A Huge thank you goes out to 4ever1 for betaing this for me. I really appreciate it. This chapter has been reposted since I noticed quite a few typos.

Thanks to everyone for all your reviews. This is for you!!

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Superman stood in the air, like a guardian angel with crimson wings billowing at his back. He hovered above Jason's elementary school, watching as the kindergarten class spilled onto the playground. He was too high to be visible from the ground, and well away from the air traffic lanes.

It took him little time to find Jason huddled under the slide, away from the other children. A wave of longing swept through him. It took all of his control to stop himself from swooping down there to save his son from the isolation that had followed him for most of his life. It didn't matter if he wore the thick glasses or the flowing cape, people managed to keep a polite distance from him, and any attention he did receive mostly fell into the category of unwanted. So, he was isolated with his thoughts gazing upon his son who was also alone.

It would do more harm than good to exhibit a marked interest in the young boy. He didn't have a reason to approach him as Clark Kent, so he continued to watch, silently willing one of the other children to approach his son. He hoped that his son would inherit a greater legacy than isolation.

When he had foolishly traveled across space to a long dead planet, he had missed the birth of his son, and Lois had moved on. Although, he told himself that he had wanted Lois to forget. In the privacy of his thoughts, he knew that it was a lie.

He ached with the distance between them that had little to do with space, and everything to do with circumstance. As difficult as it was going to be to evade Lois' sharp eyes, living for even a little while under the same roof was like having a dream come true. He would have to cherish their time together, and gather enough memories to last a lifetime.

Jason looked up into the sky, seemingly right at him. Superman's breath caught in his throat. Could he actually see him this far beyond the normal human range? And then the boy looked past him, and Superman found himself looking behind him, expecting to find something looming at his back. The glimmer of stars greeted his gaze.

When he turned again to peer down at the playground, the boy was gone. The children had returned to the classroom. He let go of his breath in a long shuddery exhalation.

He flew over Lois' residence without consciously deciding his destination. It was empty, too early in the afternoon for her to be home yet. He could see her suitcases packed just inside the front door. How long would they live together as a family in the Iron Gates community? A week or two, perhaps more? He would enjoy the time with Lois and Jason; this opportunity was more then he would ever allow himself to imagine since discovering Jason was his son. As great of an opportunity it was, letting go of them a second time would be by far the hardest thing he would ever have to do.

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Lois gazed at the gleaming gold band on her hand. Just looking at the glinting metal did weird things to her heart. She wasn't certain if she were on the verge of having heart palpitations or if there was some juvenile romantic that still lingered somewhere deep in her psyche that enjoyed the pretence of being married. Lois didn't even know that she had such a side to her personality, and if she did, she certainly hadn't had that desire to fulfill her commitment to Richard because of it.

From the start, she had needed Richard more than she had loved him. He had been a wonderful man, but she just couldn't return his love in the same manner. It had only been recently that she had realized that he was still with her more out of a sense of duty then of desire.

When she had told him that she wanted to move on, she had anticipated a fight. Instead, Richard had nodded sagely and replied that he knew it was only a matter of time. By then, it was too late. She couldn't take back her words, and she couldn't help but feel hurt at the way he seemed relieved.

So they had broken the news as gently to Jason as they could. He was a remarkably insightful boy. He had accepted Richard's departure with a grace that was uncanny in someone so young. Lois wondered if she was so blind about her personal life, that even a six year old saw the truth before she could. Lois wondered if Jason had taken it so well because he had already formed another paternal attachment.

Superman had been noticeably absent in her life, but she knew that he still visited their son. Her heart ached from that slight too. Now that Richard was no longer around, it seemed that Superman wasn't eager to close the distance between them either.

Lois turned her hand so that the gold on her finger refracted the light. Normally, she would have had more discomfort at the thought of participating in this charade with Clark Kent, but maybe right now she needed this more than anything. She would get out of her too empty house, and spend some time with a friend who had always managed to make her feel valued.

How they would pull off a stunt that involved convincing an entire neighborhood that she was married to Clark Kent was beyond her. She vaguely remembered that they had once gone on assignment to Niagara Falls together. They were supposed to be newlyweds there, weren't they?

Somehow, she couldn't quite recall those days. There were a lot of things she'd managed to forget, and Lois almost thought she had a pathological desire to block a traumatic memory. But surely, a night with Superman couldn't fall into that category. Could it? She shook her head in an effort to clear her mind. No use dwelling on that now.

A vivid image of the way Clark's eyes had seemed to look right through to her soul flashed in her mind. Lois pulse stuttered, but it settled into a more comfortable rhythm when she remembered how he had almost toppled over in his chair soon after. A wry smile curved her lips, and she laughed softly. It's a good thing Clark wasn't going by himself. He needed a protector more than she ever did.

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Lois sat in the passenger's seat of the rental car. Jason played Game boy in the backseat. Clark's long fingers deftly maneuvered the wheel of the car with a surprising confidence. She wasn't certain what amazed her more, the way Clark seemed to know every back street of the convoluted Metropolis cityscape, or how different he looked in jeans and a red plaid shirt.

When he turned down another side street, she could remain silent no longer. "Take a right up here. There's always a bottleneck under the twelfth street underpass."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Clark shot her a look, and the knowing tone irritated her.

Lois crossed her arms. "Haven't you learned in all your travels that it's unwise to disregard the natives?"

"But Lois . . ." Clark started, but when he saw the set line of her features, he turned the car in the direction she had indicated.

He could hear the blaring horns of traffic from this distance, and he knew it was only a matter of time before their progress was halted. He heard her groan the moment she saw the construction ahead of them. He chanced a glance at her, and almost laughed out loud when he saw her face. Lois glared at him as if it were his fault that they were stuck in traffic.

"You knew about this didn't you?" Lois accused. She watched the play of emotions on his face, and she couldn't help the smile that twitched the edges of her mouth.

Clark pushed his glasses up further on his face and gave her a sheepish smile, "I didn't want to fight with the natives."

"Well this native is getting restless. You could have told me, you know."

The car was at a complete standstill. When Lois rolled down the window to shout at the person honking their horn behind them, he lowered his glasses and looked through the gathered cars to anticipate how long they would be delayed. She shut the window, flopped back into her seat, and closed her eyes.

Clark turned toward Lois knowing that they wouldn't be moving for at least a few more minutes. "Would you have listened if I had told you?"

Lois thought about it for a moment then she smiled reluctantly, "Probably not. Why don't we call a truce? The next time you share what you know, and I'll try not to argue with you . . . too much."

Clark smiled and he opened his mouth to reply when Jason piped in. "You think you'll fight a lot with my mom while we're having a long sleepover together, Mr. Clark?"

"Well Jason, I can think of nicer ways of spending time with your mother." Clark flushed red, realizing how that sounded.

If anyone else had made that crack, she would have let him have it. But one look at the mortification on Clark's face filled her with amusement.

Lois bit back a laugh.

Jason didn't notice. "Is it true that we're going to live as a family?"

Lois sobered. She worried about the possible toll this could have on her son, but had decided that he was old enough to understand that this arrangement was only temporary. And was it fair for Jason to form an attachment to another man that could not remain a permanent fixture in his life? Either way, she knew that staying in that empty house was equally as bad for Jason as it was for her own state of mind.

Clark could hear her pulse quicken. His own heart had stopped for the duration of one beat and then had resumed. Was this whole assignment too dangerous considering the truth he was trying to conceal? One day, he would tell Jason the truth even if he wasn't free to tell Lois. Meanwhile, he would try to be there for him as much as possible in either of his guises.

"Is that okay with you, Jason?" Clark asked tentatively.

"Sure. So does that mean I can call you daddy?" There was a slight quaver in the last word.

Clark couldn't say anything, his throat had constricted so that air couldn't pass through. He blinked rapidly trying to eliminate the stinging in his eyes.

At his silence, Lois felt her heart drop. Perry was asking too much. This was too much to ask of a coworker, even if he was a good friend, and how could they play with her son's heart this way? Lois turned to Clark and said quickly, "I'm sorry, Clark. I know this is awkward. It won't have to be for very long."

"No, no. Please, Lois. Don't." He turned around in the cramped car so that he could face Jason more fully, "I would love that, Jason."

Now Lois was truly worried about her son, and for the first time, she was concerned about Clark too. He really had formed an attachment to her son, and she couldn't help but feel a rush of affection for her partner because of it. But being a mother had forced her to always keep the future in mind. She didn't want to have to face an emotionally shattered boy at the end of this expose.

Lois cautioned Jason. "You can call Clark dad, but you know that when we're done, everything will go back to normal again. It's like playing pretend. Sometimes you play that you're a space man, and this week we'll play at being a family."

The irony wasn't lost on Clark. Sometimes pretense was more real than life. Being the only person that knew the truth was painful. He watched Jason and Lois' faces with fascination, feeling as if his heart had a hole and nothing could stop the leak.

"It's like a game!" The boy agreed.

"Exactly." Lois smiled, feeling as if everything was going to be alright.

"Does this mean that I have three daddies now?"

Lois felt her face flush and was unable to reply. She felt as if her entire world had stopped.

Clark was equally stunned. He watched a single bead of perspiration trickle down the length of Lois' neck. It took him a moment to realize that the rasping sound he heard was coming from the over loud sound of his breathing.

A honking noise startled him, and he jumped in his seat, hitting the sunshade and breaking it off the vehicle's ceiling.

Lois' eyes were too wide, but she managed to keep her composure. "Kids!" As if that explained everything.

She took a deep breath. She wanted to try to clarify Jason's odd comment, but there just seemed to be no way to do so and not have her son openly disagree with her. The last thing she wanted was for Jason to try to explain his meaning, and anything she said could only intensify the damage.

Perhaps Clark hadn't understood. What could he possibly think of such a thing? Come on, Lois. He may have grown up in a small town, but he is a reporter for one of the largest Metropolitan newspapers. He probably knew that Richard was not Jason's father. That wasn't too bad was it? There was no way that Clark could know that she and Superman. . . . No. He just thought that she jumped from bed to bed without compunction. Lois grimaced.

There was a long silence as Clark drove forward almost blindly. Most of the congestion had cleared and the traffic moved at close to the speed limit. They left the downtown area.

The silence was deafening.

Lois fiddled with the radio to keep her hands busy, and to break the tension in the car. She took the broken sunshade from the space between them and inspected the split metal rod. He must have been more embarrassed then even she, to hit it with such power.

Clark glanced nervously at her and said, "I'll pay for the damage."

"It gives a whole new meaning to economy cars. They should pay us to take this thing to the dump, but hey, at least Valentino's goons can't trace it to us."

Clark cleared his throat quietly, glancing repeatedly at Lois wishing there was something he could say that would put her at ease.

Finally Lois said, "We need to clear up a few things before we get there."

"We . . . we do?" Clark gulped wondering if she realized just how much force it took to break that metal rod. He also wondered what she could possibly say about Jason's innocent comment about having three fathers. Two were easily accounted for, but what about the third? Either way, he didn't think he had a chance of escaping this conversation unscathed.

With the way his heart was racing, and his temperature was increasing, he almost felt as if he had just thrown another giant mass of kryptonite into space. How was he ever going to survive this for more than a week?

"Well, first thing, we can't be working at the Planet."

Clark let out a slow even breath, as his pulse steadied. He knew quite a bit about maintaining a façade. "Well Lois, I figure the best thing to do is to stick close to the truth so that any mistake will be easier to explain."

"You've thought about this?"

He nodded. "You could be an aspiring writer, and I originally came from a Kansas farm. We could say that we just sold it to move . . . our family to the suburbs. I'm still looking for employment, and we could say that Jason is going to a school outside of the area because he has a cousin there."

"Not bad. I'll let you handle all the questions on husbandry."

"Corn."

"Huh?"

"We didn't have cattle. We grew crops, primarily corn."

"Okay. You get to talk seed while, I'm getting friendly with the neighborhood wives. I can't see me being a farm girl, but maybe that's one of the reasons for the move. Why move now though?"

"My father passed away." He said quickly, his voice very serious.

Lois said cautiously. "Really?"

He nodded.

She put her hand on his arm, feeling how warm he was through the flannel. "I'm sorry, Clark."

"It' happened awhile ago. It is a good reason to move away from Kansas." He shifted. "I think this is it."

"I kind of gathered that from the huge moving van and the way Jimmy is laying low by waving frantically at us." Lois said wryly.

There were rows of nicely ordered houses down a long curving street. Empty windows seemed to watch them from all sides.

Clark pulled the car into the driveway of their new home.

"It's show time."

Sssssssssssssssssssss