Pheromone, My Lovely - Matchmaker Style
Rated PG-13
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Pheromone, My Lovely - Matchmaker Style 02/12
Previously
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - canon universe
Distant future - TTEMPO Headquarters
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Herb got up and moved to a sideboard again. He dumped the tea which had gone cold through neglect and prepared another fresh cup, promising himself to actually drink this one. Picking up the cup he held it under a faucet which dispensed near boiling water, then thankful for the advancements in society which made things so much easier, pulled out a tea bag, rather than a container of loose leaves, and he prepared a cup of Earl Grey tea which he carried back to his desk before he continued. Once he was again seated and after first taking a sip of his tea he said, "Resume."
"Recording."
"After the Sheriff and her deputies left, I was able to sit down with Lois and the Kents to explain what had happened and why. Lois was somewhat irritated with me for overlaying her future memories. I explained that I had not had any choice in that she was the best candidate to rescue Clark from Trask. She started weeping when the thought of CJ crossed her mind. When I explained that that child was actually going to be her first born she brightened up and her mood became a happy one. They asked how many children they would have and naturally, I declined to give them that information. When she asked how long she would have to wait to have a child. I told her that unfortunately that would be too much information too soon and that she should simply be patient and let things happen in the proper time."
"Lois admitted that she had always feared having children because of her family background, however, the memory overlay had removed those fears and she was now eagerly anticipating that event. I did not at this time reveal to her that her physiology would have to be changed by exposure to Clark's aura to make their biologies compatible before the blessed event. I also did not tell her that another result of that physiological change would be that her lifespan would be extended. I will schedule a trip back to them at a period after the birth so that I can give her a gift. Pause recording."
“Paused.”
Herb pulled open a drawer in his desk and pulled out a box. In the box was a pendant on a necklace. A pendant with very special properties. A pendant holding two different forms of Kryptonite within its silver matrix. On the outside of the box he wrote, "Lois Lane, Ultra Woman, Alpha -34 x Gamma 255 x Tau -225. Lois' birthday, September 23, 1998."
Remembering that he had simply paused the recording, Herb said, “End recording. Do not finalize and allow for future additions and edits. Format it as a document and send a copy of the file to my hand held for review."
"Recording stopped. Formatting. Sending."
Herb's hand held beeped and a small light started to flash indicating the file had been received. He nodded his approval and stood up from his chair. He would review the file and make his edits after taking a brief nap. He moved to his sleeping alcove and after kicking off his shoes and placing his glasses on a side table, he lay down on a trundle bed.
He spoke to the computer again, "Lights off."
After the lights went out and before Herb had a chance to fall asleep he wondered just how the rest of their lives would work out. His intervention had resulted in them becoming married at an exceptionally early point in their relationship. He determined that he would have to pop in on them and check occasionally, just to see how things were progressing.
And Now:
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Chapter 1
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha -34 x Gamma 255 x Tau -225 - Another Alternate Universe.
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It had been a busy and in some ways frustrating couple of weeks. They had returned from Smallville after Clark had recovered his powers, but because Clark had been shot he had needed to wear a sling and work only part-time hours while he recuperated from the gunshot wounds inflicted on him by Trask. At least he had been able to do his regular patrols as Superman.
This had actually been serendipitous, Clark was recuperating from gunshot wounds and Superman was fully functional. No one seeing Clark Kent with his arm in a sling would even consider the possibility that the two could be one. How could Superman be wounded?
Last night had been a busy one. Superman had been called upon to drill a relief hole on the side of a volcano to relieve the pressure that had been building. Geologists had called on him to help to prevent another Mount Saint Helens event. He had actually needed to drill three relief vents all of which were oriented away from populated areas before he could return home and go to bed.
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An old fashioned, wind up alarm clock on the night stand next to the bed started to ring.
Clark was deep in Morpheus' arms until the piercing
‘RING' of the alarm clock jerked him awake. Instinctively he reached over to pound the snooze button, but instead, with a loud crunching noise, he
flattened the alarm clock like a pancake. Clark looked at his handiwork and just shook his head.
The noise awakened Lois. She rolled over and said, "That's the second clock this week. I think we need to put the clock on my side of the bed if we don't want to take out a loan to keep us in clocks."
With a rueful grin he leaned down and planted a kiss on his wife's very tempting lips. She smiled up at him and said, "Morning, handsome."
He smiled down at her and said, "Morning, beautiful. Moving the clock would probably be a good idea," then he jumped out of bed and in a blur, sped into the bathroom, exiting just moments later, fully dressed for work.
Lois looked at him with a pouty expression and said, "You know, you could move a little slower while you are still in the bedroom. You move so fast, I don't get a chance to admire my husband's body. As far as getting dressed like that, can you possibly teach me that trick? It takes me longer than that to just brush my teeth in the morning."
"I wish I could, but it takes super speed to accomplish. Tell you what, while you get ready, I'll make breakfast."
Lois smiled and said, "You're on." Lois slid out from under the covers, slipped her feet into her bedroom slippers, stood and stretched.
All of Clark's attention was on her as she did. He watched as she reached up and ran her fingers through her rich dark hair to work out any knots. When she did, the hem of her shortie nightie crept up above her waist revealing her navel. Her long sleek legs, the swell of her breasts under the filmy material and the pose she struck combined to send Clark's heart racing. It had been a few weeks since they had returned from Smallville as a married couple and Clark still had to pinch himself to prove that he wasn't dreaming. <Wife! Lois Lane is my wife! How did I ever get so lucky?>
Lois finished running her hands through her hair fully aware of Clark's eyes on her; in fact she had held her pose a fraction longer and lifted her arms a bit higher than was actually necessary because she enjoyed seeing her husband's reaction and boy, was he ever reacting. Smiling a slightly wicked smile, she slowly lowered her arms and headed for the bathroom to prepare for the day adding an extra little sway to her hips as she did. She loved the way he made her feel, infinitely sexy and desirable. She just couldn't get over the fact that this man, this super man loved her and was her husband. Of all of the women in the world, any number of whom would be more than willing to be with him, he had chosen her to be his wife. It was mind boggling and she was smiling all the way into the bathroom. She heard him gasp when she reached down and grasped the hem of her nightie and pulled it off over her head. She did this while she was still in the bedroom, while she walked away from him, leaving the only scrap of clothing on her body a pair of bikini panties. Looking back over her shoulder she saw him staring at her with rapt attention. She stopped and turning around slowly, struck a pose and said, "Maybe we can take a long lunch today."
Losing the battle for control, at super speed, Clark moved over and wrapping her up in his arms dipped her and kissed her deeply. Looking down into her face he said, "Anything my beautiful wife wants."
With a coy smile she lifted her head and planted another kiss on his lips before saying, "Right now I think you need to work on breakfast and I need to get ready for work. Since you are now healed from your shoulder wound, you're back to full time and we need to get in," and headed for the bathroom to prepare.
When Lois exited the bathroom she could smell the coffee and toast. As she crossed the bedroom hopping, as she put on first one heel then the other. She passed through the archway that separated the bedroom from the rest of the apartment she saw Clark as he cracked four eggs on two plates. As she crossed the floor, Clark lowered his glasses and Lois could see steam start to come up off the eggs as Clark cooked them with his heat vision. She quipped, "That sure saves of dishes to wash. Next time could I have mine scrambled?"
"Tell you what, next time I'll make it a cheese omelet."
"You're sure spoiling me. Breakfast used to be coffee and a donut. Your breakfasts are almost as good as your mom's and a lot quicker."
Smiling he replied, "I aim to please my wife."
As Lois started to dig into her eggs toast and coffee, she said, "I'm just glad you don't subscribe to the ‘barefoot and pregnant' stereotype."
"I don't know about the barefoot part, but the pregnant part will come eventually."
Lois smiled at the memory, "Yeah, I know. I'm looking forward to it. The patter of little feet."
"I wish Herb had told us how long."
"I'm just happy to know that it will happen, eventually. Let's just enjoy being together and let it happen when it happens." She paused and then said, "You know, we never really discussed using protection."
He smiled and said, "Well, as far as protection from diseases, there is no need. You will never catch anything from me. Because of my invulnerability I can't catch anything and even if I wasn't invulnerable, I've never been intimate with anyone else and I never will be." Clark moved over behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he kissed the back of her neck and said, "I agree. Let's enjoy being together."
Lois giggled because when he kissed the back of her neck it tickled. She spun in his arms and said, "There's more to it than protection from disease, although, I'm happy that we don't have to worry about that. I was on the pill before and reacted badly to it. I can't take it so that's out as far as birth control is concerned."
In a serious tone he asked, "Are you saying that we should limit our activity because of that?"
She only thought for a second before she answered, "NO! I'm not saying that at all. I remember our baby and I can't wait to hold him. I don't want us to do anything other than enjoy ourselves and let things happen naturally."
Clark smiled and leaned in for another kiss, "Whatever my lover wants is fine with me." Releasing her so that she could resume her breakfast, he moved to the refrigerator and pulled out a gallon container of milk which was half empty. He upended it and drained it completely. The jug was crushed it in the process of being emptied and after blowing it back up like a balloon he tossed it out the window over the sink. It landed in the trash receptacle just before the trash man arrived to push it over to the truck.
Realizing what he had done, he spun into the Suit and in a gust of wind that stirred Lois' hair, at super speed, flew out through the French door in the bedroom and up over the building, coming down just as the trash man started to move the receptacle. He reached in and pulled out the plastic jug and floated over to the recycle bin. There was a child in the alley who was in the process of taking out the trash for his mom. He stopped and stared in awe as Superman appeared. As he dropped the milk container into the recycle bin, Superman said to the boy, "Remember, it's not just trash anymore. We must remember to recycle," before he flew off.
Just as she was using a piece of toast to sop up that last of her runny yolks, there was another gust of wind that stirred her hair as he returned. She nonchalantly reached up and straightened her hair while he spun back into his work clothes.
Seeing that she was also finished, he collected the plates and at super speed washed them and put them in the rack to dry.
Seeing the dishes disappear and reappear in the rack, Lois said, "You know, a girl could get used to this. No more dishpan hands."
Clark finished up by filling their travel mugs with a Columbian blend of coffee to which he added flavored creamers, Hazelnut for him and Chocolate for her.
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When they arrived at the Planet they each brought up their workstations and checked their schedules. Lois noted that they only had a few minutes before the staff meeting and then she got a pained expression on her face and called Clark over, "Clark, look at this."
Moving over to her desk so that he could look at her monitor Lois pointed at her schedule. "What is it, Lois?"
"While we were away, I missed a meeting with Lex Luthor."
"Don't you mean, date?"
"Well, yeah, I guess it would have been, sort of. I was trying to get an interview."
"I'm pretty sure that Luthor was looking at that as a date. What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to call and reschedule."
"Lois, we're married now."
"You know that and I know that, but Lex Luthor doesn't know that. Look, it's my chance to get that one-on-one interview I've been after."
"Lois, before you make that call, there are a few things you need to know about Lex Luthor that I haven't been able to tell you about until now."
Just then they were interrupted by Perry shouting, "Staff meeting everyone!"
Perry was the first one in the conference room with a cup of coffee in his hand. Jimmy, Eduardo, Cat, Lois, Clark and other members of the staff all filed in. Some were yawning because of the early meeting call and in serious need of caffeine. Most, like Perry had coffee cups in their hands. Lois and Clark sat in adjoining seats and Cat sat on Clark's other side.
People were grumbling as they took their seats. Perry took a tentative sip of his coffee winced, grimaced as he swallowed and muttered, "Dishwater."
Looking around Perry surveyed his staff taking particular note of Lois and Clark. He was used to Lois being as grumpy as he felt at these early morning staff meetings, but there had been a change in her ever since she and Clark had gotten back from Smallville. She was happier and more relaxed. This morning she appeared to be well rested and ready to go. No one could miss the little touches and looks that passed between the two on an almost constant basis and the absolute adoration in the looks. He looked with envy at the matching travel mugs that the couple had in hand. They had obviously brought their coffee from home. He frowned again at the memory of what he had just imbibed.
He just shook his head in amazement. Lois had always been like the daughter he had never had to him and he had worried about her, that is until Clark came along. He had taken a liking to Clark almost immediately. He still couldn't believe that he had almost missed out on the opportunity to have him on staff. If Clark hadn't shown initiative and written that mood piece on the razing of the old theater Perry could have blown an opportunity to have them working together. Lois was a top notch reporter in her own right, but together, they were an outstanding team. Right from the start he had seen their potential to be every bit as good as Norcross and Judd, or Woodward and Bernstein even if Lois hadn't. He was gratified to see that they wouldn't be falling prey to the problems that had plagued Norcross and Judd. Suddenly, inexplicably, unexpectedly they were totally in love and married. Norcross and Judd had fallen apart as a team as soon as the relationship moved from the newsroom to the living room, let alone the bedroom.
He didn't feel like he would need to worry about Lois any longer. Marrying Clark was the best thing that had ever happened to her. He still wondered how it had happened so quickly. They had gone on that assignment to Smallville and while they hadn't been fighting like cats and dogs, they surely weren't lovey-dovey when they were leaving, Lois was more like resigned, but when they came back, they were like two different people, well actually, Clark hadn't changed that much, he was happier, but Lois, she had really turned a corner. She was like a different woman entirely. Married life, at least life married to Clark Kent suited her. He was still convinced that there had been more to that trip than either of them had said. There were details of the fight for one thing that didn't add up. It all added up to a mystery that one day he hoped they would feel comfortable enough with him to let him in on.
As he watched, Lois took a sip of her coffee. Her expression became one of rapturous delight and she released a happy sigh, "Ummmmm, Clark these blends you come up with are heavenly. Where have you been all my life?" she asked as she set her travel mug down.
In irritation, Perry set his cup down and complained, "How's a newspaper supposed to run without a decent cup of Java?!"
From the seat next to Clark, Cat said, "Anyone for herbal tea? Does wonders for the complexion." Looking past Clark, she said, "You should try it, Lois. Really, you should. I know, you've already got your man, but you want to keep him, don't you?"
Lois placed a hand on Clark's forearm as she addressed Cat's comment, "Clark makes tea for us in the evenings, but he has these imported coffee blends that we have in the morning. It gets the day off to a good start."
Cutting through the chatter, Perry said, "Much as I hate to interrupt this discussion on the relative merits of tea and imported coffee blends … Clark, the dockworker strike."
As Perry addressed him, Clark could see through the window over Perry's shoulder two men arrive in the elevator. He smiled and said, "Negotiations have broken down again. I'm interviewing the union and management reps ... separately." Pointing past Perry he continued, "They just arrived."
Perry looked where Clark was pointing and saw two men. One man in a suit, the other in rough, workmen's clothes and he could see that they were in each other's faces. "I take it that the negotiations aren't going well. Good idea, keeping them apart."
"I realize that you guys haven't had anything big since Smallville, but Lois, about that article you wrote on the fruit fly infestation … could you maybe, if it isn't too much trouble, give it another go? And this time, put some zing into it!"
Lois was chagrined that she would have to do more on this story. It was soooo beneath her as an investigative journalist. She was hoping that now with Clark back on full time she wouldn't be saddled with any more stories like this. How to display her displeasure without directly incurring the editor's wrath was the question. Coming to a decision, she looked at Perry and said, "Happy to, Chief. It's such ..." she gave a exaggerated yawn before finishing, "exhilarating subject matter."
Jimmy asked, "Here's what I don't understand. If this Malathion spray is so safe, how come they tell you to keep your pets inside when they're using it?"
Perry answered in an offhand manner, "Precautionary measure …" His answer was interrupted by the door of the conference room opening and Rehalia, the fifty-ish Ecuadorian janitress entering to empty the trash bins. She hesitated for a moment, but Perry waved her inside. Perry interrupted what he was saying to address her, "That's okay, Rehalia, come on in." Turning back to the staff he continued, "I suppose we should lead with the latest counter-revolution in Russia."
Clark quipped, "I believe it's a counter, counter-revolution, Chief."
Shaking his head, Perry said, "Who can keep track ... " His statement was interrupted by a disturbance in the newsroom. They all turned to see that the elevator doors were open and a lot of strangers were descending on the bullpen. Cameras, lighting equipment, and a model's runway were being hauled in followed by troops of technicians, denim-clad photographers and their assistants. In an irritated tone, he continued, "What the Sam Hill's going on?"
Jumping to her feet, Cat came to the rescue, eyes wide seeing celebrity models come in, she said, "Chief, you remember. Today's the day they're using the newsroom as a backdrop to introduce that new fragrance ... 'Exclusive.' Marketing set it up."
Bewildered, Perry muttered, "Marketing … no, I don't remember."
Cat was growing more excited as time went on. In an offhand manner she answered, "It's been on for months. There was an email reminder just last week …" She was looking from face to face as more and more people stepped out of the elevator. Her excitement was peaking as she said, "Look, there's Elle Taylor, and ... Rachel Roberts," Her excitement was building with everyone she recognized, "and
April Stephens! I
have to get an interview!" Cat looked at Perry, imploringly.
Bowing to the inevitable, Perry nodded his permission. This was Cat's bailiwick after all. Cat immediately gathered up her materials and headed out of the conference room.
Lois, never one for such activities, grumbled, "How're we supposed to get any work done around here?"
Now that Cat had drawn his attention to the arrivals, Jimmy was staring at the girls as they exited the elevator and replied to Lois' sally, "Who cares? Chief, look at
her!" The apparent object of his statement was April Stephens.
Jimmy was pointing at her, but Perry turned away. He said, "I can't look, Jimmy. Alice would have my hide."
Jimmy asked, "How would she find out?"
Shaking his head, Perry said, "The woman has spies, everywhere."
Picking out April Stephens, one of the most attractive of the models, Jimmy stroked his hair back as if preparing for a date and asked, "Do you think there's any small possibility that a girl like that would go out with a man like me?"
He looked around and seeing the looks of disbelief on the faces around him, muttered, "Thought so."
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