Chapter Three

Something wet kept nudging at her hand caused the young child to roll over to the side away from the obnoxious source only to feel her bed dip followed by the same feeling nudging her back.

"Go away" she mumbles in a tired voice until she felt something licking her cheek causing Maggie to roll back over and open her eyes coming face to face with a large snout followed by a mass of golden fur, "Shelby!" she exclaims rising from the bed throwing her arms around the dog.

Clark appeared in the doorway with a smile on his face, "It didn't feel exactly like home without him." He walks over and pats his trusty companion on the head, "What better way to start your new day in a new city waking up to a familiar face."

Maggie threw her arms around her father the same way she did Shelby, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She says in an excited rush and jumps down from the bed to run out of the small room leaving Clark and Shelby sitting on the bed.

The dog looked up at his owner, "Go on" Clark stated petting the dog's back before the animal jumped off the bed and followed after the child which caused a smile to appear on his face at the laughter he heard.

Another squeal of excitement reached his ears followed by the sound of fast footsteps, "Grandma and Grandpa are here!" she says with a large smile on her face as she raced back towards the large empty area that would be their living room.

He just shook his head with a chuckle and followed after her to see his mother in the kitchen loading up the fridge and pantry with food while his father twirled Maggie around the room.

"You didn't have to do this mom." He grabs the few bag lefts and began helping her stock the barren kitchen, "I could've gone down to the market and gotten some food for us."

Martha just shakes her head negatively, "I couldn't live with myself if all my granddaughter ate was McDonalds and leftovers Pizza." She looks at him from over her shoulder, "We mothers tend to worry. Now why don't you go down and unload the rest of the stuff from the truck."

"There's more?"

"Well since Kara's going to be moving in with us to help your father with the farm, we moved most of your stuff into the barn but we did manage to pack a few things that you and Maggie left there." She takes the bags from him and places them with the rest just as the freight elevator door slid open along with the sound of something sliding across the hardwood floor, "That should be Kara." Martha wipes her hands and walks out of the kitchen with Clark following close behind confused.

The familiar blonde haired woman pop out of the elevator carrying two large boxes one on top of the other like it was nothing and set them next to the other numerous boxes scattered around the house, "Thank Rao for the elevator. I was afraid that I'd have to haul this thing all five stories." Kara exclaims blowing a piece of hair out of her face before pushing the worn brown leather recliner off to the corner.

Clark looked at the new piece of furniture confused, "W-What?"

"Your father won one of those reclining massage chairs during a raffle at the farmer's market and since there wasn't enough room for the new one he decided to give you the old one."

"Thanks I guess."

"Way to sound excited Kal." Kara jokes sarcastically while lounging on the chair with a relaxed look on her face, "You could at least act happy to see us."

"I am. It's just that I wasn't expecting you guys to show up out of the blue like this so soon."

"Well what did you think we were gonna do? Let you move back into this place without a little help from family." Kara sits up just as Maggie came flying towards her wrapping her tiny frame around the young teen, "Well hello to you too." She squats down coming face to face with her favorite member of the Kent family, "How's life in the big city treating you so far?"

Maggie just shrugged, "Daddy took me to his job interview at the Daily Planet yesterday where I saw Aunt Chloe and met a really nice lady named Lois." A stunned look crosses over Kara's face and rises back up to her feet to see that her cousin had not seemed to change at the mention of the woman's name, "She was a little intimidating at first but daddy seemed to like her."

"Is that so" Kara gives Clark an all knowing look crossed before lending her ear to what Maggie had to say.

"Everything alright honey?" Martha asks Clark concerned about the sudden shift in his appearance, "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine. I just need to go wash up first before I go head down to get the rest of the stuff." He walks off towards the bathroom which allows him some much needed time to think and clear out his thoughts before returning to his family, 'Snap out of it Kent. It was four years ago surely she's forgotten all about what happened.' He thinks to himself after splashing cold water on his face, 'No sense in living in the past anymore. Just stay focused for Maggie's sake and mine.'

A cup of coffee appeared on the desk followed by an all to familiar voice, "Did you stay the night here again Lane?" asks Editor-in-chief Perry White with his long tan coat draped over his arm as he stared down at his star reporter concerned about her unhealthy work habits lately.

Lois didn't show the signs of fatigue but her body gave a welcome sigh of relief when the caffeine from the coffee entered her tired system, "If I don't get this story done then it's only a matter of time until someone else picks up on it." She replies after a few sips.

"As your boss I should be praising such devotion to work but as your friend this isn't the way to do things. Keep pushing yourself past your limits and you'll find yourself tired out by time you hit forty."

"I'm fine Perry."

He looks at her with a serious expression, "You better be or else I'll have to force you to cash in some of your overtime." He heads off to his office but stops and quickly turns back around to her desk, "Have you thought about taking up a new partner? It would cut the workload in half and take some stress off of you."

"I don't need a new partner chief; I'm doing fine on my own." He looks at her unconvinced, "Okay so maybe I have been overdoing it but that doesn't mean you have to pawn off some newbie from the basement as my partner."

Just then an idea hit Perry like someone had clicked on a light bulb, "What about Kent? He's a seasoned reporter and the readers seem to love him almost as much as they love you."

Lois scoffs at the idea shaking her head in disbelief but didn't get the chance to voice her obvious opinion of the situation, "I don't care what problems you have with Kent and I don't want to know. The fact of the matter is that you're both damn fine reporters and I think you'd make a good team."

"Fine." She relents knowing that there was no reason to prolong the argument or to try to change Perry's mind cause once he decided to do something he stuck to it no matter what, "But don't think for a second that he gets first in the byline."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." He turns and continues onwards towards his office oblivious to the look crossing over his star reporter's face as soon as he turned his back to her.

Numerous emotions flooded through her from frustration to a pain she had kept hidden for years with old memories of rejection that she had hindered from ever coming up to the surface again.

TBC

I like to keep you guys in suspense so there are a few things that won't be revealed until the time is right like what happened between Clark and Lois four years ago.

There's plenty more to come including Maggie's first day at a new school (which always sucks if you're the new kid) and she handles it that adds more to Clark's first day at the Daily Planet. Also his superhero alter-ego won't make an appearance until…that's a surprise.

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