Author's notes: This is a direct sequel to my earlier story "A 
Future Not Now". It really is necessary to know that story before 
you read this one as events from that story are assumed knowledge 
for this one and many references are made back to things that 
happened there.

As with all my fics, this one started life as an episodic posting 
to Zoomway's boards. I thank all those who read it there and gave 
me encouragement and helpful critiques as I went along.

All characters are trademarked and copyrighted to their 
respective owners. All feedback, of any kind is invited and 
welcome at TankW1@aol.com
___________

A Future Revised
by Tank Wilson <TankW1@aol.com>
Rated PG
Submitted June 2000
____________

Lois Lane stared at the unfamiliar image which stared back at her 
as she stood in front of the mirror in the guest bathroom of the 
brownstone on Hyperion Ave. She had been in this dimension a week 
now and she still had to fight down the feelings of panic which 
threatened to rise up and swallow her whole every time she 
allowed herself to think about her situation. It was frightening 
to think that the world that she'd known was now gone. Gone, 
because a vile band of super human brigands had decided her world 
would make a nice place to settle down. She now had to try and 
make a life for herself in this distorted mirror version of her 
world, pretending to be this dimension's version of herself while 
coexisting with a gentle and compassionate man who felt 
immeasurable pain every time he looked at you.

From what she had gleaned so far, this world seemed a little 
kinder  and gentler than her own world, but for every familiar 
thing she recognized, there were two or three she didn't. No 
wonder she was on the edge, and afraid of falling over into the 
abyss at any moment.

She picked at the short red curls which covered her scalp like a 
clown's cap. The haircut had been more traumatic than she had 
imagined. She had chided herself for acting like a child at her 
first haircut, but the fact of the matter was, it had affected 
her. In order to impersonate the Lois Lane of this world she had 
to make some changes to her physical appearance. Her hair had 
been the first thing. She had spent years in an African prison, 
shut away from the world. In that time her hair, which she had 
kept stylishly bobbed just above her shoulders, had grown down 
nearly to her waist. The Lois of this world had worn her's in a 
short, feathered, face framing style. So a few days ago, armed 
with a recent picture which she told the stylist was of her twin 
sister, she had the long dark locks shorn. At first the stylist 
had scissored the long hair to about shoulder length. When she 
saw that, and how right it just seemed to look to her, Lois 
almost stopped the haircut then, but she didn't. She knew that 
she had a ways to go yet. When it was finally finished she had to 
admit the style looked good on her, but she'd never worn her hair 
that short before and it took some getting used to. She had felt 
a little foolish bending over and picking up some of the 
discarded hair and feeling an unwanted tear roll down her cheek. 
She had quickly brushed it away in anger, paid her bill, and left 
the shop.

While she had strolled down the street looking for a cab, she was 
hailed by a passing motorist. She hadn't quite caught what he'd 
said, but she'd definitely heard the words, Daily Planet, and 
Lois Lane. Well, she guessed that answered one question. She had 
achieved the basic look of Lois Lane. From the clothes that she 
had transferred over to the guest room closet from the master 
closet, she knew that this world's Lois Lane tended to dress more 
conservatively than she did.

When she stopped in front of a shop window she'd had to swallow a 
gasp as she saw her reflection in the glass. Recalling her own 
meeting and subsequent interactions with this world's Lois, she 
had been amazed at the person she saw mirrored in the window. She 
was a perfect double for this dimension's Lois. She doubted even 
her mother could tell them apart from their looks. Lois had 
bitten her lip at that thought. She knew that sometime she would 
have to face just that. As she marveled at how much she looked 
like the other Lois a thought had hit her and made her nearly 
weep in horror.

Clark Kent, the Superman of this world, and the loving husband of 
the departed Lois Lane, was still grieving the loss of his 
beloved wife. She knew it hurt him to see her, the woman who 
should have been his wife but wasn't. The woman who survived, 
when his own precious lifeline had perished at the filthy hands 
of an arrogant thug. As much as it hurt him, he had taken her in, 
knowing how much she had lost herself, and had opened his home to 
her. After some argument, he had even relented and agreed that 
she had the right to try and resume her life as Lois Lane in this 
world, even if it meant slipping into the life of a woman she 
wasn't. This past week while Lane and Kent were supposed to be on 
vacation, he had even made some time to help her become more 
familiar with what she'd need to know in this world, and who her 
friends and family were. But to see her as she looked now, with 
literally no physical difference between her and his dead wife, 
it would kill him. Lois had shaken her head. No she couldn't do 
that to him. He had sacrificed enough, she didn't need to flaunt 
any more of her similarities to his Lois than was absolutely 
necessary.

She turned around and marched back into the little salon and had 
them butcher the hair she had left. Her thinking was, while a 
short haired Lois couldn't suddenly become a long haired Lois, 
she definitely could go from short to something shorter and very 
different. Lois had deliberately picked a look that was as far 
from what she thought the other Lois would wear as possible. When 
it was all over the second time she knew she looked ghastly, no 
matter what the stylist had tried to tell her. It was short, and 
curly, and very, very red. And it didn't look like Lois Lane at 
all, which was just what she wanted. If she could help Clark not 
see the image of his missing wife every time he looked at her, 
then a bad haircut was a small price to pay.

While finishing up brushing her teeth, Lois' mind drifted back to 
when Clark first saw her new look. Lois couldn't help but allow a 
small smile to cross her lips as she remembered the shocked look 
on his face when she'd come in the door. He had stammered a bit 
before he'd gotten out his actual question of why she'd done what 
she had done. He'd known that her original intent had been to get 
a cut like his Lois' but instead she'd come back with this very 
different style. She had explained why she'd done it and, of 
course, he'd protested that that hadn't been necessary. Not 
wanting him to take on any more imagined guilt over things, she'd 
told him it was something she'd always wanted to do. She couldn't 
resist just a little jab at his chivalry, so she had asked him 
what did he think? Did he like it? Her smile got bigger as she 
recalled his weasel worded compliments about how it was certainly 
striking, and what a bold statement it made. For all his trying, 
he had never been able to say he liked it, which made Lois glad. 
At least the awful style had a chance to serve it's purpose.

Having finished up in the bathroom, Lois went back into the guest 
room, which had become her bedroom since she'd landed in this 
dimension. She picked out a fairly bland tan pants suit to wear 
into her first day at this Daily Planet. She figured the hair 
would be shock enough for this day. She'd worry about changing 
her fashion image a bit later. As she finished brushing off the 
imaginary lint from her slacks and straightened in preparation 
for leaving the room and going downstairs, something she was 
fairly unfamiliar with struck. She was nervous. This wasn't her 
Planet and these weren't her friends and colleagues. How would 
she ever pull this off. She was thankful that Clark would be 
there for her though she knew it would be tough on him also. She 
took a deep breath and headed toward the stairs.

*********************************

Clark Kent could hear Lois moving around upstairs as he went 
about his tasks in the kitchen. Today was going to be her first 
real trial by fire. She was going to have to go into work at the 
Daily Planet today and try to slip into the life of this world's 
Lois Lane. During the last few days, when he'd been able to, he 
had coached her on their current circle of friends and relatives 
as best he could. He tried to give her a who's who crash course 
in the short time they had. Clark had also brought Lois up to 
date on their most recent stories, and she had spent a lot of 
time on their computer hooked into the Planet's archives becoming 
familiar with Lane and Kent's past exploits. He had tried to fill 
in some of the finer details, and unprinted relevant facts for 
her, but no matter how much coaching he gave her, it was going to 
be tough for a while. Clark knew she was also brilliant, so he 
hoped she would catch on fairly quickly.

He turned the heat down on the stove as his thoughts drifted 
toward matters of concern. He admitted to himself that he hadn't 
spent an inordinate amount of time around Lois, maybe not as much 
as he should have, but he just couldn't. It was too hard.

He had been around her enough to be worried about her toughness 
though. While he was able to recognize the sharp mind behind 
those soft brown eyes, he didn't see the fire that he generally 
associated with a Lois Lane. He supposed that some of it could be 
as a result of the recent upheaval in her life. Losing one's 
entire world would definitely have an effect on a person. Still, 
Clark felt that it probably had more to do with the years of 
imprisonment that she had endured. Days, months, even years, of 
unending boredom and the loss of hope that you'll ever escape or 
be rescued has got to beat a person down. She had admitted 
herself that her spirit was nearly crushed, and she had been on 
the verge of giving up. What ever form that might have taken 
Clark didn't want to know.

Something deep within Clark made him just want to gather her in 
his arms and tell her everything would be all right, but of 
course he couldn't. He knew that these feelings he kept having 
for her were just ghost feelings, the reflected longings for his 
own lost Lois. He knew how vulnerable she was right now and it 
wouldn't be fair to her to pretend something might happen when 
they both knew that nothing could ever come of it. The deep hole 
in the pit of his being could never again be filled, not even by 
another Lois Lane.

The corner of his mouth turned up slightly in an almost smile as 
he thought about how the crew at the Planet were going to react 
to Lois' new hairstyle. She was going to take a lot of ribbing 
over that. He still remembered his own shock when she first 
walked through the door. Expecting her to come back with Lois' 
current short style but instead being confronted with the bright 
red, cropped curls, it took him a moment to gather his wits. She 
had explained her reasoning but when he told her that that hadn't 
been necessary she went on to say that it had been something 
she'd always wanted to try but never had the courage. This had 
been the perfect opportunity. Clark hadn't believed her for a 
second. When she then asked him what he thought of it, he'd made 
all the polite noises but he thought she could tell that he 
didn't think much of it. Strangely enough, he got the impression 
that was just fine with her. Was she, maybe, trying to exert some 
of her own independence along with trying make some physical 
distinctions between herself and his Lois for his benefit? He 
appreciated the gesture but it didn't really matter, it still 
hurt whenever he saw her. It still was the constant reminder of 
what he had lost. He was jolted out of his reverie by her sudden 
appearance in the kitchen doorway.

"It smells good, what are you fixing?"

"A breakfast hash my mother used to make. Kind of a combination 
of hash brown potatoes and ham, with bits of peppers and onions. 
I've also got some eggs ready to go if you want any."

Lois took the far seat at the table. "Sounds good, over easy 
would be great." She seemed ill at ease at the table, watching 
Clark crack a couple eggs into the skillet. "Is there any 
coffee?"

Clark indicated the coffee maker over on the far counter. Lois 
quickly got up and filled a cup that was already sitting there 
for her. Noticing Clark already had a cup by him, she didn't ask 
if he wanted any, but just quietly went back to her seat at the 
table. He seemed to be concentrating very intently on his cooking 
but she knew what actually was going on. He barely looked at her 
since she'd come in. She bit her lip as she thought at how 
awkward this had all been for the both of them. She couldn't help 
but be attracted to Clark, he was a great looking guy, and the 
nicest man she'd ever met. She knew from her conversations with 
Lois that it was thought that these feelings were some sort of 
'soul mates' thingie she was supposed to have for the Clark of 
her world. She had a hard time buying into that since she never 
really got to know the Clark of her world before he was killed. 
No, she was sure that the stirrings she was feeling were for the 
gentle, hurting man in front of her. And she also knew that 
nothing could ever come of those feelings, so it would be best if 
she just forgot about them and concentrated with learning who 
*she* was supposed to be.

"You know, Clark, you don't have to cook for me all the time." 
She managed a slight smile. "I do know how to cook."

He didn't look at her. "That's all right, I'm used to it, and I 
like to cook." He snuck a quick peek at her over his shoulder and 
then quickly turned back to his hash and eggs. "Besides, I find 
it relaxing."

Lois frowned into her coffee cup. "I didn't hear you come in last 
night, it must have been pretty late." She saw the muscles on his 
back tense.

"Yeah, a fire over on the east side, a couple muggings, and then 
I heard about a mud slide over in Indonesia." He quickly placed a 
plate full of food in front of her. "I got back just a couple 
hours ago."

They ate together in silence. It was a familiar pattern. He was 
often away doing his Superman stuff. Lois wasn't sure if this was 
normal, or if he was especially sensitive about what happened in 
her world and was redoubling his efforts on his own world, or he 
just didn't want to be with her anymore than he had to. She 
suspected it was probably all of the above. Lois suddenly dropped 
her fork as a couple tears rolled down her cheek.

"Clark, I'm sorry."

He jerked his head up, a confused look on his face. "What?"

"I'm sorry, she's dead and I'm alive. I'm sorry that you have to 
go through this. I know it must be hell for you to have to be 
with me, but I do need your help to get my life restarted." A 
couple more tears escaped as moisture pooled in her mahogany 
eyes. "My world is the one that was destroyed, I should have been 
the one who died, not your wife. If I could change places with 
her, I would, but I can't, and I'm sorry about that."

Clark didn't say anything while Lois spoke he just stared at his 
plate and pushed his food around with his fork. After she 
finished he looked up at her. She saw his expression soften for a 
moment, almost as if he was going to reach out to her. Then the 
familiar mask came back and he pushed away from the table.

"I know." He began to leave the kitchen. "I'll bring the car 
around front, we'd better not be late for our first day back 
after a vacation."

Lois grabbed her napkin from the table and wiped at her eyes as 
she slowly got up and followed.

*****************

Lois stepped off the elevator into the newsroom of the Daily 
Planet. She knew Clark was right beside her but she felt very 
alone. At least the physical layout was the same as what she was 
used to. Letting Clark lead the way down the ramp, she followed 
and quickly spotted her desk. She suddenly became very aware of 
the quiet. Doing a slow turn, she saw that everyone has stopped 
talking and were staring at her, like she was from another world.

Her eyes met Clark's. "Clark?" she stammered in a whisper.

He could see the uneasiness in her eyes. He took pity on her and 
smiled. He pointed to her head. Her hand quickly flew to her 
scalp and once her fingers came into contact with her short curls 
recognition dawned. They were staring at her new do. It was a 
look that they'd never seen on Lois Lane before.

"Great shades of Elvis, honey," Perry approached them. "You 
fixing on becoming a show girl or something?" His grin blunted 
any offense that she might take.

"No," she self-consciously played with the short crimson 
tendrils. "I, er, just decided I needed a change. I'm reinventing 
myself." She gave Perry a little mock spin. "You see before you a 
whole new Lois Lane." What Lois didn't see was the pained look on 
Clark's face when she said that.

"That's just fine, honey," his southern drawl got a bit more 
pronounced. "Makes no difference to me, just so long as the new 
Lois Lane delivers stories as good as the old Lois Lane."

Meanwhile Jimmy had come up behind Lois and clapped his hand on 
Lois' shoulder. "I don't know, Chief, I really like it. It's a 
radical look, Lois."

Lois had tensed up when Jimmy had touched her and found herself 
pulling away from his grasp before she could stop herself. Lois 
could tell that Jimmy had been confused by her actions from the 
puzzled look on his face. It had been an instinctive reaction on 
her part. The Jimmy Olsen of her world was James Olsen, boy 
billionaire, computer software mogul, owner of the Daily Planet, 
and traitor. She'd only known him a very few days back in her own 
dimension but that had been more than enough. Seeing which way 
the tide was rolling, James Olsen had switched over to the side 
of Lord Nor and his Kryptonian brigands, and had betrayed them 
all. Intellectually she knew that this Jimmy Olsen, photographer 
and aspiring reporter, was actually a good friend of Lois and 
Clark's, but emotionally it was hard to separate the face from 
the man who was largely responsible for the death of Clark's 
beloved Lois.

"Ah - thanks, Jimmy, glad someone likes it," Lois laughed weakly. 
She could see from the look on Clark's face that the by play 
between her and Jimmy had not gone unnoticed, but he chose not to 
say anything and just turned his attention to his in basket.

Perry cleared his throat to regain their attention. "Okay, now 
that the beauty contest judging is over," he pointed his fingers 
at Clark and Lois. "As soon as you're settled I want to see you 
two in my office for your next assignment."

A few minutes later Clark and Lois were standing in Perry's 
office facing his desk. Perry was still red penciling an article 
in front of him. He still liked to work with something tactile, 
like paper, so often, if time allowed, he would print off the 
story his reporter would Lan him and go over it the old fashioned 
way. He would then have Jimmy, or one of the other office 
flunkies, drop his 'edits' in that reporter's in basket. Once the 
reporter had made the necessary corrections and had resent the 
story to Perry, he would then just give it a cursory screen 
glance before sending it on.

Perry waved his hand in the general direction of the couch. "You 
kids go ahead and sit for a moment. I'll be through with this in 
a jiffy." With another couple quick strokes of his red pencil he 
was finished and Perry dropped the article in his out basket.

Looking up at his top reporting duo Perry was greeted by an 
unusual sight. Though Perry publicly discouraged it, he knew how 
'touchy-feely' Lois and Clark liked to be. While he was thrilled 
at how much his two surrogate children were in love with each 
other, and how great they obviously were together, he had to 
remind them from time to time that the Daily Planet was a place 
of business and not lookout point. So it was with an arched brow 
that he observed that Clark and Lois had chosen to sit at 
opposite ends of the couch, as far away from each other as 
possible. Not something he would normally expect to see from 
these two. Also, Lois seemed a bit ill at ease, almost 
apprehensive, while Clark seemed to find his fingernails 
fascinating. Perry gave no outward sign but he allowed himself a 
mental shake of the head. It was clear that all was not right in 
their world at the moment. But unless it affected their 
assignments, Perry would stay out of it and let them work it out 
themselves.

"Now I would like nothing better than to hand you two a juicy bit 
of scandal or corruption to tackle, but I can't. I'm going to 
have to leave it up to you two to find us a front page story." 
Perry leaned back in his chair. "In the meantime, I would like 
for you kids to write some background pieces on the candidates in 
the upcoming mayoral contest."

Lois gave Clark a trapped look. Seeing her distress he jumped in. 
"You mean some kind of puff bios of Abrams and Tompkins for page 
two?"

"Now don't get your hackles up over this Clark. I know it's not 
the best use of your talents, but I'm a little short handed at 
the moment, and I figure your two can crank something out in your 
sleep and still find something that I can put on my front page 
before I have to let advertising sell space there too."

Lois had not been listening to Perry. Her brow had been furrowed 
in thought. She looked up at Perry. "Do you mean Margaret 
Tompkins?"

Perry, at first, looked startled by the question, then seemed to 
pull something from his own memory. "Now, Lois, I know you 
thought you had something on Maggie Tompkins back when she was 
just a council woman, but you could never prove anything so it 
was dropped." Perry gave them his best stern look. "I just want 
you two to give me a couple nice dry background pieces on the two 
folks running for mayor. Is that clear?"

Clark shot Lois a quick glance but she was gnawing on her lip, 
deep in thought. "Yeah, Chief, we got it." Clark stood up. "Come 
on, Lois, let's get this over with." She followed him out, still 
deep in thought.

Once outside Perry's office Lois took the lead. Grabbing Clark's 
hand she dragged him into the conference room. Once the door was 
closed Lois began to pace about the room. "Clark, I don't know 
what your wife did or didn't know, but in my world I broke an 
influence peddling scheme that won me my second Kerth." She 
looked up at Clark and he could see actual excitement there for 
the first time. "The person behind the whole thing was our mayor 
at the time, Maggie Tompkins." Lois began to get more animated as 
she paced ever faster. "Now just because someone in my world was 
a crook doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be a crook here 
too, but..." she smiled at Clark. "It doesn't mean that they 
aren't either." She began to pace again. "Now if I think hard 
enough on it, I'm pretty sure I can begin to retrace the steps I 
took to expose her in my world. If things hold even reasonably 
the same I think we can get Perry that front page story and all 
the while look like we are doing the simple background articles 
he assigned us."

Lois was grinning and Clark couldn't help but be affected by her 
enthusiasm. He gave her a smile and shook his head in surrender. 
When Lois Lane got like this, there was no stopping her. He was 
actually happy to see her this way. He hadn't seen her this 
upbeat since he brought her to this world. Of course, if he would 
just admit it to himself, he hadn't been very upbeat either. But 
then he wasn't ready to let go of his pain yet, and he didn't 
know if he ever would be.

Lois was just getting ready to dash out into the newsroom and get 
logged onto her computer when Jimmy poked his head into the room.

"Phone for you guys, line 2."

"Thanks Jimmy." Clark was closest so he picked up the handset.

Lois watched Clark as he spoke only a few words into the phone 
but was obviously listening intently. His expression went from 
shock, to disbelief, then to something akin to remorse. Lois 
found herself sitting down and waiting for him to finish. She 
didn't have to wait long. He hung up the receiver within another 
minute. He face was hard to read, but it was clear that he had 
been upset by the call. He leaned against the table as he placed 
his hand on hers.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Lois was getting frightened.

"Lois, that was the police. I'm afraid Sam was killed in an auto 
accident just about an hour ago."

"That's terrible, Clark, I'm so sorry." She gave his hand a 
squeeze. "Who's Sam?"

"Sam Lane, Lois, your father."

**************************

Why was it always gray and drizzling during a funeral Lois 
thought, her annoyance at the weather overriding the common sense 
that told her that such weather would hide her lack of tears 
better. Sam Lane had died when his car went off the road and 
struck an overhead light standard. Witnesses said that he swerved 
to avoid a child that had run out onto the street in front of 
him. No one at the scene saw the child after the accident.

She was sorry that this Sam Lane had died, but she didn't know 
him. He wasn't her father. In fact everything Clark had told her 
about him told her he wasn't anything at all like her father. Her 
father had never been a big time surgeon, pioneer in sports 
medicine, experimenter in cyborg science, nor a womanizer. Her 
father had barely been out of medical school, when a mugger took 
his watch, his wallet which contained twenty seven dollars, and 
his life. He left behind a young wife, and a six month old 
daughter. Lois never knew her father. Lois sneaked a peak at 
Ellen Lane, who stood weeping next to her. It was clear to Lois 
from the tears that rolled down the woman's face that she had 
cared for the man. If not so much now, then at some point during 
their life together. Clark had said that they had been trying a 
reconciliation but it had been slow going.

Lois was amazed at the difference between her mother and the 
woman sobbing next to her. Her own mother had merely been a 
nurses aide, not a full RN like this woman had been. Her mother 
had struggled to take care of an infant and bring in enough money 
to live on. It had been tough, and Lois knew it had worn on her 
mother. She had been a real beauty when she was younger, as Lois 
had seen from some of her earlier pictures. She had been a dark 
haired beauty with hazel eyes that literally glowed with an inner 
fire. Even in her later years she retained a lot of that beauty 
though the long hours and hard work had aged her before her time. 
The Ellen Lane of this world didn't look anything like her mother 
had, but still had a familiar look to her. It wasn't until Ellen 
raised her veil to put a kiss on the casket before it was lowered 
that Lois was able to make the connection. Ellen looked a lot 
like her aunt Mary.

Lois' mother, who was also Ellen Lane, and Lois, had spent 
several months living with her aunt Mary when Lois was about four 
or five. It was just before Ellen got her job at Metropolis 
General as a nurse's aide and later worked in the office. It had 
turned into a pretty good job, and once Lois had been old enough 
to start school it had settled their life down to an almost 
normal routine. The parade of different ladies in the apartment 
complex babysitting Lois during her early childhood had now 
ended.

Lois had always felt sorry for her mother. The poor woman had 
spent her youth providing for her daughter and just when it 
seemed that she could sit back and begin to enjoy her life, it 
was taken from her. Having won a scholarship, Lois was preparing 
to leave for college, when they got the news. Ellen Lane was 
diagnosed with cancer. It was a particularly nasty kind and it 
took her quickly. Her mother's small life insurance had been 
enough to bury her but little else. Lois went off to school and 
had been on her own ever since.

It was a peculiar feeling to know that she, Lois Lane, had a 
mother to deal with again, and according to Clark, it wasn't 
necessarily going to be a pleasant thing. A little of which she 
had already run into. Even being severely affected by her ex-
husband's death, she still managed to disapprove of Lois' new 
haircut, and her choice of clothes, and her lack of proper 
respect for her father. It didn't matter to Ellen, that she, as 
much as Clark's Lois had hated what her father had done to them, 
Lois wasn't properly despondent over his death. Lois hadn't 
answered, but had walked away and took Clark's arm.

Clark actually seemed more affected by the death than any of the 
family. Lois wasn't sure how well Clark had known Sam Lane, but 
she suspected that his sorrow was being reinforced by memories of 
a funeral that should have been but wasn't, that he never got to 
attend. He'd never gotten to say a proper goodbye to his beloved. 
That fact as he stood here stoically, in the light drizzle, at 
his father-in-law's funeral probably just hit home a little too 
hard right now.

For Lois the most amazing thing was the fact that she now had a 
sister. Lucy Lane had flown in from California to attend the 
funeral. She was a senior at Cal Berkeley and would soon 
graduate. Lucy, at first, hadn't wanted to spend the time or the 
money to come home for the funeral. She had said that her father 
had no time for them when they needed him, why should she waste 
her time on him now. Lois hadn't known how to answer her, but 
Clark had persuaded Lucy to come home. It had given Lois a thrill 
to think that she had a younger sister and she had spent the day 
before she came in asking Clark about her. He hadn't been a lot 
of help since Lucy had not been around much during the time Lois 
and Clark had gotten together. Lois had had a cousin named Lucy 
Lane, but she'd only met her a couple times and didn't have any 
clear recollection of her. So it was with some trepidation and a 
lot anxious anticipation that Lois prepared to meet her baby 
sister. Unfortunately, Lucy's plane had been so late that she 
barely had time to get there before the service had begun. Lois 
hadn't any chance to talk with her yet.

Once the service was over and they all headed back to their 
respective cars, Lucy glided up next to Lois and stuck her arm 
through Lois'. She steered her a little to one side.

"Lois, I need your help." Lucy half whispered in 'her sister's' 
ear. "I can't stay with Mom, she'll drive me crazy." The two 
women stared at each other. "You know what's she's like when she 
gets all emotional over something."

Lois didn't know but she nodded appropriately. "Lucy, the 
impression I got was that she just wanted to go home and rest." 
Lois saw Lucy frown. "She'll probably take some drug store 
sleeping aids and go right to bed. I don't think she even plans 
to come over to the house afterwards with the rest."

Lucy stopped and stared at her feet. Lois stopped too. "Does this 
mean you don't want me to stay over with you? Is there some 
reason why you'd feel awkward about me spending a couple nights?" 
Lucy looked up at the obviously ill at ease Lois. "Is there 
something wrong, Lois? You've been acting sort of strange all 
day."

"No, no, nothing's wrong." Lois answered a little too quickly. "I 
just thought that, - well, never mind. You know you are welcome 
to stay over at our place anytime if you need to."

Lucy smiled. "Thanks, I was beginning to wonder if it was 
something I had done, or if it was just that awful red hair dye 
leaking into your brain." Lucy emitted a short bark like laugh. 
"What ever possessed you to do that to your hair?"

Lois just shook her head. "It's too hard to explain. Let's just 
leave it at, it seemed like a good idea at the time." The 
sister's shared a laugh as they approached the jeep arm in arm.

*************************

The after funeral gathering of friends and family didn't last 
very long. The brownstone on Hyperion hosted the assemblage which 
began to break up almost as soon as it started. There weren't too 
many family members left on Sam's side of the family. And none of 
Ellen's family who still lived close enough to easily attend, 
wished to have anything to do with Sam. So it was mostly friends 
of Lois and Clark. Perry and Jimmy had been real troopers, 
helping with the preparations and such. Jimmy had even 
volunteered to stay behind with a often married cousin, Cindy, to 
make ready the town home. Lois hadn't known why that was such a 
sacrifice, but Clark assured her it was.

During the gathering Lois found the time to sneak upstairs and 
take her stuff out of the guest room and stick it quickly into 
the master again. Her mouth quirked into an odd parody of a 
smile. She was already thinking of these clothes and such as her 
stuff. It seemed that she was making a better adjustment than 
Clark was. Of course, she had only lost her world, he has lost 
part of himself.

She had taken Clark aside and told him what had happened with 
Lucy, and how she had agreed to let her stay. Lois had been 
afraid that Clark would have been angry, but instead he had just 
sighed and said it was all right. He told her that he had planned 
to probably be out most of the night anyway. He'd been too long 
away from his Superman responsibilities anyway and should really 
put in a long patrol tonight. Lois knew that was bull, but she 
didn't dispute his words. She just sighed herself and went back 
to her guests.

Ellen had surprised her by coming over, but soon left, 
complaining of a headache. All the others followed soon after 
with Perry , Jimmy, and Cindy being the last to go. Lois did feel 
some bit of compassion for Jimmy as she saw how cousin Cindy had 
appointed herself Jimmy's unofficial date and had hung around him 
the entire time. Gallant to the end, Jimmy had even offered Cindy 
a ride home which she eagerly accepted. It had been a tough 
evening for Jimmy but it had gone a long way toward separating 
this Jimmy Olsen from the James Olsen of her world in Lois' mind. 
She hoped that she'd get the chance to repay the favor some day.

With everybody now gone, except for Lucy, Lois turned to Clark 
for the lead in what to do next. He provided an answer, though 
not one that Lois was particularly happy about.

Clark reached for his coat. "Lucy, I put your bag up in the guest 
room." He turned his attention to Lois. "Since Lucy is here, and 
I know you want to catch up, I'll meet with our source tonight 
myself."

Lois' eyes got wide in near panic. "But, Clark, I, ah, couldn't 
let you do that. Lucy understands." She turned to the sister she 
never had. "Don't you Luce."

"Well I was hoping to discuss a few things with you." Lucy 
answered somewhat guiltily.

Clark nodded. "See, there you are. Don't worry, Lois, I won't 
mess this up without you. I have done my share of this type of 
thing too." He saw the line of Lois' mouth get tighter while Lucy 
giggled. "Don't wait up, I don't know how long I'll be." He came 
over a gave Lois a quick sterile peck on the cheek. "Have a 
pleasant night ladies," and he was out the door.

Lois continued to stare at the closed door until Lucy broke the 
spell by clearing her throat. Lois jerked her head in the 
direction of her little sister.

"I guess I should help you clean up this mess?" Lucy indicated 
the considerable number of plates and cups lying about throughout 
the living room, dining room, and kitchen with an encompassing 
wave of her hand.

Lois gave the room a quick look and a tired smile tugged at the 
corners of her mouth. "That would be much appreciated."

*********************

Clark, as Superman had just flown his third circle around 
Metropolis and upon finding nothing that needed his attention, 
broke his pattern and headed west. He had decided to head home to 
Smallville, to see his folks, and sleep in his old room for the 
night. In fact, he decided that for as long as Lucy was staying, 
which would only be a couple of days, he could sneak out after 
Lucy had gone to bed and fly to Kansas for the night. He could be 
back in the morning and be ready for work before she even got up.

Clark had called his parents the day after they'd returned from 
the other dimension and had filled them in on everything that had 
happened. They had been devastated, for they too had loved Lois 
dearly. He told them he would see them as soon as possible, but 
he felt he couldn't leave this Lois alone right away so he'd put 
off the Smallville trip for a few days. It seemed the perfect 
time now. He'd need to be away for the evening so Lois could 
sleep in the master bedroom, so Smallville was the obvious 
choice.

A slight pang of guilt stabbed ineffectively at his conscious 
over leaving Lois alone with Lucy. He'd seen the panic in her 
eyes when he told her he was leaving. She had been nervous about 
meeting this sister. A sister she had never had. Clark suppressed 
the feeling that he'd abandoned Lois. After all, it wasn't like 
he'd be of much help with Lucy anyway. He'd only met her a few 
times. Lucy hadn't even made it to the wedding, something about 
being arrested at the airport for causing some problems if Clark 
remembered correctly. Lois would do just fine he thought. She'd 
be able to shift the conversation to Lucy and what she was doing 
now, and be able to steer the topics away from herself. Yeah, 
Lois would be fine.

It had only taken a few minutes until the farmhouse came into 
view. It was fairly late, and he knew that on the farm folks went 
to bed early, so he was relieved to see a light still on in the 
living room. He came to a landing outside the front porch and 
spun into his Clark clothes before he entered. He tried not to 
make too much noise, in case they were asleep, but enough to tell 
someone who might be up that a visitor had arrived.

Martha came out to greet him before he'd made it half way through 
the kitchen. "Hi, honey, I had a feeling you'd be here tonight." 
She said while she gave him a hug.

Together they went into the living room and sat. Clark noticed 
his father was sound asleep in his favorite chair and that a weak 
fire still burned in the fireplace. Martha sat on the sofa as 
Clark stirred the embers to see if he could get a little more 
life in the fire. He knew that his mother was waiting for him to 
talk, and that he was just stalling while he gathered his 
thoughts. Of course, he knew that she knew it too, and that's why 
she was just sitting there waiting for him to begin. Almost 
reluctantly he gave up playing with the fire and came over and 
sat down next to his mother.

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Does it ever get better? 
Does it ever stop hurting?"

Martha put her arm around her son. "You may not believe this now, 
but yes, it will be better, and the hurt will gradually diminish 
to a gentle ache that will surface when you remember the good 
things."

"But I feel so bad, and I feel so guilty."

Martha shook her head but before she could say anything, 
Jonathan, who had recently woke up, spoke up instead. "I thought 
you told us there was nothing you could have done. You aren't 
beating yourself up over the fact that you were out helping 
hundreds of others when the incident took place are you?"

"No, I'm not. I realize that there was no way for me to even know 
she was in trouble."

"Clark?" Martha's tone was only too familiar to Clark.

"Well maybe just a little, but really that's not the issue 
anymore." Clark stood up and crossed over to stand next to the 
fireplace where he could face both his parents at once. "Sam 
Lane's funeral was today." He watched as his parents reached out 
and clasped each other's hands. They didn't speak, allowing him 
the time to say what he flew out to say. "It was a pretty pitiful 
affair. Very few family members came and the only friends were 
those of Lois' and mine. It was sad really, but it also hit home 
that all those people that were there would never have the chance 
to say goodbye to Lois. Hell, if we are successful in our 
deception they'll never even know that they should be missing 
her."

"Clark," Martha came over and put her hand on his arm. "Does it 
bother you that this Lois from the other dimension is trying to 
step into the life of our Lois?"

Clark grimaced. "It did at first, but we talked it out and I 
agree that she has a right to try and build a life as who she is. 
And as much as it may hurt, she is Lois Lane. She just didn't 
happen to be born in this world."

Martha couldn't help but smile as she patted her son's arm. 
"Neither were you Clark."

He returned her sad smile. "That's true, and I do have some 
empathy for what she is confronted with. There are a lot of 
things that are similar or virtually the same as on her world, 
but there are plenty of things which aren't. She is depending on 
me to help her through those uncertainties. I know I haven't been 
around, helping her adjust as much as I should. I give her a 
quick run down on some people and places then I beg off and go 
hide behind Superman and his responsibilities. She has suffered a 
lot. She spent years in a prison cell with basically no hope of 
escape and her only contact with other people were her guards. 
Yet she survived that only to have her world torn out from under 
her." Clark was clearly upset now. "I'm the one who brought her 
here."

"To save her life," Jonathan pointed out.

"Yeah, maybe, at least I thought she would be a target at the 
time so I asked to take her with me. But don't you see? I brought 
her here, and that makes me partially responsible for the 
situation she is in. And I haven't really been there for her." 
Clark dragged his hands through his hair again. "Just tonight I 
abandoned her at home with Lucy. Lois never had a sister in her 
dimension, but I left her with her anyway. I was able to 
rationalize that since I didn't know Lucy well that I'd be no 
help to her anyway."

"It sounds to me like you're saying that this young woman really 
needs a friend right now, but you don't feel like you are being 
that friend for her." Jonathan always seemed able to state the 
obvious that everyone else always danced around.

"Yeah, I guess that's what I'm saying. It's just that it's so 
hard to be around her. To see her with Lois' face, in Lois' 
clothes, sounding like Lois. It's so hard." Clark quickly wiped 
away a tear that had dared to leak from his eye. "I know it's not 
her fault, but it's like I'm blaming her for surviving, when my 
wife didn't. It's like every time I see her I think I have Lois 
back when I know that I don't. I'm afraid, because I keep 
thinking that I'm being unfaithful to Lois' memory."

"That's ridiculous." Martha dragged Clark back to the sofa. "Are 
you saying that you are getting this woman confused with our 
Lois?" Martha shook her head in bewilderment. "Clark, that 
doesn't make sense. If Lois and Lucy had been twins, you wouldn't 
be feeling like this about Lucy would you. Just because someone 
looks like someone else doesn't confuse the issue. You know they 
are still different individuals. And you should treat them as 
such. Trying to be a friend to this Lois has no bearing on your 
feelings for our Lois. They are, were, two different people."

"I sometimes wonder if that's true." Clark stood up again. "You 
see it's not that I'm reminded of Lois by seeing someone who 
looks like her. It's deeper than that." He saw the quizzical 
looks on his parent's faces. "There is some sort of pull there. A 
feeling that seems to be drawing me to her. Making me want to 
touch her, and comfort her when she is sad."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're saying, son. Are you 
saying you can't be her friend because you think you might have 
some undefined feelings for her?"

"Not exactly dad, you see I know exactly what the feeling is. 
It's just like the feeling I got the first time I saw Lois in 
Perry's office. I knew then that there was something about that 
woman, that she would be the only woman that I could ever really 
hope to love." Clark came back to the sofa and grabbed his 
mother's hand. "How can I be having those kind of feelings for 
another woman, just because she is similar to my beloved? It 
scares me to think that I could betray our love in that manner. 
Why is this happening? What's wrong with me?" Tears flowed freely 
down Clark's cheeks now.

Martha grabbed Clark's face in her hands. "Oh, honey, I can't 
begin to guess what you're feeling, but I have to believe it's 
just part of your grieving process. That you are still going 
through some sort of denial stage, so some of your feelings for 
your Lois are being transferred over to this other Lois."

Clark was still able to muster a small smile through his tears. 
"Still taking those mail order psych courses, Mom."

Martha own tears were falling but she had to laugh. "Not anymore, 
your father got tired of me analyzing everyone in town." She 
wiped at her own eyes. "No, you just have to realize that it's 
going to take time, honey, you have to let yourself heal." Martha 
let go of Clark's face and pushed back until she was at a full 
arms length away. Her tone was gentle, but firm. "But you know 
that you do have a responsibility to help this poor woman also 
don't you? Clark, she needs you to be her friend, and I think you 
owe it to her to try."

Clark nodded sadly. "I know, it's just that I don't know if I'm 
strong enough to do it. It still hurts so much."

Jonathan rose from his chair and clapped his hand on Clark's 
shoulder. "You'll do what you have to, because it's the right 
thing to do. We've always been proud of the fact, that no matter 
what the cost to you, you always did what's right." Jonathan gave 
Clark's shoulder a little squeeze. "Now, I think we should all 
head upstairs and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be here soon 
enough, and I for one need some sleep."

"Oh, Jonathan," Martha swatted him. "You've been sleeping in that 
chair most of the evening already."

Shaking his head, and with a resigned grin on his tear streaked 
face, Clark followed his parents up the stairs.

*******************

Lois put away the last of the dishes, took her cup of coffee and 
followed Lucy into the living room. She was proud that she had 
managed to steer any conversation away from herself and kept it 
light and focused on Lucy and what she had been doing lately. 
Lois noted that Lucy didn't sound too much like the flighty girl, 
with the low self esteem who went through one loser boyfriend 
after another, that Clark had described. This young woman had 
apparently done some growing up in the last few years. Lucy 
hadn't been doing much dating. She'd been too busy with her 
studies. She was only a single semester away from her degree in 
political science. She had been so earnest in her statement that 
she was going to be Mayor of Metropolis someday that Lois had had 
to smile. As Lois entered the living room looking for a coaster 
to set her cup on she noticed Lucy looking over the pictures on 
the mantle just as Lois had the first time she came into this 
house.

"Wow, look at this picture of you and Jimmy," Lucy laughed as she 
pointed to the shot of Jimmy with his arm around Lois. "I hardly 
recognize him. He was so much thinner then, and his hair looked 
so different."

It took Lois a moment to realize that indeed the picture Lucy 
referred to was one of Lois and Jimmy together. She remembered 
seeing it and not recognizing the young man as Jimmy Olsen, even 
after having met her own world's counter part. She grinned and 
nodded at Lucy. He certainly had changed quite a bit since then. 
She watched as Lucy picked up the picture of the couple she now 
knew was of Sam and Ellen Lane.

"This is a nice picture of Mom and Dad, don't you think?" Lucy 
held it out for Lois to see. "It almost looks like they can stand 
to be around each other." Lucy set the picture back on the 
mantle. "So, Lois, how are things with you and Clark?"

Lois was momentarily startled by the abrupt change of topic. 
"Fine, great, everything's great."

"So everything's all right?" Lucy came over and sat next to Lois 
on the couch. "No problems is paradise?"

Lois shook her head a little too vehemently. "No, no everything's 
just great, couldn't be better. Why do you ask?"

Lucy flashed Lois a sly smile. "I don't know. I haven't been 
around too much since you've become an old married lady, but I 
have seen the way you two used act around each other, and I have 
to say I didn't see much of that today at all."

Lois' hands fluttered about. "Well, er, what do you expect. Sa - 
er, Daddy just died. Clark knew him too you know."

Lucy waved off Lois' protest. "I don't mean that. I would have 
thought that Clark would have been more supportive of you. He 
hardly touched you throughout the whole service. And then 
tonight, he couldn't wait to get out of here."

"Well, he was just giving you and I a little time to..." The 
ringing of the phone interrupted Lois' lame attempts at excuses. 
"Hello, who? Oh hi - mom. How are you doing? What? Yes, she's 
here." Lois held the phone out to Lucy. "She wants to talk to 
you."

Lucy grimaced as she took the phone from Lois. "Yeah, mom. No, of 
course I'm not mad at you." Lucy rolled her eyes toward the 
ceiling. "Don't be silly, I don't hate you. I just wanted to 
spend a little time with Lois. I'll come by tomorrow, and we can 
do lunch or whatever. My flight back isn't till the day after 
tomorrow." Lucy bit her lip. "Yes, I love you too, mom, and I'll 
see you tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. Good night."

Lucy slowly walked back to the couch. She kept chewing on her 
lip, she seemed anxious. Lois put her hand on Lucy's arm to 
capture her attention.

"Lucy?"

"I'm worried, Lois. I think Mom had started drinking again." Lucy 
stared straight into Lois' eyes. "Didn't you think she sounded 
sort of strange when you talked to her?"

Lois shrugged. She couldn't exactly tell Lucy that the first time 
she'd ever talked to Ellen Lane was earlier today. How was she 
supposed to know what sounded right and what didn't. "I don't 
know, she just sounded upset that you were here instead of 
there."

Lucy began to pull at her lip with her fingers. She frowned. 
"Maybe she misses daddy more than we would have thought?"

Lois remembered Clark saying that Sam and Ellen had been trying a 
reconciliation, but it had been a bumpy one so far. Too much past 
history to forget too quickly. "I guess that could be it. I know 
they've been trying to patch things up."

Lucy stood. "I wonder if I shouldn't go over there. If she's 
started drinking again."

Lois had been told that Ellen was a recovering alcoholic, but 
she'd been sober for years now. If she had begun to back slide, 
Lois knew that there was nothing Lucy, or she could do about it 
tonight. Lois stood and grabbed Lucy's hand.

"It's late. Even if she has been drinking, she's likely to just 
fall asleep soon. You might as well, turn in and check up on her 
tomorrow."

Lucy sighed. "You're right. I'll check on her tomorrow and give 
you a call at the Planet to let you know what's up."

"That would be great, thanks. Good night, Lucy."

Lucy started up the stairs, stopped halfway , and turned toward 
Lois. "Oh, and don't think you and I are done either, Sis." Lucy 
wagged her finger at Lois. "For all your brilliant investigative 
skills and abilities to play roles to get what you want, you were 
never able to lie to me. Something is not right, and you *will* 
tell me what it is." A tired smile turned the corners of Lucy's 
mouth. "Good night, Lois."

Lois just stared at her 'sister' as she turned back and continued 
up the stairs to the guest room. Lois flopped back down onto the 
couch. It was a somewhat unsteady hand that reached for her 
coffee cup.

**************************

Clark, as Superman, stopped in his cross country flight just long 
enough to give a little assistance to a river barge that had 
gotten too close to a sand bar. He'd spotted it as he was 
crossing the Mississippi on his way east. He usually kept his 
eyes peeled for any troubles he could help with when flying to 
and from Smallville.

Clark had gotten up early with his folks, had a nice country 
breakfast, and also had helped his father with some chores before 
he left. Even given the one hour time differential, he knew he 
had plenty of time to get back to Metropolis before he had to be 
ready for work at his day job.

Superman gave the barge captain a friendly wave as the river 
vessel began to resume it's voyage down the river, then is a 
flash he was gone from sight. It always gave his mood a little 
boost to be able to help someone. Helping someone, that brought 
back the memory of last night's conversation with his folks. He 
had agreed with Jonathan's conviction that Clark owed it to this 
Lois to be a friend, and help her out while she worked to rebuild 
a life for herself. Of course that begged the question; once she 
was confidently back on her feet and living her new life, what 
then?

Clark was hovering high in the sky over the house on Hyperion. 
The sun was well up by now so he had to take extra care before 
zooming into the upstairs bedroom window. He took a few moments 
to scan the area around the house and saw the paperboy 
approaching the front steps. Clark waited another couple minutes 
while the boy turned the corner of the block before he felt it 
was safe to make his entrance.

He slipped into the window of his bedroom quickly and quietly. 
Lois was still asleep. She looked so vulnerable lying there, her 
face a smooth mask of innocence. A slow, slight smile touched his 
lips before he was able to stop it. He shook his head, for some 
reason, aside from the red curls against the pillow, something 
didn't seem quite right. A moment later it hit him. She was 
sleeping on his side of the bed. Clark just shook his head again 
as he stripped down and tossed the suit into the hamper. He 
smelled like fish from his dip in the river so a quick shower was 
called for.

As he stepped out of the shower, a towel around his waist, and 
headed for the closet. Clark stopped and turned as something told 
him he was being watched. Lois was awake and sitting up in the 
bed. She was staring at him with a peculiar look on her face. It 
was almost like the first time Lois had come over and caught him 
in a towel when they had partnered on that first big story.

"Good morning," Clark said formally. "The shower's free. I'm done 
in there."

"Good morning," Lois seemed to have a little trouble getting that 
out. "Thanks."

Lois slid carefully out of bed and unconsciously smoothed the 
plain flannel nightgown with her hands as she hurried to the 
bathroom. As she closed the door she heard the sound of rushing 
wind, then Clark's voice.

"How was your time with Lucy?"

"Fine, I guess. Did you know she plans to become mayor someday?" 
Lois wondered if he felt at all guilty for leaving last night.

"Really, that's great," his voice betrayed his feigned interest. 
"I'll start something for breakfast for you two, I already ate at 
home."

"No, that's all right. I can fix something for myself." Lois was 
puzzled by his choice of words. What did he mean by, he ate at 
*home*?

"That's okay, I hear Lucy up and about in her room." Clark paused 
a couple beats before adding, "besides, we have to keep up the 
pretense of your lack of culinary skills."

Lois bit her lip as she hung the nightgown on the back of the 
door. "Okay, I should be down in about fifteen minutes." She 
heard the bedroom door open and close.

************

Lucy rummaged through her suitcase for something to wear. She 
wasn't looking forward to this visit with her mother, but she 
knew her mother needed some love and support now and Lois had 
already been away from work too much lately to take more time 
now. It was up to Lucy to fake concern for her mother during this 
time. Lucy chided herself for her attitude, but she just couldn't 
help it. It wasn't that she didn't love her mother, because she 
did, she just didn't like her.

As Lucy slipped the soft green turtle neck over her head and 
pulled the edges over the belt on her light tan jeans she heard 
the sounds of activity in Lois and Clark's bedroom. It was 
quickly followed by the sound of the door closing and footfalls 
on the stairs. It seemed that one of them was already up and 
ready to go. Her bet would be Clark, even though she didn't hear 
him come in last night, she knew as a farm kid he was probably 
used to getting up early.

Lucy sat back on the bed as a frown creased her face. Lois had 
acted strange last night. She had been asking questions about 
stuff that they'd already covered in their last phone call and 
acting like it was all new to her. Lois seemed to vacillate 
between hyper attentiveness and distracted. She had constantly 
steered the conversation away from her and Clark and kept 
shifting the topic back to what Lucy was doing. It didn't take a 
genius to see something was wrong. Lucy could tell that the fairy 
tale prince and princess were experiencing some troubles in their 
little magic kingdom.

The thought of Clark being unfaithful to her sister was a concept 
that Lucy just couldn't accept. She'd believe it of Lois before 
she'd believe it of Clark, and with what her sister had been 
telling her over these last several months, she couldn't believe 
it of Lois either. Yet there was something that seemed to be 
putting a distance between them. Lucy almost had to laugh. She 
had only seen Lois and Clark really together a few times since 
she left for school in California, and suddenly she was an expert 
on their relationship? No, Lucy knew she was no expert on Lois 
and Clark, but their years growing up together made her an expert 
on Lois. Even given the circumstances of her father's funeral, 
the marriage that Lois had been describing to Lucy all these 
months was not the marriage that Lucy saw over this last day. 
Something was definitely wrong, and Lucy vowed to find out what 
it was before she had to go back. With that thought settled in 
her mind Lucy got up and headed down stairs to the now pleasant 
smells of breakfast.

She entered the kitchen to see Clark with his back to her just 
placing some pancakes on a plate next to a couple slices of 
toast. He turned and greeted her with a grin and set the plate 
down in front of a chair that he indicated she should take.

Before she sat she stepped over and gave Clark a quick peck on 
the cheek. "Mornin', Bro," she said as she pulled away and sat 
down. "It smells good, how did Lois ever trap a guy who could 
cook?" Lucy wondered if that could have been an expression of 
pain that she saw flash quickly through Clark's features before 
he again had his smile in place for her.

"Just lucky I guess." His answer was a bit too flip. "Would you 
like some juice?"

"That would be nice, thanks" Lucy eyed her brother-in-law warily 
as he reached into the refrigerator for a pitcher of orange 
juice.

"So, Lucy, Lois tells me you plan to be mayor of our fair city 
someday soon."

"Yes, I think I would be the perfect candidate." She took a hit 
off her glass of juice and began to pour some syrup over her 
cakes. "I figure everyone would know I'm honest because if I 
weren't, my crusading reporter sister and brother-in -law would 
expose me in their latest award winning, front page headline."

"Funny you should mention that." Lois saw both Clark and Lucy 
turn her way as she entered the kitchen. "It just so happens that 
our current investigation is just such a possible expose of one 
of our mayoral candidates."

"Really," Lucy noticed that Clark got quiet once Lois walked into 
the room and he didn't come over and greet her as Lucy would have 
expected. Lois didn't say anything to Clark either she just sat 
down where Clark had placed another plate and began to eat.

It was as if the room temperature had dropped a few degrees. 
Nothing like the hostility, and animosity that had existed 
between her parents, no more of a professional coolness. Lucy 
shook her head and looked over at Clark who was busy putting 
things away and setting the cooking utensils into the sink.

"Hey, Clark, leave them," Lucy told him. "I can do up these few 
dishes before I leave for mother's."

Clark turned to Lucy, his expression unreadable for a moment, 
then he smiled. "Thanks, that would be nice." He wiped off his 
hands and headed toward the other room, speaking along the way. 
"I'll go check our e-mails, then we can be ready to go as soon as 
you are done eating."

Lois didn't respond, she seemed to someplace else as she 
mechanically ate her food. Lucy put her hand on her arm, which 
seemed to startle her.

"Lois?"

"What - oh, okay Clark, I should be done soon." Lois went back to 
shoving food into her mouth but gave no indication that she was 
enjoying it. Lucy just stared at her sister, her frown deepening.

*********************************

Clark sat back in his chair, his screen saver had come back on 
since he hadn't worked at his screen for several minutes. He 
found it somewhat surprising, yet not too, to watch the change 
that came over Lois once she was at the Planet. She immediately 
became more animated and confident. Oh sure, she was still 
skittish around people, especially every time she met someone she 
was unfamiliar with, but she was definitely more in her element 
here. The fact that she had a story to sink her teeth into Clark 
was sure helped a lot. No sooner had they entered the newsroom 
then she was booting up her computer and trying to retrace some 
of the leads she had used in her world to expose a corrupt Mayor 
Tompkins.

"Lois," Lois turned her head as Perry came down the ramp toward 
her. "I just want to say again how sorry I am about your father." 
He put his hand on her shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

Lois shot Clark a quick glance before she looked Perry in the 
face. "I'm fine, Perry, really." She gave him what she thought 
would be the proper sad smile.

"That's good, honey. I know you and your father weren't always on 
the best of terms, but - well he was your father and I'm sure 
this is tough." Perry patted her shoulder a couple times in 
obvious embarrassment.

"Yeah, I guess it is, but I'm dealing with it." Lois reached up 
and gave Perry's hand a squeeze. "Thanks for caring, Chief."

Perry harrumphed and pulled away from Lois. "All right everybody, 
don't you all have work to do." His comments were directed at the 
newsroom in general as he made his way back up to his office.

Lois went back to her computer and in a couple minutes let out a 
little shout of triumph. "Yes! I knew it!" She motioned for Clark 
to come over. "I guess some things are the same." Once Clark 
reached her side she began pointing out several items displayed 
on her screen. "Okay, this the voting record for councilwoman 
Maggie Tompkins. As you can see, she had the swing vote six times 
in the last three years. Four of those votes were on very hotly 
debated, controversial contract awards." Lois clicked her mouse 
to change windows. "Now, here we see that bank records of one, M. 
Jane Anderson. Notice the dates of these four large equal sized 
deposits."

Clark nodded. "Okay, so they match up with the dates of the big 
votes." Clark looked from the screen to Lois. "Who's M. Jane 
Anderson?"

Lois leaned back in her chair smiling smugly. "About six years 
ago Margaret Jane Preston married a fellow named Harold Anderson. 
The marriage only lasted a couple months. Not long enough to 
really be noticed but ..."

"Long enough to establish a complete set of identification?"

"Exactly, and since she married her present husband David 
Tompkins shortly after her quickie divorce from Anderson, she 
never really established any publicly acknowledged identity as 
Margaret Anderson, or in this case, M. Jane Anderson."

A smile began to steal onto Clark's face. "But she had 
legitimate, if dated, identification which would allow her to 
open a bank account under the name M. Jane Anderson. Very 
clever." Clark grew thoughtful. "I wonder why Lois never caught 
that?"

Lois put her hand over Clark's. "It took me a long time to track 
that now you see it, now you don't marriage. I'd guess she just 
didn't have enough time to dig up the facts before Perry killed 
her story." Lois grinned a bit sheepishly. "I have to admit that 
I got an anonymous tip also."

Clark shook his head. "Well congratulations, I think you have a 
story here." He frowned down at the excited reporter. "I thought 
bank records were protected by pretty stringent security. How'd 
you gain access to them? I'd think it would take someone of 
Jimmy's skills to hack into and gain that information?"

Lois' face was the perfect mask of innocent. "Oh, is he good at 
that too?" Suddenly Lois noticed Clark's attention seemed to be 
elsewhere. In the short time she'd known him she'd learned to 
recognize that look. His focus was elsewhere. "What is it, what 
are you hearing?"

"Fire trucks, heading toward the docks. I've got to go." He 
straightened and reached for his tie. "Show your stuff to Perry." 
Clark threw the words over his shoulder as he made for the 
stairwell as quickly as possible.

Clark hadn't been gone two minutes when Lois' phone rang. "Lois 
Lane," she answered. "Lucy, hi, what's up. Are you at mother's?" 
Lois leaned back, a confused look coming over her face. "What? 
Slow down, she's what? Never mind, I'll be there as soon as I 
can."

Lois jumped up from her desk, grabbed her bag and headed up the 
ramp toward the elevators. She stopped at the top of the ramp and 
retraced her steps to her desk. It had suddenly dawned on her 
that she didn't know where Ellen Lane lived. A quick but thorough 
search of her desk drawers provided her with a little black phone 
book. Luck was with Lois because under her mother's name and 
number was a notation, 'new address' with it added in Lois' neat 
script. Lois recognized that place as one her aunt Mary had lived 
in when Lois was still a teenager. Armed with the necessary 
knowledge Lois jumped back up and headed out.

*********************

Lucy Lane pulled her airport rental car in front of the apartment 
complex her mother lived in. Ellen had moved into this building 
about two years ago. Lucy had only been here one time before but 
it she had to admit that it was nice, and in a quiet 
neighborhood. Lucy pushed the call button to her mother's 
apartment. There was no answer. Lucy pushed the button several 
more times but there still was no answer. She began to get 
worried when a resident on her way out provided Lucy with the 
opportunity to get in.

She hurried up the stairs to her mother's third floor apartment. 
She knocked several times quite hard. Just before she was about 
to hunt down the manager to let her in the door opened.

"Lucy, sweetie, what brings you here?" Ellen Lane stumbled back 
from the door. "Come on in."

Lucy grit her teeth as she entered the apartment and closed the 
door behind her. Her mother had started drinking again. In fact 
her mother was presently quite drunk, and it was still morning. 
Lucy looked around the main living room area and saw several 
bottles in various stages of misuse. Her clothes from the funeral 
yesterday were laying draped over a chair and the television was 
on, tuned to one of those insipid talk shows. The place already 
smelled of booze.

"Come, come, sit," Ellen pointed to a chair with the hand that 
didn't carry the glass. Her words were slurred. "Sam! Your 
daughter's come to visit." Ellen unsteadily made her way into the 
other room. "Sam, where'd you go?"

Lucy couldn't believe her ears. Her heart was breaking to see 
this happening. Apparently her father's death had affected her 
mother much worse than she would have thought. Lucy quickly went 
over and guided her unprotesting mother to a chair back in the 
living room. She took the glass out of Ellen's hand and set it on 
the coffee table. Lucy then grabbed both Ellen's hands in her's 
so she couldn't reach for the glass again.

"Mom, please listen to me." Lucy swallowed the lump before it 
could form in her throat. "Daddy's gone. He won't be coming back. 
We just have to accept that and move on."

Ellen pulled out of Lucy's grasp and patted her on the cheek. 
"That's what I thought too, sweetheart, but it's not true. He was 
here last night, and again this morning." Ellen frowned. "Though 
I can't, for the life of me figure out where he got to just now?"

Lucy dropped her head, then with great effort lifted it up to 
meet her mother's unfocused gaze. "Mother, daddy has died. He 
can't be here with you. He can't talk to you."

"You know," Ellen interrupted. "He doesn't talk much. He mostly 
walks around from room to room and when he does talk to me he's 
not very nice. He says that I'm the reason why our marriage 
failed, and that I'm the reason why our daughter's turned out the 
way they did." Ellen looked at her youngest daughter with a look 
so serious that it was almost comical. "I don't know what he's 
talking about? I think you and Lois turned out pretty good, even 
if Lois has lost her fashion sense. And that hair! Do you think 
Lois lost a bet or something?" Ellen's mind quickly drifted back 
to her drink which she found on the coffee table where Lucy had 
put it.

Lucy spent the next hour trying to talk some sense into her 
inebriated mother but to no avail. Ellen had managed to down a 
few more drinks as Lucy gave up trying to stop her. Lucy spent 
most of the next half hour wiping tears from her eyes while Ellen 
wandered about the place calling out for Sam to come and say 
hello to his daughter. Lucy knew she was out of her depth, so she 
went over to the phone during one of Ellen's frequent visits to 
the bathroom and called Lois at the Planet.

*********

Lois arrived about twenty minutes later and Lucy did her best to 
fill her in on what happened. Lucy noticed that Lois seemed 
hesitant around Ellen, almost as if she felt uncomfortable 
dealing with her. Lucy knew Lois had many more dealings with her 
mother during her drinking years than she had, simply because 
Lois had been older and everything fell to her to take care of. 
Lucy used to just shut herself up in her room and pretend that it 
wasn't happening. After some very awkward moments the Lane 
daughters were able to trick their mother into taking some 
Nyquil, which they had snuck into one of her drinks. This had the 
desired effect of causing her to fall asleep.

"So what do we do now, Lois?" Lucy asked as they headed out the 
front door toward their cars.

Lois bit her lip. "I'm not sure. Let me talk to Clark about it, 
see what he has to say." Lois paused for a moment. "I've got to 
get back to work. I'll see you at home later." Lois looked back 
toward the apartment. "I'm sure she'll sleep for several hours. 
We can check again tonight."

Lucy just nodded her acquiescence. The two women got into their 
respective vehicles and headed off in different directions. 
Neither had seen the well dressed man leaning against the 
building opposite Ellen's apartment building. Even if they had 
been looking they probably wouldn't have seen him since he was 
careful to stay in the shadows next to the building he had 
chosen. He pulled a personal recorder out of his coat pocket and 
thumbed the on switch.

"Memo to self," he spoke in clear measured tones. "Hire a shooter 
to take care of the Lane daughter."

*****************************

By the time Lois got back to the Planet, she saw that Clark had 
returned. He gave her a quizzical look as she came down the ramp. 
She threw her bag in her drawer and hesitantly approached Clark's 
desk.

"Um, can I talk to you... in private?"

"Sure, we can go in the conference room." He stood up and let her 
lead the way into the oft used conference room.

Clark had barely closed the door behind them when Lois launched 
into her narration. "I was just at moth, -er, Ellen's. Lucy 
called me. Apparently she was drunk." Lois saw the sad frown on 
his face as Clark slowly shook his head. "That's not the worst of 
it. She says she sees Sam wandering around the apartment with 
her." Lois sat down in frustration. "Clark, I have no idea what 
I'm supposed to do?"

Clark came over and sat next to her. "Well, I suppose we could 
try and contact the center where she dried out last time. Talk to 
whoever was her doctor there. See what he says. I wouldn't be 
surprised if he didn't recommend a return visit for her." Clark 
let go with a sigh. "I guess Sam's death affected her more than 
we thought."

Lois bit her lip, then turned to Clark. "Why didn't I think of 
that? It's simply normal logic in a situation like that and I 
couldn't think of it. I just panicked. I was more afraid Lucy 
would find out about me than I was doing what's right for this 
poor disturbed woman. What's wrong with me?" The last came out 
more as cry for help than a statement.

Clark grabbed one of Lois' hands. "There's nothing wrong with 
you. She is not your mother. You've only met her once, and are 
only vaguely aware of her past troubles. How should you be 
expected to react."

Lois snorted. "Well a little common sense wouldn't have hurt." 
Lois shook her head in denial. "Contrary to the way I've been 
acting these last several days, I'm really not this stupid." She 
stared at Clark as if begging him to believe her. "I was an award 
winning investigative reporter in my own world. I was considered 
one of the best. I was a confident, independent, career woman 
competing and winning in a field dominated by men." Lois waved 
her hand about. "Now look at me. The slightest little difficulty 
and I fall apart."

Clark gave the hand he was holding a little squeeze. "Don't be so 
hard on yourself. You've gone through so much, and not just in 
the last couple weeks, but for the last few years. I'm amazed at 
how together you actually are." He patted the hand in a fatherly 
type gesture. "You have to give yourself some time. You have so 
much to adjust to, and I admit I haven't always been there to 
help, but I have every confidence that you'll come through this 
just like you've come through everything else."

Lois let a small smile sneak onto her face. "Thank you, and 
you've been nothing but kind and generous to me. I don't know how 
you can stand to have me even around at all."

She reached up and cupped his cheek with her free hand. She felt 
his jaw muscles tighten as he started to pull away. She snatched 
her hand back as if it had been stung. Both her hands quickly 
went to her mouth as she realized what she had just done to him.

"Clark, I'm sorry, I didn't..."

He quickly stood. "Don't worry about it, it was nothing. I'm 
sorry I overreacted." He gave her a smile that never went past 
his lips. "Why don't I call Lucy. I imagine she'll be back at the 
house by now. She and I can find the center and make the proper 
calls."

"And me?"

"You have a story to pitch to Perry, and you'd better do it soon. 
The elections are less than a week away." Clark opened the door 
and stepped through it before Lois had a chance to stand.

***********************

Clark and Lois arranged to pick up Lucy after work and all head 
over to Ellen's together. When they got there, Ellen was still 
asleep. Actually unconscious would be closer to the truth. Clark 
easily carried Ellen down to the car while the daughters put 
together a suitcase for her.

Clark, not wanting to be caught in a situation where he might not 
be able to break away if needed, suggested that Lois and Lucy 
take Ellen over and check her into the center. He volunteered to 
stay behind and clean up the apartment. Over Lucy's protests he 
assured her that it would be fine. He would catch a cab and most 
likely be back before they would. The promise of a late dinner 
waiting for them when they got back silenced any further 
protests.

************************

It took the Lane daughters longer than they anticipated to get 
Ellen checked into the Dunsmoor Chemical Dependency Center, or DC 
squared as it's more commonly referred to. Aside from the normal 
administrative paper work about insurance and past medical 
history, which luckily Clark had been able to locate at the 
apartment, the doctor wanted a complete rundown on Ellen's 
physical and mental state over the last few days. Lucy hadn't 
been in town until the funeral, and Lois didn't even meet Ellen 
until the funeral so they could give the doctor little in the way 
of information. The best they could do was to relate the incident 
from that morning and assume that the supposed reconciliation had 
been going better than anyone thought and so Sam's tragic death 
hit her harder than one would imagine.

It was late when Lois and Lucy finally made it back to the 
brownstone, but true to his word Clark had a late supper waiting. 
Not knowing when they might be back he had settled on a cold 
pasta salad and some wine. Both women were very grateful for the 
food and devoured it quickly. There was little conversation at 
the table beyond a retelling of the agony that was the check in 
procedure at the center. As the three of them were clearing the 
table Lois noticed Clark getting 'that look'. He was looking 
around the room as if searching for some sort of escape route. 
Before he could speak, Lois broke in.

"Oh, darn!" She had their attention. "I left some important files 
on the mayoral expose' on my desk. I really needed to look some 
things over tonight before Perry and I, ah, settled on the focus 
of the piece."

The corner of Clark's mouth twitched upward gratefully as he 
grabbed hold of the lifeline Lois had thrown him. "Hey, I need to 
get some air anyway. I'll run down to the Planet and get them for 
you Lois."

"Are you sure?" Lois tried to sound like he was doing her a big 
favor.

"No problem, I'll be back before you know it."

Lucy stared after Clark with an uncomfortable frown on her face 
as he quickly made his way out the front door. Lucy then turned 
her questioning visage over toward Lois. Lois shrank back a bit 
under the unwavering stare, then she shrugged.

"Hey, what can I say. He's just a really nice guy."

Lucy just shook her head, her dark shoulder length locks gently 
brushing the collar of her top. "Whatever you say, Lois." Lucy 
forced herself to smile. "Well it's late and I've still got some 
reading I want to do, so if you don't mind, I will excuse myself 
and head on up to bed."

"Good night, Luce, I'll see you in the morning."

Lois stared thoughtfully at the space her 'sister' had occupied 
long after Lucy was gone from the room. She bit her lip as a 
myriad of conflicting thoughts warred in her mind. It was a good 
thing Lucy would be gone soon. Lois wasn't sure she could hold 
out much longer against what was obviously a growing intuition on 
Lucy's part that something wasn't right with her big sister Lois. 
With another sigh, she seemed to be doing that a lot lately, Lois 
turned her attention back to finishing up in the kitchen.

********************

It was about midnight and a tired but not sleepy Lois Lane sat 
propped up against the head board of the large king sized bed. 
She felt like she could drown in this bed, which was clearly 
designed for two. She had an assortment of files scattered about 
her on the bedspread.

Clark had returned and had actually brought back her files on the 
story. Just in case, he had told her. He had made a show of 
making enough noise so that Lucy would hear he was back, since he 
could tell by the light under her door that she was still up. 
Once that had been established, he slipped out the bedroom window 
into the night, not planning to return until morning.

Lois' mind was such a jumble of thoughts and fears that she 
couldn't fall asleep so she thought that going over her files 
would help her fall asleep. It didn't. She was just about to give 
up and turn the light off when she heard a gentle knock on the 
door. Lois froze.

"Lois, are you guys still up? I saw your light."

Before Lois could shout out not to come in, Lucy pushed the door 
open and stepped inside quietly, so as not to wake anyone if they 
were sleeping. Lucy was confronted with Lois sitting up in that 
big bed with her files strewn all about her... and no Clark.

Lucy blinked a couple times as she frowned. She looked at Lois 
the question obvious on her face. "Lois, where's Clark?"

If there ever was a real life analogy to the classic 'deer in the 
headlights' stare Lois had it down just then. Her lips moved up 
and down a few times but no sound came out. She looked from Lucy, 
to the bathroom, noticed there was no light on in there, and back 
to Lucy.

"Ah... he had to go out."

Lucy came over and sat on the edge of the bed. "At midnight? 
What, does he moonlight as Batman?"

Lois started at Lucy's joke. "No, of course not. He just, ah, had 
to meet a source." Lois looked away from Lucy's disbelieving 
frown. "You know, in this business we have to be prepared to 
follow a potential lead at any moment."

"Uh huh, and why didn't you go with him? I know it's not because 
you felt you couldn't leave me alone."

"Umm, well it's one of his sources. It's on a story of his. I'm 
not involved with it."

"I thought you two were partners?"

"Well yeah, we are, but not always on everything. Take this story 
I'm working on now, I'm the one who..."

Lucy reached over and grabbed Lois' hand as it started to flutter 
about. She had managed to stop Lois before the babble took over. 
"Lois, what's wrong? Why isn't Clark here?" Lucy softened her 
tone a bit. "I know that's there's something wrong, but I can't 
figure out what."

"Lucy, I tell you there is nothing wrong."

"Lois, I know better. I know you. You've been acting weird these 
last couple days. And you and Clark together? Well that's one big 
mystery to me. I don't think he's hardly touched you since I've 
been here. And I've only seen him give you one sterile peck on 
the cheek."

"Well, you know, we aren't that demonstrative in public."

"Baloney! Even I know better than that. I haven't been in 
Antarctica you know. I know that you and Clark have a reputation 
for acting like a couple love struck teenagers at the drop of 
hat, and giving no second thought to where you are at the time." 
Lucy shook her head in disagreement with Lois. "This is not only 
from what you have told me, but from what I've heard from others 
also. You've positively embarrassed mother on several occasions, 
and I have gotten some of the office gossip from Jimmy, in his 
infrequent letters." Lucy gave Lois a wry grin. "Modesty ain't 
going to work with me, Sis."

"Honestly, Lucy, I don't know where you..."

"Lois!" Lucy grabbed Lois' other hand as she slid closer. "I find 
this hard to believe but," Lucy lowered her voice as if to soften 
her question, "is it another woman?"

Lois was shocked that Lucy could think that of such an 
unquestionably kind and compassionate man. The sad thing was, 
Lucy was absolutely right. It was another woman, or more 
accurately her memory, which kept Clark from acting like a 
happily married man around Lois. But Lucy couldn't know that, so 
Lois had to try and deny Lucy's probing question.

"No, of course not, how could you even think such a thing of 
Clark!"

"Lois, I don't know what to think here. My beautiful big sister 
and her perfect husband are acting like they barely know each 
other. The picture perfect marriage seems to be going the way 
that our parent's marriage did. Clark does his best to avoid you, 
and you do, do - stuff like wreak your hair." Lucy was becoming 
more animated. "What, did Clark compliment your hair recently so 
you decided to cut it off to get back at him? And that color..."

"Lucy!" Lucy's hands were now flailing about so Lois grabbed 
them. "Listen to yourself, you are getting ridiculous. You are 
not making sense." Lois sighed. "Can't you just accept that Clark 
and I are going through some minor problems and let it go at 
that?"

"If I thought that what I've been seeing is the result of minor 
problems I'd say sure, and butt out. But I don't see minor 
problems, I see marriage threatening problems. I see mom and dad 
starting all over again. Lois, I don't want to have that happen 
to you. Please can't you tell me what's wrong?"

Lois bit her lip, tears began to leak from her eyes and roll 
slowly down her cheeks. She knew she had no right to tell Lucy 
the truth, at least not without talking it over with Clark first. 
But she ached to tell her. It would be so great to have someone 
to talk to about all her fears and problems in dealing with this. 
There was so much she couldn't discuss with Clark, especially 
since he was part of the problem.

She'd never had a sister she could confide in as she grew up but 
she'd always fantasized about it. Someone to share her hopes and 
fears with. Someone she could have talked to about boys when they 
were in their teen years. Lois had always had to keep all those 
things to herself. She had never had a real close friend, and her 
mother was too busy working herself to death to support them to 
be a friend to her also.

"Lois?" Lucy reached out and touched Lois' arm. "Please let me 
help."

Lois wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands. She stared at 
Lucy for several long moments. She could see the genuine concern 
on the younger woman's face. Again Lois was taken by how little 
Lucy resembled the image that Clark had drawn for her from his 
limited contacts. Obviously being on her own these last couple 
years must have matured Lucy a lot, because the woman who sat 
next to her was a confident, and caring individual whose real 
desire to help was evident.

Lois had to take into consideration that telling Lucy the truth, 
even an edited truth would cause Lucy a great deal of pain. It 
was obvious that Lucy loved her big sister, and knowing the truth 
would devastate her. Then again, didn't Lucy deserve to know the 
truth? Lois was torn.

After several more minutes of soul searching and being on the 
receiving end of Lucy's sympathetic stares, Lois allowed her own 
selfish needs to override what she intellectually knew was 
prudent. "Lucy?" Lucy looked up expectantly as Lois had to 
swallow before she could continue. "I'm not sure how to say this, 
but - I'm not your sister Lois."

Lois had to give Lucy credit. She didn't back away, nor did she 
launch into some mocking tirade. She merely stared at Lois for a 
long time, not saying anything. She absentmindedly tucked several 
strands of silky hair behind her ear but still didn't speak. Lois 
could see the different emotions play across her face. Disbelief, 
fear, confusion, all the different responses that she might have 
took their turn, but she waited until she had thought about what 
Lois had said before she answered.

"So where is Lois? Who are you? Are you one of those clones?" 
Lucy words were slow and deliberate, like talking to someone you 
didn't want to upset.

Lois allowed herself a tiny smile. "No, I'm not a clone." Lois 
took a deep breath. "Actually I am Lois Lane, but I never had a 
sister. The Lucy Lane I knew was my cousin. I'm from a parallel 
dimension. A place where many of the people and places have 
duplicates in this dimension." Lois could see that Lucy wasn't 
buying into this.

"You're talking the sci fi stuff right. We all have doubles in an 
infinite number of parallel dimensions, each just slightly 
different from each other." The sarcasm began to creep into 
Lucy's voice. "Here we elect an actor, Ronald Reagan, president a 
few years ago and you elect..."

"Elvis."

Lucy rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. "Elvis, yeah right." 
Lucy shook her head. "Lois I'm a little too old for bedtime 
stories."

Lois began to get a little annoyed at Lucy's natural skepticism. 
"You are apparently aware that your sister was replaced by a 
clone at her wedding and that there is an alien who flies around 
in tights continually doing good deeds. So what is so hard about 
believing in another dimension?"

Lucy fixed Lois with a calculating stare. "For the sake of 
argument, let's say what you are telling me is true. Why are you 
here? Is my sister over in your dimension pretending to be you?"

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean, not exactly?"

Lois bit her lip some more. It was one nervous habit that had 
been getting quite a work out lately. "It's a long complicated 
story."

Lucy pulled her feet up on the bed and sat cross legged in front 
of Lois. "I've got all night."

Lois tried to think of how she could tell this story. Lucy 
evidently didn't know Clark was Superman. That meant that she 
wouldn't have knowledge of H.G. Wells and his meddling in the 
lives of Lois and Clark. She had to be careful how she told this 
story so as not to jeopardize Clark's secret. Lois took a couple 
deep breaths and began.

"You are familiar with the invasion from the New Kryptonians a 
while back aren't you?" At Lucy's nod she continued. "Well a few 
weeks ago they appeared on my world. They weren't at all like 
what I understand they were here. The band that invaded my world 
were already under the command of Lord Nor and were nothing more 
than super powered thugs." Lois could see that Lucy was being 
drawn in despite herself.

"My world was in desperate straights so, er - a friend came and 
asked Superman to come and help. He'd dealt with the New 
Kryptonians on this world so his extra knowledge would come in 
handy, as well as his powers. This friend had a means of 
traveling between the dimensions so Superman and Lois came over 
to my world to help."

"Wait a minute!" Lucy stopped Lois' story. "Why was Lois there?"

"Apparently she insisted on coming along." Lois let out before 
she realized what she'd said.

"I know Lois is crazy about getting a story, but I don't see this 
as anything that she could print and be believed?" Lucy frowned. 
"And where was Clark? I have a hard time imagining him allowing 
this to happen."

"Well, uh, Clark went along too."

Lucy interrupted again. "Wasn't there a Superman in your world?"

"Yes, but he didn't have the experience, and anyway he was soon 
killed, and... wait I'm getting ahead of myself." Lois was 
getting flustered.

"Before you go any further," Lucy's hand was now on Lois'. "Tell 
me, if you are here, where is my sister?"

Tears began to roll down Lois' cheeks again. She stared at the 
ceiling for a few moments gathering her courage. Then she looked 
Lucy in the eye. "I'm so sorry, but your sister was killed."

Still not totally buying into this story, Lucy bit down hard on 
her lip so she wouldn't cry out. With great effort she made her 
face an emotionless mask as she studied the tears that poured 
from the eyes of the red-headed impostor sitting in her sister's 
bed. "I think you'd better tell me the whole story."

So Lois proceeded to tell Lucy about the whole ugly affair. It 
took most of the rest of the night to get through. She had to 
leave some parts out. Parts that would give away Clark's secret. 
And the only answer she kept giving when Lucy asked her were 
Clark was, was that she either didn't know or he was with 
Superman. It was slow going, but Lucy didn't interrupt much. When 
she finally reached the place where Lois had been killed by the 
Kryptonian thug Lucy broke down. Lois cradled the sobbing younger 
woman's head against her chest as she continued on, telling her 
the rest of the story.

**************************

Lois was still holding Lucy, who now was reduced to sniffles and 
wiping at the dried tear tracks that itched, with the back of her 
hand, when Clark flew into the bedroom window. He was trying so 
hard not so see Lois lying in his bed when he flew in he didn't 
notice the fact that Lucy was also there. He had spun into his 
Clark Kent shorts and T shirt before he realized that Lois wasn't 
alone in the bed.

Lucy's eyes were wide in shock as she pulled away from Lois, one 
hand over her mouth, the other pointing toward Clark. Clark was 
still not aware of the unfolding tableau, instead he was 
concentrating on his closet and what he was going to wear to the 
office.

"You, you're him!" Lucy's voice cracked as she tried to put into 
words the astounding revelation she'd just witnessed.

At the sound of her voice Clark whirled to finally confront the 
scene being played out in his bedroom. His jaw dropped in 
surprise as he saw Lucy sitting up on the edge of the bed, her 
shock clearly written on her face for all to see. Clark shot a 
quick glance at Lois, who was wringing her hands in front of her, 
then back to focus on Lucy.

He had always thought that the day might come when he would have 
to share the secret with Lois' sister, but this was definitely 
not the way he had envisioned it. Given the circumstances of the 
recent past, he hadn't thought that it would now ever become 
necessary for anyone in Lois' family to ever find out. Yet here 
he was, confronted with that exact situation, due to his own 
carelessness and unwillingness to accept this other world Lois 
sharing his bedroom.

"Oh course, it makes sense now!" Hot tears flowed freely down 
Lucy's face again. "Clark would never have let Lois go into 
danger with Superman, even if he went along, unless... unless he 
*was* Superman." Lucy shook her head violently. "And now she's 
dead!" Her tears seemed to flame with a blistering anger as she 
jumped up and began to beat on Clark's chest. "You let her die! 
Where were you? Why did you let her die!" Her accusations became 
a moaning mantra as she continued to beat on Clark's chest with 
her fists.

Clark grabbed her wrists and held them away from him. "Lucy! Stop 
it, you'll only hurt yourself."

Lucy froze in place for a few seconds. Her eyes cleared 
momentarily and she stared into Clark's eyes as if seeing him for 
the first time. She looked toward Lois and then to Clark, and 
back again. "This is just sick!" She screamed. "How could you!"

Then the water works began again as she pulled her hands away 
from his and ran out of the room. Both Clark and Lois could hear 
the door to the guest room slam shut and the too audible sobbing 
of the grieving sister.

Lois got up and placed her hand on Clark's arm. "Oh, Clark, I'm 
so sorry."

Clark started when he felt her hand touch his arm. He looked at 
her but it seemed to take a second for his eyes to focus on her. 
"What happened?"

Lois turned away and chewed on her lip while she tried to order 
her thoughts. "Lucy knows that I'm not her sister." Lois waited 
for Clark to say something but when he didn't she plunged ahead. 
"She could tell that *things* weren't normal between us. I guess 
her and Lois were close, and used to share, so she knew that the 
marriage she was seeing was not the one she had been told about." 
Lois sat back down on the edge of the bed and sighed. "She came 
in late last night and found that you were gone. It seemed to 
just reinforce everything she had been thinking. I tried to give 
her some excuse about meeting a source but in the face of 
everything else, she just didn't buy it." Tears began to roll 
down Lois' cheeks. "Oh, Clark, I tried but she just knew Lois too 
well, and she could tell that I was lying to her. She was 
thinking that you were being unfaithful. I just couldn't let her 
think that. She kept pleading for me to let her help. I didn't 
know what to do."

Clark so wanted to sit down next to her and hold her, tell that 
everything would be okay, but he didn't trust himself. He knew 
that it would be so easy to allow himself to forget that this was 
a different woman and let the now buried feelings come forth. 
That would be bad for both of them. It would be cruel to pretend 
that there could ever be more than a careful friendship between 
them. He had to fight the ghost echoes of feelings that died with 
his wife. Sighing himself, Clark sat on the corner of the bed and 
held one of her hands. He reached back and pulled a tissue from 
the box on the night stand and handed it to her.

"Here, I'm sure it was tough. I don't blame you for telling her."

Lois sniffled, and then blew her nose on the offered tissue. 
"Yeah, but I was weak. Clark, sometimes I feel so alone here. It 
will take time for me to think of many of these 'friends' I have 
as real friends. And still I have to always be on guard, so that 
I don't say the wrong thing. I can't really be myself with any of 
them. The thought of having a sister, one who I could really 
confide in, someone who I could be me with, I guess the 
temptation was just too much. I knew this would be tough on her 
at first, but I truly hoped that she would be able to let me in, 
as a friend, and that given time, I could fill a small part of 
what she lost when she lost her own sister." Lois' eyes pleaded 
with Clark. "Was that so wrong?"

Clark stared at his hands for a few moments. He shook his head a 
couple times then stood up. "No, I don't think it was so wrong, 
though I'm not the one who has to answer that question." Clark 
pulled his glasses down and used his x-ray vision to check on 
Lucy. "I think I'd better have a talk with Lucy. She needs to 
know the whole truth." Clark quietly left the master suite, 
closing the door behind him.

****************

Lucy slammed the door behind her as she threw herself onto the 
bed and quickly cried herself into hiccups. Her mind was a whirl 
with conflicting thoughts and emotions, all fighting for 
supremacy in her brain. Clark was Superman! That thought alone 
should've been enough to knock her over, but the added 
implications of that, and the role he played in the death of her 
sister were even more staggering.

He had to have known the kind of danger they were heading into, 
how could he have let this thing happen? And then there was this 
other Lois, who just happened to come back and had decided to 
slip into her sister's life. At first Lucy had been too horrified 
by her story to really think about it, but the more she thought 
about it the more it seemed sort of sick and perverted. Superman 
loses his number one groupie so he replaces her with a handy look 
alike? Lucy tried to push that thought away. She would never have 
thought such a thing from Clark, at least not from the way Lois 
had continually described him to her. But what else was she to 
think?

Suddenly a knock at the door interrupted her mental ramblings. 
She didn't really feel up to talking with anyone, but she was 
pragmatic enough too know that this confrontation was inevitable. 
She might as well get in over with sooner than later, it's not 
like she was going to feel any better soon.

"Come in." Lucy swallowed back a couple of sobs before they could 
escape and wiped at her tears with the corner of the bedspread.

Clark entered. "Lucy, I think we need to talk."

Lucy stared at her brother-in-law. "You think so?" He looked like 
the Clark she had just talked to yesterday morning at breakfast, 
but the knowledge that he was also Superman kept pushing it's way 
to the forefront of her consciousness. "Just answer me one 
question - *Superman*, why did you let my sister die?" Lucy could 
see the pain etched on his face at the mention of Lois' death. 
She was glad that she had been able to cause him pain.

"Lucy, you have to believe me. I thought she was safe." He 
dragged his hand through his hair and had trouble meeting Lucy's 
eyes. "Only a very few people knew where she and the other Lois 
were." He waved a weak gesture back toward the master bedroom. 
"We were betrayed - by someone we trusted. That betrayal cost 
Lois, and that world's Perry White their lives."

Lucy knew from the story that the other Lois had told her that 
Perry White, who was the mayor of that Metropolis had been 
executed by the vile Lord Nor. Lucy had been shocked that Jimmy's 
counter part, a young mogul who had made his money in computer 
systems and software, and the owner of the Daily Planet, James 
Olsen, had been the one to betray the little band of rebels.

"I know all that," she said with a chilly edge to her voice. 
"What I don't know is why was she there? You had to know how 
dangerous this little escapade of yours would be. Why did you let 
her go along?"

Clark sighed as he stared at the floor. There it was. The one 
question he'd been asking himself over and over again. And just 
because he knew the answer didn't make the question any easier.

"Lucy, you have to understand that Lois had a history with that 
world's Superman. She was responsible for him becoming Superman, 
and she was his friend." Clark saw the look of confusion of 
Lucy's face. "It would take too long to explain it now. Just 
suffice it to say, that no matter how much I wanted her to stay 
behind, she would have no part of it. She was coming and that was 
that."

"But you're Superman! Surely you can stand up to one petite 
woman."

Clark cocked an eyebrow at Lucy and she squirmed under the gaze. 
She studied the pattern on the carpet so as not to have to look 
into his eyes. The thing was she knew he was right. If Lois had 
gotten it into her mind that she was going to do something, 
nothing or no one was going to keep her from doing it. Whether it 
be extreme danger or even a Superman, Lois Lane followed her own 
agenda.

Lucy shook her head back and forth as tears began to fall again. 
"I don't understand? My sister is killed, so you bring a 
replacement back with you?" She raised her tear stained face up 
so that she was looking at Clark eye to eye. "I thought you loved 
my sister?"

Clark was stunned by Lucy's implication. That she could even 
think something like that tore at Clark's very being. Clark came 
over and sat next to Lucy on the bed. He reached over and grabbed 
one of her hands and gave it a little squeeze. When he spoke his 
voice was soft but with a hint of steel in it.

"Lucy, I know you loved your sister. Lois had told me how close 
you two were while you were growing up. I know that this has been 
a terrible shock to you and you're hurting very badly." Clark set 
her hand back on her lap. "I'm not here to compare levels of 
grief and loss with you, but I need you to hear me, and 
understand what I'm saying. Lois was not just my lover and my 
wife. She was a part of me. When I first saw her I knew then what 
it was I had been missing in my life up until then. She completed 
me in a way that I can't begin to explain." Tears began to run 
down Clark's cheeks now also. "I lost that part of me that day. 
*The* most important part, and now I have to go on day after 
miserable day with this huge empty hole where my soul used to 
be."

Lucy's pain made her want to scream back at Clark. Was he trying 
to say that his loss was greater than hers? No, she knew he 
didn't mean that, but he couldn't know how she felt. He didn't 
know what it was like to lose someone as close as a sister? Yet, 
just one look at his face and Lucy knew, he did know. And right 
then she finally realized what it was Lois had been trying to 
tell her all those times they talked these past months. The love 
that Lois and Clark had for each other was something that was 
beyond her understanding, something that, until it happened to 
her, she could only try to imagine. And she suddenly found 
herself shedding more tears, but this time they were for Clark.

Clark saw Lucy begin to cry again so he put his arm around her 
and pulled her in close. He just held her for several minutes 
while she cried herself out.

After a time Lucy was able to pull herself together. She wiped 
her eyes with the palms of her hands. She felt bad that she had 
ever doubted Clark, but she still had to know what that other 
woman was doing here, pretending to be her sister.

"Clark, I'm sorry if I doubted you... " Lucy hesitated.

"But?" Clark gave her a slight sardonic smile.

"Well, she seems really nice and all that, but," Lucy waved her 
arm back in the direction of the other room, "what is she doing 
here?"

Clark bit his lip, then reached over and took both of Lucy's 
hands in his. "I don't think you realize what that woman has gone 
through lately." Clark shook his head trying to collect his 
thoughts. "Lucy, do you remember a few years back, when Lois went 
to the Congo following up on that gun running story?" Clark 
waited until she nodded. "Well your sister never found that lead 
she needed and came back without a story. But that woman in the 
other room found the gun runners, or I should say they found 
her."

Clark proceeded to tell Lucy the story of the Lois Lane from the 
other dimension. How she had spent years in a dirty African 
prison cell, how she was finally rescued by her world's Superman 
only to be immediately thrust into the horror that was the 
invasion by the New Kryptonians. Clark painted the picture of a 
woman who had nearly lost hope, then to cruelly have it restored 
only to lose everything she had ever known and everything she 
might have ever had.

Lucy pursed her lips in thought. "I can see she's had to endure a 
lot, but why bring her back here?"

"To save her life." Clark saw Lucy's questioning gaze. "Lucy, 
think about it. We were Lord Nor's prisoners, I had to agree to 
exile or Nor was going to kill thousands of innocents, including 
Lois. Perry had been killed, she was alone. The Daily Planet was 
in the hands of a traitor. What was left for her?"

Lucy shrugged. "To fight for her world?"

Clark shook his head. "That's a nice sentiment, but remember we 
were Nor's prisoners. How long do you think Lois would have lived 
once I had left?"

Lucy frowned. "I guess," Lucy freed her hands from Clark's, "but 
why did she have to come here and pretend to be Lois?"

Clark sighed. "Luce, she may not be your sister, but she is Lois 
Lane." A small smile turned the corner of Clark's mouth. "And she 
could really use a friend?"

Lucy reached up and stroked Clark's cheek in an all too familiar 
gesture. "Clark, I'm leaving today to head back to school." She 
saw Clark's disappointment. She shook her head. What was it about 
this guy? There was just no way you could look into those eyes 
and say no. "Tell you what I'll do. I have to go back and take 
care of a few things, our semester break is in another week. I'll 
come back for a visit then." She gave him a crooked smile. "That 
is if you can figure a way that I could save some money on some 
air fare?"

For the first time in weeks, Clark's smile was genuine. "Deal," 
was all he said.

********************

Breakfast was a little more animated than the day before. The 
early morning's revelations and subsequent discussions were still 
raw wounds with everyone, but all were making concerted efforts 
to shield those feelings from each other. Lois and Lucy were 
conversing about simple things. Lucy had found that Lois' taste 
in clothes was much closer to her's than her sister's had been. 
So the rest of the meal was spent with Lucy telling Lois all the 
best places to shop.

Clark rinsed his plate off and set it in the sink. "Well I'm off 
to work. Lois, I'll tell Perry, you have to take Lucy to the 
airport and that you'll be in later."

Lois put her coffee cup down. "Don't forget that I have an 
interview with candidate Tompkins at eleven thirty so it won't be 
till after lunch."

"Okay, bye, see ya Lucy," Clark gave Lucy a wink. "Don't forget 
to give us a call once you have your schedule worked out."

"I will, bye Clark."

The two women busied themselves with clearing off the table and 
doing up the morning dishes. After which, Lucy went up and 
swiftly repacked her bag and brought it down to the living room. 
Lois had her briefcase in one hand and the jeep keys in the 
other.

Lucy stopped before they headed for the door and took a look 
around again. She laughed. "You know it's going to be sort of 
hard to get used to the idea, that my brother-in-law is Superman, 
but then my sister never did settle for anything less than the 
best."

Lois joined her in her laugh. "Tell me about it. Until three 
weeks ago, I didn't even know a Superman existed."

The two 'sisters' marched out the front door together and made 
there way down the front steps. Unfortunately no one had 
remembered to bring in the paper that morning, and with her 
suitcase in her hand blocking her vision, Lucy stepped on the 
paper. The plastic wrapped Planet slipped out from under Lucy's 
foot which caused her to stumble sideways right into Lois. Lucy 
struck Lois with enough force to cause Lois to also lose her 
balance and begin to tumble to the side and down.

Just at that moment the crack of a rifle shot ripped through the 
mid-morning stillness.

Both ladies tumbled headlong down the last couple stairs to land 
hard on the sidewalk. Lois groaned as she got to her knees. She 
ached but she apparently wasn't hurt. She'd heard the gunshot and 
so she immediately looked about for any sign of a shooter. 
Everything seemed so serene and normal that she began to believe 
she hadn't really heard anything.

She noticed Lucy was still sprawled on the sidewalk. "Lucy, you 
all right?" Lois shook her gently. She felt a stickiness on her 
fingers when she touched Lucy. She pulled her hand away and 
looked at it. "Oh, my god." Lois began to look about her in near 
panic. "Help! Help somebody." She calmed herself for a second. 
"Help, Cla- Superman! Help Superman!"

In less than thirty seconds Superman came swooping onto the 
scene. He dropped down beside the two women.

"Lois, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Oh, Clark, it's Lucy, she's been shot!"

*********************

Lois paced around the low table, that held the out of date 
magazines, in the hospital waiting room. Superman had rushed Lucy 
to Metropolis General and had handed her over to the emergency 
room doctors. He had then gone back for Lois. Dropping her off, 
he'd spoken to her as Superman in a voice that others nearby 
would be sure to overhear. He'd told her that he would go over to 
the Daily Planet, find her husband and tell him what had 
happened, and bring him here. Lois had nodded dumbly and watched 
as he took off. True to his word, Clark had arrived a few minutes 
later.

Lois continued to annoy the other people in the waiting room with 
her pacing while Clark was over at administration taking care of 
Lucy's admittance details. Lois hadn't heard anything yet from 
any doctor or hospital employee and her concern for Lucy's 
condition warred with her shock that someone had taken a shot at 
her. If Lucy hadn't stumbled when she did, knock into Lois, and 
subsequently get in the way of the bullet, Lois might very well 
be dead right now. Not knowing how Lucy was continued to be nerve 
wracking.

Not that being shot at was all that unfamiliar to Lois. On more 
than one occasion she'd had to duck bullets meant to discourage 
her from pursuing a hot lead on a big story, but Lois was at a 
loss for the reason behind this attempt. The Tompkins thing 
wasn't potentially big enough to kill her over was it? Besides, 
she'd hadn't even had a chance to interview Maggie Tompkins yet, 
so how could she even suspect that Lois was on to her? None of 
this added up. Something in the back of her head was nagging at 
her, telling her that she was not only missing some critical 
piece, but that she probably had the wrong puzzle.

Lois' ruminations were interrupted by someone behind her clearing 
their throat. She turned and was confronted with a tall, slender 
man. He was sharply dressed in a gray blazer, with matching gray 
slacks. His white shirt was neatly pressed and his simple blue 
and white tie spoke of conservative tastes, or someone official. 
His dark hair was slicked back which probably just revealed more 
of the strands of gray which were becoming quite numerous. His 
lips were pursed in a tight line, and he had a sympathetic look 
on his face.

"I'm sorry to hear about your sister, Lois." The man spoke in 
even tones but his words were sincere. "I came as soon as the 
report came across my desk."

Lois was lost. "Can I help you with something?"

"Inspector Henderson - Bill, what brings you out here?" Clark had 
come hurrying into the waiting room once he saw the police 
inspector standing there talking to Lois.

"Hi, Clark. I was just telling Lois that I came over once I saw 
the shooting report. Thought I'd look into this myself and was 
just about to ask Lois what happened," he favored Lois with a 
cocked eyebrow, "but she was being her normal helpful self."

Clark let go a nervous laugh. "Oh, well, you know Lois. She's 
just upset and distracted by this. Her younger sister just got 
shot, probably hit accidentally."

"So you think the bullet was meant for Lois?"

Clark shrugged. "I'd say that's more likely than it being for 
Lucy."

"Yeah, that's what I think too." Henderson turned to Lois, who 
had been following the conversation quite closely. "So, Lois, you 
want to tell me what happened?"

It hit Lois in a rush. This Bill Henderson was a local policeman, 
who having seen the shooting report came to see them at the 
hospital. Lois shot Clark a look that imparted her displeasure 
over not having been filled in about this particular police 
inspector, who apparently knew Lois and Clark quite well.

"Inspector," Lois noticed his frown, "Bill, how did you hear 
about the shooting. Neither Clark nor I have had the chance to 
report it yet?"

"Your neighbor phoned it in, said she heard the shot, saw you and 
Lucy fall, and Superman arrived shortly after your shouts for 
him." Henderson gave her a rueful smile. "Nice to have big blue 
at your beck and call."

Lois gave Henderson a scowl. "You know Superman would come to 
help anyone who called out." Lois actually allowed her self a 
slight smile. "Though it doesn't hurt to have a husband who is 
his best friend."

Henderson shook his head. "From what I heard, you and the big guy 
at one time were not exactly strangers either."

Henderson laughed at Lois indignant blush. Lois was quite aware 
of the past history of Lois and Superman, not only from Lois 
herself, but the public's perception from some of the stories she 
read by other reporters regarding Superman. There had even been a 
scandal that Lois and Superman had shared a romantic tryst not 
long after Lois and Clark had been married.

"Okay Lois, why don't you tell me what happened and any ideas you 
might have as to why."

Lois proceeded to tell Inspector Henderson all about her morning 
with Lucy, and how she had slipped causing them to fall at the 
same time as the shot was fired. Henderson frowned as she 
explained about the candidate Tompkins influence peddling story 
she was working on.

"How come you haven't brought this to the attention of the 
police, Lois?"

Clark jumped in to defend his 'wife'. "Come on, Bill. You know 
how it works. We don't have enough to print yet. We still need to 
corroborate some facts, and Lois was scheduled to talk to 
Tompkins today, then this happened." Clark put his hand on 
Henderson's shoulder. "You know once we know we've got something 
solid that we can print, that you'll be informed. Have we ever 
held back on you before?"

Henderson looked from Clark to Lois and back to Clark. "Well, I 
don't think you have, but I can't vouch for your wife." At 
Clark's stern look Henderson gave in. "Okay, okay, I'll give you 
the benefit of the doubt here." He turned his attention back to 
Lois. "So, Lois, is this story big enough to kill you for."

Lois shook her head. "I wouldn't think so. At most Tompkins would 
get, what, five to seven with early parole for good behavior. The 
money was substantial but not ridiculous." Lois shrugged. "Unless 
there is more to this than I'm aware of."

Clark, Lois, and Henderson spent the next hour going over what 
they did and what they didn't know about her story, and any 
relevance it might have to the shooting. The conversation 
eventually wound down to more mundane pleasantries and Lois 
realized that this police inspector did indeed have a 
relationship with Lois and Clark. It seemed that they had a 
reputation for playing it fairly straight with the inspector and 
he respected their work and it's consistent accuracy. Henderson 
even took a playful shot at Lois' colorful hairstyle. Her only 
answer was to scowl at him, to which he laughed. He quickly 
regained his serious demeanor as he got up from one of the chairs 
the trio had taken. Clark and Lois stood also.

"Okay," Henderson put away his note pad which he'd used to jot 
down notes while Lois had been talking. "I want you to be 
careful, who ever took that shot at you is still out there and 
once he finds out he missed, he might be back."

Before Lois could come back with a rejoinder the trio was 
interrupted by the arrival of a white coated young man. He looked 
tired but not despondent. Lois reached for Clark's hand. She 
missed but was grateful for him reaching over and grasping hers.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kent?" The young doctor asked.

Lois just nodded as Clark answered for them. "Yes, how is she 
doctor?"

He took a moment to gather himself then launched into his spiel. 
"Okay, the surgery went fine. The bullet passed through her lower 
left shoulder area. It did quite a bit of damage to the muscle 
tissue there, but we are confident, with enough rest and then 
proper rehab, she should be good as new there."

"But?" Lois interjected.

"We want to keep her for a few days, there is a possibility that 
her lung was nicked. We need to run a few tests, and watch her 
just to make sure."

Clark asked the question Lois couldn't. "And if it is?"

The doctor gave a slight twitch of the shoulders, not exactly a 
shrug. "We'll have to go back in and repair it." He reached over 
and placed his hand on Lois' shoulder. "Your sister has been hurt 
pretty bad, but she is a lucky woman. With time she will recover 
and be fine. A few inches to the right and it could have hit her 
heart and we wouldn't be talking about running a few more tests." 
He shook hands with Clark and Lois. "Lucy is being taken to 
recovery now but she is still under sedation. I suggest you two 
go home and get some rest. We'll have her in a room by tomorrow 
morning, and you can come visit her then."

"Can't we just see her for a minute now?" Lois pleaded.

The doctor shook his head. "No, she won't even be awake till 
morning. Go home, get some rest. Come back tomorrow. She'll still 
be here, I promise." The doctor smiled. "I have to go. Give your 
number to the front desk, they will contact you if there is any 
change at all." He gave them another smile and turned to go.

Henderson recaptured Clark's attention. "Well if what the doctor 
says it right, there has to be a slug out in front of your place. 
I've got men over there now checking out things. I need to get to 
a phone." Henderson turned to leave. He stopped and turned back 
to Lois. "Do you want me to send over some police protection?"

Lois shook her head. "No, that won't be necessary. Clark won't 
let anything happen to me." She glanced at him, her own face 
showing just a hint of a question. "Will you?"

Clark smiled at her. "No, Lois, I won't."

*********************

Back at the townhouse of Hyperion, Clark was pacing like a caged 
tiger while Lois fretted over in the side chair. Clark was upset 
over Lucy getting shot. He hated it when innocents got caught in 
the line of fire. It's one thing for a person to put there selves 
on the line purposely in pursuit of something. Whether it be to 
save lives, or in the line of duty, or even in the pursuit of a 
story, that's a conscious decision a person has to make. But let 
a complete innocent get hurt because they were in the wrong place 
at the wrong time, it was one of the few things that threatened 
Clark's careful control over his emotions. Clark never had a 
temper like many other people did. He had learned early on, given 
his power, that he had to guard against any emotional outburst 
that would threaten his control over himself. But there were a 
few things that pushed his buttons, and threatened his vaunted 
'ethics'. Lois had always been one, and the callous disregard for 
the innocent was another.

He turned and looked to Lois, she seemed deep in thought. "You're 
sure it's not related to this Tompkins thing." His words came out 
harsher than he intended.

Lois jerked her head up. "I don't know. It wouldn't make sense. 
Maggie Tompkins shouldn't even have a reason to suspect anyone is 
on to her yet." Lois' words were also more pointed than she 
intended. Her eyes were still red from allowing herself to 
breakdown on the way home. "This just isn't that big a deal to 
kill over."

"You're sure?"

Lois was starting to get annoyed. "No, I'm not sure. I already 
told you that. It's just my belief that the story doesn't warrant 
this action, especially not yet." Lois waved her hand about as if 
wiping out the last few thoughts. "Could it be something you and 
she were working on before? Do you have any enemies that would be 
willing to kill Lois?"

Clark gave her an expression of disbelief. "You are kidding, 
right. Do you know how many people have a grudge against Lane and 
Kent?" He threw up his hands. "Of course you do, you've done the 
research. The number of people who'd love to take potshots at 
Lois, or me, or both, would form a line that would wrap around 
this block!"

Lois stood, her hands clenched at her sides. "Well don't yell at 
me, I was just asking!" She stormed over and threw herself onto 
the couch.

Clark took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He snuck a quick 
glance at Lois. She was fighting back tears. Whether they were 
tears of frustration, or tears of hurt, he couldn't be sure. He 
knew his anger was misdirected. He couldn't help it, he just felt 
so powerless, just like he did back when Nor had secured his 
surrender. People were being threatened and people were being 
hurt, and he wasn't able to do a thing about it. What was wrong 
with him! He was the most powerful being on the planet and he was 
unable to protect those that he... He left that thought 
unfinished. He wanted to slam his fist into the wall, but there 
was still enough of a rational mind left to tell him that it 
wouldn't be a good idea.

"You know," Lois' voice dragged Clark out of his internal 
recriminations, "something about this whole thing doesn't add 
up." Lois saw Clark give her a questioning look. "Well, I've just 
never been a big believer in coincidences. At least not when they 
line up all in a neat little row."

"I don't know what you mean?"

Lois shrugged. "Why all this tragedy coming down on the Lane 
family all of a sudden? Sam is killed in a bizarre auto accident, 
Ellen starts drinking herself into oblivion again after several 
years sober, and now Lucy is shot. Can I even be sure that I was 
the target? And if I was, I'm still in the Lane family. Could 
this be a vendetta against them?"

"Lois, I think you are reaching here. Sometimes things just 
happen."

"Yeah, maybe, but I've got this itch at the back of my brain that 
says there is more here than meets the eye."

"Come on, Lois, sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence. 
Why do you always have to see conspiracies and intrigue in 
everything."

Lois' eyes flashed. "How would you know what I always see?" Tears 
began to slid down Lois' cheeks again. "You haven't been around 
enough to have any idea who or what the hell I am!"

Clark's own eyes darkened. "Look, Lois, all I meant was..." He 
was interrupted by a sharp rap at the front door.

Clark yanked the door open and was greeted by the sight of a 
dapper gentleman dressed in turn of the century garments.

"Mr. Wells!" Clark was surprised to see the elderly writer at his 
front door.

"Yes, good day to you Mr. Kent. I thought I'd pop over and share 
some information with you and Miss Lane." H.G. Wells stepped 
inside the door as Clark stepped aside and took in the scene 
before him. Clark's lips were compressed in a tight straight line 
and he seemed hesitant to look Wells in the eye. Lois was sitting 
on the couch her face still puffy and red as she wiped at her 
eyes and cheeks with her hands. "Oh dear, have I perhaps come at 
a bad time."

Clark remained silent but Lois jumped up from her seat. "No, no, 
Mr. Wells, please come in." She grabbed his hand and led him over 
to the couch and had him sit next to her. "Please tell us why you 
came."

"Well," he looked at Lois, then over to the frowning Clark Kent, 
then back to Lois. "Ah, right, okay then - I just got back from 
visiting the future of your former world, Miss Lane, and I 
thought you two would like to know how things have gone there."

"You what!" Clark's face darkened menacingly, but he was 
forestalled from further comment by Wells' upraised hands.

"Now Mr. Kent, I want you to know that I did nothing to violate 
our vow of non-interference." Wells took off his bowler hat and 
set it on the coffee table. "I merely went many years into the 
future of that world and viewed the history tapes from the period 
we recently were forced to leave." He watched Clark move over to 
a chair and sit down. Wells then turned to Lois, "and a wonderful 
future it was too, a virtual Utopia."

Lois looked confused, Clark stared at Wells. "How can that be? My 
failure - our failures, caused us to abandon that world to a gang 
of super powered criminals. That world was nearly on it's knees 
when they forced me to surrender and leave the people there 
defenseless."

"Quite right my boy." Wells stood and faced his audience like a 
lecturer at an auditorium. "But it seems that you didn't leave 
them quite as defenseless as you thought." Clark was frowning 
again. "Of course, there was a war of sorts. People will always 
rebel against tyrants. It started with a dedicated underground 
resistance. A band of world patriots as it were. They carried on 
a desperate guerrilla war for several months and despite the 
extraordinary powers wielded by the enemy they couldn't be 
crushed because they had two essential things." Wells' love of 
the dramatic began to creep into his monologue. "They had a 
strong charismatic leader, Jason Trask, and a weapon, 
kryptonite!"

Lois' head snapped over to face Clark. "Did you?" She could 
barely see his head move as he nodded. Lois hadn't known about 
kryptonite before she'd come to this world but upon researching 
some of Lane and Kent's past stories and Clark filling her in on 
some of the details that the stories left out she'd become aware 
of it's existence. And it's effect on Kryptonians.

"Yes, well, as I was saying," Wells quickly tried to reestablish 
control over his audience. "They had a weapon and in time they 
were able to overcome their would be conquerors." Wells began to 
pace as he continued to spin his tale. "The battles early on 
understandably went in favor of the super powered villains, but 
little by little the resistance force was able to gain small 
victories and gain the time they needed to formulate their 
ultimate victory." Wells took a breath not the least of which was 
to create a dramatic pause. "The details were somewhat 
propagandized in the tapes, but from what I gathered, the 
conflict turned based on two significant events. The first was 
the defection of two Kryptonian teenagers. A young woman named 
Zara, and a young man called Den-El." A smile twitched the corner 
of Wells' mouth as he noted Clark's reaction. "Yes, apparently a 
distant cousin or something of that world's Clark, and the death 
of his cousin must have caused him to rethink his loyalties. The 
addition of two super powered allies helped the resistance 
survive long enough for the final solution to be found."

Lois was shaking her head in confusion. "Mr. Wells, if two 
experienced Supermen couldn't counter the actions of the New 
Kryptonians how could two young, inexperienced kids do much 
good."

Wells smiled and nodded like he was pleased with the answer from 
a particularly bright student. "That was the genius of Trask, he 
learned from the past. Being still out manned in the super power 
department he used his young kryptonians as scouts, and look 
outs. He used them to facilitate rapid mobility and concealment." 
Wells began to pace again. "So while the use of the super powered 
youth was essential for the extended survival of the hearty band 
of fighters, it was the work of one brilliant man that is truly 
credited with the victory over the New Kryptonians." Wells saw 
that he had his audience's rapt attention. "It was the work of a 
Dr. Bernard Klein that turned the tide. His initial discovery of 
a way to Kryptonite gave the resistance an ample supply of a 
substance that could defeat their enemy. It was his later 
creations, a kryptonite gas, and some type of biological agent 
that affected only the kryptonians that are credited with finally 
bringing about a resolution to the problem of the New Kryptonians 
and their tyrannical rule." Wells stood up straight, almost like 
an actor waiting for his applause.

Lois shook her head and took a couple deep breaths of her own. 
"So, my world will be all right? It will eventually be a Utopia, 
I think you called it?"

"Yes, Miss Lane." Wells came over and patted Lois' hand. "But 
unfortunately your world has some tough times to go through yet 
before they get to that point, but you can take comfort in 
knowing that it eventually will."

Lois smiled sadly. "I'm glad."

"Something else I found out in my research might interest you 
two." Wells regained his lecturer mode. "It seems like that 
particular Utopia was founded on the examples set by two families 
and their super powered descendants. Zara fell in love with and 
eventually married Jason Trask. I guess she had quite a career as 
Superwoman." Wells turned to look toward Clark before he 
refocused his attention on Lois. "And Den-El took up his cousin's 
mantle as Superman. He later married a fellow resistance fighter 
that he'd fallen for during the conflict." Wells smiled at Lois. 
"I think her name was Lucy Lane."

Clark looked over at Lois in confusion. "I thought you said..."

"She was *my* cousin." Lois slowly shook her head trying to 
compr