- - - Chapter Twenty-Four

"So Lois, I've got a question for you," Georgianna said, moving a folder aside so she could sit on Lois's desk and look down at the famous reporter. It was Monday and Lois and Clark had been back at the Planet for a month now, or at least Lois was, Clark was off being Superman again.

"Okay…?" Lois said, wishing the woman would just leave her alone. She'd been bugging her non-stop about Superman mostly, asking question after question, mostly about the hero's personal life.

"Does Superman have a secret identity?" Georgianna watched her closely, and Lois couldn't help but glare at her.

"If he did it would be none of our business," she said coolly, picking up the folder Georgianna had moved and flipping through it.

"You know who he is, don't you?" Georginana said, her voice dropping to an excited whisper.

"Georgianna," Lois said, almost whined. "Why are you asking me all these questions? I've printed everything I know about him…"

"You're lying."

"I am not," she said, crossing her arms in front of her and glaring up at the woman on the desk. "Now get off my desk, I have work to do."

"I'm gonna figure it out," Georgianna whispered as she got up, "and when I do, I'm gonna do something about it, not sit back and marry the biggest dork in the department."

Lois flushed and glared after her as Georgianna sauntered over to her own desk across the bullpen. Lois was still glaring when she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder, her face softening immediately. "Don't let her get to you, 'Lo," Clark said softly, kissing her forehead.

"I just don't like her insulting you like that," Lois sighed, snapping the folder shut and looking up at him. He had taken Georgianna's spot on her desk.

"Lois," Clark sighed. "I can hear everything everybody says in this office. I'm not the most popular guy and you know it."

"But, still," Lois harrumphed. Clark kissed her again before heading over to his own desk to work on his share of their articles.

- - -

"LANE, I mean Kent, I mean… LOIS, get in here!" Perry shouted from his door. Lois snickered, jogging across the bullpen and into Perry's office.

"Yeah, Chief?"

"Your name got a lot more complicated," Perry muttered, shaking his head before getting down to business. "Okay, I have a proposition for you."

Lois looked at him carefully, he never looked this sincere. "Okay…"

'There's an assistant editor position open here," he said, watching her carefully. "Richard's replacement got a job offer overseas; I want you to take the position."

"But, chief… me?"

"Yes, you, Lois," Perry said, still more sincere than she was used to.

"R-really, Chief? I mean, um," she couldn't think of what to say and suddenly Perry was laughing at her. "What?"

"You sound like your husband on a bad day," Perry shook his head and Lois glared at him. "You don't have to decide now, Lois, it's a big deal. I'll give you a week to talk it over with him."

"Thanks Chief," Lois mumbled, walking out to her desk to think. Great, now I've got even more we have to talk about. She sighed. She'd been looking for a good time to talk; she had to tell him a few rather important things and hadn't been able to come up with a way to do it.

- - -

"Clark, how can we afford to eat such good food all the time?" Lois asked, sitting back and staring at the plate that had held the most delicious Greek baklava she'd ever tasted.

"I know the good corner stops around the globe," Clark's lips twitched at the corners. "It's not overly expensive to eat well if you know the places to buy from."

"You really are Superman," Lois chuckled, getting up for some coffee.

"I try," Clark smirked. Wedded life was bliss, plain and simple.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow, Jason?" Lois asked, walking into Jason's bedroom where the boy was tinkering out a melody on the keyboard he'd gotten for Christmas.

"Yup," Jason said without looking up.

"Get you jammies on now, then, hun," she said. He did so with the groaning and whining expected from a six year old.

Lois gulped. Jason was asleep, Clark was watching the news, and it was time to talk. She sat beside him, letting herself get caught up in the news program for a moment; pilots were on strike at an international airport outside of Metropolis for some reason or another.

"Are you okay, Lois?" Clark asked, noticing the tension and her elevated heartbeat that usually meant stress.

"Yeah, I've just… there's something I need to talk to you about," she turned to him. He turned the TV off, looking at her worriedly.

"Okay," he felt his own blood pressure rising.

"Perry offered me a promotion today."

"Really? That's great!" He said smiling both with happiness for her and relief that she wasn't unhappy about something. "Are you going to accept? I know you like, you know, going out and getting stories and stuff," he shrugged.

"Actually, I was thinking about getting off the city beat for awhile," she said, not making eye contact.

"Why?" He asked, suddenly suspicious. There was no way Lois would willingly stop going after the big stories that could get her killed: they'd been back for less than a week when Lois had busted a big time drug dealer of the back alleys. They'd had junkies showing up on their doorstep complaining about it, sending both of them into the classified ads looking for new housing.

"Well," she swallowed. "It just gets hard to, you know, walk around and be pushy when… um," she finally looked up at him. "When you're pregnant."

"You're pregnant?" He asked, barely believing what he was hearing. Lois nodded, smiling and holding out the home pregnancy test she'd been hiding. Clark took it, looking down at the little screen that affirmed the statement.

"Yes," she said uncertainly, her eyes were wet. Clark smiled up at her, putting the test on the table and taking her face in his hands tenderly.

"I'm going to be here this time," he promised before kissing her.

"I know," was her answer and they lost themselves into the folds of the couch. Lois opened her eyes what seemed like blissful hours later and looked around. They weren't on the couch anymore; they were hovering near the ceiling.