It was a couple weeks after the meeting. Lois was working on a crossword puzzle and Clark was reading a book in bed.

"Lois?"

"What?" she replied.

"Are you thinking about your mother?"

She gave an annoyed sigh, "No, but I am now. Why would you bring that up? I thought we had an agreement?"

"I was just wondering. Your heart is beating awful fast. Are you thinking of something stressful?"

"Not unless the star of Bewitched is stressful. It's Elizabeth somebody."

"Montgomery."

"Thanks…how do you spell that?"

"Something has to be wrong," he insisted.

She rolled her eyes. "I guess it was bound to happen someday, Clark. Being married to you has finally given me high blood pressure."

"Lois, I'm serious." He felt her forehead.

"Well?"

"You don't feel hot, but I want to check your temperature anyway."

"Clark, for pete's sake, if my heart's beating a little faster than normal, it's not the end of the world.

He didn't listen or respond as he went to get the thermometer. Lois reluctantly pushed her hair back, so he could put it in her ear. "That's odd," he said.

"Let me guess, normal temperature?"

"No, it's 96. It's below average."

"Maybe it's broken or something."

He put the thermometer in his own ear. "98. Lois, I think we'd better get you to the doctor."

"Don't be ridiculous. I feel fine. You're probably a little off because you're Kryptonian or something."

He frowned. "I have a normal temperature. You're the one who's off."

"I'll go to the doctor tomorrow then. She scratched her arm. He started unbuttoning her pajama top. "Clark, what on earth are you doing?"

He pointed at the band-aid on her arm. "Did you clean that first."

"It was just a little scratch."

"The area around it's red. You're going to the hospital now."

"The band-aid was itchy. Maybe it's red because I've been scratching," but she sounded a trifle worried herself now.

"Better safe than sorry," he said, already scooping her out of bed.

"What about Nathan?" she asked.

"I'll keep my ear on him when we're flying and as soon as we get to the hospital, I'll call and ask Ms. Landes to go over and sit with him. She still has our key from vacation."

Lois didn't look happy, but she agreed to the plan.

---

Clark paced in the waiting room. When they'd gotten to the hospital, Lois had started to look seriously ill. They had taken her right back as soon as she described her symptoms. He had tried to look and see what was going on, but there were x-ray rooms blocking the room they had taken her to, people walking around in lead aprons kept interfering. The desk nurse frowned when his pacing almost made him collide with someone looking for a seat. He sat down and put his head in his hands. If he lost Lois, he didn't know what he would do.

At last, the doctor came out. "Mr. Kent?"

Clark jumped up and hurried over, "Yes?"

"Your wife has sepsis, some refer to it as blood poisoning. We've got her on antibiotics that should clear it up. We're also draining her infected fluids."

It didn't surprise him; he'd thought as much. "And?" He sensed the bad news coming.

"She needs a blood transfusion. She's O-, a rare type, and when we had those bombs that went off downtown yesterday, we used a lot up. We don't have her type in any of the local blood banks. Are there any family members nearby that might have the same type?"

"I can think of a couple."

"Good. Call them immediately. If worse comes to worse, we'll have to ship some in from further out."

Clark went outside and used his cell phone. He called Lucy first, "Lucy, do you know your blood type?" he asked as soon as she answered the phone.

"No, what's wrong?"

"I need you to come down here and find out. Lois needs a transfusion."

He did the same with Chloe and she didn't know her type either. Lois' father lived too far away to be of any help. He hesitated before calling her mother, but he had no choice. He wasn't putting Lois' life in jeopardy because of Lane pride.

"Ms. Lane?"

"Yes?" she asked, not recognizing his voice.

"This is Clark…um, your son-in-law. Where are you?"

"I'm still in Metropolis. I'm going to be moving soon. I'm just staying with a friend until I tie up some loose ends around here."

"Do you know your blood type?"

"O-, why?"

He gave a sigh of relief. "I don't think it's anything to worry about, but Lois is going to need a transfusion. I already have Lucy and Chloe on their way. I know this is a lot to ask, but Lois won't appreciate my asking you, especially with Lucy coming too. Can you stay in your car or out of sight until we find out what type they are and just stay in the reserve?"

"Of course. I'll be there as fast as I can."

As soon as he hung up, the cell phone rang. "I checked with Dad," Chloe said. "We're both A+ but I'm coming anyway for moral support."

"That's fine. Lois' mother is the right type. Lucy is probably going to be here before her mother. She's not far from the hospital and like Lois, she doesn't always obey the speed limit. She'll get tested and hopefully they'll be a match. I hate to get Lois worked up when she's like this, as would happen if she knew that her mom was coming. I have to go. I see Lucy's car now and I want to check on Lois."

"Okay, see you in a bit."

He hoped Lucy was a match and he hoped she didn't run into her mother or there would be a lot of explaining to do.

TBC