PREVIOUSLY...
“So... what do you see?” Lois asked impatiently as they hovered high above their brownstone.
“Well, we live here, but...”
“But... what?”
A moment later, they were standing in the nursery. Only... Something was off. Blues instead of pinks dominated the landscape.
“Oh, boy,” Clark said.
AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
Chapter Forty-Eight
* * * * * * * * *
“No, no, no, no,” Lois said, shaking her head in complete denial. “This isn’t happening.”
“Lois...”
“I mean, okay, I wouldn’t have minded having a son. I didn’t care at all if we had a boy or a girl. But I can’t give up Vicky. Not now.” She began pacing back and forth.
“Lois...”
“I will not lose her, Clark. Not for any boy. Not for any other girl, for that matter. I mean, I know every man wants a son. My father did. I was a disappointment to him as a result. He might have survived that, but then Lucy turned out to be a girl as well. And so I know how important it is for a man to have a son. But I can’t give up Vicky. Not for anyone. Not even for you.”
“Lois!” Clark let out a relieved breath when Lois stopped, having been shocked out of her babble by his raised voice. He grabbed her arms, looking straight into her eyes. “We’ll find Vicky. I promise. Just... not here.”
Lois blinked. “So we’re not in our universe,” she said in sudden understanding. “But Dr. Klein said... Oh, god. He was wrong, wasn’t he? He was so convincing when he said that we would jump to the last universe we created. So what do we do now? Do we just jump ahead? Or do we go back?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure it makes sense to keep jumping forward. After all, if Dr. Klein was wrong, then we could be looking for our universe forever. Maybe we need to go and talk to this universe’s Dr. Klein.”
“Assuming this universe’s Dr. Klein can be trusted. Just tell me that we’re not going to have to spend the next three days exploring this universe, getting the memories of this universe’s Lois and Clark and suffering though every up and down they had throughout their lives.” Suddenly Lois realized that she’d lost Clark’s attention. “What is it?”
“It’s just...” He gave his head a shake.
“What?”
“I seem to be remembering something.”
Lois stiffened. No. Please no. “What... What are you remembering?” she asked hesitantly.
**She kept stealing shy looks at him. She had ever since they had returned. Clark looked away from the object of his obsession when everyone suddenly broke into song.
“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Perry. Happy birthday to you.”
Perry laughed before blowing out the candles on the large birthday cake. “Alice will kill me for this,” he said, as he picked up the knife to cut the cake.
“She watching your diet again, Chief?” Clark asked.
“She has spies everywhere,” Lois added. “I know because I’m one of them.” Lois winked at Clark. “And if you touch a piece of that cake, Perry...”
“You wanna be writing stories about dog shows for the foreseeable future?” Perry growled good-naturedly.
Lois laughed before looking at Clark somewhat shyly once again. He wasn’t entirely sure how to read the look, but what he did know was how it made him feel inside. It made him feel powerful and weak, like a man and a boy, content and excited - and all at the same time. He felt as if it were Christmas morning and he’d just been given every gift he ever wanted.
She was really seeing him for the first time. Oh, she’d gone out with him a couple times now. But his constant disappearing act had been a continual source of tension between them. Scardino had even been sniffing around - and she hadn’t exactly been discouraging him.
But now that she knew the truth about him, it seemed all the old wounds had been healed. She was seeing all of him for the first time. And it was quite obvious that she liked what she saw.
He felt free.
And in love.
And it seemed she loved him, too.
Their colleagues began gathering closer, congratulating Perry and collecting pieces of birthday cake, causing Lois and Clark to retreat.
“Lois, can I talk to you... alone,” Clark asked, leaning over to whisper the words into her ear.
“Sure,” she responded, looking at him curiously.
He took her arm then, leading her into the conference room. She watched, looking amused, as he began shutting the blinds.
“What’s going on, Clark?” she finally asked.
Finishing up his task, he returned to her. “I’ve got a question to ask you,” he said solemnly before getting down on one knee.**“Wait a minute!” Lois exclaimed. “That’s not how you proposed.”
“Well, maybe...” Clark suddenly fell silent.
“What?” Lois asked as Clark tipped his glasses down his nose and looked through the floor in the direction of the front door.
“It seems we’ve got company... or they’ve got company or...”
“Who?”
“Us. And... oh, you’re not going to believe this.”
“What?”
“I think I’ve just figured out the reason the nursery is painted blue.”
* * * * * * * * *
Lois knew what she was going to see even before she walked downstairs into the living room. But nothing could have prepared her for the sight.
Vicky.
In an instant, Lois was flying across the room to gather her daughter into her arms.
“What?” a woman gasped.
“Hey!” a man exclaimed.
Lois ignored them, focused as she was on the little girl. Except... Almost the moment the girl was in her arms, Lois realized something was wrong. The girl was... older than Vicky. But it was more than that. The mother in Lois didn’t know this young girl. She quickly let her go, shocked to the core.
“Lois.” She heard Clark’s voice behind her and felt his steadying hand on her shoulder.
It took Lois a moment to remember what she already knew. “I’m sorry,” she gasped, fighting suddenly to keep control of her emotions.
It wasn’t Vicky. Or at least, it wasn’t her Vicky. Lois’ heart felt as if it was being torn in two.
“Mommy?” the little girl asked, looking at Lois and then looking in confusion at... Lois.
“Are you alt-Clark?” the woman asked.
In her mind, Lois immediately dubbed the other Lois, Lane. And the other Clark, Kent.
“Uhh...” Clark said. “You’re familiar with alternate universes?”
Lane and Kent nodded.
“Well, that helps,” Lois said. She slowly rose to her feet, looking again at Vicky. “How old is she?”
Lane smiled. “Four. So I take it you’re not alt-Lois and alt-Clark.”
“You’ve met another Lois and Clark?” Clark asked.
Kent shook his head. “We’ve only met alt-Clark. His Lois was...”
“...missing in the Congo?” Lois asked.
“No. Missing in Brazil,” Lane responded.
“Must not be the same one,” Lois said. It was only then that Lois noticed the infant car seat sitting just inside the door. She took a step towards it, only to stop when Lane moved slightly, putting herself as casually as possible between Lois and the tiny baby bundled up inside. Okay, so Lane and Kent didn’t completely trust them, yet. Lois could understand that. And there was no point in antagonizing their hosts. “So who’s this?”
“Jason,” Kent said proudly.
“How old is he?”
“Almost four months.” Kent was again the one to respond.
“Nice name,” Clark said.
“I take it from your reactions that you have a daughter,” Lane said.
Lois nodded. “But she’s only three.” She looked at Vicky. The young girl was watching the proceedings carefully, seeming to weigh and judge what two people who looked exactly like her parents were doing there.
Kent passed his wife to get his son out of the chair. The little guy was starting to fuss.
“I suppose there is a reason you’re here,” Lane said, gesturing their company to take a seat in the living room.
“Uhh... yeah,” Clark said. “We’re trying to get home.”
“Back to your own reality?” Kent asked, settling into a chair with the now cooing infant tucked securely into the crook of his arm. “We don’t have a time travel device. However...” He looked over at Lane, as if silently asking her permission to continue.
“What?” Lois asked, leaning forward in her chair.
“The other day,” Lane said, “we went to see Dr. Klein and...” She hesitated.
“Did he tell you that Star Labs had come into possession of a time travel device after the arrest of President Elect Doe?” Lois asked.
“Yes,” Kent responded. “How did you...”
“We had the same discussion with our Dr. Klein. That night, we broke into Star Labs to steal the device. We were afraid that if he got it working, someone would go into the past and wreak havoc,” Clark said. “Might I suggest you find another way to deal with it? After all, the results of our efforts...”
“...has left us looking for our own dimension,” Lois completed for him.
“Oh, we did find another way,” Kent said. “We just explained the problem to Bernie. He has put the device under heavy security - claiming to his superiors that it’s very dangerous.”
“Which it is,” Lane added. “After all, if someone got hold of it, they could use it to go back and find the perfect moment in time to attack Superman.” She reached over, running a hand over her husband’s arm as if to assure herself that no one had done exactly that.
“That’s what we were worried about, too. But... Well, I guess we didn’t trust Dr. Klein quite enough.”
“Uhh... Well, Bernie has become a good friend. He saw us through the birth of both our children and even saved my life during Jason’s birth,” Lane said. “That really did seem to cut through any concerns we still had about him.” She looked at Kent. “I suppose the thing to do is to call Bernie and tell him that we need the time travel device so that they can get...”
“Actually, we have the time travel device from our own reality,” Clark said, removing the device from his jacket to show them. “The problem is finding our own reality. We thought that it was this one. Until we saw the nursery, of course.”
“So how do you propose to get home?” Kent asked.
“Well, actually... I think I might have an idea,” Lois responded.
“Of course you do,” Clark said affectionately.
“Clark, when we got here... Well, you had that flash back to...” Lois turned to Lane. “Can we ask you something?”
“You can ask,” Lane responded, obviously reserving the right not to answer.
It was enough for Lois. “When did the two of you get engaged?”
“Right after Lois found out that I was... Have you ever heard of Superman?”
Lois and Clark immediately nodded.
“So she found out that you were Superman,” Lois said. “And then Clark proposed... at a birthday party for Perry?”
“How did you know?”
Lois turned and looked at her husband. “Clark, Dr. Klein told us that we would jump into our own dimension, provided that it was the latest dimension we had created. Right?”
“Right.”
“Well, what if...” She turned back to Lane and Kent. “When was it that you found out about Superman?”
“When we followed Tempus into the past. He was trying to kill Superman when he was a baby. Clark and I went into the past to stop him.”
“We did that, too, only...” Clark looked at his wife. “In our case, H.G. Wells returned us to a time before we went into the past so that Lois wouldn’t remember that I’m Superman.”
“But if he returned you to a time before you went into the past,” Kent said, “how did you ever go into the past to stop Tempus in the first place?”
Lois and Clark looked at each other, their expressions clearing almost immediately. “Paradox!” they exclaimed in unison.
“What?” Kent asked.
“We did create another paradox,” Lois said.
“And since that one would have been in 1995...” Clark continued, following her line of thought.
“...it was after the one we created in 1992. Which means...”
“...that Dr. Klein was right. We jumped into the last universe we created because of a paradox. And if that’s right...”
“...then hopefully, our next leap will be the leap home.”
Clark crinkled his eyebrows. “Does that sound... familiar somehow?”
“I stole the line from Quantum Leap,” Lois said unapologetically.
“Uhh... do you guys think you could slow down here for a moment?” Kent asked. “What are you talking about?”
Lois and Clark quickly filled them in and then rose to their feet in anticipation of finally going home.
“Can I ask you something?” Lane asked as Lois and Clark put their jackets on.
“Sure.”
“Since you didn’t remember that Clark was Superman when you returned from stopping Tempus’ attempt to kill Superman, how long did it take you to find out?”
“A few more months, I guess. Why?”
“And how long before you got married?”
“October 1997.”
Lane’s eyebrows rose. “That’s interesting. We got married in October 1996.”
Lois gave a slight shrug, silently asking the significance of Lane’s observation.
“You said that your Vicky is three. Our Vicky is four.”
“Right.”
“What day of the year was she born?”
Lois gave her a funny look, trying to anticipate where her counterpart was going with this. Still, she answered the question. “February 5th.”
“That’s our Vicky’s birthday, too. Only... a year earlier.”
“So...?”
“So... if my math is correct and you two are running a year behind us as far as your relationship is concerned... Well, it’s my guess that you’re pregnant.”
Lois’ eyes immediately went to the four month old boy sleeping contentedly in his father’s arms. Four plus nine equaled... thirteen. Could it be? Her eyes slowly rose to Clark’s. He shrugged slightly, obviously doing the same math she was. If they were indeed a year behind Lane and Kent... she was currently pregnant.
Slowly, a smile lit up her face and a moment later, she was lost in her husband’s embrace.
“Now, we don’t know if it’s true,” Clark cautioned as he returned her to her feet. “After all, every reality develops differently after they split so...”
“I’m pregnant, Clark. I know I am,” Lois said, her hand going protectively to her stomach as she suddenly realized that she did. In fact, she suspected that she’d gotten pregnant at some point during this trip. Given the number of times she and Clark had made love in the past few days, not to mention the intensity with which they had made love or the lack of any protection, she supposed that wasn’t all that surprising.
Or at least it wasn’t surprising if one were to believe the Kama Sutra. In Clark’s copy, which Lois had read more times in recent years than she was prepared to admit, the more... satisfied a woman was, the greater the chance of pregnancy. And she had certainly been... satisfied a lot over the past few days.
Jason must have been born a little early. She walked over to where Kent was standing and stared down at the sleeping infant in his arms. “See you in a few months, Jason,” she said softly, reaching out to run a finger softly down his cheek.
“Oh,” Clark said suddenly. “Before we go... I think we need to let you know that...” He looked at Lane. “Did you write a story recently about jury tampering in Dragon’s trial?”
Lane nodded.
Clark looked at Kent. “Then there’s something you’re probably going to need to do tonight...”
* * * * * * * * *
“Do you think this is really it this time?” Lois whispered when the time window again vanished. As per Dr. Klein’s advice, they had simply hit the alt-universe button one more time. So unless they had inadvertently caused any more paradoxes during their time travel adventures, this should be home.
“I do,” Clark answered, also whispering.
Lois really wasn’t sure why they were whispering. After all, they were back on that same deserted beach in Cuba. No one was around to see or hear them. Still, it somehow felt like the right thing to do.
“So...”
“Another trip to the brownstone?” Clark asked.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois felt as if she’d been holding her breath as they’d searched the brownstone room by room. Vicky’s room? Check. Their room? Check. The den? Check. Their wedding pictures? Check.
“Hey, why don’t you try using your telepathy-thingy,” Lois said. “If there’s another you in this dimension, maybe you can communicate with him or something.”
Clark closed his eyes, concentrating on his task. After a moment, he looked at her again, giving his head a shake. “If he is here, I can’t sense him.”
The excitement began to build in Lois’ chest. With every passing second, this was seeming more and more like home. And if this was home... Vicky.
“Look, I know you’re anxious to see Vicky,” Clark said as if reading her mind. “But it’s almost time for me to make that trip to the Daily Planet to stop Dragon’s men. Do you think you can wait a little longer?”
Lois’ heart dropped. She didn’t think she could stand to wait one more minute before ensuring that her daughter was alive and well - and only three years old. Still, the consequences to Perry and Jimmy and... anyone else that might be at the Daily Planet in this reality... were deadly. “Go,” she said in resignation. “Just... try to hurry.”
With a quick nod, Clark spun into one of his suits and flew out the window.
* * * * * * * * *
Jimmy, Perry, Ralph and Eduardo were the only ones left in the newsroom. They sat in a close circle on the floor while two men with guns silently watched them. The other men were off in the storage room, doing... something that none of the hostages could see.
“So do you want to tell me what the Sam Hill you’re doing in my newsroom?” Perry demanded.
The two men with guns just silently stared at him.
And so they waited, wondering what was going on, until the man who appeared to be in charge - a big, burly man in his mid-thirties, longish hair, wearing a well-worn leather jacket and with a neck covered in tattoos - reemerged from the storage room.
“So where’s Lois Lane?” he demanded.
“Off for the weekend,” Perry responded.
The leader, pounded his fist down on one of the nearby desks. “Not possible! Everyone knows that Lois Lane is always here. So... where is she?”
“I told you. She has the weekend off.”
“Call her! Tell her you need her to come in!”
“No,” Perry responded, staring directly into the thug’s eyes defiantly.
The leader instantly picked up his gun and rushed towards Perry, gun raised as if he would use the butt to teach Perry a lesson.
Suddenly, a flash of red and blue streaked through the room. Wind coming from nowhere swept papers off of desks and ruffled hair.
And then... silence.
Perry looked around before slowly rising to his feet. The men with the guns were now all disarmed and tied to various immovable pieces of equipment around the newsroom. Suddenly, he noticed a single sheet of paper slowly drifting to the ground.
He grabbed it out of the air and looked at it, a smile lighting up his face in response to what he read.
“What’s it say?” Jimmy asked.
“Sorry,” Perry said, reading the note. “Gotta fly. These men are Dragon’s gang. They are seeking revenge on Lois for the story she wrote about jury tampering in Dragon’s trial. They had a bomb set up in the storage room. I’ve disarmed it. Please call the police on my behalf and have them come and take these guys in. Superman.”
“Smooth,” Jimmy said.
Perry nodded his agreement.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois had barely had a chance to sit down when Clark returned. “Ready?” he asked.
“Uhh.. yeah.” Lois rose from the couch and was instantly swept up in Clark’s arms. Before she could fully process what was happening, they were flying through the sky on their way to Kansas.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois and Clark landed behind the old farmhouse and, after Clark spun out of the suit, they jogged towards the house.
“I really hate waking them up,” Lois said, even though she knew that was exactly what she intended to do. During the majority of the flight, she had been lost in thought - thoughts she was pretty sure Clark shared. It was one thing to believe they were back in their own dimension when looking around their brownstone; it was quite another to believe it when flying through the night sky on their way to find their daughter.
They burst through the front door, Lois slightly ahead of Clark as they jogged up the stairs to Clark’s old bedroom. Without pausing, they rushed through the door before coming to a complete stop, staring at the bed in utter silence. The empty bed.
After a moment, Lois turned. “Vicky?” she yelled, darting back out of the bedroom. Maybe she was wrong. She had to be wrong. Vicky was just sleeping on the couch or had gone out to the hayloft or... No, there was no ‘or’! There couldn’t be. “Vicky!” she yelled again when she got down to the living room. “Vicky!”
“What’s going on?” Martha asked, rushing out of the bedroom, Jonathan following closely behind her.
Of course! She’d probably had a nightmare and gone to sleep with her grandparents. Without even acknowledging the older couple, she rushed back up the stairs and into their bedroom. “Vicky?” she yelled.
“Mommy?” came a sleepy little voice from the center of Martha and Jonathon’s bed.
Tears sprang to Lois’ eyes as she gathered her confused daughter into her arms, refusing to let go. Immediately, she knew she was home. Unlike the other Vicky she’d hugged, this one felt right in her arms.
“Oh, thank god,” Clark said behind her.
She felt the bed next to her depress and then Clark’s arms were holding the two of them as Lois continued to cry silent tears of joy and relief into her daughter’s hair.
“Uhh... does someone want to tell us exactly what is going on here? You’re both acting as if you haven’t seen the Munchkin for years,” Martha asked from the door to the bedroom.
Lois and Clark both laughed in response. There truly was no place like home.
* * * * * * * * *
The End
* * * * * * * * *
Dr. Klein’s technobabble about alternate universes comes from the following website:
http://frombob.to/many.html (Thanks, Paul, for pointing out the site. I didn’t understand a word of it, but it sounded good so I used it <g>). And thanks, Bakasi, for giving me the idea for the paradox from the show that Lois and Clark explore briefly near the end of their adventure.
Finally, thanks to all of you readers - for your information, comments, support, praise and criticisms. You helped make this a better story.
