It was hard to go back to a normal life after it had been messed up so badly. Everything seemed strangely unreal, like a really bad dream, though her heavy heart told Lois that everything was very real indeed.

She had gone home with Jason yesterday, despite Clark’s protests, because she needed to pick up the pieces of her life. She was Lois Lane. Fearless reporter and busy mum. Always running, she couldn’t stand still. She had to go on. She tried to go on. She knew Richard would want her to. But it was so damn hard.

Next to the constant empty feeling, she had found herself continually confronted with Richard’s absence. She had never realised how entwined their lives had been, and how much she had always depended on him.

Her bed had been cold this night, keeping her from sleep, and without the sound of Richard’s steady breathing the room was way too quiet.

This morning she and Jason had been running late because Lois hadn’t counted on having to make breakfast – usually Richard’s job. Talking about Jason, now there was a problem.

Who was going to drop him off and pick him up when she was busy? Where was he going to stay after school? She couldn’t take him to office everyday day. She knew Perry wouldn’t object, but it was not a good place for a child to grow up.

Could she ask someone else? Lois’ mother and sister – Lucy – both lived too far from Metropolis, and there was no way she was going to drop her only child off in a care centre.

Lois sighed and tried to push the matter out of her mind. Right now she had to work. She typed a few new lines before her hands rested on the keyboard again.

She heard the people whispering around her and she didn’t have to wonder what – or who – the subject was. Damn! Couldn’t her colleagues act normal? She hated to be treated with kid gloves, like a little fragile girl that needed protection. Lois pushed off from the desk in frustration. She had enough going on without having to deal with her colleagues too.

“You OK, Lois?” A soft voice asked, and Lois knew who it was.

“Do I look OK, Smallville?”

Clark kept his silence, but didn’t go away. Lois felt a new emotion settle down on her troubled heart; quilt. Great. Clark didn’t deserve her snarky comments after everything he had done. He was the only one who had done anything.

“I’m sorry, Clark, I’m being horrible to you, and - ”

Lois choked up and felt her eyes burning. And now I’m breaking down in front of the entire office. Grateful that Clark’s broad profile blocked her from the prying eyes of her colleagues, she looked to the ground.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

Lois wiped at her eyes furiously before looking up.

“No. I just have to finish this story before - ” She shot a look at the clock and her stomach dropped even further. “-The deadline.”

“That’s not for another hour.” Clark said encouragingly. “You can manage that, you’re a fast writer.”

“But I’ve got to go and pick Jason up in fifteen minutes, and I’ve got no idea whatsoever on what to write.” Lois started to despair again when Clark grabbed her shoulders.

“Lois, calm down. You go and finish that article. Take the citizen’s perspective. Use some quotes from yesterday’s interview with John Miller, that’ll give you the depth that Perry wants. You do that, and I’ll pick up Jason.”

Lois nodded, for once accepting Clark’s instructions. She didn’t wonder how he knew exactly where her story had stranded, or how he knew what school Jason attended. She just gathered herself and started typing.