"I'm not more worried because I'm thinking long-term, Smallville," Lois explained before popping her now-ritual headache pill. Lately, no amount of caffeine could actually prevent her from developing a headache by day's end.

Clark raised a skeptical eyebrow as he folded his arms. "Meaning?"

Swallowing a gulp of water, Lois sighed and put the glass down, turning to face Clark head-on. "Tell me something," she said soberly. "Say this cluster goes down in the flames like the dumpster fire it is and he can't run again. Or say he <i>can</i>, but in the primaries, there's a challenger. Similar background, saner politics, enough polish not to act like a brute and an abuser and creepy towards women but not in any way that can be caught on tape."

She watched her husband go very, very still. Finally he sat down in a chair at the kitchen table and pulled off his glasses. Cute as they were on him--and they really were, she still couldn't help but be tickled by the geek chic look and getting to indulge her minor guilty affection for it--his eyes were much easier to see without them, and to read.

"Oh," he said quietly.

"I'm doing what I can on this, like the rest of us." The journalists with ethics were all working on this story, after all, with its potential treason and certain corruption. "But it also doesn't <i>need</i> me to give it my full attention."

Clark brought his eyes up from the table to meet hers. "So you're looking for the information and sources to use once Lex makes his move."

Lois nodded.

The silence stretched out, weariness and strain and unhappiness practically vibrating in the air between them. Finally he reached out a hand, and when she took it, he pulled her into his lap. They sat together in silence for a few minutes, his chin resting on top of her head, and she absently traced curves over the center of his chest like she usually did. "Do you think he was involved?"

"Provably? No. But almost certainly." She tilted her head up to smile wryly at him. "C'mon, after his history with Big Blue, do you think he really could have won? But after this--"

"After this, <i>I'd</i> rather see him in the White House, yes," Clark interjected with wry good humor. "Whatever else you say about him, he knows how not to destroy what he runs."

Lois laughed. Good, he was making jokes. So long as he was making jokes, Clark was going to be okay eventually, even if he wasn't at the moment. "His politics are better, even if I still don't like them, and there's a pretty good chance he'll decide to be a fairly decent President if only so the history books don't hate him as much as they will if his only legacy is his feud with you." She raised a playful eyebrow at him.

He raised one back, if slightly less playful. "Thinking of campaigning for him?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "Oh please. But I'll be fair. But when he does cross a line..."

"We'll be ready," he completed, and she smiled at him warmly. "I'll talk to Bruce. I'm sure he's doing the same. We can probably help each other."

She nudged him lightly with her elbow. "We, huh? I'm not sharing a byline on my story, y'know," she warned.

His eyes glinted. "Then you'd better not let me beat you to it." She laughed, and Clark leaned down to kiss her cheek. "How do I help?"

Lois let herself relax against him for a moment. With the non-stop flood of events, she so rarely got the chance to just relax, but even a couple minutes was worth it. And she needed to, to maintain her sanity under the constant stress of what could possibly go wrong next. And when 'next' was almost certainly Lex Luthor...

Time for all that later. "For now, you can make us some dinner. With dessert tonight, it's been a <i>week</i>."

Clark nodded. "I have a meeting at the Watchtower late tonight."

"That's what Netflix is for. Or getting into late-night Twitter arguments with O'Reilley." Before Clark could get alarmed, she pushed forward. "C'mon, farm boy. Feed me, feed you, go save the universe, and when you get back, we'll have some ice cream in bed."

He smiled at her, and Lois silently thanked the Luthors for forcing her to visit Smallville in the first place. If she was facing a few variants of apocalypse every month for the foreseeable decade, well, at least she had Clark with her while she did.