"New guy, fifth row, left aisle seat. Who's he?" The Secret Service agent was a last-minute substitute to the Presidential press conference on the new space initiatives and hadn't gotten the full listing of attendees.

"Daoud Wadi. He's with Space Developments. First time here. Graduated Cairo University in journalism two years ago. Before that, he was a technical writer. Clearances perfect."

"Got it."

The agents continued to scan the room and it was a few moments before an alarming move from the reporter in question.

"Wadi. He's reaching down-"

"Oh, dear lord." Both agents readied themselves for the inevitable violence.

"Well, hello there." Daoud looked down at the soft-eyed grey cat who had patted his leg with her paw and emitted a plaintive mew. "Nobody's paying attention to you, hmm? Poor little thing, are you being neglected? Come on up." He scooped her up and installed her on his lap, where she mewed again and rubbed her chin against his lapel. "What's happened to your collar?" He carefully parted her fur and inspected the skin near the missing stone. "You didn't get into a fight, did you? No, nothing there, looks like it just fell out."

Meggie's sisters were finishing their own rounds of the room, which included jumping on Lois Lane's lap and licking her face; she detested the smell of tuna, which was what the White House chef had given them for breakfast.

"Clark, get these hairballs off me!" Clark had arrived early and was ostensibly mingling with the audience, though his activities consisted mostly of talking to her.

"No can do. They're part of Lex's staff, and it's against the law to interfere with a federal employee at his or her duties." Clark's deadpan broke at her glare.

"Smallville!" The cats haughtily vacated her lap, accidentally (of course) whapping her face with their tails as they jumped off, and Clark hurriedly left for the platform.

Lex made his entrance and several of the reporters wondered whether they should mention that something clearly disconcerted him as he scanned the room. He recovered his aplomb after taking a gulp of water and began to introduce the new exploration initiatives, then handed the conference over to Clark. The reporters also wondered whether to mention that the NASA administrator also seemed to lose his concentration a few times.

After the conference, Daoud had a problem. The little grey cat was so very comfortable in his lap and he hated to move her. The other two cats were lounging together on the chair next to his, which the reporter next to him had vacated the instant the cat came over. Daoud assumed he had allergies. In fact, several reporters had vacated the area, which was rather odd. Well, the purring was rather loud.

It wasn't just for the nice little cat's sake, though. He'd missed having a cat curled up on his lap or next to him since he'd had to put down Copernicus, his companion of fifteen years. A month was simply too early to start thinking about getting another cat, but getting to pet and fuss over these was just right. He realized that the room was empty except for a few Secret Service agents, who were talking over something quite heatedly. They shot him a glance and he realized that he had to leave. "Sorry, beauty," he whispered as he picked her up, gave her another quick petting, and put her down next to the others.

When he turned around, the NASA administrator was standing next to him, eyebrows raised quizzically. "Hi, I'm Clark Kent. You've met the President's cats, I see."

"Daoud Wadi. Science reporter for Space Developments."

Still on the platform, Lex Luthor checked his watch. A few minutes to the next appointment. Actually, meeting somebody the cats instantly snuggled up to was a priority, if only to appease Luthor curiosity.

A few months later.

"Here's the proposal I have for you." Lex Luthor leaned back, hands steepled.