Oops: The Destruction of Utopia
By ML Thompson <thomplaw@tbaytel.net>
Rated: PG-13
Submitted: April 2007

* * * * * * * * *

This is a fanfic based on the television show, Lois and Clark:
The New Adventures of Superman. No copyright infringement is
intended. I'm borrowing these characters for a little fun and
not for any profit. For a complete disclaimer, go to:
http://www.thompsonlawoffice.ca/Disclaimer.htm

Let me tell you how this story came about. A few years ago,
Gerry and I tossed ideas back and forth with the intention of
possibly writing another story together. However, that never
came about. So a couple months ago, I thought of the idea again
and couldn't resist writing up the story. When I sent it to
Gerry, she not only beta read the story for me but she also
encouraged me to post it. So, thanks, Gerry.

Also, my special thanks to Carol Malo for her beta reading
skills. She was great, helping me find mistakes and plot holes
and answering many, many emails about how I could fix the
problems in this story in order to keep the reader from getting
too confused. 

Once we were finished, I figured it might be helpful to get some
fresh eyes to take a look at it and Erin and Em graciously
agreed. 

So thanks to all of you for all your suggestions and comments
and for helping me try to ensure that the story was
understandable. Without your suggestions, I'm sure that a lot of
people would be scratching their heads, wondering what the hell
was going on. 

And thanks to Paul-Gabriel Wiener for editing this story for the
archives.

Finally, thanks to the people on the fanfic message boards who
gave me even more suggestions to make this story better.

QUESTION: Did you ever wonder what happened when Lois and Clark
were in the Daily Planet elevator after their honeymoon that
caused Lois to end up holding Clark's coffee and Clark to end up
holding Lois' donut? This story answers that question.

* * * * * * * * *
Oops: The Destruction of Utopia
By: ML Thompson <thomplaw@tbaytel.net>
April 2007
* * * * * * * * *

Herbert George Wells sat nervously in the hallway, waiting to be
summoned in front of the council. As he waited, he absently
fiddled with his soul tracker. He couldn't believe how long the
council was taking to reach a decision. He also didn't know what
its decision would be.

He'd presented his arguments. After all, if Tempus escaped
again, he would need to go back and help out again. Surely they
must be able to see that.

On the other hand, these were good people. They lacked Tempus'
flare for unbridled evil. And given that, was it possible they
wouldn't realize that Herb was the only thing standing between
Tempus' evil plots and the destruction of Utopia? No, the
council would decide in Herb's favor. They had to. After all, he
was the only one qualified to stop Tempus.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark kept his eyes on the elevator lights as he stood next to
Lois, watching the elevator ascend to the newsroom. Still, not
looking at her didn't mean he couldn't smell her shampoo or feel
the heat from her body as her arm brushed against his. In point
of fact, at that moment, every inch of him knew he was standing
next to Lois Lane.

He was aware of her in a way he only thought he had been before
their honeymoon. How was he ever going to make it through the
work day when all he seemed able to think about was how her body
fit against his, the sounds of her arousal, the touch of her
hands, the passion in her eyes as she lay beneath him?
Fathomless pools. Darker than he'd have believed possible. At
that moment, he understood how a poet could write an ode to a
person's eyes. And that was only the beginning. There were her
arms, her legs, her... 

He had to make a conscious effort not to crush the fragile
coffee cup clasped in his suddenly too-tight hand. 'Don't go
there, Kent,' he silently warned himself.

He could tell that Lois was stealing little looks at him and
wondered if her memories were as all-consuming as his. His eyes
settled on Lois' hand, where she was holding her donut just a
little bit too tight. Yep. She was thinking about the same thing
he was. It was a good thing they weren't alone in the elevator
because if they had been...

Ding.

The doors to the elevator opened and the only other passenger
stepped off.

The doors had barely closed again when Lois was suddenly in
Clark's arms, kissing him. Or was he kissing her? Who had moved
first? He didn't know. And... Oh god. Her body moved against his
and suddenly he no longer cared.

"How are we going to get through the day?" Lois asked
breathlessly when she finally managed to end the kiss.

"I don't know," Clark answered honestly, even as he contemplated
flying them through the emergency panel in the ceiling of the
elevator and back to the bed in his apartment. Would Perry fire
them for being late - or, well, more late than they currently
were?

"You'd think after two weeks..."

"We waited a lot longer than two weeks," Clark said, unable to
resist going back in for another kiss.

"So... it was worth it then? The wait, I mean."

"Lois, it was perfect. Better than perfect."

Satisfied with his answer, she pulled him closer, kissing him
passionately. Clark was the one to break the kiss this time.

"At least... it was for me."

A smile made its way onto Lois' face. "Clark, it was super."

Clark laughed at her emphasis of the final word before the need
to kiss her overwhelmed him once again. How was he going to be
able to concentrate on anything but the number of minutes until
he could get her back in bed?

His arms pulled her closer and he was rewarded and possibly
punished when she wrapped an ankle around his leg, rubbing her
body even more seductively against his as the kiss continued.

When the elevator finally dinged, and he was forced to break his
hold on Lois, Clark felt more than a little dazed. In fact, the
world seemed to spin around him and he felt downright dizzy as
he stood, eyes facing firmly forward, and watched the elevator
door open. After taking a moment to regain his balance, he
stepped into the busy newsroom.

He turned to look at Lois but she was gone. But... He gave his
head a shake when he saw her back only for a moment before she
disappeared into the conference room. He must have been more out
of it than he'd thought. It was a wonder that everyone wasn't
staring at him, given how long he must have been standing there,
staring off into space.

"Hey, C.K." Jimmy said, rushing past to board the elevator.

"Hey, Jimmy," Clark said, his mind most definitely not on his
young friend even as some part of him wondered if Jimmy had
changed his hair color.

He smiled as he considered how he was going to make Lois pay for
leaving him standing there, all hot and bothered. She must have
noticed how distracted she'd made him. He could just imagine her
sneaking away with a giggle, wondering how long it would take
for him to regain his equilibrium. Well, fine. Maybe he'd just
show her how quickly he could get her into the storage room
where he could exact a little... revenge.

He smiled as he headed after her.

"Morning, handsome."

Clark blinked when Cat suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Cat?"
he asked. When had she come back? She hadn't worked at the Daily
Planet for more than two years. Before he could enquire, she
spoke.

"I've asked you to have dinner with me two times," Cat pouted,
raising her hands to his chest to play with his tie.

"Huh?" He stepped back from her, rescuing his tie.

"That's two times more than I've ever had to ask any man to do
anything."

"Cat, it's nice to see you. Really. But... I'm married," Clark
said. Surely she'd have heard.

"Oh, well. That's not an immoveable obstacle. I'm sure we can
find some way to work around it." She took a step towards him.

He took another step back. "Look, Lois and I..."

"Poor Lois. All work and no personality."

"Okay, that's enough!" Clark said with enough force to finally
get Cat's full attention. In fact, he was fairly certain he now
had the attention of half the newsroom. "I will never cheat on
my wife. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to talk to Lois."

Leaving a speechless Cat and a silent newsroom behind, he headed
towards the conference room, stepping inside and closing the
door behind him. It might have been nice to see Cat. He might
have asked her what she was doing back. But after her behavior
and her comment about Lois, Clark was fuming.

"Cat-napping?" Lois asked.

He let out a breath. From the tone in Lois' voice, she must have
seen at least part of the exchange between him and Cat. And she
was upset. He couldn't blame her. He was upset, too. Still, what
he couldn't quite tell was whether she was upset with him or
with Cat. Or if it even mattered. She was upset. That was
enough.

"Lois," he said softly, walking over and taking the seat next to
her at the table. "Don't let her upset you."

"Huh?" Lois asked, her scowl turning to confusion.

"I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you were upset. After all, I'm
upset. But..." He took Lois' hands in his own. "...Lois, honey,
she just isn't worth it."

Lois jerked her hands out of his.

"Honey, you know I love you," Clark rushed to continue. "You
know I'd never do anything to jeopardize what we..."

"Clark, have you lost your mind?" Lois demanded, springing to
her feet and taking a few steps back to put some distance
between them.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois gave her head a shake, and then stumbled slightly as a wave
of dizziness passed over her. When the lightheadedness receded,
she finally looked around. 

It was night. It was night? No. This wasn't right. It had been
morning only a few minutes ago. Or... had it? Had she somehow
lost a part of a day? It wouldn't be the first time.

She placed her hand against a nearby building as she came to a
complete stop on the sidewalk. Okay, Lois, think. What was the
last thing she remembered? She'd been kissing Clark in the
elevator as they'd headed to the newsroom. A blush rose in her
cheeks. Actually, they'd been doing a little bit more than just
kissing. Another few seconds and the heat they'd been generating
would likely have caused the control panels to short out. And
then... trapped alone in an elevator. Lois didn't have a single
illusion about what would have happened then.

But instead, she found herself standing alone on a street in the
dark. She looked around, taking in her surroundings for the
first time.

Well, at least she knew where she was. This was Clinton Street.

Okay, so maybe she couldn't remember the last few hours. But at
least she knew where home was. She smiled. Home. It was amazing
how easy it was to think of Clark's apartment as home.

Well, whatever had happened to the day, her first step was to
get home. She would find Clark and together they would figure it
out. If, of course, it was even the same day. What if a week had
passed? Or a month? What if Clark was worried frantically about
her disappearance?

Her pace increased until she found herself jogging, desperate to
get home as quickly as possible and find Clark. After that...
everything would be all right just as long as she could get to
Clark.

'Please let him be home,' her mind silently begged. However,
even if he wasn't, this was one time she would have no
hesitation yelling, 'Help, Superman,' at the top of her lungs
when she wasn't in life-threatening peril. She knew that seeing
him and being swept into his arms was the only thing that could
banish the fear that had taken a grip on her soul as a result of
her memory loss. After all, together, they could conquer
anything.

She let out a breath of relief when she turned the corner and
saw light coming from inside the apartment. She dug in her
pockets, but, although she could find her old apartment keys,
she couldn't find her keys to Clark's apartment. She must have
lost them. She climbed the steps quickly and had raised her hand
to knock when something inside caused her to stop in
mid-motion.

Clark was kissing... Mayson Drake! Without another thought, Lois
grabbed the door handle and turned. The door, which Clark must
have left unlocked, swung open under the force of her anger.

Mayson and Clark jumped apart at the unexpected sound of Lois'
entry.

"What the hell is going on here?" Lois hissed, her eyes burning
holes into Clark.

"Lois, I..." Clark began, only to be interrupted by Mayson.

"I would have thought that was obvious," Mayson said.

But Lois didn't take her eyes off of Clark. "I'd like to talk to
Clark. Alone. I think you better leave, Mayson."

She saw a look of confusion cross Clark's face. She snarled at
him in response. How dare he look so innocent? She knew what she
had seen!

"I think you're the one who should leave," Mayson said. "I'm
here at Clark's invitation. And unless he tells me to leave..."

"Mayson," Clark interrupted, not breaking eye contact with Lois.
"I'll give you a call later."

"We'll see about that," Lois growled under her breath,
increasing the furrow of confusion that was lining Clark's
brow.

"But, Clark, she..."

Clark finally broke eye contact with Lois to look at Mayson.
"Please, Mayson," he said softly.

Lois felt her anger increase at the gentle tone in Clark's
voice. He and Mayson had been caught in the act, and yet he
seemed to be trying to protect her feelings. Mayson was as
guilty in this as he was. Wait a minute? Mayson Drake? But...
"You're dead," Lois said in confusion, her eyes leaving Clark to
settle on Mayson fully for the first time.

Mayson's eyes flashed. "I don't respond well to threats. And if
Clark wants to kiss me, I don't see how that is any of your
business."

The anger returned. "Get out," Lois responded.

Mayson looked back at Clark who nodded, a look of apology on his
face. 

Lois' eyes again focused on Clark as her ears told her that
Mayson had left the apartment.

"Look, Lois, I'm not sure what you have against Mayson, but..."

"What I have against Mayson?" Lois asked in disbelief. "Nothing,
until I saw her kissing my husband. Okay, well, maybe she was
never my favorite person in the world. And I never really liked
the way she was always throwing herself at you. And she did have
some questionable friendships... Bill Church, for instance. But
since I almost married Lex Luthor, I guess I'm not one to
judge..."

"Husband?" Clark interrupted, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Lois, when did you get married?"

* * * * * * * * *

Clark Kent had lost his mind. There was no other possible
explanation for it.

Oh, she'd noticed the way Cat had been all over him. Not that it
mattered to her, of course. No. Not at all. What Clark Kent did
on his own time was his business. And she couldn't care less if
he wanted to make a fool of himself with that floozy. Just as
long as he kept his hands off her copy!

But then he'd made his grand announcement about having a wife
and that he'd never cheat on her. That revelation had come as a
bit of a shock. Somehow, she hadn't thought that Kent was
married. Still, why shouldn't he be? And. just to be clear, she
couldn't have cared less about that either!

But when he'd come into the conference room, taking her hands,
telling her not to let Cat upset her and calling her honey...
The man was a stark-raving lunatic! Was it any wonder she liked
to work alone?

"Lois, what's wrong?"

Her eyebrows rose.

"Look, Lois, just talk to me. Tell me what's wrong. I promise
that..." Suddenly, his voice trailed off and she watched his
eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What did you do to your
hair?" he asked out of nowhere.

Her eyebrows rose. What was going to happen next? Should she
call for help? Did Perry have any idea what a whack-job Kent was
when he'd hired him?

"What are you..." 

His voice trailed off again as he suddenly seemed to be struck
by another thought. She watched suspiciously as he rushed over
to the papers she had been studying earlier, flipping them to
the side as he appeared to speed-read them faster than she would
have believed possible. Of course, he obviously wasn't reading.
But when he started dropping papers on the floor as he attempted
to look at them all, she finally stepped forward.

"Hey! What do you think you're..."

"EPRAD? Prometheus Space Station? Messenger explosion?" He
looked up at her. "What day is it?"

"Friday," she responded in confusion. 

"No! The date!"

"May fourteenth." When he continued to look at her expectantly,
she continued. "1993."

"Oh, god," Clark breathed before slumping into a chair and
burying his head in his hands.

* * * * * * * * *

Married? When had Lois gotten married? Or more importantly...
"Who?"

"What are you talking about, Clark?"

"Who did you marry?"

"Who do you think I..." She suddenly seemed distracted, looking
around at his apartment in confusion. "Where's my stuff?"

"What stuff?" Clark asked, having problems understanding the
leaps she seemed to be making. As far as he knew, Lois hadn't
been seeing anyone since Luthor. He supposed that to an outside
observer, one might wonder if she was involved with Superman. At
least, enough criminals seemed to think of her as Superman's
girlfriend. But he wasn't a casual observer. He was Superman -
so that ruled out Superman.

"My stuff!" Lois insisted. "Come on, Clark. This isn't funny.
After the day I've had, the last thing I need is for you to be
making jokes. My stuff. Where's..." She suddenly stopped, as if
another thought had occurred to her. "Wait a minute! Why isn't
Mayson dead?"

Clark's eyebrows rose. "Lois, are you feeling all right?"

"No! Obviously! Clark, what's going on here? Why were you
kissing Mayson?"

"Actually, and not that it's any of your business, but she was
kissing me."

"Right! And you were what? Just some innocent victim, I
suppose?" She folded her arms across her chest, unconsciously
mirroring Superman's stance.

"Look, Lois, I'm not sure why you're acting like this. But if
you have a problem with me kissing Mayson..."

"Of course I have a problem with you kissing Mayson!" Lois
exclaimed. "What the hell do you think has me so upset?" She
glanced around his apartment again. "Other than the fact that
all my stuff is missing and that Mayson is even alive and that I
can't remember anything about what happened today since we were
in the elevator."

She was no longer looking at him, appearing lost in her own
thoughts.

"Lois, maybe you should sit down," Clark said, taking her arm
and leading her over to the couch.

"Mayson's alive," she said thoughtfully. "Yet we saw her..."
Suddenly, she spun around to face him. "Clark, what day is it?"
she demanded.

"Wednesday."

"No! The date."

"October twenty-seventh." When she continued to look at him
expectantly, he continued. "1994."

"Oh, god," Lois said, stumbling down the few remaining steps
into his living room and collapsing onto the couch before
burying her head in her hands. Her groan deepened when her hands
told her even more clearly that she wasn’t in her own time. Her
hair was long - meaning that not only was she in the past, but
she’d leapt into her past body.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois stepped cautiously forward. She really didn't have a lot of
experience dealing with these types of mental problems - this
full break Clark seemed to be having with reality. Still, he was
obviously in distress.

"There, there," she said, awkwardly patting him on the back.
"Listen, I'm probably not the right person to help you at the
moment. But I know a really good psychologist. I'm sure she..."

"No!" Clark's head snapped up. "Don't you see? No one can know.
Until I can figure out how this happened, I have to prevent
anyone else from knowing."

"I'm sure you feel that way now, Clark. But it's nothing to be
embarrassed about. Once you get some help, I'm sure you'll be
fine. Mental illness is not something to be ashamed of." She
glanced towards the door to the conference room, trying to
figure out how long it would take her to get Perry.

"No, Lois, you don't understand." He spun out of his chair.

She felt her blood pressure rise when he unconsciously situated
himself between her and the door. Her eyes shot to the door and
back to him. Her escape route was cut off.

God, why hadn't she seen it before? When she'd met Clark Kent a
few days before, she'd thought he was just a harmless hack from
Nowheresville. But looking at him now, she suddenly realized
just how big and muscular he was. And he was standing between
her and freedom.

"I do understand, Clark," she said in her most placating voice.

"Don't patronize me, Lois!"

"Okay, okay. No patronizing," she said, hoping that statement
didn't sound as patronizing to him as it did to her.

Clark ran a hand through his hair, obviously agitated.

"Look, Lois. Please. I... Okay so this might sound a little bit
crazy..." He ran his hand through his hair again.

"I don't think you should use that word, Clark. It's not crazy.
You're just having a little... break from reality. It doesn't
make you crazy."

"Lois!"

She fell silent, again contemplating whether she could make it
past him and out the door to where she would find the safety of
her colleagues. She at least wished the blinds were up on the
conference room windows. Still, surely if she got into real
trouble and screamed, someone would come to her rescue.

"I'm from the future, Lois. Three and a half years, to be
precise."

"Oh, well, that certainly explains it."

"Look, I told you it would sound crazy, but it's true." He
growled. "Why couldn't I have leapt into myself sometime after
we first met H.G. Wells?" he muttered.

"The writer? Didn't he die?"

"Only in this time."

"So in the future he comes back to life?"

"No, but... Lois, H.G. Wells invented a time machine."

"He wrote a book about inventing a time machine, Clark. You're
just confused about..."

"No! Lois, he actually invented a time machine. Now, I don't
know exactly what is happening, but I need your help to get
back."

"Back to the future?"

"Exactly. You see there's this man from the future - Tempus -
and he is constantly trying to destroy Utopia, and to do that,
he thinks..." Clark was suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness and
he grabbed onto the back of a chair as the world began to spin.
"Lois..." he cried out as the world faded around him.

* * * * * * * * *

"Lois, what is going on here?" Clark asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Lois mumbled without
looking up. "Why couldn't I have jumped in after we met Herb?"

Clark sat down next to her. "Try me, Lois," he said softly.

She finally looked up at him. "I'm not supposed to be here."

"Here? As in my apartment? I don't..."

"No! Here - as in 1994."

"I don't..."

"Clark, I'm from the future. See I knew you wouldn't believe
me," she said, obviously seeing something on his face.

"No, no, it's not... Okay, so maybe it is. Lois, you've got to
admit, it's a little... far-fetched. Are you sure you're feeling
okay?"

She laughed without humor. "Oh, fine. Just dandy." She looked
over at him. "Clark, I know you're finding this hard to believe
but... can you just suspend your disbelief for a moment? I've
got to find a way home and... I need your help."

"Lois..."

"What if I told you that future me knows that you're Superman?"
she asked, struck by a sudden inspiration.

"What... how..." He suddenly looked like a deer caught in the
headlights.

"I told you, I'm from the future. Trust me, the me of this time
doesn't have a clue. So... do you believe me now?"

He looked at her for a long moment, silently debating her
startling revelation. But this was Lois, so... "Where do you
want to start?" he asked.

She finally gave him a smile. It was the type of smile he would
do almost anything to see - even if it meant helping her
supposedly get back to the future. "Okay, well, I'm not really
sure. One minute I was..." She hesitated slightly. "...in the
elevator at the Daily Planet. The next I was practically
standing outside your door."

"So what makes you think that this is a different time? Maybe
you... I don't know, just got so lost in thought that you can't
remember your trip to my place?"

She raised her eyebrow. "And found myself in 1994?"

"So where were you expecting to be?"

"In..." Her voice trailed off. "I'm not sure how much I should
tell you."

"Why?"

"What if something I tell you changes the future?"

He let out a breath. "Well, it's going to be difficult to help
you without your being able to talk to me."

"I know, I know. It's just..."

"But you have told me some things already," Clark continued.
"Lois, you said you're married?"

"Yes," she answered cautiously.

"To whom?"

A grin appeared momentarily at one corner of her mouth. "I have
a feeling that's exactly the type of thing I can't tell you."

"Okay, fair enough. I guess I should have known that."

"I suspect you did know that," Lois said. "After all, how would
knowing that help me get home?"

"Just tell me this... Are you happy?"

Her face relaxed into a smile. "Very."

"Am I?"

"Clark," she warned, knowing exactly what he was doing. After
all, from what she now knew, he had always loved her. So in his
mind, if she told him that she was married and he was happy,
then there would be only one possible conclusion.

"Okay, fine. But... I really think I need to know how far in the
future you're from."

She studied him for a long moment. "Can we just leave that for
the moment? It might become necessary, but... well, until we
come up with a plan, I think it might be best to keep that to
myself."

Clark nodded. "So you mentioned something about someone named
Herb... Wait! Mayson is dead in the future? What happened to
her?"

"I can't tell you that, Clark. It could change the past - or
well, I guess the future. But... you know what I mean."

He nodded. "Besides, given that you won't tell me how far in the
future you come from, she might have died in her late seventies.
Except... Well, you don’t look any different. So I’d have to
guess that you’re not from very far in the future."

"Looks can be deceiving," Lois mumbled, running a hand through
her suddenly too-long hair.

"So... What does that mean?"

"It appears that I leapt into my past body. I wonder where my
past self is," she muttered to herself.

"So... then Mayson could have died in her late seventies?"

"She might have," Lois said before hesitating. If she told him
what happened, Clark would undoubtedly change the future. After
all, Mayson's death was only weeks away. And if anything could
change the future, it would be having someone not die when they
were supposed to. Not only that, there was always the question
of how Mayson might have changed Lois' private past. Still, how
could she not tell him when it was in her hands to save Mayson's
life? If only she could ask Clark what he thought she should do?
But then... why couldn't she? After all, it was his past, too.

"Clark, I need to ask you something."

"You can ask me anything."

"If I know that something bad is going to happen, and I know
that by telling you, you will feel compelled to change it and
thereby change the future..."

"Should you tell me anyway?"

She nodded.

"How bad is it?"

"Bad."

"And there is no way you can change it in the future?"

She shook her head.

"And you really think that telling me might change your past?"

She hesitated. She and Clark had just been starting out when
Mayson died. If Mayson and Dan had both been alive at the same
time, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that Clark might
have turned to Mayson when she had turned to Dan. No. No. She
would never have turned to Dan if Clark hadn't been so
distracted after Mayson's death that he had made her believe
that she was yesterday's news.

She flinched slightly. No, that wasn't exactly true. There was
also the issue of Clark's continual disappearing act - which had
made her unsure of Clark's feelings. She may well have still
turned to Dan. And if Clark had turned to Mayson when she turned
to Dan... Well, who knew what might have happened then?

She suspected it probably wouldn't have hurt their relationship
in the long run, but... could she be absolutely certain about
that?

"It could devastate it," she finally admitted. 

He nodded slowly before turning his thoughts inward for a
moment. "I've never been in your situation," he said. "So I
really can't tell you what to do. But I've always believed that
you do what is right and leave the consequences to tend to
themselves. But, Lois, as I said, I've never been in your
situation before."

She chewed on her lower lip as she thought about his comment.
She could save Mayson's life. One word to Clark would do that.
But what if it destroyed her future with Clark? Still, how could
she ever be happy if she went back to the future knowing that
she'd let Mayson die just so she could be with Clark?

"Clark, Mayson will be killed by a car bomb."

"What? How do I go about preventing..."

"Okay, look, I need you just to listen, okay? You can't tell her
this."

"She'd write me off as crazy, for one thing."

"Exactly. But... I'm not sure how much I should tell you."

"Then how do I stop it? Lois, what am I supposed to do? Follow
her around, maybe for years, until I locate a bomb in her car?"

She let out a slow breath, debating. How much should she tell
him? She had to tell him something - obviously. But if she told
him the time and date of Mayson's death, was she going to change
how he had dealt with everything that had happened that day?
After all, there had been things about that day that she
definitely did not want to change. "What I will tell you is
this... The day after our first date, we kiss."

His eyebrows rose.

"Not our almost first date, you understand. But our first date.
While we are kissing, Mayson will be killed by a bomb in her
car."

"So instead of kissing you, I should be..."

"No! Clark, that kiss..." She hesitated, torn. That kiss had
been the beginning. After slamming the door in his face the
night before, she'd honestly believed she'd blown everything.
That kiss had set them back on track. 

"Lois, what are you saying I should do?"

"We took a long time getting out of the Daily Planet that night
- putting our story to bed. We were on our way over to give our
statements to Mayson when it happened. Just... get us out of the
Daily Planet a little earlier. Please, Clark. That kiss... it's
important. But..." Tears came to her eyes. "...I guess if it
comes down to a choice between saving Mayson and... You have to
save Mayson. But..."

"You want to make sure I kiss you, too."

She shrugged. "Maybe it's crazy, but I think it's kind of
important."

His hand came up to cup her cheek. "I happen to think that any
time I can kiss you is kind of important. But knowing that
Mayson is in danger... You said she was killed by a bomb in her
own car?"

Lois nodded.

"Then I can probably just dart out for coffee or something
earlier in the evening and dismantle the bomb."

Her expression lightened. "Just remember to come back to walk
over to the D.A.'s office with me?"

"I promise, Lois."

She let out a breath. "Thank you, Cl..." Her voice trailed off
as a wave of dizziness came upon her. 

"What's wrong, Lois?"

Lois didn't answer as she watched the world began to spin and
fade around her.

* * * * * * * * *

Men and women in long, flowing, colorful robes sat in what
appeared to be a modern version of a Greek amphitheater, tensely
watching the scene play out in front of them on the large
virtual screen.

Laddy was the one to speak first - which was to be expected. The
most outspoken member of the council, he was an unusual thing in
Utopia - a pessimist. "If Lois thinks Clark's crazy..."

"...she might actually manage to get herself reassigned," Andrus
completed, from his position next to the screen. Not a member of
the council himself, Andrus had been instructed to inform the
council the moment it had become apparent that somehow the past
was being changed. Suddenly, he looked somewhat embarrassed,
realizing that he had overstepped his bounds by doing more than
transfering the information from the Past Watcher's Department
to the council. He was relieved when no one seemed to notice,
being too concerned with the information they were being given.

"Well, she tried not to be partnered with Clark in the original
history, and Perry White still continued to assign them stories
together. So we may yet be all right," William, also known as
William the Wise, said, injecting a note of reason into the
nervous atmosphere. There was a reason he was Chief of the
Council.

"There will still be a time quake," Laddy said.

"We've survived those before," William responded.

"What's a time quake?" Remi asked, looking around at the rest of
the group. Remi's small size was no barrier to the amount of
respect she generated among the other members of the council,
both as a descendant of Lois and Clark, but also for her own
sensible outlook.

"Oh, right," William said. "You weren't part of the council when
Tempus was wreaking havoc in the past last time, were you?"

Remi shook her head.

"Well, when something is changed in the past, it causes a ripple
in time. That ripple manifests itself as an... earthquake, I
guess - as any changes made to the past have to catch up and
change our current realities. Little changes aren't that bad.
But, at least in theory, the very foundation of Utopia could be
destroyed by one of these quakes."

"Is there any way we can find out how bad this one might be?"
Remi asked, horrified by the explanation.

"All we need to do is to run this history a little further
forward," Andrus said before proceeding to do just that. "It
seems we have something here," he said, stopping on a place in
the history that was flashing - indicating that a change had
taken place. The time stamp identified it as later the same day
that Clark had had what Lois had termed his 'breakdown.'

They all fell silent as they watched the scene play out before
them.

"Perry, come on. I've tried working with Kent. I really have.
But this... Perry, he's seriously wacko."

"Lois, settle down. He was obviously just funning with you."

"He wasn't joking, Perry. He really thought he was from the
future." She rose out of her chair and began pacing Perry
White's office. "Now, you know I'm as much of a team player as
the next reporter, but... Okay, okay. Maybe not. But still...
you can't really expect me to work with him after this."

"Great shades of Elvis, honey. He was joking."

She stopped in front of his desk, placing both hands on its
surface so that she could glare at her boss. "No, he wasn't."

"Isn't it possible that it's been so long since someone has
actually had the nerve to joke with you that you don't know when
they're doing it anymore?" When she still didn't back off, he
sighed. "Fine. I'll talk to him. But if he says he was just
joking, I'll expect you to keep working with him. I will tell
him, however, that he should not joke like that with you
again."

"Perry..." Lois began to object.

"That's the best I can do. Now, have you figured out why the
Messenger exploded yet?"

"This isn't over, Perry," she said, straightening up and heading
for the door to his office. 

As she left, the council heard Perry mutter, "Great shades of
Elvis," before rising to his feet and following Lois into the
newsroom. "Kent, in my office," he said before returning to his
chair.

"Yes, sir?" Clark said, stepping into the office.

"Close the door, son."

Clark did so, and then, following Perry's gesture, took the
indicated chair.

Perry ran a hand through his hair as if not entirely certain
where to begin. Finally, he just took a fortifying breath and
plunged into the deep end. "You don't really think you're from
the future, do you?"

"Of course not. Why would you even ask that?"

"According to Lois, you made that claim earlier this morning. I
trust you remember?"

"Maybe," Clark said, looking slightly confused.

"So I take it you were just funning with Lois?"

"Well, if I said I'm from the future, I certainly wasn't
serious," Clark responded carefully.

"Well, you should know that Lois isn't really too familiar with
people joking around with her. Just stick to getting the story
until the two of you get to know each other better. And, please,
no more talk about being from the future."

"Yes, sir."

Perry let out a breath. "Fine. Then git. Tell Lois you were just
joking and get me the story on the Messenger explosion."

"Yes, sir," Clark said, rising to his feet and heading out of
the office.

Andrus held a hand up to his ear to hear the report coming in
from his office. After a moment, he let out a sigh of relief and
turned to address the council. "I've got one further piece of
good news. My team has come across an entry in Clark Kent's
journal about the incident. Apparently, he wrote the whole thing
off to some strange mood. He never did have a clear memory of
the event, so he didn't make a connection to future
interference. He said it was more like some sort of bizarre
dream. And since it never happened again, it didn't seriously
compromise their future relationship."

William let out a breath of relief. "Okay, then. We should still
brace for a time quake. But it shouldn't be that bad. We've
managed to dodge the bullet on that one."

"Never quite understood what that expression meant," Laddy
muttered under his breath. "Back when there were bullets, could
people actually dodge them?"

"So do we know yet what caused Clark to leap back in time?"
William asked, ignoring Laddy's comment.

"Our people are still checking it out," Andrus said.

"Fine. Then when you know..." William's voice trailed off when
Andrus raised his hand to his ear again.

"What?" Laddy demanded when he watched all the color drain from
Andrus' face.

"We've got another time quake coming in. This one is even more
substantial."

"Clark again?"

"No. This one was caused by Lois. Apparently, she also leapt
back in time and gave Past Clark some information that enabled
him to prevent Mayson Drake's death."

"Who's Mayson Drake?" William asked.

"Isn't she the woman who became interested in Clark when Lois
was still vacillating about her feelings?" Remi asked.

"This could be a disaster," Laddy said, maintaining his
tradition of being the voice of gloom and doom. "At the very
least, if Mayson goes on to have children, the time quake will
significantly change the structure of our society - by possibly
creating a whole line of people who should never have been born.
At the worst, if she and Clark get together, then Utopia itself
could be in danger of collapsing."

In spite of his overly-negative prediction, no one disagreed.
Instead, they all looked towards Andrus, who was listening
intently to his ear piece.

"When will we know?" Remi asked.

"They are just searching the records now. We should know..."
Andrus' voice trailed off as he again listened to something only
he could hear.

Everyone seemed to hold his breath as he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

As if one, they all let out their own breaths when Andrus sighed
in relief.

"What?" William immediately demanded.

"It seems..." Andrus fell silent again as he listened once more
to his earpiece. "Okay," Andrus said with a smile, addressing
the council again. "It seems we're all right. Mayson Drake
didn't get in the way of the Lois/Clark courtship."

"So Utopia survives," Laddy said. "But what about children?"

"Well, she did marry," Andrus continued. "In fact, after Lois
told Dan Scardino that she wasn't interested, Scardino got
involved with Mayson Drake."

"Daniel Scardino married Mayson Drake?" Remi asked.

Andrus nodded.

"What about children?"

"Apparently, they never had children."

"Oh, thank god," William breathed. "So what's causing this?" he
asked once everyone calmed down again.

"We're working on that, sir. But as of yet... The only thing we
know is that on the day they returned to work from their
honeymoon, Lois and Clark seem to have leapt back time. It seems
they have each only leapt once, but well... when they left their
past... I'm afraid we don't know if they leapt back into their
correct time or not."

"So we have no idea if there will be other time quakes," Laddy
said. "And we have no idea if they are back in their correct
times or what might be causing this?"

"That about sums it up, I'm sorry to say," Andrus informed the
suddenly silent council.

"Brace for incoming time quake," said a voice over the intercom.


Everyone braced as a small earthquake shook the foundations of
the building. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when, after it
stopped, it appeared that everything was still pretty much
intact. The first quake was followed by a second, more powerful
quake. Once it was over, everyone looked around to see that they
had all, once again, survived, even if the color paint used on
the walls had changed.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois gave her head a shake as the dizziness receded. Where was
she now? Or, maybe more importantly, *when* was she? Because she
knew where she was. She was also pretty sure what had happened.
She'd leapt into an entirely different time in her life. But
past or future?

She glanced around, trying to orient herself. She was sitting on
a park bench in Centennial Park. Clark was standing nearby. It
was a beautiful spring day. Clark looked young to her. And his
suits... It was before he'd started dressing more G.Q. It
suddenly occurred to her that that particular change had taken
place at about the same time as they had started dating. The new
glasses. The new clothes. A small smile played at the corners of
her mouth. He'd been trying to impress her. Well, it must have
worked. After all, she'd married him, hadn't she? Not for the
clothing, of course. But because he was Clark - sloppy suits and
loud ties notwithstanding.

She forced her mind back on track. So... when was it? Sometime
in the first year they had known each other, perhaps?

She silently studied Clark's face as he stared beyond her. He
looked devastated. She could remember that look, but when?

"You should probably be getting back to work," Clark said. "I
doubt your boss at LNN is as tolerant as Perry."

He had turned and begun to walk away when it finally struck her
when she was. She was working at LNN. She and Clark were in a
park. He was looking devastated. It was the day when Clark had
finally told her he loved her. This was her chance to do things
differently. She'd hurt him so badly that day, compounding the
pain when she'd immediately asked him to tell Superman she was
looking for him. How many times had she wished she'd handled
things differently that day?

"Clark!" she yelled after him.

He didn't turn. Didn't acknowledge that he even heard her -
although she knew he must have.

"Clark, come back." She jumped to her feet but found the
residual dizziness from her leap forced her to grab onto the
back of the park bench for support. "We need to talk," she
yelled at his quickly retreating figure.

He was already halfway across the park, and he was moving at a
pace that would make it impossible for her to catch him -
especially when it was obvious he didn't want to be caught. 

She let out a breath. She'd jumped in too late. She'd already
told him she didn't love him. What was the point of leaping into
the past if one couldn't change those things that mattered? Not
that she'd seen any point to this random leaping so far.

So... what to do? An idea struck her, and a slow smile lit up
her face.

* * * * * * * * *

Oh, god. No. No. Anywhere but here! Clark would rather be lying
in Luthor's kryptonite cage listening to the Wedding March play
on the loud speakers than right here, right now. At least he
knew that had a happy ending - or, well, sort of. But this...
How could this be anything but a disaster?

He groaned as he watched Lois remove the first blue veil and
begin dancing closer, looking at him through a slit in the
material.

It had been hard enough resisting her the first time. In fact,
even then he'd almost given in. But now that he knew the taste
of her body, the smell of her skin when she was aroused; now
that he knew those intoxicating little sounds she made when he
touched her; now that he knew what it felt like to be inside
her; now that he knew what it was like to make love to Lois
Lane, how was he supposed to resist her now?

"Lois," he began even as his body reacted violently to her
sensuous movements, "you don't know how much I want to do
this... but it's not real. What you're feeling isn't real. It's
the pheromone compound Miranda sprayed everyone with. It made
the whole newsroom drunk... on love. Please, please. I'm begging
you here. I don't know if I can resist you this time. Please...
stop."

Ignoring his pleas, she continued to glide and swirl her way
towards him, dancing with the veil between them, staring deeply
into his eyes. "You know, it's remarkable. I never noticed it
before. You look a lot like Superman."

Clark groaned. "Lois, every woman in love thinks her man looks
like Superman."

"See, Clark, that just proves it. My feelings are real. I'm in
love with you." She draped the first veil over his shoulder and
proceeded to untie the second veil, dancing with it backwards,
away from him again. "Crazily, hopelessly, dizzyingly, eternally
in love." She spun around, showing exactly how dizzying it was.

Clark groaned when the action gave him tantalizing glimpses of
the body beneath the remaining veils.

She tossed the second veil in his direction and began removing a
third. He felt a further burst of passion when her action
exposed even more of the body Clark had come to know so well in
the past two weeks. He took an unconscious step towards her.

"Come to me, my darling. Take me. I'm yours."

Her comment brought his unexpected movement to a halt. The last
time she'd performed this dance he'd been in part aroused, but
another part of him had been embarrassed. It had been that part
as much as anything else that had kept him from acting on her
offers. But now... without that embarrassment brought about by
his lack of sexual experience... how was he supposed to resist
now?

"What is stopping you, my darling?" she asked, dancing her way
back over to him so that she could flip the third veil around
his neck and pull him into her dance.

"Look, Lois, I want to. You have no idea how much I want to..."

"Then do," Lois purred, brushing her body against his, bringing
every part she touched to life.

"But I can't. I don't know why I'm back here. Or how to get
home. But something tells me that I can't do anything that would
drastically change my past. And trust me, this would definitely
change my past."

"And your future," she purred, swirling her tongue around his
Adam's apple.

"You're going to wake up tomorrow and then..."

"I'll be basking in the afterglow." She finally let go of the
thin material that was holding him to her and began undoing a
fourth veil.

He groaned as his body grew even harder. Maybe she was right.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt anything if he took her up on what she
was so freely offering. He was a newlywed, after all. And she
was his wife. Maybe it would be okay if he just... let it
happen.

She nipped on his earlobe and suddenly something inside Clark
snapped. He pulled her into his arms as his lips descended on
hers. He wrapped one arm around her body, pulling her tight
against him, while the other made its way into her hair. His
tongue coaxed her mouth open, exploring every inch. Her moan
sent another rush of blood south, and her outfit did nothing to
keep him from feeling every inch of her body.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois sat on her couch, a romance novel open in front of her as
she waited for Superman. She'd recreated that night as best she
could. Not that it had been easy. But looking through her
nightgowns, she'd found a red one that she thought might be the
same one as she'd worn that night so long ago. Spaghetti straps.
Long, flowing. A tad too revealing. But honestly, she really
hadn't been expecting Superman. After all, she hadn't seen him
that afternoon. And she hadn't known whether or not Clark had
spoken to him.

As for standing on the rooftop yelling, 'Help, Superman!' she
had rejected that idea almost the moment it had come to her. She
knew he would come if she yelled for him. He always came when
she was in jeopardy. But if she started using it when she wasn't
in danger, she feared that he wouldn't think it was an emergency
when she did need him. The story of the little boy who cried
wolf came to mind.

Knowing what she knew now, of course, she would have expected
Superman to appear that evening. After all, she had told Clark
that she needed him. Then... then she'd been completely
clueless.

She felt somewhat vulnerable in the nightgown. But it was
probably best to create things as closely to that past as she
could. At least that way, she would know what to expect.

Besides, she wasn't entirely sure how much of the past she
should be trying to change. In that sense, it might have been
just as well that she'd leaped into this time frame when she
had. If she had confessed her feelings to Clark in the park, at
a time before she'd been ready to make that type of declaration,
they might not be where they were now - crazy in love and just
back from their honeymoon.

After all, months later, when Clark had finally worked up the
nerve to ask her out, she'd been so skittish she'd actually
slammed the door in his face after their first date. Now... No,
she wouldn't have been ready. And if her first leap into the
past had taught her anything, it was that she had no real idea
how long she might be there. No. Every step in their
relationship, even the painful ones - maybe especially the
painful ones - had brought them to the position of trust they
shared today.

But there was one thing she could do, or at least, she hoped so,
without doing any major damage to their history - and yet saving
both herself and Clark a lot of unnecessary grief. She could
handle her meeting with Superman differently this time than she
had before.

A gust of wind coming from the direction of her window told her
that it was time for the show. She took a deep breath, set down
her book and stood up, turning towards the man now standing in
her living room.

"Superman," Lois breathed. God, this was going to be harder than
she'd imagined. What she really wanted to do right now was strip
every last piece of that suit off his body and have her way with
him. She was a newlywed, after all. It should be her right. And
this was the first time she'd seen him in that all-too-revealing
suit since they had finally become intimate.

"I heard you wanted to see me," Superman said, his voice void of
emotion.

She frowned, studying his face. Why hadn't she seen it the first
time? He was so emotionless - even more so than Superman usually
was - as if he would rather be anywhere but her apartment. Yet
she'd been too head-over-heels crazy about him to even notice
and had plunged in with declarations of love that had pushed him
even further away.

And yet, even now, it was all she could do not to throw herself
at him again - this time perhaps even using a full-press
physical attack to wear down his resistance. Still, she pushed
those thoughts away. Not here. Not now. "Yes," she said, trying
to remember what came next. The robe. Right. "Please come in.
I'll just put on a robe."

"Unless it's lead-lined, Lois, it's a waste of time."

She crinkled her eyebrows, remembering how foolish his comment
had made her feel at the time. On the other hand... "So what are
you saying?" she asked. "Are you saying that you normally x-ray
my clothes?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why would I have to line them with lead?" she demanded,
folding her arms across her chest.

"I just meant..."

"What did you mean, Cl... Superman? After all, it sounded to me
like you were saying that if I put on a robe, you would just
x-ray it anyway." She tapped her foot on the ground, waiting for
a response.

"I just... I meant... I..."

She raised an eyebrow as she watched him flounder. Finally, she
decided to put him out of his misery. "I think I'll just put on
that robe now," she said, turning and, without waiting for his
response, heading to her bedroom.

Okay, good. She had him off balance. "Now to change things," she
whispered to herself as she closed her bedroom door.

* * * * * * * * *

"No! No!" Andrus exclaimed. "She is planning to change things!
We have to stop her! And with Clark kissing Lois... Did you see
how passionate that kiss is? He's out of control! He'll never be
able to stop now! We have to..." Each sentence was louder and
higher than the one before it.

"Andrus!" William exclaimed. "Get ahold of yourself, man. We
need to stay focused. And we need your help. You can fall apart
later, I promise." He considered slapping Andrus to snap him out
of his panic. And, god help him, if Andrus didn't get a grip on
himself, that was exactly what he was going to have to do. Panic
like that could be contagious. He knew that. Still, the very
thought terrified William. After all, when was the last time
anyone had inflicted violence in Utopia? And to have the person
who finally did be the head of the council... would that, in
itself, not be enough to radically alter their society?

He let out a breath of relief when Andrus seemed to get control
- if one could call it that.

"Help, right. Fall apart later, right," Andrus said, turning
back to the problem at hand. As long as he could fall apart
later, he'd be all right.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois found her most shlumpy but comfortable robe and slipped it
on before heading back into her living room. No point tempting
fate - or her libido. After all, she wasn't sure whom she didn't
trust more - him or her. Actually, that wasn't really a
question. She didn't trust herself. After all, when he'd made
his lead-lined crack, she'd almost been tempted to say, 'Well,
if you are x-raying my clothes anyway...' before slipping out of
her nightgown. And that was definitely not the way to handle
this situation.

When she arrived back in her living room, she saw Superman still
standing where she had left him earlier, looking like a lost
little boy. Her heart went out to him. She knew he was hurting.
She had to play this right or she was going to inflict even more
hurt. That very thought killed her rampaging hormones. Still, it
didn't end her desire to wrap her arms around him and tell him
that it would all be okay in the end.

But Clark wouldn't take that as comfort. Not now. That left only
one option. As she'd told Clark when they had been held in
separate cages by the Lakes, 'You can touch me with your words.'
She took a deep breath. "Why don't you have a seat?"

"Whatever you needed to see me about, you should probably just
tell me. I never know when I'll be needed."

Lois gave a brief nod. He obviously wanted to get out of there
to... knowing Clark, he was probably planning on going somewhere
and punching out an iceberg or something similar. Well, maybe
she could change his immediate plans. "Fine. I assume since the
only one I told that I needed to talk to you was Clark that you
spoke to him."

"That's right," Superman said cautiously.

"Did he tell you that Lex Luthor proposed to me?"

"I'm aware of that," he answered carefully.

She fought the urge to smile. Clark really was such a boy scout
- always trying to avoid, as much as possible, telling an
outright lie. "Did he also tell you about our... talk earlier
today?"

"I know what you talked about."

"That's why I need your help."

"My help?" Superman asked, obviously confused.

Lois let out a breath. "Are you sure you don't have a moment to
sit down? This might take a little while and I've been on my
feet all day."

"Uhh, yes. The new job."

She shot him a pointed look at the bitter tone in his voice.
"Well, a paycheck is a paycheck. And some of us do need to keep
a roof over our heads and food on the table."

"But I thought you loved the new job?" Superman asked, suddenly
sounding much more like Clark.

Still, as far as he knew, she wasn't aware that they were one
and the same. She tried to think back to what she had felt at
the time. "Nothing will ever replace the Daily Planet. It's been
more than a work place for me. It's the closest thing I've ever
had to a family. But what do you expect me to do? Sit around,
crying into my coffee about how it was destroyed?"

"No, of course not."

She let out a breath. "It doesn't matter. That's not what I
wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to talk to you about
Clark."

"Clark?" Superman asked cautiously.

Since Clark still wasn't sitting down, she decided to go ahead
and take a seat. Maybe once she got started, he'd join her. If
not... well, at least he was listening.

"Well, Clark and Lex actually," she said. "But let's start with
Clark."

"What about him?"

"Well, if you're aware of our talk today, then I assume you know
that he told me he's in love with me."

"Yes."

"That's why I can't talk to him about Lex."

"I don't understand," Superman said, finally taking a seat.

"Look, if this is going to make any sense at all, I'm going to
have to explain about Clark and me."

"That's not..."

"Clark is my best friend. In fact, I'm probably closer to him
than I am to anyone else in the world. I'm not entirely sure how
it happened. I had so many barriers up when I first met him. You
see, I had this belief that if I didn't let anyone get close,
then no one could hurt me." She glanced up from where she'd been
looking at her hands to see that she now had Clark's full
attention. She knew she couldn't tell Clark she loved him. That
would leave the younger her in a very awkward position when she
leapt again - assuming she did leap - and in all likelihood ruin
their future relationship. After all, at this particular point
in time, she hadn't realized that what she felt for Clark was,
indeed, love. On the other hand, she could make Clark understand
just how special he was to her. Admit those things that she had
felt at this point in their relationship.

"In fact, I don't think anyone means more to me than Clark does.
When I think about the future, Clark's there. His laugh. His
strength. His friendship."

"Friendship," Superman said, a touch of irony in his voice.

"For me, that's a lot. The thought of losing him... No. I could
take almost anything but that." She let out a breath.

"Wait a minute," Superman said. "Clark means more to you than
Luthor does? Then why are you marrying Luthor?"

Okay, here was where it got tricky. A tightrope she was going to
have to walk that wouldn't get her former self in trouble in the
future. "I never said that I was marrying Lex. I don't know what
I'm going to do about Lex. What I do know is that Clark has made
a number of... vague insinuations about Lex and I need to know
what is true and what is just... jealousy."

"Vague insinuations?" Superman asked cautiously, and Lois
instantly knew she'd hit her mark.

It was the one thing about the whole Lex Luthor fiasco that had
always bothered her. Comments like, 'Be careful with Luthor. You
don't know him like I do,' had always sounded more like
jealousy-induced rants than evidence of wrongdoing. "Vague
insinuations," she repeated. "If Clark had something on Lex,
he'd tell me. But since he sticks to throwing out these little
insults, what am I supposed to think except that he is jealous
of Lex?"

"Maybe he can't prove anything."

"I'm not asking for proof," Lois said in exasperation. "How
about one decent concrete theory? One small piece of damaging
information? He hasn't given me anything except insinuations.
What am I supposed to think except that he's jealous? I mean,
after all, you seem to like Lex. You've appeared with him at a
lot of charity functions. I've seen you share the same stage
with him. I've seen the two of you shake hands. You don't have
any reservations about Lex, so why does Clark? If he had
anything, he'd tell me. And we'd investigate it together. It's
what we do. Otherwise, I have to conclude he is just jealous of
Lex."

She watched the astonishment grow in Superman's eyes with every
expression. Good. It was something that had troubled her for
months after her almost-marriage to Lex. Why hadn't Clark told
her exactly what he suspected? For that matter, why hadn't
Superman? Comments like, 'Go ahead and get into bed with the
devil,' although colorful, had done nothing more than to
convince her of Clark's jealousy. Why hadn't Clark told her
about Lex's comment about 'seizing the high ground' - which
corresponded with Antonette Baines' similar comment? Why hadn't
Superman told her about the tests that Lex had practically
admitted to being behind? Why hadn't he given her something,
anything to make her actually doubt Lex?

"Would you excuse me, Lois?" Superman suddenly said, rising to
his feet. "I think... I have to go." Without waiting for her
response, Superman disappeared in a gust of wind.

"Ten, nine, eight," Lois began. "Seven, six, five..."

There was a knock at the door.

"A little early," she muttered as she rose to her feet and went
to answer. She smiled when she looked through the peephole and
saw Clark standing outside holding a large file folder. Just as
she opened the door, the world began to spin around her and she
felt herself beginning to fade.

* * * * * * * * *

He knew her taste; he knew her smell; he knew her body. She met
his hunger with her own even as her arms slipped around his
neck. His hand ran down her back and over her buttocks until he
reached her leg, pulling it around his.

She groaned, a sound which sent his blood pounding through his
ears. Seeming to realize the effect she was having on him, she
rubbed her body even more purposefully against him.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?" Clark groaned,
finally breaking their kiss in order to catch his breath.

The sensual smile she gave him in return told him she knew
exactly what she was doing to him.

"God, you are a vixen, woman," Clark growled before his lips
began traveling over her neck.

She tilted her head back, giving him maximum access. Her hands
tangled in his hair, trying to direct his head lower. He nibbled
his way down her delectable neck and over her practically bare
shoulder before heading down to explore her cleavage. Given how
revealing the outfit already was, the remaining material didn't
prevent much exploration. Still, Clark wasn't ready for it when
her hands left his head to pull at one of the shoulder straps,
causing the right side of her outfit to slither down her body.

"Oh, god," Clark breathed, his mouth instinctively heading
towards the revealed skin. "No!" he suddenly exclaimed when he
realized exactly what he was doing. He was seconds away from
violating her trust in the worst way possible. No matter how
much he wanted her, no matter how badly his body ached for her,
he couldn't do this.

"Clark," she groaned in protest, her hands trying to pull his
head to her.

"No," Clark said, ignoring the blood pounding in his ears. He
had to do something, anything, before... His eyes drifted lower
and he felt himself being drawn back in.

Quicker than she could see, he disentangled himself from her and
disappeared, reappearing less than a fraction of a second later.
It was a risk, but given that he'd moved faster than the human
eye could follow, he believed she would not even notice that he
was gone. What she would notice, however...

"Clark, what are you doing?" she asked, even as he wrapped the
blanket he was now holding around her body.

"Surviving. I can't do this, Lois. I love you too much to betray
your trust like this," he said, wishing with all his heart that
it wasn't the truth. But if he gave in now, if he followed the
desires of his body, he knew without a doubt that she would
never be able to forgive him. Not at this stage in their
relationship. And he wanted so much more from her than some
trashy one night stand. And if he betrayed her trust, he had no
doubt that was all it would ever be.

Suddenly, and much to his relief, the world began to fade around
him.

* * * * * * * * *

Every member of the council breathed a sigh of relief.

"Looks as if we got through that leap without incident," William
said. 

"Well, not completely," Laddy said. "After all, Lois never
accepted Luthor's proposal once she heard what Clark really
suspected about Luthor."

"True," William responded. "But then, she didn't marry Luthor in
the original time line, anyway. And it didn't create any major
changes by having them working together to bring him down."

"And since Luthor blamed Superman when Lois turned him down,"
Remi continued, "and thus trapped Superman in that kryptonite
cage so that Superman couldn't save Luthor when he leapt off Lex
Towers, it seems we are still okay."

"Actually, I'm more worried about how close Clark came to
changing history," Laddy said. "If he had broken Lois' trust
that way... How much longer can this go on before one of them
does something that destroys the very fabric of our society? If
we can't stop this soon, it won't matter how many times our past
isn't destroyed."

The conference room fell silent as the councilors all remembered
the seriousness of the situation.

"Brace for incoming time quake," said the voice over the
intercom.

Everyone waited, but, as predicted, it wasn't bad. And, very
quickly, it passed, leaving Utopia essentially intact.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois looked around as the dizziness receded. When the hell was
she now? She glanced down at her jeans and denim shirt. What?
She hadn't owned a denim shirt since she'd been fifteen. So
where... unless... Oh god no! She was on the camping trip from
hell! She'd somehow jumped back to the weekend when her parents
had decided they could save their marriage by sleeping in a tent
and using an outhouse.

She turned slowly when she heard voices behind her.

"That's poison ivy!" Ellen exclaimed. "You pitched our tent in a
poison ivy patch."

"That's not poison ivy, Ellen," Sam said. "This is a legitimate
camping space. There is no way there would be poison ivy here."

"Look at those leaves. That is definitely poison ivy."

"How would you know? Where have you ever even seen poison ivy?"

"And what makes you the expert here?"

"Ellen, they aren't going to have poison ivy in a campsite. It's
ludicrous."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Believe me, Dad. It's poison ivy," she
muttered as she turned and headed down a nearby path. She had no
idea why she might have leapt here, but there was no way she
intended to stay around and listen to the non-stop arguments
that had taken place that weekend... or was that this weekend?
Whatever! 

She didn't care. Last time she'd spent the entire weekend trying
to keep the peace between her mother and father. Not that it had
done any good. By the time they'd finally headed back to the
city, her mother's entire body had been covered with calamine
lotion. Yet there had been nothing wrong with her tongue. Her
father, on the other hand, hadn't said a word the entire trip.
Lucy had pretended that nothing was happening, spending her
entire time coloring in a coloring book - until she finally
threw up. Oh, yeah, a really great weekend had been had by all.
Lois hadn't wanted anything to do with camping since.

It was getting dark as Lois wandered down the path, past various
campsites. She spotted a family with three children sitting
around a campfire. The children were younger than she had
been... was. She stopped just out of sight, watching the rapt
attention on the children's faces as their father held a
flashlight under his chin. It shined up onto his face as he told
them a ghost story. The mother was watching with definite
affection on her face for the man entertaining his children.

She sighed. Why couldn't her family have been a little more like
that?

Heading further down the path, she spotted a group of men
sitting around a fire, drinking beer. They had quite obviously
been drinking for quite some time.

"Hey, what have we here?" one of the men asked, spotting her.

She quickened her pace. She really didn't need this right now.

"Hey, where you going, doll? Come join us."

As if. Please. She might be in a fifteen-year-old body, but she
still had an almost thirty-year-old mind. And there was no way
she intended to get anywhere near that particular crowd.

As the men yelling to her from behind faded into the background,
she heard what sounded like music - a couple of guitars
accompanying singing voices. Some of the voices weren't that
great, but together they weren't all that bad. At least it
sounded as if they were having fun.

She stepped closer until she could see them through the trees. A
group of high school students or perhaps young college students
were sitting around a camp fire engaging in the time-honored
tradition of singing around an open fire. Well, at least some
were singing. Some were just roasting marshmallows. There were
even a couple of couples who were more intent on each other than
the general merriment around them.

Maybe if that had been her first exposure to camping instead of
the trip from hell, she'd have fond memories of the great
outdoors. She wished she had the nerve to go join them, but
really, they were kids and although her body might be fifteen,
her mind was still in its late twenties.

She could vaguely remember a group of teens from her last time
here, but she'd never had the nerve to introduce herself. But
she could still remember envying them even then. She supposed
she still did. She sighed.

Her sigh seemed to attract the attention of one of the group. A
young man. Maybe seventeen or eighteen. He looked up, an almost
shocked expression on his face as his eyes unerringly found hers
though the darkness.

She stood frozen to the spot as she stared back at him. She
watched in stunned disbelief as her name formed on his lips in a
silent prayer.

"Clark," she whispered, taking in the young man's somewhat
familiar appearance and his all-too-familiar eyes. And if he
knew her...

"Hey, babe. So this is where you took off to in such a hurry,"
said a man behind her even as a hand grabbed her arm, spinning
her towards the obviously drunk man. "Come back and join the
party."

Caught off guard, her mind still reeling with the unexpected
encounter with Clark and the possible implications of him
knowing her name - or was she sure it was her name? - she hardly
reacted to her captor. Until, of course, his lips descended to
hers. 

"No!" she gasped, trying to pull away from the man's strong
grip.


Before she could do more than protest, she felt the man being
pulled off her and tossed to the ground, and between them
stood...

"Clark," she whispered in relief.

"I suggest you get out of here now," Clark said to the man on
the ground. "Before I set her loose on you. And trust me when I
say I'm the lesser of two evils."

She closed her eyes. Although she'd been with Clark for at least
part of every leap, for some reason knowing that the boy with
her now had the mind and memories of her husband - at least that
was the only explanation she could come up with for his apparent
knowledge of her - brought tears to her eyes. She stepped up
close behind him, slipping her arms around his waist and leaning
against his back while he continued to face down her would-be
Romeo. His only concession to her move was to place a hand over
her arms where they slipped around in front of him - telling her
that he welcomed her touch.

"Go on now," Clark said to the man.

The man stared at the two of them for a moment more before
scrambling to his feet and staggering away.

"You've changed your aftershave," Lois breathed into Clark's
neck, still pressed up against his back.

"Lois..." Clark whispered, finally turning towards her and
gathering her against his chest. "And you've changed your
shampoo."

The feel of his body was different. His height was a little
different, although he was still taller than she. His smell had
changed. But the moment his lips found hers, everything was the
same. His kiss was the same and it still had the power to make
her weak in the knees.

She tangled her hands in his hair as she took her time, slowly
exploring his mouth while he did the same to her. His taste. The
feel of his lips. The rumble deep in his chest that told her he
approved of what she was doing. The way he kissed. She'd know it
anywhere. She'd know him anywhere - no matter how he looked or
dressed. She could feel his spirit, bonded to hers, drawing her,
as always, closer to him.

"Clark?"

A high pitched female voice caused Lois and Clark to draw apart.
Lois knew that voice. The voice was followed by the appearance
of a teenage Lana Lang.

"Who's this?" Lana asked.

Clark gave Lois an apologetic look before releasing her to turn
towards Lana. "This is a friend of mine from Metropolis."

"Really?" Lana said, her eyes quickly sizing Lois up. "How good
a friend?"

"A very good friend," Lois couldn't help but respond, even as
she reached over, slipping her hand in the back pocket of
Clark's jeans in a blatant show of ownership.

Clark shot her a warning look, but Lois didn't care. All she
wanted right now was some time alone with her husband, time to
figure out what was going on and maybe even... something a
little more. After all, who knew how long it would be before
they would leap again - always assuming, of course, that Clark
hadn't been in this particular time all along. The last thing
she needed was to deal with Lana's possessiveness. It had been
hard enough to tolerate in the alternate universe, but here,
with Lois' own Clark, only two weeks after their wedding, it was
unendurable.

"Clark?" Lana asked, her tone of voice definitely conveying her
displeasure with the current situation.

Clark quickly turned towards Lois, removing her hand from his
pocket as he did so, but still keeping her hand clasped firmly
in his. "Just give me a minute to talk to Lana," he said, his
eyes pleading with her.

She narrowed her eyes, silently telling him that anything longer
than sixty seconds would not be tolerated - and that he'd better
have a good explanation ready when he did return as to why he
wasn't just telling Lana to get lost.

He gave her a nod, indicating he'd understood the message before
releasing her hand and making his way over to where Lana was
standing.

"Clark, what are you doing with that... that... girl?" Lois
heard Lana hiss. "How do you even know her?"

"First, I already told you, she's someone I met from Metropolis.
And second... aren't you the one who told me a couple of weeks
ago when Bobby 'Oh, He's So Delicious' Barnes asked you to go to
the ball game that we aren't exclusive?"

Lois tried, quite unsuccessfully, to fight back a snort of
laughter. She knew she'd failed when Lana shot her a look that
could easily kill.

"But you're here with me," Lana whined, lowering her voice and
turning both herself and Clark slightly away from Lois.

"Look, I didn't plan to run into her," Clark said, not following
Lana's lead of keeping his voice down. "But now that I have, I'm
going to spend some time talking to her. Go back to the
campfire, Lana. I'll see you later."

Then, leaving a speechless Lana behind him, he turned back to
Lois. "Ready?" he asked, holding a hand out to her.

Lois smiled and nodded, slipping her hand into Clark's. Holding
hands, they left a still speechless Lana behind them as they
headed down the path.

"Do you really think you should have done that, Clark?" Lois
asked when they were far enough away that she knew Lana couldn't
overhear her. 

He shot Lois a curious look.

"Don't get me wrong, I adore you for it, but... well, couldn't
it affect your past?"

Clark shook his head. "I doubt it. After all, Lana will dump me
permanently next week when the college kids come back and Stan
makes a play for her. Besides, I always wished I had broken up
with Lana before she broke up with me."

"Well, glad I could be of assistance, farmboy," she said, giving
him a shy smile.

Clark pulled them to a stop the moment they were out of sight of
Lana. "Besides, I needed to be alone with you."

She let out a jagged breath. "I need to be alone with you, too."
She quickly found herself being pulled into his arms. "Oh,
Clark. I've missed you so much," she said against his chest.

He buried his face in her hair, sighing deeply. "I missed you,
too."

She pulled back far enough to look into his eyes. "You know,
it's funny. I've been with you... well, almost constantly
since... I last saw you, but..."

"It's not the same," Clark finished for her, lowering his mouth
back to hers.

The sound of drunken chatter coming from down the path soon
forced them apart.

"So... where can a couple go to get some privacy around here?"
Lois asked breathlessly. "We need to... talk."

A sudden flash of fire appeared in his eyes for a moment at her
stumbled last word, before disappearing once again. After all,
they did need to talk - desperately. "I know just the place," he
said, taking her hand and leading her quickly in the appropriate
direction. Finally coming to a rock-cut along the shore, he
placed his hands on Lois' waist, lifting her up to so that she
could sit on the top before releasing her to hop up beside her.
When he helped her to her feet, Lois looked at him quizzically.

"I'm only seventeen," he said. "I didn't fly until I was
eighteen."

She smiled. "Well, at least you sure can leap."

"Yep. I suspect I could leap tall buildings in a single bound -
although in Kansas..."

"There aren't a lot of buildings to practice on?"

"Something like that. Still, there are silos and water towers."

"Oh, well that's good to know. Who needs hundred-story buildings
when you have silos and water towers?"

"Come on," Clark said, smiling as he took her hand. 

He led her along the rock-cut for a while before directing her
down to a small alcove along the shore. Once inside, Lois found
herself standing on soft sand, surrounded on three sides by
uncut ridges of rock and on the fourth by the lake, gentle waves
washing up onto the sandy shore. In this position, they were
protected not only from the wind and the noise from the
campground, but also from prying eyes.

"You wouldn't be trying to get me alone to take advantage of me,
would you, farmboy?" Lois asked, even as she wrapped her arms
around his neck, the light words belying the seriousness of the
situation. Still, at the moment, before they got down to
business, what Lois needed most was the reassurance of his
presence, the feel of his touch, the safety of his arms.

"Mmm... always," he responded, pulling her closer, seeming to
understand her unspoken plea - perhaps because he shared it.

"Clark, what's going on here?" Lois asked after a long moment,
still not releasing him.

"I don't know. Have... have you been here this whole time?"

"I was wondering the same thing about you. How long have you
been here? In fact, why are you here?"

"Here as in... in this time? Or here as in... in this place?"

"The latter."

"A bunch of us came up to New Troy State Park for a weekend at
the end of my junior year of high school. That's actually when I
came across this particular place," Clark said, waving his arm
to indicate their isolated cove.

"With Lana?"

He pulled back to look into her eyes. "When I was out exploring
when I was here at seventeen. As far as how long I've been
here... I just arrived... maybe fifteen minutes before I saw
you."

"That's about how long I've been here. So then... how many other
times have you been to?"

"Two - well, other than this one."

"Me too. So..."

"We are probably jumping at the same time. But that still
doesn't tell us what's going on."

"It's got to be Tempus. After all, who else do we know who's
into time travel?"

"Not to mention trying to ruin our lives. But... have you seen
him at all since you started leaping?"

She shook her head.

"Me neither."

"So... any idea how we stop this?"

He let out his breath, finally releasing her and leading her
over closer to the beach. He sat down on the still sun-warmed
sand. She joined him there.

"I have no idea," Clark said, watching as she removed her shoes
and socks to bury her feet in the soft sand. "God, you're so
sexy," he breathed, causing her to look up at him. "A little
younger maybe. But still..." He drew in a breath through his
teeth.

"Even with my Charlie's Angels' hair?"

He smiled. "I think it sort of works - especially when it's
surrounding that beautiful face and with that..." He ran his
eyes over her body. "...gorgeous body. At least... it's
certainly working for me at the moment," Clark said, before his
voice took on a teasing quality. "Of course, I might be slightly
biased. After all, I'd think you were beautiful if all your hair
fell out and you were covered with warts - just as long as you
were still Lois."

The husky texture his voice had taken on throughout his comments
caused tears to come to her eyes. She'd missed him so much.
There might still be a lot to talk about, but just being here
with him, things suddenly seemed a lot more manageable. They
were together. And what she needed most at the moment was him.

She moved closer, sitting next to him on the sand facing him
before reaching up and stroking his cheek. "You look so young,"
she said softly, her eyes focused firmly on his. Then a smile
lit up her sad face. "It almost feels as if I'm cheating with
the pool boy."

"A fantasy of yours, perhaps?" he asked in an obvious attempt to
lighten the tense atmosphere.

"Only if you're the pool boy," she whispered.

Unable to resist, he leaned in to kiss her.

She giggled, pulling back suddenly. He looked at her in
confusion.

"I got a tip for you, poolboy."

He smiled. "And what's that?"

"Laser vision shaving."

He laughed, his hand going up to his face. "I'd already learned
that trick by this point. Or are you saying I need a shave?"

She ran her hand gently over his cheek. "I'll take you any way I
can get you." She sighed. "I'm just glad you're here."

He pulled her back to him, kissing her again, this time much
more passionately, purposefully. She felt heat spark into flame
in her belly as she pushed him back into the sand so that she
could lean over him, never breaking contact with his lips. With
one hand, she held herself above him even as the other worked
frantically on the buttons of his flannel shirt.

The instant the shirt was open, she slipped her hand inside,
running it over his pectoral muscles, learning the newness of
him even as the heat that began to grow in her stomach informed
her that she'd spent the past two weeks exploring every inch of
his body. It had changed somewhat, but, even at seventeen it
still was pretty magnificent. Yes, she had known every inch of
him - before Tempus had forced them apart.

The thought of Tempus doused the heat. Pulling back, she looked
into Clark's dark, passion-filled eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"We don't know how long we have here. We've got to talk about
Tempus."

He closed his eyes, clearly fighting the same battle she was -
the need to talk conflicting with the need to reaffirm their
love in a ritual as old as time. Was it possible that their
teenage hormones were actually intensifying their need for each
other? It was almost inconceivable to think that their passion
could be any stronger than it had been during their honeymoon.
But right now, it seemed even more intense. More unmanageable. 

"What about him?" Clark finally asked without opening his eyes.

She snuggled down against him, her fingers still lightly tracing
the muscles of his chest. His hand came up to cover hers,
stilling her motion.

"Well, okay, I'm not entirely sure where to start here. Maybe I
should tell you when I've been and what's been happening. And
you could do the same."

Clark let out a breath. "Well, I've been trying not to change
too much about our past, mostly. I'm afraid that if we aren't
careful, we could damage our current relationship - no matter
how good our intentions are."

"I had the same idea. However..."

"However?"

She fidgeted nervously. "First, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Well, when you say you always loved me..."

"Lois, what did you do?"

"Just... Clark, I need to know... if Mayson had lived, would you
still have chosen me over her?"

"Every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Lois, what's this
abo... You saved Mayson's life?"

"Not exactly."

"How... not exactly?"

Not sure if he was upset with her or not, she continued
anxiously. "I sort of told past you how to save Mayson's life.
But it was your idea."

"My idea?"

"I asked you if I should tell you something that might...
prevent something bad from happening even if it would change my
past, and you told me to do what was right and let the future
take care of itself."

"Well, I'm an idiot," Clark said, only half joking. "Besides,
when did you ever listen to me before?"

"You were right, Clark. I couldn't not say anything and just let
her die. I'd always wonder if I did it just because I was
jealous of her."

Clark raised himself on his arms so that she was forced to turn
and look into his eyes. "You were jealous of her?"

"Are you kidding?" Lois responded. "I was absolutely, insanely
jealous of her. When she interrupted our dance at the Church
party, I wanted to rip her eyes out."

A slow smile spread across Clark's face.

"I should have known you'd like that," she muttered, snuggling
back down against his chest even as he pulled her closer. "So...
you're not upset with me for telling past you about Mayson?"

"How could I be mad, Lois? You're right. It was the right thing
to do. We'll deal with any consequences of your actions. I
promise. After all, even before Mayson died, I realized that no
matter how much she seemed to love the Clark part of me, I was
completely in love with you. And at least you had a good reason
for changing the past."

Lois looked up into his eyes again. "What did you do?" she asked
cautiously.

"Well, I didn't. At least, not in the end, but... It's what I
almost did."

"Only you, Clark Kent, would be worried about what you almost
did. So... what did you almost do?"

"Do you remember the Dance of the Seven Veils?"

She groaned, burying her face in his chest. "How could I
possibly forget?"

"Well, during one of my jumps, I was back there."

"And?"

"Why was it so much easier to resist you the first time
around?"

"Because neither of us knew what we were missing," Lois said.

"You mean, I didn't."

"Neither of us," she repeated, holding his gaze. "Clark, if I
had known what it was like to make love to you, trust me on
this... We never would have made it to our wedding night. But...
Oh, Clark, you didn't?"

"No, no. I... well, okay, there were a couple of passionate
kisses that I didn't indulge in last time. But when you... undid
the strap holding up the top part of your dress... You have no
idea how close I came, Lois. And if I had broken your trust like
that... that early in our relationship..."

"I'd have had a really hard time getting past it," Lois
confirmed.

"I know."

"So what finally stopped you?"

"The realization that I wanted what we have - a life long
commitment, not some instant gratification."

She smiled. "Well, you've got that, poolboy. Although, was my
poor baby left frustrated?"

He captured her smile in a brief kiss. "So we're agreed?"

"On what?"

"That until we work this out, we have to avoid, at least to the
extent we are able, making any major changes to our pasts?"

Her eyebrows crinkled for a moment. "Except..."

"Except?"

"Well, I don't think it will change the past, because I never
actually married Lex, but..."

"Lo-is?"

"Well, when you came to see me as Superman, after I'd rejected
you in the park, I sort of... I couldn't exactly hurt you the
way I did last time. So instead I spent my time telling you,
without letting you know I was from the future, exactly how much
I cared about Clark and... I sort of gave you some hints about
how you might have been able to stop me from accepting Lex's
proposal."

"Lois, that's exactly the type of thing we need to avoid doing!
Even if we hurt each other... we can't change our past!"

"Okay, okay. I get that. It's just a lot easier to do in theory
than it is in practice. But... Well, other than the Dance of the
Seven Veils, when were you?"

"Oh right. I jumped back into our investigation of the Messenger
explosion. At first I didn't realize I was in the past and...
well, by the time I jumped, I'm pretty sure that past you
thought I was nuts."

"Well, that shouldn't cause much of a problem. I already thought
you were nuts," she said, leaning over to give him a kiss to let
him know she was kidding. "Of course, I also thought you were
incredibly cute - which also translated as extremely
dangerous."

He chuckled. "Still... we're agreed then? No more changing the
past? The past is what it is. No matter what."

She nodded. "So how do we stop this - get back to our own
time?"

He let out a breath. "I have no idea - at least not unless we
come across Tempus or Herb. You?"

"I don't know. I mean, I guess you could build a time machine.
After all, you did it before."

"And how would that help? We don't need to travel in time. We
need our souls to travel in time. After all, can you imagine
Perry's face if we turned up at work looking like this?" He
gestured to their teenage bodies.

"So we need Herb's soul tracker."

"And that is something I have no idea how to make."

They fell silent for a moment, both lost in thought. Suddenly,
Lois turned, shifting her leg between the two of his so that she
could lay against his chest as she leaned in for a kiss. "Make
love to me, Clark," she whispered against his lips.

"But, Lois, Tempus, H.G. Wells..."

"I don't have any idea how to get back right now, Clark. And I
need... I need... Make love to me," she whispered again.

* * * * * * * * *

"Okay," William said. "I think we've seen enough."

"Wait," Remi said. "We need to find out if they... After all, if
Lois gets pregnant as a teenager..."

"History would be drastically altered," Laddy finished for her.

"Now, we don't know that history would have been altered,"
William said.

"No?" Laddy said. "Well, I can think of a hundred different ways
things might change. What if Ellen Lane insisted that Lois give
up the child? What if that child - which we all know would have
had superpowers - was raised by someone without Lois and Clark's
ethics? Or what if having a child had changed Lois' priorities?
What if she had placed a greater priority on getting married
when she was younger - before she ever met Clark? Or what if she
did keep the child, but as a result, she hadn't been able to
fast track through university and there hadn't been any openings
at the Daily Planet when she graduated. Or..."

"Okay," William interrupted. "I think we all get the idea. But
there is hardly any point in outlining all the worst possible
scenarios. I think we have to focus on what is... not what might
be."

"Well, I hate to bring this up, but... what about the curse?"
asked Remi. "You know, the curse where Lois will die if they
consummate," she continued when everyone looked at her blankly.

"Oh, I think we're okay with that part," William said. "We did a
study on it the first time that Tempus started messing with
history - especially given how... amorous... Lois and Clark were
in the early years of their marriage..."

"Early years?" Laddy said dryly. "Try always."

"...and we discovered that, given that Lois and Clark have
already broken the curse, it is as if the curse had never been
cast. So if they go back in time and make love, it won't affect
them."

"Uhh... okay."

"I don't understand the science, but that is one thing we don't
have to worry about, fortunately."

"One of the few things," Laddy muttered.

"Anyway," William said, shooting a dark look at Laddy, "right
now we need to concern ourselves with trying to figure out how
much of what is happening between Lois and Clark we need to
watch."

"Maybe we could just... you know, instruct the computer to tag
those items that change the past - show them to us? That way we
could skip... things that we don't need to see," Remi
suggested.

There was general agreement among the council, many of whom were
certainly not relishing the idea of seeing the founders of their
society in... a compromising position. It would be hard enough
knowing those things they needed to know to minimize any damage
done to the past.

Although, what exactly they could do, none of them had any
idea.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark groaned, gathering his wife into his arms and rolling them
over so that he could quickly get her shirt open. Without
breaking the kiss, he reached around behind her back, searching
for the clasp on her bra.

"Front," she gasped before meeting his tongue in a sensual
duel.

His hand quickly shifted position, flicking open the clasp
before finally breaking the kiss. Looking down, he pushed the
material to the side, looking hungrily at the sight before him.
"This is what I wanted to do so badly during my last leap," he
groaned before pouncing.

"Yes, Clark," Lois breathed, tangling her hands in his hair,
holding him to her, silently urging him on. She'd wanted him so
badly, needed him so desperately. When exactly had Lois Lane
changed from a force of one to part of a team of two -
independent and yet dependent on another for her happiness? Not
that at this moment she particularly cared. In fact, the only
thing she cared about was the way the activities of his lips and
teeth were shooting fire into her belly. "Oh, my love," she
whispered.

He explored her, not leaving one molecule of skin left
unattended, as his hand slid down her body, touching each rib
and down over her stomach until he reached the edge of her
jeans.

She pushed his shirt back, off his shoulders, running her hands
over the hard muscles. God, she loved the feel of him. Even at
seventeen, the power of his body could be sensed in every move,
every change in his position. Such power and such gentleness -
for he made love in much the same way as he was. Strength,
always tempered with tenderness.

Never had she known such love for another person. Tears
accumulated in her eyes as the force of her emotions overpowered
her. It seemed she loved him more with each passing day, each
passing hour, each passing second. Never had she known that any
emotion could be this powerful.

His lips left her body even as his eyes returned to her face.
She looked down at him, noting his expression of wonder. Unable
to resist, she reached down, cupping his face in her hands.

"I love you, Clark," she whispered, feeling the truth of that
statement in every atom in her body.

He moved up her body so that he could kiss her. She wrapped her
arms around him, pulling him close, trying to fuse them into one
body.

She rolled them over before beginning to pull on the button of
his tight jeans.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Clark suddenly said, pulling away from
Lois.

"What?" Lois panted. 

"We can't... do this," Clark said, trying to catch his breath.

"Clark, what is this? Some weird thing about our being underage?
Only our bodies are underage. Our minds, which are the important
part, I would think, are not only fully consenting adults, but
are actually married. I could see if maybe you were twenty years
older than me or something it might seem weird, but we're less
than two years apart. Besides, I did a story before you arrived
at the Planet about children having sex, and did you know that
fourteen is the age of consent in New Troy? So we're both of age
to consent to have sex here.

"Or is because I'm a virgin, because I have to tell you the idea
of having you be my first, even if I won't remember it, is...
really hot. And women have accidents all the time that have
nothing to do with sex so it's not as if I would suddenly be
wondering who stole my virginity without my knowing about it. I
might not even find out. After all, doctors don't usually
mention it one way or another. Okay, so maybe sometimes they do,
but not always. And then there is no way they could actually
know that I..."

"Wait, Lois. Slow down, please. I'm having a hard enough time
just dealing with..." He glanced down at his obviously
frustrated state. "Without you throwing about five million
scenarios at me. No, Lois. I promise you it's nothing like...
We've got to stop because... Lois, I don't have any protection.
I assume you don't either. And if you get pregnant... Lois, that
would definitely change the past and we agreed that we had to do
everything we could to keep our pasts the same."

"But surely one of your buddies back at the camp...? Or you can
run pretty fast. What if you took a run around camp? It's the
early eighties. They must have something around here."

"Even if there were... Lois, no form of protection is a hundred
percent. Do we really want to take that risk?"

For a long moment, Lois looked at him, battling between need and
the truth of what he was saying. "No!!!!!!!!" she suddenly
yelled at the heavens, rolling away from him to stare up at the
emerging stars. Scrambling into a sitting position, she pulled
her legs up to her chest so that her shirt enfolded her in its
heavy fabric.

Once she felt a bit more in control, she looked over at Clark.
Although he was the one who had called a halt, her heart went
out to him when she saw him, eyes closed, eyelids scrunched
tightly together as he struggled for control. But then, this was
the second leap that he'd had to battle with his need for her.
On the other hand...

Lois moved towards Clark on her hands and knees. He was lying on
his back so it was easy enough for her to lean over and kiss his
chest.

"Lois, please..." Clark begged without opening his eyes.

"Relax, Clark," she said, her hand trailing lower.

"How am I supposed to relax with you doing that?" he asked, his
hand grabbing hers. For a moment, he continued holding it
against him and then, with what sounded like a grunt of pain,
pulled it away.

She wiggled her hand out of his. "No, Clark, let me. I can...
And I promise you we won't have to worry about getting pregnant.
Just let me..." Her hand ran down his chest one more time. She
leaned over him, informing him of what she intended by kissing
his stomach just above the waistband of his jeans even as her
hands struggled with the button and zipper.

"Lois," he groaned, pulling her up head up so that he could look
into her eyes. "I want you to... God, you have no idea how much
I want you to. But what if..."

"What if what?"

"What if we leap? I mean, if our past selves found ourselves in
this position... If we leap, we have to make sure we're not even
together. Otherwise, we have our past selves meeting each other
far too early."

"So? Haven't we already changed that?"

"I don't really know, but... I suspect that our past selves
won't remember what we did when we were occupying them... or at
least I hope not. Because otherwise, we've already changed the
past by our previous conversation. So before we leap, we have to
be... apart. Otherwise, we will meet too early and the past will
likely change."

"Am I the only one getting a headache?"

He smiled, bringing her hand up and softly kissing it. "Still, I
think we have to be apart when we leap this time. Other times,
it hasn't really mattered since we were together anyway."

"What are you talking about, Clark?"

Clark let out a breath as he ran a hand through his hair in
frustration as he struggled to explain his thoughts. "Okay, when
you jumped after you told past me about Mayson Drake, where were
you?"

"I was in your apartment."

"But you were often in my apartment, so it wouldn't seem unusual
to you when you found yourself standing in my apartment. You
might be confused about what you were doing there, but it
wouldn't be unusual for you to be there."

"Okay, I get that."

"But if you leapt now and past you suddenly found herself in
this secluded spot with some boy she hasn't met yet...
especially if at the moment you regained consciousness, you
were..." He gestured down his body.

Her eyes suddenly lit up in understanding. "Okay, so we can't
be... you know... when we leap. Can't even be in this spot. Or
be together since we haven't even met yet."

"Exactly. You have to be back in your campsite and I have to be
in mine."

"I can feel that I'm being pulled away before an actual leap.
Can't you?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"And... how fast can you move?"

"Almost as fast as I can in our time."

"So then if either of us start to feel... then you just move
into overdrive. Get us both decent. Then you can go back to your
friends after dropping me off at the campsite from hell. At
least, I assume you can do that by carrying me and running -
even if you can't actually fly."

Clark let out a breath before nodding.

"Good, then why don't you just lean back while I..." She didn't
say another word, choosing instead to express her intentions
through actions.

It was sometime later and Lois was watching in amazement as
Clark slowly regained awareness of his surroundings, his eyes
finally focusing and then coming to rest on her. He let out a
breath and shook his head, wonder on his face. "Come here," he
finally breathed.

Lois scampered up his chest. When she was level with him, he
cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, slowly, deeply.
Once he finally broke the kiss, he looked into her eyes. "What
do you say I return the favor?" he asked.

Her pulse leapt and then a familiar tug began pulling at the
corners of her mind. "Clark!" she yelped before the world became
a blur around her and then...

She was fully dressed, standing listening to her parents argue
about how to store their food during the night. And then the
world spun and faded around her.

Lois shook her head, trying to banish the weird images suddenly
assaulting her. The cute, dark-haired boy that she'd... A blush
rose in her cheeks. What had even brought on that wicked
thought? She could never do that. Not even if he were her
boyfriend or husband. It was just too... icky.

Still, she couldn't keep the small, delicious daydream of having
her dream lover completely at her mercy from playing in the back
of her mind as she headed over, hoping to moderate her parents'
current fight. After all, if they could just get along this
weekend, maybe her father would move back home.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark looked around in confusion when he suddenly snapped out of
his daydream. He let his hair fall over his forehead, hoping no
one would notice the blush in his cheeks as he stared at the
fire. For a few minutes there, he had really been out of it -
lost in the most erotic daydream he'd ever had.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lana scowling in his
direction. But then, when didn't she scowl at him these days?
Besides, she wasn't the girl in his daydream. No, the girl had
been a chestnut-haired beauty. He sighed, wondering if he would
ever be lucky enough to meet a girl who could make him feel even
half of what his fantasy girl had.

What had brought on the fantasy? Was it because he was
reasonably certain that Lana was planning to seduce him this
weekend? Well, he hadn't been prepared to take their
relationship to that level before his fantasy. Now... well, now
he knew that was never going to happen. No, there was more out
there than what Lana had to offer. He just knew it. All he had
to do was to find that girl.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois fought back the dizziness, trying to see through the
darkness before realizing that the low lighting was a result of
being seated in a restaurant.

"Lois, are you okay?"

She blinked, focusing on her dinner companion. What was Dan
doing here? Her eyes widened when she realized when she was.
Frustrated by what she had seen as Clark's inability to commit,
she had gone out with Dan.

Why, of all places, did she have to jump into the middle of a
date with Dan Scardino? She was a married woman. She shouldn't
be here. She shouldn't be doing this. She couldn't. But... what
about the future? Or was that the past?

"Lois?"

She turned her tormented eyes on Dan.

"Are you okay?" he repeated.

She tried to give him a smile, but she knew it was wobbly.

"I thought we were having a good time. If I've said something to
upset you..."

"No, Dan. It's not..." Her voice trailed off.

"Look, if you want to call it a night and head home early..."

She didn't answer, looking down at the half-eaten food on her
plate. She and Clark had agreed not to do anything to change the
past. But was a date with Dan what Clark had in mind? She
doubted it.

Still, if she hadn't decided to date Dan, would she and Clark
have continued dancing around each other for months, years even?
After all, dating Dan had shown her just how much she wanted to
be with Clark. And she suspected that her dating Dan had made
Clark realize just how easily he could lose her. He had proposed
almost immediately after she'd ended her relationship with Dan.
Would he have done that if Dan had never been in the picture?

"No, Dan. I'm fine. I just..." She noticed the dance floor.
Maybe dancing would be easier than talking at the moment. She
wasn't exactly comfortable with the thought of being in Dan's
arms - especially while memories of her recent interlude with
Clark were so close to the surface. Still, if she had to find
something to say right now, the jig would be up. "Would you like
to dance?"

* * * * * * * * *

Clark was suddenly aware that he was in his Superman suit,
carrying an unconscious woman in his arms. Lois! But what...
Fighting against the dizziness of the leap, he tightened his
grip on Lois, afraid of dropping her, and headed at full speed
towards Metropolis General Hospital as he tried to figure out
when he was. Studying the gash on her forehead, he suddenly
remembered. Bob Fences had tried to blackmail foreign countries
into paying him large quantities of money to compensate him for
what Fences claimed were unfair trade barriers.

For the past week, Lois had, because of brainwashing by Fences,
been putting herself in dangerous situations every time Fences
wanted to pull a heist - thereby effectively neutralizing
Superman. When Lois and Clark had finally figured it out, and
Superman had destroyed Fences' weapon, Lois had been hurt.

Oh, yes, he could still remember the last time. The cold fear in
his heart when he thought his cocky actions in melting the
weapon had seriously injured Lois. Not that a head wound was
ever something to fool around with. But at least this time he
knew Lois would be fine.

His flying suddenly faltered when he remembered what had
happened next. He'd broken up with Lois 'for her own good,'
breaking her heart in the process. Well, that wouldn't happen
this time. He'd learned his lesson. And since they had gotten
back together again, it wasn't as if there would be any
consequences if he didn't break up with her this time. He'd only
be saving them both a whole lot of unnecessary grief.

The decision made, he flew quickly towards Metropolis General.

* * * * * * * * *

Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat as necessary.

Lois forced herself to relax in Dan's arms as he moved them
around the dance floor. It was just a dance. It meant nothing.
And, really, she had no one to blame but herself for finding
herself in this position now. She'd chosen to date Dan of her
own free will.

Okay, so he'd been exciting and attentive at a time when Clark
had been pushing her away. But even then, she'd known what she
wanted, and it hadn't been Dan.

Still, she was here now - again. And she had to play this out,
take it where it had gone the last time. She froze slightly when
she remembered the passionate kiss Dan had given her when he'd
taken her home that night. It had made her somewhat
uncomfortable, even then. What was she supposed to do this
time?

"Lois?"

She forced herself to relax when she realized that she had
tensed up again with that final thought.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat as necessary.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark allowed the air currents to carry him as he flew his
patrol over the city. After the hospital had released Lois, he'd
taken her home, kissing her passionately outside the door before
turning her over to Star's care so that he could go out and fly
his patrol. He would return later.

He could still hardly believe his faulty reasoning the last time
he'd been at this particular point in time. Breaking up with
Lois for her own good - to keep people from using her to get to
Superman. And yet, in truth, her involvement with Clark Kent put
a natural barrier between her and Superman - at least in
people's minds. Why would she be dating Clark Kent, maybe even
marrying Clark Kent, if she and Superman were an item? Breaking
up with her would, in all likelihood, make her more of a target,
not less.

He grinned, taking another sweep around the city, more for the
pleasure of flying than for any need to check on the city once
more. The city was quiet tonight. And, unlike the last time, he
planned on spending a pleasant evening cuddling with Lois.

Last time, she had asked him what was wrong when he'd left her
after her trip to the hospital. He could still remember how
sulky and withdrawn he had been that night. He'd been obsessing.
It would feel so good to do things differently this time. Not to
hurt her - first with his silence, then with his speech. Not
this time.

Patrick Sullivan. The name came unbidden to Clark's mind. If he
hadn't broken up with Lois, she never would have gone out with
Patrick Sullivan. But... that was a good thing, wasn't it? After
all, Sullivan had tried to kill her.

But... that was how they had stopped Sullivan's terror spree.
How many women had he sacrificed to his gods before Lois?
Weren't the deaths of a number of women the reason he and Lois
had started their investigation in the first place? And how many
more would he have killed if they hadn't stopped him?

Clark stopped dead in the sky as another, infinitely more
terrifying, thought struck him. If Lois hadn't agreed to go out
with Sullivan, would that have stopped the man from targeting
her? After all, his old nursemaid had told Clark that Sullivan
believed he loved Lois and so had to sacrifice her to the
ancient gods. The way things had played out, Clark had gotten to
Lois just in time. If they changed the circumstances, would they
be as lucky the next time? Even a change of a couple minutes
would have made him too late.

He closed his eyes. He might get away with this small change to
history. But... could he really be sure that he wasn't sparring
Lois' feelings only to sacrifice her life? He never should have
broken up with her in the first place. But now that he had, did
he dare change things?

Still, how could he break her heart again? He suddenly
understood Lois' comment about how much easier it was to keep
the past the same... in theory. In practice, he knew it was
going to tear him apart.

* * * * * * * * *

"So..." Lois said as she unlocked the door to her apartment and
turned towards Dan.

"So..." he responded, leaning against the doorframe. "I had a
good time tonight, Lois."

She smiled. "I did, too, Dan." And after she finally managing to
relax, she had enjoyed herself. Dan was still a lot of fun to be
around.

Not that she'd appreciated his flirting as much this time. And
doing such things as holding hands had often made her
uncomfortable. Still, Dan had been a lively dinner companion -
more than holding up his end when she had faltered. Yes, she
still liked Dan. In fact, he only had one fault: he simply
wasn't Clark.

When he moved closer, she placed a hand on his chest.

"Good night, Dan," she said, leaning closer to give him a peck
on the cheek before turning and heading into her apartment. 

Once she closed the door on his baffled face, she leaned against
it and let out a long, slow breath. She could only hope she'd
been charming enough and the kiss had been enough to keep him
pursuing her a little bit longer. Okay, so maybe she had had to
kiss him. She had last time, after all. But... if he was hoping
for something more than a chaste kiss on the cheek... No. No
matter how much she needed to keep from changing the past, she
simply was not able to contemplate anything more. And the
passionate kiss he'd given her on this night in the past... No.
No matter the cause, she couldn't betray Clark by letting Dan
kiss her like that now.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark landed in Lois' living room, decked out in the Superman
suit, only to find that Perry, Jimmy and Star were still there.

"Can I speak to Lois alone?" Superman asked.

Perry made a comment about needing to get to the gym anyway as
he, Jimmy and Star headed towards the door, but Clark's mind was
already focused on Lois - on what he had to do. He had to break
her heart.

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, reminding himself
that they had survived it before and would do so again, he
headed into Lois' bedroom.

"Lois, I feel horrible about this," Clark said, gesturing to the
bandage on her forehead.

"Clark, it wasn't your fault. You saved my life." He saw a
slightly shy look on her face at the final comment and wondered
if this was the first time he'd saved her life since she'd found
out about his connection to Superman. No. He'd caught her after
she'd jumped from the helicopter and when she'd walked in front
of a car. Still, she'd been in a daze then. Maybe the fact that
she remembered this time was what was making her slightly shy
now.

Still, she was wrong in thinking he was the hero in this story.
"No. I got... careless. I was overconfident. No matter how bad
the situation is, I always think I'm strong enough or fast
enough to fix it."

"And you are," Lois insisted. "You saved a whole city full of
people from being microwaved like popcorn."

"But you... still got hurt. I'm used to saving people, not
getting them injured."

"You can't control everything. You can't protect everybody all
the time, Clark. It's impossible."

He gave her a sad smile. She sounded so much like his parents.
Still... he focused his eyes on the floor, wishing he could
think of another way to handle this situation.

"But we can handle it," Lois continued. She pushed a strand of
hair behind her ear. "In fact, Clark, there's something I want
to tell you."

"There's something I need to tell you, too."

"I know this isn't the best time, or the most romantic, but..."

Oh god, she was going to accept his proposal. He hadn't realized
that last time. He couldn't let that happen. Not now. So he
rushed to interrupt her. "Lois, I love you too much to ever let
something like this happen to you again. I know I can't control
everything, but I can control people not using you to get to me.
That's why I came. To tell you..." His voice cracked. This hurt
as much this time as it had the last time. "I don't think this
is going to work out. I'm sorry." 

Hearing a cry for help which might or might not require his
immediate attention, he looked back at Lois - but seeing it as a
perfect way to extradite himself from the current situation, he
seized onto it. "I gotta go," he said before disappearing in a
gust of wind.

"Clark," she breathed after him and he could hear the hurt and
confusion in her voice. The sound tore his heart apart.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois was dreading work. This had been such a difficult time in
her relationship with Clark. Still, she headed towards the Daily
Planet. It was a work day, after all.

"Hi."

She turned towards the sound of the familiar voice as she waited
for her coffee and smiled when she saw Clark. Then, remembering
that they weren't exactly getting along, she broke eye contact
and turned back to the vendor.

"So how was your date with Agent Scardino?" Clark asked with the
same amount of contempt she always heard in his voice when he
said the man's name.

"Now there's my favorite sight in the whole world," Lois said.
"The truck that delivers our payroll checks."

"Okay, if you don't want to talk about it, I understand."

Lois finally turned towards him and whatever good intentions
she'd had to maintain her distance from Clark vanished in the
light of the pain she could see in his eyes. Without thinking,
she grabbed his tie, pulling him to her so that she could give
him the very kiss she'd avoided giving Dan the night before,
telling him without words how she felt about him.

Suddenly, what she was doing struck her and she forced herself
to break the kiss, breathing heavily. Damn! How could she have
done that? Hadn't she and Clark decided that, no matter what,
they wouldn't do anything to change the past?

"Lois..." Clark began.

"Help! Police!"

The yelled words interrupted whatever comment Clark had been
about to make - a comment which, Lois feared, could have changed
the past. As a result, she was almost relieved when she saw the
men robbing the payroll truck.

"I'll call the cops!" Clark said before disappearing into the
Daily Planet. 

A moment later, Superman showed up. 

Lois smiled. Why had she never seen it? It was so painfully
obvious to her now. And if she recalled correctly, Superman was
about to get his first exposure to red kryptonite, which meant
that in a moment, he wouldn't likely care about her kissing him
any more than he had cared about anything else. Who would have
thought she could be grateful for red kryptonite?

* * * * * * * * *

He couldn't stand it. He honestly couldn't stand it. Last time
he'd been too caught up in feeling noble, not to mention his own
pain, to think much about Lois.

This time, he found himself sitting on top of her apartment
building, trying mentally to send her comfort. How he ended up
standing in front of the door to her apartment, he was entirely
uncertain. But once there, he knew what he had to do. He was
still her best friend. And he had once promised her that no
matter what else changed between them, that wouldn't.

And right now she needed her best friend.

He raised his hand and knocked. A minute or so later, he heard
her unlocking the door. When she swung it open, he could see the
tear stains on her cheeks.

"Clark," she breathed softly, even as new tears welled up in her
eyes.

He stepped into her apartment immediately, closing the door
before sweeping her into his arms, holding her as she silently
cried against him.

"I can't take back what I said, Lois," he said softly, lest he
give her the wrong idea and increased her pain.

"But, Clark..." she said, pulling back.

She fell silent when he placed a finger over her lips.

"Not tonight, Lois. Please, don't try to talk me out of it
tonight. I can't change my mind on this."

"Then why are you here?"

"I promised you once that no matter what happened, I'd always be
your friend. And I figured tonight..." He shrugged.

The corner of her mouth pulled down. "Don't take this the wrong
way," she said, not able to hold eye contact as the tears
started again to flow. "But right now, if you're not here to
tell me you were wrong and beg me to take you back, I don't want
you here."

He pulled in a sharp breath as tears came to his own eyes.
"Lois," he breathed.

But she was already stepping around him to open the door.
"Please leave," she said softly, keeping her eyes firmly fixed
on the floor outside her door.

He hesitated a moment, wanting more than anything to recant
everything he had said to her, to tell her he loved her and that
he couldn't let her go. But he couldn't. Knowing that, he
reluctantly stepped out into the hall. He turned back towards
her, hoping for one last chance to convince her to let him stay,
but she had already closed the door.

Lowering his glasses, he looked through the door just in time to
see her sink to the floor, her back to the door, and drop her
head into her hands as sobs shook her body.

He was just about to raise his hand again when he felt the world
around him beginning to spin and fade.

* * * * * * * * *

"Lois, you know there is such a thing as individual
responsibility," Clark said as they rode the elevator to the
newsroom.

"What does that mean?" Lois asked, glad that this new, apathetic
Clark hadn't mentioned the kiss since returning after his
Superman appearance.

"The payroll company is responsible for the safety of the
cheques, not Superman. Let them take care of it."

"What about the responsibility of the individual to the society
as a whole?" Lois asked, needing to keep Clark focused on this
rather than their kiss. "The social contract that obligates one
person to help others for the betterment of everyone?"

"If that's what you feel, great," Clark said as the elevator
doors opened and they stepped out together. "Otherwise, I say
kick back. Enjoy. Do your own thing."

But Lois was no longer listening because as she and Clark
stepped into the newsroom, she saw Dan and Mayson, both looking
like kids who had been caught with their hands in the cookie
jar, jump apart slightly when they saw her and Clark.

Mayson Drake. She was alive. Lois supposed that was the good
news. And if Mayson and Dan were... nah. That was crazy.

She grabbed onto the banister as the world around her began to
spin and fade. She let out a breath of relief. Anywhere would be
better than here.

* * * * * * * * *

"Well!" William asked when Andrus returned. "Do we know what's
causing this?"

"Not exactly," Andrus said, looking around at the council
nervously.

"What does 'not exactly' mean?" Laddy demanded. "Do you know or
don't you?"

"It means... Well, we know that Tempus is still in his cozy jail
cell - acting as sarcastic as ever. We questioned him, but...
I'm afraid the art of interrogation has been lost over the
years. He seemed to enjoy giving us vague and often
contradictory answers. And we can't know for sure if he
didn't..." Andrus' voice trailed off and he ran a hand through
his hair in frustration. "Our time watchers think that he might
have done this in the past - before we caught him - and that
this is only catching up with us now. Or that it's something he
will do in the future and..."

"Am I the only one getting a headache?" Laddy asked.

"It's all very complicated and... I can't say I really
understand it myself."

"So the time watchers still think that Tempus is our most likely
suspect?" William asked.

"That seems to be the consensus. So..." He looked up at the time
monitor. "How's it going here?"

"Well, so far we seem to have managed to avoid any serious
disasters. Although we can expect a few minor time quakes,"
William said.

"But it's just a matter of time before they do change something.
And when that happens..." Laddy said, not bothering to elaborate
further.

"Well, why doesn't someone go back and fix this?" Andrus asked.

"Until we know why it's happening, how are we supposed to stop
it? It's not as if there is some way we can tie down their souls
so they don't leap," William said. "That's why it's so important
that we find out why this is happening. Only then do we have a
chance of stopping it."

"What about going back and talking to Lois and Clark?" Andrus
asked hopefully.

"And say what?" asked Laddy. "For all we know, anything we would
say to them would end up doing more damage."

Andrus let out a breath of frustration, suddenly understanding
the problem.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark was looking into the eyes of John H. Dillinger as he again
regained cognizance of his surroundings.

There was no time to do anything but pretend to be shot when
Dillinger fired his gun at Clark. Grasping his chest, Clark
stumbled slightly, falling, as if in slow motion, to the floor.

"Clark," Lois gasped, reaching out and grabbing at him as if
trying to stop the inevitable from happening.

He heard her pain. He hadn't last time. Last time, he'd only
known one sensation. Shock. He'd been shot - or rather, Clark
had - at point blank range. There was nothing to do but pretend
to be dead.

This time, he heard Lois' pain. He felt her hands on him as she
gently touched his face and chest.

"You moron," Capone said. "What did you do that for?"

Clark heard Lois' heavy breathing and knew that she was doing an
unsuccessful job at fighting off tears. He wanted more than
anything to reassure her. But he couldn't. He couldn't do
anything that might change the past - and it was sheer torture.

For some reason, he hadn't realized at the time how deeply his
death would affect Lois. He still wasn't sure how he could have
been so insensitive. Of course Lois would be devastated. Even
without his current knowledge that she had been falling in love
with him, having her best friend shot in front of her would have
been devastating.

Why hadn't he told her he wasn't really dead the moment she was
safely back at her apartment? Hadn't he trusted her enough to
tell her his secret? Hadn't he cared enough about how badly she
was hurting to ease her pain?

"Let's get out of here," Capone continued. "And take the stiff.
I can't afford to be linked to a murder."

Clark remained limp as hands grabbed him roughly and began
pulling him away.

"Clark..." 

Clark heard Lois' anguished cry as he was pulled from her. In
fact, he heard her sobs the entire time he was in the back of
the gangster's car until, finally, they dumped his body off in
an alley and he was able to outfly the sound of her tears.

An hour or so later, Clark was pacing the floor of the old
farmhouse impatiently, waiting for his mother to get off the
phone. Not that it made any difference. There was still nothing
he could do.

"That was Mr. White," Martha said as she hung up. "He was very
nice. Wanted to know if there was anything he could do for us."

"Did he say anything about Lois?"

"Just that she was taking it pretty hard."

Clark pulled in a long, slow breath. He could remember the last
time. Had he actually found some comfort in that fact? How
callous could he have been?

If he had it to do over again, he would have gone to Lois and
told her everything. It would have been the right thing to do.
But he'd been so obsessed with the idea that she had to love
Clark rather than Superman. Selfish. Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.

It wouldn't have brought Clark back - at least until he figured
out the idea of pretending to use Dr. Hamilton's machine. But he
could have saved her so much heartache. 

And it wasn't as if he hadn't trusted her. After all, she had
been his best friend for over a year. He'd known she'd never use
it against him or write the story for the front page of the
paper - no matter how many awards she could have gotten for it.
But still, he'd refused to even consider the possibility of
telling her the truth. And he'd put her through hell because of
it.

Given the amount of pain he'd inflicted, he could hardly believe
she hadn't dumped him the moment she'd found out he was
Superman.

Still, he couldn't do anything to change it now. After all, Lois
finding out that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same
at this juncture would definitely change the past.

Or... was there something else he could do? He couldn't tell her
that he was Superman, but... this time he knew how to bring
Clark back into the land of the living. Maybe he could bring
Clark back sooner. Maybe he didn't have to make her grieve for
so long, not knowing that her best friend wasn't really dead.
Before he could put those ideas into practice, he felt the world
begin to fade around him. He felt a gulty sense of relief when
he realized that he would soon be out of there. After all,
anywhere had to be better than here.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois was still trying to figure out when she was. She knew where
she was, of course. She was in the Daily Planet, talking to
Jimmy. Or... well, listening to him talk.

He held up a file. "Carter Clavens. Rich, powerful, healthy,
dead. Fell thirty stories. Plop."

Lois crinkled her eyebrows. None of that meant anything to her.
"Suicide?" she asked, trying to put the pieces together.

"Exercycle. Bike went right out a window. With him on it."

Her eyebrows shot up. Surely she would have remembered something
like that. "How?"

"By itself."

"By itself. As in..." She gestured with her hands.

"Cops said it's like the bike had a mind of its own or
something."

Nope. Nothing. Not ringing a single bell. Was this before Clark
or after? She spotted Clark making his way across the newsroom,
her eyes automatically going to his left hand. He was wearing a
wedding ring, but... well, could she be sure it was hers? After
all, maybe either she or Clark had done something to change the
past and... No! She was not going there. 

She redirected her attention to his face. He looked serious.
"Clark?" she asked, forgetting about the exercise bike's unusual
activity and her concerns about their marital status in the
light of his expression. Something was wrong.

"Could we talk?" Clark asked. "Privately?"

It was only moments later when Lois found herself leaning
against the conference table, watching Clark close the blinds in
the conference room. She was now reasonably certain that either
something had happened that had changed their past - after all,
she'd seen Mayson Drake during her last leap - or that she was
actually in their future.

"I just came from Star Labs," Clark finally said, turning
towards her.

"Okay," she said cautiously, feeling as if she was treading on
quick sand. Still, by the expression on Clark's face it was
obvious... "This isn't good news, is it?"

Clark seemed to struggle to find words. "Honey, Dr. Klein ran
every test he could. The poor guy could hardly face me. But he
said Superman's biology and an Earth woman's are... incompatible
for reproduction."

She didn't even have to pretend to be stunned. This must be what
every person in a time-travel television show or movie had ever
meant when they said it wasn't good to know too much about one's
own future.

Tears unexpectedly welled up in Lois' eyes. She hadn't thought
much about having children. Wasn't even sure she wanted
children. In fact, if anybody had asked her before she'd met
Clark, she'd have said she wasn't the type of person to want
children. But to have the very option taken away from her so
quickly, so unexpectedly... 

She bent over, suddenly struggling to catch her breath. It felt
as if she'd just been kicked in the gut, leaving her fighting
for air. If only she'd had some warning, if only she'd known
that he'd gone for tests, maybe she would have had time to
prepare herself for the news. Her entire world narrowed down to
one simple task - trying to get air into her lungs.

"Lois..." Clark's voice sounded very far away.

She felt hands moving her into a chair. Of all the things Clark
could have said, this was the least expected. She lowered her
head until it was between her knees.

"Lois, please... honey, are you okay?"

She'd heard someone say once that although not every woman
wanted