Deep, satisfied sigh ... I know we still have two parts to go, but this is coming together so nicely.
“Well.” She pinched the bridge of her nose just under her glasses, exhaling slowly. “This is... a set-back.”
“You see? That’s exactly what I thought, standing there in that cave, seeing the signs of skirmish and half-digested human remains. ‘This is a set-back,’ I said to Petal. Didn’t I, Petal? Of all the bad luck-”
“Hank.” She quelled him with a look she had never used on him before, a voice rich with censure.
He stopped, clamping his jaws tight around the next words she knew wanted to come out.
“PDTS reports they may have underestimated the aggression of the natural predators,” said Petal into the charged silence.
Hank made a noise. Something between a curse and a laugh, but he said no more..
I love this, Hank's growing hysteria. I can just picture this whole scene, and it's so rich.
“Do not put it past Tempus to plant these there,” she declared, rising from her seat and waving a clavicle at him. “We have underestimated him in the past, and the price has been hellish!” she thundered. “ID them! Now! Take them right down and do not come back until you can tell me for sure these are his.”
LOL on her waiving the clavicle. And I also laughed because I'd been thinking the exact same thing! Get those bones ID'ed! If there was any was possible for Tempus to arrange this, he would. I really do think they are his, and if so, it's an ingenious way to "solve the Tempus problem once and for all" (kind of reminds me of Phil blowing up Lex with a nuclear hand grenade down his pants in S6 <vbg>) but I won't believe it till I see it.
"I think Tempus was just a regular guy. He just felt out of place. Once I narrowed down the earliest year of his legend, I did a search for missing persons. Utopia has one and only one. It coincides with that same year.”
Clark straightened. “Who is he? Or... was he?”
“Robert Smith. Pretty dull and nondescript. He lived alone, worked quietly at his job as an accounts manager. His co-workers reported him lost after he had missed two days work. He’d never done that.”
Excuse me while I beam with pride. I knew it!!! LOL! Well, OK, I may have had it a little backwards with the timing of the comic book -- if you'll recall, my theory was that Tempus existed as a character first and Robert Smith adopted the name in an attempt to become a future day Jesse James/Robin Hood combo -- but I was right about him being just a regular guy who had finally just had enough. That counts for something, doesn't it? Just a little, maybe? Kinda, sorta?
Still think he might have some Lane blood in him, though.
Eighteenth cousin, twice removed ... so he doesn't show up in the history books.
“So we could go upstairs for a little while?” she rode over him, momentum was on her side, and she wasn’t letting anything stop it.
His mouth opened and shut. She pressed another kiss against it. His eyes closed. “We didn’t sleep all night,” he said in a strangled voice, “you must be... tired?”
“Not really,” she said sweetly.
“Thank God,” he said fervently, He wrapped her up in his arms, returned the kiss she had just given him plus a few more with interest, and floated them up and away.
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
I'm still guessing as to whether L&C will be returned with their memories intact. I want them to remember, in no small part because I have PTSS from the S1 finale reset and I always feels that renders an entire story moot, yet I can see evidence for them not to. But then you get into the whole time loop paradox thing again ... do they not write about Tempus because he never returns to their time and they never know about him? Or do they simply learn from the Peacekeepers who return them that Tempus is dead so they don't bother? And either way, has the information Clark read about their future already changed to reflect this new time loop?
Of course, if they're upstairs doing what I think they're doing, they may have an early start on this whole family thing anyway, which could mean a whole new branch of the family.
The very few of them whose life work it was to prevent such a thing had their own personal theories. Some more alarming than others.
And this was very well done. Again, a nod to fandom as future observers, but also a great way to explore some of the various options for how this will all end. I like your various theories.
Can't wait to see Silas track down his sister just as Hank is trying to share a last tender moment, LOL.
Saturday, Saturday, Saturday!
Kathy (who can't believe this story is almost over. What am I going to DO???)
