Clark & Lois – When Worlds and Universes Collide - Matchmaker Chronicles V 8 37/36
By KenJ <ken.janney@kjanney.com>
This version is rated PG-13
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 – Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124 – Alternate Prime - Lori and Clark
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Alt 1, Alt Clark and Kryptonian Lois – (Alt 1 )
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 – Alt 2 Kryptonian Lois' home universe.
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 040 – Alt 1 alternate (Alt 3) Alt Lois and Alt Clark
Previously
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 – Alt2
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"It has been several weeks now since they all left, but I really need to know ... where do I stand?"
Clark was totally mystified by this question. He asked, "What do you mean, where do you stand?"
Lois stood and looking down at her feet started pacing the room as she launched into full babble mode, "Where exactly do I stand, in your affections? I mean, suddenly here is the first Lois you ever met and by your own admission you were strongly attracted to her, I mean, how could you help it, being soul mates and all and then *your* Lois, the Lois that you were supposed to be with showed up. I saw how you reacted to her arrival. I'm sure there was an attraction there. Then Lori came in and as the next Lois, how could you help but be attracted to her. Where do I fit in, sloppy seconds?" She paused to take a breath and with chagrin said, "I'm babbling aren't I. I can't believe I'm babbling. I only do that when I'm nervous." She looked at Clark and asked, "I am babbling, aren't I?"
Clark had moved over and placed himself directly in her path and when she looked up and asked that question, there he was. He pulled her into his arms and said, "Like a brook. Where is all of this insecurity coming from? *You* are my wife. We have a family together. We have built a life together. We have, in the time we've been together saved each other more times than I care to count. I love you and that is the only thing that counts.". He thought for a few seconds before he spoke again, "Could this actually have anything to do with you and how you feel?" It would only be logical for Lois to have felt an attraction to the other Clarks as he had to Lois so he asked, "Did you feel an attraction to the other Clarks?"
Her cheeks flushed and he knew he was on the right track. "You did, didn't you? Come on, you can be honest with me. You were attracted to the other Clarks, weren't you?"
In a shy, embarrassed tone she replied, "Well, yeah, sort of."
He smiled and kissed her forehead before saying, "Lois, Lois, Lois. It's nothing to be ashamed about. Look, I admit that I felt the attraction to Lois, it was still there, but what we have is so much more! Yes, I was shaken when *she* showed up, but I got over it quickly. Fortunately, the other Lois showed up first. I had been with her and her Clark a couple of times. I already knew what their relationship was like and frankly I envied them. Now I know what they have ... because I have it with you. She had told me that I could not replace him in her affections. She told me that the first time we met and that was before they were married. The attraction was still there and it was so confusing, when he was trapped in the time bubble, we almost kissed. She was missing her husband and there I was, his duplicate, and me without a Lois. But, that was then and this is now and no one can replace you in my affections just as I hope none of the other Clarks could replace me." He stopped for a few seconds before he began again, "I know what you are going to say next ... 'But, you did. You replaced *my* Clark when he was killed.' Yes, I know, but that was a special situation. We had, both of us had, lost our soul mates. We felt that bond break when they died and then, from the moment we met we were connected by that same bond and it has only grown stronger the longer we have been together. So to answer your question, you stand at the top, but there are two little girls that are running close seconds." He paused again before he continued, "Want to know a little secret?"
Lois brightened up; she always liked to be let in on secrets so she nodded enthusiastically.
"That was one of the reasons I suggested that we pair up as couples and fight that way."
"So, you didn't trust yourself?"
He chuckled, "No, well, maybe ... a little, but just a little. No, there was actually a good reason, other than that, for that suggestion. We have been working together and we are used to how each other reacts in situations. I'm sure that pertains to each of the other couples as well. We work best with those we know best."
"So you weren't afraid that you would kiss the wrong Lois by 'mistake'?"
"No, I wasn't afraid of that happening at all."
Lois admitted, "It was confusing and I felt myself being drawn to each of the others, but you are right. I knew which one was my lover every minute we were all together," and sealed her statement with a kiss. With an arched eyebrow she said, “We have a couple of hours before Penny will be hungry again and Carrie is asleep ..."
Before she could even finish her statement she found herself in bed with her Clark, her soul mate, her forever husband.
And now -
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Chapter 37 –Epilogue
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120
Distant future - TTEMPO Headquarters
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Herb stepped down off of the transfer plate in the clean room euphemistically called Reception. He smiled as he saw the motto, in gold, over the portal - 'Only Time Will Tell' and thought about just how true that statement was. He was glad that he had chosen that as the motto for TTEMPO.
He moved out of Reception and as he did he was greeted by several TTEMPO agents as they were heading out on missions. He shuddered slightly when he saw Andrus, but was somewhat comforted when he saw what he was wearing. TTEMPO agents, when going on survey missions had started dressing in period costume so as not to give away their presence so easily. In more technologically advanced ages they could get away with their normal clothing, but in more antiquated cultures they would stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. It appeared as though Andrus was going into the Wild West period. He was in the costume of a drummer, or traveling salesman, presumably to check on Lulu Kent and The Lone Rider. Herb was relieved that there would be little chance of Andrus messing up the timeline. Then another thought came to him, what if he interacted with Tempus Tex? That could be a disaster in the making. He made a mental note to check the time records for discontinuities before anything became irreparable.
Shaking his head Herb took the translift to his floor and moved down the corridor to his office. The door, with it usual reliability, opened as he approached. He stepped in and said, “Lights on.”
Once the lights were on he hung up his derby and coat on the coat rack just inside the door then he moved to his desk. As he was crossing the floor to his desk he removed his tie, he opened his collar by removing the collar-button and heaved a relieved sigh, thinking, <I really ought to update my wardrobe. These hard starched collars can be very irritating.> He smiled as he heard that familiar squeak as he sat in his chair and then simply sat there in thought for a time with his fingers steepled. He was planning his report on this incident.
Finally, once he had organized his thoughts he reached over, pushed a button and started speaking into the air in his British English accent, “Computer, dictation.”
A very human sounding voice replied “Working. Will this be a letter, or a journal entry?”
“This will be a journal entry. Addenda to report on incident in Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 Alt 2, Incident with New Krypton.
“Working, file accessed.”
Herb commenced, “The incident involving the conflict between Nor-Na of New Krypton and the El family of Alt 2 has been successfully resolved.”
“Monitoring of that particular universe has fallen under my direct purview ever since we matched up the Clark Kent of universe Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036, Alt 1, with the Lois Lane of Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190, Alt 2. Their pair bonding has been a total success as demonstrated by surveys conducted in that universe’s future, but continued monitoring is indicated.”
“In this particular incident it was necessary to recruit auxiliaries, all of whom were family members, to come to the assistance of Lois, Clark and Zara. In all cases it was necessary to ensure that all formalities of the wedding/life bonding were accomplished prior to recruiting, thus complying with New Kryptonian customs which limited the conflict to family members only. The fact that James Olsen Junior and his wife Henrietta had chosen to identify with the El family as a result of having been made super powered by them and actually participating with them in the life bonding ceremony officiated by the New Kryptonian elders entitled them to participate. If they had not been available, I might have had to recruit another super couple from yet another universe. Perhaps from one of the universes that Alt Clark visited on one of his missions. I feel confident that any one of the couples that he had assisted would have been more than willing to assist to repay the favor.”
“After performing an analysis of the situation it was determined that the resources contained within those universes under my direct control would be adequate to the task. Traveling to those universes I succeeded in recruiting the individuals most appropriate to the situation. The inclusion of Alice and Elka were a serendipitous afterthought, however their presence proved to be keys to the final solution. In the case of Alice, I simply had to delay the pickup until the requirements of the Kryptonian life bonding ceremony had been complied with. That, in itself, set a convenient time for the pickup of the children since they were all gathered in one place at the same time.”
“Pause recording.”
“Paused.”
Herb was lost in thought for a time before he continued. The next parts were going to be very important to have recorded and he wanted to make sure he had everything correct. He pulled out a chart of figures that he could refer to in order to have everything correct. Once he had the chart in hand he said, “Resume.”
“Recording.”
“The idea for this entire exercise was a direct result of having sent the Clark Kent now of two universes, his own native universe, Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036, Alt 1, and the native universe of his Lois, Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190, Alt 2, on the missions referenced above. He completed his task of preserving the lives of the Lois and Clark of those universes in those missions in other universes where his presence was needed.”
“As was expected, the recruiting of the Lois and Clark couples from the year 2013 in Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 and 1993 in Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 040 went without any problems as did the recruiting of Lori and Clark from 2091 in Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124. As soon as they were informed that there was a Lois and Clark couple in need of assistance they were more than willing to participate.”
“Not too surprising was the willingness of the children of the couple in Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120, Prime, in the year 2083 to assist. They were every bit as willing as their parents. It was a pity that I couldn’t recruit the parents at the same time, but having two manifestations of the same couple, from two different timeframes, in the same time frame was risky thus it was deemed that a single couple from each universe be included.”
“The inclusion of 2112 Clark Junior and his wife, Elka, from Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124 was a risky decision, but the correct one.”
“The most difficult decision was the inclusion of Carrie and Penny in their personas of Protector and Supergirl because their earlier selves were in the same timeframe, however their presence was actually required. Protector’s unique abilities were needed to prevent the destruction of untold billions of dollars of real estate and uncounted numbers of lives.”
“There was only one Lois and Clark couple that I had to initiate a time stamped memory block on as I returned them to their own time, specifically the Lois and Clark from 2013 in Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120, Prime. The trigger which would restore that memory was the absence of the children from the Labor Day party. That was used as a trigger because of the presence of all of the grandchildren. It was necessary to prevent a general panic among them because of all of their parents being missing.”
“As determined earlier, Lori’s skill with the bow was key in resolving the conflict therefore encouraging her to take that particular weapon with her was warranted.”
“Pause.”
“Paused.”
Herb got up and moved to a sideboard. Picking up a cup he held it under a faucet which dispensed near boiling water, then pulling out a tea bag he prepared a cup of Earl Grey tea which he carried it back to his desk before he continued. Once he was again seated and after taking a sip of his tea he said, “Resume.”
“Recording.”
“In view of the success of this exercise we may consider utilizing this approach again in future incidents. There exists the possible need of a so called ‘show of force’ on New Krypton in 2093 in universe Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124. I will discuss this with the Commissioners and make a final decision at the proper time.”
“Due consideration will have to be given to exactly who and from what eras the recruits will come. The teamwork displayed by the participants in this exercise was exceptional and beyond expectations. That bodes well for any future exercise of this nature. The concern here is that if we involve the spouses and the children’s spouses then we will have two of each individual in a single timeframe. Fortunately, it would be easy to sort them out by their memories.”
“End recording. Do not finalize and allow for future additions and edits. Format as a document and send a copy to my hand held device for review.”
"Recording stopped. Sending."
Herb's hand held beeped and a small light started to flash indicating the file had been received. He nodded his approval and stood up from his chair. He would review the file and make his edits after taking a brief nap. He moved to his sleeping alcove and after kicking off his shoes and placing his glasses on a side table, he lay down on a trundle bed.
He spoke to the computer again, “Lights off.”
In response to his command the lights were extinguished.
After a few seconds he said, “Computer.”
“Working. Letter or journal entry?”
“Tickle file.”
“Recording. Entry?”
“Check on Andrus mission to Wild West.”
“Time on reminder?”
“As soon as I wake from my nap.”
“Recorded.”
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