Inspired by Roy Clark's "If I Had To Do It All Over Again", which you can find
here. October 6, 2056Hand-in-hand, Lois and Clark walked down Clinton Street, which had recently had a resurgence of new businesses opening. After sixty years of marriage, it was still a thrill holding each other’s hand. Clark’s aura had slowed Lois’s aging. She looked like a woman in her fifties rather than her age. And Clark, well, he still looked like he was in his thirties.
As they walked, Lois remembered that Martha, Jonathan, Perry, Jimmy, and Lucy had all gone on before them. Lois felt that soon she would also be gone, and Clark truly would be alone. It still hurt after almost sixty years that Dr. Klein was right. There were no little Kents to carry on the family name and traditions.
Lois gripped Clark’s hand tighter as the bittersweet memories assaulted her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, Clark. Just a little tired. Isn’t that a new cafe?”
“You’re right. I don’t remember it. Want to try it?”
“Yes. Second Chances sounds like a great name. I wonder if this is the owners’ second business.”
Clark smiled. “Honey, no matter how long ago you retired, you’ll always be an investigative reporter.”
“Well, you know it’s a part of me.”
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way, dear.” They reached the door of the cafe, which looked old-fashioned. The awning was green and gold striped, the gold matching the letters of the cafe’s name. Inside it also looked like a cafe that belonged in the 1940s. There were warm wood tones with the cheery gold and green color scheme. Tables and chairs were grouped around the room. As they glanced around, a dark-haired man who looked like an older version of the actor who played Bosley on
Charlies’ Angels came up to them. The antique jukebox was playing Roy Clark’s “If I Had To Do It All Over Again.”
“Hi, Lois and Clark.”
Clark was delighted. “Mike! We haven’t seen you since you married us! Do you work here?”
“You could say that. I’m the owner.”
“Congratulations!”
“And congratulations to you both. This is your sixtieth anniversary, isn’t it?”
“Yes! Thanks for remembering.” Lois replied, then kissed Mike on his cheek.
Mike showed them to a table in the corner where they could view the whole place. “This is your first time here, so take your time. We have lots of choices on the menu. If you don’t see what you want, just ask. I’ll send your waitress over in a few minutes.”
They perused the menu, made their choices, and then glanced around at the other tables. Only couples, although some had young children with them. The men all wore business suits and most had on glasses. The women were dressed for business. It was odd, though that some of the outfits seemed to fit in from various decades starting in the 1930s or so. Lois wondered if they’d wandered into a convention of some sort.
As she was about to speak their waitress came over, rendering Lois speechless with her mouth open. Clark noticed her discomfort and looked at the waitress. He asked, “Mary Frances?”
“Hi, Clark. Hi, Lois.”
Lois found her voice. “But, we went to your funeral! Are we dead?”
“No, Lois. I’m not the Mary Frances you knew. I just look and sound like her. It makes it easier for patrons to feel comfortable if Mike and I look like people they know and like.”
“Oh. What is this place?”
“It’s Second Chances, where certain people get a second chance. Do you remember the TV show
Quantum Leap?”
Lois shook her head, but Clark replied. “I do. Dr. Sam Beckett leaped through time to make right what once went wrong.”
“How do you remember that?”
“Honey, you know I have a good memory. I loved that show. I even had a crush on the actress who played Sam’s wife in college.”
Lois mumbled, “Eidetic memory.”
Clark took her hand. “Second chances?”
“Yes. Let me take your order, and I’ll have Mike come back and explain.” Mary Frances took their order and sent Mike to their table.
He came quickly and asked, “Mind if I sit with you?”
“Please. Clark and I want to know about this place. Mary Frances mentioned something about putting wrongs right.”
“Yes. This place is… a gathering spot for different time lines and multiverses. Because of who you both are, you came in to this version. All the other couples you see here are your counterparts from different Earths.”
“Is the Clark we met before here? If anyone needs and deserves a second chance, it's him.”
“He’s not here just now, Lois. But he has been here. He got the chance to go back in time. He both prevented his parents’ deaths and saved his Lois in the Congo. Both of those events were originally not in the timeline. Tempus—”
“Tempus!"
“Yes, unfortunately.”
“Is Clark happy?”
“Yes. And it’s a long story, but he also has his secret identity.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful! If you see him again, tell him how happy we are for him.”
“I will.”
In the lull in the conversation, Clark reminded Mike, “Anyway, you were saying...”
“Whatever song is playing when you come in for the first time determines your second chance.”
Mary Frances brought their orders, and set a cup of tea in front of Mike. With a smile and a wink, she hustled over to another table.
Lois prodded, “Our second chance?”
“Yes. You get a second chance, if you want it, in your case to start all over again. With your memories of this timeline intact. Understand, though, that things won’t be exactly the same once you make changes.”
“Oh, Clark! Think of the possibilities! We could dig up that rock around Wayne’s tree before he does. We could avoid clones, take down villains easier and win the Pulitzer sooner.”
“And Lois, maybe some good guys, like Dr. Platt, Mayson Drake and Allie Dinello, would live...”
“Those are all possibilities. Did you ever find out why you can’t have children?”
“We were told it was because I was incompatible.”
“That's incorrect, Clark. It was that molecular disbander of the New Kryptonians. Its scattering your molecules left some permanent… scars.”
“But how can we change that by going back in time?”
Turning to Lois, Mike asked, “If knowing what you know now about Clark and your life together, how would you react when you first met?”
“I’d propose and get him to take me to Las Vegas.”
Clark nearly choked on his tea. “You would?”
“Yes, dear, I would. And instead of wasting time going to dinner with Lex, you and I would start investigating him.”
Mike continued his explanation. “Well, if you are married with children by the time the New Kryptonians get around to searching for you, other timelines show that they abandon any ideas of making you First Lord. They’ll recognize that you are bound to Earth through your wife and children, and find another solution to their threatened Civil War.”
Lois and Clark looked at each other, and then Lois spoke. “What do we have to do?”
“Well, first eat your lunch. If you don’t, the chef will be hurt. After your meal, you both walk through the door together. You’ll find yourselves back soon after you first met. Live well and happy. Oh, and keep some kryptonite to make the New Kryptonians aware that Earth can and will defend itself against an invasion. Just in case.” With a smile and a wink, Mike stood and took his cup and saucer to the kitchen.
After their delicious meal, Clark paid for it and left a generous tip. Then hand-in-hand, they walked through the door together and found themselves… in Perry’s office in 1993.
Lois and Jimmy were standing by the doorway. Clark was sitting, facing Perry who was finishing reading Clark’s story on the demolition of the old theater. The feeling of déjà vu swept over Lois and Clark. While she swayed slightly, he closed his eyes momentarily before they both recovered.
Perry was reading aloud, “She came to say goodbye, as we all must, to the past, and to a life and a place that soon would exist only in a bittersweet memory.”
Jimmy spoke first. “Smooth.”
Perry looked at Lois until she responded. “Oh, Perry. That was… that was one of the best pieces of that type of article I’ve ever rea—err, heard. Yes, heard. That is, um, if you like that sort of thing.”
“Are you okay?”
Clark suppressed a chuckle and smile at Lois’s comments. Definitely a different attitude than the first time they’d had this conversation. Oh, this is definitely
his Lois! Not the young Lois of this time.
“Yeah, just a little tired.”
“As long as it doesn’t affect your work.” Perry stood and continued. "You know, Kent, there's one attribute I value as much as experience, and that's initiative." He held out his hand to Clark. "Clark Kent, welcome to the
Daily Planet." Clark stood and reached out his hand. With a “Whoops” and an uneasy chuckle, Perry withdrew his hand before Clark grasped it.
A noise in the newsroom drew all their attention outside. They watched in horror as the Messenger exploded. Afterwards, Lois pulled Perry aside and insisted she needed a task force. He gave her Jimmy and Clark. For appearances, with a show of resistance, she appeared to reluctantly accept Clark as her partner.
As she walked to her desk, Jimmy was showing Clark around. Cat sidled up to Lois asking, “Who’s the new tight end?”
Lois glared at her, and said primly, “Keep your claws in, Cat. He’s taken.”
Cat ignored her and sashayed over to Clark. As he turned, she was right next to his chest.
Clark politely spoke. “Excuse me.”
Holding out her hand to be kissed, Cat replied. “Catherine Grant, ‘Cat's Corner.’”
He shook her hand gently. “Yes, I've read your column.”
“Then my reputation precedes me.”
Lois overheard. While glaring at Cat’s ample chest, she scornfully retorted. “Among other things.”
Ignoring her, Cat purred to Clark. “I know what it's like to be new in town. I'd be happy to show you around.”
“That's very nice of you, Ms. Grant.”
“Cat.”
“Cat. No thanks; I’ve made other arrangements.”
“Well, if you change your mind...”
“I won’t.”
“If you do—”
Lois stepped in. “Cat, what part of ‘No’ don’t you understand?”
With that, Cat slunk off to her desk.
“Lois, that was rude.”
“She deserved it.” Whispering so only Clark could hear she continued. “She thinks being polite is a ‘maybe.’ You always were too polite.” In a louder voice she continued, “Perry assigned you to my investigation. Let’s hit it.”
As they headed for the elevators, Clark asked, “Where are we going?”
“To interview Dr. Platt and to make a list of things to do.”
“A list?”
With a whisper only he could hear, she started ticking items off her fingers. “Find both colors of that rock around Smallville, find an apartment with a secluded balcony, tell your parents about us and this new situation, get your mother to make a suit, propose to you, get married before Cat gets any ideas or Trask shows up, check out that warehouse on Bessolo Boulevard for someone's ship and globe, investigate the city’s resident philanthropist and crook...”
The elevator arrived. Grabbing his tie, she pulled him into the empty elevator and continued her list.
Epilogue is here Comments go here. 
NotesMike is from the Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episode “Swear to God, This Time We’re Not Kidding.”
The original Mary Frances is the nun in some of my other stories, including “The Nun’s Tale” and the Missions series.
Teri Hatcher played the young Donna Eleese, Sam Beckett’s future wife in the Quantum Leap episode “Star-Crossed.”
This story was written in response to a challenge on the Lois and Clark Message Boards to write a story based on the last song you heard, which was Roy Clark’s “If I Had To Do It All Over Again.”
