* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
/ denotes telepathic communications./
Previously –
Herb asked, “These wedding pictures are very interesting. Who is it in this picture?”
“That is a picture from CJ and Lois’ wedding. They had a small wedding. She simply wore a semi-formal gown and CJ wore a dark suit. The picture was taken in front of the chapel where they were married. The other kids had formal church weddings.”
Herb asked, “Why the difference?”
“That is something of a sad story.” Lois answered “Cecily, now Lois, was an only child and lost her family in a tragic accident when she was young. She wound up in a decent foster home until she was of age so it turned out OK. In view of her lack of family it was decided that they should have a small, private ceremony rather than a large church affair.”
After looking through the album Lois returned it to its shelf and they resumed the conversation, “Clark and I retired from the Planet three years ago. We had been co Editors-in-Chief for ten years. We had told the suits upstairs that the only way either of us would take the position was if we *both* did. We had seen what would happen if either of us took it separately and we didn’t want that to happen again. We were appointed to that position when Perry retired. When we retired we completed the books we had started while we were there. We wrote a history of our time at the Planet, outlining the major investigations we had done. We actually did a separate book just on the Luthor exposé. Then we did a first person ‘Tell All’ (which really wasn’t) about Superman. We were very careful with that one. It still turned out to be a best seller. That was the one we sold the movie rights to. They have made a couple movies from some of our adventures and there is talk of a TV series.”
After a while Herb felt that he had enough data to add to their history book so he bid them good night. As they escorted him to the door, Lois and Clark expressed their pleasure at seeing their ‘old friend’ and extended an invitation for a future visit. As Lois handed Herb his hat he thanked them and expressed his disappointment that he had been unable to meet any of the children, other than their daughter-in-law and asked that they express to her his pleasure in meeting her, to which they said that they would. Herb had had such a pleasant time and actually had so much information dumped on him that he didn’t even occur to him to wonder that he hadn’t seen the younger Lois after she first greeted him at the door. There was one other thing that really didn’t register because of the information overload. That was the fact that the *only* picture of CJ in the album was the wedding picture.
After Clark closed the door behind Herb, Lois sagged against him in relief. She hadn’t really realized just how keyed up she had been during the visit. She gave a relieved sigh and asked, “Whew! Do you think we pulled it off?”
Pulling her into an embrace he replied, “I sincerely hope so.” Then he leaned down and gave her a kiss.
And Now –
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 2 – Pillow Talk
A short time later
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They lingered in their kiss and continued to embrace for a few minutes. The strain of the visit had told on both of them even though while Herb was there they had soldiered on. After they had comforted each other for a time they moved into the living room and in a matter of seconds had cleaned up the dishes from the tea and then raced upstairs. Neither was out of breath, at least not from the exertion of the climb as they entered their bedroom.
After entering, Lois turned to Clark. Clark put his arms around her waist as she put her arms around his neck and he drew her in for a kiss which started out as a soft touching of the lips, but which quickly escalated to soul-shattering proportions. They started floating up toward the ceiling and it was hard to tell just who was doing it. After a few delirious minutes they separated so that they could catch their breath. After holding each other, forehead touching forehead, for a minute they floated back down to the floor and broke apart.
Lois walked over to her vanity table and sat down. She started removing her jewelry. She removed her Kryptonian wedding ring and laid it aside before she turned toward him with a troubled look on her face, and said “Clark, I really hated to have to deceive 1912 Herb that way. Don’t you think that he really has a right to know the truth?”
Placatingly, Clark answered, “Now Lois, we’ve already talked about this a few times. We have to conceal this from *everyone*, and that everyone *includes* 1912 Herb and it was 1917 Herb that told us to do it.”
“But, he’s trying to get the correct history of our *family*”, she protested. She was justifiably proud of her family and wanted the record to be clear. …. If not now then eventually.
“I realize that, but, you know what happened when Jason Masick found that copy of Tempus’ journal which revealed my secret. He blackmailed me, tried to kill me and my parents and because of Nigel wanted you dead. What if someone like that or someone like Tempus got hold of this ‘corrected’ history? Just think of what could happen.”
“Still, it just doesn’t seem right. After all, what real harm could be done? Especially considering the fact that now I have your powers. As long as I wear the pendant *nothing* can harm me. In the future, everyone will know that you and I were married and that you were Superman and I was Ultra Woman” As she was speaking, Lois began to remove her makeup. As she did so, her wrinkles seemed to disappear and her appearance became that of a young woman. Then she reached up and removed the gray wig she had been wearing, revealing golden colored tresses.
“I really need to touch up my roots,” Lois muttered as she regarded her blond self in the mirror. “I think next time I’ll be a red head that is closer to my natural shade. At least with the brown wig I have my natural shade when I’m Ultra Woman.”
Clark in his turn removed a wig and some makeup to reveal Clark as he had appeared when he was in his thirties.
“You can have the shower first,” Clark said. “That is of course, unless you want to share,” he continued with a wink.
Lois looked back up at him. “That sounds like fun! It’s been a while since I have had to wear this get up for this long a stretch. Last one in the shower has to do the dishes for a month and no fair using you powers. I don’t have mine right now!” She said back over her shoulder as she started to dash for the bathroom. She felt some frustration at being able to move only at normal human speed. She had really gotten used to having the powers and missed them when she took off the pendant.
Clark cheated and used just enough superspeed to arrive in the bathroom at the same time as Lois.
Clark then used his superspeed to finish undressing Lois and himself even taking her suit to the bedroom and hanging up the gray suit and white blouse next to the Burgundy and red outfit.
Before she got into the shower Lois stood in front of a full length mirror looking at herself, turning sideways to see her body in profile. She said, “What do you think? I think I look pretty good for a sixty something and two months pregnant to boot. I think it’s almost time for ‘Ultra Woman, Mama Lois and senior Clark to head out on an extended vacation. I’m going to start to show in a month or so. The conservative business suits will only conceal my condition for so long. We can’t have a pregnant ‘mama Lois’ running around when the current Lois is also pregnant. We also can’t afford to have a pregnant Ultra Woman flying around when the current Lois is also pregnant. Ultra Woman is not going to be able to hide her condition in that suit at all. What do we do with her?”
“Maybe Ultra Woman should pay a visit to New Krypton. I think we got a request from Zara for some female help.”
“Yeah, that should work. Should we make an announcement in the papers?”
“No, I don’t think that will be necessary. If anyone asks we can tell them, but let’s keep it low key and unofficial. At this point there are enough of us around that one superhero more or less won’t make much of an impact.”
“Sounds like a plan. Bye, bye Ultra Woman. Have a safe trip.”
Clark stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her placing his hands on her abdomen. Clark was thinking <another child, how marvelous!>. Then he trailed his hands up over her stomach to her breasts which were already starting to enlarge in preparation for feeding the developing child. He started kneading her soft globes and tweaking the nipples until they stood up firm and proud. Lois in turn leaned her head back and turning slightly presented her lips to him for a kiss. They continued the kiss while she turned around and leaned in so that her naked breasts were pressed tightly against his chest. She started moving her torso from side to side to rake her erect nipples across his chest which had the effect of turning both of them on.
“When do you want to leave and where shall we go on our vacation?”
“I think that we should tour the Black Hills country for a while. That’s kinda remote and I don’t think that too many people would try to find us there. You can fly out occasionally and buy some post cards and mail them back.”
Clark was having a hard time concentrating on the conversation because Lois was still wiggling in the circle of his arms and teasing him with her breasts. She was raking her hardened nipples against his nipples.
“Sounds like a plan but right now I’m looking forward to taking a shower with my wife. Do you think she’s ready?”
“Am I *ever* ready. Let’s go big boy.” She reached out and taking his hand led him to the shower. After soaping up his hands Clark proceeded to run his hands all over her body paying particular attention to her breasts.
Lois in her turn soaped up her hands and started washing him. Washing his chest and tweaking his nipples while doing so.
After they had both rinsed off Clark picked Lois up and while he held Lois in his arms as she had her arms around his neck and her head resting on his left shoulder. Turning his head he started kissing the side of her neck and nibbling on her earlobe. He knew from long experience just how sensitive her earlobes were and as he did so she let out another contented sigh.
He changed hands and reached for a towel which he tried to wrap around her head, turban fashion. Then he reached for a large towel and wrapped it around her back. As he was doing this Lois could feel the love in his touch and she turned her head to the side and started kissing the side of his neck and his ear and started nibbling on his earlobe. He marveled at her. This woman, his wife, his life partner, the woman that was his, now and forever. The *only* woman he could ever truly love, his soul mate.
After their shower with both of them at least mostly dried off, Clark floated them both into the bedroom. Over the bed he slowly rolled them inverted so that she was on top knowing just how much they both enjoyed this position. They had a period of intimacy after which Clark said, between gasping breaths “It’s amazing … after all this time … I still can’t get enough … of you.”
Lois, equally short of breath replied, “That’s what love … is all … about. Not just … wanting to be … together but … enjoying … being … together. I love you Clark.”
When they had both finished Clark floated them off the bed again and they were about five feet above it. Lois’ was lying on top of Clark with her head on his shoulder, her fingers traced little figures on his chest, as they resumed the conversation about the evening.
“Ever since we found out from Bernie what had happened to me we’ve had to cover it up. When I told Herb that the Kryptonian genes were dominant I *was* stretching the truth a bit. I thought that I needed to though, since there were going to be a *lot* more three quarter Kryptonians than there was any right to be normally, but, still he is going to *have* to know *sometime*.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
20 years earlier
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When Lois had become pregnant for the fifth time, in her early forties, they had started to wonder just how long she would be able to continue to have children. To answer this question they had gone to Bernie to have some metabolic studies done. After seeing the results of the studies Bernie had requested that the studies be re-run because he couldn’t reconcile the current data with the results of the first tests, but those results had been confirmed. When he had called Lois and Clark in to go over the results, he admitted that he was at a loss to explain them.
"According to all the studies, Lois, metabolically you are a very healthy female in your early thirties and at the peak of your fertility. It's like you stopped aging around the time that you had your first child. I am at a total loss to explain how this could be. Your physiology was modified by Clark’s aura and you are now more or less one half Kryptonian. Your children are starting off as more or less three quarters Kryptonian. Any spouse they have will be modified in the same way before they can conceive so any genetic dilution that occurs will be a slow process and from what I can determine the Kryptonian genes are dominant and will pass down through the generations. But, even with all of this the association with Clark’s aura and the modification of your physiology can't completely explain what is happening."
While trying to discover a possible cause and thinking about Clark, his powers and aura a thought suddenly came to mind and Lois asked “Bernie do you remembered Ultra Woman?”
Bernie replied “Of course I remember her, but how does she enter into this discussion? She was only here for a short visit and then went back to wherever she came from, didn’t she?”
Lois said, “Well, not exactly. Bernie, I was Ultra Woman. There was this incident at the wishing well where someone had placed a baby doll in the well with a tape of a baby crying. It was a lure for a trap. The Newtrich sisters had built a laser using red Kryptonite. Clark detected it at the last second and tried to protect me by throwing himself in front of the beam. We didn’t realize at the time that it was red Kryptonite and that actually he was the target. Clark was hit with a red Kryptonite laser beam and because he was touching me his powers were transferred to me and I had them for nearly a week. Then they tried it again, this time on me and his powers were transferred from me to Lucile Newtrich. It had all been a scheme so that they could rob a money shipment. You must remember, you helped Clark, Superman repair the laser. We used it to return his powers. I acted as a decoy until you had finished the repairs and then when Lucile was touching Clark I hit her with the beam and that transferred the powers back to Clark. She had the powers for about a day while I had them for nearly a week.”
As she had been speaking slowly Bernie got an expression on his face like a light bulb had just gone on and when she had finished said, “That means that for nearly a week you had a Kryptonian aura of your own! That could explain it! Since your body had a full blown Kryptonian aura of its own I would speculate that your body was sensitized to that aura and now as long as you are exposed to a Kryptonian aura your body reacts just as if it still had that aura with all of the benefits. It isn’t enough to give you Clark’s powers so the main effect of having the augmented aura is the slowing of your aging process. With our testing we have seen that as long as you are within close proximity of Clark your aura reacts to his aura and I would presume that the same would hold true of your children. As long as any part of Clark or the children are within a given distance of your body your aura reacts positively. I would say that as long as you two stay with each other you should age at the same rate. Congratulations! It looks like the two of you are going to have a very long and hopefully very happy life together. At this point I can’t say just how long that will be but it will be a long time.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Present day
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Remembering all of this and the earlier meeting they had had with the 1917 version of Herb Lois said, “We could write Herb a letter and have it delivered to, what did he call it, Tempo(?) in the future.. That sounds like an interesting organization. We should have asked him more about it while he was here.”
“I think that the acronym is actually T. T. E. M. P. O. I guess writing a letter could work, like what Doc. Brown did for Marty in “Back to the Future. Actually, obviously we did since the 1917 version of Herb visited to give you the pendant and warned us about the 1912 version’s visit.”
“Whenever I’m pregnant, like now, the aura of the child in me has the same affect and that ‘kicks in’ after a couple of months. Naturally, while the child is an infant, I’m nursing and the child is rarely more than 3 feet away. Aside from loving you and the children the additional benefit of not aging is quite an incentive for us to have *lots* of children. That takes care of the time I am not wearing the pendant. When I am wearing the pendant I have your powers and longevity.”
“Neither of us has aged perceptibly in the last 30 years.”
Lois was suddenly struck by a thought and with a grin on her face looked at Clark.
Recognizing that look Clark asked, “What do you have up your sleeve?”
She replied, “Absolutely nothing! That’s the point.”
“Huh?”
“Did it ever occur to you that we do most of our life planning and other major decisions naked and in a position like this? Naked and in bed.”
With a leering expression he replied, “Actually, I started doing this some time ago. I’m surprised that it took you this long to notice.”
“Really? I thought I had planned it.”
“I guess great minds just think alike.”
They both got a laugh out of that line.
Lois planted a few kisses on Clark’s chest and then continued, “To resume our discussion, did you know, until we found out what was happening, ever since the time of our encounter with Veda Doodsen, I had been worried about growing old while you stayed young. Part of that was wondering if you would still love me if I was old and wrinkled. Another part was my concern about how you would handle life without me. After I died, I would have wanted you to find someone else to love and be with. It kinda made me jealous to think of it, but hey, I wouldn’t have been around and maybe you would have found me again as your soul mate. This way, I don’t *have* to worry about it. You have *the original* to keep you on your toes.”
“Your observation of what was happening, or more precisely, not happening, is what caused us to go to Bernie and ask him to do the metabolic studies in the first place. When he told us that metabolically, you were a woman in her early thirties - even though at that point you were actually in your mid forties and that was before the pendant - we were shocked.”
“Of course, that presented us with a whole new set of problems. How were we going to explain how neither of us was aging? Your idea of the makeup and wigs was good because it took care of the aging for both of us. That still left us with the problem of how to ‘come back’ again. The idea for the fake birth certificate for CJ, the son that was never born, and finding the name of a girl that was stillborn and creating a complete identity for her was the answer to that problem.”
"With the help of our brother-in-law, Jimmy Olsen, and his dad at the NIA we created a complete persona for each digitally, complete with driver’s licenses and passports."
"Then we wrote articles under those names and submitted them to other, smaller papers around the world to build up a portfolio of work for their application to the Planet when the time came to apply for employment."
"For CJ the explanation was that he had been managing the Kent farm in Kansas until he had decided to travel as his father had done."
"His fiancée had been a ‘big city girl’ and orphan from the ‘Big Apple’ where it is easy to have a very limited number of acquaintances. They had met there during his travels and fallen in love. She had then moved to Metropolis to marry him."
“At the appropriate time you changed your appearance somewhat and assumed her identity. Then I assumed the identity of CJ. We made a show of a courtship and then we were married taking our original names back under the laws of New Troy. It was absolutely brilliant.”
A sudden thought occurred to her about the conversation this evening. She stopped her finger tracing and placed her hand flat on Clark’s chest for leverage as she lifted her head up so that she could look Clark in the face. “Oh, by the way, Herb told me something quite interesting this evening. He didn’t realize it but he did give me a piece of information about *our* future. You know how we’d been wondering just how long we will be together now with the way things are. Well, Herb told me that there will be a string of Lane and Kent reporting teams at the Planet until the early *24th century*.” She gave this a couple of seconds to sink in. Clark whistled. “Do you think you can put up with me for that amount of time?” she asked, raising an eyebrow archly.
Clark simply grinned, pulled her up and kissed her soundly. “If you can put up with me for that long, I think I can make the same sacrifice.”
She jabbed him in the ribs and they both broke out in laughter.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In the course of time, somewhere in the early 24th century, when the foundation of Utopia had been established and there were sufficient numbers of Supermen and Superwomen, over 50 of them being direct children of Lois and Clark and therefore three quarters Kryptonian, over 500 grandchildren, 2500 great grandchildren and uncounted great great grandchildren (Etc) it was revealed to the world that the Supermen and Superwomen were all from the Kent family, descendants of the original Superman and Ultra Woman. By this time crime and warfare was virtually unheard of, thanks to their influence, and most of what the Supermen and Superwomen were called on to help with was natural disasters.
When it came time for Lois and Clark to pass on, their children had tombstones erected on their graves engraved as follows:
Clark Jerome Kent
Kal-El - Superman
1966 – 2388
The best father on any planet
Lois Ellen Lane-Kent
The original Ultra Woman
1967 – 2386
Mother of Utopia
comments go here To be continued in the - Epilogue
