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"Lex, can I borrow either Hope or Mercy for a day?"
"Sure...wait a second. You need a bodyguard? You're Superman, Clark. What can either of them do...that you can't handle yourself?"
"Keep Lois out of trouble for a day."
"Would you care to expand on that?"
"She's plotting."
"She's always plotting. So what?"
"She wants to marry Superman."
"I'm still not seeing the problem. Superman isn't going to ask her to marry him, is he?"
"No. But she's come up with something she thinks is foolproof, and she's been gloating all over the office for weeks. If Jimmy hadn't overheard her talking with a wedding planner, I wouldn't have found out what she's going to do on February 29th. It seems that the day I celebrate my birthday slipped out in one of the interviews."
"Your birthday?"
"I mean Superman's birthday, not Clark Kent's...but, yeah. Except, this whole thing doesn't have anything to do with the birthday. It's a leap year thing."
"Leap year."
"She went a little nuts Googling on 'leap year' and found out that there's a superstition that if a man refuses a marriage proposal from a woman on February 29th, then he'll be cursed with four years of bad luck."
"Let me guess. She's going to invent an emergency and, when Superman arrives to rescue her, she's going to spring the question."
"Exactly."
"Clark, the key word in this conversation is superstition. Superman can politely decline."
"I grew up in Smallville. I don't dismiss any possibilities."
"So, basically, you need a babysitter for Lois?"
"Yes, please."
"Done. You know, there is one solution that'll keep Lois away from Superman permanently."
"There is?"
"Tell me. Are there any superstitions about a man proposing marriage to another man on February 29th?"