From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG9710A" ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 11:16:02 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Comments: RFC822 error: Incorrect or incomplete address field found and ignored. From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Classic Fanfic: PRESIDENT KENT MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 The list seems a little slow lately, and since this particular fic isn't associated with any particular season, I thought I'd send this out.= =2E. There are two sequels to it, so far, and yes, I've got a few scenes written for a fourth, but God only knows when I might finish it. :-) PJ = ~~~ This was all *her* fault; she planted the idea in my head (not, to be fair, that she knew she was doing it). So blame her if you don't like it Actually, this is what you get when a FOLC reads political magazines that mention Clark Kent (National Review, 1/29/96, page 44). Is this even more of a fantasy than these things usually are? Well, sure... but it's fun! PRESIDENT KENT by Pam Jernigan (jernigan@compuserve.com) By midnight, the election night party at the Metropolis Hilton's main ballroom was working its way through lively and approaching rowdy; the "Kent for President" campaign was expecting a win. The stage and podium were draped with ribbons - red, blue, and yellow - and news crews for all the major networks had staked out corners of the room for their live broadcasts. Until the final vote tallies were in, however, there was nothing to do but drink, laugh, and shout to be heard over everyone else shouting to be heard. All the Kents were gathered upstairs, glued to LNN's election night coverage. Jimmy was circulating the floor, collecting people's reactions to spice up the front page news story he'd already written for tomorrow, anticipating a win. Perry probably had one already written to cover a defeat, but if so, he'd kept very quiet about it. = "It's been a remarkable campaign, Jerry," one of the anchors declared, passing time until California's votes were in, struggling to stand out among the other news personalities (and a few real journalists) all reporting back to their viewers. "-came out of nowhere, last year -" Jimmy followed a waiter, grabbing an hors d'ouvre, and ended up near another live broadcast. "-picked up lots of female votes pretty quickly, but that may not have mattered without the enthusiastic support from the Daily Planet's editorial pages-" Jimmy had to smile at that, and moved on quickly, so as not to be noticed. The Planet hadn't committed so strongly to a candidate in 30 years, Perry had said, but that just made it about time they did. "That Kansas charm really won the public's hearts-" reported another famous voice. It seemed he couldn't get away from the TV people. Over and over they repeated the same observations they'd been making all year. "Ladies and gentlemen!" The microphone squealed as the campaign manager tried to attract attention. The news cameras, as if all on a single control, swiveled towards the stage, but the partiers in the middle of the floor were slower to catch on. "Ladies and gentlemen!" He tried again, laughing. "We have the results from the majority of states; California has now reported in!" That started to grab their attention; the loud shouts of socializing were replaced by the softer murmurs of speculation. "It is my very great honor to introduce to you..." he paused, savoring the moment, and drawing out the tension. "I'm delighted, in fact, to present to you - President-Elect Kent!" The crowd in front of the podium went wild, with the younger and more enthusiastic members jumping up and down, and hugging whoever happened to be nearby, making even more noise than before. There was a stirring at the back of the stage, as the Secret Service agents prepared for the entrance of the new First Family. = Jonathan came into view first, waving at the crowd and the cameras, looking much more comfortable than he felt in a new dark blue suit. = Martha emerged next, with her hair very sleek and stylish, wearing a sharply-tailored blue and red dress, and seeming perfectly at ease, smiling broadly and shaking hands with everyone who was reaching out to her, smiling at the news crews, but ignoring the hopeful microphones. Lastly, Clark and Lois Kent emerged from the back room, smiling and laughing, walking arm in arm, whispering to one another as they pointed out things of interest around the large ballroom. Clark even managed to locate Jimmy and wave to him. President-Elect Martha Kent stepped up to the microphone, and stood beaming at the crowds for a moment, giving them a chance to complete their cheering before she spoke. Jonathan took up his regular place a few steps behind and a little to the right of his wife, looking proud enough to burst. She'd made history, as the first woman president, and she'd certainly earned it - she'd done a marvelous job through all the speeches and debates. Why, he would never have known how to argue for the things they both believed in the way she had - who would have thought that one course in political science (well, and maybe that semester of public speaking) would have led to this? Lois and Clark slipped off the stage to join their friends in the press pit; Clark especially didn't need to be in the spotlight any more than necessary - and this modesty hadn't earned them any enemies. Lois had been writing human interest pieces along the whole campaign - it wasn't exactly her favorite type of article, but she couldn't very well live in the middle of a story and not report it. It had been an exhausting year. Martha looked around the room in pride and euphoria. All the hard work of campaigning had paid off - and this was just the beginning of her challenges. She had definite ideas of where she wanted the country to go - but tonight called for a gracious-in-victory speech, not a hammer-the-issues speech. She held out her hands for quiet, and after a moment was awarded with an abatement of noise. "Friends, my fellow Americans..." she paused for effect, smiling wickedly, "and members of the press..." A laugh broke out at that, as she'd intended. Her relationship to the husband & wife reporting team of Lane & Kent had been publicized quite a lot in the past six months, as her opponent had tried to manufacture some sort of scandal, with no luck. The relationship had, overall, been a plus for her; she felt comfortable with the reporters along the campaign trail, and they treated her almost like one of their own. Martha continued her acceptance speech, but Lois let her attention wander (it wasn't like she hadn't heard it rehearsed a few times already upstairs). She preferred to observe the crowd, and float on the natural high of winning. And speaking of floating... she angled her head downward a little to just make sure Clark's shoes stayed on or near the floor. He caught her inspection and laughed, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, hon," he shouted in her ear, barely loud enough to be understood. "I'm too tired!" She looked up and laughed back, caught up in the joy of the moment. She stood on tiptoes to get her mouth close to his ear and enunciated clearly, "Not too tired, I hope - you still have an appearance to make!" "Oh yeah, so I have. I'd better get going, if I'm going to time it right. See you later." He wiggled his eyebrows at her in comic regret, and kissed her quickly before blending into the crowd. Lois returned her attention to her fellow reporters, and soon found several bent on interviewing her. She patiently assented to a short TV spot, and waited as the anchor set up the shot. "Next, we have Ms. Lois Lane Kent, half of the Lane and Kent reporting team, and daughter-in-law to our new president. How do you feel about the election results, Ms. Lane?" Lois pasted on her best professional smile and spoke directly into the microphone, keeping her eyes on the camera, and ignoring the patent stupidity of the question. "Oh, I'm just thrilled, of course. = Mrs. Kent will be a great president." The reporter continued on with the by-now familiar routine. "There have been persistent rumors, Ms. Lane, that you and your mother-in-law don't get along. Do you have anything to say to that?" Lois shrugged and smiled. "There will always be rumors, but these aren't true at all. We have always gotten along really well, both before and after Clark and I were married." "Do you anticipate a post in the new government?" = A new question, for a change. "Well, no," Lois answered, slightly startled. "I already have a job." = "But as a Presidential relative, surely you'll be given Secret Service protection, and won't that make it difficult to function as an investigative reporter?" The anchor looked faintly sympathetic over that dilemma. "Well, we'll just have to take that as it comes and see what happens," she shrugged, keeping a bright smile on her face, although she *was* concerned. Not only would Secret Service agents complicate her job, but they'd also be all too likely to discover Clark's secret. They'd decided that their best hope was to have Superman designated as their official protector, with Presidental (maternal) support and authorization. "Oh, look, there's Superman." = She pointed behind the cameraman's head, toward the stage, and was mercifully forgotten. Superman had flown in from who knew where (third floor cleaning supply closet) and was now descending vertically to the stage, near the podium, where President Kent had just finished her speech. She smiled at his approach, and motioned him toward the microphone. = He landed, and shared the podium with her, leaning to his side a little to reach the mike. = "Good evening. You know I haven't endorsed a candidate in this election, just as I never endorse candidates in *any* election. But now that the people have spoken, I have to say that I'm glad you've made this choice. Madam President, if you need me, you have only to call." He held out his hand gravely, and she shook it with equal dignity - except for the twinkle in her eye - before they both turned back to the microphone. "Thank you, Superman - although I hope not to need you." He smiled, relaxing a little from the formal pose. "We share that hope. And I wanted to congratulate the mother of my friend Clark." = He stepped back a little, turning to face his mother, who was smiling and wiping her eyes. "Mrs. Kent, I couldn't be prouder of you than if you were *my* mother." He leaned forward to hug her then, and she returned the embrace, kissing him on the cheek. After a moment, he pulled back, and turned to face the crowd again, keeping one arm around her shoulders. She turned outwards as well, and they posed and waved for the throng of cameras for a few moments. Lois watched her husband and his mother with tear-filled eyes, determined to obtain a good copy of that pose. It would look great in their living room. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Jonathan, down from the platform and mingling. He was swallowing hard, and she hugged him. "Aren't they great?" She shouted in his ear. He didn't attempt to shout back, but he nodded, and she knew he was overcome by the same sense of pride she was feeling. = A few moments later, Jimmy stumbled across her. "Lois! Hey, congratulations!" He hugged her without warning, but let go before she could do more than let out a surprised exclamation. = "Uh, thanks, Jimmy! Having fun?" "Oh yeah, great party! And I'm getting lots of material to punch up my article - in fact, I think I see Perry looking for me, we're going to have to go insert that story pretty soon to get the paper out this morning." Lois glanced at her watch. "You'd better get going, then, it's nearly 1am!" Jimmy grinned. "We'll make it, don't you worry. So, hey, where's Clark?" "He's around, somewhere..." she gestured vaguely around the still-crowded ballroom, noting that Superman did seem to have left the stage already. "Right here, in fact," Clark chimed in, coming up behind her and snaking an arm around her waist. "Hi, Jimmy." "Hi, Clark - how's your mother the President?" Jimmy grinned impudently. "She's fine, but you know the rules - anything I say about Mom is off the record." Jimmy looked thoughtful. "Is that off the record as in an unamed source told me, or -" Clark interrupted, suppressing a smile. "Off the record as in I know where you live, and I'm bigger than you are." "Okay, okay!" Jimmy put up his hands in surrender, laughing at the threat. "Oops, I see Perry waving at me, I'd better be gone... see you two!" They waved him away, and Lois felt as if all her energy left with him, as she started to crash down from her earlier high - they *had* been doing last-minute campaigning all day. She leaned into Clark's chest, and he raised the arm that had been around her waist to encircle her upper arm. "Well, she did it." "Yep. The next 8 years are going to be interesting... and we don't even have to pretend we don't have a relationship with her..." Clark chuckled softly as he led his sleepy wife out of the ballroom. The End (preskent.txt) = !^NavFont02F292E0006MGHHpv2A49 E-mail from: Pam Jernigan, 01-Oct-1997 jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ Unreformed, unrepentent, sometimes unproductive but never uninteresting fanfic writer = Visit Sarah & Pam's Shrine o'Fanfic at: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/2501 ~~~~~ Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/season5.htm ~~~~~ "The first thing she said to me was 'Herbie, get me to the Planet.' Naturally, I wondered which planet..." "Ah, Constable, you've returned. Upon reflection, I imagine this pleases= me." <-- Due South is back! :-) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 14:26:48 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Angela Zavila Subject: Re: Reading (who is way, way, way behind on this topic) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Zoomway asked: > >> Anyway, I'd really be interested in favorite novels, authors, genres, >etc. > >The replies have been fascinating; more proof that we are all "kindred >spirits" in a way. A lot of you have mentioned books that I, too, would >put on my "favorite books" list. Great thread -- I'm just catching up with my mail. "Stranger in a Strange Land" is one of my all time favorites, too, and as a result I read most of Heinlein's books, especially liking all the Lazarus Long books. I was more into science fiction/fantasy authors like Arthur C. Clarke, Martin Caiden (I'm pretty sure that's his name; I loved the Six Million Dollar Man as a teen -- he wrote the original book and several others on which the series was based) and J.R.R. Tolkien in my highschool and college years. Now for diversion, I usually read mystery/detective novels, largely because my husband also enjoys these books and we can talk about them. I tend to follow authors I like -- read all that I can get a hold of, then start on a new author. I like courtroom thrillers. Scott Turrow's first book ("Presumed Innocent") was the first and one of the best in that genre I've read, although his later efforts were longwinded and less interesting. Other fun series of books (some of which I've seen mentioned in this thread): *Tony Hillerman: detective novels set on the Navajo Reservation with cop Jim Chee *Anne Rice: Vampire LeStat series (I read Interview with a Vampire the year it came out, and couldn't wait for her next efforts), Ramses the Damned, and the Witches series (couldn't get through Memnoch the Devil, though) *Jonathon Kellerman: Series of detective/mystery stories about Alex Delaware, a child psychologist *Faye Kellerman (Jon's wife): Series of detective/mystery stories about Peter Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus, who are orthodox jews (explores facets of a religion I know little about) *Patricia Cornwell: Series about a woman chief medical examiner Other authors I enjoy, who don't usually write "series" about established characters, but have a great or unusual style: *Alice Hoffman ("Practical Magic," "At Risk, Turtle Moon"): offbeat character studies, with women characters who are somewhat outcast, but strong, and slightly magical or mystical *Susan Isaacs ("Lily White," "Compromising Positions"): Really funny books, almost always about a housewife or other woman on Long Island who stumbles into a mystery as she tries to figure out what went wrong/right with her life. *Maeve Binchy: An Irish author, writes character driven stories set in Ireland. My favorite is "The Glass Lake." I've read a few others, but only remember the title of "Light a Penny Candle." *Amy Tan is also great -- I just can't remember the titles of her books offhand ("The Kitchen God's Wife" is one, I think) Some other authors I've read one or two books that I liked: *Olivia Goldsmith ("The First Wives Club," "The Bestseller"): kind of bitter single woman in your fifties kind of stuff, but wickedly funny; the Bestseller gave (sort of, I think) an inside look at the less literary aspects of publishing *Nicholas Evans: "The Horse Whisperer" (I think it's his first novel). Different; it has psychological stuff, mending a broken spirit, it's set in the city and the big west outdoors, has horses (I love horses). Soon to be a movie with Robert Redford, I believe. Except for the fun of watching Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher interact on screen (all right, I admit I really love watching Dean Cain), I enjoy the fanfic aspect of LnC more than any other part! Usually when I watch TV, I have a book in my lap in case things get boring (unless it's a show I've "made an appointment" to watch, the book usually wins out). And Pam Jernigan mentioned: >And while we're discussing novels that really captivate you and paint >a reality more convincing than your own, I have to include "Trade Wind" by >M.M. Kaye. Oh yeah, I loved that too. And she also wrote "The Far Pavilions" I believe, as well as several shorter books. (By the way Pam, I love your fanfic, too. You're on my list of favorite fanfic authors!) Angela Zavila (who is currently reading a Faye Kellerman novel, with a re-read of Stranger In a Strange Land scheduled next, now that someone on the list reminded me about it. But first, I have to read all the "5th Season" efforts that we're lucky enough to have!) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 14:43:39 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Subject: Fidelety et al. (WAS: Re: Ideas) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I've been meaning to get back to this, but like everyone else on this list, I seem to be real busy. ME: >><< Divorce, cheating, death -- they would all put our favorite >characters under a lot of stress, and different aspects of their >characters. >> > ZOOM: >Yes, the kind of stress the characters of my mother's soap operas go >through on a regular basis.... Here we go, trashing the soap operas again. I don't watch them at all, but lots of people do. Can they really be that bad? (Rhetorical question, BTW). But divorce, cheating, death, nervous breakdowns, misunderstandings, etc are not only the kind of thing soap opera characters go through, but also the kind of thing characters in Shakespeare, Austin, Hardy, Tolstoy, etc. It is the kind of thing that literature is made of. I suspect it's all in the way the author handles it. Let's not condemn it out of hand. ZOOM: >>Rarer still among the "cheating" stories is the character not being able to get over it, get past it. Inevitably forgiveness follows the >"gut-wrenching" agony. If Clark cheated on Lois, I would expect Lois to try, but fail at ever truly getting over the betrayal. It's the ultimate betrayal and in a manner is a humilation to the person who is cheated on (was she prettier, was she sexier, was she better in bed). Good stories often come by seeing how characters deal with "gut-wrenching" agony. Sometimes they can get over it; sometimes they can't. Lois might not be able to get over Clark cheating on her, especially given her family history; I suspect that Clark could forgive Lois, although like most of you, I really have to stretch to come up with a scenario where either of them cheats on the other. Back on the "reading" thread, the stories that come to my mind here are the Poldark stories. In the course of the first seven books, both the husband and the wife had an -- affair isn't the right word, here -- *encounter* with another. In both cases is was inevitable; the story lines had been building up to the infidelety for a long time. In both instances, the couple was committed to the marriage, and stayed together. It wasn't easy, there was the hurt, the anger, the humiliation, and the feelings of inadequacy to come to terms with, and, on the other hand, the marriage and the children to consider. But it's the journeys -- whether the journey is from guilt to repentence; or whether it is from anger to forgiveness (or from anger to repudiation) that makes the story. Are the marriage vows so fragile that they break when one person makes a mistake? When one person makes the same mistake over and over again? What about being abandoned by your spouse who is obsessed with work, like Perry and Alice? I can see both Lois (getting obsessed with a story) and Clark (getting obsessed with Superman stuff) slipping into the rut Perry and Alice did. Perhaps over years this takes it's toll. Carol said: >Lois has devoted herself to the belief that Clark is "the last good man." She holds that to be true, and if he ever did anything--such as cheating on her--to prove her belief to be false, that would be the last >heartbreak Lois could take. It would send her over the edge, I think. Clark is certainly a good man, but one of the premises of LNC is that he is just as fallible as the next man. Lois knows very well that Clark can be a lunkhead, can make mistakes, can be mislead. I dont' think she's as fragile as Carol implies. Zoomway again: >>Since cheating in general goes completely >>against everything we've seen established for Clark's character. Ah, but characters can change. Life can change them. Maybe Clark wouldn't have cheated in seasons three or four, but they were still on their honeymoon! What about five years down the road, when Lois has quit her job at the Planet to take care of the kids, and spends all her free time on the internet involved in fandom of some TV show Clark thinks is the stupidest thing? Or when Clark can't cope with the stresses of being Superman? What about if one of their children are killed? Not as was done in "Molly", but from some strange disease (perhaps becuase of being half-Kryptonian) or when a car careens out of control and goes up on the sidewalk. Dealing with the death of a child breaks up a lot of stable marriages. I find it interesting that Zoomway mentioned "The Shot in the Dark" and Carol "The Heir" as examples; the fanfic that comes first to my mind is Demi's "Heaven's Prisoners" In it Clark is dealt a blow so painful that he completely withdraws and not even Lois can reach him. The marriage falls apart. Of course, it all works out in the end, but still -- the fact is that things can happen change people in basic ways, that changes the way they deal with problems. Growing is seldom easy, and it's the painful events that more surely effect who we are. ZOOM: For me L&C are special, and the problems they face aren't the problems >>everyone else faces. They have to work ten times as hard just to make >some >>semblance of a relationship work, and for that reason alone they're more >>admirable to me and more "gut wrenching" moments can be achieved with >>them simply trying to make something work that nobody in the history of >the world has had to try and make work. Here is where Zoom and I differ; for me Lois and Clark are just like everybody else, with normal problems, normal hangups and they just have the same growth we all do. I'd expect their marriage to progress from the passionate honeymoon, to the "take for granted" stage, and back again, just like most people's do. > Carol: >And we watch them because we WANT to see a couple that's making it work in this age of dime-a-dozen divorces and broken families leading to more broken families. Not me, Carol. I watched to see how a normal guy (Clark) coped with having a secret identity and superpowers. Before the revelation, Lois was only interesting to me in that she complicated that life. After she knew the truth, I was interested in how Lois coped with having a boyfriend/fiancee/husband who had a secret identity and superpowers. The romance and happily-ever-after aspects are peripheral, as far as I'm concerned. Which is probably why I like Superman in all his incarnations -- comics, TAS, LNC, whatever. (And, seeing as how I'm probably the sole person who feels this way in all of FoLCdom, I would love to hear from anybody that agrees with me.) Zoom: >>I'm not saying that devices or cliches like cheating or death of a character being used to elicit hand-wringing angst can't be good. I'm not sure that cheating or death *have* to be a device or a cliche, any more than I think that Jack was necessarily a ... what did you call him? A gimmick? To *this* FoLC, Jack was an interesting character, with an interesting past, and a intriguing future. The fact that he was created to draw in a certain class of viewers, and failed, didn't effect my interest in the character at all. Likewise, cheating or death etc. can be used to create a very emotional story. There is more to life than romantic comedy. > So I >think for me something that challenges them (like Shot in the Dark) while still keeping them in character works a lot better. I guess it depends. I like seeing characters change and grow. Lois did, over four seasons. Or should we demand that all stories be true to her first season character? [I can't believe I just waved that flag before Zoomway! Let's consider that another rhetorical question!] This brings up an interesting point. Now that the show has been cancelled, are the characters frozen in time? Or can we take the Lois and Clark from fourth season, and continue changing them, making them grow and live and learn from their experiences? Sandy McDermin's stories ("Something's Missing", and "Love as a Blonde") has to some extent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Genevieve (NightSky@erols.com) ; To find out anything you want to know about Superman (in comics, cartoons, television, or movies, from Bud Collyer to Dean Cain) -- check out THE SUPERMAN HOMEPAGE ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 16:44:55 +1000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: A Vukovic Subject: Character changing moments (was:Fidelety et al.) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Reading this exchange on the list (sorry to those who wrote the various paragrahs below - I haven't credited them) has reminded me of a scenario that, if possible, I always wondered how LNC would deal with it Somewhere down the line I always wondered if LNC would have a disadvantaged child. Some phyiscal or mental disability. Not that I am necessarily sadistic toward them, but it presents all sorts of new and uncharted territory. >death of a child breaks up a lot of stable marriages. But the handling of a 'disadvantaged' child has broken up just as many. > >I find it interesting that Zoomway mentioned "The Shot in the Dark" and >Carol "The Heir" as examples; the fanfic that comes first to my mind is >Demi's "Heaven's Prisoners" In it Clark is dealt a blow so painful that he >completely withdraws and not even Lois can reach him. The marriage falls >apart. Of course, it all works out in the end, but still -- the fact is >that things can happen change people in basic ways, that changes the way >they deal with problems. Growing is seldom easy, and it's the painful >events that more surely effect who we are. Initially I would imagine them as any parent presented with the same scenario, but it would certainly add extra childhood problems, after the infancy of the child. If the child was in some way mental challenged (I can't think of a nice way to put that - is that PC enough for ya?) then how would they deal with the challenge of getting the child to keep the secret/avoid using powers unintentionally etc. If the be a physical disability, there are other problems - a paraplegic Superman who can fly but not walk, a deaf Sman, or whatever - TEHI permanetly? Not that in this case I think that it would break up their marriage - running from the problem in this case won't make it go away, especially in the case of mental disability. If it happened to LNC on their first child, I doubt they would explain it away with standard percentages and have any more kids - CK I think would be too paranoid that his DNA was the cause - Just MHO. But would Lois be prepared to put the extra time into such a child to maximize their education, or would she refuse to quit working, which would likely cause tention somewhere along the line either way. This sort of things brings changes to any family - mine included. >I guess it depends. I like seeing characters change and grow. Lois did, >over four seasons. Or should we demand that all stories be true to her >first season character? [I can't believe I just waved that flag before >Zoomway! Let's consider that another rhetorical question!] I can see a LOT of things changing both CK's and Lois's character, but of all the things I see as fixed in the 2 is CK's attachment to Lois. He may get mad/frustrated/feel out of control for whatever reason, but as far as I can see, Lois would always be his rock. Call me a romantic - but that is my call on CK. Lois on the other hand I am not quite so sure about. I don't know that she would go as far as cheating on CK but I think it would be natural for her to, at some stage in their marriage, have enough of his needing to go out and wonder how the rest of the world has a trusting and ongoing loving relationship without the nights alone. The grass is always green on the other side of the fence kind of thing. Actually - it was my wish for S4 that she go through that stage before they got married. The "I always come back" line would get old after 4 nights in a row. But it didn't happen, but I feel it inevitable eventually. Just more and more ways to come between our happy lovebirds. Adrienne _________________________________________________________________________ Adrienne VUKOVIC aev@cia.com.au _________________________________________________________________________ "How can you be so blind, Lois? I mean, you look right at the guy, and still you don't have a clue who he really is." Clark Kent to Lois Lane: BatP, "Lois and Clark:TNAOS" _________________________________________________________________________ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 14:35:21 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Zoomway Subject: Re: Fidelety et al. (WAS: Re: Ideas) In a message dated 97-10-01 15:50:47 EDT, NightSky@EROLS.COM writes: << But divorce, cheating, death, nervous breakdowns, misunderstandings, etc are not only the kind of thing soap opera characters go through, but also the kind of thing characters in Shakespeare, Austin, Hardy, Tolstoy, etc. >> LORD KAL-EL: THE MELANCHOLY KRYPTONIAN A Shakespearean tragedy in 3 acts, and an option on a sequel Alas, poor Lois! I knew her, Perry A woman of infinite talent and most excellent figure She hath made lame excuses for me a thousand times and now, how abhored in my desolation it is--my tears rise at it. Here hung those lips I have kissed I know not how oft' Where be your sidebars now? Your investigations? Your flashes of brilliance that were wont to set City Hall upon a roar? Not one now to mock your empty desk? A nameplate fallen ? Get you to Jimmy Olsen's desk, tell him to find the unfindable To this command he must respond, make him remember Lois PLANET AND PREJUDICE Lois and Clark's 1rst season finale by Jane Austen It is a truth universally acknowledged, that Lex Luthor, a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Mrs. Cox was a woman of mean understanding, much incriminating information and uncertain temper. Lois's imagination was very rapid; it jumped from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. Mr. Kent had only to change from Clark to Superman--and it was soon done---while Lex toiled upon the cage. PARDON OUR MUSH A Hal Roach short "Well, Lois, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into!" "Oh, Clarkie, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!" Oops, that's *Oliver* Hardy ;) WHEN I SET OUT FOR METROPOLIS The pilot episode by Thomas Hardy When I set out for Metropolis Many hundred miles away The Kansas sky was grey And starlight lit my lonesomenss ..till Lois came my way LOIS KRYPTONIA a morality tale by Leo Tolstoy The death of the barren Zara had ended the Ra lineage, and her widowed husband chose a new bride. There would be no mourning, for it was forbidden to mourn a barren queen. She would have a royal funeral accorded her birth, but would be unwept. The world had moved on, and it was now time to accept the new queen, and how she faired among her adopted countrymen depended more upon her ability to produce an heir than her suitability to govern a nation..... I have to thank you for not putting Hemmingway in there A truth that is missing here is that often there isn't cheating among those who are truly in love with each other in classic literature. It happens, but usually the gut-wrenching agony is caused by a couple that might seem destined to be together, but cannot (the star-crossed lovers) like Romeo and Juliet or Heathcliff and Cathy. Or there is a love affair that topples an ideal, nation or faith more than the focus being on the marriage or infedelity, as with the legend of King Arthur, or The Scarlet Letter. Also with classic literature there was a high premium placed on punishing the transgressor. Many were morality tales. I think that is why Lois and Clark was appealing to me. The barriers of classic romance didn't apply. >>>affair isn't the right word, here -- *encounter* with another. In both cases is was inevitable; the story lines had been building up to the infidelety for a long time. In both instances, the couple was committed to the marriage, and stayed together.<<<< As you said, in this case it was 'inevitable' and that the story lines were built in that direction. The inevitability of Lois or Clark cheating isn't there for me. It's also much different when it's a story of 'strangers' so to speak. I don't know those characters, and not knowing them, then I can accept that they'd cheat on each other and in fact it sounds as if they were designed to do so. >>>Are the marriage vows so fragile that they break when one person makes a mistake? <<< If they cheat on each other, then a vow is *already* broken. Whether it can be repaired becomes the question. If you turn left when you should have turned right, that's a 'mistake', when you have sex with someone who is not your spouse, then you are deliberately betraying your spouse. >>>>Ah, but characters can change. Life can change them. Maybe Clark wouldn't have cheated in seasons three or four, but they were still on their honeymoon! What about five years down the road, when Lois has quit her job at the Planet to take care of the kids, and spends all her free time on the internet involved in fandom of some TV show Clark thinks is the stupidest thing? Or when Clark can't cope with the stresses of being Superman? <<< You mean in five years they forget how to talk? Geez, if my husband ended up in some accident that paralyzed him, is it okay that I go elsewhere to 'get some'? Is that what it's all about? Clark is too caught up with being Superman, Lois needs to get gratification elsewhere. Lois is too busy with the kids, so Clark decides he'll find a woman who has time and a bed for him. I'm sorry, I just can't buy it. If Lois talked about 'prioritizing' work and marriage, then I don't think in the intervening years they'd become mimes. Much more fascinating to me is the aspect that Lois was somewhat disinterested in sex before she fell in love with Clark. Even after falling in love with Clark there was something of a barrier to intimacy. I don't think she had many lovers prior to Clark and from the moment *we* met Lois until her wedding night with Clark, she wasn't intimate with anyone. Unlike Clark who had an ethical barrier that prevented him from being intimate with a woman unless the woman knew the "secret" of who/what he really was, Lois seemed almost fearful of intimacy (since she used the term 'skittish') Was it a fear of not pleasing Clark? Was it a fear that Clark would be like the others, and sex would be an obligation, but that's all? Was it that anytime she was intimate she was abandoned shortly thereafter? What does seem obvious is that Clark ignited passion and desire in Lois. Human men paled by comparison to Clark "If you only knew how different you are from other men." This being the case, and cheating involves sexual gratification outside of marriage (or any committed relationship), then WHY would Lois cheat on Clark? She felt the need for disappointment? >>>Here is where Zoom and I differ; for me Lois and Clark are just like everybody else, with normal problems, normal hangups and they just have the same growth we all do. <<< No way If that had been the case I would have had no interest in Lois and Clark whatsoever. I feel that because their relationship is so unusual, they have to work harder to acheive some semblance of 'normal'. The fun in Lois and Clark is that the outside world views them as 'normal', but the reality is that they are anything *but* normal. The show at its most rewarding for me, is when it was able to take any absurd situation and make it reasonable for Lois and Clark, yet it would be as far from 'normal' as it gets from a conventional definition of that word. Also, I don't view the 'happily ever after' aspect as "peripheral". In *this* incarnation of the legend, I feel it's crucial. Their destiny transcends even death, and I don't mean that just in a spiritual sense. Their destiny as a couple impacts the future. That's far removed from 'peripheral'. >>>>I guess it depends. I like seeing characters change and grow. Lois did, over four seasons. Or should we demand that all stories be true to her first season character? [I can't believe I just waved that flag before<<<< I don't think Lois really changed that much as a 'character'. She became more open and honest with Clark. She fell in love with him, but you know what? Most of what made Lois--Lois, stayed the same. I think the Lois in 1rst season's Green Green Glow of Home is very much like the Lois in Ordinary People. Watch one after the other, and you'll see that she hasn't had a drastic make-over. >>>This brings up an interesting point. Now that the show has been cancelled, are the characters frozen in time? Or can we take the Lois and Clark from fourth season, and continue changing them, making them grow and live and learn from their experiences?<<< Exactly the point. They kept growing, but that isn't the same as "morphing" For a character to *change* and I mean that there is a definite shift in morality, ethics, what's important to them, etc., then it does require a drastic catalyst; croaking one of the kiddies, murdering the parents, or offing Lois or Clark, etc. That's simply a matter of dropping a depth charge to see how big a ripple can be created. It's all fair of course, but to suggest that added years and/or adversity *always* tear people apart, just isn't true. Again, this is just me. L&C fanfic can be written however anyone wants to write it, I'm just saying as far as personal taste, I'm not ineterested in Daily Planet 90210 Zoomway@aol.com (or All My Kryptonians, or Metropolis Place, or... ;) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 21:06:35 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Spyder Subject: possible disadvantaged baby for LnC MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I too was wondering, before the cancellation of the series, if they would have a disadvantaged youth since their bodily chemistries are so different -- Kryptonian and Earth. I thought a disad youth would actually be charting areas usually left alone by TV series yet are very much a part of life in reality. Do Kryptonians actually give half chromosomes to their offspring or is it different for them? Something to think about. Thanks for listening. Spyder spyder@minot.ndak.net ICQ UIN#642403 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 20:19:48 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Krafts Subject: Re: Character changing moments (was:Fidelety et al.) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Adrienne wrote: >Somewhere down the line I always wondered if LNC would have a disadvantaged >child. Some phyiscal or mental disability. Not that I am necessarily >sadistic toward them, but it presents all sorts of new and uncharted territory. >Initially I would imagine them as any parent presented with the same >scenario, but it would certainly add extra childhood problems, after the >infancy of the child. If the child was in some way mental challenged (I >can't think of a nice way to put that - is that PC enough for ya?) then how >would they deal with the challenge of getting the child to keep the >secret/avoid using powers unintentionally etc. If the be a physical >disability, there are other problems - a paraplegic Superman who can fly but >not walk, a deaf Sman, or whatever - TEHI permanetly? Are you going to write this? I would be very interested in reading it. This is something that has never crossed my mind before, but now that it has, I'm curious. Personally, I think L&C would be disappointed and eventually learn to love the child (all before it's born). Lois might wonder if she was meant to have a happliy ever after or if she would be challenged all her life. Clark would definately blame himself because of DNA and such, thinking that Lois resents him for it. This line of fanfic would most certainly challenge the couple to an extent of their love and acceptance...not to mention communication. Numerous areas could be explored on this. Sara Kraft (tmax@azstarnet.com) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 17:24:39 +1000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: A Vukovic Subject: Re: Character changing moments (was:Fidelety et al.) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >>Initially I would imagine them as any parent presented with the same >>scenario, but it would certainly add extra childhood problems, after the >>infancy of the child. If the child was in some way mental challenged (I >>can't think of a nice way to put that - is that PC enough for ya?) then how >>would they deal with the challenge of getting the child to keep the >>secret/avoid using powers unintentionally etc. If the be a physical >>disability, there are other problems - a paraplegic Superman who can fly but >>not walk, a deaf Sman, or whatever - TEHI permanetly? > >Are you going to write this? I would be very interested in reading it. >This is something that has never crossed my mind before, but now that it >has, I'm curious. Personally, I think L&C would be disappointed and >eventually learn to love the child (all before it's born). Lois might >wonder if she was meant to have a happliy ever after or if she would be >challenged all her life. Clark would definately blame himself because of >DNA and such, thinking that Lois resents him for it. This line of fanfic >would most certainly challenge the couple to an extent of their love and >acceptance...not to mention communication. Numerous areas could be explored >on this. > I hadn't really planned on writing it simply for the reason that a scenario, other than a comic one, hasn't leapt into my mind. I don't think there was ever ANY doubt that Lois and CK would love the child and get over it, but it is just that extra something for already overtaxed and overgenerous people to deal with. Actually, I would not even know which scenario to work on. I can certainly relate to and come up with realistic scenes for a mental disadvantaged child, but while that is the scenario likely to present the most problems, I don't know that that woud be the one to write. ANyway, as I said earlier, I wouldn't do anything that nasty to LNC on their first child because I do believe that would stop them having anymore, and there goes Utopia. That is unless you can see Utopia being built by decendents of an imperfect Sman. They are much more likely to have their disability carried to their children... I can see it now... a Utopia where everyone has to sign inorder to flag the Sman down??? Or where Sman (or woman) can fly but not walk... "Sorry Folks, can't come down to join you." I think not. See - told you I could only think of comic scenarios. Basically all I was trying to point out was that Lois, as a human, is just as likely to have children with any given deformity as any other mother. As for fatal or debilitating diseases like muscular distrophy or arthritis, I do believe that any of Superman's children would have a certain immunity to them. Adrienne _________________________________________________________________________ Adrienne VUKOVIC aev@cia.com.au _________________________________________________________________________ "How can you be so blind, Lois? I mean, you look right at the guy, and still you don't have a clue who he really is." Clark Kent to Lois Lane: BatP, "Lois and Clark:TNAOS" _________________________________________________________________________ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 18:48:09 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: of possible interest to writers.... Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I can sometimes hear the Laura Lee show on Saturday nights here in Albuquerque (or the shows are live and archived on the net [www.lauralee.com] for those with a sound card and Real Audio). She can have some interesting guests, and this Saturday, it looks like she has at least one guest, the first one, who may interest this group: (ps: I suspect the little boxes are " marks) - Debby, Debby@swcp.com **** Greeting from the Laura Lee Show. This weekly update of scheduled guests of The Laura Lee Show is by subscription only. If you receive this unsolicited someone else has entered you for subscription. If you wish not to receive these updates in the future you can unsubscribe at our website under upcoming or simply return this message with unsubscribe as the subject. GUEST/TOPIC LINE UP - SCHEDULED TO AIR THIS WEEK: October 4, 1997 Christopher Vogler Author of The Writer s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers & Screenwriters. How to use mythic structure to create powerful stories which tap into the mythological core which exists in us all. Robert Felix Author of Not by Fire but by Ice. According to Robert Felix, the next ice age could begin any day. It s all part of a natural cycle triggered by geo-magnetic reversals and equinoctial precession, a cycle that returns like clockwork every 23,000 years. There are several other topics and guests in the works so stay tuned. Much More: Including your phone calls... Posted guests represent what is scheduled to air, however changes do occur. When a guest postpones, it is often because of an unforeseen emergency or situation on their part, or a breaking news story that takes precedent. Thank you for your interest in the Laura Lee Show For a complete list of stations carrying the Laura Lee Show, visit our website at http://www.lauralee.com/ and click on the TIMES & STATIONS button. Also a live webcast of the show is available via our AUDIO button. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 09:52:52 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genine E Murray Subject: Is LOISCLA down??? Hey FoLCies ~ Okay, unless this list is down too, and someone has already posted this rhetorical question, I'll be the first to ask it! :) LOISCLA appears to be down, I haven't seen any posts since yesterday. Either that, or the FoLCs are all on vacation from the list! TTYS... I hope! =D Genine ~ BTW... I haven't seen much fanfic posted to this list lately, isn't that what it's supposed to be for?!? ;) GemFoLC51@juno.com - SuperGeM on IRC Clark : "I have loved you from the beginning." Lois : "And I'll love you 'till the end." Lois & Clark : The New Adventures of Superman on TNT Watch TNT - Boycott ABC and Disney! :-) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 13:38:20 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Peace Everett Subject: FANFIC [NEW, sort of]: Press Your Luck (1/1) Author's Note: (September, 1996) Ok, I was at work, feeling a little depressed about the story I just wrote and the one I'm currently working on with Piper, both pretty dark stories, full of WHAMs, and decided I needed to lighten up a bit, write a nice WAFFy little story. I had a funny thought, and the rest just sort of evolved from there... Btw - if this story looks a little familiar, it's the PG-ish version of one I sent to the nfic list last year. Thanks to Piper for one particularly good line borrowed from her story "The Heir: Return". Press Your Luck by Peace As game shows went, Clark had to admit that "Press Your Luck" was one of the stupider ones around. The host was irritatingly conceited, and the questions made little sense, but Clark found himself rooting for the contestants as they faced the prize board and tried to win "Big Bucks! Big Bucks!" while staying away from the Whammies. One contestant got her fourth Whammy, which put her out of the game, and stared dejectedly into the camera as an animated Whammy ate up her sailboat, trip to London and $5,000.00. "Too many Whammies, lady," Clark commiserated with the television set, shaking his head. "Just like Lois and me. Too many Whammies lately. We gotta do something about that." On a sudden inspiration, he spun into the supersuit and flew out the window. Lois wouldn't be up for a little while yet -- it was a holiday, and she had announced the night before that she intended to sleep in this morning -- so he should have plenty of time for his plan. A few minutes later he was back with an armload of purchases. He flew into the kitchen, grabbed an apron out of the middle drawer and began mixing ingredients. He clucked in exasperation as he set a box down a little too hard and cloud of baking mix billowed up and settled over the counter. He would have to clean that up in a minute, but right now his batter was just about ready to pour. "It clashes." The voice from the doorway startled him. "Wha--!? Good morning!" he said, smiling. "Good morning yourself. Your apron clashes with your suit - - pink ruffles, red spandex.. just doesn't work for me.." Lois grinned up at him teasingly as she pulled his head down for a kiss. Clark kissed her back soundly, then tried to fix a severe expression on his face. "Keep talking to me like that and I won't let you have any of these waffles." He gestured to the waffle iron which was beginning to give of a delicious aroma. "We have a waffle-maker? Who gave us that?" Lois had been writing thank-you notes for the wedding presents for days, but she didn't remember seeing a waffle iron on the list of presents. "I did. This morning. We've gotten hit with way too many Whammies lately." "Too many Whammies." She obviously didn't have a clue what he was talking about. "Uh-huh." Clark pointed to the tv where another contestant had just hit a Whammy and was glaring as it took away his cash and prizes. Lois looked at the tv screen, then back at Clark. "We've gotten too many Whammies and so we got a waffle-maker as a consolation prize?" Clark chuckled. "That's one way of looking at it, yeah. And it's called a waffle iron." He held up the box. "Oh. 'Scuse me," Lois apologized. Her voice was as serious as her words, but her eyes were dancing with laughter. She wandered back into the kitchen, moved a box out of the way, and hitched herself up to sit on the counter. "Don't sit-- there." Clark's warning came a second too late. "Why not?" Lois asked innocently. Clark looked faintly embarrassed. "Because I spilled flour there, and now you've got flour all over your hiney." He used a fork to tease the waffle loose from the iron, and flipped it onto a plate, slathering it with butter while it was still hot. "Oh," Lois responded in the same innocent tone. "Well, I guess you'll just have to come dust me off, won't you?" Clark had just started carefully pouring more batter onto the waffle iron. At Lois' "innocent" suggestion, his attention wandered over to her, for the first time taking in the low cut baby doll nightie she wore, which showed off a good bit of her chest, the entire length of her legs, and a hint of frilly panties beneath -- he was fairly sure she hadn't been wearing it last night -- but then he didn't think she'd been wearing much of anything last night. At that moment, the stream of batter wandered off the iron and onto the counter. "Clark! Watch out, you're..." Lois gestured, giggling. She loved occasionally disrupting his concentration. Blushing, Clark forced his attention back to the waffle iron. He finished filling it, and closed the lid to let it bake. He poked around in the grocery bag, and pulled out a bottle of maple syrup, heating it quickly with his eyes. He poured a generous amount over the buttered waffle on the plate, and walked over to where Lois still sat on the flour-dusted counter. "Do you want some of this waffle?" he asked in a mock- severe tone. Lois ducked her head, peeking at him through her lashes. "Yes," she said in a tiny voice. "Then you'd better behave yourself, hadn't you?" "Yes." Her lips were quivering with the effort to keep a straight face. Clark stared at her mouth, his breath suddenly ragged. When the tip of her tongue darted out to moisten her lips, he almost dropped the plate. He leaned in and kissed her, and although her lips were still quivering, it was suddenly not from an urge to laugh. After a moment, she pushed him away. "Can I have a bite of your waffle?" she whispered. "Huh?" Clark seemed a little dazed. "Oh... yeah." He laughed, a little shakily, embarrassed by his total loss of concentration. He cut a bite-sized piece of waffle, speared it with the fork, and pushed it through the syrup to coat it well. Too well, actually. Just before it got to Lois' mouth, a drop slid off and landed on her chin, followed immediately by another. They promptly rolled her neck, leaving sticky trails behind them. Clark got a mischievous glint in his eye. /Two can play the concentration-disruption game,/ he thought. He fed Lois the bite of waffle, then dipped his head down to lick the syrup off her neck. She shivered against him, promptly forgetting the waffle in her mouth. Her moan had a muffled sound to it. He looked up at her, grinning in triumph, and chucked her lightly under the chin. "Chew, dear," he advised. "It'll go down easier." She laughed, a little chagrined, and chewed obediently. Then she sighed in contentment as she swallowed. "Delicious," she said, staring deep into her husband's eyes. She opened her mouth for him to feed her another bite, savoring the taste as he took a bite, too. "Smells like the next one's about ready." He handed her the plate and fork. "I think you're right." He got out another plate and opened the waffle iron, getting a faceful of steam. "Hmm, not quite. Can I have another bite of yours while I wait?" "Sure." She cut a bite as he came over, dipped it in the pool of syrup and held it up. She deliberately held it high so he would tilt his face up, and made sure a drop of syrup hit his chin before the waffle went in his mouth. After all, she wanted something to lick up too. Clark barely tasted the waffle, swallowing convulsively as her tongue cleaned his chin and wandered around to his ear. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the plate tilting precariously in her hand. He grabbed it just before the waffle slid off onto the floor, getting syrup all over his thumb in the process. "Oh, look, now you're all sticky," Lois chided him. She took the plate back from him and set it down. "I would have thought Superman would be neater than that." She took his syrup covered thumb in her mouth and sucked gently, flicking her tongue all around it to clean off the syrup. Clark began to laugh shakily. He gently pulled his hand away from her. "Cla-ark!" "One second." In a flash, he unplugged the waffle iron, removed the mostly baked waffle, and returned to Lois. "The smell of burning waffle can be *so* distracting -- and I did *not* want to be distracted right now," he said, nuzzling her neck. "Good point." "Do you remember why we chose this apartment?" Clark asked, his lips brushing the sensitive spot right below her ear. Lois was puzzled by the apparent change in topic. "The walk-in closets?" "No, silly, the kitchen counters." Clark was working his way down to her shoulder now. "The kitchen..?" memory suddenly dawned "..counters!" They had looked at half a dozen apartments, and there seemed to be something wrong with every one of them. Finally the apartment-finder agent showed them one with large walk-in closets, a nice view, good neighborhood, reasonable rent... They stood at the door, and Lois was about to tell the agent they would take it, when Clark suddenly said, "Oops, almost forgot -- gotta check one thing!" He turned to the agent. "Would you excuse us one moment?" "Clark, what are you doing?" Lois asked as he took her hand and led her into the kitchen. She was even more mystified when he tilted his head to one side, staring at the kitchen counters. Suddenly he picked her up and perched her on one of the counters. He nudged her knees apart, and as he slipped between them to kiss her, she suddenly realized that the kitchen counters were perfect. "We haven't yet gotten around to using the counters, have we?" she grinned now. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close, locking her ankles behind his back, and sighed as his lips found hers, "Oh, yes, these counters are just right!" He pulled back after a moment to smile at her. "Hey, am I good at choosing apartments or what?" He brushed her hair out of her face with a tender gesture. "Oh, you're just.. mm! super.." she gasped as he brushed a kiss across her eyelids. He promptly pulled away again to look at her in mock disgust. "And how long am I going to have to put up with *that* particular joke?" "Oh, not long," she responded, drawing his mouth back down to hers. "Just the next 50 or 60 years.." As his lips once again made their way around to her ear, she stroked her hands across his shoulders, relishing the strength of the man who kept her safe and held her heart. He grinned, dropping his lips to her shoulder and pushing the strap out of his way. "Oh, is that all? That I can stand." And as he made sweet love to her, right there in the kitchen, she knew that, oh yeah, these kitchen counters were perfect. fade to black ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 13:38:25 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Peace Everett Subject: Re: Is LOISCLA down??? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In a message dated 97-10-05 09:59:48 EDT, Genine pointed out: > BTW... I haven't seen much fanfic posted to this list lately, isn't that > what it's supposed to be for?!? ;) Well, I guess we'll have to remedy that situation, won't we? I'm posting a newish story to the list (actually the PG-ish version of a story I wrote for the nfic list), and in a day or two, I'll send my contribution to the "Classic Fanfic" posting -- we're not quite to the right place in Season 2 for it yet . Peace Come read my fanfic! and link to Season 5 - The Adventures Continue... A FoLC Named Peace - http://members.aol.com/PEverett9/peace.html Kal-El: "My heart is waiting for me back on Earth. Lois is my heart. I was an outsider there.. incomplete.. until I met her." ô¿ô --- [No, I can't claim this little face, although I'm *quite* taken with it -- I found it in someone else's note! Is that cute or what?!?] ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 19:30:55 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: Sorry for the delay in Episode 2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" If I've got this email address correct, Episode 2 of S5 should be following directly after. My computer chose a *very* bad time to die on me. Leanne Dan Shawler danswler@netcom.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 19:35:59 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: S5: Episode 2 (part 1 of 4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Time After Time Season 5, Episode 2 by Peace (with plotting help from Barb) Previously on Lois and Clark: As Lois and Clark Kent deal with the exciting and frightening prospect of the baby dropped unexpected in their laps, 82 years in the future, Lori and Clark Kent have two new additions to their lives, a new baby, CJ, and a new friend and chess partner, Jeremiah. {Jeremiah searched the board for his next move, intent on making the proper defense. Reaching into his pocket, he slowly pulled a small chess piece from its case and placed it on the board. Immediately, Clark felt a piercing pain shoot through his body and started to gasp for air, unable to discern the cause. Looking at the board, he saw the new chess piece's bright green glow. As he slowly sank from the chair onto the floor, he could hear Jeremiah's final words. "No, Clark, checkmate."} ***** Metropolis, April 6, 2079, 9 p.m. Jeremiah stared down at the still form before him. He glanced briefly at the antique pocket watch in his hand. "Ten minutes since you last moved," he muttered. "I'd say the final credits have rolled for you, Clark Kent." He laughed an ugly, open-mouthed laugh, brushed an unruly lock of silver hair out of his eyes, and pocketed the Kryptonite chess piece which had ended his last game with the fallen superhero. He started to leave the room, then turned back to watch a minute longer, to ensure that Superman would not revive once the Kryptonite was put away in its small lead-lined case. "Twenty years I've waited for this day," he mused as he waited. "Twenty years sitting in prison, watching reruns of bad sitcoms. Twenty years of making nice for the parole board -- for all the good *that* did me." Finally convinced that Clark was really dead, he turned and headed upstairs to get the baby. The baby, after all, was the whole point of this -- well, perhaps not the *whole* point, watching Superman die had been fun -- but the baby represented power. Just imagine, a superchild, his to raise as he saw fit, who would call him Papa and do his bidding and be ever faithful to him. He hurried down the hall, checking the various rooms for the baby. He finally found the nursery at the far end, but the bassinet was empty. He retraced his steps to the master bedroom -- would she have put the baby down for a nap on their bed? No, apparently not. Before he had time to do more than purse his lips in frustration, he heard a sound from the living room. He hurried downstairs, pulling the Kryptonite case from his pocket, just in case Superman was reviving after all. At the door, he paused and peered inside cautiously, just in time to see a vision from his own past: H.G. Wells and Clark Kent arriving in the time machine. 'Damn!' Jeremiah swore to himself. 'Killed the sequel and the original comes back to haunt me! And H.G. must have taken the baby -- Damn him!' He watched silently, peeking around the door, as they got out of the time machine and bent over the body on the floor. "Oh, dear," he heard H.G. Wells sigh. "Well, my boy, it appears we've arrived a bit late. We'll have to-" Snatching at the first plan that formed in his mind, Jeremiah flung open the door and strode into the room. "Who are you people," he demanded, "and what have you done to my friend?" Before they could answer, he felt for a pulse on the body slumped on the floor by the table, and gasped loudly. "He's dead -- you killed him!" He rushed from the room, shouting for help. Luckily for him and his plan, that was the moment Lori returned from the store with her cards. Her mother-in-law had arrived for a quick visit and was walking in the door with her. Jeremiah grabbed Lori's arm and hurried her toward the living room. "Something's wrong with Clark!" he wheezed dramatically. He turned to Elaine Kent. "Call the police," he commanded. "These men have hurt Clark!" Lori rushed into the living room in time to see Clark and H.G. Wells climbing into the time machine. "Clark? Where are you going?" A second later she was close enough to get a better look at him. "You're not Clark! Who are you? What have you-?" At that instant, she caught sight of her husband, lying motionless on the floor. "CLARK!!!" she screamed. She rushed to his side, desperate to touch him yet afraid to move him. "What's wrong with him?" Jeremiah stepped forward, pointing a shaking finger at H.G. Wells. "He did it," he announced. "I saw him kill your husband." Lori shook her head in disbelief. "No.... It can't be," she whispered. She touched her husband's arm, and found the skin cool and clammy to her hand. Her body shaking in panic, she frantically dug her fingers against his neck, searching for a pulse. "No!" she sobbed. Meanwhile, H.G. Wells was also shaking his head. "Sir, you are mistaken. When my companion and I arrived, Mr. Kent was already... well... oh, dear...." Metropolis, June 16, 1997, 10 a.m. "Oh, dear! Oh, CJ, please stop crying!" Lois paced the bedroom floor, bouncing the wailing baby in her arms. She tried once again to feed him, but he twisted away from the bottle, crying louder still. "Aw, come on, CJ! You're fed, you're dry, you've got my complete attention -- what more could you want out of life?!" CJ's only answer was another wail. "Oh, Martha, what's taking you so long?" Tears of frustration welled up in Lois' eyes. "What kind of mother am I gonna be if I can't take care of a baby by myself for half an hour?" She settled into the rocker, trying to calm herself against the baby's screams. "Well, you may not have superpowers yet, but you've sure got super lungs, don't you?" Her shaky laugh was not a strong defense against CJ's wails, and in another moment Lois would have burst into tears if the door hadn't opened just then. "My, my, what a temper!" Martha exclaimed. "Martha, I fed him, I changed his diaper, I've rocked him until my arms are about to break, and he won't stop crying, and my mother had to go to a meeting, and Daddy had to go to the lab, and I don't know what to do!!" Martha patted Lois on the shoulder a moment before taking the baby from her. "Sh-sh, okay, we'll take care of this, it'll be all right..." She put CJ up against her shoulder and spanked him once sharply (but not too hard) on his well-padded bottom, then held him up where she could see him. "Now settle down," she commanded. Startled, CJ stared at her for a moment, suddenly silent, then burped loudly and, with a sigh, promptly went to sleep. Settling him in the bassinet, Martha turned to face Lois, who was still staring at her mother-in-law in shock. "You hit him!" Martha nodded matter-of-factly. "Learned it from Jonathan, who said he learned it from his grandfather. He said sometimes babies get started crying and forget how to stop. It's like a person having hysterics -- sometimes you have to do something unexpected to snap them out of it." Lois was still shaking her head, unconvinced, but Martha pressed on. "You know I'm not advocating hitting kids. You know me better than that. Did you see where I spanked him? On his bottom, where he's got a lot of natural padding and a nice thick diaper as well. And I spanked him just hard enough to get his attention. My goodness, I bet the doctor slapped him harder than that when he was born!" Lois sighed, staring down at the baby now sleeping peacefully in the bassinet. "Well, it worked... but I don't think I could ever...." Her lips began to quiver, and then the tears she had been struggling to hold back fell in earnest. "Oh, Martha! I don't know how to be a mother! I know I told you just a few days ago that I was ready, but I'm not! And... and... Clark said we would do it together, but he's not here -- he's never here -- it's just like my nightmare, babies all over the place and Clark thinks having babies is a piece of cake, but I'm the one that has to eat it and the queen had to hold two of the babies and the pope held two and there were at least ten of them and--" her voice rose in a wail to match CJ's of a few minutes before. "I watched Three Men And A Baby *twice* -- if Tom Selleck can do this, why can't I?" Chuckling, Martha gathered Lois into her arms, not even trying to follow all of the babbling. "Oh, honey, because that's a movie! And as I remember, Tom Selleck had to go a few rounds with a screaming baby, too." She gave Lois a few motherly pats on the back, letting her cry it out. When she heard Lois sniff, then chuckle a bit as well, Martha nodded approvingly. "Besides, I don't think anyone is ready to have a baby land in their living room!" "I know, you said that before." Martha nodded, pulling away a little so she could hand Lois a tissue. "And I'll keep saying it until you believe me! I think that's part of the reason you spend nine months being pregnant -- to give the mother a chance to get ready for the baby, too." She grinned. "You just wait -- when you have a baby of your own, and I'm quite sure you will, you'll do just fine!" "Oh that's right -- I didn't get the chance to tell you before because my mother was here!" Lois' eyes grew wide with delight. She was a reporter, after all -- she loved telling people the news. "Tell me what, dear?" asked Martha curiously. "And where is Clark, anyway -- out being Superman?" "In a manner of speaking." Finally in her element, Lois led Martha over to the sofa. "Where's Jonathan? We should tell him, too." Martha grimaced. "Jonathan made me come on back here alone -- said he had one more place to stop on and--" a knock on the door interrupted her. "That must be him now." She opened the door to admit a beaming Jonathan and stared in mock-disapproval at the package in his hands. "Oh, Jonathan, you didn't!" "It's never too soon," Jonathan insisted. "For what?" Lois asked, craning her neck to see around Martha. Jonathan held up a tiny baseball glove, bat, cap, and MetroU jersey, setting Lois off into peals of laughter. Metropolis, April 6, 2079, 10 p.m. Clark stared in shock as the policemen took H.G. Wells away in handcuffs. He couldn't understand why this old man had made the accusation that resulted in Wells' arrest, nor why the accusation was not extended to himself. The coroner had come and taken away the body of the young man who bore such a strong resemblance to him -- 'My great-grandson!' Clark thought in baffled grief -- and Elaine Kent, weeping, had led her grief-stricken daughter-in-law Lori to the bedroom. The police had quickly scanned the room with devices that Clark didn't recognize and then, much to his surprise, removed the 'crime scene' tape from the area. Jeremiah had assured the police that the sleigh-like contraption in the middle of the living room floor would be kept locked up until it could be impounded. Finally, Clark found himself alone in the room with Jeremiah. There was something strangely familiar about the man's eyes, a look of evil that Clark suddenly recognized. The face was different -- not just older but different -- but no amount of plastic surgery could disguise the evil in the eyes. "Tempus." "Duh!" The man looked at him in contempt. "You know that H.G. Wells didn't kill... that young man," Clark stated firmly, unwilling to reveal his descendant's identity on the off-chance that Tempus didn't already know. "No, Superman." Tempus smirked. "I killed that young man. What are you gonna do about it?" Before Clark could react to the man's brazen confession, Tempus once again produced the Kryptonite chess piece, watching with satisfaction as Clark crumpled to the floor. "You know, I had to call in a lot of favors to get my hands on this -- do you have any idea how hard it is to find Kryptonite these days? You and that meddler at STAR Labs did a good job of getting rid of it -- your great-grandson had no idea even what it was that killed him." He hefted the glowing rock in his hand as he advanced on Clark. "I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to do this a second time. Makes me feel like I've gotten my money's worth, you know?" As Clark lapsed into unconsciousness, Tempus glanced at his watch. "Well, much as I'm enjoying watching you die, Superman, I do want to go get the baby before they come back for the time machine." He set the Kryptonite chess piece on the floor, carefully just out of Clark's reach lest he regain consciousness, locked the living room door, and climbed aboard the sleigh. "Nice thing about 20th century prisons -- they try so hard to reform you. It's amazing how much one can learn in prison, including how to operate machinery." He took one last look at Clark. "Bye, Clark. I'll tell Lois you're dead!" Metropolis, June 16, 1997, 10:20 a.m. "He's your great-great-grandson?! Oh, my goodness, that makes him our great-great-great -- I'm losing count here!" Martha laughed out loud with the sheer delight of knowing her son's fondest wish (after marrying Lois) would become reality. Then she clapped her hand over her mouth, stifling her laughter to avoid disturbing CJ. That young man, however, worn out from 20 minutes of screaming, slept on, oblivious to the three sets of bright eyes that turned his way. Lois got up and walked over to the bassinet, watching CJ sleep. She lightly stroked the downy fuzz covering his head. A long, shaky breath later, she turned to Martha and Jonathan. "When Clark told me we couldn't have children, that Dr. Klein's tests said we were biologically incompatible, I thought my heart would break. Not just because Clark wants children so much, even though that's part of it -- I want him to be happy --" she sniffed, struggling to retain her composure -- "but for myself, too. I was ready, I was psyched up for it, being locked up with those kids turned on my maternal instincts or something, and it was like something inside me died. "Then we got Daddy in on it, and I really wanted to believe that he would be able to fix it -- if anyone could fix it, it should have been him." She shook her head. "But he couldn't find anything wrong with STAR Labs' data -- Clark and I were talking about that when he heard CJ down in the living room. Clark said we live the impossible, and that if having a baby depended on love," her eyes began to shine with tears at the memory, "then that above all else should be possible for us. I wanted so much to believe him, but I guess I didn't -- not really. And now all of the sudden we have proof, right here in this bed, that we can have kids -- that we *will* have kids -- and I'm so scared...." "Oh, honey!" Martha rushed across the room to her, with Jonathan close behind. "You've got to learn to trust yourself -- *and* Clark." "Having kids isn't easy," Jonathan chimed in. "It's scary for anybody that faces it. But we'll be here for you, as long as you need us, and so will your parents. And Clark will-" "Clark will go where he's needed," Lois said, trying to exude a calmness she didn't feel. "I knew that when I married him." And for once, Martha and Jonathan didn't have words of reassurance for her. Metropolis, April 6, 2079, 10:10 p.m. "Lori, you shouldn't go in there!" Elaine Kent tried to stop her, but Lori pushed past her determinedly. Moments before, when they had discovered CJ was gone, Lori had been wild with grief. But then abruptly, she had dried her face and made her way downstairs. "My husband is dead and my baby is missing -- I have to figure out why and where he is, and I'm not going to do that sitting up in my bedroom crying. Why is the living room door locked?" She struggled with it a moment, then gave a short sigh of frustration and headed for the kitchen. A few minutes of digging through a small 'junk box' in the pantry yielded a ring of keys, one of which fortunately opened the living room door -- Lori felt herself on the verge of trying to rip it off its hinges. "But, dear, shouldn't you wait for Clark's grandfather? He's a reporter -- he knows so much more about investigating than you do," Elaine protested. Pops had been there earlier, of course, then had dealt with his grief in the best way he knew how -- by going to the Daily Planet to write and file the story of his grandson's death. When Lori and Elaine had discovered the empty crib, they'd called the Planet, but Pops was away from his desk -- they'd had to leave a message on his voicemail. "I'm going to call him again," announced Elaine. She went into the kitchen, less willing than her daughter-in-law to enter the living room where her son had died. "He'll be here as soon as he gets the message," said Lori, "but I'm not going to sit around waiting for him." Lori hesitated a moment in the doorway, then clenched her teeth and walked in. 'Steady, Lori,' she thought. 'They've already taken him away, all you have to do is look for clues -- anything the police missed. What would kill Superman?' She moved cautiously into the room, although she could not have explained why the need for caution. It was not cold in the room, but she took her husband's coat off the coat rack, the heavy one his grandfather had given him, and wrapped herself in it, needing to feel him wrapped around her, keeping her safe. A glowing green object in the middle of the floor caught her eye. "What's this--" Suddenly she tripped over the extended foot of the body sprawled the floor by the glowing chess piece... her husband... his face contorted with pain... his glasses knocked askew... his breath coming in shallow gasps.... "No," she whimpered. "He's gone -- they took him -- you're not real!" Then the emotions of the day got the better of her, and she crumpled unconscious to the floor, landing in a heap beside her late husband's great-great-grandfather, oblivious to the breathing beside her which suddenly eased. Metropolis, June 17, 1997, 2 p.m. Lois sat at her computer, her shoulders hunched and aching, as she scanned AP reports for a report of a missing child. She knew where the child came from, but she had to put on a good show for Perry. Besides, being at the Planet gave her a much needed break from her child care activities. 'Let Martha handle him for a while,' she thought, unrepentant. 'That's what grandmothers are for!' She had checked a parenting guide to help her determine CJ's probable age, based on his size and apparent abilities, and used that to determine how far back she should search -- he was probably around six to eight weeks old, so she needn't search missing children reports further back than about mid-April. She had considered checking discreetly with Metropolis law enforcement and welfare agencies, but decided against it -- the last thing she needed was for one of them to decide to take CJ away and put him in foster care. "Ms. Lane?" Lois looked up at the woman next to her desk, automatically hitting the clear screen macro on her computer. "Yes, how can I help you." "Nancy LeClaire, Social Services. I understand you've got a foundling." "Excuse me?" Lois knew what the woman meant, but at that moment playing dumb seemed like the smartest thing she could do. "A foundling. A child left on your doorstep? You do know, of course, that legally any such child must be reported to our agency and placed in appropriate foster care until the parents can be found or other permanent arrangements can be made." Ms. LeClaire's smile belied the determination in her eyes. Lois had been a reporter for too long to be fooled by the pleasant tone and apparently relaxed manner. She pushed down the feelings of panic, and spoke as calmly as she could. "Ms. LeClaire, there is a child staying at my house, but I can assure you he's not a foundling. He's-" Who? My great-great- grandson? She'll never buy that! "-my sister's baby." "I see," said Ms. LeClaire, apparently not buying that either. Lois wondered if she'd heard the hesitation. "Lucy got involved with... well, she's always getting involved with the wrong type of men... and this time she ended up pregnant, and she couldn't deal with it -- like I can -- Ha! -- and she had to get back to the University for summer school, and so she left CJ with me, not that I mind, but of course I have a career too, my husband and I are busy people, so my husband's parents are staying with us for a while to help take care of CJ, until Lucy gets her act together and comes to get him." "Well, it would appear, then, that we were misinformed," Ms. LeClaire said smoothly. She was rising to leave when Lois' phone rang. Lois picked it up gladly. 'Maybe it'll be a real story! and maybe it'll get this person to leave!' "Lois Lane," she announced in her best I'm-a-busy-reporter-don't-waste-my-time voice. "Lois?" "Hi, Martha -- oh, wait, don't tell me you're calling *me* for help with CJ!" Lois quipped. In spite of her concern over her unexpected visitor, it was amazing what a few hours back at her 'real life' had done for her spirits and self-confidence. Now all she needed was a villain to expose and a Kerth-level story to tell, and she would be in seventh heaven. "Lois, you need to come home right now!" Martha whispered urgently into the phone. "Martha, you're the baby expert, what--" "LOIS! Now! There's a man here who says he's come to take CJ away. He won't say who he is, but I don't like the look in his eyes." Slamming down the phone, Lois whirled on the woman beside her. "Since when does Social Services snatch babies?" she demanded furiously. Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed her purse, shrugged off Nancy LeClaire's attempt to detain her, and raced for the door. Dan Shawler danswler@netcom.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 19:36:26 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: S5: Episode 2 (part 2 of 4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Metropolis, April 6, 2079, 10:11 p.m. Clark shook his head, trying to clear it, as his consciousness slowly returned. In the last seconds before he had passed out, he had been sure he was going to die. What had saved him? He turned his head slowly, painfully, and saw a young woman lying unconscious on the floor beside him. He couldn't see the Kryptonite, but without its draining effect, he felt his strength returning rapidly. As soon as he felt able, he sat up and tried to lift the young woman, thinking to put her on the sofa where she would be more comfortable. But the instant he raised her off the floor, the pain hit him again and he couldn't hold on to her. And then the pain was gone again. Clark sat still a moment, regathering his wits and strength. Was she lying on top of the Kryptonite? But why would that stop it from hurting him? Unless there was something else over it which he had dislodged in lifting her.... He tried his X-ray vision, expecting to see the floor under her and a blank spot that would be a lead lined package or box. Instead, he found he couldn't see through her at all. Perhaps he was more injured that he realized. He began checking the other powers. Floating. No problem, although he didn't feel up to flying just then. Hearing. Yes, he could hear someone in the next room on the phone, whispering in urgent tones about someone named Lori. Strength. He lifted the couch briefly then set it back down. Breath. Blowing something over didn't seem like a good idea in here, but he could try freezing something. He searched the room, then spotted a glass on the table half full of water that had probably been ice, hours before. A quick puff of his breath and it was ice again. Okay, everything else is working; back to the eyes. Heat vision. He melted the ice he'd just frozen, carefully, so as to not melt the glass too. X-ray vision, one more time. He looked at and then through the wall, relieved to see an older woman, presumably the person he'd heard a moment before, talking on the phone. He floated into a more comfortable position just above the floor and considered. The X-ray vision was working, so why couldn't he X-ray through her? He tried X-raying her foot and had no trouble going right through it to the floor, and through that to the plumbing below the foundation. Next her calves. Again, no problem. But at her knees, he ran into the hem of the greatcoat she wore and suddenly realized that was what he couldn't see through. 'A lead-lined coat? Hmm...' Well, he couldn't help the young woman alone -- someone else would have to help. The woman in the next room presumably was either a friend or a relative -- he would call her. He eased to his feet and moved slowly, still a little unsteadily, across the room. At the door, he spoke quietly to the woman in the kitchen, who was still on the phone, hoping to not startle her. "Ma'am?" "Clark!" she cried. She stared at him a moment, dazed, then turned back to the phone and the voice that buzzed soothingly in her ear. "I gotta go, Pops, Clark's back." Ignoring the shocked, "What?!?", which Clark could hear even without superhearing, she dropped the phone and rushed across the room to fling her arms around his neck. "Oh, my sweet boy! We thought you were dead!" She pulled away to drink in her son's beloved face, then her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she pulled away from him altogether. "You're not my son!" "No, ma'am, I'm not," he said gently, reaching out to steady her, as she threatened to collapse. "Who are you?" she demanded, rallying. "Why do you look like my son?" Before he could answer, there was a whoosh at the window -- a sound Clark knew he made when he arrived somewhere in the suit, but hadn't heard since the day he met his alternate world self. An unfamiliar figure in a familiar suit dropped lightly to the ground. "Pops!" the woman whispered, exasperation overriding her other emotions for the moment. "I thought you'd given up the suit!" She tried to pitch her voice low, but of course Clark heard her clearly. "You were the one who said, 'Superman doesn't age, just the men behind him.'" "Well, Elaine, under the circumstances, it seemed appropriate." He turned to Clark, intending to demand an explanation, but the words died on his lips. After a moment, he sat down at the table, clearly shocked. "He looks almost exactly like Clark, but he can't be!" said Elaine. "He looks *exactly* like-" Superman shook his head. "That's even less possible," he muttered. Finally Clark managed to shake out of his own shock at seeing someone else in his suit, of realizing who this man must be, and dragged his attention back to the most pressing issue at hand. "Ma'am, sir," he broke in. "Who I am is going to take a little explaining, but it's more important right now that you help the young lady-" and he gestured toward the living room. "Oh my! Lori!" Elaine gasped. She rushed to the living room and struggled to lift her daughter-in-law, who was slowly beginning to come to. "Well, don't just stand there," she commanded. "Help me lift her!" Clark looked uncomfortable. "I can't, ma'am." Superman looked at him with a mixture of disappointment and disapproval. "Well, I can." Clark stopped him at the doorway. "There's Kryptonite in there." Superman looked more baffled than ever. At that moment, Elaine helped Lori sit up, and the effects of the Kryptonite hit both men at once. "The coat is lead-lined -- put it in the coat," Clark gasped. "What? Put what in the coat?" asked Elaine. "Green -- glowing -- put it in the coat!" rasped Superman. "Hurry!" Beside him, Clark crashed to the floor, succumbing more quickly because of his previous exposure just minutes before. Metropolis, June 17, 1997, 2:20 p.m. The man was hardly adverse to killing people who hindered his plans, but he was very adverse to carrying around a poopy baby, and CJ had pooped at just the right moment. Martha had managed to make enough of a production of the diaper changing, throwing in a bath for good measure, to give Lois time to get home. Lois rushed to the house, but at the last minute, instinct told her to tread softly. She eased in the front door and tiptoed down the hallway to the bedroom. Peeking around the door frame, she saw Martha grimly refusing to give CJ to a man with a gun. The man had had enough of this. "Give me the baby," he demanded, "or I'll kill him in your arms." Horrified, Martha handed over the baby, who immediately began to wail in the stranger's arm. Infuriated by the noise, the man raised his hand to whip the child into silence. A sudden shriek, "Hi-YA!", drowned out even CJ's cries, and Lois' foot connected with the man's gun-hand. The gun went off, the bullet embedding itself harmlessly in the ceiling, then the gun clattered to the floor, where Martha scooped it up. She pointed it at the man. The stranger ignored the gun, shaking his injured hand as he glared at the new arrival. "Lois. So nice to see you again -- NOT!" "Give me back my baby," Lois said. "Oh, but it's not your baby, is it?" sneered the man. "No, he's better -- he's a promise of things to come!" Lois held her head up, determined not to let this man, whoever he was, see her fears. "No doubts, Lois? No fears about your mothering abilities?" he taunted her. "You wouldn't want to raise him by yourself, would you? being so recently widowed and all..." The blood drained from Lois' face as the implication of his statement hit her. Across the room, Martha gasped, "No! Oh, no!" Metropolis, April 6, 2079, 10:16 p.m. Elaine stared skeptically at the glowing chess piece in her hand. She considered asking why wrapping it in the coat was suddenly so desperately important -- it seemed like a rather silly thing to do, actually. But the sight of her father-in-law staggering back to topple slowly over the table convinced her. She stuffed the chess piece in the coat pocket. "Better?" she asked. Neither man responded. Suddenly panicked, she tore the coat off Lori and rolled it tightly around the chess piece. Then she wrapped the coat in a plastic bag and taped it shut, to keep the bundle from unrolling. The men slowly roused, shaking their heads. "Oh, man, that hurt," groaned Clark. Superman pulled himself up stiffly onto a chair, and contemplated the apparently younger man lying on the floor. "Who are you," he whispered, "and why do you look so much like my father?" Clark sat up, then levered himself painfully up into a chair opposite Superman, considering how best to explain. "If you are... let's see... CJ's great-grandfather? then I *am* -- will be -- your father." Superman gave a short, disbelieving laugh, and Elaine said, "Young man, do you have any idea how nuts that sounds?" Clark grinned over at her. "What? to be looking at a man old enough to be my grandfather --" "Gee, thanks," muttered Superman. "--and saying he's my son? Very nuts, especially considering Lois and I have just been told we can't have kids. Speaking of which," he turned to Lori, "you must be CJ's mother -- is he missing yet?" "Excuse me?" "I'm sorry -- that's not a very tactful way of asking it, but it's important: Is your son upstairs or is he missing?" "He's missing," Lori admitted reluctantly. "Do you know where he is?" "He's with Lois," he assured her. "With Lois," Elaine interjected, more skeptical than ever. "*Mamaw* Lois, who died 20 years ago while Clark was still practically a baby?" Clark chewed on his lower lip a moment. Now was not the time to get stressed about the rate-of-aging issue, although he wasn't exactly a baby even now... no, wait, they must be talking about Lori's husband, who was apparently also named Clark. "Mamaw Lois is dead -- are you telling me my baby is dead?" Lori's voice rose hysterically, interrupting his thoughts. "Is that what you're telling me? My baby--" "No-no-no -- he's fine," Clark broke in desperately. "He's fine -- please don't cry!" He raked his hands through his hair, frustrated. "I'm not doing a good job of explaining this. Ma'am, CJ is fine, we'll get him back to you as soon as we can." Lori choked down her tears and Elaine bit her tongue, each struggling to understand this stranger who looked so achingly familiar and spoke in such confusing terms. Superman stared at the stranger and said, "Okay, explain this to us. Let's go back to the beginning -- who are you?" "I'm Clark Kent--" he heard Lori sob at the name, but pushed on-- "son of Jonathan and Martha Kent -- well, they adopted me. My birth parents were Jor-El and Lara, of the planet Krypton." Superman was shaking his head. "Not possible -- my father died years ago. How could you be him?" "H.G. Wells brought me from the past to correct something that's gone wrong--" "H.G. Wells?" asked Elaine. "Yes." "The writer." "Yes." "Who *died* over a hundred years ago -- again with the dead people -- what is it with you and dead people?!?" "Elaine -- let him finish," Superman said sharply. "Pops, he's talking nonsense!" she protested. "Elaine!" Elaine fumed silently, then her eyes widened as Clark rose off the chair, folding his legs beneath him as he floated across the room towards her. "Please let me help," he asked simply. Through all this, Lori's eyes were darting about unseeing as she searched her mind for a memory. "You're the prince!" she suddenly exclaimed. "You're here to save my Clark!" Clark blinked. "Excuse me?" Lori began to laugh. "I don't believe it -- the story was true and it's about Clark and me!" Now all three of the others were staring at her. "I'm sorry, you lost me there," said Clark finally. "My husband Clark says his great-grandfather, Papaw Clark, used to tell him a story about a wicked time traveler and a good time traveler, and the prince and princess who traveled through time to save a baby named CJ. That's part of the reason we called our baby CJ, because Clark always loved that story so much -- but we always thought it was just a story." Once upon a time, there was a mommy and a daddy who had a brand new baby that they loved very, very much. They had wanted a baby very badly, and they were *so* happy to have him. They named him CJ. One day, a wicked time traveler came to their house when the mommy was away, and he tried to hurt the daddy, because he wanted to steal Baby CJ. But then a good time traveler rescued Baby CJ. He took Baby CJ to the prince and princess for them to take care of him. But the prince and princess didn't just take care of Baby CJ. They came with the good time traveler and rescued the daddy, too. Then they killed the wicked time traveler and gave Baby CJ back to his mommy and daddy, and they lived happily ever after. "My dad was a great storyteller," grinned Superman. He looked over at Clark who, during Lori's story, had put his legs down and stood next to her. "You're really him, aren't you?" Superman stood and walked slowly over, unaccustomed tears forming in his eyes. "Dad -- I never thought I'd see you again!" Clark let out a shaky laugh, still a little overwhelmed at seeing this old man who was -- would be -- his son. The men embraced gruffly, then Clark pulled back a bit. "I'm not yet accustomed to being called 'Dad'," he chuckled, shaking his head. "I can't imagine calling you anything else," warned Superman, "so I hope you're not fixing to say 'Call me Clark'." "Okay." Clark grinned. "And my name is--" "Stop! Don't say it! If you don't mind... well... I think I'd rather call you Pops, like they do." Clark nodded toward the two women. He shrugged a little sheepishly at Superman's puzzled look. "There's something kinda special about choosing a name for your kid -- I don't want to miss that!" Pops chuckled. "You used to call me Pops sometimes when I was a kid -- now I know why!" Finally Elaine relaxed. "I remember you telling me that." She smiled, then turned to Clark. "I'm sorry for not believing you before -- it's great to see you again, Papaw." Clark grimaced. "*Papaw*? Now that's a name I'm gonna *have* to nip in the bud. Can you call me Clark? or- or- CK? That's what Jimmy calls me." Elaine smiled again and nodded, but before she could say anything, Lori broke in. "CK, you said my baby is with Mamaw Lois... um... LL?" Clark grinned, making a 'whatever' gesture with his hand, and Lori continued, her voice dropping to a whisper. "And in the story, the prince saved CJ's daddy -- but he's already dead." She struggled to keep her voice steady on the words that broke her heart to say. Clark X-rayed into the living room briefly to confirm what he already knew. "Tempus has taken the time machine --" "Tempus?!" exclaimed Pops. "What's he got to do with this?" "He's the 'wicked time traveler'," explained Clark. He turned to Lori. "He's the one that killed your husband and accused H.G. Wells -- I think you called him Jeremiah?" "That's impossible -- Jeremiah is the sweetest- What am I saying?! *You* are impossible, but you're here." She began to pace, wringing her hands. "He was my friend -- I invited him here -- this is all my fault! Clark's dead and it's all my fault!" As Elaine rushed to comfort Lori, Pops turned to Clark. "You said he took the time machine," he said grimly, "which means you're stuck here and he's-?" Clark started to shrug helplessly, but then his eyes widened in realization. "He's in my time, with Lois," he whispered. Metropolis, June 17, 1997, 2:25 p.m. Lois stared woodenly at the man. "No," she whispered. Then she looked at the baby he held, and suddenly began to laugh. "'No' is right," she stated firmly. "My husband is *not* dead." "Well, they say hope springs eternal, especially in the galactically stupid-" began the man. "In which case, you should be springing leaks," declared Lois. "If my husband were dead, that baby would have disappeared -- Duh! You're really not up on time travel paradoxes, are you? So now who's galactically stupid?" And with that, she launched herself at him, pummelling his unoccupied shoulder. Meanwhile, Martha, who had put down the gun and sneaked up behind him into Lois' line of sight, relieved him of the baby. With his arms suddenly free, the man was on the verge of overwhelming Lois when she abruptly boxed his ears and brought her knee up into his groin, and he went down with a gasp. As she sat on him, looking around wildly for something to tie him up with, a time window opened up and a familiar figure stepped through. "Andrus?" "Yes, Ms. Lane. I am flattered you remember me." "Hasn't exactly been *that* long." The stranger started to squirm under her, trying to get away, and she bounced on him, knocking the wind out of him again. "Be still!" she commanded. "Hmm... no, I suppose for you it has not," Andrus said placidly. "I am glad to see that you've managed to subdue Tempus." He produced a length of rope and helped her tie the man up. "This is Tempus?" Lois asked in disbelief. "Well, I knew he wasn't Social Services, not with that gun." She grabbed her captive by the hair, ignoring his protests, and turned his head so she could see his face. "Doesn't look like Tempus," she decided, dropping his head with a thump back on the floor. "Besides, Tempus is still in jail -- that was the first thing I checked when all this started." "Yes, well, this is a future version of Tempus. Against the advice of some less informed members of the Time Council, he was allowed to serve out his sentence in this time, carefully monitored for any attempts at escape. Soon after his release in 2027, we picked him up and returned him to the proper time, fully aware that he had not been rehabilitated, but needing to let history run its course." "Yadda, yadda, yadda," complained Tempus. "Enough with the exposition... can we get *on* with this?" "Hmm... well, we've got some things to set right before completing the extradition process." Dan Shawler danswler@netcom.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 19:37:18 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: S5: Episode 2 (part 3 of 4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Metropolis, April 6, 2079, 10:25 p.m. "What makes you think Tempus is in your time?" asked Pops. Clark turned to Lori. "In the story, you said the prince *and* princess traveled through time?" "Yes...?" Lori sounded puzzled. "Then Lois should be arriving here in the time machine any minute--" the floor started to shimmer-- "now." A second later, a bizarre rippling effect washed across the living room floor, and the time machine shimmered into existence. Clark and Pops watched through the wall as Lois climbed out, followed by Andrus. "Out here, Lois," Clark called. Lois whirled at the sound of his voice and rushed to the kitchen. "Clark!" she cried, flinging herself into his arms. "Tempus tried to tell me you were dead," she gasped between kisses, "but I knew it couldn't be true -- I just knew it!" "He tried," Clark started to respond, but a soft sob interrupted him. "I want *my* husband!" Lori wept against Elaine's shoulder. Lois turned at the sound and crossed the room with quick steps. "You must be CJ's mother," she said softly. The other woman nodded. "Is he all right?" she asked tearfully. "He's fine," Lois assured her. "I left him with Clark's parents -- he's a handful!!" Despite herself, Lori grinned a little at that. "He can really yell, too, when he gets in the mood." "Tell me about it," responded Lois dryly. Before she could continue, an uncharacteristically timid touch on her shoulder attracted her attention. She faced the man in the supersuit, gasping a little as she realized who he must be. "Mom?" he asked. She laughed suddenly. "Boy there's a mind-blowing question if I ever heard one!" Her infectious laughter broke the ice, and everyone relaxed a little. She reached up to stroke a recalcitrant lock of hair off his forehead, feeling as if she knew him even though they had just met. "I have a feeling I'm going to love being your mom." Overcome with emotion, Pops swept her into his arms. "Oh, Mom, I've missed you!" After a moment, Lois pulled away patting his arm as she scrubbed briefly at her own eyes. "Enough of that," she said a little gruffly. "We've got work to do." She reached down and took his hand, holding it up for her inspection. "Lois, what are you doing?" asked Clark in amazement. "Counting his fingers. I'm going for the toes next." She grinned impishly. "Isn't that what new mothers do?" "Mom!" Pops protested, laughing. "Okay, okay, I'll stop. Besides since I've been told I dangle like an hors d'oeuvre over the jaws of death," she grimaced at the unwelcome description, "this may be my one chance to get to know you -- especially you," she added, nodded to Lori. "No point wasting time on silliness." Andrus had been watching all this quietly from the living room door. He kept a hand firmly on the rope tying Tempus' hands, preventing him from working himself loose. Now he cleared his throat and spoke up. "Best not to say too much," he warned. "You wouldn't want to alter your future by knowing too much about their past. Or is it your... past... no...?" and he trailed off, frowning, confused. Lois rolled her eyes. "The man makes me wonder sometimes," she muttered. Pops patted her arm, grinning. "Actually, he's probably right, at least about the not telling too much. Dad's already said he doesn't want to know my name, so you and he can enjoy naming me yourselves. I just have to trust that you'll get it right..." he sighed in mock-despair. As Lois chuckled, he continued, "And you'll have plenty of time to get to know me, anyway. You stopped 'dangling' -- oh, a good twenty years before you- well, before you and Dad... died." He looked away, staring at a photo on the wall. As Lois followed his gaze, Elaine piped up. "Boy, now that was a blow," she said. "Losing both of you like that, barely a week apart." Lois walked slowly over to the photo, recognizing herself and her husband in the elegant, elderly couple pictured. She turned to him now, her eyes wet with tears even as she smiled, and he crossed the room quickly to hold her. "So much for that worry," he whispered against her hair. "Virtually identical lifespans, aging at the same rate." He was suddenly aware of the others staring at them, puzzled, and waved a hand, dismissively. "Just something we'd... wondered about," he said vaguely, and Lois hugged him a little harder, glad he didn't feel the need to elaborate. And yet... she turned to Andrus, drawing him out of his reverie. "Actually, though, I'm kind of surprised you aren't saying, 'no, don't tell them that!' You stopped the conversation before when it got... well... too revealing." Andrus smiled gently. "The future is a fragile thing, Ms. Lane," he commented. "Always shifting, always changing." Clark nodded. "Tempus could just as easily have succeeded in killing me earlier... uh... I mean, later... or-" He sighed. "You know what I mean." "So you're saying we're seeing one version of the future?" asked Lois. "That this is not necessarily the way things are going to happen?" "Something like that," agreed Andrus. "Well this is certainly the version I prefer," she said firmly. "I wish I could have gotten a hold of Charlie and the others at the Conference," Elaine fretted. "They would have loved to see you." "Charlie?" asked Lois. "My husband," said Elaine, smiling. "Your grandson." Sensing that the scene was rapidly developing into a serious family reunion, Andrus spoke up again. "I understand that H.G. Wells was imprisoned for the crime committed by Tempus," he said. "We can start by arranging for him to be released. Then we'll need to hop back in time a few hours and find some way to prevent this murder from happening in the first place." "You can do that?" breathed Lori, barely daring to hope. "Oh, yes," Andrus assured her. "Indeed, it is absolutely critical, although-" "Actually," Lois interjected smoothly, "I have an idea for how to handle things once we get there." She outlined her plan and everyone agreed that it was a good one. Everyone, that is, except Lori. "Oh, it's a good plan," Lori admitted. "But I'm going with you." "Lori, we don't know if this will work-" Clark ignored his wife's mock-outraged poke in the side and continued, "It would be tough on you to watch your husband die if we can't prevent it." "CK, this is my husband we're talking about here -- my life." Lori stepped closer, looking firmly from Clark to Lois and back. "I have to go -- I have to help -- I can't just sit here!" "Give it up, honey," Lois chuckled. "Seems our great-grandson married a girl as-" "Stubborn?" "I was going to say *strong-willed* as I am." Lois poked her husband again. "Yes, dear." Clark winked at Pops, then stage-whispered, "The two most important words for a married man to know -- 'yes, dear'." "You behave yourself, or I'll leave you here," Lois threatened, reaching up and kissing him lest anyone think she was serious. "Then where would you be, huh?" "Lonely," declared Clark, kissing her back. "I'll behave!" Metropolis, April 6, 2079, 8:45 p.m. Returning to the chess board after talking on the phone with Pops, Clark couldn't seem to shake a feeling of dread. After a few minutes of watching Clark stare blankly at the chess board, Jeremiah broke the silence. "Everything okay?" Not wanting to mention his concerns about Eva until necessary, Clark looked up and politely smiled. "Yes, everything's fine." Moving his queen to threaten Jeremiah's king, he announced, "Check." Jeremiah searched the board for his next move, intent on making the proper defense. He was reaching for his pocket when Lori suddenly stepped into the room. "Looking for this, Jeremiah?" she asked coldly, holding up the little carrying case she had retrieved from the future Tempus. Its deadly contents had been removed and disposed of before they traveled in time. Jeremiah stared at her in shock, then reached for his pocket again, only to find it empty. "Or maybe for this, *Tempus*?" Lois spat from behind, holding up the carrying case she had picked from his pocket a few seconds before. Tempus whirled around, struggling to maintain his charade as his plan crumbled around him. "I- I- I can't imagine what you're talking about," he stammered. "I have no idea-" "Drop the act, Tempus," said Clark (the original) walking into the room. "It's over." Clark (the great-grandson) stood up, looking in confusion at the new arrivals. He finally focussed on his wife, who was struggling to hold back her tears as she gazed at him. "Lori, what's going on? What's wrong?" He hurried to her side and wrapped his arms around her. "Sh-sh, don't cry, sweet." He turned to the others. Andrus and H.G. Wells had entered the room and were tying up Tempus. "Would someone please tell me what's going on? Lori, who are these people? Why are they tying up Jeremiah?" Before anyone could answer him, Tempus looked straight at Clark and shouted, "Superman! Help me! I think they intend to kill me!" Clark tensed, trying to find a way to help his friend, and in that instant of hesitation, CK spun into Superman and moved to Clark's side. "Well, well," Superman drawled. "The man who devoted his life to destroying Superman suddenly needs his help." He turned to Clark, dropping the sarcastic tone and speaking earnestly. "Look at him," he commanded. "Look into his eyes and tell me what you see." For a long moment, Clark stared, almost uncomprehending, at Superman. Then he turned to face his chess partner and seemed to compare what he'd seen in Superman's eyes to what he found in Tempus'. As Tempus began to squirm under the unrelenting gaze, Clark started to turn away. Tempus began to struggle wildly, seeming determined to make a break for it. Clark, being slightly closer, helped hold him as Andrus administered a sedating shot. The last bits of Tempus' mask of civility and innocence melted away. In its place was a look of pure rage. "NO!!" he shouted, and then the sedative took effect and he slumped to the floor. Clark turned again to Superman. "I don't think I can describe it, but he's not what or who I thought he was. I don't know how I know, but he's not... a friend. I had thought it was just the competition, the chess game, but it's more than that. It's something ... evil... like I said -- hard to describe." As he said those words, Lori faded to nothing in his arms. "Lori? Lori!" he cried. He whirled toward Superman. "Where did she go? What happened to my wife?!?!" "That was Lori from the future," H.G. Wells answered. "Lori your widow, from a future in which Jeremiah, or Tempus, which is his real name, succeeded in killing you. Once you recognized that he was a danger to you, the possibility of him killing you, at least for now, vanished, and so that Lori ceased to exist." Superman looked at and through the front of the house. "*Your* Lori, on the other hand, who doesn't know that anything happened, is standing out on the front sidewalk. With your mother," he added, grimacing, "which means I'll have to convince her all over again." "And you? Who are you?" Superman thought a moment, then said with a wry smile, "I'm the, uh, prince who traveled through time to rescue you and keep Baby CJ safe." Clark's eyes widened. "The story was true?" "The story was true. Did I do a good job of telling it to you when you were a little boy?" This was one revelation too many for Clark, and he staggered, clutching a chair for support. "Papaw?" he whispered. And then, "Papaw!!" he shouted, flinging his arms around the other man's neck. Then just as abruptly, he pulled back. "But you're dead!" he exclaimed. "Am I dead, too?" "You don't sound dead to me," said Lori, as she walked into the room with Elaine close on her heels. Seeing her husband standing next to Superman, she stopped in her tracks and gasped. After a moment, she moved closer, hesitantly, looking quickly back and forth between the two men. Blinking, she finally focussed on her husband and hazarded a guess: "You have a twin brother you just... forgot to tell me about?" "None that I know of," snapped Elaine. She stood, arms akimbo, staring at Superman. "So who are you?" she demanded. "He's Papaw," said Clark, before Superman could respond. "Did Mamaw come, too?" he asked, an almost child-like delight shining in his eyes. Superman gestured to Lois. "Papaw? Mamaw?" asked Elaine. "What are you talking about?" "Mamaw," Clark breathed, crossing the room to Lois. "Are you starting to feel ancient?" Lois asked Superman, as she returned Clark's hug. "I'm starting to feel that we're going to have a wonderfully happy family." He grinned at her. Meanwhile, Lori had noticed Tempus on the floor and hurried to his side. "What's wrong with Jeremiah?" she asked. She looked at Andrus and H.G. Wells, who stood on either side of him. "Who are you people? Why aren't you helping him? He's hurt --" Then she suddenly realized, "--and tied up! What's going on?" Elaine was getting tired of being ignored. "Clark Kent, you come over here right now and explain to me what's going on here." Lori almost grinned at seeing her husband being ordered about by his mother like a rebellious 10 year old, but she was still too perturbed by the sight of 'Jeremiah' tied up on the floor, apparently being guarded by two strangers, to be truly amused. Superman had started to respond to what was, after all, his name too, then caught himself. "While you explain it to them, I'm going to get comfortable," he announced. "Excuse me." And he whirled out of the suit and back into the jeans and T-shirt he had been wearing earlier. A moment later, when he put on his glasses, he was almost indistinguishable from his great-grandson. But even as the women in the room marveled over this fact, both supermen were tilting their heads, listening. As one, they flew to the living room window -- one opened it and the other collared the startled photographer hiding in the bushes outside. Clark Kent (Lois couldn't tell at first which one) hauled the young man up and held him a few inches off the ground. "Who sent you?" he demanded in his fiercest tone. And, remembering a similar scene from early in their relationship, Lois knew that was her husband talking. "N-n-nobody," stammered the photographer, frightened. "Hey -- I know you," the other Clark exclaimed. "You're that new kid at the Daily Planet that Pops was telling me about. Put him down, Papaw, it's all right. What's your name, again?" "Tommy," answered the young man, still shaking a little as his feet touched the ground. "What were you doing outside the window?" growled his assailant. "Getting the story." Tommy seemed to be regaining his confidence. "My grandfather was the best photographer the Daily Planet ever had, and he got a note -- told me if I came here tonight, I would get the story of a lifetime -- and I did -- wow!!!" CK turned to his great-grandson. "You'll have to get Pops to kill that," he whispered urgently. The younger Clark looked thoughtful. "Oh, I don't know. The world has changed a lot, Papaw. Maybe it's time for people to meet the man -- or men -- behind Superman." "WHAT?!?" exclaimed Lois. "You can't do that! You'll make your wife and child a target for every villain out there!" "Not that many villains out there anymore, Mamaw," said Lori softly, moving to her husband's side. "Superman's had a good effect on the people of Metropolis and the world." "A president from your time once called for a 'kinder, gentler' America," said Clark, wrapping an arm around Lori's shoulders. "In a lot of ways, we live in a kinder, gentler *world*. I can't imagine what life would be like for you, constantly dealing with..." He looked over and down at Tempus, and suddenly realized that, even somewhat sedated and securely tied, the man was trying to crawl to the door. CK sighed noisily. "Boy, you never give up, do you?" In a blur of motion, he stood in front of the man, blocking his way. CK reached down and grabbed the back of Tempus' belt, hefting him like a piece of luggage. "I envy you," he said to Clark, ignoring Lois' giggle at the way he held on to Tempus. "Must be nice to deal just with- what? Natural disasters? Kittens in trees?" Clark chuckled. "Well, we do still have some crime," he admitted. "But most of it is non-violent crime -- fraud, uh... electronic theft.... The sort of thing Pops fights at the Daily Planet more readily than I can in the suit." Lori looked fondly up at her husband. "You know this would solve the problem of your running for office," she commented. "What was the problem?" asked Lois. "People had started suggesting Superman should run for President," said Clark, grinning but a little embarrassed. "Oh, it was wild!" broke in Elaine. "There were buttons and stickers everywhere you looked -- "SUPERMAN FOR PRESIDENT!" -- he would have won by a landslide." "But the Constitution says the President has to have been born in the U.S., and everyone knows Superman is from Krypton..." finished Clark. "But you're not from Krypton, *I* am," protested CK. "Yeah, but they don't know that. And Dr. Clark Kent, professor at MetroU, doesn't have the national recognizability that Superman does to get elected." Tommy had been quietly writing all this down. "So where were you born?" he asked. Clark turned, startled -- he momentarily forgotten about their visitor. "I was born in Smallville, Kansas," he said. "I'm a third generation American." He thought a second then chuckled. "Make that Krypto-American!" CK turned to Lois, grinning. "Well, honey, how do you feel about going to Kansas to have our baby?" "It's something we'll have to talk about, *honey*," she retorted. "As soon as we figure out how to actually *have* a baby." Clark looked from one to the other. "Haven't pinned down your cycle yet, huh?" he asked in a commiserating tone. "It took Lori and me ages-" "*Cycle*?" asked CK. "*I* have a cycle?" As Clark nodded, a little confused, Andrus broke in. "I'm sorry -- I really must insist that you not say anything more on that subject, Mr. Kent," he said firmly. "I'm afraid any further revelations will alter the time stream, rather than just putting it back on course." "Excuse me?" exclaimed Lois. "What happened to 'the future is a fragile thing, Ms. Lane'?" "You did say this is the future you would prefer, didn't you?" Andrus asked, the gleam in his eye belying the severity of his tone. "Well... yes..." said Lois. "In any case," said H.G. Wells, "the decision of where 'Pops' is to be born is not one you'll have to make for a while -- he is, after all, the youngest of your children." His eyes twinkled mischievously. "The *youngest*?" echoed Lois incredulously. "Of our *children* -- plural?" asked CK, delighted. "How many children?" asked Lois suspiciously. H.G. waggled a finger at them. "No, no, no, that would be telling! But you're right about one thing, Mr. Kent." He beamed. "You're going to have a wonderfully happy family." As they reached over to hug each other, H.G. took out a pocket watch and looked at. "Well, I believe it's time now for us to go and get CJ," he said. "Get CJ?" asked Lori, suddenly suspicious. "What are you talking about? Clark, what are they talking about?" "Sh-sh," Clark soothed her. "You were asking before about Jeremiah." "I don't-" "Jeremiah was going to try to steal CJ." "No!" "It's okay -- they stopped him." Clark started to gesture to Andrus and H.G. Wells, then said, "Well, actually it was Mamaw and-" he broke off, unwilling to tell her about the murder which had been averted -- why hurt her with that knowledge? "Your wife deserves to know the whole story," said his great- grandfather quietly. Clark stared at CK a moment, then nodded. "You're right," he acquiesced. "*After* I go check on CJ," Lori insisted, turning toward the door. A hand on her arm stopped her. "He's not up there," said Lois. "H.G. Wells took him back to our time for safekeeping. That's what he meant when he said it was time to go get him." "But you're here -- who's taking care of him?" "The best parents in the world," said CK, smiling. "*Mine*." Lori stared at CK a moment, and then something seemed to click into place. "You're the prince and princess," she looked over at her husband, "from the story we named CJ for." Clark nodded in confirmation. She turned then to H.G. Wells. "And you're the good time traveler -- wow! H.G. Wells!" He smiled and bowed slightly. "At your service, madam." Lori looked finally at 'Jeremiah'. "Which leaves you in the role of the wicked time traveler, I guess. I trusted you -- invited you into my home --" Words failed her then and she walked back to her husband's arms, laying her head on his shoulder. Then suddenly she jerked upright again. "Eva!" she exclaimed. "He took Eva's place -- did he-?" The look in her husband's face confirmed her worst fears for her friend. "Oh, no... no!" She crumpled back into his arms, sobbing. "I'm sorry, sweet," he whispered. "I just found out this evening." A thought suddenly struck him and he turned to H.G. Wells. "Can you go back and save her, too?" he asked. Dan Shawler danswler@netcom.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 19:38:22 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: S5: Episode 2( part 4 of 4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Lori looked up, hope dawning in her eyes as H.G. Wells nodded, then fading as Andrus shook his head. "He could," Andrus said, "but it would do no good. This was the one thing that Tempus didn't alter much -- if he had left her alone, she would have been killed a few moments later when she was struck by a car -- she apparently crossed the street without looking and walked right in front of it." "Oh, Eva," Lori wept, burying her face in her husband's shoulder. The others watched in silence as the young couple grieved for their friend. After a moment, Andrus activated his time window, and CK helped him put Tempus through it, still securely tied. "Eva's murder will go unsolved for a few years, but fortunately, even in our time, there is no statute of limitations on murder. He will be tried and kept where we can keep very close tabs on him from now on." He shook hands all around and departed. H.G. Wells tapped CK's shoulder. "Perhaps if we were to get CJ now, it would help ease their pain a bit," he murmured, and CK agreed. Metropolis, June 17, 1997, 4:00 p.m. "We checked with Lucy Lane, and she insists she has no children," said Nancy LeClaire. She tried to move around Jonathan Kent, who stood firmly between her and Martha, who held CJ. "Since he is obviously not who Mrs. Kent said-" "Her name is Lane, not Kent, and you are not taking this baby!" declared Martha. Just then the floor began to shimmer. "What the-?" Nancy's eyes widened as the time machine quivered into existance before her. Lois popped up off Clark's lap and virtually bounced over to Martha, holding out her arms to take CJ. "Hello, baby," she cooed. "Are you ready to go home to your mommy?" Taking advantage of the others' distraction, Nancy tried to step in and take the child as he was transferring from Martha's arms to Lois'. "Lying to Social Services is a federal offense, Ms. *Lane*," she said, grabbing CJ's arm. Lois tried to slap the woman's hand away. "You! What are you doing here?" "Doing my job," Nancy insisted. "This is not your sister's child, and this is not an approved foster home -- I have a temporary restraining order making this child a ward of the state until such time as he can be returned to his parents." "Which is what we're in the process of doing." A long arm in blue Spandex gently but firmly moved Nancy away from her tug-of- war with Lois. "Superman!" she gasped. "We have identified the baby's parents," he assured her kindly, "and are in the process of returning him right now." He led her to the door. "I really appreciate your dedication to your job," he said, smiling warmly. Nancy melted, giddy, blushing like a schoolgirl at his praise. "I- I- thanks-" she stammered. "I'm sure you'll have a lot of paperwork to deal with getting the restraining order cancelled," he continued smoothly. "If you would be willing to let me, I'll see to it that the baby gets back to his parents, and that will save you a bit of trouble." She nodded, blinking, trying to regain some semblance of professional demeanor. "Of course -- thank you, Superman. If you don't mind-?" He shook his head, still smiling. "No, problem -- I'll be glad to help out." "I'll take care of the paperwork this afternoon, then." She started out the door, then turned back. "Superman, are you by any chance free for dinner?" Metropolis, April 6, 2079, 9:00 p.m. "The nerve of her," Lois was saying as they popped back into existence in the future. "Standing in *my* living room, propositioning my husband!" CK grinned up at her as she sat on his lap with the baby in hers. "Yeah, she was almost as persistent as you were!" "CJ!" squealed Lori, rushing to the time machine. She almost snatched her baby out of Lois' arms. Lois looked slightly discomfited as her great-grandson helped her alight. She rolled her shoulders a little, trying not to be bothered about returning the baby. Sensing her change in mood, CK moved quickly behind her, wrapping his arms around her. "Ready to go home?" he asked. "Yeah," she whispered back, her voice a little ragged. She walked over to where Elaine and Lori were cooing over CJ. "You take good care of him," she said, her eyes filling with tears. Lori shifted CJ around to free one arm, unwilling to turn him loose altogether. "Thank you, Mamaw," she said, hugging Lois. "Thanks for keeping my baby safe." "My pleasure," said Lois, hugging Lori back. She stroked CJ's downy head, watching him drift off to sleep in the security of his mother's arm. "It was nice meeting you, CJ," she whispered, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "I'm gonna miss you." Elaine stood back, looking at her. "I'm still not sure who you are," she said finally, "but I guess I should thank you for- hell's bells, I don't even know what I should thank you for!" Lois laughed. "Clark will explain it all once we're gone," she said. "It was nice to meet you, Elaine. I'm glad to know my... descendants -- Ha! -- have a taste for feisty women! It's not easy being Superman's wife, is it?" Elaine softened a little under the other woman's compassionate gaze. "It gets easier," she said, "especially once he passes the suit on to the next generation." "I guess I've still got that to look forward to," said Lois, smiling. She reached out tentatively and hugged Elaine, who returned the hug just as cautiously. Finally Lois turned to Clark, who was shaking his look-alike great-grandfather's hand. "Mamaw, it was so great to see you again," he said, pulling her into a bear hug. For once, Lois was at a loss for words. She hugged her great- grandson fiercely, then turned to watch CK take his leave of the others. CK was too choked up to talk. He gathered Lori and the baby up in a gentle hug, kissed Elaine on the cheek, then hugged Clark. "You're a good man, Clark Kent," he finally managed. "I had good role models," said Clark simply. A flash from the photographer's camera grabbed everyone's attention. "Can I get a group shot before you have to go?" Tommy begged. Laughing, they posed for him, and he snapped several shots. Suddenly Lois said, "Wait a minute -- how did you say you knew to come here tonight?" "My grandfather told me," Tommy replied. He dug into his camera bag and pulled out a yellowed envelope with the words "Jimmy Olsen -- do not deliver before April 6, 2079" written in Superman's clear lettering. CK took it looking at it for a moment, then grinned at his wife as he returned it. "Well," he said, "I guess if *Superman* gives it to the Daily Planet mailroom, we can be reasonably certain it won't get get delivered or read early." He got into the time machine, pulling Lois into his lap, and H.G. Wells climbed in beside him. As the machine powered up, Lois and Clark took one final look at their descendants, waving and calling, "Goodbye! Take care!" Metropolis, June 17, 1997, 4:05 p.m. "So what happens to them now?" Once again Lois was talking as they traveled through time. "Now Tommy writes his story, and Utopia begins," answered H.G. Wells. "Ironic, isn't it? Tempus served as a catalyst to create the very thing he was trying to destroy." "What do you mean?" asked Clark, helping Lois up off his lap. "Well, if Tempus hadn't tried to kill Clark... the other Clark... you wouldn't have needed to go forward in time, and there would have been nothing for the photographer to see. They might have carried on as they were indefinitely. But now-" he reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled out a newspaper. The headline screamed, "SUPERMAN REVEALED", and below it were photographs of Superman spinning back into Clark. "So does he get elected president?" asked Lois. "Who?" asked Martha. H.G. just smiled, took the paper back, and settled back into his seat in the time machine. "Goodbye, Ms. Lane, Mr. Kent." He nodded to Martha and Jonathan. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent." He tipped his hat, and was gone in a shimmer of light. Lois a short huff, then turned to her husband, the annoyance in her eyes giving way to a twinkle. "A cycle, huh?" He grinned back at her. "That's what he said." Lois looked over at her parents-in-law. "Martha, Jonathan, would you excuse us for a bit? Clark and I have some... research to do." THE END Dan Shawler danswler@netcom.com