Welcome. It's another day and another chapter. Enjoy!

The next morning I found Lois waiting for me. She had gone crazy in the night. Reorganizing what did not need to be reorganized. Along with pulling out anything and everything that we had on Mannheim. Regardless of whether or not it was related to the story that she was doing. It made me question if she slept at all. And with the bags under her eyes, I would guess no. Then again I didn't remember her coming to bed. So, it made sense. If I wasn't so tired I would have insisted that she get some sleep. Alas, I was pretty out of it. So, she got scot-free. I didn't stop her. Now, this was the result. My world was in chaos again. I had everything put back just so. I would have to put everything back later. When she wasn't looking. For now, I had to calm her down and get her ready for surgery. It wasn't going to be easy.

Lois looked up when she heard me enter the room. The look on her face reminded me of a child being caught in the cookie jar. It was adorable. "Good morning." She tried to pretend that this was normal. I was not fooled.

"Good morning," I said before kissing her. "Lois, what are you doing?"

She scratched her head. "Nothing. Just a little reorganizing. Figured that it would pass the time."

"I see." I didn't believe her for a second. This was not why she did this. I sat down next to her. "Lois, if you were having trouble sleeping then you should have come to me. I would have tried to help."

"I know, but I didn't want to wake you."

I hugged her. "I don't care. I am always happy to help."

"I care." She pulled away. "You are the one performing the surgery today. It kinda matters if you get some sleep or not." I started to refute her argument when she cut me off. "Even if that wasn't true I wouldn't care. You've been up for over three days, Smallville. Even you can't do that forever."

Silence filled the room. After a few minutes, I gave up. I was not going to win this one. "Fine. I give up. You can suffer in peace. I won't stop you. Scout's honor."

"Thank you." She said as she kissed me. "You're my hero!"

Now she was just messing with me. I took it as a sign that she was relaxing. It was time to get this show on the road. It was time to start our daughter's gene therapy. I took her hand then guided her to her feet. "Now that it is settled, I need to make a phone call. Be back in a few. Then we'll get started, okay?"

About an hour later Lois was asleep and on the operating table. I asked Doctor Dr. Mid-Nite to assist me with this. For while I'd hate to admit it, but I am not well versed in human medicine. I could easily make a mistake that would hurt Lois. That is why he was here with us. Just in case Lois had trouble. I hoped that her presence would be unnecessary but I had to take the precaution. This was uncharted waters for me. I may be the best expert in Kyrpotian psychology on the planet. However, I am only a novice when it comes to human psychology. I was certainly no doctor. It was best to have a real doctor around just in case. Fortunately, the league had one or two doctors to call upon. Who could be trusted not to breathe a word of what they saw. They would keep this under the radar. Ensuring that our true identities would remain secret. Keeping our lives private. At times like this, I am truly grateful. I do not have to put Lois through any unnecessary risk. I can have a second opinion if things get hairy. Thank you, Dr. McNider.

Fortunately, most of the surgery went without a hitch. Lois was sound asleep within seconds after Dr. Mid-Nite administered the anesthesia. I ended up opting to not handle that part of the surgery. It was better in the hands of a professional. He was also in charge of watching Lois's vitals. I needed to know the second something went wrong. Which never happened. Lois simply went to sleep then woke up when it was all over. No harm whatsoever came of her. That wasn't the problem. Lois was fine.

It was my daughter who caused the issue. She did not seem to like the retrovirus that I injected. Her body was actively fighting against it. It was nice to know that she had a strong immune system even now. It was unlikely that she would get sick often. That was not helping me right now. She needed that retrovirus to survive. She'd be in a lot of trouble if she killed it off before it could do its work. I had to find a way to suppress her immune system for a while.

The trick was to do it. Do I attack it with drugs the way you would shut down the human immune system? Or do you use Krypotian methods for control? It was a real problem.

Shutting her immune system via human medication was too dangerous. It would put my family straight into harm's way. I would have to shut down both all three of their immune systems so I could guarantee success. I do not know if human pharmaceuticals would work on my children. Even if it did there was no guarantee that I could restore their immunity or that they would not get sick along the way. I could not let that happen. No, suppressing the immune system via drugs was out.

The only other viable solution that I could think of was to suppress the immune systems of all three using Kryptonian tech. I could easily create a suppression field. All while maintaining a clean environment for them to be in. Lois would hate it. For she would be stuck at the Fortress for two days while the virus did its work. She would not be able to leave the room. It would be a nightmare for her. Alas, I had no better alternative. It had to be done.

When I presented my idea Lois nearly had a coronary. She most certainly did not want to be stuck in a tiny room for days. I understood her reservations. And I promised that I would provide plenty of entertainment. She was still not happy, but she agreed in the end. She knew that I would not suggest this unless it was the last resort.

So, we told Perry the truth. We told him that Lois was pregnant and that there was a problem. One that required her to stay away from work for a few days. Once he heard the good news he agreed immediately to give us both some time off of work. He went on about Alice and her pregnancies for a bit. Then ordered Lois to take it easy. He said that a life was a terrible thing to waste. I couldn't agree more. I refused to lose any of them. They were going to make it. I am Superman, after all. I could do anything, . . . right?

I hope so, for this was going to be dangerous for Lois and our children. Even in a clean environment, there was a chance for a pathogen to find its way in. We were on Earth, after all. There were plenty of things that could attack them. Lois would not be able to leave the room. Nor would I be able to go in until it was over. As a Kryptonian, I am immune to most human diseases. However, I could still be a carrier. I could infect them with something that could kill them. I would not do that to them. I had to stay outside of the room. Lois would be on her own for two days. I could not hold my wife during that time at all. This was going to suck.

Lois went insane within an hour of being trapped inside the place. She wanted me to knock her out for the rest of the two days. I told her that it was a bad idea. I will not heavily sedate a pregnant woman without a good reason. Particularly, in her current state. It was too much of a risk to her and our children. She would have to bear with it. I assured her that it would be not too much longer than she could get out. She didn't believe me. Not that I blamed her. I did say two days after all.

So, I decided to distract her from the situation. I brought up the case that she was working on. I did not know a lot of the details. This is because I had purposely stayed away. As I did with most of her stories. Opting only to interfere if her life was in danger or if she asked for help. Now that she was indisposed it was going to be my job to finish the work. To do that I needed the details. She had to tell me what was going on. Okay, sure, I could go through her documents and files but that was an invasion of trust. It would also take longer if she told me what she found. Distracting her in the process. In my book, it was a win-win.

"I was tracking tech that Intergang is selling." Lois told me.

"Guns made with apocalypse tech?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, nothing that low-level. It was something more disturbing. It seems that they are selling Krypotian tech somehow."

I wanted to kill her. "Lois! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't know for sure. Everything that I am running on is rumor and gossip. I have nothing concrete. For all I know this is a lie. If so, I didn't want you to get your hopes up. I wanted to wait until I had a solid lead. Then I was going to tell you. Let you do the rest." She laughed. "I'm not that stupid, Smallville. I'm not going to mess with the stuff. That's your job, not mine."

"So, did you find something concrete?" I asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure. I have a friend that knows someone who routinely fences products for Intergang. I don't have direct contact with him, but she said that he's been really nervous lately. Talking about seeing strange things. Stuff that is not from this world."

"That's not much, Lois."

She nodded. "I know. That's why I didn't tell you. For all I know, this contact is referring to apocalyptic tech or something else just as deadly. Or it might mean that the person is lying. It's not enough to run a story on. That's why I didn't tell you. I wanted something more concrete first." She shook her head. "Clearly that's not going to happen. By the time I get out of this place, that lead will probably go cold. Then I will be back at square one."

Lois sighed. "I may never find another lead, Clark. This story is about to slip through my fingers and there is nothing that I can do about it. Just sit here and wait for the inevitable to happen. All because I couldn't keep it in my pants. How pitiful is that?"

"You're not pitiful and this is not a mistake: It's a miracle. One that I never thought possible. And admit it, you never thought this was possible either."

She smiled. "Got me there."

"Lois, you're creating new life. That's something that's far more important. So, what if this lead goes cold? Another one will pop up. I'll make sure of it. I'll find out the truth. No matter what that is. There isn't an issue here. You're just turning over your investigation a touch early, that's all. Which I prefer anyway. Leave this to me. I'll find an answer. So just sit back and relax, okay?"

Lois sat down and tried to make an effort to relax. We didn't end up talking for a while after that. I took advantage of the lull to contact a couple of people about her lead. Most notably Batman. While I couldn't pursue this much angle right now, they could. They were free. I had my hands full for now. They did not. The only thing that I could do was set the computers to do a continuous search for Kryptonian tech. That was it. Lois was my priority for now. I would have to let it slide for now.

Most of Lois's time in the field was uneventful. Lois got bored. She talked to me about one thing then the next. Then she went back to using the computer or fell asleep for a while. It's not worth going into detail on it. Besides, I like to keep some things private. What you need to know is that nothing significant to this story happened. I prefer to jump to the end of the treatment. The retrovirus had taken hold and had rewritten most of the bad genes. It was time to reactivate their immune systems and let my daughter fight off the thing. Only, I could not just turn off the field. I had to gradually weaken the field. It's why I told her that it would take two days. It would just take me around a day to slowly reactivate their immune systems. That way it would not shock their systems. It would give them time to handle it on their own. So, by the end of the process, Lois was going berserk. She wanted out now. Only, I couldn't let her out just yet. She needed more time.

"Clark, it's been nearly two days now. Isn't this thing done?" She whined.

"It is, Lois. The virus has had enough time to do its work. It should correct the defect, but only time will tell."

She crossed her arms. "It should correct the defect? Clark, I thought you said that it would work?"

I sighed. "If I gave you that impression, then I'm sorry. No, I don't know if this going to work. I think that it will, but that's as close as I'm going to get. Lois, our children are something special. Something that's never seen before: They are both human and Kryptonian. There's no roadmap to follow. I can only make educated guesses. It's the best that anyone can do."

"Look, Clark, you're out of your depth here. So, I am. Not only are we first parents, but our children are special. That's going to create problems." She smiled sadly at me. "Problems that we're going to need help with. You don't have all the answers. You said so yourself. You're not a doctor. Just as I'm not a scientist. I trust you. Really I do, but please don't do this on your own. Please, find someone else to help you. Someone that you trust. It be might be Dr. Mid-Nite. It might be someone else. I don't care. Just find them, Clark. You can't do this alone."

The cycle finally finished. I double-checked my scans. Lois's immune system was back to normal. There were no signs of complications. Neither Lois nor the babies seemed worse for wear. She was free to leave the room. So I opened the door for her.

As she stepped through I admitted. "I know that I'm not a doctor or a scientist. Not in the traditional sense, that is. I'm an amateur in the likes of men like Einstein or my father. But I do have some skills. I was able to sequence both of their genomes and identify a defect in three days. That's got to count for something."

Lois kissed me on the cheek. "Of course it does, Clark. But I'm still not wrong. You need help. This the lives of our children that we're talking about. We shouldn't take unnecessary risks. And If I have to tell you that then we're really in trouble."

I hated to admit, but she was right. I was out of my depth. I didn't know what I was doing. I was only making educated guesses. Guesses that had panned out so far, but that could change in an instant. I needed to find someone or something that could help me work this all out. Only, I had no idea where to get that help. There were not many experts on Krypotian Psychology on Earth. And of those, very few I could trust with the lives of my family. I did not have many options. I couldn't really reach out to anyone who specialized in that aspect. I decided that I would reach out to Dr. Mid-Nite and see what he thought of the latest test results. He didn't understand Kryptonian Psychology but he could least advise me on the human side of things. I would take the test results to him later and schedule checkups with him for Lois. It would have to do. Sadly, living among humans gives little options in this situation.

I dropped Lois off at our apartment and told her to rest. She needed time to recover. Not that I expected her to rest. That was not Lois Lane. She would be up and on the phone once I was out of earshot. As if she was ever out of earshot. I could always hear her in the background. Whether it was yelling on the phone or typing away madly I could hear her. Just as I could hear the constant sound of her heartbeat. It was soothing. It always reassured me that everything was okay. Now, there were three precious heartbeats. It's going to be a hard few months, but I could handle it; Our family was expanding. I really was a lucky man.

Next chapter is when I introduce Batman. I know that this is what you are waiting for. See you then!