Clark and Lois - Hope Realized - Matchmaker Chronicle Volume 5 13/25
By Ken Janney
Rating PG-13
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
(#) footnotes
/ denotes telepathic communication/
[ playback of a recording or TV Commentary]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
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 New universe called Alt 2
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Clark and Lois – Hope Realized - The Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 5
Previously:
A few days after reporting back in to work Clark’s phone at the Planet started ringing. Picking it up he said, “Daily Planet, Clark Kent.”
Recognizing the voice on the other end he got a grin on his face, “Hi Kent, Bobby here. Got some information for you. You know that specialty pizza place, Elizabeth’s. Bring two deluxe pizzas on whole wheat crust to our previous meeting place, 6:30 this evening.”
As Clark hung-up the phone he turned to Lois and said, “That was Bobby. We are meeting him tonight and we have to bring two deluxe pizzas from Elizabeth’s on whole wheat crusts.”
Lois laughed and said, “He must be on a health food kick!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They were waiting on the bench when Bobby showed up. Sliding onto the bench next to Clark, he said, “I see you brought the pizzas. Okay, here’s the story. There is going to be a new string of fires in the Hobbs Bay area. Luthor wants to build a marina. Like I said, from what I hear they’ve hired some hi-tech firebugs to do the job. These guys can start fires without the use of accelerants so the fact that it is arson can’t be proved. They call themselves the Toasters. You might want to let big blue know what’s going down. Here’s the new info. Luthor is using an intermediary, the Metros. Big blue is going to have to stop the Toasters and get them to rat on the Metros and then work up the chain, that is if they will be willing to talk. They might be too afraid of him to talk.” Clark picked up the pizzas and handed them to Bobby. Bobby said, “Thanks. Oh, by the way, you make a lovely couple. Congratulations.”
Lois said, “Thanks Bobby. We *are* happy.”
Bobby whistled as he walked away.
Once they were home, it was Clark’s turn to make dinner. He asked Lois to go into the living room and watch some TV while he worked because he wanted to surprise her.
When he finished cooking he took a couple of seconds to set the table, even putting up a couple of candles. Since he was about to serve the dinner he called her over and pulled out her chair for her as she sat. He lit the candles with two quick bursts of heat vision and then went into the kitchen to get the meal.
He had prepared a linguini with red sauce and meatballs with sides of peas and carrots. He opened a bottle of Chianti and poured two glasses. He lifted his glass in a toast, “Happy Anniversary. We’ve been married a full month today.”
She gave a shy giggle and clinked her glass to his before taking a sip. They both enjoyed the meal and as they were finishing up Clark said, “Leave room for desert.”
With an arched eyebrow she said, “What would that be, pray tell?”
He replied with a wicked grin, “It’s a surprise.” He disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared with a plate of cannoli.
Lois laughed hysterically and said, “After what Bill told us?”
Clark replied, “Well, you seemed to really enjoy them and they’re Italian so I figured that they’d go well with the pasta.”
Lois replied, “I did enjoy them, but, what about that fertility symbol thing?”
“Well, that’s just an old wives’ tale. You can’t put any stock in it.” After a minute he continued, “You know, tomorrow I have to meet Herb at the Alamo in San Antonio. I really want you there. What do you think about Mom and Dad?” He couldn’t get over how easily he had said that. In the time he had been here he had really come to think of them in those terms.
Lois suggested, “Why don’t we do this, I’ll fly to Smallville and when Herb shows up you bring him there.”
“Okay, that should work. I really think that we should all participate in this decision.” Lois moved over and sat in his lap and, bringing her arms up and around his neck, moved in for a kiss.
When she broke from the kiss she said, “No matter what he says, you’re mine and I’m not letting you go.”
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Herb was the one that suggested these missions.”
With an arched eyebrow and a wicked little grin she said, “Let’s clean up so that we can have the real desert. Let’s see if there’s any validity to that old wives’ tale.”
He was stunned, “You mean that you’re willing to have children?”
In reply she picked up another one of the cannoli and sticking out her tongue licked some of the filling out of the end and keeping it on the end of her tongue slowly brought it into her mouth and sucked it in closing her eyes in rapturous delight as she did so. Then opening her eyes she opened her lips wide and stuck the end of the cannolo in her mouth and sucked on it.
Mesmerized by her and watching this display Clark started breathing deeply and he started sweating.
She finished the cannolo and looking at him said, “After that meal and that delicious desert, what can I say? With you, I’m willing. Let’s go, big boy.”
It took them all of five seconds to clean up and move to the bedroom.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 12 – Herb Shows Up
May 8, 1994 at the Alamo
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Universal Locator Designation
Common name – ALT2
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Clark was standing in front of the gates looking up at the Alamo thinking <In the movies it always looked so much bigger,> when Herb approached.
Herb, seeing that Clark was alone started the conversation, “Truly, I was not expecting to find you alone this time, my boy. Can you tell me what happened? Did you succeed in this mission as you have in all of the others or did you fail? Are you and Lois Lane of this universe together? I must admit, this doesn’t correspond with what I know about this universe’s future history.”
Clark had turned as he had heard Herb approach. He gave his question a few seconds consideration and started to walk away from the Alamo before answering, “Well, Herb, in a manner of speaking, yes, we are. Would you be willing to take a little trip? We’d like to have a meeting.”
“My, my, that would be unusual. Are you sure you want to meet with me?”
“Absolutely!”
Herb nodded his agreement. “Well, okay, if you insist. Where are we to meet?”
“At the Kent farm in Smallville.”
“That makes some sense. Shall we use the TaDT?”
Clark’s stroll had taken them to a secluded area where he spun into the Suit before he said, “That shouldn’t be necessary. I can fly us.” Before Herb had a chance to object Clark picked him up and took off. Herb hastily grabbed his bowler and held it in place as they took off. The flight only took a few minutes and they landed in the Kent farm front yard. Clark spun out of the Suit as he led the way to the door.
When they entered Lois was there with the Kents. Herb looked around and noted the absence of another Clark. It didn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to observe all of these clues and come up with the correct deduction. Herb had been to this universe’s future and had discovered that a Lois and Clark were married and that Utopia had been achieved however it was impossible to determine just who the Clark had been. Here was the answer to that question. It had to be the Clark from 36, the Clark he had been working with for so long. Herb felt great satisfaction in the knowledge that once again, Clark had succeeded in his mission.
Herb had deduced all of this within just a few seconds of entering the home and seeing the Kent family which included Lois and only a single Clark. He also noted the obvious affection displayed between the two. The family unity was very apparent. It certainly appeared as though this mission had succeeded far beyond his wildest dreams. He had expected to eventually find a universe where Lois was alone but to have the added benefit of the elder Kents, now *that* was a bonus.
Pausing just inside the door Herb said, “Please excuse me for a moment, I have an errand to run. Back in a jiff.” He pulled out his TaDT and entered a code. A portal opened in front of him and he stepped through.
When Herb did this it took almost everyone by surprise. Clark, being used to this disappearing act of Herb’s was unruffled, but there was a collective gasp from Lois, Martha and Jonathan.
A few seconds later, just as Clark was about to start an explanation, another portal opened and Herb stepped back into the living room again.
Calmly, as if nothing unusual had occurred, Clark said, “Herb, please allow me to introduce, Jonathan and Martha Kent and of course you know Lois.” He chuckled, “Well, maybe not this Lois but Lois Lane in general.”
Herb said, “Mr. and Mrs. Kent, it is a distinct pleasure to meet you. Lois, my dear you are as lovely as ever. Now that we’re all here shall we get down to the details?”
Clark was stunned. He asked, “What do you mean Herb?”
Herb replied, “Clark, I’ve been to this universe’s future. I knew that Lois and Clark were married. I didn’t know until we arrived that it was you and Lois that were married. Now we need to discuss the details of how to handle your home universe.”
Lois stood up and moved over to Clark’s side, put her arm around his waist and asked, “You’re not going to try and take him away from me, are you?”
“Oh, my, my, my, no, my dear, I wouldn’t think of doing such a thing. No, no, my concern is for his home universe. I realize that Clark is now settled here and I am happy for the two of you. No, we have a universe that is supposed to have a Clark Kent/Superman that if he stays here will not. I have a very unusual proposition to make.”
Martha spoke up, “Before we get too involved, would anyone like some lemonade?”
Herb said, “Why, yes, that would be delightful.”
Lois and Clark both agreed.
After lemonade had been served all around, Martha asked, “How do you propose to have Clark take care of his universe without leaving us?”
Herb sat his glass on the coffee table before he spoke. “What I propose is this, since we have the ability to move between the universes, that I give Lois and Clark the means of doing just that.”
Herb pulled a second TaDT from his pocket and handed it to Clark as he said, “Lois, please put your hand on the device as well as Clark.” She moved to comply. Herb brought out his device and hit a couple of buttons and the TaDT that they were holding came to life. Once this was done he continued, “That device can now only be operated by either or both of you. When I departed a bit ago, I returned to TTEMPO. Once I realized that it was actually you that was married to Lois and since I had already determined your future here, we constructed this device.”
Clark asked, “Just how long were you actually gone?”
Herb smiled and said, “The construction and programming of this device took five days.”
A look of awe and wonder blossomed on the features of the Kents as he said this. Martha said, “But, you were only gone a matter of seconds.”
Herb chuckled, “The wonders of time travel. Sometimes it can be confusing.” With a wry grin he continued, “Especially when you meet yourself coming and going. I’m sure you remember that Clark. Well now, this device has been locked on Clark’s home universe and this one. The time stamp is set to five minutes after we left his universe for his missions and the current time for this one. When the device is activated a portal will open between the two universes, but only these two for you two. The board decided that they only wanted trained agents moving randomly through the universes. When you pass through, you will be at the same place you left from, uh, that is the last place the device was activated. Let’s say that you activate it here today and move to the other universe. When you chose to return you will come back here, five minutes after you left and the same will pertain going in the other direction as well.”
Herb picked up his lemonade and took a sip before continuing, “I must say, that is excellent lemonade. Thank you Mrs. Kent.”
Martha smiled and said, “Please, call us Jonathan and Martha.”
After taking another sip, Herb replied, “Thank you, Martha. That is truly excellent lemonade. Now, let’s get back to business. By providing you with the means of traversing the universes and setting the device to track the time you will be able to move back and forth between the two with no time lapse in the trips. The TaDT will do all of the work, it will track the time and increment appropriately. Now, we need to decide what story you will give for Lois Lane’s sudden reappearance in your universe.”
Lois and Clark both heaved very relieved sighs. They weren’t going to be separated. His arm had gone around her and he pulled her in tight.
Feeling the need to completely fill Herb in Clark said, “Herb, there is something rather special about this Lois. The incident at the wishing well was somewhat different in this universe. The red Kryptonite did more than transfer Clark’s powers to Lois. It modified her physiology. Lois is fully Kryptonian. That has not been the case in any of the other universes. Elsewhere Lois has been Earth human until the Kryptonian aura made the genetic changes. We are both super-powered and fully genetically compatible.”
Herb rubbed his hands together before he said, “My boy, since this Lois is already super powered, you will not need the Star Sapphire Kryptonite and the red Kryptonite that activates it. I would like to request that you give it to me. I can put it to a very good use. It will provide other Lois Lanes and other Earth human spouses with powers. Incidentally, we have located that same gem in other universes as well as the red Kryptonite that activates it so we might just have enough for a number of generations. All of the children will have the powers, but, the spouses of the children will need the pendants.”
Lois, Martha and Jonathan looked at each other, further bewildered by this discussion of different kinds of Kryptonite. Then they looked over at Clark, who appeared to understand all this and nodded in acceptance. Lois made a mental note to have Clark explain later.
Not apparently noticing the byplay, Herb continued talking to Clark, “You now have the means of moving from one universe to the other. You have successfully integrated yourself into this universe, but, how do you propose to explain Lois’ reappearance after a five year absence in the other universe?”
Jonathan spoke up for the first time, “I’ve heard of cases of amnesia that have lasted for years. If that isn’t adequate there is also the possibility that she was hospitalized for an illness for the five years.”
Clark said, “There’s a problem with that though. Lois did reappear for a brief time in 1996. Everyone will remember that because she was there when I was revealed to be Superman, in fact she’s the one that helped me create my Superman persona. The staff at the Planet, in particular, will remember her. That would eliminate the five year hospitalization as a possibility.”
Martha spoke up, “I would have to agree with you on that. Besides, she looks too healthy for having been in the hospital for five years, Jonathan! I think that the amnesia ploy would be the best. What were the circumstances of her disappearance?”
Clark replied, “It was 1992 and we were in the jungles of the Congo investigating illegal guns being provided to the rebels by Lex Luthor. There is one aspect to it though; she was undercover as soon as she left the airport so no one knows that it was Lois Lane. I was undercover from the time I arrived, so no one knows that Clark Kent was even in the country let alone that he teamed up with Lois. She did call the Planet in Metropolis and told Perry White that she had a partner but no names were given and I never really notified him of her passing. I did report her as missing. I left it a mystery because that was how it was when I hired on at the Planet. As Herb always says, ‘History must be maintained’.” And he started chuckling.
Chuckling at having his own words quoted back at himself, Herb replied, “Jolly good, yes, history must be maintained. When Tempus kidnapped Lois from Prime and dropped us both off in your universe we had no choice but to contact you and that required that she appear to have returned from the missing, however briefly. If I recall correctly, at that time we gave the story that she had suffered from amnesia and had been in a coma. It should be fairly simple to explain her re-disappearance.”
Martha said, “Well, there you go! Somehow her partner disappeared; she was injured and lost her memory. She was found by some friendly people and nursed back to health and regained her memory but she relapsed. Now she’s completely cured.”
Clark turned and looked at Lois and asked, “What do you think? How’s your memory?”
Lois replied, “I think I may have some blanks and still not remember some people. We have another problem though, how are we going to handle Superwoman?”
“Wow, I hadn’t thought about that! We did really well together on that hijacking case. You watching my back when they had the Kryptonite worked out perfectly. In my universe there is no Superwoman, but, everyone knows that I’m Superman. If we don’t announce that you are super, there could be people that will try to kidnap you to get to me.”
“We could save the fact that I’m super as a surprise. I could pretend to be normal until I’m called on to reveal what I can do.”
“The staff at the Planet will be expecting a ‘normal’ Lois. You do wear a mask as part of your super costume. That should continue to hide your identity. We could make this work! I’ll bring you ‘back from the Congo’ where you had been hospitalized. I have a doctor friend that can work with us to provide documents.”
After doing some more planning they decided to make a test trip. Lois and Clark after receiving sufficient directions from Herb activated the TaDT to open a portal between the universes and stepped through. They found themselves in the abandoned Kent homestead in – Alt 1.
To be continued in Chapter 13 – Smallville – Lois and Lana
Well, what do you think of these developments?
comments go here
