I absolutely loathe 'baby' as an 'endearment' - she's an adult, not an infant! - so I hate to see that used in fanfic. It jerks me right out of the story and leaves me recoiling
Heh, normally, in any other fandom I'd completely agree with you. X-Files? Ew. Stargate? Vomit. L&C? Aw, it's kinda cute when they're getting all sexy. Kind of like a marker for when Clark is past all the niceties and is now fully focused on the sex at hand to the exclusion of all other things. In any other L&C settings, the bullpen, governor's ball, press conference, etc, it would be jarring/condecending. I just like seeing the endearment in bedroom scenes.
