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The Green, Green Glow of Home - Matchmaker style 9/10

Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.

Rated PG-13


* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)


Previously


Turning away from the grisly scene, she ran to Clark and kneeling next to him, turned him over. She gasped, and started crying and calling his name as if it was a mantra. He was limp and his left side was covered with blood. She cradled his body weeping despondently.

Suddenly, Jonathan, Martha and the little man in the derby were beside her. She bawled, "Oh, Martha, he's been shot. We need to do something!"

Martha knelt next to Lois and felt for a pulse at Clark’s neck. She nodded and placed a hand on Lois' arm. She said, "He's alive."

"But he's been shot! He's bleeding!"

Looking at Jonathan, Martha said, "First aid kit."

Jonathan nodded and headed for the house.

Relief flooded over her when she realized that Clark was alive and looking around she spotted the little man in the derby. She asked, "You again! What are you doing here?"

Martha looked around, not realizing just who she was speaking to at first, then realizing who her question was directed at said, "We thought he was with you. He released us from the ropes."

Nodding an acknowledgement, the dapper little man smiled and then turning, walked away.

A few seconds later, just as Jonathan was returning with the first aid kit, a couple of police cars pulled up near them. In the back were the two agents that Trask had sent to patrol the perimeter. Patrolman Cooper stepped out of one of the cars and took in the scene. He said, "Sheriff Harris will be here shortly. We'll wait and see what she wants to do."

A couple of minutes later Sheriff Harris and Jimmy pulled up. Lois was still kneeling on the ground cradling the injured Clark in her lap, crying inconsolably and mumbling Clark’s name over and over while Martha applied first aid.

Seeing this Sheriff Harris nodded her understanding of how things stood. Yes, Clark had taken her to the Senior Prom, but, that was in the past and she could see that Lois was in his future. Heaving a disappointed sigh over things that might have been she turned to her deputy and said, "Stand by until we have the details." Then she turned and asked, "Okay, what do we have here?"

Jonathan replied, "Well Sheriff, if you look in the shed you'll find Wayne Irig all tied up. We were in there with him until a minute ago. He's still unconscious. I wouldn't strike any matches around here for a while. Trask tried to murder us by setting the shed on fire. He was about to murder Clark and would also have murdered Lois if he hadn't been stopped. He was obsessed to the point of insanity with the destruction of Superman. He was beating on Clark because he thought that would draw Superman to his rescue."

Sheriff Harris turned to the deputy asked, "Where's this Trask?"

Coop pointed to Trask's body. The gun was near his hand and the extra cartridges were scattered around. Rachel asked, "How'd that happen?"

From where Lois was kneeling on the ground, she spoke up, the anger she still felt came out in her voice as she said, "He shot my husband and I lost it. I gave him a flying kick and he fell. I didn't know that was there. It was an accident."

Rachel was stunned, out of everything Lois had said, she latched on to one of Lois’s statements and blurted out, "Husband?!?!?"

With obvious love in her eyes, Lois looked down at Clark and said, "Yes, husband. We hadn't told anybody. It was a secret." After a few seconds, Lois was able to speak again and she was nearly frantic as she said, "Sheriff, over at the Irig farm, they are packing up to move. You need to get over there and stop them. Don't let them get away!"

In almost a state of shock at this revelation, Rachel replied, "I have other cars responding to Wayne’s farm."

Lois spoke up, "Sheriff, Carol Sherman, the woman over on the Irig farm, was duped into participating in this. Once she found out the truth, she only participated under the threat of death. She was worried about her little girl. I’m sure she’ll testify about what she saw. Maybe she could be classed as a material witness. Go easy on her, okay?"

Rachel said, "I'll do what I can. You may need to testify on her behalf."

Before moving Trask, the medical examiner would have to be called, so the Sheriff went into the shed to check on Wayne Irig. The Sheriff needed to see what was there so that she could give eye witness testimony. She called Jimmy over, "Mr. Olsen, do you have your camera handy?"

Jimmy replied, "Yes I do, Sheriff. What do you need?"

"Could you take some crime scene pictures for me?"

"Sure thing Sheriff, just tell me what you want."

Rachel had Jimmy take pictures of Wayne before she untied him and the gasoline trail as well as Clark in his wounded, depleted condition.

When Wayne came around he said, "That fella Trask, he wasn't EPA! He was with something he called Bureau 39, I overheard them talking. He injected me with some kind of babble juice and when that didn't work he started busting my fingers."

Rachel said, "Wayne, now, I want you to get yourself into the hospital and get those fingers taken care of and tell them that I need a copy of the report, you hear me?"

Wayne replied, "Right Sheriff."

Rachel turned to one of her deputies and said, "Hank, take those prisoners in and lock them up. Coop, you stay here with me. I’ll need to go over to the Irig place and you’ll be in charge here. Later, I’ll give Mr. Olsen here a ride back to town. He left his car there."

Seeing that Clark had recovered consciousness, she moved over next to him and asked, "How are you Clark? You don't look the best. It looks like you need to go to the hospital too."

Weakly, Clark replied, "No, I don't think so Rachel."

Martha spoke up, "I think one bullet just creased his arm, the other passed clear through his shoulder. It was bleeding a lot, but it has slowed down, thanks to some first aid. It was the pain that knocked him out. It was a near thing, but I think he'll be okay. I don’t think there’s anything they can do in the hospital that a little TLC can’t do." Martha looked significantly at Lois as she finished.

Rachel moved over and stood above Trask. She said, "Don't touch anything." She raised her voice slightly as she said, "Mr. Olsen, before you go, I have one more job for you." Then she addressed her deputy, "Coop, call for an ambulance, please."

Jonathan spoke up, "When I went into the house for the first aid kit, I tried the phone. The line's dead."

Nodding, Deputy Cooper moved over to his car and got on the radio. When he finished he reported, "An ambulance is on the way Sheriff. I put in a call to the phone company too. They’re sending out a line truck."

"Thanks, Coop. Stand by till they clean up."

"Will do, Sheriff."

Even though he was awake, Lois continued to hold Clark, cradling his upper body in her arms and rocking back and forth. Unashamedly, Lois showered him with kisses, tears of joy and relief that he would recover streaming down her cheeks while everyone else looked on.

Jimmy moved over and started taking more pictures. He made sure to catch pictures of the derringer as well as Trask. Jimmy was really earning his crime photographer stripes on this trip.

As soon as Jimmy finished up, Cooper went into his trunk and brought out an evidence kit. He donned a pair of rubber gloves and pulled out a plastic bag. He picked up the derringer and placed it in the bag. He sealed it and wrote the details on the outside. He did the same with the gun that Trask had dropped and the ammunition. The bags all went into the kit and back into the trunk.

Rachel, seeing Lois and Clark together and after Lois' declaration of their wedded state turned away in disappointment. It just wasn't meant to be.

Rachel turned to Lois and said, "Lois, it sure looks like you have more influence over Clark than I ever did. You take care of him now, ya’ hear?"

Lois looked at Clark, smiled at Rachel and said, "I'll take care of him Sheriff."

Coming out of her morbid mood somewhat, Rachel chuckled and said, "Lois, why don't you just call me Rachel. After all," Rachel nodded in Clark's direction as she continued. "We have something in common."

Lois looked again at Clark and pulled him to herself as she said, "Yeah, Rachel, I guess we do."

Rachel said, "I guess I'll see y'all later. I need to go check on the rest of my deputies and make sure we got the entire bunch," as she turned and headed for her car she said, "Mr. Olsen, could I trouble you for another task? I might need more pictures."

Jimmy smiled and said, "I'm all yours, Sheriff."

Rachel said, "Hop in and we'll go. When we're done, I'll take you to your car so that you can get to wherever it is you need to go."

"Thanks, Sheriff." Jimmy could see promotion to staff photographer in his near future.

After a while the ambulance arrived. The EMTs looked at Clark's wounds. Seeing that the bleeding had stopped they applied some antibiotic ointment and redressed the wounds. Using a body bag, after removing the implement of death, they hauled away Trask's body by placing it on a long board and transferring it to a stretcher in the back. Wayne rode with the EMT in the back as they transported him to the ER to take care of his hand.

Deputy Cooper followed the ambulance when it left.

As soon as the ambulance and the patrol car had turned onto the road, the dapper little man returned, so that only left, Jonathan, Martha, Clark, Lois and the dapper little man.

The little man said, "I suggest that we bring out some lawn furniture and sit in the sun so that Mr. Kent can heal."

Lois addressed him, "How do you know so much about us?"

"That, my dear Miss Lane is, as they say, ‘a long story'. I suggest that we all get comfortable."


And now:


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 09
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When they pulled out the furniture, Lois made sure that her chair was right next to Clark’s, literally within touching distance and she did that frequently, almost as if to constantly reassure herself of his continued presence. Lois had never been a touchy-feely person, but over the last couple of days, that had changed. She loved it when Martha gave her a hug; it was so loving, warm and comforting. So far she hadn’t been on the receiving end of a hug from Clark’s father, but she could imagine how it would feel. She pictured him as a large version of Clarkie Bear and just knew that his hugs would be soft and cuddly.

Once they were seated, Lois turned to the dapper little man and asked, "Just who are you and how do you know so much about us?"

After a brief hesitation, in his British English accent, he replied, "My name is Wells,” he hesitated for a second and then continued, “Herbert … George … Wells."

Lois repeated, "Herbert George Wells,” she did something of a double take, shaking her head as if to clear it of cobwebs and then said, “Wait a minute. H. G. Wells? No, you can’t be. You have to be another H. G. Wells, the H. G. Wells is dead!"

Snickering, Wells said, "To quote a gentleman I met on one of my trips to the United States in the late 1800’s, actually another writer by the name of, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, you probably know him better by his pen name, Mark Twain ‘The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.' Yes, I am in very fact, as you put it, the H. G. Wells. And, yes, actually, I am dead, but not yet. It is somewhat confusing. Traveling through time can be very confusing at times. Oh, I say, ‘at times', how droll. Well, anyway, you see, after I wrote my story about time travel, I actually built a machine … and … well, here I am. In other words, my death is still in the future, my personal future, but it is in your past." Noting the confused expressions on their faces, he said, "You see just how confusing time travel can be."

They spent the afternoon in the sun while H. G. Wells explained how he and the organization he had founded, TTEMPO, went about making sure that events in the histories of the universes worked out properly and just why things had occurred as they had.

Later in the day, thanks to the time spent in the sunlight, Clark's wounds were visibly better. The groove that one slug had dug in his deltoid had closed and the hole in his shoulder was in the process of closing. They kept dressings in place covering the wounds, both of which were bloodstained, to reinforce the fact that he had been injured, but otherwise Clark was shirtless so that he could soak up the sunlight. Another benefit of his shirtless status was that it gave Lois a chance to ogle his bare chest which she did unashamedly.

After a rather short time, Jimmy drove up. Seeing Jimmy arrive, Herb was worried and about to exit when Lois said, “Don’t worry about Jimmy. We can handle him.”

Jonathan got up and pulled another chair off the porch.

Jimmy was literally beside himself. He had been taking pictures for the Sheriff and learning about crime scene photography which had different requirements than regular newspaper photography and he knew that he was the better photographer for it. When he pulled up he almost bounced out of his car. He practically ran over to where everyone was sitting and dropped into the chair that Jonathan had placed there for him. As it turned out, Herb didn’t need to fear any unusual questions. As far as Jimmy knew he was a friend of the family and besides, Jimmy was more concerned with his friends than any visitors.

Looking over at Clark, noting the blood-stained bandages, Jimmy came crashing down from his high and got a concerned look on his face, "How are you doing, CK? The Sheriff had me so busy I really didn't have much time to breathe, let alone see how you were. And Lois, did I hear you say something about a husband?"

Before either spoke, Lois reached over and took Clark's hand in hers. Clark said, "It wasn't really a serious wound. I'll recover."

Lois spoke up, "Yeah, Jimmy, you heard right. Clark and I were secretly married."

"Wow, guys, that's great! How'd it happen?"

Clark spoke up, "Oh, I don't know, the usual way, she fell for my irresistible charm and devastating good looks."

Jimmy was laughing as he went on.

"I just swept her off her feet at the Corn Festival. Actually, I don't know if it was me she fell in love with first, my folks or Smallville in general. There is this ambiance …"

Lois chimed in, switching her attention from Jimmy to Clark’s parents and then Clark, "I have to admit, I like Smallville and I love your parents, but I think I fell in love with you first. All of those late night stakeouts, eating cold takeout and drinking even colder coffee. No, I guess it was the movie marathons over at your place that did it."

"You guys are too much," Jimmy said, still laughing. I didn't know that stakeouts were so romantic!"

Lois gave Clark’s hand a squeeze, laughed and said, "I guess it all depends on who you are on the stakeout with. With the right person, any activity can be romantic." She pulled his hand up and kissed the back of it, “Right, Clark?”

Clark smiled and replied, “Who am I to contradict my partner?”

"CK, really, now, how badly were you hurt? When I was taking the pictures, I was concerned about the amount of blood I saw."

Martha spoke up, "Clark won't tell the straight story, too macho. One of the bullets gave him a flesh wound. It scored a track across his upper arm. The other passed through the fleshy part of his shoulder just below the collarbone. He's lucky it didn't nick the aorta or his lung. It was a close one."

Jimmy was worried now and it came out in his voice, "You are going to be okay, aren't you?"

Clark said, "Yeah, Jimmy, I'm gonna be just fine. It'll take some time, but no lasting harm."

Martha asked, “Who would like some iced tea?”

Jimmy answered, “I’d love some, but I don’t have much time. I have to get to the airport.”

After receiving affirmative replies from the rest she went into the house to retrieve it and brought out tea and glasses on a tray.

Over the tea they discussed the story. As soon as he was finished his tea, Jimmy left because he had a red-eye flight out of Wichita to catch.

Once Jimmy had departed, Herb finished filling them in making sure that he didn’t give them any specifics as to how it was done. Once that was finished, Herb announced that he was going to depart, but before he could Clark stopped him. "The other night, Lois was talking in her sleep and said something about a baby."

As soon as he heard this question, he realized that a mistake had been made and that he would have to give them some details of the procedure that he had glossed over. "Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear. It would appear as though my calculations were off, slightly.” At their questioning looks he decided that more detail rather than less was needed. “In order for Lois to have the motivation needed for her to rescue you, I have been using a device we call a Soul Tracker. It is capable of following the soul essence through time. Using it I was able to infuse memories of her future life into Lois' subconscious mind to influence her actions. It is possible that in her sleep the subconscious memories came to the fore in the form of a dream. Rest assured that those are her actual memories. If she was talking about a baby that means that I used a set of memories from the wrong year. The memories were supposed to be from before any children were born."

Lois marveled and with a happy smile asked, "Then we will have a baby? You know, I never wanted children, until now. Now that Clark and I are together I know what our family will be like,” she looked around significantly at Jonathan, Martha and Clark, “and I want that family.”

Jonathan and Martha looked at each other and smiled as the same thought hit both of them at once – grandchildren.

Herb smiled as he replied, "My Dear, you are destined to have a large family. In very fact, your family, you, Clark and your offspring will be instrumental in bringing about the existence of Utopia in this universe."

Clark smiled, "How large?"

"I'm sorry, that would be too much information, too soon. Perhaps I shouldn't have told you as much as I have as it is. Well, I really must depart. I may drop in on you in the future, just to check in and see how things are progressing." Herb stood and pulled a device from his pocket. He punched some buttons and suddenly a doorway appeared in the air in front of him. He turned and said, "Ciao," stepped through and was gone.

After he left, Lois pulled out her cell phone and called the Planet. When the phone was answered, the familiar southern drawl that was always a comfort to her ears, except when he was telling her that an assignment was too dangerous, came through the speaker, "Daily Planet, Perry While."

"Perry? Lois."

"Lois, Darlin', I'm glad to hear from you. What's goin' on out there? Did you find that farmer?"

Lois showed just how much she had changed when she said in a heated tone, "That farmer's name is Wayne Irig and he's a friend of Clark's father." Realizing that she was blowing off too much steam she calmed somewhat as she continued, "Yes, we found Wayne. He's in the hospital."

"Does that mean that you're finished?"

"Almost. Perry, are you ready to hear who was behind this? On second thought, maybe you should sit down. … Are you sitting?"

Giving in, Perry actually sat down behind his desk. "Yes, I'm sitting down. Who was it?"

"Okay, it was Trask."

Perry jumped up from his chair and shouted, "What?!?!?!? Trask!!!! What was he doing there?"

"Perry, sit down again. Remember your blood pressure." Lois couldn't see him, but she could hear the grunt and the squeak of his chair as he sat. "Same as last time. He was out to kill Superman."

Perry was on his feet again, "But, why Smallville?"

"Wayne found something that Trask thought he could use to kill Superman." Lois felt that she needed to divert the conversation so she changed the subject, "Hey, listen, Jimmy just left. He's on his way back to Metropolis. He said he was catching the red-eye."

"How'd the kid do? Did he get some good shots?"

Just then a telephone line truck rolled up. Lois said, "He did good. Look, Perry, I've got to go. The telephone company is here to repair the line. I'll call you later."

Perry was sinking back into his chair as he said, "Telephone truck?"

"Yeah, Trask had the phone lines to the house cut when he captured and tried to kill Clark's parents."

Jumping out of his chair again, Perry shouted, "What??? Tried to kill Clark's parents?"

"Yeah, he did that while I was tied up over at the Irig farm. He had Clark tied up in that back of the van. He threatened to kill the Kents to force Clark to reveal who Superman is."

As he settled back into his chair, Perry asked, "Why would he think that Clark knows who Superman is?"

"Who knows, the man was obviously insane."

"Was?"

"Yeah, he's dead. I killed him."

Perry jumped up again, "What??? You killed him?"

"Yeah, it was self-defense, but it was an accident. We'll tell you all about it when we get back."

Settling into his chair once again, Perry said, "Okay, Darlin' . I guess I'll talk to ya later.. Oh, before you go, how long will you guys be there? Will there be follow-up?"

"Oh, I don't know Perry. It will depend on how well Clark heals."

Perry jumped up again and shouted, "Heals???"

Matter-of-factly Lois said, "Yeah, he was shot."

Perry shouted, "Shot?!?!?!?!?!"

"Gotta go, Perry. I'll call later."

In Metropolis, Perry heard the line go dead, dropped limply back into his chair and hung up the phone, but he was very agitated. He sat there for several seconds simply staring at the device and then reaching up he placed a couple of fingers on his neck, feeling for a pulse. When he found it, it was racing. <That girl's gonna be the death of me yet.> Clark had been shot! Lois had killed Trask! <I hope Jimmy can explain when he gets back.>

Later that evening, Lois prepared and sent a FAX to Perry letting him know that she and Clark were taking some sick time and would be staying in Smallville with Clark's parents while he recovered.

The next day they had a call from Rachel, "Lois, this here Ms. Sherman is demanding to see you. You feel like commin' in?"

"Sure Rachel, we'll be there in an hour or so."

"I appreciate it. She is refusin' to talk to anyone else. I guess I'll see you when you get here."

After hanging up the phone, Lois and Clark moved to the porch swing. It had quickly become one of Lois' favorite spots. Once Clark was seated, Lois slid onto his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "I think we need to go see the magistrate in town."

"Why, Lois?"

"I feel like a law breaker. I need to get it off my conscience."

"But, Rachel said that you acted in self-defense. She's not planning on pressing charges."

Lois smiled and said, "That's not it. We have some papers to sign."

Finally picking up on where she was going with this he nodded and said, "I know Judge Jefferson. I interviewed him a few times while I worked for the Smallville Press. I think he would be more than willing to help us out, as long as that will ease your conscience."

"Yes, I think that would go a long way toward easing my conscience. Let's go make it official." She leaned in and gave him a kiss, one that held a world of promise of things to come.

Taking her hand they headed for the car.

When they got into town, the first stop they made was to Judge Jefferson's office. When Clark explained the purpose of their visit he was very pleased to help them out. He performed the civil ceremony and when they left his office they had two pieces of paper and Lois had added the wedding band to her ring.

The next stop was the jail. Ms. Sherman was being held there as a material witness on Lois' recommendation. Once Lois and Clark were back in the cells with her she looked at Clark. She hung her head at the sight of his arm in a sling. She said, "I can't tell you how sorry I am that it got that far. I just … I just couldn't …" Her voice broke off at this point.

Lois said, "We understand. You were worried about your own life and that of your daughter. We aren't blaming you about anything. You wanted to speak with us?"

"Yeah, there was something I thought you ought to know. You need to let Superman know that among the things that the police impounded from the Irig place was a small spacecraft. On the nose was Superman's sigil, you know, the one he wears on his chest."

Lois gasped and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Sure, I'm sure. I recognized it right off. Trask said it was found in Smallville in 1966. Superman should know about it. If it's his property, maybe he could claim it."

"Thanks, Sherman. We'll pass the word on to Superman and … we'll put in an extra good word for you with the sheriff. You know, you aren't so bad after all. Take care.‘

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A week later Lois and Clark returned to Metropolis. The first thing they did was move Lois from her apartment to what was formerly Clark's, but was now their apartment. It was smaller, but it felt more like home to Lois than her sterile two-bedroom. The next day they went in to the Daily Planet.

A little later, the entire newsroom staff was gathered around Lois' desk and Perry was reading the proof copy of the article, "'And, in the end, Jason Trask's obsession caused him to search for a mystical rock he alone imbued with destructive powers, and to confuse one reporter with the target of his fixation, Superman. He came to see this strange visitor from another planet where he was not, and to see enemies where there were none. It was an obsession that for Jason Trask would prove fatal.'" He put the paper down and continued, "I been in the newspaper business thirty-five years, and this is the damndest story I ever read."

Lois and Clark had worked a long time on that story. It was an excellent example of their joint efforts. It had the hard hitting facts about Trask and what he had done, and the softer, introspective touches that were typical of Clark. They needed to reveal only so much. There was a lot that needed to be kept secret, but because of the notoriety received from the local Smallville Press, they couldn't squash it completely. Lois said, "You should have been there. Here's a man so far around the bend that he started beating on Clark to get at Superman. He was hoping that Superman would come to the rescue and he could try to kill him with this rock. Everyone knows that they're friends, but come on; Superman can't be everywhere at once and how was he to know we were in danger. It isn't like we can call him on his cell phone or pager or something. Let's be real here."

Perry turned to Clark who was standing next to Lois and asked, "Now, Kent, I usually tell my reporters to stay out of their stories, don't get involved. But as long as you had to fight a nutcase like Trask, well … I'm just glad you came out on top. Are you healing from your wounds?"

Clark had his left arm in a sling and would be keeping it in one for a week or more. It wouldn't do for him to heal too quickly. He hedged, "Oh, I'm healing about as well as can be expected, Chief."

Cat drifted over, pinned Lois with a look and said, "That's not the biggest story! How about these two keeping their marriage a secret? Come on fess up, how long have you been married?"

Lois smiled coyly and answered, "Well, really, it just happened. It wasn't like we planned it or anything. Really, it's thanks to the laws of the state of Kansas. We have to thank the original settlers." She brought her ring up and admired it once more.

Cat said, "Come on, Lois. Let's see the hardware."

Lois obligingly held out her left hand for Cat's perusal. Cat said, "Looks like an antique."

Proudly, Lois replied, "It is. This belonged to Clark's grandmother. Someday, maybe my grandson will give it to his fiancée."

Cat snickered and said, "Lois Lane with children? Aren't you counting your chickens before they're hatched? How do you know you'll even have children?"

With an enigmatic smile, Lois replied, "I have it on good authority that we will."

"What did you do, visit a fortune teller?"

"Not … exactly."

Perry turned to Jimmy and said, "Jimmy, those pictures you turned in were first rate. I'm adding you to the rolls as a staff photographer."

As Jimmy started to move in his direction, Perry held up his hands and said, "Don't you dare hug me again."

Jimmy stopped and smiled. He held up the signal watch and said, "Too bad this didn't work."

Lois had been told by Clark that hearing that signal watch was the first indication that his powers had returned so rather than discourage Jimmy, she said, "Don't give up on it. Superman was probably in Metropolis. You were in Smallville."

Jimmy smiled and replied, "Hey, that's right. STAR Labs doesn't know what the effective range is. Maybe I was too far away."

Perry, was almost hesitant as he said, "Well, then, Kids, I just got one note for you. This rock that Trask convinced himself was gonna hurt Superman. What's it called?"

Lois looked at him with a question in her eyes as she said, "Called? You want a name? Nobody can even find it. Even the sample Wayne sent to the lab in Wichita disappeared. I'm not sure it existed anywhere, but in Trask's mind."

Even as she was saying this she was traveling back in time a few days in her memory.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Flashback
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A few days after the visit to the jail to see Sherman, Clark had recovered, his wounds had healed completely and his powers had returned.

Lois and Jonathan had gone to the field behind the shed. Jonathan had taken a shovel and Lois had pointed out where she had buried the rock. Jonathan dug it up and they placed it in the lead tool box, making sure the lid was securely locked. Then for good measure, partly out of fear and partly out of anger at what that rock could do to Clark, Lois had used almost a whole roll of duct tape on it. By the time she was finished it looked like a square mummy wrapped in strips of shiny gray cloth.

Once this task had been completed and with it safely wrapped up they had taken it to Clark. He had made a small net of steel cables, much like an old fashioned sling and he put it in.

While they all stood back he twirled it around and around, building up speed and finally released it. When he did, it was moving faster than ten miles a second and it only required a seven mile a second velocity to leave Earth's gravity and travel into space.

As she watched the object disappear into the sky, Lois released a sigh and said, "Good riddance."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
End flashback
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Perry, continued, enthusiastically, "Even so, this copy'd sing a lot sweeter if you gave it a name."

Lois thought for a few seconds, and then said, "Trask thought it was from the planet Krypton... I don't know ... it was supposed to be radioactive like Uranium …" She tried the first thing that came to mind, "Kryptonium?"

Perry smiled and said, "Okay by me."

Clark said, "Wait a minute, It's supposed to be a meteorite, right? What about … Kryptonite?"

Perry handed the copy back to Lois and started to his office. Back over his shoulder he said, "You two fight it out."

Lois playfully slugged him on the shoulder and he yelped, "Ouch!"

In an undertone she said, "You and I both know that didn't hurt."

He brought his lips near her ear and said, "You and I know it, but I'm not supposed to be healed yet."

Playing the part, Lois put on a sorrowful look and said, "Oh, I'm sorry! Want me to kiss it and make it better?"

He smiled and said, "I think my lips hurt."

She smiled and complied by giving him a kiss. After a few seconds, she said, "Now, about that name. You're always editing my copy!"

He replied, "That's only because we're partners."

Lois relented, "Okay, have it your way … Kryptonite it shall be." Before she continued she looked around, making sure no one would overhear, "I'm still worried. Wayne said he sent some off to the lab in Wichita and that sample has disappeared. That means that there's still something out there that can harm you."

"We'll just have to be careful."

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TBC