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Lois sat in the corner of the bay window in her bedroom looking out across the city, where the Christmas lights on the other houses twinkled a rainbow of colours. As Lois shifted positions slightly, she heard the old wood creak beneath her. She then heard Lucy roll over and wake up from the sound.

"What are you doing?" she asked, half asleep.

"I'm just thinking," Lois started.

"Oh ... "

Lois turned back toward the window. "I'm just thinking of all the people in the world who are celebrating a lovely Christmas this year. I mean, I know there are people who *aren't* having a merry Christmas, and I don't want to sound
selfish, but I never thought I'd be one of them ... " Lois turned back to look at her sister, only to find her out like a light. Lois smiled, and then yawned as she realized how
late it was.

Lois slowly slid off the bay window, making sure not to make the wood creak, and headed back to her bed. As she settled underneath the covers, though, she thought she heard something. A voice. "Don't worry. Things'll work out ... "
it said.

"Lucy?" she whispered, "did you say something?" But Lucy was still asleep. Lois was too tired to think of it as anything but her imagination, so she ignored it, although not completely, because that night she slept easier than she had in the past two nights.

"Okay. Did you and Lex... were you lovers? Because something you said in the restaurant..."

"Oh, Clark, no! I'd never... not with Lex! That would be kind of sick, you know? I can't believe you thought that! I've only been with a couple guys. Claude, a couple in high school, one or two in college." She paused for a second. "What about you?"

"No, I never slept with Lex either. He's not my type."

"Is it true?" she asked in a fierce whisper.

"Is what true, honey?"

Lois jumped up from the coach and pointed the clutched super suit at the
two elder Kents. "Don't patronize me here! You have no idea what's
happened." Since all she seemed to be getting from them were blank stares
she pushed on. "Okay, " Lois sniffed, took a deep breath, and fought to
regain enough control to get through the next few minutes, "let me ask
you this. Can you tell me where Clark is?"

Martha snuck a quick look at Jonathan and saw that he was going to leave
this up to her. Thanks a lot, she thought to herself. Martha wasn't sure
what Lois knew or what she thought she knew but Martha was sure that she
was going to have to tread carefully until she found out.

"No, dear, we were hoping to catch him at home."

Lois wiped ineffectually at her face with the back of one hand. "Okay."
She took another deep breath to steady herself. "Have you heard from him
in say, the last 36 hours?"

Martha looked over at Jonathan again but he just shrugged. "No, Lois, we
haven't, but that's not that unusual. He's probably just tracking down
some story or something."

Lois was beginning to regain a small measure of her composure. It was a
thin excuse, Lois knew that the Kents would be aware of the Planet's
previous destruction and that Clark wasn't even employed at present. She
was more certain than ever now and she dreaded what she was going to have
to do next. If Clark was indeed Superman, then what she had to say was
going to hurt these two very dear people very much. It had to be done, she
had to know for sure. Lois carefully set the super suit down on a nearby
chair and went over and knelt in front of Martha, taking one of her hands
into her own.

Martha could tell that a critical moment was about to happen so she reached
up with her free hand and guided Jonathan down next to her on the couch.
It tore at Martha to see Lois so distraught. Even though she'd only met
Lois a couple times, she had seen the qualities in her that Clark had come
to love and value so much. Martha, in her own way, already considered Lois
like a daughter and hoped that she and Clark could get past this latest
Luthor horror and be together the way she knew they were meant to be.
Martha gave Jonathan's hand a squeeze and turned her attention fully toward
Lois.

Lois seemed to hesitate, as if gathering courage. "Martha, Jonathan, I'm
sure you've seen the news reports about what happened with Lex." Lois
barely acknowledged the Kents' nods before continuing. "Needless to say
I'm not, nor was I ever married to Lex Luthor." Lois almost smiled at
Martha's look of relief. It was nice to know they cared enough about her
to be glad she hadn't made that mistake. "That's not important though,
what *is* important is what wasn't reported in the news media. You see
after Lex's body had been taken away, the police in their searches came
across something." Lois' voice faltered for a moment but she took another
shuddering deep breath and continued. "Down in the basement of Lex Tower,
in Lex's private wine cellar, they found a Kryptonite cage." Lois faltered
again as she recognized the fear that began to show on the faces of the
Kents. Lois gave Martha's hand a squeeze. "Inside that cage, they
found ... Superman."

Clark heard the truck engine rev on the access road. The semi was coming to the intersection of the Topeka side road and the Lawrence road and Clark could see the driver slumped over the steering wheel. Clark wondered why the man was like that. Then, in a kaleidoscope of images, he *knew* why. The driver was unconscious! The truck was not going to stop! Mom and Dad had the right of way--they wouldn't be stopping! The truck and the car were going to *collide*!

Clark started to run. He had to get there...he *had* to! His breath was coming in sobs. He ran faster and faster. He ran as fast as he could, but before he got to the intersection he saw the semi hit the car. There was the sound of metal meeting metal. The car flipped and rolled over and over, finally sliding into the ditch upside-down. Then, there was silence--except for the creak of metal collapsing and the faint echo of a bird cawing in the distance.

The front of the truck was smashed in and the driver's head had cracked the windshield. The man wasn't moving. Clark could see Mom and Dad hanging from their seat belts in the overturned car. They weren't moving, either.

He tried to keep running, but for some reason his legs would not obey him anymore. He stumbled and fell, his mouth silently screaming "Mommy!"