Thanks to my wonderful betas – Carol, Beth, and Mark!
From Chapter 30
Superman smiled. “But it was good?”
“The time at the Lexor?” Clark confirmed. When Superman nodded, Clark smiled. “I kissed Lois. I mean, not for real. It was just a cover when the maid came in, but I kissed her.”
“And?” Superman asked, smiling broadly.
“It was amazing. It was exhilarating. And…” Clark paused to think for a moment. “I think she was a bit breathless afterwards.”
Superman laughed. He remembered the kiss at the Lexor and Lois was breathless. It was good to know that some things were the same across universes.
Chapter 31
Superman looked out the window. The sky was getting darker, just as he had known it would. He had thought about this off and on from the moment he had agreed to do this. There were only two moments from his first year in Metropolis that he was afraid to relive. While Lois had worried about his meeting Trask in Smallville, he had not. He had known (even though he had been wrong in the end) that he would be fine as he would not react as strongly to the kryptonite this time.
However, this, along with that stupid kryptonite cage of Luthor’s, were moments he feared. He had barely managed to escape either experience with his life. If things went differently this time… they would not, though. He had to be positive. It would be fine, and sooner, rather than later, he would be holding Lois in his arms again, reading Emily a bedtime story, and walking Jory to school.
The thought came to him suddenly while he watched the sky darken. Why had he never considered that before? He really should have. How should he handle it, though? He should… he probably did not have time to get there and back, but maybe he could have Clark meet him there.
He left Clark a note on the counter and took off.
***********************
It was just a strange sound at first. Everything felt a bit surreal with the sky going so dark in the middle of the day and none of the streetlights on. Clark peered through the darkness. He had better night vision that most people, but even he could not see as well in the dark.
His eyes widened as he realized what he had heard. It was a car missing a turn and moving over a barrier. It was headed straight for Lois.
“Clark?” she called out as he moved in front of her.
“I’m right here, Lois,” he said as he put his arms out and stopped the car. Right then, the solar eclipse, or whatever it was, began to lift and daylight slowly seeped in, Clark hurled himself backwards, bumping his head on a dumpster. He lay on the ground for a moment, trying to look stunned. Then he stood up, dusting himself off.
“Clark,” Lois said, moving over to him. “Are you okay?”
Clark put his hand to the back of his head, and nodded slowly. “I knocked my head, but I think I’m okay.”
“Let me see,” Lois said, moving around him. “You’re not bleeding. Are you sure you’re okay? Were you hit by the car?” she asked him, motioning to the car in front of them.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think I was. But I’m okay.”
Lois looked at him skeptically, but finally backed away.
***********************
“Clark?” Clark called out as he entered the farmhouse.
“I’m in here, Clark,” Superman called back from the living room.
“Why are you here?” Clark asked Superman in confusion as he entered. “Hi, Mom, Dad,” he said.
“I came for a visit,” Superman said, although he was not sure why he was being obtuse.
“You must have known, though,” Clark said. “Professor Diatch wants to see you.”
“I know,” Superman said, his tone weary. He had meant to fill Martha and Jonathan in on this when he showed up, but it was easier to fall into small talk and forget this was coming.
Still, it was probably good that he came. He expected Clark to argue with him and he hoped Martha and Jonathan would back him up.
“It wasn’t a solar eclipse earlier,” Superman said out loud.
“What wasn’t?” Martha asked.
“I know,” Clark said to Superman. “They told us at the press conference.” Then turning to his parents, he explained, “There’s an asteroid. They’re calling it Nightfall. It passed in between the Earth and the sun today causing something that looked like a solar eclipse. It was only visible on the eastern coast of North America and the western coast of Europe.”
“It’s heading on a collision course with Earth,” Superman said and all eyes in the room swung to him in shock.
“What’s the impact?” Clark asked.
“They think it might knock the Earth off its axis. It could be the end of life as we know it.”
Clark felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Why are you here?” he asked as he started to understand.
“Diatch wants to see me as the military is going to ask me to knock it off course.”
“And?” Clark prodded him quickly enough that Superman realized he had guessed that was coming.
“I’m going to do it, of course.”
“You can’t!” Clark said vehemently.
“It’s either that or the end of life on Earth,” Superman said.
“No,” Clark said, searching Superman’s face. “Something needs to knock it off course. If it was easy for you to do, you wouldn’t have come here. And if there’s a danger…” Clark paused. “This is my universe. I have to do it.”
“No, Clark,” Superman said, his voice calm. This was what he had expected, and he had practiced this argument in his head. He had not realized Clark would realize how nervous he was, though, and that was certainly putting him at a disadvantage. “I’ve done this before. I know what I’m doing.”
“It was easy?” Martha asked sounding dubious.
“No, it wasn’t,” Superman admitted. “But…”
“But nothing!” Clark said, his voice rising. “I can’t let you risk your life for this.”
“Clark…” Superman started, sighing. “You have to let me do this. I know what I’m doing this time.”
Superman looked at Martha and Jonathan, hoping one of them would back him up.
“What happened in your universe?” Jonathan asked.
Superman sighed. “I hit it, but not hard enough. I came crashing back to Earth and had amnesia. When they found me, they thought I was Clark. It took several days, but I finally remembered I was Superman with the help of my parents. I was successful the second time, but it was very shortly before Nightfall made impact.”
“I can’t let you do this,” Clark said again.
“It will be different this time,” Superman said. He had known from the moment the sky got dark that this time he would not adhere to the timeline. He would be successful the first time. Sticking to the timeline was not as important as getting back to his family. “I know what I did last time that worked,” he said to Clark. “I’ll be fine.”
Jonathan sighed. “Clark’s right, Superman,” he said, his voice flat. “He needs to go. We can’t ask you to do this.”
“You’re not asking me,” Superman said.
“We can’t let you do this,” Martha corrected Jonathan’s words, her voice soft.
“You have to,” Superman said. “Clark could get hurt. He could…”
“It’s my choice,” Clark said. “And you can give me pointers. Tell me what I need to do.”
“Please,” Superman pleaded. As much as he was afraid, he could not let Clark do this. If something happened to Clark… he would not be able to live with himself.
“Look, we don’t want Clark to go either,” Jonathan said. “But Clark’s right. One of you has to go.”
“And you have a family,” Martha said gently to Superman.
“And this is my universe. My responsibility,” Clark said.
“I can’t let you do this,” Superman said, although his protests were getting weaker. He had been sure the Kents would back him up.
“You have to,” Clark said. Only Superman had hearing good enough to pick up the tremor beneath the calmness of his voice.
“Let me think about it,” he finally said.
***********************
Superman sighed. While he knew what was coming, this was not going to be anymore fun than the first time. He hoped he was convincing pretending he had no idea what was going on until they said something.
“Good evening, Professor Diatch. General Zeitlin.”
“Hello, Superman,” Daitch said.
“Care if I take a look?” Superman asked, motioning to the telescope.
“I thought you had enhanced visual abilities,” Zeitlin said.
“I do,” Superman admitted, noting Zeitman’s skeptical tone. “But even I have my limits.”
Superman peeked through the eye piece. He tried to hide the shudder he felt as he saw it. It was just as big as he remembered, maybe even bigger.
“Nightfall is nearly twenty miles across,” Daitch said. “It’s traveling close to thirty five thousand miles an hour.”
So it was slightly bigger – the one in his universe was seventeen miles long and it had only been going thirty thousand miles per hour. Although he suspected at that size and speed, it would be hard for him to notice a difference.
“If my calculations are correct, it’s going to collide with the Earth in three and a half days,” Daitch continued.
“Superman,” Zeitlin interrupted, “this could knock the Earth off its axis. Maybe even throw us out of our solar orbit.”
“It’s far larger than the meteor that caused the distinction of the dinorsaurs,” Daitch cut in.
“The President is planning a press conference for tonight,” Zeitlin said. “He plans to make this public, but he needs to avoid panic. And the military… Well, frankly we’re not prepared to handle this kind of thing.”
“You want me to fly into space to stop a rock the size of Metropolis that’s traveling faster than any spacecraft we’ve ever made?” Superman clarified even though he knew that was exactly what they were asking.
“Can you?” Daitch asked.
“I don’t know,” Superman admitted. But he had done it once before. Hopefully, he would be successful now as well.
***********************
“What are you wearing?” Lois asked Clark as they walked to the press conference.
“The world may be about to end and you are worried about my fashion sense?” Clark asked her.
“It’s just so…” Lois tried to find the words to describe her problem with his outfit. “It’s so morbid,” she finally settled on.
“I thought black was basic, not morbid,” Clark smiled at her, trying to quell the butterflies in his stomach.
“Black is nice. All black is morbid.”
“Well, next time there is an asteroid heading for the earth, I’ll be sure to call you for fashion advice, Ms. Lane.”
“Hardy-har-har,” Lois rolled her eyes at him.
***********************
“How are you feeling?” Lois asked Superman. Clark stood beside her, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“I’m nervous,” he admitted, then realizing what he said, he blushed. He glanced at Clark, and gave him what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “But this will work,” he said. The words were to Lois, and would hopefully cover his slip, but he also hoped they would help Clark as well.
He glanced at Lois again and something in her eyes stopped him. She looked so… sad. So worried. “Lois, how are you feeling?”
Lois sighed. “Scared.” She turned to Clark. “We’re scared for you,” she said, including Clark in her words.
“I’ll be back,” Superman said. Looking into her eyes, he forgot himself for a moment. “We’ll go flying together.” He heard Daitch and Zietlin behind him. “I have to go.”
“Good luck,” Clark said, putting his hand out. Superman started. He had forgotten Clark was there. The two men shook hands, but avoided looking at each other, both nervous about what they were about to do.
Lois looked at Superman closely. She could see how scared he was. “Good luck,” she whispered as she moved closer and wrapped her arms around him. As her lips met his, Clark looked away. He had expected that. Superman had told him it was going to happen, although he had said he would try to stop it. But Clark had seen his eyes – he was too focused on Nightfall to remember about Lois’ kiss.
Besides, he would have expected the kiss even if Superman had not told him about it. Still, that did not mean he wanted to watch it.
***********************
Lois and Clark moved back, watching as Superman was fitted with the equipment for his trip – a communications device and an oxygen tank. Superman had told Clark that he had used little of the oxygen tank, last time he had been fine and able to hold his breath much longer than the twenty minutes he had estimated, but it did not hurt to have it.
Superman looked at him and nodded so slightly it would not have been noticeable if Clark had not been looking for it. “Lois,” he said, placing a hand on her arm. “I’m going to get some man on the street interviews.”
“What?” Lois asked, feeling strangely scared at the thought of Clark leaving her.
“I’m going…”
“I heard you,” Lois interrupted him. “It’s a good idea,” she admitted. “Go.”
Impulsively, Clark leaned forward to give her a hug. “You’re a great partner, Lois.”
Lois smiled, but hid it as Clark moved back. “I know. Now get off me.”
Clark smiled at her and she knew he had seen the teasing in her eyes.
“I’ll meet you back at the newsroom,” he told her, hoping he was being honest.
***********************
Lois walked back to the Daily Planet feeling listless. She felt… lonely, although she was not sure why. She had talked to Lucy last night. She even had a passably good conversation with her father. She would see Clark, Perry, and Jimmy when she got back to the newsroom. Still, she felt lonely.
The melancholy feeling was not just her, though. The streets of Metropolis were hushed. She had never seen them this quiet, particularly in the middle of the day.
She shook her head, trying to get herself out of her mood. She had once asked Lucy how she managed to be cheerful all of the time and Lucy had told her that when she was sad, she thought of something good, some happy memory. Pretended she was in that moment again. Lois was skeptical that that would work, particularly when it seemed like the world may be about to end, but she was game for trying.
She cast her mind back, trying to think of something happy. How she got to this memory, she was not sure, but it was where she landed and it fit the criteria.
“Come on. I know you two are the shyest couple in school, but this is ridiculous,” Samantha, the yearbook photographer, said.
“Sorry,” Chad said, blushing, “but it’s hard to kiss in front of the camera.”
“You don’t need to make out or anything,” Samantha said. “Just press your lips together. I just need one picture of you kissing.”
Lois flushed, but leaned towards Chad and the two gave each other a chaste kiss on the lips.
“Perfect,” Samantha said a second later. “Now. Do something goofy.”
“Goofy?” Lois asked.
“Yes, goofy. Something silly and cute,” Samantha instructed.
“Something silly and cute?” Chad repeated.
Samantha sighed. “The senior class voted you cutest couple. You need to pose doing something cute for the yearbook picture.”
“Like what?” Lois asked.
“I don’t know,” Samantha said. “Maybe stick your tongues out at each other. Give each other noogies. Something like that.”
“Or maybe…” Chad started, reaching his fingers out to tickle Lois’ stomach.
“Hey!” she said, between giggles. “Stop that!” She tried batting his hands away, but was ineffective, she was laughing so hard. “Come on, Chad,” she said breathlessly. “We’re trying…”
“Got it!” Samantha cried. “That was perfect.”
Lois turned to glare at Chad. “Our picture is going to have you tickling me!” she accused him.
“Yup,” he said, laughing at her.
“I can’t believe…” but her words faded off as Chad started tickling her again.
Lois smiled for a moment. Maybe Lucy was right. Maybe that did work. Her mind seemed focused on Chad’s young face. Then she remembered the last time she had seen him and her emotions tumbled.
Lois sighed. She was not Lucy. She should just learn to live with it.
