Thanks to my fantastic beta-reader LaraMoon.
This is for all of you who love Lois. Please enjoy! 
From Part 6:"But I hope you won’t let poor Lois sleep on the streets, just because the two of you had had a few difficulties.” Clark tousled his daughter’s hair, which was an adorably comforting gesture. Lois couldn’t really remember her own dad doing that, neither with her nor with her sister. “So, would you consider staying here, Lois?” Clark interrupted her thoughts.
Serendipitous Infinity
by bakasi
Part 7 “That would be great, Clark. Thank you,” Lois managed to say. She was surprised by herself. Had she honestly agreed?
“Okay, so the first problem is solved, I guess. This is a good start, don’t you think, Lois?” he asked. “What’s next upon our list?”
“Interview with the local hero!” Lois replied.
“Uhh, yeah. Not a minor problem, if you ask me. I think we should postpone finding a solution to that one for now. What else?” Clark wanted to know.
“But Clark, this is important. Perry will skin us alive if we don’t get him this interview,” Lois insisted.
“I guess, he will. We’ll get that interview, Lois. Just give it a rest now,” Clark pleaded. “What is next?” Lois sighed with frustration and thought of something else.
“Finding out who’s responsible for the arsons and how Smallville is linked to the whole thing.” Lois mentioned. She suddenly remembered that there was something Clark should probably know. “Jimmy did some research on the incident in Smallville. You already told me about that impact. It was in May, but Meadows didn’t go to Smallville before July. It looks like the Cold War had something to do with the time delays. Anyway, the local paper tried to print articles about the official visitors. It was to no avail; Meadows rushed in and out of your hometown and didn’t bother giving interviews. All the newspaper could report about was that Shuster’s field was completely dug up afterwards. None of the reporters had any clue as to what had been found in that field.”
“So whatever Meadows found, he took it with him. And that would make sense, I guess, if he was geologist. Okay, that much we know. Everything else could only be wild speculation, but I think we need to go beyond the borders of what we know to solve this mystery. Okay, let’s assume that Meadows’ mysterious project was those meteorites. But, honestly, I can’t really think of a reason for keeping those meteorites a secret for 27 years,” Clark replied and waited for Lois to answer.
She watched him closely; her brows furrowed a little while she was thinking about the problem. While she did that, Becca got up from the sofa, bored by the adult’s conversation. She strolled over to the staircase and went up to her room.
“Yeah, it would be strange. We know a bit more, though. In the early 80’s the Institute was burglarized. According to the police reports nothing vanished, but the mysterious working group fell apart afterwards. Meadows was forced to leave the Institute barely a year later. So if this is really about the meteorites, maybe they had a certain value. And I suppose that the scientists wouldn’t have told the police that the meteorites vanished when they had never publicly confirmed their existence in the first place,” Lois said thoughtfully.
“Okay!” Clark nodded. “Maybe the meteorites vanished out of their labs because somebody stole them. But why is somebody killing former employees of an institute in Metropolis? And why did these fires happen?”
“That’s the billion dollar question, Clark.” Lois sighed. “And I guess the other important question is why should those meteorites be of value if you’re not a geologist. I mean, our whole theory is based on the assumption that the meteorites were stolen.”
“Okay, I think we should pay that Institute a visit. Is there still someone working there who knew Meadows?” Clark asked, getting up from the sofa slowly. He went over to the kitchen. “I think I should start preparing supper. Would you like to eat with us, Lois?”
“Like I would say no!” she chuckled and followed him. “The director of the Institute worked with Meadows. He joined the workgroup only a few months after Meadows had returned from Smallville. His name is Hugh Danes.”
Clark nodded as he fetched a few things from his fridge. Lois watched him, amazed. He seemed rather relaxed in the kitchen, while Lois couldn’t help but feel under pressure there. She wasn’t able to have a look at more than one pot without inviting trouble. Clark used several pots at the same time and it didn’t even bother him. Soon she smelled something delicious and Lois had to admit that Clark Kent surely had his advantages.
“I still need to thank you, Lois,” he said suddenly.
“What for, Clark?” she asked and went closer to him to have a look at the result of his cooking efforts.
“For listening to me today. I know I was unfriendly and rude to you because I didn’t really want to talk about the issue. You helped me, a lot. Thank you, Lois!” He looked at her sincerely.
She noticed his honest brown eyes, the warm smile on his face. His soft lips. Why was she thinking of them again?
“I… I couldn’t really help you, Clark.” Her voice sounded hoarse for some reason.
“Sure you did, Lois. I’m glad that we became friends. I haven’t had a friend since Becca’s mom died ,” he replied. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”
For a moment Lois hoped that he would bend forward like he had done under the mistletoe a couple of days ago. She still hadn’t forgotten about the kiss. And she still was curious as to how it would feel if Clark kissed her now for real. And then her thoughts drifted to Superman that night on Clark’s balcony. She thought of how close he had been and Lois remembered his nice smile. And she had seen that strange expression on his face again, shortly before he had given her the first quote that anyone had ever gotten from Superman. *I’m here to help. That’s all I can say for now.* Why did she have this feeling that this really was everything he could possibly tell her? Somehow his expression had conveyed such an utter loneliness that it had been heart wrenching. Just when Lois had wanted to ask him about that, he had left her to save the world another time.
However, Clark didn’t try to kiss her. He raised his head instead, having this far away look on his face that he sometimes had. A rush of different feelings that Lois couldn’t really describe obviously went through him. There was insecurity and embarrassment, maybe guilt as well. His lower lips trembled briefly, before he looked at her again, blushing.
“Supper’s ready, Lois. I completely forgot about an appointment. I don’t even have a baby-sitter. Can I ask you to look after Becca?” he asked.
“Sure, Clark,” Lois replied, startled. He really was completely unable to organize his daily life.
“Thank you,” he mumbled and left her alone in the kitchen. “I’ll be back soon, Becky,” he shouted and hurried to leave the apartment.
“You’re going?” Becca replied, disbelievingly.
“I’m sorry, I have to.” His voice sounded rather guilty and then Lois heard the door shutting closed. She went into the living room and met Becca, who had just descended the stairs.
“I guess the two of us are on our own now, Becca.” Lois shrugged. She wasn’t sure whether she was comfortable with this. The girl had been asleep last time Clark had needed to go out. With Becca awake, it was completely different. “It’s not my fault he left,” Lois muttered uneasily.
“I know,” Becca sighed. She watched the door and then glanced at Lois. “I’m hungry.”
“Supper’s ready.” Lois smiled. “And your daddy prepared it, so chances are good that it’s edible.”
Becca cracked a weak smile as well. “He’s pretty good at cooking, not as good as Grandma, though.” She went over to the kitchen and Lois followed the little girl.
“Does he leave you alone once in a while?” Lois asked. She wondered what Clark would have done, hadn’t she been there.
“He never leaves me alone,” Becca replied, firmly.
She wanted to say more, to defend her daddy. But she remembered last Friday, when he *had* left her alone. The memory still made her shiver, though nothing had really happened. Her daddy was all right again. The nightmare had vanished, but it hadn’t completely left her yet. She didn’t want to show Lois that she felt uncomfortable with her father’s absence. So instead of giving Lois a hard time for implying that her daddy could do such a thing as deliberately leaving her alone, she just showed her where the plates and cutlery was. Together they set the table and Lois served the meal.
“How is school?” Lois made a new attempt at conversation. She sounded a little insecure and Becca studied her face curiously. She realized with astonishment that Lois was just as uncomfortable with the situation as she was. Neither of them had bargained to spend this evening together. Becca knew that her daddy was off to save people that were probably in danger of dying without him. And she knew that he wouldn’t have left if it hadn’t been for Lois agreeing to stay with her. He would have been sitting next to her, barely touching his own supper, trying to act as if nothing was wrong. She had figured him out; he couldn’t fool her that easily. And she would play along, knowing that he would be even sadder if she destroyed his weak camouflage. However, Becca couldn’t really be angry for being left with Lois.
“Okay,” she answered, not really sure what else to say. What was she supposed to discuss with Lois? Her daddy was the one whom she usually told about her day. Lois just nodded and remained silent. Obviously she wasn’t sure what to talk about either. They continued eating in an awkward silence. Becca wasn’t used to that. She only knew funny conversations with her father or her grandparents. All three of them could always make her laugh. Could Lois also be funny, Becca wondered? She had been on Christmas Eve, but maybe that was only because her daddy had been around.
“I suppose you don’t know long Clark will be gone?” Lois when they had finished supper.
Becca could only shrug. “He talked to you,” she replied with a hint of anger.
“He only told me he has an appointment. Do you know where he went?” Lois asked.
“It depends…” Becca stopped dead. She had been about to say that it depended on who had called him.
“Depends on what?”
Becca regretted her mistake. She had dropped a hint and that wasn’t good. “It just depends,” she repeated with a shrug. If Lois asked further she would just play the game and say it over and over again until Lois got tired of it and stopped digging. But that wasn’t necessary, Lois didn’t ask again. She just stood up and placed the dishes in the sink. When she turned around to face Becca again, she caught her yawning.
“You’re tired?” She smiled.
“No,” Becca said. She wanted to wait for her daddy to return and kiss her goodnight. She knew that he would come to her anyway as soon as he made it home, but it wouldn’t be the same. Maybe she wouldn’t be awake anymore, and he surely wouldn’t wake her up. A quick glance towards the clock told her that it already was past her usual bedtime. The discussion with Lois about their job had distracted him enough to prepare supper a little late. She couldn’t help yawning again, as if the clock had cast a spell on her, betraying her efforts to wait for her daddy. Lois saw it and chuckled.
“I wouldn’t want to go to bed either if I had a father like yours,” she said suddenly. “My dad was completely different. He never had time.” She sounded sad and lonely. Becca couldn’t really understand why that was. Lois’ obvious strength had Becca convinced that she didn’t need anyone. Maybe Becca had been wrong about that. “You like him a lot, don’t you?”
Becca nodded. “Do you want to see what I got for Christmas?” she asked excitedly and grabbed Lois’ hand to pull her towards the staircase.
Lois followed her, surprised. Together they went up the stairs to Becca’s room. When Becca switched on the light, she waited for Lois to say something.
Lois was amazed. She knew pretty well that this wasn’t Santa’s work but Clark’s. He had let her in on the secret, but hadn’t told her much about it. She had known just enough to agree on distracting the little girl so that he could prepare everything. She would never have expected that the result would be so good. The room looked really like the fulfillment of her own childhood dreams.
“Wow,” Lois exclaimed “Your room’s beautiful!”
“Isn’t it?” Becca agreed. “I almost missed it. I was so excited that I didn’t turn on the light and ran downstairs real fast. I couldn’t believe it when there was nothing under the tree.”
“Nothing?” Lois asked incredulously. “That must have been pretty tough.” She tried to imagine how she would have felt in Rebecca’s place. Most likely devastated, crying.
“I thought that it was because I had done something bad,” Becca explained. “Daddy woke up and he showed me that I was mistaken. Santa hadn’t left me out.” She smiled mischievously.
“And what kind of bad thing could you possibly have done to deserve such a thing?” Lois was incredibly curious. She wondered what kind of little sins Clark’s daughter would commit.
“I asked Santa to get rid of you,” Becca replied frankly.
to be continued...
