She seemed so young.

He'd thought that the memory of their first meeting had been etched into his brain, like divine fire burning commandments into a stone tablet. Yet his memories had betrayed him.

Decades of silver hair, age-kissed skin and loving eyes had changed his memories, caused them to fade.

His Lois had never seemed this young; this vulnerable. She'd been a towering figure that had cast her shadow over his entire life. She'd been strong and powerful in a way that this...child didn't seem likely to ever attain.

Of course, it might just be a matter of perspective;at his age now, even Perry would seem like an adolescent.

He had trouble enjoying his great-grandchildrens' tastes in music and entertainment. Holographic stories left him cold.

The music this Lois was playing took him back.

While her young face had morphed into her more mature one, her smell and the feeling of her skin had never faded.

This girl had her heartbeat.

“Are you trying to torture me?” he asked, turning to the man beside him.

The man beside him had always been a meddler, obsessed with making sure that his version of Utopia was achieved, even if it created chaos in Clark and Lois's lives.

Now...this seemed almost ghoulish.

Clark had hardly aged, but Lois, even with medical breakthroughs hadn't been able to say the same.

In this era no one would have expected Lois to even reach the age of forty, much less live a century beyond that. Lois herself had almost expected to die at the hands of a criminal or in an accident after she pushed her luck a little too far.

“Your rocket never made it off Krypton here,” Wells said quietly. “I don't know why. I don't suppose we'll ever really know.”

“She's not MY Lois,” Clark said.

It felt wrong, like he was being offered a consolation prize. You couldn't just replace people; no matter how close this woman might seem to his Lois she wasn't her. She never would be.

It was like being a widower and meeting your ex-wife's twin, except that this Lois was closer than any twin was ever going to be.

“If you don't help her, she'll end up with Luthor, and she'll be dead within a year.”

Clark scowled.

He didn't share Well's obsession with Utopia. He was tired, and all he wanted to do was sleep.

Still, he couldn't let any Lois suffer at the hands of a Luthor.

“Fine. I'll get a job at one of the other papers. I'll take Luthor down on my own, and I'll never have to meet...her.” He looked down suddenly.

“What do you think Lois would want you to do?”

“You don't get to ask that,” Clark said. He scowled.

In his world there was an entire family that had moved on; many hands to take on the superhero's burden. He was hardly needed anymore, especially as the world had already advanced partway to being Well's Utopia.

His family had taken the “burden” of being a hero from him gradually, leaving him more time with Lois in her last years.

It had been months since his last rescue, since he'd last left home at all.

The world had been gray since Lois had gone, all pleasure vanished. He ouldn't remember the last time he'd even eaten, although it wasn't like he even needed to.

His was a world of peace and tranquility.

Yet here he could hear sirens in the distance, the sounds of screams, of cars crashing. It should have upset him, but he found an unfamiliar sense of excitement in the pit of his stomach.

This world needed him. This Lois needed him.

He'd do his best to avoid her, but if they were covering the same stories, it was almost inevitable that they'd run into each other.

He'd have to make it clear that they could never be anything more than work competitors.

Of course, Lois had always loved nothing more than a challenge.

Finally, he sighed. “I'll do it.”

At least in this world he'd have a purpose again.

Somehow everything seemed a little less gray.

Last edited by ShayneT; 04/12/15 05:16 PM.