Tempus was having trouble with his time machine. He wanted to cast Lois Lane way back in the past, and then maybe way into the future... just to keep that Boy Scout husband of hers and Herb from finding her before Christmas. But the machine he had was somehow constricted to her lifespan only; something he would need to look into when he returned to his own time. He growled in frustration as he couldn't get the machine to cast her back to the Stone Age, which is where he would have liked to leave her.
It had been fun leaving Superman with a Lois he couldn't deal with anymore... too bad Herb figured out a way to fix that... So, maybe he wouldn't need to switch Loises to destroy Utopia... Instead, he suddenly had a more devious, ingenious plan in mind. Tempus decided he would find moments of deep sadness in her life to torture her with... If he was stuck within her lifespan, then so be it. He would simply cast her perpetually to those moments of loneliness in her past, before that big blue boy scout ever showed up... if he could keep her away from Superman long enough, then Utopia would be destroyed... forever!
Merry Christmas, Metropolis!
*-*-*-*
~1973~
Lois was freezing cold. She found herself standing outside in the dark, by a townhouse in the snow. The snow was compact, as if it had fallen a few days before, and with the temperature dropping, it had become a hard sheet of solid ice. She only had on some flats, pants, and a wool sweater. And it certainly wasn't enough to take the bite out of the cold. She looked around, realizing that she recognized the neighborhood. It was where she grew up, just outside of New Troy, in the suburbs.
She spotted her parents' house across the street, a few doors down. Curiosity sent her over to investigate.
She saw a young girl sitting on the stoop in her p.j.'s. She was crying. As Lois got closer, she realized she was looking at her six year old self.
"Are you okay?" she asked gently.
A pair of big brown eyes, tears streaming down cherub cheeks looked back up at her. Her lip was trembling, and Lois wanted to take that little girl in her arms and comfort her.
Little Lois shook her head.
"What's the matter?" asked Lois, making a move to sit next to her young twin on the step.
The little girl looked warily at the stranger. "I'm not s-s-p'osed to talk to strangers."
Lois smiled. "I'm your Aunt Lois," she said, trying to think fast to get the girl to talk to her.
The little girl looked up at her in sudden companionship, "My name's Lois, too."
Little Lois held tight to a white teddy bear. Lois asked his name.
"His name's Charlie. He's my best friend," she said, hugging the bear tight to her.
Lois looked down at the little teddy bear, suddenly remembering her childhood friend. <<'Charlie'... that's sometimes Clark's code name when we are undercover,>> she thought with a sad smile, thinking too of the bear he had won for her in Smallville.
"Why were you crying, Lois?" she asked her childhood self, already having a good idea why.
"It's almost Christmas and mommy and daddy are fighting. I want to decorate the tree. Lucy and me got the decorations down, but mommy said we couldn't decorate till daddy came home from the hospital. But when he came home, he wanted to work on his robots. Mommy got mad and locked herself in her room... I don't like it when mommy does that," she finished sadly.
"My parents were always fighting, too," Lois said truthfully, realizing that her mother was probably an alcoholic even back then.
The little girl's lip started trembling with tears. "I wish Charlie could fly me away from here," she said sadly.
Lois gave her a smile, realizing her little girl dream eventually comes true. "Maybe you will fly away someday, Lois. You just have to believe."
Little Lois looked up at her, the open childhood hope on her small face breaking Lois' heart.
"Do you really think I could?"
"I *know* so," said Lois confidently, wishing *her* 'Charlie' would come fly her away, too.
It was awfully cold outside, and Lois knew that her young self shouldn't stay out much longer. Yet, she didn't want to be left all alone in the cold either.
"Isn't it about time you go to bed? It's awfully late and cold out here," said Lois.
Little Lois yawned, "I s'pose. Could you tell me a story?" she asked, tugging Lois into the house.
Lois hesitated, wondering how she would explain her presence if anyone else saw her.
"I could tell you one out here?" Lois offered halfheartedly, though the cold made her awfully tempted to take her younger self up on her offer.
Little Lois instantly understood her new friend Lois didn't want to be seen by her family. She could understand. She didn't always like to be around them either.
"Come with me. I'll sneak you in," said her companion, tugging Lois through the alleyway towards the back of their townhouse. At the last window before stepping into the backyard, little Lois turned and with aplomb worthy of the current Lois Lane said, "Boost me up. I'll have you inside in a jiffy."
Recognizing herself in the little girl, Lois couldn't help but laugh. She had *always* been good at getting in to any building she chose.
The small brunette peeked over the window once she was in. "I'll meet you around back!" she called, pointing towards the screen door around the corner.
Lois met her young twin at the screen door, memories flooding back to her of growing up in the house. The familiar scents of home hit her suddenly as she came inside, and it made her want to cry. She had been such an open, trusting child. What had made her so driven and afraid of opening up along the way?
Lois walked past the living room, seeing that the Christmas decorations had been pulled out and waited to be hung on the artificial tree. Little Lois tugged her past the room to her own small bedroom.
Lois looked around her childhood bedroom in awe. Drawings and half-written stories lined the wall. She had such an imagination, especially back then.
"You like to write?" asked Lois,
wondering why the feeling that she wanted to cry wouldn't go away.
"Yeah, Daddy says you can't make money writing. But I don't know what that means," little Lois said offhandedly.
Lois walked slowly along the wall, reading some of her earliest stories. Some were typical about princesses and rescues, and others more analytical, even for a six year old about school friends and her family.
Suddenly, little Lois pushed her into a closet. "Hide! I hear Daddy!"
Lois found herself in her tiny closet, watching from slats in the door as her father come into the room. She was shocked by how young he looked.
"Lois, I told you not to leave your crayons at my work station! What were you doing in there, anyway?" he asked, setting her box of crayons on her nightstand.
Little Lois took out a piece of paper and handed it to him. "I was writing a story about your robots and I needed to see one up close."
He gestured to all her pictures on the wall, "First of all, you waste way too much time on these stories! All they do is litter your room! And second of all, you know that my work room is off limits! You are grounded to your room for the rest of the night!" he said sternly, slamming the door behind him.
Little Lois stared after the door, her picture fluttering to the floor at her feet. Lois opened the closet and went to her, her heart breaking at seeing the streams of tears suddenly falling down her little twin's face. Lois gathered her into her arms.
"It's okay, Lois. Everything will be okay. You just keep writing," she whispered, hating her father's selfishness, hating what she knew it would do to her down the road. "Just keep writing, keep writing," she said over and over, that being the one thing that she knew would eventually drive her to become a reporter, that would send her to the Planet and eventually, to marry Clark Kent. "Just keep writing..."
Suddenly, a light flashed in the room. It was Tempus! But this time, he had a different device, a large mirror-like window.
"Isn't this scene touching?" he asked, poking his head through, making the rest of his body appear blurry on the other side of the window.
Lois felt her smaller self tremble in her arms with fear. "Who's that?" she asked.
"Why, I'm Tempus, Lois. So nice to meet you," he said, grinning madly at the little girl.
"Stop scaring her!" cried Lois, trying to cover her younger self's eyes from a scene that would surely give her nightmares.
He stepped out of the window and pulled Lois back through with him. The last thing she saw was her younger self reaching for her, tears on her face, and fear in her eyes.
*-*-*-*
"We've missed her again, Clark. I'm so sorry," said Wells. They had arrived in 1973, where Wells had last tracked her.
They were in a park, at night, in Lois' childhood neighborhood.
"Are you sure?" Clark asked, already listening for her heartbeat and tempted to take to the skies to scan the area.
Wells nodded. "Yes, she's here, but it's only her six year old self. I'm sorry. Tempus seems to be moving faster, I don't understand it," he said, fiddling with his device.
Suddenly, a time window flashed before them. Clark was on his feet, praying that it was Tempus with Lois. But instead, a mild Utopian stepped through.
"Hello, I'm Andrus, Utopian Peace Keeper," said the diminutive man. "I've come to help stop Tempus."
Wells looked at him earnestly, "Has anything happened in the future? How is the time line?"
"Things aren't exactly as they should be, no. Because Superman and Lois are separated, there are elements of our society that are starting to fall apart."
"Oh, dear," said Wells. "It seems it is this last jump in time then that has disrupted things?"
"Yes. When you left, you found an anomaly as you said, that Lois Lane appeared to be getting younger. But when she jumped to this time, it tore her away from Superman, thus creating ripples in the future."
"I see," said Wells, thinking. "Which is why while she was with your earlier self, Clark, there was no problem. As long as she meets you and is in your time line, you will always fall in love, always marry, always create Utopia. But if she is disappeared forever in that before time, then all will be lost."
Andrus nodded. "We have scientists working to limit Tempus' machine. So far, we've been able to keep him limited to Lois' current lifetime, in her past. Narrowing down *when* she will be should prove useful. But it's imperative that we find Lois Lane and return her and Superman their correct time. She and Uptopia are literally lost without you," he said, turning to the Man of Steel.
Clark wasn't feeling too brave at the moment, knowing that Lois was floundering, lost out there, somewhere in her own past. He crossed his arms on his chest, trying to summon his Superman focus, to take control and not let the fear of losing Lois to time take over.
"What can we do?" he asked.
"Well, that's why I've come," said Andrus. "Tempus stole a time window, which is allowing him to jump much more quickly, making him harder to track. I brought an extra window, especially made for you, Mr. Wells. You can travel in it Superman, as long as you are with Mr. Wells. If you catch up to Tempus, you must get him to use *your* window alone, which will send him into eternity, thus solving our Tempus problem permanently!"
He handed Wells the compact device for the window. "Hold onto your regular time travel device as well, and after you get Tempus through the other window, you can restore Superman and Lois to their rightful time."
Wells eyed the window device. "Why does this sound much easier than I think it will be to accomplish?"
"I'll make sure it happens," said Clark confidently, feeling that they had some hope after all to rectify the situation. "We have three days till Christmas. Let's see if we can't bring my wife home before then."
Andrus lifted his hand, "Actually, it's imperative that you do exactly that. You *must* find Lois Lane before Christmas. If she is not returned to her time by then, Utopia will be destroyed. I told you that effects are already beginning to be felt. In another three days, Utopia will be lost forever."
"Then we must act quickly. Mr. Wells, can you track where she is now?"
