I walked back to Clark's office. He was hunched over his typewriter clicking away at an alarming speed. I slammed the door and his head shot up. He looked at me with a look of surprise.

"What?" I defended.

"Super-hearing, Lois. Did you need to slam the door?"

"I did," I nodded, "for emphasis. Plus you didn't even flinch so don't you dare act hurt." He rolled his eyes and went back to his typing.

My smile widened. "Mr. Kent, you're working too hard."

"I seem to thrive on it," He looked up to grin at me and adjust his glasses. "How do you feel?"

"I feel fine," I sang.

"No ill effects from the pointing finger of our Mr. Zero?" He double-checked. I assured to that I was happy and healthy. "Good. How was your meeting with the Chief?"

"Good he is insisting that we make sure some of our wedding is fancy," I sighed.

"He really wants to spoil us, doesn't he?" Clark chuckled. "We definitely have the best boss in the world." In the middle of our laugh, the door opened to reveal a dapper black suit that hung handsomely off of a beaming alien. I don't think Mr. Zero had ever imagined wearing fine threads such as these and he couldn't wait to show them off.

"Well, hi, Sport," I greeted as my eyes traveled him carefully.

His hands run up and down the lining of the lapels, "Do you like it?"

"Sure do," I assured him. Clark even rounded the desk to address the freshly spruced alien.

"Jimmy, you did a great job," Clark praised. Both Jimmy and Mr. Zero stood a little taller under the praise. Clark knows how to make people feel special.

"Thanks, Mr. Kent," Jimmy shrugged shyly.

"Mr. Zero," Clark squatted to make himself lower than the Martian before he continued. "I have a question for you, Sir. How did you get to Earth?"

Mr. Zero suddenly got nervous, "They flew me down by rocketship."

"They left you out in the desert?" Clark clarified.

"Yes," the little man confirmed.

Filling in the blanks Clark continued, "and they turned around and flew back to Mars."

"That's right," Mr. Zero answered meekly.

Back on his feet, Clark looked at me, "Mm Huh, gonna have to tell Chief about this. I know he's not going to believe it, but I've got to give him the old-school try." I watched Clark leave the office with a smirk on his face.

I started at the closed door for a minute before turning to the visiting stranger. I leaned down to address him, mostly because my skirt wouldn't allow anything else. "Mr. Zero, do you know what happens when you point your finger at someone?

He looked a little confused by the question but answered anyway, "Well, sometimes you get your hand slapped. Because it's not polite. My mother always used to tell me so." I tried very hard not to giggle at that simple answer. It is good to know that manners are universal.

"No," I gently clarified, "I mean when you point at someone."

His confusion once again disarmed me. "No."

Show don't tell. I took a quick scan of the office when I noticed the mostly silent Jimmy. "Point at Jimmy," I encouraged.

Jimmy was mid nod when Mr. Zero pointed. The cub reporter froze, mouth wide open and hands behind his head to stretch his muscles.

"See?" I whispered. "That's what happened when you pointed at me before. I just froze."

Fear entered my new friend's eyes, "Oh, Miss Lane, I didn't hurt you, did I? I wouldn't hurt you for anything in the universe."

Oh, how sweet! Maybe my byline should read Lois Lane: Alien Magnet. "Of course not." I laid my hand on his shoulder as I reassured him, "It went away in a few minutes just like it will with Jimmy. Watch."

Right on cue, Jimmy sighs and his hand flop into his lap. Surprise and pride both mingle in his eyes. "I think I just broke the record for long yawning."

Mr. Zero spoke up, "I didn't know I could do that."

"I think it must have something to do with you coming from a different planet," Jimmy took a stab at an explanation. "The difference in the atmosphere or something."

"Thank you, Professor Einstein," I teased. Suddenly we got a knock on the door. "Come in," I called pretty much assuming that it was someone from the newsroom or Inspector Henderson, normally everyone else just opens up.

In came a questionable character, gray suit with a matching fedora and a red and gray tie around his white collared neck. I didn't like the look of him, maybe it was the fact that he hadn't pressed his suit before coming to an office. But what I really didn't like was the way that his eyes narrowed in on Mr. Zero and a shady smile curled his lips.

"I'm looking for Clark Kent," I started before quickly turning to my new friend, "Uh, that is, I'm looking for you."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Georgie Gleep," he quickly replied.

"What do you want with Mr. Zero," Jimmy asked. Glad to know Jimmy didn't like the looks of him either.

Gleep put his slimy arm around Mr. Zero's shoulder, and gave a snake oil answer, "Just wanna show him a little hospitality. Introduce him to a few of the boys, maybe."

"That's awfully nice Mr. Gleep," Mr. Zero smiled.

"Oh, you just call me Georgie."

This made Mr. Zero very happy. "Alright, Georgie. You can call me, Zero."

"You know, Zero, word's gotten around about you. It isn't every day we get a visitor from Mars. Now being new here you're gonna need a lot of friends. How about coming out to the house?" Georgie made it sound so wholesome, but I could feel my skin crawling.

"Why, I'd like that, Georgie."

"Good."

I had to do something quickly, "Don't you think you'd better wait. Mr. Zero?"

Gleep answered for him. "What's to wait for? Just being neighborly." A little too neighborly.

"And after all, Miss Lane. I can't hang around you, Jimmy and Mr. Kent all the time. That would be an imposition."

What does a person say to that? On his world, he is a grown man, but he is acting like a naïve child. I don't want to let him go but I know that in the end, I have no power. "Well, you're a big boy. Do whatever you think is right."

"There's nothing wrong in making friends, is there?"

Gleep jumped on that, "'Couse, there ain't! Come on, chum."

"So long, Jimmy, Miss Lane," Mr. Zero announced as he walked out of the office.

"Bye, Mr. Zero," I sighed.

"So long, Mr. Zero," Jimmy echoed. Before closing the door Gleep gave me a look that told me I did not do the right thing.

I turned to Jimmy, "Somehow or other, I don't trust that Georgie Gleep."

"Me neither," Jimmy growled.

Clark re-entered the office with a smile on his face, "Where's Mr. Zero? I told the chief about him, he wants to see him right away. Doesn't believe in him." Clark started chuckling, "Thinks I've been overworking or something."

Might as well be blunt about it. "Well, he just left with a new friend. Uh, Georgie Gleep."

"Gleep… Gleep…" He repeated. "Yeah, that names sounds familiar, just can't remember from where."

"You don't seem to happy about it," I pointed out.

"Well, I'm not. I'm not, Lois, the vibrations I got aren't a bit good." He winced.

"I don't feel good about it either, Clark." I sighed. "He gave me a real slimy feeling, but how do you stop an adult from making his own decisions?"

Clark put his hands in his pockets, his sign of resignation. "You're right, Lois. I just wish I knew why I know Gleep's name."

"Since we both don't feel good about that name," I suggested, "maybe we go to Bill Henderson and see what he knows about Mr. Georgie Gleep."

"You are right, Lois. That is probably our best option," he conceded.

"No," I retorted, "our best option is for Superman to go find him and bring him back here before there is any trouble."

Clark cracked a smile at that one. But Jimmy is the one the piped up, "But because we aren't really sure about Gleep there is no guarantee that Superman would even be willing to get involved."

I looked at Clark and saw the appreciation in his eyes as he watched the Cub struggle with what to do. Jimmy was growing up, and we were so happy to be apart of that. "You have a point, Jimmy," Clark agreed, "so I will get Inspector Henderson, meanwhile you two stay close to the police scanner."

"Be quick about it," I demanded.

He gave me a swift kiss, "You know I will be," and was out the door.

I shuffled between my office and Clark's for hours, we both were worried sick and couldn't focus on anything. Bill had just confirmed our suspicions and now we waited for any type of news. We were getting agitated, besides not knowing what Gleep might be talking Zero into, Superman was still being pressured to find the rocket ship.

I stood in front of Clark's desk watching him fidget like a worried father. Why shouldn't he? Mr. Zero Zero Zero Minus One from Mars is barely on the planet for a day and we lost him… I think, more specifically, Superman lost him.

"He's been gone over three hours, Lois. He should have never been allowed to go off with that cheap, petty crook, Gleep," He growls.

"I'm sorry, Clark," I offer again, "Golly if anything happens to him, I'll never forgive myself." Once again we were interrupted by knocking. I opened the door myself. "Mr. Zero!"

I quickly closed the door behind him, gushing, "Golly, is it good to see you."

"Why?" Mr. Zero looked frantic. "What's happened?"

Clark zeroed his gaze on the Martian, "That's what I was just about to ask you. Where have you been?"

"I can't tell you," Zero looked at me, "I gave my word."

Clark softened his tone, "Mr. Zero, Georgie Gleep is not a nice man."

"Oh, you must have another Georgie Gleep in mind, Mr. Kent," Mr. Zero defended. "Because this one is so kind and good as can be." Again he looked at me, "So is his friend, Slouchy."

"Slouchy McGoon?" I checked.

"That's right."

"Oh no," Clark grumbled.

"What's the matter?"

"Well," Clark explained, "McGoon and Gleep have been known to pull off quite a few robberies in their day."

"Robberies? What's that?"

"That's when you take something that doesn't belong to you," I explained.

He got very defensive, "But it was the others who did that… They took—" He cut himself off.

"Ah? And what did they take?" Clark prodded.

"I'm very sorry. I can't tell you."

Jimmy came flying through the door, "Oh, Hi Mr. Zero."

"Hello, Jimmy."

"Mr. Kent," Jimmy suddenly became rather meek. "I, uh, I forgot to cash my check today. Could you possibly loan me five bucks until tomorrow?"

"I can not," Clark replied, "you see I'm running a little short myself."

I smiled, "I can, Jimmy. I got some money from the bank today. Come on it's in my office."

"Good, Miss Lane!"

"Wait a minute Miss Lane," Mr. Zero called after us. "What did you say?"

"I'm gonna lend Jimmy five dollars," I repeated.

"No, I mean about getting money from the bank."

"Oh well, that's very simple. I wrote out a check, they gave me what I wanted." The alien was turning a garish white as I explained. His questions became desperate.

"They did?!"

"Well, of course," I reassured him.

"But Georgie said…"

"Ah, what did Georgie say? You better tell us the whole story," Clark suggested.

"He said there were bad people in the building, and they weren't gonna give Miss Lane any of her money, so she'd be cold hungry—Oh! What have I done?" He began to cry.

"Now, look, nobody ever gained anything from crying. What happened?"

"While I pointed my finger at the men, Georgie and Slouchy took all of Miss Lane's money," Mr. Zero finally explained.

"A lot of other people's too, I'll bet," Clark remarked. "Do you know what they did with it?"

"They said they were gonna mail it to Miss Lane, because she wouldn't even know who did the good deed," His remorse slipped back into his tone. "Oh Miss Lane, I'm sorry. I don't know what to do."

My heart broke for my new friend. He simply wanted to do the right thing, he thought he was protecting me. I could tear that Georgie Gleep to shreds. I leaned in to comfort him, "Oh that's alright. We'll think of something."

He got sad, "No wonder the banished me from Mars. I'm no good."

"Now, now don't say that. You are very good. You just made a mistake, and it's not your fault," I tried.

"It is. It is! If it hadn't been for me!"

Clark changed the subject, "Do you have any idea where they took the money?"

"No," Zero cried, "But I know where Georgie lives." Zero explained the location to us in as much detail as he could. Thankfully Clark was able to figure out where he was describing. Mr. Zero begged to help in whatever way he could but there is only so much we could do.

"Well, I'm afraid this sounds more like a job for Superman," I interrupted.

The Martian seemed to be taken aback by the statement. He turned to me with wide eyes, "Superman? We've heard about him on Mars, because of that time he took care of the meteors."

I felt my heart race for a quick second as I saw a flash of amnesia-ridden Clark. Thankfully Jimmy changed the subject, "He's a good friend of Mr. Clark's."

Clark chimed in, "Ah if I can arrange it would you like to help Superman?"

"Can you arrange it?"

"Well, I'll try." He moved to his feet and began to set things in motion. "Jimmy here are the keys to my car. Drive Mr. Zero over to Mr. Gleep's hideout as fast as you can… WITHOUT breaking any speed laws."

Jimmy rolled his eyes at the joke. "You got it, Mr. Kent."

Once he was out the door with Mr. Zero in tow, Clark ordered me to call Inspector Henderson. "Clark," I stopped him.

"Yes Lois," he looked at me concerned.

It was my turn to zero in on him with a threatening tone, "Superman better make sure that little Martian feels very important."

He began to laugh, we shared our first honest laugh of the whole day. "Lois, I promise that he will be the hero in this headline."

"I will hold you to that," I leaned in to kiss him. He happily accepted. "Now go get that slimy Georgie Gleep."

"Don't forget to call Bill, and if you could keep the Chief occupied until I can get him back here, that would be great."

"See you soon," I smiled.

The Chief and I were deciding on places to go dress shopping, he was showing me ideas that he had been looking at and thought I might like.

"Lois," the Chief sighed. "I know that you don't like fancy things but I want your dress to be one that people will be talking about all year."

"Oh Mr. White, you are so sweet, but are you sure you can afford something like that?"

"Lois…" He smiled. Denise rang in at that moment to announce that Mr. Kent and Mr. Olsen were back.

"This is that alien I was talking to you about, Chief," I announced as the boys filed through the office doors. Mr. Zero was beaming ear to ear.

Mr. White stood and leaned over his desk to shake the Martian's hand. "Mr. Zero, I've been waiting all day to meet you."

"I'm very sorry you had to wait so long," he said meekly. "It has been a very long day."

"Oh really," the Chief questioned, "I guess you should start at the beginning."

Clark and I shared looks of amusement as Mr. Zero began to unfold his story for the Chief. About ten minutes later he was starting to wrap it up, "That when Superman asked me to meet Mr. Kent, Miss Lane and Jimmy back here. He said that you'd want to meet me."

"Yes, of course," Perry White growled, "I wouldn't have believed them otherwise. Here have a cigar." The Chief produced one of his coveted cigars.

"Aren't you afraid it will stunt his growth," Jimmy joked.

Mr. Zero puffed a couple of times looking very pleased with it, "This is very superior."

"Good, I am glad you like it," Chief replied. "I'll give you a box of them later."

"Back home we smoke corn silk," he explained.

"Cornsilk?"

A strange buzzing came from Mr. Zero's suit jacket. He produced an antenna and seemed to listen to them intently. Clark was the first to ask about it, and Mr. Zero just stated that he was receiving a message from Mars. He looked pretty happy about it.

"It is from the Supreme Council. They say that if I am good enough for Superman, then I am good enough for them. They are sending the rocket ship for me."

"You're going home," I asked excitedly.

"Golly, that's great," Jimmy added. "What as story! We can drive you to where they are going to pick you up, and I'll get some pictures and Miss Lane—"

Mr. Zero's smile disappeared before looking to Clark. "Jimmy," Clark inserted. "Obviously, Mr. Zero doesn't want to say this, but he is afraid that if there are people around when the rocket ship approaches, his friends may be frightened away."

"That's right, Mr. Kent."

I chuckled at our stupidity, "Oh, of course. We will take you to the meeting place and leave you there." Chief handed the Martian a box of cigars as promised and Jimmy led him to the door. The Martian looked back to give his last goodbyes.

"Goodbye, Mr. Kent. Goodbye, Mr. White."

They replied with smiles and goodbyes. Before I followed the boys to the door I walked up to Clark and threw my arms about his neck in a hug. "Thank you for making him feel special."

"I did make a promise," he whispered.

"I love you," I said just before kissing him. I turned to leave and saw Mr. Zero watching us with curious amazement.

"What is it, Mr. Zero," Clark asked.

"What did you just do?"

Clark and I looked at each other not quite understanding the question. "Our kiss?" I clarified.

"Yes," he nodded, "What was that for?"

Once again Clark knelt to his level, "You see, Mr. Zero, hugging, and kissing are signs of affection here on Earth. In this case, Miss Lane and I are engaged to be married, so we are showing that we love and appreciate each other."

"I am glad I am going home then," Mr. Zero pointed out, "Our mating customs are much more civilized."

And here I am thanking the Lord that love is never civilized.

Author's Note: I know I am pushing the deadline on this, but I really wanted to post this chapter on my fourth anniversary of this story. It started out as a short story in college and now I am looking at a novel... maybe a novella. I am so glad that people are enjoying it. I promise that I will finish this story but I have to give you a long-awaited wedding before I can even entertain an ending. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I appreciate you all!