"Truthfully, son," Martha said, once they were in the apartment. "I can't say I'm not glad to see you've broken up."

"I'm sorry, Mom, if you don't like Lana but I am going to fix my relationship with her."

"I like Lana just fine. I just don't like the two of you together. It's an unhealthy relationship and painful to watch."

"You sound like Chloe. She told me something like that once. She said she was trapped in a front row seat to the Clark and Lana opera and she deserved a break. "

Louise snorted because she was trying to keep from laughing. She hadn't spent a lot of time around them but that was the perfect way to describe it. Her situation was worse than having a front seat because she seemed to have gotten a part in it that she didn't ask for or was prepared for. Not to mention it was a twisted, tiring play. Clark gave her an annoyed look and she got a grip on her laughter.

"Jason, why did you bring that dog in here?" Clark asked sharply, noticing the dog for the first time.

"Don't get hateful with him," Louise said. "I said he could."

Clark gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, Jason. It's been a long day. It doesn't change the fact that Louise is allergic. Keep him in your room and go get ready for bed."

Jason left immediately to do what he said. Clark still sounded a little grumpy.

"Mom, thanks for watching him and dropping him off. If you don't mind, I'd like to turn in early."

"Okay. I just want you to know that if I sound like a busybody, it's only because I want what's best for my son."

"I know," he said in a tired but caring tone.

"And my daughter," she winked at Louise before she left.

Louise decided the best tactic was silence with Clark's mood and she smoothed the sheet on the couch that was still there from last night.

"Aren't you going to ask what happened with Lana and try to get me to open up?"

She didn't even look at him. "Nope."

He smiled gratefully. Lois had never pushed him to talk when he wasn't ready to. She had always seemed to know when to prod him and when to back away. Louise had the same gift.

Louise confronted with the empty room felt like talking to Jason, assuming he hadn't already fallen asleep. He hadn't. Jason smiled, happy to see her. Louise took a seat by his bedside. Taco started yipping at her.

Jason brought the dog closer to her. "Let him sniff you and then pet him. That might make him stop barking but sometimes he'll bite anyway but not hard."

Louise let him sniff her hand and then he wagged his tail as if he recognized the scent. The little dog jumped off the bed. Louise sneezed the sneeze she had been trying to hold back.

"He likes you," Jason told her.

"No, he can sense that I hate dogs and that they make me sick, so he pretends to take a shine to me merely to torture me. It's my curse. Le--a guy I knew had some guard dogs and the supposedly highly trained animals wouldn't stop following me around."

Jason laughed. She didn't know if it was because of what she had said or because her voice had developed a nasally sound thanks to her allergies or maybe it was a bit of both. Taco jumped back up on the bed and he had an ugly, sloppily made bear in his teeth. He dropped it in her lap and then laid back down. She smiled as she picked it up, "Who's this?"

"That's Ted. My mom made him for me when I was really little. Dad says she wanted to prove that all mothers can sew something for their kids if they really wanted. He wasn't really my favorite stuffed animal when I was little but he is now."

"It's very nice," she said, putting the bear next to Jason and tucking him in. She brushed his bangs away from his eyes. It was an automatic gesture, something she hadn't even thought about.

Jason's eyes had been drooping but now they were wide with excitement of a triggered memory. "My mom used to do that."

"Go to sleep," she whispered, brushing his hair away again. It soothed him and he closed his eyes. "Good night, Jason," she whispered before she shut the door.

"Good night, Mommy."

A tear rolled down her cheek. He probably hadn't even realized what he'd called her. He was very tired. She was leaving tomorrow for sure. She wasn't going to be responsible for making a little boy grieve for his mother all over again.

As she laid down on the couch, she realized part of the reason for going to see Jason was that she didn't really want to go to sleep. She didn't want to have another nightmare like last night's. It was a good 30 minutes before she couldn't fight sleep anymore.

It was dark outside as Louise drove and there was nothing but corn as far as the eye could see and she was feeling very frustrated. The occasional lightening flashed in the distance. She was on a cell phone. "K-E-N-T. Kent. It's a farm. Do they even have addresses?"

She had been on the phone forever with these incompetent people and it was driving her nuts. She held the phone between her ear and shoulder and took a sip of her coffee. She shook her head. "Mm-mn. Look the last super genius I had on the phone told me to turn right on Route 31. Now I'm totally lost."

The girl asked for a landmark. "Oh, about a billion stalks of corn."

Before the girl could respond lightening struck the cornfield right next to her car. Her phone went dead, so she closed it and put it down but kept driving. She was going to find that farm. Completely exasperated, she said, "That's just great." She pulled the visor above her seat down and pulled a cigarette from its strap and then looked at herself in the mirror. She looked young. "Okay, if you smoke this, you are going to spend the rest of the night hating yourself." She dropped the cigarette and began digging in her purse for gum but as soon as she took her eyes off the road, lightening struck in front of her car.

She swerved to miss it. She lost control of her car and went off the side of the road into a cornfield but it came to a stop without her getting hurt. She took a deep breath and then looked up at the cloudy sky. 3 bolts of lightening came down and merged into one, striking the ground. She ducked down. When she got the nerve to look back up, there was a big circle of flattened cornstalks. She stepped out of her car and looked around and saw the last thing she expected to see, a naked man. He raised up but his back was still to her. "Are you--are you okay?"

There was no response, so she tried again, "What's your name?" She walked very slowly toward him.

"I don't know," he replied.

"I need to get you to the hospital."

In a very robotic sort of voice he said, "I am fine."

"You've been hit by lightening, you're stark naked in a cornfield, and uh, you don't even remember your own name. You have a very loose definition of fine."

The man finally turned around. It was Clark and she struggled to keep her eyes on his face. "Look at his face," she told herself but she wasn't having any success. He was too good-looking. Clark was completely oblivious to the problem.

"I have a blanket in the trunk. Don't move. I'll be right back." She started to walk away.

"Wait." She stopped. "Who are you?"

"Lois. Lois Lane."

Louise jerked out of her dream in a cold sweat. This nightmare was even worse. It had seemed more real than the last one. She was finding it harder and harder to believe she was a clone even though all evidence pointed to it. The memories were not real she told herself. Clark was too shy to be naked like that and it would have put a real hitch in their relationship. If the explanation was that Clark wasn't himself at the time, surely he would be too embarrassed to have any sort of contact with her after a first meeting like that one. It was definitely all in her head.

"Did you have another nightmare?" Clark asked in a concerned tone.

"What are you doing up?"

"Getting a glass of water. If nightmares are keeping you from sleeping, you might want to consider getting some professional help. I had that problem after--sometimes you need to tell someone about your nightmares. There's a subconscious fear or revelation trying to work its way to the surface."

"Or I can just take a sleeping pill."

"You could except that you develop immunity after a while."

"You'd really like me to bear all my deep, dark secrets to a stranger and then pay them for it? It's not happening."

He came over to sit on the couch with her, bringing an extra glass of water for her.

"Do you think Lana and I are good for each other?" he asked rather abruptly.

"I think it's not my business to get involved in it."

"But I'm asking for your opinion."

"I think she loves you."

"There's a but in your voice."

"I don't think it's right that you don't love her back."

"I'm trying."

"I know but you can't force yourself to love someone. It just happens. Lana deserves someone who she can love and will love her back, despite the fact that she says it doesn't matter to her. One-sided relationships don't work out."

"I want it to work out. Jason has to have a mother. Someone who lives with us and brings that feminine touch."

"But more importantly you don't want to end up alone. Jason's going to grow up and move out one of these days. Jason seems fine to me and he seems to get plenty of female influence from his grandmother and Chloe. I think you're the one who wants a woman around the house. Not someone you love because you know you already found that once in a lifetime kind of love but someone you're comfortable and familiar with."

"How do you know me so well?"

She smiled. "I'm perceptive."

"Don't tell anyone I said this but sometimes I don't know if Lana loves me or…"

"Your powers?" she finished for him.

"How--

"I was in the next room. I got an earful but you can trust me to keep your secret."

"I know. I wouldn't be having this conversation right now if I didn't."

"A lot of women find power attractive. I hope I'm not embarrassing you but your case is even more extraordinary than money or influence. What woman wouldn't find sleeping with a superpowered being enticing?"

"Lois. She was one of a kind. When I was with her, it felt like she loved me for me and she would take or leave the powers. She made me feel special and normal at the same time if that makes any sense."

"It makes sense."

"Lana doesn't want to be with me. She wants to be with my powers."

She put her hands over his, "And you're cheating yourself if you settle for that."

"You're a good friend Louise."

"You're a pretty good friend yourself."

They had set down their glasses of water and were looking intensely into each other's eyes. It was an intimate thing to do, considering they weren't talking anymore. They should have broke eye contact awhile ago. Instead, they moved closer and closer until their lips were touching. It wasn't a long kiss and neither of them fully put themselves into it. It was short and sweet but it said a lot of things. It said gratitude and longing. It said that this relationship couldn't go on without serious consequences.

Louise stood up. She didn't have to explain anything. They both knew.

He gave her some money for a cab. "Stay with my mother."

"I'll pay you back."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"I don't really have anything to pack up. I guess I'll be seeing you around the Planet, Superman."

He nodded and Louise left.

TBC