"Lois?" Clark continued his walk through the darkness, calling out for his beloved wife. He cautiously approached the water’s edge that lay before him. As he closed in nearer, flames began to rise up out of the water. He was pulled back suddenly before the flames could reach him. "Lois?" he asked, feeling a cold hand on each of his shoulders. He quickly turned around, but it wasn’t Lois that he found.

"She's one of them..." the taller of the two men began.

“You're *not* one of *them*," the younger one finished for him.

Out of nowhere, Lois finally emerged from behind the brothers. She took her time in crossing over to him, folding her arms across her chest, looking him over critically. "Clark...do you really think you belong here?"

Clark awoke with a start, still feeling the icy hold the two men had on him as they turned him around to deliver their message. The memory from his ill-fated appointment with Dr. Klein had been framing his thoughts for the past few weeks. Sitting up in bed, he gently trailed the back of his hand alongside his sleeping wife's cheek. For the first time since they'd been married, he was glad she was growing accustomed to his evening departures; his sudden jolt from his dream thankfully hadn't startled her.

Clark placed his head in his hands, letting out a deep sigh. <What am I doing? This feeling...this emptiness. Loss...> as Lois had called it upon being told Dr. Klein's findings. <But her father is still working,> he'd reason to himself, though it rarely alleviated his guilt. <He found an error...he may find...something...>

Oftentimes, he would stay up just to watch her sleep, allowing his mind to drift, so many wonderful images flooding his mind...the first time he saw her; their first kiss; their wedding. As he would finally lay his head down on the pillows beside his sleeping wife, he would see before him one final image that he now knew he would never be able to grant her- a small child laughing, running towards Lois on a sunlit beach. Clark pulled himself to his feet, walking out of their bedroom and quietly making his way downstairs.

“What are you doing up, Clark?” Sam was standing at the stainless steel counter in the kitchen when his son-in-law walked in. Taking a sip from his mug of tea, he gave him a questioning stare. “Everything alright? Late-night emergency?”

"No, nothing like that. I'm fine, Sam." Clark walked by him, running a hand through his hair as he let out another sigh. “What are you doing up anyway?”

“Just a lil’ thirsty,” he lifted his mug, offering him some. Clark waved a hand at it, instead favoring a glass of water. “You know, you've seemed kind of run down these past few days. You sure everything’s alright?”

"I just haven’t been sleeping well. I didn't want to wake Lois."

"That's one thing I learned over the years- do not try to wake either one of my girls unless you want to lose a limb in the process." The two men laughed softly at the shared observation, taking a seat next to one another at the center counter. "I used to say to Ellen, I feel sorry for their husbands if they ever dared trying to get them up. At least now I know I don't have to worry about you suffering from any consequences." Sam turned to look at Clark, placing his hand on his shoulder. "I’m glad she finally found someone like you to take care of her," he said thoughtfully. "Even before I knew that you were Superman, I always knew you were that 'super man' to look after my little girl. And if there was ever one that needed looking after," he laughed, "it's that one."

"I know," Clark replied with a smile. "Tenacious, isn’t she? That’s one of the things that I love most about her."

"Same here, son."

**************************************************************************************
The hot, rushing jets of water were working beautifully to relax Clark the next morning. He hadn't slept more than a few timely minutes the night before. Having already heard Lois try to sneak out of bed to start getting dressed for work without disturbing him earlier, he'd hoped that a nice shower would revive him.

As she made her way downstairs, Lucy could faintly hear the water running from the master bathroom, but aside from that, it sounded to her as though she were the only other one awake and about in the house. The first thing she noticed as she turned on the downstairs lights was the kitchen counter, a few glasses and plates of food resting on top of it. "Lois must be trying her hand at cooking again," she mused to herself, "because I know mom's pancakes are never that black."

With one towel wrapped around his waist, another overtop of his head, somewhat blocking his vision, Clark made his descent to the kitchen. Instinctively, he moved towards the seated figure, wrapping an arm around her waist, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. "Good morning..."

"Uh...yeah...you- you too, Clark," Lucy stammered out, flinching back just as much as Clark did once he realized it wasn't his wife he had embraced.

"Lucy? Oh- sorry. Sorry about that."

"No biggie," she tried hiding her blush, shyly pulling a strand of hair behind her ear. "Umm...ya hungry?"

Eyeing the slightly crisp discs that had yet to be touched on her plate, Clark had to suppress a grin. "Help yourself. Just let me run upstairs and throw on some clothes."

"Yeah- clothes are always a plus," she giggled nervously, trying to keep herself from staring.

After a few minutes, Lois emerged through the swinging kitchen door, her briefcase in one hand, an empty serving tray in the other. "Luce- you're up early."

"Just enjoying some of your *fine* cuisine," she couldn't help but tease her big sister, and decided to take it a step further. "And making out with your husband."

"Well if you're not a fan of my pancakes, I'm sure mom and dad would love more. I just brought them breakfast in bed." She continued the run-through of her morning as she set about the kitchen to start cleaning up, the realization of her sister's ending comment not yet dawning on her. "They've been getting along so well lately, and I figure we might as well do anything we could to...wait a minute..." Turning back around from the sink, she passed her little sister a confused stare.

Her husband's soft chuckle from the doorway, immediately accompanied by Lucy's own burst of laughter quickly answered her pending question. "I had just gotten out of the shower and I had a towel over my head. I thought she was you," he smiled, capturing her lips in a kiss.

"Morning everyone," Ellen's unusually chipper voice was soon followed by Sam's as they entered the kitchen. After embracing each of her daughters in a quick hug, as well as giving a surprised Clark a kiss on the cheek, she walked over to the kitchen counter, snatching an orange from the bowl of fruit.

"Somebody's in a good mood," Lois passed her a gentle smirk.

"Especially on a Monday," Clark added. He paused over the mail lying beside the porcelain bowl, idly sorting through the stack until reaching the bottom of the pile. "What's your secret, Ellen?"

"Just looking forward to the week," she smiled back brightly. "And to today. Your father is taking Lucy and I shopping-"

"He is?" her youngest daughter asked, looking over to him with an inquisitive stare.

"And you two should be getting to work." Lacing arms with both of them on either side of her, she gently steered them towards the front door. "Don't worry about your parents, Clark. We'll be back in time to welcome them."

"But-"

"And then we're all going out to dinner. Sound good?"

"Sure, but-"

"Good!" She opened the door, flashing them a final beaming smile before closing it. "Have a great day at work!"

"She's up to something," Lois shook her head, wrangling her keys out from her bag.

"Let's hope for the best," Clark agreed. With a thoughtful smile spreading across his face, he hopped in the jeep alongside her as they headed to the Planet.