Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except Lacey. And believe me, she wishes I didn't. Everyone else belongs to Warner Brothers, DC Comics and all sorts of people that are not little old me.

Nine

It was Christmas day and Lacey had to admit that even though she was missing home, watching the kids take turns talking to Santa was pretty fun and uplifting. Today, she was the lucky elf in charge of taking pictures. Lacey stopped her picture snapping and checked the space on her memory card. There was still plenty left before she needed to switch to another card.

Lacey was snapping a few more shots of the kids sitting near the tree when the excited young voices all hushed. She frowned as they all stared at something behind her. Hell, even Santa had gone wide eyed. Her brow crinkled and she turned around. What in the world could have them- Oh.

Superman was there. Not a guy pretending to be Superman. The Superman. She'd know those blue eyes anywhere. Lacey was stunned, but at the same time she wasn't surprised. He was super boy scout. If he knew something like this was happening and he had time, he'd probably show up for the kids. And she had mentioned it to him.. Huh. Interesting. So Lacey did the only thing she could.

She snapped a picture. No sooner had the first flash faded; the silent moment was beaten to a bloody pulp as the kids all freaked out over the superhero. After that, Lacey realized she was very glad she brought plenty of memory cards for her camera.

The hospital staff had finally whisked the kids away to their rooms, after they all made Lacey promise to bring their photos of Superman as soon as they were ready. Lacey had to pinky swear, cross her heart, swear on a soul (though she couldn't remember who's soul), and sign a makeshift contract on the back of some wrapping paper.

"Damn those kids are thorough." Lacey mumbled as she put her things away.

Her neighbor, Gina, grinned at her. "Aren't they? New kids every year, but in the end, they act the same. Be lucky that none of them tried to get you to sign in blood." She pat Lacey's shoulder. "Thanks for helping out."

"No problem." It really hadn't been. "I had a blast." She had. "I even got candy canes out of the deal. Sugar is never a bad incentive in my world." Then she gestured to the red and green elf dress she was wearing. "Besides, what other time of the year am I going to get away with an outfit like this?"

A hand reached out and played with the end of her red elf hat. "Don't forget to mention the hat."

Gina's eyes filled with wonder as Lacey playfully swatted at Superman's hand. "But it would look so much better on you, what with that curl of yours." Lacey smiled sweetly at him before sticking her tongue out at him. Childish? Yes, but Lacey was never one for maturity.

Gina wanted to ask how they seemed so casual around each other, but she saw her boss waving her down. She bid them both a polite farewell and went back to work.

That left the Mary-Sue and Superman staring at each other.

Lacey broke the silence first as she slung her tote over her shoulder. She could have asked him why he was there. She could have told him that is was cool he showed up. There were a great many things she could have said. Unfortunately, she said the first thing to pop into her head. "Did you get a hospital bill when you were in here?"

The question caught him off guard, but it got him to smile. "No, I can't say that I did. Why?"

"Just curious." Lacey shrugged. God, she said the stupidest things at times. She leaned her head back and her sight fell on something hanging above Superman. She kept her face blank as she calmly started to look through her bag. She spoke as she searched. "It was nice of you to be here, though I'm surprised you did come."

"Why is that?"

"Well," She continued to rummage around her bag. "You could be off anywhere, doing anything. Punching time. Saving the world from ravenous monkeys trying to get free cable. Rescuing Solid Snake from a vicious crab battle. But here you are. Playing with sick kids. It's keen."

"Keen?" Superman chuckled and folded his arms across his chest. "I used to do things like this before I left. I had almost forgotten what it felt like."

Success! Lacey found what she was looking for and she looked up at him. And she had to actually look up. Damn it, he was tall. "What does it feel like?"

He smiled down at her. "It feels good."

Lacey nodded in understanding as she removed her hat. She pushed a few strands of her dark hair out of her line of sight and then she quickly placed the elf hat on Superman's head. When his eyes widened in surprise, she grabbed his hand and slid a small object into it.

He gave her a confused look, but Lacey just smiled and lightly punched him on the arm. "You have a good heart. Don't ever let that change." She danced away from him and grabbed her coat. She turned around and pointed above him with a smirk. "Merry Christmas, blue eyes."

As she left him alone, Superman looked up to see mistletoe hanging above him. He glanced down and looked in his hand to find a Hershey's Kiss in it. He laughed.. But then a thought hit him like a hammer.

Blue eyes? She called Clark that. And with the cape comment he was almost sure she said months ago…