Thirty minutes later, the odd foursome and Mr. Wells were gathered in the Kent living room once again. Mr. Wells opened a time window and addressed the younger pair. “I’ll stay here and monitor this part of the timeline to make certain that there are no ill affects from your return. If there is danger of a disruption, I will return to November ’93 precisely three minutes after you arrive to bring you back here and we can make alternate plans. If you don’t hear from me, you can assume that the timestream has been safely divided.”
“And we can just get on with our lives without worrying about Lane and Clark and their kids, right?” Lois thought she understood the temporal mechanics talk that had been going on, but she wanted to be absolutely clear on this point.
“Yes, indeed, Miss Lane. Once a successful branching has occurred, you and Mr. Kent will be completely independent individuals. You will be free to make whatever decisions you choose.”
The older Clark was standing with his arm around his wife, seeing them off. He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and handed CJ a business card. “I almost forgot,” he explained, “I pulled this out for you earlier while you and Lois were talking. You’re going to have to do something with Jason Trask, and, as much as I love Rachel Harris, a man with Trask’s connections is over her pay grade. I wouldn’t even trust him to the FBI. This is a friend of mine. I don’t believe you’ve met him yet, but you can trust him to do the right thing. Even back in ’93 he should have enough pull to make sure that Trask is dealt with by the military. Bureau 39 is a rogue agency, and this guy would love to get his hands on Jason Trask. I’m sure Superman could arrange to deliver Trask into his custody.”
CJ’s eyebrows shot up as he read the card he now held in his hand. “General Adam Rankin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?!” He looked up at Clark. “You don’t think that’s a little overkill?”
Clark smiled back at CJ. “I think he’s only a Lieutenant General in your day. But he’s a good man and he won’t let Trask get away. He’ll know who to trust.”
Clark held his hand out to CJ. “Good luck.” CJ shook the proffered hand and Clark turned to make his goodbyes to Lois. She held her hand out to him and he took it in his, pulling her closer and giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek. “Be patient with each other,” he said as he stepped back. The parting advice encompassed both Lois and CJ. Each nodded their acknowledgement.
Now it was Lane’s turn to send her accidental guests on their way. She turned to CJ first. “You aren’t getting away without a hug, young man,” she said, suiting actions to words. As she stepped back from the brief embrace, she held him at arm’s length by his shoulders. “Clark,” she said, using the name she knew he preferred, “You were a true and loyal friend when I desperately needed one. I think I know a little of what that friendship cost you, and I will always be grateful. I hope you find what you’ve always been looking for.”
Turning to her young counterpart, Lane offered her hand to be shaken and was surprised to be pulled into a warm embrace instead. “I spent a day trying to be you,” Lois whispered in her ear. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“I learned one day at a time,” she whispered back. “He’s got a lot of love to give. When you’re ready to accept it, you can trust him.”
As the two women separated, Lane raised her voice to its normal volume. “You two have a lot of challenges ahead of you, but I know you can handle them. You’re both strong bright people who care about doing the right thing. Help each other do it.” Once again, the two young people just nodded in response.
Lane went on, “And you might want to start by investigating a certain crime boss in philanthropist’s clothing.” At Lois’s confused “Who?” both Clarks said, in unison and both wearing the exact same scowl, “Luthor.” Lois looked from one Clark to the other. She’s never seen either of them look so fierce. Whatever Lex Luthor had done, it was clear that he had made a life-long enemy of Clark Kent. And after everything she had seen in the last day, that was good enough for Lois.
As Lois and CJ turned toward the time window, CJ placed one hand at the small of Lois’s back. He probably didn’t even realize he was doing it. Lois realized. She was surprised by the tingle that simple touch produced. Their heads might be confused as all get-out, but their bodies certainly weren’t. Just before they stepped through the shimmering portal, CJ turned back to his hosts. “Thank you both. For everything.” he said in parting. “It’s been an honor knowing both of you.” And with that, he followed his new friend through the opening.
*****
Martha Kent paced back and forth from her kitchen to her living room. She’d been pacing for the last five minutes, ever since her son and her new daughter-in-law had stepped through a square of light and vanished from her kitchen and, as far as she knew, from her universe. Her husband sat at the kitchen table nursing a fresh cup of coffee. As Martha approached him for the fortieth time, Jonathan pushed his chair back from the table, reached for her hand, and pulled his petite wife onto his ample lap. He wrapped a strong arm around her waist to hold her there. Planting a gentle kiss on her temple, he soothed, “They’ll be back. Any second now.”
Martha answered him in a tight voice, “My boy is gone. He was sick and now he’s gone.”
“He’s getting better, and he’ll be back.” She needed to hear it, and he needed to say it. It had to be true.
Both of them jumped to their feet when that same square of light formed again, exactly where it had disappeared just minutes before. The older couple held their breath as Lois and Clark stepped through, Clark’s hand resting at the small of Lois’s back just as if he were ushering her through the farmhouse’s front door rather than through a portal in time.
Before anyone could say a word of greeting, Martha rushed forward, gathering both young people into her welcoming embrace. “Oh, thank goodness!” she exclaimed, one arm around each of them. “That was the longest five minutes of my life.” Martha stepped back to get a good look at her returning children. It never occurred to her to question the fact that she now had a daughter as well as a son. From the moment that Martha had been convinced of Lois Lane’s love for her son, the young woman had become hers, just as Clark had been hers from the moment she’d opened that tiny space capsule so long ago.
Martha was so busy welcoming her kids back that it was Jonathan who first thought to ask, “Lois, why are you back? Did something go wrong?”
Martha caught on quickly and looked on her daughter-in-law in dismay. “Oh, honey! You couldn’t get back to your family, could you? Even after all that business with Mr. Wells and his time window? You must be devasted!” As Martha reached to hug Lois once again, she finally noticed the look on the young woman’s face. It wasn’t relief to be back. It wasn’t frustrated grief at not being able to return to her family. It was utter astonishment. Martha realized with a start that, for the first time in their short acquaintance, Lois Lane was at a complete loss. Martha looked to Clark for an explanation.
Finally able to get a word in edgewise, Clark put a steadying arm around Lois’s shoulders and explained, “Mom, Dad, this isn’t the Lois that you met yesterday. This is Lois Lane. The one that belongs here, in 1993. Lo’s gone home to her family.” Turning to Lois, he continued, “Lois, I’d like you to meet my parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent.”
Taking refuge in the familiar ritual, Lois held her right hand out to Martha. Trying to hide the tremor in her voice, she greeted her, “Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Kent.”
Martha recovered quickly and, with a warm smile, took Lois’s hand in both of hers. “Oh, honey! I don’t care if you’re the one I first met or not, no Lois Lane is going to call me ‘Mrs. Kent’ ever again. To you, we’re Martha and Jonathan. Now, what time was it where you’ve come from? When did you last have something to eat?”
Swept along in the current of Martha’s hospitality, Lois soon found herself seated in a farmhouse kitchen dining on scrambled eggs with sausage and biscuits. She’d never been so warmly welcomed in her life. Not even when she visited her own mother. Ellen Lane wouldn’t be capable of true warmth if her life depended on it. Martha Kent exuded it from every pore.
****
Lois Lane Kent snuggled up against her husband’s side. After they’d said goodbye to Mr. Wells, neither had wanted to wait for Florence. They could still go tomorrow. She let out a long, contented sigh. “Alone at last!” she declared in delight, “I’ve missed you so much, Clark. I was really starting to worry for a while there. It’s so good to be home in my own bed,” she placed a playful kiss on the corner of his mouth, “with my own husband,” she took a little nibble at his earlobe, “alone,” she kissed the side of his neck, “with a whole weekend ahead of us…” Something was wrong. Clark was holding her close, kissing her back, but he was not giving it his full attention. She sat up.
“Okay, Mister. Spill.”
“What?” Clark had been a little distracted, but he had hoped she wouldn’t notice. He felt ashamed to admit the reason why. It just seemed so petty.
“You’re obsessing. So come on and get it off your chest. You’ll feel better, and we can get on with more important business.” She wasn’t going to let him get away with it. She never did, and he loved that about her.
Clark sat up and leaned against the headboard. He put his left arm around his wife, pulling her close to his side. She knew he did it partly so he wouldn’t have to look her in the eye. Whatever was on his mind, he was pretty embarrassed about it. Finally, the truth came out.
“You and CJ, I wouldn’t have expected you to be so close. I mean, I know you were more or less thrown together with nobody else to confide in, and I know you are always completely faithful to me, Lois. To us. But…”
Here it came. What exactly was bothering him so much?
“Did you have to give each other nicknames? I mean really! ‘CJ?’ ‘Lo?’ I’ve never been CJ in my whole life. And what on earth would possess a man to call you ‘Lo?’”
That was it? That was the big crisis? Lois couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing in relief. “Oh Clark! You sweet, jealous man! You thought I called him ‘CJ’ because it was romantic somehow?”
When she had her laughter under control, she kissed him soundly and, still smiling in indulgent amusement at his misapprehension, asked, “Clark, why do we call our son ‘Samwise’ sometimes when his name is Samuel? Why do we call Jonathan ‘Little Jon?’”
Clark gave her a puzzled look, but he played along. She must be going somewhere with this. “Because we already have a Sam and a Jonathan in the family,” he explained as if she didn’t already know. “We give them nicknames to distinguish them from their namesakes.”
His wife touched her finger to the tip of his nose. “Bingo! Got it on the first try.”
“Wait, you’re saying you started calling him ‘CJ’ because…”
“…Because I already have a Clark in my life.” Her face and her voice were serious now. “He’s a lot like you, Clark, but he wasn’t you. And I missed you so much. Sometimes I just needed to use a different name. One that didn’t remind me constantly how much I missed you.” She held his face in her two hands. “Not that I ever could forget it. Not for a minute.”
Grinning broadly, Clark leaned in and gave his wife a proper welcome home kiss. When they came up for air, though, he couldn’t help teasing, “And ‘Lo?’ Where on earth did he come up with that one?”
“Mmmm…” she answered between kisses, “I think he did it in revenge. I don’t think he liked ‘CJ’ much, either.” After that, there wasn’t anything worth adding, and, besides, they were both occupied with more important matters.
****
Lois Lane was overwhelmed. That wasn’t something that happened to her often. Usually she could adapt to pretty much any circumstance that presented itself. And, in her line of work, she was regularly presented with some pretty unusual circumstances. But this was positively surreal.
In the last forty-eight hours she’d gone from her normal, every-day life to thinking she’d lost ten years worth of memories, to discovering she was married to Superman, then meeting the new, improved Clark Kent and wondering at the attraction she felt for him, to realizing that *he* was the one she’d married, not Superman, to finding out that actually, she’d married both of them because Clark *was* Superman, to discovering that no, she hadn’t lost her memory after all, she’d just been transported through time and into a different body. And now here she was, back in her own time and her own body, except that now she really *had* lost six weeks of memories because she hadn’t been here to live them. And she wasn’t even back in Metropolis. She was in Kansas. In Smallville. Sitting in Clark Kent’s boyhood home, listening to Clark discuss Superman strategy with his parents.
Come to think of it, she was adapting pretty well. All things considered.
“What do you think, Dad?” Clark was saying. He was spreading strawberry jam on a biscuit. “Should Superman just swoop down on Wayne Irig’s farm and arrest Trask for the murder of George Thompson? Or do I wait for him to show up here and catch him in the act?” He popped half the biscuit into his mouth.
“The act of what, Clark?” Jonathan questioned, pouring fresh coffee in Lois’s cup. “We don’t know for sure what Trask will do when he gets here. Assuming that Mr. Wells was right and he actually does show up here. And who knows what he’s doing to poor Wayne in the meantime. I wish you’d at least go check on him.”
Clark’s chair made a loud scraping noise as he stood up quickly. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that when I first got back here. I’ll be right back,” he announced. In an instant he was out the kitchen door, followed by a sonic boom.
“I wish he wouldn’t take off so quickly,” Martha complained. She was standing at the sink, peeling on orange and dropping the peels into the garbage disposal. “The neighbors are going to start asking questions.”
“No, they won’t,” her husband reassured her. “They’ll just assume it’s the Air Force flying practice maneuvers out of Vance or McConnell.”
Before Martha could respond, Clark came striding back into the kitchen. He was already back in his street clothes. <Or farm clothes, as the case may be.> Lois was starting to get a little punchy, at least in her own mind. She hoped she wouldn’t break into hysterical giggles. That wouldn’t be good for her image. Or her self-respect. No, she could handle this. Really. She took a sip of coffee to calm her nerves. Chocolate would have been better, but Martha didn’t serve that with brunch, more’s the pity.
“Wayne’s fine,” Clark reported. “He’s not even there. I found him eight miles down State Route 23, headed toward town in his F-150. From some things Trask said to his men, it sounds like he was hoping that Wayne would lead him to the kryptonite, but Wayne was too smart for him. He headed in the opposite direction. I’ll keep an ear out in case he does head this way.”
“Even if he did come here, he wouldn’t find that poisonous rock,” Martha informed Lois. “Jonathan got rid of it last night.”
Clark sat down and resumed his meal, starting with the other half of his biscuit. He washed it down with a tall glass of milk and turned his attention on Lois.
“What about you, Lois? What’s your advice? Preemptive strike or lying in wait?”
Lois blinked once before replying. “You’re asking me for advice on how to do your Superman job?”
“Sure, why not?” Clark answered. “You’re more experienced at bringing down bad guys than I am.”
He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. And she believed him. He was right. Superman had been in existence for less than a month—no, that was by her time. Counting the six weeks she’d been gone it was closer to two or three months here, but still, he had a point. Clark had amazing abilities, but Lois had a track record of uncovering corruption and holding the perpetrators to account. In her own way, she too fought for truth and justice. Lane’s parting words echoed in her mind. ‘You’re both strong bright people who care about doing the right thing. Help each other do it.’
Suddenly, she didn’t feel so overwhelmed. She felt strong, competent, needed. She was in a unique position to help Clark be the best Superman he could be. And, when the time came, he’d help her as well. <Starting with an exclusive interview,> she thought with relish. Yes. She *could* do this.
Meanwhile, Clark was waiting for an answer. “Let me think,” she began.
