***~~~***
Chapter 26: Powers
***~~~***
Lois awoke the next morning to the feel of lips pressing against her own. She couldn’t help but think how amazing it was that something so new and different could feel natural so quickly. However, she noticed that unlike the previous three mornings, today the kiss was coming from above. At the end of that delicious kiss she opened her eyes to find Clark sitting on the edge of the bed looking down at her.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said.
“Good morning to you too,” she replied with a smile.
“I have breakfast in bed for you,” Clark said.
Lois glanced to the side of the bed and noticed a tray with coffee, toast and the morning newspaper. “Clark, what’s this for?”
“Honey, after last night how can you ask?
Her smile broadened. “To be honest, I thought you did a very thorough job of showing your appreciation after we were in bed last night.”
Clark could feel himself blushing. He hadn’t really thought about the implications of Lois’s more aggressive personality when applied to a personal relationship. It was both fun and exciting, but it was going to take some getting used to.
Lois pushed herself up to a more seated position and Clark set the tray in front of her. They exchanged a real good morning kiss and Clark headed for the bathroom.
***~~~***
The day was surprisingly normal for a Saturday in the office. Lois spent much of the day ducking calls from both individuals and other news organizations that wanted to follow up on her Lex Luthor speech statement. The Daily Planet was responding on behalf of Lois that she had nothing to add to the statement she released.
The Lane and Kent reporting team were moving on from the Superman and Luthor stories to regular investigative reporting. Consequently, work consisted of talking to sources—both political and underworld—looking for any lead available.
They waited until after dinner to go into the subject of Superman. They didn’t know if their talk was going to take five minutes or five hours, but they wanted to be sure to have the time available. They were sitting together on the sofa when Lois finally broached the subject. “Do you have any idea how you survived Luthor’s trap? Based on everything we learned, you should have died.”
“Honey, I wish I knew. I think Bernie’s version of what happened at the asteroid is correct. I had to have gotten some of the gas. Then once I crashed, I must have been exposed to the poison when the tank burst open. That’s when I lost the rest of my powers. I just wish I knew how I got back to Earth.”
“Maybe you can hold your breath longer than anyone thought,” Lois offered.
“Maybe,” Clark replied cautiously. “I just don’t know.”
Lois thought about that for a moment. “We may never know how you got back,” she said. “What else do you remember about being Superman?”
“Very little. You know how little I remember about being Clark, and I was Clark way more than I was ever in the suit as Superman.”
“What about Lex? Do you remember anything else about your interactions with him?”
“No. I have an image of him holding a sword at my throat, but I think that was a Clark Kent encounter. Remember that I told you about times I thought I’d been listening in when Lex talked to Superman – well, obviously we now know I was remembering the conversations from Superman’s perspective. Unfortunately, I don’t remember any more than before. I guess that doesn’t matter much since we found the evidence that put him on the run.”
“I don’t even like to think about what almost happened.” Suddenly Lois’s voice sounded shaken and unsure. “If you hadn’t made it back, I have to believe that there was a good chance I would have accepted his invitation and stayed in his copy of my apartment. Then when my building was destroyed…”
Clark felt the shudder run through her. He leaned over and drew his wife into a hug. “It’s okay, honey. It didn’t happen that way.”
“But it could have,” the thought really frightened her. “Luthor was so skilled at hiding the truth and manipulating people. Who knows, I might have ended up with him. Maybe even married him.”
“I don’t see how that could have ever happened. But fortunately it’s not something that you’ll have to worry about now.”
They just held each other in silence for a few minutes. Finally Lois moved on to a less distressing subject with a question. “Have you been able to figure out any more about the status of your powers?”
“I’ve tried to use some of them. The X-Ray vision is about like it was last night. Without my glasses, it sort of comes and goes. It’s easier to leave the glasses on so I don’t have to concentrate so much.”
“Have you remembered anything more about the glasses?”
“No. But now we know why there aren’t any medical records. As for the glasses, I’m not sure if it’s something I thought of or something I remembered, but I think they’re leaded glass.”
“You mean like lead crystal?”
“Sure. Since I can’t see through lead, that would be a good way to keep from accidentally looking through things.”
Lois smiled wickedly. “Like the clothes of attractive women?”
“Lois! You know I’d never do that.”
Lois laughed at her husband. “What about when you were a teenager? I would think being a teenage boy with boiling hormones would prove tempting even for someone with your upbringing. Do you remember when you started wearing the glasses?”
“Not clearly. But I think it was when I was a teenager.” Clark watched as Lois got an I-told-you-so smirk on her face. “That may have been when the powers developed. I don’t remember that clearly either, but I don’t think I always had them. It feels like they came in during my late teens. I wonder if they’re adult traits, like growing a beard.”
Lois almost responded that he was the only person that would know. At the last second, she realized that would likely remind him of his parents so she decided to take the conversation in a different direction. “Have you been able to figure out if any of the other powers are working?”
“They don’t seem to be. My hearing seems normal. At least I’m not hearing calls for help from the other side of the city. I haven’t set anything on fire yet. I’m nervous about that because I don’t know how it works. To see through something I look at it and sort of concentrate on trying to see past it. I guess with the heat vision I would concentrate on something getting hot.”
“I guess,” Lois offered. “You never explained how any of the powers worked. You always just did things.” Lois paused for a moment. When she continued there was a note of irritation in her voice. “If I’d done my job we’d have more information now.”
“What do you mean?” Clark asked. “From what I’ve seen and can remember you’ve always done your job better than anyone.”
“Clark, since you arrived, not as Clark but as Superman, I’ve had two major failings. First, I let Lex Luthor distract me. I wanted to interview him as a lead-in to an investigation. Instead, he diverted me into the beginnings of a relationship. That was ridiculous and I should have known better.”
“Honey, he was a master at diversion.”
“But I expect to be the best at what I do. Failing to investigate him was a blunder worthy of a rookie reporter. I don’t know if I would have been able to penetrate his network, but I didn’t even look. I set out to get the definitive interview and I never got a thing. And what’s worse, I didn’t even notice that I’d been diverted.”
“What does all that have to do with how my powers work?”
Lois squeezed Clark’s hand briefly. “Darling, I love you, but as blunders go you were even bigger than Lex.”
“I don’t understand,” Clark said, genuinely confused. “As Superman I wasn’t trying to draw you into a relationship and I gave you several interviews.”
“But Clark, I was so caught up in hero worship that I never investigated. I missed the obvious physical resemblance between Superman and Clark. That’s bad enough, but since no one else seemed to be able to see the resemblance either, I’m willing to cut myself some slack on that. But there were other clues.”
“Such as?”
“Even the military noticed that you and I seemed to be the way to contact Superman. Since I never contacted Superman, then it had to be you. Somehow, I never noticed that you could find Superman when no one else could. Then there was the fact that you two were never seen at the same time. I realize now that you were using your super speed to appear from one direction just as Superman disappeared in another. Still, you two were never together. There were other things as well but the overall pattern was that I was so busy being infatuated with Superman that I never did the investigation into you that I should have. If I had been thinking like a reporter I would have asked you details about how your powers worked and what their limits were.”
“I’m not sure I would have answered those questions, even from you,” Clark countered.
“But I never even asked.”
“Sweetheart, would it bother you if I offered at least a partial explanation?”
“Try me.”
“Okay, you were infatuated with the new hero in the cape, and you let that distract you from being a coldly logical investigative reporter. Let me ask you a question. When I carried you back to the Daily Planet after I first appeared, did you feel something? A connection? This?” Clark reached out and took her hand in his.
She looked at her hand in his and felt the warmth wash over her. “Yes. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before. It was…is…magical.”
“It was, and is, for me too. I’ve told you how hard it was to be near you. That feeling made it difficult to think straight when you were involved. I’m pretty sure we were feeling two sides of the same connection. With forces like that in play, it’s no wonder that you may not have been on your A-game as an investigator.”
“You’re sweet. I’m not sure it’s a good enough excuse, but I’ll buy it.” She leaned in and gave him a kiss. “It’s sure nice not to have to fight that connection anymore.”
“You’re telling me?”
“Anyway, the gist of it is that we don’t know much about your powers or how they work. Were you able to experiment much today?”
“A little. We’ve already talked about the X-Ray vision and the hearing. I don’t even know how to operate the heat vision and I don’t think it would be a good idea to experiment inside the apartment. I’m afraid that it might get away from me and burn down the building. I’ll try it somewhere less flammable.”
Lois had grabbed a pad and was jotting notes. “What about super strength?” Lois asked.
“I haven’t really tried anything yet.”
Lois practically jumped off of the sofa. “Try and lift the sofa.”
Clark moved to where he thought he could get a good grip and lifted. The sofa rose off the ground and Clark stood there holding it. “I didn’t think I’d be able to lift it. But it does feel pretty heavy. I don’t think I can hold it here for long.”
“Don’t strain yourself. Go ahead and put it back down.” Clark returned the sofa to the floor and Lois immediately sat down and looked at her notes. “You’re clearly stronger than a normal person but not really super strong yet.” She looked at her list again. “What about invulnerability?”
“Honey, how do you suggest we test that?” Clark asked cautiously. He was a little nervous about the consequences of a failed test for this particular ability.
“You…um… I don’t know.” It was clear from her tone that Lois didn’t like saying those particular words.
“I guess I could try to burn or cut myself,” Clark offered, hoping Lois would think the idea was as bad as he did.
“No!” Lois said sharply. “You’ve spent enough time recovering from injuries. Why don’t we put that one off until either all the other powers are back or we can think of a way to test it without hurting you?” Lois looked at her list again. “Super speed?”
“I guess I could try to move around the room as fast as I can and see what happens.”
Lois shook her head. “Why don’t you try a simple point to point move first? Stand at one end of the sofa and move to the other end as fast as you can.”
Clark stood and moved to the end of the sofa farthest from Lois. “Say when.”
“Go,” Lois provided.
Clark tried to move as fast as possible to the other end of the sofa but it was clearly just normal human speed. When he reached the stopping point, he sighed heavily. “Even with the extra incentive, that’s as fast as I can go.”
“What extra incentive?” Lois asked.
“Why, a certain lovely woman at this end of the sofa that I hoped to kiss as soon as I got here.”
“Well, I think you deserve a reward for making your best effort,” Lois said. They met in the middle for a brief but pleasant kiss. Then Lois looked at her list again. “That just leaves your freezing breath and flying.” She hurried into the kitchen and returned with a cup of water. “Blow on it and try to freeze it.”
Despite Clark’s best efforts, the water remained liquid and showed no signs of freezing. “I guess Superman still has a long way to go before he’s ready to consider a comeback,” Clark observed. “As for flying, I have no idea how that works. I’d rather not try flying until we have reason to believe the other abilities are back.”
“I agree, Clark. That’s enough testing for tonight. Did you have anything else in mind for this evening? We both have tomorrow off so we don’t need to get to bed early. We could watch a movie or something.”
Clark put his arms about his wife and drew her into a hug. “My vote would be for ‘or something.’ I think we can find a much better way to spend the evening than watching a movie. Don’t you?”
***~~~***
A few days later they reached one of those natural stopping points that happen from time to time. For the moment, they had exhausted all of the story ideas that related to either Nightfall or Lex Luthor. This even included a series of articles on how the legitimate and charitable portions of the Luthor empire were being absorbed into other businesses or the government.
Half-way though the morning when they had approached Perry asking for an assignment, he had kicked them out of the office. They suspected that he still wasn't completely comfortable with the fact that they had continued working instead of taking a honeymoon. He had almost insisted that they make extra time to spend together.
On the way home they had gone by a park and been surprised by the number of families that were outside enjoying the day. The oddness of the weather pattern had continued. It was almost impossible to predict the weather from one day to the next. Today was bright, sunny and only slightly warm.
“How would you feel about a day at the beach?” Clark asked.
“Swimming? I don't think I've been to the beach in ages. I’m a city girl and I tend to stay out of the sun.”
“Sure, honey. It will be fun. Look.” He pointed to several families with blankets on the expansive lawn in the park. “I have this fragment of memory about lying in the sun for hours. I remember enjoying it very much. There wasn't a beach in Smallville, but I think I spent a lot of time at the lake. I know you have a bathing suit and...I've sort of been looking forward to seeing you in it.”
“Let's do it then. Besides, spending the day looking at you wearing only swim trunks isn’t exactly a chore either. But we'll need to pick up some sunscreen. Do you remember if you needed to use it?”
Clark thought for a second. “If my skin can stop bullets and handle the heat of reentry I should be able to handle a day in the sun. We'll get some for you but I'll try going without and see what happens.”
***~~~***
They ended up spending a long day at one of the public beaches south of the city. Clark discovered that he was right and didn't need to use sunscreen. The sun felt good on his skin and he never even began to burn. Lois took the more conventional precaution of the combination of a large parasol and liberal use of sunscreen.
This ended up being one of the best days they had spent together. In many ways it was a one-day version of the honeymoon they never had. It was clear, sunny and warm all day. The waters were mild and the surf was light. They did everything from playing in the surf to walking along the beach. This was intermingled with periods of quiet relaxation where Lois generally stayed under the parasol and read while Clark napped in the sun.
As the next day was a regular day off for them, they stayed until well after dark and watched the stars come out over the ocean. They had dinner at a beach-side restaurant and arrived back in Metropolis late and went right to bed.
***~~~***
The next morning Lois was by awakened by the welcome touch of her husband. “Lois? Lois?”
She opened her eyes to see a somewhat concerned look on her husband’s face. “Clark, is something wrong?”
“Not exactly.” He rubbed his chin. “I can't shave any more.”
She sat up with a start. “What?! What do you mean?”
“When I went to shave, the razor didn't seem to be cutting my whiskers. I changed the blade and tried again – still nothing. I looked at the blade and it was shredded.”
“That's great!” she said energetically. “I completely forgot that your hair is invulnerable.”
“It is?”
“You don't remember?”
“No.” He paused for a minute as if trying to think. “I don't remember anything about grooming or hair care at all. I mean, I have memories of how other people do things and what I've seen on television, but I didn't remember actually doing these things. I sort of went through the motions. I guess we know why I didn't have a razor in the bathroom after I lost my memory.”
“So you don't have any idea how you shaved or cut your hair?”
“I cut my hair?”
“Of course, Clark. When you first arrived in Metropolis, one of the reasons that I immediately tagged you as a ‘Hack from Nowheresville’ was that you had a haircut that looked like something from the seventies. A week later, you had settled into the city, you had started to upgrade your wardrobe, and you had trimmed your hair so that you looked like you belonged in Metropolis. Maybe if you had looked like you do now when we first met, I would have been more open to giving you the time you deserved. Anyway, have you tried any of your powers yet this morning?”
“No, not yet. Give me a second.” Clark looked around the room. He found it was much easier to control the X-Ray vision. He also found that he could hear the radio next door. “Both my hearing and X-Ray vision seem to be stronger. Why don’t you start getting ready and I’ll try out those that I can here in the house?”
When Lois was finished in the bathroom, she found Clark standing next to the sofa. “Watch,” he said. Clark leaned over and lifted the sofa over his head. “It doesn’t feel like it weighs anything.” He put the sofa back down and walked over to the kitchen where a glass of water sat on the counter. Clark looked up to make sure she was still watching, and then he blew on the water. The glass frosted over and in just a second or two, the water was frozen. He looked up at her with a look of delight. “Is that how it’s supposed to work?”
Lois took three quick steps and drew her husband into a hug. “Yes,” she said joyfully.
“Now here’s the rest.” Not letting go of Lois, he turned back to the glass. In seconds, the ice had melted and the water was steaming. He turned back to Lois. “These must be handy to have when I want a cold drink or hot tea.”
Lois answered with a mischievous smile. “That was always my secret reason for being interested in Superman. I needed someone to help me cater parties.” After a kiss of celebration, Lois continued. “What do you think triggered the sudden change?”
“I don’t know. Could it have been the day at the beach?”
Lois grabbed his hand excitedly. “I think I remember reading an article about Superman where the scientist speculated that your powers might come from the sun. Between the way Nightfall has messed up the weather and the fact that you haven’t been out at all anyway, if you do depend on the sun to recharge your powers, you haven’t had a lot of opportunity.”
“Somehow I think that it would have taken a while anyway. I think I had to get over whatever that Kryptonite gas did to my system. Until I recovered from that, I don’t think the sunlight would have made much difference.”
“Maybe, but still, next time something manages to hurt you, we’re going to spend a day at the beach or pool or whatever it takes to charge you up and get you better.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She put her arms around Clark’s neck. “You’ve grown very important to me. I have a lot invested in you and I take care of my investments.” After a few more kisses, she stepped back and continued the inventory. “So what does that leave? Flying and…what, super speed?”
“Yeah. I tried super speed but…well, watch.” Clark let go and stepped back a step. He moved across the living room to the stairs by the entryway.
To Lois, it looked like he moved a little fast, but not too much so. “I don’t think it’s ready yet.”
“Me neither,” he replied.
“And flying?”
“Honey, I don’t even know how. I’ve tried jumping but I have to be careful. With my strength, I feel like I could jump over a house, but there’s no flying involved. I did try to jump and hover or at least fall more slowly, but it didn’t do anything. So I think flying is still on hold.”
“It sounds to me like another day in the sun is at the top of our to-do list today,” Lois offered. “Would you like to head back for the beach or do something else?”
“I think I had my fill of the beach yesterday,” Clark replied.
Lois thought for a moment. “Why don’t we spend the day in the park like those families we saw yesterday?” she suggested. “It’ll be nice and you can spend much of the day in shorts and a tank top.”
“A tank top?” Clark asked.
“Sure,” Lois replied. “…for maximum skin exposure to the sun.”
“I’m not sure that’ll make much of a difference.”
She gave her husband an exaggerated once-over look. “It can’t hurt. Besides, the view will be great.”
***~~~***
Lois and Clark had been lounging in the sun for several hours. Most of their day consisted of little more than watching the people go by. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon when, for no apparent reason, Lois jumped to her feet. “I just thought of something I need to do right now,” she told Clark excitedly. “If I’m not back in an hour, head home and I’ll meet you there.”
He looked at her dubiously. “If it’s important, let me come with you. You can never be too careful.”
“Stay here and get some more sun,” she insisted. “You’re the one that needs it.”
“Honey, if I stay here I’ll do nothing but worry about you.”
“Clark, you worry too much.”
“Lois, when you are involved, worrying too much is impossible. If you’ve suddenly had an idea for a new angle on Luthor or something like that, please let me come.”
“I’ll be fine. It’s nothing like that at all. I just thought of something that I want to do and you need to stay here soaking up the sun.” She leaned in close to whisper in his ear. “I want both of the men I married back to full health.” She gave him a quick kiss, and then stood up. “I promise you that what I’m doing is very low risk. If it will make you feel better, if something crazy happens in front of me, I’ll head the other way.”
“Thanks, Lois.”
“You’re welcome. But remember, this is a special offer — today only..”
“I know. I wouldn’t expect Lois Lane to promise more. That’s not the person I fell in love with.”
So, Lois disappeared. He had found it impossible to relax enough to sleep with her gone so he just lazed in the sun and read. Clark’s attempts to relax were largely negated by a growing distraction. He was starting to hear things. It started out as conversations in the park around him. Once he recognized them for what they were, he could tune them out. He had a lot more trouble tuning out emergency calls. These seemed to override whatever it was that enabled his hearing system to filter out the more distant sounds. He knew that this ability would be valuable once Superman was back, so he didn’t try too hard to filter out the calls. He felt bad that he couldn’t help as Superman, but consoled himself with the promise that he would return when he could.
Clark stayed at the park for an hour after Lois left, but without her presence, it just wasn’t as much fun. When he got home, he was disappointed but not surprised to discover that Lois wasn’t home yet. He decided to take advantage of the time alone to work on familiarizing himself with his library. It was frustrating to learn that he had books in languages that he couldn’t read. He wondered if he’d lost the ability to read these languages or if these were languages he’d planned to learn in the future.
He had to admit to a certain relief twenty minutes later when he heard Lois’s heartbeat just as she opened their front door. He had first noticed her heartbeat at the park today. Even though he didn’t have a clear memory of listening to her heartbeat before Nightfall, it moved him so much that he was sure that listening to it had been a regular pastime. As soon as the door was open she called out, “Clark?”
He set his book down and stood up to greet her. “Hi,” he said with a smile.
She hurried over to him. It was clear that she was excited about something. “Did the day in the sun seem to do anything?”
“Yes. I think the powers are getting back to what they were.”
“Good!” She was almost shaking with excitement.
“Lois, you’ve got something that you’ve dying to tell me. What is it?”
Her reply came out in a rush. “I know how you shave.”
“What?”
“I got the idea to head over to Star Labs. I got in to see Bernie and told him that I was putting together a retrospective piece on Superman. I said that I was trying to include as many details about how Superman went about day-to-day activities such as eating, sleeping and … shaving. It turns out that while you were being fitted for the Nightfall mission suit, one of the scientists asked you many of those same questions. Apparently you were in a talkative mood and in among the other things you explained all about how you shave and cut your hair.”
“So tell me!”
“Heat vision.” She looked like she had just answered a million-dollar question.
“You’re kidding.”
“No. They said that you had told them that you stood in front of a mirror and used your heat vision to burn off the hair.”
“And I don’t burn myself?”
“I guess your skin is more invulnerable than your hair. Let’s go to the bathroom.”
When they got there, Lois wanted to watch but Clark was too worried about a stray glance burning her. “I promise that once I get the hang of this, you’ll get to watch. But for today, please let me close the door.”
She gave him an exaggerated pout. “Party pooper.”
It was much easier than he thought it would be and in a surprisingly short time, a clean-shaven Clark Kent emerged from the bathroom. Lois felt his chin. “Very nice,” she said in a suggestive tone.
Clark smiled at the promise of more personal activities later in the evening. “So, did they explain how I cut my hair?”
“Yes,” Lois answered. “When we were looking around your bathroom for a shaver that first day, we didn’t find a shaver but we did find that nice, large hand-held mirror.”
“I remember. We moved it to the bedroom dresser.”
“Superman told the Star Labs scientists that he used two mirrors to cut his hair. You told them it had taken a long time to master that skill. I’ll let you practice that one a few times before I ask to watch. Two mirrors and heat vision really do sound like a recipe for accidental scorching.”
***~~~***
Lois didn’t know what had woken her up. After her discovery of the secret of Clark’s grooming, the rest of the evening had felt like a celebration. Now, as she took stock of her position, she was unsurprised to find that she was lying on top of her husband. She always thought that married couples slept on opposite sides of the bed. If they really liked each other, maybe they slept closely and spooned. She had never imagined that being married to Clark meant that every time she woke up, she was in some sort of tangled embrace with her partner. This had been another of those fabulous and unexpected surprises that had come with being married to Clark.
As she stirred, her leg shifted and dropped from its position on Clark’s leg. Instead of landing on the bed it dangled. Her first thought was that they must be right on the edge and perhaps she should see about getting them more centered on the mattress.
As she glanced around, she realized that there was a flaw in that plan. They were already centered on the mattress. Except that it was three feet below them. They were floating!
“Clark.” It was barely more than a whisper but it might be enough.
In only a second or so, she felt his arm shift and his hand rubbed against her back. “What, honey?”
“Darling, how do you feel?”
“Hmm. I always feel wonderful when you are in my arms.”
Even ninety percent asleep he was still such a romantic. “Dear, we’re floating.”
That was enough to startle him. “What?” The fall down to the mattress was more startling. Before they had even reached the bed, Clark had tightened his arms protectively around her. After they hit the bed Clark was wide awake. “Honey, are you all right?”
“Yes,” she answered. “It wasn’t that far and your being on the bottom cushioned my fall nicely.”
“I guess there are unexpected advantages to you being on top.”
“Watch it, mister, I can still trade you in.”
Once the laughter and kisses had subsided, Clark had a question. “Do you have any idea how someone goes about learning to fly?”
***~~~***
It had been nearly a week since the discovery of the dependency on sunshine and the recovery of Clark’s powers. Lois and Clark had been actively discussing the options for the reappearance of Superman, but so far all of the ideas sounded unattractive. There were going to be questions about what happened at Nightfall and how Superman felt about Luthor. They were also worried about admitting memory loss because that would point directly to Clark Kent.
It was dinnertime after a regular day at work. Clark was preparing the evening meal and Lois was mostly just keeping him company. She almost felt guilty at having Clark cook night after night and she had offered to learn on several occasions. However, he kept insisting that he loved to cook and it was no imposition at all. Lois had a plan to learn to cook eventually – after all, she was sure that the lessons with her private, live-in instructor would be fun on their own – but she was happy that Clark wasn’t doing anything to pressure her.
Dinner was almost ready when there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it,” she called. When she opened the door she was glad that she had a good grip on the doorknob.
“Lois, what are you doing here?” she heard in a surprised, but friendly voice.
“Martha, Jonathan, what are you doing alive?”
The End
***~~~*** ***~~~*** ***~~~***
When the Sky Falls – Final Notes
***~~~*** ***~~~*** ***~~~***
Well here we are. Who knew so much would come from the simple question of:
“Why didn’t they use some technology to improve the chance for a successful Nightfall mission?”
That was the question that popped into my head over a year ago. That was all I had when I started.
Once more I have to thank IolantheAlias and HappyGirl for their assistance on this story. As I’ve said a few times along the way, this has been an educational experience. I have had my limitations as a writer made evident. Their help has been incredibly valuable in working to overcome those limitations.
Unresolved Issues: It is my expectation that there will be a sequel. It may be a very small piece or it may be another substantive work. Right now I just don’t know. The issues that I would like to cover are:
1. Where were Martha and Jonathan?
2. Lex Luthor’s fate.
3. The Return of Superman
I never intended to include those points in this story.
Clark’s Memories: Most of his memories are gone and are unrecoverable. One of the core premises of this story was that his background was as much a hindrance as a help. To rebuild his future he has:
1. His feelings and instincts.
2. Lois
3. His other friends such as Perry and Bill Henderson.
4. And now, Martha and Jonathan
The Elder Kents: I knew right from the beginning that there was no place for them in this story. In fact, in the initial draft they did die. The Fabulous Beverly didn’t like that answer and convinced me that all that was really necessary for this story was for them to be missing.
For anyone that made it this far, I hope that the journey was both believable (within the confines of the LnC universe) and enjoyable.
Bob Bartholomew
