Chapter 1: Heartbeat

Lois paced in the waiting room of her Ob-gyn. The at home pregnancy test may have been positive, but before she told anyone, she had to be sure. She looked down at her hand, and saw herself fiddling with Clark's ring again. "Lois Lane?" The nurse said from the door.

"That's me."

Lois followed the nurse to the exam room, "What is your visit today for?"

"I took an at-home pregnancy test and it was positive. I just wanted to be sure."

"Was this a planned pregnancy?"

"No, but it's definitely a wanted pregnancy."

The nurse smiled, "A happy accident then, good to hear. Let me take some blood, and we can check your bloodwork." The nurse turned for the supplies needed to draw blood from Lois's arm. "When was your last period?"

"Two months ago. At first I completely lost track of the time last month with everything that was happening with Superman and the congressional hearings."

"Stress can cause a missed period. Two missed periods are less common. I will send your bloodwork out, it's near the end of the day, so I should have results tomorrow."

Lois nodded, "You can give these results over the phone?"

The nurse nodded, "Yes we can. I can also do a short exam to confirm today that you are pregnant."

Lois smiled, "That would be great."

10 minutes later, Lois was on the exam table, with her feet in the stirrups. She closed her eyes, praying that everything would look normal. She once asked Clark if he looked the same internally. Clark said that he had a similar skeletal system and organs, but he wasn't sure beyond that. Lois was mostly positive that unless they did an amnio, they wouldn't check the baby's DNA, as there was no reason to.

The nurse entered the Ultrasound Transducer. Lois kept her eye on the screen, praying. "Is it there?"

The nurse smiled, as Lois heard on the speakers, the heartbeat, "It's there, and it's strong. Congratulations, you a mom!"

Lois smiled, "I'm a mom!"

Clark opened his eyes. He was used to hearing Lois's heartbeat, no matter where in the world they were. They could be on opposite sides of the globe, and he could still find her heartbeat. But now, it was different, there was a second heartbeat, softer, faster, but there. He floated in suspended animation, he couldn't move or speak, or really see, as he was being healed, but he could hear.

The AI machine had explained to him about his condition, and how it would take time for his giant wound to heal. Clark had not complained, he couldn't but now he wanted out. He knew what the second heartbeat meant, and he had to be there for Lois. Had to tell her that he wasn't really dead, that their child still had a father, but he couldn't move, as he was frozen in the gel like liquid that was making him better.

The AI came up to him, sensing his frustration, "Never fear Kal-El, son of Jor-El. You are fine. In three months you will be well enough to leave here. In the meantime, you need to sleep to heal." Clark watched as the AI came up to his prison and pressed a button, adding a sedative to the mix, and everything went dark.

TBC…