I blame Julie Stars for this insanity. That little quote at the bottom of her posts got stuck in my brain, which is already loopy from the late hour.
BTW: The 'tabloid reporter' comment will make more sense if you read The Big Debut first. Go read it now, and then post lots of feedback.
***
Clark sank onto the sofa with a cup of warm, delicious coffee, grateful for a chance to finally relax. It had been a very long day, and it was only two in the afternoon. It seemed like one thing kept happening after another: a train derailment, an earthquake, and a four-car pile-up topped off by a collapsed building.
Now, though, everything was perfect. There was nothing that needed Superman’s attention, Lois had taken David shopping for school clothes, and the girls were---
“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!”
---Screaming. Clark was off like a shot; in less than a nanosecond, he was standing in their doorway looking very worried. “Girls, what is it? What’s the matter? Is it Kryptonite? Was there another tabloid reporter skulking around?” A thought crossed his mind, replacing his worry with mere annoyance. “Is it another cockroach?”
“Oh, Daddy! It’s worse than all THREE of those things!” Lara sobbed.
“Honey---Honey, what is it?” Clark crossed the room to where his daughters were sitting and put an arm around each of them. “Come on, tell me. What is so terrible?”
“Daddy,” Martha sniffed, “they---they cancelled Louisa and Mark!”
Of all the tragedies Clark had been bracing himself for---this was definitely not one of them.
“What?”
Martha wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “It’s true,” she said. “We just found out that ABC bought Disney---”
“---And they’re canceling Louisa and Mark so that they can use the timeslot for one of THEIR shows!” Lara continued.
Clark sighed, silently pleading for strength. “Girls, you had me running in here expecting the worst, nearly having a heart attack at the thought of what I might find, and all you’re upset about is some stupid television show about a Canadian reporter who turns into a giant green----thing?”
“Not ‘Thing’, Dad; ‘Hulk’.” Lara corrected. “The Thing is his arch-nemesis.”
“And it’s not a stupid show,” piped Martha. “It’s an action-romance-comedy, a Beauty and the Beast story.”
“And it’s our favorite show!”
“Or at least it was until they canceled it!”
They started crying again. Clark just had to chuckle. “Okay, girls, here’s what I’ll do: I found something the other day that I think you’ll be very interested in. But before I show it to you, I want you to promise that you won’t ever scream like that unless it’s a real emergency. You’re big girls, you should know better. I realize you have Superpowers, but that still doesn’t keep me from worrying about you. So do you promise?”
“Okay, Dad. I promise.”
“I do too.”
“Good.” He gave his daughters a hug, then stood and left the room. Curious, Martha and Lara followed their Dad into the living room.
Clark went over to the family computer and signed onto the Internet. He typed an address in the address bar, and a window popped up.
“LM Fanfic Archive?”
“Yep. The other day, I was online and I came across this site. It’s put together by a group of people who call themselves FoLMs; I think the owner of the site is a person named Stuart. There’s a lot of stories here written by fans of the Louisa and Mark show. Some of them are actually pretty good. And look, there’s a message board!”
“Ooh!”
Lara tentatively reached for the mouse and clicked on the link to the message board.
FANFIC
MFANFIC
FANFIC CHALLENGES
ORIGINAL FICTION
FANFIC RELATED
FANFIC TOCs
MFANFIC TOCs
ORIGINAL FICTION TOCs
LOUISA AND MARK
OFF TOPIC
HOW TO'S
FUN WITH POLLS
“Wow.” Lara and Martha stared at the screen, completely enthralled.
Just then, Clark heard a cry for help. Leaving the girls to explore the site further, he spun into his suit and took off. As he flew toward the scene of the latest disaster, he couldn’t help but ponder.
‘Sheesh! To think that so many people could go nuts over a show about two reporters and a superhero. Next thing you know, they’ll want to make a show about me and Lois!’
