Lori and Clark – The New, New Adventures of Superman – MMC V 6 11/32
By Ken Janney
Warning: This story is rated 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.
Previously:
Clark went with Lori when she went for her next appointment.
Jessie’s assistant, who just happened to be Maria, Jon Kent’s eldest daughter and therefore Lori’s granddaughter, prepared her Grams for the ultrasound. A minute later Jessie came in and said, “Okay, let’s just see what we can see.” She took the emitter and applied the gel and started running it over Lori’s lower abdomen. The picture was displayed on a monitor as she did this. When she found the baby she moved the emitter around to get different angles. She was speaking as she was doing this, “Okay, it looks like we are right on track. I’d say we are at about ten weeks. Let’s see … ahh … there … there we are … yep … I guess you’re going to be using the name … Clark Junior. Congratulations Mom, it a boy.”
Lori had been holding Clark’s hand the entire time the procedure had been underway and she squeezed his hand when Jessie gave her determination. She looked at Clark and said, “I just knew it would be a boy.”
Clark looked at Jessie and Maria and said, “Let’s keep this a secret, okay? We want to tell everybody ourselves.”
Chuckling, Jessie said, “Don’t wait too long. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep this a secret.” She leaned down and gave Lori a hug.
Maria started cleaning Lori up and a few minutes later they left the office.
That Friday Clark called a family conference. When everyone had been gathered he said, “You’re all probably wondering why we called you all together. We have an announcement to make.”
Lori took over and said, “The next generation is on the way and will be started with a boy. We’ve decided to name him Clark Junior.
A cheer went up and all gathered around to congratulate Lori and Clark.
And now:
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Chapter 10 - CJ
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124 Alt-Prime
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Lori was into her fifth month and her baby bump had made her retire her Ultra Woman outfit. Ultra Woman being pregnant at the same time as Lori Kent could potentially compromise their secret. They could foresee a time when there would no longer be a need of their secret identities, but, that time had not come as yet.
She just couldn’t get over Clark. She could remember when as Lois, she was pregnant he had been so careful of her, seeing to her every need and making sure that she didn’t place herself into any unnecessarily risky positions. She looked over at him at his desk and started to smile. He was still the same way. <He’s such a dear. I guess old habits are hard to break. He needs to realize that I may be pregnant, but, I’m still super and nobody, but, nobody is going to harm me or this child. Especially now, not only am I super, but, I have the whole clan looking out for me. If for some reason Clark isn’t around, there’s always one of the kids or one of their spouses around and they’re always looking out for me. I *think* it’s a *conspiracy*! Clark *must* have put them up to it! I really don’t know why. What does he think I’m going to do anyhow? I’m not about to take on any super robots like we did some time ago and even if I did, the Kryptonite wouldn’t affect me! Oh, *wait* a minute, the *baby*! The Kryptonite *could* harm the *baby*. Yeah, I’d better not do something stupid like that. I *really* don’t want to hurt the baby. Maybe it is a good thing they are looking out for me. They could just keep me from doing something I really shouldn’t do. But, why am *I* so special? It has to be related to my being Lois and *our* offspring are *more* Kryptonian than our *grandkids* with the exception of Sam and Alice’s since Alice is the only other fully Kryptonian spouse. Since I’m now more than half Kryptonian our children are more than three quarters Kryptonian. Sometimes it feels a little smothering. Sometimes I just want to put on the Suit and take off for a while, but, how much good would that do. I might be able to go somewhere that they can’t see me, but, they can still ‘talk’ to me, I can’t get away from the telepathy.>
She got up from her desk and moved over to beside Clark’s and said, “I’m going to cover the Mayor’s Press Conference. I understand His Honor is going to be making an announcement about some award for Superman and he’s supposed to be there to accept it. I’ll see you back here afterwards.”
Clark looked up at her and said, “Be careful out there. I won’t be there with you. Although, if you get into trouble all you’ll need to do is yell for Superman and he should be there, within seconds.”
Lori gave him a loving pat on the cheek and said, “I’ll keep that in mind. See you later.” She turned to her desk and picked up her bag which had her reporter’s assistant as well as other necessities as she headed for the elevator.
Once outside she hailed a cab. She was amazed at the rapidity with which a cab pulled up. It didn’t occur to her until the cabby jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran around to open the door and assist her to enter the cab that the reason for the solicitous attitude was her expectant condition. It registered in the back of her mind that this could become useful, especially as her condition advanced. It wasn’t that she thought that she needed special treatment, after all she was an extremely competent reporter and business woman, but, her condition could just give her an extra edge when she needed it.
When she arrived at the press conference she was early and as she was being greeted by reporters from other papers who recognized her, she used her condition to have the others make way for her so that she could move to the front of the pack. Of course they had good reason to recognize her, as Lois Lane she routinely beat them out of big stories. She and her partner actually didn’t leave much of any consequence for them and that kept the Daily Planet the premier paper on the planet.
Shortly after Lori reached the front of the pack where the reporters were queued up for the press conference, Superman landed and the mayor moved to the microphone, beginning his statement.
Suddenly, Lori grabbed her abdomen because she started to feel the baby within her womb writhing in pain and then she felt a knife in her back.
She heard someone hiss in her ear, “The famous Lois Lane. We have been looking for you and that pig of a partner of yours for years. Praise Allah it has been my good fortune to be the one to at last find you. Ever since the fatwa was issued against you we have been searching. You brought dishonor on the name of the prophet and now it is time for you to pay. I see that you are expecting, even better, now your devil spawn will never see the light of day. I may cut it out of your belly before I kill you so that you can see it die. You will come with me. You will make no sound or I will kill you immediately. Move toward the back of this crowd, slowly.” He prodded her in the back with the point of the knife.
Lori was worried. The baby was still moving, causing her pain and she didn’t know why. She wasn’t worried for her own safety because she had her pendant securely hidden on her person so there was no fear of losing her powers. Just to be on the safe side she sent a thought to Clark, /”Clark, I’m being abducted by a radical Muslim that says there is a fatwa out against us because of that plot we busted up and there is a problem with the baby. I can feel him moving. The Muslim has a knife in my back.”/ She sent all of this before she turned away to follow his directions and saw Superman look up and scan the crowd.
Clark had been following her progress with his eyes and retained a neutral expression. As he continued to watch, he sent to her, /”When he has you away from the crowd I’ll deal with him.”/
The mayor was droning on and on about how much good Superman had done for the city and how the city wished to honor its favorite superhero. Watching the progress of Lori and her abductor, Superman saw when they reached the outskirts of the crowd and started moving toward an alley. He reached out and touched the mayor’s arm and said, “Excuse me for a minute Mr. Mayor. I have something to deal with.” Not waiting for His Honor to acknowledge, he took off straight up and then arced down, interposing himself between Lori and her abductor. Grabbing both of his hands, Superman squeezed the wrist of his knife hand until he dropped the knife. Even as he accomplished this he could feel himself weakening. He sent a thought, /”Kryptonite! That must be why there is a problem with the baby. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hold out. You need to help.”/
The Muslim started spouting curses in Arabic and almost literally foaming at the mouth he was so angry and frustrated that he had been foiled.
When Lori had stepped away the baby had settled down. Immediately after receiving his thought Lori x-rayed the Arab and found an explosive vest under his jacket. Lori sent, /”He’s wearing a bomb.”/ There were overtones of fear and worry in the rest of her communication, /”You’ve got to keep him from triggering that bomb! That Kryptonite would be sent right into you. I have to disarm that bomb!”/
The Arab could see that Superman was weakening and started struggling that much more. He was trying to reach his detonator switch.
Clark sent, /”What about the baby?”/
/”I’ll just have to be quick.”/
Aloud she said, “I need to open his coat so that I can de-vest him. Apparently he was going to try to kill a number of people at the Press Conference, possibly even the Mayor himself, but I think you were the primary target.”
Moving as quickly as she could without giving away the fact that she was super powered now and also wanting to minimize the baby’s exposure, Lori used her x-ray vision and ripped the bomber’s coat open. Quickly she pulled the blasting caps out of the explosives and severed the wires from the trigger.
She sent, /”Okay, we’re over that hurdle. At least now he can’t trigger the explosives. We still need to deal with that Kryptonite though.”/ After disarming the explosives she reached into her bag and came up with a Swiss Army Knife which she used to carefully cut the shoulders and front of the bomb vest so that she could remove it. Once it was removed, as quickly as she could she moved the vest away from Clark. The further she got the less Clark was affected by the Kryptonite.
The baby within Lori was still writhing as she examined the vest and found pellets of Kryptonite strapped to one of the explosive charges. The design was such that they would have been propelled like shrapnel by the detonation of the explosive. If he had been close to Superman at the time, it might have killed him.
She ripped the offending mineral out of the vest and since she was around a corner and out of sight she hurled it as hard as she could up and out of the atmosphere. Immediately, the baby settled down and stopped moving any more than normal.
Once this had been done she walked back around the corner and checked on Clark. He appeared to be back to full strength so she touched her earphone and heard, “Say a command.”
She said, “Call Homeland Security.” This was another number she had pre-programmed when she had gotten the Reporter’s Assistant, just in case. When the call was answered she heard, “Homeland Security. How may I direct your call?”
She said, “Mr. Jacobs please.”
She heard, “Hold, please.”
A few seconds later she heard, “Homeland Security, Tom Jacobs, how may I help you?”
Lori said, “Hello Mr. Jacobs, this is Lori Lane. My partner and I helped you a few years ago on that Muslim terrorist nuclear bombing.”
“Ah, yes, Ms. Lane. What can I do for you?”
“I hate to say it, but, I’ve got another one for you. I was at the Mayor’s Press Conference and he tried to abduct me at knife point.”
“Well, Ms. Lane that would seem to me to fall into MPD’s bailiwick, not Homeland Security.”
Smugly, Lori replied, “That might have been the case if that was all there was to it, you see, he had a bomb vest strapped to his body. He was apparently going to martyr himself at the press conference.”
She heard him gasp and ask, “Where are you?”
“Corner of Tenth and Shuster. Superman has him in custody waiting for you to take charge.”
“I’ll be right there with a squad. Give me five minutes.”
Lori replied, “We’re not going anywhere.” She touched her earphone to hang up and touched it again and heard, “Say a command.” She said, “Call Twelfth Precinct.”
When it was answered he heard, “Twelfth Precinct, Sergeant Vincent.”
Lori said, “Sgt. Vincent, this is Lois Lane, could you put me through to Inspector Cardona?”
She heard back, “Hold on.” There were a series of clicks and then she heard, “Cardona here.”
“Inspector Cardona, this is Lois Lane. You may want to check on your security at the Mayor’s Press Conference. Superman just apprehended a radical Muslim terrorist bomber. He caught him before he had a chance to martyr himself, but there may be others.”
She heard back, “I’m on it,” followed by a click as the connection was severed.
A few seconds later they could see the police officers at the press conference forcing everyone back away from the podium and stand and another group moving all of the dignitaries into the building. Additional police seemed to be coming out of the woodwork, so to speak and they started checking all of the attendees. Fortunately it appeared as though the terrorist that Superman had in custody was the only one.
It was actually less than five minutes after her call that Mr. Jacobs and his squad drove up. They saw Superman and hurried over to him. Lori asked, “Mind if I document this for the paper?”
All he could do was shake his head and say, “Sure, go ahead. Who am I to stop you? It’s your story, this time even more than the last. How do you do it?”
Laughing, Lori said, “This time the story came to me. He must have heard someone say my name. It appears as though there is a fatwa out against me and my husband because of our involvement in that other plot. He was trying to abduct me when Superman intervened.”
Mr. Jacobs said, “I’m glad that Superman was here again. That’s twice, that I know of that he has saved you from something like this.”
Lori said, “Yes, Superman does always seem to be there whenever I need him.”
Mr. Jacobs noted her baby bump and said, “When you see Mr. Kent tell him that I pass on my congratulations. Your first?”
Proudly, Lori said, “Yes, the first of many we hope. We want a large family.”
Clark, as Superman, had a hard time suppressing a proud smile at her comment.
Mr. Jacobs’ men had relieved Superman of his captive and had taken the vest as evidence for the trial. Mr. Jacobs turned to Superman and said, “Thanks again, Superman. If not for you, there would have been a lot of people injured or killed here today.”
Now Clark could let the smile blossom. “It was my pleasure, Mr. Jacobs. I definitely don’t want anything to happen to Mrs. Kent and especially her baby.”
Lori giggled and said, “I got that. Can I quote you?” She took a breath and smiled back at Superman, “both of you?”
Superman smiled wider and said, “Sure, why not. Let the world know I’m watching out for you and every innocent person that others want to harm.”
For his part, Mr. Jacobs chuckled and said, “Sure, why not? It’s the truth.”
As his people hauled the terrorist away Mr. Jacobs said, “Well, I guess we’re done here. Are you sure you and your husband don’t want to change careers? After what you did for us before, we could use you in Homeland Security.”
Lori smiled and said, “Like I said last time, we’ll keep your offer in mind.”
The next edition of the Planet carried the complete story of what had occurred at the press conference, scooping the other papers. The other papers carried what they knew, which wasn’t much, and what they could speculate about, which was a lot, as the reasons for what had happened.
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A few months later
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Frank Edwards was amazed at how well Lori was handling her pregnancy. Her condition didn’t seem to slow her down at all.
As she was nearing her term he asked to see her and Clark in his office. Her belly was so large that he was surprised that she didn’t practically waddle into his office. She seemed to be light on her feet even at this advanced state.
When Frank called them into his office she had a good idea why. She was getting near her term and he was probably worried. Conversely, she could remember when she had been pregnant as Lois and how it had been, without the powers. She silently thanked Herb, almost every day, for the pendant. Being superpowered had distinct advantages.
When they had entered the office and settled into chairs, Frank asked, “Just how long do you plan to work? Don’t you think that you should, you know, take some time to rest and prepare?”
Lori looked at Clark and at his nod she answered. Knowing that she needed to seem like any other woman, Lori replied, “I’m not due for another month so I’ll probably work a couple more weeks. We have that story we’re working on about the city manager but I can work on that here in the office. If there is any field work, Clark can handle it.”
Frank said, “As long as you’re comfortable with it, it’s okay with me. I’m glad to have you here as long as you feel up to it.”
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Lori worked until Friday, October 13, 2090 which was two weeks before her due date. On Tuesday, October 24 Lori had an urge to give the whole house a thorough cleaning. Then she decided that she didn’t like the color of the nursery. Going to a paint store she purchased three gallons of a periwinkle blue. She moved the furniture to the center of the room, taped the ceiling corners and molding and laid down a drop cloth. By Thursday, October 26th she had the room done and the furniture back where it belonged.
That night Clark made dinner and after they ate they relaxed and watched a movie. It was a holographic recreation of “Lethal Weapon 3”.
About 11 PM they went up to bed. At 1:30 Lori felt a flood of warm water as her water broke and a heavy pressure on her hips as her back began to expand. Fortunately, having been through this eight times before, they had prepared the bed with a waterproof sheet. She was gasping for breath as another contraction came.
She nudged Clark and said, “Wake up Papa, it’s time to head to the hospital.”
Clark was instantly awake and sent a thought, /”Jessie!?”/
The groggy reply came back, /”What?”/
He sent, /”Jessie, it’s time.”/
Jessie sent back, /”It’s 1:30 A.M.. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”/
Frantic now, Clark sent, /”Jessie!”/
Jessie replied, /”Just a little doctor humor there, Pop. I’ll be at the hospital when you get there. Don’t worry, there won’t be any problems. Remember, Mom’s super now.”/
They did the trip to the hospital the ‘old fashioned’ way, in Lori’s Jeep and shortly after they arrived Lori was taken to Labor and Delivery. Clark gowned and joined her as her labor coach.
At 8 AM on October 27, 2090, Clark Jerome Kent Junior announced his arrival by emitting some lusty cries when his sister gave him a light swat on the bottom.
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When the newest member of the Kent clan had been cleaned up, weighed and measured, he had been swaddled and placed in Lori’s welcoming arms.
Lori immediately put him to her breast and he started to suckle. Lori felt the first rush as her colostrums started to flow.
After a short time they were transferred to a room and the next morning Clark took mother and son home.
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