Well, here it is, finally! We're on the home stretch now, folcs! Thank you *SO* much for your patience and your continued comments! 
The final draft of this wasn't BRed, so I'll take all the blame for any typos. 
(Paul...don't die of shock! 
Sara _____
Lois growled and threw the covers aside. It was just as well since her curiosity was getting the better of her anyway. She grabbed her robe and headed for the door. She was a bit anxious to look through the peephole given all the not-so-pleasant surprises she’d had the last few weeks. The person on the other side could be anyone. Her mother. Lucy. Reporters.
Clark.
Clark! It could be Clark! She rose quickly up to spy through the hole and saw a man standing on the bare edges of her vision. The man stepped towards the door and back into view, raising his hand to knock again.
~~~~Part 18~~~~
Perry.
It was only Perry.
Her heart managed to find its way from her throat back down to where it belonged and she unlocked the door. She noted the weary look on his face and the bags under his eyes.
“Lois, can I come in?”
“Of course, Perry.” She stepped aside to let him enter, then closed and locked the door behind him.
Perry followed her to the couch in solemn silence. He collapsed to the couch with a heaving sigh, but stayed tight and unrelaxed, perched at the edge of the cushions. His eyes wandered almost imperceptibly to her abdomen and back to her face. Not for the first time, but certainly the first time in a long while, Lois felt uncomfortable under Perry’s scrutiny. That, mixed with the disappointment at not finding Clark behind the door, was making her stomach churn and roil. Though while perhaps it was morning sickness, she doubted it.
“Uh... can I get you some coffee or something?” She offered, trying to break the tense atmosphere. Anything.
“No, thanks, Lois.” He sat in silence for a minute, though it felt substantially longer than that. “So... you’re about four months along then?”
She nodded and nervously toyed with the hem of her shirt.
***
Perry stared at a spot on the wall behind Lois. Four months. Exactly the time Superman had been gone. But that didn’t necessarily prove anything. Clark *had* to be Superman, no two ways about it. He’d decided that was the *only* way it could be. What it didn’t explain was why on Earth Lois and Clark had pulled this stunt. Clark obviously had to be out of the picture now for some reason. Had the New Kryptonians come back for him? Had Clark needed to go back?
“Lois,” he tried to keep his tone even and non-accusatory, “I want you to tell me what exactly is going on here.”
She looked up at him briefly, but quickly averted her gaze again. He watched as she fingered her engagement ring. “The baby is Superman’s,” she said quietly, sounding almost ashamed.
“And... ?”
“And what, Perry?!” She stood abruptly and flailed her arms in his general direction. “I cheated on Clark? He’ll never forgive me? And I don’t know when or if he’s ever coming back? Is that what you wanted to hear?” Lois stilled at the end of her outburst, crossing her arms in front of her and narrowing her eyes at him. Though the slight wobbling of her chin undermined the petulant look he suspected she was attempting.
He shook his head. There was a whole lot here she wasn’t telling him. And why should she? He needed to tell her what he was holding back first. “Lois, I know Clark is Superman and I just want to know what’s wrong. Did they come back for him?”
She started, and her eyes grew wide at his revelation, but only for a moment. Her look quickly became one of confusion and her arms fell to her sides. She titled her head in puzzlement. “Who?” she asked, seemingly baffled by his question.
Perry blinked. "The New Kryptonians...?" he prompted. Who else could he have possibly meant?
“Oh.” Her eyes showed a trace of understanding, but they definitely weren’t on the same playing field here. “Um... no.”
Okay, strike one. “Did you two have a fight?”
“No... ” She was back to playing with the hem of her shirt.
Strike two. And he was out of theories already. “I’m lost, Darlin’.” He scooted back further on the couch and tried to make head or tails of the situation. “Why did you make everyone believe that you were carrying Superman’s child? *I* know it’s true, but the rest of the world didn’t need to know.”
“Oh, Perry!” Lois sank to the couch, defeated. “I’ve made such a mess of this. I didn’t know what else to do. It seemed like the only way at the time, but what am I going to do when Clark comes home?”
He could see the tears forming in her eyes. But he was still lost. “*Where* did Clark go, Honey?”
“He went back ho -- ” she faltered. “Well... ”
“He went back home?”
“Sort of.”
She was avoiding eye contact again, still focused on her engagement ring.
“Lois, Darlin’, I’d love to help you figure out a solution to whatever mess this is that you’ve gotten yourself into, but I’m missing more than a few pieces here. *Where* is Clark?”
“Depends on which Clark you mean.” She looked up at him with a wry smile.
“*Which*? Oh, hell’s bells, Lois, now I’m really lost.” The clues were leaking in slowly, but he still didn’t have enough to put the puzzle together and get the full picture. And obviously this was something that was extremely difficult to say, otherwise he would have had the information already. “Whatever it is, Lois, you can tell me.”
He watched her contemplate that for a moment. He knew she knew she could trust him, but something was making her hesitate.
She sat silent for a long moment. Finally, she took a deep breath and began. “What would you say if I told you that Elvis was alive?”
“Now Lois, as tickled pink as I would be to find out that was true, we *both* know it’s not. Right?” He raised a worried eyebrow at her.
“What would you say if I told you that there’s an alternate universe in which Charlton Heston is President of the United States, Lois Lane is dead, and Elvis is most certainly alive?”
“I’d say you must have fallen down and conked your head.” In all seriousness, though, Perry wondered if she *had* hit her head. “Are you all right, Lois?”
“Yeah, Perry,” she paused, taking another deep breath. “I’m fine. The Clark Kent that was here for the last four weeks was him. The one from that other universe.”
Perry tried to wrap his head around that concept. Lois had no reason to lie to him, and certainly no reason to make up something as unbelievable as this. An alternate universe? She *had* to be kidding, but as he looked at her face -- strained with emotion -- the look in her eyes told him that she spoke the truth. “So Clark never did come back from New Krypton?”
She shook her head and he could tell she was trying her best not to break down and cry.
“Is... Is he coming back?”
She nodded. “But I’m not sure when. Could be tomorrow, could be months from now, even a year for all I know.” Her chin started to tremble and a few lone tears escaped.
“Oh, Lois, I’m so sorry, Hon. I wish I’d known everything you were going through.”
He watched her swipe at the tears on her cheek.
“It’s okay, Perry, Clark and I became good friends. I was all right.”
“And now?”
“I’ll be fine... I think.” Lois looked down at her ring again. The poor thing. Pregnant, with her fiancé Elvis knew where, and not sure when he was coming back. And this *other* Clark… They’d become friends and she’d lost him too. But *why* had he been here in the first place?
“So this other Clark, why was he here? And how in the Sam Hill did he get here?”
“Um...”
The look on her face told Perry she didn’t think he’d believe what she was about to say. Certainly there couldn’t be anything more unbelievable than *two* flying men living universes parallel to one another, let alone the fact that there *were* parallel universes.
“H.G. Wells,” she said quietly. In fact, she’d said it so quietly that he *couldn’t* have heard her right.
“What?”
“H.G. Wells brought him here and took him back.”
“H.G. Wells? As in Herbert - George - Wells? The *dead* writer?”
“Yeah.” She glanced at him with a hopeful look in her eyes, pleading for him to believe her.
So there *was* something more inconceivable. “You *can’t* be serious, Lois.”
“Completely serious.” She sighed. “He *is* alive – well, some of the time – and he’s quite an insufferable man at that.”
Speechless. He was speechless. Never in his entire career had he been without words. Not even the appearance of Superman three years ago had rendered him speechless. “H.G. Wells,” he whispered in befuddlement.
“Yeah, I know it’s hard to believe, Perry, but it seems that H.G. Wells has taken it upon himself to be the personal protector of all things Lois and Clark. Especially Utopia.”
“Utopia?”
She smiled wryly. “Yeah, but I think that’s a story for another day.”
“Oh. All right, sure.” He was quiet for a moment, still trying to get a grip on reality. Well, he guessed it was reality. “So... why exactly did Wells bring Clark here in the first place?”
“To protect *our* Clark’s secret identity. He said it seems to have worked, but I’m not so sure it was for the best considering the situation as it stands now.” She stared over at the window for a minute before she looked back at him, almost desperately. “Oh, Perry, tell me I haven’t ruined everything. How in the world is Clark going to forgive me when he comes home?”
“Oh, Lois, Hon, I’m sure Clark won’t blame you. I assume you did what you *had* to do.”
“I know, Perry, but I meant, how in the world are Clark and I going to explain why we’re still together? And what about Superman? He’ll eventually reappear too, and what then?” She looked at him, desperate for an answer he didn’t have.
“I don’t know, Lois. I just don’t know.” He leaned back to rest against the cushions of the couch, mentally exhausted.
He was almost overwhelmed by all of this and it killed him not to be able to think of anything to help her. She was like a daughter to him and it hurt to see her in such turmoil. While he couldn’t help her with this problem, there was something he *could* do. “Lois, I want you to go back to Smallville, spend some time with Clark’s parents. Wait for him there.”
“Perry! No. I can’t do that. It wouldn’t be right to leave you, not when Clark’s gone too. Besides, I need to work. How am I supposed to afford the baby? It’s far too early to take maternity leave and I know Clark’s vacation and sick pay are all but gone.”
“Now, Lois, don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it. *Your* vacation and sick leave aren’t used up and they are fully separate from your maternity leave. Besides, I plan to keep you working, and if for some reason Clark isn’t back by the time your leave is up, *I’ll* take care of it.”
“I can’t let you do that, Perry. That’s *your* savings. *Your* retirement.”
“Exactly, they’re mine and I’ll do what I please with them. Lois, Hon, I don’t want you to worry about anything, and I don’t want you in the newsroom either.” He held his hand up to stop her protest and she quickly closed her mouth. “Not right now, Lois. You don’t need to hear all of the salacious gossip, especially considering none of it’s true… well at least according to the world. I’ll think of something. Right now, this is only an unsubstantiated rumor. I’ll find a way to take care of it.”
Lois sat quietly for a long moment, perhaps thinking of a protest, but he could see in her eyes that the fight had left her.
“Thank you, Perry. For everything.”
Her voice was meek, not the Lois Lane he knew and loved at all. That saddened him more than he could say. He wished he could do more, but most of this was out of his hands. He couldn’t make her problems go away, and he couldn’t bring Clark back any sooner.
She shifted, tucking one leg under the other, finally looking a *little* more at ease.
“I guess I should go ahead and book a ticket back to Smallville. It’ll be good for my frequent flyer miles, they’ve taken a hit lately.” She grinned in spite of the situation.
“Yeah, I guess they would have.” Perry chuckled. “By the way, I’m paying for your ticket.”
“Perry, no!”
“No arguments, Lois. I’m paying for it and that’s that.”
“But… “
“Do you want a job when you come back, or not?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Fine, have it your way.”
She smiled at him and it warmed his heart that she could despite everything that was going on. “I knew you’d see logic.”
“Sure, Perry, logic… but seriously, thank you. You’ve done so much for me now and in the past, so much more than I deserve.”
“Hey now, none of that talk. You deserve the world, Lois.”
He watched her duck her head and blush. As much as he loved this easy banter with Lois, they were quickly heading into uncomfortable territory. He didn’t do emotional, and he’d had his fair share of that today. He cleared his throat. “So let’s go ahead and pack up some of your stuff, cover the furniture, and book that plane ticket.”
***
Lois had woken up the next morning full of uncertainty. Her life was in upheaval. Everything had been stripped away from her. She didn’t have Clark -- either of them -- and now she didn’t have a job on top of that. Well, she *did* have a job, but not the one she’d come to love and depend on. Writing op-ed pieces had its perks and all, but it wasn’t the same. Still, she was grateful she wouldn’t be feeling *too* useless in the weeks to come.
He’d spent a few more hours helping her pack up her stuff and prepare the apartment for her extended absence. He’d even gone so far as to put her fish in a plastic bag with water so he could care for them at his house. She hadn’t questioned just who was running the paper while he was there. She suspected he’d needed the time with her as much as she had needed him to be there. Someday, somehow, she’d find a way to pay him back for all the love he’d shown her.
Lois was on the plane headed in the direction of Smallville now. The only direction that made sense in her life anymore. The place where she could feel close to Clark, feel the comfort of his parents’ love, and hopefully, the place he’d come home to her.
tbc...
