Pem21: I'm not trying to be rude in any way; I realize you can't quite catch my tone just by reading this; which is probably why we use the smiley faces and lols; but…

If you look at the description for this story, you'll see that I marked this k+, and humor and family, and that I left the characters blank. I did that on purpose. This is not a Clois fic, nor is it a Chlollie fic. It's a Jo'an fic. I know she's their daughter; but that's the future; like a year or two from now. Right now, Lois isn't interested in Clark, and Clark is with Lana. And the reason I'm doing it this way is because I did NOT like how that wedding thing went down. The way Clark almost kissed Lois and then just dumped her for Lana. I thought that was wrong on so many levels and I actually felt bad for her, despite the fact that she's just a character lol. So, the almost kiss didn't happen, for this story anyway; and they're back to being banter buddies who don't even realize they're attracted to one another.

As far as not understanding how Clois will come about at all, you'll have to wait until chapter thirteen. Chapter 11 is already written (more Lois and Jo'an). Chapter 12 is almost done. (Lois or Jo'an won't appear at all). And I already know how I want chapter 13 to go. I haven't even written it down yet and it's one of my favs. I think you'll really like it. Maybe. Hopefully.

Cathy: I'm really glad you're enjoying yourself; makes my day. I don't really have a set number of chapters in mind; but I'm thinking about twenty; unless that's too long for you. Lol.

Stop Dreaming and Miranda Aurelia: Lol. You guys are confusing the crap out of me. Some of you like Chlollie, some of you hate it; what's a girl to do? Anyway, I'm glad you like it, and thank you for reviewing.

Aaron Leach, c im am a dragon, jmjames, Jeremy Shane, granola girl: Thank you for reviewing!

Campbti: Wow, thank you. You really do pay attention to the smaller details; which to me, are just as important as the big events in a story.

Wtchcool: I thought the bathtub thing was a must; and the fact that Lois didn't find it funny was my way of showing that she's starting to care about Jo'an; even if it is just a little bit.

Reeven: I'll be totally honest with you; I kinda agree with you a little. Chloe's like one of my favs on Smallville, but I'm not liking the way she seems to be turning against Clark. I'm so glad you're still liking the story though. Thank you! Oh, and to answer your other question, Oliver calls Jo'an Joey for two reasons. One, is to show how little he actually changes in the future. And two; it makes it easier to tell who's talking to her. If I say Joey, you know it's Oliver. If I say Junior, you know it's Lois. Chloe flips between Jo'an and Jo. And Clark and Lana just call her Jo'an.

Brainchild: I'm really glad you caught onto the whole 'Oliver still liking Lois' thing. I didn't know if I'd made it too subtle or what. Thank you.

Cathy03: To me, I think Jo'an and Clark are kinda pulling away from each other. For Jo'an, she realizes Clark's her father, and she calls him 'Daddy', but she doesn't really know him. She just met him today in fact. And because her parents don't live together, she had to chose to be with one or the other; so she went with her mother, because that's who she knows, 'amnesia' or no amnesia. I think if Jo'an acted like a daddy's girl, she would've definitely had Clark wrapped around her finger by now. For Clark, ( *sighs* poor Clark) I think Clark has got like three dilemmas running around in his head. I think he's afraid to become too attached to Jo'an because he's undecided. Now that he knows he and Lana aren't a couple in the future, should he work even harder at their relationship? And if he does, that means Jo'an will never be; So, he kinda has to choose between Jo'an and Lana. And even though he just met Jo'an and he's loved Lana forever, he can't just choose Lana; that would make him a horrible person; but he can't quite let go of Lana either. It's a catch-22 for him. I hope I answered your question correctly, and I'm glad you like this story.

~~{(o)(o)(o)(o)(o)(o)}~~

"Wake up."

Lois groans. It can't be morning yet.

"Go back to sleep," she mumbles.

You'd think she would've forgotten all about the little girl while in her current state of semi-consciousness; but Lois doesn't have the luxury of forgetting her. The kid made sure of that. Throughout the whole night, Jo'an tossed and turned and flipped and flopped; causing Lois to wake up more times than she cares to remember. She would've ignored the child and kept sleeping if she didn't invade her personal space as well. It felt as if every other minute, some part of Jo'an's anatomy was slung over Lois's; whether it was an arm, or a leg, or her hair; which despite being very soft and extremely comfortable, also made Lois very hot and uncomfortable.

"But the sun is out."

Lois rolls her eyes without even opening them. Then she rolls over, showing Jo'an her back and promptly dismissing her.

"Aren't you going to fix my breakfast?"

"Make Chloe do it."

"She's not here."

"Where is she?" Lois nearly whimpers. She just needs five more minutes of sleep. Just five.

"At a meeting."

"What meeting?" Lois frowns. Her cousin didn't mention a meeting to her last night; or any other night for that matter.

Jo'an shrugs her shoulders; not that her mother can see it with her back turned to her. She doesn't know what meeting. All she knows is that early this morning she heard her aunt's phone vibrate. And when her aunt answered it, her daddy said they needed to discuss some things and to meet him at Uncle Ollie's. Her aunt didn't even say goodbye to her. Probably because she thought she was asleep; but still…

Jo'an sighs as her mother pulls the blanket up over her head; then adds a pillow on top.

She'll just make her own breakfast.

The smell of coffee is what wakes Lois up eventually; and the fact that neither she nor her cousin made it is what causes her to jump up out of the bed and run into the kitchen.

"Morning Mommy."

Lois skids to a stop; forgetting all about the coffee and the fact that a six year old probably almost burned down the apartment making it.

"What did you just call me?"

"I made your coffee. Aren't you going to taste it and tell me if I did it right?"

Coffee. Yeah, that's it. Her brain was just in a fog because she hadn't had her coffee yet. She was just hearing things. The kid did not just call her mommy. Although she did it that one time at the hospital…

She was just scared then; she wasn't calling ME mommy. She was just calling OUT for her mother, Lois reasons with herself.

"Well, are you?"

"What?" Lois jumps a little.

"Are you going to taste the coffee?"

"Ummmmm…" Lois glances at the coffee pot and gulps. As much as she needs coffee right now, she doesn't want any of that. Who knows how many different kinds of ways the kid screwed it up?

Jo'an picks up her empty bowl and walks over to Lois.

"It's right there," she says, pointing to a mug that's sitting right next to the coffee pot.

Lois frowns. That's even worse. She looks down at Jo'an, who's staring up at her expectedly.

"Fine, I'll taste it," Lois says while grabbing the mug and bracing herself for the worse. "But no more making coffee, you could've burned this place down."

Lois closes her eyes and takes a small sip.

"Oh my god," she murmurs.

On second thought.

"Is it right?" Jo'an asks.

"It's perfect," Lois moans and takes a much longer sip.

Jo'an giggles. No one but her mother acts this way about coffee.

"Your cereal's on the table," Jo'an says while putting her bowl in the sink. "I didn't pour the milk because I didn't know when you were going to wake up; and I didn't want it to get soggy," she rambles while dragging a chair into the kitchen. She knows better than to just lift it up over her head. She had to learn early what she can and can't do in front of people who don't know she's 'special'; and it's always been a little hard, but now that she has to be careful in front of her own mother it's gonna be harder than ever. She positions the chair right in front of the sink and climbs onto it.

"What are you doing, get down; and put that back," Lois says. She'd been so entranced by her coffee she didn't even notice the kid had the chair until she was standing on it.

"But I can't reach the sink without it."

"You don't need to reach the sink."

"But I have to wash my bowl and my spoon."

Lois pauses for a second. She can't deny the idea of the kid cleaning up behind herself is appealing; but she really doesn't need her falling off the chair and breaking her arm or something. She compromises by standing beside Jo'an and holding onto the chair; that way she could catch the kid should she fall.

"Are you going to eat?" Jo'an asks when she's finished.

"No, I think I'm good with this." Lois barely pries her lips from the mug when she answers.

"Okay," Jo'an shrugs.

With a much better sense of balance and coordination than most children twice her age have, Jo'an quickly hops onto the counter and walks over to the refrigerator.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!"

Lois sets her drink down, but she doesn't pay attention to where and it almost falls off the counter. Almost. At the sound of her mother's voice, Jo'an turns to look at her. That's when she spots the falling cup, and quickly bends down to catch it.

Lois panics. The child looks as if she's on her way to hitting the ground, face first. Luckily, her reflexes are golden. She catches the kid around the waist and sets her down on the ground.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" She shouts. She doesn't mean to yell, but the kid just scared the crap out of her. What if she hadn't been able to catch her?

"You're coffee almost fell," Jo'an frowns at Lois and holds the cup out to her.

Coffee? The kid was willing to take a nose dive from the kitchen counter to rescue a cup of coffee? Lois shakes her head and reaches for the cup. She's never been able to understand children; but this one right here, this one's mind works on a whole new level of dysfunctionality.

"Are you okay?"

Lois frowns down at the kid.

Did she really just ask if I was okay? she wonders to herself.

"Your hand is shaking," Jo'an points out. Her eyes are focused on her mother's hand; a hand that's trembling really bad. She can't give her the cup. Not right now; she'd just drop it again.

Lois looks down at her hand and her eyes widen. She quickly wipes it against her thigh, trying to rectify its condition. It doesn't work. The kid must have scared her far more than she's willing to admit. She takes a deep breath and braces her palms against the counter. She just needs a few minutes to calm down.

"Are you mad at me?" Jo'an asks.

"No."

"You look like you're mad at me."

"I'm not; just give me the cup," she answers firmly while reaching for it. This time her hand is sturdy.

"And stay off the counter," she adds when Jo'an hands the cup over.

"But I had to get the cereal box so I can put your cereal back."

Lois grabs the box of Reeses Puffs from the top of the fridge. "Next time, ask," She says while walking over to the table. She can put her own damn cereal away.

"I got them before, when you were sleep," Jo'an rebuttals.

"Well you shouldn't have."

"But I needed to eat breakfast and you wouldn't wake up," the child says in an accusing tone.

Lois turns on the little girl. She is not going to make her feel guilty.

"You weren't going to starve. If you would've given me ten more minutes I would've made your breakfast," Lois says while tossing her bowl into the sink.

Her mother's right. Jo'an wouldn't have starved, but she doesn't exactly want to admit it either.

"What am I going to wear today?" Jo'an asks changing the subject.

"The same thing you wore yesterday," Lois says, turning around in time to see Jo'an wrinkle her nose. "What? They're clean. I put them in the wash last night."

"No you didn't; Aunt Chloe did."

"Yeah well, I'm the one who told her to," Lois says before getting them out of the dryer and giving them to her. "Get dressed quickly. We have a long ride."

Lois glances at her watch. If she's taking the kid shopping, she's going to a mall, in Metropolis. There was no way she'd let the kid tag along with her while wearing flannel shirts and farmer jeans.

3 hours later:

"It's pink," Jo'an scrunches her nose at the shirt her mother wants her to try on.

Lois rolls her eyes. The kid had been doing so good today; making coffee, cleaning up after herself, getting into the booster seat without complaining, keeping her feet to herself…and now this.

"It's cute."

"But it's pink."

"So…"

"Pink is for girls."

"You are a girl."

"Yeah, but pink is for girls."

"And who told you that?"

"Uncle Ollie."

Lois lets out a loud sigh of frustration. Oliver's getting on her last nerves where the kid is concerned. First calling her Joey and now telling her she shouldn't like pink; not that she doesn't agree to a certain degree. Pink's not really her favorite color either, but she's an adult, Jo'an's still a kid; a young kid at that. Little girls are supposed to like pink, and ponies, and tiaras, right?

"Ma'am?"

Lois turns around when someone taps her shoulder. It's a sales clerk.

"Look," Lois pauses long enough to read her name tag before continuing, "Rebecca, I was going to put it right back where I"-

"Oh no, it's nothing like that," she interrupts with a smile. "I just wanted to tell you that your daughter is absolutely beautiful."

"She's not"-

"She's got the cutest dimples on the planet. The way they stick around even when she's not smiling."

"Yeah but"-

"And the little cleft chin, oh my gosh,"

"Look, she's not my"-

"And her hair," Rebecca gasps. Lois glances over at Jo'an. Her hair is pretty amazing. She was going to brush it this morning but didn't really have to touch it at all; which worked perfectly for Lois because she barely likes to do her own hair. That's why she usually sweeps it up into a messy, but decent, ponytail.

"And those eyes, with such dark hair too"-

"Rebecca!" Lois interrupts and puts on a smile. She's sure the lady is just being kind, but she has no idea how incredibly not cute the kid becomes as soon as she starts talking. "She's not my daughter."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I thought"-

"Mommy, what about this one?" Jo'an calls when she finally finds one. She hadn't been paying attention to the women talk about her. In fact, her superhearing didn't even kick in. She was too busy looking for a different shirt; because she is not going to wear that pink one. And then she finds it; the same exact shirt but in a different color. The same color her uncle said makes her eyes 'pop'.

"Can I have this one instead?" she asks while skipping over to her mother. Once she's directly in front of her mother, she holds the shirt up as high as she can.

Lois doesn't answer her. The kid just made her look like the worse mother ever; which she isn't, because she isn't a mother at all.

"Please Mommy," Jo'an begs when she catches the look her mother's giving her. She really wants this shirt more than the pink one.

"My name is Lois," she hisses.

"I'm not calling you that," Jo'an scoffs before turning her attention back on the clothes.

Out of the corner of Lois's eye, she can see Rebecca frown and shake her head disapprovingly. "And what the hell are you looking at?" Lois snaps just before facing the woman. What she really wants is to get the kid; but she figures she'd get into less trouble for attacking another adult.

"Nothing," Rebecca stammers. "I just… she's so beautiful…how could you not want people to know she's yours?"

"Mommy, what about these pants? Do they match?"

Lois's eyes widen and she whirls around to face the little monster.

"What did I just say!"

"What the hell are you looking at," Jo'an answers her mother literally as well as absently. She hadn't really been paying attention and she hopes she got it right. But what she really wants is an answer to her question. "So, do they?" she asks.

Lois closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose.

Don't kill her, don't kill her, don't kill her…

"Mommy," Jo'an impatiently calls. "Do these match?"

Lois's eyes fly open.

I'm gonna kill her.

~~{(o)(o)(o)(o)(o)(o)}~~

Okay guys, blue or green? I'm sure you've noticed I didn't say what color Jo'an's eyes are; and that's because I don't know what color Clark's eyes are. I mean, we all know he has a set of wicked 'baby blues', but Tom Welling's eyes are green. And since I tend to picture Tom when reading about Clark, I'm leaning more towards green. What do you think? Majority rules. I promise.