---- Chapter 2: Other Things

"I should have done more, dammit."

Clark looked over at Lois as he messed with his tie, sighing. She'd been saying that all weekend. If it could be physically done without falling over or looking ridiculous, she probably would have been kicking herself. He doubted that it could be any worse than what she was doing to herself mentally, though.

"Lois, you can't still be blaming yourself for Chloe not having a good time on Friday."

"I very much can. She pointed out to me what I should have been able to see: it's a couples night. Almost everything we talk about is children or couple related. We spent maybe ten minutes the whole night on what's actually going on in the world. Everything else was torture for Chloe. The best time for her was probably when she was out cooking the burgers nobody else wanted!"

"Of course it's a couples night, Lois. It's always been that way because we've all been coupled since they started happening. Lucy and Jimmy were just starting, but it was them, us, Pete and Lana and Chloe and Mark. Remember when she first lost everything, though? We used those nights to be there for her. Now that they've gone back to the original purpose, well, I can see why Chloe would be miserable."

Clark finally got his tie straightened out and turned to Lois, who was leaning on the sink. "I would have said something but I thought you knew. You generally pick up on this type of thing before I do. We'll get it figured out, though, and find some other way to get everybody together and show Chloe that we love her."

"It's not that, Clark," Lois said as she stood up straight. "I made things worse. I took my cousin, a second sister as far as I'm concerned, and made her hell worse. I took something that she loved and used it to remind her of exactly what she didn't have anymore, and not just once but almost every time since the jackass left her. Why couldn't I see it?"

Clark spoke softly. "You have a blind spot when it comes to helping Chloe, Lois. You always have. You do what you think needs to be done. This is such a different situation, though, that doing that can run you into spots like these."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"You wouldn't have believed me."

"Smallville..."

Clark smiled. "It doesn't matter. You know now. You'll be able to help her, we both will, with time. Something good will happen to her, I promise, and then we'll be able to bring Chloe back into the life she loved. Heck, maybe that something positive is our investigation into Lex."

"I hope something good happens before then, because we're a long way from press on that. I just... I need to make something good happen for her. Not being able to help her for so long, seeing her so defeated... it hurts me, Smallville, to see my vibrant cousin so disgusted with life."

"It hurts me too, Lois." Suddenly Clark's hearing honed in on a call for help, and he started pulling at his tie. "Look, I need to go, but I'll see you at the Planet, ok?"

"Yeah, ok, Smallville. Good luck."

Lois spotted Clark walking through the bullpen from the elevators, flashing him a quick smiled before looking back down at Jacob. "Good timing, Jacob. Your dad just got here so he can do the diaper change." Lois looked up again as Clark stopped next to her. "Smallville, just in time. Would you mind changing his diaper?"

Clark's smile wilted into that of a playful frown. "This is what I get for helping people, Lo?"

"You don't like the recognition, so this is just you getting to be a dad." She stood a little taller and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

He eyed her for a second before letting out a slow breath. "You are so lucky you found me. Any other guy, you'd be changing way more diapers than you do."

"I like to think I'm lucky to have found you for many reasons, Smallville, diapers being just one of the reasons."

Watching him walk off with Jacob in his carrier, Lois smiled and sat down at her desk before she got back to typing up their article. She got a few sentences done, then heard her cell phone start going off. She grabbed it off the desk and flipped it open before situating it between her ear and shoulder as she typed. A quick peek at the caller I.D. had told her it was Chloe calling. "To what do I owe the early call from you, Chloe? Usually you're not up for another two hours."

"Well, I have good news. Stanton Tech called me this morning and offered me a job in a different position."

Lois stopped typing. "Really?"

"Really. I start tomorrow."

"Chloe, that's great!" Lois grinned as Clark walked back into the bullpen with Jacob. He seemed to smile cautiously as he put Jacob down gently into his carrier on her desk. "What are you going to be doing?"

"I'll be an assistant to Mr. Stanton himself. It's not a good job, really, but it'll pay the bills and keep me from total financial ruin. He's a real nice guy, Lois, and said that the job gives opportunity for advancement. It's about as good as I can hope for these days."

"If you're happy about this Chloe, then I'm happy."

"I am happy, Lo. This is the first good thing that's happened to me in what feels like an eon. It won't be writing, but it'll do for now. Hopefully it'll be a stepping stone to bigger things."

Sitting back in her chair, Lois wiggled her fingers at a giggling Jacob before focusing on the conversation again. "I hope for that too, Chlo. Say, why don't we do some celebratory dinner tonight at the house?"

"Sounds good. I need to hit the house and pull out my work clothes anyway."

"All right, we'll pick you up on the way home. Congratulations, Chloe."

"Thanks, Lois. I'll see you tonight."

Lois flipped her phone shut and got up out of her chair, pulling Clark into a hug. "What's going on, Lois?"

"Chloe got a job! She's an assistant to the owner of Stanton Tech, but she has the opportunity for advancement. Not the greatest thing in the world, but she actually sounds hopeful, Smallville. The last time she sounded hopeful was when we were trying to pull her out of her funk after she lost her job here, before Mark."

"Three months and there's still enough venom in your use of his name to kill six elephants."

Lois grunted and pulled away from him before lifting Jacob up out of his carrier. "You, buddy, are going to see your aunt Chloe happy again. You need to see her happy, because a happy Chloe lights up the world around her. I promise that your father and I will get Chloe the justice she deserves and she'll be the Chloe everybody deserves to know."

After checking to see if she had any messages, Lois flipped her phone shut and slipped it into a pocket as she headed into the bullpen. She tossed her notepad onto Clark's desk, which seemed to pull him away from his monitor. "Hey. How was the thingy?"

"Useless. I wrote down the least generic quotes from it on there so you can finish up the article. Did the call come in yet?" He shook his head and Lois frowned as she sat down at her own desk. She'd been trying to get a guy to call her for the better part of a week after attempting to get him to acknowledge his own existence for a few weeks, but it was like finding somebody that didn't want to be found. They'd found him, but he didn't want to cooperate. He was living a cozy life away from it all, with his cabin in the Oregon wilderness purchased under a fake name. "Maybe we should just drop in unannounced."

"I don't know that he'll be more inclined to talk that way, Lois. We let him come to us, he won't feel threatened and is less resistant."

"We're going with the path of least resistance, aren't we?"

"I know you're not used to it, but yes."

"Lois! Clark!"

Lois looked over at Perry. "What's up, Chief?"

"Which one of you is doing less at the moment?" Lois half raised her hand and shrugged. Perry walked over to her and handed her a folder. "I need this written up before you leave."

"What is it?"

"Everything's inside. Sorry that it's so last minute, but we can't help when the news happens."

Lois sighed as she made her way back to the desks, letting the folder slap down as she checked on a fussing Jacob. She checked her watch and found it to be just after 6:30, feeling like she was forgetting something, but shook it off and pulled out a little thing of baby food and a spoon. She twisted the top off and tossed it on the desk before getting a little bit and flying it around a bit for show until putting it up to Jacob's mouth and getting it swallowed.

"What did Perry give you, Lois?"

"No idea, but he wants it written before we leave. I'll get on it after Jacob gets his dinner."

Forty five minutes and a cleaned up baby later, Lois started looking through a folder and getting to writing. Checking her watch again, the feeling that she was forgetting something once again came to the forefront of her mind. What the hell was she forgetting? Shaking her head, she looked over at Clark. "Are we forgetting something?"

He leaned over and looked at her around his computer monitor. "What?"

"Are we forgetting something?"

He went quiet a minute, frowning as he slid his chair over so he didn't have to lean. "Uh... no, I don't think so. Why?"

"I feel like we are. Been feeling like it for an hour or so now." She waved a hand at him. "Nevermind, forget it. You done with that?"

"Almost. I'd have been finished sooner, but..." He trailed off and made a flying motion with his hand.

Lois nodded as she looked back at the monitor. "Yeah, I know. Perry wasn't happy when I told him you hadn't finished that while I was feeding Jacob."

"Sorry about that."

"Don't worry, Perry just blustered for a moment before I had him smiling at Jacob and heading back to his office. He took off for home about ten minutes before you got back.

Lois got back to typing a second before grabbing a pencil and shoving it between her teeth so she didn't grind them together, as she was prone to do when putting something infuriating into words. It was a stopgap to keep her teeth from being worn down while she typed that she'd implemented years ago. As such, she now found it difficult to write a story without a pencil between her teeth. A story about homeless kids was certainly something that infuriated her.

Getting out of the car, Clark took a couple steps back and opened up the back driver's side door. He unlatched the removable part of Jacob's car seat and eased his son out, doing his best not to wake him. He'd fallen asleep early on in the drive home, and waking up Jacob after he was asleep was like waking up wrath itself. Rarely was the end pretty.

He closed both the car doors quietly and followed Lois as she walked up to the house and unlocked the door. Going inside, Clark went straight to the stairs and headed up to Jacob's room, where he deposited the sleeping boy into his crib. He put the carrier down next to the crib and after watching him sleep a moment, Clark grabbed the baby monitor and headed to his and Lois's room, where he changed into some jeans and a t-shirt.

Back downstairs, he found Lois in the kitchen and snuck up behind her until he tapped her on the shoulder. As usual, he didn't seem to have surprised her.

"I'm starving, Smallville. What should we do for dinner?"

"What do we have?"

"Microwavable pizzas, various fruits and vegetables, cereal, sandwich meat and bread."

"Roast beef, or just turkey?"

"We do have roast beef."

"I'll do sandwiches then. Easy and quick." She sighed, and he frowned at her back. "Not finding anything?"

"No, I think I'm going to hit a fast food place. Keys?" He fished them out of his pocket and held them out to her as she turned and took them from him. "You want anything?"

"Large fries, chocolate shake. Mind if I sandwich while you're gone?"

"Be my guest. I'll be back soon."

He watched her walk out before grabbing the roast beef out of the fridge and stuffing a slice into his mouth. He kicked the fridge door shut and grabbed the bread before heading into the living room and setting both items down on the coffee table. He went back into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water before placing himself on the couch and turning on a baseball game as he got to making himself a sandwich.

Two sandwiches later he'd replaced the bread and meat and was just relaxing on the couch when he heard Lois walk into the house. Standing up, he walked over and took the bag of food from her as she dropped her purse on a kitchen counter. "That didn't take too long."

"Not many people there."

The rest of the evening went by quickly. After watching some of the game, they put a movie on and Lois had cuddled up close to him. He always enjoyed that because it meant getting to hold her close. He was an unabashed romantic, so holding her was one of those things that really made the day better. Once the movie was done, they'd headed upstairs for bed. Clark was pulling off his shirt as Lois walked out of the closet and spoke.

"I still feel like I'm forgetting something. It's really annoying."

"Maybe you'll figure it out in the morning. We got pretty swamped with things tonight."

"Yeah, maybe so."

She got into bed and laid down, and he followed suit. She scooted over and turned her back to him, and he scooted a little closer and spooned her, wrapping an arm around her as he placed a kiss on her neck. "Night, Lo."

"Night, Smallville."

"Hey, have you seen my phone?"

Clark looked over at her and shook his head. "Not that I know of. You want me to take a quick look?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind." Lois waited while he aimed his eyes up at the ceiling, scratching at the back of her neck as she waited.

"It's in your purse."

"Really? Thought I had looked there." Lois bounded up the stairs and into their bedroom before grabbing her purse and dumping it out on the bed. Digging through her stuff, she finally found it and slipped it open. Two voicemails. Dialing it, she waited a second before the first one played.

"Hey Lo, it's Chloe. Just wondering where you are. I'm sure you've just got your hands full with Jacob and Clark is out, or something like that. I'm looking forward to dinner tonight, and to seeing you guys. Bye."

Oh God. They'd forgotten Chloe! Lois about screamed as she waited for the second voicemail to play. "So, Lois, how's it going? If you feel like you forgot something tonight, don't worry about it. Fits in perfect with my day, where my new job seems to think I don't exist. Have a nice night, or day if you get this when it's sunny tomorrow."

Flipping her phone shut, Lois stuffed all her stuff back into her purse before grabbing it and some sandals. Heading back down the stairs, she found Clark sitting with Jacob in the living room. "We forgot Chloe!"

"What?"

"Dinner last night with Chloe! That's what I'd forgotten and couldn't remember. There were two voicemails on my phone from her from last night."

"Why didn't your phone ring?"

"I put it on silent before the press conference last night and apparently never put it back. God, I can't believe I did this. I'm going to go treat her to breakfast, all right?"

"Yeah, ok. Do you want me to call if I have to make a save, or do you want to take Jacob with you?"

"Call. I wanna try to do some cousin bonding if I can. I'll see you later. Love you, Jacob."

She kissed her son on his head as he reached a hand for her then took off out the door. Once in the car she took off towards Chloe's apartment, cursing herself for forgetting about dinner. How could she do that to Chloe? She was getting wind of old Chloe being brought to the world again and she goes and forgets about her. Perfect.

A little while later she found a parking spot in front of the building and got out of the car. She walked up the stairs and grabbed the door as somebody walked out of the building, heading inside and up the stairs. She walked to Chloe's door and knocked. Remembering that Chloe probably wouldn't b up yet, she started pounding for a minute until the door swung open, her sleepy looking cousin revealing herself.

"What the hell are you doing here at... what time is it?"

"8:30. I am SO sorry that we forgot about dinner last night, it's just everything piled up and we didn't even eat until about 9:00, and by that point I had just been so busy... God, that's no excuse. I shouldn't forget about you, no matter what. When I got your message after waking up this morning I felt like the world's biggest ass."

Lois followed Chloe into the apartment as the blonde went and sat on the edge of her bed. "Don't worry about it, Lois. I ate at Chili's, came home and passed out. It was a well rounded night of eating and drinking."

"Well at least let me treat you to breakfast. Clark and Jacob stayed home so it'll just be you and me. We can talk about what happened at your job yesterday! I'm very ready to lend a sympathetic ear. Come on, up and at 'em! Get dressed!"

Chloe eyed her for a second before getting up and pulling a clean shirt and bra out of her laundry bag, walking over to the bathroom. A couple minutes later Chloe emerged in clean clothes. She picked a hairbrush up off a pile of junk and ran it through her hair as she talked.

"So, where do you want to go?"

"How about we..." Lois was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing, and when she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the number her face fell. Chloe raised an eyebrow as Lois looked back at her. "I'm going to take this, but I'll be right back."

Lois stepped out into the hallway, flipping the phone open. "Aaron Davis, nice to finally hear from you."

"I don't usually talk to anybody Lane, and certainly nobody that knows my real name, so consider yourself lucky I even called. What do you want?"

"You were working in Lex's lab when Chloe Sullivan broke the story about your work. I know that you were her main source for that story. You also disappeared off the face of the earth when Lex decided to accuse Chloe of making the story up. I want you to come forward in my article about that situation."

"I'm sorry, do you have me confused with somebody that wants to die painfully? There's a reason I disappeared off the face of the earth: to avoid the ire of Luthor. That whole fiasco has made me paranoid enough, even as an anonymous source."

"Look, I know people that can keep you safe. Plus, how secure are you, really? I found you, so it wouldn't be a big jump to think that Lex can find you. You help me take him down and I guarantee that I can hide you so deeply people will forget you even existed."

There was a short pause before the voice came back. "Do you know where I am?"

"I do."

"Come see me, today. If I like what I hear, we'll talk."

"That'll do. I'll see you soon."

Taking a deep breath, Lois smiled. This was good. Then she remembered where she was and her smile melted away. She was going to have to ditch Chloe. Sighing, she walked back inside the so-called apartment. "I'm so sorry, Chloe. That was a source I've been trying to meet with for near to a month, and if I don't take this opportunity the story may never pan out."

Chloe's face fell and Lois felt like kicking herself. "It's alright, Lo. I've been there. Maybe we can do lunch later or something."

"Actually, the source is kind of out of town, so I'm going to have to get Clark to fly me there."

"Where are you supposed to meet?"

"Oregon."

Chloe went a little slack-jawed for a second before shaking herself out of it. "Ok, well, that's that then. Good visit."

"Let's meet up tomorrow. We'll come get you early or meet somewhere and make a family day of it. Maybe Lucy and Jimmy could join us, eh? They'd make it a total family day." Crap, why had she said that? She was used to inviting other family members out of habit. Before she could say anything, though, Chloe responded.

"Sounds great, Lo. Good luck with your meeting."

Lois smiled, still wishing she hadn't said anything about Lucy and Jimmy, and walked over to Chloe, leaning over and hugging her. "I love you, Chlo. I'll call you tonight and we'll hammer out details, alright?"

"Perfect."

Clark lifted Jacob up and grinned as he giggled. There were few things in the world that sounded as good to him as his son laughing. What the hell could compare? He'd always been so afraid that he would end up alone and never have something like this. Now that he had it, it was every bit as good as he'd dreamed it would be. Of course, he'd never dreamed he'd have anything like this with Lois.

He was so glad he had her, though. She was amazing. She'd let him be the luckiest man in the world, and had given him a son.

Floating up off the floor, here he'd been laying down and playing with Jacob, Clark let Jacob down onto his chest. The boy lifted his head up and looked around curiously. Clark was always surprised at what Jacob seemed to understand. He seemed to comprehend that flying was not the norm, no matter that he'd been raised around it. Only doing it with his dad made him curious why it never happened with anybody else, Clark figured.

As they floated there, Clark heard the front door open. He let himself go back down to the ground and Jacob quickly crawled off of him and started making his way towards where the sound had come from. He was soon scooped up by Lois, who smiled and babbled at the baby for a minute before looking down at him.

"Davis called."

Clark turned over and pushed himself up to his feet. "Really? When?"

"Just as I was about to go to breakfast with Chloe. Remind me to call her and Lucy tonight to set something up. Right now, though, I told Davis we'd meet him at his cabin out in Oregon later today."

"Uh, ok. Should I call mom and see if I can take Jacob to the farm?"

"Yeah. I'm going to get some things together while you do that."

Lois smiled at Jacob again and took off upstairs, talking to him. Clark walked over to the phone and dialed the farm. It rang a couple times before it was picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom."

"Hello, Clark. How are you?"

"I'm ok. Sorry to cut the small talk short, but I wanted to see if you could take Jacob for us today."

"Of course I can. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing like that. Lois and I finally got in touch with a reclusive source in Oregon and need to head out there today for a face to face."

"All right. When can I expect my grandson?"

"Within the hour. Thank you, mom."

"My pleasure. See you soon, honey."

Clark turned the phone off and put it down where it had been. He headed upstairs and found Lois checking the weather in Oregon online with Jacob on her lap. The little boy reached for the computer but couldn't quite get at it. Clark smiled and pulled him off of Lois's lap so she could work a little more easily. "How do things look?"

"Little more chilly than they are here, but not bad. He lives in the Siskiyou mountains, though, so I'm going to take a jacket just in case. What did Martha say?"

"She'd be happy to keep an eye on him, so I'm going to take him out there. Will you be good to go when I get back?"

"Yeah, should be." Lois got up and walked over, kissing Jacob a couple times on each cheek. "I love you, little boy. Be good for your grandma."

Lois cracked her neck as they walked up to the cabin. They could have been there sooner, with much less fuss, but they'd had to fly to the nearest city and rent a car to drive to the cabin just so it looked like they'd actually flown there in an airplane. Unfortunately, she felt like she'd left patience back in Metropolis.

She glanced back at Clark before walking up onto the porch of the cabin and knocking on the door a couple times. She heard footsteps coming to the door and when it was swung open was greeted by the sight of a rugged older man. Barrel chested, the way he stood almost reminded him a bit of her father. He waved them inside without saying anything.

Lois walked into the living room, scanning the room quickly with her eyes before looking back to Davis. He followed Clark into the room and crossed his arms over his chest. "So, what exactly do you want from me in all this?"

"We want to use you in the article and have you come forward in person to tell your part of the story. Once you're out there on screens everywhere espousing that the original story was in fact true, we can make sure that you're safe."

"You're asking me to have a target painted on my back instead of staying here in anonymity?" He paused a moment and took in a deep breath. "I'm willing to be quoted in your article, same as I was for Chloe Sullivan, but that's it."

"Seriously? You saw how much that accomplished last time. We need to get you in the public eye, saying that you saw the things Chloe wrote about!"

"And what good will that really do? There's no physical proof of that project where I used to work, I guarantee it. Unless you can get more people to come forward, the word of one scientist isn't going to do sht for your article."

Of course, he was right. Lois bit her lip for a second before speaking. "Will you give us names of other scientists on the project, ones that were as troubled by it as you were?"

"I can give you a name. Thomas Hewlett. We talked a few times about how we weren't sure we were doing the right thing. I gave his name to Sullivan as well, but she didn't have any luck getting him for her article. Maybe you can get more names from him, but he's the only one I know that had any qualms about the work like I did."

Lois wrote down the name on her notepad before stuffing it back in her pocket. "That'll have to do." Lois flashed a quick, tight smile at the man. "Thank you for doing this. I know you're taking a risk, again, and we appreciate it."

"It's a shame, what happened to Sullivan. I thought there might be some light shed on the project, but once Luthor put forward his claims... well, the rest is history."

"Yeah. We'll be in touch soon, Mr. Davis."

"Good luck."

Walking back down to their rental in silence, Lois waited until she was seated in the car and Clark had started driving to say something. "How are we going to convince Hewlett to come forward for the article if Chloe couldn't?"

"I don't know, but we will."

Lois spotted Chloe getting out of a taxi and smiled as her cousin walked over. She wrapped her in a hug when she got close enough. "Again, so sorry about yesterday, Chloe."

"Again, I understand, Lo. I remember what the chase was like, and when your source is making himself scarce, you have to take advantage of the opportunities you can."

She hugged Chloe a little tighter for a second before she let go. Lois saw Clark smile at Chloe out of the corner of her eye. "So, looking forward to the zoo?"

"Yeah, though I'm still not sure how we ended up making this the place we were starting our day at. I've never been big on the zoo, and isn't Jacob a little young to remember any of this?"

"I'm not putting anything out of the realm of possibility with a half kryptonian baby," Lois said quietly as she lifted Jacob up out of his stroller. She took the few steps back over towards Chloe and deposited the eight month old into her arms. Chloe smiled down at him as he wriggled a bit and looked back at his her.

"I know, little guy. I always feel kinda sad when your mommy lets me go, too." Chloe got him settled against her body, bouncing a little and he calmed down a bit but was still looking back towards his her. Lois handed Chloe a pacifier and she offered it to Jacob, who took it like it was exactly what he was waiting for. "You always seem to know what he needs, Lo."

"When there's enough crying and fussing over time, one tries to learn as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Jacob is as easy a read as his father is."

"I don't know if I should take offense or be happy you know me so well, Lo."

"I'm saying the latter, Smallville... what's up?"

Lois frowned as Clark got his trademark far away look. He looked at them, sighing. "I need to go. I'll catch up with you guys later."

Lois watched him run off, shaking her head at her husband's departure. It was too bad he had to go, because this was going to be a good day. They spent the next couple minutes in a comfortable quiet, Chloe playing with Jacob while Lois messed with her phone. She'd put in a call to an old contact in the military, who was due to call sometime soon.

"Whose call are you waiting for?"

Lois looked up. She didn't want to tell Chloe about the investigation until they had cemented everything and were taking it public. "What? Oh, it's nothing."

"It's not nothing. You're staring at that thing like it's about to turn into a big pile of money. If it is, I'm trading you your baby for that phone so I can move out of my hole and into someplace nice, or at least less of a hole."

"Deal, but only because I love my son so much. Normally any random piles of money that come from my phone would stay mine."

"Duly noted."

After a moment of quiet, Lois spoke. "So, what happened at work on Friday?"

Chloe looked at Lois for a second before looking back to Jacob. She rubbed circles on his back as he laid his head against her. She walked over next to Lois, standing there and watching people pass them by. Lois thought she looked down, again. "Really, it just seemed like one of those things that could only happen to me these days. It probably felt like a bigger deal than it was, but when I asked if it had happened to anybody else and was told no, it was just a steam coming out of the ears moment."

"Then I ask again: what happened?"

"Well, the paycheck guy was passing out the checks. I like to actually get my check instead of having it go directly into my bank account, so when he passed me by like I wasn't even there, I went after him. He told me I wasn't on his list. So I went to accounting, and they had no record of me. Finally, I went to HR and was told that all the paperwork I filled out on my first day had disappeared, like it never existed. I couldn't get my check, and filling out the papers wouldn't do me much good because apparently Blake needed to be there to sign them."

"When will you get paid?"

"No idea. The HR guy, Trip, said that it may be the end of next week, or I may just have to wait until everybody else gets paid two weeks from then, so in twelve days."

Jacob started fussing as Chloe finished speaking and Lois reached over and took him from her, getting him settled in her arms and speaking to him quietly. He calmed down a minute and some kisses later, and when Lois looked up she noticed that Chloe was waving Lucy and Jimmy over.

"Hey guys. How's your day been so far?"

"Uneventful. Wake up, breakfast, come here and see you guys."

Lois raised an eyebrow at her sister. "Still no morning sickness?"

"Still no morning sickness."

"You are just..." Lois stopped speaking for a second and bit off some choice words. She'd suffered through morning sickness and her sister didn't even seem to have it. How was that fair? "You're lucky Jacob is around, and we'll leave it at that."

"Say, where's C.K. at?"

"He had some errands to run, but he's going to join us as soon as possible. So, we ready to head in and look at animals?"

Once inside, Chloe grabbed a map and started guiding them around. They made their way through some of the smaller exhibits before heading towards the birds. As they were walking, Lois's phone rang and Chloe took the stroller from her as she fished her phone out of her pocket. She walked off a little ways from the others before answering. "Lois Lane."

"Lois, it's Steve."

"Hey Steve. Any luck?"

"Well, that depends on what you classify as luck. I found your man, or at least the last record of him."

"What do you mean? Is he dead?"

"Well, I don't know. Nobody has seen him in two months, when he went on a trip to eastern Europe, alone. His last known location is a town about fifty kilometers outside the city of Rybnik, Poland."

"Does he have any family we can get information from?"

"A daughter, but she hasn't heard from him. Apparently he likes to do this every now and again. He'll just disappear off the face of the earth for a while and be even harder to track down than the lat guy you wanted me to find. He always shows up again, though, and never where he was last seen. This must be one hell of an article if I keep having to find guys that disappear."

"Yeah, you could say that. Did you email me everything you've got so far?

"Always do."

"Good, thanks. Will you keep digging, see if you can't turn something up?"

"You know it. You've got me hooked on this now. Thanks a lot."

Lois smiled. "My pleasure, Steve. Keep me appraised."

Closing her phone, she sighed and stuffed it into her pocket. Pausing a second, she pulled it back out and dialed her dad. After a few rings he picked up. "Sam Lane."

"Hi daddy, it's Lois."

"Lo, how are you?"

"I'm good. Have a favor to ask of you, actually. You remember your old CIA contact George?"

"I do."

"Is he still in the business of discreet security?"

There was a pause before she got a response. "What have you gotten into, Lois?"

"No, nothing like that, daddy. I'm doing an article, and let's just say that if I do it right, once it's out my sources are going to need to be protected."

"What about you?"

"Clark is all the protection I need, daddy. You know that."

"He can't be there all the time, Lo."

"Be that as it may, I want you safe. Just keep it in mind to give me some peace of mind, all right?"

Lois rolled her eyes, but did understand what he was saying much better now that she had Jacob. She wanted to protect him from everything. "I'll keep it in mind. Love you."

"Love you too, Lo."

Lois closed her phone and walked back over to the others as she dropped her phone into her pocket. She needed to go over the stuff Steve had emailed to her, so once again she had to bail on Chloe. Maybe her cousin could watch Jacob; she never stayed anything but happy when she was with him. He'd inherited Clark's ability to make people happy, though it might just be a cute baby thing at this point.

"So, I need to go. Another meeting with a source."

Chloe stood up and shoved her hands in her pocket. "That's too bad, Lo. Maybe we can do something next weekend."

"Well actually, I was going to ask if you wanted to watch Jacob. I was going to give you my house key so you could go there and spend time with him."

"I'll do it!" Lois looked back at Lucy, who seemed to just realize what she'd shouted. "I mean, ya know, if you don't want to, Chloe."

"No, that's alright. The practice is a lot more relevant for you than it ever will be for me, so go ahead."

"Chloe, why don't you go with her and Jimmy?"

Chloe gave a tight smile and pulled Lois into a hug. "I just endured that torture, and I don't need more of it."

Lois pushed her away, but held onto her arms. "What do you mean?"

"Remember that talk we had at the end of the night when Lana and Pete were in town?"

"Yeah, kind of... why?"

"I basically just had it all over again, and Lucy didn't want to let things go nor did I have a cab to escape in. You leaving is my cab. I love you, and I'll talk to you later." Chloe turned around and waved at Lucy. "Love you, Luce."

Lucy waved as Chloe walked off, heading towards the exit. Lois watched her for a second before turning back to her sister. "What did you guys talk about?"

"I pushed your dating agenda."

"And it didn't go well."

Lucy shook her head. "Not at all. She's afraid that if she gets hurt again there's not going to be anything left of her heart. I get where she's coming from, because it's scary to put your heart out there, but she can't just stop doing it. If she does, she'll be alone the rest of her life."

Lois sighed. "That's exactly what she's planning on. After getting hurt the way she did with Mark, being together two and a half years and three months from marriage, only to be told that he never really loved her? God, if that had been me I would have skewered him on something blunt."

"That might be part of the problem. She never got a chance to really express her anger because before the numbness of it all could wear off uncle Gabe died. It just got buried, along with the hurt from being fired."

"It's not buried, Luce," Lois said as she checked on Jacob. She looked back up at her sister. "She has nothing to bury it under. All she seems to know anymore is hurt."