Lois was just turning on her work computer the next morning when Jenny stopped at her desk. "Have you checked your voicemail yet?"

Lois glanced up at the younger woman. "Pardon?"

Jenny blushed faintly. "Melissa down in reception wanted me to check. She said she got a call first thing from some lady named Martha who really wanted…"

She trailed off as Lois swiveled her chair and grabbed her phone's handset.

"Good thing I asked," Jenny muttered as she continued on her way.

Lois made a mental note to apologize to Jenny later. She impatiently skipped past three other messages before she finally heard Martha's voice.

"Hi Lois, this is Martha. I'm sorry to bother you at work, but I don't have any other way to contact you. Clark called around 10 o'clock my time last night talking about being sick. He was trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, but, well, the last time he threw up was when he ate twenty pounds of potatoes. This was different – he sounded sick. I'm looking at flights to Metropolis, but it'd be at least a day before I arrive. Can you be my eyes and ears until I get there? My cell phone number is…"

Lois scrambled to find a pen and jotted the number down on her hand. She rewound the message far enough to double-check that she had Martha's number right and then punched in the code to save the message. Frowning thoughtfully, she logged into her computer and, as it finished booting, texted Martha. "This is Lois and now you have my cell phone number, too. Got your message, and he hasn't said a word to me. Normally he comes to work around noon. I'll talk to him then and get back to you."

Lois debated for only a brief moment whether she should text Clark herself. If he was following his normal routine, he'd be asleep right now, and she wouldn't want to wake him up after a full shift at the construction site if he forgot to silence his phone or whatever. On the flip side, Martha was hardly the kind of person Lois would describe as a helicopter parent. If she was making plans to fly to Metropolis, she was convinced there was something seriously wrong.

Deciding that it was too early in the morning to play the needy, clingy girlfriend, Lois set down her phone and turned her attention to thinning out her email inbox. She'd talk to him when he came in, and if he didn't come in, then she'd decide what action to take. In the back of her mind, though, the thought kept churning away: if something was capable of making him sick, why hadn't he contacted her?

She managed to keep herself distracted with actual work until she heard Perry bellow, "Clark Kent!" a little before noon. Her head jerked up and she saw Clark standing in front of their editor. He looked kind of pale, but Lois wasn't sure if that was because he was under the weather or because he was under fire.

Perry brandished a printed sheet of paper and continued to shout loudly enough for the whole bullpen to hear. "Superman shows up drunk for a rescue at your reconstruction site last night, and the Metropolis Inquisitor scooped us on it! Care to explain that?"

Clark said something in a low voice, and Perry hollered, "Speak up!"

"I wasn't feeling well last night," Clark answered, raising his voice just enough that it carried all the way to Lois. "I called in sick so I wasn't there to witness it."

Perry harrumphed, and Lois fought a smile. He'd clearly been stymied by the answer but wasn't ready to forgive and forget yet.

"Were you puking?" Perry demanded. "In the hospital? Dead?"

Clark's brow furrowed in confusion. "No, sir."

"Then next time I expect you to do your job! This is your first strike, Kent!" Turning on his heel, Perry marched into his office and slammed the door.

Clark stood in stunned silence for a moment, and Lois chuckled as she made her way toward him. Now that he was no longer in the cross-hairs of Perry's ire, his color was improving, and he managed a weak smile when he noticed her.

"Well, I guess you're officially part of the Daily Planet now," she said. At Clark's incredulous look, she added, "A public dressing down by Perry is practically an initiation rite."

"Or a way to weed out the weak," he muttered.

"Good thing you're made of sterner stuff," she couldn't help replying.

Instead of giving her a smirk in answer, though, a shadow of worry flickered in his eyes.

Martha's message came back to her in a rush, and Lois held her hand palm up so he could see the phone number she'd written there.

His eyes widened in surprise, and then his whole body drooped in resignation. "Should have known you two would gang up on this one. Have you scheduled a conference room yet?"

"Nope. Wasn't sure you were going to make it in."

"Go ahead while I put my stuff away."

Lois watched him carefully as he went to the stringer desks, but he moved with a casual grace that couldn't possibly hide stiffness or pain. He looked tired, maybe a bit worn, but certainly not at death's door like Martha seemed to think. Of course, this was Clark they were talking about. Anything less than super was cause for concern.

She turned back to her computer and reserved a room.

In the conference room, Lois pulled the battery out of her cell phone and unplugged the landline phone on the table. Those were the only potential eavesdropping devices she knew of – she'd grabbed a pad of paper for the look of the thing and left her laptop behind. "Any creepy crawlies?" she asked as she sat down.

Clark shook his head. "No bugs – we're clear."

"So who's right – your mom who thinks you're sick or the Metropolis Inquisitor story about you being drunk?"

He sat heavily in the chair opposite her. "I can't get drunk, not really. Metabolism's too high or something."

Lois frowned thoughtfully. "Never tell your mom that I doubted her as a source. Are you okay?"

Clark stared at the table between them. "I'm not entirely sure. When I left your apartment, I went to the reconstruction site. They're doing some final cleaning up to make way for the memorial park, and a crane they were setting up had shifted off-balance. I righted it and then I got hit by a headache and a wave of dizziness and nausea."

"Just like that?" Lois asked when he lapsed into silence.

He shrugged, and his gaze darted to her and away again. "Pretty much. I felt weak, too. It took a lot of effort just to make it to the top of the nearest building. I didn't dare fly any further than that, so I changed there, returned to street level, and took a cab home."

"You waited until you were home to call your mom, right?"

He gave her a wary look. "No, I called her from the top of the building. The headache was bad enough that I just laid there for a little while and…caught my breath, I guess."

Lois turned his words over in her mind, trying to make sense of them. "And you have no idea what caused all this?"

"No, not a clue. I've never felt like that before in my life."

"How long did the sickness last altogether?"

He gave her a halfhearted smile. "Depends on how you define it. The headache started to ease up after a few minutes, but the nausea took a bit longer to wear off. Maybe an hour or two. And I woke up this morning ravenously hungry, but I'm not sure if that's an after-effect or not."

Lois tapped her pen against the notepad thoughtfully as she considered follow-up questions. "Do you remember anything unusual about the site? Anything out of place?"

Clark tilted his head and considered that. "I do remember one thing…about the size of a quarter. It was green and glowing in the dust, but…" He shrugged, and Lois was inclined to agree with him. There was no way some kid's toy or dropped watch or something would bring the Man of Steel to his knees.

An image flashed through her mind – Clark collapsing when they arrived on Zod's ship. "What if it's something Kryptonian?" Lois blurted out. He'd been forced to adjust to his native environment, and that had left him physically ill and vulnerable, too. Could this object be doing something similar?

Sitting up straighter, he said, "It was near where the World Engine had been. Most of it got sucked into that singularity, but we've found a few bits and pieces of it that apparently didn't get pulled past the event horizon."

"I'd put money on the green thing being from the World Engine. We need to know more, though. Think you could get me onto the site?"

His worried expression told her his answer before he even opened his mouth. "The place was crawling with Lex Corp scientists who were overseeing removal of the wreckage. Somebody on the construction crew probably already found it and turned it over to them. I'd be honestly surprised if it wasn't already locked away in a lab somewhere."

"Wait, did you say Lex Corp?"

Clark tilted his head curiously. "Yeah? They're doing the clean-up and reconstruction."

Lois wasn't sure if she should be laughing or freaking out. "Superman is working for Lex Luthor?"

He chuckled in answer. "Hardly. I work for Alejandro Moreno who reports to his supervisor who reports to the Metropolis division of Lex Construction, which is a subsidiary that Lex Corp bought a few months ago. They were Hanford Tech before that."

Lois nodded, remembering that particular incident and her role in exposing Mr. Hanford's illegal activities. "Alright, fine, but I still say you're working for Lex Luthor. All the more reason to get you a real job where you aren't beholden to a boss I might or might not be trying to take down." That sobering thought left her drifting toward freaking out again. "I'm not happy about Lex Luthor having his hands on something that could hurt you."

"You're making a mountain out of a molehill." She opened her mouth to protest, and he added, "As far as the rest of the world is concerned, I had one too many beers before last night's rescue. They have no reason to think whatever it was could hurt me. We're not even sure that the green thing is what threw me for a loop last night. It's just a guess."

Lois sighed in frustration. "Why do I get the feeling this is more about keeping me away from your job site?"

He frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you don't want me anywhere near that green thing."

Guilt flickered in his eyes. "You don't want me anywhere near it, do you?"

"It didn't leave your human coworkers writhing in pain."

He rolled his eyes. "I wasn't writhing."

But he had been in pain. "You know what I mean."

He huffed. "That still doesn't mean it's safe for you to be hunting this thing down. It's probably not at the job site anymore, so you're talking about breaking into a lab with who knows what other Kryptonian gadgets that could incinerate or crush you, plus the very human danger of getting caught."

Her expression must have given away some of the annoyed disbelief she felt because he added, "I know you could if you wanted to, but it's just not worth the risk. In fact, the less attention we draw to the green thing, the better, if it's really what caused me to get sick last night."

Lois finally relented because he did have a point with that one. That left only one thing she could do for him. "Are you still hungry?"

He half-smiled. "Honestly? Yeah."

She gave him a genuine smile in answer. "Let go to Jeans Beans to get you second breakfast, and while we're there I'll call your mom and talk her down from raiding her life savings for an unnecessary flight to Metropolis."

The earnest adoration in his eyes warmed her all the way to her toes. "Thank you."

...

"Do you have plans for Memorial Day weekend?"

Lois blinked twice in surprise and looked up from the lasagna she'd been savoring. They were enjoying another evening at her place, and Clark's gourmet cooking was spoiling her rotten. "Since we've hit a dead end for now with the S.T.A.R Labs story, I was going to ask Perry if I should take a break next week and cover Heroes Park with you then. I haven't talked to him yet, though. Why?"

He leaned back in his chair, the picture of casual, and Lois was instantly alert. His shoulders were a little too stiff and her reporter's instincts were that he was nervous about whatever he was going to say next. "Mom was wondering if you'd like to come out to the farm over the long weekend."

Maybe her reporter's instincts weren't as good as she thought. She smiled at the idea of running away with him again. "That sounds really nice, actually, but I wouldn't want to inconvenience her."

Clark smiled in answer. "She wouldn't be put out at all. She covered for another lady at work over spring break, so she has a favor or two she can call in and take the whole three days off. After you saved the day with our little green alien, she wants to spend more time with you."

Lois snorted in amusement at his description of the probably-Kryptonian rock or whatever, but she was deeply flattered that Martha would make such efforts for her. "I'll put in my time off request before I turn in for the night."

Clark's shoulders finally relaxed.

"So should I book a flight or...?"

He smirked. "The flight's on me."

They were words she loved to hear.

…

The following Thursday, Lois pulled out a duffel bag and considered her wardrobe. Denim was the obvious choice for a weekend on the Kent farm, so she packed a pair of blue jeans and some cut-offs. Clark had specifically told her to bring some clothes she could get wet in, so she tossed a tankini into the bottom of the duffel, too. Farming community or not, she wouldn't be caught dead in a flannel shirt, if for no other reason than Clark would tease her about it for the rest of their lives. Instead she chose her Metropolis Zoo t-shirt, a beige boyfriend tee that flattered her nicely, and a simple gray hoodie in case it got chilly in the evenings. Thinking about evenings led her to consider pajamas. Most of the time she just slept in a camisole and panties, but she did have a silk pajama set, although that might seem a little too…Metropolis for the Kent farm. She also had some thermal underwear from her trip to the Arctic, but in terms of ever hoping to actually appeal to Clark in a sexual way, that would be an even worse choice than flannel. He'd never be able to look at her as anything other than "grandma" again.

Giving up there, Lois moved on to pack the rest of her clothes and some toiletries. She set out her tennis shoes and the clothes she would wear on the trip to Kansas, as well as a couple of granola bars on the kitchen counter for her grab on her way out the door.

With that, everything was packed except for her pajamas. Heaving a sigh, she pulled on her shoes again and grabbed her purse. The only way to fix this was going to be with a shopping trip.

An hour later, she returned to her apartment triumphant. It had taken looking in a couple of big-box stores (because at this hour, they were the only ones still open), but she'd finally found the perfect thing to wear at night on the farm: a blue knit nightgown that matched her eyes perfectly. The neckline was low enough and the hemline high enough to make Clark remember she was his girlfriend, but with the comfy material and long sleeves, it should also be down-home enough for Martha.

"You are in waaaay too deep," Lois muttered to herself as she stuffed the nightgown into her duffel bag. But she'd known that for months now.

Friday after work, Clark came over to Lois' house, they ate a dinner of hoagie sandwiches, and then it was just waiting for dark to escape town.

"So, how are we working this?" Lois asked as she gathered up her wallet and tablet to add to her duffel bag.

"Working...?"

"Flight."

"Ah." Clark smiled in understanding, and she couldn't help but smile in answer as she stooped beside her bag. He continued, "I bought that old Geo Metro we used last time. It runs now, mostly, and I added a bit of reinforcing hardware so I don't have to worry about panels blowing off in the wind. Between that and leaving here after dark so we don't have to dodge spectators, we should be able to make good time. I'd bet we'll be at the farm in less than three hours, depending on prevailing winds."

Lois chuckled at the memory of her banged up escape pod of a car. It was very thoughtful of him to make sure she was safe, but she vowed to herself that sometime this weekend she'd ask him to take her flying – really flying. She straightened and did a double-take when she saw he'd changed into the Suit while she was distracted. The rosy gold of sunset had faded to lavender – it'd only be a few more minutes now.

Clark stepped close to her and gently rested his hands on her face. The happiness in his eyes almost took her breath away, and his kiss finally did. Gentle as always, his lips moved over hers with an intensity that left her melting a little. She surrendered to it, to him, to this stunning, impossible thing they shared. He loved her, and she loved him.

And then somewhere in the back of her professional-reporter brain, something clicked. He was so happy because he was making it official. He was bringing her home to meet his mom. Even though she'd technically met Martha months ago, it wasn't the same. That had been adversarial from the moment Lois had said the words "Daily Planet," and their other encounters had been fleeting. This time, though, she was going to visit Smallville as Clark's girlfriend. That's why he'd been nervous about inviting her to the farm, and Lois had been blindly oblivious to the significance of this trip until now.

Stunned and dismayed, Lois tried to search her own mind and heart. Was she ready for this? Anyone else and she'd say no, but this was Clark. And more importantly, this was Martha. Martha who was as strong as a fortress for her son, who had felt almost like a kindred spirit when they'd spent the evening together the day Superman "kidnapped" them both. Martha, the woman who had jointly with Jonathan taught Clark the meaning of compassion and kindness. If Martha was the matriarch whose inspection she'd have to pass this weekend...

"Lois?" Clark murmured against her lips.

He must have sensed her distraction, and she broke off the kiss. Resting her forehead against his, she was amazed to hear herself whisper, "I think I'm ready."

He met her gaze and searched her eyes for a long moment. Whatever he found in them made a classically-Clark smile light his face. "Let's go, then."

…

Because it was dark out when they landed in Kansas, Clark set the Geo down in the back yard and then opened the car door for Lois. She smiled as she accepted his offered hand and he helped her to her feet. He really was a sexist schmoozer, and she loved him for it. She intertwined her fingers with his, though, as they headed toward the house, her bag over his shoulder. He wasn't her co-worker here – he was her boyfriend.

Martha opened the back door, and Clark's dog Dusty came sprinting out to happily dance around them both. Martha openly grinned at them as they made their way up the porch stairs. "Glad you could make it. How was the flight?"

"A little bumpy over...where were we?" Lois asked, looking up at Clark.

He set Lois' bag down and caught Martha in a hug with his free arm, still holding tightly to Lois' hand. "Indianapolis," he said in answer. "It's good to see you, Mom."

"Love you, son," she murmured in answer, and something ached a little in Lois' heart. When was the last time she'd had such a warm welcome from her parents?

"Love you, too," Clark said and then straightened. Lois thought she saw a flicker of worry when he glanced at her, but to his mom he said, "There was a pretty good thunderstorm we had to go around."

"It was gorgeous to see, though," Lois said. "And the stars were just beautiful, too. I have no complaints – I'll fly Air Kent anytime."

Martha caught Lois in a surprising hug, too, and Clark finally let go of her hand. Stepping back from Lois, Martha smiled up at Clark. "Air Kent probably doesn't provide much in refreshments, and I'd bet your pilot's hungry enough to eat a horse. Come on in!"

"It does smell pretty amazing," Lois allowed as she followed Martha into the house.

Martha already had the table ready for them, and she'd gone all-out: a pot roast, hot home-made rolls, a green salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

"I'm sorry we made you wait so late in the evening for dinner," Lois said as she served herself some salad.

"I forgot to turn the oven on for the first half-hour," Martha confided. "So the timing worked out perfectly."

Lois had eaten enough of Clark's cooking to know his teacher was a master. She didn't believe for a second that Martha would make a rookie mistake like that, but Lois let the white lie slip. It was a kind one, after all.

Martha gestured with her butter knife. "But tell me about the story you're working on now. Clark said it had something to do with a theft from S.T.A.R. Labs?"

"Anthrax theft, yes," Lois answered. "And we're not sure it's a theft – all we know is there's a batch of samples that's unaccounted for. There was an attempt at cover-up, but a whistle-blower came to us. That whole department is going through a shakedown now, but the scary thing is they still have no idea where the anthrax went or how long it's been missing."

"That is scary," Martha agreed. "Do you have any leads?"

That was enough to get Lois and Clark talking about their theories all through the rest of dinner and into dessert.

Lois insisted on helping with cleanup, but once the table was cleared and the dishwasher was running, Clark shooed them out of the kitchen so he could finish hand-washing the pots and pans for his mom. Martha scooped up Lois' duffel and led her up the stairs to get settled in for the night.

She stopped at the first bedroom door at the top of the stairs but gestured to the next bedroom over. "That's Clark's room – has been since the time he was a baby – and mine's on the end. This room doubles as a library and guest bedroom." She opened the door and Lois followed her in. There were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a threadbare couch, and a comfy-looking recliner holding a stack of bedding. "We have an airbed, but you're welcome to sleep on the couch or the recliner if that's more comfortable for you."

"Oh, don't bother with an airbed," Lois said. "That couch will be great."

"I'm sorry we don't have better accommodations," Martha began, but Lois waved away the apology.

"I've bivouacked in much rougher conditions," she said with a knowing smile. "This is ritzy compared to when I was embedded with the First Division."

Martha chuckled and started arranging the bed linens on the couch. "I keep forgetting you're tougher than an average city slicker."

Clark stepped into the doorway and leaned against the jam. "You're welcome to take my room, Lois," he said.

She fished around in the bottom of her duffel for her travel toothbrush. "This is fine."

"I'd feel badly about you sleeping in here."

"I'm already half-way settled in," Lois tried to protest.

"But it's the draftiest room in the house – it'll let all the air conditioning out and the heat in."

Lois wasn't sure if she should be amused or annoyed with him acting like a mother hen. Considering they were on vacation, she opted for amused. Straightening, she muttered under her breath, "If I'm going to be sleeping in your bed, Clark, it won't be alone."

He blushed to the ears as his glance darted to his mother, but she was obliviously plumping the pillows.

He opened his mouth with a comeback, Lois raised an eyebrow in challenge, and he shut it again. She knew that, with his mom here, he'd be the perfectly polite Kansas farm boy.

"There," Martha said, turning around to rejoin the conversation. She took in Clark's beet-red face and chuckled as she glanced at Lois. "The super-hearing comes in handy, doesn't it." Picking up the unnecessary airbed, she said, "Well, I'm beat, so I'll let you night-owls put yourselves to bed." Slipping past a dumbfounded Clark to step into the hall, she added, "Good night!"

Lois felt as thunderstruck as Clark looked. Had Martha meant that comment about putting themselves to bed to be an innuendo?

"Good night, Lois," Clark said before she could recover, and he was gone.

"Coward," she grumbled as she crossed the hall to the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. She consoled herself that it was only Friday. She'd be here for three more days – and two more nights. Chaperon or no, they were bound to have some fun.