From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG9805C" ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 18:42:46 +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: Teri... In-Reply-To: <2.2.16.19980514192839.09cfbbae@swcp.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" So Debby, How are you? Dare I ask...I am not sure you are the right person to ask, but still. Did Teri actually have a part in the Seinfeld finale? Just got back from an exciting guided expedition to a chinese supermarket. Now I have all sorts of interesting dishes to try out over the weekend:):) Have a good weekend, and thanks for the continuing filter service on Loiscla mail. I still like to read the stuff you send. Most of it is still interesting to me. The TH/DC affair stuff last week was a riot (funny) and when K (Callan) asked to read it I sent it to her too and she had a laugh over it too. She said that Teri couldn't keep anything a secret and chewed the ear off the nearest person at any given time. Thus she reakons that no affair of theirs would be kept secret by her... anyway, I find it ammusing to sit back and let the rumours fly:):) Adrienne _________________________________________________________________________ Thank you kindly, 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, 15 May 1998 20:01:02 +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: Major Apologies... Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Oh that was a bad mistake... Please disregard the last post I sent out here... Watching others accidentally send to the various lists instead of private mail, I finally succumed to the same mistake. Also, since it wasn't meant as public record, you might want to ignore anything you read in the post as well... Accidents happen... Apologies again. Adrienne ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 05:30:22 -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: Re: Teri... Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 06:42 PM 5/15/98 +1000, My friend wrote to me but it got to the list... >So Debby, > >How are you? > >Dare I ask...I am not sure you are the right person to ask, but still. > >Did Teri actually have a part in the Seinfeld finale? [snip everything else...] I didn't watch the show. I've only watched it once, in rerun, for Teri. I had better things to do last night. I suspect Seinfeld is more a New York phenomena than anything else... and not everyone is enamored with NY (or LA for that matter...) Debby Debby@swcp.com who doesn't wish to offend anyone living in those areas but who prefers her mountains :) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 16:18:38 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Zoomway Subject: Re: Major Apologies... Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-15 06:03:46 EDT, aev@CIA.COM.AU writes: << Accidents happen... >> but I get the e-mail about them Please, those who asked, write to Adriene privately at aev@cia.com.au Also keep in mind that you will never get an official answer to a rumor from a fellow cast member writer or producer of this show, I can just about promise you Most wouldn't even admit 'officially' if Eugenie and Singer had an ongoing relationship, yet most of us who attended the first LAFF already knew that No one with a "name" wants to be on record where they could so easly find their name in a tabloid right next to that quote. They will never leave a deliberate paper trail that could come back to haunt them, think about it ;) Zoomway@aol.com (remember, the thread is dead, contact Adriene privately ;) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 18:42:46 -0800 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: Re: Major Apologies... In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >Zoomway@aol.com (remember, the thread is dead, contact Adriene privately ;) I can understand you getting besieged with "is that true?" comments and asking people to stop emailing you personally, but "the thread is dead" is awfully list-mom-ish and that's Farah's job on this list. Leanne Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com) Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/ Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 18:58:58 -0800 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: Only Angels Have Wings ... now online Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all, I recently posted my fic "Only Angels Have Wings" to this list -- just wanted you to know there's an online version (with a pic I had fun doctoring) at: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/fanfic/angels.html Leanne Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com) Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/ Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:17:24 -0800 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: Re: the POV "problem" In-Reply-To: <2.2.16.19980513042759.20af128e@swcp.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Having just come from an "extraction of teeth" style writing period, trying to get into *Clark's* head ... I guess I'll have to say, I don't write Clark's POV very well :) (we'll see what the editors have to say!) Anyway, this POV discussion brings up a question for me: aren't you supposed to pick a POV and *stick* with it for the whole of the story? (says she who just broke this rule) Is this hard and fast, except perhaps when you want to make a point? >From my "The New Writer's Survival Guide" by Dianne Bates (this is an Aussie book): "A short story is usually told from the point of view of one of its characters, though in the novel the point of view can switch from one character to another. ... The point of view you decide to use can be of any kind [she listed 1st, 3rd, omniscent, multiple] but you must use it consistently. Do not change viewpoint in mid-story as it can weaken the narrative." Being one of those souls who like to break rules -- ("Whaddya mean the hero can only be at most 10 years older than the heroine??" "Whaddya mean no one can actually die in the Regency Romance?" and so on) -- my stories may never sell *grin*, but at least I don't have to stick to poncy plot rules! Anyway, I forgot my point ... when should one break this particular POV rule and when to stick to it? When I do multiple-POV in a story that's not quite a novel -- I don't do POV switches mid-scene, but separate scenes can be viewed by different people... Next? Leanne Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com) Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/ Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 22:29:10 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Zoomway Subject: Re: Major Apologies... Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-15 21:49:14 EDT, you write: << I can understand you getting besieged with "is that true?" comments and asking people to stop emailing you personally, but "the thread is dead" is awfully list-mom-ish and that's Farah's job on this list. >> My comment was to make sure that those who subscribe to LOISCLA where the old thread had taken place realized they read aev's post here on the fanfic list and not LOISCLA. I do apologize to Farah though if she thought I was stepping on her toes, I wasn't, I just wanted to make sure this dead thread wasn't resurrected on the other list because the e-mail I received indicated confusion over where it had appeared. Hope that clears it up ;) Zoomway@aol.com (Tom Bodet will leave the light on for ya ;) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 20:28:55 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Joan Organization: MailCity (http://www.mailcity.com:80) Subject: Re: Desktop Themes Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well, my whole pc has the Lois & Clark theme. Not only all the icons, cursors, sounds and wallpaper have the Lois&Clark theme, I even changed the word assistant to "power pup"(a dog with a red cape,haha)just to keep up the super theme....and I use a superman mousepad also, though it is the image of the comics superman. If you want to see how my desktop looks like, please visit the Lois & Clark Fun Page on my main L&C page. The URL is as below.:) p.s. I just need to have a L&C screensaver to complete the whole thing. So if anyone of you have one, please help me and tell me where to find one, please. Thanks. --- Joan aka dmj ***************************************************************** * My Lois & Clark page: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dmyeung/ * ***************************************************************** >Cassie: I not only have an L&C desktop theme but I mixed and matched a >few different versions of it (including 2 animated ones) until I came up >with (for me) the perfect combination of sounds, icons, wallpaper and >color schemes. I do not however, have a screen saver idea but I would >LOVE to have one (It would just drive my family crazy!) so if you ever >do find one it would be great if you could send it my way . . . :) >-Caroline Amberson supersticky@hotmail.com > > > >______________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > Get your FREE, private e-mail account at http://www.mailcity.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 23:34:17 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kat5107 Subject: Re: the POV "problem" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 5/15/98 7:17:12 PM, Leanne wrote: <> I find that when writing fanfic, I tend to switch POV from scene to scene, depending on which is more convenient I even switch POV in the middle of a scene (*huge* no-no!), but I think it's because we're so used to seeing everything projected. No, I don't mean that everyone's fanfic is actually acted out , but we have concrete characters on which to base our stories on (meaning they have actual faces and personalities, not necessarily ones we have to invent). But in my short stories and other fiction, I tend to stick to one POV throughout. <> A great professor once told me, "You can break the rules, but only once you've learned them and *know* you're breaking the rules." Or something to that effect. So I think you're OK with all your rule-breaking, Leanne! Kat Kat5107@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 01:08:06 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: SStroud Subject: Re: Desktop Themes Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Coming out of lurk mode to say... My screensaver is a floating picture of Dean Cain in a leather jacket. Nothing like leaving the computer for a few minutes to return and find Dean waiting for you. Back to lurk mode. Susan ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 04:09:08 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Georgia E. Walden" Subject: Re: the POV "problem" In-Reply-To: <55dfaede.355d093b@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I'm coming in on this thread a little late, and I don't know if anyone has defined POV. Are we talking about first person, third person limited, third person omniscient, etc. which may or may not be the same throughout a story, or the varying points-of-view of the characters in the story? I've read stories which were entirely first person, and therefore only one person provides information to the reader, and I've read third person ominiscient, where the author and by extension, the reader, is God, but most stories are combinations. For instance, Mary Stewart's TOUCH NOT THE CAT alternates pure first person (describing a past event) and third person narrative (in the present) until the climax brings the two storylines together. Within the third person narrative, the POV can shift among as many characters as you like, depending on what you need or want the reader to know. At 11:34 PM 5/15/98 EDT, you wrote: >In a message dated 5/15/98 7:17:12 PM, Leanne wrote: ><supposed to pick a POV and *stick* with it for the whole of the story? >(says she who just broke this rule) Is this hard and fast, except perhaps >when you want to make a point? >> I'm surprised that anyone would make it a "rule" - it seems like a useful guideline for a writer, for organizing the narrative perhaps. Or it could be a disciplinary technique - testing the ability to select the most effective way to tell a story. However, I suspect that a writer instinctively shifts the POV because, as stated below, it's a way of describing what the eye sees and in the case of L&C, we see a TV screen. ;) Just as the camera shifts from one actor to another within a scene or to another place altogether when the scene changes, the writer tries to duplicate that effect on paper. Kat wrote: >I find that when writing fanfic, I tend to switch POV from scene to scene, >depending on which is more convenient I even switch POV in the middle of a >scene (*huge* no-no!), but I think it's because we're so used to seeing >everything projected. No, I don't mean that everyone's fanfic is actually >acted out , but we have concrete characters on which to base our stories on >(meaning they have actual faces and personalities, not necessarily ones we >have to invent). And because we're writing about characters who exist in a visual medium that we all share, I've noticed that a lot of fanfic writers don't do much physical description in their stories. The kind of things that are standard in most genre fiction - clothes, food, interior decoration, weather, all kinds of elements that make up the characters and their world - are described as a way of making the reader "see" the story. We don't have to do that - all we have to do is say "Clark grinned at Lois" and a perfectly clear image of Dean's face and that killer smile of his is there in the reader's mind. ;) Or we write "Perry surveyed the news room of the Daily Planet" and we all know exactly what he's seeing. The prose writer ordinarily doesn't have that luxury. One of the reasons for choosing a POV is that it offers a tool for descriptive information. Instead of a flat listing of a character's physical appearance, you can paint a visual picture by describing him through another character's eyes. I apologize for giving an example from something I wrote myself, and I'm not saying it's a great example, but bear with me. In ALT SHOOK UP, I wanted to describe the scene which we saw in the original episode ALL SHOOK UP in which Clark is found naked in a crater, but in the alternate universe the event occurs in a somewhat different context. My version uses Lois and her limited POV - she sees and hears something and investigates but she has no idea what exactly has happened. Because the scene is viewed through her eyes, it seemed to me natural to describe Clark's appearance as a woman might react to it - her response to all that skin, ;) his voice coming out of the darkness, his smile - things that this particular person would note and react to, rather than an objective description from the omniscient point of view. This technique of introducing a character by viewing him through another's eyes is very common in romantic fiction - it allows the writer to describe not only how the character looks in an active rather than static way, but it gives the reader emotional clues about how the viewing character thinks and feels. Later on, I wanted to say that Lois had a particular expression on her face, so I wrote what Clark saw, rather than simply describing it. I think everyone who tries to write instinctively chooses the vantage point that hopefully works best to get across what they want the reader to know, to think, or to feel. >A great professor once told me, "You can break the rules, but only once you've >learned them and *know* you're breaking the rules." Or something to that >effect. I agree with this, and it's also helpful to know not only what the rule is but what it was designed to accomplish. If what you're doing works, then you're not breaking the rule, you're making a new one. ;) Georgia gwalde14@mindspring.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 17:20:06 +1000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Louise Kendall Subject: Re: Continuity & Soul Mates In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" hey everyone I was cleaning out my mailbox and I found this post. I have 'The Falcon' and 'The Lone Rider' but I don't have 'The Sea Hawk'. I was wondering if anyone could tell how I could get my sticky little fingers on this one? panzer division jem At 22:22 15/03/98 EST, you wrote: >In a message dated 98-03-15 22:11:46 EST, you write: > ><< So what era are the three current ones set in? >> > >SoulMates Chronicles: The Falcon--- is set in Itlaly, 16th century, the >Renaissance. >SoulMates Chronicles: The Sea Hawk---is set in Cuba, 18th century. >SoulMates Chronicles: The Lone Rider--is set in Texas, 19th century. > >If anyone has more questions, I will be glad to answer them. > >Annie >Lansbury1@aol.com > > ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 11:43:21 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: IndiBlue Subject: Re: Continuity & Soul Mates Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-16 04:44:45 EDT, you write: << SoulMates Chronicles: The Sea Hawk---is set in Cuba, 18th century. >> The Sea Hawk! I missed that one completely. Can someone tell me where to find it. Thanks. Layney ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 15:04:18 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandra McDermin Subject: Re: the POV "problem" and limitations of speaking thru certain characters Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >>I'm coming in on this thread a little late, and I don't know if anyone has defined POV. Are we talking about first person, third person limited, third person omniscient, etc. which may or may not be the same throughout a story, or the varying points-of-view of the characters in the story?<< I'm sorry, Georgia. I started this discussion, and, for lack of a proper term, took liberties with the term POV. You're right. POV really refers to whether a story is in first person, third person, etc. But, the question I was trying to get at was what *character* does one fine easiest to speak through? As I mentioned, I am most comfortable seeing the world through Lois' eyes and describing the action in my stories in terms of her viewpoint. However, in three of my four stories, I switched viewpoints because I had to. There were scenes where Lois didn't appear. When there is a scene which includes Lois, I tend to write the action in terms of what she sees. I find, when I am writing a scene where I have to see the world through Clark's eyes and verbalize his thoughts, I have a more difficult time. I think it's because he is a character very different from my own personality. He's less sarcastic than Lois and, usually, less funny. I also enjoy writing from Ellen's point of view because she's so outlandish. In "Love as a Blonde", surprisingly enough, I did find Clark to be less difficult for me because **finally** I could make jokes with him and about him (in a gentle sort of way). I loved having him go to a book convention and finding amateur writers, professional writers, and intellectuals hypothesizing on Superman's erotic impact on science fiction writing. I loved having him flabbergasted over the use of his suit as an aphrodisiac. And, I loved his reaction to finding out that his wife was becoming a romance writing queen, including romantic scenes from their life in her stories. I enjoyed finding humor in his discomfort at how people might react to him in his suit. Obviously, he wants people not to know that he's Clark through the use of this suit and he wants people to respect him as Superman when he wears it. But, I don't think he wants the general public to see him as a romantic idol or fantasize about him sexually. Notice his discomfort in AKA Superman. I think his embarrassment is charming and one of his attractions. In fact, through that story, I was -- ultimately -- poking fun at myself (and the whole L&C n-fic genre ) by having Clark stumble upon that lecture and realizing he had caused some interesting developments in the science fiction world. (God knows, before they put Dean Cain in tights, *I* wasn't exactly interested in Superman.) I've edited the following excerpt slightly since it came from an n-fic story, but I believe it's fairly innocuous. ******** Exiting the bank of elevators, Clark roamed between the long rows of tables lining the wide, carpeted hallways of the hotel. Every conceivable book was being touted in every genre. He stopped beside a few display tables covered with mystery novels and glanced at the easel standing sentry outside the accompanying conference room. According to the busy agenda posted on the board, the event currently going on behind the closed doors was "The Butler Didn't Do It: How to Keep the Mystery in a Mystery," a discussion with noted author ... J ... J ... something ... Fletcher. Clark was just about to pull his glasses down for a closer look, when an easel further along the corridor caught his attention through the passing crowd. "Science Fiction, Superman, and Sex: An Evolution of the Genre," a paper presented by Professor G.I. Cant with responses by well-known science fiction authors.... Both intrigued and wary, Clark walked toward the sign, entering the area designated for fantasy and science fiction literature. He pushed his way through the door, noted the full ballroom, and leaned up against the back wall. The audience seemed to be hanging on the words of a bearded, bespectacled university-type droning on in a monotone that belied the nature of his topic. "The existence of Superman, whether one considers him an alien or not, *has* had a positive correlative relationship with the...." The speaker stopped for a moment to sip from his water glass. "... with the level of sexual content in science fiction literature." He stopped to sip again. "Superman's *power,* his *force,* his ... *command,* his ... *boldness,* his ... tight, uh...." The speaker seemed to almost hyperventilate as he searched unsuccessfully for an appropriate word. "his tight.... " Giggles began to emanate from the crowd in response to the presenter's failing vocabulary and the suggestive movements his eyebrows seemed to be involuntarily making to supplement the lack. Clark reddened. "Professor C*an*t!" A serious, young man who was taking rapid, copious notes towards the front of the large room raised his hand in a vigorous wave. The speaker, looking over his glasses, frowned at the nasal sound seeming to screech at him from across the rows of seats. "That's pronounced C*aun*t! Professor C*aun*t! As in, *Immanuel.*" A snicker escaped the crowd. "Professor C*aun*t, what does 'a positive correlative relationship with the level of sexual content in science fiction literature' mean *exactly?* Are you saying that Superman qua Superman is a sexual turn-on and has opened the floodgates to a wave of erotica in science fiction; *and,* if you *are* saying that, would you also agree that this development in the genre is heightening its popularity with, *and* is being used to market to, the female demographic? In other words, Professor, is Superman a tease to get women interested?" The audience roared with laughter at this last question and many shook their heads in vigorous assent. Clark could feel himself flushing even more. Although he was sure there was no one in the room who could make a positive correlation between himself and Superman, the direction of the discussion was making him decidedly uncomfortable all the same. "Exactly!" the speaker exclaimed, seeming to gain new strength from this penetrating breakthrough. "Superman has put the sizzle in science fiction!" Superman qua Clark, his sizzle on a low burn for the moment, found himself slinking out of the room, taking a deep breath of relief at the exit. 'What is going on here?! Were lotharios across America -- maybe the world -- not only reading and writing about ... "Superman" but donning his tights like c-- at his ... *my* unintentional instigation?! Am *I* selling sex?!' ****** The bottom line is I like using humor and I find Clark (and especially Superman) to be the least "funny" character of the L&C world. I guess it's because you can't make him seem too ridiculous or play too fast and loose with his character without endangering his moral authority. Responses *to* him can be "wacky," but can Clark be seen as wacky, as Lois -- for instance -- has sometimes been portrayed? I don't think so. You can have fun with him (that's what red-K is for), but you can't risk putting his overall "stature" in question. Sandy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 15:25:34 -1000 Reply-To: shore@maui.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jamee Jones Subject: Re: The Dissapointment of Dean MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jon Neil wrote: > I think I just wish to see Dean more. I wish that Lois & Clark > would've > continued. I wish Dean were so famous that we would see him all over > the > small sceeen and the silver screen. I wish.. I wish.. I wish.. Oh well I was just cleaning out my email and realized I forgot I wanted to respond to this email. I feel exactly the same and was just looking up his Dean's name on the net when I stumbled onto this site: http//www.pworld.net.ph/~lara/deancain.html#q2 It mentions a couple of movies that he has been in "Miracle Beach" and "Stone Boy". I haven't seen either of them and am hoping they have them at the video store. (I think it will help my sense of reality to see that Clark Kent isn't real, he's just an actor playing a role! :-( ) Anyways, It mentions another movie that is supposed to come out in Sept. or Oct. called "Best Men" (I think that is what it is called) and he is supposed to play opposite Drew Barrymore (Sorry, but I don't seem to like her!) The person who has this web page up says they were confused with the movie The Wedding Singer, but realizes now that that movie was a different one not starring Dean Cain. So I'm wondering if they mean that this new movie "Best Men" is comming out this Sept. or Oct. or if it already passed and just didn't make the big screen? Anyone else hear anything? j-me ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 21:01:33 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sara Kraft Subject: Re: Desktop Themes Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >> OK, How many of you are so loyal, so dedicated, so disgustingly >> preoccupied with L&C's world that you too have the L&C Desktop Theme with >> sounds, icons, and wallpaper? Just curious to know how many other >> completely sickeningly Obsessed L&C fans there really are out >> there.....Besides just me My wallpaper has one of the tatoo pics with a blue & S-shield background. >Yup! AOL welcomes me with the theme to Superman, and I stare at this little >superman curser all day. All I need now is a screen saver...any suggestions >;) I used to have the supes cusor until my computer crashed one day. Now I can't seem to find jijib's page, if it still exsists. Anyone who can email it to me, could they please write me privately? I miss my flying supes. =( Sara (who is graduating from high school in four days!!!) __________ Sara Kraft likemoo@azstarnet.com http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/hills/3192 ----------------- ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 14:43:01 +1000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jenny Stosser Subject: Re: Desktop Themes In-Reply-To: <199805170401.VAA08027@cepheus.azstarnet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 09:01 PM 16/05/98 -0700, you wrote: >>> OK, How many of you are so loyal, so dedicated, so disgustingly >>> preoccupied with L&C's world that you too have the L&C Desktop Theme with >>> sounds, icons, and wallpaper? Just curious to know how many other >>> completely sickeningly Obsessed L&C fans there really are out >>> there.....Besides just me > >My wallpaper has one of the tatoo pics with a blue & S-shield background. > > >>Yup! AOL welcomes me with the theme to Superman, and I stare at this little >>superman curser all day. All I need now is a screen saver...any suggestions >>;) > >I used to have the supes cusor until my computer crashed one day. Now I >can't seem to find jijib's page, if it still exsists. Anyone who can email >it to me, could they please write me privately? I miss my flying supes. =( > >Sara (who is graduating from high school in four days!!!) I use a combination of various Superman themes for my computer. My wallpaper is the pic of Dean in the white sheets. My hubby says it's enough to put him off using my computer . I use the flying supes for my arrow cursor, and one of clark changing to superman for my busy cursor. I also have a variety of other superman.ani cursors available (including one called bonk.ani for my error cursor ) I found a screen saver program that lets you play avi files in sequence as a screen saver, and had that set up to play Demi's 5 parter avi, but it used so much memory that it never went into green-mode auto shutdown, and it played it way too loud too (you could hear it down the street!), so for now I've just switched to one of the screensavers that comes with win'95. I also found a shareware programme somewhere that mimics Plus!, so you don't have to pay for it - it also allows you to change the startup and shutdown wallpapers, so I have a L&C montage for startup and one of the clone-wedding photos for shutdown. Erin/Elk was working on producing a screen saver to go with her Superman Desktop theme, of the cape flapping from the credits for L&C, but I haven't heard if it's ready yet. Anyone who wants copies of the bits I've mentioned above to use for their homemade L&C themes, please ask by private email and I will attempt to attach them for your viewing pleasure . -- Jenny Stosser -*- jenerate@ozramp.net.au -*- (Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- My ICQ# is 11477318 -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- Photos of David (5) and Megan (2) on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/4583 Please sign our guestbook! ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 09:55:45 -1000 Reply-To: shore@maui.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jamee Jones Subject: Virus warning!!! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all! Below is a virus warning I recieved a couple of days ago from a friend. I don't know if it is okay to send this to the list, but since I have sent it out to all my email pals already 2 of them have thanked me up one side and down the other because they had the exact emails warned about in their box! So I'd feel bad if I didn't tell all of you too and something happened! :-( take care, j-me VIRUS WARNING MEMORANDUM DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SUBJECT: ALERT FOR LAHAINA INTERMEDIATE If you recieve an e-mail titles"WIN A HOLIDAY" DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT OPEN IT. It will erase everything on your hard drive. Forward this letter out to as may people as you can. This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it. This information was announced yesterday morning from microsoft; Also, do not open or even look at any mail that says "RETURNED or UNABLE TO DELIVER." This virus will attach itself to your computer components and render them useless. Immediately delete any mail items that say this. AOL stated: "This is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO REPEAT NO REMEDY for it at this time. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 17:02:34 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: demona Subject: MEMO: VIRUS WARNING In-Reply-To: <355F40C1.4136C853@maui.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" VIRUS WARNING WARNING MEMORANDUM DEPARTMENT Of Lois & Clark DEMI'S DESK SUBJECT: HAND OVER THAT "SEND" BUTTON. If you recieve an e-mail titled "VIRUS WARNING" DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD IT SAYS. It will tell you that God's firey wrath will be visited upon your hard drive via an email message. But rest assured that this is not true! A virus cannot be spread this way. Forward this letter out to as may people as you can. This information is announced every 4 days when some new person FWDs a chain letter to an ENTIRE LISTSERV. Also, FEEL FREE to open or even look at any mail that says "RETURNED or UNABLE TO DELIVER." This virus does not exist, and will not attach itself to your computer's underwear. It's completely useless. IMMEDIATELY delete any mail items that tell you otherwise! When AOL stated: "This is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO REPEAT NO REMEDY for it at this time." They were talking about their own software. You probably got a copy of it in the mail recently ;) Best Everyone! Demi _______________________________________________________ Demi (a.k.a) Demona or http://fantasia.simplenet.com/lcfantasy/demona.htm --- L&C Site http://fantasia.simplenet.com/lcfantasy --- As a director, one is responsible for weaving together the genius of others into comprehensive expression. --- I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. ________________________________________________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 14:03:55 -0800 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: It's Time -- the last episode ... Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Well, all, here it is: the last episode of S5. It's going out a little early because I have an embankment to prepare for planting ... the web version'll be out a little later 'cause I just finished it to send off to our wonderful webmistress, Alyssa. Thanks Alyssa -- and thanks to all those who did the screen captures which illustated our online work! I'd like to publicly thank all the writers and editors for working so hard on this S5 in the face of tough deadlines, real life and requested rewrites. And also to thank you, the readers, for your encouragement and support, because believe me, this wasn't easy and you gave us the energy to keep on going. Kudos also to past scriptwriters/producers of L&C -- now I have an idea of what you had to go through! (thank *god* we didn't have an ABC looming over us though) So I hope you enjoy this last episode of S5 ... and an announcement about S6 will be made in due course, I'm sure. I know they're still on the lookout for writers. Any questions, offers to sign up as an editor/writer/etc should be made to Kathy Brown at kbrown@toolcity.net Well, that's all from me for now! Enjoy! Leanne Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com) Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/ Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 14:04:15 -0800 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: It's Time (part 1 of 6) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" IT'S TIME by Pam Jernigan edited by Kathy Brown Teaser August 17, 1998 -- Monday, 2pm "Lois, you're still pregnant?" Lois Lane, entering the Daily Planet newsroom for the first time since beginning her maternity leave, glared at Ralph, the source of that particularly witless question. Before she could reply, however, her husband came up to meet her at the elevator, selflessly throwing himself in front of her intended victim. "Yeah, Ralph, we're still pregnant." Clark leaned in for a quick kiss, stifling Lois' mutter of "what was your first clue?" He turned around and smiled. "You just never know when the kid will decide to appear." Lois, standing with Clark's arm around her, managed to smile. Here, with Clark, in the newsroom, she felt comfortable, capable, in charge. Sitting at home, waiting, was about to drive her bananas -- especially after that bout of false labor last week had raised and then dashed her hopes. "I just came in to visit." "Oh, well, good to see you. And since I'm not on vacation, like some people," Ralph grinned broadly to show that he was joking, "I've got to get going. Good luck!" The elevator pinged again, and Ralph dove inside the car. Lois rolled her eyes. "Vacation, he calls it. It's driving me nuts!" "Well, that's not surprising, honey," Clark teased. "Our last vacation drove you nuts, too." "No, darlin'," she corrected, smiling, "you're thinking of that island with Spencer Spencer. Our last vacation was our honeymoon, and *that* I enjoyed very much!" "You're so right," he conceded gracefully, and motioned for her to precede him over towards the small visitor's couches. Lois always looked so adorably smug when she won a point. "How are you feeling today?" With his assistance, she sank down into the couch and immediately propped her feet up on the table. "I'm as good as can be expected. I think the baby's dropped a little because I can almost take full breaths now, but I'm still tired, and my back aches, and my feet look like water balloons, and I have to go to the bathroom roughly every half-hour. Other than that, though..." Clark smiled sympathetically. Despite her complaints, she bore her pregnancy well; he admired her equanimity, and thought she'd never looked more beautiful. "Other than that," he finished for her, "you're excited about the baby and you're worried about labor. And sitting at home with nothing to do is making you wish you hadn't started your leave so early." She considered that, then shook her head. "No, I had to leave, I wasn't able to get anything done, between naps and bathroom breaks -- not to mention the occasional murderous ex-obstetrician," she smiled wryly. "And I'm feeling less tired this week, so it was a good decision. It's the waiting that's hard. I just wish things would start *happening*! Well, not just anything. I want the world to be perfectly peaceful so you and I can bring this baby into the world together." "I don't care if the world falls apart, Lois." Clark's face was as solemn as she'd ever seen it. "I will be there." "I hope so." She smiled up at him, accepting his determination, but knowing that anything could, and usually did, happen. "Anyway, I'm actually on my way to the airport to pick up your mother; she called this morning and said she'd decided to come, and I didn't think you'd mind..." "No, not at all, if you don't. How long is she planning to stay?" "Well, it depends--" "Hey, Lois, how ya doing?" Jimmy bounced up the stairs, grinning broadly at the sight of his favorite couple. Lois smiled; she found she missed Jimmy's enthusiasm, even as misplaced as it often was. "Fine, Jimmy, thanks. How are you?" "I am doing *great*. The Chief has me helping Clark and Dianne, so I'm learning a lot, and I got this cool new statistics program. It's kind of like the one Penny's got, actually, but, um, never mind about that. Anyway, I was feeding it information about Superman, and cross-indexing it to crime figures, just trying to see if there was a pattern of which types of things were more likely to attract Superman, you know." Lois exchanged a worried look with Clark. "And did you come up with anything?" "Not really, but there was this one interesting thing -- for, like, a month, Superman hasn't done *anything* on Monday nights. No arrests, no rescues -- not so much as getting kittens out of trees." Clark turned his head away to hide a wince, and Lois sighed inaudibly. Childbirth classes. Well, those were over with now, so that pattern would come to nothing. "I don't know if you can call that a pattern," Clark argued, fiddling with his glasses. "Sure you can," Jimmy countered easily. "Once is an anomaly, twice is a coincidence, three times is--" "Three times is enemy action," Lois completed the homily for him. "Except I doubt that. Anyway, he's probably just been ... watching Monday Night Football or something." Clark and Jimmy both turned to frown at her for that, but only Clark was brave enough to correct her. "It's the wrong season for that, honey." "Don't argue with a pregnant woman," Lois scowled back at them, sticking her tongue out for good measure. "Hey, I'm out of here, guys," Jimmy declared with a smile. "You two can fight this one out yourselves. Take care, Lois, and make sure we know when the baby's born!" "You'll be the first to know -- or should that be Clark?" Lois joked. She shared a smile with her husband, then began the complicated process of getting to her feet. "I'm off to the airport, now Clark..." He frowned slightly, and she paused. "What?" "Nothing, really," he assured her with an apologetic smile. "But is it really wise to drive that far? You could go into labor..." She rolled her eyes. "I only wish. Anyway, if I do, I'll call you, either on the phone or out the window," She patted his chest and smiled up at him. He was so cute when he was overprotective -- as long as he didn't carry it too far. "You just try to be home by six, okay?" "I will," he promised, kissing her good-bye. "And if you need anything -- anything at all -- you just yell." "All I need is for someone to induce labor," she grumbled good-naturedly. He grinned. "I can think of a few things to try, later tonight..." "And if I don't fall asleep first," she countered, "I'll hold you to that." She pushed the elevator call button, and then gazed at the doors speculatively. "Hey, you know, on TV, pregnant women *always* go into labor in elevators..." His grin widened. "Well, if it works, you let me know, okay?" "You bet." The elevator arrived, and they kissed good-bye before she stepped inside the car, smiling broadly. Clark watched the doors slide closed and waited, listening to it hum its way smoothly downward and release his disappointed wife into the lobby. He smiled, and headed back to his desk. *** Monday, 2pm "...so then *I* says, hand me the money, see?" Peabody recited, feeling very smug about his prowess. He strutted a few steps around the dingy apartment for good measure. "Can it, Peabody," Stubbs replied, quellingly. He was larger than his companion, both in height and weight, with a sterner look in his eye. "You ain't never bullied anybody without you had help." "Did so!" replied the smaller man, indignantly. "I dunno why you has to disbelieve everyt'ing I say -- it ain't polite." The two men were in a small, cluttered, dirty apartment, belonging to Mr. Jeremiah Stubbs. To say the place needed a woman's touch would be misleading; it would have benefited more from the careful placement of a small explosive. However, its owner barely noticed, as he didn't like to bother himself with irrelevancies. "Yeah, well, forget it -- we got something more important to talk about." Stubbs pointed to the table before him, which bore a handful of newspaper clippings. "See those? "Yeah, I see 'em, what's not to see? And it ain't true I never bullied nobody, I bullied lottsa peoples..." "Them there clippings," Stubbs continued, ignoring his companion's attempt at an argument, "show things going wrong, this past month. They ain't big things, I ain't saying they are, but," he held up one thick finger for emphasis, and waited to see if Peabody would notice. "... I bullied Archer, the other month, and, oh, he was scared o'me ..." "Archer was scared of Intergang, you knucklehead, and all you was doin' was carryin' messages for 'em. But you listen t'me for a minnit, here." Peabody, silenced for a moment, finally paid attention. "Where'd you get da clippings, Stubbsie?" "Don't call me that -- and never you mind where I got 'em. What I found out is that these here things, they all happened on Mondays, and Superman wasn't anywhere near 'em. As far as I can tell, he wasn't doing nothing those nights. Now, I dunno what he mighta been doing---" "Monday night poker, you think?" interjected the irrepressible Peabody. "What?" Stubbs was momentarily distracted by this. "Nah, couldn't be. Everybody knows he's got that, whatchamacallit, x-ray eyes. He'd see through your cards; nobody'd play with him." After looking mulish for a moment, Peabody reluctantly agreed; he could see the sense in that. "So then, what?" "It don't matter what, see? Whatever it is he *is* doing, what he *ain't* doing on Monday nights is stopping crimes." Peabody's face slowly lit up, as he worked through this. "So you mean that if we was to pull something onna Monday..." "He wouldn't be around to stop us," Stubbs finished, pleased to have finally communicated. "So I figure, we can knock us over a jewelry store or something tonight. I mean, what could go wrong?" Opening Credits Monday, 4pm Lois unlocked the door to her townhouse and ushered her mother-in-law inside. "And then Jimmy noticed that Superman's been otherwise occupied during our childbirth class," she continued, "although, of course, Jimmy doesn't know it was because of childbirth classes, but he does know *something*'s been happening..." She flicked on the lights and headed for the sofa. She tired more easily than ever these days, and standing around the airport waiting for Martha's flight had not helped her swollen feet. "And I don't know why we even bothered with childbirth classes," she concluded bitterly, sinking down onto the sofa as Martha sat next to her, "because obviously I'm never going to actually give birth!" Martha laughed softly. "I know you're a little overdue, dear, but that's normal, you know -- due dates are only an educated guess, after all." "Yeah, for human pregnancies," Lois reminded her crossly. "Except this baby is half-Kryptonian. Who knows? They might stay pregnant for *years*...." "No, I doubt that," Martha replied, taking on a coolly reassuring tone. "Clark developed normally as a baby. We didn't even suspect anything was different about him until he was, oh, five or six ... and didn't Dr. Klein say things were progressing normally?" "Yeah ..." Lois admitted, her dark mood lifting as she sat and regained her breath. In only the past few weeks, the baby had grown so large that it pressed up against her diaphragm, leaving her diminished lung capacity. "But I'm still overdue by a week." "Well, how long will your doctors wait before they induce labor?" Lois brightened further at the reminder. "Only another week. I've got another appointment on Wednesday morning, and Dr. McGrath said after that, they'll talk about getting things started. She did say, last week, that everything looked normal." "I thought they wouldn't wait too long," Martha replied, satisfied. "The instructor at my childbirth class said they usually don't let women go more than two weeks overdue." Lois nodded her head in absent-minded agreement, then looked at her mother-in-law. "Wait a minute, when did you take a childbirth class?" Martha's eyes twinkled. "This past summer. I was interested, and the local clinic offers courses, so..." "They just ... let you in? I mean, you're not pregnant..." "Lois, my dear," Martha laughed, patting her daughter-in-law on the knee. "One of the benefits of growing older is that you cease to care so much what others might be thinking. I asked to observe, and paid my fee. Actually," she confided, "it turned out well, because there was a girl in the class who didn't have a partner, so I volunteered to help her out. Her name is Annira, just the sweetest thing. She gave birth a month ago. It was such a privilege to be able to help her, and be there when her baby was born..." She gazed off into her memories, shaking her head in wonder. Lois just looked at Martha, once more amazed at the things the older woman was capable of. "And how are they doing now?" Martha's smile was tinged with sadness. "She gave the baby up for adoption. He's been placed with a good family. She misses him, of course, but she knows it was the best thing she could do for him, the best life she could give him. I was so proud of her. Other than that, though, she's doing fine -- she gets more rest than most new mothers, for one thing." "There is that," Lois concurred, not quite sure how to respond. "Next time you're out at the farm, you can meet her, if you like," Martha offered, then stood, ready to get back to business. "Now ... can I get you anything?" "No, I'm fine thanks." Lois heaved herself back to her feet, smiling ruefully at the reality of pregnancy. "I just need to visit the bathroom -- again." *** Monday, 6pm Clark was able to finish his article before six, but before he could start home, he heard a radio report of an oil tanker foundering offshore, threatening Metropolis Harbor with pollution on a massive scale. He sighed and called Lois. "Hey, honey, how are you? ... Oh good, Mom's there ..." He glanced around the newsroom. No one appeared to be paying him any attention, but it never hurt to be careful; Lois would pick up on a veiled meaning. "Look, something's come up. I've got to go check it out. Yeah, that's right, have to see if Superman will show up on a Monday." He smiled, once again appreciating his wife's quick mind and generous soul. "I'll be home as soon as I can, but if you need anything, just call me. Love to you and junior ... and my mom, too. See you soon." He hung up the phone with a smile and headed for the stairwell, pulling at the knot in his tie. *** Monday, 6:30pm The Cozy Corner Shopping Plaza wasn't unusual in any way. Its developer had built any number of small neighborhood plazas, with a bland similarity in design and layout. The L-shaped strip mall boasted a bank on one end, and an upscale grocery store on the other, with a variety of small shops in between. Many of the stores were already closed for the evening, but a few remained open. There was a light on at the hairdresser's as a late customer got her roots touched up, and a yawning clerk held the dry-cleaners open for evening drop-offs and pickups. What interested Stubbs and Peabody, however, was the jewelry store. The two crooks sat in Stubbs' old Buick, hoping to be inconspicuous. There was only a thin sprinkling of cars in the lot at this hour. It had taken three tries to find a parking spot that satisfied them both; the first spot had seemed much too close to the store for Peabody's comfort, and the second, too far away for any practical observations. "So they're closed, right?" Peabody asked, nervously. "Yeah," Stubbs assented, his eyes trained on the store windows. "If we was closer," he elaborated, with exaggerated politeness, "you could see that they closed half an hour ago. But since that's too much excitement for ya, you'll hafta trust me." "Yeah, we could see them, they could see us. No thanks. If they could see us, they'd figure we was up to somethin'." "They're gonna know eventually, Peabody." The smaller man frowned, fidgeting in his seat. "I dunno why we has to go in when they're still there. It's a whole lot easier to go in after they leaves. I mean, it's still bloody daylight out!" "It's August, y'little moron, what'd'ya think, we're gonna wait until midnight? I need my beauty rest. Besides, I told ya -- the stuff I want goes in the safe at night, and we need one o'them to open it for us!" "No you don't, I could open it..." Peabody's boast faded away under his companion's withering stare. "Aw, shaddup ... c'mon, it's time to go." Stubbs emerged from the car, whistling and looking around as nonchalantly as he could manage, given that he looked exactly like a thug who was about to commit a major felony. He set off purposefully towards the storefronts, with Peabody trailing behind him, muttering indignantly to himself. "... thinks I don't know how to cracks safes. Why I was cracking safes back from when I was a kid, it was my whatchamacallit, my speciality, I couldda got a patch for it, if they'd had safecrackin' patches in the junior scouts ... not that I was ever in the scouts, but I *couldda* done, is my point ..." *** (continued) !^NavFont02F365E0007MGHH}600DAC E-mail from: Pam Jernigan, 16-May-1998 jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html ~~~~~ "Are you under the care of a qualified psychiatrist, Constable?" -- "The Ladies' Man", Due South "Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." -- Robert A. Heinlein ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 14:04:24 -0800 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: It's Time (part 2 of 6) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" IT'S TIME - pt 2 "And then you pull your other arm down and thrust forward like *this*," Lois demonstrated. She and Martha stood in the front room of the townhouse, relaxing after dinner. Martha complied, paying careful attention as her daughter-in-law led her through the rest of the martial-arts form. She smiled. "I think it's marvelous how they've taken a fighting form and transformed it into exercises." Lois smiled back, pleased that her idea had been a success. "It's called Tai Chi, and I ran into it a few years ago. Clark's friend from Chinatown taught it to me. It's a great way to warm up." The moves could also be very effective, speeded up, if one needed them, but their chief attraction to her these days was that they could be performed around her swollen belly, and they weren't too taxing on her already-stressed system. "Let's do that one again, from the beginning." With Martha copying her moves, Lois began the form once more. Taking a deep breath, she raised her arms over her head, and set her legs slightly apart. Gracefully, she moved her right hand downwards in a stylized arm chop. Then, she followed that up by stepping forward, with a forward thrust of her left hand, palm-outwards. A complex series of moves later, and her arms ended up back over her head. As a final move, she swept them both downwards, exhaling as she moved. Martha smiled in delight. "I was able to follow it much better that time, dear -- although I'm sure I didn't look nearly as graceful as you." "I've been practicing a lot," Lois admitted with a rueful laugh. "It's had a very soothing effect, and lately--" She was interrupted by the doorbell. *** Mr. Stanley Tucci closed the vault with a muted, yet definitive thud. He was the senior manager and part owner of Mazik's Jewelers, and he took great satisfaction in both roles. He'd worked for Mazik's for the past 30 years, and had opened up this new location last year, shortly after buying into the business. Young Michael Mazik, his partner, didn't have the same passion for the business that his father had had, but it could have been worse - the business could have gone to his worthless brother Jason. Anyway, old Mazik would never have taken on a partner. Now Mr. Tucci was an owner, and felt he finally had something concrete to show for a lifetime's worth of hard work. "Are we done?" That was young Peter Collins, the newest store employee. Mr. Tucci liked to reserve judgment on his employees for at least the first six months, but so far, at least, Collins was working out fairly well. He was a good salesman, well dressed, and deferential to the customer -- all necessary attributes when your merchandise tended to be priced from the multiple hundreds and up. "Yes, I've put the last tray away," Mr. Tucci replied, patiently refreshing the younger man's memory of closing procedures. He absentmindedly fingered his watch chain. "The vault is closed, so now we need only make sure the floors are clean, and--" He was interrupted by a banging at the front of the store. *** The doorbell rang again before Lois could reach the door. Frowning slightly, she opened the door to see her mother. "Lois? You're still pregnant?" Ellen asked with raised eyebrows, bustling inside. "No, Mother, I'm not pregnant," Lois answered, with more than a suggestion of gritted teeth. "You're looking at a hologram, a clone, an evil twin, take your pick. The real me is slim and trim on a beach in Tahiti." "Whatever you say, dear. Hello, Martha, I didn't expect to see you here." "Hello, Ellen," Martha laughed in greeting. "We were just doing some martial arts exercises.... Come to check on your grandchild?" "Yes, indeed," Ellen nodded. "And I've been *shopping*!" She held up two store bags in proof, smiling with the thrill of conquest. "I was beginning to think I'd never have grandchildren, you know -- Lois didn't seem to want to admit she was female, let alone get married, and God knows Lucy never meets anyone decent." "Oh, I know," Martha sympathized. "Why, I thought for sure that Clark would never settle down enough to stay in one city, let alone get married .... Come on over, sit down, you look a little tired." "Well, I am a little tired," Ellen confessed, following Martha to the couch. Lois, ignored in the background, rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen. She could use another glass of water. "Iced tea for me, Lois," her mother called after her, scarcely breaking stride in her conversation with Martha. "Yes, mother." Lois took a deep breath and tried to regain the calm she'd achieved earlier from the Tai Chi exercises. It wasn't that she didn't love her mother; she did. But no one, not even Ralph, could drive her crazy faster than Ellen Lane. When she reentered the living room, drinks in hand, she found the two grandmothers-to-be head to head over Ellen's purchases. "Oh, isn't this just darling!" Martha cried, using the universal baby-shower tone to which every woman, no matter how sensible, occasionally succumbs. "And with a hat to match," Ellen added proudly, displaying said hat on her fingertips. "I just love hats, don't you?" "Oh, Lois," Martha turned to include her daughter-in-law. "Don't you just love this?" Lois gazed down at the small white and green outfit, at a loss for words. At moments, her impending motherhood still seemed distinctly unreal. "It sure is ... tiny." "Well, dear," Ellen explained, with a touch of impatience, "babies are tiny at first. I do wish, though, that we knew whether it was a boy or a girl -- it makes shopping rather difficult." "I'm sorry, Mother, but like I told you, the technician couldn't tell. We'll find out soon anyway." Her previous calm had completely evaporated, leaving her tense and restless. She needed more exercise, but she couldn't imagine her mother doing Tai Chi forms. "Would you like to take a walk? Walking is supposed to stimulate labor, I've heard, and I need to pick up some of Clark's shirts from the dry-cleaners anyway." "Well, I suppose," Ellen began doubtfully, but Lois overrode any objection she might have voiced. "Great, we'll go! After I take a precautionary bathroom break, anyway. It's not far." *** Collins hurried to the front of the store. He knew he was still on probation in his manager's eyes, and Mr. Tucci had lately been impressing on him the need to improve his skills with customers. As he neared the glass storefront, he saw two men standing outside; for a moment he thought he recognized one of his customers of a week ago. The resemblance faded as he got a better view, squinting into the dying outdoor light, but the impression remained. "I'm sorry, but we're closed for the evening," he said loudly, pointing at the sign which listed the store's hours. "We'll be open again tomorrow." The larger of the two visitors frowned, and cupped his hand to his ear, indicating that he hadn't heard through the glass. "We're *closed*," Pete tried again, louder. Still the man seemed not to have understood. Pete sighed, suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, and unlocked the door. Opening it slightly, he spoke through the crack. "Sorry, gentlemen, but we're closed." Stubbs grinned evilly. "We know," he replied briefly, pushing the door open, knocking Collins off balance. "But we just can't wait." Peabody followed a second later, closing the door behind him. "Surprise," he announced with a grin. "We're your friendly neighborhood jewel thieves." *** After righting the tanker, Superman had decided to make one quick sweep of the city before heading home. He had just finished coaxing a kitten out of a tree when his attention was caught by a police report. It seemed that a pediatrics hospital upstate was being threatened by a fire. He briefly debated the wisdom of going so far away from Metropolis, but decided that it was worth the risk. Besides, it should only take him half an hour or so, and how much trouble could Lois get into in half an hour? Absentmindedly bidding the kitten's owner good-bye, he took off; gaining some altitude before turning to the north. The 12-year old girl on the ground clutched her newly restored kitten and watched his flight, her mouth agape with delighted astonishment. That was *so* cool! *** "Back against the wall," Stubbs ordered. Pete moved back obediently, concentrating on surviving this encounter. Store policy didn't call for employee self-sacrifice. Mr. Tucci entered the main showroom from the back. "Peter? What's going--" He stopped, his eyes widening, as he took in the sight of his employee being faced with a gun. "What do you want?" "Gee, a sandwich would be nice," Peabody quipped nervously. Stubbs briefly glared at his partner in crime, then turned his attention back to his victims. "Never mind him -- we want diamonds, rubies ... you know, the usual jewelry store robbery. So open the safe and give us some goodies." Mr. Tucci swallowed, his hands automatically reaching for his watch chain, a nervous habit. "Don't move," Stubbs warned, moving towards the older man. "What?" Mr. Tucci asked, not comprehending that his actions could be interpreted as a threat. "I said, don't move," Stubbs repeated, backhanding the manager for emphasis. The older man collapsed in a heap. Collins started forward with a cry, but stopped when Stubbs brought his gun around to cover him. "That was a warning," Stubbs said, although he hadn't really meant to hit the geezer that hard. "So open the safe." "I can't!" Pete replied, angry and worried for his boss. "He's the manager; he knows the combination; not me! I don't know how to open it!" *** The Cozy Corner Drycleaners was open until 7pm on Mondays, later than usual, but even so, Lois barely made it there in time. The clerk looked disappointed to have his quiet evening disturbed, but she ignored that. "I need to pick up some shirts for my husband," she announced briskly, handing over the ticket stub. "The name is Kent." The clerk took the stub with an unintelligible mumble of acknowledgment, and headed for the rear of the store to fetch the shirts. Halfway there, he suddenly turned, with a look of comprehension that quickly faded to a leer. "So you're Mrs. Kent, huh? I wondered what you looked like..." His eyes wandered down her figure, settling on her prominently bulging midriff. "Figures." With a snort of private satisfaction, he turned again and disappeared into the back of the shop. Martha and Ellen turned twin mystified gazes to Lois, who shrugged in bewilderment. "I've no idea. Clark usually picks this stuff up on his way home from work." In another minute, the clerk returned, once more with an air of bored disinterest. "There you are, all fixed up and ready to go." Lois paid him and they left, still unable to fathom the clerk's attitude. Suddenly, however, Lois broke out into laughter. "I get it now." She turned to catch her mother-in-law's eye. "Clark is always needing buttons sewn back onto his shirts." Martha nodded confused agreement, then her eyes began to twinkle as enlightenment dawned. "So he thinks that you and Clark--?" Lois nodded, and the two women collapsed into a fit of giggles, leaving Ellen to draw the inevitable conclusion. "Lois!" she exclaimed, scandalized, "Don't tell me you tear his *shirts* off?" *** "Damn, damn, damn," Stubbs swore with quiet passion. He paced from one side of the store to the other and back, but when he returned, the situation had not improved. The old guy was still on the floor. The younger guy said he was breathing, and that he'd live, which Stubbs was secretly relieved to hear. He hadn't meant to knock him out; who knew the old goat was so frail? So now they couldn't get the safe open, and the guy was not coming around, but the other one, he'd seen their faces real good. Stubbs was beginning to perceive a few flaws in his plan, but if there were any way to carry out the job, he was game. The money was too good to pass up. "Hey, Stubbsie?" Peabody asked tentatively. "Aw shaddup," Stubbs replied irritably. "And I told ya not to call me that." "No, you gotta listen t'me," Peabody persisted, more forcefully. "I can crack that safe, I tell ya. I looked at it, real good, and I can do it!" Stubbs squinted sullenly at his accomplice and weighed his options. He hated to do it, but ... "Oh, alright. Give it a try, I guess it can't hurt nothing. And maybe this guy'll come around." Peabody's face lit up. "Thanks, Stubbsie! I'll get it, don't you worry none!" "Yeah, sure," Stubbs replied sourly. "But don't call me that!" *** "You don't tear his shirts off?" Ellen demanded, as the three women walked along the sidewalk. "Well, then, what *is* it? What's so funny about buttons?" Lois tried to stop giggling and come up with an explanation. "It's not funny, really, Mother, it's just my hormones, and Martha and I were talking earlier about, ah, clothes, and..." She ran down, her babble withering under her mother's penetrating glare. "And what do your hormones have to do with Martha?" Ellen riposted with some spirit. "I'm sorry, Martha, I don't mean to be annoying, but I do feel as if I'm being left out of some private joke, evidently a very funny one, and I don't appreciate the feeling." Lois and Martha both sobered at that, exchanging guilty glances. Lois reached out to touch her mother's arm. "I'm sorry, Mother. I didn't mean to exclude you." It was at times like these when Lois most regretted the barrier that Clark's secret had erected between herself and her mother. "But it's too complicated to explain, and it's not that important, anyway." She searched for a way to distract her mother. "What's far more interesting to me right now, though," she continued briskly, "is finding a bathroom -- are any of these stores still open?" "We can certainly find out," Martha replied quickly, just as eager as her daughter-in-law to change the subject. They walked on in silence, scanning the complex for open doors or other welcoming signs. "Mazik's Jewelers has lights on," Ellen offered, but Martha shook her head emphatically. "I won't go in there, Ellen." Lois tuned out the conversation, gazing idly in the store windows as they passed the jewelry store. They were nearly past the store when Lois caught sight of something odd. She turned her head slightly and frowned; was that a body lying on the floor? Her instincts were screaming that something was wrong, and her brain kicked into high gear. She turned away from the store window, trying to act as if she hadn't seen anything. If ever there were a time for her to *not* get involved, this would be it. She consoled herself with the reflection that when she was safely away from the scene, she could call the police. Ellen was continuing, oblivious to anything amiss. "For God's sake, how can you have had a bad enough experience that you won't even to go to the bathroom in there?" "It's a long story," Martha replied stubbornly, "but trust me, we haven't had any luck with Mazik's." Just as the three women passed the last window of the jewelry store, they heard a door open behind them. Lois squeezed her eyes shut in resignation. "Damn," she muttered, coming to a halt. Ellen and Martha turned to see what was the matter, then kept turning, their eyes widening. "Lois," Ellen whispered hoarsely, "There's a man back there--" "With a gun," Lois finished for her, squaring her shoulders and then turning to face him. "Hello, ladies," Stubbs grinned evilly. *** A few short minutes later, Lois, Martha, and Ellen had all been herded inside the store. They ended up standing in one of the front corners. "I ain't gonna hurt ya, less'n I have to," Stubbs assured them, "but I can't let you go, neither, not til we're done and gone." "You could have just let us walk past," Martha protested. "We hadn't even seen anything!" "She had," Stubbs contradicted her, nodding his head towards Lois. Lois winced, not quite daring to look either her mother or mother-in-law in the eye, and muttered, "Clark is going to kill me." She straightened her shoulders, and placed a protective hand on her belly. "Mom, Martha ... let's just relax, and keep out of his way. He'll be done soon, and then we can go. And speaking of going," she added, with a determined look on her face. "I'm going to use the bathroom." Stubbs saw the look in her eye and took the prudent course. "It's in da back. You come right back, though, and don't you even think of going nowhere," he added, "because these other two ladies is stayin' right here." "Fine," Lois agreed, moving off in search of relief for her overstressed bladder. "What's wrong with this poor man?" Ellen asked, suddenly, pointing to Mr. Tucci. Pete Collins turned from where he'd been observing his boss's breathing. "They hit him -- knocked him out! I can't get him to wake up." There was a note of panic in his voice. Ellen got up, daring Stubbs to stop her from crossing the floor to Mr. Tucci's side. "I'm a nurse, let me have a look at him." Stubbs observed them for a minute, then decided they weren't much of a threat. He turned his attention to more important matters. "How are you doing, Peabody?" Stubbs called out towards the back, keeping an eye on his hostages. "I'll get it, pretty soon now, prob'ly..." came the muffled reply from the back of the store. "Aw nuts. This ain't working." Stubbs looked speculatively at Collins, who was now standing against the wall while Ellen examined the unconscious manager. "Maybe you really can open the safe, after all, and you're just not telling me." Pete Collins swallowed hard but stood his ground. "I'm just a trainee, I'm telling you. I *can't* open it. Look," he indicated the nearest display case. "There are ten Rolexes in there, they were supposed to go in the safe but I forgot. You can take them!" Stubbs didn't so much as glance at them. "I don't want no cheap wristwatches, I got me one already." Collins gaped at him. "But, but, they're--" "Yeah, no wristwatches for us," Peabody chimed in loyally from the back of the room, although his voice held a distinctly wistful tone. "Are you complete morons?" Ellen burst out, distracted from her examination and unable to contain herself. Didn't these cretins know how much a gold Rolex was worth? She started forward, indignantly. "We're not too eddy-cated," Stubbs replied laconically, "but we do know a few things. Like how to use a gun." He turned the muzzle in her direction and she stopped short, her eyes widening in fear. Very slowly, she backed up until she was sitting next to Mr. Tucci once more. "Thank you, ma'am," Stubbs smiled toothily, tipping an imaginary hat in sardonic courtesy. *** Ellen finished her examination of the fallen manager and crawled over to where her daughter was sitting cross-legged on the floor. "He's not looking very good," she confided. "He really needs to be looked at in an emergency room, but I don't *think* he's in immediate danger." She looked around the store angrily. "Where in heaven's name is Superman when you need him?" *** (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 14:04:32 -0800 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: It's Time (part 3 of 6) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" IT'S TIME - pt 3 At the New Troy Pediatrics Hospital, forty miles north of Metropolis, Superman worked quickly to contain a roaring fire. He'd already evacuated patients and hospital employees from the two floors closest to the blaze; rescue workers were now clearing out the remaining floors of the affected wing. For an emergency situation, things were going relatively well, but Clark was driven by an internal urgency, a nagging worry that Lois was in trouble. He told himself that he was being paranoid, but directed all his efforts towards getting things under control as quickly as superhumanly possible. Soon the fire department would be able to take over, and three seconds after that happened, Superman would be back in Metropolis. *** Lois closed her eyes and tried to meditate. It was difficult, mainly because Ellen was still muttering complaints and imprecations, twenty minutes into the situation, but Martha was trying to calm her, leaving Lois free to concentrate on her own well-being. Sitting cross-legged was not uncomfortable, especially with one of Clark's clean shirts rolled up to use as a pillow for the small of her back. Standing up again would be a challenge, but that was for the future. She opened one eye and peeked at her watch, then closed her eyes once more, going into the breathing exercises taught in the class. Very slow breath in, very slow breath out. In, out. In, out. This situation would not be helped by panicking. "Lois, what is it?" Ellen's question, sharp with worry, intruded on the calm Lois had managed to achieve. Lois opened her eyes and faced her mother. Their situation would not be helped by denial, either. "You know how I said we could just ride this out?" she asked softly. Ellen nodded slightly, and Martha leaned in closer, drawn by the intuition that something had changed. "We've just run out of time. I think my labor has started. And I refuse to have my baby in a hostage crisis -- it's too damn cliched." Ellen paled, looking around frantically in the hopes that the robbery would suddenly cease to exist. Martha reached out to touch Lois' arm. "Are you sure, honey?" "I think so. I've had Braxton-Hicks contractions on and off for a while now; these are different. They're not too close together yet, or too hard to handle, though, so we've got a little time." She considered her options for a moment. "Martha, Mother, help me up." She held out her arms, and the two older women helped her struggle to her feet. "Thanks," she said breathlessly, smoothing down her clothes and patting her belly in a reassuring manner. "Don't worry, baby. Mommy will get you out of this," she promised in a near whisper. Looking around, she saw that Stubbs was at the back of the store, checking on Peabody's progress. Before she could change her mind, she called out, "Hey, you!" Stubbs looked around, surprised and displeased by the interruption. "What d'ya want?" Lois stepped forward, her mothers trailing uncertainly behind her. "I want to get out of here," she stated bluntly. Stubbs laughed sourly. "Don't we all, but see, there's this little problem." "Yeah, I know, you're having trouble getting into the safe. So I'm offering to help you." "What?" Ellen protested, flabbergasted. Stubbs was scarcely less surprised. Martha watched in fascination as Lois ignored her mother and pressed on. "Believe it or not, I know a few things about safe-cracking. I meet a lot of crooks in my job, and I was curious." Lois took a deep breath and bluffed. "Big Louie taught me everything he knows." Stubbs looked distinctly skeptical. "You know Big Louie?" She smiled, coolly. "I know guys who know guys," she quoted, remembering the man who'd helped her recover Clark's stolen possessions, four years previously. Seeing that Stubbs still wasn't quite convinced, she added, "Plus I played tennis with his daughter in college." Ellen, ignored in the background, rolled her eyes and sagged against a counter. "For this," she moaned, "I paid four years of tuition..." Stubbs mulled over the information, then looked back towards the safe. Peabody was mumbling to himself, and the safe was still closed. She could hardly do worse. "Okay, you give it a shot. But I ain't cutting you in on the loot." "Oh, I understand," Lois agreed evenly. "All I want is to get this whole thing over with. Plus, this makes you more secure -- you know we won't go to the police, because we'd be accomplices." Stubbs grinned. "Yeah, that's right. Sounds like one o'them win-win situations t'me." Lois began walking towards the back of the store, slowly, so as not to spook the man with the gun. "It's quite a coincidence, really," she stated conversationally. "Because I was just practicing my safe-cracking skills today." She passed Stubbs now, and looked back past him at Martha. "I was even teaching my mother-in-law a few moves." Martha frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened. "Yes, that's right." Ellen looked at her as though she were crazy. "You interrupted us when you came over, Ellen." Satisfied that Martha knew what she was getting at, Lois proceeded to the safe, and concentrated on remembering everything she'd ever heard about safe-cracking. She had investigated the subject once, two years ago, in a series on robberies. The trouble was, the main thing she'd discovered was that it was nearly impossible to crack modern safes, unless one used large quantities of explosives. But that really didn't matter too much -- all she had to do was fake it until she got into a good position, and until her next contraction passed. They had been coming about every 10 minutes, and it had only been 7 minutes since the last one. As if reading her mind, the contraction started then. The muscle of her uterus tightened. It wasn't painful, exactly, but it seemed stronger than the last one had been, and under her hand she felt her belly turn rock hard. Her instinct was to tense up, but she started breathing deeply and consciously relaxed her shoulders, arms and legs. When the contraction diminished, a minute later, she opened her eyes to find Peabody staring at her fearfully. "Lady, what's the matter w'you?" "Nothing," she reassured him, then smiled wryly. "It's just labor." *** The fire finally under control, Superman sped down to the ground for one last word with the fire chief. Superman described what he'd done, and what work still needed done, then explained that if they could handle things >from now on, he was needed elsewhere. The fire chief thanked him, but reassured him that her men were up to the task. Superman nodded, accepted thanks for his help, and then took off southwards in a blur of red and blue. He couldn't shake the feeling that Lois needed him. *** "Stubbsie, the woman's in *labor*!" Peabody wailed, torn between worry for her and a revulsion at the thought of the biology involved. Lois quickly took advantage of his queasiness. "Oh, this is nothing, just wait until my water breaks ... amniotic fluid, all over the place ... and you know, it's not just the initial gush, because my body keeps on producing it...." Peabody swallowed hard, and backed away from her, almost involuntarily. "Stubbsie!" Stubbs peered around the corner, trying to keep an eye on his hostages as well. "Will you relax?" he demanded, impatiently. "And don't call me that!" A frantic look was his only reply, and Stubbs heaved a sigh. At the rate things were going wrong, he could obviously expect Superman at any moment, and that would almost be a relief. "Alright, Peabody, alright, you go out front and watch the rest of 'em, I'll keep an eye on her." Peabody made a break for the door, pausing only momentarily to take possession of the gun. Lois busied herself with the safe door, and smiled. Now the odds were more even. She had worried about Martha going up against the larger man. Even with a gun, Peabody wasn't much of a threat. She glanced at her watch. Another 8-10 minutes to go before her next contraction, so she had to look busy during that time. She couldn't risk starting a fight when her own body had another agenda; the safest time to try something would be right after a contraction had passed. There was no way to coordinate with the women in the front room, but that couldn't be helped. *** Martha began to pace slightly, suddenly keyed up. She mentally reviewed the Tai Chi moves she'd been taught, and tried to guess when Lois would make her move. Most likely, she'd want to wait until after the next contraction, but there was no way to predict when that would be. Peabody didn't object to her moving around, his attention torn between the front and back rooms, so she increased her pacing radius, examining her surroundings for anything helpful. "Martha," Ellen hissed, "What is going on here?" She was sitting on the floor again, with her back to the front wall, keeping an eye on her patient. Martha glanced at their captor, who hadn't seemed to notice the question. She moved a bit closer to Ellen and spoke, low voiced. "Lois taught me some self-defense moves. We've got to try to get the gun away." "Are you crazy?" Ellen demanded in a frantic whisper. "Martha, after the baby shower incident, I don't know if I can take this kind of excitement!" Pete Collins, overhearing, widened his eyes in horror. "You can't, ma'am; they'll hurt you!" "Not if I do it right," Martha replied quietly, moving away from them again, so as not to attract too much attention. *** Clark arrived home with a whoosh, adjusting his tie as he entered the townhouse. "Lois? Mom?" He walked over towards the kitchen, looking and listening for signs of life, anything to ease his nebulous fears. "Everything okay?" One whiff of the aroma emanating from the kitchen caused him to smile; his mother had cooked dinner. But his smile faded quickly as he realized that Lois wasn't home. He moved towards the stairs, but paused when he found a note on the desk. "Gone for a walk with your mother and mine, be back soon, love, Me." Clark rolled his eyes, his worry unabated. "Lo-is!" He spun back into the suit and flew a quick patrol above the immediate neighborhood, hoping to spot them from the air. When that didn't work, he hovered in place, instead, considering his alternatives. He listened intently, trying to hear his wife either talking, or laughing ... or calling for help. Nothing. He had sometimes been able to track her by listening to her heartbeat, but that only worked when he knew where she was to start with. Tonight, unfortunately, he hadn't a clue. *** Lois was running out of ways to fiddle with the safe controls when the next contraction hit. This one seemed stronger yet, and she bit back a moan. A second later, however, inspiration struck, and she groaned loudly. Loud enough, she hoped, to be heard in the front. She pressed her palms to the safe door and leaned into it, planting her feet widely apart, practicing one of the labor positions she'd been taught. Stubbs saw her move, heard her groan, and frowned. This labor stuff made him uneasy, and he was starting to consider cutting his losses and just running for it. *** Peabody winced when he heard Lois moan, moving a bit away from the back. Martha smiled grimly. Showtime. Her pacing led her to the display case with the Rolexes, and she stopped. "Oh, my, look at these," she commented brightly. "Look at what?" Peabody asked warily, eager for a distraction. "Those are the Rolexes I was talking about," Pete volunteered, standing up and moving closer so he could see them better. "That one there," he pointed, "is worth $15,000." "Really?" Peabody asked, startled. "What kinda looney would spend that kinda dough on a watch?" "I would," Ellen spoke up, not moving from her position on the floor. "If I had that kind of money, that is." "Well, just look at how it's made," Martha invited Peabody to take a closer look. She turned to the young employee. "Could you take it out of the case for us?" "Why not?" He asked, rhetorically, and reached for his keys. Peabody drifted closer, torn between greed and disbelief. "There ain't no watch worth fifteen grand." His gun drooped, nearly forgotten in his hand. "That's what the price tag says," Pete replied, matter-of-factly. *** Lois felt the contraction subside, and heard a burst of voices in the front room. This was it. She turned the main wheel one more time, then cried out, "Got it!" "Yeah?" Stubbs replied, startled. He moved closer to see for himself, and she backed away slightly, stretching her arms upwards. When they were even to one another, she struck, bringing her right arm down in a fast chop to the base of the man's skull. He bent slightly, and her kick caught him in the stomach, taking him the rest of the way to the ground. *** Martha moved back, ostensibly to allow Peabody a better view of the watch Pete was holding. Then she swung at his gun-arm, startling him and making him drop the weapon. Peabody looked at her in astonishment, an expression that that only intensified when she followed up her arm chop with a strong kick to his solar plexus, just like in the exercise they'd practiced. He doubled over, letting her follow up with a knee to his face, which knocked him sideways. Peabody stumbled to his feet and faced Martha once more. She held her hands up in what she hoped was a threatening posture, and his determination wavered. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Pete was there, throwing a punch that laid out the small thief. Ellen scooped up the gun from the ground, holding it carefully, and they all looked at each other, exhilarated and delighted at their success. *** Stubbs lumbered back to his feet, and Lois faced him from the other side of the room. She was more winded than she'd expected, and was hampered by her bulging midriff. He glowered at her, but seemed unwilling to attack a pregnant woman. "You don't wanna do this, lady," he growled. "No, *you* don't want to do this," Ellen contradicted him. Lois turned, surprised, to see her mother standing in the doorway, covering Stubbs with his own gun. Ellen entered the room slowly, moving towards her daughter, and keeping the gun carefully aimed. "Get on out to the front, Mr. Stubbs," she ordered. "This robbery is over." Stubbs shook his head and gave in to the inevitable. He trudged back out front, and found Peabody standing in the front corner, guarded by Pete. Peabody looked at his partner sheepishly. "They hit me, Stubbsie ... I'm sorry." "Yeah, you're sorry alright," Stubbs growled, joining him in the corner. "And for the last damned time, don't *call* me that!" As Ellen took up guard duty, Pete turned away slightly, calling out to Martha. "Have you found it yet? It's just a little button under the counter there..." She peered closely at the indicated area, then smiled. "Yes, here it is." She reached under the counter, and suddenly an alarm siren blared out. Everyone in the store winced. "Not that one!" Pete yelled, running over to where she stood. He fumbled under the counter, and just as suddenly, the siren stopped. "Sorry, I forgot about that one. I've hit the silent alarm now, the police should be here soon." Lois looked around the store and had to laugh. What an unexpected bunch of crime-stoppers -- even if the crooks in question were pretty dumb. She was the one with the most experience, and yet they'd rescued her. "Thanks, Mom!" She smiled broadly. Perhaps she'd been reacting unfairly to her mother. Ellen smiled too, not looking away from her prisoners. "No problem, dear. That's what mothers do for their daughters. And at least you appreciated my help this time, unlike the way you complained and moaned about the baby shower, or the way you avoided discussing plans for your wedding..." Then again, perhaps not. *** Mere seconds later, Superman arrived in a whoosh and flash of cape. He surveyed the scene, ready to do battle with the forces of evil, and was somewhat nonplused to find that the bad guys were already under control. "Oh, Superman," Ellen called out with false cheer, "So glad you could join us!" Superman raised his eyebrows at the sight of his mother-in-law with a gun, then turned unerringly to Lois. She smiled wearily. "We're fine, Superman. Just a little adventure. The police and ambulance are on their way. And don't worry, the ambulance is for Mr. Tucci, not me," she reassured him, gesturing to the still form of the manager. Superman crossed his arms over his chest, trying to mask the strong emotions he was experiencing. "You just had to go for a walk, huh?" he asked her quietly. "Well, it wasn't supposed to get this exciting," she replied, with a rueful smile. "I just thought I'd get your, um ... my husband's dry-cleaning -- which is ruined, I'm afraid, so it'll need to be pressed at the very least, but I think we need to find a new dry-cleaners anyway -- and then we were walking, and there was a *body* on the floor! I tried to ignore it, but I wasn't quick enough, and they noticed me, and, well..." she stopped, suddenly, as another contraction hit. "What is it?" He asked sharply, noticing her change of breathing and posture. "Oh, God, you're in labor." He reached for her, panicked, but as soon as she felt him touch her, her eyes snapped open. She grabbed his arm and held it, speaking with some difficulty. "I'm -- fine. Just need -- Clark," she stressed, glancing significantly up and down his red and blue outfit. "Can you -- find him for me?" "Yes, by all means," Ellen chimed in sternly. "A woman needs her husband at a time like this." "I'd do like they say, Sooperman," Peabody concurred. "These dames is scary." Superman grinned suddenly at his commentators. "Tell me about it. Okay, I'll find Clark, and set him down outside. He'll be here in no time. You sure you'll be fine for another few minutes?" Lois breathed deeply, another contraction over. "I'll be fine for hours, honestly. All I want is for my husband to drive me to the hospital." "Okay...." He left reluctantly, noting that the police were arriving on the scene. He'd have to remember to be careful when he drove up -- the last thing he needed right now was a traffic ticket. *** When Clark arrived at the store, a few minutes later, things were a flurry of activity. Mr. Tucci was being loaded into an ambulance, with Pete accompanying his boss. That left Martha, Ellen, and Lois to explain events to the police, who'd already arrested the two would-be jewel thieves. When Lois saw Clark arrive, her face lit up, and she hurried to meet him. Finally, they could embrace, reassuring each other that things were really okay. Clark hugged his wife and child to him, holding as strongly as he dared, still shaken by her brush with danger. He never got used to that, and it was only made worse by the fact that he hadn't been there to protect her. After a moment, he pulled back, anxious to find out more about what had happened. He was forestalled by a police officer. "Ma'am, we need your statement, then we need you to come downtown with us, for procedures." Lois looked at him dismissively. "No, I'm sorry, I've got to--" "Well, well, well," the policeman spoke suddenly, a look of enlightenment spreading across his plain features. "If it isn't Lois Lane! I knew you ladies looked familiar." He swung around to face the other women. "Mrs. Kent, Mrs. Lane, how nice to see you again," he grinned impudently. "You remember me, right? Officer Doyle -- but you can call me Frankie." "Yes, this is touching," Lois snapped back, recognizing him now as one of the officers who'd arrested her, two months previously. "But I've got to go to the hospital now, to have a baby, *if* you don't mind?" "No, no, not at all," Frankie replied affably. "I'll just stay here and get reacquainted with your mothers." Lois and Clark took their leave before he could change his mind. On their way out the door, they heard Peabody muttering to his cohort, "See, Stubbsie, I told ya these dames was scary!" *** (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 14:04:38 -0800 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: It's Time (part 4 of 6) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" IT'S TIME - pt 4 Monday, 9pm Check-in at the hospital was an uncomplicated affair, since they'd pre-registered as part of the childbirth class. The only delay, in fact, was in the form of contractions. By this time, they were strong enough that Lois could not keep walking through them. "Are you sure you're okay?" Clark asked, helplessly, as she stood leaning against the corridor wall, finishing yet another contraction. Lois took a deep cleansing breath and then smiled shakily at her husband. "I'm fine, this is normal; you know that. We should think of it as a good sign, really, that it's going this fast. I don't want to have to use Pitocin to stimulate labor if I can help it." They continued walking, finding the labor room to which they'd been assigned, where a nurse would determine for sure that this was true labor, and not a false alarm. It was a private room, with a bed, a chair, and ample floor space for various pieces of equipment. They'd learned in childbirth class that they would remain in the same room all through labor and delivery. "I just don't like seeing you in pain," Clark murmured. He'd helped to deliver babies a few times before, as Superman, but the fact that this was his wife, the woman he loved more than life itself, was scattering his wits and testing his mettle. She smiled at him. "I know, but I'm tough, and remember, when we're together, we can handle anything. Being with you," she quoted him, "is stronger--" She paused, looking downwards incredulously. "Wow, that felt weird..." "What, another contraction, so soon?" "Nope. I think..." she looked down at the floor below her. "I think my water just broke." "Oh. Did it hurt?" Clark asked half-fearfully. Lois rolled her eyes indulgently. Men. How could a man, especially a superman, be able to take charge in almost any situation, and then be left fumbling by simple biology? Especially after all the books he'd read? It would be annoying if it weren't so cute. "No, it didn't hurt. Think you could find me a towel, honey? I'm dripping here," she prompted. That galvanized him into action. The nurse entered the labor room just as he reached a cart piled high with various linens. "Your water just broke, right?" Lois looked up at the unexpected and friendly voice. "Oh! Yes, I think so." Clark retrieved a few towels, handing them to Lois. "Well, that's a good sign," the nurse replied cheerfully. "My name is Judy, I'll be your labor nurse for the evening." She grinned at her own joke. "And you must be Mr. and Mrs. Kent, right?" Lois hesitated fractionally, momentarily taken aback by the unfamiliar title. She had put a great deal of thought into choosing which name to use while registering for the hospital. Lois Lane, was, after all, her professional name. But this was definitely a family occasion, and she had finally decided that using her husband's name for this made her feel much more like they were a family. Besides, the baby would be identified by the name the mother registered under, and this baby would definitely be a little Kent. "Yes, we are," Clark replied for her, finally finding his voice once more. "My name is Clark, and this is my wife, Lois." "Pleased to meet you both," Judy smiled at them. "Now, Lois, let's get you out of those wet clothes. You'll need to wear this gown -- nothing underneath it, please." She handed over a shapeless garment, nodding towards the far end of the room. "There's a bathroom through that door." Lois took the gown with a dubious expression. "Clark, I may need your help with this..." *** Downtown, Ellen and Martha faced the police station. Martha was briefly amused to note that it was the same one they'd "visited" last June, following the baby shower fiasco. "Well, here we are again, right, Ellen?" she joked, trying to cover her sudden case of nerves. Taking that childbirth class had been wonderful, but it had also pointed out the multitude of things that could go wrong -- even when the mother and child were both entirely human. "Please, don't remind me, Martha," Ellen replied testily, heading up the stairs and into the building with the resolute determination to run this gamut as quickly as possible. Martha followed more slowly. It had gotten dark, and while the entrance was well-lit, she preferred not to take chances on the stone staircase. Martha caught up with her and Officer Frankie just inside the front doors. The 37th Precinct had not changed since their last visit; even the people sitting on the benches seemed familiar. "C'mon back here," Officer Frankie beckoned, "and I'll get your statements." "Fine," Martha replied with a touch of nervousness. "Can we get this done quickly, please? My daughter-in-law is at the hospital, in labor, and I would like to be there...." Frankie lifted his hands in a gesture half calming, half self-defense. Ellen smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, Martha, we've got plenty of time. First labors take a long time, believe me," she emphasized, rolling her eyes at the memory. "Lois took forever. And that's assuming this is real labor, and not just a false alarm." *** Monday, 9:20pm "Oh, this is the real thing alright," Judy announced from the bottom of the table. Lois and Clark looked at each other with a mix of triumph and terror. "Lois, you're about fifty percent effaced, I think, and four centimeters dilated. You're doing great." Judy backed away from her examination, and Lois repositioned herself on the bed. "Stay put there for a little bit, Lois. I want to hook you up to an external monitor for a few minutes." The nurse wheeled a cart next to the bed and fished out a bundle of wires. "This'll give us a gauge of how strong your contractions are, and we can keep an eye on the baby's heartbeat, too, to make sure baby's fine. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" "No, we couldn't tell," Lois replied, watching as Judy expertly fixed two convex plastic monitors to her belly with two strips of elasticized material, like colored Ace bandages. Wires from the monitors led to the machine on the cart, and as the devices were plugged in, lights sprang into view. "Okay, we're in business. See this number here?" Judy pointed to an LED readout. It was blinking on and off every few seconds, with the number constantly going up or down by a few digits. "This is the baby's heartrate. It's hovering around 138-140, I see, and that's normal. When you have a contraction, that heartrate will drop a bit, and that's normal too, as long as it comes back up afterwards. This monitor over here," she pointed to the readout beside the first, "measures mama's muscle stress. It's low right now, because there's no contraction, but when the next one comes along, you'll see this number rise. The actual values aren't too important, but it'll be a way to compare. And that, in turn, is charted on this." she held up a skinny printout that resembled a seismograph chart, or a chart from a polygraph. "Hey, Clark," Lois joked, holding his hand tightly, "doesn't that remind you of when Trask made us all take polygraphs, a couple of years ago?" He laughed, more as a release of tension than any inherent humor. "Yeah, I remember. He was looking for Superman, and I was *so* nervous." They shared a glance of private amusement at that. "You weren't, though, you were so cool..." He glanced over at the readout. "Hey, look, the line jiggled when you laughed." She laughed again at that observation, watching the needle jiggle over the graph paper. "Well, if this is really the real thing, you've got some phone calls to make -- we need Dr. Klein!" *** "How long is this going to take?" Martha paced the confines of the interview room. The officer had begun to take their statements, but had been interrupted by other business. Ellen checked her watch. "He said he'd be back within five minutes, and it's only been two minutes. And when he's back, we'll finish up our statements, sign them, and leave. It won't be too much longer." Martha looked at her in surprise. "How can you be so calm? Our *grandchild* is being born, without us!" "Hah, trust me," Ellen stated, "they're barely getting started. And they won't want us in there with them anyway." Martha was distracted by this. "You don't think they'll let us in?" "Well, they might," Ellen allowed, "but I doubt they'll pay much attention to us." A moment later, she spoke again, low voiced. "I was just remembering when I had Lois. They wouldn't let Sam in with me, they didn't tell me anything, and with the pain medication, I was barely conscious for most of it. Still, when they put her in my arms for that first time ... That is not something I will ever forget. She was so tiny, so perfect." She paused for a moment, lost in thought. "Sam wanted a boy, of course," she continued, tossing a glance to Martha. "He didn't say that, did he?" Martha asked, taken aback. "Oh, yes, he said it." Ellen's smile was brittle. "Sam never was tactful. Not that Lois minded at the time, of course, but I wish I could have kept her from hearing it later. Still, she's done very well with her life. It's just amazing how much they change -- and how much attitudes about childbirth have changed. What was your labor like?" "I, ah..." Martha cleared her throat, unprepared for the question. "Clark was adopted." "Oh, God, I knew that. I'm so sorry." Ellen winced at having broached a painful topic. "No, it's alright, Ellen," Martha assured her. "I got over being upset by my infertility a long time ago. I regret that I missed out on some things, but ... we were very blessed to have Clark." She smiled, and turned the subject to a more pleasant topic. "I remember the first time I held him; he was so cute! Bigger than a newborn, of course, and he already had a full head of dark hair..." *** Monday, 10:15pm "You're doing great, Lois," Clark reassured her in a low voice, as she finished another contraction. He helped her walk back to the bed in the center of the room. They'd been changing positions frequently, which helped things to progress and kept Lois relaxed. She smiled shakily. "Easy for you to say. Can you get me something to drink? I'm parched. It must be all that mouth-breathing." Clark looked over at Judy, who nodded. "The best way to quench that thirst is to suck on ice chips -- there's an ice machine out in the hallway, just for that purpose." "Sounds terrific," Lois mumbled, and leaned against the bed. She'd heard that they wouldn't let her eat or drink much during labor, and she understood why, but at that point she would have killed for a cream soda. On Clark's way out the door, he nearly collided with Dr. Alyssa McGrath, Lois' primary obstetrician. "Finally, you're here!" Lois exclaimed. "I thought I'd have to have this baby without you!" The doctor laughed. "Oh, you don't need me for much. Judy can handle most of it. But since I'm here, let me have a look." Lois submitted to yet another examination of what had previously been a very private region, and was rewarded by good news. "You're doing terrific. Six centimeters dilated, and ninety percent effaced!" "I should hope so. This is hard work!" Lois managed to joke. Clark returned, and offered Lois a mouthful of ice. "Well, it's going to get worse before it gets better," the doctor reminded them. "You're nearly into transition, and that's the toughest part of labor. The contractions get longer, and harder. And your body might want to push, but you can't, because your cervix isn't yet fully open. If you push, you might bruise it, and it will swell, and things will take much longer." "We know," Clark nodded. "Lois, I think this is your last chance for pain medication?" He looked inquiringly over at the doctor, who agreed. "If you want an epidural, Lois, this is the point of no return. Any later than this, and it won't have time to take effect." "Yeah, well..." Lois considered the question, as she'd been considering it for months. She'd never been able to make up her mind, though; between villains and deadlines, who had the time? "Oh, here comes another one." She sat up on the bed, crossing her legs for balance and grabbed Clark's hand. He began counting out the seconds of the contraction. The recent ones had been running about 45-55 seconds. She began doing her breathing as Clark murmured encouragement in her ear. When the pain subsided, she looked up into Clark's concerned gaze. "What do you think?" He hesitated. "It's your call, honey. You know I'll support you, whatever you do. And I think you've been handling this amazingly well, but I'm not the one in pain." She took a deep breath. "Well, so far, yeah, I can handle this. As long as you're here..." "I'm here, Lois," he vowed. "No matter what." "Then I don't want to cloud this experience with drugs." She squared her shoulders and repeated, "I can handle this. I'm tough." *** Monday, 10:30pm "So then I grabbed the gun," Ellen explained, with exaggerated patience, "and I went to see how Lois was doing. She was in a standoff with the larger man -- Stubbs, you said? -- and I held the gun on him. Then Martha hit the alarm, and ... there we were until you people arrived." Officer Frankie made sure that Rosa had that all down, and then turned back to the women with a bemused look. "So how is it, Mrs. Lane," he looked over her upscale outfit, "that you know so much about handguns?" "A long time ago, I was the wife of a fashionable doctor. And it was briefly fashionable to know how to shoot." She glanced at Martha as she spoke, unsure of the other woman's reaction. Martha smiled sympathetically. "Well, I was glad you knew how to use it. I've only ever used rifles and shotguns. Are we ready to go, now?" Rosa pulled the sheet out of the typewriter and presented it for their approval. They skimmed it over, and then signed it at the bottom. "We may still need you at the trial, you understand," Frankie amplified, "but it shouldn't be any big deal. They'll probably plea bargain." "Whatever," Ellen sighed. "Now can we *please* leave?" "Ladies, you are free to go. Thanks for your help." *** Monday, 11:10pm "...and in other news, a local jewelry store had an attempted robbery this evening. The would-be thieves were apparently held at bay by three women -- one of them in labor, aparently -- who managed to get their gun away >from them and who held them there until the police, and of course, Superman, arrived..." Lex Luthor watched the footage taken at the scene and recognized Ellen and Martha. He raised an eyebrow. "Ah, Lois, that be you in labor, then?" he murmurred appreciatively. "You always did have that certain flair." He leaned back, thoughtfully. He had failed in cloning Superman, and he had let Lois slip away from him. It suddenly occurred to him, however, that their baby presented new opportunities. He would have to consider this carefully. *** Monday, 11:30pm As Martha and Ellen finally arrived at the hospital, they were surprised to overhear a man asking the receptionist where he could find Lois Lane. They exchanged quizzical glances, establishing that neither of them recognized him. He was short and small of stature, dressed in a long, black coat of archaic style, and carried a bowler hat. Ellen frowned and stepped forward, but before she could accost him, he turned, and his face lit up. "Ah, good, good!" he exclaimed happily. "Mrs. Kent, Mrs. Lane, what a pleasure to meet you both!" "And you are?" Ellen inquired frostily. Her daughter might know any number of questionable people (Big Louie, indeed) but that did not mean that Ellen Lane was prepared to be on speaking terms with them all. "Oh, yes, quite," the strange little man chuckled, his high spirits not in the least quelled. "Allow me to introduce myself. H.G. Wells, at your service." He bowed, sweeping his hat before him in a dramatic arc. Ellen stared at him for a moment, then pronounced, flatly, "You're a lunatic." Martha raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You don't look like H.G. Wells." Ellen rolled her eyes. "Martha, don't encourage him!" Ignoring them both as hopeless, Ellen stalked off towards the hospital front desk. "Have we met?" Mr. Wells asked, with an interested expression. "I don't believe I recall...." Martha crossed her arms and assumed a challenging expression. "Yes, I've met Mr. Wells, but he was a good bit older, and--" Mr. Wells laughed again, interrupting her. "Do you know how much you resemble your son when you do that? Quite comical, really. But I believe I see the root of our confusion. Yes, that was me, but, ah, an older me. Apparently I continue my journeys for quite a few years, according to dear Lois, and I can't tell you what a comfort that is to me. I've been having a simply smashing time, lately, visiting various incarnations of ... well, that's of no importance." He lowered his voice and looked around significantly. "You see, it occurred to me that this is, as it were, the birth of Utopia, and I simply could not resist a quick visit." Martha regarded him in bemusement. He seemed to act like H.G. Wells, from what she'd seen, and she did recall, now, hearing that Clark and Lois had encountered both a younger and an older version of the same man. At any rate, he scarcely seemed dangerous, so she gave up and decided she might as well believe him. "Come on, Martha," Ellen called out from over at the desk. "Lois is in room 218. It's this way..." She was clearly impatient. "You go ahead, Ellen, thank you," Martha replied, less nervous now that she was in the right building at least. "I'll be there in a moment." Ellen shrugged and left, and Martha turned back to her companion. "So, you've been to the future, correct?" "Oh, my, yes, many times. Beautiful there, really." He lifted his shoulders and shot a quick glance upwards in wordless appreciation. "May I accompany you?" Without waiting for a reply, he began slowly walking off in the direction Ellen had taken. "I don't want to interrupt Lois while things are, ahem, in progress, but I would so like to be somewhere near, and be apprised of their status." "I think that can be arranged. So tell me ..." Martha asked as they walked. "Is this baby a boy or a girl?" Mr. Wells laughed. "Oh, no, Mrs. Kent, oh no. I couldn't tell you that. You'll just have to wait and see. I can tell you, though, that it won't be that much longer, so just have patience!" *** (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 14:04:43 -0800 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: It's Time (part 5 of 6) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" IT'S TIME - pt 5 Monday, 11:35pm "Clark, I don't think I can do this anymore." Lois' voice held a distinct note of panic. The transition stage of labor had started, and the contractions had gotten longer, closer together, and more painful. "You can make it, Lois," he encouraged her, squeezing her hand gently. "Remember, you and I together can handle--" "Easy for you to say," she snapped, snatching her hand away from his grip. "All you've ever had to deal with was--" she broke off, looking around for Judy. The nurse was at the other side of the room, so Lois continued in a quiet hiss. "The worst thing you've ever faced has been Kryptonite, and trust me, that was nothing compared to this!" "I believe you, honey," he replied fervently. "But then you've always been tougher than me, anyway." Lois laughed breathily at that. "You think so?" He smiled. "I know so. So what can I do to help you? Do you need more ice, or a back rub?" She squared her shoulders, regaining her determination. "A back rub would help, I guess." *** Monday, 11:45pm Ellen poked her head into the labor room. "Clark?" she called softly. She could see that Lois was standing with her face to a wall, leaning into it for support, and Clark was right next to her, massaging her lower back. Not a false alarm, then, she concluded. Clark looked around briefly, and waved her into the room. "Glad you made it." "They are so slow at that police station," Ellen complained bitterly, not noticing the startled glance she earned from the labor nurse. "But never mind that. How are you doing, Lois?" Lois didn't turn around. "Fine," came the muffled reply, with a note of what could have been sarcasm. "Well ... good. Can I get you anything?" Ellen offered, for once reluctant to intrude. "Some more ice chips would be good," Clark suggested. "There's a machine down the hall, next to the waiting room." "Okay, then ... I'll be right back." She returned momentarily with a cup of ice, but when she heard Clark's steady voice counting, she realized that they were paying her no attention. Leaving the cup on a table, she retreated to the waiting room; she had a phone call to make, and she suspected that Martha would want to make one, as well. *** Tuesday, 12:30am "C'mon honey, you can do this. 45 ... 46 ... 47 ... 48. Just a couple of more contractions, then you can begin to push ... 60 ... 61 ... 62 ... Okay, now the contraction's peaked, it's ebbing away now ... that's it, it's going down ... 76 ... 77 ... 78 ... Whoops, it's coming back up! You can do this, Lois, you're tough, just do your breathing. No, honey, don't try to push, you're not ready to push yet ... 92 ... 93 ... 94 ... okay, there it goes, now ... it's on its way out ... just relax, honey, it's over, you're doing great. Deep cleansing breath, there we go, you're fine." "Clark?" "Yes, dear?" "Shut up." "Yes, dear." *** Tuesday, 12:30am Phone calls made, silence reigned in the waiting room. It was a slow night in the hospital, apparently; Martha, Ellen, and H.G. Wells had the place to themselves. Ellen had shared what she'd seen, Sam and Jonathan had been called, and now it seemed there was nothing they could do but wait. *** Tuesday, 1am Lois lay back, panting, trying to recover her breath. This transition stage of labor was just murder. The contractions were long, hard, and way too close together. She already regretted snapping at Clark, though; this wasn't his fault. Well, in a way it was, she supposed, but she was equally responsible for getting into this condition. She looked over at him guiltily. He caught her glance and smiled. "It's okay, Lois, I can take it. You can swear at me if you need to." She breathed a faint laugh. "Nah. I'll save that for -- midnight feedings." Judy watched them, and had to smile to herself. She loved her job most of the time; bringing new babies into the world was a never-ending thrill, but she especially loved it when the parents were as close, emotionally, as these two were. Some fathers couldn't take the delivery room, or weren't at all supportive; some mothers seemed angry at the world, or withdrawn. The trust and love between the Kents, however, was palpable. Somehow, that always gave her hope for the future. It was time to check on their progress again. Judy approached them as unobtrusively as she could and examined Lois once more. She smiled. "Okay, Lois, congratulations, you've made it through transition. You are now ready to push." "Oh, thank God," Lois groaned. She'd been feeling the need to push for the past few contractions. The books she'd read on childbirth had mentioned that she would feel an "urge to push" but they had failed to explain that it was more like an overpowering, involuntary movement. It had taken a great deal of willpower *not* to push, to suppress her body's instinctive reactions, and her muscles had still spasmed a few times. With Clark's assistance, she changed positions once more, pulling up into a modified squat on the bed, so that she'd be working with gravity, not against it. Judy talked her through the first contraction of the new stage, counting to eight while Lois pushed, then insisting that she relax for a moment before beginning again. "That was great, Lois," she commented as the contraction ended. "You're nearly there -- the pushing stage is sometimes as short as half an hour. Stacey?" She directed one of the other nurses, "Run tell Dr. McGrath that she's getting close. Lois, you just relax as much as you can." Lois sagged back into Clark's strong arms. "This isn't fun anymore," she mumbled. "And where the heck is Dr. Klein, anyway?" *** Tuesday, 1:15am The quiet of the waiting room was disturbed by the hasty arrival of one very distracted scientist. "Is this where Lois is having her baby?" He was a balding, middle-aged man, mild in appearance with the startling exception of a well-worn black leather jacket. "Who are *you*?" Ellen cried, startled by his dramatic entrance. All in all, she was *not* having a good evening. He looked at her, affronted. "I'm Bernard Klein. Who are you?" "Ellen Lane, and I just happen to be Lois' mother." "Well, I just happen to be her doctor. Sort of." Martha jumped up from her quiet conversation with H.G. Wells, and moved forward with a smile. "Dr. Klein, I'm pleased to meet you. Clark's told me so much about you." "He has?" Dr. Klein looked vaguely panicked for a moment, then his face cleared. "Oh! You must be his mother ... I've wanted to meet you, actually; you've done a terrific job with him. Is your husband here?" She shook her head. "Not yet, he didn't want to leave the farm this close to harvest time, not when we didn't know when to expect the baby. But I called him, and we hope he'll be here by morning." Dr. Klein smiled. "Maybe Superman could give him a lift." Ellen regarded them impatiently. "Why do I get the feeling you two know something I don't?" For a moment she frowned, subject to a fleeting sensation of deja vu, then shook it off. Of course this hadn't happened before, she'd have remembered it. Klein looked startled, but before he could speak, Wells interrupted. "I expect it's something private about Clark, Mrs. Lane; Dr. Klein is, I believe, in the way of a family physician to them both." He glanced over at Klein with a twinkle in his eye. "Well, yeah," the researcher replied, thoroughly confused now. "Who are you?" Ellen groaned and massaged her temples. "Don't ask." *** Tuesday, 1:30am "Okay, Lois, *push*, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Relax, now, take a breath and *push*." Clark talked her through another contraction, then wiped her face with a damp washcloth. "You're doing terrific, honey," he whispered in her ear. "Have I told you how much I love you?" "Once or twice," she replied, trying to relax between contractions. "There's no way -- I could do this -- without you." She was sitting on the bed now, with Clark sitting behind her, supporting her. The bottom of the bed had been removed in a curved section that allowed the labor nurse to observe the baby's progress. "You're doing really well, Lois; when you push, I can see the baby's head -- looks like he or she will have a nice head of hair." She grinned up at the young couple. "I'll set up the mirror. That way you can see, too." *** Tuesday, 1:30am "A time traveler?" Klein repeated skeptically. Wells nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes, yes. It's fascinating, if occasionally somewhat harrowing. Once, in the American West, I was accosted by a group of ruffians in a tavern; luckily for me, Luisa--" "That's impossible," Klein interrupted, refusing to be sidetracked. "The laws of physics just don't allow it." "Ah, that's where you're wrong, you see. There's a little known principle, a loophole, if you will, and that's what I take advantage of with my flux facilitator..." Across the room, Ellen leaned back with a martyred sigh. "They're both lunatics." Martha smiled. "No doubt," she replied soothingly, "but they're harmless, I'm sure. After everything else we've faced tonight, this can't be that bad!" Ellen smiled reluctantly. "No, I suppose not. I'm just ... worried about my little girl." A movement at the door to the waiting room drew her eye. "Oh, God," she muttered, "who next? Sam!" She stood quickly, and crossed the floor to greet her ex-husband. "I cannot believe how glad I am to see you." Sam laughed. "It must have been a bad day if seeing me is an improvement." Despite his brusque words, however, he offered her a comforting embrace. H.G. Wells looked up, breaking off an explanation of his time traveling machinery. He checked his pocket watch, and creased his brow with concern. Turning to Dr. Klein, he murmured, "It's almost time. You'd better get in there." Klein swallowed hard. The closer he got to the whole childbirth experience, the more sure he was that he didn't wish to share it. However, he'd promised to be there to examine the baby, just in case, and a promise was a promise. *** Tuesday, 1:45am "Are you ready, Lois?" Judy smiled at her encouragingly. "It looks to me like this baby's made up its mind to come out. Stacey, we need Dr. McGrath now." Lois nodded once emphatically, too tired to explain that she was more than ready for labor to be over. Pushing was better than transition -- at least now she had something proactive to do, rather than just endure, but pain was pain and enough was enough. "You've been amazing," Clark whispered to his wife. "I just can't tell you how much I love you right now." "You can show me later," she puffed softly, then grimaced. "Much later." Clark wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her gently. "Lois, you're incredible. Nothing I have ever done has been one tenth this ..." he stumbled for words, then fell back on the obvious, "amazing." "Hah," she laughed, her eyes gleaming with love and mischief. "Don't think -- I won't remind you -- of that." Stacey hurried back into the room. "I've put out a call for Dr. McGrath. She was finishing up another delivery, but she should be here soon ... or they might have to send someone else if she's busy." Clark frowned at that suggestion. Before he could protest, though, another gowned figure entered the room, and amidst the hospital-blue cotton, Clark made out a familiar face. "Dr. Klein, you made it!" "Dr. Klein?" Judy echoed. She didn't know this one, but maybe he was one of Dr. McGrath's partners. "The head's crowning, Doctor, and I've prepped her for delivery. Do you think she needs an episiotomy?" Dr. Klein's eyes opened in horror at the question. "Ah, no!" Judy cocked her head quizzically. "Don't you even want to have a look?" "No, no, no, no, no ..." he backed up, a note of panic in his voice. "I'm not an obstetrician!" "Who are you then?" Judy demanded severely. "He's a friend," Clark intervened hastily, reaching out to snag the researcher before he backed completely out of the room. "He is a doctor, but, ah, he's a pediatrician, so he's here to look at the baby." Judy eased off, but lectured. "Pediatricians don't normally check on the babies right at birth, you know." She eyed him up and down for a minute, noting his stance right inside the door. "Oh, alright, it's okay if they want you here, but stay out of our way." Dr. Klein nodded fervently and did his best to melt into the wall. *** Tuesday, 1:50am Now that Ellen had Sam to support her -- or at least distract her -- Martha thought it would be safe to visit Lois in the delivery room, so she slipped out of the waiting room and down the hall. She was so excited about this baby that it was hard to contain herself, and she wanted very badly to be part of its birth. Although Clark had been everything she could have wanted in a child, she still, deep down, held a wistful regret that she had missed out on one of the central experiences of womanhood. She had barely entered the room before the doctor arrived, and with her, chaos. Organized chaos, Martha trusted, but seeming chaos nonetheless, in the form of several more nurses. The hospital personnel moved throughout the room, moving various pieces of equipment to presumably useful locations. Propped up on the bed, Lois pushed through a contraction. "Six -- seven -- eight," the nurse chanted. "Now relax, that's good." The doctor assumed position at the end of the bed, between parted and elevated legs. "Okay, now Lois, this next one is going to be it, I think. The head was nearly out on that last one. Can you see in the mirror?" Twin nods were her only answer from the couple on the bed. Time seemed to slow as everyone in the room awaited the next contraction. Lois squeezed her husband's hand, hard, communicating that the next wave was starting. "Here it comes," Clark informed the doctor, who flashed a reassuring smile. "Almost there, kids!" Martha found that she was holding her breath. "Okay, Lois, this is it," the labor nurse repeated. "Now, push!" Lois bore down with all her remaining strength, holding onto Clark's hands for dear life, her eyes glued to the mirror. As she pushed, she saw the baby's head come into view once more, further than before, further ... just as she was certain she'd collapse from the strain, the head was free, cradled gently by gloved hands. Suction was quickly applied to free the infant's nose and mouth of amniotic fluid; this appeared to startle the baby, who began gasping for air. "One more big push, Lois," the nurse reminded her, and she complied. As the doctor and nurse steadied the baby's head, it turned, and the shoulders slipped free. Once that wide point was clear, the rest of the infant slid out easily, and Lois relaxed, sobbing with happiness. A higher note joined in, as the baby found its lungs. "Listen to that," Dr. McGrath exclaimed in satisfaction. "And let's see ... Lois, Clark ... Congratulations, you have a daughter." Clark hugged his wife tenderly, as a rush of emotion left him speechless. She smiled up at him in wordless understanding; she was experiencing the same thing herself. *** After that moment of clarity, the room reverted to an atmosphere of purposeful chaos, and seeing that she wouldn't be missed, Martha slipped out. She had to contain herself from running back to the waiting room, and her smile was big enough to make her cheeks ache. One look, in fact, told Ellen and Sam a lot. "They've had the baby?" Ellen asked excitedly. "Yes!" Martha confirmed joyfully. "And it's a girl!" Ellen and Martha hugged briefly in celebration. "A little girl -- that's wonderful," Ellen burbled. Martha laughed, disentangling herself. "I'm so excited. I haven't been this excited since ... they told me they were pregnant! Oh! and I have to go call Jonathan again! " She rushed over to make the call that her husband had been waiting for. Forgotten in the corner, H.G. Wells smiled contentedly and fingered his hat. "And so, it begins..." *** "Time of birth," Judy called out, looking at the large wall clock, "1:53am, Tuesday August 18th. She's got a healthy cry, and her skin is a nice pink." "You're not done, Lois," Dr. McGrath reminded her, "you still need to push for me a little bit, to deliver the placenta. Clark, would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" Clark shook his head. "You're the professional, doctor." Logically, he knew that the cord had no nerve endings, and that the cut would harm neither his wife nor his daughter, but a residual disinclination remained. Besides, Lois still had a firm grasp on his hands, and he didn't want to leave her before she was ready. "Okay, that's fine," the doctor responded, still working on cleaning things up. A nurse approached the new parents. "Here are your ID bracelets," she fastened one to Lois' wrist first, then to Clark's. "The baby will have one too, that's how the staff will know who she belongs to." "I want her in the room with me," Lois spoke up with some effort. "Yes, she'll be rooming in with you, that's all arranged," the nurse soothed, "but we'll need to observe her in the nursery for just a little bit tonight while you're being moved to your recovery room, and even after that, she may need to take little trips." Clark inspected his new bracelet. It was a strip of clear plastic containing a handwritten slip bearing the words "Baby Girl Kent" and various other pertinent data; printed on the plastic was the word "Father". He checked his wife's, and found it to be identical except for bearing the word "Mother" instead. We're parents now ... amazing... Meanwhile, Dr. Klein was trying valiantly to gain a glimpse of the newborn, but he was fended off by the delivery room team, who were expertly cleaning, weighing and measuring the baby. "Six pounds, 12 ounces!" an anonymous blue-gowned figure announced. "And 18 inches long." Another nurse wrapped the squalling baby in a diaper, some plain cotton clothes, and a receiving blanket, putting a cap on her tiny head as well, for good measure. Preliminary observations done, Judy picked up the newest Kent and carried her over to her parents. "She had an Apgar score of nine out of ten, Lois, that means she's very healthy. Smaller than I'd have thought, especially for an overdue baby, but there's nothing wrong with that." (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 14:04:49 -0800 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: It's Time (part 6 of 6) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" IT'S TIME - pt 6 Lois held out her arms to receive the noisy bundle, paying little attention to the nurse. "Hello, little treasure," she cooed softly, and was rewarded by an abatement of the baby's cries. Tiny eyes fluttered open, seeking the source of the familiar sound. "Do you know my voice, precious? You've been hearing it for months, haven't you?" Lois crooned, in a tone of voice she barely recognized, herself. It seemed to reassure the baby, however. Clark leaned over and tentatively stroked one of the baby's cheeks with his forefinger. "Hi there ... I'm your daddy, and this is your mommy." The baby's head moved jerkily towards the contact, and her mouth opened in an "o". "Ah, I've heard about that rooting reflex," Lois chuckled gently. "Let's see if we can put that to work." Awkwardly, she shrugged one shoulder out of her gown and put the baby to her breast. The infant needed help maneuvering into position, but then latched on with an eagerness that surprised Lois. "Oh!" "Does that hurt, honey?" Clark asked anxiously. They had agreed that breastfeeding would be the best start they could give to their child, but neither of them were entirely convinced that it would work. "Nooo ... not really," Lois responded cautiously. "It's just strange, that's all. Look at her go!" For a moment, the newborn suckled with enthusiasm, but then she seemed to lose interest, and relinquished her grip in favor of looking around. "Clark, would you like to hold her?" Gingerly, Clark picked up the tiny bundle; even supporting her neck, he scarcely needed more than two hands to hold her. "She hardly weighs anything," he whispered, awed. Lois covered herself up again. Modesty had momentarily lost all meaning, but she was beginning to feel chilled. One of the nurses, anticipating this common reaction, wordlessly placed a heated blanket over the new mother's lap. Looking down, Lois noticed with vague surprise that the doctor seemed to be done. She looked around the room, trying to assess what was happening, but she was interrupted by Clark's excited whisper. "Lois, she's looking at me!" She looked over at her husband, and realized that the baby did, indeed, seem to be staring straight into her father's face, a serious expression on her tiny features. "She's checking you out," Lois replied, laughing softly. At the sound, the baby closed her eyes briefly, and reopened them to stare directly at her mother. Lois, in turn, submitted to the infant's examination. "Yes, honey, we're your parents. This is what we look like. This is what you're stuck with." The baby, of course, offered no comment, but after a long moment, she closed her eyes and appeared to drift off to sleep. Clark looked at his wife, his eyes glowing with love. "I think we passed." "I love you, Clark." "I love you, too." *** Tuesday, 8:45am "A girl," Lois repeated dreamily as she regarded the baby nursing herself to sleep in her arms. The morning sunlight shone into her private room, and Clark sat relaxing in the room's only chair. Even with the baby in the room with her, she had managed to get some sleep during the night. She hoped Clark had done the same, but her attention was firmly caught by her beautiful, miraculous daughter. "It's hard to believe, isn't it," Clark commented softly, watching them with a smile that was so contented it was very nearly smug. "She's so tiny, so ... dependent!" Lois tore her eyes away from the baby to lock gazes with her husband. "We have so many responsibilities to her! It's kind of terrifying, you know?" He nodded. "I know. But we'll take them one at a time, and we'll be fine. Dr. Klein finally got to look at her, by the way, right before they brought her in here," he added. "As far as he can tell, she's perfectly healthy." "Oh, good," Lois replied, relieved. "She is kind of unprecedented," she commented unnecessarily. "Yeah, but she's fine," Clark reiterated. "And speaking of responsibilities ... we have to fill out the birth certificate. Do you still like the name we picked for her?" "You know, I think it suits her perfectly." The baby finished nursing, her head tilting away in utter relaxation. Clark gently picked her up, letting Lois cover herself. Clark smiled at his newborn daughter. "Yes, it's perfect. Just like her." "Then it's settled," Lois nodded, watching as Clark laid the baby in the hospital bassinet, which was adorned by a pink sign identifying the occupant as Baby Girl Kent. "I can live with that; it sounds good. 'This is my daughter,'" she intoned, practicing for the future, getting used to the name, "Her name is--" "Hello, in there, everyone decent?" Ellen's cheery voice preceded her into the room, although not by much, as she didn't wait for an answer. "Yes, mother, thanks for asking," Lois replied, hastily pulling up the hospital gown. Ellen bustled up to the bed, completely missing the nuance. "Good morning, sweetie. I didn't get much sleep, but who could sleep with such excitement. Oh, there's my little princess!" She had the grace to moderate her tone a fraction when she noticed that the baby was asleep. Lois looked over at Clark, seeking emotional stability in the face of Hurricane Ellen. He quirked an eyebrow at her and smiled wryly. "I guess visiting hours have begun." Sure enough, Sam soon followed, eager to bond with his granddaughter, who stubbornly refused to wake up, sinking instead into a deeper sleep. "Looks like she's a sound sleeper," Sam observed. "The nurse assures me that newborns often are," Lois replied, hiding her own irrational fear that this was a symptom of some awful condition. "She had a pretty rough day yesterday, after all." "Yeah, guess so," Sam conceded hastily, not liking to dwell on that subject. "Lois, I just wanted to tell you, well..." he hesitated, fumbling for words. "I wanted to say how proud I am of you." "Oh, Daddy," Lois whispered, suddenly close to tears. "You've done so well in your life, with a great career, and a great husband, and now a beautiful little girl..." he seemed close to choking up, himself, as he stared at his granddaughter. "I know you outgrew the need for my approval years ago ... I know I was never the sort of father you needed, but ... well, I'm proud of you, that's all." "Thank you," Lois managed. "That means a lot to me." She smiled up at Clark, who had joined her on the bed. Ellen smiled as well, pleased at this detente between father and daughter, but quickly changed the subject. "So, have you decided what to name her?" "Actually," Lois answered, smiling now with a touch of mischief, "we have." "Well, tell us!" Ellen cried impatiently. "Tell us what?" came a jovial voice from the doorway. "Jonathan!" Lois smiled broadly. "You made it!" Martha followed her husband into the room. "You didn't think he'd miss this, did you? He caught a late flight," she added, winking at her son. "How lucky for him," Lois replied, beaming. "Jonathan, what do you think of your granddaughter?" "She's beautiful," he answered proudly, standing by the side of the bassinet, watching her sleep. "What did you name her?" "That's what I was just asking," Ellen replied, not quite able to conceal her impatience. "Maybe now they'll tell us." "Okay, okay," Lois laughed. "Now that everyone's here, we can announce it." "It was a tough choice," Clark interpolated. "We discussed a *lot* of names over the past few months." "Jimmy even ran a poll on the Internet, on the Daily Planet webpage" Lois agreed with a giggle. "About 400 people voted, and we got some good suggestions that way." "It was tough to narrow it down to some top contenders, even now that we know she's -- well -- a she." Clark smiled again, unable to contain his joy in his little girl. "We considered naming her after one of her grandmothers--" Martha smiled at that idea, but Ellen looked uneasy, glancing sideways at her newfound rival. "But then we thought that might not be very diplomatic," Lois continued for him. "And the thought of yelling "Ellen Kent!" or "Martha Kent, get in here, right *now*!" just seemed a little weird," she added with a grin. "Not to mention disrespectful," Clark chimed in. "So we abandoned that, but then that still left a huge number of possibilities." "So we tried to think of other traditions," Lois explained. "I kind of like it that all the women in my family have "L" names -- Ellen, Lois, Lucy," she recited unnecessarily. "Heck, even Lucy's middle name -- Olivia -- is sort of an "L" name. And Clark's family," she added with a twinkle in her eye, "also has a tradition of "El" names..." Clark smiled, but shook his head and murmured, "I was never too close to that branch of the family." "Did you consider any other types of names?" Martha asked, patiently, willing to feed Lois the occasional straight line. "We were thinking of a nice, strong, traditional name, like Elizabeth, or Katherine, or Jessica, or Mary," Clark replied, smiling at his mother. "But Elizabeth reminded me of Beth Luthor," Lois reminded him, "and while she seems nice, it's just a weird situation. And I like Katherine, but I will *not* have a child nicknamed Kat." Ellen and Sam looked somewhat nonplused by this refusal, but accepted it. Martha frowned meditatively. "There are lots of nicknames you could use with Katherine. I think Kay might be nice..." "And then I remembered a story you'd told me, Martha." Lois smiled at her mother-in-law. Martha frowned inquisitively, and Lois turned to explain things to her parents. "See, when Martha and Jonathan took Clark in, as a baby, Martha's family jumped to the conclusion that he was the, um," she glanced sideways, unsure if she were about to reopen old wounds. "Unfortunate side-effect of a youthful indiscretion." "You mean a bastard," Sam spoke up helpfully. "Most likely a teenage pregnancy; those weren't too acceptable in the early 60s." He looked around at the array of disgusted looks. "What? What'd I say?" "Anyway," Lois persevered, "Martha's family thought that she was doing something bad instead of something good, and they cut her off -- refused to have anything to do with her. Except for her favorite aunt." Jonathan put an arm around his wife as Martha started smiling, seeing where this was going. "This aunt, see, she stayed in contact, and visited whenever she could. She was pretty much Clark's only extended family on that side, and he loved her a lot." Lois' voice softened. "She died 20 years ago, but she's still remembered very fondly. And when I heard about her, I knew that's the sort of woman I wanted my daughter to be. Someone loving, but strong, too. Someone who will do the right thing, no matter what." Clark smiled tenderly at his wife. "With you as a mother, Lois, how could she be anything but?" "Well, anyway," she blushed, "We agreed that this would be a great name for our daughter." Lois declared, then gestured for her husband to do the big announcement. Clark smiled broadly. "Everyone, say hello to ... Laura Lane Kent." *** Tuesday, 7:30pm That evening, Lex Luthor sat brooding in his study next to the fire, frowning meditatively at the paper. A small noise caught his attention, and he turned his focus on his wife, who was sitting across the room, reading another of her novels. A house full of books, that was what she'd said she wanted, and she had gotten that. He wasn't entirely sure what else she might want, but she seemed content with what she had. And she seemed to love him. He pondered that for a moment, turning the concept around in his head, dispassionately examining it from all angles. It had been a very long time since anyone had loved him. Many had wanted him, he knew that, and had called it love, but those he discounted. They had merely been willing to trade their bodies for his assistance in various endeavors. Even Lois had merely been dazzled, and that had been more than enough for his purposes. Possession was surer than passion. With Beth, however, it seemed he had both. A curious sensation, to be loved. He hadn't believed it of her at first, of course. She had used him just as he'd used her -- he could understand that, and as long as he'd gotten the better of the bargain, he was satisfied. He'd even had to respect her determination and bravery. He knew that on some level, she still feared for her life, and that was merely a testament to her intelligence. She understood him more than most. And yet, still, she loved him. He shook his head in bemusement, then returned to his paper. A small article caught his eye. So, Lois had given birth to a daughter. Would the child inherit any superpowers? The possibilities enticed him, but there were difficulties. For the child to be useful to him, it would need to be separated from its parents, and that would be quite a challenge. Lex Luthor lived for challenges, especially when the potential for reward was this great. There might be a way .... He chuckled softly, and Beth looked up from her book. "What is it, Lex?" she asked quietly. "Nothing," he murmured, then contradicted himself. "I was just thinking.... Have you ever considered children?" He laid the newspaper down on the table, carefully placing the Lane-Kent birth announcement face down. Beth's eyes were wide, wary. In a voice caught between hope and fear she repeated, "Children?" "Well, yes," Lex replied briskly, getting up from his chair. "It is common for married couples to at least discuss the subject," he teased in an affectionate tone. "I, ah ... that is, I hadn't really...." Beth blushed, obviously unsure how to respond. Lex crossed the room to her chair, and gently pulled her up into an ardent embrace. He enjoyed her ready response. No, this was not calculation on her part; Beth was following her heart. The realization was deeply satisfying. "You were saying?" he rasped out when he finally broke the kiss. "I never even thought of being pregnant," Beth blurted out, still affected by her husband's ardor and her own response. "Well, as to that, my sweet," Lex replied, giving one final glance to the discarded newspaper as he guided his wife towards their bedroom, "I had actually been thinking more along the lines of ... adoption." *** Wednesday, 11am Clark closed the door on the last of the visitors and leaned against it in mock-exhaustion. He looked across the hospital room to see Lois grinning at him from her bed. "Did the crowd tire you out, honey?" she inquired, her voice dripping with false concern. "I never knew we knew so many people," he replied, moving further into the room. "Thank God the nurse came and told them morning visiting hours were over." He stopped at the bassinet, smiling down at Laura, who was looking around quietly. "Well, I was just about to kick them out, anyway," Lois declared. "I am ready to ditch this joint, and for that, I have to change clothes, and quite enough people have seen me naked this week." She climbed out of bed carefully, and allowed her husband to help her across the room to sit in the room's extra chair. She began going through the bag she'd brought to the hospital. "It was nice to see Perry, though," Clark commented idly. "And Jimmy and Penny," Lois concurred. "It hasn't been that long since we were visiting *them* in here," she added with a laugh, still searching. It was a small bag, how could her green top have gotten this lost? "I about had heart failure when Mr. Wells showed up, though." Clark laughed. "Me too. I was sure he'd come with bad news again." "But it was nice of him to visit. And watching him argue with Dr. Klein was fun. Aha!" Lois crowed, pulling the top out of the bag triumphantly. "Now all I need are my jeans -- oh, and here's the baby's going home outfit." She handed it to her husband. "Think you could get her into this?" Clark accepted the tiny scraps of yellow and white cotton with a smile. "No problem." Gently and deftly he began maneuvering the baby's tiny arms and legs into the outfit. "Is there a hat to go with this?" Lois watched her husband handle their daughter and had to wipe away a tear. He looked so *happy*, so natural. As if this were what he was born for. "Lois?" He turned towards her, seeking an answer to his question. "A hat?" "Oh! A hat, yeah..." She dove back into the bag. She hoped that she would soon feel as competent as he looked. "Although it is August..." "Oh, yeah ... well, as long as we keep her out of the sun." Lois stood and pulled off her bathrobe. She was glad she'd brought it -- the hospital gowns were so drab. Now, however, she felt confident enough to reassume real clothes. Unfortunately, they were still her maternity clothes; stretched out muscles and skin didn't snap back immediately, and she still looked about six months pregnant. She sighed. Clark glanced her way and divined the reason for the doleful sound. He considered reassuring her, then decided that she probably wouldn't believe him, or would take it wrong. Distracting her might work better. "I was glad to see that jewelry store guy -- what was his name?" "Mr. Tucci," she replied, brightening up. "Yeah, I was worried about him, so it's good to know that he's doing better. And he said he's thinking about promoting Pete Collins," she grinned. "The very least the man ought to get is a bonus, from what your mother tells me." "I think he'll be rewarded," Clark opined. "Do you have the baby blanket?" "Right here," she replied, pulling out the dark blue blanket that had once cradled baby Clark. "This ought to protect her." Clark accepted the blanket, picking up Laura and wrapping her in it. "What a journey this blanket's been on. From Krypton, to Kansas, to Metropolis -- from one generation to the next..." Lois, now fully dressed, stood and crossed the room, embracing Clark from behind, leaning her cheek against his broad back. He smiled at her over his shoulder. "And this is really just the beginning. We'll have more kids --" "You can have the next one, honey," Lois offered in a generous tone. "Thanks," Clark grinned. "But think about it. Our kids will have kids, and they'll have kids ... and they'll change the world for the better." Lois smiled slightly, watching the baby sleeping in her husband's arms. "I guess that's every parent's hope for their children." "Yeah. And we'll make it happen, too. Because between you and me ... there's nothing we can't do." Clark turned in her arms, transferring his smile from his daughter to his wife. Leaning down, he sealed their future with a kiss. THE END (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 19:50:08 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Alyssa Mondelli Organization: Brought to you by the legal firm of Deceive, Inveigle, & Obfuscate Subject: S5 season finale now airing Comments: To: loiscla@vm.ege.edu.tr MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Yes, it's the moment you've all been waiting for; the birth of Lois and Clark's little... oh wait, would I give that away in the ad? Naah. Anyway, Pam Jernigan has written the season finale to end all season finales, "It's Time", now airing on the Season 5 website. And you never want to pass up reading a story where amniotic fluid is used as a threat. Trust me on this one. All together now: we are at http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/ and http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/s5text.htm and we still love feedback, even with the season ending and all. ==Alyssa in St. Paul== (agmondelli@stthomas.edu)(AlyssaM on the IRC) I'm not a doctor, but I play one on the Internet... ;-> "Strong women wilt at the thought of transition. The most mentally solid of men will crumble when you mention transition. Even Superman has two weaknesses: Kryptonite and transition." --Christopher Rywalt, _It's Just Another Baby_ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 20:59:44 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Joan Organization: MailCity (http://www.mailcity.com:80) Subject: Re: Continuity & Soul Mates Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >In a message dated 98-05-16 04:44:45 EDT, you write: > ><< SoulMates Chronicles: The Sea Hawk---is set in Cuba, 18th century. >> > >The Sea Hawk! I missed that one completely. Can someone tell me where to find >it. I want to ask the same question,too. Has the Sea Hawk been out to the list already? Or is it still in the editing stage? I would love to read it.:) --- Joan aka dmj ***************************************************************** * My Lois & Clark page: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dmyeung/ * ***************************************************************** >In a message dated 98-05-16 04:44:45 EDT, you write: > ><< SoulMates Chronicles: The Sea Hawk---is set in Cuba, 18th century. >> > >The Sea Hawk! I missed that one completely. Can someone tell me where to find >it. > >Thanks. > >Layney > Get your FREE, private e-mail account at http://www.mailcity.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 00:42:59 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gary Subject: Re: S5 season finale now airing In-Reply-To: <355F85BF.5F95@stthomas.edu> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >and we still love feedback, even with the season ending and all. > >==Alyssa in St. Paul== (agmondelli@stthomas.edu)(AlyssaM on the IRC) >I'm not a doctor, but I play one on the Internet... ;-> >"Strong women wilt at the thought of transition. The most mentally >solid of men will crumble when you mention transition. Even Superman >has two weaknesses: Kryptonite and transition." > --Christopher Rywalt, _It's Just Another Baby_ > Is this a quote from a birthing book? Great season finale ep! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= | Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu | | "You decide what you feel heaven is worth" - Deborah Gibson, TWYH | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:48:08 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: RonL623507 Subject: Re: Desktop Themes Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I have a couple of desktop themes, but i have trouble finding a screensaver of lois and clark or superman, does anyone know of any Thanks Ronnie ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 21:16:03 +1000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Louise Kendall Subject: Re: Desktop Themes In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19980517144301.006bdf0c@mail.ozramp.net.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 14:43 17/05/98 +1000, you wrote: >Anyone who wants copies of the bits I've mentioned above to use for their >homemade L&C themes, please ask by private email and I will attempt to >attach them for your viewing pleasure . > > Yes, please, Jenny. I would love a copy. ta muchly Louise ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 08:09:52 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Doris Schmill Subject: OFF TOPIC: Any Lawyers out there? Comments: To: lnc@snorre.fb12.tu-berlin.de, LOISCLA@VM.EGE.EDU.TR Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" May 18, 1998 Hi, guys! Sorry to post this to the list. The only L&C relation that's in this one is that it's related to the fund raising effort Eileen (Eraygun) and Nicky (CKgroupie aka Nicole Wolke) started on my behalf a while ago. We need advice on international trade laws, sales procedure etc. While Eileen is one of the resident lawyers, I am not sure if this is her field of expertise. I am especially hoping to reach someone in over here in Europe. If you think you might be able to help, please email, Eileen, Nicky, or me PRIVATELY at eraygun@aol.com (Eileen) nkwolke@t-online.de (Nicky) dorisschmill@gmx.net respectively. Und noch schnell auf Deutsch: Haben wir auf der deutschen Liste vielleicht auch eine(n) Rechtsanwalt, der sich moeglichst auch noch mit EG (Handels-)Recht auskennt? Bitte schreibt Nicky oder mir PRIVAT an die obige Email Addressen. Thanks for bearing with me guys. I hope to hear from you lawyers out there. Take care, Doris Schmill ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 09:18:35 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Alyssa Mondelli Organization: Brought to you by the legal firm of Deceive, Inveigle, & Obfuscate Subject: Re: S5 season finale now airing MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Gary wrote: > >"Strong women wilt at the thought of transition. The most mentally > >solid of men will crumble when you mention transition. Even Superman > >has two weaknesses: Kryptonite and transition." > > --Christopher Rywalt, _It's Just Another Baby_ > Is this a quote from a birthing book? Actually, Rywalt wrote his book online. It's his (highly entertaining) version of his wife's pregnancy, and while you will find out more about both of them than you ever expected to know, it's still a lot of fun to read. It's at http://www.westnet.com/~crywalt/pregnancy/ ==Alyssa in St. Paul== (agmondelli@stthomas.edu)(AlyssaM on the IRC) Webmistress, Tempus Expeditions - http://www.tempus.simplenet.com Home of the Fortress of Insanity and Lois & Clark Season 5 "What's less than square one? Minus zippo? Negative bupkes?" --Capt. Don Cragen, _Law & Order_ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 10:09:29 -0600 Reply-To: Erin Klingler Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: desktop themes MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all! I sent this email a few days ago, but noticed that it must've gotten lost in cyberspace, so I'm going to post it again. Sorry if the first one suddenly appears in your email boxes a few days. **** With all this talk of ppl wanting LNC screensavers and desktop themes has brought me out of lurk mode. I have a pretty decent desktop theme with icons, cursors, sounds, a steamy wallpaper, etc. It can be downloaded >from my site (still under construction) at: http://www.ida.net/users/davek/ ALSO.... the waving cape screensaver (that Jen Stosser mentioned) that I've been promising to put on my site for ages should finally be done this week. My hubby's had a heckuva time finding a program that will make a screensaver out of a MOV or AVI. And now that he finally has, he's been doing so much overtime at work that he hasn't been able to work on it. :P But I've been pestering him relentlessly about finishing it for ages. (If you were to ask him the definition of a nag, he would probably tell you it was me ) So stay tuned! I'll post to the list when it IS done and on my site so everyone who wants it can go download it. Back to lurking. Erin :) ___________________ (aka ELK on IRC) erink@ida.net "The truth is, no one knows how long they've got. Anyway, it's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now...as they happen." CK to LL in BY ******* "You bet your sweet little chumpy I am." _________________ Erin :) ___________________ (aka ELK on IRC) erink@ida.net "The truth is, no one knows how long they've got. Anyway, it's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now...as they happen." CK to LL in BY ******* "You bet your sweet little chumpy I am." _________________ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 19:50:18 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kat5107 Subject: Metropolis' mayor Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I'm writing a fanfic, and was wondering if anyone knew who Metropolis' last mayor was. I remember in the stretch of eps from STP to LW, they were kind of confused as to whether it was a man or a woman. If you all could help, please send a private mail to kat5107@aol.com. Thank you! Kat ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 20:40:06 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandra McDermin Subject: Before & After: The Outline Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii First off, if anyone has not read my n-fic "Taken" and still wants to read it and be surprised by its ending -- let alone its basic plot -- go no further as I get into painstaking detail below.... Anyway, seaking of POV and which character one finds easiest to speak through, I really put my money where my mouth is when I wrote "Taken". Quite naively, I decided to write a story from ONLY Lois' point of view, not even thinking that it would be difficult. (Ha! Ha! Ha!) However, as my proofers could tell you, it wasn't easy at all -- especially when the story goes on for 177 pps! Everytime another character thought or did something, I had to remember that Lois was the one who had to tell the reader what was going on.... Therefore, she had to surmise what someone was thinking or she had to hear about activities she couldn't have witnessed. What made it even *more* challenging was that there were times when other characters were speaking a language she couldn't understand. Ugh! The idea behind "Taken" was that I really wanted to do a mirror version of the Clark/Lois Lane story. I wanted to see what it would have been like to have Lois Lane meet Kal-El. In other words, she would be the strange visitor from another planet and he would be the one fascinated by an attractive alien. What was most fun was coming up with a personality for Kal-El slightly different from Clark. Kal-El had to be attractive but he couldn't be the sweet Clark we all know and love since he would obviously be in *his* element, much more assure of himself, and with a touch of naive bravado about what he could or could not have in his life, such as Lois Lane. "Taken" was interesting to write because it was the first story I wrote >from an outline. (Considering all of the challenges I listed above, I had wanted some opinions about the story beforehand and so I made an outline to show people.) However, the outline became more than just a show and tell item. It really became a helpful tool -- a roadmap to THE END. In the spirit of Leanne's suggestion that we "explore" how a story evolves (through editing, etc.), I thought I'd post that original outline, undoctored. If you read L&C n-fic and did manage to get through "Taken", you will notice some obvious differences in this outline from what the final story turned out to be. Here's the outline within the astericks (including the end comments to the proofers) from Nov. 96. ********** TAKEN Outline: I. Open story in shrink's office A. Focus of Lois' therapy is her relationship with fiance, Lex Luthor. 1. Doctor begins to dig out of Lois "an experience" she claims to have had. 2. Doctor sees this experience as manifestation of her subconscious, relating to her problems with her fiance. 3. Lois, however, believes she has really had this experience. II. Story switches to Lois' "abduction" A. Lois is lifted up into a space ship 1. She is poked, blood taken, etc. (various invasive procedures) by humanoid creatures, but obviously not from Earth. 2. After awakening from being "knocked out," she becomes aware of a disturbance in the craft which becomes severe. It is being attacked. 3. Another alien being (not one of those who kidnapped her), enters the room she is in, "enables" her to leave, and takes her along. 4. Lois is hurt in the scuffle during the escape. III. Story shifts to larger space craft. A. Lois meets her first Kryptonian -- the one who rescued her -- after awakening from treatment of her wound. B. Her primary rescuer is a female Kryptonian (named Li-lah?). She is tall, transluscent skin, beautiful, rich dark hair. C. Li-lah tells Lois that she was abducted by a race of beings (enemies of the Kryptonians) who have long been known to take humans for experimentation (as well as removal of eggs/sperm for cross-pollination). She calls victims of this process "A Taken." (In other words, Lois is "a taken.") This practice is abhorrent to Kryptonians. Although they observe Earth, they are strictly forbidden from interfering with humans in any way. D. Although fascinated by Li-lah, her explanations, and everything she sees, Lois demands to be taken back. (She sarcastically states that she is not "a taken," but "a mis-taken.") E. Li-lah informs Lois that they are about to arrive at Krypton. She has been ordered not to take "the taken" back. 1. Reasons to not take Lois back despite Kryptonian policy. a. Lois was wounded and traumatized b. Enemy ships were closing in c. Li-lah, and her shipmates, had never had such an up close look at "a taken" and had never had one on their ship. (Their curiosity had gotten the better of them.) The High Council angrily ordered them to return with Lois under the circumstances. III. Krypton (based on a combination of the comics, movie, and T.V. show) -- a highly technological society, very austere, colorless. The people are logical and *less* emotional, although with principles we can recognize. Kryptonians are very "good-looking" (well- defined, transluscent, blemish free skin, rich thick hair. Both sexes are tall. They communicate telepathically with each other. The society is highly stratefied. There is a governing "High Council" made up of members of the upper class. Although not generally hereditary, there is a tendency toward rule by a few that is based on birth (through tradition rather than design i.e., comparable to Senate or House seats that pass from father/mother to son/daughter. The upper classes pair for life, but the lower classes do not. There is no physical sex for enjoyment or propagation. (It is forbidden -- seen as barbaric.) Fetuses develop in "cells" outside of the woman's body. *However,* there is a form of "telepathic" sex for physical relief. A. Lois is comfortably "housed" in rooms within the buildings of the High Council, but she is not free to roam. B. Li-lah is questioned and called on the ropes asto her decisions on taking "the taken." C. Lois is visited by a member of the High Council and an "examiner" (a doctor/scientist). The examiner is Jor-el, an important scientist whose brother is the preeminent member of the "High Council." D. There is great curiosity as word of "the Taken's" presence spreads on Krypton. E. Jor-el's son, Kal-el is a "scribe." He is the Kryptonian equivalent of a historian/writer/reporter. It is expected that he will take a place on the "High Council" since his uncle has no off-spring. F. Kal-el, very interested in the earth woman (she's a "big story"), wants to see her and convinces his father to allow him access to her for the "good of history." G. Kal-el meets Lois. He first sees her as a curiosity. (He is not the warm, charming Clark Kent we know and love.) But, through the force of her personality (and her surprising attractiveness), he becomes drawn to her. As for Lois, she is instantly taken with his beauty. What takes time to find is the warmth underneath the Kryptonian coolness. H. As the High Council decides what to do with Lois (i.e., do we, for the first time ever, keep "a taken" to study her or do we take her back after her lengthy stay on Krypton), Lois convinces Li-lah and Kal-el to let her out to see Krypton. I. Lois is allowed out *with* Kal-el or Li-Lah. She spends a good deal of time with Kal-el learning about Krypton and each other. She also quizzes Li-lah on his background. Eventually, they become close -- despite the growing disproval of his family and members of the government -- and, he tries communicating with her telepathically, leading to a telepathic sexual encounter. IV. Story switches back to the shrink's office. He ends the session. A. When Lois next returns to see the doctor, she is asked about her intimate relations with her fiance. B. Lois describes her relationship with Lex and we learn about the type of intimacy they have. ("Less innocent" then was presented on the show, but not sure how far I want to go with this -- I sound like Lois. In any case it is definitely imperfect. C. The shrink sees Lois' telepathic sexual encounter with a perfect being and her unsatisfactory relationship with her fiance as linked and traceable back to her mother's relationship with her philandering father. In other words, cannot trust men, or be intimate with them, for fear they will hurt her. D. Lois denies this and says that she *has* had a satisfying sexual encounter -- if not long term relationship and that it was real. V. The story shifts back to Krypton. A. Fearing the growing influence of Lois, his parents and uncle forbid Kal-el to see her. He manages to sneak her out; however, with the help of Li-lah. They spend a day and night together wherein they discuss their options for being together. For the first time, Kal-el experiences physical love. B. The couple are caught in the act -- so to speak -- by Kal-el's mother. She informs Jor-el who feverishly works to get Kal-el out of the Ruling City and to get Lois off of Krypton. (Some on the Council are leaning on keeping toward keeping her on Krypton for scientific purposes, in spite of their overarching moral dictates.) C. Lois, "imprisoned" once again, pleads with Jor-el and Lara to allow her to see Kal- el and to stay on Krypton. When alone with Lara, Lois accidently learns that Kal-el was actually "barbarically" conceived -- like an animal. It is a shameful thing, and that is why the discovery of their son's actions evokes such a powerful response. They guiltily suspect that his physical conception, through their weakness, is somehow responsible for his attraction to this act. TWO OPTIONS: D. A small party of the Kryptonian's enemy (the beings who abducted Lois) manage to get onto the Planet. Kal-el has returned to the Capitol, despite in parents orders. When the "High Council's" building is attacked, Kal-el rushes there to save Lois. As he arrives to rescue her, someone attempts to kill him; however, Lois grabs a weapon and kills the attacker instead. Jor-el, obviously grateful, uses Lois' brave act as a reason to reward her by sending her back home and convinces the Council to do so. OR: D. In an appearance before the High Council to announce her ultimate fate, Lois faints. Jor-el examines her and reports to the Council that her body is reacting to life on Krypton. She is being harmed and must be returned to Earth. (However, he actually discovers she is pregnant. He confides in Lara and discusses the possibility of either taking it or aborting it. Lara is appalled at the thought of aborting her son's child, and Jor-el does not believe the child could be kept in such a homogenous society on Krypton. They come to no conclusion. Jor-el secretly decides that he should give Lois something that would abort the fetus. At the last minute, he finds he cannot do it; however, he tells his wife that he did. VI. The last scene on Krypton. A. The High Council, the El's, Kal-el, Li-lah and other select Kryptonians gather to see Lois off. The El's and the High Council are standing at one end of a huge hanger. The ship is on the other end. Lois and Kal-el are staring deeply at each other. She tears her eyes away to hug the surprised Li-lah, who after briefly resisting, returns the embrace. Lois whispers to her that she should watch over Kal-el for her -- be there for him. Li-lah says she will do her best considering that they are not in the same class and it is not done. B. As Lois pulls away, she looks again at Kal-el who suddenly begins to run toward her. He is restrained and Lois is escorted on board a tiny, round ship, and strapped in to a seat. VII. Hurtling through space. A. As Lois speeds toward Earth in a ship which is programmed to disenigrate after she lands, she begins to feel uncomfortable. Her abdomen begins to tighten. She looks down and is astonished to see it expanding before her eyes to an enormous size, contractions begin.... VIII. The story quickly returns to the shrink's office. A. The doctor says, "So, you imagined you were impregnated by this alien." B. Lois assures him that she was not imagining anything. They go back and forth a bit. The doctor's eyes begin to narrow. "Are you saying you actually had a child by an alien. Where is this child?" The doctor gets up and moves toward Lois who quickly rises, shaking her head. "You can't hide this child Lois... Where is it?" He walks toward her, his facing getting more and more monstrous. She backs up, saying "No. No one must know. I'll never tell." "Does Lex Luthor know? You can't hide it from Luthor? You can't hide from this world that you bore Kal-el's offspring, Lois. You can't hide it. They'll all find out." He moves closer to her as she backs up into a table with the pitcher of water on it. Her movement against it causes it to fall over her. Everything before her blackens.... IX. Epilogue: Lois and Clark's bedroom. A. Lois, very pregnant with her third child, is tossing and turning in bed, muttering. "No. No one must know. You can't have my baby." B. Clark awakened by Lois, attempts to wake her. He feels around her and finds the bed clothes wet. Her water has broken. C. Lois wakes. She calls Clark "Kal-el" before realizing that the whole thing was a dream. Well, that's it. I haven't been able to think of a punchier ending, but something might come to me. (Obviously, in the Epilogue, Lois is on her way to giving birth to the child she conceived in "Love as a Blonde." So, for all practical purposes this was a story [Krypton], within a story [the doctor's office], within in a story [Lois and Clark's child being born.] Or, different levels of reality, and the reader is ultimately the one being "taken.") **************** 1) You will notice one really important difference in the outline from the final product. The Lex Luthor portion of the story -- almost one-half of it -- is almost completely missing. (Although she probably won't remember this, when I gave the outline to Genevieve, she recommended putting Lex in as a counterpoint to the Krypton/Kal-El story.) In order to make it even more interesting (and give Lois a real reason to be visiting a shrink), I made Lois Lex's wife rather than just his fiance. This "small" difference >from the outline helped to balance the story and enrich it a great deal -- showing a stark comparison between the Lex/Lois relationship and the Kal-El/Lois relationship. Both of which are different from the Clark/Lois relationship with which we are all already familiar. It is one big example where a proofer can really improve on a story (while doubling its length). 2) Another change from the outline was in the two options I laid out for the story's climax. I chose the second one -- ultimately -- because it fit the overall theme like a glove. However, I gave Lara a much bigger role which led her to become a more interesting, complex character. Instead of just being the "little woman," she becomes a much more dynamic instigator of the action who goes from being very unsympathetic to a much more positive force. I think this is an example where a character totally took over and *demanded* more of the story. She really got out of hand, and was just as important as Jor-El to the resolution of the Kal-El/Lois story. Thus, *she* caused me to double that section's length. 3) The third big change was in the last scene on Krypton. Here's where I just couldn't get myself to write a sappy ending to that part as that wouldn't be faithful to the true nature of Krypton. In my opinion, Krypton was not a sappy place. So, I created two scenes to take care of the one -- thus, doubling its length. One scene took care of the Lois/Kal-El tearful departure while the other left us with the ever pervasive feel of unemotional utilitarianism -- with only a hint of change as a result of Lois' influence. I think that change is a great example of how -- once one starts writing -- you get a much better feel for the setting of your story and what would be true to that environment and what would not. Finally, as a result of all the changes I had made, I was able to come up with a much snappier final confrontation between the shrink and Lois, giving it an interesting twist. It always surprises me how changes you were cursing earlier turn out to be 10 times better for the story in the long run. I hope I haven't bored everyone. I'm sure I bored those who didn't (or couldn't) read the story, but it was the only one (besides my S5 episode) where I had something concrete, from the beginning of the process, that I could share, comparing a final fic with the original idea and showing its evolution -- granted only as a before and after. Frankly, it amazes me when I read the outline now (it was written in Nov. 96 and the story was completed in Jan. 98) how important it turned out to be, despite all the changes I made. It really helped me to stay on course. Considering how long it took me to write "Taken" I honestly couldn't remember what I had planned to do from one month to the next. I got subsumed into one part, and literally had to go back just to jiggle my memory. Some people say that beginning writers should use outlines to keep them on track. I don't know if that's necessarily so, but my advice is, if you're planning to write a multi-layered, lengthy story, you should really lay it out. Even if you add to the plot or change it as I did, at least you have something that reminds you of your original intentions -- not only about plot but about character. It's also a marvelous tool for judging your progress, especially when you're feeling overwhelmed. Sandy (Next up, even though we're all very familiar with Lois and Clark as characters, does anybody do character sketches before writing, especially on supporting characters that you, yourself, have created?) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 20:49:34 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandra McDermin Subject: Re: Before & After: The Outline Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Let me apologize for the line wrap in my previous message. It does make reading the outline a slight bit of a challenge. Sorry. As a matter of fact that one thing was the biggest problem I had in disseminating that story. It brings back fond memories.... Yeah, real, real fond.... Where did I put that prozac? (Maybe it's easier to read on the list archive.) Sandy ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 19:58:08 -1000 Reply-To: shore@maui.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jamee Jones Subject: Superman's S MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Question, I have always wondered what the 'S' on supermans chest actually stood for. Before L&C I allways thought that 'S' was put there after he recieved his nickname 'Superman'. I don't have any idea what the comic books say, if anything. But on L&C that 'S' came with him as a baby and you can see his real parents on Krypton wearing the 'S' on their outfits also. Since their family name seems to end with 'EL' and not 'Super', I can't seem to figure out what the 'S' could have been for? Is there an explanation or has anyone incorporated one into a story ever? just curious, j-me ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 02:00:20 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mhcman Subject: Re: Superman's S Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Howdy, I think the "S" is like a coat-of-arms. You know like a shield in a castle with the lions and such. I would like to think that that was not an "S". The yellow designs help to make out an "S" but if you look at the other Kryptonian coat-of-arms, they do not make any recognizable letter so I think the symbol just happened to resemble the letter "S". Just my thoughts Thomas ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 23:28:12 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jon Neil Subject: Re: Superman's S In one episode, I can't remember which, CK actually says that the "S" is the symbol that stands for "The House of EL". He never says whether it is an S or anything, just a symbol. Cas ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 02:40:37 -0400 Reply-To: datah@epix.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Ray Woodruff Subject: Re: Superman's S MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jamee Jones wrote: > > Question, > > I have always wondered what the 'S' on supermans chest actually stood > for. Before L&C I allways thought that 'S' was put there after he > recieved his nickname 'Superman'. I don't have any idea what the comic > books say, if anything. But on L&C that 'S' came with him as a baby and > you can see his real parents on Krypton wearing the 'S' on their outfits > also. Since their family name seems to end with 'EL' and not 'Super', > I can't seem to figure out what the 'S' could have been for? Is there > an explanation or has anyone incorporated one into a story ever? > > just curious, > j-me Hi, I don't remember where I read it but one interpretation is that the S stands for Sciences Ray ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 08:56:34 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LO15 LANE Subject: Re: Superman's S Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 19/05/98 06:43:02 BST, Jamee writes: << I have always wondered what the 'S' on supermans chest actually stood for. Before L&C I allways thought that 'S' was put there after he recieved his nickname 'Superman'. I don't have any idea what the comic books say, if anything. But on L&C that 'S' came with him as a baby and you can see his real parents on Krypton wearing the 'S' on their outfits also. Since their family name seems to end with 'EL' and not 'Super', I can't seem to figure out what the 'S' could have been for? Is there an explanation or has anyone incorporated one into a story ever? >> Somebody wrote into Wizard magazine and asked that (in regard to the comics though) , this is the reply they got: It's like this: In Pre-crisis continuity, the 'S' shield was a Kryptonian symbol. But as of The Man of Stell #1's revamp, the 'S' stands for Superman. Clark Kent had his first public adventure in street clothes, and newspapers dubbed him as Superman. Relizing the need for a costume and a secret identit, Kent headed home to Smallville, where he and Pa Kent hammered out a symbol. As to other characters with the same symbol, DC's Superman assistant editor Maureen McTigue says, 'Supergirl, Superboy and Steel wear it our of respect to Superman, although Superboy and Steel are a bit mixed-up. They actually thought there were Superman back in the 'Riegn of the Supermen' storyline. :) Kara ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 12:06:54 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Difficult Characters to Write Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 and on a related note... The character I find most difficult to write for is Jonathan Kent. He's so solid and sensible (most of the time) that I find it very hard to give= him anything interesting to do. I've managed to give fanfic-time to Martha, but her husband seems to slip away into the background every time= , which I do feel badly about... PJ !^NavFont02F011B0006MGHHHd45BC E-mail from: Pam Jernigan, 19-May-1998 jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html ~~~~~ "Are you under the care of a qualified psychiatrist, Constable?" = -- "The Ladies' Man", Due South "Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs = should relax and get used to the idea." -- Robert A. Heinlein ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 12:06:53 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: POV discussions Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I've been on vacation, so I haven't been able to respond to this discussion properly, but now that I've got some time, there are a few points I wanted to make. :-) My old favorite books all seemed to be in 3rd person omniscient POV (i.e.= , the author was God and knew what everyone was thinking). Character viewpoints seemed to flow around the room as needed - one character would= speak, and you'd read what they were thinking for a paragraph or two, the= n you were on to another person's words and thoughts. Much of my fanfic is= written this way, just because I never used to think about this issue at all Then a few years ago, it was pointed out to me that fiction these days is= more often written in 3rd person limited perspective - the reader perches= behind one set of eyes and stays there for the duration of the scene. I find that much more challenging, as Sandy mentioned. I only know of one author[1], off-hand, who can write an entire novel like this, and for her= it works: You are in one character's head the whole time, so you get to know that character very well, and his/her adventures seem almost like yo= ur own, since in real life we have to deal with the 3rd person limited perspective all the time :-) But it's difficult to arrange for *everything* relevant to the story to happen to one person without it starting to seem like a huge contrivance. And in romance fiction, which is one of the main genres I read, the 3rd person perpective is broken up between the hero and heroine. A chapter, = or part of one, is told through his eyes, then the next chunk is shown from her perspective. This is a good compromise, I feel, because this way you= get to know each of them more fully -- and you get to know them before th= ey get to know each other. It also enables you to spread the action around = a bit more. In my later fanfics I tried to use this method. It's still difficult, tho -- and my S5 episode used the omniscient perspective, I confess. When you've got a mob of characters to manage, the limited perspective can be overly limiting. Hmm, I guess this has turned into a lecture :-) so I'll throw a conclusion on... which perspective you use should be based on your goals with the story. When you've got lots of characters and want to describe action and/or the= ways an event impact different people, use the omniscient perspective. = Don't switch from one character to another within a paragraph, and make i= t clear when you jump heads, but use whoever's thoughts you need to make yo= ur point. When you want to show how an event affects one person in particular, try the limited, and limit it just to that character's thoughts. It's an interesting exercise, if nothing else. You will get to know that one character very well, if you do it right, but it's harder to get a feel fo= r the rest of your characters. But, if your goal is to show just that one main character's growth, this is a great way to do it. When you want to show the progression of a relationship, I think you need= to balance two limited perspectives, his and hers. Especially if you choose to complicate their relationship with misunderstandings. Here, th= e challenge is in choosing which view you want of which events. This metho= d, also, seems to lead to a certain amount of redundancy - you spend a chapt= er showing how one party goes through a conversation. Then you switch to th= e other party, and have to gracefully recap how *they* perceived the same conversation. At least if it's an important conversation. I suspect I've maundered on enough for now... thanks for listening. PJ [1]the author I mentioned is Lois McMaster Bujold; she is *excellent* and= I highly recommend anything she's ever written or ever will write in the future Her books are nominally science fiction, but I think of them more as wonderful character studies. !^NavFont02F0C390007MGHHS3B398A E-mail from: Pam Jernigan, 19-May-1998 jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html ~~~~~ "Are you under the care of a qualified psychiatrist, Constable?" = -- "The Ladies' Man", Due South "Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs = should relax and get used to the idea." -- Robert A. Heinlein ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 17:59:58 +0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Phillip Atcliffe Subject: Re: Superman's S - Reply In a message dated 19/05/98 06:43:02 BST, Jamee writes: >> I have always wondered what the 'S' on Superman's chest actually stood for... [snip] << To which Kara replied: > Somebody wrote into Wizard magazine and asked that (in regard to the comics, though). This is the reply they got: "It's like this: In Pre-crisis continuity, the 'S' shield was a Kryptonian symbol. But as of The Man of Steel #1's revamp, the 'S' stands for Superman. Clark Kent had his first public adventure in street clothes, and newspapers dubbed him as Superman. Realising the need for a costume and a secret identity, Kent headed home to Smallville, where he and Pa Kent hammered out a symbol. "As to other characters with the same symbol, DC's Superman assistant editor Maureen McTigue says, 'Supergirl, Superboy and Steel wear it out of respect to Superman, although Superboy and Steel are a bit mixed-up. They actually thought they were Superman back in the 'Reign of the Supermen' storyline.'" < You know, I have really grave doubts about that (it's not your fault, Kara, I just don't think the people who answered the questions knew what they were talking about.). First off, I have _never_, in nearly 40 years of comic reading, seen the S-shield mentioned as being Kryptonian. That idea, AFAIK, first appeared in the Christopher Reeve movies (and was later adopted by L&C). Pre-Crisis (or at least the latest version of that, 'cause some details changed over the years), the S-shield was invented by the Kents for Super_boy_ when Clark adopted his costumed identity (and the name, which they also made up) at the age of about eight. Post-Crisis, Clark and Jonathan invented the symbol after Lois named "Superman". As for the modern Superboy and Steel thinking that they were Superman -- rubbish! Steel adopted his armoured persona as a tribute to Superman, who saved his life; he wore the S as his way of carrying on the legacy of the (thought-to-be-dead) Man of Steel. Superboy tried to grab the name Superman for himself (including threatening to sue anyone else who tried to use the name) after Clark "died" fighting Doomsday. At no time did either one _think_ he was the "real" Superman. And then there's Supergirl, but the Pocket Universe saga is too complicated to go into here. Suffice it to say that she, too, wears the S in imitation and in homage to Clark Kent (_a_ Clark Kent, anyway... ). Phil, who is so glad to see the real Supes back in the comics that I've even added the titles to my pull list -- at least until the Dominus saga is over. ------------------------------------------------------------- "I think... I think I am! | I think _I_ am: Therefore I am... I think..?" | Phil Atcliffe -- The Moody Blues | (p-atclif@uwe.ac.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 13:23:45 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Zoomway Subject: Re: Superman's S Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-19 01:42:47 EDT, you write: << I have always wondered what the 'S' on supermans chest actually stood for. Before L&C I allways thought that 'S' was put there after he recieved his nickname 'Superman'. I don't have any idea what the comic books say, if anything >> The 'S' does stand for Superman in the comics. Lois was on an experimental space plane that collided with another aircraft, Clark was in the crowd below and had no choice but to fly up in public view and rescue the plane. This was the first time they met (briefly until they retconned an earlier meeting) Clark was upset by all the attention and so his mom made the Superman costume and Clark and his dad designed the S shield after Lois did a newspaper report on "Mysterious Superman Saves Space Plane" Clark then got a pair of his dad's old glasses to wear as Clark Kent to make himself and his alter super ego look different. I don't know why DJL went with the movie lore (more or less) that the S shield came from Krypton and just happened to look like the S we use. It seemed to also lead to the take on costumes and sets for The Foundling that looked similar to the first Superman movie as well (and costuming for the NK arc). Even the "infant son" placed in the spaceship is a changing bit of lore, but in the revamped comics, Kal-El was still gestating in a matrix chamber and was literally "born" on Earth to Martha and Jonathan. No one knows why Clark had glasses *before* he came up with the disguise on the series though ;) Zoomway@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 13:58:21 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gary Subject: How dead is LOISCLA? MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Is LOISCLA completely dead or just a little bit? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= | Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu | | "You decide what you feel heaven is worth" - Deborah Gibson, TWYH | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 14:26:49 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Zoomway Subject: Re: Difficult Characters to Write Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-19 12:09:59 EDT, jernigan@COMPUSERVE.COM writes: << The character I find most difficult to write for is Jonathan Kent. He's so solid and sensible (most of the time) that I find it very hard to give him anything interesting to do. I've managed to give fanfic-time to Martha, but her husband seems to slip away into the background every time, which I do feel badly about..<<< You shouldn't feel bad about that, Pam. You know why? You really do have an aspect of Jonathan right there when you said he "seems to slip away into the background.." I think that is part of his character. We all know people who are like that. They may introduce themselves and then they grab a chair and "blend" They are more often the people you have to *make* say something rather than expecting them to volunteer information. My dad was like that. He'd just sit in the background at family gatherings, and it almost seemed as if he found it excruciating when one of my aunts would come over and 'accost' him with conversation It was almost like some painful kind of shyness. If he started feeling too uncomfortable having to make polite conversation (he usually would say "I guess I'm just tired from all that driving") he would wander outside and busy himself with unpacking the car, cleaning it, checking the oil just *anything* that kept him from interacting with others ;) That's a good way to be branded aloof or antisocial, and while neither applied to my dad, I could see how those who didn't know him, would think so. I think this applies to Jonathan. A polite man who is good natured and will interact with Martha but has to be kind of "drawn out" by others to interact with them. Anyway, that was my take on him in Great Shades of Elvis and this small portion of a scene: Clark watched the apple-shaped man he called 'Dad' tossing out the feed. In many ways he was typical of American fathers. He kept most of his emotions in, and was more likely to respond to an offered hug, than to initiate one, so Clark was pleased when he had initiated the hug with Lois. At social gatherings he would sit back with his pie plate and let his wife do most of the talking. It usually took something extraordinary for his father to let his emotions reach the surface, and Clark's secret, 'the' secret, was just extraordinary enough. Clark thought a moment, and decided to open this up completely with his father. He draped his arms on top of the fence, and rested his chin on his crossed hands. "I love her so much, dad. She takes a lot of the burden of being two people off my shoulders." "How, son?" His father asked, but continued to spread the feed. "Well, she seems to be a better liar than me...well, I mean she sounds more convincing," he laughed. "That part of becoming Superman was never easy for me, but whenever I let Lois know that I have to leave, she'll just make up some errand, or interview, and sends me on my way." Clark lowered his eyes. He realized he still wasn't quite getting through. "She makes me feel like a man, Dad, even though I know I'm not one, and never can be." That statement worked. Jonathan set the feed pail down and approached the fence. "You 'are' a man, son." Clark shook his head. "No, Dad, I'm not. I'm a Kryptonian," he shrugged. "Whatever that means." "Clark, you were only born on Krypton. You were raised here." "Dad, that's like saying if you take a tiger cub out of the jungle, and raise it as a pet, it's no longer a tiger." Clark sighed his long frustrated sigh. "Don't get me wrong, Dad, you and Mom did a great job of raising me to be a man--" "I hope so, son," his father chuckled. "We didn't know how to raise a Kryptonian." ****************** Anyway, that's my take on Jonathan, made prejudiced by my own view of my own father I think Jonathan would probably be very opinionated and talkative around other farmers discussing the things he knows best, but in social gatherings or just ordninary chit-chat he would feel less at ease or just more comfortable listening and responding than initiating conversation. Zoomway@aol.com (my dad used to wake up my sister and me by turning on the light and saying "everybody out of the pool, you're turning blue" go figure ;) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 14:35:44 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Zoomway Subject: Re: How dead is LOISCLA? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-19 13:52:18 EDT, you write: << Is LOISCLA completely dead or just a little bit? >> Maybe just MOSTLY dead I haven't heard from Turgut at trearn officially yet, so I don't know what happened. In the old days, they had a water-cooled mainframe and it would go down with the slightest provocation, but I think they finally got an air-cooled mainframe that has caused them less grief. On the weekends there is no one there to maintain the list and the last time LOISCLA went down for an extended period of time is when Turgut went on vacation and the guy he had taking his place just up and quit and that let trearn crash completely and not come back up till Turgut got back. Just prior to this crash, Trearn was sending out notices of old posts saying they couldn't be delivered, so something was already causing them problems. When Trearn gives me any kind of information I promise I'll post it here for those of you who subscribe to LOISCLA. Zoomway@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 13:13:49 PDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "K.C. Boyd" Subject: Re: Metropolis' mayor Content-Type: text/plain > >I'm writing a fanfic, and was wondering if anyone knew who Metropolis' last >mayor was. >Kat > Metropolis' mayor when mentioned was always a woman, except for in STP which was probably just a plot hole. But the mayor has been male in a few of fanfics. I guess it's just what fits your story better K.C. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 20:23:08 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: KampmeyerM Subject: Re: Before & After: The Outline Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit This is exactly what I joined this list for: to read and understand what it takes to write a good fanfic. Well done, Sandy. Marie ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 21:59:08 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Georgia E. Walden" Subject: Re: Difficult Characters to Write In-Reply-To: <7507f1cf.3561ceea@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 02:26 PM 5/19/98 EDT, you wrote: >In a message dated 98-05-19 12:09:59 EDT, jernigan@COMPUSERVE.COM writes: > ><< > The character I find most difficult to write for is Jonathan Kent. He's > so solid and sensible (most of the time) that I find it very hard to give > him anything interesting to do. I've managed to give fanfic-time to > Martha, but her husband seems to slip away into the background every time, > which I do feel badly about..<<< I agree with Zoom on this one, Pam - Jonathan isn't a front and center kind of guy, so to force him into the limelight would be out of character. If he wants to sit and watch, let him. Speaking not from experience but just observation, there seem to be two methods of writing a character being discussed here that are sort of like two styles of acting. One is the Method approach, which involves trying to get inside the character's head, really analyze their whole personality and then put that personality into a situation. Another way is more the Spencer Tracy style : just learn the lines and don't bump into the furniture. ;) I can't say that I truly *know* any of the characters in the Lois and Clark world from inside. I've just watched them say their lines in many different scenes - so if I were writing any of them, I'd try to duplicate the externals as closely as possible. I look at the superficial aspects - speech patterns (do they use certain phrases or formulations more than others?), physical movement (do they walk or use their hands a certain way?), as information about who the character is and predictors to how they'll behave in new situations. I would "listen" to them say what I've written for them to say, and then compare it to things they've said before. If it doesn't ring too false to me, I'd be happy that I've at least not been totally off the mark. This can be restrictive or lead to a feeling of 'been there, done that' , but maybe if you're having trouble handling a character or a scene, it's a departure point. This may sound obvious and simplistic to those of you who write a lot, but you'd be surprised how many stories I've read that don't seem to use this approach at all. Georgia (There's also the 'gonzo' style of acting - forget the lines, forget the character, just do whatever you feel like doing - I've read some fanfic like that, too ) gwalde14@mindspring.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 19:43:11 -0800 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: Re: POV discussions In-Reply-To: <199805191207_MC2-3D86-A355@compuserve.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Pam yada yada yada's about POV and then says: > >[1]the author I mentioned is Lois McMaster Bujold; she is *excellent* and >I highly recommend anything she's ever written or ever will write in the >future Her books are nominally science fiction, but I think of them >more as wonderful character studies. > I'll 2nd that 100% and btw, "Komarr" is out! Woo hoo!!!!!!!! Leanne (who goes around behaving like Miles for a coupla days after reading a Vorkosigan novel -- which, as Bujold readers know, can be quite scary!) Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com) Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/ Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 20:52:17 +1000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jenny Stosser Subject: desktop theme webpage is almost here! Comments: To: loiscla@vm.ege.edu.tr In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello all. Apologies to those of you who get this twice... I wanted to get as many of you as possible :) I'm probably posting this a bit early, but ftping from my ISP takes forever, so I thought I'd give it a go anyway. Since I realised I had 5 meg of space available for use at my ISP's website, I figured I might as well put it to good use. I'm in the process of loading up a new webpage at http://www.ozramp.net.au/~jenerate which contains various items which I've used or which could be used in making up a Desktop Theme based on Lois & Clark. I've had enormous difficulty in trying to email the various parts to people who kindly sent me private requests for these items (.ani, .cur, .wav and .ico files, as well as .jpg files) The theme itself that I use is made up of various parts of this, along with some other sounds. (Mind you, I think it would be fun to make the sound "Lois, trust me on this, I am NOT your average male" into the "mail has arrived" sound - get it: Male/mail? ) Using Desktop Themes software (which emulates Microsoft Plus!, as well as offering some other goodies) you can change your desktop theme however you want. Anyway... if anyone knows how to make the two pics Dailyplt.jpg and Dailypf1.jpg into pictures that will work with the desktop themes software to be the startup and shutdown screens, I'd appreciate some help. Try it yourself first, as the creator of the software wasn't able to help me! Desktop Themes software is available as shareware from http://www.lss.com.au/lss/windows/lsswindows.htm (I didn't have room on my website to add it as well.) Enjoy! (Oh, and if some of the links don't work yet, please wait a day or two and try again! Hopefully I'll have finished doing the ftping by then!) -- Jenny Stosser -*- jenerate@ozramp.net.au -*- (Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- My ICQ# is 11477318 -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- Photos of David (5) and Megan (2) on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/4583 Please sign our guestbook! ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 10:58:00 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Attalanta Subject: Re: Difficult Characters to Write Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit << The character I find most difficult to write for is Jonathan Kent. He's so solid and sensible (most of the time) that I find it very hard to give him anything interesting to do. I've managed to give fanfic-time to Martha, but her husband seems to slip away into the background every time, which I do feel badly about..<< I may be a little late answering this post but I wanted to add something. I have also been feeling bad about leaving Jonathan out, and I've noticed that in two fanfics I've written, he hardly speaks at all! However, in the fic I'm spending most of my time on now, Jonathan plays a big part even though Martha is the main character. Now I think maybe that's one of the reasons the fic's taking me so long- I'm not used to writing for Jonathan and I've had to use many small things the show reveals about Martha & Jonathan to base my characters on. (Like their accounts of Jonathan's proposal- plowing fields of snow, etc.) It seems to me, along with the "slipping into the background" Zoom mentioned, Jonathan is also quite stable and sure of things, maybe more traditional than Martha- he is more afraid that Clark'll be found and "dissected like a frog," and complains in the Pilot about Martha not cooking anymore, not to mention his comments in Chi of Steel (which I try to ignore). I think a lot of fanfics have left out Jonathan, whether on purpose because the writer has a hrad time writing for him, or by accident, but Debby's Dawning series stands out in my mind as a place where Jonathan is used well. I liked when recently (I can't remember which "episode") Clark flies home and Martha is off at a town meeting so Clark gets Jonathan's advice about his problems with Lois. :) -Christy Attalanta@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 20:29:58 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kat5107 Subject: TUFS #22: Avenging Angel Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I'm sending this episode to you, the fanfic list, because we're not getting much feedback from the regular TUFS subscribers or the Web page readers either. Although I don't write fanfic very often, I *am* an aspiring writer and always looking for suggestions and (constructive) criticism to help me improve. Keep in mind that this is kind of a part 1 to TUFS' "Intergang finale" and is a culmination of everything that has happened in the past season, though it could also stand on its own (other than the cryptic ending, which will be resolved in "Behind Every Woman," TUFS #23). Comments can be sent to: CraigByrne@aol.com, TheNando@aol.com and Kat5107@aol.com (that's me ). The episode will be sent in three parts following this e-mail. :) Thanks, Kat aka Mocha- Kat5107@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 20:30:18 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kat5107 Subject: TUFS 22: Avenging Angel, 1 of 3 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit ----------------------------------------------------- TUFS, Episode #22: "Avenging Angel" E-Mail 1 of 3 By Kat Picson, Craig Byrne, and Matt Combes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- A chill hung in the evening air although the snow had melted and the calendar claimed that springtime was in full bloom. Metropolis was bustling, as the Friday night crowd filled the streets. Young adults lined up outside nightclubs and movie theaters while four-star restaurants and a production of "Miss Saigon" beckoned to a slightly older crowd. A maroon van slipped discreetly past city limits, stopping just outside the ominous entrance to New Troy State Prison as dusk slowly faded into night. A manicured hand carelessly threw a copy of the evening edition of The Daily Planet on the passenger seat. The headline screamed, "George 'Buster' Temple plea-bargains his way to a softer sentence." The article outlined Temple's claims that he would reveal the true criminal mastermind's identity on Monday. The morning edition had publicized Buster's trial, as well as two other trials coming up: Brandon Trask's and Michael Edwards'. "I hate it when my men squeal on me," Mindy Church said as she looked upon the newspaper with disdain. Her dog, sitting in a basket between the driver's and passenger seat, seemed to sympathize. "I had so much hope for you, Buster," she told the blurry newspaper photo of a weary, manacled Buster Temple entering the courtroom. She sighed. "Why do I have to do everything myself?" With that, she extracted a long, white hairpin out of the glove compartment. She neatly swept her hair into a French twist and fastened it with the pin. A gray scarf and glasses completed the ensemble. The guard at the front gate seemed to pay no attention to Mrs. Church. The van stealthily continued into the prison grounds. * * * * * * * * * * "Temple, your wife's here," the guard called, opening Buster's minimum- security cell. Buster, his face expressionless, followed the guard to the visiting room. Why Julianne had decided to visit him now, and how she had managed to get visiting privileges this late, was beyond him. But he wasn't going to let the guard see his confusion. The woman sitting across the table was not Julianne. A petite woman with thick, blond hair was posed delicately on the chair -- unmistakably Mindy Church. When she saw Buster, she removed her scarf and let it float delicately to the table. "What are you doing here?" he whispered vehemently. "How did you get past --" "Shut up, Buster," she cooed. "I've read the papers. I know what you're planning to do." "What're you talking about?" Buster asked, trying to sound innocent and unassuming. It seemed ridiculous, but he was scared of the woman. She looked and acted stupid, but with Mindy Church, he found the saying "still waters run deep" to be incredibly and unfortunately true. A smart man would have been suspicious around Mindy. Buster was sorry he had not been so smart in the beginning. Mindy removed her glasses. "Don't be coy, pookie. You're gonna tell on me. I thought we had a deal." Her pink lips formed a heart-shaped pout. Buster's fear turned to anger. "Yeah, we had a deal. The deal was we wouldn't get caught." Mindy's lips hinted of a smile now. "No, the deal was *I* wouldn't get caught. And you're about to break our little deal, aren't you, Buster? But I completely understand." Buster looked confused. She kept turning 180 degrees every other minute. Did she want to get caught? Did she want to stop whatever she was doing? Buster relaxed -- a bit. Mindy stood up, contemplative. "I used you. It's only natural that you want to get back at me." She walked around the table, stopping when she stood directly in front of Buster. "And you're willing to get caught?" Buster asked in disbelief. Mindy smiled wordlessly as she reached up to wrestle her hair loose. She held the hairpin between two gloved fingers; Buster was mesmerized. It was almost like a ritual. He barely had time to react when the flash of white lightning plunged into his chest, piercing his heart cleanly and killing him. "Over my dead body," Mindy said calmly as she walked away. She turned back and faced the slumping figure. "Or should I say, over *your* dead body? No one squeals on me." Her eyes narrowed evilly. She picked up the scarf and knocked on the door to signal the guard. Unexpectedly, she planted a kiss on the guard's cheek. "Thanks, Hunkie," she whispered in his ear. * * * * * * * * * * Lois Lane opened the bedroom window, letting the wind play with her wavy, brown hair. She rested her hands atop her pregnant belly and watched the stars, which twinkled down on her and her unborn child as if they were the only creatures left on earth. She turned to look at her husband, his sleeping figure bathed in the silver light of the city and the moon. She smiled as the wind ruffled Clark Kent's dark hair. She sat down on the bed and gently touched a tendril that had fallen across his forehead. His eyelids fluttered open to reveal espresso-brown irises. "Lois," he murmured. "What time is it?" "Shh," she whispered. "Go back to sleep." "Why are you still awake? Are you OK?" Clark's instincts told him to sit up and take a closer look at his wife, and he did. Lois smiled placidly, and Clark thought she was beautiful. "I'm a little warm. I opened the window." She paused to smile. "Right after I went to the bathroom." Clark reached out and took his wife's hand. "Go back to sleep -- maybe the six weeks will pass faster." He rubbed her abdomen encouragingly. Lois reluctantly put her feet up on the bed and leaned back against a mountain of pillows. And promptly fell asleep without another thought. -------------------------------------------------------------------- THE UNAIRED FIFTH SEASON Episode #22 "AVENGING ANGEL" Story By Kat Picson Written By Kat Picson, Craig Byrne, and Matt Combes -------------------------------------------------------------------- Clark awoke to the sound of his wife bustling around the bedroom. On her side of the bed was an open suitcase filled with random pieces of clothing. "What are you doing, honey?" he asked, confused. "Are we going somewhere?" "I'm packing for the hospital," Lois said matter-of-factly. "I know we still have six weeks, but I want to be prepared, you know?" Lois paused, looking into her closet and then back at the suitcase. She frowned slightly. "I have to check that book about what size I'm going to be after I give birth because I don't know *which* clothes I should bring." Even though the clock radio on the nightstand read 6:12 a.m., Clark noticed she was already showered and dressed for the day. She was wearing soft cotton maternity pants, a T-shirt and a light denim shirt unbuttoned with the sleeved rolled up, which Clark recognized as his. "Why are you wearing my clothes?" Clark asked with amusement. Lois looked down at herself as she walked from the closet to the bed. "Oh," she said. "Do you mind? These are just much more comfortable. Those new clothes we bought aren't as soft as your old worn ones." She smiled. "I hope I don't get so big that I don't fit into my maternity clothes. Goodness, Mother said these pants should last up until I go into labor. Yeah, right." Clark shook his head as he stood up and headed for the bathroom. Before he was halfway there, the telephone rang. Lois froze. It was barely 6 a.m. on a Saturday. It had to be Perry. Clark, who was closer to the telephone, answered it. "Hello? Morning to you too, Perry," Clark said, raising his eyebrows. "*What*? ... Sure, sure ... I'll go straight there ... Thanks." He turned to Lois, whose face asked a silent question. "Murder at New Troy State Prison," Clark said dully. Lois's eyes instantly became concerned. "Who ...?" "Buster Temple," Clark informed her glumly. "Perry says it had to be an outsider. It happened in a visiting room." "Visiting room?" The wheels started turning inside Lois's head as her husband took a super-fast shower and dressed super-quickly. "I'm going over there," he said as he descended the stairs. "Not without me, you're not," Lois said, following as close as she can. Clark turned around. "Lois, Perry said --" Lois silenced her husband with a look -- and it was the look that instantly told Clark there was no use arguing. "I'm driving," Clark said definitively. Lois didn't object. She didn't want to push it. "I'm getting an apple turnover," she said. "I'm hungry." When she got outside, Clark was already sitting inside the Jeep, warming it up. She handed the turnover to Clark, who toasted it with his heat vision and dropped it into Lois's paper plate on her ever-decreasing lap. "I was thinking," Clark said as Lois buckled her seat belt. "It's obvious who killed Temple. He did say he was going to rat out some 'higher power' in Temple & Co." He looked at Lois, who was distracted. "Honey?" Lois looked up. "I'm sorry, honey. I'm just trying to figure out how this stupid seat belt is supposed to go around this beach ball. You'd think with so many pregnant women in the world ..." She moved the belt back and forth, then up and down. She looked at Clark, who was looking at her with a silly grin. "Of course you think this is hilarious. You don't have to worry about fifty extra pounds hindering your everyday life, twenty-four hours a day." Clark leaned over and kissed Lois's cheek. "You're exaggerating, honey. You haven't gained anywhere near fifty pounds." But Lois didn't look amused. "I'm sorry, Lois. It's just that you're just so adorable --" "Yeah, a big, adorable whale," Lois retorted. She finally seemed satisfied with the position of the seat belt and picked up the turnover. As soon as she bit down on the warm, flaky pastry, a chunk of apple fell --PLOP! -- on her shirt. She looked at Clark, rolled her eyes and said, "Forget it. I'll get the next shirt just as dirty. It's only a spot." She dabbed at it with a napkin and they were off to New Troy State Prison. * * * * * * * * * * Lois and Clark flashed their press passes to the guard at the security gate and joined the numerous cameras and reporters that flocked outside the entrance to the prison's main building. "Ma'am," the prison guard stuttered as he stood at the entrance, where FBI, Metropolis police officers and prison security mingled beyond the yellow tape. "I don't think you should --" The guard eyed Lois's swollen midsection, trying to think of a tactful way to say that Lois, in a "delicate" state, should avoid the crime scene. "Lane and Kent," a voice interrupted. "Hello, Inspector Henderson," Clark said, shaking the man's hand. Henderson then greeted Lois, who was still giving the aloof prison guard a hateful glare. He gestured for them to step over the yellow tape. "Usually I wouldn't allow the press to see this," Henderson began as they walked toward the crime scene, "but seeing as you helped get the guy, maybe you can help us out." Henderson looked around, as if maybe someone else was watching. "All we know at this point is that the murderer was probably a woman." "A woman?" Clark repeated questioningly. Henderson pulled out a plastic bag from his jacket pocket. The bag contained what looked like an ornate chopstick. "What's that?" Lois asked. Henderson handed it to her. "It's the murder weapon," he said. "A hairpin?" Lois said incredulously. She and Clark looked at the unusual weapon more closely. It was made of ivory, about eight inches long with one sharp end and the other end wider and flatter, with a design that looked Asian and slightly stained with red -- Buster Temple's blood. "Real ivory," Henderson said. "Well, by the looks of it." "It looks antique," Clark observed. "Besides, no one uses ivory anymore. It's not legal -- or politically correct." "I'm running it down to the lab in a minute," Henderson told them. "I just wanted to show it to you two in case you had any ideas." Lois and Clark shook their heads in unison, and Henderson shrugged. "You're free to look around. The body's already being transported to the coroner's." -------------- Except for the circulation department, the hallways of the Daily Planet on a Saturday morning usually remained silent. The pressmen wouldn't arrive until later in the evening to work on the Sunday edition, and the advertising department was dark and abandoned. Generally several part-time reporters and staff handled the Sunday edition, as most of the paper was feature material written earlier in the week. This Saturday, however, was different. The murder of Buster Temple, who had been ready to plead guilty to numerous petty charges as well as the alleged laundering and embezzlement of millions of dollars, was definitely front-page news. As a result, reporters mingled about, talked on the phone, and frantically banged on their computer keyboards. "It's almost like someone wanted him silenced," Jimmy Olsen told Lois and Clark, who lounged around Lois's computer as they tried to find an angle for the story. Lois chewed on her thumbnail thoughtfully. "Actually, what I want to know is who 'Julianne Temple' may be, and how we can locate her," Clark said. "Julianne?" Jimmy asked. "His wife, I assume," Clark said with a shrug. "I saw her name on the visitors' log at the prison. Maybe you can look it up, Jimmy? Search the archives?" "Can do," Jimmy said, already on his way. He paused and turned back. "Wait a second. Are reporters usually allowed to see those records? I tried the other week when I was doing a follow-up on Temple's trial, and the guy wouldn't budge." Clark remembered seeing the log by using "devious" means -- using X-ray vision, to be exact. "Uh ... I guess we just got lucky," Clark fumbled. Lois tried to change the subject quickly as she skimmed through her mail. "Looks like Buster's not the only prisoner in trouble," she noted. She was reading a phone message. "Unless you count a doctor's scalpel as a deadly weapon. Michael Edwards -- the guy who was behind that whole Waynetech supercomputer fiasco -- had an emergency appendectomy last night, and he's still at the hospital recuperating." She threw the pink message slip into her wastebasket. "Hey, hey, hey, you three!" a deep voice called from behind. Lois, Clark, and Jimmy turned around to face Perry White, decked out in a short-sleeved plaid shirt and khaki pants. "Perry, you're here early," Lois observed. She knew Saturday was the Chief's day to sleep in, and he was probably not happy to have been awakened this morning, no matter how big the story was. "Big news day, Lois. What kind of editor would I be if I weren't here? Besides, I owe a job recommendation to someone who's supposed to drop by." He continued to walk toward his office, but then he turned around. "Kent, Lois here didn't come with you to the prison, did she?" Clark opened his mouth to speak, but the expression on his face said it all. "Dang-blastit!" Perry turned to Lois. "Did I or did I not tell you to take it easy?" "Perry!" Lois exclaimed. "You can't just tell me --" "Lois, I'm just worried about you!" "Perry, I think I can decide what situations I can and can't handle," Lois said. Perry looked at his protege. The woman was as stubborn as a mule, and as usual he couldn't disagree. He grunted, but didn't say anything more as he walked into his office. But Lois was still angry. "Now, Lois. Don't pout ..." Clark said, sensing a Lois tornado. The tornado hit as Lois's bottom lip stuck out. "But Clark, we *finally* get some big front-page news, and Perry practically tells me that I can't be a part of it.. I mean, we haven't had a big front-pager since that whole thing with the department stores! I *have* to be there." Lois sighed. "Well, Lois, you're carrying a baby --" Clark managed to say as Lois took a breath. Lois made a face at her husband. "Well, look Clark, here." She placed two hands on her belly as if it would detach and she would hand it to Clark. "You take the baby, *you* deal with it kicking at the most inappropriate moments, *you* be hungry all day and hot all day and have to go to the bathroom *every* five minutes, having people ask you if you're OK when there's absolutely *nothing* to worry about and then *you* decide if you want to just sit around while the world passes you by. I mean, this could be the last big story until the baby comes!" Lois said. Clark held his hands up defensively, not knowing what to say or do next. "Umm ... son?" Perry interrupted, looking at Clark pointedly. He had watched Lois's tirade from his office doorway. "Yes, Chief?" "Take a moment to speak with me?" Perry said, nodding his head toward his office. "Oh," Clark said, raising his eyebrows. "Be right back," he mumbled to Lois. * * * * * * * * * * Perry didn't speak until the door was closed. "Now, son," he said carefully as he sat down, "I can tell by the look of you that you're not sure what to think or do about this whole baby thing. It's getting into that last month, and pretty soon you and Lois will have a little tyke to worry about." "I know, Chief. But --" "But nothin'!" Clark thought Perry was going to pound his desk with a fist, but he didn't. "Let me finish. Alice was twenty-two when we had our first son, TJ. Short for Trevor Jenkins -- named after his grandpa. She was going through the same things as Lois, at one time or another -- the mood swings, eating weird stuff -- the works. But that's not why I called you in here." "It isn't?" Clark asked. "Nope. I called you in here to tell you it's OK to worry. Heck, I was only a cub reporter like Jimmy when our first was born. Suddenly there was this new responsibility, and it scared me. The fathers get just as anxious as the mothers do. Maybe more." "They do?" Clark asked incredulously. Inwardly, he felt relief. He was reluctant to share his feelings with Lois, feeling obliged to be strong for her. Perry laughed heartily at the father-to-be's naivete. "You bet they do! I'm not even going to tell you what happened when Jerry was born! That's why I'm telling you: Don't forget to go easy on yourself." Clark grinned appreciatively. Perry and Clark were interrupted by a knock at the door. "She's here," Perry said, looking up expectantly. "She? Who?" Clark's brow furrowed as he turned around. "An old friend." Perry walked over to the office door and welcomed his guest: She was a stylish, sophisticated, very sexy woman in her thirties. She wore four-inch stiletto sandals, a bright blue blazer that showed off her ample cleavage and a short, swingy floral skirt. Her auburn mane flowed wildly about her face, her eyes twinkling sensually. The sexy ensemble was punctuated with large gold earrings. The woman was none other than Catherine Grant. "Perry!" Cat placed a careful peck on Perry's cheek and then spotted Clark. "Mmmm, hi, handsome," she said, extending her hand for Clark to kiss. She then pulled the hand back. "Oh, whoops! I forgot -- married now," she purred with a dazzling smile. "Here's your recommendation," Perry said, handing Cat a manila envelope. "I can't believe it. Our very own Cat Grant, a reporter for one of those entertainment shows. I don't watch 'em myself, but I truly think this is your calling." Perry extended his hand to shake Cat's. "So how long are you going to be in town this time, Cat?" Clark asked. "It's a shame Lois and I couldn't have had you over when you were around for the Kerths." Cat shrugged. "I've been busy, a little of this, a little of that. Parade, USA Weekend, People magazine -- but something kept telling me I needed something new." She still had the same breathy, seductive voice, Clark noticed, but she had changed also. She seemed more vibrant, more alive, more secure about her life. Clark was happy for her. "Anyhow, I think I saw Lois out in the newsroom. Catch you two later!" * * * * * * * * * * Lois sighed as if she was bored. Her back ached, and her shoulders needed rubbing. She cradled the phone between her chin and her shoulder and pulled out a Chinese take-out menu from her desk drawer. "OK, thanks. Yes, Bobby, I will make sure there is food," she said. "Bye." "Lois! Nice to see you here!" Cat said, about to give Lois a handshake. Lois turned around in her chair, revealing her additional girth. "Cat!" Lois was surprised. She stood up and shook Cat's hand. Cat gave Lois the once-over, looking her up and down. And then, in disbelief, Cat had to do it again, her eyes widening. "What, never seen a pregnant woman before?" Lois said to Cat. She was snippy, but secretly glad to see her old sparring partner. "No, it's just -- you -- Clark -- wow," Cat stuttered. "And I have to admit, a pregnant Lois Lane is something that I expected to see somewhere in the realm of ..." Cat struggled to think of something just as unlikely, but Lois broke in. "Yeah, well, you never know," Lois said vaguely. Jimmy walked over to the two of them excitedly. "Cat! Good to see you." He quickly turned to Lois. "You will *never* believe what just happened. I was on the IRC ..." "IOC? The Internet chat thingy?" Cat asked quizzically. "I*R*C," Jimmy corrected, slightly annoyed. "But anyway, I dropped by the 'Sally McNeill' chat channel, you know, that new TV show with Melissa Lockhart? Anyway --" "Wait a minute," Lois interrupted. "I've been calling around trying to get an angle on the Buster Temple murder, and *you've* been on the computer playing games?" Jimmy shrugged. "I'm doing a file search on the other computer, to see what I can come up with. I had to run through forty-thousand names in the Metropolis databank; it was gonna take a while." "Oh, OK," Lois said. "Go on." "Anyhow, you will *not* believe who I ran into. On the channel, I mean. Remember Sarah Goodwin? Psych major, she and I had this little programmed- killers thing going about three years ago? Anyhow, she's a big Sally fan too, and -- get this -- she's going to be in Metropolis in a couple of days!" Jimmy said excitedly. "And she still wants to come, knowing you're here?" Cat said sarcastically. Jimmy gave her a disgusted look. "Of *course* she knows I'm here! It's gonna be great! We're gonna go out to dinner, then spend an evening of watching Sally videotapes at my house." "Ooh, how romantic," Cat joked. "You'd be surprised, Cat. Jimmy's come a long way," Lois said. "He's a reporter for the Planet now, and -- every once in a while -- he even has dates." Lois smiled wryly. "Way to go, short stuff," Cat commented, placing her hand on Jimmy's shoulder. Suddenly she reached into her pocket, and pulled out a pager, which was vibrating like crazy. "Uh-oh ... California's beckoning. I better get going. Catch you later!" Cat waved good-bye as she scurried to catch the elevator. Jimmy turned to tell Lois more of his story, but she was already on the phone again. "Oh well," Jimmy said to himself, before walking back toward his computer. He saw that the search was done and began printing out the information. * * * * * * * * * * Mindy nonchalantly breezed down the hospital corridors, her short nurse's uniform making a slight whooshing sound as she walked. Mindy Church wore a bimbo smile on her face as she slightly bounced her head side to side when she walked. Mindy reached up and poofed her hair a bit, then pulled out a lipstick from her bra and began to apply it to her lips as she passed the nurses' station. Wait. Mindy backed up in her stiletto heels and noticed she had almost passed her destination. She walked over to the desk and gently picked up the nurses' list. She walked toward the wing with it in hand, looking down the list of names. "Trask, Brandon J. There you are, my cutie," Mindy said in her high-toned voice. "7A." She lowered the clipboard to her side and walked slowly and sexily toward the "7" aisle, turned and found herself in front of 7A. She nodded to the guard who stood watch outside. He motioned for her to enter. As she peered through the window, she saw Trask sitting down, with chains running from his wrists to his ankles. He wore a hospital gown. "How are you feeling there, hunkie?" Mindy muttered to herself in her normal voice. "I heard you almost died with that ruptured appendix. But don't worry, you won't have to put up with it much longer." Mindy slowly turned the knob and opened the door, walked in and closed it behind her. Trask glared at her, but looked back down to concentrate on the table in front of him. He wasn't going to let her bug him. Mindy walked up to the table, completely making her presence known. She sat down in the chair opposite Trask and smiled her perky smile again. But her eyes remained serious. "Brandon," Mindy began as she took out a fine, brown cigar and lighter from her pocket and lit it, inhaling heavily and letting the smoke waft out of her mouth. "Must be terrible being locked up." Trask looked up from the table. The table had been scratched all over -- most likely with Trask's dinnertime fork. S-shields had been chiseled into the table's surface and subsequently scratched out. Trask's eyes met Mindy's. "You have no idea," Trask gruffed out. Looking at him, one could hardly tell he was the son of Jason Trask. "Sometimes I'm glad my appendix ruptured, just so I could escape that hell hole they call a 'correctional facility.'" Mindy continued to puff on her cigar, the smoke collecting at the ceiling. She stopped for a moment and rested the cigar on the table. "Poor Pookie," she oozed. "How horrible and rotten and mean and very, very bad of them." Mindy opened another pocket on her dress, pulled out a pair of surgical gloves, and put them on. Trask was still intrigued with the table. "I bet you'd do anything to get out of here, wouldn't you, honey bunny?" Trask stared at his etchings, fazed as he answered her question. "Yeah. Anything ... anything to get out of --" Trask suddenly jerked his head up as he realized his mistake. "No! Wait! Not anyth --AGH!" Trask screamed as the hairpin was driven through his chest. He stopped after it hit his windpipe, then, clutching the pin, he keeled over onto the floor. Trask gasped what seemed to be his last breath as Mindy watched, stripping off her gloves and picking up her cigar. Across the room, the television clicked on and Superman appeared, flying high above the sky, lifting cars, and doing other feats that caught on tape. Mindy stopped by the television on her way out and watched the file footage of Superman as he rescued a baby from a burning building the previous day. Puffing lightly on the cigar, she spoke. "Don't you worry, Big Blue. Your day is coming soon." And with that, she exited. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Continued in the next 2 e-mails... --------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 20:30:36 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kat5107 Subject: TUFS 22: Avenging Angel, 2 of 3 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit ----------------------------------------------------- TUFS, Episode #22: "Avenging Angel" E-Mail 2 of 3 By Kat Picson, Craig Byrne, and Matt Combes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- Clark sat in Perry's office and continued to listen to Perry's stories of paternal insecurity. The subject soon went to how Elvis handled it when Lisa Marie was born. Clark got a distracted look. "Clark ... son ... you OK?" Perry asked as he broke off, noticing the expression on Clark's face. Clark was hearing a distress call from the hospital. "Chief, I'm really sorry, but I just remembered, I, uh, have to call my parents. Be right back." Perry saw Clark rush out and down to the elevator. "Peculiar," Perry said to himself. He paused, his brow wrinkling as his thoughtful eyes followed Clark's retreating figure. "There's a phone right ... ahh, never mind." * * * * * * * * * * A loud whoosh announced Superman's arrival at the hospital. A security guard, successfully guessing the reason for Superman's appearance, approached him rather quickly. "Superman! It's the west wing. Someone's stabbed one of the patients!" Superman dashed off toward the wing and located the scene of the crime rather easily; a large group of nurses was huddled around a doorway. Superman glanced at the top of the doorframe and read the tags: "7A. Trask, Brandon J." The crowd of nurses parted to make way for him. Though he knew Brandon Trask was probably dead, the sight of the body on the floor shocked him. A nurse knelt by the floor beside the body. She rose when she saw Superman come in. "Superman, we're too late. He's dead," the nurse said. "Do you have any idea who did this?" Superman inquired. "No. They're checking the security cameras now, but nobody saw anyone suspicious. The guard found him, but Mr. Trask had been dead for over an hour by that time." Superman walked toward the body. As he got closer, he could see over Trask's arm, which up until now had covered up his chest and face, from Superman's perspective. The first thing that came into view was a bloodstained white object. Superman recognized it immediately as the same kind of weapon used to kill Buster Temple. Trask's face was not yet white, but the color had drained >from him. His eyes were wide open, and they eerily seemed to be looking right at Superman. This disturbed him to such a degree that he bent down and shut Trask's eyelids. In doing so, Superman noticed something rather odd. Trask's other, outstretched hand lay next to some smears of blood. But the fingers lay in a position that made it look like Trask had intentionally smeared that blood. The nurse watched as Superman stood. "Nurse, would you come here for a moment?" She did as asked and stood next to him. "What does this ..." Superman pointed to the smear, "... look like to you?" The nurse studied what he was pointing at, but saw only blood. However, two of the smears intersected, making it look a lot like ... "An X?" she guessed. Superman shook his head. "No ... not from that angle. If you were down here, on the floor, though, it might look a lot like ... a cross." "Maybe it's where he wanted to go," one of the nurses threw out. *Or maybe he was trying to identify his killer,* Superman thought. But that could wait until later. Right now he had to get all this information to Lois and Perry back at the Daily Planet. With two murders using the same modus operandi, they were out of the "coincidence" league and into grand-scale murder. Superman could only guess who would be next. Superman got up as police arrived to take photos and to investigate the crime scene. * * * * * * * * * * Lois picked up a tortilla chip from the bowl on the coffee table, dipped it in salsa and stuck the chip in her mouth, crunching thoughtfully as she perused the prison visitors' list for the past four weeks. They had obtained a copy, thanks to Superman. Not one person had visited both Trask and Temple. But that didn't necessarily mean anything. Clark was poised on the couch next to her, carefully watching the prison security videotape from the night of Temple's murder, also courtesy of Superman. He rewound it, played it in slow motion, and lowered his glasses to take an even closer look. Lois looked up to watch Clark. "How are you doing?" she asked. Clark paused the tape to look at his wife. He reached over and picked off a piece of bell pepper from her shirt with a smile. He placed it on a napkin with a smile as Lois grinned back sheepishly. "Slob," he teased. Lois punched him playfully before dropping her arm across his shoulder. "Well?" she asked expectantly. "This maroon Temple & Co. van," Clark said. "At least it looks like a Temple & Co. van -- I'm assuming, since it's the same color, make, and model. Just no logo on the side. It's the best lead we've got so far. No other suspicious vehicles have come through." Lois shuffled through her papers, finding a news clipping from a few months back. "But we helped shut down Temple and his company when he tried to pull that fake-sister stunt and the break-ins at STAR Labs and the NIA building." Clark's brow wrinkled in thought as his eyes shifted back and forth from the TV screen and the clipping in Lois's hand. "You do know what this means," he said with a grave sigh. Lois echoed his sigh. "We didn't shut down Temple. At least not completely," she added. "Someone's out there still working for him. Or, he was working for someone, and now this someone has a woman killing everyone who can implicate him. Unless ..." "Unless what?" Clark said. Lois was deep in thought. "Unless the person who was running Temple & Co. *is* a woman. And she's doing everything herself." Clark let the theory digest in his brain before answering. "You may have a point, but I doubt it," he said. "It's extremely risky, doing all the killing herself. Do you think it's his wife -- this Julianne Temple?" Lois shrugged. "Probably. Maybe. We don't know. She's disappeared since Temple was caught. We don't even know what she looks like." Lois sighed again. "For all we know she's in Acapulco by now, spending all that money on suntan oil and margaritas." Clark was hardly paying attention to Lois. He had fast-forwarded a bit on the tape and watched as the woman emerged from the van. Either by coincidence or design, she stayed in the shadows. Even Clark's super-vision couldn't make out her face or any other distinguishing feature. "This is frustrating," Clark complained, removing his glasses altogether and placing them on the coffee table. "There has to be something else. Something ..." He turned back to Lois, who had set the news clipping related to Temple and Trask on the table. He picked up today's edition of the Planet, skimming the article quickly. Three trials had been about to begin in Metropolis's district courts: Temple, Trask and Michael Edwards. He looked over at Lois. "I don't think she's left Metropolis yet. All the rats haven't been stifled." Clark glanced thoughtfully at the paper again and then back at Lois. "She's coming after Edwards." * * * * * * * * * * "I don't care if yooza Queen of Francie, Mr. Spandex. You don't have a pass, you don't get in." The prison guard was adamant. "But I've never had to have a pass before," Superman pointed out. "Why are you keeping me out now?" The guard at the prison rolled his eyes. "Look, bubblebutt, I dunno how they ran things before I got 'ired, but when I'm workin', you don't 'ave a pass, you don't get in. Kapeesh?" "Look, there is a prisoner in there whose life is in danger and --" "And what, Blue Boy? I open the doors so you can go down there and, uh, what? Save 'im? C'mon, please." "I just need to check on him." The guard looked restless. The argument wasn't getting either of them anywhere. Then his eyes suddenly lit up. "I tell youze what ... I let you in if you do one thing for me." Superman sighed, but realized this was about the only way he was going to get in to check on Edwards. "What's that?" "You gotta stand on your hands and do five push-ups." The guard beamed. "Excuse me?" Had Superman heard right? Push-ups? What was this, "Double Dare"? "Your hands. I want youze to stand on 'em. And do five push-ups. Whatayou, deaf?" Superman sighed. He couldn't believe he had to do this. But it was his only way inside, and he didn't have to do much. Five push-ups wouldn't even burn off half a calorie. But he turned himself upside-down, lowered his head to the ground, and accomplished five push-ups. He felt silly, and as he righted himself, he could hear the guard chuckling. "Oh man, dat was great! I can't believe you actually did it ... ah, man ..." The guard couldn't stop smiling. *Very easily amused man,* thought Clark. "Okay, buddy, I guess youze OK to go in. Go on, Fly Boy, go on ..." The guard waved him in. Superman brushed off the humiliation and made his way down the steel stairways to the E Block. He found Cell 18 and Michael Edwards with his back to him, sitting at a desk. Clark was about to clear his throat when Michael interrupted the silence. "Yes, Superman, I read the newspaper. Daily Star, of course. Seems like I'm a high possibility to be killed next, does it?" Michael twisted around in his chair and faced Superman. "Not necessarily, Edwards. Nobody's linked you to the other victims in any way." "Yet you're here, so I must assume you think I'm in some kind of danger." Superman thought a moment, then spoke again. "Did you work for someone, Edwards? Did someone hire you to steal the Waynetech supercomputer?" Michael seemed to hesitate and then decidedly said, "I work alone, Superman. I'm not a baby. I don't need help." Nevertheless, Superman decided it would be best that he stay the night at the prison watching Edwards, while trying to put two and two together. He had already put one piece of the puzzle in place; both of the victims were killed by the same person, and that person most likely was an employer. There was also that eerie cross at the Trask crime scene, but Clark couldn't place that piece of the puzzle yet. He had referenced all the people in the phone book and the Daily Planet archives with the last name Cross, but didn't get anywhere. If nothing happened to Edwards tonight, then it might be possible that those were the only two killings that were meant to happen. But he had to stay at the prison if he was going to find out. Superman asked the guard to get him a chair, and he settled in for the night. * * * * * * * * * * The lights were dimmed inside Mindy Church's high-rise penthouse. She picked up her dog off the floor of her office, where he had soiled on the front page of the Daily Planet newspaper. "Ooh, Pookie," she cooed, as she held him with one hand and crumpled the newspaper with the other. The telephone on the desk rang, and Mindy placed Pookie back down on the floor as she dropped the newspaper into a potted plant. "Hello?" she answered sweetly. But when she heard the voice on the other end, Mindy's expression and tone turned serious. "Yeah, well, no one knew it was me. I know that prison system inside out, and everyone'll think it was Buster's wife, Julianne. That Temple woman is such a nitwit." She paused as the voice on the other end, apparently angry, screamed so loudly Pookie scampered into a dark corner. "I won't let you down! I've gotten away with everything we've been planning all these years and you think I'll let you down *now*?" She paused again. "You leave that to me, honey bunny," she insisted, easily switching back to a low, throaty voice. "You just find a way of letting me get close enough to Edwards so no one else can rat on me ... on *us.*" The voice on the other line was not convinced and continued to rant at a high volume. Mindy held the phone at an arm's length and, cutting off the speaker in mid-sentence, she placed it delicately on its cradle. She sat down in her armchair, picked up a cigar out of the box on the desk and lit it. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, closing her eyes. * * * * * * * * * * "Have I ever expressed disdain for coming in to work on a Sunday morning?" Lois asked as Clark drove them to the Planet. Clark knew better than to answer. The front of her casual empire-waisted maternity dress was covered in a fine white dust, the remnants of a powdered doughnut she had bought at the coffee shop around the corner from their house. She was starting on a chocolate cream doughnut -- and had three more assorted pastries in a paper bag. "You know, you're probably eligible to take your maternity leave soon," Clark pointed out as he turned onto Main Street. "Actually, you're probably eligible for it right now." "Maternity leave?" Lois scoffed at the idea. "I've already been put on desk duty, which we have found just doesn't agree with me. I'm planning to work until the nanosecond my contractions start." "Lois," Clark said in a warning tone. Lois looked defensive. "What? Lots of women do it." "I'm worried about you," Clark said seriously. "You should rest. You never stop getting yourself in trouble. You're always hot --" "I think you should take a look at the book I was reading," Lois said. She pulled a book out of her tote bag and held it out to Clark. "It's perfectly normal for me to be hot." Clark glanced at it quickly. At the red light he thumbed through it. "OK," he said finally. But as he looked up he got that protective look in his eyes. "But you're still getting into too much trouble." He was thinking about the stalker while he was away and the escapades in Smallville. Lois sighed. "I hate to see how you'll treat a daughter." Clark dropped Lois off at the front door of the Planet before driving the Jeep around and down to the underground garage. "I'll meet you upstairs," he said. "Be careful." "Be careful. Careful?! Clark, I can do anything right now, that I could do *any* other time," Lois said to the retreating Jeep. "I just weigh a little more. Besides, I'm just walking into the building," Lois whispered under her breath. Lois entered the elevator and made her way up. The bell rung and Lois exited to see an almost empty newsroom. *May get some peace and quiet here, then I can check the tags on the maroon van ...* Lois thought to herself before feeling a tap on her shoulder. "Hi," said Clark. "Didn't take you long," Lois teased, before patting Clark on the behind. "Hey! Now not at work," Clark kidded. "You remember the last --" "Shhh!" Lois interrupted, slightly embarrassed. "Someone might hear!" "Uhhh, right." Clark said. He then lowered his glasses to survey the area. Marcia over in copy was by the conference room, there was a box of donuts on Ralph's desk, and ... Lois was in for a surprise when she got to her computer terminal. "You know, Lois, why don't we use my terminal?" Clark suggested. "Why? Besides, all the notes are on my hard drive," Lois said. "You mean you *still* don't back things up?" Clark asked. Lois rolled her eyes. "Okay, so let's get this all settled and then I'll be able to --" Lois looked toward her chair when she noticed it was occupied. "Jimmy, why are you on my computer?" Lois asked coldly as she walked to where a sheepish Jimmy sat. Jimmy stood up guiltily, like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Well, you see Lois, the modem is blown on my computer and I just *had* to get on and see Breezeway's 'Sally McNeill' spoiler chat on IRC --" Lois groaned. "And this is more important than our finding out the connection between Temple, Trask, Edwards and the Temple & Co. van?" "Well, hold on, let me tell Sarah I've gotta go," Jimmy said. "Two minutes, promise." "Sarah? You'd think for a psych major she wouldn't have time to gossip about TV shows," Lois said. "Nor should you. Now sign off." "In a minute --" Jimmy began. "Jimmy!" Lois was getting impatient. "Just let me say goodbye," Jimmy pleaded. "Jimmy!" Lois repeated. She reached for the keyboard herself and typed in the message box to someone named "Psych101." "Sarah, Lois. Jimmy has to go. Sorry," she typed. She turned to Jimmy, who looked perplexed. "Now Jimmy, how do I type one of those sideways smiley-face things?" Lois asked. "Oh, never mind," she said, clicking the window and closing the program. "Lois!" Jimmy said. "You disconnected me before I could say good-bye to the channel!" "Oh, I'm sure Breezeway will never notice," Lois kidded. "Besides, she probably has some nfic to write." "Yeah, you're right," Jimmy said, walking away. He looked at Clark, who gave him a sideways glance, an offhanded way of apologizing for Lois's behavior. Then Jimmy mouthed to himself, "How does she know what ... Oh man, I'm hearing things." He sat down at another terminal and started punching up the IRC channel again. While Lois researched the plates on the van, Clark ventured over to the phone. He picked up the receiver and first entered his calling card number and then the number he called whenever he needed advice. Martha Kent picked up the phone. "Hello?" "Hi, Mom." "Clark! Honey, it's good to hear from you. How are you and Lois?" "We're fine, Mom. Look, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about ..." Clark adjusted his glasses. His mother's voice changed tone from casual to concern. "Is there a problem, Clark?" Clark sighed apprehensively as he smoothed the back of his head nervously, leaving his hand on his neck. "No, not really. Look, is Dad around?" "Right here, son," his father's voice interrupted. "Hey, Dad. I've been thinking. See, well ..." Clark was having problems expressing what he was feeling. "I just needed to know ... what it was like before you became a father. I mean, becoming a father. I mean, this is a *child* that we're bringing into the world. *My* child. Sometimes it's hard to believe that Lois and I created this little miracle. I guess I just wanted to know -- what was it like for you?" Clark sat on the end of his chair. He glanced at Lois, who was sitting up in her chair, a hand to her lower back. The phone was cradled in her ear, and she was doodling on a scratch pad. "Frankly, son," Jonathan Kent began, "I couldn't tell you. I mean you're not our birth-child, of course. We found you in a ship that fell from the sky. Not exactly the way you'd expect to become a father!" Jonathan chuckled at the memory. "And once we saw you, we realized that we had to keep you. So there you were, my new son. I had never had a child before, Clark. You know your mom and I couldn't have our own kids. So I did my best adapting to fatherhood, and let me tell you something ... being a father is the greatest experience you will ever have for the rest of your life. Nothing else comes close. When you're holding your baby in your arms, close to your chest, nuzzling your nose in his hair ... that's true happiness, Clark." It was obvious to Clark that Jonathan was having fun remembering, but Clark was still unsure. "Clark, you're going to be a great father," Martha Kent broke in. "I know you're anxious, honey, and that's perfectly normal. You think all the fathers of the world were perfectly calm when they knew they had a baby on the way? You will treat that baby with every amount of love and dedication that you've given Lois and us. Being a father is going to come naturally to you; I can tell, Clark. Ever since you were six years old playing 'house' with your G.I. Joes and Lana Lang's Barbies up in your treehou --" "Mom!" Clark interrupted, embarrassed. Martha laughed. "Well you have to admit, honey, it was the cutest thing you've ever seen. I just wish I had gotten it on film." "Yeah, well I'm glad you didn't," Clark said. "I can just imagine the taunts I'd be getting from Lois if she found out." There was a momentary pause on the phone, followed by chuckles from both of his parents. Then Jonathan spoke up. "You mean she's never said anything to you about it?" More laughing ensued. "Clark, your mother told Lois about that long ago. We figured she would have brought it up by now!" Clark, surprised, looked up from his desk at Lois. She was still at the computer, working diligently. The look of concern on his face slowly swept into acceptance, and he returned to the phone conversation. "You two are terrible." But Clark grinned. "I just hope I can do as good of a job at raising my child as you did raising me. Thanks for the advice." Martha was serious and loving as she spoke. "Of course, Clark. That's what we're here for. And you'll be there for your child as well." Clark could hear the pride in his mother's voice, and he was instantly comforted. He looked up to see Perry in his office doorway, gesturing for Clark to come inside. He was holding a newspaper. Clark wondered what was going on now. "Thanks, Mom and Dad. Look, I've gotta go. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye." "Bye, son," they said in unison. Clark hung up the phone and made his way to Perry's office. Perry opened the door to his office and motioned to Clark to come his way. Once inside, Clark closed the door behind him. Perry returned to his desk and sat down, motioning for Clark to sit down as well. Clark obliged. "What's up?" Clark asked. Perry pulled out a stapled stack of pages from under some of the other things that littered his desk, and handed it to Clark. "I don't want to say anything to Lois, but I've been talking to my old friend Allison, who works for the Pulitzer organization. She's not on the committee, but she's close enough that she's let know this piece Lois did is being considered for the big prize." Perry's face beamed as he finished the sentence. Lois was like the daughter he had never had, and although the Planet had won Pulitzers before, this would be Lois's first, and Perry was excited for her. If she won, only the sight of this old newsman's first published article would vie for the best feeling he'd ever had in all his years of being a journalist. Clark scanned the article. He had already read it before -- in fact, many times as Lois was writing it -- but now that he knew it was being considered for a Pulitzer, it seemed ... better. It had that kind of first-place, gold- medal touch that only Lois could bring to it. The article, an investigative piece on John Doe and the botched presidential campaign and race, brought back memories to Clark of his dealings with Tempus. "Why are you telling me this?" Clark asked, handing the article back to Perry. "What makes you think I won't tell her?" "Because you're a good reporter, Clark. And because even though you're her husband, you know better than to get her hopes up just in case she doesn't win. But I couldn't keep this information to myself, and you seemed the appropriate person to tell. I hope you don't mind ..." Perry's eyebrows arched. "Of course not, Perry. I'm glad you told me. Don't worry, I can keep a secret." Clark was about to say more when a commotion outside broke his train of thought. "Holy ...!" Lois yelled, standing up from her chair quickly, as if someone had placed a pin on the seat. She stared at her computer screen as if bugs were crawling all over it. Clark tore out of Perry's office at the sound of his wife's voice, a concerned expression on his face. Perry was hot on his heels. "Honey!" Clark rushed to Lois's side, examining her carefully. "Are you OK? Are you going into premature labor or something?" Lois shook her head and then pointed to her computer monitor. Clark looked at the screen. It was the list of bank statements Lois and Clark had dug up after Buster Temple was shut down. "What?" Clark asked, scanning the screen quickly with a frown. "What did you find? Lois, you scared the living daylights out of me." "These are the bank statements we found," Lois explained carefully, trying to contain her excitement. "They're from records the police found in Buster's office the day they caught him. Look at the dollar amounts. Before we found out about Temple, the dollar amounts never dipped below three million. But look ..." Lois placed her finger on the screen. "This is the day before the arrest. The account only contained a couple hundred dollars. This means --" "Someone knew we were on to Temple," Clark realized. Lois nodded. She pushed a police photo toward Clark. "And then, I started staring at this photo of the cross Brandon Trask drew before he died, and I got an idea." She hit a key on her computer. "It wasn't supposed to stand for *cross.* It was supposed to stand for *Church.* I traced Temple's money and tried to find connections to Church. These five companies happen to be dummy corporations owned by --" "Cost-Mart!" Clark interrupted triumphantly. "And," Lois continued, "another dummy corporation paid Edwards." She pointed to another piece of paper. "Furthermore," Jimmy said, coming from his desk and overhearing the conversation, "I just did some research on the prison security staff. The guard that was monitoring Temple the night he was killed used to work for the security division at Cost-Mart." He handed the paperwork to Lois who barely looked at it. "Good job, folks!" Perry boomed, his grin as wide as his reporters'. The foursome stood around, grinning at each other. Clark was the first to break the moment. "I sure hope this is the end of this," Clark said, grabbing his jacket off his chair and walking quickly toward the elevator. "Where are you going?" Lois asked. "To ..." He looked at Jimmy and Perry. "... To find Superman," he finished. "And to pay a visit to Inspector Henderson. Lois, you and Jimmy write the story. I just figured out a way to catch Mindy Church ... especially if she *is* doing her own killing." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Concluded in the next e-mail... --------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 20:30:47 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kat5107 Subject: TUFS 22: Avenging Angel, 3 of 3 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit TUFS, Episode #22: "Avenging Angel" E-Mail 3 of 3 By Kat Picson, Craig Byrne, and Matt Combes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- Charlie pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his forehead, bored and impatient. He tapped his foot absently on the gas pedal and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of the gray bus. He drove the prison bus for a living, and after seven years, it wasn't exciting. Actually, after seven days it had been pretty dull. Yes, sometimes fights broke out, and sometimes interesting things happened, like the time it rained and the bus got stuck in the mud between Metropolis and Gotham City. But otherwise, driving the prison bus was a mundane job that Charlie would have traded for almost anything. He looked at his watch, noting that it was exactly five o'clock. Right on time, two guards escorted the handcuffed prisoner onto the bus. The prisoner held his head low, and all Charlie saw of him as he walked up the steps into the bus were the top of his head, covered with slicked brown hair, and his faded blue prison jumpsuit. One guard climbed in and sat in the seat right behind Charlie. Charlie looked at his itinerary. Apparently this guy, Michael Edwards, was being charged with conspiring to steal a supercomputer from the Wayne mansion. Pretty heavy stuff. His trial was going to be held in Metropolis, so Charlie was supposed to drive him to his holding cell near the courthouse. This should be a piece of cake, Charlie thought. Charlie looked in the mirror and saw that Edwards had chosen to sit in the very back seat on the right, his head still bowed. Maybe he was sleepy; or maybe they had drugged him. Charlie grunted and started the engine. He drove out of the prison grounds, waving half-heartedly to the guard at the front gate. The drive from Gotham City Penitentiary to Metropolis Hall of Justice was a dull one. It was a straight path on Interstate 95, and if Charlie hadn't had the radio on, he probably would have fallen asleep himself. Finally they reached the curvy stretch on I-95, which was Charlie's favorite part of the trip. Drivers had to slow down because the roads were always in need of repair; furthermore, the highway curved dangerously, with a cliff to the west and thick shrubbery and trees to the east. Charlie hummed along with his Mindy McCready cassette, slowing down to enjoy the first curve and at the same time driving carefully around the first pothole. *BANG*! There was sound like an engine's backfire, and Charlie knew something was wrong. He knew he had cleared the pothole, so what had he hit? Suddenly realizing that he was losing control of the bus, he grasped the steering wheel with white knuckles. He pulled to the side carefully, swearing profusely. He tried not to think of the cliff just beyond the bent, rusty guardrail as the bus came to a screeching halt. "Damn, do you need help with the tire?" the guard asked Charlie. Charlie shook his head silently and sighed. As he unbuckled his seat belt and opened the bus door, he realized there was someone standing outside -- a woman. And she was wearing a cryptic grin on her face. Charlie tried hard to place the woman's face (was she a movie star or something?), but he failed. Still, he recognized her from somewhere. She boarded the bus as if there was absolutely nothing unusual about a woman just standing around on the middle of the I-95. She reached out and pinched Charlie's cheek before he could protest. "I see you all have a flat tire," Mindy Church murmured. "Too bad." Charlie saw that she held a gun, a cute little Derringer that she had probably used to shoot out the tire. Charlie was scared speechless, and the other guard stood up when he saw the gun. But before he could react, Mindy reached over and pulled the guard's gun >from his holster. She twirled it expertly and removed the safety. She pointed a gun at each of them. Charlie and the guard slowly raised their hands in the air. Mindy smiled. "That's what I thought," she said. She tucked the Derringer into the waistband of her short skirt then took a pair of handcuffs from her large pocket and snapped one circle around Charlie's wrist. With unexpected strength, she pulled Charlie by the cuffs and snapped the other circle onto the steering wheel, trapping the man. "Do you have handcuffs?" It wasn't a question; it was a demand. Dumbly, the guard reached around to his belt, where he had a set of handcuffs. Mindy took them hastily, cuffing the guard to the bar on the seat in front of him. She looked toward Michael Edwards, who seemed surprisingly quiet. Remarkably, he seemed to have fallen asleep, slumped over in his seat. "This is going to be easier than I thought," Mindy said gleefully. "Not as fun, but easier." She shrugged. "Whatever." She walked quickly toward the back of the bus. She reached out to grab Edwards by the hair when suddenly his head jerked up. To Mindy's surprise, she was looking straight into the face of ... "Superman!" Mindy said, her mouth dropping open. "I was wondering when you'd finally get back here, Mrs. Church," Superman said smugly. Mindy could see his blue suit poking out from the faded blue jumpsuit in dismay. He took the guns from her, crushed the Derringer and twisted the barrel on the guard's gun. He took Mindy's arm roughly and led her back to the front of the bus. He snapped the handcuffs off the guard and Charlie, and told them, "Call the police on the radio." He looked at Mindy. "Tell them Intergang," he glared at Mindy, "has finally been dismantled. For good." Mindy shrugged. "It was fun while it lasted." * * * * * * * * * * Clark turned in his story on Mindy Church's capture and subsequent arrest to Perry. It had been a long day. The offices were still slightly chaotic as the layout department hurried to make space on page one for Clark's article. "We're off to childbirth class," Clark told his boss. "How are you, son?" Perry asked. "I'm OK," Clark admitted. "I still worry about her, but ..." He watched his wife as she switched off her computer and then fanned herself with a file folder, waiting for him. "Look at her, Chief. She's doing so well all by herself. Sometimes I wonder if she even needs me." Perry smiled knowingly. "Trust me. She does. Now you two have fun at that class." Clark gave his boss a grateful smile before meeting Lois in the newsroom. "Ready?" Lois asked. She leaned against Clark's desk as he tidied his work area. Clark switched off his terminal and straightened his tie. "Yup." They rode the elevator in silence, but as soon as they reached the echoing silence of the parking garage, Lois spoke. "Clark, are you thinking the same thing I am?" Clark watched his wife carefully before replying. "You mean, wondering how blind we could have been not to see how Mindy Church has been rebuilding Intergang right under our noses?" Lois sighed heavily. "I just don't know. Sometimes we get so arrogant about catching every criminal in Metropolis. We have a super-edge, you know. I think sometimes we get a little cocky about it and forget that Superman still can't know everything." She turned to her husband and knocked him playfully on the chin. "We can't be confident about everything," Clark agreed. They stopped in front of the Jeep as Clark opened Lois's door for her. He he helped her into the passenger seat and paused to look at her. Lois was beautiful, and she had a healthy, soft-pink glow. A light sprinkle of perspiration made her skin glisten. "You're really hot," Clark observed. He blew a cool breeze on her, and she smiled. "You're holding up well. Frankly, if *I* was the pregnant one, I wouldn't be getting up every morning and tackling the day like you're doing." Lois smiled. She examined her husband's face more closely and a thought occurred. "You're nervous about this baby," she said suddenly. Clark frowned. "It's not that --" "Yes, it is," Lois said knowingly. "And it's OK. Really, it is." "I didn't want to show you how nervous I was," Clark admitted. "I wanted to be strong for you." Lois took both of Clark's hands in hers. "Even *I'm* surprised I'm holding up this well. It must be some maternal instinct that kicks in." Clark watched his wife, who looked serenely child-like and very motherly at the same time, with her calm smile and her legs dangling from the Jeep. "You're doing just fine. *We're* doing just fine. And our baby is doing great. You'll be a great birthing coach." Lois squirmed suddenly, but she kept smiling as she placed Clark's hands on her belly. Clark's grin widened as he felt his child moving around. "See?" Lois looked down at Clark's hands. "Even the baby -- *our* baby -- agrees." Clark couldn't argue with that. And to prove it, he planted a long, lingering kiss on Lois's lips and another one on the belly where his unborn child was growing. * * * * * * * * * * "Your personal belongings." The correctional officer held out a plastic bag. The prisoner was about to be set free, and she grabbed her things eagerly. There wasn't much in the bag -- a plain gold wedding band, a pendant her last employer had given her for ten years' service, her driver's license and a key chain. None of the keys worked anymore now that *his* company was dismantled, but that wasn't the point. All these were *hers.* They didn't belong to the prison or to the courts. She walked out of the desolate building into the bright sunlight and let the spring breeze blow through her wavy, raven-black hair. As soon as she left the prison grounds, she let out a victorious yell and ran down the deserted road in the direction of Metropolis. *He* had pulled strings, and she was free. The judge found no evidence to keep her, and the handcuffs were removed. She was cleared of all charges. She sometimes wondered why it had taken so long -- four years! -- but right now she didn't care. There would be plenty of time later to figure everything out. The modest Mazda Protege sedan was there, just like *he* had said it would be. *He* had given very specific instructions. The woman looked in the backseat, where there was a garment bag. She opened the back door, which was unlocked. She unzipped the bag carefully, revealing an off-white, designer pantsuit and matching shoes. She climbed into the backseat and shut the door. "He knows my style," she whispered to herself as she kicked off the prison shoes, T-shirt and cotton pants. The silk felt good against her dry, cracked skin, which had only touched rough cotton and itchy polyester for the past four years. In the compartment between the front seats, she found a hairbrush, hand lotion, a bottle of Obsession perfume and a cellular phone. She brushed her hair and applied lotion and perfume liberally to her cocoa-colored skin. She wanted to erase all signs of prison life from her body, scent and appearance. At last she picked up the cellular phone and dialed a number from memory. The phone clicked, but no one said anything on the other line. But that was how it was supposed to be. "It's me," she said, smiling mischievously. "Cox." "Dominique Cox," a male voice answered with delight. "Congratulations on your liberation. Now we can get back to business." "Yes, Bill," she articulated as she moved to the front seat and found the keys in the sun visor. She started the car. "I saw them arresting your father's ex-wife on TV." "She was getting too sloppy," Bill Church Jr. said matter-of-factly. "And then when she started getting her hands dirty ..." Mrs. Cox smirked at the comment. She knew better than Mindy Church. "Well, thank you for getting me out," Mrs. Cox said. "That place was disgusting. And to think I had been there for four whole years." "You're telling me it's disgusting?" Bill said. "I've been there, remember? And -- you're welcome." "I'll meet you in Los Angeles," Mrs. Cox said. She dropped the phone on the passenger seat, and the peeled out into the road. She flung her prison clothes out the window. They billowed in the breeze as Lex Luthor's former personal assistant reacquainted herself with the taste of freedom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- THE END ---------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 22:23:19 -1000 Reply-To: shore@maui.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jamee Jones Subject: Re: Superman's S MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >>>'Supergirl, Superboy and Steel wear it our of respect to > Superman, although Superboy and Steel are a bit mixed-up. They > actually > thought there were Superman back in the 'Riegn of the Supermen' > storyline.<<< > > :) > Kara So I take it these are the comic book characters of course. I apologize if this too far off the L&C topic, but I'm curious now. Where superboy and supergirl offspring of Lois and Superman? And who is Steel? I've been tempted to get the superman comics since L&C went off the air, but I'm afraid that they are too full of the overly developed females (if you know what I mean!) and my 6 year old son would want to read them! j-me ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 04:16:00 -0400 Reply-To: datah@epix.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Ray Woodruff Subject: Re: Superman's S MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jamee Jones wrote: > > > >>>'Supergirl, Superboy and Steel wear it our of respect to > > Superman, although Superboy and Steel are a bit mixed-up. They > > actually > > thought there were Superman back in the 'Riegn of the Supermen' > > storyline.<<< > > > > :) > > Kara > > So I take it these are the comic book characters of course. I > apologize if this too far off the L&C topic, but I'm curious now. Where > superboy and supergirl offspring of Lois and Superman? And who is > Steel? I've been tempted to get the superman comics since L&C went off > the air, but I'm afraid that they are too full of the overly developed > females (if you know what I mean!) and my 6 year old son would want > to read them! > > j-me In the current comics, Superboy is an attempted cloning of Superman after he 'died' in [1993?] by a secret genetics group called Cadmus. Supergirl is a protoplasmic being who merged with a human named Linda Danvers in an attempt to save her life. Steel is an African American who donned a suit of armor to protect Metropolis after the aforementioned 'death' of Superman. I know these are extrremely brief explanations but it's the best I can do at this hour. Ray ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 05:29:39 -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: Re: Superman's S Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 07:58 PM 5/18/98 -1000, j-me wrote: >Question, > >I have always wondered what the 'S' on supermans chest actually stood >for. It's a little known fact that the "S" stands for Stanley, a Kryptonian name denoting "works hard, smiles freely, good cook though can eat whatever he finds, can be manipulated, please try not to take advantage of the wearer because he does eventually catch on and he has easily makes friends who back him up". Kryptonians (wherever they are) tend to name their offspring this way to help them out in life: parents psychically foresee what their kids will be like and give them fitting names. Neither the Kents nor "Clark" knew this (and it is unknown if the New Kryptonians had the guts or time to tell him) ("Wear that 'S' [pronounced 'hubba-hubba'] proudly, Kal!"), but at times it seems that some Earthly criminals are well aware of it. For example, "Zara" means: "perfectionist, persistent, potential ruler material, not a "clothes horse" (or Kryptonian equivalent), has no clue about men but will eventually get her what she wants so watch out." And "Ching"? Loyal, upstanding, excellent second lieutenant/banana material, appears two-faced but that's part of the disguise, stoic knows what he wants and will get it but won't be pushy about it, broods a lot." However, there is no truth to the rumor that one warning definition about "-el" is "loses kids easily." Debby Debby@swcp.com who, having clearly worked too many overtime hours this week (and with too much email to read again), nonetheless tries to put in an appearance... ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 09:14:33 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Hall, Melissa" Subject: Who are...? (was RE: Superman's S) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >> So I take it these are the comic book characters of course. I >> apologize if this too far off the L&C topic, but I'm curious now. Where >> superboy and supergirl offspring of Lois and Superman? And who is >> Steel? I've been tempted to get the superman comics since L&C went off >> the air, but I'm afraid that they are too full of the overly developed >> females (if you know what I mean!) and my 6 year old son would want >> to read them! >> >> j-me Let me see if I can clear this up a little. > >In the current comics, Superboy is an attempted cloning of Superman >after he 'died' in [1993?] by a secret genetics group called Cadmus. Actually, the researchers at Cadmus failed in their attempts to clone Superman. Instead, they cloned the then-director and altered his DNA. They sped up the clone's growth, but he popped out a little early- at the equivalent of sixteen or so. His powers seem to come from a basic telekinetic ability- so he can fly and go fast and lift heavy things and take apart things with a touch. He doesn't have any of the vision-gizmos that the big guy does. Superboy is currently fozen at the age of 16, and he acts it. There are quite a few over-developed and under-dressed females running around the Superboy comic, so I wouldn't recommend it for your son. >Supergirl is a protoplasmic being who merged with a human named Linda >Danvers in an attempt to save her life. Not only that, she's from another universe. Wait- here's the official DC version: "Supergirl was originally a proto-matter being that duplicated an alternate Earth's dead Lana Lang and mimicked Superman's powers. 'Raised' by Ma and Pa Kent following her world's destruction, she eventually made a name for herself in the DC Universe as a member of Superman's extended family. However, all was not well. Feeling a longing to be fully human, Supergirl merged her essence with a dying girl (Linda Danvers), which fused the two beings into one, giving Supergirl a human identity, a family of her own and a soul. If that weren't enough, it was recently revealed that Supergirl is a bona-fide Earth-born angel..." Anyway- not nearly as many over-developed females, but interesting female heros. >Steel is an African American who donned a suit of armor to protect >Metropolis after the aforementioned 'death' of Superman. John Henry Irons was a weapons engineer who quit when he found out exactly what his designs were doing to people. He faked his death and started working in construction. One day he saved a fellow worker from falling, and was saved in turn by Superman. This inspired him, when Superman died to make a difference- he designed and built his own amor, and called himself 'The Man of Steel', or Steel, as a tribute to Superman. He had his own comic for a while, but I believe it's been cancelled. There are currently four monthly comics devoted to Superman: Action Comics, The Adventures of Superman, Superman, and Superman: The Man of Steel. There is also a quarterly comic: Superman: the Man of Tomorrow. These all run in sequence, one of them coming out every week, with a continuing story line. There is also the comic Superman Adventures, which is based on the WB animated series. The artistic style is considered more 'juvenile', but the stories are really designed for all ages. Other comics in the same style are Batman Adventures, Batman and Robin Adventures and Adventures in the DC Universe. As yet, the only mention of Superman and Lois Lane ever having children was in 'Lois and Clark'. They haven't even begun to explore that sort of angle in the comics. Hope this helps! Misha > ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 09:53:02 -0600 Reply-To: Erin Klingler Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Superman's S MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Debby wrote: snips: >It's a little known fact that the "S" stands for Stanley, a Kryptonian name >denoting "works hard, smiles freely, good cook though can eat whatever he >finds, can be manipulated, please try not to take advantage of the wearer >because he does eventually catch on and he has easily makes friends who back >him up". Kryptonians (wherever they are) tend to name their offspring this >way to help them out in life: parents psychically foresee what their kids >will be like and give them fitting names. Neither the Kents nor "Clark" knew >this (and it is unknown if the New Kryptonians had the guts or time to tell >him) ("Wear that 'S' [pronounced 'hubba-hubba'] proudly, Kal!"), but at >times it seems that some Earthly criminals are well aware of it. >However, there is no truth to the rumor that one warning definition about >"-el" is "loses kids easily." ROTFL!! That's the best explanation I've heard yet. Thanks for the laugh, Debby! Erin :) ___________________ (aka ELK on IRC) erink@ida.net "The truth is, no one knows how long they've got. Anyway, it's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now...as they happen." CK to LL in BY ******* "You bet your sweet little chumpy I am." _________________ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 13:24:16 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandra McDermin Subject: Re: Before & After: The Outline Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >>This is exactly what I joined this list for: to read and understand what it takes to write a good fanfic. Well done, Sandy. Marie<< To be honest, my initial interest in the fanfic discussion list was to gauge the feedback on the S5 episodes, especially my own. I enjoy receiving some fanfic directly, but most times I like to seek it out for myself when I have the time to read it. Therefore, as with you, the messages I enjoy reading the most have to do with the writing process, itself, or any discussions that critique fanfic we've read. (I haven't seen as much of that I'm sorry to say.) So many members of this list teach writing or are involved in writing or editing in some way that it seems a shame that we don't share more of our experiences or critique each other's work -- not in a mean or hurtful way -- but in a constructive manner. I certainly appreciate comments whether they are positive or not. For instance, I have received numerous messages which have expressed some disappointment that "Taken" didn't turn out to be a Elseworld story. I admit to almost all of them that I think my ending is somewhat of a cop-out, but I had other goals: 1) Making the story part of a trilogy; 2) contrasting, in Lois' mind, an imagined relationship with Lex, with Kal-El, and finally, her "real" one with Clark. For instance, with Lex, the relationship turned out to be all about her marital obligations and a feeling of responsibility toward the people he harmed. With Kal-El, the way I wrote it, their relationship was about passion and basic attraction. The obligation these two had toward others and the responsibilities they were ignoring in pursuit of their relationship was a threat hovering in the background. At the end, I was trying to hint that Clark and Lois' relationship was a mixture of both. They obviously have an undeniable attraction to each other which does have an impact on his role as Superman. In other words, being a man, a husband, and a father means that he can't always be there for the world even though -- we probably all agree -- Clark needs these other aspects of his life in order to be a full "human being". In fact, we all need a balance in our lives. It has nothing to do with being an alien. The matter is just heightened extraordinarily in Clark's case. *But,* Clark and Lois also recognize that Clark has unique gifts, and he would be less than the person he was if he didn't use them to help others. They are willing to make that sacrafice in their lives in order to bow to that "obligation". It won't always be easy for them, but they're "heroic" because they cannot be anything but. They're relationship is a balancing act between the love and passion they have for each other as well as for "doing good," and the responsiblities and obligations they have to each other as well as to "the world". Complicated. Sandy (Now for something completely different. Did you know that Ralph makes a brief appearance in the movie, "Primary Colors"? Maybe it was mentioned on loiscla. He's basically an extra in a restaurant. He has no lines at all. That's probably where he was the first couple of years of L&C -- following the campaign for the DP and then covering the White House.) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 13:08:38 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Farah Chisham Subject: security issue In-Reply-To: <01bd84d0$89065700$0200a8c0@erink.ida.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII It has come to my attention that there may be a slight security problem with this discussion group (not to you, but to my account), To ensure you remain on the list, please email me a short message that you are a real person and not an automatic subscriber. Sometimes, I will get a request to join by an automated "spam" server and to keep this from happening, Just take a second to email me a message that you wish to remain on the list. Those who do not respond within one week will be taken off the list. I just don't want unwanted mail in my inbox or any mail going to the list like "make-more-money" schemes. Thanks for your co-operation! Farah Meitzen Chisham fchisham@indiana.edu ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 07:25:19 +1200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: GAY DEVLIN Organization: Auckland Institute of Technology Subject: Re: security issue Comments: To: Farah Chisham there may be a slight security problem There might be a problem with this discussion group (not to you, but to my account), To ensure you remain on the list, please email me a short message that you are a real person and not an automatic subscriber. Hi Farah, When I last checked I was a real person, and I DEFINITELY wish to remain on this list. My name is Gay Devlin, I live in Auckland, New Zealand and I am still an avid fan of Lois & Clark and I thoroughly enjoy the posts this list sends out. Please do not delete me and many thanks for affording me so much enjoyment by managing this list. All the best, Gay ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 15:43:15 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pellis Subject: Re: security issue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >there may be a slight security problem >There might be a problem with this discussion group (not to you, but >to my account), To ensure you remain on the list, please email me a >short message that you are a real person and not an automatic >subscriber. No, it's me, a real live Lois and Clark fan. Keep me on the list. Paul ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 15:51:13 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Re: security issue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi My name is Jenni Debbage. I would like to remain on the list. Thankyou ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 16:31:29 -0400 Reply-To: NightSky@erols.com Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Subject: Comic book characters MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > >> So I take it these are the comic book characters of course. I > >> apologize if this too far off the L&C topic, but I'm curious now. Where > >> superboy and supergirl offspring of Lois and Superman? And who is > >> Steel? I've been tempted to get the superman comics since L&C went off > >> the air... The Superman Homepage is a great place to find out about the comic book characters. They have a "Who's Who" where you can look up Superboy and Steel, Lois, Clark or Superman, and even villains like Luthor or Baron Sunday to see how the comics deals with each character. Also they have an index to the comics since the Byrne Rewrite, information on the Revelation in the comics, and more. You can also get information on the movie, the cartoons and just about any other place that Superman has appeared. (The "Lois and Clark" page on the Superman homepage is pretty good, too, since *I'm* in charge of that! ) A great way to keep up with the comic books without actually purchasing them is to subscribe to Jeff Sykes' Kryptonian Cybernet, a free, monthly, electronic magazine dedicated to Superman. Be warned, though. I subscribed to it thinking I could find out what was going on without actually *buying* to comics, and within three months I was setting up a subscription for all five Superman titles at my local comic book store. THE KRYPTONIAN CYBERNET is available by e-mail -- to subscribe, send the commands subscribe kc end in the body of an e-mail message to "majordomo@novia.net" (without the quotation marks). The program ignores the subject line of the message. Back issues are available via ftp at oasis.novia.net. These archives can also be reached via the Kryptonian Cybernet Homepage: http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sykes/kc < << but I'm afraid that they are too full of the overly developed > >> females (if you know what I mean!) and my 6 year old son would want > >> to read them! You mean the balloons? I've been reading the Superman Adventures to my girls (8 and 10) since they came out, although Grace reads them on her own now. Neither girl is very interested in the regular "Triangle" titles. They both loved the Wedding Album, though (the comic where Clark and Lois got married). I even bought Grace her own copy, which she has read to shreads. The comic book wedding was very down-to-earth, especially when compared to Swear to God. Misha mentioned: > > As yet, the only mention of Superman and Lois Lane ever having children > was in 'Lois and Clark'. They haven't even begun to explore that sort of > angle in the comics. I think they have, a little. It's been established that Kryptonians and Humans are not genetically compatible, and I've seen a little evidence lately that that may bother Clark a bit. Luthor recently had a daughter in the comics, and he certainly twisted the knife a bit when he was gloating to Superman about it. And in the same issue, Clark's face, when Dirk reminded him that he [Clark] didn't have any children, was somewhat poignant. Their childless state doesn't seem to bother Lois -- yet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Genevieve (NightSky@erols.com) ; For everything 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, 21 May 1998 16:51:10 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mhcman Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Howdy, My name is Thomas Cole, username (MHCMAN) and I am a real human being. Well not according to my wife. Thanks for asking Thomas ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 17:33:38 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Roseb11 Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-21 14:09:05 EDT, you write: << To ensure you remain on the list, please email me a short message that you are a real person and not an automatic subscriber. >> I think I may have done this wrong. So to cover my bases, I'll e-mail the list! To quote from one of my favorite books, The Velveteen Rabbit, once you are real, you can't become unreal. It last forever. I'm real!!! And I'd like to remain on this list. Roseann Buonadies ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 14:07:03 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jon Neil Subject: Re: security issue I am a real person and want to remain active on the list thanks jnc57@Jun.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 18:12:21 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Budmayes Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-21 14:09:05 EDT, you write: << please email me a short message that you are a real person and not an automatic subscriber. >> My name is Bud Mayes. I am a real person too and I wish to remain on the list. ( Hey Ollie, I am a real person aren't I?) ( Yes, Stanley , You are indeed a real person, so there!) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 15:45:34 PDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Caroline Amberson Subject: Re: security issue Content-Type: text/plain Yikes! Don't take me off the list! I'm a real subscriber, I promise! By the way, hotmail (or other mail servers, this is just the one I know about) offers spam free mail at no charge. My sister pointed me towards it and I figure I might help my karma by suggesting it to you if you're having problems. -Caroline Amberson supersticky@hotmail.com ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 15:49:42 PDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Caroline Amberson Subject: Sorry! Content-Type: text/plain Sorry everyone, I meant to send my subscription response personally and not publicly. I apologize for taking up space (and time) with a message that I'm sure not very many of you were interested in reading. (Insert sheepish grin here.) -Caroline Amberson ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 18:57:54 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Donna Lehman <102262.2435@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: security issue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Please, I want to remain on the list. Donna ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 19:02:34 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Donna Lehman <102262.2435@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: security issue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi, I am a real person. I didn't know if I should reply to ALL or not so I di= d both. Please, please keep me on the list. I am a forever LNC fan. Donna ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 20:10:19 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: KCrane1865 Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I wish to remain on the list. thank you ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 20:31:23 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Richardson Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Farah -- I am a real person, Pam Richardson, PFR@erols.com Pam At 01:08 PM 5/21/98 -0500, you wrote: >It has come to my attention that there may be a slight security problem >with this discussion group (not to you, but to my account), > >To ensure you remain on the list, please email me a short >message that you are a real person and not an automatic >subscriber. > >Sometimes, I will get a request to join by an automated "spam" >server and to keep this from happening, Just take a second >to email me a message that you wish to remain on the list. > >Those who do not respond within one week will be taken off the list. > >I just don't want unwanted mail in my inbox or any mail going to the list >like "make-more-money" schemes. Thanks for your co-operation! > >Farah Meitzen Chisham >fchisham@indiana.edu > > ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 20:42:59 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mar Brian Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi- I'm Mariann...and yes I'm a real person. Please don't delete me from the list Thank you! ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 17:43:55 PDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "K.C. Boyd" Subject: Re: security issue Content-Type: text/plain >It has come to my attention that there may be a slight security problem >with this discussion group (not to you, but to my account), > >To ensure you remain on the list, please email me a short >message that you are a real person and not an automatic >subscriber. > >Sometimes, I will get a request to join by an automated "spam" >server and to keep this from happening, Just take a second >to email me a message that you wish to remain on the list. > >Those who do not respond within one week will be taken off the list. > >I just don't want unwanted mail in my inbox or any mail going to the list >like "make-more-money" schemes. Thanks for your co-operation! > >Farah Meitzen Chisham >fchisham@indiana.edu I'm real, a little out there, but real. K.C. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 21:03:11 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: SwimminDeb Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi! My name is Debbie Plumley. I am a real person and and not an automatic subscriber. Please keep me on the Lois and Clark mailing list. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 21:13:35 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Patric6928 Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Ok. I'll jump in here. I want to stay on the list, and I stupidly deleted the first email with the description of what to do, etc. So... I'll just copy what I've seen ;p I am a real person :) Patricia ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 20:40:09 -0500 Reply-To: cdmorris@mail.wf.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Dee Morris Subject: Re: security issue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Please keep me on the list. Dee Morris ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 22:17:12 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: My latest fanfic Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" My latest fanfic "Only You: Promise" is now available at my website (see my sig). It's the sequel to "Only You: If Only". As soon as I get my act together, and cut the story into byte size pieces, I'll post it here:) Margaret ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 22:04:08 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Larus2407 Subject: Re: security issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-05-21 21:20:45 EDT, you write: << Please keep me on the Lois and Clark mailing list. >> Geesh, Farah, how many people are on this list that we can all expect to still hear from? You didn't say to answer you privately, though that's what I did. --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 21:50:12 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eric A. Maxwell" Subject: Re: security issue In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi , my name is Eric Maxwell. Please keep me on the list. > -----Original Message----- > From: Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic > [mailto:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU]On Behalf Of Farah > Chisham > Sent: Thursday, May 21, 1998 1:09 PM > To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU > Subject: security issue > > > It has come to my attention that there may be a slight security problem > with this discussion group (not to you, but to my account), > > To ensure you remain on the list, please email me a short > message that you are a real person and not an automatic > subscriber. > > Sometimes, I will get a request to join by an automated "spam" > server and to keep this from happening, Just take a second > to email me a message that you wish to remain on the list. > > Those who do not respond within one week will be taken off the list. > > I just don't want unwanted mail in my inbox or any mail going to the list > like "make-more-money" schemes. Thanks for your co-operation! > > Farah Meitzen Chisham > fchisham@indiana.edu > ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 23:17:43 -0400 Reply-To: datah@epix.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Ray Woodruff Subject: Re: security issue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As the Reply-To field points to the list, that's where I must assume you want this notice to go.... I am in the red up to my eyes so I must be real since a computer doesn't have a line of credit. Please keep me on the list. Ray "I'm a real boy!" Pinoccio