DISCLAIMER: The Justice League of America characters are the property of DC Comics. The story contents are the creation and property of Djinn and are copyright (c) 2005 by Djinn. This story is Rated R.

Trinity: Repercussions

by Djinn

Lois watched as Bruce made his way to the podium. He presented a rather large check to the administrator of the Metropolis Children's Home, then took the microphone and opened things up for questions on the additions and upgrades he was funding. A few serious journalists asked him about the planned improvements, but most of the press were only interested in finding out about his newly revealed relationship with Wonder Woman.

"Does she double as your body guard?" someone yelled.

"Isn't she with Superman?"

Lois stifled a groan. She'd spent the first years of her marriage hearing that rumor and letting it eat at her.

"They're like dogs with a bone," Clark said softly.

"We'd be like that too if we weren't given to 'socializing' with them." Socializing being the new euphemism for having mad sex with Bruce and Diana on a not-quite-local pleasure planet. While it was happening, Lois enjoyed it. Before it happened, she found herself fantasizing about it. But just after it, like now, she often found herself bitchy and wondering what the hell was wrong with her marriage that this was something she could do. That it was something Clark could do. That it was something she could watch Clark doing--usually from the vantage point of whoever she was doing at the time.

"Is she a wonder in bed?" a reporter from one of the tabloids asked.

"Ms. Lane," Bruce said with a smile when she raised her hand. He was clearly expecting her to shift the questions back to less personal ground.

"Mister Wayne. You've spent the last few years with a bevy of beautiful women on your arm and a reputation for breaking every one of their hearts. Now you're with Wonder Woman. How does she feel about infidelity?"

His face froze a little, and he looked very much like the Batman.

"Or perhaps you've changed? No longer the fickle playboy?"

"Perhaps I have." The charming rogue was back. His smile was a little bit dangerous.

"Lois..." Clark touched her arm.

She ignored him. "What is your philosophy toward sustaining a meaningful relationship?"

"I believe in honesty." He looked down, the smile playing at his mouth. "And surely you'd agree, if there was ever a woman to take a man's mind off anyone else, Diana is it."

"Oh, she's quite spectacular."

Clark sat back, as if giving up on reining her in.

"So, is marriage in the works?" She let her tone rise into the girlish, the "wouldn't we all just love to know?" range. "Kids?"

"Only time will tell." His face got a little colder.

Diana had become a bit too relaxed on one of their last visits to the planet and had waxed euphoric about how she'd like to bear Bruce a child. Or maybe it was Clark she wanted to make a daddy. Or both of them. At any rate, she'd been pretty clear that kids were not in her future. Being made from clay apparently didn't make for a fertile miss. Too bad, she'd no doubt be as perfect a mother as she was everything else.

"Well, I'm sure the rest of Metropolis will join me in wishing you both every happiness."

He nodded graciously, but his eyes glittered.

"Now, you've done it," Clark muttered as they worked their way out of the throng of press people. "Pissing him off is not the way to go."

Lois was about to answer when her attention was drawn to the woman standing waiting for them at the back of the crowd. Her hands were on her hips; her eyes were fixed on Lois. "Diana looks royally pissed. Pun intended." She saw Diana frown. "Super hearing has its price, eh, Princess?"

Diana walked over to them. "Ms. Lane, if you're interested in my theories on monogamy and relationships, I'll be happy to give you an exclusive."

"I read your book, Madame Ambassador. I know where you stand on these things." Lois had her ace reporter face on. Interested but not desperate. Amused but not quite mocking.

"That was before I met Bruce."

"Oh. Things have changed?" Lois got closer, could smell the spicy tang that was Diana's natural scent. Even her sweat smelled good. It was so unfair.

Diana looked at Clark, her look questioning. One alien super-being to another.

"Lois and I need to get back to the Planet. It's been a pleasure seeing you again, Madame Ambassador." His voice was soft, low. Lois had heard him talk to Diana that way on the planet. Usually when he had parts of himself firmly planted in the fair princess.

"I hate you," Lois said under her breath.

They looked at her in surprise. She decided not to say which of them she meant, just stalked off and left them alone. It was possible she hated both of them.

Or maybe she just hated herself.

----------------

Bruce slipped away from the crowd, a last look back confirming that Diana and Clark were still talking, their faces concerned. Lois must have said something hateful. Or more hateful than the salvo she'd launched at him just before.

He could see Lois ahead of him, so he turned down an alley, hurrying to cut her off as she hit the next block.

He was waiting for her as she rounded the corner. "What did all that accomplish?"

She didn't stop. "Go to hell, Bruce."

The last time he'd seen her had been on the planet. She'd been on top of him, riding him with a look of pleasure that was worlds away from the look she'd worn as she'd grilled him in front of her peers from the fourth estate.

"Hell is not a nice place to visit. I think I'll stay right here." He reached out, grabbing her arm and pulling her around to face him.

He expected her to hit him, to punch out or kick. He tensed, waiting for the move. But she didn't strike.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Why does it have to be wrong with me? Maybe I'm the only right one here?"

He sighed. This approach wasn't going to work. "Let's get some coffee."

"What about your lovely girlfriend? Won't she miss you?"

"Last I checked, you'd left her with your husband."

Her eyes narrowed, lips biting down until they turned white from the pressure. "That was stupid of me."

"Well, if them being together were a problem, it would have been stupid. But it's not a problem."

"And us? Together?"

"We're old friends, Lois."

"Yeah." She turned, seemingly forgetting that he hadn't let go of her arm. He brought her up short as she tried to walk away. "Let me go."

"Or you'll what? Be meaner to me than you already were?" He laughed though, and let her go. "What's eating you, Lane?" He hoped the old name, in the old tone, would spark something other than sarcasm.

It only seemed to make her frown. "What happened to us, Bruce? We were happy once upon a time."

"Not for very long."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Why do so many couples start out okay and then fizzle?"

She started to walk, but in a companionable way, not a "fleeing from the psycho killer" way. He walked along with her.

She took a deep breath, let it out, as if trying to calm herself. "Fizzle. Not a nice word. Not much energy in that word."

"You'd prefer something more explosive?" He smiled gently, knowing that she'd always gone for the passion in life. Of course she'd prefer an explosion to love just trickling away.

"Yeah."

"What happens on the planet...if it's bothering you this much, it doesn't have to happen."

"So we'll all quit? Or you'll just stop taking me?"

He laughed. "You always know the right question, don't you?"

"That's my forte."

He thought there were other less-clothed activities that were her forte as well, but now was definitely not the moment to bring them up. "Are you mad at us? Or are you mad at yourself for liking what goes on there?"

She met his eyes, gaze unwavering as she considered that. It was one of the things he'd always admired about her. She didn't lie to herself. Everyone else was fair game. But Lois Lane did not go in for self-deception.

"I'm not sure," she finally said.

He took her arm, steered her gently down the street. "Coffee?"

She nodded, and he could feel the fight go out of her as he led her to the diner on the corner.

-----------------

"She did that to be hurtful, Kal. No other reason."

"Yes." Clark shook his head. Lois had a temper and a nasty habit of taking her own unhappiness out on everyone else. He just didn't know why she was so unhappy.

Unless seeing him making love to the woman she'd just attacked had something to do with it.

And he was making love when he and Diana had sex. It wasn't just fooling around. He loved his wife, but he loved Diana too. Had loved her, for a long time. And Lois knew it.

"The planet was a bad idea," he said softly.

"I don't think it's that."

"I do."

Diana looked in the direction their lovers had gone. "Bruce went after her."

"I know."

"Maybe he'll be able to find out what's wrong. They have a bond." Diana looked down. "A bond that doesn't include us, Kal."

"I know that too." It had never bothered him that Lois had dated Bruce. Not until he'd seen her open Batman's utility belt so skillfully. Actually, it hadn't been when he'd seen it that it bothered him. He'd been too high on the planet's air and on Diana and Bruce and Lois for it to bother him. It had been the next night, when he'd laid in bed replaying the interlude, alternating between remembering what it had been like making love to Diana for the first time, and how it had felt watching his wife and Bruce touch each other with such silly abandon. It had begun to wear at him. How...easy they'd been together.

It had been a mistake.

But Lois had reached out first. For Diana, then for Bruce. Lois had been all right with this.

"Kal?"

He looked up. "Are you jealous of her?"

"No." But it was a lie. He could see in Diana's face that she was; she just didn't want to admit it.

"She's jealous of you, I think." She was also powerfully attracted to Diana. His fantasy of seeing the two women he loved together came true more often than maybe he was comfortable with.

"We don't like each other. We can forget that on the planet...or move past it. But here?" Diana sighed. "I wish you and I could just fly away for a while. Fly high and fast and not let anyone or anything catch us."

He smiled softly. "You want to run away."

Laughing, she nodded.

"With me?"

She nodded again.

"Because I can fly and Bruce can't. Because I'm here and he's with Lois." He looked out over the few people who were left that weren't cleaning up chairs. "When did this get so complicated?"

"I don't know. But double dating on that planet doesn't help in the 'keep it simple' department."

"I know."

"Why did you do it? It was your idea."

"Yeah, it was." He'd tried to tell himself they'd all wanted it. But he'd engineered it.

"Was it because you wanted me?" She touched his hand gently. "You've wanted me for a long time and never cheated."

"It was easier not having you if no one else did either."

"Ah." She looked over at the podium. "Bruce is good for me."

Clark nodded. Bruce was probably good for his wife too. He wished that thought didn't bug him so much.

--------------

"Miss Diana?" Alfred turned as she walked into the Manor kitchen. "Master Bruce isn't with you?"

"He was detained." She watched Alfred as he nodded and turned back to his books. "You've been with Bruce forever, haven't you?"

He smiled. "Forever for me means slightly less time than it does for you, my dear. But yes, I've served this family for a long time."

"You've seen everything."

His eyebrow went up slightly, otherwise his expression was bland. No question where Bruce had picked up his conversational skills.

"You've seen the women Bruce dated before me. The ones who were important, the ones who weren't. That kind of thing...?"

He smiled again, the look full of patient humor. "Which one is it that you want to know about?"

"The important ones. Which ones meant something to him?"

He stood up, walked over to her. "You have one in mind, I take it? You want to know if she made the list?"

"Yes."

"Which one has you so worried?"

"Lois Lane."

Alfred looked down. "She's married."

"I know." She saw him turn away and reached out gently, her hand on his arm just a touch, not anything that would stop him from going back to the table. "Please?"

"She meant something. I'm not, however, sure what."

"Great." She walked to the pantry, found the cookies Alfred stocked now for her. "Just perfect."

"Master Bruce loves you."

"I know." She tore open a cookie, the frosting came half with one side, half stayed on the other. She took it as a bad omen and tossed both sides into the trash. She tried another, the same thing happened so she tossed it too.

"Perhaps I might try?" He tore one apart perfectly. "I don't pretend to know where you and Master Bruce have been disappearing to. I do know that it's not the Watchtower as you said, because Oracle called here the other day looking for you both."

She started to answer, when he said, "She was also looking for Superman."

She suddenly found her cookie intensely interesting.

"Tell me, Miss Diana. Had I called the Daily Planet, would I have found Lois in?"

She wasn't sure what to say, only knew she had to protect them. All of them. But she didn't want to lie to him. She loved him. "Why, Alfred, what a perverted imagination you appear to have."

His gentle smile faded; he looked disappointed in her. "I'll leave you to your cookies, ma'am."

"Alfred..."

He walked to the table and gathered up his things, heading out of the kitchen. As he hit the threshold, he turned to look at her. "It is possible to have too much of a good thing, my dear." He shook his head. "You're very innocent in your way. But Master Bruce should have known better."

She met his gaze, felt him judging her. "You don't know what you're talking about."

This time his look was pitying. "Don't be so sure." Then he turned and walked off with the sad grace only a wise old man who's being ignored can muster.

----------------

Lois ripped her re-breather off the moment they hit the planet's atmosphere. Clark hadn't wanted to come, but she'd insisted. As he set her down, she waited for the rush of relaxation, but it didn't come. She only felt a little calmer, but no euphoria this time.

"Did you tell them to meet us?" she asked.

"Yes."

She nodded, moving away from him.

He didn't try to move closer. "Are you waiting for him?"

"To get started you mean?" She could hear the jealousy in Clark's voice. It had been there ever since the press conference. "No, I'm not waiting for him."

"We used to fool around until they got here."

"We also used to not have so many memories of what it's like to watch your spouse screw another person."

He looked like she'd slapped him. Words were her only weapon with him. She'd been using her full arsenal more than normal lately.

A super sigh was her only answer. She turned away, moving across the grass, remembering all the places she and Clark, or she and Bruce, or she and Diana had made love.

Made love. Was that what they'd been doing? Had she made love to any of them on this damnably wonderful planet?

"Do you love me?" he asked.

"Yes."

"The way you used to love me?"

She turned, meeting his eyes. She'd never seen him look so sad. "No."

"Are we in trouble?"

"Not necessarily." She couldn't stand the wounded expression, but she forced herself not to turn away. "Do you want us to be in trouble?"

"No." His answer was instantaneous. He hadn't had to think about it. Hadn't had to weigh her versus Diana. Then he said, "They're here," and looked up to where there was only a speck. Was it Bruce he was sensing? Or Diana?

The speck got bigger as they flew down. They had their re-breathers off, but neither looked very relaxed. In fact, Diana looked wary. Bruce looked concerned. Lois realized that Clark suddenly looked relieved, like he was sharing the burden of her with them.

She didn't like being a burden. Why hadn't she left them to their trinity? Why had she thought this was a good idea? A safe one? To be part of this.

No one made a move to take off their clothes. No one reached for anyone else. They all just stood staring at each other.

"Now what?" Lois asked, since none of them seemed inclined to say it.

"What's wrong with you?" Diana moved closer, gaze hard, arms tightly across her chest, as if she was protecting herself from Lois.

"What's wrong with any of us?" It was a good question. They all looked down.

"We should go." Bruce was moving toward Diana.

"No." Lois pushed him away and reached for Diana. "Do you want me? Or do you just put up with me to get to your precious Kal?"

Diana didn't flinch as Lois pulled her close. "I could ask you the same thing."

Lois glanced at Bruce. "We were over a long time ago."

"It's not over if you're having sex with him," Clark said, his voice hurt, and Lois wondered if they'd all become immune to planet sleaze.

"You didn't answer my question," Lois said to Diana. When Diana started to look over at Bruce, Lois grabbed her chin, pulling it back. "Don't see what he wants you to say. Just answer me." She saw Diana's eyes seem to flash, and let go of her face. "Do you even like me?"

"You know I don't." Diana looked at Clark, then over at Bruce, before finally coming back to her. "And you don't like me." She suddenly put her re-breather on. "I'm going home. Bruce, are you coming?"

He seemed torn, and Lois met his eyes. "Go on."

He put the re-breather on and joined Diana, who put her arms around him and flew them both away, toward the waiting ship that would contain only innocent canned air. Not air that made you crazy. That made you do stupid things with stupid freakin' superheroes who didn't have the morals of a mink to fall back on.

This was their fault. Not hers. It didn't matter that she'd reached out to Diana. That she'd jumped happily on Bruce. Over and over and over.

She sank to the ground, started to cry.

Clark was there instantly. "Lois, what is it?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He knelt next to her, kissing her gently. "We won't ever come back here."

She nodded, clutching his hand as if it was her lifeline. "We should never have come here."

"You're right." He was stroking her hair, kissing her cheek. As if desperate to keep contact. As if she would break or just disappear if he stopped touching her.

"I do love you, Clark. I've never loved you more."

He eased her back to her feet. "We'll go home now."

She nodded.

Home. What did that even mean anymore?

--------------

Bruce watched Diana pace through the Batcave. She suddenly leapt up, disappearing onto a ledge that led to a smaller cave.

"Don't disturb the bats."

She emerged, looking down at him.

"Come down here," he said, his voice a mix of authority and compassion.

"Make me." She had the tone of a teenager, and Bruce almost laughed.

"Diana. Please?"

She jumped down. "She means something to you."

"I won't deny that."

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"

He studied her face. "Do you?"

She turned away, but not before he saw a reaction he couldn't read. "Diana?"

"How would I know what's wrong with her?"

He moved closer to her. "Female intuition?"

"Intuition is not a universally female quality." She moved into his arms, letting him hold her. Kissing him, she pulled him closer. "I love you."

"I love you too." He tried to kiss her again, but she pulled away.

"I have to go take care of something. Then I'll be back." She touched his cheek, where it showed beneath the cowl. "Everything's changing."

"No, it's not. It's just uncomfortable right now."

She smiled, but it was not a reassuring look.

"Diana?"

"I'll be back soon." She leaned in, giving him a sweet kiss. "I love you so much. I wish..."

He stroked her hair, reveling in the silky feel of it. She was his. That was enough. He didn't need the planet. None of them did. They just wanted it. He should have walked away when Clark suggested going back to it. Actually, he should have run like the proverbial bat out of hell.

"Go do what you have to do," he murmured. He watched her fly out, then walked up to the changing room, trading the Batman's uniform for more normal clothing. As he opened the door to the manor, Alfred looked up, frowning. "Where is Miss Diana?"

"She had to do something. She'll be back soon."

Alfred nodded and turned away. Bruce had the idea that Alfred was mad at him. He'd had that feeling for a while now.

"Something eating you, old man?"

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree."

"Interesting time for Coleridge." Bruce poured a drink. "I'd offer you one, but I know how you value control."

"You used to value that too. Being a lotus eater is not my idea of control."

Bruce turned slowly. "Lotus eater?"

"I had an interesting conversation with J'onn today. About a planet he felt sure you would never want to visit again."

Bruce could feel heat boiling up into his cheeks. How long had it been since he'd flushed like this? He and J'onn were going to have words. It didn't matter how skilled Alfred was at wheedling information out of people. "Perhaps you should mind your own business and let me mind mine."

"Since you seem incapable of minding yours, I fear I must meddle." Alfred glared at him. "You owed Miss Diana more than that."

"We're not having this conversation, Alfred."

"You were happy. It's been a long time since I've seen you so content."

Bruce downed the drink. "I said we weren't going to have this conversation."

"You sabotage everything. She deserved better."

Slamming down the glass, Bruce turned to Alfred. "She wanted it too." He fought to lower his voice, control his breathing. "She wanted him."

He saw understanding in Alfred's eyes, then a profound sadness. "And you just handed him over? Are you out of your mind?" Alfred picked up the glass and carried it to the kitchen. It was his not-so-subtle way of telling his master to quit drinking for the night. And to get the hell out of his sight.

Bruce looked up at the portrait of his parents.

They looked as if they disapproved of him too.

----------------

When she got to the Embassy, Diana changed into less conspicuous clothing then called Kal's number. No one answered.

She called back. On the fourth ring, Lois's voice came on. "Hello."

"We need to talk. Alone."

"Hold on." There was only silence, then Lois came back on. "What do we need to talk about?"

"Is he gone?"

"For a while. Not long."

"I'll be right there." Before Lois could tell her not to come, she hung up the phone and took off out the open French doors. She was soon crawling in through Kal's window. She'd done this before, but she'd always been there to see him not his wife.

Lois looked like she'd been crying.

"How did you get rid of him?"

"He's at the Planet. Finishing up my article." She moved away from Diana. "You wanted to talk. So talk."

Diana tried to keep her expression steady and gentle, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest. Now was not the time for protection, even though she knew she might want some kind of defense when this was over.

Lois moved closer. "Talk."

Diana let the ghost of smile play across her mouth. It always provoked Lois when she did that.

"Damn you." Lois was suddenly too close. "I hate you."

"I hate you too."

Then Lois was kissing her. Wildly. Desperately.

Diana didn't resist, but she didn't kiss her back either.

Lois finally pulled back. "What do you want from me?"

"Just the truth," Diana said, then she slowly and with infinite care, lay her hand over Lois's belly. "Is it Bruce's?"

"I don't know." Tears leaked out of Lois's eyes. She didn't try to stop them from falling.

"Have you and Kal ever been pregnant before?"

"No. And I haven't used birth control." She looked down. "I didn't think. That damned air made me forget to worry."

"The first time. But every other time?" Diana touched Lois's face, brushing a tear off her cheek. "What about all those other times?"

"I don't know. I don't know if I did it on purpose or not." She met Diana's eyes. "Do you think I wanted this?"

"I don't know what you wanted."

Lois began to cry in earnest. Diana watched her, trying not to feel sorry for the woman. But as the seconds ticked by and Lois didn't stop crying, she found herself unable to stop the compassion that was welling up in her.

"Shh, it's all right." Pulling Lois to her, she held her and tried to soothe her.

Lois wrapped her arms around her, pulling her even closer. "I didn't mean to do it."

"Okay." Diana kissed her hair. When Lois pulled away a little and looked up at her, Diana kissed her cheek, brushing off the tears with her lips.

Lois turned her head so their lips met in a soft kiss. It was unexpectedly sweet. "It's your child too." She sounded heartbroken saying that. "It's ours. We four."

Diana shook her head. "It's yours. Your body, not mine. Never mine." She sighed. She'd never wanted a child until her rival suddenly had both her men. Her rival who was fertile and whole.

"Ours. It's ours." Lois sighed, resignation in her eyes. Resignation that turned to determination when Diana shook her head. "Call Bruce." She stuck the cordless phone in Diana's hand, then picked up her cell phone and asked Kal to come home.

Diana dialed the Manor number. Alfred answered.

"I need Bruce."

"He's gone upstairs." His voice was more detached than she'd ever heard it--had he been drinking?

Lois moved close to her, still talking on her cell phone. "Clark, you'll need to pick up Bruce. He's expecting you." She motioned for Diana to hurry up.

"Clark will be by to pick him up. We need him, Alfred."

"Of course, my dear." He sighed. "Anything else?"

"No."

"I'm sorry I was unpleasant the other day."

"You weren't wrong about things."

"I know I wasn't." He didn't sound at all pleased that he'd been correct in his suspicions. "Are you all right, Miss Diana?"

"I'm fine." As she cut the connection, she wondered if he wanted to be a grandfather. Or adopted grandfather. Would he spoil the baby?

Lois took the phone from her, and Diana walked to the window, waiting for Kal and Bruce.

She felt Lois's hand on her shoulder. A small touch, not a stroke or a rub. Lois had her hand barely resting on Diana's shirt.

"This is a mess," Lois said.

It was something they could finally agree on.

---------------------

Clark watched as Lois paced. He looked at her belly, super-vision letting him see inside her, at the tiny fetus that was his baby.

Or Bruce's.

He looked over at his friend, wasn't surprised that Bruce was staring at him. Bruce's expression was full of uncertainty. Clark didn't think he'd ever seen the Batman so stunned.

Would the child have his eyes? Those dark blue-green eyes that Clark loved to look into. He'd never told Bruce that. Never admitted he loved to gaze into his friend's eyes. Or kiss him. Or touch him.

My god, how badly had they screwed this up?

His wife was pregnant and another man was the father. A man who had made love to his own lover and to Clark, when he wasn't busy planting his seed inside Clark's wife.

Clark's seed didn't seem to want to put down roots. Unless...

He took a look at Diana's belly. Her womb sat empty. No ovaries, or not the kind that humans had. They were there, but they were constructs. No eggs. She wasn't going to be the miracle mother of his child.

He would never have a child. That thought sent anger and shame rocketing through him. He was an alien. He didn't belong here.

His eyes met Diana's. Hers was full of infinite compassion. She understood what it meant to be outside this. Neither of them were human.

To his surprise, Lois sat down by Diana, not meeting his or Bruce's eyes. To his even greater surprise, Diana pulled her close and rubbed her arm absently.

"Well." Bruce looked at Clark. "We won't know who's the father until the baby is born. Not for sure."

When the child didn't fly. Didn't possess super strength or super vision or super hearing.

But Clark already knew. This was a human child because that was the only thing that made sense. "What do we do?"

"We work it out." Bruce's eyes were soft. "I don't want to ruin this for you."

Not when Clark had done such a bang-up job of ruining things all on his own.

"Nothing is ruined," Lois said, sitting up straighter and staring at them with deep resolve. "We're in this together. Like it or not." She sighed. "You're all my lovers. It's our child."

"We're not going back to that damned planet," Bruce said.

"I know." Lois kissed Diana slowly, gently. Then she pulled away. "We don't need the planet. Either we're together or we aren't. Not all the time, but when we want." She looked around, met Clark's stare. "You want her. And you want him. And so do I."

He didn't want to answer, so he just nodded. She was right. He didn't want the planet anymore. Wanted to feel what he felt, not what the tainted atmosphere told him to feel. If he was jealous of Bruce, he wanted to know it. If he wanted Diana more than his wife, or needed his wife more than his new lover, he wanted to know that too.

Lois turned to Bruce. "You still want me, don't you?"

It took him a long time to nod. Clark thought he saw Diana wince. Lois must have thought so too, because she put her hand on Diana's thigh, rubbing softly.

"It doesn't matter whose child it is." She touched her belly, and Clark realized she was probably terrified of what this life inside her would mean.

It would change everything.

But she was doing that now. By telling them. By making them deal with this here, on Earth. Not just as a faraway fantasy they indulged in from time to time. She was trying to make it real.

Or maybe she was trying to bring it all crashing down?

"No more planet," Lois said. "We have beds and couches. We can come to dinner at the manor. You can come here." She looked at Diana. "Not all the time. But when we want."

"The four of us all together, or are you saying you want to be with Bruce whenever you please, just the two of you?" Diana glanced at Bruce, a look Clark couldn't read on her face. "Maybe you would like me to baby-sit while you do both men?

"Don't be that way." Lois leaned back, and Clark suddenly envisioned her heavily pregnant. She would look beautiful. Her baby would be beautiful.

Their baby would be beautiful.

Bruce's baby would be beautiful. It didn't matter what Lois said. This wasn't Clark's baby no matter how much he would pretend it was.

"I guess we ought to buy some baby furniture," he said to Bruce.

"I guess so." Bruce's tone was careful, his eyes full of apology. He could obviously see that his friend was on the ledge. "We should go. Let you get some sleep."

Everyone stood, milling around in the uncomfortable way of strangers who've just found out they're the last people on Earth.

Diana kissed him softly on the lips. "I'll see you."

He would see her. Up at the watchtower. Where sterile superheroes went to forget that they'd been shown up by humans. He squeezed her hand, watched as Bruce kissed Lois goodbye.

Bruce's hand stole to her belly, resting for a moment on top of his child.

Clark heard Diana make a sound so soft that he was sure only he'd caught it. She looked over at him, something broken in her expression, and he kissed her again on the lips.

Dangerous. This was dangerous.

She followed Bruce out.

He was left alone with his wife.

"So," she said.

"So." He put his arm around her, kissing her gently. "Let's go to bed, Mrs. Kent."

She smiled in relief, cuddling against him. She'd cuddled against Diana the same way out in the living room. She'd probably love to cuddle that way against Bruce.

Clark let her push him into bed, watched as she crawled in next to him.

"We’ll be all right," she murmured as she fell asleep.

He lay awake all night, desperately trying to believe that.

FIN