G Version
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
(#) footnotes
/ denotes telepathic communication/
For reference purposes the following will hold true throughout.
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Canon Alt Clark universe also called – Alt 1
Previously –
The rest of their vacation consisted of more of the same. Sunning on the beach, making love, swimming in the ocean, making love or swimming in the pool with the waterfall and making love. Most of the time, even when not making love, they were naked or nearly so. Lois was picking up a beautiful tan, with no tan lines while Clark was feeling more and more reinvigorated even though he didn’t really tan.
On their last day Lois looked at Clark and said in a somewhat whiney voice, “Do we really have to go back? Can’t we just stay here for the rest of our lives? Its soooo perfect here, just you and me … together. This has been like a second Honeymoon” As she was saying this she was putting her arms around his neck and laying her cheek against his chest.
“Well, as much as I’d love to, as long as it was with you, I think that we would eventually miss the hustle and bustle of the news room and the thrill of the chase as we hunt down that next story.” He kissed the top of her head.
“I guess you’re right, it’s just that, well, you know, I’m going to have to share you with the world again.”
He pulled her into a tight hug and said, “Look at it this way. You may have to share me with the world, but I come home to you.”
Lois heaved a wistful sigh and said, “Yeah, I like it that way.”
And Now –
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Chapter 5 – Back to Work
Newsroom – Daily Planet - October 6, 1999
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At the morning briefing Lois was sitting next to Clark. It seemed to Clark as if Lois was having a hard time staying awake. This had been getting progressively worse. She had been getting more sluggish in the mornings. It was getting harder and harder for her to drag herself out of bed in the morning. Clark was becoming increasingly concerned as she appeared to be needing more and more sleep. Last night they had gone to bed immediately after dinner and she had fallen into a deep sleep as soon as her head had hit the pillow.
Watching her as she was taking notes he saw that her writing was very erratic and frequently the letters at the end of a word would tail off into a squiggly line. She would visibly jerk after a few seconds as if coming out of a doze and look at what was on her pad as if trying to decipher what exactly she had been writing. A couple of times Perry had asked her questions which Clark had fielded as her partner when she seemed to be out on her feet.
During the course of the meeting Perry assigned them to a series on city government which would require a number of interviews. As the meeting broke up after Lois had walked out of the conference room, Perry said, “Uh, Clark,”
Clark hung back and watched as Lois made her way back to her desk. He saw her drop wearily into her chair and bring her computer out of screen saver mode before he turned to Perry and said, “Yeah, Chief?”
Perry asked, “What’s goin’ on with Lois?”
Scratching his head Clark said, “I honestly don’t know, Chief. We were in bed *early* last night.”
Chuckling Perry said, “Son, that ain’t good enough. You *gotta* let her get some *sleep*.”
Clark feeling very put upon replied, “Perry, it wasn’t like that. We went to bed, to *sleep* - *early*. I just can’t understand *why* she’s so *tired*.”
“Okay, son, just you take care of her. You know I’ve never seen her so happy as in these last three years. You two are just like Elvis and Priscilla. Ever since the two of you got married she’s like a different woman. I really never saw her so radiant and fulfilled as while you guys were taking care of CJ for your cousin. By the way, how is that little guy? I kinda miss havin’ him around.”
“Last thing we heard he was just fine. We are hoping that the fact that we were able to take good care of him that the adoption agency will change their minds about us adopting a baby.” With that said, Clark turned and left the conference room.
As Clark moved to his desk he thought about CJ. When Herb had picked him up he had told them just enough about him to know that he was a super baby and that somehow he was the son of Superman or a superman. They had assumed from this that he meant Clark, but the longer time went on their hopes faded. He hadn’t made that quite clear. It had given them some hope initially that perhaps there could be a pregnancy but as time progressed and nothing had happened they had begun to think that for some reason they, as a couple, were not the ones to have the children. Herb had told them that he was from ninety years in the future. Perhaps at that time a couple had arrived from New Krypton and this was their child. Herb had been unclear. The longer time went on their hopes became less and less and they started thinking more and more about adoption.
After Clark exited the conference room he went over to his desk and made a couple of calls to schedule interviews. While doing so he watched Lois. She was trying to read her e-mail and having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She almost looked like a little kid in school that wanted to put her head down on the desk and take a nap. Since she hadn’t been acting real perky all morning he was concerned.
After completing the calls Clark got up and walked over to Lois’ desk, perched on one corner, looked at her and asked, “Honey, what’s the problem? Aren’t you feeling well?”
At that Lois looked up at him with a woebegone expression and then jumped up and made a dash for the Ladies room and threw up in the commode.
Several minutes later she came out looking rather wan and pale, she found Clark standing just outside the door with a concerned look on his face and she said to him “I think I may be coming down with that virus that has been going around the newsroom. I just threw up, but I guess you could hear all of that, couldn’t you? The same thing happened to Ralph, Denise in research and Jimmy earlier this week. I think I’m going to go home at lunchtime and take a nap. Along with the nausea I’m just sooooo tired, I can hardly keep my eyes open.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Now that I’ve thrown up the nausea isn’t too bad, I’m just really, *really* tired.”
Clark suggested, “Tell you what. We have an interview scheduled for 3:30. I can handle it by myself. Why don’t I take you home at lunchtime? We can have a bite to eat together and then I can ‘tuck you into bed’ and then go do the interview. I’ll be back from the interview at about 5 and we can have a leisurely supper, watch a movie or something and go to bed early. How does that sound?”
With a relieved sigh she said, “Heavenly. Let’s do it.”
As soon as they had eaten, Lois had removed her business suit and climbed under the covers in her bra and panties. As with the previous night as soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep. Clark just stood there for a time watching her with concern written all over his features. To all appearances she was sleeping peacefully, however, the amount of sleep she was requiring recently was astounding and actually frightening. Eventually, reluctantly, he had to leave so that he could be on time for the interview he had scheduled.
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The next morning Lois was very groggy as she awoke. She looked at the clock on her bedside table and saw that she was late. She reached over to Clark’s side of the bed and found that he was gone and the sheets were actually cold so he had been up for a while. She thought, <Oohhh I hope he didn’t have to go out on a rescue. I need him here.> Her disappointment lessened somewhat as she picked up the aroma of coffee brewing. <Aahhh he’s downstairs making breakfast. I really love that man.> Lois always loved the smell of fresh brewed coffee especially the coffee Clark made from those beans he flew in from Brazil so she took a deep sniff and suddenly realized that for some reason, this morning the smell was … turning her stomach! There was a grimace on her face as Lois was getting up out of the bed and she got as far as sitting on the side of the bed when suddenly the coffee aroma *really* got to her, she put her hands to her mouth and made a dash for the bathroom. After throwing up she felt somewhat better and realized that Clark was there kneeling behind her holding her and trying his best to comfort her. With pain on her face and in her voice she leaned her head back against his chest and said, “Clark, I just felt *so* … *sick*.”
“I can see that Honey.” he replied. “Are you okay now?”
“I think so.” She said, “The smell of the coffee really got to me. I can’t understand it! I *love* the smell of coffee.”
Clark helped her to her feet and helped her clean up. She brushed her teeth to get rid of the taste and proceeded to dress for work. When she got downstairs she didn’t feel much like eating so she had one piece of dry toast and some juice before they headed out for the interview they had scheduled.
As they were on their way out to the car, Clark saw that Lois was fighting fatigue even though he had let her sleep in for a while so he suggested that he do the driving. He knew just how profoundly she was ‘under the weather’ when she didn’t object and just handed him the keys when he made the suggestion. Before Clark was even in the driver’s seat, Lois was asleep, leaning against the door. When they arrived for the interview Clark woke Lois up. She looked at him groggily and said, “Are we there already?”
With an incredulous tone he replied, “Lois, it took us 35 minutes to get here.”
She looked at Clark with some fear in her eyes and said, “What’s happening to me Clark?”
Showing more than a little concern he replied, “Maybe it isn’t the virus like you thought. Perhaps we need to get you in to see the doctor.”
With a resigned tone in her voice she replied, “Okay, much as I hate going to the doctor, maybe I do need to have a check up.”
Somewhat relieved he said, “Good, we have a couple of minutes until our interview. I’ll call right now and set up an appointment.” Before Clark had finished speaking, Lois was asleep again, leaning against the door.
Clark made the call. Fortunately the office had just had a cancellation. A few minutes later Clark had Lois scheduled for a visit for that afternoon.
Clark woke Lois up again and they proceeded to conduct the interview. When they finished the interview an hour later Clark called Perry and told him that he was taking Lois to the doctor’s to get her checked out. The appointment was for 1:15 PM so they stopped off for a quick lunch and then Clark drove straight to the doctor’s office. After a short wait they were ushered into an examination room. A couple of minutes later the doctor came in.
The doctor had her file in his hand and he flipped it open and started perusing it as he asked, “Well now, Lois, what appears to be the problem?”
“There’s been this virus going around at work. In the last couple of days I have had a couple of episodes of vomiting and now I have an overwhelming exhaustion.”
He was still looking at her file and muttering some “Tsk, Tsk, Tsks” as he read he said, “It’s been a while since you have been in for a checkup. I seem to recall that your reason for not coming in was that you were too *bu*sy. What kind of schedule have you been keeping? Are you still working long hours and almost 7 days a week?”
Somewhat chagrined she replied, “Well, yeah, we have been working some long hours, but, we just got back from a very relaxing vacation where we didn’t have any deadlines and we really caught up on our sleep and …” He stuck a tongue depressor in her mouth asking her to stick out her tongue. After she said ‘Ahhhh’ she finished up “… our relationship.”
As they had been talking the doctor had been taking her vitals, listening to her heart and lungs and checking her eyes and ears. He made some notations on her chart and gave her a lab slip. “I would like you to step down the hall and have some blood drawn. I want to see what we are up against. It could be something simple like improper nutrition so I need to see if we need to add some high potency vitamins to your diet to build you up some. A blood test will tell us a number of things. Why don’t you come back in , let’s see, today is Friday, let’s say Tuesday next week and I will go over the results of the blood test with you and if that’s all it is we can map out a supplement regimen.”
They thanked him and went down the hall to have the blood drawn and then to the receptionist to schedule the appointment for Tuesday.
When they left the office Clark called Perry and told him that he was taking Lois home and that he would be in to write up their notes from the interview.
Fortunately this was an off weekend for them so Clark was able to let Lois sleep as much as she needed, which at this point was something on the order of fourteen hours a day. She was only up long enough to eat and spend a little ‘quality time’ with Clark.
Clark didn’t express it to Lois but he was very worried. He had never seen anything like this before. Lois was almost comatose for about fourteen hours a day. He hoped that the blood test would provide the answers that they needed. He couldn’t help thinking, <Have one of our enemies managed to infect her with some kind of virus or slipped her some drug that is doing this to her and will we be able to neutralize it in time to prevent permanent injury?>
On Monday, Clark worked from home so that he could stay home with Lois and then on Tuesday he took her in to the doctor’s office to get the results of the tests.
Almost as soon as they walked in the door they were ushered into the examination room and the doctor was waiting for them. Clark thought, <This doesn’t look good>. The doctor stood up and offered his hand to Lois and Clark before sitting down again and opening Lois’ chart.
The doctor spoke as he flipped open Lois’ chart and started sorting through the various report slips reading the results. “I have the results of your blood work here. Everything looks pret-ty normal from what *I* can see.”
Clark had a worried tone in his voice as he asked, “Doctor, would the blood test have shown up any drugs or viruses that might have been given to Lois without us knowing about it?”
The Doctor’s reply was very casual, “Yes, they would. We don’t have any-thing to worry about along that line. We *do* have to put Lois on a new *vitamin* regimen though. We need to put her on a good course of *pre-natal* vitamins.”
Lois and Clark exclaimed in unison “WHAT!!!”
The doctor had an amused expression on his face as he finished up with, “Pre-natal vitamins. There isn’t anything wrong with Lois that won’t clear itself up in about eight months time. Congratulations Lois, you’re *pregnant*.”
Lois said, “But, but, but *how* is this *possible*?”
Still amused the doctor replied, “Do you really need me to explain the birds and the bees to you? Come on. It happens to most married couples eventually. It just takes longer for some.”
Lois, still having a hard time comprehending all that the doctor was saying, said, “No, no, you don’t understand. We were told that we wouldn’t be *able* to have children. We have even looked into the possibility of *adoption*.”
The doctor was obviously enjoying the situation. One of the more pleasant aspects of his job was informing patients that they were going to be parents. He personally enjoyed surprising them with the fact. It didn’t happen too often nowadays. Since the advent of the home test kit all too often all he was doing was confirming what his patient already knew, but this time it was coming as a total surprise and he loved the reaction he was evoking. The reaction he had elicited from Lois and Clark was by far the most amusing he had observed in a long time and he was really enjoying himself.
With a deadpan expression he continued, “If you wish to open your home to another child by adopting one that is very commendable, but in about eight months you are going to have a child of your own.” He handed Lois a pre-prepared slip listing the vitamins he recommended. He said, “Here you go. This is what I would recommend and you should start on them as soon as possible.” As they were about to exit the doctor added, "and remember, *no* caffeine! That means no coffee and *no* *chocolate*."
Lois looked at him with a pained expression and reaching into her bag pulled out a Double Fudge Crunch bar that she kept there for emergencies and looked at it wistfully. She looked back up at the doctor and said, “Really, *no* chocolate?”
He had a rather amused expression as he reiterated, “*No* chocolate!”
With a pained expression Lois handed the bar to Clark and said, “Enjoy.”
They thanked the doctor and left.
At home they discussed the ramifications of what they had been told. They got around to talking about Bernie Klein and what his data had indicated.
Lois said, “I think we need to tell Bernie about this. Maybe he needs to do some more metabolic studies to see what happened. To find out where the error lies.”
Clark replied, “You know, that might require that we tell him just who we are and why this is so important.”
Lois responded with, “Yes, but we’re in uncharted territory here. This is going to be an Earth human/Kryptonian human hybrid child. We don’t know what kind of problems may come up. Look at what has been happening to me already. I can barely keep my eyes open most of the time. Since Bernie is *the* expert on Superman’s metabolism and physiology I think he is the proper choice for my obstetrician.”
Clark replied, “You’re probably right. Why don’t we do this? Let’s invite him over for dinner. That way we don’t risk being overheard and we can discuss this fully with him without any time pressure.”
Lois said, “Okay, why don’t you call now and invite him over for dinner tomorrow. Tell him that Superman has requested a meeting to discuss the problem he had approached him on a couple of years ago. Tell him that we were asked to invite him over so that he could meet Superman’s ‘girlfriend’ because he would like some more studies performed and felt that it might be more meaningful if he was able to take samples from her as well as from Superman.”
Clark picked up the phone and called Dr. Klein’s lab. “Bernie Klein, here.”
“Uh, Dr. Klein, this is Clark Kent.
“Well, Clark, what can I do for you?
“Dr. Klein …”
Bernie interrupted, “Clark, I think we’ve known each other long enough that you can call me Bernie, please.”
“Uh, Okay, uh, Bernie. Well, it’s like this. A mutual *friend* has asked us to invite you for dinner tomorrow. He and his *significant other* will be there and they wish to discuss the studies you performed a couple of years ago, the results you obtained then and the possibility of doing more.”
“Mutual friend? Significant other? Studies from a couple of years ago. … OH, *OH*, *That* mutual friend. Well, Okay, yes, uh, Yes, I can come for dinner, tomorrow was it?”
“Yes, tomorrow at 7:30 if that’s Okay.”
“7:30, Okay. I’ll bring the data from the previous studies with me so that we can discuss them.”
“Do you need directions?” Clark asked.
Bernie replied with, “No, that won’t be necessary. I have your address.”
“Fine Dr, uh, Bernie. We’ll see you tomorrow at 7:30 then. Thanks.”
comments go here To Be Continued in Chapter 6 – Double Revelation
