we said CK could stay here, I don’t think we knew how difficult it would be.”
“Every time I look at him, I’m reminded that we might lose Jon,” she said, nodding her agreement.
He sighed heavily, resting his head on her shoulder. “Me too.”
She wrapped her arms a bit tighter around him, grateful for his solid, warm presence. It was comforting to feel the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, and inhale his unique scent. “What are we going to do, Clark?” she said in a small voice.
“I don’t know.”
*********
In the kitchen, CK eased the door into the living room quietly shut again so as not to disturb Lois and Clark. He’d opened it a fraction to see if the dust had settled yet and to give them some exciting news - and caught them clinging unhappily to each other. He’d heard their last few words, too.
His bubble of excitement burst, he slumped back against the door and sighed deeply. They didn’t deserve this, they really didn’t. They were good people, and Jon was the proof – he was a happy, well-adjusted, good-natured baby boy who’d even managed to get the hang of two identical men in his life who both wanted to be his Daddy.
Since those first awkward days, CK had marvelled at how well he and Jon had gotten along. They laughed and played together just like a father and his baby son ought, and CK could even get Jon to settle down during a crying fit. As for bathing, feeding and changing him – well, CK enjoyed every minute of it.
Well, almost every minute, he amended ruefully. Jon could be quite a handful when he put his mind to it.
A bubbly little chortle from somewhere near the floor made him look down. Jon was on his feet again, holding onto the chair seat with chubby hands. CK fell to his knees a couple of feet away from him and held his arms out. “Come on, Jon,” he urged eagerly. “Come to Da-“
He stopped himself just in time. He couldn’t bear to refer to Clark as ‘Daddy’, but equally, he knew it wasn’t fair on Jon to assume the title himself – not until they’d agreed who was going to keep him. Sometimes it was hard to stick to the rules, though. “Come to me, Jon. You know you can do it.”
Jon reached out one hand towards him, then the other.
“Yes, Jon, that’s it,” he said.
This was his exciting news. He and Jon had been playing this particular game for a little while now, and tonight, just a minute ago, Jon had at last teetered precariously into his arms. He’d felt a huge rush of joy and pride at witnessing his son’s first steps.
Then he’d had a pang of guilt, and hurried to the door to tell Lois and Clark. Knowing they’d hate to miss this momentous event, he’d quickly decided to pretend Jon was just on the brink of walking, not that he’d taken his first steps. Jon wouldn’t tell, after all. But finding them in such an intimate hug, he hadn’t the heart to break them up.
Jon took one unsteady step, wobbled for a moment, then plopped down onto his well-padded behind. Oh, well, thought CK, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
And neither was a person’s future. He’d been starting to make his own small, tentative steps towards a better life, but progress was slow. While he no longer felt disjointed from the world around him, he still felt that he was living a temporary life here in this parallel universe. He couldn’t really begin to start over until he returned home.
His visits with Clark’s parents had helped, though. He was beginning to feel more grounded; more certain of his own identity. They’d reminded him of a few important things too – the most important being that there was more to life than simply existing. Even being a parent wasn’t enough. And you’d probably be a better parent if you had interests other than just your children.
Today, for example, had been a good day for him. Okay, he’d been appalled at Clark’s abandonment of Jon, but otherwise, he’d discovered that he was actually pretty pleased with himself for landing that plane. It was a real sense of achievement to know he’d probably rescued a couple of hundred people. He hadn’t even experienced the jitters like he had during that fire – he’d been so focused on getting the job done that it seemed that he’d forgotten to be nervous.
Yes, he had a long road ahead of him, but, like Jon, he’d made the first shaky steps – and they were always the hardest.
**********
Lois slid under the sheets beside a somnolent Clark, turned the bedside light out and curled up for sleep. She felt almost as weary as he clearly was. Too many emotions crammed into one, short day – that was the cause. No sooner had she finished worrying herself sick about him than she’d been ready to wring his neck. Then she’d swung back to worry, and finished up with depression about Jon. Oh, and topped off with a minor yell at CK after she’d put Jon to bed.
“So how did you plan to explain a flying Clark Kent to the world’s media after today’s little stunt?” she’d demanded.
“What?” He’d given her a look of bafflement. “Lois, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Well, I’m assuming you went as yourself,” she’d explained. “Since you were so sure the other day that you’d never wear the suit again.”
“Of course I wore the suit!” he’d said. “You must have seen me at the Planet when I dropped off Jon.”
“All I saw at the Planet was the paper you sent flying everywhere,” she’d retorted. “You’re not telling me you changed your mind already?”
He’d been so adamant about not wearing the suit, she couldn’t believe he’d rescinded so easily. Yet he looked sincere.
“I haven’t changed my mind,” he replied, then hesitated. “Well, not really...” He took a breath. “Anyway, I just wore the suit because I thought it would be simpler if anyone saw me. I could be Superman’s cousin, or something.”
She’d nearly choked. “Superman’s cousin? You have to be kidding.”
“No, as a matter of fact. Look, I did what I thought was best and if you remember, it actually turned out pretty well,” he said. “So I don’t know why you think you have any right to yell at me.”
“Because...because I feel like yelling at you!”
He’d laughed then. Actually laughed. “Sometimes you are so like Lois, it’s uncanny.”
Then he’d obviously realised what he’d just said, and quickly sobered up. “I mean, like she used to be.”
And that had been the end of her yelling session with CK. Funny how, with both Clark and CK, she’d ended up feeling in the wrong, when she’d started out knowing she was right. This was not the Lois Lane of old, she reflected ruefully.
Clark stirred beside her, reaching out an arm to draw her closer to him. She snuggled up willingly. “I thought you were asleep.”
“No, just dozing,” he said. He slipped a finger under her chin and she let him tip her face up to drop a brief, delicate kiss on her lips. “Are we okay? It feels like we spent too much of today sniping at each other.”
She reached up and kissed the side of his face. “Yes, we’re okay. We just have to remind ourselves of the fact from time to time.”
He turned to face her and kissed her again, lingering somewhat longer on her lips this time. She closed her eyes and let the kiss melt away her cares. There was nothing quite like a slow kiss from her husband to do that for her.
“That’s what I thought,” he murmured. “What do you say we start right now?”
From the sultry look in his eyes, his intention was clear. Already a warm glow was spreading through her body. They hadn’t made love since he’d fallen ill. But...
“Are you sure?” she said. “I thought you were tired.”
“Not that tired,” he said with a soft smile. “But if you are...?”
She returned his smile. “Not that tired.”
***********
Afterwards, they lay sleepily together, having made slow and very gentle love. Lois lay with her head resting on Clark’s broad chest, listening to his steady breathing and thinking how lucky they were to still love each other so much. Other couples might have struggled harder with the news that they couldn’t have children together, but not she and Clark. Jon made a huge difference, of course, but even without him, she believed they would have survived.
Whether they would survive if they now lost him, only time would tell. Tiny cracks were already starting to appear in their relationship, but so long as they could always talk things through like today, she thought they’d be okay.
“I spoke to CK today,” said Clark suddenly.
Dreamily, she reflected on the merits of pointing out that he probably did a lot of speaking to CK today. No, she decided, she couldn’t be bothered. “What about?”
“About helping us have kids of our own.”
“What?!” Dreamy no longer, she craned her neck to look up at him. “You did what?”
“Well, see, I was wondering why he could have a child with his Lois, and I can’t. So I developed this theory...”
Lois listened with a mixture of surprise and interest to Clark’s retelling of his conversation with CK. He’d certainly made a logical argument, but his ideas on what they should do next...
“Tests?” she repeated. “And just how are you going to explain all this to Dr Klein?”
“I hadn’t exactly worked that part out yet.”
“I just bet you haven’t!” She paused, taking a deep breath. “Okay, it’s already late, and both of us need our sleep tonight, but tomorrow you and I and CK are going to sit down and discuss this. Okay?”
“Okay,” he replied.
She’d sat up while he’d been telling her his theories, but now he reached for her. She let herself be drawn back down into his embrace, not at all sure she was actually going to manage to sleep tonight. Her mind was already churning through different scenarios with CK and Dr Klein, and she didn’t much like the answer which kept popping up. Still, as she’d just told Clark, they at least needed to try for sleep.
“Does this mean you think I did the right thing?” he murmured.
“You trying to score points, Kent?” she said sleepily.
“Just hoping to draw even after this afternoon.”
“Hah! So you do admit you were in the wrong,” she said.
He paused. “Goodnight, Lois.”
She smiled. “Goodnight, Clark.”
**************
