title: the one
author: jessica
mail: thegirlinglasses@illuminatedtext.com
date: february 13, 2003
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Lois will be the one. She doesn't want to be, but it's what happened when she said yes. Lois will be the one who Nicky runs to when he becomes too old for Nicky. He'll start calling himself Nick and pierce his lip and tell her that his dads just don't understand him.
She'll take him in when he runs away on the worst night in December. He'll knock on her door, a backpack of jeans, no underwear, and too many CDs and she'll let him in without a word.
Lois will tell him that Lex was teased in school despite his father's money, that Clark never made friends easily despite rescuing half the population. She'll explain how they found both themselves outsiders, and Nicky will cringe, because every child can hear a story about how their parents met coming on. It's one he'll have heard too many times by then and he won't believe it anymore, call it a fairy tale.
Nicky will try to convince her that he can't stay at the house anymore. He'll tell her that Clark never lets him do anything and Lex always tells him what to do. Lois will take his side because she always does.
She'll let him stay because, really, it's his room anyway, the same one still decorated with superheroes. Then, when he's asleep, she'll be on the phone. Clark will answer even before it starts ringing, like a new superpower manifested after Nicholas disappeared. It will take some negotiating, but both will agree to let him stay. "One night," Lex will say.
Lois will hate herself after she hangs up the phone. Nicky will never trust her again, she will think. She's supposed to be the one. But she will watch him through the door, asleep in a tightly curled ball, and know that the one wouldn't be the one without the other two.