"Why'd you run away in there?" Oliver demanded of Lois in the hallway.

"I guess because I'm afraid my baby won't be so healthy." she said, unable to look him in the eyes. "The appointment is really getting to me."

"You're lying, and why did you just call it your baby and not our baby? You've been different since you got to Smallville."

"I know. I've been worried about the whole situation with Chloe-"

"No, that's not it." She sighed. Just because they weren't really married or in love that way didn't mean he didn't know her too well. "It's him in there, isn't it? Do you two have a history?"

"No. I mean yes but not really. I haven't cheated on you if that's what you're getting at."

"I didn't say that, but you obviously have feelings for him the way you were looking at him and his baby. I'm asking you to stay away from him."

"I can't do that."

She hated the pain she saw flash through his eyes, knowing she had put it there. "I see. Then we have nothing further to talk about."

He walked away, going toward the elevator that went down to the lobby. She couldn't blame him though she wished he'd stayed long enough to face the doctor with her. She could have really used a friend.

"You really believe everything you told me, don't you?" Chloe asked from behind, startling her in a good way.

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't. I may be a lot of things, but a liar isn't one of them. Well, at least when I'm not lying for the greater good."

"Or lying about your feelings because you don't want to appear vulnerable."

"Touché. Well, I have a doctor's appointment to go to."

"Would you like me to go with you?"

It was an olive branch and though she'd considered skipping out on the appointment, she couldn't leave not knowing. "That'd be great."

Chloe was quiet, and it was awkward, but Lois was too burdened with dread to fill the silence. As soon as Dr. Spears entered the room though, Lois hit her with a barrage of questions. "Was it something in the ultrasound? The blood work? What's wrong with the baby?"

"It's nothing to be overly concerned about," she said but the frown she wore said otherwise.

"What?" she asked, resisting the urge to shake the woman. "What is it that I don't have to be concerned about?"

"There appears to be some genetic mutations."

"And? What kind of mutations?" That could be a whole host of worrisome things. Why was she telling her not to be worried?

"Well, that's why you're here. We're going to take some of the amino fluid and find out for sure."

"Oh. How quickly will I know?"

"As soon as we know something. Frankly, right now it has me stumped. I've never seen anything like it, but the baby does seem healthy on the surface."

"Lois," Chloe said quietly as the doctor prepared to draw.

"What?" but as soon as she saw her look of concern, she knew what she was thinking. She'd been so wrapped up in the wellbeing of her baby part of it that she hadn't given much thought to the unknown genetic mutation part. "Actually, I need to reschedule. I'd like for the father to be here."

"I thought you weren't sure of the paternity?" she asked, looking puzzled.

She hadn't been, but Dr. Spears had just unknowingly solved it, or at least she hoped she had, and she couldn't let her get her hands on the baby's genetic composition, whose half Kryptonian DNA would no doubt look like genetic mutations at first until they labeled it as alien. "My husband is the baby's father. Real shocker, huh? I'll call. He stays so busy, it might be awhile before he can make it in."

She started to say something, but Lois didn't give her a chance, she hurried out, dragging Chloe by the hand, "Thanks, Cuz. I owe you," she said, once they were alone.

"You and Clark are really together, and you're really having a baby." She looked shell-shocked or like someone trying to wake themselves from a trance.

"You said you believed me."

"I did. I do. It's just I believed you believed it, but now I know it's true."

"Great. Now maybe you can tell me how to get everyone else to believe, so life can get back to normal."

"Your life is normal married to Clark Kent?"

She cracked a small smile. "My version of normal then. Any suggestions?"

"What about Jor-El? He may not have been affected by the madness. And if he is, then he at least might know who or what is powerful enough in the world or universe to do this."

Why hadn't she thought of that? She supposed she was too close to the situation to put her investigative skills to good use. "You, Chloe, are a genius."

sss

Lois' breath came up in front of her like a cloud as if the urge to smoke hadn't already been strong enough that she needed a visual reminder. "I get the need for a mostly deserted area of the world, but why couldn't Jor-El have set up shop in a warmer place?"

"You can't say the trip here wasn't luxurious. Your own private jet."

"Your private jet," she reminded her as she zipped her parka higher.

Chloe believed her because the proof was there, but the part that controlled and altered their realities sill made her struggle with the idea.

The mysterious voice might have intimidated some people, but it didn't intimidate her even when it was sometimes accompanied with a show of power. At the end of the day, she knew the real Jor-El had had his son's and Earth's best interests at heart, and when not infected, the fancy technology reflected that.

Inside the crystal structure, she announced, "This is Lois Lane and Chloe Sullivan."

"I know no Lois Lane."

He didn't remember either. This was very disappointing. "I'm married to Clark."

"He is married to another. She prevented my son from fulfilling his destiny." And she thought she had once made him angry. She had a feeling if Lana entered the fortress, he might disintegrate her on the spot.

"It's not true, and he has fulfilled his destiny and became the hero he was meant to be. I'm carrying his child, but I'm the only one who seems to remember any of this."

There was obvious pause. "You do carry Kal-El's seed in your womb." Creepy he could tell that and made creepier by his wording, but she was overjoyed to have confirmation. She could have hugged and kissed him if he'd had a physical presence.

"Yes," she said, happy tears blurring her vision, "and I was hoping you might explain why I'm the only who knows the truth."

"There is a fifth dimension."

She sighed. He was about to go all Twilight Zone on her, but she realized there was a lot about the universe the people of Earth didn't know, so she listened.

"The people of this dimension have technology so advanced they make Kryptonians seem like cavemen. To those of us in the third dimension, it seems like magic. One of these beings could completely change and make an alternate reality."

"But why leave my memory intact?"

"That I do not know, but they are not bound by our physical laws. You must find him and learn his name for there is only one way to send him back, you must get him to say his name backwards."