WHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have my laptop back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, as always to Alisha, Beth and Nancy!!!
The conversation here was the first thing 'written' of this fic. I 'wrote' it in chat with Beth last summer when I started planning this as this year's Nano project. I use wrote loosely because it was so seriously rough it was pathetic but it was fun
.
Last time:
Lois
It suddenly clicked.
I'd never thought about it too much but random blankets on the couch when we'd made it to the cabin didn't make much sense to me at the time. Of course, that was the least of my concerns when I'd woken up naked with Clark.
The door.
Clark said we hadn't made it inside.
I unlocked the door so even when I dropped my keys it would be okay.
I heard thumping on the porch and I hurriedly hid in my room, watching through a crack in the door as my younger self practically dragged Clark's younger self to the fire, where he collapsed.
Clark appeared behind me and I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"I had to," he whispered back.
"Now we just have to make sure that we make Christopher," I told him.
His eyes widened. "What?"
*~*24*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
It had scared me beyond anything when I realized Lois hadn't survived our trip to the cabin.
And waiting for the futuristic time travel contraption to keep up with punching numbers in it was frustrating. Surely future technology could keep up with superspeed.
I held her as tightly as I could without hurting her. Apparently, I wasn't too successful because she said I was hurting her.
She asked where – or rather when – we were and I told her what I'd read. That she'd died trying to save me and that I'd barely survived. I didn't know anything about the rest of my life except that I appeared to still be in contact with the Lanes. But that didn't matter. Life without Lois was unacceptable.
I heard the two of us struggling to make it through the snow. I left her to find blankets and stuff as I headed out the back.
I hovered nearby and used my eyesight to find us.
There I was, in the snow, face down and Lois was begging me to get up.
I saw myself stand up and sway. I used a little bit of super breath to keep the other me upright.
I used a bit more – and some heat vision – to partially clear the path in front of them and keep them moving towards the cabin.
I watched as the other me collapsed on the stairs and the other Lois dropped her keys. I glanced inside to see Lois unlock the door. She hurried back to our room and I zipped back inside to join her.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"I had to," I whispered back.
"Now we just have to make sure we make Christopher."
I stared at her in disbelief. "What?"
She gestured wildly as she whispered. "We have to make sure we – they – make Christopher. We have to make *sure* I get pregnant," she hissed at me.
"And *how* exactly do you plan on doing that?" I asked her.
We heard the other Lois make a growly noise.
"What was that about?"
She sighed. "I realized I was going to have to take *all* of your clothes off. I was glad to realize you were wearing boxers, though."
She bumped into the door and we both froze. I could see the other Lois freeze. "Be right back," I whispered before disappearing.
"What'd you do?" my Lois whispered when I got back.
"I knocked down a big tree limb near the house. It was going to break before long anyway," I told her.
She nodded. "I remember that." She peeked carefully out the door. "Can you see the fireplace from here?"
I looked through the crack in the door. "Only through the mirror."
"Can you bounce some heat vision off it like you do when you shave and get the fire going better?"
I did and the fire started crackling.
"Did I get my clothes off?" she asked me.
"I'm not going to watch her," I told her indignantly.
She rolled her eyes. "It's *me*. It's nothing you haven't seen before – or since – or whatever."
"So?" I couldn't believe her.
She glared at me.
"It's weird," I told her, "and I'm not doing it."
"Once we remembered this night, didn't you remember seeing me naked?"
"Well, yeah," I started. "Mostly."
"So really you'd just see what you remember seeing anyway," she finished triumphantly.
"I'm *not* looking," I insisted. "If you want to check you can, but I'm not looking at another version of you naked."
She sighed. "Fine. But I can't see through walls." She peeked through the slightly opened door. "I'm crawling under the blankets with you."
I glanced that way carefully, taking great care not to look *through* the blankets. I noticed a little smile on Lois' face.
"What was that about?" I asked her.
"What?"
"That little grin when you put your arm around me."
She turned to look at me and ran a finger down my chest, grinning seductively. "I realized I was sleeping naked with you before Lana ever got to. Now go warm us – them – up and fix the electricity."
"What makes you think I can fix the electricity?" I asked her as I shot a diffused blast of heat vision their direction.
She rolled her eyes at me. "Do you *really* think the electric company got it fixed that fast?"
I sighed and swept them with heat vision again.
"I'll see what I can do."
I realized the problem was going to be a fairly easy one to fix at this point. The wire had become disconnected from the weather head on the roof when a branch fell on it. I reconnected it and looked towards the kitchen, grateful to see the clock on the stove flashing.
I headed back inside. "Fixed," I told her quietly. "Can we go now?"
She shook her head vehemently. "No. We have to make *sure* we make Christopher."
What?!
"Lois, we can't *watch* us..." I waved in the general direction of the living room.
"Did I *say* watch?" she asked, arms crossed in front of her.
"How else do you plan on making sure we, they..."
"Make love?" she finished for me.
"Yeah."
"I don't know," she said, close to tears, "but we have to."
I sighed and resigned myself to this. "Well, how much longer was it?"
She shrugged and I pulled her into my arms.
I glanced through the wall. "We're pretty out of it right now," I told her as she rested her head against me.
She looked up at me through lowered lashes. "Really?" she whispered, fiddling with one of the buttons on my shirt. "I *wonder* how we could pass the time..."
"No! Lois!"
"Why not?" she pouted.
"Because," I hissed at her. "Technically, I'm still married to Lana." She raised a brow at me. "Or something. Not until we know we've fixed everything."
She sighed. "Goody two shoes." She rested her head back against me. "Got a deck of cards?"
"No," I told her. "Why?"
"You promised me a game of strip poker on our honeymoon."
"Lo-is." I shot another blast of heat vision at our other selves. "Wake up and cheat on your girlfriend already," I muttered.
She glared at me.
"I can't believe I'm helping myself cheat on Lana." I sighed.
"You have to," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she pulled away from me.
I pulled her back to me and wrapped her in my arms. "I know, sweetheart."
We both heard a noise at the same time.
"Are we moving?" she asked.
I looked through the wall. "Yeah, a little. I rolled over and your head's on my chest."
"Just don't tell me if you call me Lana, okay?"
"Don't worry," I groaned.
She moved enough to peek through the door. "Our first kiss," she whispered.
"Good," I said, relieved. "Can we go now?"
She shook her head violently. "No. I have to *know*. We can't leave until *after*..."
"What exactly do you expect us to do if they don't?" I asked her.
"I don't know but we can't leave until we know."
I shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not listening in," I told her.
"Then how are we going to know?"
"I don't know," I hissed at her. "But I'm not listening to our other selves make love and I'm not watching either."
We both cringed slightly at a noise in the other room.
"I think it's probably safe for you to look again," she told me.
I rolled my eyes at her and waited a minute before looking through the wall. "I've seen that look on your face before. Trust me, you're pregnant. I'm holding you, er, he's holding her, and they're going back to sleep. Can we go now?"
Lois had tears on her cheeks when I looked at her again and she nodded. "Yeah, we can go." She hesitated before continuing. "Any chance you can use your microscopic gizmo to see Christopher yet?"
I sighed. "Lois, even if the little guys are super fast, it hasn’t been long enough yet."
"Well, then we'll come back in a couple days and make sure I'm ravenous. You're going to have to take the power out again anyway so he can protect her from the dream napping. And if I'm not, we'll come back a few minutes after we leave and do something about it."
"Like what?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "We'll figure that out later."
I sighed. "Okay. Let's go." I took the device out of my pocket. "We'll come back a couple days from right now."
Lois shook her head. "No. There's another stop to make first. I don't want to interfere with anything, but..."
"What?"
"I want to see who it was at the frat party. I *need* to know for sure if anything happened there," she told me with more tears in her eyes. "And I need to know who it was so I can clobber him if I ever see him again."
I nodded slowly. "Okay. But *no* interfering. We don't want to have to fix all this again."
She nodded. "Just fly us near the building so we can see who it was."
I shook my head. "We'll hover high enough that no one can see us and I'll look."
I ignored her glare as I punched in the date and location. We stepped through the window and into a wooded area near the university. She turned so her back was to me and I wrapped my arms around her and we floated high into the sky.
I looked through the crowd at the frat house, doing my best to avoid looking in the bedrooms. "There you are," I whispered as I spotted her with some guy behind the couch. "I'm on my way to get you," I told her as I saw myself walking up the stairs.
"Who is it?" she asked.
The guy's head jerked up as he pulled the other Lois' shorts and underwear off.
"You're not going to believe it," I said grimly.
"Who? Joe or something? Les?" It took me a minute to remember that Les had been Joe's roommate.
"No." I sighed. This was just great. Of all the people it could have been...
"Who?" she demanded.
"Navance's nephew."
"What?!" she hissed. "I want to see!"
"No. I'm not going down there."
"Now," she said. "Or you'll regret it, Clark Jerome Davis Kent."
I sighed. Invulnerable or not, arguing with that tone of voice was pointless. Carefully, I maneuvered close enough that she could see him through the window.
I kept an eye on me as the other me looked for Lois.
Lois gave a startled cry as I suddenly flew us to the far side of campus.
"What was that for?" she whispered.
"I was looking at us," I told her.
She sighed. "That was the whole point."
"No, the other me was looking at us outside the window."
"Oh." She twisted in my arms and rested her head on my chest. "I can't believe it was him."
"I know, sweetheart. It's ironic, isn't it? Knowing what happens."
"Did he..." I could tell she couldn't bring herself to ask the question.
"No," I told her quietly, brushing the hair off her face. "He didn't. I got there in time."
She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. "He didn't."
"He didn't," I confirmed.
"Christopher's your son," she said.
"Christopher's my son," I repeated.
She looked up at me with a big grin. "I know we've thought it for a long time, but Christopher is your son!"
I grinned back. "He's my son!" I wrapped my arms back around her waist and spun her in mid-air. "It's nice to have confirmation, but you know it doesn't matter, right?"
She nodded. "I know, but I hated the thought that some creep was my first and his dad. I'd much rather not really remember what happened with you and have you be his dad and my first."
"Me, too," I whispered, kissing her softly. "I knew we decided it was pretty unlikely, but the thought that someone else had been with you... Even though we didn't *mean* to be together that first time..."
"I know." She kissed me. "Can we go make sure I'm pregnant now?"
I nodded. "Power outage, here we come." I pulled the device out of my pocket and a minute later we were outside the cabin a few days later.
"What am I doing?" she whispered.
"You're watching a movie and crying," I told her, pulling her closer to me. "Why were you crying?"
She didn't answer for a long moment.
"What?" I asked softly.
"I was wondering what it would be like to have someone love me like Daddy loved Mom. Like Ricky loved Lucy." She paused. "Like you loved Lana."
I turned her so she was facing me. "Honey, I don't love you like I loved Lana. I love you so far beyond that..."
"I know," she told me with a small smile and a shiver.
I swept a bit of heat vision over her and turned my attention back to the cabin. "I think you're pregnant. There's two bags of popcorn in the trash can."
She smiled. "Sounds like it." She moved back. "Now go hide your shirt and ditch the power."
"How am I supposed to hide my shirt from me?"
She shrugged. "You're a superhero. You'll figure it out."
I looked at her, concerned. "Are you sure you'll be okay here? Not too cold?"
"I'll be fine."
I kissed her lightly. "Here goes."
I headed to the cabin but decided I should knock the power out first. That way there was no way anyone would see me.
Having disconnected the wire from the weather head again, I silently went inside going quickly to Lucy's room.
The other me was sound asleep. My shirt was where I remembered it – lying on the other side of the bed. I snatched it up, wincing as I hit one of the four posts.
I zipped to the bathroom and hid in the tub, praying that the other me wouldn't notice me there.
I – he – didn't and headed downstairs. I heard the conversation with Lois about the power and the ice cream. Once they were in her room, I managed to sneak quietly back out.
Lois was freezing when we got back.
I wrapped my arms around her. "Before we go anywhere else, we're going to the tropics to warm you up."
She shook her shivering head. "No. Just use your gizmo and warm me up and let's head back to Christmas."
I concentrated on warming her up and pulling her back to me. "Ready?" I asked.
She nodded. "Let's see if we fixed this."
We stepped through the window to backstage in the basement of her house.
She sighed in relief. "Do your hearing thing."
I closed my eyes and I could feel my face relax.
"What?" she asked.
"Christopher is here."
"Thank God," she whispered. "What else?"
I concentrated my hearing and then frowned, lines creasing my forehead.
"What?"
"Um, there's another version of you here," I told her.
"What?!" she hissed. "What about another you? And Nate?"
The noises I was hearing made me clap my hands over my ears and shut it down.
"What?"
I used my vision to look throughout the house, holding up one finger.
"Oh, no," I whispered, when I found what I was looking for.
"What?"
"Your parents are here. Jimmy and Lucy are here. Dave's here. Joe's here. Me, Lana and my family are here, but..."
"But what?" she asked scared.
I sighed. "I'm up there, apparently, still married to Lana and you..." I took a deep breath. "You're married to Joe."
*****
TBC
