Lois slowly stood up from the couch.

"What?" Lois whispered to the naked Kal-El hologram.

"I know that what I am telling you is shocking, Lois. But please listen to what I have to say. My liaisons with your sister and cousin, unintentionally triggered something when I touched you the other day. That mark enables you to carry a full blooded Kryptonian child, something that ordinarily, I could not have unless I was with a Kryptonian woman. I have brought you here to the Fortress because that mark is sapping your strength, which you will need when we make love..."

Lois huffed over to the console, snatched the purple crystal out and Naked Kal-El disappeared! She thought about throwing the crystal, but something inside of her wouldn't let her do it. She rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, then put the crystal back in. Naked Kal-El re-appeared. There was no running from this so she might as well hear him out. She walked back over to the couch to sit down.

Kal-El was now talking again.

"I have brought you here for three reasons: the first of course, you knew before we arrived here. Bruce Wayne and your father are trying to destroy my kind. Until the weapons that have been created against Kryptonians are destroyed or surrendered to us, you will be staying with me, here. But I doubt very much that will be for very long. General Lane would not put you at risk.

The second reason I have brought you here, is because in order to keep up your strength, you will need to be in a Kryptonian based stronghold to stave off any fatigue that you are feeling. And I suspect you are feeling much better at the moment.

And third...our relationship, Lois, has always been so adversarial. I never intended for it to be that way. When my father married your mother, I felt it was my duty to look after Lucy and yourself. Lucy was open to me, in many ways. You were not, for reasons I understood and just decided to tolerate.

The other night, it was suggested by my father, that you would make Bruce Wayne a good wife. I could barely see...the idea of your being with such a wretched earthling angered me. He does not know you, Lois, such as I. And my offer to you, the other morning, while seemingly crass, was not meant to be that way. I want to be with you here, where we can be alone, and get to know one another without other beings coming between us. I would be honored if you would be the mother of my child. That is all."

Lois raised a brow at Kal-El's abrupt ending and then, he disappeared. Lois slowly got up off the couch and walked over to the console. She pulled the purple crystal out and sighed. Kal-El had actually sounded sweet just now, as he bared his soul and his body to her! But still they could not just stay here and create a baby. And what happened after he or she was born? She had so many questions...

Lois suddenly shook her head wildly! She had actually been considering Kal-El's 'offer'! And as for her 'fatigue', she was sure Jor-El could figure something out to help her. Sleeping with Kal-El and having his baby seemed a bit much all to get rid of some mark on her inner thigh.

But Kal-El made it sound like the mark would also sap her of her strength, and she had been unusually tired lately. She didn't know what to do!

As she stood by the console, contemplating her choices, Kal-El returned with food and more furniture! He set everything down and stared at her.

"You look well." Kal-El said approvingly. "I take it you watched my hologram?"

Lois coughed!

"Yes, Kal-El. I watched your hologram. I want you to take me home, okay? I can't stay here and give you a baby. And don't tell me that Jor-El doesn't know how to fix what is happening to me."

"Alright, Lois," Kal-El said calmly, "come. I will take you home."

He held out his hand to her and Lois walked over to him, took it and before she knew it, they were back in the Kawatche caves. And she was too exhausted to even walk!

"Whhh...what's happening?" Lois asked, she was barely able to keep her eyes open!

"What I told you would happen." Kal-El said, taking control of the situation. He picked her up and returned with her back to the Fortress. Once there, Lois felt like a new woman! Kal-El set her down on one of the couches.

"Now do you believe me?" Kal-El asked, his manner scolding. Lois didn't answer. Kal-El used her silence to walk over to a chair and pick up a bag by it's handles. Lois eyed him.

"What's in there?" she asked.

"Forget my hologram and focus on what I am saying to you. In the here and now. I know you. You would scoff at such an assessment but it is true. And I have realized that what I am asking of you, is not easily given. So I brought some items that might make things easier."

Lois frowned. If Kal-El pulled out a whip or some kind of dog collar, she would find some way to kill him, she swore to God!

But what he pulled out of that bag, was a costume of sorts. Lois slowly got up and walked over to the garment Kal-El was holding and then gasped!

"That's Green Arrow's costume!"

"Yes." was all Kal-El said.

"How did you get it?"

"It is a replica. The man that is Green Arrow keeps many of them."

Lois eyed Kal-El.

"You know who Green Arrow is? Green Arrow in Star City?"

"The same one and yes." Kal-El said as Lois snatched the costume for him and looked it over. That gave him time to pull out another costume...

"Is that Black Canary's outfit?" Lois asked, now tossing the Green Arrow costume over on a couch and reaching for that one.

"Yes."

"So you're going to tell me that you know who Black Canary really is?"

"I seem to recall that according to past articles that you have written, you should know as well."

"I don't know who she is. My source died before she could tell me." Lois said in a shifty manner. Kal-El gave her a knowing look which she chose to ignore, as she looked the costume over. She then looked at Kal-El again.

"Okay, so you have Green Arrow and Black Canary's costumes. What do these have to do with us?"

Kal-El gave her the naughtiest look that Lois had no doubt, ever existed! Lois found herself smiling back at him, then looking at her Black Canary costume. They would be alone here, in this secret Kryptonian place. Maybe she could get into the idea of sleeping with Kal-El if they pretended to be other people but...

Lois shook her head.

"The baby thing is a no go. I'll just have to learn to live with my disability." Lois sniffed.

"You won't be able to be a journalist," Kal-El told her matter-of-factly, "not if you can't stay awake."

Lois flung down Black Canary's costume and walked off! The Fortress was vast, so Kal-El knew she would have plenty of time to think and be alone, wherever she was going. He walked over to the Green Arrow costume, eyeing it with something akin to distaste, before he set it down again and began removing his own clothing. Lois would need more persuading to see that their time together did not have to be a chore.

It could be fun.

And it could, hopefully, turn out to be even more than that.

Once he was undressed, Kal-El began putting on the Green Arrow costume. Lois would take more persuading and he decided not to rush this. General Lane and Bruce Wayne would expect Lois to be returned to them, once they surrendered the weapons that had been made against them. Kal-El decided he would have to delay returning her until she gave into him.

Then again, General Lane may not turn over the weaponry, guessing that no real harm would come to Lois. It was time to inform Zod about all that happened recently. He would speak to his father on when they should do that.

But until then...Kal-El had finished dressing and he picked up the bow and arrows and began inspecting them. He found them to be stupid and useless looking! Oliver Queen was as bad as Bruce Wayne! They both had tragic pasts but Kal-El did quite understand how or why Oliver decided to run around in this manner.

He set the arrows down and glanced back down the hallway where he had last seen Lois. An idea came to him. The costumes could wait for now. He had other plans for them this evening. Plans that might break the ice between them-literally.

Lois wandered into a room that looked like a frozen greenhouse. There were all sorts of plants and flowers in there and they seemed to be able to survive the cold. Lois then realized that so far, this was really the only room that WAS cold! She found herself wishing she had her phone on her, so she could take some pictures. This place that Kal-El had brought her to, would make an interesting story for the Daily Planet.

Her eyes fell on a burgundy colored flower and she walked over to it. Lois was not a real fan of gardening in general, but this flower was rather pretty. As she continued to stare at it, her thoughts wandered to her predicament.

She had been kidnapped by Kal-El. But even if she could get out of here, she wouldn't get too far without passing out from fatigue. Her father did not know about the brand on her thigh, what it was doing to her or what would be needed to end her condition. So even if her father bargained for her release, she needed to stay here to get well. She needed to stay here to function.

Then again, if she just began sleeping with Kal-El until she became pregnant, the overwhelming tiredness would end and she would just be left with a baby. Lois looked away from the flower shaking her head. She kept thinking of Kal-El words to her in his hologram versus what he had told her just now.

Lois could tell Kal-El had feelings for her, but she could not shake the vibe that this was just about having what he felt Bruce had. She was not stupid. Lois could see that Kal-El resented Bruce and the time Jor-El spent with him at Wayne Enterprises. And in the back of her mind, Lois could not see Kal-El's attention towards her as anything but his trying to stick it to Bruce. If Bruce really wanted her, she doubted Kal-El would be interested.

And that brought Bruce to mind. Lois had to accept the fact that on some level, Bruce had been using her. Her father and Bruce had known Kal-El would follow her to Gotham. It made Lois wonder what else Bruce had hoped to gain by pretending to like her?

In the end, Lois had messed things up. Kal-El and Jor-El had tricked her into letting them out! And somehow she had to fix what she had done. But how?

The mark on her thigh tingled. It did not burn anymore. Lois wondered if there was a way to get pregnant but not give Kal-El the child? Maybe some nice family who could hide her son or daughter's powers...

Her son or daughter. Lois put her face in her hands for a few moments, before removing them. She had to face this head on. There was no way out of this. She wanted to be a top rated journalist. And she couldn't do that asleep. And she would stay asleep for the rest of her life if she didn't do what it took to remove this mark off of her thigh.

As for all that would come with removing the House of El crest, Lois decided in that moment, as she looked at the burgundy flower again, that she would deal with those issues when they took place. She turned and walked out of the frozen green house to find Kal-El. When she returned to the front room, she found the costumes and a note for Lois to 'join him in the waterfall'. Waterfall? What did that mean? What waterfall? What room was that in?

Lois glanced at the Green Arrow and Black Canary costumes that were strewn about, then walked off in another direction to find Kal-El and his waterfall.

When Lois found the waterfall, it was more of a ice waterfall. There was steaming hot water flowing down into an ice rock small pool. It was a strange sight. It actually looked as if Kal-El was sitting in a small pool of cold water. But the steam said otherwise. Again, Lois wished she could take a picture of it!

Kal-El was drinking a glass of champagne and he smiled when he noticed her.

"Join me!" he called out. But as usual, his request sounded more like a command to Lois's ears.

"You want me join you in there? I don't have anything to put on."

"Why would you need to put anything on? Just come in." Kal-El said, as if he really thought it was just that simple.

"You know I do! So no..."

"Lois," Kal-El said impatiently, setting down his champagne, "do you really think that I do not know what your body looks like without clothing?"

"Yes! You shouldn't!"

Kal-El coughed!

"I am just saying that I can 'guess' what it looks like. So there is no need to be shy. Just remove your clothing and come in."

Lois said nothing for the longest time and held his stare. Finally, she spoke.

"Turn around." she told him. Kal-El looked confused.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you peeking at me until I've gotten in!"

"I think you are being silly. But, I will close my eyes."

"No! You will turn around or I'm not doing it!" Lois huffed.

"Fine, Lois, I will turn around." Kal-El said in a sing song voice. He turned and Lois could see the muscles rippling across his shoulders and back. For a moment she wondered what the hell she was getting herself in to here? But she removed her clothing quickly, then used the scrunchie that held her ponytail, to redo her hair so that it was on top of her head. Lois then slowly got into the water, which was nice and warm.

Kal-El sensed her presence and turned back around. He handed her a glass of champagne and moved closer to her.

"Isn't this much better?" Kal-El asked. Lois took a sip from her glass before answering.

"Better than what? Not being abducted?"

"Lois, you have not been abducted. You have just went away for awhile someplace, to get to know a man that you have been seeing..."

"Is that what people are going to be told?" Lois asked with annoyance. "No one is going to buy that!"

Kal-El moved a little closer to her. When she had first entered the pool, she had sat very low, to hide much of her body. But the heat and the champagne were beginning to relax her. And Kal-El could not see the tips of her nipples coming up out of the water. The sight of them made him inch even closer to her.

Lois was aware that Kal-El was moving in on her, but she decided there was little she could do about it. Or maybe the champagne had decided for her.

"What is going to happen after I become pregnant?" Lois asked, sipping some more of her drink. Kal-El smiled. She was talking as if their child would actually be conceived. This was good.

"I don't follow you." Kal-El asked, inching even closer.

"I mean what happens? So I have the baby and then we work out a custody agreement?"

Kal-El laughed and there was something about it that Lois didn't quite like. As she pondered that, Kal-El moved so that he was sitting next to her, his leg touching hers. He set down his champagne on the ice surface behind them, and reached for her free hand under water.

"We will be married, Lois. We will both have 'custody' of our child."

Lois now stared at him for a moment, before setting her drink down on the ice surface behind them as well, and attempting to climb out of the water! But Kal-El's hands grabbed her bare waist, almost swallowing it, then pulled her back into the water and into his arms! Lois gasped as her breasts pressed against Kal-El's muscular chest! She reached up to push against his shoulders but it was useless.

"I don't want to wait anymore, Lois. You're lovely and I want you now. And I will want you again and over and over again until neither of us will be able to see straight. And I want it to be just the two of us. I don't want you to let Bruce Wayne into our bed while we are here." Kal-El told her, his hands now moving down to cup her buttocks.

Lois felt a wave of heat course though her body and for a dizzying moment, she wondered if it was from the water or Kal-El very nearness? She could feel Kal-El's bulbous sex, pressing against her and Lois found herself relieved that his arms were around her to hold her up!

Lois was about to answer him, when his mouth swiftly closed over hers. Kal-El felt Lois's lips soften beneath his as she began to follow his lead, and he coaxed her to caress his tongue with hers, the contact itself caused shivers to run run through Lois's body. She felt her resistance ebbing away as their kisses blended one into the other. And finally, when Kal-El felt she had had enough, he firmly seized her buttocks and lifted her, then quickly dropped her onto his waiting, engorged lust!

Kal-El's deep groans filled her ears as she cried out. His brawny penetration stung and engulfed her deeply. Lois clung to his wide shoulders as Kal-El began a steamy rhythm that had her sliding up and down seamlessly upon his erect length, her breasts bobbing shamelessly against his chest and her lungs feeling as if she would never be able to draw another breath. Excitement coursed through every crevice of her body.

Kal-El's mouth claimed hers again, as their bodies began to tremor violently, and Lois held on to Kal-El for dear life as she felt her world spin with a dizzying momentum that she had not known was possible.

But Kal-El was not dizzy or unsure of where he was or what he was doing. He hurried out of the ice waterfall, carrying Lois while their bodies were still enjoined. He was taking her to their bed, where he planned to show Lois that what they were feeling now, was not new, sudden or unexpected. What was happening between them was borne from the fire that had always between them, a flame that had first been sparked from the moment they met...