Okay, I have to start this with a disclaimer for those of us that have never dealt with a KLK Deleted Scene (aka Anissa and Lo Are Going To Finally Write the Smut) before. In this case, as with all of the more complex ones in LS and Heirs (hush about Heart and Soul AKA Aftermath of TPM; it was actually part of the plot. :P), there will be a full love scene written, but it will not be in the main body of the fic. It will be a separate file that will be posted within two weeks. A lot of it is so that those who don't want to read the gory details don't have to (and I know for a fact that there are a few; I've gotten messages) and we can continue the plot without waiting.

It also gives your poor exhausted authors a chance to write it a little more at leisure. If there's one thing we've learned, don't rush a love scene. It does it no favors. Especially if it's a long-awaited one. It's coming, but it's going to take one more cycle. Rest assured, it will be here.

And for you long-timers, quit giggling. You know you were the ones waiting for it once upon a time. The new readers actually have to wait for once. At least you know what's coming. XD :P

Lois and Kal-El were young and in love and had not seen each other in months, so it didn't surprise Lana much when they didn't answer the phone. She sighed ruefully as Pete turned the car toward their street. "Oh dear. I hope we don't interrupt them."

"They'll be fine. I just hope we don't come home to anyone's underwear hanging off the ceiling fan," he teased.

She blushed and elbowed him lightly. "Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if they were still in the talking stage. Lois looked like she had a lot to say, most of it things he wouldn't want to hear."

Pete scoffed. "Do you remember being that age? I don't care what they have to argue about, they could be necking in ten minutes."

"You and I never had the fate of the whole world on our shoulders," Lana pointed out.

"We were teenagers. We sure thought we did. Everything back then felt like the fate of the whole world." Pete sighed, and shook his head slightly. "These two, though, it's not melodrama. They are important to everything. And almost no one knows they're even here. Us, the Kents, and the military. Even Perry White only knows about Lois."

"Are you going to do something about that?" Lana asked.

His only answer was an innocent expression, but she knew him too well to believe it.

Neither of them noticed the police car behind them until it turned on its lights.

…

He had forgotten just how much he enjoyed watching her after. The ways her breath continued to come in gasps after the last keening cry. Her long dark hair all over the sheets surrounding them and trailing over his chest. That long pleased sigh she gave once her breathing slowed, usually ending in a yawn without her ever opening her eyes. The way she had of stretching the entire length of her small frame out, a blissful little smile teasing her lips as Lois collapsed back into the sheets beneath him with a groan. She was just so unbelievably lovely.

It was then that she looked up at him. They both knew she was still aggravated that their time was limited, but this last show of his need seemed to have settled her for the moment. "Twice? In half an hour? And after an argument?" Lois said lazily, fingertips tracing down his spine as she grinned up at him. Oh, he had missed that evil little curve of lip. "You really did miss me; either that or you just wanna shut me up."

He huffed at that, tousling her already-rumpled hair. "You should have known that from the moment I first saw you again. Lois, I have never yearned for anyone or anything the way I did after I had to send you away." Kal-El smiled despite those words. He couldn't pretend to be even mildly annoyed with her, too swept up in the sweet warmth and sheer rightness of being together again. How much had his people forsaken by turning their backs on this particular sensual and empathetic communion?

The second time had been partly because the first was so delightful, and partly because he didn't truly know when they would have this opportunity again. Pete and Lana would be back soon, Connor could wake up at any moment, and no matter what General Lane had said, he expected to be called to duty sooner rather than later. Rather than worry about those things, though, Kal-El chose to focus on and savor this precious time with the woman he loved.

For a few moments they simply regarded each other through a haze of bliss, Kal-El stroking her hair. Lois was running her hand slowly along his flank, and he imagined that she felt much same as he did, constantly needing to touch just to prove that they were both really here together.

When the affectionate silence was finally broken, they spoke at the same time. "I still intend to marry you at the first opportunity," Kal-El informed her, while Lois said in the same matter-of-fact tone, "I'm not gonna wait around here for you, you know."

He blinked, surprised at that. Of all of her protests, this had never been a threat that she had put forth. The connotative meaning of 'wait' between lovers was known to him, and to hear those words after all of this confused him. It hurt, even, in light of all that had passed between them. "Lois…" he began, but the ringing phone distracted them both.

Lois groaned aloud, but he rolled over and got up to answer it. Only after picking it up did he realize that perhaps it might not be Pete or Lana, and in that case an unfamiliar male voice on the line would cause plenty of gossip. So Kal-El wordlessly passed the cordless phone to Lois.

She sighed and said, "Ross residence, Sarah speaking."

With his acute hearing, Kal-El caught the response: Lana's voice, sounding harried. "We have a problem."

His heart seemed to drop out of his chest at that. What now?

…

"Do you think he'll be all right?"

Jonathan wasn't actually watching the news, just letting it play while he thought of other things, and Martha's question didn't really surprise him. She wasn't paying much attention to the television, either. "I hope so," he finally answered.

"I know…" She laughed at herself, shaking her head, but continued. "I know he's strong and fast and darned near impossible to hurt, but I worry about him. Even knowing that he's Kal-El, that he's one of them, he's still my Clark."

"Of course he is. Martha, every injured critter for twenty miles ends up here, and they're all yours. You love them, and they know it, and they heal and grow strong in your care. Heck, you still feed potato chips to that one deer."

"Phoebe," she informed him with a wry smile.

"See? You save a life, you give it a name, of course it's yours to worry over forever after." He emphatically did not say, 'Because you're a natural mother, because everything that needs nurturing ends up making a place for itself in your heart, because no matter how much I love you we could never have a child together—there's no wonder you're as attached to Clark as a broody hen to her first chick. He's your son, Martha Clark Kent, you even gave him yourname.

"It's silly," Martha said, still sheepish.

"No it isn't. We both love the boy, it's only natural we worry about him."

Another pause, and she finally said what was really bothering, which Jonathan knew she would eventually. "I don't think he's ready for all this."

Unfortunately, he couldn't argue with her. No one was ready for what might be facing their Clark. Aloud, he only said, "That Lois Lane is looking out for him. She's sharp enough for two, I think. And you know what they say."

"Oh?" A silver brow arched up at his teasing tone.

"'Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes'," he intoned, and startled a chuckle out of her. "Well, at least it worked for us. Lois will make sure he doesn't get swept up in all of it and forget who he is."

"I'm sure she will," Martha said, comforted. "Especially considering Connor."

…

Lois' heart raced. They didn't need a problem, everything had been okay for a little while, and she could think of too many things that could go wrong. "What happened?" she managed to say.

"The police just pulled me and Pete over. We're headed home to get you three. Something's going on at the mine and your father wants us all in protective custody."

Pete must've leaned toward the phone, because she heard his voice just as clearly. "Considering you didn't answer the first call, we hoped you'd pick up this time. Your dad is on his way there."

"Shit!" Lois yelped, jumping out of bed. Kal-El could evidently hear the conversation, too. He moved so fast he seemed to blur, and then he was dressed and handing Lois her clothes. She shoved the phone into his hands and started scrambling into clothing.

"What happened at the mine?" he asked, and Lois gritted her teeth at not being able to hear the answer. Yanking a shirt over her head, she reached for the phone, and he gave it to her. Lois tucked it against her shoulder as she struggled into her jeans.

"—not sure what started it, and your father doesn't want to say anything unless it's in person," Lana was saying.

"Are you sure this isn't a trap?" Lois asked. She knew her father better than any of them, and having had to let them go once, he would be trying to figure out ways to regain control of the situation.

"It's on the news," the redhead said. "Some reporter tried to break into the facility and is now trapped inside. No one else can get close enough to rescue him."

Lois swore again, more pungently, and Kal-El tossed her shoes to her. "And of course Daddy wants Kal-El's help. We're ready to roll as soon as—"

A knock on the door cut her off. Kal-El glanced that way, and said, "They're here."

"Gotta go, Red," Lois told her.

"We'll see you soon," Lana replied.

…

Just in case everything at the mine went to hell, General Lane had gathered up those most affected -everyone Kal-El had been in contact with- and gotten them to shelter, in this case, a National Guard armory just outside Smallville. He could see too many ways that the idiot who'd broken in could somehow alert Zod and company to Kal-El's survival. Besides, he preferred having them all in one place anyway. Easier to keep an eye on them all—and just because he didn't say anything didn't mean he'd missed how hastily-dressed his daughter looked. That didn't matter. Keeping these people safe did, and several of them struck him as the sort who'd run toward a battlefield. Especially Lois.

"We've pulled our units back but we have visual on the reporter," he said, meeting Kal-El's gaze. The boy was the key, his instincts knew that even before tactical analysis. "He's unhurt, but upset. He's trapped in the airlock area, but there's one upside."

"We're due for one," the senator muttered.

"The reporter can see further into the facility than we can from outside," Sam continued. "According to him, there are two computer screens flashing my name, asking me to report. So our mole is online and has urgent news."

"Of course," Lois sighed. He didn't glance at her; it was the alien he needed to convince. And the boy was listening with a frown of concentration.

"Obviously this moves up our timetable. Considering the situation, we've got to move fast. I've got a chopper on its way to carry us to the facility where your ship is being held."

"All of us?" That was the farmer, a skeptical glint in his eye.

"I can't justify bringing civilians into a secure military facility, no matter how urgent this is," Sam told him. And then looked to his daughter for emphasis. "I'm not trying to kidnap your boyfriend, Lois, so don't start. There are more important matters here than what you're worried about. You've done a helluva job with the Resistance—more than anyone but me ever expected—but at the moment you have to stand down."

Those hazel eyes of hers bored into his, her mother's gaze, a bitter flash of white in her grin like the bared teeth of a threatened animal. He'd known that this wasn't going to be easy and his daughter proved that truth. Lois looked older than her years, more jaded than she properly should at her age. But then again she was his daughter; she had been taught to roll with the punches. "With all due respect, General, fuck that," she snarled unhappily at him. Clearly she still hadn't settled down about this at all. That was to be expected, really. "Every single one of us knows you're going to kidnap him away from me and his son soon enough, for the good of the world. So let's cut the bullshit. Don't you dare talk down to me like that after what I've been through. The question is, will I get him back once this is over? And what have I got planned if it looks like I won't? Because someone will pay for it, Dad. I promise you that. This isn't something that happened in a very controlled environment."

His spine stiffened at her tone, and he couldn't help the way his chin jutted out. Ella liked to tell him that he and Lois were far too much alike, and he couldn't deny it. "I know damned well what you're capable of, Lois. Kal-El is too important for me to send him on a kamikaze run, so you ought to get him back once we've got the rest of his people sorted."

At that moment, the boy turned to his daughter, and his voice was firm. "Lois, I'm coming home. You can count on that. Do not worry about me."

The pair of them just stood staring at each other for a few minutes before Lois muttered and looked away. Her jaw clinched when she turned her back on him, arms crossed in irritation. There was some uncharacteristic "See, you say that, and say it that formally, and I just worry more," Lois groused. "Do what you're going to do, Kal-El. It's not like I can stop you at this point, is it?"

There wasn't time for much more, because the boy looked up at the roof. "Your helicopter is here, sir," he said.

"Then let's go." When Sam moved, a detail of soldiers fell in with him, and he pretended not to notice the way the alien caught his daughter's shoulder to pull her back to him. Lois went willingly after an initial moment of pushing him away. Had to make a point, as usual.

"I meant what I said, Kal-El." she told him, a nettled frown on her lips even as she held tight to him.

"So did I," he told her. And then he was hugging the farmers, hurrying to keep up with Sam.

Once they were out of earshot, Sam said, "Word of advice, son. Don't make a promise to my daughter that you can't keep. She'll move heaven and hell to make you stick to it."

"I didn't," the boy replied.

"For your sake, I hope not," Sam told him, and then they were outside, bending under the rotor wash to board the 'copter.

…

Kal-El couldn't think about Lois and Connor, or even Ma and Pa and the Rosses. There was a human journalist being held captive at the mining facility, and freeing the man was his first priority. Luckily for him, establishing communications with the spy from his own side worked toward that goal. Anyone highly placed enough to take over the screens in the facility would also be able to override security and let the reporter out. Although how the man had gotten in was still a mystery.

He was aware of the soldiers around him, watching as he swapped crystals and reconfigured the command module's communications array. The first time he swept his hand over a panel and made ten programming crystals rise with their characteristic chiming sound, every soldier had stepped back.

Every one except General Lane. He stood by, just far enough not to be in the way, and watched avidly. It took years of study to properly manipulate the crystals, though, so Kal-El didn't worry too much about what he was learning. This was a simple extension of range and reconfiguration of frequency, which required no more than his own knowledge.

There, now he only had to rotate the last crystal and … a hologram menu sprang up above the array, but there was some distortion in the image. Kal-El was taken aback, before realizing that the system was trying to pick up every crystal device in the vicinity. Humans frequently used them in watches and even for decoration. Not to mention, the initial attack had covered most of the humans' military weaponry in randomized crystal growth.

He made a few more adjustments, and suddenly the system locked on to the only other crystal computer on the planet's surface: the one in the mining facility. Fortunately the Consular ship was in orbit behind the moon, blocking its signal.

"Are you in?" General Lane asked, and Kal-El nodded.

"I'm sending a request for identification," he said, fingertips brushing over the crystal input panel.

The response was immediate, appearing in the hologram as text—unusual, but perhaps the spy didn't want to be identifiable. "URGENT UPDATE FOR GENERAL LANE," it read. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF, GENERAL."

"There was a thumbprint scanner in the facility," General Lane said.

"I might be able to configure this system for that, but I have a better idea," Kal-El said. "Step over here, sir. I'm opening our visual channel."

As the older man walked to his side, Kal-El made a few more changes, and a brief flicker of light past over them as the hologram scanner took its range measurements. He knew it would be only seconds before the spy could see them both as if standing mere feet away.

And then the text on the screen disappeared, replaced by an image as the spy opened their own visual channel. "Kal-El? You are alive?" a familiar voice exclaimed in his own tongue.

Startled by the appearance of a well-known face, Kal-El answered in the same language. "Aunt Allura?!"