Thanks - as always - the best betas - Nancy, Beth and Alisha!
Last time:
Clark
"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."
*~*25*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
"I'm *what*?" I hissed.
"Married to Joe," he told me. "And from what I'm trying desperately not to hear, you enjoy it very much."
I winced on his behalf. "Can you hear who else is here without hearing... that?"
"How about I *look* and avoid looking in rooms I know have couples in them?"
"That sounds like a better idea," I agreed.
He looked over his glasses. "There's Christopher. He's in the room next to Lucy's old room and..."
"And what?" I asked.
"He has a little sister," Clark said, sounding somewhat sad.
"What?!" I couldn't believe what I just heard. "Joe and I..."
He shrugged. "I guess."
I sat down on one of the chairs, my head in my hands. "Okay. So we can leave here and not worry too much about it. There's a Lois and Clark here and apparently, they're pretty happy with Lana and Joe. So we can't stay and we don't really *want* to stay. So what happened? What changed – or didn't change – or whatever?"
Clark sighed and tugged on my hand until I stood up. He took my seat and pulled me onto his lap. "Okay, what was the next major milestone in our lives?"
"Getting married," I told him. "The whole Latislan debacle."
"Right. If I had to guess, I'd guess this us never ended up in Latislan. Otherwise, I can't imagine me not marrying you and all that."
"So to Europe?"
He nodded. "To Europe."
A minute later, we were in the same spot, but several years earlier.
"I thought we'd fly," he said. "It's the right day and time, I think, but I had no idea where to tell it to take us."
I nodded. "Makes sense."
Ten minutes later, we landed outside the hotel.
"How do we get us to follow Mindy?" I asked him.
He shrugged. "You're in your room getting ready to go."
"I should have told her when I saw her the first time," I muttered. "Not just go to Europe, but go to Europe and follow the blonde."
He zipped us up the stairs. "Do you think that's the best way to do this?"
I nodded. "Just make sure no one sees me."
A split second later, we were outside my door.
I knocked while Clark hid.
A second later, the other me opened the door. "Joe, I thought we said we'd meet..." She stopped mid-sentence. "You again."
"Can I come in?" I asked, looking nervously around.
"Sure. Why not? It's your fault I've got Cruella and Madame Medusa for suitemates after all," she said sarcastically.
"Yeah, but Clark's your roommate right?" I asked as I walked in, shutting the door behind me.
She sighed and nodded. "Yeah. He's fine. But his girlfriend..."
"Oh, I know. Believe me, I know. But, really, when it really counts, she's not so bad," I finished quietly.
"So what is it I'm supposed to do this time?" she asked flopping down on the bed. "I'm Clark's roommate and I'm in Europe."
"You want the story that'll win you a Kerth?" I asked her.
She sat straight up. "Heck, yeah."
"Well, it won't happen right away, but something happens tonight – and if you take advantage of it – you'll get your first Kerth out of tonight."
Her eyes narrowed. "What?"
"Something happens tonight. And if you do what you need to, a long-term result is a Kerth. It's part of a sequence of events that leads to your first Kerth."
"O-kay," she said warily. "What is it?"
"Tonight, you'll go downstairs to meet Joe and there'll be a blonde lady there in white leather pants and a sparkly pink shirt."
She raised a brow. "Really?"
I nodded. "Follow her and get Clark to help you. He'll be downstairs. Wherever she goes, follow her and investigate what she's doing. You won't be able to write about any of it right away, but eventually, the series of events will lead to that."
She sighed. "How do I know I can believe you?"
Tears filled my eyes. "Because I have part of my life back when I go forward to the future, but not all of it yet. Tonight is another turning point."
"Fine. But if I don't get an award..." she threatened.
"You will," I promised. "It won't be until after graduation, but you will. But tonight is the beginning of the groundwork. The rest of the groundwork will come to you."
"Why can't I take Joe with me?"
"You'll see her before Joe meets you. Clark will be downstairs. Get him to go with you and don't let her see you."
"Fine. Now do you mind? I need to get ready to go. Joe and I are trying again at this relationship thing, but you probably already know that."
I nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"Is it going somewhere this time?"
I hesitated. "I can't tell you that. Not now."
She gave an exasperated roll of her eyes. "Then go so I can get ready."
I smiled slightly. "Thank you. And thank you for saving Clark. He's a good friend."
She nodded. "That wasn't fun. I mean, hanging out with him that week was fun, but not traipsing through the snow."
I grimaced. "I remember. You have no idea how close both of you came to not making it that night."
She hesitated slightly. "I had a dream that night..." Her voice trailed off, as though she was afraid to finish the question.
"I know," I said quietly. "But I can't tell you anymore about that."
There was a light 'shave and a haircut' knock on the door.
"I have to go." I headed towards the door. "Good luck."
"I hope I never see you again."
"I don't blame you." I exited quickly to find Clark waiting for me. He grabbed me and we zipped off, on the roof before I knew it. "Why are we up here?" I asked him.
"I talked to... me," he said. "And I had an idea."
"What's that?"
"A way to maybe get to Mindy once we get everything fixed."
My eyes lit up. "What?"
"We follow her after the plane leaves and see what we can see. When we get back, we try tracing her again."
I nodded. "That's a good idea."
He kissed me softly. "We're getting there."
"I know," I told him as another thought occurred to me. "But what if we fix everything and we get back to that Christmas or whatever and there's already an us there?"
He sighed. "We cross that bridge when we get there and deal with it then."
"Can I at least kiss you now?"
He nodded. "I wish you would."
I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him for all I was worth. "Okay. Let's get us to a dictator."
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
Lois disappeared inside her – the other hers – room.
Was I really sure that this incarnation of me would follow her and a random woman?
I looked around and found my room, knocking quietly on the door.
The door opened and I found myself staring at the younger version of me. "I need to come in, Kal-El."
I couldn't think of any other way to shock myself into cooperating.
He backed up, mutely staring at me.
I walked in and he shut the door behind me.
He just stared at me. "Van-El?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No, I'm not Van-El, but good guess."
"Then who are you?"
I sighed. "I'm you. A future you."
He raised an eyebrow. "Time travel? Really?"
"Baby in a space ship? Flying man starts fire with his eyes?" I asked with the same raised brow. "Really?"
"Good point." He still looked skeptical. "But..."
"I know it's hard to believe, believe me, but I'm you from the future. I know you're planning on asking Lana to marry you tonight, but you're going to have to put that off."
His eyes narrowed. "What? Why?"
"Because Lois is going to need your help and when I was you, the circumstances were a little different and I helped her a little more readily than I think you will."
"What're you talking about?"
I sighed. "When I woke up this morning, I was married to the wrong woman."
"Who were you married to?" he asked, with narrowed eyes.
"I can't tell you details, just that Lois and I were both in the wrong... timeline or something, but just the two of us. Everyone else was original. We figured out something was wrong and we met up and talked about it. This guy brought us this." I pulled the time travel box out of my pocket. "Well, he showed up, told us what he'd changed and that he'd be back at midnight with this. We had the day to decide if we wanted to change one event in Lois' past that changed everything for both of us."
The other me nodded slowly. "Okay. Like George McFly punching Griff. That one thing..."
I smirked. "That's exactly what Mom in that timeline said."
"How many timelines have you been in?" he asked, still a bit incredulous.
I thought for a minute. "I think we've created at least two new ones." I grimaced. "I didn't like one of them very much at all."
"Why?"
"Lois died trying to save you... me... us... whatever at the cabin that night. We left that timeline pretty quickly."
A light went off in his head. "Did you help us get to the cabin?"
I nodded. "Yeah. And I made sure the power came back on and then went off again before anyone knew it had been tampered with."
"I thought I felt something blowing on me, helping me stand up, but I figured I was delirious."
"That was me. My Lois – for lack of a better term," I hurried on. I couldn't let him know he'd be marrying Lois in a couple days. "Not the Lois who's your roommate now, that is, but the one who's been traveling through time with me, unlocked the door and made sure blankets were handy and stuff. I helped get the fire going and turn the power back on after you went to sleep."
He shifted uncomfortably. "I had the weirdest dream that night..."
"I know," I told him quietly. "I can't tell you anymore about it than you already know."
He nodded. "I don't remember it real well."
"I don't either," I told him honestly. I didn't remember it nearly as well as I remembered the next time I made love to Lois.
"So about tonight... Is it really bad enough that I need to go with Lois? Can't you help her surreptitiously or something?"
I shook my head. "It has to be you. Do whatever you have to to protect her," I told him softly.
"What if I don't? You guys go back further in time and change something else right?"
I sighed. "It's too big a change. It's only one thing but..."
"What?"
I told him about Ellen, Lucy and Dave. "She moved into the dorms because Lois went and found her a year or so ago, your time, and told her she had to and that, no matter what, she had to live on campus. It's all part of the eventual outcome and the lives we're trying to get back to, but we're trying to keep them alive *and* get our lives as we knew them back. The woman I woke up married to today and I... We don't have any kids, for one thing – besides just not being *my* wife. But *my* wife and I..." I could feel the emotion welling up. "We have two kids and I miss them more than anything besides being able to kiss her. Lois and I... we've managed to get part of our lives back but not all of them. Tonight is part of that."
He looked awestruck. "I can have kids?" he asked in a hushed tone.
I nodded. "You can and they're great kids and you have a great wife."
He sighed. "Okay. What do I need to do?"
"Just go with Lois tonight. Lois is telling her what she needs to do but you need to go with her. Protect her no matter what." I looked at him intently, trying to impress on him the importance of what I was saying. "*No* *matter* *what*. Got it?"
He nodded. "Got it."
"I mean it. It's important that you do whatever you have to do. Everything *but* reveal what you can do," I added as an afterthought. "This is something you have to do without your gifts. There may be a time or two where you think just snatching her and flying her off would be the best way to protect her, but you can't do that."
He sighed. "Fine."
"And don't tell anyone – not even her – about this conversation."
He nodded. "Fine."
I glanced at the clock. "You need to get downstairs. Lois will be down soon and you need to be there."
"What's the deal with me and Lois? And you and Lois?"
I sighed. "The guy who gave us the device said he traveled throughout universes destroying the lives of any Lois and Clark he could find. I don't know why them, us, whatever. Maybe the other versions of us in his original universe pissed him off or something, so Lois and I are trying to get back to our original lives, but with Ellen and Lucy and Dave."
He nodded. "I guess I can understand that. But you promise, I'll be happy if I do this. It won't ruin things with Lana?"
I hesitated. "It's the way it has to be. If she does what she's going to do tonight without you... It doesn't ruin things. In the long run, it fixes things, but just remember to be nice to her. For however long it takes to get it all taken care of, be nice to her. It's going to be hard on her and she needs you to be her friend." Maybe he'd be nicer to Lois than I had been.
"So it won't be finished tonight?"
I shook my head. "It'll take longer than that, but take Lana's ring with you." I made myself smile. "You'll need it." To get married to Lois, I added silently. "And now, you need to get downstairs and the Lois I'm with and I need to get out of here." I stood by the door. "Thank you."
"If I ever see you again and it doesn't turn out well..." he threatened.
"What? You'll incinerate me?" I asked with a small smile tugging at my lips before I left.
*****
TBC
