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Kerth
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Kerth
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Got it!! Carol Malo's The Red Skirt The next one should guess mine and Kathy's She backed out of the closet and was still holding onto the suit when she tripped over a fold in the carpet and found herself sitting on the floor. It was a testament to how shocked Lois was that the fall didn't even rate a response from her. She just stared at the super suit which she held in her hands.
It took a few moments for her brain to engage and finally try to piece together the momentous piece of information she had just uncovered. As she saw it there were only two options, the first being that Clark was holding Superman's suits for him. Maybe he laundered them or something. That was the most logical answer and if Clark were standing here next to her to tell her that, she'd most likely believe it. But Clark wasn't here, he was missing, and Lois had heard a strange message from his mother on the answering machine about helping out during disasters. Could it be true? Could her farm boy partner really be Superman?
All the lame excuses Clark would use to leave at the most inopportune times came flooding back to Lois. Very often after Clark left, Superman would show up somewhere to stop a robber, or put out a big fire. Then Clark would come back saying he ran into Superman and he'd have the story just as nice as you please. Lois' anger flared forth. That rat, she thought. No wonder he always seemed to get so many inside scoops on Superman's activities. It's easy to get a Superman story if you are Superman. If, you, are, Superman?
"Oh god, no," Lois whispered into the S shield of the suit. If Clark *were* Superman, that meant that he wasn't actually missing. Instead, he was lying on a padded table at Star Labs, hooked up to several machines whose only purpose was to find out if he were still alive! Tears began to flood down Lois' cheeks once again as she clutched the super suit to her chest like it was some sort of life line.
So wrapped up in her latest bout of grief and fear for the man she thought she loved, she almost didn't hear the activity outside the apartment's front door. Still holding the suit tight to her, she turned her gaze toward the door.
Martha and Jonathan had approached the front door of Clark's apartment and upon seeing the lights on both gave a huge sigh of relief. It appeared that their concern that they hadn't heard from their boy was going to be groundless, but once they got close to the door they could hear someone inside. Someone who seemed to be throwing things around. Then they heard a loud thump, like something falling to the floor. This was followed soon after by the sounds of weeping. Martha gave Jonathan a look and a shrug as she reached for the door handle.
Neither Jonathan nor Martha were sure what to expect when they opened the door, but they did know that the sight that greeted them would not have been it.
Sitting on the floor in front of Clark's closet was Lois. Tears were streaming down her face and she was holding tightly to one of Clark's super suits. Lois looked up at them and in a voice on the edge of hysteria asked.
"Is it true?" She held the suit out toward them so they could be sure to see what it was. "Is it *true*?" Jose 
"Practice up your shielding spells...and remember to duck if you see green light coming your way." Harry Potter to Wizengamot in OotP trial A Bad Week in the Wizengamot
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Well, Kathy's is Meredith's All Stirred Up , and José's is Tank's Dark Revelation. Okay, try this one: Tears formed in her eyes as Lois heard the pain and torment in his voice. She walked around the table to him and gently rubbed his back. Her touch broke the walls he was trying so valiantly to rebuild.
"Oh, God, Lois. I miss them so much," he hissed, anguish in his voice. "Every day. Every second. I never know if what I'm doing is right, and I don't have anyone to ask. I'm so alone."
"No, you're not. You're not alone." Lois cocked her head and looked into his eyes, her hand resting on his shoulder. He sighed as he looked at her, and pulled away completely.
"How long have you known?"
Shaking her head, she sat back down in a chair next to him. "I didn't know. Not for sure. There were just too many things that didn't add up. Except one way. When you've proved all of the possibilities are wrong, the impossible must be true."
Clark nodded, silent. He felt washed out inside. She knew now. She knew he was the Guardian - the freak who flew. Wasn't that what the Metropolis Star called him on a regular basis? She would want nothing further to do with him. Who would want anything to do with him? His life was a mess; *he* was a mess. There was nothing to offer to anyone. Wendy 
Just a fly-by! *waves*
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Kerth
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This was a dificult... but the Guardian means... Gone in a Flash by Betsy He squeezed her hand as he steeled his nerves to tell her what he had to. "Lois, I need you to listen to me." He waited until she met his gaze. "I need you to call Dr. Klein."
"Bernie Klein? Why?"
"He's the only one that can help me."
"But he's a scientist at Star Labs."
"Yes. He also studies Superman's biology." Clark squeezed her hand again. "He's my doctor, Lois."
She took in his words, noticing for the first time that he wasn't wearing his glasses. He couldn't possibly be saying what she thought he was saying. Slowly she reached down and smoothed his hair back on his head. "Oh God!" Jose 
"Practice up your shielding spells...and remember to duck if you see green light coming your way." Harry Potter to Wizengamot in OotP trial A Bad Week in the Wizengamot
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Top Banana
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Get it as soon as I read: the very much loved (by me, at least) "Unexplained events" by Stopquitdont! Now, a new story... "What *thing*, Clark!" Lois began to tremble. "This has to do with Superman? Why I'm pregnant? What!?"
Clark looked up at the ceiling, his expression almost prayer-like as he searched the air itself for the right words. He took a deep breath and brought his gaze down level with hers. "It has to do with why Superman can *not* be the father of that baby, Lois. But," he said, regret softening his tone. "I almost wish it were true. You have no idea how much." He removed his glasses. "Because ... *I'm* Superman." Simona 
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Kerth
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Kerth
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Since it's been a while I cheated a bit  , and found The Persistence of the Memory by Zoomway... if you like Wells meddling don't miss it back with an evil one... but a clue! "You aren't human!" Her voice was accusing.
"Neither are you...neither is my son." Clark's voice was mild, holding a small trace of amusement.
Sarah's face snapped around to stare at Calvin. "*You should have told me.*"
"*It wasn't my secret to tell.*"
"*How could you bring me to the house of someone like this?*"
It took Calvin a moment to realize that she thought Clark was a New Kryptonian deserter.
His father sighed. "*You still don't understand.*"
Both Calvin and Sarah stared at Calvin's father, and they both blushed when they realized that their conversation hadn't been private. Calvin had never realized that his father was so telepathically skilled.
Clark Kent stood and clapped his hands. Calvin sighed. He'd always been embarrassed that his parents actually owned an antique clapper.
The window curtains all began to close. When the room was completely closed off, Clark Kent began to spin in place.
At least he had chosen to wear the suit under his clothes this time. Calvin had been occasionally embarrassed by his ability to see what his father was doing at superspeed. For Sarah's sake, he was grateful. It was hard enough to see that Superman had a human life; she wasn't ready yet to see him in his underwear. That would have to wait until at least the third date. Jose 
"Practice up your shielding spells...and remember to duck if you see green light coming your way." Harry Potter to Wizengamot in OotP trial A Bad Week in the Wizengamot
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Hah, this is Shayne Terry's Hearts and Diamonds!  Love it... This is probably too easy, but I'm being lazy today, and I've always liked this one He shook his head. She didn't understand. "Lana was the only one who really knew about me ... who accepted me. God knows no one else would."
"Oh, please. What could be so terrible?"
He looked up at her, starting to get annoyed at her persistence. "You really want to know?"
"Yeah, I really do!"
He glowered at her. "Well, I can't tell you."
She glared right back. "Why the hell not? It's a private room, and if you want, I will swear to never tell anyone else. What'd you do, kill someone?"
"No!" Glumly, he realized that he didn't have much reason to keep this a secret. They weren't going to find any thieves on Shipton, so his job was about to disappear, and Lana was already furious with him. The worst Lois could do would be to publish ... and so what? He could always change his name and move to Tahiti. If he were destined to be alone and miserable, he could at least live on a beach.
"All right, fine." The decision made, the words poured forth. "I'm not human; I'm an alien. I have *powers*. I can hear things from hundreds of feet away, I can see through walls, I can set things on fire with my eyes. I'm tremendously strong. I can fly." To illustrate the point, he pushed back the chair, and levitated in midair before her stunned eyes. "So tell me, who's gonna put up with all that?" PJ
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Beat Reporter
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Pam, you sneak.  This is your own In Any Universe ! Just for that, you're going to have to find and repost your little teasers for the entire S1 we wanted you to write in this delightful universe of yours! I especially liked the one when LnC deliberately fell out of Trask's plane together. Here's an old favorite of mine: "What kind of different are you?"
She saw him take a deep breath before opening his mouth to answer her. Then he looked as if he heard something she couldn't hear. And then he was *gone*! One second he was toying with her fingers and then he just simply wasn't in the seat beside her. Seconds later Lois heard and felt the compression of an explosion. And then he was there in the seat beside her, readjusting his tie and his glasses.
Lois blinked. What on earth! Had he really disappeared, or was this a new side-effect from her head injury? Before she could ask him, the captain's voice came over the public address system asking everyone to remain calm. There had been a minor accident with some oxygen tanks in the cargo hold which had been averted by the quick intervention of Superman. There would be no need to return to London after this mishap, they would continue on to Metropolis because they were in Superman's capable hands.
Before Lois could even raise herself up to see where this phenomenon was located, the people sitting across the aisle reached over and shook Clark Kent's hand, thanking him profusely. There was general applause around the plane.
Lois' brain clicked and whirred as she put the pieces together--the awe of the people they had met, the *not* flying by commercial airline, his sudden disappearing act. She finally understood.
"Oh, *that* kind of different."
He looked at her, uneasily. "Does it bother you?"
Lois shook her head, "I guess I wasn't too bright. I should have seen the resemblance. I just wasn't expecting a mild-mannered guy like you, wearing glasses, to be *Superman*!"
"That's what the other Lois said."
Lois: You know the deal. Clark: Superman gets the guys in capes, Lois and Clark get the guys in suits.
-- Action Comics 827
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Beat Reporter
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I love this story. It's In Dreams by Kaylle. It's what?! 
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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/me awards Kaylle with her shiny new 'Dipsy Authors' Who Can't Recognise Their Own Stories' pin. Welcome to this exclusive club, Kaylle! Delighted to welcome you as a member. You're in good company. LabRat  (polishing up her own pin)
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly. Aramis: Yes, sorry. Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Hazel, I love this story too! It's "Only you: Recall" of the "Only you" series by Margaret Brignell! Another story, let me think... I love this one: Was Clark the 'Guardian Angel'? She had to know. Reaching out cautiously, she put her hand on the doorknob, but again drew it back. For some reason, she felt she should knock first. She knocked quickly, the loud sound echoing off the hallway walls. "Clark?" She could still hear his breathing.
"Clark? Wake up. We need to talk." She knocked on the door again, longer and harder than last time. Still no change in his breathing. "CLARK! Wake up!" She reached down and turned the knob and shoved the door open.
"Clark Kent, I want to--to--" Lois stood motionless. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There, a good three feet above the bed, floated a sleeping Clark Kent. He was bare from the waist up, and he was wearing dark colored pants of some kind. He had mud smudges on his face and a thin layer of grime over his chest and arms. He was sound asleep, rising and falling with each breath. Simona 
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I tried to find this, Simona, since this cluechie has been unsolved for over a week. But, although your extract is familiar, I'm stumped!  Is it on the archive? Give us a clue, please! Wendy 
Just a fly-by! *waves*
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Ooooh, I know this one! Sorry, I haven't checked this thread in a while. This is Jeff Brogden's Lost and Found, a fantastic story! Here's your next cluchie: Methodically, he packed up her books, beginning with the lowest shelf and filling two boxes before he got to the top shelf. He was able to reach a shelf higher than she could, but there was another one above that. She saw him look around the room, and wished she could tell him where she stored her step-stool. It wasn't in sight, however, so he shrugged. And then noiselessly rose into the air, his feet dangling a foot above the floor as he calmly gathered an armful of books.
Lois felt her mouth drop open. Was it possible this was all just a bizarre dream? Everything and everyone else was behaving normally. Even her imagination wasn't lurid enough to create a floating man, was it?
Meanwhile, Clark had cleared out the top shelf and filled the third box. His feet were once again on the floor, and she doubted her own memories. Except that the top shelf was empty. And, come to think of it, those boxes would be heavy, yet he was carrying them with ease. Not to mention his amazingly fast arrival at her apartment, when he'd been in Perry's office scant moments before. This definitely called for further observation. Good luck!! Julie 
Mulder: Imagine if you could come back and take out five people who had caused you to suffer. Who would they be? Scully: I only get five? Mulder: I remembered your birthday this year, didn't I, Scully?
(The X-Files)
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/me slaps head... Of COURSE it was Lost and Found!  And Julie's cluechie is Pam's wonderful Tryst . Okay, try this: "The E-Z Cut home hair cutting kit?" She looked up at Clark. "I don't understand."
Clark pasted an apologetic look on his face. "Well, it wasn't the way I planned for this to go, but given what you said this afternoon outside the Planet, and knowing what a person of your word you are... "
Many emotions played across Lois' face as she tried to place the conversation Clark was referring to. Slowly her look turned from confused, to disbelief, to wariness.
"What is this all about, Clark?" Her tone was guarded, almost as if she was afraid of what he might say.
Clark stood up and backed away from the table. "Perhaps it'd be best if I just show you."
Suddenly Clark began to spin. He immediately became a blur that quickly changed colors from the green and tan of his shirt and pants to a bright blue and red. A few moments later he stopped and the person standing in Lois' kitchen wasn't Clark anymore, it was..."
"Superman!" Lois put her hand to her mouth. Wendy 
Just a fly-by! *waves*
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This is a haircut challenge vignette, namely "Hasty Words" by Tank Wilson! (And, Julie, nice choice, I love "Tryst"! Wendy, I'm sorry  , I didn't check this topic for a few days!) Now... Lois set out on the short walk back to the hospital, still trying to figure out why Clark was behaving so strangely. What had happened? Had she said something to him to make him uncomfortable? She couldn't think of anything. She heard an odd noise overhead and looked up. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was a man carrying another man, flying through the air. The man landed with his passenger in a darkened corner, not far from the hospital. She ran toward them, in utter disbelief. The man emerged from the shadows, this time walking, still carrying the other man. As she got closer, she could tell the second man was injured badly.
Without thinking, she crossed the distance between them. She called out "I'm a doctor!" The mysterious flying man froze. She looked up at his face for the first time and gasped.
"You...you're...you're the...the...." She tried to form a coherent sentence and failed.
He stared back at her, his expression a mixture of confusion and panic, but mostly shock. Simona 
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That is Lifelight Part 1 by Raconteur Absolutely adore this elseworld tale (parts 1-3) The next cluechie: Lois lifted her head; she hadn't meant him to hear that. Irritation writ large across her face, she said, "'Damn him.' I said, 'Damn him.'"
"Who? And, why?"
"Superman. Look at all this stuff!" She threw her arms out in an all encompassing gesture. "I don't know where to begin, and he didn't tell me..." She trailed off, and returned to burrowing through the filing cabinets.
"Smallville, Kansas, May 17, 1966," said Clark quietly.
If she had to move heaven and Earth, perhaps come back to haunt Perry and explain the story after they'd killed her, she would do it.
Waking a Miracle by Aria
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This is one of my all-time favourite revelations, Ankit - I recognised it immediately.  It's from Chris Carr's wonderful Learning Curves Okay, this one's a little bit different - but fun. "Perry," Clark said, having made a decision. "I'm taking you to the hospital. There's something wrong, and I want to get you checked out."
"Good decision, Kent," James piped up supportively. "Should I call an ambulance?"
"No, I'll take him. It'll be faster."
"Now hold on here!" Perry exclaimed. "I'm not going to any hospital. I'm fine."
"Yes, you are, and no, you're not," James told him firmly as he crossed the office and opened his window.
"No way am I going! Who's going to make me?"
"He is," James said, pointing at Clark as he spun in place in a blur of colours.
Perry gaped at Superman, resplendent in red, blue and yellow. "Never mind. The hospital sounds like a fine idea," he muttered before his eyes rolled back into his head. Wendy 
Just a fly-by! *waves*
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Ooooh, I know this story very well, in fact I'm just re-reading! It's "Trading places" by Irene Dutch (Very good choices Wendy and AnKit!) A new one... just a moment... Ok, I'm going with a favourite of mine: "Why have you got Superman's bandage on your shoulder?" Lois studied the face in front of her...she reached up and pulled his glasses off his face. Those eyes...slowly she pushed the hair back from his forehead, while he continued to stare anxiously at her with those wide brown eyes of his...of-
"Superman's. You're Superman." She snatched her hand away from his hair.
"I'm sorry, Lois. It wasn't meant to happen like this." He was supposed to tell her when the moment was right, when he had it all figured out and could explain it so that she would understand everything. Not this way, not by accident.
"Why were you pretending to be Clark? Where is he?"
For a split second, Clark considered taking advantage of her confusion, of perpetuating the deception, but just as quickly he knew that he didn't have a plausible answer for her question, and anyway, he was tired of lying to Lois.
"I wasn't pretending to be Clark. I *am* Clark; I'm just Superman as well." Good luck! Simona 
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Could someone please put me out of my misery and tell me what fic Simona's clue is from?? I recognize it, I swear!! (I'd like a half-point for that.) And it's a favorite of mine, as well. I'm just a complete blank on author and title! CC
You mean we're supposed to have lives?
Oh crap!
~Tank
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Well, I was thinking, "No idea...", then my eye caught the first paragraph...Superman...Clark...bandage...hmmmmmm...suspicious little musings running around in my head...check on the Archive to see if I'm right and... Yes, it's Trust Me, I'm A Reporter by Yvonne. Okay, probably a way too easy one but try this: Clark was starting to get angry with himself. He had been so stupid! The whole day, he had endured being half blinded by that blot on his glasses, just because he thought Lois would recognize him at the first glimpse she had of him without his glasses. He'd felt so embarrassed just now. He was wondering how he could have been such an idiot. The only thing that cheered him up was that at least his glasses were clean. What a fool he was.
At the other end of the room, Lois returned to her desk with a big grin on her face. This had been a perfect day for her. Seeing Clark fighting all day against his glasses, trying to find a place where he could be alone to take them off. And she had made sure he would never succeed. Oh yeah, she was having far too much fun with this. If only Clark knew. If only he knew that she had found out about his secret identity almost one week ago...
But she wasn't about to tell him. She was having so much pleasure hearing his poor excuses and hearing him talk about himself in the third person. And that thing about his glasses. That was the funniest of all. She wanted to wait till he was ready to tell her, and only then would she tell him she'd been laughing at him all this time. This was really getting exciting. Hope this hasn't been used already! CC, you choose another one if it has. <G> LabRat 
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly. Aramis: Yes, sorry. Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Thank you, Lab! I've been checking back here in hopes of an answer, couldn't find it on the archive (curses on google) and it was driving. me. crazy. (Not a far drive, but still...) CC
You mean we're supposed to have lives?
Oh crap!
~Tank
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