Clark & Lois – When Worlds and Universes Collide - Matchmaker Chronicles V 8 33/36
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 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124 Prime Alt
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Later, at the restaurant Lori and Clark were seated and placed their order. While they waited Lori was extremely quiet and in the dim light, Clark could just make out tears running down her cheeks.
He reached out for her hand and in a quiet tone asked, “What if it, Honey? What has made you so upset?”
“JJ and Hattie.”
“JJ and Hattie? We just saw them.”
“I know, that’s just it. We just saw them, but it wasn’t them, our them, our JJ and Hattie. Remember what she said?”
“What she said when?”
“When she was explaining why she had powers. She said that you, Jon and *Ultra Woman* got tired of rescuing them so much so they used Gretchen Kelly’s machine to give them the powers.”
“Right, so?”
In exasperation she said, “Don’t you get it? Ultra Woman apparently was among those saving her. In this universe Ultra Woman was only around for about a week. The fact that Ultra Woman was not around for her is what caused her death.”
Musingly, Clark said, “Hmmm, you could be right.”
“I know I’m right. Remember how it happened? They were investigating ‘The Main Street Bomber’ at the time. They found JJ with a fractured skull. Hattie had been blown up in that tunnel under the street. There was evidence that she had been murdered even though the STAR tried to imply that she was the bomber, just creating a story for the Planet.”
“Yeah, I remember all of that.”
“Think about it. You were dealing with a situation on the west coast, helping out Lara. Jon and Jen were on their honeymoon. Sean, Celeste and Jessica were all away at school. Jimmy, Lucy and Sam didn’t have their powers as yet. If I had been Ultra Woman, I would have been there for her, but I wasn’t. Because Lois, in this universe, never became Ultra Woman – Hattie and JJ lost their lives.”
“Lori, you can’t blame yourself for things over which you had absolutely no control.”
“Why didn’t Herb give me a pendant? He gave one to the other Lois. If I had been super, JJ and Hattie might not have died and I might not have died of old age.”
“Honey, if there is one thing I’ve learned from our association with Herb, there’s a reason for everything he does. It’s possible that if the Lois of this universe hadn’t died of old age, you might not have been born and even if you had been, we wouldn’t be together.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that several people died as a result of his inaction that didn’t need to.”
“Remember the conversation we had with the other Clarks. They started off as the same individual. When their Lois was shot, there were two possible outcomes – She either lived or died. Each outcome resulted in a universe, one in which she recovered and became super and the universe in which she died continued to exist. They were not able to change the outcome for Clark. No matter how many times or ways they would have tried to save Lois, in his universe she would always die. It wasn’t until Herb found a universe with a Lois and no Clark that he gained his soul mate. I’m sure that Herb would have a better explanation, but that’s the best I can come up with.”
Lori was still weeping quietly as she said, “It’s just that, seeing both of them, alive and happy, it really hit me.”
“I know, Honey and it hit me to, but I was happy to see that even if not here, there they are alive and well and together. Be happy for them.”
“Yeah, I can do that. I just wonder if we’ll ever see them again.”
“Only Herb could answer that question.”
And now -
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Chapter 33 – Returning to the party
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 – Prime
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After noticing that all of the kids were absent Lois called Louise over and asked, “Louise, did your mom say anything about having an errand to run?”
Surprised, Louise looked around. She noticed that not only were her mom and dad gone, but all of her aunts and uncles as well. Now she had a tone of mystification in her voice as she replied, “No, Grandma, she didn’t say anything to me. Where’d everybody go?”
“I don’t know sweetheart. Let’s not panic. They have to be around, somewhere. I’m sure they’ll be back soon. You’re doing a really good job with the younger children. You’re some special babysitter.”
Louise smiled at this praise from her Grandma and headed back to the play area to supervise the smaller children as Lois moved back to Clark.
Clark suddenly put down the spatula and fork and reached for Martha. Taking her out of the carrier he cuddled her and kissed the top of her head. He said, “You know, I’ve been thinking. Remember, way back when Herb recruited us to help Clark and Lois with Nor? The kids showed up.”
“You mean, you think that’s where they are now?”
“It all fits, doesn’t it? They are all grown and as of today they are all married. Sam and Alice were the last ones so she is now a member of the family and can legitimately fight on our side.”
“You know, I think you’re right. JJ and Hattie were there as well and they’ve been married for a while now. I guess we just have to hang in and wait for them to return. Wow, that’s a relief. At least now we know where they are and it’s just a matter of time.”
“The best thing is we know that no one was hurt and they will all be coming back in one piece.”
Lois called Louise over. “Louise, honey, Grandpa and I just remembered where everyone went and they will be back in a while, so just have fun while we wait. They shouldn’t be gone too long.”
“Okay, Grandma. Thanks, I was starting to get worried. Why couldn’t they take us kids?”
“Well, honey, they went on a special mission and it required superpowers. They wanted you kids to be safe so they left you here with us. This way Superman and Ultra Woman are still handy. Why don’t you go ahead and enjoy yourself until they get back. I’m sure they won’t be gone long.” With a smile she said, “I think I see some more cake over there on the table. There might just be enough for everyone to have one more slice. Why not see how many of your charges would like another piece? I just might be able to find some more ice cream to go along with it.”
Smiling broadly at the prospect of more cake and ice cream, Louise headed back to the play area to supervise the younger children.
As she walked away, Lois said to Clark, “I wonder why Herb didn’t take us.”
Clark’s reply didn’t really satisfy her as he said, “If you think about it, we already are. He picked us up in 2013 and took us to help. There must be something about having two representatives from the same universe there at the same time.”
“But, another super couple would have made things so much easier.” Lois quibbled.
“Yeah, but we made out okay. We won, didn’t we?” Clark asked.
“Yeah, we won, but if it hadn’t been for all the extra help that Herb provided, it might have turned out differently. Before the kids showed up, Nor almost had us.”
“We should have known that Nor would ignore tradition and violate the rules of the combat. Why didn’t we anticipate that? We knew from what he did to us that he couldn’t be trusted!”
“We couldn’t be sure that this Nor would do the same things that ‘our’ Nor did. Okay, he was the same, but we didn’t know that at the time.”
“It was almost too late when we discovered it. If Jon hadn’t shown up and released the other Clark. You know that was just so confusing. There were two of him! They were both the one that helped us with Tempus. That still blows my mind.”
“Just think how confusing it would have been if we HAD been there. Two Ultra Women in the same uniform. At least this way, even though there were two Ultra Women they had different uniforms and actually were different people. Imagine, you died and your soul essence passed to Lori. I wonder what will happen to her now that you aren’t about to die. Will she even be born?”
With a thoughtful expression, Lois said, “There’s no way for us to ever know the answer to that question.”
Clark asked, “Should we even try to find out? She would be your cousin, after all.”
With a wary look, Lois asked, “Why should we do that?”
“Well, she seemed like a nice girl.”
“Yeah, just keep in mind, she was me or maybe that is the attraction. Just remember, Kent, Kryptonians are monogamous. In this universe, she will not receive my soul essence. She will be a different person.”
“I realize that, I’m just saying, she was CJ’s mom, you know, maybe we could help her out.”
Lois said, “Yeah, she was CJ’s mom, but you were CJ’s dad and I don’t want you getting any ideas. Besides, that was in another universe and he wouldn’t be the same child if he were born here. This is all so confusing and irritating. Why are we just now remembering all of this? All of this happened to our 2013 selves.”
As if stating a fact that they both knew, Clark said, “There can only be one answer – Herb. We found out that with Lori he helped her to recall all of her memories from her previous lives, yours included. If he can do that, what is to say that he can’t block memories as well and put a time or some other trigger in place so that at the proper time the memory returns. It could be that when the kids all disappeared from the party it triggered the memory so that we wouldn’t worry about them.”
Lois glanced in the direction of the play area and realized that Louise was gathering the grandkids together and they would soon be there looking for cake and ice cream. With a laugh, Lois said, “There’s a bunch of kids headed this way looking for a promised treat. I’d better go get the ice cream before we have a mutiny on our hands.”
Laughing, Clark said, “Yeah, you’d better! I’d rather face the wrath of Ultra Woman than the grand kids. Here, I’ll take Martha.” He reached for, removed baby Martha from the carrier again, and started cuddling her as she looked up at him, cooed and smiled broadly.
Lois had to make an emergency trip to the market for more ice cream to satisfy the hungry horde, but returned with it before the cake was all served out.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The grandchildren were all gathered in a circle around Lois and Clark finishing their cake and ice cream while Lois told them stories about some of the investigations they had done while at the Planet. The children would all scream when she got to the point where her life had been threatened and then they would all cheer when Superman swooped in to the rescue. They had all heard each of the stories numerous times, but they all loved hearing them and whenever they had the chance they asked for Lois to tell them.
Lois related the story of how she had been affected by the pheromone and in the course of the story how she had been lured to the airport, knocked out and hung up by the wrists over a vat of poison with Superman rescuing her at the last second. Next she told the story of the terrorists that were building a truck bomb in Smallville. The kids liked that story even if Superman wasn’t the hero. Grandma and Grandpa were the heroes.
When she finished that story Louise asked, “Grandma, could you tell the story about how you captured the Werewolf Murderer?”
“Okay, well, that was back when we were babysitting CJ. A number of women had been attacked, beaten and robbed. Grandpa didn’t want me to go undercover, but I thought that it would be the only way to bring him out into the open so I went undercover as a waitress. Well, finally we found him.”
Several of the grandkids shouted, “Grandma, tell us about how you arrested him!”
“Okay, well, when we found him, he tried to do to me what he had done to the other women, but I was ready for him. When he came after me I used my karate and knocked him down.”
A cheer went up.
“He pulled a knife and threatened me with it!”
There was a general gasp.
“I kicked the knife out of his hand.”
There was another cheer.
“Then he pulled out a gun!”
There was another gasp.
“But, I kicked him on the chin and knocked him out then I kicked the gun away from him.”
There was another cheer. Then Louise asked, “Where was Superman?”
This story had been told many times and Lois knew that Louise was just giving her lead-ins to what she felt were the good parts.
Looking askance at Clark as she told this part, Lois said, “Well, Superman was there, but he just stood there like a lump on a log while I did all of the work. I called 911 and notified the police that I had captured their criminal and they came to pick him up.”
“What did the mayor do?”
“The mayor was so happy that I had captured the criminal that he gave me a Certificate of Appreciation from the mayor’s office for performing a Citizen’s Arrest.”
There was one final cheer and then the grandkids all mobbed their Grandma.
As Lois was finishing up and while the grandkids all vied for a position on Lois’ lap Jon and Jen came out through the door into the back yard.
Behind them came Lara and Mike followed by the rest of the family.
Jon headed for the buffet.
Clark shouted, “You guys hungry?”
Jon’s reply was succinct, “It feels like we haven’t had a decent meal for … almost a week.”
Clark started putting more burgers, franks, ribs and chicken on the grill as he said, “Be ready in a jiff.”
The grandkids all mobbed their parents welcoming them back.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There was a second round of meals. Jon finally drifted over to have a talk with his mom and dad. “You guys know where we were, don’t you?
Lois said, “We have a pretty good idea. While you were gone we remembered the incident. I’m happy to report that when we did, we were very relieved because we knew that you would all be coming back in one piece. We were elsewhere most of the time that you guys were covering emergencies. Care to tell us about some of them?”
Jon replied, “Maybe some other time, right now I just want to relax and enjoy the kids. It’s been a busy week.”
“We know how it is. It’s good to have you back.”
Hattie came up before Jon had a chance to leave, “Hey, Jon, Aunt Lois, wow, it was weird. It was you, but then it wasn’t you, I mean it was an earlier you. It was the you from when we were teens. Back then I never suspected that you were Ultra Woman or that Uncle Clark was Superman.” She started to laugh, “Boy, were you surprised when JJ and I took off our masks! You should have seen the look on your face! I wish I’d had a camera. When you realized who I was and that I was super powered.”
“Yeah, it was a surprise. I didn’t remember it until a little while ago. Mr. Wells must have done something to suppress our memories or else I’d have known how things were going to turn out with you and JJ. I might have let something slip or encouraged the relationship or done something that would have changed history. That is the last thing I would have liked to have done. I am very happy with the way history has worked itself out. You did really good in the fights.”
Hattie had a musing expression as she said, “Something occurred to me a little bit ago. I wonder what happened to us in that other universe. It didn’t seem like Lori knew me. She had been you, right?”
“Yes, but along a different track. That Lois never became super. I guess that’s going to have to remain a mystery, sweetie. I would guess that Mr. Wells could tell us, but he probably won’t. That’s just the way he is. He only tells you what you need to know. Sometimes, it really isn’t enough or at least it’s not as much as you’d like.”
“Aunt Lois, how closely do these universes parallel one another?”
“That’s hard to tell. The Clark we went to help lives in two different universes. In one he had to deal with Luthor in the other he didn’t. Things can be quite different.”
“So there’s no way to tell if there was a … me … in that other universe?”
“The only person that would know the answer to that question would be Mr. H. G. Wells and you know what I believe? I believe that if you asked him that question straight out … he would never answer you. Oh, he would come up with a good excuse for why he can’t, but the result would be the same either way.”
“I just feel like I need to know, you know, just so that I would know.”
“Hattie, you need to decide how much good it would do you to know the answer to that question. If it is going to change your life … that’s one thing. If not, then, well, you have to let it drop.”
“I guess it won’t change anything either way.”
“Are you happy? I mean, you and JJ, are the two of you happy with the way things turned out?”
“You mean becoming super and all?”
“Yeah, becoming super and all.”
“It’s a lot of responsibility and all, but I wouldn’t trade the life I have with JJ and the rest of the family for anything.”
“My advice – concentrate on what you have and don’t worry about how things might have turned out somewhere else.”
“Aunt Lois, if I had any doubts before about having you as my role model, they would all be gone now.” Hattie stepped up to Lois and put her arms around her in a hug as she said, “I really love you.”
Returning the hug, Lois said, “No more than I love you, Hattie girl. I’m glad you’re part of the family.” Hattie couldn’t see it, but a single tear fell from Lois’ eye as she contemplated events. She knew just how many times she had needed to save Hattie and thought, <What would have happened to her if Ultra Woman hadn’t been around?> There could only be one answer.
As Hattie pulled back from Lois she saw the tear and asked, “Are you sad? Was it something I said?”
“No, Hattie girl, I’m happy you’re here with us. It’s where you belong. I just don’t know what this family would be like without you and, frankly, I don’t want to find out. Come on; let’s go get something to eat.”
Lois put an arm around Hattie and led her over to the buffet table.
Lois knew that there would be many new stories of superhero rescues told as bedtime stories in the weeks to come. She just hoped that the kids would tell her and Clark before she died of curiosity.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lois had her wish answered. Before too long Jon, as usual acting as spokesperson for all of the kids pulled his mom and dad aside.
Jon asked, “How much of what went on do you guys remember?”
Lois replied, “Until a little while ago we didn’t remember any of it. Herb must have time blocked our memories. Now we remember our part. We’d like to hear your side of it though.”
“I have to admit, when Mr. Wells approached us with this mission, I didn’t know what to think. You guys seem to hold him in high regard so we all decided to go along with it. He had us all change into our uniforms before we stepped through the portal and it’s a good thing he did because as we stepped through we could see all of you guys caught in that trap. It was weird seeing four of each of you. I recognized your uniform right off Mom.” Jon smiled, “It was the only one of its kind.” Jon paused before he continued as if he were considering the effect of the topic he wanted to address. “With all that was happening and how busy we were with Nor’s supporters we didn’t have much of a chance to get to know everyone.” Jon paused before continuing. Who is Lori?”
Lois answered, “She is me, well, not me exactly, but yes, me. The way she explained it there were two of me. There was me, me with a long life and super powers and then there was a me that had a regular Earth human life span and died of old age. She is the next me in that universe. Somehow, Herb arranged things so that she could remember her life as me and Lady Loisette and Lulu Kent and all of the rest, so you see, she is me and more than me.”
“Okay, that explains some things. I guess the others will tell you what they did. Jen and I stayed together most of the time …” Jon went on to relate their part in the events in Alt 2.
Eventually all of the kids related their activities which satisfied Lois’ curiosity, but it took some time and it wasn’t all told in one day since each couple had their own story.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That evening after Lois and Clark put CJ, Olive, Benjamin and Martha to bed they had a chance to discuss the day.
Lois snuggled up to Clark on the couch curled her legs under herself and released a relieved sigh. She wiggled a little bit to get more comfortable and then said, “What a day. Lara really surprised us with that one. She really had to pull a lot of strings to bring it off.”
Laughing he said, “She takes after her mother. Accomplishing what most people would consider impossible. Well, how does it feel to finally be the Kryptonian Lady Lois-El?”
“It feels good, but speaking of the Kryptonian Lady Lois. That was some story. When the laser transferred Clark’s powers it also changed her to fully Kryptonian and she wasn’t able to return the powers to him. Because of that, he was killed. You know, Lucille could have done that to you, then where would we be? Penny was absolutely adorable and Carrie was really special. I’m glad I can remember it all now.”
“Do you think we should see if we can find Carrie in this universe?”
“I don’t think so. That was 1997 … sixteen years ago. If there was a Carrie in this universe, she’s probably dead from the tumor. Wait a minute! She might have died in the fire since you didn’t rescue her.”
“If there ever was a fire, which there might not have been. These multiple universes can be confusing. There are a lot of things that are duplicated, but there are a lot of differences too.”
She shifted position so that she could give him a kiss. With an arched eyebrow she said, “I seem to recall that there is a second part to that bonding ceremony. Wasn’t there something about the marriage bed? I think that if we are truly to honor the Kryptonian ceremony we have a date upstairs, but, we need to be quiet so that we don’t wake the kiddies.”
Together they floated up off the couch and floated upstairs so that not even the quietest footfall would wake the children and they disappeared into their bedroom.
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