The Return of Ultra Woman
Chapter 2
One of the most noticeable “little” changes in my life relating to the powers is the way I wake up in the morning. I used to think that our neighborhood was unusually quiet, but it doesn’t seem like that anymore. Several months ago, when I first noticed the increase in noise, I thought that for some reason our neighborhood had become much noisier. Now I know better.
As much as the sound bothers me, the other changes help compensate. Waking up with so much energy in the morning is wonderful! Throughout my adult life, I’ve had to fight to be fully alert between the time I get out of bed and the time that first cup of coffee takes effect. Now, I wake up and as soon as I decide to climb out of bed, I feel ready to go.
Looking over at Clark and seeing him still fast asleep gives me hope that I’ll get used to the changes. He insists that the hearing issues are all about training yourself in what not to hear. As I watch my love sleeping blissfully, I have to believe that adapting to the extra energy is also just a matter of getting used to it.
Since I’m awake, I figure I might as well get started. I look in on Lara to make sure she’s still sleeping and then head for the shower. This is another one of the changes that I should have noticed but didn’t. For most of my life I’ve loved my showers to be as hot as possible. Whenever I had to take a shower with the water any cooler than I like, it was almost unbearable. Over the past few months, I’ve kept up the habit of taking a hot shower, but it’s not the same. I can feel that the water is hot or cool but it doesn’t seem to matter very much anymore.
I’m about to step into my shower when I wonder how quickly I can get through it if I use super-speed. I’ve used the speed enough just fooling around that I’m comfortable with it, so why not. The water is running and already hot. I will myself to high-speed mode and immediately bump into an unexpected problem. From my perspective, the water flowing from the showerhead has stopped. Well, stopped may not be the right word. The water seems to be just floating in the air. When I step into the shower, it’s as if I cut a hole in a cloud of water droplets. I move around a bit to get all the water that was suspended in the air, but I quickly use up the available water. Now I’m standing here waiting for some more water to reach me. After what seems like a long time in my accelerated state, I find myself growing more frustrated with non-moving water. I shift back to normal speed for just an instant to allow the water to flow over my body and then I shift back to high-speed again. Watching the water suspended in the air is interesting to look at, but it makes for a miserable shower. So, lesson number one, I may be able to go at super speed but the water in the shower is limited by normal time. No real advantage to be gained by super speed here. I shift back to normal speed and finish my shower that way.
After my shower, I head back to the bedroom and wake up Clark. “Good morning sleepyhead. It’s time to wake up.”
He rolls over and mumbles. “It can’t be.”
I wonder again how long it will take me to get that adjusted to the extra energy. “C’mon Clark. I’m already done with my shower.”
He snatches at my leg in what looks to be an attempt to pull me back into bed. I laugh as I dart out of the way. “Not right now, mister. You need to get ready and I need to get dressed.”
“Spoilsport,” he says with a laugh. My being out of range means that whatever is on his mind, he’s going to have to get out of bed. I’m pleased that once he’s clear of the mattress I feel his arms go around my waist and am treated to a particularly well executed good morning kiss.
As he heads for the shower, I look over my clothes for the day. I’ve just decided on what to wear when I hear Lara stir. Now this is something for which the super speed works very well. I shift into high-speed mode and dress very quickly. I still remember the first time that I tried high-speed dressing. With his spin, Clark makes it look so easy! Well, it’s not. The first time I tried a high-speed change of clothes, what I got for my trouble was a set of shredded clothes and two buttons buried deep in a nearby wall. However, those problems are past and this morning it’s less than a second from the time I hear Lara until I’m fully dressed and standing next to her in her room.
Once Lara is up, the morning takes on a very normal feel. I just don’t see our around-the-house routine changing very much because of my powers. While I’m watching Clark prepare breakfast, I do think of something. While neither Clark nor I can be with burned by something too hot or cut accidentally by the careless use of a knife, Lara can. I’ve noticed that on those occasions that Clark has lost his powers, he often ends up cutting or burning himself in the kitchen. Nothing very bad, but he’s just not used to being careful. It will be many years until Lara gains her invulnerability and until then we need to be careful not to teach dangerous habits.
***~~~***
When we get in to work, I’m especially glad that we had come into the office for a short time the day after the car bomb. It’s going to be hard enough getting back into the swing of work but at least most of the people in the office saw us the other day and know that we are alive and healthy. I think Lara’s day-care providers made the biggest fuss. Clark and I had checked in with them, but this was their first chance to fawn-over Lara since the incident.
As I settle in for a morning of trying to return some normalcy to my world, I can’t help but be amazed that it’s only been three days since that car bomb exploded. Clark and I were in the middle of several investigations when everything got crazy, and I’m having trouble getting back to them. Part of me wants to do something about the people that came after us, but there just isn’t any more to that story. All of those responsible are already in jail, and we covered everything else in the after-bomb write up that we did two days ago.
It takes nearly twenty minutes but I finally zero in on an investigation that feels like it has enough meat to help me get back in the groove. During this period, I’ve sneaked a few looks at Clark. As near as I can tell he’s looking through his work list and doing the same thing that I am. After a call to set up a meeting with a source for later in the day, I feel almost back to normal. This time when I look for Clark, he’s not at his desk. I concentrate for just a second and can’t help but smile as I lock in on his heartbeat in the store room. He’s always said that he could do this with me and now I understand. I don’t have to make an effort to figure out which heartbeat is his. I just know.
After a few seconds he emerges from the store room and heads toward Perry’s office. On the way, he moves past two younger women. One I recognize from research and the other has the look of someone new. As Clark moves on past them, my hearing locks onto something other than Clark’s heartbeat.
“Who’s that?”
This is from the younger blonde girl that I don’t recognize.
“Clark Kent. Isn’t he a dream?”
“I’ll say!”
“And he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet too.”
I know that I shouldn’t be listening, but I have to admit that it’s fun hearing other women drooling over *my* husband.
“Really? Is he taken?”
You bet he is Blondie!
“Yeah. His wife is Lois Lane. She’s the one that they call Mad Dog!”
I didn’t think that name was still around.
“Too bad. Why do the good-looking, nice guys always get snapped up by bitchy ice-queens?”
“Be careful. She’s right over there.”
Suddenly I’m sorry that I’ve been eavesdropping. While they’ve been talking I’ve been feeling my temper rising. It’s bad enough that they’re having this conversation while I’m just across the room, but the new girl would have to be a blonde!
“I heard you. Still, I think I should to get to know him. Who knows, he might be interested in someone younger and more capable of appreciating him more than a woman called ‘Mad Dog’.”
Just then a stack of papers right beside the two women bursts into flame. I immediately snap my eyes shut and put my head down until I can get myself under control. Based on the sounds I’m hearing, it seems that the fire is small and quickly contained. Before the commotion even dies down, I feel a familiar hand on my back and hear Clark’s voice. “Lois, are you all right?”
I leave my head down and keep my eyes closed. “Yes.”
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
I whisper to my desktop. “I started that fire!” I know he’ll hear me.
Now his face is close to mine. “What happened?”
“One of those women. She was… they were, well, talking about you.”
“What. But why?”
I’m keeping my head down but now it’s because I’m embarrassed. “They were talking about me too. I must have lost my temper and the fire started. I didn’t mean to do that.”
I feel his arms go around me. “It’s fine. No one was hurt and there wasn’t any damage other than some burned papers. Will you please look at me?”
I’m going to have to do this sooner or later, so I may as well get it over with. What I see when I look up is compassion. Of course, this is Clark, what else would I see? I hadn’t realized it, but apparently I had been crying. As he gently wipes away my tears I think again about how lucky I am. He starts talking, but his voice is at a whisper so low that I know that only we can hear. “Darling, the heat vision was the trickiest power for me to master. When I was a teenager and this ability first came in, this sort of thing happened several times.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It was during that time that I learned so much of the restraint that you tease me about. It was either develop a great deal of control over my emotions, or get used to starting fires every time I got upset.”
“You’re not making this up?” I ask hesitantly.
“No. Next time we’re in Smallville, ask Mom or Dad about when the heat vision switched on. There were more than just a few embarrassing fires.”
He is *so* good at helping me feel better. “Clark, this never happened when I was Ultra Woman. Once I got used to them, none of the powers ever got away from me like what just happened.”
Clark seems to think about this for a moment, and then continues, still in a whisper. “Are there any other differences in the powers that you’ve noticed?”
“Well, they all seem to be stronger and harder to control than before. This time, it feels like I’m getting a stronger result from almost no effort.”
“We should talk to Bernie. Remember that last time they were borrowed. I wonder if it’s possible that they never were at full strength. Bernie did say that they were actually fading the whole time you had them.”
Suddenly Clark’s head pops up and he gets that oh-so-familiar far-away look.
“Is there an emergency?” I ask.
He relaxes and looks back at me. “Yes, but I don’t need to go.”
“That’s another thing that I don’t understand. If the powers are stronger, why can’t I hear all those emergency calls that you do?”
“I learned that the more I tried to help out, the more I heard. We talked about training yourself not to hear noise in our neighborhood. Well, this is the same, but in an opposite sort of way. If you tried to listen for emergency calls all the time, I’m sure that before too long you would be able to do the same thing.”
“In that case I suspect that I’ll never develop that talent.”
“Maybe not.” Then I see a grin develop and he continues. “But I have a feeling you will train yourself to hear conversations and telephone calls even better than I do.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “Watch it, mister.”
“Anyway, all the powers are like that. Getting them to do exactly what you want takes a lot of work. You’re probably going to need to practice controlling all of the powers in their new, stronger form. Like I said, the heat vision can be particularly tricky, but you probably need more practice with all of them.”
He pauses for a moment and his expression looks especially thoughtful. “Now that I think about it, I can blame my heat vision for it taking me so long to tell you how I felt about… us.”
“You have to explain that.”
“When my heat vision was first starting to work, I learned very quickly that any time my emotions flared I would start a fire. I had to work to make sure that my emotions were always under control. You’ve commented about how calm I tend to be all the time. That’s where it came from. Think about your average teenage boy with all the hormones surging. Now, think about me. I had to keep a very tight rein on my feelings all the time. I spent years concentrating on being calm, in control and… cautious. Sometimes I think that having to control my heat vision changed my entire personality.”
“Okay, but why do you say that delayed your being more truthful about your feelings?”
“Lois, I was crazy about you from the moment we met. I should have just asked you out as Superman and been done with it. Even as myself, I could have been more obvious about my interest in pursuing a personal relationship. The cautious streak kept telling me to go slow. One of the things that I’ve learned from you is that overcautious isn’t always the best approach.”
I’m feeling better now. It helps to learn that even Clark had troubles at first. However, I can’t let him off too easily. “Clark, I knew the day you arrived that there were a *lot* of things I could teach you.”
TBC
Bob
