Nodding quietly, Lois considered. Aw hell. Clark's the compassionate-listener-counselor type, not me. She bit her lip. "Feeling alone's never easy--especially if it's for something you don't think anyone's going to get past."

Her tone was absently detached enough that it sounded like second-hand experience--and it was. She'd seen that lonely expression too many times before.

Sighing, she took another sip of her coffee. "Has he been having trouble with his friends--the ones he's staying with, or others?"