-1Title: Fait Accompli - Chapter Two: Minor Complications
Author: brdwaybebe
Spoilers: SII and then it goes AU ... WAY AU.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,526 words
Notes: Thanks again to my magnificent beta, Saavikam. My goal is to make her proud through the lessening of my typos...and the improving of my science knowledge! *hugs her*

THANK you all so much for the incredible reviews! The new "policy" of sending the next chapter to the most helpful/insightful reviewer was a rousing success as the feedback actually enriched some of the plot points I was unsure about. I can't tell you how much what you say helps! Even a short review seems to trigger something with the muse! So this week my thanks to QuiltingDiva who has been a constant source of encouragement through out this process!

I'm going to continue sending out advanced previews to the most helpful/insightful reviews based on what I said above. You guys really as amazing and I want to say thanks in the only way I know how

Ok enough yammering from me! To the chappie!

-----------------------------------------------

Fait Accompli – Chapter 2

Come on!

Lois glared at the back of the cab driver's head, hoping the daggers she was hurling at him would either inspire him to drive faster or cause his product-covered greasy hair to burst into flame. At this point she found both options equally appealing.

She shifted uncomfortably on the faded green vinyl of the back seat, which reeked of cigarette smoke and very old, very cheap perfume. Her face was flushed with heat and perspiration beaded on her forehead and upper lip despite the chill of autumn. Lois pulled at the neckline of her sweater, drawing it away from her body, allowing the cool air from the cracked window to flow over her fevered skin.

A shaking hand lay protectively across her swollen belly. Her fingers ran lightly back and forth in an attempt to calm, herself or the baby, she wasn't sure.

"Turn here," she hissed through gritted teeth, bracing herself for the dilapidated terrain of the side-street and subsequent alley.

The drive must have taken a clue from her tense expression and uncomfortable posture, and he eased the cab slowly over the pavement that was more pot hole than cement at this point. With an uncertain glance, he rolled the cab to a halt.

"Are you sure this is it lady?"

Lois handed him the fare, along with a tip. She nodded and favored him with a small smile. She cracked open the door of the cab and stepped a fashionable set of flats onto the damp ground. Mindful of her audience, she rose from the car as gracefully as possible, her face set into a casual mask as if it was the most common thing in the world for a woman in her sixth month of pregnancy to be dropped off in a remote back lot.

After a moment of acceptable hesitance, the cab driver put the car in reverse and pulled the vehicle from the alley, leaving her alone at her destination.

Despite the condition of the buildings around it, the cement face of the modest building was a fresh, clean white belying the routine care it received. Lois proceeded across the expanse of smooth new pavement to a chain-link fence.

A soft shuffling sound rose from the shadows as a man stepped into the light toward her.

Lois gasped. Her expression changed from one of surprise to impatience as she recognized the identity her companion.

"What do you think you're doing, Emil?!? I may be pregnant, but I can still drop you like a stone!"

Dr. Hamilton stepped more fully into the light and ran a hand over his thinning silver hair and offered her an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, Miss Lane…"

She shook her head. "I told you to stop with the whole cloak and dagger routine, anyway. This whole thing is clandestine enough without you lurking around in the shadows." Her hand cut through the air as she gestured. "And for goodness sakes, I'd say we know each other well enough now for you to call me Lois."

"Alright…Lois."

Dr. Hamilton smiled sheepishly and produced a small key card. He stepped over to the fence and ran it over a small white box. There were a series of beeps and the cover slid open. Emil typed a few numbers into the keypad and pressed his thumb down on a black screen. More beeping was heard followed by the weighty thunk of the fence locks releasing. He beckoned for her to follow him before shoving his hands into the pockets of his suit coat.

Lois would rather have traded the shadows of the dark alley for the well-lit, albeit sterile environment of the front lobby. But her circumstance required discretion and she doubted her ever increasing volume of visits to S.T.A.R. Labs would go unnoticed for long.

She followed him down the long twisting corridors. They were familiar to her now, so she would have had no trouble finding her own way to the small makeshift medical facility hidden beneath the main lab, but she suspected Emil enjoyed the excitement of the situation more than he cared to admit.

Six months ago she had never expected to be here. When Lois had discovered she was pregnant, she wasn't sure where else to turn. Given the extraordinary circumstances of the baby's conception, she didn't want to risk sharing this most precious of secrets with some faceless doctor at Metropolis General. Lois had spent enough time there poking around for leads on a story to know how easily word got out for the right price.

And Dr. Hamilton had proven to be an incredible confidante. The closed-mouthedness that had infuriated her as a reporter, was her greatest comfort as a patient.

In the early stages of the pregnancy, Emil had been a voice of gentle truth. He rejoiced with her in the news, but cautioned her of chances that her body would accept and nurture a child whose DNA was of such vastly different origins.

Clearly he'd misjudged the determination of Lois Lane.

The pregnancy had been no walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination, but Lois had ignored Dr. Hamilton's words of caution and let her joy over carrying Clark's child run rampant.

Having never been with child, Lois had nothing to compare the symptoms to. She found the nightmares that had plagued her in the first months of her pregnancy to be completely unfounded. To this day her stomach had yet to pulse with ethereal light and she remained unharmed by the power of tiny super-powered feet.

Together she and Dr. Hamilton had thus far successfully navigated this untraveled terrain with minimal anomalies or pain. The regiment of nutrient-rich foods and various high concentrated vitamin packs, along with frequent sunbaths had nourished the possibility of a miracle into reality while simultaneously giving her the best tan she'd had since she was in college.

There had been no complications.

Until now.

Lois' bravado escaped with her breath as a wave of pain rocked through her. She let out a strangled cry and Emil was at her side in an instant. His alarmed face blurred in and out of focus momentarily before his arms wrapped around her and the compelling call of unconsciousness overwhelmed her.

*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*

His fingers shook as they flew across the keys of the console. He set the scan into motion once again, unable to absorb the findings based upon earlier reports.

No matter the number of scans, the results remained the same.

"External scan results; positive. Life Located."

His weary body found its second wind as he watched with rapt attention the visual trajectories that flitted across the monitor. Tiny pinpoints of light danced back and forth as the console gathered and then lifted into a three-dimensional translucent image that slowly began to rotate before his eyes.

A jagged expanse of land rose into view, bobbing somewhat precariously in his field of vision. The mass was not entirely what he'd expected. It was nowhere near spherical in shape; instead it appeared to be an exceedingly large fragment of a whole. The haphazard constitution lacked any kind of symmetry and suggested at a violent rending in the it's past.

With a few more keystrokes he set another scan into motion.

Scanning...

His eyes forged themselves to the screen as he awaited the results. In a moment's time the answers came.

"External scan is complete. Elements located; Boradium. Aurum. Kryptium. Cuprum. Arrgentum. Ferrum. Location Gravitational Pull 45.1 m/s2. Current Gravitational Acceleration 11.8 m/s2."

Location analysis result: Koron. Location Analysis result. Krypton.

His eyes widened as his thunderstruck gaze lifted to the window as if somehow the answers to his questions would appear.

Krypton? Impossible. This isn't even close to where the planet was originally located… His eyes fell to the three dimensional projection, taking in the size and shape of the land mass. A cold, heavy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. If the planet had exploded as he'd supposed… Perhaps this is all that's left… he hypothesized darkly.

He slid his hand along the control panel, driving the ship forward, faster, closer.

The reports… it seemed impossible that life had been located. And yet… His heart tentatively fluttered in his chest as he leaned forward. In the inky blackness of space the feeble searchlight of the ship was unable to penetrate more than a few feet. He ached for the power once lent to him by the yellow sun as he once again bid the ship accelerate. According to the sensors, the remnant was comparatively not far off in the distance. A taunting voice nagged at him from the back of his mind… Just because there is 'life' doesn't mean your people survived. You may have come all this way to find a rare species of shellfish.

He shook his head slightly, raising his shoulders against the onset of doubt. If there is even a chance… he mused. I have to take it… The ship roared to life around him as he bid it to lurch more forcefully into the unknown darkness.

"Gravitational Acceleration 22.4 m/s2."

There was a small thud on the nose of the ship as a small piece of space debris bounced off the crystalline surface. The sound was followed by several more with varying degrees of intensity. He trained his vision on the area ahead, his hands moving without thought across the keypads.

The monotone voice of the computer droned on; "Gravitational Acceleration 28.6 m/s2. Barrier ahead. Evasive maneuvers required."

He wrapped his hands tightly around the controls. Commanding a ship, he found, was an entirely different experience than flying under his own power.
The mechanics of his home planet, however natural, were not as organic as relying on his own body to navigate him through obstacles. And with the yellow sun a distant memory, he would have to rely on crystal rather than invulnerability to protect him. Jaw set, he struggled to apply the maneuvers that years of flight experience had taught him, concentrating on making the ship an extension of his body.

"Gravitational Acceleration 35.3 m/s2. Warning. Balances overridden."

The ship continued to pick up speed. The bits of rock had begun to rain on the uneven surface of the small craft. He cast a focused eye down to the sensor display. A large grouping of asteroids was hurtling through the emptiness of space toward his vessel.

And the size of the debris seemed to be growing.

A thin trickle of sweat slid from his hairline down the side of his face as he struggled to avoid the worst of the boulders that were now raining on the ship.

The console lit up, flashing a warm amber color. Danger. Impact imminent. Evasive maneuvers required.

In the center of his view, an asteroid the size of a small car bore down on him like a charging bull. He wrenched the controls to the left, hurling the ship off course and out of harm's way. The hulking rock roared past the main body of the ship, its bulk striking one of the long opaque spines extending from the hull. The impact tore the extension from the ship and sent the craft in to a violent spin.

"Impact. Impact. Impact. Organic repair employed. Energy reserves activated. Life support charge at 17%."

The ship groaned as the organic material that comprised the ship struggled to repair the damage caused by the collision. The stars in the distance whipped past the window as the ship rotated chaotically. His body was thrown across the main chamber, his limbs flailing like a rag doll until his head cracked violently against the inner wall. His head exploded with pain as survival instinct caused him to wrap his arms around the solid foundation of the control panel, hanging on for dear life.

A low rumbling shook the floor around him as the ship repaired itself enough to offset the out of control rotation.

The muscles in his arms shuddered with the force of his exertion before they finally gave way entirely, sending him sliding gently across the floor as the ship came to a stop. He lay there in stunned, exhausted silence, his breath wheezing as his chest rose and fell in desperate gasps for air. His heartbeat thundered through his pain-wracked skull and though the craft had ceased its lawless spiraling, the chamber around him continued to swim before his eyes.

A distant bellowing gained volume as he raised his throbbing head in time to see a large asteroid whistle past the nose of the ship, its vaguely clear surface glowing with a strange green hue.

His heart froze in his chest in a reflexive reaction. Kryptonite.

When planning this journey he had theorized that the substance without the addition of the yellow sun would be as harmless to him as it was a human. However, theorizing and applying were two very different things.

He braced himself for the oncoming assault to his senses that always accompanied the presence of his native mineral. This time however, the expected agony did not come. He exhaled, his breath escaping in a whoosh of relief.

His relief was short lived as there was a loud screeching followed by the rumble of a small explosion. The healthy thrum of working machinery was suddenly replaced by an eerie and all-consuming silence. He dragged himself to his feet, leaning heavily against the controls as the console graduated from a dark shade of amber to an angry crimson. A warning message flashed across the screen.

"Danger. Gravitational Acceleration 41.4 m/s2. Thrust rockets failed. Emergency landing sequence initiated."

Beyond the main viewing panel the first of the ship's spines began to burn brightly before darkening to a sickly brown and curling toward the main body. The vessel hurled fast and faster through space, drawn by a tremendous gravitational pull toward the mysterious landmass its course had been set for.

Below him, he could barely make out the beginning of the scabrous remnant of rapidly approaching terrain.

He pushed off the main console and launched himself across the room, seeking the safety of the stasis chamber.

As he sealed the stasis chamber, his thoughts wondered back to the woman who held his heart. Lois arrayed in azure material that floated about her in an ethereal cloud as they soared through the sky. The sleeves flowing behind her like wings, lending credence to his belief that she was no mere human, but an angel specially crafted to fill the yawning loneliness of his heart. Her eyes outshining the stars as they gazed with wonder into his, the blush of her cheek inviting his touch. His chest tightened at the memory of her lips, her smile, the feeling of her fingers intertwining with his. His heart splintered with sorrow at the thought of never seeing her again.

Oh, Lois. I love you. I'm sorry.

His arms throbbed with longing as he folded them around his legs, assuming a crash position. Her face remained ever-present in his mind's eye as he braced himself for impact.