From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG0005E" ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 08:53:03 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: When Lightning Strikes Twice Part 06/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Title: When Lightning Strikes Twice Author: Wendy Richards Rating: PG-13 Part: 6 of ? Comments: public or private --------------------------------------------------------- Some hours later, Clark leaned back in his chair and stretched wearily; he needed to get out and fly around for a while, he thought as he shut down his computer. Although he wasn=92t affected by normal human tiredness or stiffness, he really didn=92t care for sitting in the same position for hour= s on end. Still, it had been a useful exercise. He=92d been through all the Planet archive material on Lex Luthor, as well as a number of other archives which he=92d been able to access - legitimately and otherwise - via= the Internet, and had reminded himself of a number of salient facts, as well as having acquainted himself with some of Luthor=92s former associates.= And a lot of pieces were beginning to fall into place, once he started systematically putting clues together and making deductions. He=92d always suspected that Luthor was behind the sabotage of the Messenger: he=92d found= circumstantial evidence which suggested that the man had made some large payments to Toni Baines, which explained a lot. There had been an obscure gossip column item which linked Luthor to a certain perfumiere known only as Miranda, which raised another question in Clark=92s mind. And then there was the fact that Lex Luthor had ultimately provided the funding for the laboratory in which Dr Fabian Leek had worked... which meant that Luthor could have been behind the Superman clone. Clark thought as he disappeared at Super-speed up the stairwell towards the Planet roof. Taking off, he focused his mind on the photograph he'd finally found of Nigel St John; it was old, and a little hazy, but Clark was sure he would recognise the man. And something else occurred to him then: a description given to him by Jack of the two men who had purchased the globe from him nearly a year ago. One of them had been tall, old, with a British accent, Jack had said... English, Clark now mentally corrected the boy. After all, he thought idly, =91British=92 could equally mean Scottish, and Scottish accent= s are very different.... But there was no time to allow his mind to wander over trivialities, he reminded himself. He needed to find Nigel St John. Or Asabi, as he=92d now discovered Luthor=92s manservant was called. That was the only name he=92d found, and he=92d no idea whether it was a first name or a surname. But his Super-hearing kicked in, alerting him to a major disaster at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, and with a sigh he realised that tracking down Luthor and his associates would have to wait... again. At least he=92d taken the time earlier that evening to write a note for Perry, from Superman, telling the Planet=92s editor that a former adversary of Lois=92s (unnamed) had resurfaced and that he=92d taken Lois away somewhere temporarily for her own= safety. He was well aware that the editor would be extremely taken aback by this, since Lois was by no means a person to run away from danger, but on the other hand, he knew that Perry respected Superman and he was pretty sure that the older man would believe that the Super-hero could persuade Lois to take his advice. For now, at any rate. **************** Having been assured that she needn=92t get up as early as Clark=92s parents,= Lois allowed herself the luxury of an hour=92s lie-in the following morning.= It was strange being back in Smallville, though Martha and Jonathan couldn't have been more welcoming. But there had been a couple of things she hadn=92t been able to get out of her mind. To begin with, ever since dinner the previous evening she'd had a strange nagging sensation that there was something she=92d forgotten, or that she should have thought about= , and she still had no idea what that might have been. And the second was that she thought that Jonathan had gone rather quiet when she'd mentioned, late the previous night, that she hoped Superman would find Luthor and reverse the power transfer soon - it had seemed for a moment as if the Kents were as worried about Superman as she was, if not more so. And yet that didn=92t really make sense - they barely knew him! Okay, Superman was a friend of their son=92s, so, as she=92d rationalised th= e previous evening, they probably had met him more times than she was aware of. And she knew that Superman did prefer to keep his private life *private,* so no doubt Clark simply hadn=92t mentioned it in order to protec= t his friend. Lois thought, punching her pillow. Well, she was in Smallville for the next couple of days anyway, although she was still dubious as to whether she should have gone along with Superman=92s persuasion. He had been a little difficult to say no to at the time, and he=92d actually managed to find one of her few weak spots by mentioning that time she=92d been with Lex Luthor. Not that she thought he=92= d done it deliberately, but she really hated being reminded of the person she=92d been then: a woman who had put wealth and social position above her integrity, or so it now seemed. Even at the time, she=92d known she wasn't i= n love with the man - she=92d been in love with Superman, for heaven=92s sake = - and yet she=92d accepted his proposal. She had absolutely no idea what could have made her do the things she=92d done then. To accept Lex Luthor=92s proposal! - okay, she=92d had no idea ju= st how evil he was, although if she was being honest with herself she had to admit that Clark had expressed his reservations about the man often enough. And although Perry had always been polite to Luthor whenever they=92d met, Lois had sensed a certain reserve in the older man. She herself had begun by simply using Luthor=92s obvious attraction to her as a means of getting closer to him, to get that exclusive one-on-one interview; until Superman had somewhat distracted her. Yet she had continued to meet the billionaire from time to time, accepting the occasional date with him, using her connection with him when necessary for work purposes; and in all that time she *hadn=92t* made any serious effort to investigate him, and she=92d slapp= ed down Clark on several occasions when he=92d suggested that it might be a worthwhile idea. She blanched as she remembered the time Luthor had constructed an exact replica of her apartment, as a means of persuading her to escape with him from the Nightfall Asteroid and live underground in his nuclear bunker. She=92d turned him down, while astonished at his offer, and certainly his actions in recreating her apartment had unnerved her then. But perhaps she=92d forgotten it all in the excitement and relief of Superman=92s destruction of the asteroid; she couldn't otherwise understand why she hadn=92t immediately concluded that he was a dangerous weirdo. She had been so superficial! Hanging on the every word of the man, as if he was infallible, while ignoring or talking down to other people - like Clark, who may well have been jealous, but had also been *right*! She=92d acted like some silly groupie around Lex Luthor; she couldn=92t have blamed her friends if they=92d imagined she=92d had a personality transplant. And f= or all she knew that was what they=92d concluded - not many of them had stayed in touch after her engagement. Apart from the superficial ones who=92d wante= d the connection with the wife of the world=92s third richest man, she reminde= d herself with a grimace. So now, six months later, that was a period of her life she=92d almost tried= to block out of her mind. She=92d been *glad* Lex had committed suicide; not= that she would ever wish for anyone=92s death, but his dramatic act had free= d her from any need to testify at his trial, any approaches from his solicitors or staff to visit him in prison, and - so she=92d thought - any chance of ever seeing him again. The knowledge that he was dead and therefore completely out of the way had been the one thing which had helped her through those dreadful few weeks immediately after the abortive wedding.= No, not the only thing, she remembered suddenly. The other thing she couldn=92t have coped without was the support of her best friend, Clark. Despite the rift which had formed between them over her engagement to Lex Luthor, he=92d been there for her when she'd needed him. He had made it clear, in his usual unassuming manner, that if she wanted company, or needed to talk, all she had to do was just pick up the phone, any time, day or night. And he=92d meant it, too; there=92d been many nights when they=92d= talked on the phone for half an hour or more until she=92d felt calm enough to sleep, or when he=92d got dressed and come over. Somehow - and she=92d ne= ver asked him how - he=92d usually found somewhere to buy ice-cream or fresh pastries on the way; comfort food. Now, Clark held a very special place in her life, and there were times when she wondered just what he meant to her. She already knew that without his presence her life would be very empty in many ways; she simply couldn=92t imagine what it would be like not having him around. And, a couple of months earlier, she=92d got a taste of precisely what it could be like not t= o have Clark around, when he=92d been shot by the clone of a 1920s gangster. He=92d fallen to the floor, killed instantly, right in front of her. And she'd cried all night and most of the following day, with only the driving need to catch his killers keeping her going. And then he=92d come back to her... by some miraculous chance, Superman had found his body and rejuvenated it using Dr Hamilton=92s methods. Clark was alive again, and her future had suddenly seemed so much brighter. Then, she really had wondered... but Clark had fallen asleep, and later she=92d begun to doubt her feelings. After all, she=92d thought she was in love before, only to realise that it had been infatuation, or that the object of her devotion simply let her down. No, it was far safer to keep Clark as a friend. But she=92d owed Superman big-time for his work that day. Yet, when she=92d tried to thank him later, he=92d simply looked embarrassed and told her that= he'd had more selfish motives in mind, since he had wanted Clark back too. And come to think of it, Clark had also been very reticent when she=92d trie= d to talk to him about afterwards. Once she=92d recovered from the shock and delight of his return, she=92d tried to quiz him on how it felt to have been= dead and brought back to life, but - unusually for Clark - he=92d become withdrawn and had told her it wasn=92t really an experience he wanted to discuss. It was certainly an amazing technique, Lois mused now as she began to think about getting up. How many people=92s loved ones could be brought back to life if Superman hadn=92t destroyed Dr Hamilton=92s notes? On the other hand= , she reminded herself, Bonnie and Clyde and the others weren=92t the *originals,* they were clones - and experimentation in clone technology was closely regulated for a good reason. Clones were still notoriously unstable, which wouldn=92t give much comfort to a grieving spouse - you can have your husband back, but he could drop dead again any day? Not something Lois would want. And the ease of obtaining DNA meant that criminals could clone anyone they wanted - even Superman, as someone had done once before. And the resurrection of Lex Luthor from the dead was another grim reminder that such methods could easily be used for evil as much as good. Determining to banish Luthor from her mind until she=92d at least had a cup of coffee, she sat up in bed, leaning back against the headboard as she planned her day. She=92d insisted on bringing her lap-top, so she could at least carry on working on some of her ongoing stories. Superman had promised to explain to Perry why she=92d left town, although her location wa= s to remain a secret. It was too bad that she couldn't write up the story of Luthor=92s return, although she understood Superman=92s insistence that it h= ad to be kept secret; the fact that his powers could be transferred just couldn=92t be allowed to get out. And after all, she=92d remembered guiltily= just after he=92d told her why she couldn't write about it that only earlier= the same day he=92d told her how much he appreciated her discretion in relation to things which couldn't become public knowledge. Her gaze wandered idly around Clark=92s bedroom; it wasn=92t the first time she=92d slept there, although it had felt very strange the previous evening sitting with his parents but without him. The room itself looked as if it had changed little since his college days: there were team pennants, schoolbooks, photos of her partner as a very young man and other memorabilia around the walls and the shelves. If nothing else, she thought with a secretive smile, this would give her an excellent opportunity to learn a little more about her best friend=92s background without him even being aware of it.... Clark! The thought struck her suddenly, and she jumped out of bed, standing staring into the middle distance as she realised just what had been nagging at her since last night. She was here, in Smallville, in Clark=92s childhood= home, hiding from a super-powered Lex Luthor. But where was Clark? And why had no-one mentioned him since she=92d arrived? Oh, Martha had chattered on about his childhood, and his ambitions on leaving school, but neither Kent had mentioned Clark *now,* had asked about their work at the Planet, or even mentioned when they=92d last spoken to him= . And yet they were such a close family; it just didn=92t make sense that they= wouldn=92t speak of him. And anyway, why hadn=92t he called last night? He'd= have to know where she was - it was inconceivable that Superman wouldn=92t have told him. So why hadn=92t he called? And... she paused then, sitting down on the edge of the bed to think this through. Could Clark be in danger too? Lex had never liked him - had been jealous of him, in fact, Lois had suspected. It had given her a sense of cynical amusement, since she=92d known of Clark=92s jealousy of Lex. Though she=92d never understood why Lex Luthor, wealthy sophisticate, business magnate and highly influential individual - he could speak to presidents and chief executives the world over simply by picking up the phone and giving his name - should be jealous of a pretty ordinary guy from Kansas. But Lex certainly had not liked Clark. Could he dislike him enough to want to kill him? The thought sent a chill through Lois, and she tried to think this through rationally. Apart from his jealousy, what could he dislike about Clark? Well, Clark had never hidden his dislike of Luthor, for a start; and Lex, used to commanding respect from all about him, would not have liked that. And.... She bit her lip. Although it had been a group effort, both Jimmy and Perry had assured her that Clark had been largely instrumental in finding the evidence to convince the police that Lex was behind the destruction of the Planet, and much more besides. So Lex could be after him for revenge, if he knew about that. No, that was silly, she told herself. Lots of people were involved in bringing Luthor down: Perry, Jimmy, Jack, Inspector Henderson and his team, the directors who talked - was Luthor going to kill everyone who=92d helped to destroy him? But this was Lex Luthor, she reminded herself slowly. A cold-blooded killer, from what had been discovered about him in the aftermath of his death. A merciless, ruthless man without scruples and who was now in possession of deadly powers. Yes, Luthor could kill anyone he wanted to, with just one look; one move of the hand; one freezing breath; one puff of wind. It was not inconceivable that he might decide to spread his net of revenge wider than Superman had thought... or than Superman had told her he thought, she amended. But Superman couldn't protect everyone... and in the meantime, where was Clark? She reached for her cellphone and called his desk at the Planet. ***************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 09:33:09 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Linda Hofffman Subject: Re: Threads of Confusion (16/16) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0015_01BFC950.E69ED9C0" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0015_01BFC950.E69ED9C0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi Tara You cann't do this to Lois and Clark. They are going to be very angry with you. I don't think 'Mary Sue' will be able to help you when they go on strike this time. We don't like our heros in different worlds. Write fast!! By the I enjoyed it very much, Linda Linda C Hoffman lindah46@erols.com lindacl on IRC.=20 ------=_NextPart_000_0015_01BFC950.E69ED9C0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Hi Tara
    You cann't do this = to Lois and=20 Clark.  They are
going to be very angry with you.  = I don't=20 think 'Mary Sue'
will be able to help you when they go = on strike=20 this time.
We don't like our heros in different = worlds. =20 Write fast!!
    By the I enjoyed it = very=20 much,
          &nbs= p;     =20 Linda
 
Linda C Hoffman
lindah46@erols.com
lindacl on = IRC. 
------=_NextPart_000_0015_01BFC950.E69ED9C0-- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 10:55:37 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: StarKitty Subject: Re: Threads of Confusion (16/16) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_009A_01BFC95C.6BB40F80" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_009A_01BFC95C.6BB40F80 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable :) Don't worry, I'll get working on Threads of Fate as quickly as = possible! :) Tara ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Linda Hofffman=20 To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU=20 Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 6:33 AM Subject: Re: Threads of Confusion (16/16) Hi Tara You cann't do this to Lois and Clark. They are going to be very angry with you. I don't think 'Mary Sue' will be able to help you when they go on strike this time. We don't like our heros in different worlds. Write fast!! By the I enjoyed it very much, Linda =20 Linda C Hoffman lindah46@erols.com lindacl on IRC.=20 ------=_NextPart_000_009A_01BFC95C.6BB40F80 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
:)  Don't worry, I'll get working = on Threads=20 of Fate as quickly as possible!  :)
 
Tara
----- Original Message -----
From:=20 Linda = Hofffman
To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV= .INDIANA.EDU=20
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 6:33 = AM
Subject: Re: Threads of = Confusion=20 (16/16)

Hi Tara
    You cann't do this = to Lois and=20 Clark.  They are
going to be very angry with = you.  I don't=20 think 'Mary Sue'
will be able to help you when they go = on strike=20 this time.
We don't like our heros in different=20 worlds.  Write fast!!
    By the I enjoyed = it very=20 much,
          &nbs= p;     =20 Linda
 
Linda C Hoffman
lindah46@erols.com
lindacl on=20 IRC. 
------=_NextPart_000_009A_01BFC95C.6BB40F80-- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 16:17:18 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: When Lightning Strikes Twice - Part 07/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Title: When Lightning Strikes Twice Author: Wendy Richards Rating: PG-13 Part 7 of ? Comments: public or private ------------------------------------------------- Clark stared in disbelief at the mutilation of Gretchen Kelly=92s body. Someone had wanted to go out of their way to give him a message, and he had a pretty good idea who that =91someone=92 was. He raised his gaze then to lo= ok across at Inspector Henderson, and what he saw in the older man=92s face mad= e him take a sharp intake of breath. =93You think *I*...?=94 He was barely able to believe it, but it was clear t= hat the police believed he=92d - Superman had - killed Dr Kelly. =93Superman, how do you think that mark was made?=94 Henderson drawled laconically. =93And from what we=92ve been able to ascertain, there=92s no s= ign of any forced entry or exit. The main door to the apartment was locked and bolted. But the balcony door was open - and this place is on the fifteenth floor.=94 If he hadn=92t known who was responsible for this, Clark would have found it= easier to hypothesise, to offer alternative explanations for these circumstances. But as it was, he felt helpless. =93Yeah, that mark could be made by heat vision, or it could be something else,=94 he offered at last, but he was aware that his words, and his hesitant tone, to say nothing of the long silence, had not helped allay anyone=92s suspicions. At Henderson=92s sceptical look, he added incredulously, =93Come on! You kno= w me, Inspector - would I do this? And even if I had, would I advertise my handiwork by burning my symbol into her chest?=94 At this, Henderson shrugged. =93Wouldn=92t be the first time someone wanted = to show off.=94 =93Yeah, and it=92s not as if anyone could do anything to stop *you,* Superman,=94 the woman uniformed officer added, her tone derisive. Although he was aware that the circumstantial evidence looked bad, Clark was somewhat hurt that the police were so willing to condemn him - especially Bill Henderson, with whom he=92d had many encounters as Superman and whom he=92d helped on many occasions. Unable to prevent himself, Clark swivelled his gaze to rest on the woman officer. =93No, you couldn=92t,=94 h= e answered her in clipped tones. =93So what=92s to stop me doing the same to you?=94 He allowed his gaze to drift over her; he achieved some small satisfaction from seeing her flinch in fear, and hated himself for it. =93Oh, don=92t be silly, he won=92t hurt you!=94 Henderson snapped, glaring = at the officer, and Clark swung back to face the detective, a challenging expression on his face. Henderson clearly recognised the message in Superman=92s expression, and allowed his own expression to relax a little. =93Well, if this isn=92t your handiwork - and I never thought it was - what do you know about it?=94 Clark hesitated. Only a short time earlier he=92d been wondering whether it might not be sensible to tell someone on the police force he could trust about Luthor. Now, he had the perfect opportunity; did he want to do it? He returned Henderson=92s silent gaze for a moment or two, then spoke firmly. =93Can we talk privately, Inspector?=94 =93Sure.=94 Henderson led the way into the kitchen, shutting the door firmly= behind Clark. Clark=92s first action, however, was to scan the room to ensur= e that no-one was there or in an adjoining room, and that there was no way they could be overheard. Then he turned to meet Henderson=92s gaze. =93First of all, those marks are made with heat vision,=94 he confirmed briefly. =93And I didn=92t do it.=94 =93Never thought you did, Superman,=94 Henderson repeated his earlier assurance. =93Yeah, some of those guys out there weren=92t so sure - they thought you=92d gone bad. She=92s had sex recently too.=94 =93You think rape?=94 Clark asked. =93Not sure, but it looks like there are bruises developing on her arms and upper thighs.=94 It could have been rape; Clark knew Luthor was capable of just about anything. The man had no scruples. =93I guess there=92ll be an autopsy, but = I can take another look with X-ray vision if you want a preliminary report,=94= he offered, almost hoping the detective wouldn=92t take him up on it. The expression of shock and agonising pain on Gretchen Kelly=92s face wasn=92t something he wanted to see again in a hurry. =93If you wouldn=92t mind, Superman, that would help,=94 Henderson agreed laconically. =93So...=94 he added in a more careful drawl, =93if it wasn=92t= you, and it was heat vision...?=94 =93How do you know I=92m the only Super-powered being around?=94 Clark asked= , playing for time. =93Well, no-one=92s seen anyone else,=94 Henderson answered. =93Okay, sure, = there was that puny guy calling himself Resplendent Man, but he disappeared pretty quick. And this sure ain=92t his MO any more than it is yours.=94 The= detective leaned back against a counter. =93My instincts are telling me you know who did this. And if you don=92t want me to ask you to come down to the= precinct with me to be charged with withholding information from the police....=94 Clark held up his hand. =93It won=92t come to that, Inspector. Look, this is= something I don=92t really want becoming public knowledge, okay? I realise this is a murder investigation, and you need to know, but this is important.=94 The detective was silent for a few moments, then he nodded. =93Okay, Superman, I guess I know you well enough to know you wouldn=92t hold out on us without a reason. Let=92s have it.=94 Clark nodded. =93Okay. You know who that woman was?=94 At Henderson=92s interjection of Dr Kelly=92s name, he continued. =93Yes. She was also Lex Luthor=92s doctor, and a scientist whose research was funded by him.=94 He s= aw Henderson=92s eyes widen slightly, but there was no other response. =93She also stole his body from its grave, and was responsible for stealing it again a few weeks ago,=94 Clark added. This time there was a response. =93*She* did? Why? Did he dump her or something? She want to desecrate his grave?=94 =93No, she wanted to bring him back to life,=94 Clark answered quietly. Henderson stared at him in slack-jawed disbelief. =93Yeah, she did,=94 he emphasised. =93I know - I was there when one of her experiments went wrong. But I made a mistake. I thought she was crazy, and that it just wasn=92t possible.=94 =93You... made a mistake,=94 Henderson repeated slowly. =93You mean...?=94 =93I mean Luthor=92s alive,=94 Clark confirmed. =93Her technique, whatever i= t was, worked. I saw him yesterday, alive and well.=94 =93Oh, come on, Superman, you expect me to believe that?=94 Henderson demanded. =93Look, I=92m not trying to say you=92ve made it up, but it must = have been someone who looked like him. Or maybe....=94 He paused suddenly, then added, as if inspiration had struck, =93Maybe she just took some DNA and cloned him - like those cloned gangsters? Mind you, a cloned Luthor could be just as much trouble....=94 =93No, it=92s the real Luthor, I assure you,=94 Clark insisted. =93They both= boasted about it to me. She brought him back to life.=94 Still sceptical, Henderson then asked, =93Well, if you saw him - hell, you know he was a wanted man, Superman! Why didn=92t you bring him in?=94 Clark sighed heavily. =93That=92s the other part of the story,=94 he began t= o explain. =93Luthor has powers like mine.=94 =93You=92ve got to be kidding, Superman!=94 Henderson exclaimed, appalled. =93I wish I was,=94 Clark said with a grimace. =93You mentioned Resplendent = Man. He was just an ordinary guy who, as a result of a freak accident, got my powers transferred to him. Gretchen Kelly somehow found out how it had happened, and she set a trap for me yesterday. I walked right into it, and Luthor got my powers as a result.=94 Raking his hand through his hair, Inspector Henderson stared at the Super- hero. =93But how? How can your powers be transferred?=94 =93I=92d rather not tell you that,=94 Clark answered. =93That=92s something = I think the fewer people know about the better. The main thing is that Lex Luthor is out there somewhere with powers like mine, and I haven=92t been able to find him yet.=94 =93My God, yeah,=94 Henderson muttered slowly, completely shaken out of his customary laconic manner. =93Luthor, with Super-powers... it doesn=92t bear thinking about.=94 =93Unfortunately, we have to,=94 Clark reminded him. =93He=92s already kille= d Dr Kelly, and my guess is that there are other people who could be in danger.=94= Henderson was nodding already. =93I=92ll organise police protection... but w= hat the heck can we do against powers like yours?=94 Clark frowned. =93Not a lot, and you don=92t want to put officers=92 lives a= t risk. I promise you that, barring disasters, I will be spending every minute of my time trying to find him and capture him. I have been since last night. The problem is, I don=92t know where he is. I only know where he=92s been.=94 He explained briefly about the bank robbery and the other couple of minor incidents which he was sure were Luthor=92s doing. =93Well, I can have people reporting any strange incidents to my office,=94 Henderson suggested. =93Anything where the MO isn=92t clear, or there=92s no= obvious sign of entry or exit, or....=94 =93Or where it looks like Super-powers could have been used,=94 Clark finish= ed bleakly. =93Inspector, I have to ask you not to tell anyone about Luthor, or= his powers. If it became common knowledge that my powers could be transferred....=94 =93I can imagine,=94 Henderson grunted. =93Okay. We keep that to ourselves -= for now. But I=92m going to need a way to contact you.=94 Clark shrugged. =93Give me a pager only you know the number to.=94 =93Drop by my precinct any time in the next half hour - I=92ll have one waiting.=94 They returned to the other room; Henderson waved the other occupants aside and removed the sheet from the body again. After a brief scan, Clark gestured at him to replace it, moving away from the bed at the same time. =93She has three broken ribs and there is evidence of severe bruising on her= right arm,=94 he told the detective, speaking quietly so that only Henderson= could hear. =93There is further bruising on her thighs and... a little highe= r up,=94 he added. =93I=92m not really sure whether that indicates force or ju= st Luthor not knowing his own strength yet.=94 He paused then, unable to banish= the images from his mind. =93Actually, I=92m not convinced he=92d care if it= was the latter, which makes it just as bad as using force in my mind.=94 Henderson nodded, then called to the other officers. =93You can take her awa= y now, we=92re finished here.=94 To Superman, he added, =93I take it you=92re = going out to look for him again now?=94 Clark nodded again. =93I=92ll be in touch.=94 ***************** Clark found himself spending a lot of time with the detective that day; it seemed that the Super-powered Lex Luthor was wasting no time in taking revenge on those people he considered to have slighted him. As he=92d promised, Superman turned up at Henderson=92s precinct within half= an hour of leaving Gretchen Kelly=92s apartment, having spent the meantime agai= n trying to track down Lex Luthor. The man continued to evade him, however. At the precinct, he managed to get Henderson into a private interview room and asked the detective whether the police had any information on the whereabouts of Nigel St John or Asabi. Henderson emitted a long-suffering sigh. =93They went to ground within ten minutes of us marching into the wedding ceremony with our warrants - and they took a lot of evidence we wanted with them. We just haven=92t been able= to locate them since.=94 =93Well, with Luthor dead, how hard did you try?=94 Clark persisted. Henderson glared at him. =93Damn hard. St John=92s wanted for a number of offences, and Asabi, or whatever his real name is, is wanted for questioning. But they both seem to have vanished into thin air.=94 =93Out of the country, maybe?=94 Clark asked. =93Possibly,=94 Henderson answered. =93We tried to see whether the Cox woman= , or Luthor=92s ex-wife, would give us any clues, but not even an offer to speak to the trial judge would shift Cox. Even with Luthor dead she refused to give us any information. As for Carlin, she still persists in believing that anyone who=92s out to harm Luthor=92s memory is her enemy - she wouldn=92= t talk.=94 He sighed. =93God knows what she=92d do if she found out he was ali= ve.=94 =93He divorced her - I can=92t see him wanting to look her up, or break her = out of jail,=94 Clark mused aloud. =93Unless he can=92t find anyone else to help him,=94 Henderson speculated. =93Course, he might already have found his former associates, so= she wouldn=92t be any use to him in that case. And since he killed that doctor, that suggests he didn=92t need her.=94 Clark nodded, accepted the pager, and left. But it was barely twenty minutes later when he received his first page, while dealing with a fire at a restaurant. Henderson=92s text message was short and to the point: it gave= an address and the word =91Now.=92 Pausing only to ensure that the humans present could handle the blaze, he took off at Super-speed. Arriving at the address Henderson had given, he found yet more police cars, police tape, and the detective - looking ever more morose - inside the building, an office block, on the tenth floor. A rough outline had been drawn on the floor around the unmoving body of a man; dead, Clark realised. With a sudden shock, he realised that he recognised the man. He was the chief executive of a Metropolis construction company which... he racked his brain. Yes, Cook Construction had, about ten months earlier, entered into a multi-million pound consortium with LexCorp to bid for the contract to build the new waterfront development in the west river area. They=92d won th= e contract, though there had been unconfirmed rumours of dirty tricks; Clark had suspected at the time that the rumours were correct, but he=92d never been able to prove it. And a couple of months afterwards, the consortium had fallen apart amid acrimonious rumour and counter-rumour about one side trying to pull a fast one on the other. So this man, Martin Cook, had been a business associate of Lex Luthor=92s. Still, Clark reasoned, there were probably very few businessmen in Metropolis who hadn=92t done business with Luthor at some point, so it was a= pretty thin connection. And also, he considered, studying the dead man more closely, the cause of death looked... suspicious. He turned to Henderson, waiting to be filled in. The detective=92s morose expression grew even more glum as he led Superman a little further away from the other officers present. =93What do you see, Superman?=94 =93A broken neck,=94 Clark replied in a low voice. =93I X-rayed just to be s= ure, but the way he=92s lying suggested that anyway.=94 Henderson nodded. =93That=92s what I guessed. Any idea what caused it?=94 =93Nothing definite,=94 Clark answered. =93But my guess is a sharp blow to t= he back of the neck. And from what I could see, I=92d guess that was with a hand, not a weapon. Though your forensics lab and the medical examiner will give you a better idea.=94 =93Thanks, Superman,=94 the detective said quietly. =93One other thing. The = guy=92s staff say he=92s been in this office on his own since a meeting he had at twelve. He had his secretary bring him in a sandwich and coffee just before one, and she says he was fine then. She worked through her lunchbreak and no-one went in or out of his office. Then he didn=92t answer his phone, so she came in and found him like this.=94 Clark instinctively glanced across at the large window behind the desk. It was open - not fully, but enough for someone moving carefully to slip through, or it could have been closed over again afterwards. He scanned the area from the window to the dead man=92s body with his telescopic vision, looking for clues; something clinging to the window-frame caught his eye. Beckoning the inspector over, he gestured to a couple of black threads clinging to the edge of the window-frame. =93See, here?=94 =93Yeah. What do you make of it?=94 =93The fabric looks like silk,=94 Clark commented. =93And it tells me that someone came in, or out - or both - via this window.=94 =93Yeah, looks like it,=94 Henderson confirmed. He called to a uniformed officer standing near the door and instructed him to remove the threads for analysis. Once the officer had disappeared with the evidence, the inspector addressed Clark again. =93What was Luthor wearing?=94 =93Yesterday? A shabby jacket and corduroys. But I have reason to believe he=92s changed clothes since,=94 Clark added, filling Henderson in on the clothing store robbery. =93So the stuff he took was all black? That figures.=94 =93Yeah, but none of it was silk,=94 Clark replied, frowning. Henderson shrugged. =93Guess that=92s all we have to go on for now. But you definitely think the injuries, and the entrance and exit, are consistent with Super-powers?=94 Clark nodded emphatically. =93And given you and I both know this guy did business with Luthor....=94 =93Yeah. Settling old scores?=94 =93I=92d guess so,=94 Clark agreed. =93Look, Henderson,=94 he added quickly.= =93I=92m kind of concerned about some friends of mine - Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, for one. He helped put the evidence together which would have put Luthor away.=94 Henderson nodded. =93Makes sense. I=92ll work on a list of people Luthor mig= ht want to get revenged on and see what we can do. What about Lane and Kent? Kent was heavily involved in incriminating Luthor, and Lane... hell, she was going to marry him!=94 Clark flinched inwardly at the reminder, but remained outwardly calm. =93Clark Kent=92s fine. And as soon as this happened I got Lois Lane o= ut of town - you=92re right, I saw her as potentially being in danger from Luthor.=94 That was only the second murder of the day; by late afternoon there had been three more, and each time Clark=92s sense of anger and frustration grew= . It seemed that he was spending his entire day getting there just too late; that Luthor was evading him by minutes. He was frequently torn between staying behind to help the police in their search for clues and flying off at Super-speed in search of Luthor; the latter option, however, really didn=92t offer much hope, since he still had no idea where the man was hiding. And if he had any notion in his mind of preventing Luthor getting to his next victim, he dismissed that possibility as quickly as it occurred. The list Clark and Henderson had compiled ran almost into triple figures. Not by any means for the first time, Clark was cursing himself for having been too slow to stop Luthor gaining his powers. If he had just realised what those Tesla coils were; if he had moved out of the way sooner; if he hadn=92t almost frozen in shock and disbelief when he=92d recognised Luthor = and had instead just scooped the guy up and flown him to the nearest police precinct, then none of this would have happened. Lois Lane wouldn=92t be in danger. And five people who were now dead would still have been alive. He had been so *stupid*! And now, he couldn=92t even anticipate Luthor: the guy= was running rings around him and Clark was playing catch-up. He had not managed to arrive in time to save a single one of the man=92s victims. It was a long time since he'd felt this useless. Late that afternoon, emerging from another rooftop office having confirmed a sixth death by some use of Super-powers, Clark was taken aback to find several representatives of the Press thronging the corridor area. Although one or two reporters had been around earlier, this time there were rather more, which suggested that the police hadn=92t managed to keep the wave of murders quiet. And at the head of the clamouring throng was a face Clark certainly hadn=92t= expected to see at a crime scene. Perry White caught his gaze with a challenging stare. =93What=92s going on, Superman?=94 he demanded in the for= ceful Southern drawl Clark knew only too well. =93The police have just asked for my assistance,=94 he replied smoothly, preparing to make his escape. =93I can=92t tell you anything other than that= .=94 Having caught Superman=92s attention, the Planet=92s editor wasn=92t wasting= his opportunity. Moving in closer, he countered softly, =93Superman, you might want to know that tomorrow=92s headline in the Daily Planet is going to read =91Super-powers Link to Murders of Luthor Associates. Unless you want t= o give me a bit more than that?=94 Clark almost did a visible double-take, wondering - not for the first time -= just where Perry White got his information from. Maybe he was guessing, but it was one heck of an informed guess - someone had to have talked, and Clark just hoped that whoever it was hadn=92t spread his pearls of wisdom more widely. Quietly, he spoke so that Perry alone could hear him. =93Okay, Mr White, but not here. I=92ll meet you in your office at the Planet as soon= as you can get there.=94 And so that was more time taken up when he should have been searching for Luthor; but Clark considered that it was important to ensure that the Planet did not publish the story Perry seemed to be hinting at. Back at the Planet, the editor lost no time in again demanding to know what was going on. =93Superman, you leave me a note telling me Lois is in danger and you=92ve taken her out of town. Clark Kent doesn=92t turn up all day and can=92t be reached anywhere. And six murders are committed in one day, of people all connected with Lex Luthor in some capacity or another, and you=92re at the scene every time, working with the police. Now, forgive me, Superman, but when did you become a homicide cop? I want to know what=92s happening, what it=92s got to do with Lex Luthor, and where my two best reporters are!=94 Clark struggled to hide his discomfort; while he could perfectly well understand his boss=92s reaction, he had hoped not to have to explain anything to Perry White if he could avoid it. And Perry had come uncomfortably close to the truth, even though he didn=92t know it. =93Mr White,=94 he said carefully, =93I=92m not exactly sure what you meant = by your =91headline,=92 but - =94 =93Oh, you had a pretty fair idea what it could mean, Superman, or you wouldn=92t be here now!=94 Perry retorted. =93Okay, I don=92t know what=92s = going on, but I obviously got close enough, which means that at least some of the rumours flying around have some element of truth in them. So what=92s going on? Why are you involved in this investigation? And why is someone going around killing people who used to be involved with Luthor? And what=92s your= link to this?=94 The editor paused briefly, giving Superman a piercing stare= , before continuing, =93and who else is in danger?=94 Treading a careful path through the questions, Clark began to answer. =93I=92= m involved because with my abilities I can give the police quick answers to questions it would take their forensics people a long time to work out. They=92ll still get forensics to investigate, but at least they=92ve got the= information to work on. As for who else is in danger, by the look of today=92s murders the police think that anyone Lex Luthor disliked, or who gave the police evidence against him, is likely to be on the list of targets.=94 =93Including Lois Lane and Clark Kent,=94 Perry cut in. =93Yes - and probably you too, Mr White.=94 =93Okay, well, you tell me something, Superman,=94 Perry drawled. =93The fir= st murder was discovered at around mid-morning today, yes? Well, how come you left me a note some time very early this morning telling me that Lois is in danger and you=92d got her out of town? You knew about this threat, whatever= it is, before Gretchen Kelly=92s body was found!=94 Clark=92s heart sank; he should have realised he couldn=92t deceive Perry White. He sighed heavily. =93Okay, yes, there is more I=92m not telling you.= But that=92s because I can=92t.=94 =93Can=92t or won=92t?=94 Clark grimaced. =93This is part of a murder investigation!=94 =93And I=92m worried about my staff!=94 Perry snapped. He was, Clark could see that. =93All right,=94 he agreed. =93I=92ll tell you= some of what=92s going on, on the understanding that this doesn=92t appear in the= Planet.=94 A pause, then Perry nodded. =93Agreed.=94 Quietly, Superman filled the editor in on the return of Lex Luthor from the grave. Perry was disbelieving at first, but once he accepted that it was true, he sank into his chair, the colour draining from his face. =93If he gets anywhere near Lois....=94 =93He won=92t, Mr White, I=92ll make sure of that,=94 Clark promised. =93And Kent? Where=92s he?=94 This was one of those occasions when the secret identity was seriously a nuisance, Clark reflected. =93He=92s fine, Mr White. I=92ll make sure of tha= t too. He=92s just keeping a low profile at the moment.=94 The editor seemed to accept that, but he still wasn=92t finished. =93Okay, L= ex Luthor is back and is looking for revenge. But that doesn=92t explain these murders - from what I=92ve heard, the cause of death in each case is bizarre= and it wouldn=92t have been easy for anyone to get in or out - unless they had Super-powers. So what=92s going on?=94 This was where he had to play the remote Super-hero, Clark decided. =93The police are investigating, and I=92m sure they=92ll make a statement when they=92re ready. And now, I have to go. I=92m needed elsewhere.=94 The expression on the editor=92s face made it clear that he wasn=92t happy, = but he let it go. =93Okay. Thanks for looking after Lois and Clark, Superman.=94= Clark nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and quickly flew out the window. ***************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 18:46:44 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lorie Y. Crisp" Subject: fanfic question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit First of all, I wanna recommend "Gale Force Winds" on the archive. Very good reading....but it brings to mind a question: I thought Vicky's husband was kind of a skunk.....I remember a fanfic where Clark, Lois, and their grownup kid and spouses were in a restaurant, and Vicky's husband has been a real pill lately, and he made some sort of inappropriate remark that had Clark going up to him later and saying "Never speak to my daughter like that again or we will all hurt you (paraphrased of course....lol)". Or am I thinking of a TOTALLY different fanfic?? SuperLorie ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 18:57:59 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jacalyn Sue Newman Subject: OT- web info source mentioned a couple of weeks ago Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" A LONG time ago (at least, a long time when you have my little brain!) someone posted a web site that was a great source for talking to various experts when doing research for fanfic. I thought I had kept the URL, but alas, I shot myself in the foot and put it somewhere so safe even I can't find it. Does anyone remember where this sits is? And would you please email me the URL? Pretty please with double dark chocolate fudge on top? :-) Thanks! Jacalyn S. Newman jacalynsue@earthlink.net ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 16:03:00 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: StarKitty Subject: Re: fanfic question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I think you might be thinking of a different writer, 'cause I don't remember anything from Irene like that. :) Tara ----- Original Message ----- From: Lorie Y. Crisp To: Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 3:46 PM Subject: fanfic question > First of all, I wanna recommend "Gale Force Winds" on the archive. Very good > reading....but it brings to mind a question: > > I thought Vicky's husband was kind of a skunk.....I remember a fanfic where > Clark, Lois, and their grownup kid and spouses were in a restaurant, and > Vicky's husband has been a real pill lately, and he made some sort of > inappropriate remark that had Clark going up to him later and saying "Never > speak to my daughter like that again or we will all hurt you (paraphrased of > course....lol)". Or am I thinking of a TOTALLY different fanfic?? > > SuperLorie > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 19:18:53 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Anita Dicker Subject: Re: OT- web info source mentioned a couple of weeks ago MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This maybe what you are looking for http://www.AskMe.com// Anita D Jacalyn Sue Newman wrote: > A LONG time ago (at least, a long time when you have my little > brain!) someone posted a web site that was a great source for talking > to various experts when doing research for fanfic. I thought I had > kept the URL, but alas, I shot myself in the foot and put it > somewhere so safe even I can't find it. > > Does anyone remember where this sits is? And would you please email > me the URL? Pretty please with double dark chocolate fudge on top? :-) > Thanks! > Jacalyn S. Newman > jacalynsue@earthlink.net ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 19:35:55 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: fanfic question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 05/29/2000 6:47:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, SuperLorie@AOL.COM writes: << First of all, I wanna recommend "Gale Force Winds" on the archive. >> Thanks, I noticed it hit the archive and was thinking I should mention a new wonderful story by Irene about another of L&C's kids... But you beat me to it. :) --Laurie Irene's #1 fan ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 18:44:08 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: fanfic question On Mon, 29 May 2000 18:46:44 EDT, Lorie Y. Crisp wrote: >I thought Vicky's husband was kind of a skunk.....I remember a fanfic where >Clark, Lois, and their grownup kid and spouses were in a restaurant, and >Vicky's husband has been a real pill lately, and he made some sort of >inappropriate remark that had Clark going up to him later and saying "Never >speak to my daughter like that again or we will all hurt you (paraphrased > of course....lol)". Or am I thinking of a TOTALLY different fanfic?? > Nope, completely different fic! You're thinking of Jude's The Circle Game, which so far has only been released in nfic on Zoom's boards, but as far as I know should be up on the Archive in PG-13 form within the next few weeks. (And yes, I liked that scene between Clark and Jack as well ) Wendy ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 00:53:25 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: OT- web info source mentioned a couple of weeks ago MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jacalyn wrote: > A LONG time ago (at least, a long time when you have my little > brain!) someone posted a web site that was a great source for talking > to various experts when doing research for fanfic. I thought I had > kept the URL, but alas, I shot myself in the foot and put it > somewhere so safe even I can't find it. ROTFL! It was me, but Anita's very kindly answered you. But thank you! Glad to know I'm not the only person in the world who does this kind of thing. Can't count the number of times I've lost vital information that I know is somewhere on that darned zip disk. And I used to be an Assistant Librarian too. Needless to say, cataloguing was *not* one of my strongpoints. > LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 17:11:04 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Irene D." Subject: Re: fanfic question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii --- "Lorie Y. Crisp" wrote: > First of all, I wanna recommend "Gale Force Winds" > on the archive. Very good > reading....but it brings to mind a question: > > I thought Vicky's husband was kind of a skunk.....I > remember a fanfic where > Clark, Lois, and their grownup kid and spouses were > in a restaurant, and > Vicky's husband has been a real pill lately, and he > made some sort of > inappropriate remark that had Clark going up to him > later and saying "Never > speak to my daughter like that again or we will all > hurt you (paraphrased of > course....lol)". Or am I thinking of a TOTALLY > different fanfic?? Yes, you are, Lorie. I think you may be thinking of Jude's newest which was posted to Zoom's nfic msg board and also to Anne C.'s site. It's an excellent story and I highly recommend it. (Unfortunately, I'm drawing a blank on the name of it!) Irene ===== "All writing is essentially bricks of plagarism secured in place by the mortar of original thinking." --William Dukane __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 17:11:46 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Irene D." Subject: Re: fanfic question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii --- "Lorie Y. Crisp" wrote: > First of all, I wanna recommend "Gale Force Winds" > on the archive. Very good > reading....but it brings to mind a question: > > I thought Vicky's husband was kind of a skunk.....I > remember a fanfic where > Clark, Lois, and their grownup kid and spouses were > in a restaurant, and > Vicky's husband has been a real pill lately, and he > made some sort of > inappropriate remark that had Clark going up to him > later and saying "Never > speak to my daughter like that again or we will all > hurt you (paraphrased of > course....lol)". Or am I thinking of a TOTALLY > different fanfic?? > > SuperLorie I almost forgot my manners. Thanks so much for the recommendation. I'm really glad you enjoyed the story. Irene ===== "All writing is essentially bricks of plagarism secured in place by the mortar of original thinking." --William Dukane __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 21:49:53 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: fanfic question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Super Lorie wrote: > I thought Vicky's husband was kind of a skunk.....I remember a fanfic where > Clark, Lois, and their grownup kid and spouses were in a restaurant, and > Vicky's husband has been a real pill lately, and he made some sort of > inappropriate remark that had Clark going up to him later and saying "Never > speak to my daughter like that again or we will all hurt you (paraphrased of > course....lol)". Or am I thinking of a TOTALLY different fanfic?? Irene wrote: Yes, you are, Lorie. I think you may be thinking of >Jude's newest which was posted to Zoom's nfic msg >board and also to Anne C.'s site. It's an excellent >story and I highly recommend it. (Unfortunately, I'm >drawing a blank on the name of it!) Wendy wrote: Nope, completely different fic! You're thinking of Jude's The >Circle Game, >which so far has only been released in nfic on Zoom's boards, but as far as >I know should be up on the Archive in PG-13 form within the next few >weeks. >(And yes, I liked that scene between Clark and Jack as well ) ---Yes, it sounds like The Circle Game. Thanks Irene for the recommendation and Wendy for the nice words. A PG-13 version will be up in the Archive before too long (if I can just get my act together) and it is on Anne C.'s nfic site (posted under my full name rather than Jude) as well as Zoom's nfic boards, although I've learned, to my chagrin, how full of typos those postings are. Jude ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 11:44:12 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me Part 12/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sorry, I have been bus, but here comes some more the story. Chapter 12 - Somebody's New in Town "Clark, I have some news to share with you." Lois bounded up the stairs, not thinking and then stopped. "Lois, I'm not really in the mood for anything right now." Clark walked by Lois pushing the pint sized lady in front of him. He started to sit down at his desk when Perry called him. "You didn't have to get snooty." Lois sat down huffy, staring at the girl sitting next to Clark's desk. "Clark, may I speak to you." As Clark neared Perry, he asked, "Are we babysitting today?" "Sir, this is what I was taking care of. Can we talk?" Clark turned around and pointed to Brittany and told her to stay. She just looked over Lois and smiled softly. Perry let Clark enter his office and closed the door. Clark pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Perry. Perry read the paper and looked at Clark again. "Clark why didn't you tell me - we could have set up something for you son. I never want to leave any employees out on a limb." "Chief, I don't need a handout. It's just for today - I promise I will find a place for her by tomorrow." "Sure you will - the Daily Planet child care center. I didn't think that you would have children so I never mentioned it, but I guess I should have given you the papers to fill out." Perry handed him a stack of papers to fill out. "You can take her down right now." "Actually, I was hoping for her to stay up here today. She's a bad last few days." "Sure son, whatever you need. But you do need to get some work done today." Going out the door, "Clark turned, "I will." "Clark, could you possibly get this thing out of my chair. She's playing with all my stuff." Lois looked sickly at the child as Clark halfway laughed. He picked up Brittany and put her back in the chair next to his desk. "I told you not to move. Did you hear me?" Lois was astonished by the tone Clark had with her. It wasn't a babysitter's tone. He went over and talked to Lois afterward. "Could we have lunch today?" "Sure...is she coming?" "Lois, she has to. Please?" "Get some work done and we'll take a long lunch." Lois and Clark didn't talk the rest of the morning. Lois thought about the little girl and kept looking for the resemblance. Clark sat thinking of the ring that he had noticed when he asked her out. He wondered if that was what he thought it was. Perry kept checking in on then every so often to see work progress but couldn't help but play a little with Brit. Actually, he hadn't seen her in the last couple of hours. Perry had Jimmy take her around the Planet for a tour and down to the daycare center to meet the other children. About lunch time, Clark heard her come around the corner. She sat down in the chair next to his desk and started showing him pictures that she had drawn in the daycare center. "Want to go to lunch?" Brit shook her head yes. "Lois, you ready?" Lois agreed and picked up her bag. "You be on your best behavior, both of you." They decided on something casual. "So Lois, how was your weekend? I noticed that you got something new." "That night that you left for home. Dan asked me out and then asked me to marry him. It was very romantic." "Sounds like it's really coming together for you." "I'm sorry about that remark earlier today. So how was your weekend?" "Well, I got Brittany. You can see." The little girl was filling her mouth with french fries as they talked. "I'm a single man again." Lois saw Clark pat Brittany on the head and almost wanted to break down. She could still picture when she turned him down and almost felt she had put him in the position he was now. "Lois it wasn't your fault. I got into a bad relationship and made a mistake. But Brittany wasn't a mistake." He kissed on the top of the head. Lois was started to cry. "Can you tell me what happened?" Clark could hear her voice getting smaller. "When you and I separated for the last time, I went home and started dating this girl from high school again. She had now become the city council woman. She had also done some acting. Weird mix huh? Anyway, Lana and I decided after several months to get married. We had a real small ceremony and lived in town. I went to her first big movie shoot and she got pregnant. She blamed me for the entire pregnancy and ruining her career, but seemed happy again when the baby was born. I'm not sure for the child or for her popularity going up again. After Brit turned one, she started working again and traveling. We grew apart and she stopped talking to me. I never saw her...she never saw me. We lived apart up until a few weeks ago when she was filing. I got the papers this past weekend and she left Brit with me after returning her from a vacation. I don't know where she is. She probably wouldn't tell me if I asked. Lois, are you crying?" "It's just that I thought my family had problems. Clark, I had no idea that Brittany was yours. I didn't mean what I said earlier I..." Lois, could you hold that thought a minute...I really need to use the restroom." Lois shook her head yes and realized she was left with a child...she didn't know how to care for a child. "How are old are you?" She calmly hoped the child wouldn't be rash. "Almost four. Daddy runs off a lot." "You sure are smart." Lois looked at Brittany and smiled. "Daddy is gone a lot...he still likes you." Lois looked shocked. She watched Brittany fumble through Clark's overcoat on the chair. She pulled out his wallet and opened it to the center. Brittany put it down and smiled at Lois. "Oh, I didn't think he still had..." "He has you in the house too." Brittany watched Lois carefully as Lois flipped through pictures - ex-wife, family, parents, Lois. "Why does your daddy leave a lot?" "No one will tell me." Brittany put the wallet back and started nibbling on her lunch again. Lois started to think; unfortunately, about using her partner as a story. "So when did your daddy start wearing glasses? He never wore them around me before." "He just started. Grandma says daddy's eyes hurt." Lois looked at the little girl and noticed the same serious expression that Clark so often had. Brit went on and continued eating. Lois went into a trance started seeing them together way back when, realizing that she was not fond of children and would have never been able to handle being with Clark if that's what he had wanted. 'I would have probably left him too - my career is too important.' She looked at the little girl with Shirley Temple curls and thought, 'Stupid Lois...you would have loved life with him. You'll learn to love life with Dan.' At the same time, on the other side of town, the strange man in a blue suit that appeared on the tabloid dropped two people lightly to the ground and then flew off, knowing the fire department could handle the clean up. Minutes later, Clark returned to the table. "Sorry about that." "Clark, I didn't mean upset you." "Lois, it's ok. Are we ready to get back. We should get some work done today." He reached for his wallet and found it in the wrong pocket. "Brit, have you been digging again?" He pinched her on her nose as she smiled up at him. Lois couldn't but giggle watching him - he seemed to be a great father. They returned to work to find Perry pointing to the television. The news started carrying a story of several people saying they saw a man flying by and then saving a city worker that was scorched by an overheated pipe. Perry and Lois marveled at the story trying to think of a way to be the first with pictures and an interview with this mystery. Lois was more interested in getting the story than Perry. He sat questioning the whole thing. Clark sat at his desk listening to the entire conversation while coloring in the book with Brit. "Perry, I can get that story." "Lois, there is no story." "Perry, several different people have reported it from different times. It's either a great prank or something strange and wonderful that has come to help Metropolis. You heard the worker - there was no way anyone could have helped him except someone with highly protective gear that they didn't have. Either that or someone superhuman. You've seen the tabloid stories lately too." "Ok, but if there's no story then drop it. You promise?" "Fine." Lois almost skipped back to her desk, excited by the new story. Clark had listened to the entire conversation with intent. he had an opening into her life again. Lois smiled over at him. "Guess we have first big assignment for the Planet as a team." he smiled back at her and almost laughed. The look she gave him reminded of when they first dated in college. 'This is it - I can get her back.' Clark looked over at Brit still working quietly and started thinking of what he could do. 'I promise not to mess this one up for us,' he thought as he went back to work. "Clark, can you think of a way to contact this Superperson?" "I think the tabloid named him Superman. I don't know - just try to catch him. I hear he's around at pretty much all disasters." he smiled at her but more at himself. Brit still sat coloring. "Good deal...that sounds like a plan. Clark, I hate to be rude, but I think I should go on this story alone for the meantime." Clark couldn't believe how the luck was falling into place. "But I'll let you help write it." Lois grabbed her bag, undoubtedly off to the tabloid paper to get a scoop. He felt this was a good time to exit. He picked up Brit and started home, smiling all the way. Brittany smiled back, knowing dad was happier then he had been in a long time. Clark and Brittany got home. His parents hadn't called but he had expected that. He turned on the radio as he got dinner ready and listened intently. Well, it looks like you finally made the front page You always did look good in white And I hope you like the ring of your name The one you'll be given tonight But this is all news to me I wondered why you never called I guess that's the way that it's meant to be If you're gonna ride, you have to learn to fall Well, it looks I finally made the front page You know you always said I would And things are well here in room 28 God, I hope you're doing good. There's a picture in my wallet I look at sometimes And it sends chills through my bones For long lost love or whatever you want to call it But you left me alone... "That was Clay Walker's new song. The boy sure knows how to make someone break down, don't he??" Clark switched off the radio and chuckled thinking about the lyrics. Up until the last few hours, that was how he was feeling. Yet now, hope was in the air. **KNOCK** "Mom, what are you doing here" His mom pushed in to see Brit running toward them. "We thought you could use some help for a bit. Dad's parking the car. Oh, here he is." They walked into the kitchen and sat down. He went on served dinner to everyone; he had intended to have leftovers. Then a scream came from down the street. "Mom, I have to go a minute." His mother shook her head and he headed out on the balcony where Brit couldn't see. He arrived at an old boarded up building where an old man was fighting with a child. Superman stripped the man off the man off the child and took him by the neck and hoisted him off to the police waiting outside. He went back and found several children gathered around him and walked out with them, knowing this was the story he would have to talk about. He found out from the police that there had been a rash of kidnappings in the area. Down inside, it made him more comfortable to know that Brit was with him most times. Then he heard her voice. "Superman, it's Lois, Lois Lane. I was hoping to get an interview with you." He walked over and saw she had changed since work. "Lois Lane..I heard that you were to track me down." "What?!" "I have pretty good hearing..." He smiled thinking that she should buy that, not knowing about him. "Yeah, about that...I was wondering if you would be interested in giving me an interview?" He could hear Lois' pulse racing and hoped it was more than just reporter nerves. "I would love to but I have somewhere I have to be. Can I meet you later?" Lois smiled widely, "At my place? What time about?" She almost was giggling. Clark had never seen her like this before. "In an hour or so." Before she could answer back, he flew off. She thought about following him but he was too high to pick out. 'Have to get home...change...get drinks...cancel with Dan.' "I'm back and look what time it is." he picked up Brittany from the couch. She had fallen asleep trying to wait for him. He carried her to the room and tucked her in. He sat down with his parents in the living room. "I have a date." "Clark?? What are you talking about?" "I have a date with Lois." "I thought she was engaged; it was in the paper." His mother looked funny at him. "Well, its more business than anything. Lois wants to interview Superman." "Clark, do you think that's wise? I mean you and she did have a relationship at one time. What if she figures out you're Superman?" "Look, if she does, I'll fess up I guess. I have always loved Lois. For some reason fate gave me another chance with her and I can't mess this one up. Superman or Clark, I have got to get her back." "Clark, she turned you down. You didn't do anything down." "I did one thing wrong. I left her alone after graduation. If I'd kept her number, she and I would already been together and Brit would be our child." "Clark, I know where this is going." "Mom, I am talking about Brit now - Lois and I belong together. I have to go. Can you stay with Brit?" His parents shrugged, hoping he wasn't making a huge mistake. He flew slowly toward Lois' hoping that Dan wouldn't be there. He hung out outside her window and didn't see or hear him and tapped on the window. "You startled me. You always make this entrance?" "Seems to be the easiest way, yes." "Would you like something to eat or .. do you eat?" "Already ate...thanks. Being able to fly seems to give me the chance to try a variety of things." he smiled and saw her almost blush. The last time she did that was their first kiss. She sat down on the couch next to him, still pink in the face. "You look very nice Lois." "You remembered my name. Do things like that come easy to you...remembering things I mean." "Somewhat. I have a memory very similar to your actually." "Do you have the same body...chem..no ummm...parts...no..." "I physically resemble any human male, yes." He saw her turn completely red. She knew it too because the same time she grabbed her face to hide it. He removed her hands from her face, "Lois, you look very nice in pink." He smiled widely at her. This was working. "so what powers do you possess?" She asked, getting her composure back. "I haven't experimented completely but I can hear well, see through objects, consume most substances without problems." "Is there anything you can't or hurts you?" "I can't see through lead...and there is one substance that can affect me. You see, I don't much about my history but I do know that I am from the planet Krypton. In a message I got when I was younger, I was told that on my planet, I could not have powers. That is to say, I would be human like." "You're telling me that this planet or remnants of this planet could you make you vulnerable?" Lois got a look of worry on her face. She instinctively took his hand and then pulled away. "In a word, yes. I found out when I came in contact with it earlier in life. I was able to destroy it but I have no real no desire to come in contact with it again. Also, I would appreciate if you wouldn't run that part in the interview." "No problem. I'll stop with the name of the planet. Anything else you can tell me. I really thought I was more prepared but I guess its hard asking questions about something I can't research first." They both laughed. "When you think of something, give me a call." He walked toward the window with Lois close behind. He turned and saw that Lois was almost on top of him. He decided hugging her wouldn't kill his chances. He reached over and hugged her and heard her trying to whisper to herself. "I think I'm in love with you...Lois that's stupid." He pulled away from her. "Maybe next time we'll go flying." He reached down from the window sill and pinched her on the nose. "And Lois, I believe in love at first sight too." he saw her jaw drop just before he took off. Lois stood motionless by the window, then looking out. She had stood looking out a window once before at someone leaving, someone else she thought made the Earth stand still. 'He pinched my nose,' she thought, knowing she had seen that before. "Yes!" Clark bounded into the living room seeing his parents watching TV. "How did it go?" Spinning out of his suit, he flopped on the couch, "perfect...she whispered she was falling for Superman after one visit. Isn't that strange?" Clark actually looked thrilled like his parents hadn't seen in years. "I have to go to bed. Long day tomorrow. You can my room; I'll sleep with Brit tonight." He took off to her room humming to himself. "Well Martha, here we go again." ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 11:45:13 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me Part 13/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 13 - Hard Working Man "Good morning Lois. What's this?" "My notes from last night. Superman met with me." Perry crossed behind her and stopped in his tracks. "Repeat that please Lois." "Superman gave me an interview last night at my apartment." She glowed with happiness that Clark didn't even understand. Dan walked up and greeted Clark while Lois prattled on about her new story. "You have quite a grip there Clark." Dan shook his hand out as Clark let go. Dan continued to listen halfway in on Lois' interest in this new story. "You have no idea." Clark said under his breath as he stood, listening to Lois intently. "Dan, could we cancel lunch today? I really need to get hopping on this story. This could be the biggest thing in years. I have some research I want to do with my partner here." Dan winced at Clark and cordially agreed with Lois. "See you around Dan." Clark patted him on the back as Lois turned around. He practically threw Dan across the newsroom. A few people stood around and giggled, thinking that the good investigator had tripped over his own feet. Dan picked himself up and exited without notice from Lois. "Clark, where's Brit today?" "I dropped her off upstairs where we could work. So, what do you have so far?" Standing over her sitting at her desk, "He said that he was pretty much built like a human but just has some powers that are not really explained. He said he was from the planet Krypton. Is that a real planet?" "Could be. We're not the only universe in the galaxy." Lois smiled up at him realizing the stupidity of the question. "So now what should we do? We have to find a way to contact him again." "Have you ever thought he was being courteous for his first visit? Maybe he doesn't want to be bothered." For some reason, he thought this would entice Lois to work harder. He was right. "Forget it Clark. He wouldn't have come by to see me if he didn't want to be known." "Maybe he's not interested in being known, but just someone." Lois whipped around and gave Clark a nasty look that told him to drop it. He had just gotten his response from the night before. She wanted to see more of Superman and soon. "Come on. Let's check out that building from the day before." When they arrived, Clark wandered around looking for what he didn't know while Lois looked for hand prints. "Clark, come here." She pointed at a dent in the wall. "Do you think he did that?" "Lois, I have no idea. This is all very strange. Why don't you just ask him out again?" "Clark, I didn't ask him out. I interviewed him - that's it." Clark shook his head and glared at her while she turned redder. "If you are insinuating that I have some weird romantic attachment to this alien, you are mistaken." She heard Clark mumble something else. "What was that?" "I just wonder after you told me that he sees through things, how much of you he saw last night." Clark could just feel the temperature of Lois' blood go up a notch. "Clark Kent, if you are thinking you are making mad, you are anddfdfhe;reriuka." He wrapped his hand around her mouth and pulled her out of the light. "Shut up Lois." He whispered as he heard footsteps. "Don't bother...come on out." A strange little man stepped out of the shadows and pointed a gun at the two of them. "Why are you here?" "I'm investigating a story thank you. If you could just out that down." Lois reached out past Clark and then backed up again when the man obviously wasn't kidding about his intent on using it. "I don't think there is a story here. This is my home now. If you would please leave, that would be nice." "You're homeless sir? Why don't we take you to the shelter or something?" "Sir, you think this is a perfect little world with your prefect little woman..." "She's not my...ummpphh. What was that for?" Lois punched him in the ribs. "Just get out." The little man started waving the gun erratically so they both hurried. "Clark, that was real strange." 'Went to a movie...be back later. Love, mom and dad.' Pulling Brit's jacket off, he looked down at her and then in the kitchen "Just you and me for tonight sport. What you want?" Brittany took off to the living room and came back with the Little Mermaid movie. "Pizza ok?" The shaking of her head made it evident that it was the official opening to father and daughter night. "Go put the movie in - I'll go call." He went and changed while calling for the pizza. Several hours later, his parents walked in and smiled as their two favorite people laid on the couch sleeping to static. There had been a car wreck and a bus accident that night but he had obviously tuned everything out that night. The two went off to bed and left them there to sleep the rest of the night. "Good morning mom. How was your night?" Clark stretched, feeling he had slept wrong. "Wonderful and yours?" "You saw...we watched a movie and guess were so tired we didn't make it through. Brittany, what do you want for breakfast?" "Eggs. Can I get the paper?" "Sure." She came quickly back from the front porch. "Dad, look the man who files." She opened the paper to the first page where a picture of Superman from behind was on the cover with the story by Lois gracing the rest of the page. "She wrote it without me. That's what I get for being a family man." His parents stood on either side and read it along with him, seeing that everything he had told her on the record was perfectly accurate. That was Lois - never make a mistake. "She'll be getting Kudo's for this one." He put the paper down and started breakfast. His parents stood back and watched as he taught Brit about cooking like Martha had taught him. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 11:54:17 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me Part 14/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 14 - A Daymare to Forget That morning, Clark dropped Brittany off at the center and signed the permission slip for the trip to the children's museum. He was impressed by the amount of activity that the center put her through. On the other hand, it made her tired enough when they got home. "What time will they get back?" Clark squatted to kiss Brittany bye before she ran off across the playroom. "About 4. We will be back before all you busy reporters are through for the day." Clark smiled and waved goodbye to his daughter before he headed downstairs. "Morning Lois. Got anything for us to do today?" Lois was already on her third cup of coffee before he arrived at the office. "I don't know about today. I have this funny feeling I usually get. Slow news days do this to me. They seem to get me all ancy ." "Well, I'm sure something will come up or you'll make something up. Maybe your new friend will come around again today." Clark threw his coat over the chair and walked over to the coffee pot, smiling at her. "Watch yourself Kent." The two sat and looked at the copy for the early edition with nothing to print for the cover. That morning they talked about follow-up stories that could fit in the space. "LOIS CLARK!!" Perry was running out of his office. "You need to get down to the corner of Grand and National. There was a call for the SWAT team. Sounds like a good one." Clark and Lois both looked at each other and grabbed their stuff up. "Clark." "What is it Perry, you know anything...." "The museum's there." 'Please don't say that.' Clark thought. "The kids arrived an hour ago. Clark..." "I gotta go." Clark grabbed Lois and ran for the elevator. In the elevator, "Lois, promise me you won't do anything stupid to get the story." "Clark, but this is it. The story is sitting right there for us to take. I have to get in and get it." Clark pointed a finger at Lois and his voice changed. "Not with my daughter in there. You just stay away." Lois looked blankly at Clark and then turned white, telling that he wasn't kidding about her staying out. "Let this Superman character take care of it this time." Lois nodded as they headed out to the car. "You think he'll be there this time." Lois started the car and drove off in a frantic state. 'You better be believe it,' Clark mumbled to himself. "Huh?" Lois reached over for his hand and squeezed it. "She'll be ok. I promise." Arriving at the corner, they couldn't get any closer than a block from the situation now. Lois was waiting to get the story while Clark thought about one little body in the building. "What can you tell us?" The cop turned around and quickly answered, "We know that a group of students from the Daily Planet Center are being held in the Science Foyer by some armed man. We believe there are more since he threatened that there were trip wires set. Evidently, the man worked at the Planet and got fired and now works for the museum. He could do it, he has access to every part of the museum. He's asking for ten million dollars. They've been talking to the owners." "Thank you. Clark, see they're going to.... Clark?" Lois looked around and couldn't find her partner anywhere. "Did you see a tall, plain looking guy leave just now?" Everyone shook their head. Just then, everyone looked up as a boom came from the sky. "Superman. He was right." Superman flew over the crowd of people that had gathered stupidly around the building and landed in front of the building. Lois strained to see over the other people but couldn't. People stood anxiously waiting to see what this guy was doing. Superman was x-raying the building for clues. Trip switch, trip switch, trip switch, trip switch...man with the gun has the detonator. He tried to keep his composure in front of the crowd, knowing that his blood was one of the children inside. 'Do this for the other children,' he tried to keep telling himself. "GO IN AND GET HIM!" The crowd started getting impatient and wanted action. The police and SWAT stood back and waited for him to take the lead. "The Planet won't bargain with him Superman." Superman shook his head and knew he had to do something. He walked slowly into the front entrance of the building and up to the Science Foyer. "How about we try to handle this calmly." He stood a safe distance from the man and the children. He eyed Brittany and saw she was one of the few not in tears. 'Good.' "Let me see the money." "Why don't you hand me the detonator and then we can talk." "Why don't you Peter Pan out of here." The man waved the detonator around in the air "Don't do that." "You nervous Supes? Not in your blood to have fear is it? Or is it something more?" The man was starting to hit a nerve. "Come on. This isn't the way to make a career. Give me the detonator." Superman walked toward the man a little more as the man slid his finger up to the trigger switch. Superman stopped. "I'd love to see that heat vision thing too. No, wait...you can't melt lead. And if you heated me up enough to drop it, it could set it off too. All the trips are linked. One removed sets off the others. One in each of the cornerstones of the building. Look like the wheels in that head are spinning. Remove the kids and then collapse the building. Nope. You can't get them all in time and some don't look scared enough to leave yet." "These children are not your problem. Put the detonator down and we can get you some help." "I'd rather die first. Anyway, we haven't had any fun at all yet." This statement made Superman think harder, knowing that this man was starting to lose it. If he rushed him, he may not get the detonator in time or the man might press it before. "Any ideas Supes?" "I have to go the bathroom." The little girl tugged on the teacher's dress as the teacher resisted to move. "I have to go." Superman was thinking while keeping a close eye on the gunman until the girl pushed two kids out of the way. "Mister, I have to go the bathroom now." Superman looked up and saw his daughter make a grave mistake. He felt his heart stop. "Boy, you are a smarty little one." The man grabbed the girl by the collar. Superman stood, holding his stance. "Why don't you shut up and hold it. You have been annoying me since I got here." Whipping her around toward Superman, he directed the question, "Girl's got guts. What your name?" The girl ignored him. The gunman shook her some more. "Brittany." She started to cry. "I got to go." "Brittany what?" Brittany had had enough. Screaming, she stomped on the gunman's feet. "Why you little...OWWWW!" The gunman dropped the gun and Brittany picked it up. "Brittany, put the gun down sweetie." Superman had tried to run for the man but he had slid his finger over the trigger again. "No." "You really need to put the gun down." The little girl frowned and started looking at it in more detail. Superman got more nervous about her holding it than he had it pointed at her. "I'll take it from you." "And then I'll hit this." The gunman still had him cornered. The room went silent for a minute and then a shot rang out. Superman ran for Brittany and caught her as she fell back and then for the gunman, thinking the shot was from the SWAT team. Superman grabbed the device and ran it to the SWAT team where the bomb squad could get to work. He went back over to the gunman and saw that Lois had collected Brittany. "Is she ok? Who fired at the gunman? It hit in the shoulder; he's not going to live." Lois looked at Superman, momentarily taken by his talking to her and then remembered. "I did. I shot him." Superman looked at the girl with blond curls and a big smile on her face. "You did something very dangerous. You shouldn't have done that." "I had to." Superman smiled and patted her on the head. "Daddy couldn't." Lois looked quizzically at that statement. "We should go find your daddy or your grandparents. I'll talk to you later." She signaled to Superman before she walked off. "I promise." Superman continued on with his work, talking to investigators and calming some of the other kids on the way out of the door. After a few minutes, Superman disappeared into the sky and Clark came running around the corner. "Mom and Dad, where's .... You ok?" Lois was standing next to her. "Thank you. Did you see what happened?" "Yes, we'll talk about it back at the Planet." Clark shook his head as he hugged up his daughter. "Daddy, come here." Clark leaned in closer to him. "Did I do good?" Clark smiled, "Dangerously good. You don't need to be doing that again." Brittany wrapped her arms around him tighter and whispered in his ear. "I had to do it. You couldn't." "I know honey. You just scared me and a lot of other people." He looked at her in the face. She was looking back at him and smiling. "You couldn't." She traced a backwards 'S' on his chest. He looked up at his parents and then back down at her. "I helped you." "You can't say anything here Brit. You go home with mom and dad and we'll talk later." She smiled and walked off with his parents. "Where did you go?" Lois walked up behind Clark as his parents walked off. "I went around the back to see if I could get in behind." "So, you were telling me not to get myself in trouble but you were willing to risk her life for you to save her. You think you're Superman or something?" Lois slapped him on the back. "Gee...then again maybe you do." She shook her hand out as they got in the car. "I just hope that Superman will drop by and give a story to me. And Brittany, what was she thinking. It was like she was impersonating Batgirl or something." "I wouldn't say Batgirl." Lois looked at him. "I've never heard of Mrs. Super man...so Batgirl is the best I could come up with." Clark just sat silent in the car until they returned to the Planet where Perry was still watching the news relays. "Jimmy, you get your pics yet? Clark, look's like your daughter is on the cover. That was incredible - like no story ever reported. If Lois hadn't have been there then we wouldn't know what happened. Where were you?" Clark stood silent in front of a quiet newsroom, waiting for an answer. "I got scared." "Well, I understand that. Jimmy, where is that...ahh. She's an awful photogenic little girl." "Mom's an actress." Clark mumbles on the way back to his desk. He sat down and immediately planted his head in his hands. "Clark, she saved everybody in there." Lois sat on the edge of the chair and took one of Lois' hands. "She's a wonderful little girl. If we had ever. Never mind." Lois started to walk away when she felt that Clark hadn't let go of her hand. "Thank you. You don't know what it means to have you in my life, especially today." "I love you too. I mean you're welcome." Lois shook her head as Clark let go of her hand in shock. That night, Lois waited for Superman with her window open but he never showed. On the other side of town, Clark talked quietly to Brittany about himself and how it must be a secret for all time. No one ever said a word about the cover story or the picture in the paper after that day. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 11:58:31 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me Part 15/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 15 - True Feelings Never Die, or Do They A couple of weeks had passed since any big Superman sightings. Lois had actually gone back to worrying about her wedding. She would even coax Clark into going shopping with her to get a man's opinion. He swore to her that if it bothered him, but he hoped it would somehow get her in the heart. "Clark, what about this one?" "Lois, do you really need a ten foot train? You don't have enough hair to hold that on your head." "I guess you're right. You always are - so you think. How about this one?" "That's nice. I could look at you in something like that. Simple - I can see your face. Get it and let's go." "I'll take it." She paid for it and left for the Planet. "Clark, what did you mean back there?" "I just meant I would like to see you in that if I was the man watching you walk down the aisle. It didn't hide your face. It's your best feature." "Clark, are you..." "Complimenting you...yes." She looked at him strangely and then proceeded to her desk back at the Planet. She remembered hearing a person once before saying yes like that. She was stopped by Perry and Jimmy. "Well, I guess you and Dan are already for the big party tonight." "Yes, I suppose." She looked at Clark sadly, wondering if he could go with her than Dan. She walked back over to her desk, looking in Clark's direction. "Are you coming tonight?" "Sure I am." He smiled at her and went back to work. That afternoon, Brit and Clark went out to look for the perfect tux. "Daddy, you going to dance with her?" "Dance with her - at the party you mean. I thought I would go with Megan from the newsroom." "Daddy..." She rolled her eyes at him, knowing he was covering. "Brit, Lois is going with Dan." "So, you had her." Clark looked at his daughter shocked for a second and then sat her down in the dressing room. "Brit, you haven't told you know?" "I showed her the picture." Clark stood up and started to breath hard. He tried to compose himself in front of Brit. "She knows you like her." He ran his hands through his hair and sighed again. He went and got dressed and headed out with the new suit. They rode home in silence. While on the other side of town, Lucy was visiting Lois and helping her pick out something out for the party. "So, how does Dan like going to these parties?" "I don't know. H's never gone with me before. Could you zip me?" Lucy zipped Lois and stood behind her in the mirror. "Lucy, are you going too?" " I thought that I would." Lucy left the room to get changed, leaving Lois standing in front of the mirror. She was wearing a floor length burgundy dress that fell off the shoulder. She wore a single ruby drop o match it. 'You look stunning ... Dan is going to melt.' "Do you normally talk to your self Lois?" She looked in the mirror to see Superman floating outside her window. He smiled at her as she turned around. "You look beautiful, but..." He removed the hair that was caught in the necklace. He could feel her breathing her harder at his touch. "Thank you , I was just reassuring myself of tonight." "Lois, you should never have to reassure yourself of anything." He kissed her on the forehead and turned back to the window. "How did you come across the fact I was going out tonight?" Lois went back and stood in front of the mirror, fixing her hair. Superman walked closer to her, looking over her shoulder into the mirror. "I heard that there was a party for the Planet and decided to drop by and wish a Happy New Year." Lois smiled into the mirror and turned around toward him. "I've been thinking about something. Why do you always come to see me? I mean you don't have to answer but I'm just curious." Startled by the question, Superman cleared his throat and answered. "You were one of the first people I got to know. I care about you, deeply." Lois shuddered when he touched her face and then moved toward him. Slowly, Lois' lips met his and Superman suddenly felt flushed. Pulling away, Superman held Lois' shoulders and looked at her again, this time sadly. "I know that you are engaged, so this wouldn't be the best thing for us to do." "I'm sorry. I just don't know what came over me." Lois pushed off further and walked across the room from Superman. "Maybe you should go." "I'll be seeing you then." Superman walked over to the window, looked back one more time and flew off. She stood looking up in the sky but couldn't see where he had gone. "Who was that?" "Lucy, Superman just came by to see me. He is so thoughtful." Lois started back downstairs and Lucy followed. They picked up their purses and headed out. "Lois, you are a confusing sort." "What do you mean?" "Getting involved with two other men when you are marrying Dan." Lois whipped her head around at Lucy, "I am not involved with any other men." "Yeah right... And I'm the president." They got in the car and started to the party. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 09:06:10 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mister D eight a Subject: Re: Slightly OT: Silver Age Lois and Clark MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii --- Debby wrote: >>Anyhow, "Silver Age" refers the period before Clark became the real guy and Superman was his disguise (though these days, who knows?) i.e., "Silver Age" is before a lot of the changes took place in the, um, early 90s, I think. "Silver Age" is what I read in the 1950s and 1960s :)<< You're really close Debby :) The Silver Age started just at the end of the 1950s and ended in early 1980's with the advent of the Crisis on Infinite Earths series. Shortly after that series ended the Man of Steel mini-series introduced most of the modern day concepts. i.e., Martha and Jonathan are still alive, Clark is the real character and Superman is the disguise, etc... Thanks for the info. I plan to join shortly. Jmaes ===== Mr. D8a - AIM id is mrd8astl Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven. - Matthew 7:21 Go to WWW.FREEWWWEB.COM for the best Free Internet access! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 12:44:00 -0500 Reply-To: truitt22@flash.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: timothy truitt Organization: tnt technical services Subject: Re: Let It Be Me Part 15/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mary - I have not been saving this because I saved it a while back. I hope you haven't changed this. I enjoyed the first one - but I have not had time to read what you are posting now. Please tell me it's the same version. merry truitt22@flash.net Mary Scibetta wrote: > Chapter 15 - True Feelings Never Die, or Do They > > A couple of weeks had passed since any big Superman sightings. Lois had > actually gone back to worrying about her wedding. She would even coax Clark > into going shopping with her to get a man's opinion. He swore to her that if > it bothered him, but he hoped it would somehow get her in the heart. "Clark, > what about this one?" > > "Lois, do you really need a ten foot train? You don't have enough hair to > hold that on your head." > > "I guess you're right. You always are - so you think. How about this one?" > > "That's nice. I could look at you in something like that. Simple - I can see > your face. Get it and let's go." > > "I'll take it." She paid for it and left for the Planet. > > "Clark, what did you mean back there?" > > "I just meant I would like to see you in that if I was the man watching you > walk down the aisle. It didn't hide your face. It's your best feature." > > "Clark, are you..." > > "Complimenting you...yes." She looked at him strangely and then proceeded to > her desk back at the Planet. She remembered hearing a person once before > saying yes like that. She was stopped by Perry and Jimmy. > > "Well, I guess you and Dan are already for the big party tonight." > > "Yes, I suppose." She looked at Clark sadly, wondering if he could go with > her than Dan. She walked back over to her desk, looking in Clark's direction. > "Are you coming tonight?" > > "Sure I am." He smiled at her and went back to work. That afternoon, Brit and > Clark went out to look for the perfect tux. > > "Daddy, you going to dance with her?" > > "Dance with her - at the party you mean. I thought I would go with Megan from > the newsroom." > > "Daddy..." She rolled her eyes at him, knowing he was covering. > > "Brit, Lois is going with Dan." > > "So, you had her." Clark looked at his daughter shocked for a second and then > sat her down in the dressing room. > > "Brit, you haven't told you know?" > > "I showed her the picture." Clark stood up and started to breath hard. He > tried to compose himself in front of Brit. "She knows you like her." He ran > his hands through his hair and sighed again. He went and got dressed and > headed out with the new suit. They rode home in silence. While on the other > side of town, Lucy was visiting Lois and helping her pick out something out > for the party. > > "So, how does Dan like going to these parties?" > > "I don't know. H's never gone with me before. Could you zip me?" Lucy zipped > Lois and stood behind her in the mirror. "Lucy, are you going too?" > > " I thought that I would." Lucy left the room to get changed, leaving Lois > standing in front of the mirror. She was wearing a floor length burgundy > dress that fell off the shoulder. She wore a single ruby drop o match it. > 'You look stunning ... Dan is going to melt.' > > "Do you normally talk to your self Lois?" She looked in the mirror to see > Superman floating outside her window. He smiled at her as she turned around. > "You look beautiful, but..." He removed the hair that was caught in the > necklace. He could feel her breathing her harder at his touch. > > "Thank you , I was just reassuring myself of tonight." > > "Lois, you should never have to reassure yourself of anything." He kissed her > on the forehead and turned back to the window. > > "How did you come across the fact I was going out tonight?" Lois went back > and stood in front of the mirror, fixing her hair. Superman walked closer to > her, looking over her shoulder into the mirror. > > "I heard that there was a party for the Planet and decided to drop by and > wish a Happy New Year." Lois smiled into the mirror and turned around toward > him. > > "I've been thinking about something. Why do you always come to see me? I mean > you don't have to answer but I'm just curious." > > Startled by the question, Superman cleared his throat and answered. "You were > one of the first people I got to know. I care about you, deeply." Lois > shuddered when he touched her face and then moved toward him. Slowly, Lois' > lips met his and Superman suddenly felt flushed. Pulling away, Superman held > Lois' shoulders and looked at her again, this time sadly. "I know that you > are engaged, so this wouldn't be the best thing for us to do." > > "I'm sorry. I just don't know what came over me." Lois pushed off further and > walked across the room from Superman. "Maybe you should go." > > "I'll be seeing you then." Superman walked over to the window, looked back > one more time and flew off. She stood looking up in the sky but couldn't see > where he had gone. > > "Who was that?" > > "Lucy, Superman just came by to see me. He is so thoughtful." Lois started > back downstairs and Lucy followed. They picked up their purses and headed out. > > "Lois, you are a confusing sort." > > "What do you mean?" > > "Getting involved with two other men when you are marrying Dan." > > Lois whipped her head around at Lucy, "I am not involved with any other men." > > "Yeah right... And I'm the president." They got in the car and started to the > party. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 13:30:25 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: James Tull Subject: IRC Challenge Elisabeth and I just finished reading the IRC Challenge: Life's little challenges. It was pretty good. And it got me thinking. [read DANGER! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!] For those of you that don't know: Last year there was an IRC Challenge where someone,[sorry! horrid with names and places!] asked for everyone to submit things, objects, events, what-have-you... to have the IRC Round Robin Writers [say that fast five times!] write about. Each writer was given 3 things to include in their section. i.e. (Abraham Lincoln, Chrystal Chandelier, and a can of Static Guard). They were given 5 minutes to think on it and 20 minutes to write it. Some did a great job. Some got a chance to brush up on their writing skills. I was wondering if anyone would like to try the same thing on this list? Here is how I thought it could be handled. Any suggestions are welcome. Phase 1 1. I would need people so send in suggetions for things for people to write about. I would suggest no more that three items from each source/list member, [however if you come up with a real doozy, I will look the other way while it slips into the list]. Lurkers are welcome. This could go on for 2 - 3 weeks just to make sure everyone had a chance. 2. Next I would take the first 10 - 20 victims...er...volunteers to participate. This could go on up to 2 weeks. 3. I would mix and match items to writers. This would take a day or 3. 4. A posting schedule would then be sent out. If, you can't make it for your allotted time, then you will get a new time. This could a week or 2. [can you tell that I spend a lot of time planing projects in my RL :)] 4. Then the fun would begin. Phase 2 The ground rules. 1. Each person would get three things to put into a post. They would get it on this list by midnight, CST, the day prior to their submission. 2. They would have until the following midnight, CST, to post their post. 3. By midnight, CST, of the following day the next writer would be informed of their three items. I.E. Monday Irene gets her three items. Tuesday Irene posts her post. Wednday Tara would get her three items Thursday Tara would post her post. and so on. Sunday would be a rest day. If, for what ever reason, a poster cannot post, then they will be skipped and will be worked back in at the end. I see this as an opportunity for those that would like to try their hand at writing and as a way of having some fun. I see phase 1 taking about 2 months. I see phase 2 taking about 14 weeks if I get 120 suggestions,which would make 40 groupings. That would give us near 14 weeks of writing. If we get 20 volunteers then each person would get 2 writes. If we get less you get to write more! What do ya'll think? Are you interested? James ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 12:00:18 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: JaT Subject: Oops! was supposed to be List Challenge (was IRC Challenge) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Elisabeth and I just finished reading the IRC Challenge: Life's Little Challenges. It was pretty good. And it got me thinking. [read DANGER! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!] For those of you that don't know: Last year there was an IRC Challenge where someone,[sorry! horrid with names and places!] asked for everyone to submit things, objects, events, what-have-you... to have the IRC Round Robin Writers [say that fast five times!] write about. Each writer was given 3 things to include in their section. i.e. (Abraham Lincoln, Chrystal Chandelier, and a can of Static Guard). They were given 5 minutes to think on it and 20 minutes to write it. Some did a great job. Some got a chance to brush up on their writing skills. I was wondering if anyone would like to try the same thing on this list? Here is how I thought it could be handled. Any suggestions are welcome. Phase 1 1. I would need people so send in suggetions for things for people to write about. I would suggest only one item from each source/list member, [however if you come up with a real doozy, I will look the other way while it slips into the list]. Lurkers are welcome. This could go on for 2 - 3 weeks just to make sure everyone had a chance. 2. Next I would take the first 10 - 20 victims... er...volunteers to participate. This could go on up to 2 weeks. 3. I would mix and match items to writers. This would take a day or 3. 4. A posting schedule would then be sent out. If, you can't make it for your allotted time, then you will get a new time. This could a week or 2. [can you tell that I spend a lot of time planing projects in my RL :)] 5. Then the fun would begin. Phase 2 The ground rules. 1. Each person would get three things to put into a post. They would get it on this list by midnight, CST, the day prior to their submission. 2. They would have until the following midnight, CST, to post their post. 3. By midnight, CST, of the following day the next writer would be informed of their three items. I.E. Monday Irene gets her three items. Tuesday Irene posts her post. Wednday Tara would get her three items Thursday Tara would post her post. and so on. Sunday would be a rest day. If, for what ever reason, a poster cannot post, then they will be skipped and will be worked back in at the end. I see this as an opportunity for those that would like to try their hand at writing and as a way of having some fun. I see phase 1 taking about 2 months. I see phase 2 taking about 14 weeks if I get 120 suggestions,which would make 40 groupings. That would give us near 14 weeks of writing. If we get 20 volunteers then each person would get 2 writes. If we get less you get to write more! What do ya'll think? Are you interested? James __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 21:43:08 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nicole Wolke Subject: OT: It's me again! UK Dean fans, I need a volonteer! Comments: To: Loiscla , Dean Cain Fan List , afolcslife@egroups.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folcies, My apologies to everyone who gets this email twice (or even more times). I don't know how other people get their tapes without ever asking publically about it, but for me the email lists seem to be the only way and so... here I am again :-) I'm in desperate need for a kind UK-Fan who has SKY and would willing to tape "Flight of Fancy" for me. As far as I know it will be on "Moviemax" on June 6th at 6pm. I'll cover tape and portage, of course, so any volonteers, please email me privately at NKWolke@eifel-net.net It would be great if you could mail me before friday, since I'm leaving for a two week vacation then and I would enjoy the sun even more having the knowledge that a UK VCR is doing its work for me on June 6th :-) Thank you very much in advance! Nicole -- AKA CKgroupie on IRC NKWolke@eifel-net.net Are you always searching for news about Dean Cain? And don't you have the time to go and find them? Here's your solution: Go to "The Dean Cain News Page" http://members.tripod.de/CKgroupie/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 15:26:42 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Felix E. Sung" Subject: NEW: John and Lois and Clark and Joan (15/?) (John & Lois & Clark & Joan, Part 15) [Metropolis, Hotel Apollo] [Sunday, August 22, 1993] Clark jerked up, ready to hit the alarm button, but stopped himself just in time. Feeling sheepish, he climbed out of bed and walked to the other side of the room and turned the alarm off. It was a good thing he remembered; otherwise, he would have smashed the nightstand to bits. It was still dark in Metropolis. Clark had not returned to his room until almost eleven last night, and he had set the alarm for 4:45 in the morning. That was yet another ability that set him apart from the others: he didn't need as much sleep as everyone else did. It only compounded the mystery of Clark Kent -- why did he have these unusual abilities? Hopefully he could get some answers, which was why he had waken up so early. His parents were usually up by four because of their work on the farm, and Smallville was an hour behind Metropolis. Besides, he had not seen his parents since Tuesday night, and he was feeling guilty about it. He hadn't been intentionally avoiding them -- he had been very busy the past few days. Clark zipped into the bathroom and stripped off his clothes faster than a blink in the eye. Stepping into the shower, he decided to shower in a slower pace this time. A blast of cold water came out of the showerhead. Since he was unaffected by temperature, a cold shower wouldn't help him the way it would help anyone else. Nevertheless, he only left the cold water on. He needed it. Five minutes later, Clark had stepped out of the shower wearing a towel and carrying another. Briefly he remembered that a scant twenty-four hours ago Lois had found him in the same attire. It was obvious that Lois was physically attracted to him, and the way she had been staring at him had made him uncomfortable. Clark sighed. Being attracted to him physically was one thing, but being in love with him was another. With a little use of speed, he began drying himself with the towel he had been carrying. He then paused, flung the towel around his back to dry it. Then he smelled something burning. He groaned as he looked at the towel. He had been drying himself so fast that he had burned a hole into the towel. Shaking his head, he dumped the burnt towel into the trash. It was the second time he had done this, and he knew that he would have to pay extra for his hotel bill to cover the damage. Quickly he spun out of the towel he had been still wearing and changed into a pair of shorts and a Midwest State T-shirt. He turned the radio on his alarm clock on to hear the news, and found out moments later that the National Weather Service was calling for rain in Metropolis. As if on cue, Clark could hear raindrops beginning to fall. The rain and the darkened clouds would make it easier for him to take off when he flew to Smallville. As he picked up his watch that was lying on the round table nearby his bed, his gaze rested on the newspaper that he had been carrying with him ever since he had left the Planet last night. It was the Daily Planet, yesterday's late edition. The one with his first article: 'Adopted Kids Looking for Their Birth Parents'. Because so many things had been happening, Clark could barely remember sending the story to Mr. White when it was done Friday. Clark didn't even know if Mr. White had said anything to him about the story, whether it was good or whether it was garbage. He read the article for the first time since he had submitted it, using super-speed. 'The Editor-in-Chief must have liked it,' he mused, for he could only find minute differences between his last known copy and the published article. Clark looked at his watch and noticed that he had to get going. He smiled as he folded up the newspaper. He would take with him to Smallville -- his parents would be pleased to see his first article. He cocked his head to one side to listen for anything within the building. All the hotel guests were asleep. With a burst of super-speed, he ran out of his hotel room and locked the door. Seconds later, he was airborne, on his way to Smallville, high within the dark rain clouds. * * * * * * * * Lois, meanwhile, woke up on her own on Sunday morning, considerably later than Clark had, and without the benefit of her alarm clock. 'What a nightmare,' she thought. She had dreamt that she was poking around a hanger at EPRAD when someone had attacked her. She had successfully defended herself, and had tried to get out, but was stopped by someone carrying a gun. Very scary, indeed. Lois, struggling to wake up, couldn't understand why she had slept in a sitting position. She tried to move downwards, so that she could be lying down, when she realized that she couldn't move at all. Her eyes flew open. Lois looked down to find that she was tied in some seat belts, and that she was gagged. *Seat belts!?!?* Glancing around, she found herself still inside the hanger where the *real* Messenger was kept. Her 'nightmare' that she had thought she had was of course, real. And the seat belts must have come from the Messenger's seats. "Ow!" she cried into the gag. The events of last night were coming back in vivid color. The person who had stopped her with a gun had apparently knocked Lois out with the butt of the gun. That explained the throbbing pain in her head she was now feeling. Lois then took a quick survey of herself to see if there were any other injuries. She saw no blood, and the only thing she noticed was some pain in her left ankle. A sprain, perhaps? Because she was 'tied up', sort of speak, she could not roll up her jeans to examine herself. 'What time was it anyway?' she wondered. Lois was tied to a post facing the Messenger wreckage. She tried to look behind her to see if there was anyone there. Then she heard footsteps approaching from her right. "It's 7:30," a woman's voice answered. Lois turned to see Dr. Antoinette Baines holding a gun. "Good Morning, Lois," she said. "I hope you'll forgive the accommodations. But then again, I never was much of a hostess." Dr. Baines gave an evil smile. "Not to worry, soon you'll thinking about things more important than accommodations." Lois glared at her captor, glared at her for her sarcasm, glared at her for the situation Lois was in, and glared at her to cover her true feelings. It was a developed trait, to be able to hide one's vulnerability. 'God, I'm scared,' she said to herself. "I was impressed last night, Lois," Dr. Baines continued, "with the way you handled one of my men. These days a woman has to know self-defense." Lois remained silent and angry. As long as she was angry, she rationalized, she could forget about her fears. "Is something wrong, Lois?" Dr. Baines asked with false concern. "You don't seem to be in a talkative mood." Lois finally made an indignant noise in response. "Not to worry, Lois," Dr. Baines said cheerfully. "Soon it will be all over." Lois turned away, and she could hear footsteps fading away. As soon as Lois heard a door shut, she began struggling against her bonds. But it was to no avail. Whoever had tied her up had used many seat belts, and it was very difficult to move. Her legs were not tied, but there was nothing that she could reach, and anyway, it was not a good idea to move her sprained ankle. In the past, Lois had been able to get out of sticky situations, but this time, her luck may have run out. Now more than ever, Lois wished that she had left a message at Clark's hotel when she had tried to find him. She had no idea where Clark was, and he would have no idea where she was. Lois knew very well what Dr. Baines had meant when she had said that it would soon be over. The tears she had been holding finally began to fall. * * * * * * * * The trip to Smallville had only raised more questions. Once again, Clark was in a daze when he returned to his hotel room. Oh, it *was* nice to see his parents again. By the time Clark had arrived in Smallville his parents were already up and about. His parents had congratulated him on his first published article in the Daily Planet. Then he had helped his father with the morning chores while his mother had tended to things around the house and had prepared breakfast. By the time the three of them had sat down to eat, Clark had finally began explaining the reason of his visit. When Clark had asked his parents about his origins, his father immediately began telling a story, remembering every little thing about it. He had explained how on May 17, 1966 he and Clark's mother were driving by Shuster's Field when they had saw what had appeared to be a meteorite. When the two of them had left their truck to investigate, they had found a small spaceship with a baby inside. Fearful that someone might come to take the baby away, the Kents had taken the child in and had raised him as their own. As soon as it had been possible, the two new parents had legally adopted Clark, claiming that he had been abandoned on their doorstep. Now, Clark was still stunned at the revelation, as he closed the door to his hotel room and plopped himself down on the nearest chair, nearly breaking it in the process. He had been found in a spaceship as a baby? Did that mean that he wasn't human, that he was... was... a strange visitor from another planet? It made sense. Certainly it would explain why he was different from everyone else. The biggest mystery of all, however, surrounded the spaceship his parents had found Clark in. To Clark's surprise, his father had not destroyed the ship as he had intended, but had buried it in a remote part of their farm. Clark and his parents had set out after breakfast to the spot where the ship had been buried, only to find that it wasn't there. Someone had come along and had dug it up. The Kents had returned to the house moments later, shaken. Someone else must have known about Clark and the spaceship. But who? This was why the trip to Smallville had only raised more questions. Clark sighed. Here was yet *another* mystery for him to solve. Already he had the Messenger explosion, the prank calls, and a potential stalker to look into. Today might be Sunday, a day of rest for some people, but for Clark, there was no time for resting now. He glanced at his watch. 8:21 A.M. Perhaps some time spent at the Planet would be a good idea. At this hour probably no one would be there, and that suited Clark just fine. He spun out of his clothes and changed into something more suitable for work, but casual. When he had stopped spinning, he found himself facing the payphone on the wall. (Clark had never seen a payphone in a hotel room before arriving in Metropolis.) 'Should I call Lois?' he asked himself. It *was* Sunday, and Lois might be sleeping in. Lois, enjoying a day off? It seemed incredible, but everyone needed down time now and then -- where else would Lois have all that energy? Perhaps she would welcome an opportunity to come in today, since the colonists' transport was scheduled to launch the day after tomorrow. Or perhaps she was at the Planet already. Making his decision, Clark grabbed a few things from the round table and made his way to the nearest dark alley. * * * * * * * * -- Felix E. Sung fsung@justice.loyola.edu ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 15:47:31 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: OT: It's me again! UK Dean fans, I need a volonteer! Nicole (and anyone else with the same question ), I know there are some UK FoLCs planning to try to tape Flight of Fancy. The problem is that Sky Moviemax is a premium channel, and so - we think - scrambles its transmissions. This means that taping might not work... Wendy ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 09:10:54 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: -= LuC =- Subject: It's a Small World After All :) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed I would like to publicly thank Jenny Stosser (from the list) who it turned out lived literally right around the corner from me and who was able to tape the 20 or so L&C eps i didnt have on tape in order for me to complete all four seasons! Thanks Jen :) ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 00:23:32 GMT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Bethy Em Subject: Bethy's Scavenger Hunt Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Okay, my turn!!! These are six separate stories, in no particular order. I don't know when they were added to the Archive, but they are all there. The only connecting factor is that I liked them -- no common length, date, topic, anything. And, as far as I know, none of them have been used yet in the scavenger hunt series. H A N D Y D A N D Y S P O I L E R S P A C E Okay, identify the author and fic containing the following: 1. A midnight excursion to Papua New Guinea 2. A blind German Shepherd 3. A hologram only Superman can hear 4. A quote from Genesis 5. "Metropolitan Catering Emporium and Bowling Alley" 6. Two Superheros in the wrong suits Have Fun, Bethy Even if you do learn correct English, whom are you going to speak it to? -- Clarence Darrow ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 19:40:41 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Diyan Subject: Bethy's scavenger hunt H A N D Y D A N D Y S P O I L E R S P A C E 2. A blind German Shepherd YoooHooo, I know this!! :) Zoomway's excelent "Always Something There to Remind me" (I hope I got the title right) most of the others sound really familiar, but I'm no good at closed-book -Dia zimri@hotmail.com ...excuses, excuses ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 18:16:36 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cynthia Haste Subject: Re: Let It Be Me Part 13/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mary Scibetta wrote: > Chapter 13 - Hard Working Man > > "Good morning Lois. What's this?" > > "My notes from last night. Superman met with me." Perry crossed behind her > and stopped in his tracks. > > "Repeat that please Lois." > > "Superman gave me an interview last night at my apartment." She glowed with > happiness that Clark didn't even understand. Dan walked up and greeted Clark > while Lois prattled on about her new story. > > "You have quite a grip there Clark." Dan shook his hand out as Clark let go. > Dan continued to listen halfway in on Lois' interest in this new story. > > "You have no idea." Clark said under his breath as he stood, listening to > Lois intently. > > "Dan, could we cancel lunch today? I really need to get hopping on this > story. This could be the biggest thing in years. I have some research I want > to do with my partner here." Dan winced at Clark and cordially agreed with > Lois. > > "See you around Dan." Clark patted him on the back as Lois turned around. He > practically threw Dan across the newsroom. A few people stood around and > giggled, thinking that the good investigator had tripped over his own feet. > Dan picked himself up and exited without notice from Lois. > > "Clark, where's Brit today?" > > "I dropped her off upstairs where we could work. So, what do you have so far?" > > Standing over her sitting at her desk, "He said that he was pretty much built > like a human but just has some powers that are not really explained. He said > he was from the planet Krypton. Is that a real planet?" > > "Could be. We're not the only universe in the galaxy." Lois smiled up at him > realizing the stupidity of the question. "So now what should we do? We have > to find a way to contact him again." > > "Have you ever thought he was being courteous for his first visit? Maybe he > doesn't want to be bothered." For some reason, he thought this would entice > Lois to work harder. He was right. > > "Forget it Clark. He wouldn't have come by to see me if he didn't want to be > known." > > "Maybe he's not interested in being known, but just someone." Lois whipped > around and gave Clark a nasty look that told him to drop it. He had just > gotten his response from the night before. She wanted to see more of Superman > and soon. > > "Come on. Let's check out that building from the day before." > > When they arrived, Clark wandered around looking for what he didn't know > while Lois looked for hand prints. "Clark, come here." She pointed at a dent > in the wall. "Do you think he did that?" > > "Lois, I have no idea. This is all very strange. Why don't you just ask him > out again?" > > "Clark, I didn't ask him out. I interviewed him - that's it." Clark shook his > head and glared at her while she turned redder. "If you are insinuating that > I have some weird romantic attachment to this alien, you are mistaken." She > heard Clark mumble something else. "What was that?" > > "I just wonder after you told me that he sees through things, how much of you > he saw last night." Clark could just feel the temperature of Lois' blood go > up a notch. > > "Clark Kent, if you are thinking you are making mad, you are > anddfdfhe;reriuka." He wrapped his hand around her mouth and pulled her out > of the light. > > "Shut up Lois." He whispered as he heard footsteps. > > "Don't bother...come on out." A strange little man stepped out of the shadows > and pointed a gun at the two of them. "Why are you here?" > > "I'm investigating a story thank you. If you could just out that down." Lois > reached out past Clark and then backed up again when the man obviously wasn't > kidding about his intent on using it. > > "I don't think there is a story here. This is my home now. If you would > please leave, that would be nice." > > "You're homeless sir? Why don't we take you to the shelter or something?" > > "Sir, you think this is a perfect little world with your prefect little > woman..." > > "She's not my...ummpphh. What was that for?" Lois punched him in the ribs. > > "Just get out." The little man started waving the gun erratically so they > both hurried. > > "Clark, that was real strange." > > 'Went to a movie...be back later. Love, mom and dad.' Pulling Brit's jacket > off, he looked down at her and then in the kitchen "Just you and me for > tonight sport. What you want?" Brittany took off to the living room and came > back with the Little Mermaid movie. "Pizza ok?" The shaking of her head made > it evident that it was the official opening to father and daughter night. "Go > put the movie in - I'll go call." He went and changed while calling for the > pizza. Several hours later, his parents walked in and smiled as their two > favorite people laid on the couch sleeping to static. There had been a car > wreck and a bus accident that night but he had obviously tuned everything out > that night. The two went off to bed and left them there to sleep the rest of > the night. > > "Good morning mom. How was your night?" Clark stretched, feeling he had slept > wrong. > > "Wonderful and yours?" > > "You saw...we watched a movie and guess were so tired we didn't make it > through. Brittany, what do you want for breakfast?" > > "Eggs. Can I get the paper?" > > "Sure." > > She came quickly back from the front porch. "Dad, look the man who files." > She opened the paper to the first page where a picture of Superman from > behind was on the cover with the story by Lois gracing the rest of the page. > > "She wrote it without me. That's what I get for being a family man." His > parents stood on either side and read it along with him, seeing that > everything he had told her on the record was perfectly accurate. That was > Lois - never make a mistake. "She'll be getting Kudo's for this one." He put > the paper down and started breakfast. His parents stood back and watched as > he taught Brit about cooking like Martha had taught him. -- Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian. - Unknown Author Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off your appetite and you'll eat less. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 00:24:25 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Christopher M Kiraly Subject: Re: Bethy's Scavenger Hunt In-Reply-To: <20000531002332.26114.qmail@hotmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hmmmm... Let's see how I can do... H A N D Y D A N D Y S P O I L E R S P A C E Okay, identify the author and fic containing the following: 1. A midnight excursion to Papua New Guinea 2. A blind German Shepherd "Always Something There To Remind Me" - Zoomway (The dog was Tige?) 3. A hologram only Superman can hear 4. A quote from Genesis 5. "Metropolitan Catering Emporium and Bowling Alley" 6. Two Superheros in the wrong suits "Spider and the Fly(boy)" - Robert Culpepper ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 05:00:01 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Irene D." Subject: Re: Bethy's Scavenger Hunt MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Okay, I'll give this a try. > > H > A > N > D > Y > > D > A > N > D > Y > > S > P > O > I > L > E > R > > S > P > A > C > E > > Okay, identify the author and fic containing the > following: > > 1. A midnight excursion to Papua New Guinea Aliens and Strangers by Susan Stone > 2. A blind German Shepherd Always Something There to Remind Me by Zoomway > 3. A hologram only Superman can hear ? > 4. A quote from Genesis Sounds like In the Beginning by BB Medos but I'm not sure. > 5. "Metropolitan Catering Emporium and Bowling > Alley" ? > 6. Two Superheros in the wrong suits ? How'd I do? Irene ===== "All writing is essentially bricks of plagarism secured in place by the mortar of original thinking." --William Dukane __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 06:27:47 PDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Camilla Håkansson Subject: Re: Bethy's Scavenger Hunt Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed I think I know two of them: "Metropolitan Catering Emporium and Bowling Alley" This is "Three capes to the wind", an IRC round-robin fanfic Two Superheros in the wrong suits "Spider and the Fly(boy)", by Robert Culpepper (I think they are at an masked ball or something, am I right?) How did I do? /Camilla ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 10:09:29 -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 Organization: http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam/ Subject: Re: Bethy's Scavenger Hunt MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay, I only recognize two of these, but here goes anyway... s p o i l e r s p a c e > 2. A blind German Shepherd Zoomway's "Always Something There to Remind Me" > 4. A quote from Genesis Gotta be "In The Beginning" by Bev Medos. Both favorites of mine, too :) -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/rdu/j/e/jernigan/ God made you special, and He loves you very much. -- Veggie Tales theology The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. -- Henri Bergson ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 14:22:34 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Part 16/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 16 - Ringing in the New "You be good for Grandma tonight. You better be in bed when I get home too." Brit looked at her dad decked out to the nines and shook her head in affirmation. "Good girl." Clark kissed her and looked at his parents. "I have no idea what time I'll be home. Thanks for watching her tonight." He walked out the door and took off to the banquet. Inside the banquet hall, chandeliers hung all around. Clark stared at the ceiling and then down at the program to see where he was sitting. He found the table and saw that Dan and Lois had already arrived. "Clark, where's Morgan?" "She couldn't come. She started feeling sick last night." He sat down in front of his placecard he noticed that the empty seat that was next to him was filled by Lucy. "Lucy?" "Clark, nice to see you again. I couldn't believe when Lois told me that you two were working together again." Dan looked up at this. "Lois, you didn't tell me that you and Clark knew each other from before." Lois and Clark shot a death look to Lucy who realized that was not common knowledge. "Yes Dan, we met in college one summer. We worked on several articles in a summer class one summer." She saw Dan shake his head. He sat and she divulged. 'This must kill him to see us.' Dan thought as he remembered now that Clark had been the first person to propose to Lois. He wondered if Clark had been the reason for Lois acting strange lately. "So Lois, so how does it feel going into the next year with a wedding coming up?" Perry had come to sit down next after greeting several other editors and managers in Metropolis remembered now why Clark had looked so familiar. One night Lois was looking through photos with him she had passed up a picture of the two of them at some restaurant together. He had insisted on knowing about her past relationships and. "I think the upcoming wedding is giving her a new glow." Clark quietly answered as he looked over at Lois and then at Lucy. Lois glanced back in surprise by the comment. "So, I guess you're ready now to tackle the hard line journalism and family at the same time." Lois could tell that Clark was fishing to see how she reacts to reminders of the wedding. "Well, I feel that I am old enough now to learn to balance a career and a relationship without messing either one up. I mean, not that you haven't gotten just as far as I have even with being divorced and having a daughter. I don't think I could handle all of that at this point." Clark smiled at the cutback and almost laughed at Lois' attempts to put him down subtly. "At least she sounds sure of herself," Clark whispered to Lucy. Lois looked over at him when Lucy laughed at his joke. 'He's talking about me...about us.' Lois thought as she looked back over at her own date. "Care to dance Lucy?" Clark took her hand as she rose from the table and they disappeared onto the dance floor. "Dan, would you like to dance?" "Lois, you know that really don't like to dance." He took her hand, and she halfway smiled at him. "Actually , Bob Brinks is over there and I would like to talk to him for a minute. I'll be right back." Dan got up from the table and Lois looked over for Perry, who had left her also. On the dance floor, Lucy looked over and saw her sister sitting alone on the dawn of the New Year. "Clark, please go spend some time with Lois; dance with her or something. Dan doesn't dance and Lois was worried that this would happen. It would be like old times for you two." Clark sighed hard and squeezed Lucy's hand. "That's what I'm afraid of, but I'll go." He walked over to the table where Lois was sitting, staring into space. "Lois..." Looking up, Clark sat down in the chair next to her and smiled. "I hope you know that I really didn't mean what I said on front of everyone." "I know. I'm not sure if I really am telling the truth about being ready for marriage and all. It's a big step. I mean all I have ever cared about is my work and my job and my position and my..." Lois felt Clark touch her wrist. "I'm rambling again, but you get the point." He smiled at her, and she started feeling better. "Marriage is a big step. There's a lot more involved than just getting the wedding right. I can vouch for that. I wish I had seen it coming when Lana and I. I'm going to stop there. I have Brit and that's the best thing in my life. I would never give her up for anything." "She's really wonderful. And she loves you so much and thinks you are everything. I hope when I have kids that they're as special as Brittany." "You will be a wonderful mother when the time is right, but there's something else that has to be done now." Lois looked over at Clark funny. Clark stood up and smiled and put out his hand. "Dance?" Lois smiled. "Thank you Clark." She whispered and blushed as he led her to the dance floor. "So, Lois how is your New Year's shaping up?" Clark took Lois in his arms. He felt her quiver at his touch. "I think I was worried about what would happen tonight, but now I feel good. I think this year is going to be a good year." "Why do you say that?" "I have Dan, who I love very much." Lois paused for a moment and looked into Clark's eyes. "And you; you came back to me and now I have the best partner I possibly could get." Lois stopped suddenly after realizing her double meaning. When Clark touched her face and she looked back up at him, she knew he figured it out too. "You can waltz?" She didn't finish the sentence because Clark took her hand firm and swept her feet up off the floor. She swore that she wasn't touching the ground. Lois, at the same time, hoped that Dan would notice the good time that she was having. Ring out the old, ring in the new A midnight wish to share with you Your lips are warm, my head is light Were we alive before tonight I don't need a crowded ballroom Everything I want is here If you're with me, next year will be the perfect year No need to hear the music play Your eyes say all there is to say The stars can fade, or they can shine I only need your hand in mine I don't need a crowded ballroom If you're here with me, next year will be a perfect year. "Clark, this feels so good." "I know - you don't realize how bad I wanted to dance with you just once. And to tell you that I hope you and Dan have a wonderful life. You deserve the best of everything." She smiled at him, knowing he tried hard to sound sincere. "Thank you." He felt her put her head down and then leaned into him as the music interlude sped up. They started to almost float around the room again, spinning past Perry, Lucy, and Dan. It's New Year's Eve and hopes are high Dance one year in, kiss one goodbye Another chance, another start So many dreams to the tease the heart We don't need a crowded ballroom Everything we want is here And face to face we will embrace the perfect year. "10, 9,8..." "Where's Dan?" "I don't know." Clark shook his head no and got flustered that she suddenly forgot that he was even there. Lucy and Perry watched as the two looked on frantically, knowing Dan left to the restroom after seeing Lois and Clark together. "Clark..." "3, 2, Happy New Year" Lois was almost in tears - Dan was gone on New Years. She felt something touch her familiar. Looking up at him, she ran her hand along his hand. Touching her face, he looked around at the other couples, checked for Dan, and moved her lips to his. Lois quivered as their lips met and closed her eyes. Clark kissed her slow and deep. Letting go, Clark looked at Lois and smiled. "I know it doesn't mean much, but Happy New Year Lois." She looked at him, smiling and kissed him back quickly. "Across the room Dan saw Lois kiss Clark back and cringed. On the other side of the dance floor, Perry and Lucy smiled at each other. "I think there is hope." Perry responded with Lucy agreeing. "May I cut in?" Dan tried to be cordial to Clark. Backing away, Clark slowly let Lois' fingers slip from his and let Dan in. "Happy New Years honey. Sorry, but I was in the restroom." Another song had started up by this time and Dan decided he had to try to dance. "Let's dance." Lois looked up at him in surprise and then over to Clark, but he was already gone. By the end of the night, Clark was long gone from the party and Lois remembered only the person that was there after the year started. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 14:32:07 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me part 18/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I know. I skipped a part but for some reason I miss numbered way back when=20 and have never fixed it so this is the part that comes after 16. ************** Chapter 18 - Is Pain Really Worth It=20 =20 "Morning Lois, how was your weekend off?" Lois threw down her stuff and=20 turned on the computer to check her mail. "Good. Dan and I spent most of it out of town at this little hotel in the=20 mountains. Clark, look at this. I have a friend across town that sent me=20 this. I need to print this out." Lois printed it out on the computer on the=20 other side of the newsroom and rushed into Perry's office. "Perr, I think we might have a hot topic for the next edition." Perry took=20 the copy and read it with his eyebrows raised. "Lois, this sounds dangerous. If you go for this, I want you to be careful=20 and take Clark with you to assist."=20 "Whatever chief, but I think it's a great lead." She ran out of the office=20 with Perry sitting back in his chair, 'that girl never stops.' "Lois, what is it?" Clark had been watching her dash around the newsroom the= =20 last few minutes. "We have a lead. Have you ever gone undercover?" Clark looked at her funny=20 and then laughed quietly. "In a way...why?" "We are going to go undercover to pull this story out. You game?" Clark shoo= k=20 his head yes and followed her out of the newsroom. "I'll meet you back at=20 nine." Clark shook his head and went upstairs to pick up Brit.=20 "How's my little girl today?" He picked her up and spun her around. He put=20 her back down and put her coat on her. She had been practicing getting in it= =20 since the cold weather had been getting worse. "How's she doing Ellen?" "She is a delight, Mr. Kent. Seems to take after you in the communication=20 area. She never ceases to amaze us with her ability to talk." "She can talk your ear off. Let's go honey. Daddy has to get back here in a=20 couple of hours." They walked down the stairs to the elevator and then out=20 the Daily Planet door. "Are you seeing Lois?" "Yes, but we have to work tonight so you will have to stay at home with=20 Grandma and Grandpa. I know it's our night but I have to work." "Daddy, I understand. You want to be with Lois." Clark felt her squeeze his=20 hand and laugh. He looked down at her and couldn't keep himself from=20 laughing. "Daddy, do you ever think of mommy?" "Sometimes, why do you ask?" "I do. Did she love us?" Clark stopped and knelt next to his daughter and=20 took her arms. "Brittany, she loved you more than anything. Don't you ever think=20 differently." "Then why did she leave?" "Your mother and I had some problems that we couldn't work out. It would hav= e=20 hurt you more if we had stayed together. Brit, it's hard to explain to you=20 right now. Just believe me, she never meant to hurt you. She loves you. I=20 love you." Brit had started to cry and Clark tried to comfort her as he=20 cursed his ex under his breath. All the superpowers in the world would ever=20 be able to fix his daughter's heart.=20 "I love you daddy. Let's go home." Brit took his hand and started home again= . ***************** "Dan, what are you doing here?" Dan was sitting on the couch as Lois walked=20 into her apartment. She remembered that she had given him a key several=20 months ago when they became engaged. "I was on my way home and thought you could use some company." "Not tonight, I have to work." Lois started into the bedroom completely=20 ignoring Dan waiting to kiss her. He followed her. "Working late again...Kent no doubt." "We are partners and have an undercover job tonight." Dan had had it. He=20 grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.=20 "I don't want you working with this Clark. I remembered what happened betwee= n=20 you two years ago and saw you at the New Year's Eve banquet. You're not over= =20 him. I don't want you working with him." Lois tried to pull away from Dan's=20 grip but it was too hard. "Dan, let me go. I'm a grown woman - I think I can handle myself. We were=20 just dancing. Dan, you're hurting me. Please let go of me." Lois arm started= =20 turning red and blistered. Dan could see her start crying and let go at that= .=20 He had never meant to hurt Lois, but he felt he was losing her. "Lois, I just feel like you're moving father away from me every time we see=20 each other. Lois, do you love me?" "Dan, I love you. I'm marrying you in a month. It's just right now I have to= =20 get ready for work - this could be another important article for us...me." "So, who is it for? You or for you and Clark?" Dan went on the defensive=20 again. "Why do you hate him so much? He is my partner." "He is still in love with you and you're leading him on. Sometimes I wonder=20 if you're doing more than that. Just tell me what you're relationship is wit= h=20 him?" "Dan, stop yelling at me. You have no right. I remember when we first starte= d=20 dating you were still seeing your ex." Lois started waving her arms in a=20 frenzy. Dan again grabbed her to calm her down but she continued on. He=20 pushed her up against the wall. "Dan, LET GO OF ME!!" All this time, Clark=20 had been sitting outside of her apartment waiting for Dan to leave. He=20 thought it would be nice to meet her at her place instead of just meeting at= =20 work. When he heard her yell, Clark knew it had gone on long enough. Clark=20 went around the corner and flew up to her room and pulled Dan off of her. "Superman." Lois sighed as she rubbed her wrists and arms. "Is this your other boyfriend?" Dan was still very angry and kicked Superman= =20 continually while being held off the ground.=20 "Put him down please Superman, we were just talking." "It didn't sound like you were just talking. Does he need to be leaving?"=20 Lois, still in tears, shook her head yes and Superman took Dan down to the=20 street level. Dan searched for the key but remembered he had left it on the=20 table in the living room.=20 "You ok?" "I think so." Superman took arms gently and looked at them. "You'll be ok. But why would you want to marry someone like that? You could=20 have much more." Lois looked over and saw Superman get comfortable in her=20 lounger. "I love him. He isn't really all that bad. I have been doing some strange=20 things with my partner at work. He just has a bad jealous streak, but I do=20 too. I shouldn't be pouring my problems out on you." "Lois, it's fine. You need someone to talk to." He walked over and rubbed he= r=20 shoulders gently before hugging her. She looked at herself and Superman in=20 the mirror and smiled. "Superman, have you ever been in love before? I mean, you do have feelings?"= =20 He went and sat down on the bed while she sat in the lounger. "Yes, I have been in love. You could say I am in love with someone right now= .=20 Unfortunately, she doesn't know and couldn't possibly be in love with me." "Tell me." Lois sat up interested. "She's beautiful and smart. She works very hard and is almost in love with=20 her work more than anything else." "She sounds wonderful - I can't see how she could possibly turn you down.=20 Have you asked her out or told her?" "In my position, I can't ask her out in a normal way, but I have thought=20 about telling her many times." Lois got up and went over to him. "Then you should tell her. Yep, you need t= o=20 go and fly off and tell her." She led him to the window and told him to go.=20 She stood there and watched him fly off and then started cleaning up to go=20 back to the Planet. Moments later she heard the woosh again and felt a breez= e=20 through her room. She turned around and saw Superman there again.=20 "I thought I told you to go tell the girl everything." He walked closer to=20 her. "I have." He lowered his head. "What are you talking about. You weren't gone long enough to say two words t= o=20 anyone." Lois started to pass him up to go to the closet when he took her face in his= =20 hand. "I love you Lois." His head was still down so he couldn't see her jaw=20 drop. He felt her pull away and turn cold. "I'm sorry. I know that you're=20 engaged to Dan, but it hurt when I saw him hurt you. That shouldn't happen t= o=20 you." "I thank you for what you did, but I..." She stopped and faced him knowing=20 that she couldn't possibly tell him she didn't love him because she did. She= =20 walked over to him. "Things are hard for me right now. I love Dan but have=20 feelings for you and another. I just need to be left alone - I have to=20 decide." Superman walked to the window and smiled at her.=20 "Ok, but if something happens, I'll be there." Superman flew off with Lois=20 standing in the middle of the living room in tears.=20 "I sure hope so," she whispered. **RING**=20 **************** "Hi, I thought I could just come by to get you. Lois, are you ok?" "I'm fine. It's just been a long day." "We can do this later or skip it." "No way, let's get going." Lois grabbed him by the shirt sleeve and dragged=20 him to the car. When she opened the door for Clark, he held her shoulder. Sh= e=20 flinched and pulled away. "What is it Lois?" Clark looked at her closer to see that her eyes were red=20 and she was rubbing her arm a little. Pushing her sleeve up, he revealed the= =20 bruises that had already formed from Dan's grip. "Lois, What happened?" Lois= =20 pulled away. "Nothin, Dan and I had a little spat. That's it."=20 Clark grabbed both of her sleeves and pushed them up in surprise. Even havin= g=20 seen them as Superman, they hadn't been nearly as bad. Dan had really hurt=20 her. "This doesn't look like a little spat. Lois, he hurt you. He abused you."=20 Lois pulled away and got in on the other side. "He was just upset." Lois shoved a tape in the player and started the car.=20 I guess you're Prince Charming wasn't after all Cause he sure seems different right after the ball I guess more than horses are turning into rats And by the way he's walkin' I can guess where your slippers at They arrived on the Southside without saying a word in the car. Lois pulled=20 her car into a secured parking area and Clark got out, dressed in their=20 undercover wear. "You look good Clark." "Thanks, let's get this over with." Clark carefully took her hand and walked= =20 down the street to a man. The man showed the sign of a 200. Lois looked at=20 Clark, "200, that's a bit steep." The man waited for a better response. Clar= k=20 shook his head and walked Lois and the man to the hotel they had made=20 arrangements to meet at. They walked to the fourth floor and to a little=20 empty room. "So, what do I get for my two hundred." "This. I hear that there's a man working on something like operation end. I=20 overheard that he's breaking something out of the plant upstate. What he has= =20 could blow most of the city away and then miles around would feel it."=20 "All you can give us is an address?" "You want more - you find another informant girlie. By the way, nice wig."=20 The man turned and walked toward the door and shut it behind him. "Now what? Clark, this means there is someone walking around town with the=20 most deadly substance known to man...not to mention the small thing about=20 knowing how to kill Superman. I remember Superman saying that he knew of=20 something that could harm him but didn't know if anyone had been able to fin= d=20 it. From this, I guess we know that its out, at least on the black market. W= e=20 have to worn him." Clark answered with a strong yes, worried about how this=20 could affect him if he ever ran into to it again. That night they put their=20 notes together but decided not to print until they had more information,=20 knowing the man could easily lose if they wrote anything about what they kne= w=20 before they should.=20 "Lois, I have to be getting home. Brit will be getting up soon and she gets=20 worried if she doesn't see me in the morning." Lois waved him off for a=20 moment. Clark touched her on the shoulder and she looked up at him. "Lois,=20 please call me if anything happens to you. Get that checked honey." Clark=20 stopped, realizing what he had said. "Sure Clark, but don't worry about me. Why don't you take the day off or=20 something. I know you have the father/daughter thing going on. Just take you= r=20 beeper." "How did you know about that?" "Brit told me that you two have nights for just you two. I think it's sweet=20= -=20 putting her above all else. Did you call me honey?" "Slip, sorry. I have to put her ahead. I'll talk to you later today." Clark=20 picked up his stuff, rubbed his hand gently across her arm, and left for hom= e. *****************=20 Clark walked in just as Brittany had woken up. "Good morning sunshine. What=20 do you want to do on daddy's day off?" Brittany smiled up at him. "Can we go to the park? My friend is supposed to be there today." "Let me go change and we'll catch breakfast on he way." Clark and Brittany=20 went and changed and headed out for breakfast and a day out in the sun.=20 Luckily, it was a warm January day. They got to the park around noon after=20 eating slowly at a caf=E9 around the corner from the Daily Planet. They had=20 briefly saw Jimmy as he went to work. "Jimmy, please come get me if anything happen to Lois and don't tell her I'm= =20 having you spy." "Is there a problem?" "Nothing really, but just watch her." Brit was pulling on Clark's hand. "There's my friend over there." Brit ran over to Michael. "You must be Brittany's father. She has told me so much about you." Clark sa= t=20 down beside her and almost laughed. "My name is Ally. I hear you work for th= e=20 Daily Planet - that must be pretty exciting." "I never really thought of it before but I guess so." Clark smiled at Ally=20 and saw her smile back. "Brit told me that you aren't married. Your daughter seems very interested i= n=20 getting a mother." Clark was thrown that this woman he didn't know was makin= g=20 such drastic moves to make relations with him, a complete stranger. "She sometimes talks too much as you can tell. I'm sorry that she bothered=20 you with our problems." "It's no bother. When my husband left, I tried to convince Michael that he=20 was coming back. I think I hurt him more than I helped him." "I don't think she really understands what happened yet. And I'm not sure I'= m=20 ready to tell her everything yet. " Looking over at Brit, "BRIT...You=20 apologize to him. Excuse me a minute." He got up and walked over to Brit and= =20 took her hand. "Time out young lady. Look at me - I'll tell you when you can= =20 get up." He walked back and sat down with Ally. "Now I see why she is so well behaved." Ally smiled and looked over at Clark= .=20 He smiled back, feeling strangely attracted to her. "So, how about lunch wit= h=20 Michael and me." "We ate a late breakfast, but thanks anyway. I think we're going to catch a=20 movie later." He bid Ally goodbye and went over to sit with Brit. "What do=20 you have there?" "I found it in the dirt." Brit handed the rock to Clark and he looked at it.= =20 He started to feel dizzy; maybe he hadn't eaten enough. Putting it in his=20 pocket, Clark responded, "Keep it for your collection. Now, I want to talk t= o=20 you about how you acted today." He tried to continue but started coughing.=20 "Daddy?" "I'm ok; it must be something in the air." He looked around and didn't see=20 anyone that could possibly be around to help. He tried to get up but fell=20 over. Brit started off, "Brit, where are you going?" "Be back daddy." He could see her run toward the street and tried to see pas= t=20 the bushes. "BRITTANY!" ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 14:37:15 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me Part 19/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 19 - Family Ties "Did you get it?" "Sorry, sir, but I think my pocket had a hole in it. I dropped it." "You imbecile!! That was the way to keep Superman out of our buisness." "I'll go back and look for it sir. I'm sorry." The man in charge grabbed the rest of the materials from the search man and signalled him to leave. "That man was going to ruin me. Note to self; have that man killed." ************ "Ok, I understand Dan. I'm sorry too. Maybe we can get together later tonight. I love you too." Lois turned back to her computer screen looking for clues to the stolen chemicals from the nuclear power plant. "Hey? Where's your dad?" This caught Lois' attention and looked up. Lois saw the Perry was holding Brit in his arms. Out of breath, Brit answered. "Dad is...at...the park...he's sick I think." Lois looked at Perry and immediately both headed to the elevator. They ran to the park across the street from the Planet and saw Clark indeed lying on the grass next to the playground. "Clark, are you ok?" Lois felt of his head and could tell he was warm. "We need to get him inside. I'll go get my car." Lois left while Perry helped him to his feet. Suddenly, Brittany started to feel faint. "Brittany, what's wrong?" Clark looked up and saw that she was starting to sweat in her coat. "I think I ran too much." "I think we need to get both of you inside. Lois is going to take you home and get you set up to stay there. Clark, I don't want to see your face at work tomorrow. Understood?" Clark shook his head and took Brit's hand and slowly walked to Lois' Jeep now pulled up in the parking lot. They arrived at Clark's apartment, and Lois walked both of them in. Clark stumbled back to his bedroom to change. He was hot and wanted to change and call home. He was afraid something was really wrong if he was feeling sick. He headed down the hall and could now see with his X-ray vision coming back. Lois was getting Brittany undressed and in bed. "How are you feeling?" "I hope daddy is ok." "I think so, but I bet he's more worried about you than himself." Lois tucked Brit in to bed and pushed her curls back out of her face. "Lois?" "What is it Brit?" "Do you like my daddy?" Clark nearly walked into this one, but wanted to know the answer. "That's a tough question. I loved your daddy at one time, but I am in love with someone else right now. Your daddy knows that and has been a great help." "But he loves you now." Lois almost couldn't speak but carefully answered. "I know." She waited a second more and heard Clark walk in. 'He was listening.' "I think I got her all taken care of. Now for you." Clark smiled and walked past her and kissed Brittany. "Let's not play with this right now." He took the rock again from Brit, who had gotten it from his coat, and put it on her bedside table and started out. Lois was walking out beside him when Clark slumped over against the wall. Lois struggled to hold him up while hearing that Brit had gotten out of bed. "Get back in bed sweetie. Lois has me." He walked out of the room with her and stumbled into his bedroom and laid down. He took Lois' hand. "Thank you." "It's nothing. We're friends Clark. There was no way I would leave you. I hate to see you hurt." "No, I meant what you said to Brit. She's been having it pretty bad and I knew that question she asked was coming. At night, she's been asking about when mom will visit or see her for her birthday." "I'm sorry to hear that. She is a really wonderful kid. I was never much for kids but she's different. Clark, you know we should have the Daily Planet throw a party." "I would really like that. You have made quite an impression on her." Clark crawled into bed and closed his eyes. He felt tired. He felt Lois' hand touch his head and shivered. "Is there anything that I can do?" Clark opened his eyes and saw Lois sitting in a chair next to the bed. "No, I think we both need to rest. If you need to go, we can handle sleeping without you." Lois smiled at the way Clark responded. "Lois, you know what I mean." "I know. I think it was cute. But actually, I think I should stay just in case." Clark took her hand, closed his eyes, and faded off. Two hours later, Clark awoke suddenly with a woman yelping. He realized that Lois was still next to him and he squeezed her hand hard when he woke. "Sorry, I guess I was surprised. I have to get that." He could tell Lois was still out of it. He got up and headed for the door. Answering the door, he hugged his parents and started talking to them. They smiled and stopped when Lois finally came out of the bedroom. "You must be Lois; we have heard so much about you. Thank you for taking care of my son and granddaughter." "No problem; they both seemed very sick. Clark still doesn't seem to have all his color back, and I haven't seen Brit since we put her down." Martha and Jonathon looked at each other and then scrambled to opposite ends of the apartment. Lois and Clark were left standing in the doorway. "I guess I should get going. Perry probably didn't expect me to spend all afternoon here." Lois turned toward the door and felt Clark take her arm. "Thank you." Lois stood still while Clark kissed her on the cheek gently. "I have to get going." Lois smiled and walked out of the door. "We have to figure out something Jonathon. Obviously there is something wrong that is hurting our son and our granddaughter." Martha sat at the kitchen table with her husband, holding his hand that an answer would appear in the meager meal she had put together that night. She had sat vigil over Brit for several hours waiting for the fever to drop while Clark slept. They stared out the window of Clark's balcony and thought about the possibilities. "Jonathon, you don't think there's Kryptonite still out in the open, do you?" "Martha, we have no idea - we only found this one small piece that one time." "But then again - anything's possible." His parents looked up as Clark walked into the kitchen with his bathrobe on. He poured himself some coffee and sat down. "The thing is that I have seen Brit with the sniffles and she does bleed like any three year old. Today though was like looking in a mirror." Martha took her son's hand. "Honey, so you think all of this is Brit feeling it too?" "I have no idea. I'm going to go check on her." Clark put his cup down and walked down the small hall. "Brittany." Clark sat on the edge of the bed and brushed her hair back until she started to stir slightly. "Daddy?" Brit sat up and looked at him, rubbing her eyes to focus. "Where's Lois?" "She had to go back to work but Grandma and Grandpa are here. You think you could eat something now." Brittany shook her head furiously. Clark looked over at his mother in the doorway, who already had left for the kitchen. Martha came back from the kitchen and found her son and Brit asleep again leaning on the pillows. "Do you think we should move Clark?" Martha looked at Jonathon as he shook his head. Martha instead pulled Brit's blanket over both of them and then stopped short. "Jonathon, look at Clark." "Let's get him into his room." Jonathon shook Clark awake and noticed he started shivering. "Dad, what's wrong with me? I'm so cold." Clark let his parents tuck Brit in and walked Clark over to his room. "Watch her please." Clark laid down and hoped his daughter wasn't feeling the same way. His parents left in silence except for the washcloth that Martha placed on Clark's head. He had already faded off to sleep. Martha walked back into Brittany's room and then saw the rock and wondered. "Jonathon, do you think that this could be?" "We could see." Jonathon took it into the bathroom and rinsed it off to reveal a noticeable glow that they had seen before. "Martha, let's hope neither of them notice that the rock is missing. I'm getting rid of this." Walking out to the balcony, he tossed it into the trash bin below the apartment. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 14:43:42 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me Part 20 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 20 - From Where I Stand Back at the Planet, Lois sat motionless in her chair trying to figure out what to tell Dan. He called her to talk to her while she had been over at Clark's and Perry just decided to Dan straight out where she was. She looked up just as the elevator opened to see Dan. "Lois, I called you and Perry said that you were at Clark's?!" He was redder than red when he stormed up to her desk. He tried to grab her but she dodged him. "Don't you dare come in like that. He is my partner and he was ill. His daughter ran into the newsroom and got us. If you don't understand, then you just can get out." Dan sat down at her desk. "I'm sorry Lois. He didn't tell me that Clark was ill. Is he going to be ok?" "I think so, not that you would care. His parents came into town to help him. He was just worried about Brit. I think he would really give his life for her if he thought he would lose her." "Excuse me, Lois Lane?" A woman with a little boy stood next to her desk. "I noticed that Clark isn't here. He told me that he had the day off and I was wondering if you could tell me where he lives. My son Michael knows Brit." "Yes, Clark told me. Here's the address. He was feeling under the weather today and went home." Lois scribbled down the address and watched the woman walk out of the door. She looked back at Dan, noticing a grin from ear to ear. "What?" "I was thinking a woman like that and Clark could really hit it off." Lois huffed at the comment and picked her stuff. "So, how about this weekend, we put the final plans on the wedding. We only have three weeks left honey." "Sounds good." But deep in her heart, Lois wasn't thinking of the wedding at all. **************** "Oh, hi. I'm Ally, and I thought that Clark Ke..." "Hi. We heard about you. I'm Martha and this is my husband Jonathon. Clark is asleep right now, but you may come in." Ally started down the stairs as Clark slowly walked out of his room. "Hi, come on in." Ally immediately walked over to Clark and helped him to the couch. "We're going to go into the kitchen. Let us know if you need anything." Martha and Jonathon looked at each other and then left Clark with Michael and Ally. Michael sat down quietly on the floor. "Ally, this is surprise." "Lois told me at the newsroom that you weren't feeling that well. I thought I could come over fix you a dinner or something but I guess your parents are here for that." "Well, you could join us for dinner. I hear my mother working on it. Maybe then you could stick around for the night. Maybe we could..." "What?" Ally got excited. "I have to go. The bank closes and I haven't put my check in. You could meet me back at nine." Clark shook his head and kissed Brit on the head before taking off. Superman arrived moments later in front of the main city Post Office where a woman was screaming. "Miss, what is wrong?" "The man who was here - in all black - dropped this and said that it would go off in three minutes. I was just hired as a security guard. I can't handle this." "Stand back then." Superman carefully looked at the golf ball size object. 'Lead - perfect.' He picked it up and flew off into the direction of the sun. When he had flown several miles into space, he stopped and looked again at the object. He took it and threw it in the sun. About halfway there, the object exploded and threw Superman back toward Earth, somewhat disoriented. Fortunately, the International Trade Center broke his fall. "Excuse me." He rose slowly and exited through the door. Cameras continued to click until the door finally closed behind him. He walked out behind the building and jumped into the air. Nothing. "This is perfect." He spoke to himself. He was now changed, walking around the street clueless. He stopped at the phone booth and started dialing. "Pick up..." "Hello?" "Lois, Hi. This is really strange but this is Superman. What is the chance that you could come get me from New Worth. I sort of have a problem." I can't fly." He could Lois gasp on the other end of the line. "Lois, could you just come get me." "On my way, where will you be?" "Outside the International Trade building. Hurry." She hung up and ran into Perry's office. "Perry, is there a chance I could get a ride from the Metropolis Helicopter to New Worth?" Perry looked at her cross. "Why?" "Superman is sort of stuck there and can't get back to Metropolis. Perry this is the story to finish off that other interview. Maybe this has something to do with the bomb he threw into space." Perry raised an eyebrow, smelling a huge piece for the morning edition. He picked up the phone and had Lois on the helicopter in an hour. "Perry, we're supposed to check out the banquet dinner hall." "Dan, she had to go out on assignment." Dan shrugged and sat down at her desk. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there when Lois finally arrived. "Lois, here..." Superman waved her down and jumped into the seat behind her in the helicopter. "You don't know how much this means to me." A little later they landed back at the Planet. "You need a ride somewhere?" Superman walked Lois down to her car and smiled over at her right before she was able to ask, "would you mind coming over and giving me the rest of the interview then I can drop you where ever you need to go." She almost fell getting into the Jeep when he told her yes. In the car, she sat silent for several more minutes. "Lois, what do you want to ask? If it's not about flying, I have no idea or any kind if answer to that. I just threw a bomb into the sun and something flew back at me. It was strange. I didn't feel different when I was blown back to Earth." "Do you have all the other powers or are they all gone too?' "I haven't actually thought about it honestly. I was more interested in getting back to my place of origin - that's why I called you. I guess I could try them out now to see." He could pick up something faint but not understandable. "I think the others are suffering too; maybe not to the same extent." "Maybe they are just coming back. Maybe they were gone and now are getting better slowly. Here we are." Lois stopped and got out of the Jeep and walked to the front door. "Well, come on - no one's looking." Almost skipping, Superman walked up the steps behind Lois and into her apartment. "I'll be out in a minute." Lois went into the bedroom to change. "Make yourself comfortable." Superman continued to walk around and look at things in the apartment. "Hello Cronkite." He threw some fish food in the tank. "Mmmmm." He ran his fingers across the picture of Lois and Clark that Lois had put back up since he was there last. 'Must be feeling guilty since Brit told her about my pics of her,' he thought. "Ok, did you feed the fish? I swear I heard you talk to them but I never told you their names I thought." Superman played dumb. "So, how are you feeling?" "The same but better I guess." He moved closer to Lois on the couch. "Lois, I know you told me to back off but I really do need to know one thing." Lois looked at him. "How do you really feel about me? I know that I told you I loved you but maybe I was just confused or something." Lois placed her finger on his mouth, to more her surprise than his. "I think I ... I love Dan." Lois got up and started looking out the window. "Sounds like your working hard to convince yourself of that Lois." Lois turned around to face Superman with tears streaming down her face. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I didn't mean to push - it's just in my position, I rarely get a chance with someone like you and you are a rare one." He walked up and wiped her face with his cape. She smiled as she looked up at him. "I think I should call Clark." She picked up the receiver of the phone and felt his hands on hers. "You must be getting your speed back. I really should call him." "I heard he was under the weather. Shouldn't you let him rest?" Lois looked and saw a strange and curious look on Superman's face. "He won't mind. Yes, is Clark there? Who is this? Just tell him that Lois called." Lois hung up the phone and looked at Superman distressed. "What is it?" "That Ally was there at the apartment. It's just strange. I knew Clark back in college and didn't ever picture him getting involved with a woman that fast." "Maybe he's not involved. Clark can have woman friends. Maybe you're just jealous." Lois stared at him. "That's not a very Superman thing to say. Anyway, that's not a real important thing anyway. Just please don't tell him I said that. I'm not jealous or in love with him." "Lois, I didn't say anything about love." Superman stood up and practiced floating to the window, smiling at Lois from across the room. "I have to go. I won't mention it to Clark." Lois stood in the middle of the living room speechless as she watched him leave. "That's the way Superman, always leaving as we start to get into it." Down inside though, she hoped that he would keep her secret. No one could know she had finally said it out loud after so many years. Lois loves Clark. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 14:49:45 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me par 21 and 22/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 21 - Confusion Abounds "Where have you been honey? Perry said you were on assignment, but that was hours ago." Lois walked up and kissed Dan on the cheek. He could tell that something was up, but decided not to probe. "I had an out of town assignment. But we still have some time right now to finish shopping, but I need to talk to Perry first." She saw him in his office buried in a pile of papers. "Perry, could we have a party for Brit here. She'll be turning four." "I don't see why not. We could get the child care center involved." Lois agreed and made a temporary date for it on her calendar before their leaving the Planet. **************** Clark walked into his apartment hours later. He looked around and saw just his father and his mother sitting in his living room. Looking at the clock and his parents, he noticed that it was already nine at night. He remembered that Ally had been there before he left. "Ally leave?" "No, but I was wondering what bank you use." Michael, Brit, and Ally came around the corner. Clark smiled as his parents exited the room. "I thought that you would have been smart enough to leave a long time ago." "We kept thinking you would come home. Then, your parents and I started talking and we all got to know each other. I mean our children play together and we should know each other too." Clark walked over and sat down next to them on the couch. "So where did you go exactly?" "I thought of a few other things that I needed to do. Excuse me a minute." Clark left the room and went into the kitchen for a drink. His parents were waiting for the real report. "Clark, what really happened?" "That thing I had to take care of...the bomb blew up in space and left me stranded in New Worth. I called Lois to come get me since I couldn't fly. I guess maybe it was too soon to go out. Then I ended up over there in the middle of an interview among other things." "What do you mean by other things?" His parents were strangely curious. "She told Superman that she loved Clark, in a way. I'm sure that was what she meant to say." He left to sit out on the balcony and stare out the sky. "I just don't know what I'm going to do now. And with Ally." They squeezed his shoulder as they walked back into the apartment. "Penny for your thoughts." He felt a warm hand and turned around to face his guest. "I guess I'm really distracted." Ally knelt next to him and then sat on his lap when he invited her to. "Care to share?" Ally seemed to mean well by her interests in him but something wasn't quite right about the woman going after the man thing. He had been around even though he grew up in Kansas, but still felt it unnatural for a woman to do the hunting. Then again, maybe he was just not interested since Lois was coming around. "It's a woman, isn't it? I know someone like you had to be involved." "Ally." "Look, I'm not trying to find a father for Michael. You seem to have things to work out in your life and I came in at the wrong time. I'm sorry I got in your business. I'll be going." Ally rose as Clark grabbed her gently on the arm. Ally stopped and sat down again. "Yes?" "I'm sorry. You come here to have a nice night and I wander off and then ignore you when I am here. You are real nice Ally..." "But I'm in the way and..." Ally stopped when she felt his hand run down the side of her face. "You're not in the way." Clark started to pull her closer but Ally stood up and called to Michael. "We need to get going. Michael get ready now. Clark, come back to me when you figure out everything." Ally walked through the living room. "Thank you Martha and Jonathon." Clark lightly kissed her on the cheek as she walked to the door. Letting her out, Clark saw Lois and Dan walk up. "Clark, we have some great news." Lois and Dan pushed into the apartment. "Just be at the Planet tomorrow about ten." Clark looked at her confused. "Why?" "Don't you mind that right now. By the way, I ran into Superman tonight and we have a story to put together tomorrow. Just make sure you, Brit, and your parents are there. You can come too." Lois was pointing to Ally and Michael. Lois and Dan were out the door as fast as they arrived. Clark said a last goodbye to Ally. He didn't know whether Lois was happy to see him or was happy with Dan. He closed the door and sat on the couch, his parents looking at him. "I have no idea." Chapter 22 - A Simple Get Together "Blasted - look at this heading. **Superman Foils Postal Bomb: Walks Away Unharmed** How are we going to compete with this Berny." Berny came running in from the other room behind the office that his counterpart had set up. "Sir, I think I found something that you might be interested in." "What? You know I'm very busy trying to think of what we can do next." Berny pushed anyway by throwing a chemical chart in front of his associate. "Sir, this Kryptonite can hurt Superman, but it's not from here, right. But there is the Earthen element called Krypton that supposedly may be remnants from when the galaxy he came from originally formed. The element is extremely similar in composition except for a little difference. But while I was breaking down the nuclear agents, I found this." Berny threw another chart on his boss' lap. Berny and the associate began to laugh hysterically. Within a few minutes, the men were back in a beaten up lab sweating over several bottles that seemed to be producing something of a gel. *************** "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The entire office at the Daily Planet jumped behind their desks as Clark and Brit walked in the office. All the people laughed when Brit practically jumped into Clark's arms, somewhat in shock. "Isn't this great?" Clark kept her in his arms. She put her arms around his neck and laughed as he descended the stairs to see a mass of packages on and around his desk. He let her down and Brit ran straight for them. "Thank you." Clark pulled Lois close to him and pecked her on the cheek. He saw Dan look over, but he didn't make a move to worry about it. "Lois, you know Ally?" Ally and Michael popped out behind him. They hadn't been noticed at the first entrances. "We've met, you could say." Clark looked down at Lois hearing the tone that she remarked with. "Clark, how are you doing?" Dan walked over and shook Clark's hand, completely cool. "I'm fine. This is..." "Ally, I was here when she came by the same time she met Lois." Ally put her arm around Clark and smiled. Dan pleasantly smiled back in the direction of Clark. "Daddy, come here." Brit ran over and started pulling on Clark's jacket until he turned and walked over to the mound of presents that Brit and Michael quickly unwrapped and started playing with them there in the newsroom floor. Clark had always taught her to share, so the rest of the children were invited to carry the new toys to the child care center for the rest of the day. Returning to the newsroom, Ally was still sitting at Clark's desk. "Clark, could we talk?" Clark nodded and pointed in the conference room direction. Shutting the door behind him, Ally started. "I'm sorry about last night, but I stepped over the bounds." "You didn't step over any bounds. I confused you but I want to try to set things straight. I have been involved with someone before but it's looking bad for me." "Clark, I don't want to be a rebound girl, but I will be there if things don't work out for you. I know that Lois has hurt you." Ally moved closer to Clark, leaning on the table. "It's more complicated than that. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I think we should make some plans." Clark moved his hand up to Ally's cheek and down her neck. With their faces not inches apart, Clark kissed her gently and felt her fall into him. Ally responded by kissing him back, but deeper. "Clark, oh gee, ummm." Lois was in shock after shooting through the conference door. "Clark, the police came back with a report on the bomb yesterday. When you're ready, we could go check it out. When you're ready though." Lois made faces at the two of them and, upon not being noticed, slammed the door behind her. "Huh?" Clark loosened his grip on Ally. "I gotta go. That story.." "I understand. I'll give you a call or something." Clark nodded but was already out of the door. Clark walked down the hall and found Lois waiting for the elevator. "Glad, you decided to come." "Don't start Lois. What's up?" "I talked to the post office and they didn't have any ideas on how it got there. The research department at the police lab said the residue had some nuclear components but nothing that would have set off any massive explosion." "But Superman was thrown back to Earth and that would mean there had to be some component that was harmful. The bomb couldn't then have been a fake." "Guys, wait..." Jimmy ran up the stairs to the two getting in the elevator and handed them a folder. "Lois, these are the reports from the lab that we were waiting for. They also crossed it with another chemical that some of us know can hurt someone we all love." Lois looked at Clark and responded at the same time. "Superman." Lois grabbed the report. "Clark, I think we might have a problem." She handed the report back to Clark and pointed out a part. "This says that one of the chemicals in the compound is a possible remnant from the galaxy Superman is from. This means that..." "There's a common substance that someone has found a way to change in order to hurt or kill Superman." Clark, thinking of backing out of the story, started off the opposite direction on the street when she grabbed him by the arm. "Where are you going? This is a huge story. Let's go." Turning around, he followed her reluctantly, mumbling, "you win Lois." They both jumped in her Jeep and started off. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 15:00:21 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me Part 23 and 24/31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 23 - In Sickness and In Health "Lois, I've been expecting you. You Jimmy let me know that you would be arriving. I started running tests on some more of the residue from the post office and found something. The chemical mixed in the right amounts could produce the blast of an atomic weapon. This chemical though is thought to be completely harmless. It is being tested to replace argon and neon in lamps. Mixed together with this, it comes out to look more something else. Come with me." Lois and Clark followed the little doctor into a lead lined room. Clark started to feel like he didn't belong there. Trying to hide the pain, he held his head. "Clark, isn't this neat." Lois was like a little kid when investigating. But she turned around for a moment. "You need a Tylenol or something?" "It doesn't help me much. I'll be ok." He followed behind her into the closet and leaned against the wall. The doctor took a canister down off the top shelf and started t open it. Clark felt a sharp pain in the place of the headache. Leaving the room, he stumbled. "Lois?" Clark could barely speak. "The coloring of the substance is quite similar to Kryptonite. The problem is that since it is not exactly clear the kind of reaction he would have." "Clark, this is a really scary. Can you imagine Superman having to run all the time." Lying on the floor, he answered, "I can." The doctor and Lois continued to talk when Lois realized that Clark was not next to her. "Clark?! Oh Clark, I'm sorry. Doctor, help me pick him up. He feels like bricks. I should have left him at the Planet. Clark, wake up." "What happened? Why am I on the floor? Lois, my head hurts." Clark sat up but was still uneasy but tried to hold himself up. "Clark, you're bleeding." Clark reached up and touched his forehead. Sure enough. "I'm sorry but I think we need to go. Evidently Clark is not over whatever he seems to have caught." Lois and the doctor pulled Clark up and started with him out the door. Lois stopped. "Oh, I guess we left your glasses back on the floor." "Huh?" Clark felt his face as he climbed into the car and instantly started to worry. A few seconds later, Clark saw dimly Lois getting in the Jeep. "Here. You must not have a real strong prescription." "No, what about Brittany?" "I'll go back and get her. You just stay home." Lois and Clark arrived at his place and had Clark lean against the doorway while Lois rang the bell. Clark's parents and Lois struggled to move him to the couch. "Don't worry about Brit. I have some more work and then I'll bring her home. I love you." "What? Lois." She realized what she had said. "I have to go." Lois kissed him lightly on the lips while Clark closed his eyes. His parents watched from around the corner. **********************8 Back at the Planet, Perry and Jimmy were on the way out. "Lois, did you get anything?" "I did but Clark got sick again. I had to take him home and I need to pick up Brit up for him." "Well, Dan is waiting for you. You have some appointment this afternoon. Jimmy and I are going downstairs to check the copy." "Hey Honey. I'm sorry. Clark got sick and Brit is still here and ... you don't want to hear about this do you?" Dan sat in Lois' chair and just smiled at her. She knew from that look that he definitely did not have interests in Clark's problems. "Just let me call him." She picked up the phone and left a message with his mother. Martha decided that Clark only needed to know that Lois would be by later. Dan and Lois returned later that evening. Everyone but Perry had cleared out of the building. "I'll call you later." Dan kissed Lois lightly and she kissed him back for the first time in awhile, picturing Ally and Clark in her mind. As Dan left, Perry walked over to Lois with Brit in his arms. "The teacher had to go, so I decided to take her. She has a mouthful to say." Lois laughed as Perry and her worked on loading the presents into the elevator. "You ready to go?" Brit shook her head and went skipping to hit the elevator button. Once in the car, Lois started getting uncomfortable. "So, how was your party?" "They had cake and ice cream. I didn't get a lot. I got this. I asked daddy for but I haven't found." "So what did you think of what you got from me?" Brit looked at her writing paper and pencils. "Brit, I never had to buy for little girls before so I really didn't know what to buy." "That's ok. You'll get better." "What do you mean?" "Don't you want a baby someday? Daddy tells me how happy he was. I wish mom happy. I remember mommy and daddy..." Lois looked over at Brittany, "What's wrong? What did mommy and daddy do?" Lois stopped at the stop sign and rubbed Brit's blond hair as Brit started to cry. "They fought a lot. Daddy said she was on a trip, but she's not coming back, is she?" Brit looked up at Lois who was almost in tears. "Did they hit each other?" "No, he would go somewhere and sometimes he would take me too." "Where would he go?" ` "I don't know." Lois had a flash of Clark rubbing his head earlier today and stopped breathing. Brit continued, "He was scared. We would go for ice cream. I like chocolate. He'd sit and look at the wall or the sky." Lois kept looking at Brit, captivated. "Sometimes, he look at you. He would disappear at night and end up on the couch." "Did he mention me?" "In his sleep - why? Last night." Lois just sat in the car in front of the apartment for a second. "Here we are." She started up the stairs as Martha came out the door. "If you could me with the packages." Trying to kick the door open, Ally appeared to Lois' dismay. "Ally, I didn't think you would be here." "I heard Clark was ill, so I dropped by to help." "Well, I told him that I would help when I got here, so you can leave." Ally, ignoring Lois, walked back in the kitchen and worked on the dinner for the family. Lois followed her. "I said you could go; I'll finish this up." "Lois, don't you have wedding plans or something to work on. If I didn't know any better, I would think that you weren't interested in Dan at all. I mean you look like you are actually more interested in Clark..." "Thanks of both of you, but I'll be fine. I'm just sorry about Brit's birthday, but I don't want you two to go to any trouble." "What can I do?" Ally walked over and started rubbing his shoulders that seemed to ache. Lois tried not to cringe through every little feeling. "Nothing, Lois can I talk to you?" Lois upped her nose at Ally and followed him onto the balcony. "Is there anyway that you can stay tonight? My parents have to leave for a funeral and I really need someone with us tonight." Lois stood there and looked at Clark sitting in his bathrobe. He looked like he was in pain and she didn't want to say no. "I have to call Dan." "Fine, whatever you need to do, but you could really help me out." Clark rose up and put his arm around Lois to lead him back to the living room. He saw his parents packed and ready to leave for the airport. "I'm sorry that I can't see you off to the airport, but things happen." His parents hugged him and smiled. "Take care of him. We'll be back into days. Clark, I really hate leaving you here." "It's ok. Brit and Lois are here. And Ally." Clark saw her out of the corner of his eye and halfway smiled. He knew that she knew that morning was a first and last time for them. She approached him and Lois and pushed by Lois. "You win," Ally whispered to Lois. "Can I take ya'll to the airport. It's on the way home for me." Ally picked a bag and started out to the car. "Guess we have to go. Bye honey." His parents started the stairs. "I'll take good care of him." The door closed and Clark, Brit, and Lois stood in the living room together. For an instant, everything seemed to be in place. Chapter 24 - Questions and Answers "Hi Honey. I know you're going to be mad, but I had to stay with Clark. He is real sick and his parents had to go out of town." "Lois, I have learned that you now are able to handle spending time with Clark without getting all excited. I just hope that this weekend, we can get everything and the last big of yours where we can worry about the wedding. I anticipated you would be busy so I went on and finished the menu. By the way, you think Clark would mind me dropping by tonight?" "No, I don't think so. Why?" "I need to talk to him about something." "Well, he's still up for right now. Why don't you head out now?" "Ok, but don't tell him I'm coming. I love you." "I love you too. See you soon." Lois hung up the phone and saw Clark glance back over at the television. He had seen her on the phone but couldn't hear anything that had been said. It was driving him not knowing what was going on in the outside world. Whatever that doctor had was an experiment of great proportions. A few minutes later the doorbell rang. Clark strained to see who it was. Lois ran to the door and hugged whoever was on the other side. He heard Dan's voice and sat back in the couch. Then he heard Dan ask Lois if he could be alone with Clark. 'He wants to kick me while I'm down.' "Clark, heard you were still feeling bad." Dan came and sat down next to him. Lois left the room as asked, but seemed concerned about what he said. "Not really well. I just hate the fact that Brit has to see like this. I'm really glad that you didn't mind that Lois help me out." "Anyway, I wanted to come over and give you this. This is one of the invitations to the wedding. You know its in two weeks and we haven't quite had the time to plan very well. But the thing is..." Clark sat up and looked at Dan waiting to hear something like, 'I don't want you really there.' "Lois has admired you for years. I finally figured that out. So, since she doesn't have any brothers, I would like you to be in my wedding party to represent her." Clark let his jaw almost drop thinking that this couldn't have possibly happened. "Lois doesn't know yet because I wanted to ask you first before getting her hopes up too high." "I would be happy to help." Clark spoke before thinking and then felt a pit in his stomach drop. "Excuse me." Clark took of for the bathroom. He appeared a few minutes later to see Lois and Dan kissing in the doorway. It almost sent him to the bathroom again. He sat down on the couch. "Clark, are you sure you want to do this? You know you don't have to do this for me." Lois sat beside him and took his hand. "I want to, assuming that I get better." "You will. Maybe we should get you in bed now." Lois helped him up and walked into the bedroom with him. She tried not to gasp when she saw his body for the first time in years. He had definitely changed since college. She pulled the sheets over him and kissed him on the forehead as he turned to turn the light off. "Lois?" He grabbed her fingers as she slid her hand out of his. "Huh? What?" "What did you mean when you told me that loved me?" Lois stopped and turned to him. 'Lie Lois.' She thought to herself. "I meant like a friend. You know how I love you - we're best friends. We have been for a long time. Go to sleep." She slid her hand out of his and walked back in the living room. Clark laid in bed looking at the ceiling, trying to figure out why he couldn't hear or see anything besides the obvious. He fell asleep to the mumbles of the tv. **************** "What?!" Lois stumbled off the couch and went into Brit's bedroom to look in on her. She covered her up a bit better and then went back into the living room to lay down when she heard her name. She walked into Clark's room quietly and sat down on the bed. "Why Lois? What are you afraid of? Why Lois - I love you..." Lois started crying sitting on the edge of the bed. Clark started to toss over onto her lap. He stirred awake. "Lois, what's wrong?" he rubbed his eyes, trying to focus. "You were dreaming." "Why are you crying?" Clark wiped the tears from her face with the sheet and sat up next to her. He put his arm around her, not remembering what he had dreamt about. "You were talking in your sleep...about me." She could feel Clark stiffen up as she moved away from her in the bed. "Clark, I know that you still are in love with me, but I love Dan. Wait, where are your glasses." Clark then just realized he was slipping with her around. "Oh." Clark put them on and saw Lois look at him strangely. "Anyway, you seem to tell me that a lot, like you are trying to convince yourself of that. I'm sorry Lois. I'll try to keep it down - I didn't mean to wake you." He searched Lois' face for some sign that would mean for her not to leave him like that. "Clark, it wouldn't be right if something happened between us. Dan has started to finally trust me again after that other thing that happened and I just..." Clark waited for her to finish the sentence. "And Superman - that's another kick in the head - I still like him and..." Lois looked at Clark again but different this time. She pictured him without glasses and gasped. "What?" "It's just - who are you?" Clark looked at her puzzled. "Lois, I'm Clark. Are you ok?" Clark ran his hand down her cheek, and she stood to look at him. "But who are you really? Why didn't you tell me?" Lois walked over to the window and faced Clark. "Now, I understand the balcony. The illness - it all makes sense." Clark knew what she meant. He took the glasses off and slipped over to the window next to her. "I really wanted to tell you, especially when I thought it would have won you back." Clark put his arms around her and kissed her gently. Lois didn't pull away. Clark heard her crying. "What's wrong?" "Just after figuring this out and hearing you tonight. I guess I should be mad or at least disturbed by your lying to me. But I guess you had to. But you know what really hurts?" Lois turned to face Clark, standing in the moonlight. She buried her head in his chest. "What Lois?" "Like, I'm marrying the wrong man, especially now that I know the truth." Clark let go and started to breathe harder as Lois looked up. "So back out." He was finally able to come up with some words. He left her there and ran across the room, as if he wasn't sick at all. He walked back over to Lois. "Back out if you really don't think you belong with him. Marry me." He sat her down on the bed and kneeled in front of her and pulled the ring out of his hand. "You kept it all this time. Clark, I can't - I told Dan that I loved him long ago and we believe that. I'm marrying Dan. Anyway, if I had said yes before, what would have happened to Superman?" Clark looked at the floor and then at Lois. "Superman would never had happened. At that time, I had chosen you over all else." Clark answered as he slipped the ring back in the drawer again and got back in the bed. Lois had moved back to the window. "Oh, well, could I share?" "What? I guess so - 'for old times' sake we'll say." Clark pulled the sheets back for her and hoped that her body wouldn't send electricity through him. He turned away from her and put his head down hoping she would leave. He closed his eyes and hoped she would go away. This was too painful. "You still here?" He didn't get an answer but felt a hand on his shoulder. He took a deep breath. "Lois, don't." "Clark, just one last time." He turned toward her and then away. He felt her wrap her arms around him. She started kissing him and then thought better of it. He could feel that she fell asleep breathing on his back. But she didn't know he fell asleep in tears. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 15:06:42 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mary Scibetta Subject: Let It Be Me Part 25 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chapter 25 - Return of Old Friends The next morning, Clark awoke to Brit staring at him in the face. "Daddy, why are your eyes red?" Clark pulled Brit off of his chest and went to the restroom. Sure enough - he had never had a blemish but now this. "This is perfect. What is wrong with me?" He tried his x-ray vision and heat vision but nothing. His superhearing was still out also. "Start breakfast." He walked into the living room to see that Lois had already taken off. "She stuck around to help, didn't she," he mumbled to himself remembering the night before. He looked down at Brit who at the kitchen table waiting patiently for dad to come up with breakfast. He cooked up some eggs and tried to pick up the pan. "Damn." "Daddy?" Brit raced over to help pick up the mess on the floor. "Are you ok?" Clark headed back to the bathroom. "I'll be fine." He started running water over his hand, cringing at the touch. He heard the main door slam and Lois appeared ready for work. "I went and checked in at work. I got some breakfast for us and what happened?" She walked in and saw Brit cleaning the floor when Clark walked in. Clark showed his hand to Lois. Knowing he was Superman, she could tell that he was not used to pain. "I think the pan was a little too hot." Lois took his hand and ran it under water. "I already did this once." Lois nodded. She pulled a towel off the rack to wrap his hand in. "Clark, since when did you think you became Superman?" Lois smiled at him and pointed at her face, hinting to him. "I don't usually have this prob...Ouch." "Sorry, Come on, I have surprise for you." She took Clark's good hand, handed him his glasses off the table, and walked him back in the living room. On the floor, he saw Brit and another woman. She looked up and smiled. "Lucy?" Clark was partly happy to see her. She got up and gave Clark a hug. "Good to see you. I was just thrown when Lois said that you two were still working together. How have you been?" "Pretty good until lately. I have been real sick lately." Brit walked everyone in the kitchen and started on the muffins that Lois had brought. "But Lois has been good to me." "Speaking of me, I have to get somewhere, but I'll be back. Lucy, can you watch them please. Keep that on his hand because he'll probably take it off as soon as I leave. Clark, here's some information from those labs we visited yesterday." Clark sat at the table looking through the charts and started to sweat from just thinking that Kryptonite could be produced from mass elements. "So Clark, I met Brit here." Lucy looked over at Brit and smiled. Brit smiled back and then got up to put her things away. She stopped and whispered something to her dad that made him smile. "I came in early to help with the wedding and heard you were in the wedding party. Talk about weird." Lucy stopped when she saw that Clark suddenly went into a trance. "I didn't mean to..." "It's ok...ouch." He looked again at his hand. "Let me help you." Lucy smiled as she pulled apart the muffin for him. "So what have you been up to? What are you working on?" She looked sideways at the report, "Wouldn't something like this kill Superman - a mix of strained Plutonium and Kryptonite." "Well, we're not sure except there is something about it that is bothering him." "Why do you say that? You know him?" "You could say that he's pretty tight with Lois and me." Lucy looked at him strangely and smiled anyway. 'Does everyone know and aren't telling me, ' he thought. "So let's go check it out." Lucy got up from the table and went into Brit's room to get her dressed, knowing it would convince Clark to get ready too. A few minutes later she and Brit appeared in the living room waiting for the father who was taking his own time. Clark came out not able to do his tie. "Lucy, could you?" "Hold still and don't breathe in. Just makes your neck small so then I won't choke you. There. Let's drop her off and get going. I know my sister and she has to be getting herself into trouble." "Tell me about it, you have a car?" "Sure." With that, Clark and Brit followed her and then Clark continued on to the address that Lois had left in the car. "So, have you gotten that important matching tux for the wedding." Lucy was determined to have Clark fight for Lois. "No, I just found out awhile ago. I might go by and check it out today. Are you ready?" "Mostly, but I still can't believe that she is still marrying this Dan guy. He seems real fake, not genuine like you." "I feel the same way - every time I think of being in the wedding party. "I know. I thought that was cruel, especially since you are still in love with her." Clark looked at her in shock. "She told me about last night. If I had been there, I would have said yes." "She told you everything?" Clark had to know. "About you asking her again and the dream. And that ya'll shared the bed. Was there more?" Clark breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head no. "It's ok. I know that she still loves me still deep in her heart. But if she chooses Dan, I hope they are happy together. I just don't want to lose her as a friend." Lucy looked at Clark funny hoping he didn't mean what he had just said. "Besides, she probably wouldn't want a ready made family anyway." Lucy stopped abruptly and grabbed Clark by the arm. "Clark look at me. I would have killed to be with you years ago and even still now. But you can't let Lois get away so easily. Dan and her will end up moving away and you'll never see her again. She'll end up pregnant and divorced and looking for you. Do you want that to happen?" Clark looked at her and shook her head. "No?" "That's right. Now, let's go get your future wife out of whatever trouble she has gotten herself in." She got out of the car and signaled Clark to follow her. They snuck around the corner of the building and found Lois. Not the way they had hoped though. "Think we should call for Superman?" Clark got nervous but started feeling different. "That could be possible." He looked into the room where Lois was being held and listened. It was a trap for Superman. He could be putting himself into a bad situation but needed to get to Lois. "I'll be back, I'm going to go look for another way inside." He ducked out of Lucy's sight and changed. While she was still watching, Lucy heard a crashing through the wall. She watched as Superman ran for the men holding Lois. "Superman...stay back, they have something that can..." Lois was too late. Two men suddenly shot Superman with what looked like toy guns. Standing in front of Lois, he made a tragic mistake. "Come on Berny, let's get out of here." Running past Lucy, Lois and Superman both looked up as Lucy took one man out by a knee to the groin. From across the building, Lois yelled for Lucy as Lucy smacked the other in the back and stepped on his knee before checking on Lois. "No, help him. What is this stuff on him?" "Lois, he doesn't look good. We gotta get him in the Jeep." "Let's go - I know someone." Lucy and Lois dragged Superman to the Jeep and set him in the back. Lucy drove by the directions while Lois sat in the back and tried to scrape what she could off his body but was afraid that she was just rubbing it in more. Superman touched her face. "Where am I?" "You're in my car. It's Lois. The guys that were holding me had something that put you out like a rock. You just dropped to the floor. How are you feeling right now?" Superman sat up a bit next to her. "I feel weak, but not sick like before." "I don't know if you remember yesterday at the lab, but the substance that made you fall was a gel. Looked a lot like this." Lois continued to try to pull the gel off when Superman leaned back again. "Where are we going?" Lucy asked from up front. "Here. Stop Lucy." Lois felt Superman's hand. "How much did you tell her about last night?" Lois could see he was worried. "Your secret is still safe. Let's go." Lucy and Lois helped Superman out of the Jeep. Doctors and assistants were already huddled to assist him in the building. "I have it." He stumbled on his own into the doctor's main office and sat down. The doctor took a sample of the gel and sent it to the lab to compare to the other substance form the day before. "Superman, I know you are not accustomed to getting undressed but we really need to get you out of this suit before more seeps into the skin. There is a shower and some clothes over there for you." Lucy looked strangely at Lois who was fixed on Superman. He left toward the showers and returned several minutes later in plain pants and a pull on. Sitting next to Lois, Superman took her hand as she smiled. "You've got me out of a lot of jams. I always thought it was supposed to be the other way around." Dr. Klein returned. "Find anything?" "They got the samples back and the comparisons are the same. It's not true Kryptonite, but still obviously has some effects on you. I want to run some other tests on you Superman." "Sure, whatever it takes. Like I said, I don't feel any different but just not myself." Dr Klein left and returned and hooked Superman up to a treadmill. He looked at Lois and hoped he wouldn't run it into the ground. To his surprise, he only completed a few miles in a minute. The doctor then took a blood sample. Lois had known his skin was invincible but this gel must have really done something strange. Lois couldn't believe that Superman was in such a helpless situation. Who was she kidding, this was Clark. That made it harder. Lucy since had left to go look for Clark, little did she know she would never find him. "Let me go run a look at the sample." Dr Klein took off out of the room again. "I'm sorry you have to see me like this Lois." He put his face in his hands. "It's alright. It's ok; I just want you to get back to yourself where we can just get these men and get me married." She put her arms around him. "You know I really owe you for all of this. I swear I just wanted to get you out of there." They felt their eyes burn into each other as they recalled the night before when the truth came out, but were interrupted. "Superman, I have some bad news or good news depending on how you take it." Lois could feel his grip tighten in her hand but not like a Superman's grip. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 13:41:40 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Question for fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi everyone ;) Can anyone tell me who the names of the partners were who worked for the Daily Planet that Perry compared LNC to? It seemed like he was talking to Jimmy at the time, about how the team got too close romantically, then their work fell apart. It seemed like there was also a line by Perry that said something to the effect of, "They're the greatest team since...." Why can't I remember? Did he really say something like that? Or am I delusional? Also, did Perry ever mention other great teams (not necessarily male/female) that worked for the Planet? I need all this info for my fic. Thanks! Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 12:54:48 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Re: Question for fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I believe the partners you're referring to were Norcross and Judd. Nan Erin Klingler wrote: > Hi everyone ;) > > Can anyone tell me who the names of the partners were who worked for the Daily > Planet that Perry compared LNC to? It seemed like he was talking to Jimmy at > the time, about how the team got too close romantically, then their work fell > apart. It seemed like there was also a line by Perry that said something to > the effect of, "They're the greatest team since...." Why can't I remember? > Did he really say something like that? Or am I delusional? > > Also, did Perry ever mention other great teams (not necessarily male/female) > that worked for the Planet? I need all this info for my fic. Thanks! > > Erin :) > __________________ > erink@ida.net > Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek > ***** > "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." > __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 15:55:47 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Michael Schwartz Subject: Re: Question for fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Norcross & Judd ----- Original Message ----- From: Erin Klingler To: Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 3:41 PM Subject: Question for fanfic > Hi everyone ;) > > Can anyone tell me who the names of the partners were who worked for the Daily > Planet that Perry compared LNC to? It seemed like he was talking to Jimmy at > the time, about how the team got too close romantically, then their work fell > apart. It seemed like there was also a line by Perry that said something to > the effect of, "They're the greatest team since...." Why can't I remember? > Did he really say something like that? Or am I delusional? > > Also, did Perry ever mention other great teams (not necessarily male/female) > that worked for the Planet? I need all this info for my fic. Thanks! > > Erin :) > __________________ > erink@ida.net > Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek > ***** > "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." > __________________ > ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 16:04:07 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Question for fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 5/31/00 3:46:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, erink@IDA.NET writes: << It seemed like there was also a line by Perry that said something to the effect of, "They're the greatest team since...." Why can't I remember? Did he really say something like that? Or am I delusional? >> Erin, you aren't delusional. You can't remember because you have a little baby and the other kids. Perry said "the greatest team since Woodward and Bernstein." (the Watergate guys) Other people have already mentioned William Norcross and Serena Judd. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 14:16:22 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Question for fanfic In-Reply-To: <69.5ab4c9a.2666ca37@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks, Ann, Nancy and Michael! I knew you guys would be able to help me out! Norcross and Judd *were* who I was trying to remember as the romantic couple, and Woodward and Bernstein were the ones I was trying to think of that Perry mentioned. THANK YOU!! I'll always be impressed at your memories, especially since mine is loooooong gone at this point. Now, thanks to you, I can finish my next installment of my fic and get it posted. Thanks again, guys! Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 17:08:19 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kate Crane Subject: Hoorah for Erin MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 5/31/00 1:21:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time, erink@IDA.NET writes: << Now, thanks to you, I can finish my next installment of my fic and get it posted. Thanks again, guys! >> Weellll, we didn't want to nag, since those of us who have been there, done that, with babies, know that getting a shower before 5 pm is an accomplishment, and that 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night makes you feel like a new woman, and that when L&C are talking about wanting babies, you want to run screaming from the room, and, and, and, and........we think you are a marvel, Erin! Can't wait for the next installment! Kate ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 22:16:54 GMT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Bethy Em Subject: Re: Bethy's Scavenger Hunt Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Okay, all of them have been guessed except one. So, do you want a second clue? If you don't want this clue, ignore this message. If you do, scroll on down S P O I L E R S P A C E #3. A hologram only Superman can hear also contains: A double dose of time travel. Does that help? Bethy Even if you do learn correct English, whom are you going to speak it to? -- Clarence Darrow ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 20:38:46 CDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jessi Mounts Subject: Re: Bethy's Scavenger Hunt Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed >H >A >N >D >Y > >D >A >N >D >Y > >S >P >O >I >L >E >R > >S >P >A >C >E Okay, I know a whole two. Hey, it's one better than last time. >2. A blind German Shepherd Zoomway's Always Something There To Remind Me >5. "Metropolitan Catering Emporium and Bowling Alley" IRC Round Robin Group's Three Capes To The Wind Jessi jessi914@hotmail.com ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 21:01:21 -0500 Reply-To: msberard@earthlink.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Brazil Red Subject: Looking for a Fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm looking for a fanfic. I think it was one about Lois having baby shower. I'm assuming this as I remember in it that the policeman who is helping Clark bail out his wife mentions that he had never seen anyone use a breast pump as an offensive weapon before. Does this ring any bells for anyone? Brazil Red ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 22:14:38 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Subject: Re: Looking for a Fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Brazil Red wrote: > > I'm looking for a fanfic. I think it was one about Lois having baby > shower. I'm assuming this as I remember in it that the policeman who is > helping Clark bail out his wife mentions that he had never seen anyone > use a breast pump as an offensive weapon before. Does this ring any > bells for anyone? That's Sandy McDermin's "Charity begins at Home." Unfortunately, it's not available on the web anymore; you'll have to write to Sandy and ask her for a copy. Her e-mail address is smcdermin@erols.com. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Genevieve The World Wide Web has made it possible for anyone to find in five hours what a competent librarian can find in five minutes. :-)