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What? The big blue bird! He's picking me up! No! No ground! I want down!

"OK, Elroy, I've got you. You're not going to fall, see?"

Right. Sure. The floor is a long, long way down. And.. ohh, nice scratching. Very nice. Hey! I'm back in the living room! I *was* right! You *are* the big blue bird.

"It's OK, Lois. I got him!"

Mom! Did you see that! The big blue bird saved me! Awww mom, not so tight please. I can't breathe! Hey! That's my food dish!
Dinner!

"What the ..."

Lois stood dumbfounded as a panel in the back of the closet slid open to
reveal a hidden compartment. The shirts fell from suddenly nerveless
fingers as her eyes took in the contents of the secret compartment. She
reached over and took one off its hanger. There was no doubt about it,
this was one of Superman's suits. She'd felt the cheap costume imitations
before as had she felt the real thing on many occasions. This was
definitely one of the real things. She hadn't really thought about it
before, but it made sense that Superman would have more than one suit, but
what were they doing in Clark's apartment?

She backed out of the closet and was still holding onto the suit when she
tripped over a fold in the carpet and found herself sitting on the floor.
It was a testament to how shocked Lois was that the fall didn't even rate a
response from her. She just stared at the super suit which she held in her
hands.

It took a few moments for her brain to engage and finally try to piece
together the momentous piece of information she had just uncovered. As she
saw it there were only two options, the first being that Clark was holding
Superman's suits for him. Maybe he laundered them or something. That was
the most logical answer and if Clark were standing here next to her to tell
her that, she'd most likely believe it. But Clark wasn't here, he was
missing, and Lois had heard a strange message from his mother on the
answering machine about helping out during disasters. Could it be true?
Could her farm boy partner really be Superman?

Her eyes darted after Clark and watched as he entered the abandoned alley.
Then, without warning, she heard a sonic boom.

`Only a low flying jet and a local superhero could achieve such velocity.
And, there certainly aren't any airstrips located in downtown Metropolis.
Clark heard my whispered confession from across the street. His reason for
leaving abruptly meant the difference between life and death.' The puzzle
pieces of Clark Kent's life fell right into place. `Clark Kent is Superman.
Superman is Clark Kent.'

"Lois, I want to show you something," he
said solemnly. Then, quickly and decisively, before he could
change his mind, he reached for his shirtfront and started
fumbling with his buttons.

Lois watched in confusion as he started unbuttoning his shirt
near his chest and continued to work downward. When he'd
managed to undo three or four buttons, he gently pulled apart
the fabric of his shirt to reveal what lay beneath it. When he
paused expectantly, she cocked an eyebrow at him, trying to
figure out what it was he was trying to tell her. But as she
did, she caught sight of a familiar flash of blue.

'What in the world...?' she thought, startled. Whatever it was
he was wearing beneath his shirt, it looked to be made of
shiny, blue spandex. But who wore shiny blue spandex? The only
person she'd ever seen wear such a material was....

Her eyes widened. No, it couldn't be. There had to be some
other explanation. Maybe the fabric wasn't really spandex.
Maybe it was some kind of shiny cotton undershirt he'd chosen
to wear that day, which was a weird enough thought in itself.
But at any rate, there was only one way to find out.

Tentatively, almost afraid to know the truth, she reached out
and ran her fingertips across the smooth fabric. When she did,
tears immediately sprung into her eyes.

Spandex. It was definitely spandex.

He held her gaze and spoke with careful emphasis to stem her rising hysteria. "Clark wasn't shot tonight."

She leapt to her feet and planted her fists on her hips. "Don't try to mess with my mind, buster!" she growled, her eyes flashing. "I saw it myself, remember?"

He shook his head. "You saw Barrow shoot at him. You didn't see the bullets hitting him. You didn't see any blood."

Her mouth worked silently, her eyes clinging desperately to his.

"Clark caught the bullets," he said deliberately. There. It was done. This was where she flew into a fit of rage about his deception, both tonight and for more than a year before that, and then ordered him out of her apartment for good.

She was still looking stunned. "But... but you're the only person who can do that," she quavered uncomprehendingly.

He inclined his head slightly. "That's true," he said.

Her eyes went blank as realisation dawned; then she was searching his face for confirmation. "Clark?" she said disbelievingly.

"Sometimes I hate Superman, you know. I hate the whole idea of him! If it hadn't been for him, it wouldn't have taken me so long to become Lois's friend. If it hadn't been for him, she might have given me a chance! We might be together, you know, dating, or maybe even married."

Married? Married!

"I love her so much, Mom, and it's killing me that I can't be with her the way I want to be."

Tears rolled down Lois's cheeks as she listened to Clark share his feelings with his mother. His voice was so anguished, naked and vulnerable, and his feelings so passionate and freely expressed. She was in shock. It tore at her heart to know that she had hurt him so badly. She ached knowing that her best friend was in such pain.

"I don't know what to do now, Mom. I've made Lois look like a fool and when she finds out, she'll never forgive me. She'll never believe that I screwed up this badly because I love her, and I'm jealous of myself."

Huh? Lois rewound the tape a bit to listen to this part of the conversation again. What did he mean, jealous of himself? And how had he made her look like a fool?

"I don't know, Mom. You don't know Lois like I do. I don't know how in the world I could ever tell her now. I should never have done it. She was just supposed to lose interest in Superman, but I didn't mean to make an idiot out of her. Oh, God, I wish I'd never invented Superman!"

What? He wished he'd never what?? He didn't invent Superman. He couldn't invent Superman. Superman was a person. Superman was... Superman was... a disguise. Superman was a man with insecurities. Superman was ... Clark Kent.

"I understand," Clark was saying. "But Kryptonite is the only way I know
of to be able to weaken my skin long enough for you to be able to stick a
needle in me to draw some blood. And if we don't have a blood sample of my
Kryptonian DNA, Lois may never stand a chance at getting better."

Jimmy's jaw dropped in shocked silence. Kryptonian DNA? Kryptonite
exposure the only way to weaken his skin? What was Clark talking about?
All of a sudden, Jimmy felt the world spinning out of control around him.
**Wait a minute!** he thought, his mind a jumbled mess. **Clark Kentis....?**
A second later, Jimmy shook his head, as if to shake the ridiculously
insane idea from his mind. **No, that can't be,** he deducted. He'd
known Clark for a long time, and he'd seen Superman and Clark together lots
of times. How about that time just last week when Superman had... no, wait
a minute. Clark had left an instant before Superman had showed up, saying
he felt the sudden urge for some frozen yogurt or something like that. And
he hadn't returned until after Superman had flown off.
The more that Jimmy thought about it, the more he started to realize that
Clark *always* mysteriously disappeared just seconds before Superman showed
up. And now that he was trying to remember a single time when he had seen
the two men together at the same time, he couldn't. And then it hit him
like a brick wall.

Clark Kent was Superman.

What had happened? Lois strained her ears to hear. Something clinked,
and Jonathan's voice said, "What do you mean, you 'think' you feel
better? Don't you know"

"He's never been sick before, Jonathan," Martha said. "It's a new
experience!"

Lois frowned, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. Never been
sick? Everybody got sick at some time or other!

More sounds, then Clark's voice again: "I've lifted a rocket into orbit
before. Now I can't even lift this."

What was she hearing? Was Clark crazy? No one could lift a rocket into
orbit except Superman! The thought hit her with such a shock that she
missed the next part of the conversation.

"...Bounce right back," Martha was saying.

"I don't understand," Jonathan Kent's voice said. "How can a rock that
probably came from the same planet as Clark make him sick?"

*What*? Lois couldn't believe what she was hearing. Clark was from
another planet, or his parents believed he was. That could only mean...

And then he'd started talking about being different. What
on Earth was that supposed to mean? Everyone felt different
growing up. Just because he was strong and fast and didn't
get sick as often as other kids... He should feel grateful.
Instead, he was trying to convince her that these
differences were proof of his claim that he was a virgin.
Right!

"Just get to the point, Clark," she had finally
interrupted. She wished he would just tell her where he was
tonight instead of going on about how alone he'd felt
growing up. It didn't justify his having an affair.

"Lois, I'm Superman," Clark responded.

Lois almost burst out laughing. He had just taken lying to
an all new level. Everyone knew that when you lied, you
should at least attempt to make the lie believable -
something that couldn't be disproved - but Clark... It
suddenly occurred to Lois that she had never seen Clark
without his glasses before - not even when they'd made love
earlier. When she'd tried to remove them, he'd stopped her
- making a comment about wanting to be able to see her. But
in spite of never having seen him without his glasses, he
looked... familiar somehow. In fact, he looked a lot
like... She gasped.

"You want to know where I was tonight," Clark continued
rising to his feet and making his way to the television. He
turned it on and switched the channel to LNN.

Clark was safe with her. And she was safe with him. And the world could go hang and would have to look after itself.

He had suffered enough. She was suddenly taken by wondering what he had endured in those hours when he had been...what? Dead? Frozen somewhere in between death and living? Could he remember where he had been? How it had felt?

The intriguing concept occupied her for a few moments, then she decided probably not. Such an experience would be etched on his face, she thought, as her eyes studied every inch and plane of the features in question intently. And he looked so at peace. He looked so...

She stopped in her tracks.

He looked so...

Familiar.

Not...not *Clark* familiar. Familiar in ways she had never expected to....

She found that she was trembling.

The light in the room had brightened as she'd been lost in her thoughts and she could see his features more clearly now. She had smoothed his hair back from his forehead as she'd sought to relax him back into peaceful sleep, undisturbed by whatever dreams had made him restless. Sometime during the night he had apparently taken off his glasses....

He looked...

No...

No, that was...that was impossible.

That couldn't be.

Lois eased herself clear of the arms enfolding her, as carefully as though it were a sleeping tiger she sought to escape and not a man -

/Man?/

The shaky thought interrupted as she slipped over the side of the bed and rose to her feet. She backed up slowly. What...who...was it who lay there on her bed? Man? Or...

...Superman...

Lois caught up with her aunt, realizing that Allie must have done this before. The road was dangerous here, particularly in this type of freezing rain. After they had done what they could to help the shock victims, Lois turned to look for Clark whom she saw at the far end of the trail of mangled vehicles. He had been hard to spot in his dark clothes in the black night. She walked quickly over the loose gravel of the highway shoulder to reach him.

Just as she was about to call out to him, she noticed a jeep suddenly appear around the blind curve in the road, speeding toward the pileup, no possibility of not crashing into it. And then, in the dim light of the crescent moon, she saw something incredible. In a blur, Clark moved in front of the speeding jeep as if he intended to stop it. Lois felt a scream begin to rise in the back of her throat and then it was over. Clark was standing in front of the jeep, his hand on the hood. There had been no collision. How could that be? She watched as Clark, in a fast moving blur, disappeared back into the darkness.

Lois ran toward the jeep just as Matt Thomson got out. "Are you all right?"

He looked groggy and shook his head, as if to clear it. "Yeah. Did you see what happened? I should be dead. It was all so quick. I was half asleep and I skidded on the pavement coming around the bend. The next thing I know I'm racing toward this pileup and I can't brake the car fast enough. I thought I saw a man but that can't be possible." He shook his head again and repeated his question, "Did you see what happened?"

"I'm not sure; it all happened so fast." But she was sure; she was very sure about what she had seen. She put it temporarily to the back of her mind. "You must be exhausted," she said. "You can't get back into the car in this state. Come with me. There's tea over at the emergency van."

[...]

Clark came up toward them as she left. Lois noticed the way the rain had slicked his dark hair so that it clung damply to his skull and wondered why she had never noticed his resemblance to Superman before. <It had to be the glasses> she thought in disgust. <and they were *new* ones and I still didn't notice. . . > She wanted to yell at him, to run away from him, to turn herself in for stupidity. She did none of these things; instead she controlled her feelings and said hi.

They walked with Matt back toward his jeep. Clark offered to drive him home and Matt, still shaken from his experience, accepted. Lois agreed to follow them in Allie's car. <Why, Clark? You could just fly back,> she thought angrily.

"I wouldn't do it like that," Lois said.

Without thinking, Clark turned around, startled to see someone behind him. Lois stared at him right in the eyes, took his glasses away, and had them cleaned in less then thirty seconds.

"Here you go. I don't see why you didn't let me do that earlier; that would have been easier for you," she said and Clark could see she was about to laugh. "And, by the way, Clark, you're more handsome without your glasses. Ever thought of wearing contact lenses?"

Lois didn't wait for an answer and simply turned and left, leaving a bemused Clark behind her. She hadn't seen anything. She'd just looked at him, right in the eyes, and she didn't even realize who he was! That was amazing, really.

Clark was starting to get angry with himself. He had been so stupid! The whole day, he had endured being half blinded by that blot on his glasses, just because he thought Lois would recognize him at the first glimpse she had of him without his glasses. He'd felt so embarrassed just now. He was wondering how he could have been such an idiot. The only thing that cheered him up was that at least his glasses were clean. What a fool he was.

At the other end of the room, Lois returned to her desk with a big grin on her face. This had been a perfect day for her. Seeing Clark fighting all day against his glasses, trying to find a place where he could be alone to take them off. And she had made sure he would never succeed. Oh yeah, she was having far too much fun with this. If only Clark knew. If only he knew that she had found out about his secret identity almost one week ago...

And even though it had been almost a year, she'd never forgotten the shock of seeing Superman writhing on the floor, grimacing in
pain...much like Clark was now.

Something clicked in Lois' head, and her mouth opened in shocked silence. It couldn't be! Kryptonite was supposed to be harmless to
humans. If this was the reason Clark was suddenly so sick, that could only mean....

Her face went white. Turning to look once again at Clark's grimacing form, it was like watching the events in Lex Luthor's penthouse all
over again. Except this time it was Clark writhing on the ground.

Her mind started to whirl frantically, searching for a solution to the questions suddenly forming in her mind. Could it be? Clark?
And Superman? Were they...could they be...?

As her foggy, panicked mind struggled to reason, Clark lifted his head off the floor just enough to see what she was doing. The
instant he saw the glowing, green rock in her hand, it all made sense. No wonder he hadn't been getting any better!

"Your glasses are all wet."

Clark laughed. "I tell you you're beautiful and all you can think of to say is that my glasses are wet?"

"I think they're clouding your vision."

"I've never seen anything more clearly in my life. And..."

Thunder blotted out whatever else he had to say.

Lois clapped her hands over her ears, startled by the loud noise. She heard Clark laugh, and felt rather than saw him wrap his jacket back around her and grab one of her hands. She followed him as they ran towards a nearby building, laughing with him and at his tie flapping in the breeze of his own creation.

When they made it to cover, they stood there, holding hands and laughing.

"See," Clark managed to get out. "Even storms are more fun with you."

Lois laughed even harder until she saw something that made her stop. She heard her own sharp intake of breath, not believing what she was seeing.

There under Clark's white shirt, where his tie would have been had it not been wrapped around his neck, now soaking wet and clinging to his body, was the Superman emblem.

She reached out, her eyes full of fear and surprise. She started to unbutton his shirt, the next to top button, but was stopped by a large hand on hers.

Another hand lifted her chin. When she met Clark's eyes, she saw her own emotions mirrored there.

"Lois, we need to talk."

A noise from somewhere behind her caught her attention; she dropped the book and whirled around, searching for its source. Behind her, there was only the kitchen, though, and the arch leading into Clark's bedroom; there was no way that he could have got in there without her seeing him. Puzzled, she got to her feet.

At the same time, a figure emerged from the bedroom. Lois stopped and stared in shock...

In front of her, apparently not having noticed her, was Superman! He'd stripped off the top part of his costume, causing her stomach to do flip-flops, and he carried the blue fabric - and some red fabric, which had to be his cape - in one hand. With the other hand, he was rumpling his hair, which was another surprise for Lois; she'd never seen Superman with his hair any other way apart from slicked back.

What was Superman doing at Clark's apartment? And, what was more, why was he walking around as if he was very much at home there? Coming out of Clark's *bedroom*?

An involuntary gasp escaped her, and Superman swung around, seeing her for the first time. And when she saw his face in full rather than in profile, she realised that, with his hair ruffled, he looked very familiar. Too familiar, especially with the shocked expression he now wore. An expression very similar to the one he'd worn only a little under an hour ago... when he'd broken their kiss in her apartment.

"*Clark*?" Lois exclaimed in appalled disbelief.

"Maybe I should go with you to make sure you get home all right," Clark suggested, his usual concern for her resurfacing.

"Oh, don't worry Clark. I'll be fine." She paused long enough to smile at him. "But it looks like you could use somebody to look after you."

Clark looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it appears your mom never taught you how to correctly dress yourself." It was all Lois could do to keep from laughing out loud as Clark quickly looked down at his clothing with a very confused expression on his face, then back up at her.

Oh, this is *too* much fun, she thought to herself as she studied the baffled look on his face. Finally she decided to let him off the hook. She gave his chest a couple of quick pats and grinned like the cat that has just caught the mouse.

"Your shirt's on backwards," she told him, pausing for emphasis. "Superman."