3

"Unbelievable," Lois vented as she walked into the kitchen.

"Is something wrong?" Richard asked, peering over the top of his newspaper.

Lois stopped in front of the refrigerator and turned to him. "I ordered from China One forty minutes ago. Forty!"

Richard seemed puzzled. "Lois, this is prime time in Metropolis. Forty minutes isn't excessive by any means."

"It is when they guarantee delivery in twenty." She walked to the table and sat down across from Richard. It had definitely been a long day at the Daily Planet. With Clark taking a two-day vacation, the other reporters had to take on more work than usual.

"There's been another murder in the subway," Richard announced as he read over the newspaper article, "The second one this week. I'm surprised Superman wasn't there."

"Me too," Lois agreed.

Richard continued reading, immersed in his own world.

"So how was Jason's day?" Lois asked, trying to make conversation.

Richard looked up from his paper uneasily. "He got in a fight."

Lois' stomach soared into her throat. "A fight?"

"Nothing major. He hit the kid pretty hard, though. Gave him quite the bloody nose," Richard said almost braggingly, a smile coming to his face.

Lois gave him a stern look.

"You should go talk to him," Richard suggested.

"I'll do that," Lois replied, and went upstairs.

Jason's bedroom door was open, but Lois knocked on it anyway. Jason looked up from his bed at his mother, standing in the doorway.

"Hey, honey," Lois greeted as she came in. "How was school today?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Jason replied.

Lois sat on the edge of his bed. "Why did you hit him?"

Jason turned to her. "He said that I was a freak."

"Oh, honey, you're not a freak! Why would somebody say something like that?"

"There was a lizard in his lunchbox."

"What?" Lois asked, confused.

"A lizard. I could see it in his lunchbox, but the lunchbox was closed. It was like I could see right through the plastic."

Lois sat in deep thought for a moment. She was worried about what he'd said, but she tried not to think to much of it. She reached over and stroked his cheek. "You're not a freak. There will always be bullies in your life that will call you names and try to tell you what to do. You just have to learn to ignore them."

"Yeah…" Jason sighed. "Where is Superman? I haven't seen him outside the window."

"I'm sure he's around," Lois replied, "He's a very busy man, you know. He saves people all over the world."

"I bet he sleeps during the day," Jason said, rather observantly.

Lois laughed, a little surprised by the randomness of the question. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, we only see him at night. We never hear about him in the daytime. So where does he go? I mean, he has to sleep sometime, right?"

"I suppose so," Lois answered, not quite sure.

"Where does he sleep, do you think?" Jason speculated.

"On our roof, I'll bet," Lois teased, making Jason giggle, "And speaking of sleep, you should probably get some yourself."

Lois pulled the covers up to Jason's chin and kissed him on the forehead. "Good night, sweetie."

"G'night," Jason replied as Lois turned off the light, closing the door behind her.

Lois descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen, where Richard stood with an open bag from China One in his hand, an incredulous look on his face. "They forgot the soy sauce."