* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
/ denotes telepathic communications./
For reference purposes the following will hold true throughout.
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Canon Alt Clark universe also called – Alt 1
Previously -
When they returned home they found Lucy watching TV. The kids were all in bed and Jimmy had picked up their children and taken them home and put them to bed. As soon as they entered the door Lucy turned off the TV and turned to them and said, “Okay, give. What’s the news?”
Rather than say anything Lois started to float and floated over the back of the couch and sat next to Lucy. As soon as she had started to float Lucy’s eyes almost literally got as big as dinner plates.
She exclaimed, “Sis, how did you do that? I know Clark can do that, but how did you?”
“It was a birthday present from an old admirer. We never told you about this, but, do you remember Ultra Woman?”
“Sure, she was here for about a week then she left.”
“Sis, I was Ultra Woman.”
“Get out! You were Ultra Woman? How did that happen?”
“It’s a long story. Because of this birthday present Ultra Woman is back. I don’t know how she’s going to debut just yet but something’ll come up that I can help Clark with. The reason we’re telling you this is that we might need a sitter on rather short notice at times. Are you up for it?”
“You can count on me sis.”
“I knew that we could. Thanks Luce. We appreciate it. We will not abuse the privilege. It’ll only be in direst emergencies.”
That following Monday, September 27, Lois had returned to work.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Within a few days the front page headline of the Daily Planet read:
“Ultra Woman Returns”
By Lois Lane and Clark Kent
“To everyone’s surprise as Superman was handling a multi-car pileup on the interstate Ultra Woman made her return debut. The timing couldn’t have been better as the extent of damage and injuries were taxing even Superman’s abilities to cope. Ultra Woman swooped in and lent a much needed assist to the superhero in his time of need. As with her previous visit she displayed all of the same powers exhibited by our local superhero fueling speculation that she is actually from New Krypton. There is some speculation that the reason for her return was Superman himself …”
The Whisperer printed.
“Super Bimbo for a Superhero?”
By Melissa Freeman
“Everyone knows that Ultra Woman was here for a while some time ago. Why did she come back? Was it because of her superhunk? Are there wedding bells in their future? …”
And Now -
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Chapter 2 – Christmas Time
Two months later.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ultra Woman had made her debut and worked with Superman or independently on a number of rescues. It was just after Thanksgiving and there were Santas all over the place.
Superman had requested that the Superman Foundation send a Santa to the Metropolis Children’s Home. When Santa showed up he had three elves with him dressed up in elf costume, a woman and two men. The woman was wearing a very very short red dress showing plenty of leg and elf slippers Spock ears and sparkly makeup around her eyes with a red Santa hat. The guys were wearing green tights with a Peter Pan type tunics, elf shoes, Spock ears and Santa hats. While the orphans sat on Santa’s lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas two of the ‘elves’ were busily taking notes and the other guy elf took pictures of the kids on Santa’s lap. At the end of the day they had quite a list.
In the parking lot as they were leaving Santa said, “By Elvis I don’t know when I’ve had more fun. Lois, Clark I’m glad you guys talked me into doing this.”
Jimmy who had been the camera jockey chimed in, “Yeah, you guys, it was great. I don’t know when I’ve had such a good time. I need to get back and develop these pictures and print ‘em up. Those kids’ll love ‘em.”
“That’s why we came to you Chief. We knew you’d enjoy it. We have to get this list over to the Superman Foundation. We’ll be back to the office shortly.”
“Take whatever time you need. It’s a slow news day.” He and Jimmy climbed into his car and drove off.
As soon as they were out of sight Lois and Clark walked into an alleyway, spun into their suits and flew to the Superman Foundation offices, landing on a balcony. When the offices had been rented, a balcony was specifically requested for just this use. When Superman and Ultra Woman walked in they were immediately greeted by Leo’s secretary and announced. Leo came out of his office and greeted them then led them back inside.
Superman said, “Leo, some friends of ours just paid a visit to the Metropolis Children’s Home and played Santa for them. Here’s a list of the toys and games that the children asked for. We’d like you to fulfill as many of these wishes as you can. If you need to, hire some temporary staff do so, but, since it’s for the orphans you may have some volunteers.”
As he looked over the list, Leo said, “No problem. We should be able to fulfill just about all of the list. Who’s going to deliver the toys?”
Ultra Woman replied, “I think that the Santa and his elves that went today should be the ones to distribute the toys, what do you think, Superman?”
“I agree with Ultra Woman. I think that they would be happy to see it through. We’ll talk to them. Can you have everything together for Christmas Eve?”
Looking again at the list and doing some mental calculations, Leo said, “Looks like that would be doable, yeah, we can do that. I’ll get everything ready for the twenty fourth.”
Superman said, “Thanks Leo. I think it’ll mean a lot to those kids.” They shook hands all around and Superman and Ultra Woman took their departure.
That afternoon when they arrived back at the Planet they went into Perry’s office and sat down on his couch. Lois said, “Perry we have another request.”
Perry replied, “If it’s anything like this last one no problem.”
“Actually, Chief, it just like it. The Superman Foundation is going to purchase the toys and games and get them wrapped. They would like Santa and his elves to make the delivery on Christmas Eve. Are you up for it?”
“Well now, I just might be. Do you think we could use another elf? Alice might just enjoy helping out.”
Laughing Lois replied, “Do you think Alice would be willing to wear that short a skirt? Maybe she could be Mrs. Santa.”
Perry replied, “It’s been a while since she’s worn anything that short, but” He got a wistful expression on his face and continued, “she *does* have the *legs* for it. I think I’d like to see her as an elf.”
Laughing at his response Lois said, “If that’s the case Jimmy may want Lucy to help and we may just dress the kids up and let them help too.”
Clark said, “I like that idea. Let’s do it. We’ll make it a real family affair.”
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That evening – at home.
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They called all the kids together in the living room and when they had everyone’s attention Lois started.
“Kids, remember a couple of months ago when we talked about adoption.” The kids all nodded in response. “Well, today Mommy and Daddy went to the Metropolis Children’s Home. That is the place where children that don’t *have* mommies and daddies live until they are adopted by *new* mommies and daddies. Your Mommy and Daddy have a very special interest in them because your Daddy was an orphan. His Mommy and Daddy were killed in an accident but Grandma and Grandpa Kent adopted him.”
Clark added, “Just imagine how it would be if we weren’t here to take care of you. You are happy because we love you, we feed you, we take care of you, we give you toys and we do lots of other things for you and with you. If we weren’t here we wouldn’t be able to do those things for you and you would probably be sad. Well, the children at the orphanage are sad most of the time that way. Would you like to make them happy, at least for a little while?”
Lara chimed in with a question, “Are you goin’ to dopt them?”
With a smile on her face Lois said, “No Honey we couldn’t take care of so many when we have you to take care of. It’s almost Christmas and we thought that you might like to help make them happy by helping us give them some Christmas presents.”
Jon said, “I’d like to do that. Can I help pass them out?”
Clark replied, “You sure can Sport. You too Lara and the twins, I think you’re all old enough. Your Aunt Lucy and Uncle Jimmy and your cousins will be there too. So will Uncle Perry and Aunt Alice.”
Lois added, “We’re all going to dress up as Santa’s elves. Won’t that be fun?”
There was a general chorus of “Yeah!” and it was settled.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A couple of days before Christmas Eve, late in the afternoon Lois and Clark heard fire sirens and both dashed for the stairwell. Superman and Ultra Woman exited the roof access door and shot into the sky. They saw the smoke almost immediately and streaked in that direction. To their dismay as they neared the site they realized that it was MCH that was on fire.
Clark projected a thought, /Lois, you start rescuing the kids. I’ll deal with the fire./
Lois replied, /You got it./ as they both streaked down and into the building.
Lois saw that most of the children were already out. She found one little girl on the floor of a girl’s dorm. She had apparently gone back for a prized dolly and had been disoriented by the smoke and lost her way. Eventually being overcome by the smoke and collapsing to the floor. Lois scooped her up, dolly and all and supersped her out of the building. As soon as she had her out she handed her to one of the workers and then Lois went back in looking for others.
Meanwhile, Clark had been busy blowing out the flames. The fire had been started by the lights on the Christmas tree in the common room. The staff had allowed it to dry out by not watering it frequently enough and it had caught fire. The toys and other gifts which were being provided by the staff and had been under the tree were a loss. The damage to the common room was not really major but the smoke damage would keep the residents out for a week or more.
Lois joined him and asked, “What can we do? These kids are going to need some place to stay.”
Clark thought about it for a minute and then snapping his fingers said, “Didn’t MetGen just finish that new wing?”
“You’re right! They haven’t started using it yet. They were supposed to have the ribbon cutting right after New Years.”
“We need to get to that little girl to MetGen anyway while we’re there I think that Superman and Ultra Woman need to go see the administrator to ask if we can borrow that new wing for a week or so.”
They exited the building together and walked over to the orphanage administrator. “In our estimation the building will need a lot of cleanup from the smoke damage. We are going to take the little girl that was overcome to MetGen so that she can be treated and while we are there we will ask if you can use their new, unopened Emerson Hatcher wing for the kids until the cleanup is complete.”
Mrs. Richards said, “That would be wonderful. I need some place to get the kids where they will be warm.”
Lois suggested, “Why don’t you call the school district office and see if you can borrow a bus to take the kids over. We’ll head there to make the arrangements.”
As Mrs. Richards pulled out her cell phone Superman and Ultra Woman flew off with Ultra Woman carrying the little girl. A few seconds later they landed at MetGen and after checking the girl in at the ER asked to speak with the hospital administrator. A few seconds later they were ushered into his office. Superman spoke first, “Mr. Raymond we have a request to make. We just came from a fire at Metropolis Children’s Home and we were wondering if they could use your new wing until the home is rehabbed.”
Mr. Raymond replied, “Since that is the new children’s wing and since a majority of the funding for it came from the Superman Foundation, how can I refuse such a request. I’ll send staff in there to get things ready immediately.”
Ultra Woman replied, “Thank you Mr. Raymond. Any additional funding needed to pay staff for this effort will be reimbursed by the Superman Foundation.”
“Thank you, Ultra Woman, but that won’t be necessary. We will do this for the children.”
Superman spoke up, “If you don’t mind we will bring in a tree and some decorations.”
“That will be fine. We’ll clear a corner in the common room for it.”
They thanked him and departed. They flew back to the MCH. When Ultra Woman landed she was surrounded by the kids. Lois hugged as many of them as she could at one time Superman hovered over them and used his heat vision on low power to warm up the area while they waited for the bus. When the bus arrived they saw to it that the kids were all on board and then they returned to the Planet to write up the story.
Lois wrote up the hard story, which was a warning to home owners to make sure that they watered their live trees adequately to prevent fires like what had just happened at the MCH while Clark took the human interest side of the disruption to the kids living at the home and how this was going to affect them especially now at Christmas time. He also praised MetGen for their generosity in opening their new wing for the children until the home was rehabilitated. They each edited the other’s copy before they sent their stories to Perry.
A minute later they heard, “Lois, Clark, can I see you for a minute?”
When they got into the office Perry asked, “Okay, how will this affect our plans?”
Lois spoke up, “Chief, it’s going to be even more important than it was that we do this thing. These kids have now been kicked out of their ‘home’. It’s bad enough that they don’t have parents now they don’t have a place to call home. I think we need to proceed.”
“I agree. Lois you’ll be happy to know that Alice has agreed to use the dress you provided and I must say that she looks good in it. Now, mind you, I might be a little prejudiced …”
They both were laughing as Lois said, “Now, Chief, we’d *never* think *that*. We do know that Alice is a good sport and we are happy that she’ll be with us. We’ve already talked with the kids and they are looking forward to helping. Lucy and Jimmy will be there with their kids also. This is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait.”
comments go here To be continued in chapter 2 - Sants Clause Comes to Town
