"Lois," said Clark, once they were alone on the roof. "I thought you promised you would be inconspicuous. Chasing two women out of the restroom and yelling at them is not exactly inconspicuous."

"But you should have heard them, Clark. They were making up the most ridiculous lies. One person even said they saw me with a man at the apartment this week. I was in school for gosh sakes. There wasn't even a situation for them to misconstrue, unless some woman breaks into our apartment while we're not there. The liars! I can't help but wonder if they're always gossiping about us like this when our backs are turned."

"Trust me, Lois. No one dares gossip about you with even the possibility of you being in the vicinity. They're just taking advantage of your missed days."

"Cowards. How come no one ever gossips in front of me?"

"Because they realize you would still get ticked off even if it wasn't about you, but don't be offended. People don't really gossip in front of me either. I don't know if it's because they think I'd get mad or what."

Lois snorted. "It's because you have one of those I'm-innocent faces that says you wouldn't like things like gossip."

"Really?"

"Really. I'm aware that your face isn't always as innocent as it appears, I'm just telling you what people think."

"Do you think you can manage not to stir up any more trouble? I need to go out on another search for the perpetrator and I'd feel better if I knew you were staying out of trouble."

"I'll be a good little girl and stay with Uncle Perry," she said sarcastically.

"Thank you."

The rest of the day was uneventful as Lois played Zelda and Clark came up empty in the search.

The time approached for the conference. As they were leaving, they bumped into Jimmy.

"Where are you going, Mr. Kent?" he asked.

"I have to go to a meeting and I'm taking Lois' cousin with me."

"I hope it's not a dangerous meeting," he said, whispering the dangerous part.

"No, nothing like that. Listen, I'll see you. I don't want to be late. It's going to be a very interesting meeting."

"If I were you, I wouldn't enjoy it too much," Lois said warningly.

Jimmy snapped a picture of them. "You're just so cute together. I had to take a picture."

"Give me that camera," Lois said with her hand stuck out.

"Sorry, but this costs a lot of money," Jimmy explained. To Clark, he said, "I think Lois will be interested in seeing the picture."

"Give me that camera," Lois repeated and attempted to charge him.

Clark scooped her up and carried her off.

"I don't want this immortalized," she was saying to Clark. "Jimmy!" she shouted when he snapped another picture.

---

Carter and his mother were leaving as they got there, having had the appointment before them.

His mother had long straight blonde hair and those fake glue on nails with little blue stars and orange suns alternating. She put her hands on her knees and bent down to Lois. "Carter's told me so much about you," and then she shook Lois' hand. To Clark she winked and said, "I think somebody has c-r-u-s-h."

"I think somebody needs to s-h-u-t-u-p," Lois said, recognizing that the woman was being flirty with Clark.

Clark pulled Lois closer to him as a way of trying to keep her quiet and the woman was a little closer than he liked. "Kids. She's a little big for her britches. She doesn't have a mother to take her under hand."

Clark knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment the words left his mouth, partly because Lois punched his leg and partly because he knew it marked him as single father.

"I have to—to go," he stammered.

Carter's mother was giving Clark a wide smile. It was definitely clear that she was a single parent herself.

"Listen, lady—" Lois began.

Ms. Kenney opened the door to her classroom and greeted them smilingly. "Come in, Mr. Kent, Lois."

Ms. Kenney had saved the day by keeping the conversation from going any further. Clark was visibly relieved.

"Go play with the blocks, honey," Ms. Kenney said. Lois sullenly went over to the rug and pulled out the basket of Lego blocks.

Ms. Kenney had an adult-sized chair this time due to parent-teacher conferences.

"I want to start off by saying Lois is a delight to have in the classroom."

"Really?" Clark asked, not sure if Ms. Kenney was being honest with him.

"She is amazingly gifted. She's on a college level in almost every academic area but spelling."

Clark tried hard not to laugh. "What level is she in with spelling?"

"Lois is in the within-word pattern stage. In other words, she's on the same spelling level as a 7-9 year old, which is still advanced for her age."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?"

There was the sound of hundred of little Legos crashing to the floor. He could tell Lois was ticked. He sobered a little.

"I'm also concerned that she's not ready socially," Ms. Kenny continued. "She doesn't play very well with the other children. She's competitive and a bit of a loner. I think she could greatly benefit from staying in kindergarten with her peers to learn social cues and cooperation."

"Those are definitely areas she could use a little work in." A block came flying over and hit Clark's head.

"Oh, sorry, Daddy. I'm socially inept," Lois said in a sweet-sounding tone.

"I will give her advanced work," Ms. Kenney said, frowning in Lois' direction. Then she turned her attention to Clark. "Please, don't think I was eavesdropping earlier, but I couldn't help overhearing. Lois seems very attached to you. She clearly isn't thrilled with you seeing anyone but her mother, which isn't uncommon. You should talk with her when you're ready to pursue dating other women."

"I will," he lied. That was a conversation that would never need to come up.

Ms. Kenney showed Clark her work and her test scores.

"I think she should continue meeting with the guidance counselor. Do you have any concerns?" she said, bringing the conference to an end.

"None that you can help me with I'm afraid, but thank you," he said, shaking her hand.

Once they were out of the classroom, Lois spoke, "That was a waste of time and poor Carter. Can you imagine going through life with a flirty mother? That's bound to get embarrassing when he gets older."

"She wasn't that bad."

"Defending your girlfriend?" Lois asked mockingly.

Clark turned the tables and said with a grin, "You didn't tell me you have a boyfriend in kindergarten. Should I be jealous?"

TBC