I am incredibly nervous about posting this challenge because I am a fan, not a writer, but it just came to me and I don't think I've read any stories with this plot before. (If anyone has used it or something similar already, please forgive me!) I would like to see what someone could do with it:
We move past season four with everything according to the TV show, except that TOGOM did not happen. Lois and Clark are happily married, and of course Lois knows Clark is Superman. Clark is covering the president's visit to an aircraft carrier in the bay just outside Metropolis. Superman has not been invited to the ceremony because he recently refused to help the President with what he correctly interpreted as a political coverup, and there are hard feelings between him and the current administration. Suddenly, there is an assassination attempt. With no chance to change to Superman and in spite of his dislike of the man, Clark steps into the path of a bullet meant for the President and is shot in the chest at point-blank range. He knows it is all being shown live on LNN, so to conceal the fact that there is no blood and to protect his secret identity he falls into the water and disappears. So he is officially missing, although no one believes there is any chance he could have survived.
Clark is unable to come up with any plausible way he could have survived, so he remains missing for several months while he and Lois desperately try to figure something out. They can't ask the government for help because the president would be only too happy to expose Clark's identity. They can't even move to another city, because Clark is a national hero and someone would be sure to recognize him. Superman is seen visiting Lois from time to time, but everyone understands that he is searching for his friend's body and keeping her posted on the progress of the search. Privately, all Lois's friends think that she is just unable to accept the reality that Clark is dead.
After six months Lois reads about a new surgical procedure for gunshot wounds, and she and Clark come up with a story they think will be believed about how Clark had amnesia but was rescued and treated and how he has recovered. Superman "finds" Clark very publicly and the entire story is reported in the Daily Planet and receives coverage around the world. Clark receives several awards but gradually things settle down and almost return to normal. It is about that time that Lois notices something she has missed. Bernie Klein was wrong and she CAN get pregnant, in fact she is about 3 months along and it is going to be obvious to everyone that this happened while Clark was missing and she was receiving regular visits from Superman . . . .
