Now You're Gone

8

Lois gasped awake, gaping at the white, shimmering ceiling. It hurt to look at the blinding light. Slowly she blinked the cobwebs away and tried to focus on her surroundings. Red sunlight poured down from the ceiling, turning everything into the shade of blood. The heat rolled off her in waves, her skin clammy with sweat.

A sharp pain in her abdomen alerted her to the cold gel spread across her exposed belly. Superman's crimson cape draped over the lower half of her body. She wasn't wearing any clothes underneath. Usually, that would not have been a problem. But there was no sexy Kryptonian to appreciate her nakedness. The unfamiliar face of a purple alien stared at her as he ran a probe over her naked belly. Fear latched onto her. The red solar lamps reminded her eerily of the lights that kept Superman imprisoned after Lord Kal-El attacked the city.

"Smallville?"

"I'm right here," Clark grabbed her hand and kissed the inside of her palm. Lois could see nothing beyond the crimson glow her husband was basking under. Did they get captured by Luthor or . . . "It's alright, Lois. You're in the Medbay." Clark leaned his head against her brow, the close contact sending flutters through her belly. "You're safe. Dr. Quintum is examining you. He drew some blood while you were out."

I'm worried. She was passed out for two hours. There could be something wrong with the baby.

Good thing we were already here, but why did we have to strip her down?

Lois looks like a caged animal in a lab, seconds from being dissected.

These walls have ears . . . what if I made the wrong call? What if Dr. Quintum decides to keep her for observation? Worse. What if he decides to experiment on her? It's not every day a human carries an alien's child. This was a bad idea . . .

Lois exhaled sharply, relief flooding her system. She could still hear him so things weren't as badly off as she feared. He was spiraling out of control, as per usual, but everything was going to be alright. She didn't know how she knew, she just did. Call it mother's intuition.

She stared down at herself mortified. Without the clothes covering her, the round shape of her belly was more obvious. She was huge! It looked like she had swallowed a bomb. She didn't understand. With Martha, she didn't pop till the twentieth week or so.

"Welcome back, my Queen," Dr. Quintum smiled, brushing the probe over her belly in circular motions. "Your energy was depleted," he explained. He pointed to the monitor next to her head that showed an ultrasound. "But everything seems to be on track with your babies."

If she squinted the fetus resembled deformed mice fighting for dominance in a sea of black. It almost looked like the hybrid had two heads. She didn't understand why. Martha's ultrasound had looked human.

"What is that supposed to be?" she pointed at the second blob that looked like an upside-down head. There was a torso and legs attached to it. Another head sucked on the toes. "That would be our daughter sucking her—"

"Kal!" Lois slapped his arm. "I told you I didn't want to know the sex till after the birth."

"But it's not just her . . ."

"No buts," Lois said. "You ruined the surprise."

She turned back to Dr. Quintum. He wore a bright multicolored lab coat and clasped a fluorescent clipboard before him. Superman looked like a dwarf next to this stranger. He was easily three heads taller than Clark, with a shock of unmanly gold locks framing his purple ethereal face. White marks in the shape of two crescent moons hugged his long, upturned nose, shining stars sprinkling across his face.