Lois collapsed.

Perry felt like collapsing too.

Clark caught them both, holding each up in one arm.

"What was that?" Perry asked. He shook his right hand. It was still covered in blood, but it didn't hurt. In fact, it felt wonderful. The nagging ache in his wrist (carpal tunnel, repetitive strain injury) had disappeared as well.

"Perry, just get in the car. Let's get out of here," Clark said tightly, flicking his eyes to the curious customer at the neighboring gas pump, and then up to the video surveillance cameras. "Can you stand?"

Perry considered it. "Yes."

"Then get in the car," Clark repeated. He released Perry, and carefully placed Lois in the back seat, on the passenger side, buckling her in. As he put the bottled water in the passenger front seat, he gave Perry a chiding glance, and Perry, brought to himself, walked hurriedly to the driver's seat and settled himself in. It wasn't till he had fastened his seatbelt that he realized he hadn't had any pain from his arthritic hip – not that it was really bad, but it just let Perry know it was there, usually.

"There's a fast food place two blocks away," Clark said, taking the lead. "Just go there and park in the lot."

Perry followed directions numbly.

Once Perry pulled into an inconspicuous corner of the lot, he put the car in park, and asked again, "What was that?" He was beginning to come out of his numb surprise.

Clark didn't answer. He had unbuckled Lois, and was holding her hand. He rubbed her neck and head, with concern on his face. After a moment Lois came back to consciousness.

"Lois," Clark said. Perry could hear the fervent relief in his voice.

"Clark," she murmured, and reached to him. He held her in his arms tightly. All three of them breathed heavily for a moment.

"What just happened?" Perry asked again. It was his instinct as a newsman.

Clark sighed, like he didn't want to say what he was going to say.

"Your fingers were broken," Clark said simply. "Lois healed them."

What? thought Perry. She healed them? But that would mean….

Lois' despairing cry met Perry's thoughts. "I'm a meteor freak!"

Clark hugged her more tightly, not caring that she had burst into tears and was soaking the shoulder of his suit.

Perry flexed his bloodstained hand, looked at it in awe. Wow. But then….Lois is a meteor freak?

He looked at the sobbing woman, hunched up, and his heart broke to see confident Lois, take-no-prisoners Lois, wiped out, broken, defeated. This must have been another thing that she hadn't remembered, Perry thought. There'd been injuries galore on Lois' stakeouts and stories, and there'd never been a hint of eldritch healing abilities. Except that Lois always seems to heal faster than I expected, Perry thought. But he'd attributed it to clean living and a healthy lifestyle. Despite Perry's mockery of Lois' tofu-eating habits, he recognized them as more conducive to a long life than his own grilled steaks. But she'd never healed anyone else before.

And she was probably worried, Perry thought, as his brain slowly came back online. Every meteor freak Perry knew of had turned bad, used his or her powers in some nasty way. Often, Superman was needed. In fact, Perry thought, narrowing his eyes, maybe Superman had been cleaning up after meteor freaks behind the scenes for years before he went public. Maybe that explained all the weird stuff in Smallville.

So, no wonder Lois was worried, he thought, as he watched her sniffles slowly die away. Maybe meteor freaks went bad. But somehow he couldn't see Lois becoming a bad guy. He snorted. Obviously, her talent was to heal. Perry was certain there was some way that could be perverted – look at all the bad doctors out there – but he just couldn't imagine Lois Lane using her powers for evil.

He cleared his throat, caught their eyes reflected in the rearview mirror.

"I believe the politically correct term is 'metahuman'," Perry said. He followed it up with an encouraging smile.

"Perry?" Lois sniffled.

"Lois, honey, I know you're worried." Perry put on his best fatherly voice. "But this doesn't change who you are. You're still Lois Lane, girl reporter."

She smiled wobbily at the sarcastic eponym that they'd made so much fun of when she was hired in.

"But I'm – I'm – " she couldn't finish.

"You're who you always were," Clark interjected. "Right, Perry?"

"Right," Perry agreed.

"But meteor freaks – they're, they're – " Lois said. "I'm a walking time bomb." She said it with finality.

Clark held her close to him again. "A long time ago, you said that, Lois." He looked her straight in the eye. "And I told you I'll be your personal bomb squad." She met his gaze then. "That offer still holds." Intent seriousness in his voice.

Perry let out a covert sigh of relief.

Awkward silence filled the car. The only sound was Lois' muffled sobs, the tiny catch in her breathing.

"You know," Clark said after a moment, "I have some experience with this 'finding out you have powers' thing."

"I guess you would," Perry muttered. Lois gave another wobbly smile.

"And the first thing to do is – "

"Yes?" Lois asked.

"Get coffee," Clark said. "And talk about it." He gestured to the restaurant entrance. "Let's go in and get some coffee."

Perry looked at his bloodstained hands. Lois' hands were bloody, too.

"And wash up, too," Perry added.

The two men looked at Lois and she nodded slowly. "OK."

They got out of the car, Clark circling around quickly to aid Lois, who was still a little shaky on her feet. After a quick wash-up and stop at the counter, the three headed for the most isolated table in the room, holding their coffee closely.

Clark opened the conversation. "I was wondering when you'd remember your powers," he said quietly. "I knew it had to come sooner or later."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Lois lashed out. Behind that was the unspoken subtext, Like you didn't tell me that you were Superman.

"Would you have wanted me to?" Clark asked her seriously.

She looked away. "I guess not," Lois murmured. "Ignorance is bliss."

Clark looked somber. "I did bring up the dam," he said. "I figured that would bring it back to you. It was a big part of you, and you needed to remember it." He looked down at the table. "I'm sorry." He reached for her hand, and she pulled it away. He put his own hand back on his lap. Awkward silence again.

"So, you can heal?" Perry couldn't help asking.

Lois nodded. "It's starting to come back to me."

"Well, thanks," Perry said belatedly. He flexed his fingers. "Good as new. Actually, maybe better than new." He still hadn't felt his carpal tunnel and it never left him alone this long.

"Lois might have overdone it a little bit," Clark murmured, a tiny smile on his face.

"Overdone it?" Lois and Perry asked simultaneously.

Clark shrugged. He lowered his voice, and the other two instinctively leaned in closer. "Lois, you got pretty good about controlling your power," he said. "The first time you used it was with Cat at the dam."

"I remember it, a little," Lois said slowly.

"Cat was stabbed. She almost died," Clark said. "When I found them in the dam wreckage, Cat was totally healed, and Lois was in a coma."

Perry raised his eyebrows.

"She was in a coma for eighteen hours," Clark said. "I was afraid she was dead." A wealth of unspoken feeling in that measured statement. Clark reached over and squeezed Lois' hand. This time, she let him. "Later on, as Lois learned to use her ability, she got to where she could meter out the power, just enough to heal the injury. So that it wouldn't drain her." He smiled at Lois. "Remember the Kramer case? And Mr. Pennyworth?"

Lois looked enlightened too. "I'm remembering more about this…" she got the blank look of interior communion again.

Clark turned back to Perry. "But she wasn't metering it with you. She poured out all her talent, all her heart, to heal you." He smiled. "I guess you got the benefit – she gave you a lot extra."

Perry did a quick self-inventory. His usual aches and pains were non-existent. He drew a conclusion from what Clark had said. "That's why you collapsed," he said to Lois.

"Yeah, I guess," she replied. She looked much revived with the sit-down and the coffee.

"Does it work on you?" Perry asked Clark curiously.

"I don't know. I've never needed it." Clark sipped his coffee delicately.

Oh. Of course.