Not long after Clark's work day ended, he was getting ready to fly up to the Fortress when he heard a woman calling for help. He flew to the scene and saw that there had been a car accident just a few miles away from the Daily Planet. The two cars were a mangled mess, and one had flames coming from it.

"Superman!" the woman entrapped in the flaming car called. "Help! I'm stuck!"

Superman quickly flew down and blew out the fire, and helped free the woman from the car right as the ambulance arrived. The paramedics quickly took over at the scene of the accident.

"You're in good hands now," Superman comforted the woman. As he turned to fly off, his eye caught a familiar face in the crowd that had formed. Lex Luthor. Superman made eye contact with Lex. Lex waved and smiled smugly.

"Superman, thank you for your help today," one of the firefighters said, coming up from behind.

Superman turned and shook the man's hand. When he turned back to the crowd, Lex was nowhere to be seen.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Superman flew back to the Fortress that evening just before dinner time.

"Hey," Lois said to him. Clark immediately could hear the less-than-cheery tone of her voice. Superman spun out of his cape and into his Clark clothes. Clark bent his head down and gave his wife a kiss.

"Hey hon..." he responded, cautiously. He rubbed her very expanded belly. Lois' due date was only 3 weeks away. "How are the two of you doing?"

"Clark! Look at me!" Lois exclaimed, her voice raising more than she intended.

"You look beautiful," Clark answered honestly. He was confused as to where this was coming from. "You're very pregnant with my baby. There is nothing sexier than that." He smiled a sexy grin and put his hands on each of her hips. "Why don't you tell me where all this is coming from? What's really bothering you?"

Lois let out an exasperated sigh and stepped out of his grasp as she began pacing. "What's really bothering me?" she repeated. "Oh, I don't know," she began sarcastically. "Maybe it's the fact that I'm 37 weeks pregnant and ginormous and can't get comfortable. Ever! Or maybe it's because I just love being cooped up in the Fortress with no one to talk to, and constantly worrying if my husband is being tortured to death by means of a green rock at the hands of a madman!"

Clark looked at Lois with surprise in his eyes. "Lois, how long have you been feeling like this?" he asked her. "I've come and spent every single moment that I have available up here with you. Every time I've asked you how you were feeling, you've reassured me that you were fine, and you were happy to know that you were keeping the baby safe."

"How could you have not seen it, Clark?" Lois quipped with a flash of anger in her eyes. She could feel her emotions rise as some suppressed feelings of anger and resentment started making their way to the surface. "I'm your wife, remember? You're supposed to know me better than anyone! Yes, keeping this baby safe is my number one priority, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it! Your safety is in jeopardy, too, but you're still out and about flying wherever you want to go, not even caring about the danger that Lex is!"

"How can you even think that about me?!" Clark asked, his voice raising. "Let me get this straight. You're upset with me because you're my wife and I'm supposed to know you well enough to have seen how lonely you were up here, but you have the audacity to accuse me of not caring of the danger that Lex is?! Lois, Lex Luthor is on my mind 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The threat he presents, not only to myself, but to you, our baby, and the entire planet as well, haunts me every minute of every day. Each day that I'm not here with you, I worry that Lex is hiding somewhere figuring out a way to find you, and hurt you. And hurt our baby. The fact that you think I think so little of him hurts, Lois."

Lois stared at her husband, not knowing what to say. "Way to go, Lane," she silently reprimanded herself. "He's done nothing wrong. You're just taking out your loneliness, fears, and resentment on your husband. Your husband who loves you more than anything." She sighed deeply as she awkwardly sat down on the bed, her protruding belly making much movement at all to be very difficult. "Listen, Clark -" she started.

"You know what? I need to cool off a bit before we talk again," Clark said coldly. "I'll see you later." With that, he flew out of the Fortress.

Clark's sudden departure just magnified Lois' feelings of loneliness and resentment towards him. "Fine!" she yelled after him, knowing he could hear her. "You go jet-setting off to save the world like always! Must be nice!"

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Lex Luthor sat in his hideout mulling over his theory. Was it possible that Superman had really been disguising himself as a mild-mannered reporter and nobody had figured it out? If Clark Kent and Superman really were one in the same, Lex figured that the only way to get Clark in Lex's control would be to threaten the life of Lois and the baby. The only problem was Lex hadn't seen Lois in over 6 weeks - not since Superman had whisked Lois out of her bedroom after Lex had seen her reaction to Kryptonite.

Lex had to find a way to get Clark into his hideout. He smiled an evil grin as a thought came to his mind. He knew exactly how he would lure Lois Lane out of hiding, and the three of them would form a beautiful working relationship.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Superman was flying over the skies of Metropolis, replaying the night's events with Lois in his head. He felt guilty over how quickly they were in a heated argument and was about to turn around to go back to the Fortress when he heard a cry for help. He headed towards the direction of the cries. When he got to the scene, a man dressed all in black was holding a gun on a woman. The man's back was facing Superman.

"Let her go. Now." Superman spoke authoritatively.

"Run," the man dressed in black whispered to the lady. She did as she was told and took off running away from the man and Superman.

"Care to tell me why you were terrorizing that young woman tonight?" Superman asked.

The man in black slowly turned around so that Superman saw his face.

"Lex Luthor."

"Clark Kent," Lex said menacingly. With that, Lex held the gun up and pulled the trigger. Superman went down in a heap.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

As it got later and later, Lois began to wonder where Clark was. He had flown away almost 4 hours ago. Lois knew he was upset and frustrated with her and the things she had said, but she didn't expect him to be gone this long. Thinking that maybe a big story had erupted that had warranted Superman's help, Lois decided to flip on the television to see if there was any mention of anything Superman-worthy.

She was flipping channels of the same, mundane shows: doctors falling in love with other doctors, men giving roses to women they barely knew, game shows, and finally something made her stop and gasp. Every channel she flipped to was showing the exact same image - Superman sprawled on the floor - a bullet wound in his chest. "Oh my God," she cried with tears spilling down her cheeks. A voice began speaking. His face wasn't shown, but Lois knew exactly whose voice it was.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I do apologize for interrupting some of your favorite shows, but I need to get a message to a very special person, and I'm afraid this was the only way to do so. You know who you are. You have 24 hours to show your face in Metropolis. Anywhere in Metropolis. I have eyes everywhere. Come to Metropolis, and I save your superhero. Then the three of us can work out every last detail of our business relationship. If you don't come to Metropolis, then your superhero dies." There was a brief pause before Lex continued speaking. "To all of you out there who I am NOT talking to….if anybody else shows up, and I mean ANYONE who this message is not intended for, your superhero dies!" The video feed remained on Superman's limp body before re-playing the same voice-over message over and over again. Lois sat in stunned silence for several minutes before snapping back to reality.

"Jor-El!" Lois cried as tears streamed down her face. "Somebody is holding Kal-El hostage and will not release him until I show myself in Metropolis. Can you please send me back?! I have to save your son!" Tears continued to stream. Her voice was barely a whisper anymore before she continued. "I need to save my husband."

"Lois, as much as I want to save my son, by sending you to him I can no longer guarantee your safety, or the safety of this baby," Jor-El stated.

"Jor-El, he will die if I don't do this!" Lois begged.

The Fortress was silent for a moment.

"Jor-El, please!" Lois begged again. "I love Kal-El with all my heart. I cannot lose him."

"Alright, Lois," Jor-El agreed. "I will send you back to Metropolis on one condition. Bring Kal-El's captor back here. I will see to it that he never harms you, Kal-El, or my heir."

"Yes, Jor-El, I understand," Lois said. "I will make it happen."

The entire Fortress glowed, and the next thing Lois knew she was standing outside of Clark's and her apartment.

"OK, I'm here," she said out loud, to nobody. She turned around in a slow circle to see if she caught a glimpse of Lex or anybody suspicious watching her. After all, he said he had eyes everywhere. Her stomach cramped and her back ached. "OK, Lane, this is what you get for not eating dinner," she muttered to herself as she rubbed her very expanded belly. She then put both hands to her back to try and massage out the kinks. "Your husband needs you at 100%. Focus on him." With her little pep talk to herself finished, and still no sign of Lex, Lois decided to walk a couple of blocks to her favorite burger place. Surely a little comfort food would comfort her aching stomach, and she figured the light walking would ease the tension in her back muscles.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

As she finished the last bite of her cheeseburger on a park bench at the park, a familiar voice came up behind her.

"I see you got my message."