Clark held tightly to Jason's hand as they waited to cross the road. It was quarter to nine in the morning and they were hurrying to get the child to school on time. Richard had followed through on the plans he had made that morning and had made an appointment with the doctors again to try and get a referral for Lois; he had gone to see her as soon as they had all finished their waffles.

As they crossed over and headed into the school, Clark looked down at Jason. He couldn't quite believe how completely he loved the boy. He was a bright, cheerful child; it surprised him how confident Jason had been when Richard had told his son that he was going to try and get mommy to go to the hospital.

"You can do it." The child had replied. "You can do anything."

Clark had metaphorically melted at those words; such a strong belief in his dad. At least these events had not taken away all the innocence of Jason's childhood. Richard had laughed; a weak, brittle sound and then he had held his boy close for a long hug.

Richard then trusted Clark to get his son safely though the Monday morning traffic and into school.

"Good morning, Miss Balantine." Called out Jason as he hung his coat on a peg with a picture of a fish above it.

"Good morning, Jason." Replied a middle aged woman, warmly. "Go put your name by your picture."

Clark smiled as he watched the child pluck a laminated card with 'Jason White' printed on it and walk over to a white board with numerous different pictures on; he pressed the card onto the Velcro beside the picture of a fish.

"Bye bye, Clark. I finish school after ten past three, if Daddy isn't back from the hospital by then."

"Ok, buddy. One of us will be here." He pressed a kiss into the boy's hair, before the child ran out to play with some wooden building blocks.

"Is Richard in hospital?" Asked the teacher, concern showing in her brown eyes.

"His mom is, hopefully."

"Lois? What's the matter?"

"She hit her head a few weeks ago; Richard is worried it's affected her behaviour." That was all he felt comfortable telling her; kind as the woman was she was not a close friend.

"I hope she feels better soon."

Clark nodded and left. He had to go to work now, but he needed to talk to Perry once he got there.

Richard was sat in the waiting room at the doctors, Lois at his side. She had only agreed to come because he had threatened to call the police and have Jason completely taken away from her if she didn't do something.

He had tried to explain to the woman that their son was frightened of her; that he did not want them to go home. Jason had whispered into his ear that morning that Superman would keep Richard safe; it had broken Richard's heart to hear that the boy wanted to get the hero to look after his father; that he was so anxious about Lois that he thought it was the best solution.

Telling the beautiful woman that her own child was scared of her had helped get her here. She mostly wanted to live with Jason at her side in a loving home. The problem came with the fact that she wanted Superman there, not Richard.

They had already sat through the consultation and were now waiting for the doctor to print out her referral for them; they were going to the psychiatric ward in the local hospital. Lois was still sat scribbling away in her notepad the main points of the article she had been writing; Richard hadn't the heart to tell her it would likely not be printed anymore.

She kept writing and Richard stared blankly at the posters about getting flu jabs that covered the wall in front of him. He'd need to take her back to the house and pack a bag; clean clothes, including underwear, smart clothes (because Lois didn't like to wear anything else), lazy day clothes and night wear. She would need a wash bag, with toothbrush, toothpaste, shower gel, a sponge, shampoo and conditioner. She wasn't permitted a razor. She would need a hair brush. Her phone and her charger. He would have to ask if she was allowed a laptop.

He tried to imagine what Lois would do if she wasn't busy writing articles.

He couldn't. They had never taken a vacation that was longer than a week because she got bored. She had even been writing in her last week of pregnancy and took it up again less than five days after the birth. He genuinely couldn't imagine her not writing; perhaps she would decide she was writing a report on the psychiatric ward of the hospital...

His phone vibrated against his leg, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Perry. Richard did not really want to talk to his uncle, but Clark must have mentioned where they were.

"Hey, Perry."

"Where the hell are you, Richard?"

"At the doctors, with Lois. Didn't Clark say?"

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I'm sorry, Perry, but I had other things to worry about."

"Worry?... Richard, what's going on?"

"I'm getting a referral for Lois... to the psychiatric ward."

"Her mood swings haven't cleared up."

"No." Richard stared at the woman he loved as she flipped over the page and continued to scribble furiously. "She is scaring Jason."

"What happened?"

"He saw her hitting me." He liked how he got that out there; no quiver in his voice.

"Richard..."

They were both silent for a moment. Richard could hear his uncle breathing heavily on the line; his own breathing had to be similar as he fought back tears.

"You need a place to stay?"

"I'm ok. We stayed with Clark last night, but we could probably go home once she is in..." He kept back that he didn't want to go back home; he wanted to sleep next to Clark again, to feel those strong arms wrap and around him and box him off from the outside world.

"If you need someone to stay there with you, you call me."

Richard smiled slightly; Perry was gruff, but he was a good man.

"I will."

"See you later then, kid."

"Bye."

He hung up and sat himself back down beside Lois; she didn't glance up at him, so he went back to reading the numerous posters that covered the walls.