The Matchmaker Files - An Unusual Proposal
Rated PG-13
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros., Touchstone Pictures, or Mandeville Films No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
In this particular story a lot of the dialogue is taken from the script text. I wish to express my thanks to my Beta readers Morgana and Ray Reynolds for their invaluable help. This was a VERY rough draft when it first landed in their hands.
I had the idea for this story recently while reading a novel. Immediately after that I re-watched a movie in which the story paralleled the novel.
* emphasis*
<thoughts>
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Chapter 01 - Prologue
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120
Local designation - Canon Universe also called Prime
Distant future
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Herbert George Wells literally burst into his office in the TTEMPO building flushed with excitement. He was barely at his desk when he called out, "Computer!"
The very feminine voice replied, "Working."
"Computer, duration of absence?"
"Elapse time five standard minutes."
"Computer, I have just returned from an intensive investigation into this new universe. This is very exciting. I have quite a story to tell you, I must say. We have finally found a universe that is quite at odds with any we have encountered thus far."
The reply was disappointing, "New file, a letter or a journal entry?"
Hearing this, Herb flopped down into his chair. As he did it squeaked in protest. He asked, "Aren't you the least bit curious?"
The reply came from the air around him, "Curiosity is a characteristic of sentient species. Being a machine, I lack curiosity."
His disappointment was palpable. There were times when he wished that he had a close friend that he could share these moments with and not this soulless collection of electronic components. He looked up and said, "Computer, you are no fun at all."
"A qualitative assessment having no relevance."
Musingly, Herb said, "I need someone to talk to, someone who will understand. Now, who would that be?" After several minutes of deep thought, Herb snapped his fingers and said aloud, "I know just the people. Computer."
"Working."
"I'll be taking a brief excursion."
"Purpose of mission."
"Not all missions need to have a purpose, but if you must know I desire someone that I can share this story with. Someone who will appreciate it, unlike you. In elapsed time terms for you it will seem like a long time, very many computational cycles. In objective time it may be as much as five minutes that I am away from the office. In literal time, I could be gone for a while. This story is going to take some time to relate. I just hope I don't catch them at a bad time."
"Destination?"
"It's not where this time, computer, but when. I'm going to remain in Prime and visit my friends, Lois and Clark, the ones from my own personal reality. Let me see. When should be a good time? Perhaps after they babysat CJ, but before Jon. Yes, that would be the perfect time. Oh my, let me see. I visited them several times in that span. I don't want to run into myself. Perhaps just before they left on their vacation which resulted in Jon's conception. Yes, that would be ideal." (
See Borrowed Time - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 2)
Moving to a bookshelf on the side, Herb pulled down a rather large, leather bound, volume. On the spine was embossed in gold "Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120" Under that was printed, also in gold "Prime" As he pulled the book from the shelf he muttered, "I need to check and see what the best time to visit would be." Starting at the table of contents, he started flipping through the pages. As he did he smiled. The advances in technology were fine as far as they went and the computer could probably, no, not probably, definitely could perform the search more quickly, but there was just something pleasurable about turning a physical page and reading actual text. Finding the chapter he was looking for, Herb read briefly before snapping the volume shut and replacing it on the shelf. As he did he said to himself, "Just as I thought, the perfect time. I had not visited them for some time and I will not again until Lois is sure of her pregnancy."
He hadn't even bothered to remove his hat when he had entered, so he simply grabbed his TaDT (Time and Dimensional Transport device) and headed for the door. The door mechanism sensed his bioelectriomagnetic signature and opened automatically. As he exited he said, "See you later, computer. Lights off."
As the door closed behind him the lights snapped off.
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(Flashback - From Borrowed Time - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 2)
Lois and Clark had been involved in an investigation into corruption in the office of their member of the U. S. House of Representatives Rep. Hotchkiss (D), Dist 23, New Troy. It had involved kick backs for pork barrel projects inserted into bills as earmarks coming through his office. After the story broke, the Representative resigned from office in disgrace. The story was being considered for a Kerth award. They just had to wait for the committee's decision.
The morning after the story was printed when they exited the elevator they were greeted with a banner stretched across the room "Congratulations - Lois and Clark", applause from all of the staff, party poppers going off and streamers flying. Each was handed a Mocha Latte. As Lois took an appreciative sip, Perry took the floor.
"Once again the team of Lane and Kent has scored *the* big story of the month, if not the year. So, what do the two of you have to say for yourselves?"
"Chief, it was really nothing." said Lois "We just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get the story."
"Aw, come on. You know that's not true. That's like Elvis claimin' that ‘Heartbreak Hotel" was a fluke"
"All right, so we caught some lucky breaks." Clark said
"I wish
all of my reporters caught "lucky breaks" like that more often. Well done you two. What do you have in the pipeline for the future?"
"Right now we have some follow-up to do on the story. Then we would like to take a break. Can we talk to you in your office, Chief?"
"Sure, come on in."
The three of them moved to Perry's office. Lois and Clark sat down on the couch.
Clark started in a matter of fact tone, "Chief, we've been pulling some long hours on this investigation."
Lois added in a spirit of one-upmanship, "Actually, we've been pulling some long hours for a while."
Clark offered in a weary tone, "Once we finish with the follow-up on this story, we'd like to take an honest to goodness vacation."
Lois finished almost beseechingly, "Could you do without us for a couple of weeks?"
"Well, now, I don't know. I might have to start runnin' Dog Show reviews on my front page if I don't have my top reporting team working." Seeing their stricken look, he rented, "Na, I'm just funnin'. You kids deserve some time to yourselves. As soon as you're finished with the follow-ups you're plannin' I won't expect to see your faces around here for two weeks. Go and have some fun."
"Thanks, Chief. We'll probably be able to complete the follow-ups within the next couple of days. What do you think Lois, by Friday?"
"Friday sounds about right."
"Good, Friday it will be. If you are done a little bit earlier than that, fine. I still won't expect to see you until two weeks from next Monday."
They said in unison - "Thanks, Chief!"
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Thursday September 9, 1999 Sidereal 9:30 AM
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They actually completed the follow-up and sent the article to Perry Thursday morning and left early. By 10:15 they were home.
Lois wearily dropped her briefcase and bag and thrust both her arms up in the air and spun around a couple of times while saying, "We now have two,
glorious weeks, ahead of us. What shall we do first?"
Clark watched her cavort about and then looked at her with a wicked little gleam in his eyes and a smile on his lips and said, "I can think of one thing … right … off … the … bat."
Lois looked back at him and said, "Realllllly?!? And what would that be, pray tell?" All the time having an equally wicked grin on her lips and an arched eyebrow.
With an attempt at a straight face, which failed, Clark said "Well, we
could play scrabble."
"Reallllly? Actually, I had something else in mind." She moved over to him and put her arms around his neck and her fingers in his hair.
"Well, now that you mention it," ... kiss … "so" … kiss … "did" … kiss … "I." Then he picked her up and carried her upstairs to the bedroom at superspeed.
Before Lois knew what was happening she found herself naked and under the covers with her equally naked husband beside her. She let out a contented sigh as she turned to that side and laid her head on his chest and started drawing random patterns on his abdomen with her finger and delivered little butterfly kisses to his chest.
"Clark, I love you sooo much, I can hardly stand it."
Clark kissed the top of her head and said, "I love you too, honey. I never knew that I could love someone as much as I love you. You complete me the way the final piece completes a puzzle. I don't know what I would ever do without you." He pulled her up and claimed her lips and after a time they separated and caught their breath.
"Personally, I don't want you to ever have to find out. Clark … make love to me."
"Your wish is my command, but first, I think we will take a shower."
"But I took a shower this morning."
"Ah, but you didn't have me in there to scrub your back or wash your hair."
With a look of desire, Lois said, "This is sounding better and better all of the time. Let's go take a shower."
As they got off of the bed, Clark said, "In the mornings, it's just rush, rush, rush to get out of the house and in to work. There is no deadline now. We can take our time and enjoy it."
Crossing the room they entered the bathroom and Clark reached in and turned on the shower to heat the water before they entered. Once the water was hot he allowed Lois to precede him through the curtain.
Picking up a tube of body scrub gel he pushed a dollop onto his hands and proceeded to rub it with his hands all over her body. His touch was a soft caress as he moved his hands from shoulder to foot, touching every square inch in between.
Lois was luxuriating in the feel of his hands on her body and she could feel the tensions that she hadn't realized had existed, melt away, flushed down the drain along with the suds from the soap. Her eyes had drifted closed within seconds of him touching her, giving herself over to the sensations he was creating in her body. When he finished ministering to her body he picked up her apricot scented shampoo and started washing her hair, using his fingers to massage her scalp as he did.
With his super-hearing he could hear her heart race and then slow, race and slow as she was alternately calmed and aroused by his actions. After the shampoo he used her cream rinse on her hair, using his fingers to remove any tangles.
When he was finished, she turned and grabbed the tube of gel, and saying, "My turn," squirted a dollop into her hand. She started at his shoulders and chest. As her hands moved over his body he could hear her heart race as she became excited. As she became aroused he did also and by the time her hands were below his waist, his arousal was evident.
The water continued to cascade over her body as she knelt in front of him and positioned his body so that he was rinsed off before beginning a love making session.
Before it had gone too far. he pushed her away, slightly and then encouraged her to stand.
He pulled her into an embrace and kissed her, deeply.
While he did, he turned off the water and then reaching for a towel, dried them both off, all without breaking the kiss. Once they were sufficiently dry, he floated them into the bedroom and onto the bed. Once there he finally broke the kiss and lay back.
Lois seized the initiative, climbed on top of Clark and stretched out on him. This began a season of marital intimacy.
She released a satisfied sigh and asked, "Is it always going to be like this?"
"Is what always going to be like what?"
"Our lovemaking, is it always going to be this good?"
He smiled, nipped her shoulder and replied, "Na, it's going to get better."
She smiled at the ceiling and said, "I don't see how, but if you say so, I'll take your word. You will have plenty of opportunity on this vacation to show me how much better it can get."
"I look forward to it."
They drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.
At noon, when they awakened from their nap, arms and legs still entwined, they discussed what they wanted to do on their vacation.
Clark asked, "Well, we've already done the first thing on our agenda for this vacation so what do you want to do second?"
Lois, with a wicked little grin said, "More of the first thing."
Clark with a chuckle replied, "Later, we will have plenty of time for that first thing, in fact it will probably be third, fifth, seventh, … unless we decide to do some other things in between."
"I like the way you think. It's been a few weeks since we've seen your folks. Maybe we should spend a few days with them."
"Okay, that sounds good. I know how much you like Mom's cooking and I can see if Dad needs any help with major repairs around the farm. Since we are headed west maybe we should plan on using our island get-away for our vacation."
"Oooohhhh Yyyeeessss, lots of sun, balmy weather and little need of clothes. I love it. Yes, let's do that."
"Okay. That's the final destination. How about we spend a day or so visiting Lucy in California. You haven't seen her in a while."
"I'd love to and I'm sure she would like to see us. Now, for packing, I won't need much for the island, but, are we going to go anywhere else?"
"Well, we could go out to dinner a few times, maybe to Waikiki or Honolulu. While we are with Luce we could see some of the sights in San Diego. She is living in Torrey Pines now. I understand that there is a rather nice Golf Club there. You could brush up on your game."
"Oh Clark, this is going to be a vacation for the books. We are already off to a good start with the first thing on the list. When do we get to number three?"
Laughing Clark replied, "I think we need to pack and fly to Smallville. After dinner, if you're a good girl, it may be time for number three, but number two is getting to Smallville."
Lois bounced out of bed and started rushing around the room getting out bags and clothes, not bothering to put anything on and Clark simply lay there watching his naked wife as she moved around the room noting the bounce of her breasts and the sway of her hips. He said, "Saucy wench, you know, if you keep that up, number three and number two may have to switch places."
With an exaggerated sway to her hips putting the point to his comment, she sashayed over to the side of the bed and leaning in claimed his lips in a kiss. She giggled as he pulled her down and rolled them over so that he was on top and deepened the kiss. When they came up for air Lois asked, "What about Smallville?"
"It'll still be there when we're done here. We'll just get there a little later." With a squeal of delight she opened herself to him. When they finished they simply lay in each other's arms for a while. Finally Clark said, "Okay, now for the new number three. I guess while you start to pack I'll call the folks and let them know we're coming."
"The packing shouldn't take much time since I won't need much. A couple of dresses for when we go out, maybe a swim suit - which shouldn't get much use at all - and some casual clothes for Smallville and San Diego. Shouldn't take more than a half an hour or so."
Clark had taken Lois to this deserted tropical island previously on another vacation. Between then and now, Clark had built a more substantial cabin with kitchen and bath facilities with the idea of having it as a getaway location for just such a time as this. It didn't have power so there was no air conditioning but in that climate none was really needed. There also was no TV or radio to alert Clark to any emergencies. Clark had notified the authorities that he would be leaving soon on a mission, hinting that it could be related to New Krypton and that he would be unavailable for a couple of weeks.
(End Flashback)
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Just as they were about to leave, there was a knock at the door. Lois wondered out loud, "I wonder who that could be?"
Sliding his glasses down his nose, Clark used his x-ray vision and muttered, just loud enough for Lois to hear, "Oh, no! Not him!"
"Him who?" Lois asked
"Herb!"
"Oh, no. Not him!" she echoed.
Resigned, Clark said, "I guess we'd better let him in."
"Can't we sneak out the back?"
In a resigned tone, he pointed out, "What good would that do? He knows everything about us and what we do. To him it's history. He knows we're here or he wouldn't have stopped by. You don't really want him showing up on the island do you?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I just hope it isn't something that will foul up our plans for the vacation."
He pointed out, "How could it? If he needs us to go somewhere he can bring us back to the minute after we left and we'd still have our vacation ahead of us."
"Hey, that's right! Well, don't just stand there, let him in."
Opening the door, Clark greeted the visitor, "Hi, Herb! What brings you around?"
Herb was so happy that he was almost bouncing in place. He was anxious to tell his story to an audience that would appreciate all of the nuances unlike his computer assistant who had no appreciation for the finer things in life, like a good story. As he stepped in he saw Lois behind Clark and addressed both of them, "Greetings and felicitations. I really didn't mean to interrupt your vacation plans, but I just needed to talk to
someone. I have a story to tell and I knew that you would appreciate this tale."
Lois's curiosity was piqued and she asked, "Is this about the other Clark? Did he find his Lois?"
As Clark took his derby, Herb replied, "In a manner of speaking, yes, but realistically, no. This is an alt Clark and an alt Lois, but not the one you met, another couple."
Lois asked, "Shall I make some refreshments?"
"Oh, no, no, nothing for me. I don't want to delay you any more than is necessary."
Clark said, "Okay then, why don't we go into the living room and make ourselves comfortable?"
As they entered the living room, Herb spotted the wingback chair that he had enjoyed on several previous visits and as Lois and Clark settled onto the sofa and snuggled together, Herb sat in the chair and marshaled his thoughts before speaking, "How to begin? I must say that this was an exciting discovery. One of our survey teams stumbled on a new universe, Alpha 223 x Gamma 104 x Tau 155 and brought the report of their findings to me. Naturally I was anxious to observe this new couple immediately. Once in their universe, of course I had to go back in their timeline so that I could determine how they had gotten to where we found them. It was truly amazing … so different from any other universe we have discovered to this point. I wonder just how many have followed this new pattern."
In an anxious tone, Lois said, "Well, don't keep us in suspense, Herb. Tell us all about it. What made it so different?"
Herb smiled at this response, Lois was anxious to hear his story, unlike his computer assistant. He began, "Well, for one thing this Lois was not born and raised in Metropolis! She was a Canadian."
Stunned, Lois blurted out, "Canadian? How did that happen?"
"Okay, well you see it was this way …"
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