In response to Michael's suggestion, here's a brief outline of the first four stories in the Time to Love series.
Obviously, it includes a lot of spoilers. If you would rather read the entire stories
1.
Weekend in Smallville 2.
First Days in Metropolis Those stories are on the archive. The next two will be there soon. Meanwhile ...
3.
Adrift 4.
So Many Questions I am hoping to begin posting the fifth story, Led Astray, in 7-10 days.
1. Weekend in Smallville.Lois is annoyed when Perry sends her to Smallville, Kansas. Not even the information that mystery man/possible government agent, Franklin Hodge - the target of some of Lois's earlier investigative efforts - will supposedly be there is enough to make it seem anything more than a wasted weekend.
Things only get worse when she arrives and discovers that she doesn't have a reservation at the only hotel. She calls Perry; he remembers receiving a résumé from a 'Clark Kent' of Smallville and calls his old friend who is listed as a referee, ascertains that the Kents are good people, and arranges for Lois to stay there.
In the bedroom of their absent son.
Who arrives home early the next morning, showers, and goes into his room, dressed only in a towel.
After such an uncomfortable meeting, Lois is expecting breakfast to be awkward, but she is pleasantly surprised by the relaxed family atmosphere and Clark's quiet country-boy manners.
Later in Smallville, she runs into Franklin Hodge, and for the first time, believes there could be a story. Clark - a reporter for the Smallville Press - offers to help her, which she doesn't want, fearing his objective is to steal her story.
They investigate together - her prickly and suspicious, him seemingly straightforward and open. They discover that Hodge is in Smallville to meet with two scientists - Max and Sheridan Sewell. Lois and Clark follow Hodge to the meeting and discover that the Sewells are claiming to have found a spaceship, including evidence of the alien life it brought to Earth, and are offering the US government their silence and research findings for a payment of $1 million.
Leo Nunk is also tracking Hodge and hears the offered deal/attempt at blackmail. He does a little lazy research and discovers the juicy morsel that there is no record of the birth of the local reporter who is following Lois Lane around like a lapdog. Figuring there is probably an explanation but knowing his editor will print the story for its sensational value, he takes a photo of Clark Kent, butchers it a little, and submits his story.
However, he can't resist bragging to Lois that he scooped her. He arranges to meet her and gives her the photo as proof that the alien who came in the Sewells' spaceship is none other than Clark Kent.
Lois confronts the Kent family with Nunk's claims. Jonathan tells a story about a school friend of his who left for the big city, got into trouble with bad men, and brought her unregistered baby to the Kents, begging them to care for him. He shows the paper clipping, reporting her death a few months later.
Feeling an surprising need to protect Clark and his parents, Lois goes to Franklin Hodge and barters her evidence of his involvement in the Sewell story for documentation proving the Kents' original claim that Clark's parents had been killed when he was a baby.
The deal is done. Lois loses her story of Hodge's involvement in the blackmail attempt and subsequent disappearance of the Sewells but gains official proof of Clark Kent's birth and adoption by the Kents.
Lois and Clark write the story together, refuting Nunk's claims, and Lois leaves Smallville to return to Metropolis.
Clark watches her plane fly away, wishing there could be a way to be with the woman he has fallen in love with.
2. First Days in MetropolisPerry, impressed by the dual efforts of Lois and Clark in the Sewell/spaceship/blackmail story, offers Clark a job at the Daily Planet.
Lois is concerned about how the naive country boy will survive the realities of big city life, and she is sure she will be hurt if she allows her attraction for him to develop into anything more substantial.
To her annoyance, Perry foists the newbie onto her, and he accompanies her as she works on the story of the new Luthor Hospital for Children. The hospital is to be a joint venture between Lex Luthor and the (very wealthy) Crawford family - specifically Sarah Crawford, recently widowed following the death of her husband, David.
As expected, Luthor is up to no good - which Clark realises quickly. He conducts his own investigation, keeping Lois out of it to protect her from danger. Of course, Lois realises something is happening, does some investigation of her own, and ends up captured by Luthor and imprisoned in one of his underground rooms. Her cellmate is none other than Franklin Hodge.
Luthor is monitoring them, hoping to gain information from their conversation. Hodge manages to convey this to Lois, and together they weave a story to trick Luthor into believing that Nigel St John is the target.
To check the validity of that, Luthor sends St John to inform Lois that Clark Kent has been shot and then watches for her reaction. She is distraught.
Clark takes his information to Henderson and is perturbed when the detective refuses to act on it. Eventually, Henderson - stressed and frustrated by the failure to nail Luthor - hints that Clark's discoveries are only a small part of a much larger crime organisation.
Clark suggests that a super-powered man he met while reporting on a mudslide in Borneo could be very helpful. Henderson is incredulous, but agrees to a meeting.
Later, Clark, wearing the suit his mother made, meets with Henderson, and together they plan the demise of Luthor's empire. Once Luthor is caught, Clark returns to Lois's apartment, fearful of her reaction to him excluding her. She isn't there, and his super-powered search results in him locating her in the underground room. He crashes through the roof - the first meeting between Lois and Superman. Clark is partly relieved, partly disappointed when Lois doesn't recognise him.
Back at ground level, Lois asks Superman a few questions about who he is, but mostly she is in shock over the death of Clark. Superman informs her that Clark is alive. He flies away, Clark appears, and Lois is so relieved, she doesn't try to hide her growing feelings for the man from Smallville.
Lois and Clark write the story, and a couple of weeks later, Clark works up the courage to ask Lois for a date. She accepts.
3. AdriftThe story opens with Lois and Clark's first date. They arrive back at Lois's apartment after the date and things are starting to hot up when they are interrupted by a knock on the door. It is two police officers who have come to inform Lois that both of her parents have been killed in a car crash.
Lois works through her grief, and Clark tries to support her. Their fledging relationship stumbles a little under the pressure, but they reconnect when Clark helps Lois write the eulogy for the funeral.
The day of the funeral arrives. Lois walks up to deliver the eulogy ... and sees Clark walking out of the church.
For Lois, this is the final straw, and she collapses, having to be helped back to her seat by Perry. After the service, she goes home, locks the door, and cries with the pain of loss and betrayal.
Meanwhile, Clark is rescuing orphans from a fire in Honduras. He arrives back in Metropolis, showers and changes into Clark clothes and goes to Lois's apartment, trying to deal with his own grief at having been unable to save two of the children.
Lois refuses to answer, and Clark goes back to the hospital in Honduras and spends the night watching Rosa - the final child he rescued - as she sleeps.
Back at the Planet the next morning, Clark is surprised that Lois is there, but not surprised when her attitude to him is cold and unforgiving. Later, he goes to her apartment and tries to explain why he had to leave the funeral, but she gets angry and orders him out. On his second attempt, he manages to get out the words, 'I'm Superman' and she is livid that Clark and his family lied to her.
Clark leaves Metropolis and returns to Smallville, sure that his short-lived relationship with Lois is over forever.
Lois tries to continue working, but she knows her work is sub-standard. Not even an interview with the recently retired Franklin Hodge gives her any enthusiasm for her work, and her story is so bad that Perry can't print it.
Three things happen. Lois attends a Superman rescue, and he treats her as just another member of the media. Sarah Crawford talks to Lois about grief and tries to explain Clark's feelings (although she doesn't know the real reason why he left the funeral), and Jonathan Kent comes to Metropolis and tells Lois that it was his decision to lie to her about Clark's origins.
During a game of golf with Sarah, Lois realises that what she wants most is to be with Clark. They abandon the game, and Lois flies to Smallville. Martha sends her to Clark's bedroom to await his return from Honduras where he has been helping rebuild the orphanage.
Clark arrives home and is shocked to find Lois in his room. She asks him to take her somewhere private. They talk, they apologise, and Lois decides to overcome Clark's feelings of not belonging by asking him to marry her.
He refuses to answer, but they sort out a lot of other things as they fly around the world, experiencing a series of sunrises.
4. So Many QuestionsThe story opens four weeks after Adrift. Clark has planned an ultra-romantic date, and during it, he asks Lois to marry him. She accepts, and they spend the rest of the weekend in Smallville beginning to plan the wedding.
Monday morning comes, and Clark doesn't arrive for their breakfast date, so Lois goes to the Planet alone, assuming he has been called away on Superman business. However, as the day progresses and there is no sign of either Clark or Superman, her anxiety increases.
For the next few days, she slowly unravels the mystery of Clark's disappearance, trying to work out which of Hodge, Henderson, and Scardino she can trust. She fabricates a story about Superman returning to his home planet to explain his disappearance.
Eventually, she is lured by Scardino to a warehouse on Bessolo Boulevard where she finds Clark - captured by Jason Trask who thinks Clark has information about Superman. The Sewells' research - including the spaceship and some strange green rocks - is also stored in the warehouse.
Hodge masterminds their escape, killing Trask and Scardino, and also losing his own life. Lois gets a weakened and wounded Clark out of the warehouse, and remembers Sarah's offer of the use of the cottage behind the Crawford mansion. Lois gets Clark there - to temporary safety, although they don't know if Henderson is working against them.
He arrives at the cottage - and reveals he is an old friend of Sarah's and was working with Hodge to try to bring down Trask. Everything seems to be resolved, but Clark - shaken by the experience of vulnerability and divested of his powers due to exposure to green rocks in the warehouse - withdraws from Lois.
Three weeks later, they arrive in Smallville for their planned wedding, although there is still a gulf in their relationship. Sarah and Lucy take Lois to Wichita on the night before the wedding (and she takes the opportunity to do a little follow-up research on the Sewells). Clark finally sees sense after a talk with Martha, and goes to the hotel in Smallville, only to find that the girls have left.
The next day, he dresses in his wedding outfit and waits outside the church, hoping Lois will realise that he still wants to marry her.
She comes, they talk about his insecurities in trying to deal with a life without powers, and they reaffirm their love for each other.
After their wedding, Lois sends Martha and Jonathan to the room they had booked in Tulsa, and takes Clark to his bedroom in Smallville for their wedding night.
Their activities prove restorative, and the story ends with the return of Clark's powers.
Thanks to everyone who is still interested in this series despite the long delay.
Corrina.
for story #5!
as to when it might start appearing on the boards.
)