"Lois, do you know what time it is?" Chloe asked, when her cousin came down the stairs.

"It's 10:04," she said, looking at the clock in the Talon.

"Everyone else made it on time. How can you be late when you live right above the meeting place?" Chloe questioned.

"It ain't easy," she joked and ordered a cappuccino.

"What are you doing now?"

"I have to get some caffeine in my system. You don't want me to really fall asleep, do you?"

"Let's go," Chloe said when Lois got her cappuccino.

They all got in Jimmy's car and headed for the hospital.

sss

Chloe peeked into the hospital's playroom, where the performance would take place. Some of the kids were already in there. The chairs and spinning wheel were in place. The actors just had to finish putting their costumes on and the rest of the audience had to get there.

"We have a problem," Clark said, who was the first one out and costumed.

"That's not something a director wants to hear when the performance is minutes away."

"Jimmy would tell you himself, but he's afraid you'll get mad. He sat on his prop."

"Is that all?" Chloe asked. She went over to the nurse's station and asked for a piece of paper and pen. She wrote '16 years later' on one side and '100 years later' on the other. "Problem solved."

When everybody was finished, Chloe decided they might need a pep talk.

"You guys are going to be a hit and you're doing a really charitable thing, so feel good about it. Don't worry about messing up. You guys can cover for each other and wing it."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Jimmy groaned.

"Nervousness is perfectly normal. It'll go away once you're onstage."

A nurse came out of the playroom and said, "They're all here."

"Break a leg," Chloe said and went to take a seat in the playroom.

Lex and Jimmy walked out first. They said their lines about how great the party was and how nice it was that the king finally had a child. Lana came out onstage and screeched her lines, "Why wasn't I invited? It's because I'm evil, isn't it? I'll show you! I'll get my revenge."

"Is it bad," Lois whispered to Clark, "that I can imagine Lana saying something like that in real life?"

Clark smiled. "You better keep watching the play, so you don't miss your cue."

Lana cast the evil spell and came back out. Jimmy did his counter spell and came back out. Lex gave his proclamation about destroying the spinning wheels of the kingdom and came back out. Jimmy went on and off with his sign. Lana went back out to sit at the spinning wheel. Lois went in and did her lines.

"Go on and touch it," Lana's character said. "Touch the spindle."

Lois touched it and drew it back swiftly with a look of surprise and pain.

Clark raised his eyebrows. It wasn't how she had practiced it, but it was a nice touch. She was a better actor than he thought.

Suddenly, Lois fell to the floor and never made it to the chairs that were supposed to be her bed.

Clark looked at Chloe. She wore an upset look on her face. The play was going off course and she couldn't intervene without making it worse.

Lana left the stage. Jimmy did the sign again. Clark took a deep breath and entered the stage. The play might still come out okay. He got down on the floor. She hadn't even sprawled out properly. Maybe she had gotten so nervous, she had forgotten what to do. He straightened her out. Then came the part he dreaded and excited him at the same time. He gave a very gentle and quick kiss on her lips. She didn't open her eyes. She was still breathing steadily.

"Lois," he whispered in her ear, "this isn't funny. You're messing this up. If you don't get up, I'll be forced to kiss you again."

When she didn't respond to the threat, he gave her a long, passionate kiss, causing some of the kids to laugh and some to make faces. The kiss hadn't fazed her in the least. She really was asleep.