Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Fanfic Quiz -- Opening Lines

Clark landed on the roof of the Rayron building, swaying momentarily
before regaining his balance. Grimacing, he shook his head groggily
while his gaze swept his surroundings. He hadn't thought his speed
great enough for him to overshoot Metropolis and land on top of Rayron
in the middle of the sewage treatment facility. He hoped it didn't
mean what he thought it meant. After a long, tiring day, all he
wanted to do was go home and relax with his wife and infant son, and it
would be too cruel if he had been jolted into that alternate universe
again. The sun peeking out through the storm clouds looked higher in
the sky than he remembered it, reinforcing his apprehension that he had
been catapulted into the parallel universe, but hopefully he was just
more tired than he'd thought ....

A flight to Hyperion Avenue and a quick x-ray of the town house that he
shared with his wife dashed his faint hopes. Rubbing the back of his
neck in frustration, he flew to Clinton Ave so he could reconnoiter
inside the walls of his counterpart's home, but he discovered to his
surprise that Clark Kent's apartment was occupied by strangers.

"Help!!" Lois Lane Kent screamed as loudly as she dared, wincing as the sound echoed through the large empty warehouse. She scanned the area for any sign of imminent rescue, paying close attention to a large open window at one end of the building. She saw nothing, however, and once more, futilely, rattled the chains that bound her arms to those of the chair.

A soft chuckle emanated from the shadows in the rear of the building. "You won't be able to get them loose, you know," her captor stated, amused by her efforts. "And we're too far from other buildings for anyone to hear you screaming. In case you were wondering."

"I appreciate the advice," she replied haughtily, "but I've had far more experience at this than you have, and I'm here to tell you, it's important not to give up."

Dimly, she could see him tilting his head in acknowledgement of her point. "Ah, but Superman won't save you this time." He began moving restlessly, and emerged from the shadows, revealing the mild-mannered exterior of Clark Kent.

"Enjoying yourself, Lois?"

Feeling two gentle hands on her shoulders, Lois Lane turned around, her half-full wine glass in her hand. "Yes, very much so. It's a beautiful party, Lex," she complimented.

"Thank you, my dear," he whispered, leaning down to place a soft kiss on her cheek. "You know that it's only beautiful to me because you are here. I know I must have told you several times already, but you look simply stunning tonight."

"Thank you." She blushed slightly, even though she should be used to his extravagant compliments. They'd been on a few dates together, and each time, he'd been extremely complimentary towards her, almost to the point of embarrassing her. Lois Lane didn't think of herself as an overly feminine and beautiful woman, so it surprised her each time Lex gushed over her. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling, though, she acknowledged, and that was
why she'd never mentioned to him that it sometimes made her uncomfortable.

As he sped towards the Planet, Clark kept his hands firmly on the wheel of the Jeep, his mind fixed rigidly on the road ahead, and his eyes determinedly *off* the rear view mirror.

Though relying on side mirrors alone made night driving hazardous at best, it was safer than what was likely to meet him if he succumbed to the temptation to glance into the back seat...

...where his leggy, curvaceous partner was engaged in undressing.

Clark pressed his lips to Lois's mouth once again and breathed, then lifted his head a few inches, checking for any sign of respiratory action.

There was still none.

"Breathe, Lois! Breathe!" he pleaded in an agonised whisper, again checking her body temperature; while it had been warm, it was now getting cooler by the second. "Come back to me, Lois! You have to come back to me!" The prospect that she might not was too unbearable to contemplate...

Distraught, he renewed the heart massage he'd started a short time ago, only to feel a hand tugging at his arm.

"Clark - Clark, it's no good. She's gone," his mother told him softly, close to tears herself. "Come on, honey, you have to stop torturing yourself like this!"

"She can't be," Clark retorted, not even looking at his mother. "I won't let her!" His mother was wrong. She had to be! Lois was going to be *fine*! He just had to keep going, keep breathing for her... Shaking off Martha's arm, he resumed the artificial respiration he'd been performing, increasingly desperately, for the last half-hour.

"Clark." This time it was Jonathan. He turned to look at his father, seeing the grief and agony on the older man's face, telling him what he now knew was the awful truth. "Clark, you have to accept it. She's dead."

He crumpled. He just couldn't hold himself up any longer, and he folded into a weeping heap on the cold stone floor.

"I swear, I'm never going out on another date as long as I live!" Lois angrily informed Clark the second he answered her impatient pounding on his apartment door. Then she pushed her way past him into his apartment without even waiting for an invitation.

"Hello to you, too," Clark answered pointedly, though inwardly he knew he wasn't as irritated by her dramatic, theatrical entrance as he made himself sound. He slowly closed the door and followed her down the steps to the living room. "Lois, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Late. I don't know," Lois grumbled as she tore her coat off and threw it onto the closest chair where it barely clung to the armrest. Then she continued to storm her way through his apartment, heading for the kitchen. Without thinking twice, she jerked open the fridge and quickly rummaged through its contents until she found a can of soda and pulled it from the shelf.

Clark grinned. "Help yourself, Lois," he teased, watching as she popped the top and took a long drink.

The fire in the grate had finally managed to make some headway against the atypically chilly night, and H G Wells sighed with contentment as, for the first time in hours, his toes, fingers and nose thawed to something approaching a comfortable temperature. As he listened to the Home Service on the wireless, he leaned back in his wing chair, and stretched his slippered feet out across a footstool. A snifter of brandy in one hand, he decided that a quiet evening at home had a lot to recommend itself as an idea.

Not five minutes later, however, the distant sound of the doorbell drew him out of his idle reverie. With a sigh, he put aside his glass, switched off the radio, and forced himself to make his way down the cold corridor to the front door.

It had been one of the worst snow storms on record the day she left her family. Inside the warm homestead in Smallville, Kansas, a vigil had been going on inside a tiny and crowded bedroom. Throughout the years, this bedroom had seen the births of numerous Kent family members. Today it would see the passing of its most beloved, Lois Lane Kent.

On her 81st birthday, Lois Lane had suffered a stroke and was sent to bed to mend; however, her frail and tender condition could not make it through this most difficult of battles. Two months later, with her family gathered around, she bid adieu to the world.

Clark now sat on the bed as his wife of 50 years lay drifting between life and death. With all the superpowers he possessed, he knew, this time, he
simply could not save her. He sat there stroking her silver hair, her hand tightly wrapped in his. She opened her eyes and smiled at him and lifted a
hand for him to lean closer. As he did, she whispered softly in his ear, "Kiss me good-bye." Clark Kent never needed an excuse to kiss his 'bride', as he often called her, and now so many years later, he kissed her softly as if it were the first time.

Lois Lane's brow was furrowed as she pulled her jeep out of
the Daily Planet's parking garage. It had been one crazy
day. First there had been the unexpected solar eclipse
this morning on their way to work. Then her partner, Clark
Kent, had been hit by that runaway car. Thankfully he
hadn't been hurt. She had been surprised by that. The
impact had thrown him quite a distance, yet he seemed no
worse for wear than a little dirt on his clothes. It
wasn't till later that morning that they found out the
eclipse had been caused by some huge asteroid that no one
had ever heard of. The scientists called it Nightfall.

Once she and Clark got back from the EPRAD press conference
Perry had called a staff meeting. He had been in rare
form, like some eager general in his own personal war room.
Lois had to smile as the memory of the look on Cat's face
came back to her. Perry had suggested that Cat use
Applegate to help her on a sidebar story. A 'Where Were
You When the Lights Went Out' piece involving whatever
local celebrities that Cat could get to talk. Needless to
say, she declined the help.

Superman struggled to continue flying through the stormy night, his energy resources almost completely depleted. He *had* to get there. She would help him. She would...

The wind howled fiercely, battering his exhausted body as he battled to remain in the air amid the rain and the biting cold. He had already flown hundreds of thousands of miles, and had stretched his strength to the limit in order to destroy the asteroid which threatened Earth. He had taken an oxygen pack since he had known he could not hold his breath for the duration of the flight. But the pack had been ripped away from him by the force of his collision with the asteroid.

He had managed to fly back, faster than he had ever before travelled, to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and reach an altitude where he could breathe again. But he was now drained, his body more tired than he had ever experienced. Other than his encounters with Kryptonite, Clark knew that this was the closest he had ever come to dying. And he wasn't safe yet...

"Yes, mother .... No, mother .... Uh huh ... Well, I think-- ... Yes, but--
... But I-- ..."

Lois Lane cradled the phone to her ear as she paced in her living room.
Every few moments, she raised her eyes hopefully up the stairs towards the
bedrooms, straining to hear if there was any noise coming from the nursery.
It had taken Lois 47 minutes (she had counted every single one) to get
Laura to finally stop crying and settle down for her afternoon nap, and
Lois had collapsed on the living room couch afterwards, relishing the peace
and quiet. But now she almost wished Laura would wake up and give her an
excuse to get off the phone.

An attractive blonde walked through the doors and onto the steps outside the Metropolis Insane Asylum. Stopping momentarily, she pushed her hair back over her shoulders and let the wind play with it as the words of the old spiritual ran through her mind.

'Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.'

It had actually been a brilliant plan. A small demonstration, by accident of course, was all it took to convince the jury that working with the substance day after day had made her not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. The fact that no one had been permanently injured had undoubtedly gone a long way to help - not to mention her shameless flirting with juror number four.

"We have to let Lex kill Clark. I don't see any other way," said Lois
without preamble as Superman set her down on a mountainside high above
Metropolis.

Lois grinned as she slipped slightly deeper into the warm water. This was the perfect bubble bath, "Mmm," she purred. There was no finer place to have a bubble bath than in Lex Luthor's huge, marble sunken tub. It was enormous. It was one of the many perks of being Mrs. Lex Luthor, and though Lois and Lex had only been married three weeks, she could scarcely absorb all the wonders of her groom's amassed fortune, but the daily bubble bath was still what she prized above all the treasures she had encountered thus far.

Once upon a time, far away in a distant land, where men were bold and women were just as bold but also intelligent, there lived a sad old king whose only daughter was...well to put it mildly a bit of a pain in the butt.

Clark sank to his knees beside the body. Dark red blood was already beginning to pool around the man's head. Clark reached out a trembling hand and felt for a pulse. He closed his eyes when he discovered there was none. The man was dead. Time seemed to stand still until suddenly the area was swarming with police.

"Police. Don't move!" commanded a voice behind Clark.

Dear Lois,

I didn't think I would ever write this; some things are too personal for words. All I have left are dreams of things that won't ever be, especially now that you have made your choice. I guess Dan Scardino can offer you all the things that I can't: an ordinary life, children. He can be there when you need him, and that is something I could never guarantee.

Clark sighed. Well, they were gone. Perry, Jimmy, the others ... each of them saying their good-byes and leaving through the same well-used revolving doorway of the Daily Planet building. And that was just fine with him -- it left Clark alone with Lois. Well, Lois and the thirty or so police officers milling around the downstairs lobby.

Tonight, however, neither Lois nor Clark was paying attention to the many uniforms brushing past them. They were simply staring -- at each other.