Hey guys - no time - gotta teach this afternoon :p .
Thanks to Kathy!
Last time
Sarah glanced at Lois and then back at Clark. "Well, um, what if you did a series of *good* stories? I mean, so much of the news is bad, what if you wrote some stories about... unsung heroes. The confirmed bachelor who took in his sister's kids when she died or the lady who still lives in the home she grew up in but it's in gang territory now and she's fighting back. Things like that."
Clark nodded slowly. "That's a great idea. Can you get me, oh, a dozen or so potential stories – just brief synopses and we'll go from there?"
Sarah nodded. "I will. Thanks."
Perry exited his office. "Jimmy! Turn that up. They're about to officially christen the space station."
Lois sighed as she sat in her chair and turned it so she could see the television nearest her.
The honeymoon was definitely over.
*~*14*~*
Clark slumped against Lois' desk.
"That was impressive," she said softly. "Stopping the space station from plummeting to Earth? I wasn't sure you'd be able to do it."
Clark rotated his shoulder several times before stretching his back. "*I* wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. That was the hardest thing I've ever done."
"So now what?"
"Now, we go to STAR Labs."
Lois grabbed her briefcase and her coat off the rack by her desk. "Who's at STAR Labs?"
"Dr. Bernie Klein." Clark helped her on with her coat. "I've known him since I was little. He and Dad went to college together. He's a cutting edge scientist. If anyone can help figure out why the space station tried to turn itself into a huge meteor, it's BK."
He took her hand as they walked towards the elevator.
Jimmy bounded up to them as they waited for the car to arrive. "CJ! My man! I heard the big news. Congratulations!"
"CJ?" Lois asked with a raised brow.
Jimmy shrugged. "I tried calling him CL but it didn't really work very well."
"I still don't know how he figured out my middle name is Jerome. At least not legally," he said with a pointed look in the younger man's direction.
"I have my sources," Jimmy replied mysteriously. "But seriously, I heard the news through the office grapevine over the weekend. Congratulations to both of you. Lois *Lane*," he tried with a bit of a far-off look on his face. "Has a nice ring to it."
"Well, I'm staying Lois Kent professionally, so..." The elevator chose that moment to arrive. "But thank you, Jimmy."
"Maybe Clark should change his name," Jimmy told them as the door started to shut. "C*K* works much better!" he finished with a shout as the doors closed in front of him.
Clark leaned back against the wall.
Lois rested a hand on his arm, a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "Just beat, that's all." He pressed a kiss against her forehead. "I'll be fine. I'm just not used to something taking that much out of me. At least it wasn't last weekend though. I didn't have my powers then." The doors opened to the parking garage.
"I'm glad you have your powers back," she told him, kissing him lightly. "Or we wouldn't have had much of a honeymoon."
He wrapped his arm around her. "If all we'd done was stay at the apartment, it would have been wonderful."
"Not Gramps' house?" she asked with a grin.
"Too many people." He held the passenger door to the Jeep for her, grinning and kissing her as she climbed in. "At the apartment, it would have been just the two of us."
"True."
An hour later, they left STAR Labs with the information that the space station would have reversed course if Superman hadn't been able to stop it. Dr. Klein had even been able to isolate where the signal to the space station had come from – with a six foot range.
They drove to the address in the suburbs, stopping in front of a house for sale.
"Looks vacant," Lois observed, walking up the porch steps.
Clark glanced in the living room by peering over his glasses. "It is," he confirmed.
Lois jiggled the door handle. "Locked."
"Let's look around." Clark led the way to the back yard. "I like this fence," he said suddenly, a hand resting on the top of the gate to let Lois in.
Lois looked around the yard. "It's nice." She hesitated. "Is this the kind of place you see us someday?"
Clark shrugged. "I don't know. I guess part of me's always figured I'd end up living Gramps' house someday but in that vague general 'someday' sense. I've never really thought too much about the in between. I mean, the apartment's fine, but not once we have kids or if we just decide we want more room."
"Kids?" Lois asked, looking at the large satellite dish dominating one side of the yard.
"Yeah." He looked over at her. "We haven't really talked about kids, have we?"
She shook her head. "No, but I always thought I'd have a couple kids. Maybe three or so, but not as far apart as me and Lucy. Mom and Dad never planned that either, you know. They had some secondary infertility issues which is why Lucy and I are so far apart. Anyway, I was glad I wasn't an only child my whole life, but I don't want to have kids eight years apart. What about you?"
Clark shrugged. "Ever since I was old enough to really understand those things, I wondered if I could even have kids. I mean..." He looked around and moved closer to her. "I'm not *from* Earth. Who knows if I can have kids? And now that I'm..." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "...Superman, *should* I have kids? I mean, I've already had to run out on you a time or two. What about when my son has his first basketball game or my daughter's first dance recital and I'm in China because of an earthquake?"
Lois wrapped her arms around his waist, reaching up to give him a soft kiss. "We'll figure it out." She looked around the yard, leaving one arm around his waist. "And this is nice. I never really saw myself raising them on the farm, but I'm glad that they'll have it to go visit with Granny and Grumps." She'd moved away from him, looking for anything unusual.
"Grumps?" Clark called from the other side of the yard where he was inspecting a tree.
Lois shrugged. "One of my cousin's kids calls my Uncle Joe 'Gramps' and Dad 'Grumps'. I'm not quite sure how it got started or why it stuck, but it has so far."
"I didn't think your dad had a bad mood setting."
"He doesn't very often. That, of course, makes it funnier to all of us but the little kids who don't get it. Dad's about the most easy going guy you'll ever meet unless someone threatens a member of his family somehow." Lois bent down to pick something up. She held it up to Clark. "Look. A down payment."
Clark took it from her, zooming in on it. "It's not money," he said, surprise in his voice. "It's a microtransmitter. The satellite is a decoy."
"Can I help you?"
They both looked up and Clark slipped the transmitter in his pocket.
Lois started walking towards the gate, eyeing the man watching them. "Oh, we were just driving by and thought this house looked so cute. We thought we'd take a look."
The man held out his hand. "Dave Miller."
Lois shook it. "Hi, Dave. I'm Lois Lane and this is my husband, Clark."
The two men shook hands, each trying to one up each other in the strength department, eyes locked. After what seemed like an eternity, they both backed off.
"Can I show you the inside?" Dave asked, leading the way to the front of the house.
"Oh, I don't think we have time now, do we, darling?" Lois hung off Clark's arm, her voice practically dripping honey.
"No, we've got to get back to the office." Clark smiled at the agent. "Do you have a card?"
Dave shook his head. "I'm actually all out at the moment."
Clark handed his card over. "Well, here's mine. Give us a call in a couple days and we'll see if we can find the time."
They climbed back into the Jeep and drove off. "That was weird."
"What was?"
He started to say something but was interrupted by his ringing cell phone. "This is Clark," he said into the phone. "Hi, Perry. What's up?" His face went white. "We're on our way."
"What is it?" Lois asked, a concerned look on her face.
"A bomb at the natural history museum." He pulled to the curb, giving her a quick kiss. "I'll see you there."
Lois nodded, getting out and heading towards the driver's side of the vehicle as Clark ran off.
Clark was speeding towards downtown Metropolis and the museum when a voice reverberated through his head.
/The test have only begun, Superman. Whether you are the one to pass them remains to be seen. Somehow, I doubt it./
*****
TBC
