- - - Chapter Twenty-Five

Clark was in orbit again. It was the middle of the night in Metropolis but he couldn't sleep. Lois was pregnant. He couldn't help but smile. He'd been rescuing people from the most horrible tragedies of their lives all night with a smile on his face that would send everybody at the Planet into shock when they noticed the similarity between him and his other self.

He'd done a loop-da-loop earlier. He could hardly contain himself and it was getting ridiculous. Consciously settling himself down, Clark tuned his ears to the rest of the world again.

He was almost disappointed to find the world mostly at peace. Nothing out there required Superman's assistance. He looked deeper; it seemed like other superheroes were just as inactive as he was. Batman was cruising just outside Gotham in his Batmobile, Queen blasting from the speakers at a level he'd be ashamed to admit to. The Green Arrow's youngest had the stomach flu, meaning poor Ollie was up trying to comfort the boy. Wonder Woman was hovering in the sky in similar fashion to himself, only she wasn't in orbit. She looked distracted, though, he didn't think she'd appreciate him dropping in on her thoughts; she'd always been a bit separate from all of her male counterparts.

For a moment Clark considered paying a visit to the Watchtower. He hadn't been there in years, the last meeting having occurred months before he'd left for Krypton. He had been in contact with all of them shortly after his return, getting the latest technology for communications and updates on all of their lives. They didn't blame him for leaving, but they were quite pissed that he hadn't deigned to tell them.

Clark searched the Earth below him, knowing that if he went home to sleep next to Lois now he'd be called away in the wee hours of the morning and wouldn't be able to wake up to his wife. After making a full circulation of the globe two more times, he gave up. Criminals never cooperated whether he was trying to talk them into giving up crime, or committing their crimes on a schedule that worked for him.

Clark chuckled to himself, flying back to Metropolis.

Lois barely noticed the shift on the mattress when it took his weight. He'd exhausted her in their earlier activities celebrating her pregnancy; this thought made him smile even wider as he spooned up to her back, holding her close while she slept. He'd been right in his earlier thoughts, there was no way he could sleep right now. However, he loved lying in bed with Lois just as well.

- - -

Lois woke early, surprised to find a warm body pressed against her back and even more surprised to find that Clark was asleep. It was rare for her to wake up with him still in bed and rarer still for him to be sleeping when she woke. Spinning around in his arms, Lois took in his features, resisting the urge to touch his face.

His eyes opened a second later, bright blue orbs that made her insides turn to mush in all the right ways. She smiled at him and he smiled back. "Good morning," he whispered, not moving.

"Good morning," she replied, leaning in the few centimeters required to kiss him. They stay there for a few seconds until they heard Jason moving around in the outer room. Clark glanced through the wall and saw him trying to find the remote. Jason was nearing the couch, where Clark could see it wedged between two of the seat cushions, but Jason was looking on the floor. "He's up awfully early today," she commented, kissing him once more before they rolled out of bed together, Clark keeping himself against her back until they were sitting on the edge of the bed.

"It's Saturday morning, he's up for the cartoons," Clark shrugged, remembering his own infatuation with the cartoons that used to play; Daffy Duck was very different from SpongeBob, but equally entertaining to the mind of a six year old.

"Ah, cartoons," Lois chuckled, leaning back against him and not wanting to move anymore.

"We'd better go out there," Clark sighed, his eyes crinkling with humor.

"Why?" Lois almost whined, making Clark chuckle

"He's about to lift up the couch in search of the remote."

"Is it under the couch?"

"Nope."

"Then you'd better intervene," she sighed, pulling away from him. They both felt a little emptier when they separated.

Breakfast was ready twenty minutes later, bringing 'jellyfishing' on the TV to a sudden halt. Clark had made omelets with ham and cheese with hashbrowns on the side. They sat together at the table, enjoying having something more than coffee to start their day for once in the week.

- - -

Georgianna had recruited the newest photographer, a young woman named Sarah Ricks, to take part in her 'find out everything possible about Superman through Lois Lane' plan. The photographer was new enough not to know that it was a bad idea first to trust Georgianna, and second to get on the wrong side of Lois Lane, now Lois Kent.

"I want you to follow her around," Georgianna instructed the new employee. Sarah was a short girl, rising to barely over five feet, and wore conservative clothes and small wire framed reading glasses, usually tucked in her hair above her forehead.

"But, I've got assignments," Sarah protested.

"Lois is always out getting the biggest stories, you follow her around, take pictures of her and the big event, you'll be fine."

"But Mr. Olsen always goes with her," Sarah pointed out. "So does Mr. Kent," she would be the first to admit that she found the 6'4" giant intimidating, even if he tripped over his own feet on his way to shake her hand on her first day.

"Find excuses to be with them, tell them you're tagging Jimmy to get experience," Georgianna suggested.

"But, they'll talk to Mr. White… I'll lose my job."

"No, you won't," Georgianna said, not able to guarantee anything, but the girl didn't know that. "And I'll be throwing in a little extra for the photos you get that are worthwhile," she shrugged.

"You'll what? Are you bribing me?"

"No, I'm paying you for putting in extra time for me!" Georgianna said, sounding offended at the suggestion that she would think of doing exactly what she was doing. "I know it's going to take some extra work, especially if you want to get the really worthwhile pictures, like at their house, or something."

"At their house? Georgianna…" Sarah shook her head, entirely uncomfortable with the idea of stalking the Kents.

"Give it a week, Sarah," Georgianna almost pleaded. "If you're still uncomfortable with it or we haven't turned up anything we'll drop it, I promise."

"Okay," Sarah agreed after a thoughtful pause while she chewed her lip.

Across the room Clark swore under his breath, causing Lois's head to jerk up to stare at him. He was standing behind her, presumably proof-reading their article.

"What's got you all bothered?" Lois asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Georgianna's going at it again."

"No," Lois sighed, dreading whatever he was going to tell her.

"Yes," he sighed. "She's enlisted the help of that Sarah Ricks, the new photographer," he paused to let her give comment, but she just waited for him to continue. "She's supplementing Sarah's salary so Sarah will follow you around to try and get some insight into Superman."

Lois swore under her breath in a similar manner as Clark had moments ago, only her language was slightly more vulgar and not in Kryptonian. "What are we going to do?"

"What can we do?" She bit her lip. "We'll just have to be a lot more careful, Lois."

"A lot more careful," Lois agreed.

"Do you think we should talk to Perry about it?"

"She's the new photographer, emphasis on the new," Lois pointed out. "Chances are if we confront her she'll leave us alone. Let's just give her a shot at following us before you pull a serious face and cross your arms while I tell her what she's got coming," Lois was smiling at the image she'd painted for herself.

"A serious face with crossed arms? How will that help?" Clark asked, not seeing it.

"Oh c'mon, Clark; it's intimidating," she said. His face got serious and he crossed his arms, making Lois smile. He smiled back after a moment.

"See, no its not."

"Not to me," Lois clarified. "I know you too well."

Clark just sighed; he'd never been able to see himself as intimidating even if he could do just about anything anybody had ever dreamed of doing.

- - -

Their chance came when they left for their first interview of the day. It was a follow-up to the drug busting article of a few weeks previous and they certainly didn't need a photographer. Jimmy was off photographing some grand opening of something or another and Perry had assigned Sarah to take some after photos for an update on the rebuilding of Metropolis theme they'd been running since the New Krypton fiasco. There was an excuse to follow the Kents, there were no photos of that part of the city yet, but Lois and Clark were also aware that Sarah certainly didn't need pictures of the inside of the building where they were conducting their interviews.

"Miss Ricks," Lois said, turning abruptly to face the young photographer. Sarah looked like she was going to be sick. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, um, well I-" she shrugged. She glanced at Clark standing behind his wife, he had his arms crossed and looked extremely serious. The color drained a bit more from her face, if possible. "I have a cousin, actually. I was looking for him…"

"A cousin who hangs around in the slums by the docks where we're looking to interview addicts?"

"Well, he's made a few bad choices along the way but… he's still my cousin," she shrugged. The look on her face plainly told them that she was lying.

"Right, okay, well," Lois said, shaking her head. "Do you think we could interview him for the story or..?"

"No, I don't think so," Sarah said a little too quickly. "I haven't seen him around here, I was kind of hoping to get him away before he said anything stupid…"

"Right," Lois said, pretending to buy the story. "I guess we'll see you back at work then."

"Yeah," Sarah said, turning and rushing out of the building. Lois glared at the space she'd just vacated while Clark watched her flee through the wall.

Yeah, I'm aware this isn't the best chapter ever- just wanted to get what I had in so you all could have something. It's been awhile. This is kind of a bridge, so... yeah. More soon, promise.