---- Chapter 54

"This is another one of those stories that would be more compelling if I didn't know that Clark ended up being alright."

"I like to think that it still has some tension in it, even if you do know that everything works out in the end."

Lois nodded, taking a bite of mashed potatoes and swallowing before she continued on. "Have you guys ever considered not telling me a story because it wasn't really necessary?"

"Nope. How would that be fair to you?"

"Good to hear. Alright, on with the story."

"I only have a little bit left. Then it's all Clark."

---

Chloe walked back into the living room and sat down in a chair, finding Lois still sitting next to Clark on the couch. The big piece of furniture had been moved to face the outer wall of the apartment, where light was flooding into the room through its numerous windows. She and Lois had made sure to get every bit of sunlight they could into the room, hoping that it would help him heal more quickly.

It had been a much quieter day since Bruce had taken the twins home when he left the night before, and she really wasn't sure why she had brought them along in the first place. Well, that wasn't true. They liked being with their mom, and she loved being with them, but it just created more chaos than necessary.

Lois had taken to not moving a whole lot more than she needed to since they'd gotten back from the caves. She'd had fallen asleep with her head laid on Clark's chest from sheer exhaustion, having dragged him who knows how far at the docks and going to the fortress to make it a completely unbelievable night.

Clark's breathing was steadier than it had been when she'd finally fallen asleep in her chair watching Lois, and his pulse was stronger, but other than that there hadn't been any visible change. He still didn't seem like he was anywhere near consciousness, unfortunately.

"How's he doing?"

"Hanging in there. He knows that if he quits on me and Jordan, there will be hell to pay."

Chloe smiled, then sighed, sinking back into the chair as Lois just sat next to Clark, never taking her eyes off of him. She was taking the fact that Lara said her love was the key very literally. Bathroom breaks and food made her feel like she was too far from him. Jordan was still getting plenty of attention from her mother, but when they were together they were never more than five feet from Clark.

As if on cue, Chloe heard Jordan start fussing in her room. "Do you want me to get her, Lois?"

"No, I'll get her. Thanks, though." Chloe nodded and watched Lois get up and walk into Jordan's room.

She wished there was more that she could do to help. She didn't really feel like she was serving any purpose at this point, because Lois was still doing all of the stuff Jordan needed. She couldn't really do anything to help Clark, at least not that she knew of, because her love wasn't the key. Plus, she probably had the wrong kind of love for him or something.

She glanced over as Lois walked back out, talking quietly to Jordan as she sat down in the chair she'd moved close to the couch. After a minute Lois had Jordan nursing, and let her head lean back.

"Do you think Jordan helps, Chloe?"

"What do you mean?"

"She's half me, so if my love is the key, she has to be able to help some. That's why I always bring her out here with me. I want every bit of love near him that I can get, and if there's anybody that loves Clark more than I do, it might be this little girl that's attached to my boob at the moment."

"I'm not going to argue against it. It can't hurt for her to be out here, and even with him unconscious, it reassures her. She's been much more calm since you found him."

"Right." Lois let her head go back down and looked at Jordan. "So, what do you say, baby girl? Want to help mommy make daddy better by loving him? I know you can do it. You can do anything, because you're your father's daughter. You're going to be something special."

"That goes for being your mother's daughter too, Jordan. She's just as special as your father is, in her own kind of way."

"Don't listen to a word your aunt Chloe says about me. Her opinions are colored by the fact that I've survived being me. I don't want you to have to survive being like me. I want you to live by being yourself. Now, if you've inherited my personality, well, I'm sorry. Here's hoping your father's genes are strong enough to keep mine in line."

Chloe grinned and watched Lois lift Jordan up, burp her and offer another drink only to have it refused. She laid her down on Clark's stomach as she buttoned her shirt back up. "Since you appear to be full, I think you should spend some quality time with your dad. He may not be as energetic as usual, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you're going to get drowsy and conk out in a few minutes. Trust me, his chest is a great place to fall asleep."

She leaned over and kissed Jordan light before sitting back to watch her. True to her suspicion, a few minutes later Chloe saw that Jordan's eyes were drooping and she was soon sleeping, her head resting on her dad's chest.

"You've really got this mom thing down, Lo."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't say that. I'm doing my best to do what's best for her, and I just hope that's enough. I think Clark does all the real parenting because she always laughs when he super speeds her diaper change. Great excuse for me not to do them, I think."

"And what do you call what you just did? Fake parenting?"

"I think the technical term is 'expressing milk.' I like to call it controlled leaking."

"No, not that. The only time you aren't tense these days is when you're with Jordan. You make sure to present the world to her like nothing has changed now that Clark is back, even though he's unconscious. That's real parenting. I always knew you'd be better at this mother thing than you gave yourself credit for." Chloe stood up and smoothed out a couple of the wrinkles in her shirt. "That's why I'm going to go back to Gotham."

"What? But I need you here, Chloe. You help with everything while I stay close to Clark."

"You've got everything under control, Lois. I haven't done anything today. Literally. You've done everything for Jordan, you ordered lunch and you made sure you were near Clark. I've been sitting in one chair or another all day while you just did what you do, and that's take care of the people you love. I would try to take care of you, but the only person that's ever really succeeded at that is Clark."

"But... I like having you here, Chloe." Lois stood up and walked over to her, shoving her hands into her pockets as she walked. "It's comforting knowing that it's not just me. Even if you don't really do anything, I like having the safety net. I haven't really been without one since Jordan was born, what with Clark hovering over her almost as much as I have."

"You don't need it, Lois. I think you're as good at this as Martha Kent is, minus the cooking part." Lois smiled and wrapped her up in a hug, which Chloe happily returned. "I love you, Lo. I'm just a phone call away if you need me, alright?"

"I know. Call me when you get home so I know you're ok, alright?"

Chloe grinned as she pulled away from Lois and started towards the door. "I always do, Lois. I'll see you soon." Chloe smiled at her one last time and walked out the door. She walked to the elevator and pulled out her phone, dialing the plane's pilot to have him get the jet fueled up. She shook her head and hoped Clark would be alright, but couldn't help mumbling as she thought about him.

"Get well soon, because your wife and daughter love you too much to lose you. I don't know of a better reason than the love of Lois Lane Kent and Jordan Sullivan Kent for you to recover quickly."

---

Lois finished chewing a bite of one of her hot dogs as she contemplated what Chloe had said in the story. Had she really been that together when Jordan was a baby? It seemed unlikely, but once again her daughter was living proof that she'd done something right. Apparently she didn't need a safety net with her children, thought it was always nice to have Clark to fall back on.

"So, I guess you're all done."

"Indeed," Chloe said around a bite of her turkey sandwich. "I could always lie to you, say I went back and make my part of the story longer, though. Just say the word and I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something."

"That's quite alright." Lois looked back over her shoulder and found Clark was still sitting with Jordan, though apparently he'd given up on trying to keep her face clean and was just letting her eat. She stood up and walked over to them, putting her plate down next to Jordan's as she sat down. "Got a little something on your face, baby girl."

Jordan grinned and grabbed another cut up piece of hot dog, popping it into her mouth. Lois thought about working on the mess she'd made of her face, but decided against it. If Clark was letting it go, so was she.

"So, Smallville, I guess I get to hear your account of the events now."

"I guess that could be arranged, though I think some form of payment should be given for making me recall a painful event. If you kiss me, I think I may be able to fight through the bad memories."

Lois grinned in spite of herself. Why did him being goofy make her feel so good? Love had officially turned her into a lover of the goofiness that is Clark Kent. Freaking love. If it wasn't so great, she'd have been annoyed by it. "Is that so? Well, I guess one little kiss couldn't hurt things."

Leaning over, Lois placed a chaste kiss on his cheek before sitting back down and smiling at him. He apparently was not satisfied. "That's all I get? Maybe we should just hold off on the story for a while."

Grinning a little wider, Lois leaned across Jordan and claimed his mouth, doing her best to rock his world for a few seconds. When she got back to her side of the couch, she took the last bite of her hot dog and saw that Clark was very satisfyingly speechless.

"So, about that story..."

"What?" He blinked a couple times before turning and focusing on her. "Oh, right. Sorry, I was kissed into another reality there for a moment. Back now, everything's good, and I can tell you your story as soon as I remember it. I think you may have kissed it out of my mind."

"Smallville..."

"There it is! Right, ok. We pick up a few days after Chloe left."

---

It didn't feel like there was kryptonite nearby. He hurt, as much as he ever had in his life, but he didn't feel like his stomach wanted to turn inside out on him. Where was he? The last he remembered, the goons were loading him into a crate with the kryptonite they'd used to beat the hell out of him. That had been unpleasant, to say the least.

He didn't think he was dead. If there was a heaven and he was there while he was hurting like this, that was going to be a huge let down. Of course, he might be in hell for one reason or another, though he liked to think he'd let a good life. He'd helped lots of people; that should count for something.

Pushing those thoughts away, he decided to try and open his eyes, which felt like they were as heavy as anything he'd ever had to lift. When they finally moved, blinding light greeted him and he shut them again, suppressing a groan that he felt would do some good. He opened them again, slightly, and was again bombarded with light. His eyes slowly adjusted, and he found himself looking at the ceiling of the apartment.

Feeling something on his chest, he didn't want to move and have it fall off. Pulling his chin to his body, he found a small hairy head staring back at him. Well, Jordan had picked a heck of a place to take a nap. How had she even gotten there? Last he checked, she wasn't exactly climbing things yet. She was doing well sitting without any support, but so far her best form of movement was shuffling along on her backside, and that rarely went for more than two shuffles. That certainly didn't lend itself to climbing.

He tried to move an arm, but found that he'd been tightly wrapped in blankets. He pushed against the constraints, but found that he was unable to free himself and it really hurt to try and move anyway. He look at his body best he could, and sighed at what he saw. Lois had swaddled him, for lack of a better term. She really was great at being a mom, like he'd figured she would be, but this was taking things a little too far.

He looked around at his surroundings, but found that the couch had been turned so that it faced the windows and gave him a view of not very much inside the apartment. He looked down at Jordan again, deciding she was the best thing around to look at. She always looked so peaceful when she slept, in stark contrast when she was awake. She liked being the center of attention, and liked being loud while the spotlight was on her. Definitely her mother's daughter.

He tried to smile as he watched her, but as his mouth moved it started hurting like he had a tooth made of kryptonite. They really had done a number on him.

"Well, look who decided to join the world of the living."

Clark smiled in spite of the pain, turning his head to find Lois standing over him. He opened his mouth to talk, but all he got out was a croak. His throat felt dryer that it ever had in his life.

"Take it easy, Clark." Lois held a glass up to his mouth, and he took as much water as she offered. He cleared his throat before trying to speak again.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself."

"How'd I get here?"

"A little luck, a little help from Lara and a whole lot of me lugging your ridiculously heavy body around until I got you back to the apartment. I know you've saved my life like eight hundred times, but you owe me. I don't have super strength to fall back on." Lois picked up Jordan and walked off, then came back a moment later. Tears were suddenly in her eyes as kneeled down next to him.

"I thought I'd lost you. When I found you... I don't remember a lot of things, but I've never been that scared before. I'm sure of that." The tears were no longer just in her eyes, and he felt like he could cry himself. He hated causing her this pain. "You were so cold that I didn't think you could still be alive. The kryptonite and the freezing water for three days... I can't do this alone, Jordan needs you... I need you..."

She finally lost all her composure and laid her head on his chest, crying as hard as head ever seen her. He just wanted to pull her close, to reassure her that it would take more than Lex Luthor and a dozen body builders with kryptonite to take him away from her. Unfortunately, she was a champion level swaddler and he was stuck.

A couple minutes later, she lifted her head up and smile at him through tears. "You have no idea how much seeing your eyes makes me feel better."

"I'm sorry."

"No, you have nothing to be sorry about. I was just scared, and I'm sure this wasn't something that just happened by mistake. Who did this?"

"Lex."

Lois' eyes turned to fire. "F-cking Lex Luthor. I'm going to kill that son of a bitch."

"No. We'll get him, but not like that." Clark tried to move, but found he was still wrapped up tightly. How could he have forgotten? "Could you unwrap me?"

She sniffled, then smiled. "Yeah, I guess. I just wanted to be sure that you stayed warm. Feeling you frozen like that... well, it made me paranoid, even with having the heat on in here."

She got his arms free a moment later, but left his legs all wrapped up. It was one of the hardest things he'd ever done physically, and he had to grit his teeth just to get one arm around her without screaming in pain. Feeling her against him made the pain dull a little, though, and allowed him to know that it would be ok. He would never get over the fact that he felt like a stronger person whenever Lois was around.

Two Days Later

"You're just trying to show off, aren't you?"

Jordan looked up at him as he sat up. He forced himself to keep moving against the pain, not wanting to fall over and feel like his six month old daughter could stay upright better than he could. It might be true, though, with as long as it took him to sit up and prop himself up with pillows.

When he finally got upright, he took a moment to catch his breath. Everything still hurt. It was like the kryptonite had drained his powers away and left him as a hurting shell of himself. He could barely even do anything for himself yet. He was just starting to get to the point where he could drink on his own without falling over in agony.

"What are you doing, Clark? I could have helped you sit up."

He had to fight himself to keep from sighing. She'd taken to mothering him as much as she did Jordan. He wasn't surprised, but when she was around she wouldn't let him do anything himself. For the things he still couldn't do himself, he appreciated it, but he wasn't going to get any better if he just laid around and let her do everything.

"I know you could have helped, Lois, but I need to start pushing myself. I love you for helping me, and I love you just because I love you, but if I rely on you to do things for me, I'm just going to end up getting better more slowly. Trust me, you did the same when you were recovering."

"I also had a lot farther to go, as I understand it, and wasn't exposed to a rock that will kill me for three days." Lois walked over from the kitchen and picked up Jordan, who'd taken to scooting across the floor towards the couch. She sat her down in Clark's lap, and he wrapped a hand around her softly to keep her from getting too mobile on him.

"Look, I know this is going to be hard for you, Clark. You're not used to hurting, let alone being about as weak as a six month old, but you're not going to be able to fix this by pushing yourself too hard. I'm all for you trying things on your own, but progress probably won't come as quickly as you want it to. You need to be ready for failures and to let me help you."

This time Clark did sigh. Apparently history had taken to repeating itself, because he could swear that he'd given that same exact speech to Lois when she'd tried pushing herself too hard. Of course, back then she'd just scoffed at him and said that she didn't need his help, though she was willing to let him stay around in case there was something Chloe couldn't lift.

"I know, Lois. I'm very willing to have you help, I just want to get better so that I can be there for you and Jordan like I should be."

"We're fine, Smallville. We've got this mom and daughter thing down, don't we baby girl?"

Jordan looked up at him and gurgled. Not surprisingly, it seemed that she agreed with her mother. He foresaw long years of those two agreeing on things he did not agree with. "Alright, alright, I'll be smart about recovering. Let me ask you something though, Lois: is being the voice of reason strange for you?"

"Oh, very funny, Smallville."

Six Days Later

"I think I've been pretty good about not asking this so far, but if you don't offer up the story of what happened in the next ten minutes, I am going to... well, you're already hurt, but maybe I'll love you a little less and let you recover a little slower."

Clark glanced over at Lois as he sucked a noodle from his soup into his mouth. Jordan was nursing, and despite the calm that Lois always had while feeding Jordan, her eyes were a step short of shooting daggers at him. At the moment her eyes were only to dinner knives, and he really didn't want to get to daggers. He swallowed and smiled at her.

"Right, what happened. Well, I met with the source. Turned out to be a whole bunch of nothing, though. As I was heading back, there was a call for help at the docks. So, I had the taxi driver pull over and drop me off. I made my way into an alley and took off, getting to the docks and finding a warehouse with smoke coming out of it. I went inside, and that's where everything went wrong.

"When I landed in the warehouse, there was nobody around. I looked around without using x-ray vision for a moment, trying to find the source of the smoke. A man ran out of a hallway into the main room I'd come into, doubled over and coughing. He ran straight to me, and I was about to ask him what had happened when he punched me, kryptonite in hand.

"I was floored, my vision swimming when I looked up and found that the man that had run out was Lex in a wig. He pulled it off, tossed it away and kneeled down next to me, placing the kryptonite on my chest. There was taunting, which I'll skip while Jordan is here, and a dozen or so very muscled men came from where he'd been and started beating me."

Clark sighed, wincing as he relived the punches and kicks landing all over his body. He could almost feel them again, shuddering as he placed his bowl of soup down on the coffee table, then wincing as a muscle in his side seized up.

"Are you alright, Clark? We don't have to do this if it's too fresh. You know my curiosity and how it kills cats. Well, that's kind of gruesome, and you know I would never kill a cat or any other animal..."

"Lois." Clark straightened up and smiled at her. "You're rambling, and I'm fine. Lingering injuries is all that was."

"That wasn't all it was, Smallville."

"No, but I need to go through this. I need to be able to talk about it so that I can get past it and get on with my life." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't know how long I was beaten. It could have been an hour, it could have been a day, though that seems unlikely. I remember hurting all over like I never had before, even when exposed to kryptonite. I think it had been taped to my chest or something so that it wouldn't fall off. All I know was that it hurt.

"When it stopped, they dragged me somewhere. I was only half aware of anything that wasn't pain at that point. They stuffed me in the crate, bending me painfully to get me in. Again, I don't know how long I was in there before losing consciousness, but it couldn't have been long. I do remember Lex telling his goons to dump me in the middle of the river, but since you found me at the docks only half submerged, I guess they got lazy and assumed I was a goner without the drowning."

Clark was interrupted from staring at the carpet by the sound of a little burp, and he smiled as Lois got Jordan started feeding again on her other breast. Apparently it wasn't just calming for her when Jordan nursed. He hadn't realized until now how much the fact that he was with his wife and daughter had made things seem easier then they were the past few days.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Clark, and I'm so sorry that Lex took advantage of the fact that you always answer calls for help."

"It's not the first time it's happened, though it is the first time it happened to that end. Before you forgot, before we got engaged the first time, a woman called for help, and when I got there she started trying to seduce me. It was interesting, and when I told you about it you got fairly annoyed."

"I'm not entirely unannoyed at the moment."

"Be that as it may, she tried it a couple more times and I got her straightened out. There's still the odd seduction attempt, but I am a happily married man."

"Yeah you are." Lois smiled at him. "Is it odd that I want to mark you as mine right now?"

Clark smiled right back at her. "Is it odd that I wouldn't mind being marked?"

Ten Days Later

"That's an interesting workout. What do you call it?"

"Baby curls."

Clark smiled before curling Jordan again, bringing her to his body slowly, then letting her back out. She wasn't giggling as she had when he'd first started doing them, but she did seem to be enjoying herself. He curled her up one last time before getting her settled in the crook of his arm.

"Any sign of your powers today?"

"Not that I've noticed. Want to help me test 'em out?"

"Sure, let me see if I can throw you up in the air and we'll see if you hover."

"Very funny. I was thinking more along the lines of you coming and standing in front of me so that I can try to look through your clothes."

"Well, isn't that naughty of you. I'd love to help!" She walked over then jumped in front of him, causing Jordan to look over at her before exploring the room with her eyes again. "X-ray away, Smallville."

Clark focused his vision on her, trying to look through her clothes. He thought he saw her skin for a second, but it was so brief that it may have just been a trick of the mind. He'd seen her skin so many times before that it wasn't out of the realm of possibility for him to think he'd seen it when he hadn't, especially that little mole one the left side of her...

No. That would be a frustrating road to go down. She wasn't going to let him get anywhere near her, at least not the way he wanted to.

He sat back into the couch, still holding Jordan close. It was getting close to when she usually napped, so he wasn't surprised to see that she was starting to fade. "No luck. I thought I saw something for a second, but being so familiar with your skin..." He grinned at her. "I really want to see your skin up close again. Call me crazy, but going over twenty days without seeing you sans clothes may be hindering my healing."

"Well, if you think it would help you heal, why don't you go put Jordan in her crib and meet me back here?"

Clark was in Jordan's room before he knew it, and was followed by a little gust of wind. Looking around to make sure that it had actually happened, he grinned and placed Jordan down gently before walking back out into the living room. Lois grinned back at him.

"Did you just... zoom?"

"I think I may have. Apparently just the hint of possible skin to skin enjoyment heals me."

"Well, if that does the trick..."

---

"After that, it only took a couple more days for me to regain all my powers. I started protecting the city again a few days after that, and I went to confront Lex."

"You confronted him?"

"Well, it was more exchanging words than anything."

---

Clark floated down outside the top floor of the Lexcorp building, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for somebody in the office to notice him. When somebody finally did, the office cleared and Lex walked out onto the balcony surrounding that floor of the building.

"Well, I must say that it's refreshing to finally have an opponent that isn't easily dispensed, no matter how much I want you dead. It's also an annoyance, but one expects those to overlap. I find that I am curious as to how you survived, though."

Clark ground his teeth together, holding himself back from taking justice into his own hands. It went against everything he'd been taught and everything he believed in. He evened out his breathing and made his jaw stay still a second before answering.

"Hope always prevails against hate."

Lex chuckled and walked to the edge of the balcony, leaning against it. "Always with the holier than thou attitude, Superman. Do you still think yourself too good to get down in the mud and bandy words with me? If you simply want to spout platitudes at one another, I'm sure I could remember a few.

"The father of an old friend of mine was fairly fond of them before he died. Jonathan Kent was almost as disgracefully boring as you are, when it comes right down to it, but at least he had the dignity to die and stop annoying me."

Clark thought that had he moved, he wouldn't have been able to stop himself from throttling Lex. How was it that he could enrage him without even trying? How had they ever been friends?

"I don't bandy words with you, Luthor, because I have better things to do with my time. Unlike you, I help people and try to make the world a better place, not to profit for myself. Any helping hand you offer always has a bill attached or knife hidden in the other hand."

"Oh, I don't think that's true. Profit is not always monetary. Every time you save somebody, your image profits from it, and people keep on adoring you, unaware of the threat you pose to the world. That's what separates me from everybody else: I'm not a sheep that buys into whatever information I'm fed."

"What separates you from everybody else is that fact that you consider people nothing but sheep. Every life on this planet is important. Every life on this planet is worth more than however much money you have. People can believe whatever they want about me, but I'm going to continue to help those that want it. Nothing you do will stop that, Luthor."

They stared at each other, neither moving. He heard his cape flapping with the breeze, then Lex suddenly stood up straight, smiling.

"I look forward to the day I get to finally prove what you are, Superman, or rid the world of you once and for all. Until then, enjoy your sheep."

Clark watched him walk away, going back into the office and disappearing into the rest of the building. With a sigh, he flew off.

---

"And after that, everything fell back into a normal routine."

Lois nodded, sitting back in her chair. "So, we were not working for a while. What did I tell Perry for why we weren't there?"

"You told Perry that we needed some time off. We do so many stories that he gave us the time off, though he wasn't all that happy about it being without any warning. We didn't have many vacation days left for the rest of the year."

"One would think not." Lois stretched out, yawning as she did so. "I could swear I wasn't tired a minute ago."

"I guess listening to stories takes it out of you when you're pregnant."

Rolling her eyes, Lois sat up again and cracked her neck. Standing up, she walked over to Chloe, who was playing with all the girls on the ground. Jordan ran over to her and stopped right in front of her. "You behaving yourself, baby girl?"

Jordan smiled and nodded up at her. "Yes, mommy."

"Good. It's time to go, so why don't you go grab your jacket, alright?"

"Can't we stay a little longer?"

"Sorry, but we've stayed too long as it is. You're going to be a terror to get up in the morning, much like I used to be."

"But..."

"Coat, baby girl."

Jordan frowned, but went off to get her coat. Chloe stood up and smiled at her while stretching herself out. "Headed out?"

"Yup. The small one over there is going to be a whole bunch of fun to get down tonight, and I have a feeling it's going to take Clark to do it since I'm the one making her get her coat to go."

"The danger of being th strict one. Good thing she loves you too much to remember to be mad at you tomorrow morning. It also helps that she's three."

Lois scoffed and enveloped her cousin in a hug. "You underestimate the ability of a Lane to hold a grudge. I love you."

"Love you, too. See you tomorrow."

Half an hour later, Lois unlocked the door to the apartment and walked in, holding the door for Clark as he carried a sleeping Jordan inside. "She conked out quickly."

"Yeah, car rides have always been a danger to Jordan's waking state. Even as a baby, the two things that were generally sure to get her down were a car ride or me flying her, and you were more comfortable with the former for the first few months of her life."

"I can't imagine why," she said wryly as she tossed her coat on a chair and stepped out of her shoes. She walked over and took Jordan out of Clark's arms, getting her settled in her arms.

"I could get her into bed, Lo. I have done it once or twice before."

"Yeah, well, I like putting my daughter to bed."

She smiled at him a second before walking to Jordan's room, getting her into some pajamas and under her covers without any problems. A job well done, if ever there was one. She stifled a yawn as she closed Jordan's door most of the way behind her, working on the buttons of her shirt as she walked across the apartment.

She had her shirt off as she closed the door behind her, and walked past Clark and into the closet, finding the plaid sleeping shirt and slipping it on. She dropped her pants off and walked back out into the bedroom, where Clark had already undressed and laid down on the bed. She sat down on the edge and shed her socks before crawling over to him and laying her head down on his chest.

"How is it your chest is so comfortable when it's so hard?"

"A conundrum if ever there was one. Love you, Lo."

She smiled as he turned out the light. "Love you too, Smallville."