Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic A Chance Meeting In A Parking Lot (1/1)

“Oh! Clark! There you are!”

Clark looked up with a start. His partner stood in front of the entrance to the CostMart, one hand gripping the handle of an over-flowing shopping cart while the other cradled...a baby?! Never mind the questions of how and why Lois had come to California; how and why was she nursing a baby?!

“Give me a hand with these, will you?” she ordered, pushing the cart towards him and then adjusting the baby's position against her...her...chest...area. It suckled enthusiastically, unperturbed at being jostled. “I swear that one wheel is cemented in place!”

She started off into the parking lot. Clark stared after her for a moment before obediently following with the loaded cart. She led him to a car in the parking section reserved for mothers. Was that why she had brought a baby with her? Wait, that didn't make any sense! “Lois, what is all this?” he demanded.

“Oh, there was a good sale,” she replied, as if that explained everything. Keeping her grip on the hungry infant, she fished a key out of her purse. “We'll be over budget for the week, but it works out better in the long run!” She turned the key in the trunk, brought her free hand down hard against it, then gave a satisfied smile when it yawned open.

“Here, hold him for a minute so I can check the receipt,” Lois said, suddenly handing off ten pounds of wriggling baby. “Yes, that's right; here's Daddy,” she cooed, then turned her attention to the long scroll of paper sticking out from one of the bags.

“Daddy?!” Clark sputtered, feeling even more lost as he adjusted his hold on the tot. “Lois, what happened to 'Lois Lane and babies don't mix'? Or the fact that you wouldn't go out with me if I were the last man on Earth? When did all that suddenly change?!”

She stared off into the middle distance, a wistful smile on her face. “Yeah, it seems like only yesterday, doesn't it?” She glanced down at the receipt again. “Speaking of which, you wouldn't believe what this place is charging for diapers! If I were me, I'd seriously look into this blatant price-gouging!”

“If you were...what?” Clark suddenly became aware of someone standing right behind him. He turned slowly, coming face to face with...himself. “...Uh...?”

Lois looked between the two versions of himself, and the color suddenly drained from her face. “Oh...oh no...”

Clark's doppelganger wordlessly held his hands out for the child. On instinct, Clark handed the baby over. The kid snuggled up against the look-alike's chest, unaware of Clark's newfound existential crisis.

“Mr. Kent, I presume?” the doppelganger said softly.

Clark nodded. “Uh, who...uh...”

Lois stared at the newcomer while pointing at Clark. “I thought—”

“I know,” his double replied.

Lois frowned. “But why—?”

The look-alike shrugged. “I don't know.” He turned to Clark. “What brings you out to the west coast, Mr. Kent?”

It took Clark a while to find his voice. “My...uh...my aunt,” he managed. “Mom asked me to check on her, and she asked me to run some errands...” He fished Aunt Opal's grocery list out of his pocket and held it up.

Lois turned to his double again. “I thought your Aunt Opal lived in Wichita?”

“Mine did,” the doppelganger replied. “I'm guessing his doesn't.”

“What exactly is going on, here?” Clark asked, glancing around the lot for hidden cameras. His eyes landed on a large van, and he wondered if Rod Serling was standing behind it, narrating.

The other two exchanged a look. “We're just grocery shopping,” Lois replied.

“I SEE THAT!” Clark snapped. He waved both hands towards his double. “But you look like me!” He motioned to Lois. “And you have a baby! And..and apparently there's another Aunt Opal? Am I in the Twilight Zone?!”

The baby fussed in his double's arms. The man bounced a little and made shushing noises. “Okay, okay. You're right; this is a very weird situation.” His voice dropped further. “The truth is, we're from another universe.”

Clark tried to respond to that, but no words were forthcoming. “A...what?” he finally managed.

“Can we not talk about this in the parking lot?” Lois whispered. “My husband and I are having enough trouble adapting without the whole neighborhood thinking we're crazy.”

“Your...what?” said Clark.

“It's a long story,” his counterpart explained, “but the short version is that we live here now. We've been trying not to interfere with your life too much, but...now that you've seen us...”

Lois scribbled something down on a notebook, tore the page out, and handed it to him. “Drop by around ten tonight, California time, and we'll tell you everything.” She paused. “But before we go, do you think you could help us put all this stuff in the car?”



End

I'm trying an experiment:

FDK goes right here, below the story.

Anyway, I hope you all like it; this is a WIP that's been sitting on my hard drive for a while, and I decided to finally dust it off and post it as a short. I don't really have any idea where it's going, but I really missed writing on my laptop in the middle of the night, and now here we are. If the premise speaks to you, feel free to take it and run.

Oo! I like this experiment. Another fanfic message board I was part of years ago did it this way.

This was fun. It reminds me of the Road to Rebirth Lois and Clark comics, in which they are stranded in an alternate universe and Clark grows a beard and they go by different names and try to stay under the radar.

Interesting to see gow that might play out in L&C universe, especially with our Clark discovering them. Hope you write a follow up to this. I'd love to hear their explaination.

😂 I'm curious about a lot of things! Why are they there? How long have they been there? What about Superman?? I'd love to see someone pick this up, or you to continue writing!

I really want more of this!

Interesting start. This is the first part of many, I hope.

Oh what a great and fun premise! And the "If I were me" line...I needed a moment to get it LOL. I'm so so curious to find out more. Please conitnue, yu can't let us hang there!

Hi Mary!

Is this a flashpoint situation?

Considering you said ‘nursing a baby’ before I can’t help but consider you were literal in that and now Clark has the problem that Lois is adjusting a baby against her … her…chest … aera

Yep, poor dear is flustered.



Indeed. She wouldn’t be nursing a borrowed baby.

CLARK:

Mary, Queen of the Capes, if you did a time travel piece in May I will have you know that you must track anyone who commented over to the FDK challenge thread.

Ooops?

“…not *again*!”



No, some Elseworld most likely.

*they are*? Wait, does that mean they’re using universe hopping to make use of sales. Plus, if they pay with credit card, it won’t charge in their home dimension.

Eeep! They’re refugees!

Two Supermen are better than one. Good for driving Lex Luthor crazy.
CANON LOIS:
ELSE-LOIS: No! Absolutely not. Nononono. NO! /looks at Else-Clark/ I don’t care what bond you sense, that’s a hard pass. No.



Very cute one! The start of another universe?



Mo pwease?

Michael

Ooh this is very intriguing indeed!!

Love the way two perspectives are already clashing.

Perfectly in character and such a clever use of this personality trait in the moment.

Omg, I'm dying. This feels so effortless - and it's SO hard to write comedy!!

This whole sequence and phrasing are perfect.

The totally natural response of, 'well, let's just ask,' is so Clark and also so deliciously fun in response to everyone else's mounting panic.

Nice try - this is great!

This whole thing is SO much fun!