Timestorm
By Irene Dutch <sirenegold@yahoo.com>
Rating: PG13
Submitted: July 2001


Many thanks to Laurie, Pam Jernigan and Wendy Richards for 
their wonderful beta- reading, and to Nan Smith and her husband 
for their help with medical details. I am more grateful than I 
can say for your assistance. And, of course, thanks to the 
readers at Zoom's message boards for all your support and 
encouragement, and thanks to my archive editor, Erin Klingler, 
for all her hard work.

Also, thank you, Marilyn, Chris and Jude, for your fantastic 
tacky suggestions for the Las Vegas portion of this story.

This story is a direct sequel to Firestorm. Chronologically, 
this starts about two months after the ending of Hiding in the 
Shadows.

All standard disclaimers apply.

~~ Timestorm ~~

Jimmy perched awkwardly on the edge of his sofa, not even 
noticing how uncomfortable he was. He gazed off into space, his 
hands sprawled limply across his thighs. It wasn't dawn yet, 
but he didn't turn on a light, instead preferring to sit and 
commune with his memories, with the ghost of memories, in the 
dark security of his apartment. He sat for hours, unmoving, 
abstracted. The sky lightened, the streetlights switched off, 
and he could sense the city awakening around him, but he 
couldn't gather the energy to move. His apartment was warm; 
even so, he felt chilled to the bone.

A tapping sound drew his attention away from the abstraction of 
his thoughts. He wearily pushed himself to his feet and 
shuffled over to shove open his window.

"Hi," Jimmy said matter-of-factly, stepping back so Superman 
could enter his small apartment.

"Hi," Clark said quietly in response. Uncharacteristically, he 
didn't look at his friend directly; instead his eyes were 
downcast. It was as if something were restraining him from 
acting normally.

Jimmy ambled back to the small couch and threw himself down, 
gesturing at the easy chair opposite. Clark sat down, arranging 
his cape carefully as he did so.

"It's okay," Jimmy assured him. "I already know."

"You know? You know that Sam and Astrid had their baby this 
morning?"

Jimmy nodded. "I felt it. I was sleeping, and I woke up, and I 
just knew. About three hours ago, right?"

Clark stared at him in disbelief. "Almost exactly." He shook 
his head. "Jimmy, that's... that's scary."

"Tell me about it," Jimmy agreed glumly, staring at his neatly 
folded hands lying limply in his lap. "I don't want to feel 
some kind of weird cosmic connection to a newborn infant. 
That's just plain sick."

Clark solemnly regarded his morose friend. "Jimmy..."

The younger man held up his hand, cutting off Clark's words. "I 
appreciate you coming to tell me; I really do. But I don't want 
to talk about this." Jimmy stared at Clark, an uncharacteristic 
steeliness to his features. "I'm not trying to be rude or 
anything, but I just want to be alone."

Clark nodded grimly. He stood up and moved back to the open 
window. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Jimmy inclined his head in answer.

Clark gazed at him for a long moment before turning and 
launching himself into the early morning sky.

Poker-faced, Jimmy watched his friend leave in a bright swirl 
of colours. His outer appearance was remarkably calm, but 
inside, Jimmy was a seething mass of contradictory emotions, 
all jumbled together.

Slowly, his shaking hand fumbled out to touch the ever-present 
portrait of Lee that he kept close. "I can't do this," he 
whispered through tightly clenched teeth. "Lee, I will never 
stop loving you, but I just can't do this."

***

"Uncle Jimmy hasn't been here yet," Astrid called through her 
hospital room's bathroom door.

"I'm sure he'll show up eventually," Bernie Klein shouted back 
to his daughter, not sure if his words were true or not.

Jimmy had been struggling silently with his emotions over the 
course of this pregnancy. Bernie, too, had had mixed feelings 
about this child. It had felt strange knowing so much about Lee 
that Sam and Astrid didn't. It had felt strange knowing what 
name they would pick before they did; it had felt strange 
knowing that they were having a girl before the tests showed 
this to be true. And knowing that this baby, this tiny scrap of 
humanity, was going to grow up to be the vibrant, loving, 
intelligent woman that he had known in the past and missed more 
than he would have believed possible, well, it just didn't seem 
real. How must it seem for Jimmy? Would he see traces of the 
woman he loved every time he looked at this tiny baby?

Bernie intently studied the sleeping infant cradled securely in 
his arms. She was beautiful. Her skin was creamy and fresh and 
almost translucent with a pearly sheen to it. Right now they 
were closed, but open, her eyes were bright and interested and 
piercing. He had never seen a newborn before who seemed so 
alert to everything going on around her. She was almost bald, a 
tiny bit of auburn fuzz the exact colour of Astrid's the only 
thing keeping her from that status.

He shifted her slightly, settling her a little bit more 
comfortably in his grasp. Her little rosebud mouth pursed into 
a tight bow at the movement and then relaxed once more. A warm 
wave of affection for the sleeping child rushed through Bernie, 
and for the umpteenth time that day, he blinked back 
sentimental tears.

As he watched in wonder, her eyelids fluttered, and then, 
suddenly, her eyes were open. Her gaze locked on his; it felt 
as though she were looking at his very soul. Her little mouth 
formed the newborn 'O' of astonishment - an expression he 
remembered vividly from the time of Astrid's infancy.

"I love you, sweetheart," he said softly.

Her eyes shifted, intently watching his mouth form the words, 
before moving back to meet his gaze once more.

"You're beautiful," he told her proudly, glad to have this 
short moment alone with his new granddaughter.

Sam had headed home for a few hours sleep. Even superheroes had 
their limits as Sam had learned after being with Astrid for 
over thirty-six hours of labour. That wouldn't have been so bad 
- for Sam, at least - except that he'd spent the forty- five 
hours prior to that battling against mudslides in Peru and 
Ecuador. He'd been exhausted, but even so, Bernie fully 
expected his son-in-law to show up sometime soon in order to 
pamper Astrid and Lee.

"She really is gorgeous, isn't she?" Astrid said as she emerged 
from the bathroom, her expression softening the instant she 
caught sight of her baby.

Bernie smiled tenderly at his daughter as she lifted little Lee 
from his arms. "Of course she is. She looks just like her 
mother."

Astrid smiled back. "I think you might be a bit biased, Dad." 
She gazed down at Lee, a bewildered, proud, surprised 
expression on her face. "You know, I still can't believe that 
I'm a mother. For nine and a half months, I was so completely 
focused on being pregnant. I had to be careful to keep my feet 
up because I was pregnant. I was tired all the time because I 
was pregnant. And now, suddenly, I'm not pregnant any more, and 
I have this brand new baby, and I haven't got a clue what to do 
to look after her, and I'm terrified!"

Bernie laughed. "It is amazing how changed your life is by 
something that doesn't even weigh as much as a Christmas 
turkey! Wait till you want to go on an outing with her. You 
have to take diapers and wipes and toys and the stroller and a 
change of clothing in case she spits up, and believe me, that's 
just the short list! There's more."

Astrid mock-glared at him. "Stop! Don't scare me; I'm already 
scared enough!"

He grinned. "It's okay, sweetheart. You know that you and Sam 
have a ton of willing helpers just waiting to pamper this 
little darling." He looked up as the door opened. "Here's one 
of them now!"

Jon grinned as he inched into the room. "Is it safe to come in? 
My niece isn't in the middle of breakfast, lunch, dinner, or 
snack-time, is she?"

Astrid giggled. "Not to worry. The milk- bar is temporarily 
closed."

"Whew!" Jon wiped his brow in a feigned display of relief 
before sauntering over to gaze down at the infant. "Cute little 
thing, isn't she?" He looked at his sister-in-law and grinned. 
"You know I love you like a sister, Astrid, but I'm not ready 
for you to let everything hang out in front of me."

"Hey! I use a blanket to cover things up. I'll have you know 
that I have my moves down pat. No one can see anything," Astrid 
protested indignantly.

"She's right, Jon. Of course, I'm still surprised that Lee 
could breathe with all the layers protecting the two of them 
from prying eyes!" Bernie added helpfully.

As Astrid sputtered and stammered, the two men burst into 
laughter. It wasn't often that Bernie indulged in teasing his 
little girl, but he always enjoyed it when he managed to get 
her going.

Astrid finally gave up her protests and joined in, giggling at 
her own discomfiture. So, it was a happy room that greeted him 
when Jimmy tentatively pushed open the door.

"Uncle Jimmy!" Astrid cried out, sliding gingerly from the bed, 
passing Lee to her father, and eagerly beckoning him into the 
room. "Come and see her! Come and see my beautiful girl!"

Bernie watched as Jimmy, his teeth clenched in a parody of a 
smile, moved reluctantly closer. Astrid took her daughter back 
and turned to present her to Jimmy. His arms automatically 
extended, and Astrid gently placed the precious bundle therein. 
It was fascinating to watch Jimmy's expression soften as he 
gazed down at the baby with awe-filled eyes. He shifted his 
grip, freeing his right hand, and traced her tiny features with 
one shaking forefinger.

"She's beautiful," Jimmy said quietly. "Perfect." He gently 
smoothed her blanket. One tiny hand came free and clutched at 
his finger, the little fist dwarfed at its size. Jimmy's gaze 
shifted to Bernie Klein, and, as he watched, Bernie could see 
confusion and desperation and above all panic, fill his 
friend's eyes.

"I, uh, I think it's Jon's turn to hold... Lee," Jimmy blurted 
out, his final word chopped short in a half-choking gasp. He 
thrust her towards Jon who carefully slid his arms underneath 
to take her from Jimmy's grasp. "I can't, um, stay long," Jimmy 
continued, turning to Astrid. "I have to go... Things are piled 
up at the office... She's beautiful, honey," Jimmy said as he 
quickly hugged Astrid. "Bye, everyone. I'll be back later." And 
just like that, Jimmy was gone, and the three other adults in 
the room were left staring at each other in an uncomfortable 
silence.

"I'm going to go, too, sweetheart," Bernie said hastily, as he 
jumped to his feet. "Sam'll be here soon, and you've got Jon to 
visit with you, and I wouldn't be surprised if Perry and Alice 
or Lois and Clark are along soon, too, so I'll see you later." 
And with a cheery wave at Jon and with quick, but fervent pecks 
on the cheeks for his daughter and his new granddaughter, 
Bernie exited the room, barely keeping himself from running.

He raced down the corridor and checked the status of the 
elevators. One was on the seventh floor of the hospital, and 
the other was in the lobby. With a muffled curse, Bernie ran 
for the stairs; that would be faster.

The heavy metal door flew open with a metallic clang, almost as 
if it weighed nothing at all, and Bernie propelled himself 
through. His feet clattered on the steps as he raced to the 
first turn. He rounded the corner and suddenly, all the 
momentum that had been hastening him forward vanished away to 
nothingness. Jimmy Olsen sat slumped a few steps below him, his 
face buried in his hands, and his whole body shaking.

Bernie sighed and slowly moved forward to sit beside his friend 
and awkwardly pat him on the back.

"I shouldn't have come," Jimmy muttered, his face still hidden.

"No, you had to come... You had to see her," Bernie told him 
quietly.

"I wish I hadn't." Jimmy lifted his head and looked Bernie 
directly in the eyes. His expression was bleak and hopeless, 
and for the first time Bernie could remember, Jimmy looked his 
age, his face drawn and grey and worried. "I spent the whole 
morning at home trying to gather up my courage - didn't go in 
to work or anything - and I really wish... I really wish..." He 
stopped, obviously at a loss for words.

"I miss her, too, you know." Bernie squeezed Jimmy's shoulder 
gently.

"I know, but..."

"It's okay to love her," Bernie said seriously. "It's okay to 
show her affection. You're allowed."

Jimmy shook his head. "You don't understand."

"What? What don't I understand?"

"I felt it. I felt when she was born. And just now, when I held 
her... when she grabbed my finger... I could feel the 
connection. I don't want to feel that for a baby!"

Bernie's hand fell away from Jimmy's shoulder. He opened his 
mouth only to close it helplessly, not able to form a single 
word.

"You're disgusted, aren't you? I know I am. I look at her, and 
my head tells me that she's just a baby, the only child of my 
niece and my nephew, part of my family, and that's why I love 
her, but then my heart... My heart tells me something 
different, and that... Well, I find that very disturbing." 
Jimmy bowed his head, his eyes fixed on his clenched hands, the 
knuckles turning white as Bernie Klein watched.

"You're no child-molester," Bernie Klein said, his voice rough 
with emotion. "I know that you'd never harm that child."

"Oh, God, no!" Jimmy's head snapped back as he twisted to face 
his friend. "No, I don't mean... No. But my heart knows that 
somewhere deep inside that tiny little thing is the seed of the 
woman I love, and I just don't see how I can hide my feelings 
and play the doting uncle. How can I look at that child and see 
a woman?" He shook his head. "It makes no sense."

Bernie paused, wanting to get the words right. This was 
important; he didn't want to mess things up. "I see the woman 
she'll be, too, Jimmy. And I'm sure Lois and Clark do as well. 
We all loved her, and still love her. How can we not compare? 
How can we not search for traces of that beautiful spirit? How 
can we not gaze into her eyes looking for that wonderful soul? 
We all see her, Jimmy. You're not alone."

The two men sat in silence for a long moment.

"I'm going away," Jimmy said finally. "I've been looking for 
another job... applied to a few different papers and 
magazines."

"Are you sure?" Bernie asked.

Jimmy's eyes shifted to him and away again. "Yes. I have to. I 
need a fresh start. I can't watch her grow up; it was hard 
enough watching Astrid - the two of them looking so much alike. 
I don't have the heart to do it again."

Bernie pondered Jimmy's words for a minute. Finally, he nodded. 
"I understand. I'm not sure if Lois and Clark will, though."

"They don't have to," Jimmy told him. "They just have to 
understand I can't live my life like this anymore. I love them, 
and I love their kids, but I need to be alone. I need to get 
away."

"It's going to be strange not having you around. You're 
family."

"I know. You're family, too."

"When will you go?"

"I'm not sure. A few weeks from now, I guess. I've had a few 
offers; I've just about decided which one I want to take. I'll 
do that today, and then I have to pack up my place."

"You're really doing this, aren't you?"

Jimmy turned to him, his eyes locking on Bernie's. "Yes, I 
really am."

"I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too."

They lapsed into silence once more. Jimmy slowly pushed himself 
to his feet.

"Bernie?"

"Yes?"

"Look after her for me, will you?"

Bernie didn't have to ask whom he meant. "You know I will."

"Yeah, I guess I do."

***

"You're what?" Lois glared at Jimmy from her seated position 
behind her desk.

He stood in front of her, resolute, determined. "I'm quitting," 
he repeated. "This is my official notice to you. I'm going in 
two weeks."

Moving as though she were on automatic pilot, Lois accepted the 
envelope he offered to her.

"But why? I don't understand."

He smiled ironically. "You will if you think about it."

"I know that you were scared... You told me that you were 
scared... But she's here now, and you can see that she's just a 
baby... I hoped that you would see that she's not the woman you 
loved. I hoped that it would be over."

"Lois," Jimmy said patiently. "It will never be over for me if 
I stay. Do you understand that? It will never be over. I'd be 
watching and waiting and hovering. I know that. It wouldn't be 
healthy - not for Lee, and not for Sam and Astrid, and 
especially not for me. I can't be Uncle Jimmy for her. There's 
no point in trying; I know I can't succeed."

"Oh," Lois said in a small voice as she peered up at her friend 
as he loomed over her. He didn't seem like the Jimmy that she 
had known for so many years. He had turned into a stranger, and 
she was very uncomfortable.

"I wouldn't turn into a stalker or anything. I'd try to hide 
what I was feeling or thinking. But I'm aware of her in a way 
that I can't even begin to describe. You wouldn't have to 
worry. I'd never hurt her. But being around her would hurt me."

"I see," Lois said slowly. She warily eyed the plain white 
envelope in her hands, turning it over and over. "Where will 
you go?" she asked softly.

"Australia. I had a really good offer to head up Photography 
Life."

"The magazine?"

"Yeah."

"Australia's so far away." Lois hastily wiped away a tear 
before it could roll down her cheek.

Jimmy smiled wryly. "Lois, with our connections, nowhere in the 
world is that far away!"

A corner of her mouth twitched in spite of her tears. "True. 
I'll grant you that. But it won't be the same."

"No. It won't be the same. But it wouldn't be the same even if 
I stayed, and I think you know that."

"Yeah, I guess I do." She bravely smiled up at her best friend 
and employee, her lips shaking. "Okay, then I guess I have no 
choice but to accept your resignation and to tell you that in 
two weeks time, we'll be having one heck of a farewell party!"

He wasn't fooled by her light-hearted comment. He could see the 
emotion shining through loud and clear in her eyes. He felt the 
same way. But this was what had to be. It was for the best.

Jimmy had thought that the rest of his day would be hard, but 
it surprised him, although part of that might have been because 
Clark was away for the day on assignment and he didn't have to 
face him. Knowing that he was going to leave had been strangely 
liberating. For the first time, he realised that he'd outgrown 
the Planet. He realised that somewhere over the years, his life 
had changed, and that this job he had once loved, had turned 
into a prison.

What a relief to look around and know that he wouldn't be there 
in two weeks. He wouldn't go into the conference room and be 
reminded of the time he and Lee had spread out their research 
and had worked together, all the time holding hands under the 
edge of the table so no one could see. He wouldn't be reminded 
of the time it had rained, and they'd spread a blanket on the 
floor of that room and had their picnic inside. He wouldn't 
look at Lois's office and be reminded of his first boss who, 
with his wife, was now ensconced in a Metropolis nursing home, 
only able to make the occasional outing. He wouldn't have to 
remember the torment involved in having to go to work, day in 
and day out, all the while concealing his knowledge that 
Caroline Lee was doomed to die in childbirth. He wouldn't have 
to watch two of his three best friends share their lives 
together - right down to their work - all the time torn up in 
envy at what they had between them, at what was missing from 
his own life.

Maybe in Australia, he'd be able to forget how lonely he was.

Jimmy didn't have the heart to visit Sam and Astrid and Lee 
that night. Anyway, he justified, they wouldn't want visitors. 
No, this was a time for Sam and Astrid to bond with their 
newborn. More importantly, this was a time for Astrid to try to 
get some extra sleep, he reflected with a slight smile, 
remembering his friends' children as newborns. At least in the 
hospital, they had the nurses' help. In two days when they went 
home, it would get a lot harder.

He knew that he was welcome at Bernie's or at Lois and Clark's 
but even though he was eaten up with loneliness, he didn't want 
to visit them. Instead he walked aimlessly through the streets 
of downtown Metropolis, trying to lose himself amidst the 
multitude of shoppers and tourists and businesspeople. It 
didn't work. He finally gave up and went home close to 
midnight.

Once he got home, Jimmy puttered around aimlessly, not able to 
settle down to any one thing. He microwaved a frozen dinner, 
only to end up playing idly with it with his fork. Finally, he 
gave up and tossed it out. He wasn't that hungry.

He turned on his radio, but turned it off again almost 
immediately. He just couldn't seem to settle down. The buzzing 
of his apartment intercom was almost a welcome interruption, 
but he wondered who was disturbing him at one in the morning.

"Hello?" he said into the intercom and then depressed the 
toggle to listen.

"Hello?" he heard in a distorted echo of his own word.

"Uh, who is this?"

"Oh, yes, sorry. It's Wells here. H.G. Wells."

Jimmy's jaw dropped. "Mr. Wells?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, quite. James, dear boy, would you mind letting me in?"

Jimmy pressed a button to release the lock on the lobby door 
and then, impatiently, rushed out into the hallway. He waited 
by the door of the elevator until it opened. Mr. Wells was only 
able to take one step out of it when Jimmy had grabbed him by 
the arm and dragged him bodily into his small apartment. He 
thrust the older man into a chair and sat down opposite him - 
all done at breakneck speed and without a word spoken.

"I say!" the older man protested.

"Sorry," Jimmy stuttered, his intestines churning and his heart 
pounding. "I... Sorry... I don't know what to say... I thought 
I would never see you again. Sorry."

"Yes, quite," harrumphed Mr. Wells, a little bit mollified.

"How is she?" Jimmy asked eagerly.

"Whom are you referring to?"

"Lee."

"Don't you know? She was born today - a healthy, happy baby!" 
He checked his watch. "Well, yesterday, I suppose."

"I know. Of course, I know," Jimmy said dismissively. "I don't 
mean her. I mean HER. My Lee. In the future."

"Oh. Well, I don't know, actually. Haven't seen her since I 
dropped her off the other day. She was pretty upset, of course 
- not wanting to leave you and then to find out that her 
grandfather was dying. Hard times, my dear boy. Hard times." 
Mr. Wells noisily blew his nose into a handkerchief.

Jimmy's whole body went limp. "Oh," he said, disappointed. "I 
thought... I thought that maybe you'd have news about her. I... 
I miss her." Embarrassed by the strength of his own reaction, 
he couldn't look Mr. Wells in the face.

"Interesting you should wonder about her. After all, it has 
been a long time... for you, at least," Mr. Wells uttered 
slowly. "I do have something to talk over with you."

"You do?" It was as if his whole body went on alert. He sat up 
straight, his eyes focused on the writer, barely breathing, 
barely blinking, his heart thumping so loudly in his chest that 
he was surprised the older man didn't comment on it.

"Yes, I do." Mr. Wells paused and curiously eyed the younger 
man. "Are you happy, James? Have you had a good life the last 
few years?"

About to give a hasty answer, instead Jimmy stopped and thought 
hard for a moment before answering. "I haven't had a bad life," 
he said, almost defensively. "I've enjoyed my friendship with 
Bernie and Lois and Clark. I love my nieces and nephews - okay, 
I know that there's no blood shared between us, but they really 
are my family."

Mr. Wells inclined his head in agreement.

"And I've had a lot of satisfaction from my work, but..." Jimmy 
paused and shook his head sadly. "I'm not happy. I miss her too 
much. I feel too alone. I always have. Sometimes it's harder to 
handle than other times. Right now, it's unbearable."

Mr. Wells slowly nodded. "That's what I thought. I just needed 
to confirm this for myself."

"Why? Why do you need to know if I'm happy or not?"

"I needed to know because I have a proposition for you."

"What?" Jimmy asked numbly, almost feeling as if he knew what 
the older man was going to say.

The older man opened his mouth only to close it again. He 
pulled his pocket watch out and deliberately studied it. 
"Perhaps I should come back. This could take a little while, 
and..."

"No!" Jimmy exclaimed loudly. At Mr. Wells' shocked look, he 
flushed. "No," he repeated more calmly. "I have lots of time. 
Please, go ahead."

Mr. Wells peered at him myopically. "You're sure?"

Jimmy nodded emphatically.

"Well then, that's fine. Tell me, my dear boy, have you read my 
book about the time machine?"

"Of course. I read all your books after I met you. I enjoyed 
all of them, but I think 'The Time Machine' was my favourite."

"Yes, quite," the older man blustered, his chest puffing out in 
pride. He coloured a bit, his expression pleased. "Thank you, 
James. I'm so glad that you enjoyed them. I don't want to sound 
conceited, but I am pleased with how they turned out, myself. 
It's always nice to be reassured, however. Obviously, I have a 
certain fondness for 'The Time Machine,' also."

"Of course." Jimmy was on tenterhooks waiting for Wells to get 
to the point, but the writer didn't seem to be in any hurry to 
do so. Jimmy sensed that it would be counterproductive to push 
this man, but even so, he wanted to grab him by the shoulders 
and shake him to get him to divulge the information that he had 
so casually mentioned. "You said you had a proposition for me?" 
he pointed out, trying to subtly hasten things along.

"Yes, that's right," Mr. Wells stated, totally unconscious of 
the fever pitch of excitement and apprehension currently 
afflicting Jimmy. "I'm getting older, dear boy, and I'm looking 
for someone to replace me. It's a hard life at times, looking 
after the time-line, but it's a good one. I've seen wonders 
that you'd marvel at, and inventions that haven't even been 
hinted at in this century. The future is a truly beautiful 
place, although the past has its compensations as well." He 
paused and seriously regarded Jimmy. "I'm ready to give it all 
up, though. I'm getting older; my duties are becoming harder to 
discharge. I need someone whom I can trust to take up the reins 
of responsibility for me. What do you think?"

"What do I think? You mean, for your replacement?"

Mr. Wells nodded.

"Were you thinking about Clark? I don't think he'd be 
interested. He's happy with Lois and with his family. Bernie's 
a good person, too, but he can't see the big picture; he gets 
too focused on the small details. It makes him a great 
scientist, but it would be all wrong for this."

"You misunderstand me, James. I was actually thinking about 
you."

"Me?"

Mr. Wells nodded. "I've studied you, James. You're an 
honourable man - not greedy or power-hungry. In your youth, you 
were much more malleable, but you've learned from experience. 
Now you're not easily swayed by others. You'll be able to stick 
to the proper course, even if it's an uncomfortable course to 
follow. What do you think?"

"I'm... I'm flattered, of course, but... I don't know. I hadn't 
thought about anything like this..." Jimmy didn't know what to 
say. When Mr. Wells had turned up, somehow, he had hoped that 
this had something to do with Lee, that he would somehow be 
able to be with Lee. He hadn't expected this. He was silent for 
a long time, wrestling with demons. Finally, Jimmy looked up 
and solemnly regarded the other man. "I don't think so. I don't 
think I'd be able to resist the temptation."

"The temptation?"

Jimmy nodded. "I wouldn't be able to stay away from Lee. And 
that would be unfair to her. What kind of life would she have 
if I were flitting in and out of her time at a moment's notice? 
It would be awful. Not seeing her wouldn't be an option, but 
I'd rather not see her than put her through that kind of 
turmoil."

Mr. Wells smiled. "I'm afraid I haven't made myself very clear 
at all, James. I'm not looking for one replacement; I'm looking 
for two."

"Two?"

"Yes. A team. Two people working together for a common cause, 
sharing a common goal. That's what I want to replace me."

Jimmy stared at the other man incredulously. "A team?" he 
stammered.

"A team," Mr. Wells stated firmly. "You and Lee."

"Me and Lee?" Jimmy shook his head, literally not able to 
believe what he had just heard.

Mr. Wells gazed at him paternally, a warm smile spreading 
across his face. "You and Lee."

Jimmy's eyes welled up with tears. "Yes," he said simply.

"You'll do it?"

"Yes."

"I'd like to take you to her now, if that's all right."

"Yes."

"You won't be able to pack more than a small bag."

"Okay."

"You won't be able to say good-bye to your friends."

"I'll leave them a letter. They'll understand."

"You can't tell them where you're going."

"Okay."

"Could you be ready in fifteen minutes?"

"Give me ten."

Jimmy quickly threw a random assortment of clothes into a 
duffel bag along with some toiletries. He tidied his apartment 
and discarded his garbage and his perishables down the garbage 
chute. Finally, he sat down with a pen and paper.

First, he wrote a note giving Lois and Clark power of attorney 
over his affairs. Second, he wrote a simple will, leaving all 
his investments and his money to Lee in trust and his 
photographs and memorabilia to Lois, Clark and Bernie to be 
divided between his nieces and nephews. He wrote quickly and 
logically, his thoughts organized. It was as if he had been 
practicing this in his mind over and over again so that now 
that the time had come, the words automatically came to him. 
Finally, all that was left was his final note to his friends. 
This was what gave him pause. It took him a moment to think of 
what he wanted to say, but then he scrawled a few lines on the 
page and signed his name.

~ Dear Lois, Clark, Bernie, Alice, Perry and children,

~ Thank you for being the best friends that any man could want. 
And thank you for being my family. I love each and every one of 
you more than I can say.

~ I can't tell you where I've gone except to say that I've gone 
to meet my destiny. Please don't look for me. You won't be able 
to find me.

~ Know that I am happy.

~ Until we meet again, ~ Jimmy

Jimmy put down his pen, stood up and grabbed his bag and turned 
to face Mr. Wells. "I'm ready," he said.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," Jimmy said resolutely. One thought resonated 
through his whole being. Lee. He was going to be with Lee. The 
thought of her pushed all other concerns from his mind. He was 
determined. There was nothing in the world that would prevent 
him from being with Lee. Nothing.

Mr. Wells stood up and pulled a handful of small devices from 
his pocket. "Then I suppose it's time for your lesson." 
Plucking the smallest one from the palm of his hand, he held it 
up. "This is a soul- tracker. It's simple in concept and easy 
to use. All the equipment is easy to use. First, it has to be 
calibrated to one of the incarnations of the soul that you're 
tracking..."

Jimmy listened intently, nodding in agreement and taking notes 
on the various devices and their uses. But Mr. Wells only had a 
fraction of his attention. Lee, his heart sang in an unending 
chant. Lee.

It didn't take Mr. Wells long to run through everything. He was 
correct. It was all easy to use. The possibility for misuse 
would have been a very real one if it weren't for the fact that 
each device could only be used by the person it was made for. 
Jimmy couldn't use Mr. Wells' machine, and Mr. Wells couldn't 
use his.

Jimmy tucked his devices into his duffel bag as well as the 
machinery intended for Lee's use. "Let's go," he said.

Mr. Wells nodded and activated his time window.

Without a second thought, Jimmy marched into it, Mr. Wells 
following closely behind. They emerged into a shabby hallway, 
doors lining each side of it.

"Student dorm," Mr. Wells said in answer to Jimmy's unspoken 
question. He led Jimmy around a corner and pointed. "This one's 
Lee's room. Shall we?"

It was at that precise moment that all of Jimmy's determination 
and courage completely drained away. His knees grew weak. "I... 
I need a minute," he managed to say. "I haven't seen her in so 
long... I don't know what to say..."

"I understand," Mr. Wells told him. "Why don't you stay out 
here, and I'll go inside to prepare her? Would that be all 
right?"

Jimmy nodded. "Tell her... I won't do this without her. I 
can't."

"I understand," Mr. Wells said.

Jimmy moved back around the corner, out of the line of sight of 
her room. He listened as Mr. Wells knocked firmly on the wooden 
door.

"Uncle Herb," he heard in that voice he hadn't heard in so many 
years. The blood rushed to his head, making him feel a little 
dizzy.

"Lee, my dear, may I come in? I wish to talk to you about 
something very important," Mr. Wells said.

"Sure, Uncle Herb."

And the voices died away, the door closing and cutting off the 
sound.

Jimmy gasped for air, his chest heaving like fireplace bellows. 
He closed his eyes and concentrated on calming himself down. It 
took him a long moment.

He didn't know what he was feeling. When Mr. Wells had made his 
offer, seeing Lee had been the only thing on his mind. Now, 
though, all his hidden insecurities flooded to the surface.

What if she thought he was too old for her? What if she had 
changed her mind now that she was back in her own time?

He crept back down the hall and pressed his ear against the 
door.

"Lee, my dear. I want to talk to you about James. Have you been 
wondering what happened to him?" Jimmy heard Mr. Wells ask.

"Yes, I have, Uncle Herb. I asked Grandpa Clark about him. He 
said that the last time he and Grandma Lois saw Jimmy, was 
about two days after I was born. He visited Mom and Dad at the 
hospital, left, and was never seen again. Grandpa Clark 
searched for him for a very long time, but he was never able to 
find a trace of him. Do you have news?" Lee asked in an eager 
tone of voice.

For the first time, Jimmy realised what his leaving would mean 
for Lois, Clark and Bernie. They would be... No, they must have 
been so upset.

"Yes, but before I tell you, I wanted to ask. Did your 
grandparents ever tell you about Dr. Doodsen? Dr. Veda 
Doodsen."

"No, I've never heard of her."

Jimmy hadn't thought about Dr. Doodsen in a very long time. He 
remembered how scared he had been, how horrified when he'd 
realised that the old man who died in the Planet newsroom had 
been his friend. What had that friend's name been again? It 
bothered him that he couldn't recall. He did remember how 
upsetting it had been, however, to feel his own skin wrinkle, 
and his bones start to ache. It had been horrible.

"She experimented on many young people, James included," Mr. 
Wells said. "She hooked herself up with an elderly criminal. 
She attempted to transfer their life energy to this man in an 
attempt to rejuvenate him. Using blackmail, she also attempted 
to transfer some of Superman's life force to him. Except for 
James, the young people all died. James survived because 
Superman, Clark, insisted that Dr. Doodsen rejuvenate James 
using more of Clark's life essence."

"I've never heard this story," he heard Lee say softly. Jimmy 
remembered vividly how overwhelmed he had been when he 
discovered what Superman had done for him. Once he'd found out 
that Superman was, in reality, his best friend, Clark Kent, the 
sacrifice had meant even more to him. It had been humbling, 
having his life saved only because Clark had been willing to 
give up some of his life force.

"This is the main reason that your grandfather and your 
grandmother are aging at the same rate. Without these two 
energy drains, he would definitely outlive your grandmother by 
decades and decades. It's been estimated that his normal life 
span would have been approximately double the average human 
male. His life span is still longer than most, and fortunately 
your grandmother has also reaped some benefits from his aura. 
It's been discovered that prolonged physical contact with this 
aura has beneficial effects for humans. This is the reason your 
grandmother is also in such good shape for her age. And this is 
also a secondary reason why they are aging at the same rate," 
Mr. Wells said, sounding like a professor lecturing his class.

Clark had been so relieved to know that his life span would 
match Lois's more closely after the incident with Dr. Doodsen. 
He had never overtly said it, but Jimmy had always known that 
having to live on after losing Lois was Clark's worst 
nightmare.

"This is fascinating, Uncle Herb. What effect will this have on 
me, or on my dad?" Lee asked eagerly.

"Your father and your Uncle Jonathan are an interesting case. 
In the case of twins, there is a decrease in the lifespan, 
almost as if one is split between the two of them. So your 
father and mother should also age at the same rate. And your 
father's aura is still strong enough to keep your mother 
healthy for a very long time."

"That's a relief!"

"But then we come to you, Lee. You're not a twin. You will have 
a very long life, probably about a third longer than the norm."

"I still don't understand why you're telling me this, and what 
it has to do with Jimmy!" she asked plaintively.

"Getting back to James, the transfer of some of Superman's life 
force had an interesting effect on him. He also started aging 
at a slower rate. Barring unforeseen accidents, he would have a 
very long and healthy life."

It hadn't been that long ago in Jimmy's life that he had 
learned about this. It had been depressing. Living a long and 
healthy life had held no appeal without the possibility of 
being with Lee. Now, though... Everything was different. He 
hoped.

Changing the subject, Mr. Wells asked, "Have you ever wondered 
what my life is like, my dear?"

"I'm sorry, Uncle Herb. I've never really thought about it." 
She sounded puzzled.

"It's wonderful and exciting. I'm 'Uncle Herb' to generations 
and generations of Kent descendants. But it's a big 
responsibility looking after the time line. It fell to me only 
because I inadvertently invented my machine. I felt that I 
should be more careful in the selection of my replacement."

"Your replacement!" Lee exclaimed in shock.

Jimmy tensed. Would she agree? Would she want to be part of 
this? What would she say?

"Yes, my dear. My replacement. I'm tired. I'm old, and I'm 
afraid of making mistakes. I've made them in the past. So far, 
they've been fixable, but ...I'm losing faith in my ability to 
problem solve. I decided to look for someone to take over from 
me. But I didn't want just one person; I wanted a team who 
would work together, and bolster each other's spirits. I've 
recruited one half of the team, but I need now to find out if 
the other half is willing to take the job on. What do you say, 
Lee? Will you do it?"

"Me!"

Was that shock or disgust? Was it surprise? Did she sound 
reluctant? He couldn't tell.

"Yes, you, my dear. You are wonderfully suited to it. You have 
a maturity and sense of responsibility that is unwarranted in 
one so young. You are absolutely brilliant, but you temper that 
brilliance with a loving heart. You are extremely pragmatic and 
methodical, but have flashes of wonderful creativity. And 
you've been requested by the other half of the team."

"I've been requested? Who asked for me?"

Jimmy couldn't wait another moment. He had to know what her 
answer was. With a shaking hand, he reached out and turned the 
doorknob, throwing the door open. "I asked for you, Lee."

"Jimmy!" The joyful look on her face left him no room for 
doubt. Lee ran to his waiting arms. He swept her into a fervent 
embrace, burying his face in her hair for a second before 
fervently kissing her.

He couldn't believe it. He thought he had forgotten the feel of 
her; it had been so long. But he remembered everything. How she 
fit in his arms. The clean, flowery scent of her fiery hair. 
The wiry strength in the slight frame.

Mr. Wells raised his voice. "Not meaning to interrupt you two, 
but I should warn you. Although he only looks slightly older 
than when you last saw him, Jimmy is actually twenty-five years 
older than he was when you were last with him. And as far as 
he's concerned, it was only yesterday that you were born, Lee. 
That's why Clark couldn't find him. I brought him here."

The way her lips moved so delightfully under his. Her body 
pressed up against his. Her hands tugging lightly at his hair, 
deepening the kiss. He was shocked at how familiar it all was. 
When he touched her, it was as if they had never been parted. 
Jimmy never wanted to let her go.

"And I would be remiss if I didn't point out that you two will 
have a lot to work out. You have an age difference between you 
that you didn't have before. And Jimmy's had a lot of 
experiences that he had on his own. Also..."

Jimmy felt her shift and reluctantly loosened his grip when Lee 
broke the kiss. He didn't let her go, though. He couldn't let 
her go.

"Uncle Herb," she said, smiling.

"Yes, Lee?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"

Jimmy nearly swooned as her lips returned to his, her arms 
wrapping ever tighter around him.

Mr. Wells stood up and quietly made his way to the door.

"Mr. Wells, wait!" Jimmy exclaimed. He had nearly forgotten.

The older man turned to face him.

"I have to ask. It drove me crazy for twenty-five years. What 
else was Lee supposed to do in the past? What was her other 
task?" Jimmy kept his arms wrapped tightly around Lee, hardly 
able to believe that she really was there, that this wasn't a 
dream. He couldn't bring himself to let her go even for a 
second.

"Why, my dear boy! It's quite simple, really. Lee had to fall 
head over heels, completely and irrevocably, in love with you." 
Mr. Wells smiled at them gently, checked his pocket watch, and 
then softly closed the door as he exited the room.

Mr. Wells' words echoed and resonated inside him. He shook his 
head, dazed and humbled at the implications. Then he turned 
back to her. Their eyes met. They were alone.

He silently gazed at the dear, beloved face of the love of his 
life. She stared solemnly back at him. He had no idea what to 
say. It had been so long... He'd missed her so much...

"This has been the hardest week of my life!" she blurted out. 
"I missed you so much!"

A jagged bolt of pain shot through his chest. "The hardest 
week?" he gasped. "The hardest week? Lee, for me it's been 
twenty-five years!" he managed to choke out past the lump in 
his throat.

"Oh, Jimmy, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I left you. I 
should have stayed."

"No! You did what you had to do. You needed to be with your 
grandfather..." Jimmy's voice trailed off as he realised that 
his friend, Bernie Klein, was dead. He'd never see Bernie 
again. He'd never see Perry or Alice.

They were all dead.

His knees gave out, and he sank down onto the edge of Lee's 
bed, his grip loosening, and his hands sliding down her arms to 
clutch at her fingers. But then he looked up at her, at her 
beautiful, expressive face, into her warm, loving eyes, and he 
knew that he would make the same choice all over again.

Lee sat down beside him, her arm loosely about his shoulders. 
"I'm sorry," she repeated.

He gazed at her in wonder, his hand moving up to gently touch 
the warmth of her cheek. His fingers strayed, stroking the 
silky softness of her hair. "I'm not," he told her firmly. "If 
you had stayed, the whole time line would have been damaged. 
And if I had left, I would have missed so much... A lot 
happened where I was able to make a difference... But now, 
everything's okay. We can be together now. We couldn't before, 
but now, not only can we be together, we need to be together."

She turned her head and pressed her lips against the palm of 
his hand.

"You're so beautiful," he said reverently. "I've never seen 
anyone more beautiful."

"Oh, Jimmy," she murmured. "I love you so much..."

He interrupted, holding up his hand to stop her. "There's 
something I want to say... There's something I need to say. 
Lee, it's been twenty-five years since the last time I saw you. 
In all that time, I've never met anybody who could even come 
close to measuring up to you. The memory of you was like a 
dream - like a talisman that I clung to. It kept me going. I 
guess what I'm saying is that before, when we first met, I 
thought you were the only woman in the world for me, but now, I 
know that you're the only woman in the world for me."

Tears sprang to her eyes.

"But I also want you to know that I'll wait," Jimmy said 
seriously. "I'll wait as long as you need until you know, too. 
Maybe I've changed. I don't know. But I'm not going to rush you 
into anything. I'm not going to push..." His words trailed off 
as a broad grin spread across Lee's face.

"Jimmy Olsen! Don't tell me that you travelled over twenty 
years into your future just so you could go all noble on me!" 
Shaking her head, she laughed merrily as she wiped away her 
tears. "You're going to marry me, buster," she told him, 
jabbing her finger into his chest. "We're going to fly to Vegas 
and elope, and I don't particularly care if you're in my arms 
or over my shoulder. I'll get you there any way that I have 
to!"

Jimmy stared at her in bemusement. "Are you sure? We can 
wait... We don't have to rush..."

Lee stopped his vain protests with her lips. His arms came up 
around her, and she pressed her body closer to his. A wave of 
heat flooded his system, and his heart pounded like a 
jackhammer in his chest. After a long, sensual, delirious 
moment, she pulled away from him to regard him warmly. "Can you 
really kiss me like that, and then tell me that we don't have 
to rush?"

"No," he stuttered, gasping for air. "No, I can't."

Her lips curved into a smug smile. "Good."

Any worries that Jimmy had that being with her might be stilted 
or unnatural soon faded out of his consciousness. Tailor 
fashion, they sat on Lee's bed facing each other, talking and 
talking and talking. Jimmy bore the brunt of it, telling Lee 
about all the important moments in his life, although she took 
her share of the conversation, telling him about her 
grandfather's death and her reaction to it.

They didn't sit too close, their senses too heightened to each 
other, their nerve endings too charged to the other's presence. 
For the most part, they loosely held hands, neither one willing 
to completely separate from the other.

Lee fixed them a simple meal. Jimmy ate it contentedly, but 
later, could never have been able to describe what it was as 
all his attention was focused so completely on Lee. They talked 
and talked until the wee small hours of the night, until 
finally they ran out of words. Even then, they were content to 
just sit and gaze lovingly at the other, every once in a while 
leaning forward for a long, sensual kiss, or reaching out to 
tenderly stroke the other's hair, or to gently caress a cheek.

Jimmy turned his head to press a kiss into the palm of Lee's 
delicate hand as she stroked the side of his face. He 
ruthlessly suppressed a yawn.

"You're tired," she said, concerned.

"A little," he answered. "It's okay. I'm fine." He yawned 
again, his eyelids drooping.

"We should go to sleep."

Jimmy shook his head. "I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"I'm afraid that if I go to sleep, I'll wake up tomorrow and 
find out this has just been a dream. I wouldn't be able to take 
it."

Lee scooted closer to him, wrapped her arms around him and 
nuzzled her face into his neck. "It's not a dream. I'm right 
here."

Jimmy pulled back and smiled tenderly at her. "I don't want to 
take that chance!"

"We could... sleep together," Lee offered shyly. "I know my 
bed's small, but..."

"Not till we're married," Jimmy said firmly.

"No, I mean we could just sleep," Lee said, blushing furiously. 
"I guess we could do more, but I kind of want to wait for 
marriage, too, so for right now, we could just sleep. That is, 
if we could get comfortable because it is a small bed which has 
never been a problem for me because I'm kind of tiny, and there 
is just me, but it might be a problem for the two of us 
because, well, because there are two of us. But neither one of 
us is all that big, although I think you're a little bit 
broader than I remember. Have you been working out with 
weights? Neither one of us is that tall is what I meant to say. 
I didn't mean to say that you're a small person, because you're 
not. So what do you think?"

Jimmy burst into delighted laughter.

"What did I say?"

He laughed even harder at the indignant tone to Lee's question.

"I think that in many ways you're a lot like your grandma! That 
whole diatribe was vintage Lane!"

Lee giggled. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm a little nervous. I'm not 
nervous about sharing a bed with you to sleep, but I am nervous 
about sharing a bed to do other things, but we've said that 
we're going to wait until marriage, except I'll tell you, 
Jimmy, we're getting married really soon. Maybe we should fly 
to Vegas right now? Although I think it would probably be 
better to wait until we've had some sleep because we're both 
tired and..."

"Stop!"

"Sorry. I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

Jimmy grinned. "Okay, here's the deal. I'll accept your kind 
offer to share this bed, and you don't have to worry. All we're 
going to do is sleep. I love you, and you love me, and I know 
that you're the only woman for me, but I want our wedding night 
to be really special so we're going to wait. Okay?"

Lee heaved a sigh of relief. "Okay." Then she frowned. "But I 
don't want you to think that I don't want to. It's just that I 
want to wait for our wedding night, too." She looked at Jimmy, 
the expression in her eyes making him weak at the knees. "But 
it's not like it's going to be a long wait, is it? We're 
getting married tomorrow, aren't we?"

"Aren't I supposed to ask you?"

Lee shook her head slowly. "No. You don't have to ask me. I'm 
telling you. We're getting married tomorrow. That better be 
okay with you, because I'm not giving you a choice in the 
matter."

Jimmy reached out and tugged Lee onto his lap. "Good thing 
that's what I'd choose anyway," he said happily, before framing 
her face with his hands and fervently kissing her.

***

Lee woke to feel an unaccustomed warm, comforting presence in 
bed with her. Jimmy's arm was loosely thrown across her waist, 
his legs entwined with hers. She sighed contentedly and slowly 
shifted to face him. She wanted to watch him sleep.

He looked so sweet when he was asleep, like a little boy, his 
lips curving in a slight, secret smile, and his eyelashes 
fanning out in a gentle curve. A flood of affection for him 
rushed through her. She'd never thought about it before, but 
suddenly, she was overwhelmed with the desire to have a child 
with this man. She'd give anything to have a little boy that 
looked just like him.

As she watched, his eyes fluttered and opened. He gazed into 
her eyes, not blinking, not moving, barely breathing.

"It's not a dream!" he exclaimed. "You're really here."

She smiled. "I'm really here."

Their lips met in a sweet, sensual, heady kiss, Jimmy shifting 
to press her down into the bed. It was a long moment before he 
pulled back to lie beside her.

"I love you," she said softly.

"I love you, too," he told her, his eyes filled with moisture.

"What's wrong?" She tenderly wiped the tears from his cheeks.

"It suddenly hit me... After today, this is how we'll always 
wake up - together, loving each other. It just struck me all 
over again exactly how much I missed you." His hand stroked her 
cheek gently.

She laid her head on his shoulder and entwined her fingers in 
his. "And I just realised something, too," she said lightly, 
trying to dispel the melancholy mood.

"What?"

"Today's our wedding day!"

"Are you sure? You don't want to wait and have the family 
there?"

"Positive," she said gleefully. "I don't want anything to delay 
us. No, I think we should get up, get dressed, have breakfast 
and elope. What do you think?"

Jimmy laughed. "Sounds like a plan to me! But don't you want to 
follow any of the traditional wedding rituals?"

Lee grinned. "You mean 'something old, something new, something 
borrowed, and something blue'?"

He nodded.

She giggled. "Jimmy, sweetheart, you were born sixty-six years 
ago. I think you're perfect for the 'something old' part of the 
equation!"

"Keep talking like that, and you'll be borrowing enough trouble 
to satisfy another part of the saying!"

Lee smirked, unrepentant in her giddy happiness before 
springing to her feet and hauling Jimmy out of the bed. "Come 
on, lazybones! I want a husband!"

"Yes, dear," he droned in long suffering tones.

She glared at him.

He cracked a smile. "Just practicing. I figure I'll give those 
words a good workout over the next few years!"

Lee couldn't keep a straight face. She threw her arms around 
Jimmy and held him close. "I love you, Jimmy."

"I love you, Lee."

Less than an hour later, Lee and Jimmy strolled hand-in-hand in 
the hot sun that beat down on the Las Vegas strip. They had 
readied themselves to go in record time, showering, dressing 
and having a quick meal. Before they left, Jimmy had insisted 
on showing Lee how the paraphernalia provided by Mr. Wells was 
to be used, strapping on their matching time-flux trackers that 
were cunningly disguised as sleek wristwatches.

Another hour later, a dejected Lee and Jimmy sat on a bench 
talking over their situation.

"I suppose the Chapel of Hot Burning Love wasn't that bad," Lee 
said glumly. "All those hearts were a bit overwhelming, but at 
least the place was a nice shade of pink."

"But there was so much of it!" Jimmy exclaimed. "It hurt my 
eyeballs!"

"I know, but I could at least tolerate it. There is no way that 
we could ever get married in that other place where they had 
the Can-Can dancers high-kicking at appropriate places in the 
ceremony," Lee said tartly.

Jimmy grinned. "Oh, I don't know. It kind of grew on me."

Lee glared at him. "That could have had something to do with 
the topless part of their act."

"Topless? Really? I never even noticed!"

Lee burst out laughing at the innocent expression that he put 
on so well.

Jimmy grinned. "How many people do you think really do get 
married at places like that? Or at the Golf-a-rama? And how 
drunk do you think they are when they do it?"

"Hey, I thought the Golf-a-rama was pure genius! Get some 
exercise, have some fun, and get married all at once!"

"My favourite part was the sign," Jimmy said.

"You mean '18 exciting holes! Count them! Take the challenge 
and get married at the same time! If you don't want to get 
married, bring your girl and just play around!'?"

"Yeah, that was the one." He chuckled. "Of course, we could 
have done the whole Hillbilly wedding. They had 'Marryin' Sam' 
all set to perform the ceremony, and they even had costumes 
that we could rent. I think I'd like to see you dressed up like 
Daisy-Mae!"

"Who?"

He smiled. "Don't worry about it. Just one of those little 
things that pop up to remind us that we're from two very 
different times."

"Okay." She shrugged. "I suppose we could always bow to 
tradition and find us an Elvis impersonator to perform the 
ceremony," she said lightly.

Jimmy's smile slipped for a second.

"What is it?" she asked, a little worried by his reaction.

"Nothing, really, except... You just reminded me of Perry. He 
was crazy about Elvis."

"I know. He got Dad hooked on Elvis's music. They used to talk 
about stuff like that all the time."

Jimmy grasped her hands in his. "What happened to him, Lee? How 
long has he been gone? And what about Alice?"

Lee gazed off into space. "She went first, I remember. I think 
it was a stroke, but I'm not sure. I was pretty young. It 
happened when I was about six, no, seven, I think. He died 
about a year later. When I was eight. Maybe nine. Dad was 
devastated. He had always visited Uncle Perry a lot, tried to 
spend as much time with him as possible. I'm not sure what 
happened, but I do know it was fast."

Jimmy sighed. "I'm glad for that, at least. It must have been 
so hard for him when Alice died."

"I'm sure it was. I don't remember, though. I mean I was just a 
kid lost in my own world. I never paid attention. Man! Kids can 
be monsters sometimes, can't they? Self-centred and 
egotistical."

"The nature of the beast."

"The beast?" Lee asked sounding slightly horrified.

"It's an expression! I don't mean that children are beasts, 
although I could point out that you just finished calling them 
monsters."

"I know I did," she said indignantly, "but I didn't mean it!"

"I didn't either, sweetheart. I'm sure that our children will 
be angels."

"You do want children then."

"Well, yeah," Jimmy admitted. "If you do, that is. I would 
never push you but..."

"Don't worry," Lee interrupted. "I want a couple of children."

"Good." He sighed happily. "Speaking of children..."

"Yes?"

"I don't want to be towing our children along to our wedding, 
but that's what's going to happen if we don't find someplace 
where we're comfortable getting married! I think we should look 
some more." He got up, extended his hand to Lee and tugged her 
up off the bench.

"What about that place?" Jimmy asked, pointing.

"I'm not getting married in the middle of a casino!" Lee 
retorted. "Our relationship is a sure thing, not a gamble!"

"Okay," he murmured, soothingly. "We'll keep looking. 
Eventually we'll find the right place. There's always..." He 
pointed across the street.

Lee glanced over to see a poster of a sunken-chested man in a 
copy of her grandfather's super-suit. "Bite your tongue!" she 
snapped as she glared at the 'Super Chapel of Love.'"

He laughed, squeezed her hand, and led her down the street in 
search of a wedding chapel that they could live with.

As they walked, Lee filled Jimmy in on all the family history 
that he had missed. In turn, he told her stories that put a new 
perspective on her relatives.

After summarily dismissing the hot-air balloon wedding, the 
drive-through wedding, the 'Rootin', Tootin' Wild West wedding, 
the underwater scuba wedding, and the nudist wedding, Jimmy 
pulled Lee to a stop. "You're looking pretty discouraged."

"I am!" she blurted out. "I haven't seen one place where I'd 
feel comfortable getting married. I do love you, Jimmy, but I 
want our wedding to mean something. I don't want to feel as 
though we got married in a circus sideshow!"

"You know," he said thoughtfully, "I think that's about the 
only kind of wedding we haven't seen yet!"

"Yeah. That and the kind we want. What ever happened to two 
people getting married because they love each other and they 
want to spend the rest of their lives together? Why is it that 
the only places we've seen with 'Eternity' in their names have 
been funeral parlours?" she asked glumly.

Jimmy faced her and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her 
face in his shoulder and heaved a mighty sigh. "We'll find the 
right place, Lee. Don't worry. I'm sure that..." His voice 
trailed off.

"What?"

"Look!" He pulled away from her and pointed.

She spun around to see 'Forever and Ever, Weddings on request' 
on a discreet sign in the window of a small and attractive 
adobe building.

The house looked well cared for, like someone's home. The yard 
was tidy and the garden flourishing.

Lee gazed into Jimmy's eyes, a smile lighting up her face. 
"That looks promising. That looks very promising!"

He grinned happily and then, hand in hand, the two of them 
crossed the street and walked up the short sidewalk to knock on 
the door.

An hour later, a very happy Lee Kent-Olsen and an equally 
ecstatic Jimmy Olsen soared through the sky. She had discarded 
the pretty dress that she'd worn in honour of the occasion, 
instead, as always when flying, preferring to wear her plain 
black spandex outfit. Jimmy had questioned her about her 
Firestorm uniform, but she had made the point that she wasn't 
going to unveil that in this time until her twenty- first 
birthday in a few days.

Jimmy still wore his suit, but his tie was tucked securely away 
in his jacket pocket. They both wore matching gold bands on 
their left hands.

It had been a lovely ceremony. Reverend Helen had made their 
wedding meaningful and special. Her husband had been one of 
their witnesses, his warm smile pronouncing its own benediction 
on their union. Their son, also an ordained minister and home 
for a vacation, was their other witness.

"If you're half as happy as my parents have been," Reverend 
Thomas had said, "then you'll be very blessed."

And now, they were married.

They had thought very briefly about staying in Las Vegas for 
the night, but had quickly changed their minds. Lee wanted to 
be alone with Jimmy in her own place. Her student dorm room 
wasn't much, but it was hers, and it was cozy.

Jimmy hadn't cared. All that mattered to him was that Lee was 
his, and he was hers, and they could finally be together. 
Forever. If she wanted to head back to Metropolis, that was 
fine. If she wanted to stay in Vegas, no problem. If she wanted 
to camp in Antarctica, he'd go along for the ride as long as 
she promised to keep him warm! He'd go along with whatever she 
wanted as long as they were together.

Lee brought them to earth in a stand of trees on the edge of 
the university campus. She spun into her street clothes and 
then they strolled, arm in arm, through the quiet of the campus 
to the student dorm.

Jimmy was silent, his heart too full of emotion for him to 
begin to verbalise it. Lee was silent, too, respecting his 
mood. Their senses were charged to the other's presence, the 
almost visible connection between them heightened by the events 
of the day.

Finally, they closed the door of Lee's room behind them and 
locked it. They turned to face each other and stared, silent 
and solemn, into each other's eyes for a long moment. And then, 
without a word, she was in his arms, his mouth capturing hers 
in a passionate, fiery kiss.

Lee's hands came up to frame Jimmy's face and discovered that 
his cheeks were wet with tears. "What is it?" she asked, her 
voice soft and husky.

He shook his head helplessly. "Lee, I've waited for you for 
twenty-five years, and I just can't believe... I've wanted you 
for so long. I've loved you for so long, and I never thought we 
could ever be together... I don't know what to say to you... I 
don't have the words to tell you how I feel..."

"It's all right," she said fiercely. "I'm here, and we're 
together, and nothing is going to separate us. Ever. I 
promise."

His hand came up to caress her cheek as he kissed her tenderly. 
"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she whispered in reply.

Sometime in the middle of the night, their world turned upside-
down. But they didn't notice as they slept, contented, 
exhausted and unaware.

***

Once again, Lee woke first. She didn't move from her secure 
position in the circle of Jimmy's arms. She had never realised 
how comforting it was to wake up like this. Or how sensual.

She could hear his heart beating, a slow, steady, soothing 
cadence. His breathing was even and measured, a soft 
susurration barely audible. With his body curled around hers 
and their legs entwined, it was impossible to tell where her 
skin ended and his began. His arm was heavy on her, and she 
found herself stroking its solid warmth, her fingers sliding 
across the malleable flesh, back and forth in a measured 
rhythm.

She belonged in his arms.

For so long, she had felt alone and apart. Her whole life had 
been one of isolation from others. Her grandfather had refused 
to be pushed away, and of course, in the last week - since his 
death and since her return from the past - her relationship 
with her parents and with Grandpa Clark and Grandma Lois had 
changed dramatically, but for the most part, she'd been a 
solitary soul.

Her parents had tried, but she had kept them at a distance. She 
had kept everyone at a distance. Thinking back, she didn't even 
know exactly why.

And then, in that magical time in the past, Jimmy had come to 
her, and not only could she not push him away, she had no 
desire to do so. She thought she had let him inside all her 
defences, but it was obvious now that she hadn't. Not really.

Knowing that she would be separated from him eventually, she 
had held back. Totally unconsciously. But she had. And the only 
way she knew that she had was because this was so much better. 
Being with him now, no defences, knowing that they would be 
together forever, was so much better than anything she could 
have ever imagined.

She belonged.

She had never belonged before.

Her eyes fluttered closed, and contented, Lee drifted back to 
sleep.

***

Jimmy woke with his arms full of sleeping woman. His face was 
buried in her hair, the clean, flowery scent of it filling his 
nostrils. He remembered the first time he had seen her with her 
hair down.

She had caught her bun on a branch and with shaking hands, he 
had loosened her hair and freed her from the tree's grip. She 
had looked up at him with those expressive eyes of hers and her 
auburn tresses framing her face, and he had felt his heart thud 
against the wall of his chest at how beautiful she was. He 
remembered.

He'd been nervous around her since the day they had met, but at 
that moment in the park, all his nervousness had fled. It had 
been chased away by the love for him he saw shining in her 
eyes. He had taken one step closer and then another, and then 
his lips were on hers, his hands buried in her beautiful, 
beautiful hair and her arms pressing him closer.

At that moment, he had known that this was it for him. There 
could never be anyone else in his life.

His feelings hadn't changed when she had told him her secret. 
Even knowing that she was going to return to her own time, 
leaving him in her past, hadn't been enough to break the bond 
that had already formed between them.

The last twenty-five years of his life had, on the whole, not 
been unhappy. He had played his part. He'd been a good employee 
and a loyal friend. He'd been a loving uncle. But in every part 
of his life, he'd been on the sidelines. Now, it was time for 
him to step forward and take part in something that was bigger 
than him alone. It was time for him to build his own life with 
Lee, to be lived on their own terms and not following someone 
else's pattern.

He pulled her a little closer into his embrace. More content 
than he could ever remember in his life, he was happy just to 
hold her.

Being with Lee gave his life meaning. Together, they were 
stronger than they were apart.

***

As he walked hand-in-hand with his wife, Sam found himself 
studying his wife's profile. She was as beautiful today as she 
had ever been. Oh, there were a few silver strands mixed into 
the copper fire of her hair, and her face had a couple of lines 
that had never been there in the past, but in his eyes, that 
only made her more lovely.

There was a tension about her that had never been there before, 
though. For those with eyes to see, it was obvious that she had 
been through the mill in recent days.

Bernie Klein had seemed indestructible for so many years. He 
had retired at sixty- five only because he had had to. Then he 
had set up his own lab and had tinkered away in happy solitude, 
enjoying himself thoroughly and not incidentally, registering 
patents for invention after invention. Some were prosaic - 
useful on a day-to-day basis like his bathtubs for the elderly. 
They had proved to be extremely popular due to the fact that 
they were attractive, functional, safe, inexpensive, and 
absurdly easy to clean. It hadn't just been senior citizens who 
had rushed to buy them. Selling the manufacturing rights alone 
had netted Uncle Bernie a small fortune.

Then there were his other inventions. At least half a dozen 
were classified, the government having snagged their plans 
before they could be published. Uncle Bernie hadn't talked much 
about those ones, but what little he had said was totally 
incomprehensible. One thing, though, that Sam knew without a 
doubt - whatever those inventions had been, they didn't have 
any military use at all. Bernie Klein had been a rarity - a 
scientist with highly developed ethics.

He had slowed down his pace in his lab after a few years of 
solitary pursuits, however. But it hadn't been from necessity. 
Instead, it had been a conscious choice so that he could spend 
more time with his granddaughter, Lee. Keeping up with her had 
proved that there had still been a lot of life left in him. As 
a child, she'd had so much energy that it had taken a special 
person to deal with it.

As always, Sam glowed with pride as he thought about his 
talented daughter.

She had been an enigma to her parents from day one. Self-
sufficient, independent, extremely, unbelievably bright, she 
had been a warm and loving child who nevertheless had needed 
her space. If her parents had pushed to be too close, she had 
never hesitated to let them know. The only person she had 
allowed through her barriers had been Bernie Klein.

And now, Bernie Klein was dead.

Astrid had to struggle with the fact that her father, her 
solid, indestructible father, was gone. She found it hard 
going. But at least she shared her grief with Sam just as he 
had once done with her. She had been strong for him after...

His mind shied away from thinking about it. Even after so many 
years, not knowing what had happened just about killed him. 
There was a void in his life that nothing could ever fill.

But now it was his turn to be strong for her. Sam had faith, 
though, that Astrid would emerge from her grief eventually.

His parents had taken Uncle Bernie's death hard, too, but they 
had each other. They'd get over it in time. He knew that.

It was as if thinking about his parents had conjured up his 
father. A whoosh drew Sam's attention up, and he saw Superman 
streak across the sky in answer to some unknown summons. At the 
sight, to his chagrin, a familiar wave of bitterness and envy 
flooded through him, only to be choked back under his control. 
What must that be like? he wondered wistfully.

Sam wasn't so sure that Lee would be able to handle her loss. 
She and her grandfather had shared so much. She had been so 
devastated this past week, oddly matured by her pain. With a 
twinge of resentment that he tried to bury deep within, he 
acknowledged that he was hurt that Lee had turned to his 
parents for solace instead of to her mother and father. Would 
there ever come a time when the fences between them would be 
ripped down? Sam hoped so. He knew that Astrid did, too.

Perhaps this was the reason that they had both felt this 
intense need to connect with her. She'd been incommunicado 
since the funeral. She had to be hurting as much as Astrid was. 
So when his lovely wife had suggested that they drop in on Lee 
and whisk her out of her dorm room for lunch, Sam had agreed 
with no hesitation. She needed to know that she wasn't alone.

The dorm room wouldn't be hers for much longer, Sam mused. Her 
classes were over, and by now, he imagined that most of the 
other graduating students had fled campus life for the outside 
world. They'd have to help her pack up her things soon. Where 
would she go? he wondered. What would she do? She had never 
talked about her plans with her parents. That had been reserved 
for Bernie. He had been so much more than a grandfather for 
Lee. He had been a teacher, advisor, mentor and confidant. Poor 
girl. She must be feeling completely bereft.

Silently, Sam and Astrid climbed up the two short flights of 
stairs to emerge into a dingy hallway. They moved purposefully 
down the hall to stand in front of a nondescript door.

Sam took a deep breath before lifting up his closed hand to rap 
firmly on the door. He heard movement within, and then the door 
opened. He hadn't known exactly what to expect from his 
enigmatic daughter - maybe tears, depression, sullen stoicism. 
He had never expected what confronted him. He had never 
expected to see his daughter greet him, her hair tangled, her 
face glowing, and her eyes sparkling.

And he had certainly never expected to see a man in her bed!

The man was propped up on one elbow, the sheets thankfully 
covering him. He looked shocked as he gazed incredulously back 
at Sam and at Astrid.

Sam saw red. Who was this stranger? What type of man took 
advantage of a young, innocent girl made vulnerable by grief? 
Leaving Astrid standing, aghast, in the doorway, Sam pushed 
past his daughter and with two giant strides stood over the 
bed.

"Sam, I can explain..." the other man said.

Without a word, Sam clenched his fist and pulled it back.

"Daddy, no!" Lee exclaimed as she moved faster than he would 
have thought possible to stand in front of him and grasp his 
upraised arm. "We need to talk."

He pulled against her, but she was stronger than he would have 
ever believed.

With a strangled cry, Astrid clutched his other arm.

The stranger on the bed regarded him calmly, unafraid.

"Fine," Sam snarled through gritted teeth. "I won't hurt him."

The two women let go of him and took a careful step backward.

Needing the emotional release, with an angry curse, Sam spun on 
his heel and drilled his closed fist at the wall beside him 
only to regret it instantly as fire exploded through his hand 
at the contact.

Lee stared at him incredulously as he stood cradling his 
scraped, swollen, reddened fingers.

Sam breathed in short, sharp gasps, struggling to control his 
anger and his pain.

"He's bleeding!" Lee exclaimed, shocked, her eyes locked on the 
stranger in her bed.

He nodded in return. "We really have to talk," the stranger 
said slowly. "Something is very, very wrong."

***

Dressed in her plain black spandex, Lee arrowed through the 
air, leaving behind three very bemused people. Poor Jimmy. It 
wasn't going to be pleasant for him to have to entertain her 
shell-shocked parents. But this was important.

They'd turned on LNN to see if there was a location where her 
grandfather could be found only to discover that Superman was 
simultaneously trying to evacuate workers, contain an oil spill 
and put out a fire on an oil-drilling rig off the coast of 
Northern Scotland.

Lee had immediately sprung into action, spinning into her 
flying outfit. She had smiled at the shocked gasps from her 
parents, before jumping out the window.

As she flew, she couldn't help but wonder what the heck was 
going on. Neither of her parents had recognised Jimmy; her 
father didn't have any superpowers, and both he and her mother 
looked so old! In a way, that shocked her more than anything.

But now was not the time for speculation. Now was the time for 
action. She put on a burst of speed and arrived at the disaster 
site, the rolling boom of her passage hanging in the air behind 
her.

Superman looked up from his frantic tasks to gape open-mouthed 
at her. "Lee?" he exclaimed loudly.

Luckily the workers had been evacuated, and there was no one to 
hear.

"You can fly? What the...?"

She smiled. Despite the gravity of the situation, his reaction 
to her appearance was enjoyable. "We'll talk about this later," 
she stated firmly. "What do you want me to do first?"

He shook his head, closed his mouth and then opened it again to 
issue a string of orders. She immediately followed them, 
battling the waves as she worked frantically to contain the oil 
slick. He hovered high over her head, darting here and there 
through the framework of the rig, extinguishing the flames.

By the time they were done, they were filthy. The two of them 
were coated in oil and soot and salt. Her suit being black, Lee 
actually looked a little better than her grandfather, but not 
by much. Finally, they were able to stop and hover in mid-air 
facing each other.

"How did this happen?" he asked, his expression shocked and 
wary.

"That's what we have to figure out," she told him. "If I tell 
you that I've taken over Uncle Herb's job..."

"Uncle Herb? Herbert George Wells?"

She nodded.

He threw his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender. "Yeah, 
that explains a lot. So what caused this discrepancy? Are we 
from different dimensions?"

"I don't know. But I want to talk about this with Grandma, too. 
Let's take a few minutes to clean ourselves up and then meet at 
my place. Mom and Dad are already there, as well as..." She 
paused, thinking hard. Maybe it wasn't fair, but if Mom and Dad 
hadn't recognised Jimmy, something more was wrong than the 
whole issue of superpowers. Deciding to remain silent for the 
moment, she finished awkwardly, "As well as someone else who 
can help us figure things out."

Her grandfather nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'll warn you, 
though. I have a lot of questions, and so will your grandma."

She grinned. "So at least one thing hasn't changed!"

He laughed. "True enough."

"You're handling this well," she said.

His eyes twinkled. "Let's see. I've been cloned. Your grandma's 
been cloned. I married a clone. She's traveled to another 
dimension. My double's traveled here from a different 
dimension. It's not that I'm handling this well; I'm numb."

She giggled, but didn't say anything. There wasn't a lot to 
say. She felt pretty numb herself. Besides, she had always 
prided herself on not letting her reactions show. It was taking 
a lot for her to change things - to be more open and warm with 
her family - but that didn't happen overnight.

They silently flew back to Metropolis together. As they neared 
the city, Lee started to shift direction to head to her dorm 
room. Superman stopped her, his hand on his arm. "Thanks for 
your help, today. It was... It was unbelievable working like 
that with someone else."

"You're welcome." She smiled warmly at him. "Go. Go get cleaned 
up and then meet me at my place in half an hour."

He nodded and in a blink of an eye disappeared from her view.

***

Lee and Jimmy sat side-by-side holding hands, exchanging 
awkward glances with Sam and Astrid.

Astrid found herself studying this woman who looked so much 
like her daughter. She found herself studying the man she said 
was her husband.

What a story! How could Sam and Astrid even begin to believe 
that this girl had traveled into the past and had met this man 
there? The whole thing was unbelievable - the stuff of fairy 
tales. Except... Lee could fly. Maybe this fairy tale really 
was true.

The two of them seemed so happy together in spite of all the 
awkwardness. Jimmy appeared to be a good man, and his 
attentiveness to Lee boded well for their future.

Astrid shook her head. Yes, Jimmy was a very good man.

It couldn't have been easy for him to be subjected to the 
inevitable barrage of questions after Lee had flown away. 
Although it had been obvious that Jimmy was incredibly confused 
as to what had happened to the timeline, he had been patient, 
attempting to answer all of Astrid and Sam's frantic questions. 
Thankfully, both Astrid and Sam felt much calmer now, although 
no less confused.

"So, you say that you're one of my father's best friends," Sam 
said to the younger man.

"Yes. Yes, I am. After Lee left to return to her own time," 
Jimmy paused and squeezed his wife's hand, "I helped out a lot. 
I babysat for you and your siblings, Sam. I babysat you, too, 
Astrid. I was there the day your dad brought you home from the 
hospital."

"And now, we don't remember you at all," Astrid said softly.

"I know," Jimmy answered. "We have a lot to figure out."

"Grandma and Grandpa should be here soon," Lee pointed out. 
"Once they get here, I bet we'll sort this mystery out 
quickly."

"I hope so," Sam answered.

They all fell silent once more.

Astrid sighed, looking down at the folded hands in her lap. She 
just wasn't sure how she felt about everything. This woman who 
looked like her daughter, didn't act like her daughter. She was 
too open. She was too warm. She was exactly the way Astrid had 
always wanted Lee to be.

Even though it was expected, the knock on the door was enough 
to jolt everyone. Lee moved to it, took a deep breath and 
opened it.

Lois and Clark stood framed in the doorway.

"Hi," Lee said. "Thanks for coming."

"There's no way that we could have stayed away," Clark answered 
as he and Lois entered the room. "It seems that we have a lot 
to..." He fell silent to gape incredulously at Jimmy.

Lois, too, reacted strongly. All the colour drained out of her 
face, and she swayed slightly as she stared, shocked, at the 
younger man. "But you're dead!" she exclaimed. "We buried you!"

"What?"

"She's right," Clark said grimly. "I don't know who you are, 
but you're not Jimmy Olsen. I saw him die with my own two 
eyes."

"But it really is me, guys," Jimmy protested.

Clark folded his arms in front of his chest. "You're going to 
have to prove it."

"I played the organ at your wedding - at one of your weddings. 
Not your real wedding, your almost real wedding. Not the first 
one with the clone of Lois. The one Myrtle Beach wrecked."

"You could have found that out from the archive copy of our 
story about Myrtle," Lois pointed out logically.

"You stayed at my place to hide from the Prankster, Lois. You 
even called the cops on me because my friends were too loud."

"Old police reports," Lois replied.

"I helped babysit for you!"

"No, you didn't," Clark said succinctly. "You died before we 
had children."

"Excuse me a minute, Grandpa, but when did Jimmy die? Was it 
before or after I traveled to the past?" Lee asked, aghast at 
this newest development.

"You traveled to the past? When?" Lois's knees gave out, and 
she sank down onto the small bed.

"I got back just before Gramps died," Lee answered.

"No, I mean when were you there? In the past?" Lois clarified.

"Just before you got pregnant. I traveled to the past to donate 
blood to make a treatment for you so that you and Grandpa Clark 
could conceive a child. Gramps and I worked together. Don't you 
remember me?" Lee's voice shook a bit. It was hard to believe 
that the magical time she had spent in the past, getting to 
know Jimmy and becoming friends with her grandparents, had all 
vanished as if it had never happened.

Lois and Clark exchanged solemn glances before turning back to 
Lee and emphatically shaking their heads.

"We told everyone that I was his niece. I even helped you with 
a story. The one about Dr. Jones and his experiments on the 
homeless. Do you remember me now?" she asked plaintively.

"What name did you use?" Clark regarded her speculatively.

"Dr. Lee Carlyle."

"That was you?" Lois exclaimed. "I remember you now! What a 
rude, arrogant woman you were! I didn't like you. I didn't like 
you at all."

"You didn't? I was? But we became friends. I told you about 
myself. I told you a little bit about the future. I helped you 
do rescues, Grandpa!"

"Hey!" Clark protested, his eyes shifting to Jimmy. "Don't talk 
about that!"

"It's okay, Clark. I know you're Superman. You told me 
yourself," Jimmy said calmly.

"I did? When?"

"Right after you found out that I was in love with your 
granddaughter."

"You're in love with Lee?" Clark blurted out.

"Uh-huh." Jimmy nodded emphatically.

"And I love him, too. More than anything." Lee took Jimmy's 
hand in hers, threading her fingers through his.

Clark sat down heavily on the bed beside his wife. "And I 
thought I was confused before!"

"My head's in a muddle," Lois said.

"I have to admit - so's mine," Sam agreed.

Astrid nodded her agreement.

"Hey! Everyone thinks I'm dead. How do you think I feel?" Jimmy 
asked rhetorically.

"Point taken." Lois glanced warily at him.

"Okay," Lee said briskly, "we're going to tell you our story, 
and then we're going to hear your story, and then we're going 
to compare notes. Is that acceptable to everyone? It better be, 
because that's what's going to happen!"

Everyone mumbled their consent, and Lee took up the narrative. 
She started at that fateful moment - less than two weeks ago, 
chronologically - when Gramps and Uncle Herb explained that she 
would have to travel to the past to donate blood to create a 
medical treatment for Lois.

She told them about meeting her grandfather Bernie, and Lois 
and Clark - her other grandparents. She didn't pull any 
punches. She told them clearly and concisely how resentful she 
was of her family - especially of her Grandfather Clark. She 
told them how isolated and lonely she had always felt - how she 
thought of herself as a freak.

She described in vivid detail her reaction to Jimmy - how she 
had fallen head-over- heels in love with him on the spot.

She talked about her alter ego, Firestorm, and her first public 
appearance rescuing Jimmy from certain death. She told them of 
her decision to reveal herself to her grandparents and her 
internal reconciliation with them. She talked about the moment 
when she told Jimmy about herself and his decision to pursue a 
relationship with her anyway, even though neither one of them 
could possibly foresee that they would ever be able to truly be 
together.

She described the course of Lois's pregnancy, and the birth of 
Clark and Lois's two sons. She talked about meeting her 
grandmother, Caroline Lee, and her despair knowing that her 
grandmother was going to die in childbirth when Astrid was 
born. Finally, she told them about Uncle Herb returning her to 
the present - leaving Jimmy behind against her will.

Jimmy picked up the narrative. He gave a verbal recap of his 
meeting with Lee, and the course of their relationship. He 
talked about those raw, painful days after she left, when he 
didn't know how he was going to carry on. He told of the 
anguished desperation he felt as the birth of Astrid got closer 
and closer and consequently so did the death of Caroline Lee. 
He described the early days of Astrid's life and her early 
bonding with Sam. He talked about what it had been like to 
watch Sam, Jon, Marty and Vicky grow up. He told them of the 
close friendship that had evolved between Bernie, Jimmy, Lois 
and Clark, and how they always supported each other.

He described the panic he felt as Lee's birth got closer and 
closer. He told them how tormented he'd been, knowing that the 
tiny baby he had held in the hospital was going to grow up to 
be the woman he loved. And then in vivid detail, he described 
the mix of joy and excitement he felt when he traveled to the 
future to be with her. He told them about their wedding - how 
they just couldn't wait another moment to commit to each other. 
He told them everything. And then he fell silent.

Lois and Astrid blew their noses noisily. Sam nervously bit his 
lip as he awkwardly patted his wife on the shoulder. Clark 
regarded Jimmy and Lee solemnly as they sat, side-by-side, 
holding hands, unwilling to let go for a second.

"What story had Jimmy been working on?" Clark asked, his 
forehead wrinkled in thought.

"What do you mean?"

"When he was shot at... when Firestorm appeared for the first 
time, what story had he been working on?"

Jimmy thought hard for a long moment. "I'm not sure I 
remember... It was a very long time ago."

Lee smiled tenderly at him. "It wasn't so long ago for me. I 
remember perfectly. The story was about labour unrest at the 
docks. Jimmy found out that the head of the union was in 
cahoots with a local gang. He also found out when and where 
they were going to meet. He was there, hiding and taking 
pictures, when his cell phone rang. Luckily, I had decided to 
follow him." She grinned at her husband. "I don't think I ever 
did tell you how stupid it was to leave that switched on."

Jimmy turned brick red. He groaned and hid his face in his 
hands.

"That's when Jimmy was killed!" Lois exclaimed, looking 
shocked. "That's what killed him."

"I got there too late," Clark said sadly. "I'll never forget 
it. I heard the shot, and I got there as fast as I could... I 
caught them. I caught the men that killed him, but my friend 
died in my arms."

"I don't know what's happened to change everything, but I do 
know one thing, guys. I didn't die. I'm right here," Jimmy 
said.

Clark smiled slowly. "I'm beginning to believe you."

Jimmy grinned and extended his hand to Clark who shook it and 
then pulled him into a hearty embrace, clapping him 
boisterously on the back.

Lois was quick to take over hugging him when Clark let go. "We 
missed you," she told him tearfully. "It wasn't the same 
without you around."

Lee felt her whole body sag as she sighed her relief.

Lois, Clark and Jimmy were quick to indulge in a spate of 'Do 
you remember...' and 'Whatever happened to...' But it didn't 
take long before Jimmy noticed that although Lee was 
unperturbed by the personal reminiscences, Astrid and Sam 
looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jimmy said. "This has to be boring for you. Do 
you have any questions for me?"

Sam and Astrid looked blankly at each other before turning to 
face him once more.

"Uh, well." Sam roughly cleared his throat. "I guess we do have 
one... Do you love our daughter?"

Jimmy looked Sam in the eyes. "More than anything," he said 
seriously.

"Good. We have a lot more questions, but for right now..." Sam 
glanced again at Astrid who smiled slightly and nodded. "For 
right now, I might as well welcome you to the family. I think 
there's a ton of problems that you haven't thought about as you 
do come from very different times, but... She loves you, and 
she's chosen you, so I guess it doesn't matter what we think." 
He grinned at his bemused son-in- law.

"Thank you... I think," Jimmy replied as he shook Sam's hand 
firmly.

Clark chuckled ruefully. "This is sure going to take some 
getting used to. The idea of you being alive, and with our 
granddaughter... It boggles my mind."

"You better get used to it pretty quick," Jimmy said. "I'm 
never letting her get away again!"

And he and Lee exchanged glances so warm and loving that Astrid 
and Lois both felt the tears spring to their eyes once more. 
Neither woman had ever seen Lee so completely and utterly happy 
before. She seemed so different. She was so open and warm. She 
was so happy.

"So," Jimmy said briskly, changing the subject. "Lee and I 
should start examining everyone with our tracking devices. We 
need to figure out what's happened to everyone. While we get 
ourselves organized, why don't you fill us in on everything? 
Sam, are you still a reporter for the Daily Planet, or is that 
something else that's changed?"

"No, I'm a reporter, and Astrid is into advertising. Is that 
the same?"

Jimmy nodded as he checked the calibration of his soul tracker. 
"Tell me about the girls. How are they?"

"Marty's happily married," Lois told him. "She married a local 
vet..."

"Ben!" Jimmy exclaimed. "I went to their wedding a couple of 
months ago... Before I left the past, that is. They, um, there 
were problems for them... Uh, was she attacked?"

"By Paul Stride?" Clark asked.

Jimmy nodded. "It doesn't sound like that changed, 
unfortunately."

"It was really hard for both of them," Lois said. "Not only did 
Marty have to cope with the attack, but Ben had to deal with 
his mother's death on top of everything."

"Rachel? What happened to Rachel?"

In the middle of examining her mother's aura, Lee paused to 
listen.

"Stride took Marty, Clark and me hostage," Lois told him. "Then 
he requested a journalist to cover the story. There wasn't 
anyone around that could help out so Rachel pretended to be a 
reporter. Unfortunately, Stride recognised her as the sheriff 
and shot her. Even so, Ben helped rescue us. It was too late 
for Rachel, though."

"What about Maria? Maria Ramirez?"

Lois and Clark looked blankly at each other.

Jimmy quickly filled them in about Maria, the trustworthy 
reporter from Puerto Rico, who had learned the true story about 
Superman and his secret identity, but had kept it to herself 
for the duration of her short life.

"We never met her," Clark said. "Whatever happened to change 
everything obviously changed that, too. Anyway, Marty and Ben 
finally got married, and they have two boys - Jordan and 
Justin."

Jimmy quirked an eyebrow at Lee.

"That's right," she assured him as she checked Sam's aura. 
"That's the same as it is for me."

"Vicky's a best-selling novelist," Lois said proudly. "Clark 
and I keep arguing over who she inherited her writing abilities 
from." She grinned at her husband.

"And she and Uncle Michael have three kids, right?" Lee asked. 
"Beth, Sarah, and Adam?"

"No," Clark answered, slowly. "She never married. Who's Uncle 
Michael?"

"Michael Gale," Lee answered.

"The singer?" Lois asked incredulously.

Lee nodded happily. "He's fantastic, isn't he? I've been to a 
couple of his concerts. And he's won a ton of Grammies!"

"I saved his life once," Clark said proudly. "Early in his 
career, he was singing in a small nightclub, and it caught on 
fire. I got everyone out safely. He was injured though - lost 
his sight - but had a successful cornea transplant a month or 
two later."

"That's how they met! That's how Aunt Vicky met Uncle Michael. 
They told me. She saved him and then she felt so guilty about 
him getting hurt that she followed him around looking out for 
him." Lee shook her head as she moved to her grandmother's 
side. "This is so confusing. At least tell me everything's the 
same for Uncle Jon, Aunt Lissa and their two kids."

The whole atmosphere of the room changed. Sam gave a strangled, 
choked cry of distress. Lois grabbed Clark's hands and held 
them in a white-knuckled grip. Astrid wrapped her arms tight 
around herself, her face pinched and tight.

"What?" Lee asked looking around the room. "What did I say?" 
She and Jimmy put down their various devices and waited for the 
answer.

Clark sighed heavily. "He disappeared," he said softly. "We 
don't know what happened to him. It just tears us up that we 
don't know where he is."

"When did this happen?"

"It was fifteen years ago, and I remember it like yesterday," 
Sam answered. "He had been targeted... We never really 
understood why, but the Russian mafia had been after him. The 
FBI assigned an agent to him, and the two of them just 
disappeared."

"That would be Aunt Lissa," Lee interrupted. "Larissa Lewis."

"Yes. That's right. That was her name." Clark nodded. "I 
searched but I could never find them."

"I know he's dead." Sam's eyes were moist. "I felt him die. It 
just about ripped my heart out."

"All we want is to find him and bury him. It just kills me not 
to know where he is or what happened," Lois said, her hands 
twisting in her lap.

"I was six," Lee said slowly. "I remember. He and Aunt Lissa 
got trapped. But they got out. There was Kryptonite, but Aunt 
Lissa figured out what to do about it, and then Uncle Jon got 
some of his powers back, and they got out."

"And in our world, he never had any powers. None of us do." 
Sam's voice was bleak.

"Where were they trapped?" Clark asked sharply, all his 
attention focused on his granddaughter.

"I'm trying to remember... They told me about it... It was one 
of those family stories that was told a lot." She paused, lost 
in thought. "It was a vault, an underground vault lined with 
lead. There wasn't a lot of air... A few hours worth, that's 
all... It wasn't in Metropolis. It was nearby, but it wasn't 
right in the city." She looked at Lois. "I remember you telling 
me that you were glad that it was on the outskirts, because 
Aunt Lissa was pretty indiscreet when she and Uncle Jon got 
out. You always laughed when you told me how she ordered 
everyone around like a drill sergeant!"

"But do you remember exactly where?" Clark asked, leaning 
forward and intently staring at her.

She shook her head. "No, but I remember that it was an old 
abandoned bomb shelter on a farm. The farmhouse was gone, but 
the shelter was still there. Aunt Lissa said that the stairs 
out were hard to climb because they were half filled in with 
dirt. Plus she was carrying Uncle Jon at the time. That didn't 
help."

Clark sprang to his feet. "I have to go look."

Lee jumped up and faced him. "I'll go, too. But we better take 
someone with us. If there's Kryptonite..." A thought struck 
her. "Does Kryptonite even bother you?" she asked her father.

Sam nodded glumly. "Pretty unfair if you ask me. No 
superpowers, but it can still kill me."

"I'll go," Lois said immediately, standing up.

"No!" Jimmy interrupted. "I'll go."

Lois looked like she was about to protest, but Jimmy laid a 
gentle hand on her shoulder. "Let me do this for you. Please. 
You should stay here. You and Sam and Astrid need to be strong 
for each other."

She nodded slowly before sitting back down on the small bed. 
"Find him!" she hissed. "Find my boy and bring him home."

Clark moved to her side and kissed her gently on the forehead. 
"I'm going to try, sweetheart. I'm going to try to find our 
son."

Lee and Clark simultaneously spun into their spandex outfits. 
Clark took off first, with Lee and Jimmy following close 
behind.

They started to the north of the city, slowly over-flying the 
farmland. But it was to the south that they finally located the 
dark underground presence of a lead- lined bomb shelter on an 
old abandoned farm.

Lee and Clark exchanged solemn glances before swooping down to 
land. Clark quickly drilled down to the entrance and with one 
quick motion, snapped through the locking mechanism on the side 
of the door.

"You two should move away," Jimmy said firmly. "This is my job 
now."

Lee and Clark nodded and moved back to a safe distance.

Jimmy took a deep breath and slowly muscled open the heavy 
door.

A fetid odour came out in a wave, a foul miasma causing him to 
choke and gag. He waited a few moments for the air to freshen, 
then covering his mouth and nose with his t-shirt, he entered 
the small vault.

It was less than a minute before he emerged once more, his face 
white, and his body shaking. Lee and Clark moved towards him 
only to stop when he held his hand up.

"Stay back! I've got the Kryptonite." He clambered out of the 
pit and threw the rock away from Lee and Clark before turning 
to face them. "He's there," Jimmy said softly. "They're both 
there."

Clark moved past him in a blur.

Jimmy tried to grab him, but his friend was too fast. He did 
stop Lee from following. "Let him do this alone," he said.

She nodded sadly. "We better call the police," Lee said. "We 
have to report this."

Clark emerged from the dank, dark hole in the ground. His whole 
body shook, and tears poured down his face. His legs buckled as 
he fell to the earth, great choking sobs emerging from his 
throat. Lee fell on her knees beside him, pulling him to her. 
He wrapped his arms around her, and gave in to his grief.

Jimmy stumbled away from them, away from the gruesome tomb. He, 
too, fell on his knees, retching violently into the tall grass.

After a busy and emotional few hours, Jimmy stood in Lee's 
small shower, letting the hot water course over him. He had 
soaped himself repeatedly, but the smell hadn't dissipated. 
Would it ever? he wondered. Would he ever be free of the odour 
of the grave?

He didn't emerge from the shower until the water ran cold. He 
dried himself, threw on his robe and left the bathroom to find 
Lee waiting patiently for him.

"Feeling better?" she asked, concerned.

"We have to fix this!" Jimmy blurted out. "We have to find out 
what changed and fix it!"

She nodded. "I know. But it's going to have to wait for one 
night. We need a break from talking about this."

"You seem calm."

She smiled. "No point in flying off the handle."

"I remember that about you. It took a lot to make you react. 
Meeting Caroline Lee, having Mr. Wells show up to take you 
back..."

"Meeting you."

He smiled sadly. "I know we're on our honeymoon, but..."

"But this doesn't exactly feel festive," Lee finished.

"No. No, it doesn't."

"I know. But we still have to eat. We still have to sleep. 
Everything else will wait for the morning."

Jimmy nodded again and moved into her embrace. She felt so 
wonderful in his arms. The clean, fresh, flowery scent of her 
hair filled his nostrils, finally chasing away the fetid odour 
that had lingered, overloading his senses. "Oh, Lee, I love you 
so much." He buried his face in the crook of her neck, her body 
pulled as close to his as possible.

"I love you, too. More than I can say," she replied, her arms 
roaming across his back.

As one, they moved to the bed, anxious to physically renew 
their bond, desperate to lose themselves in the moment and 
forget all the anguish of the day.

***

Early the next morning, Lee emerged from the bathroom, and 
Jimmy quickly served breakfast. As he watched his new wife 
voraciously devour everything he put in front of her, he was 
amused. There was certainly nothing wrong with her appetite!

"I didn't see anything when I checked Mom or Grandma," Lee told 
Jimmy as she finished eating.

"No, and your father checked out okay, too. I didn't get a 
chance to check Clark, though."

"What if the change had to do with Gramps? He's dead. We'd 
never be able to figure it out," Lee said plaintively.

Jimmy smiled at her. "Let's not borrow trouble. We'll check 
Clark before we panic."

She nodded.

"We better check each other, too."

She pointedly looked down at her timeline tracker. "I'd rather 
check Grandpa Clark first. Then I want to examine Aunt Marty, 
Uncle Ben and Jordan and Justin. Aunt Vicky's on my list, as 
well as Michael Gale. After all, the change affected them 
pretty strongly too..."

"Yeah. But we should still check each other first. It seems to 
me that I've been the most affected. I died in the past. Okay, 
yes, your Uncle Jon died, too, but that's a result of him not 
having superpowers. It strikes me as collateral damage not 
primary."

"Can't we do things my way?" Lee asked plaintively. "It won't 
take that long."

Jimmy gazed at her speculatively. "Why don't you want us to 
check each other?"

"I do!" she protested.

"Then here." He stood up and held his arms out to his sides. 
"Examine me right now."

"Sit down! I'll get to you later."

"Lee, what's going on? Talk to me!"

She looked up at him sorrowfully. "What if you weren't supposed 
to come to the future? What if Mr. Wells made a mistake, and 
you should have stayed in the past?" A tear rolled slowly down 
her cheek.

Jimmy's heart melted. "Honey, whatever happened to change 
things, changed my life well before I traveled to the future. 
Besides, I don't believe that Mr. Wells would have made that 
kind of mistake."

"He said he'd made mistakes before," she whispered, sniffling a 
bit.

"But when he made mistakes, he always tried to correct them. He 
hasn't returned to talk to us. I don't think we need to worry. 
Besides, I have no intention of ever leaving you again. You're 
stuck with me!"

"Oh, I hope so!" The words burst out of her throat as if they 
were under pressure. "I never thought I could love anyone like 
I love you!"

He pulled her to her feet and tugged her into his arms. "It's 
all right. We'll figure this out. Things will... I was about to 
say things will go back to normal, but we haven't figured out 
what normal is yet!"

She laughed even as she wiped away her tears. "Valid point. All 
right. You've convinced me. Hold still, and I'll examine you."

Lee carefully studied the results displayed on her timeline 
tracker before looking up at Jimmy with a big smile on her 
face. "You're clean!"

He kissed her on the forehead. "Okay, then. It's your turn."

She held her breath as he took his time examining her with his 
tracker. Her heart sank when he frowned.

"I found the problem," he said. "I'm just not sure how to 
interpret the data. There's a major blip in your timeline."

She sighed heavily. "I knew it. I knew that being with you was 
too good to be true."

"Don't say that. Don't think that. We'll figure this out and 
then we'll be together forever." Jimmy wrapped his arms around 
his wife, her head snuggling into his shoulder. "Don't worry."

***

"So what you're saying," Clark said slowly, "is that whatever 
this change was, it affected Lee and from there affected the 
rest of us."

"Exactly," Jimmy said.

"And this isn't a different dimension or something. This 
timeline is the original timeline, but in altered form." Sam 
regarded Lee and Jimmy seriously.

"Yes."

"And you and Lee remember things the way they should be because 
those devices that Mr. Wells gave you makes sure that you're 
aware of anomalies," Lois stated.

"Right."

"So what are we going to do?" Clark asked.

"We don't know," Lee answered. "We haven't got that far. We 
know that the problem is in my past, but we don't know what or 
where yet. We've barely begun." She paced back and forth along 
the length of her grandparent's living room. "There's something 
bothering me... Someone said something... Something didn't 
sound right..." She shrugged. "Or maybe I'm imagining it. 
Anyway, we know that Dad and the others are supposed to have 
superpowers, and they don't so I'm going to do some testing. I 
hope you won't mind donating some blood to the cause, Dad."

"No problem. I'm anxious to get this resolved, too. If we can 
get this figured out..." Sam sighed, his eyes downcast. "I miss 
Jon," he said wistfully.

Astrid squeezed her husband's hand gently.

"If we get this figured out, not only will Uncle Jon not be 
dead, but Grandma and Grandpa will have eight grandchildren, 
not three," Lee said firmly.

"What will happen to us?" Astrid asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Will we even be the same people? Or will we be replaced with 
new versions of ourselves, and we'll fade away to nothing?"

Lee's brow wrinkled as she thought hard. "Uncle Herb used to 
tell me stories when I was younger... If I remember correctly, 
he said that in a case like this, the person remains the same, 
but the memories change. You might remember this other stuff in 
a dream, but it won't seem real."

"Good!" Sam said fiercely. "What happened to Jon should be a 
nightmare not reality! Getting this fixed is important."

"Can I use Gramps' lab?" Lee asked.

Sam quickly detached a key from his key ring and handed it 
over. "Go ahead."

"Ready for me to stick you with a needle?" Lee grinned at her 
father.

"You're just like your grandfather Bernie!" Sam said, 
chuckling.

Jimmy laughed and the others turned to look at him. "I had my 
own experiences with Bernie and needles. You're so right!"

"Good Lord. Don't tell me you love me because I remind you of 
your old friend!" Lee blurted out.

Jimmy grinned at her. "No worries. You know that I met you 
before he and I became friends. I always appreciated it when 
things about him reminded me of you, but it was definitely you 
I fell in love with!"

"Whew, that's a relief!"

"I bet it would have been a relief to him, too!" Jimmy winked 
at Lee.

"Oh, definitely," Astrid said, smiling broadly. "Dad might have 
been unconventional in many ways, but not that way!" She shook 
her head, her smile fading. "It's so hard to believe he's 
gone."

Sam wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I know, sweetheart. 
I know."

Astrid dashed a tear away from her eyes. "You better get going. 
The sooner you and Lee make a start, the sooner you'll be 
done." She cleared her throat. "Uh..."

"What, Mom?"

"I don't suppose you remember Dad as still being alive, do 
you?"

Lee solemnly shook her head. "No, I don't, Mom. I wish I did. 
But I was there when he died, and it was the right time for 
him."

Astrid sighed sadly.

Lee hugged her mother before taking a step back away from the 
others and spinning into her plain black spandex. "You ready, 
Dad?"

Sam took a tentative step towards his daughter. He roughly 
cleared his throat. "You look very different in that outfit."

She grinned. "That is the general idea." Lee wrapped an arm 
around her father's waist.

"Uh, you haven't dropped anyone before, have you?" Sam asked 
nervously.

Lee winked. "Well, not yet, but whatever you do - don't 
wiggle!"

And with a whoosh, they disappeared through the open window 
behind her.

"Wow!" Astrid exclaimed.

Jimmy smiled proudly. "That's my wife!"

***

Sam watched Lee as she carefully inserted the needle just under 
his skin. She was gentle. He didn't even flinch, barely feeling 
the pinprick.

"In spite of all this confusion, you seem very happy," he said.

"I am." She loosened the rubber tourniquet quickly, her eyes 
intent on the blood that quickly filled the tiny vials. She 
deftly removed the needle and pressed a cotton ball against the 
puncture. "Press firmly on this."

Sam did so, crooking his arm and maintaining pressure with his 
other hand. "You really love Jimmy, don't you?"

She looked at him directly. "I really do. I will never forget 
the way I felt the first time I saw him. It was like a 
thunderbolt. And since then, it's only become more intense."

Sam thought about that for a moment. He could relate. Even 
though he'd been barely three when it happened, the memory of 
seeing Astrid for the first time had never left him. He'd 
connected with her immediately, and their bond had never 
disappeared but had matured and deepened as time had passed. 
"Okay, then," he said. "I guess I'm happy for you."

She flashed him a grin.

"You two do look well suited. He seems like a bright guy. Close 
to your age, too. What is he? Twenty-three? Twenty-four?"

Lee started to giggle.

"What did I say?"

"You better brace yourself, Dad. He's forty-six, almost forty-
seven."

"What?"

"You remember him saying that he used to baby-sit you?"

"I forgot. There's so much else that you two told us... And 
then you and Dad finding Jon..."

"You do remember me explaining about Jimmy and Dr. Doodsen and 
what Grandpa did to save his life?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well..." She grinned impishly at him. "That's the reason he 
looks so young. The Kryptonian life force that Grandpa shared 
with him ensures that he'll age really slowly."

"But I'm only forty-five, almost forty- six!"

"I know."

"He's older than me!"

"I know. Sorry!" She giggled again.

"Oh man!"

"Better get used to it, Dad. I'm not dumping him just to make 
you happy."

Sam shakily smiled at Lee. "I'm not asking you to. It's just 
going to take some getting used to."

"You think this is bad. Wait until Jimmy and I figure 
everything out. Then, not only will he be older than you, but 
you're going to remember him babysitting you!"

"Oh man!"

He fell silent and watched as she bustled about the tiny lab. 
She labelled the vials of blood in her neat, precise 
handwriting and then stored them in the small fridge. She did 
remind him of Uncle Bernie. He, too, had never looked more 
comfortable than when he had been working in this small lab.

"Honey?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I want to ask you a 
question."

She turned to face him. "Okay."

"If things go back to how they should be..." He paused and took 
a deep breath. "Will you change, too?"

She stared at him blankly, her forehead wrinkled.

"I mean you've always pushed Mom and me away... You've never 
let us be as big a part of your life as we'd like... But now, 
you're talking to us. You're sharing things with us." Sam gazed 
at her warmly. "I miss your Uncle Jon more than I could ever 
say, but I wouldn't want to have him back if that means things 
will go back to how they were between us."

"They won't," Lee assured him firmly. "I learned a lot about 
myself when I was in the past. Gramps helped and Jimmy helped, 
but I did most of it for myself." Her eyes were unfocused as 
she thought hard. "I always felt like an outsider. I pushed 
everyone away before they could do the same to me, but then, 
when I arrived in the past, I learned how different things 
could be. I learned that people just might like me if I let 
them. Dad, I don't know why I was the way that I was, but I do 
know that I don't want to be that way any more."

Sam blinked back tears. "Okay. Good." He stood up and took a 
step towards her. She moved in a lightning blur of motion into 
his outstretched arms.

"I love you, Daddy," she whispered.

"I love you, too, sweetheart. I love you, too."

***

After Lee and Sam left, Jimmy's conversation with Astrid had 
followed a similar path. She had been aghast to discover 
Jimmy's age. After discovering that he was, in reality, five 
years older than she was, the final insult to Astrid had been 
the realisation that he actually looked twenty years younger. 
She was partly mollified when Jimmy explained that if the 
confusion got sorted out, Sam's aura would have maintained her 
youthful appearance.

Lois and Clark and Jimmy had enjoyed renewing their friendship. 
Jimmy had been peppered with questions about their children and 
about Michael Gale and Larissa Lewis, only to disappoint his 
friends by pointing out that he had disappeared long before 
Vicky or Jon had been married.

They were fascinated by the stories he told of when the 
children had been young. Some things matched their own 
memories, like the first time Sam had seen Astrid as a baby, 
but other things, thankfully, did not.

The description of Marty's fall from a high diving board was 
chilling, as was the realisation that without a rudimentary 
childhood version of superpowers, she probably would not have 
survived.

Sam and Lee returned eventually, and they all had a quick 
lunch. Then Lois, Clark, Sam and Astrid left to go to a local 
funeral home to make arrangements for Jon, leaving Lee and 
Jimmy behind. They had offered to make arrangements for Larissa 
Lewis also, knowing what Jon's relationship with her would have 
been if he had lived. The FBI had gratefully accepted as 
Larissa had not had any family to claim her body.

Lee and Jimmy did offer to accompany them, but their offer was 
refused with a gentle smile from Lois.

"You are still on your honeymoon, you know," she said softly, 
her eyes shining with moisture. "And this is our job. Your job 
will be making sure that we don't really need to have this 
funeral. I don't want to bury my son."

Lee had nodded solemnly. As soon as her grandparents and 
parents had left, she'd turned to Jimmy and suggested that they 
immediately return to her grandfather Bernie's lab so that she 
could commence her testing.

Jimmy had been quick to acquiesce. He, too, was anxious to get 
this mystery resolved.

It had been a purposeful and strangely pleasant afternoon for 
them. It was a joy for him to watch her work. He marvelled at 
her concentration.

While she methodically ran test after test on the vials of 
blood from her father, he had sorted through the paperwork that 
Bernie had kept in meticulous order. On Bernie's computer, he 
was able to locate some hidden files pertaining to Clark, Lois, 
their children and grandchildren. Jimmy was quick to print out 
the information and set it aside for Lee to peruse.

Even keeping busy as he did, Jimmy couldn't help but be totally 
aware of his wife. He admired the clean lines of her neck, her 
hair in a subdued bun, out of the way. His gaze lingered on the 
line of her jaw, tracing the elegant profile.

He loved her. And even with everything going on, even with all 
the confusion and the worry, he was happier now than he had 
ever been in his whole life.

As if sensing his admiration, she looked up, her eyes locking 
on his. They stared at each other for a long moment before he 
finally broke the silence.

"Almost done?"

"Yes. For now," she added, her voice soft. Moving quickly, Lee 
tidied up the countertop, putting the vials back into cold 
storage and gathering together her notes. She moved to his 
side, put the papers down and laid a gentle hand on his arm. 
"Shall we go?" she asked.

He didn't answer, instead pulling her closer. His mouth came 
down on hers, and he delighted in the feel of her as she 
responded to his kiss. The kiss flared into fire and passion, 
and it was much, much later when Lee and Jimmy left to go back 
to her dorm room to prepare a simple meal.

***

The next day was much the same. After yet more research in the 
lab, Jimmy and Lee again made their way to Lois and Clark's 
brownstone. It was an expanded clan gathering, however, with 
Marty, Ben, and Vicky there, also. Superman had been busy 
ferrying his children to the meeting.

Marty, Ben and Vicky were incredulous at the news that the 
timeline had been altered. In contrast to them, Sam, Astrid, 
Lois and Clark almost seemed blas, in comparison, taking 
everything in stride.

There was much discussion about all the ramifications of the 
changes. Ben was speechless when he discovered that his 
mother's death had been unnecessary. It took him a long moment 
to compose himself.

Vicky was stunned when she learned that in another reality, she 
was married to the famous singer, Michael Gale. "I've always 
had a crush on him," she admitted, blushing furiously. "His 
music is awesome! And his voice! He has the most incredible 
voice."

Sam and Astrid grinned, taking delight in her reaction.

"So, do you two have any answers for us?" Clark asked.

"Not yet..." Jimmy started to say only to be interrupted by 
Lee.

"Yes, actually I do."

"You do?" Jimmy looked at her in surprise.

"Well, yeah. It was obvious. I'm sorry. I thought you knew, 
too. I know what was done. 'When' is another question, I'm 
afraid."

"But you never told me..."

"I didn't know I had to. I'm sorry." She shrugged. "It just 
seemed obvious to me."

"What seemed obvious?"

"Give it up, Jimmy. Lee is just like her grandfather, Bernie. 
She makes these brilliant leaps of logic and expects the rest 
of us to keep up with her," Clark told his friend, laughing.

A grin spread across Jimmy's face. "I remember that about 
Bernie. Do you remember the time... Oops, sorry, I forgot. Of 
course you don't."

Lois giggled. "We might not remember what you do, but we have 
our own memories of Bernie, and he pulled that routine on us 
more times than I can remember!"

"Anyway, you were saying..." Jimmy gestured to his wife as he 
sat down beside Sam.

"Okay," Lee said as she faced her family. "It was pretty 
obvious to me that an artificial inhibitor was introduced into 
my bloodstream that, when part of a serum to facilitate 
conception of a Kryptonian/Human hybrid, would cross the 
placental barrier and target the Kryptonian subset of 
chromosomes that predetermines how superpowers develop. Once I 
examined Dad's blood, I could tell that this inhibitor has 
become genetic. I'm still trying to figure out the causality of 
everything - it's kind of a chicken and egg question - but I 
think I've managed to isolate the specific chromosomes that 
have been damaged..."

"Uh, honey?"

"Yes, Grandpa?"

"Can you cut to the chase, and tell us this in layman's terms? 
We're a bit lost."

Lee looked around at the others in the room, all of them 
glassy-eyed, and totally confused. "Oh. Sorry." She blushed. "I 
guess I kind of got used to talking to Gramps about stuff like 
this. He always knew exactly what I was trying to say."

"Makes me glad that I never visited the two of them when they 
were puttering around his lab," Ben whispered to Marty, who 
giggled.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Lee," Ben said, shamefaced. "I'm still having trouble 
with the fact that you have superpowers. I forgot that you 
could hear me."

"It was pretty daunting to listen to," Astrid said, grinning at 
her bemused daughter. "And he was my father and she's my 
daughter! You'd think I could handle it. But when the two of 
them got going, they tuned out everything around them."

"Mom! We did not," Lee protested, for all the world sounding 
like a rebellious teenager.

"Honey, I love you, but I'm not blind. I do see you clearly - 
faults and all."

Lee sniffed. "I prefer to call it being focused. I don't see it 
as a fault."

"Would you two stop it, and let Lee explain what she's figured 
out? I'm going crazy here!" Lois had her hands on her hips as 
she glared at her daughter-in-law and her granddaughter.

The two younger women murmured embarrassed apologies. Astrid 
was quick to yield the floor back to her daughter.

"Okay," Lee said, speaking slowly and clearly. "I examined 
Dad's DNA very carefully. His DNA has been damaged, and the 
damage is very specific. It targets the Kryptonian half of his 
heritage. From what I can tell, it's genetic which means that 
not only didn't he inherit superpowers but it wouldn't be 
possible to pass them on either. I'll double-check both of you, 
Aunt Marty and Aunt Vicky, but I am pretty sure that I'll find 
the same damage to your DNA, too." She looked around the room, 
making eye contact with each of the adults in turn. "Am I going 
too fast, or are you staying with me?"

"I think we're still with you," Clark said, "but how did this 
happen? And why are you unaffected?"

Lee took a deep breath. "Okay, this is just a theory, but it's 
the only one that fits the facts. In this altered timeline, I 
don't have powers, right?"

Everyone nodded, their eyes intent on the young woman standing 
before them.

"And I still went into the past. We know that because Grandma 
and Grandpa remember me from then. We know that I didn't have 
powers because I didn't rescue Jimmy, and I didn't tell you 
about me or become Firestorm."

"But maybe you just didn't want to reveal yourself to us," Lois 
said reasonably.

"Grandma, I fell for Jimmy like a block of cement when I met 
him. There is no way that I could have had superpowers and not 
come to his rescue!"

"Remind me later to thank you again for that," Jimmy murmured 
under his breath.

Lee flashed him a quick smile before continuing. "Also, I 
reviewed Gramps' notes about the family, and he mentions the 
same DNA damage in his file on me. So, if I didn't have powers, 
but I went into the past anyway, then I must have gone to 
donate blood to create a serum for Grandma Lois. And it was 
that blood - with its free-floating toxin waiting to damage our 
DNA - that allowed Grandma and Grandpa to have children. And it 
was that damaged DNA that prevented those children from ever 
developing superpowers."

The other adults looked blankly at each other for a long 
moment.

"I'm totally confused!" Vicky blurted out.

Everyone nodded their agreement.

"How could this be? In the original timeline, you had 
superpowers so I had superpowers, too. In this altered 
timeline, our Lee doesn't have superpowers, so I don't either. 
It's a paradox." Sam shook his head.

"It's like the riddle about the time traveller who travels into 
the past to kill his own grandfather," Lee agreed. "One theory 
is that the grandson would instantaneously disappear, another 
that time is more fluid than that, and the timeline would 
adjust to compensate for the damage. I think the first scenario 
is more accurate. A change has been made to the past, and it's 
immediately affected the future," Lee stated. "Right now, 
things are in flux, and we have an opportunity to correct the 
damage. In time, that opportunity will vanish."

"So now we have to figure out how this happened." Lois regarded 
her granddaughter seriously.

Lee nodded in agreement.

"Could this have been a natural event?" Clark asked.

"No," Lee said firmly.

"So this was a deliberate act of sabotage," Lois said.

"I believe so."

"How do you think this was done?"

"I think it would be possible to create a solution containing 
minute bits of Kryptonite that could be injected into a younger 
version of me that would lurk in my system and wait to cross 
the placental barrier after I donated blood to Grandma Lois, 
thereby damaging the next generation's chromosomes and creating 
a medical problem that would be passed on to all future 
generations."

Dead silence greeted Lee's last words. Jimmy moved to her side 
and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Are you saying that someone has attacked our family?" Lois 
asked.

"Yes."

Lois and Clark looked at each other blankly for a long moment 
before their expressions changed. As one, they turned to their 
family and spat out a single word in unison.

"Tempus!"

"Um, what is a Tempus?" Vicky asked tentatively.

"Not what. Who," Clark said, his expression angry.

He and Lois quickly covered their previous history with the 
nefarious time traveller and described his obsessive interest 
in preventing a Utopian future from coming to pass.

"It looks like it's going to be our job to find him and stop 
him," Jimmy said, sounding determined. "Some honeymoon, huh, 
sweetheart?" he added in an aside to Lee.

She smiled. "Well, I can honestly say I've never had a better 
one!"

Her light-hearted comment served to break the tension in the 
room, but even so, Jimmy and Lee could sense the powerful and 
angry undercurrents that still lingered.

"Okay," Lois said, getting down to business. "Now we have to 
figure out when this happened. Any ideas?"

Sam and Astrid looked at each other blankly before turning back 
to her.

"I don't ever remember seeing anyone like that, Mom. And we 
were always pretty careful when we were out in public with Lee. 
She was never out of our line-of- sight when she was young. And 
when she was older, I think she would have told us if anyone 
had approached her."

"Obviously, since whatever it is that happened didn't happen to 
me, I don't remember it." Lee shrugged. Her expression was 
puzzled. "But someone said something suspicious... There's 
something in the back of my mind..."

"What?" Astrid asked.

Lee grinned at her mother. "Um, Mom, if I remembered, it 
wouldn't be in the back of my mind any more, would it?"

"Smart aleck!" Astrid exclaimed, her warm smile taking the 
sting out of the rebuke.

"Sorry!"

"Okay, honey," Lois said soothingly. "Instead of trying to 
remember what it was, try to remember when you heard it. Was it 
recent?"

"Yes."

"In the last day or two?"

"I think so."

"Good! Now try to remember who said it. Was it me or your 
Grandpa?"

Lee shook her head. "No."

"Was it your Mom or Dad?"

"No."

"Was it Jimmy?"

"No."

"So, who else have you seen in the last couple of days?"

"Well..." Lee grinned. "I know it wasn't the minister who 
married us or our witnesses, and I haven't seen anyone else."

"You're forgetting someone," Jimmy reminded his wife.

"I am?"

"Mr. Wells," he stated simply.

Comprehension spread slowly over Lee's face. "Oh! I remember!"

"What was it? What did he say?" Lois asked eagerly.

"He asked me if I had ever wondered what had happened to Jimmy, 
and I said 'yes, I had.' I also said that I had asked Grandpa," 
she smiled at Clark, "and he had told me that Jimmy had 
disappeared two days after I was born. He came to see Mom, Dad 
and me at the hospital and then disappeared!"

"But that's not what happened!" Jimmy exclaimed. "I left quite 
early in the morning, the day after you were born. I never went 
back to the hospital to visit you. I couldn't. It would have 
been too hard!"

"So if you came to the future the day after I was born, but you 
didn't disappear until the day after that..."

Jimmy and Lee stared at each other, the rest of the people in 
the room forgotten.

"This honeymoon just keeps getting stranger and stranger, 
doesn't it?" Jimmy asked with a laugh. "It looks like we have 
to..."

"... go back to the past," Lee finished with him.

"Or... maybe just me," Jimmy said tentatively.

"No way!" Lee blurted out. "You can't get away from me that 
easily. We're both going, and that's final!"

He smiled slowly. "I knew you were going to say that!" He 
pulled her into his arms. "And I totally agree."

***

It didn't take Lee and Jimmy long to pack. Jimmy in particular 
didn't need to take a lot with him as he had left most of his 
possessions behind at his apartment when Mr. Wells had come for 
him.

They decided that it would be best if Lee did not take her 
Firestorm outfit, but instead took her plain black Spandex, as 
it was less conspicuous. If possible, they didn't want to 
utilise any of her superpowers, as it was important that she 
not reveal herself to any of her family of Superheroes. Lee had 
never heard any mention from her family of a mysterious 
Superwoman flying around at the time of her birth, and she 
didn't want to take a chance on changing anything.

After much discussion with Lois and Clark, it was decided that 
it would be best for them to leave an hour's leeway between the 
time that Mr. Wells and Jimmy left his apartment, and the 
planned time of their arrival. That way, there wouldn't be any 
overlap of their past and future selves.

They weren't expecting Tempus to make his move that day, 
however. They were going to arrive in the past the day after 
Lee was born. However, Jimmy wasn't going to disappear until 
the day after that so it didn't seem likely that anything was 
going to happen their first day there. If it had, he would have 
disappeared pretty soon after the problem had been resolved. 
Wouldn't he? However, they both still intended on being 
vigilant.

Astrid had assured them that Lee had been well guarded at their 
planned time of arrival. She had kept her little girl with her 
every night while she was in hospital. From what Astrid had 
said, Lee had only been vulnerable during the day. There had 
been a few times when the nurses had taken the baby out of the 
room for tests, or to look after her while Astrid had had a 
shower.

So the decision was made to keep a low profile. Jimmy and Lee 
would hole up in Jimmy's apartment until it was time for 
visiting hours. At that point, Jimmy would head to the hospital 
and visit with Astrid and the baby. If anything suspicious were 
to occur that he couldn't handle, he would quickly call Lee.

Sam and Astrid accompanied Jimmy and Lee back to the small lab 
and watched as they made their preparations.

As they were about to leave, Lee turned to her parents. "You're 
okay with this, right?"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"If we succeed, you won't remember any of this. Whatever we d