The final episode of Lois and Clark ends with the discovery of a baby, mysteriously left in their apartment, with a note reading Lois and Clark... This child belongs to you.

I'm not quite sure how that led to this, but it's just the way my mind works...

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Prelude to a Story I May Never Write

Marcus L. Rowland

"And that's all the note says?" asked Clark.

"That's it," said Lois, cradling the baby in her arms. "The blanket has Superman's 'S' on it, but that doesn't necessarily mean much. It was made in Taiwan, one of the companies the Superman Foundation licenses."

"How can he be yours?" asked Sam Lane.

"We wanted a child, maybe some sort of higher power knew."

"That would be wonderful," said Martha Kent, "but there has to be some reason for this. Babies don't appear out of nowhere."

"Don't worry," Lois said to the baby, "we'll look after you, yes we will!" The baby gurgled happily.

"He is awfully cute," said Clark, "and he looks a little like you, I think. Wait a minute..." Clark picked up the note again, and added "that wasn't there before. There's a P.S."

Lois snatched the note from his hand. "'P.S., you are his closest living married relatives. Adoption papers will arrive shortly. I will call on you tomorrow. A.D.' Who writes in green ink?"

"A.D.? Do we know anyone with those initials?"

"Can't think of anyone." There were blank expressions all round.

"I don't understand this," said Jonathan Kent. "If this really is someone's relative, surely Martha and I, or Sam and Ellen, would be closer relatives."

"I'm adopted, remember," said Clark, remembering at the last second to avoid saying anything that would reveal his Kryptonian origins to Sam and Ellen. "It could be some sort of relative on my side."

"Or on ours," said Ellen Lane. "We're divorced, maybe that's why he wasn't sent to us."

There was a muffled thump from the living room. Clark went to investigate, and came back a moment later with a bulky envelope, marked 'Lois and Clark' in the same green ink. "This just appeared in the bassinet."

"What is it?" asked Lois.

"Adoption papers," said Clark, leafing through the papers. "Some of these are dated weeks ago. That's odd..."

"Odd?" said Jonathan.

"There was a woman in Child Services who said we wouldn't be allowed to adopt because Lois's lifestyle was too dangerous. But this paper has her giving her approval."

"What name do they give for the baby?" Lois asked excitedly.

"It must be here somewhere," said Clark, looking through the papers again. "Here we are... it's Neville, Neville Longbottom."

End


Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game