The interview with the congressman went smoothly on paper. Answers clean. Smile practiced. Not a single line worth pushing back on, except for the way his foot kept tapping beneath the table, restless and irregular.
Lois noticed it immediately.
She asked a follow-up, casual enough to sound like curiosity. The answer came too fast. Too polished. Clark caught her eye. She gave the smallest nod.
He knew what she was telling him.
Look deeper.
Clark adjusted his glasses and leaned back, listening with half his attention while his senses moved outward. Behind the wall, a faint hum. A second office, sealed tighter than necessary. Documents stashed where no one would think to check.
Lois shifted the conversation, keeping the congressman talking while Clark catalogued what he found. By the time they stood to leave, she already knew they had a story.
Outside, Clark let out a quiet breath. “You felt it.”
“I did,” she said. “Something didn’t line up.”
***
That evening, back home, Martha lay between them on the couch, half-asleep and warm. Lois reached for the fifteenth advent bag.
Clark opened it and drew out the figurine: a second shepherd, carved mid-turn, as if responding to a sound only he could hear.
Lois unfolded the paper and read:
She learned early to trust what she felt before she could prove it. Not paranoia. Not suspicion. A quiet certainty that something was wrong, or that something mattered. That instinct led her through locked doors and closed mouths.
It told her when someone was lying, when a story ran deeper than the surface, when to push and when to wait. It led her to uncover truths others wanted buried.
And one day, it led her to him, to a man who seemed too good, too selfless, too impossibly kind. To the man who lies to protect
Her instinct told her there was more to the story. She was right. And she stayed.
Clark studied the shepherd for a long moment.
He reached for her hand. “You hear things most people miss.”
Lois smiled slightly. “And you know when to listen.”
They placed the shepherd with the others. Another watcher. Another guide.
Martha stirred between them, and Clark adjusted the blanket over her. The three of them stayed there a while longer, quiet and together.
