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Chapter 3
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After spending a couple more days in Smallville, getting together with Rachel and Pete and some other friends to celebrate the success of the raid they were ready to proceed with the rest of their vacation. That being the case they packed their bags and headed out for the visit with Lucy. They landed outside San Diego. Since they would be doing a lot of local travel, Clark went in and rented a car, picked up Lois and they drove north on I-5 to Torrey Pines.
Lucy had seen the article about the raid on the front page of the Planet a couple of days before and insisted that they tell her the whole story over dinner. She was still going to San Diego State and she filled them in on her new part time job as a technical support/help desk call taker for a hi-tech medical equipment supply company located in Torrey Pines. They didn’t stay with her but had reservations at the Marriott Gaslamp Quarter. The next day they went to the San Diego Zoo and the Midway museum. After taking in some more of the sites the next day and even crossing over into Mexico for part of the day and a meal they returned to the hotel.
The next day they checked out and returned the car. Clark then flew their luggage to ‘their’ island and then returned to pick Lois up and flew her out there.
The rest of their vacation was spent on their island paradise. Sunning on the beach, making love, swimming in the ocean, making love or swimming in the pool with the waterfall and making love. Most of the time, even when not making love, they were naked or nearly so. Lois was picking up a beautiful tan, with no tan lines while Clark was feeling more and more reinvigorated even though he didn’t really tan.
On their last day Lois looked at Clark and said in a somewhat whiney voice, “Do we really have to go back? Can’t we just stay here for the rest of our lives? Its soooo perfect here, just you and me … together.” As she was saying this she was putting her arms around his neck and laying her cheek against his chest.
“Well, as much as I’d love to, as long as it was with you, I think that we would eventually miss the hustle and bustle of the news room and the thrill of the chase as we hunt down that next story.” He kissed the top of her head.
“I guess you’re right, it’s just that, well, you know, I’m going to have to share you with the world again.”
He pulled her into a tight hug and said, “Look at it this way. You may have to share me with the world, but I come home to you.”
Lois heaved a wistful sigh and said, “Yeah, I like it that way.”
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Metropolis - three weeks later
October 5, 1999
Newsroom, Daily Planet
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At the morning briefing Perry assigned them to a series on city government which would require a series of interviews.
After they exited the conference room they had gone over to their desks. Clark had made a couple of calls to schedule interviews. While doing so he had been watching Lois. She hadn’t been acting real perky all morning and he was concerned. Clark got up and walked over to Lois’ desk, looked at Lois and said, “Honey, what’s the problem? Aren’t you feeling well?”
At that Lois jumped up and made a dash for the Ladies room and threw up in the commode. When she came out looking rather wan and pale she said to Clark “I think I may be coming down with that virus that has been going around the newsroom. I just threw up. The same thing happened to Ralph, Denise in research and Jimmy earlier this week. I think I’m going to go home at lunchtime and take a nap. Along with the nausea I’m just sooooo tired, I can hardly keep my eyes open.”
Clark, looking rather concerned said, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. The nausea isn’t too bad, I’m just really, really tired.”
“Tell you what. We have an interview scheduled for 3:30. I can handle it by myself. Why don’t I take you home at lunchtime? We can eat together and then I can ‘tuck you into bed’ and then go do the interview. I’ll be back from the interview at about 5 and we can have a leisurely supper, watch a movie and go to bed early. How does that sound?”
“Heavenly. Let’s do it.”
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The next morning as Lois was getting up out of the bed she suddenly put her hands to her mouth and made a dash for the bathroom. After throwing up she felt somewhat better and proceeded to dress for work. She had one piece of toast and some coffee and they headed out for the interview they had scheduled.
As they went out to the car, Clark saw that Lois was fighting fatigue even after the coffee so he suggested that he do the driving. He knew just how profoundly she was ‘under the weather’ when she didn’t object and just handed him the keys when he made the suggestion. Before Clark was even in the driver’s seat, Lois was asleep, leaning against the door. When they arrived for the interview Clark woke Lois up. She looked at him groggily and said, “Are we there already?”
“Lois, it took us 35 minutes to get here.”
She looked at Clark with some fear in her eyes and said, “What’s happening to me Clark?”
“Maybe it isn’t the virus like you thought. Perhaps we need to get you in to see the doctor.”
“OK, much as I hate going to the doctor, maybe I do need to have a check up.”
“Good, we have a couple of minutes until our interview. I’ll call right now and set up an appointment.” Before Clark had finished speaking, Lois was asleep again, leaning against the door.
Clark made the call. Fortunately the office had just had a cancellation. A few minutes later Clark had Lois scheduled for a visit for that afternoon.
Clark woke Lois up again and they proceeded to conduct the interview. When they finished the interview an hour later Clark called Perry and told him that he was taking Lois to the doctor’s to get her checked out. The appointment was for 1:15 PM so they stopped off for a quick lunch and then Clark drove straight to the doctor’s office. After a short wait they were ushered into an examination room. A couple of minutes later the doctor came in.
“Well now, Lois, what appears to be the problem?”
“There’s been this virus going around at work. In the last couple of days I have had a couple of episodes of vomiting and now I have an overwhelming exhaustion.”
“It’s been a while since you have been in for a checkup. I seem to recall that your reason for not coming in was that you were too busy. What kind of schedule have you been keeping? Are you still working long hours and almost 7 days a week?”
“Well, yeah, we have been working some long hours, but, we just got back from a very relaxing vacation where we didn’t have any deadlines and we really caught up on our sleep and our relationship.”
As they had been talking the doctor had been taking her vitals, listening to her heart and lungs and checking her eyes and ears. He made some notations on her chart and gave her a lab slip. “I would like you to step down the hall and have some blood drawn. I want to see if we need to add some high potency vitamins to your diet to build you up some. A blood test will tell us a number of things. Why don’t you come back in , let’s see, today is Friday, let’s say Tuesday next week and I will go over the results of the blood test with you and we can map out a supplement regimen.” They thanked him and went down the hall to have the blood drawn and then to the receptionist to schedule the appointment for Tuesday.
When they left the office Clark called Perry and told him that he was taking Lois home and that he would be in to write up their notes from the interview.
Fortunately this was an off weekend for them so Clark was able to let Lois sleep as much as she needed, which at this point was something on the order of fourteen hours a day. She was only up long enough to eat and spend a little ‘quality time’ with Clark.
Clark didn’t express it to Lois but he was very worried. He had never seen anything like this before. Lois was almost comatose for about fourteen hours a day. He hoped that the blood test would provide the answers that they needed. <Has one of our enemies managed to infect her with some kind of virus or slipped her some drug that is doing this to her and will we be able to neutralize it in time to prevent permanent injury?>
Clark worked from home on Monday so that he could stay home with her and then on Tuesday he took her in to the doctor’s office to get the results of the tests.
Almost as soon as they walked in the door they were ushered into the examination room and the doctor was waiting for them. <This doesn’t look good> Clark thought. The doctor stood up and offered his hand to Lois and Clark before sitting down again and opening Lois’ chart.
“I have the results of your blood work here. Everything looks pretty *normal* from what I can see.”
“Doctor, would the blood test have shown up any drugs or viruses that might have been given to Lois without us knowing about it?”
“Yes, they would. We don’t have anything to worry about along that line. We do have to put Lois on a new vitamin regimen though. We need to put her on a good course of pre-natal vitamins.”
Lois and Clark exclaimed in unison “WHAT!!!”
“Pre-natal vitamins. There isn’t anything wrong with Lois that won’t clear itself up in about eight months time. Congratulations Lois, you’re pregnant.”
Lois said, “But, but, but how is this possible?”
“Do you really need me to explain the birds and the bees to you? Come on. It happens to most married couples eventually. It just takes longer for some.”
Lois said, “No, no, you don’t understand. We were told that we wouldn’t be *able* to have children. We have even looked into the possibility of *adoption*.”
“If you wish to open your home to another child by adopting one that is very commendable, but in about eight months you are going to have a child of your own.” He handed Lois a pre-prepared slip listing the vitamins he recommended. They thanked him and left.
At home they discussed the ramifications of what they had been told. They got around to talking about Bernie Klein and what his data had indicated.
Lois said, “I think we need to tell Bernie about this. Maybe he needs to do some more metabolic studies to see what happened. To find out where the error lies.”
Clark replied, “You know, that might require that we tell him just who we are and why this is so important.”
Lois responded with, “Yes, but we’re in uncharted territory here. This is going to be an Earth human/Kryptonian human hybrid child. We don’t know what kind of problems may come up. Look at what has been happening to me already. I can barely keep my eyes open most of the time. Since Bernie is *the* expert on Superman’s metabolism and physiology I think he is the proper choice for my obstetrician.”
Clark replied, “You’re probably right. Why don’t we do this? Let’s invite him over for dinner. That way we don’t risk being overheard and we can discuss this fully with him without any time pressure.”
Lois said, “OK, why don’t you call now and invite him over for dinner tomorrow. Tell him that Superman has requested a meeting to discuss the problem he had approached him on a couple of years ago. Tell him that we were asked to invite him over so that he could meet Superman’s ‘girlfriend’ because he would like some more studies performed and felt that it might be more meaningful if he was able to take samples from her as well as from Superman.”
Clark picked up the phone and called Dr. Klein’s lab. “Bernie Klein, here.”
“Uh, Dr. Klein, this is Clark Kent.
“Well, Clark, what can I do for you?
“Dr. Klein …”
Bernie interrupted, “Clark, I think we’ve known each other long enough that you can call me Bernie, please.”
“Uh, OK, uh, Bernie. Well, it’s like this. A mutual *friend* has asked us to invite you for dinner tomorrow. He and his *significant other* will be there and they wish to discuss the studies you performed a couple of years ago, the results you obtained then and the possibility of doing more.”
“Mutual friend? Significant other? Studies from a couple of years ago. … OH, *OH*, *That* mutual friend. Well, OK, yes, uh, Yes, I can come for dinner, tomorrow was it?”
“Yes, tomorrow at 7:30 if that’s OK.”
“7:30, OK. I’ll bring the data from the previous studies with me so that we can discuss them.”
“Do you need directions?” Clark asked.
Bernie replied with, “No, that won’t be necessary. I have your address.”
“Fine Dr, uh, Bernie. We’ll see you tomorrow at 7:30 then. Thanks.”
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The following day
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After they arrived back at 348 Hyperion and had completed the meal preparations, there was a knock on the door. Clark looked at his watch. <It’s not quite 7:00. Bernie isn’t due till 7:30. I wonder who this could be?> He used his x-ray vision to see who was there and got a curious look on his face. Turning to Lois he said “It’s OK.” He proceeded to answer the door. When he opened it an older H. G. Wells was standing on the stoop. “Herb, this is a pleasant surprise. Come on in.”
As Herb entered, Clark took his hat and placed it on the table in the foyer. “Honey, look who’s here!”
“Herb, what a pleasant surprise. Won’t you stay for dinner? We have a guest coming. Actually, it’s someone you may like to meet.”
“Yes, that would be delightful. Thank you very much for the invitation.”
They moved into the living room and took seats and began to chat while they awaited the arrival of Bernie Klein.
A couple of minutes after 7:30 there was a knock on the door. Clark got up to answer it. Dr. Klein entered.
As Clark escorted Dr. Klein into the living room he began to introduce him to H. G. Wells. “Dr. Klein I’d like you to meet…”
“Herb!! I haven’t seen you in years! How have you been?”
Clark turned to Lois and said, “They know each other?!?!”
“Bernie, I wasn’t expecting to see you here this evening. Lois and Clark told me that they were expecting someone for dinner and invited me to join them and their guest. They never told me who the guest was to be. How delightful that you’re here.”
“You don’t look like you have aged a day in the ten years since I saw you last. Clark, is this the ‘mutual acquaintance’ you were talking about? I don’t recall running any tests *on* Herb. I am running an experiment *with* him, but *not* on him. By the way, Herb, how is our experiment coming. You haven’t stopped by to check the readings in at least ten years. How much longer is this experiment going to run?”
“Ah, Bernie, this is a long term project. You might even say VERY long term project. You recall when I approached you with the concept of creating a monitoring device to track disturbances in the space/time continuum I said that it could be that. That device is the penultimate result of that discussion.”
Lois and Clark had been exchanging mystified glances all during this exchange. Finally Clark spoke up, “Bernie, how long have you and Herb known each other?”
“Herb and I go way back to shortly after I started working at S.T.A.R. Labs. I was just out of my internship and had my first lab assignment. Herb approached me with questions about how to monitor the space/time continuum. He had this idea that a disturbance, of sufficient magnitude, could cause a fracture or rip which could cause an alternate reality or alternate universe to be created. It was all theoretical, of course. We did determine that in order to create a monitor of sufficient sensitivity it would have to be based upon the same theory that some people have been kicking around since the days of Star Trek about a ‘warp drive’. If you could create a detector that could detect that kind of field then you could extrapolate it out to detect a weaker field. We also decided that for reliability, since any disturbance strong enough to disrupt the time/space continuum could also disrupt power systems it would have to be self contained and powered. Herb borrowed a small ship from somewhere. It was truly unique and had to be of extra-terrestrial origin. Where did you get it Herb?”
“Actually, I borrowed it from Superman.”
“But … Superman, uh … Superman wasn’t around then, was he? Didn’t he first show up when the Prometheus shuttle had that trouble?”
“Right … ah … Well … you see .. uh … he has actually been around …uh … longer than … anyone thinks.”
“Well, then I need to thank him.” Looking at Clark, “You did say he was going to be here tonight, didn’t you?”
“Uh, yeah” Looking over at Herb “Dr. Kle, uh, Bernie ran some fertility tests on Superman some time ago and asked Bernie to meet him here this evening to review the data.”
“Ah, I see.”
Bernie looked around, “Is he here yet?”
Lois stood up and said, “With all of this technical talk, I am really getting hungry. Clark, why don’t we serve the dinner?”
“Right, the dinner. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Why don’t the two of you make yourselves comfortable at the table while Clark and I serve the dinner?”
Lois and Clark moved into the kitchen. “This just complicates matters. Of course Herb knows our secret and we were going to be telling Bernie tonight, but, with the two of them together?”
“It’ll be OK honey. Since Herb already knows, it won’t matter. We can just ‘play it by ear’. We really hadn’t planned out *how* to tell Bernie, anyhow.” Clark reached into the warmer and picked up a platter of meat to take to the table.
Lois reached in and picked up a vegetable bowl, “OK, I’ll follow your lead.”
They all enjoyed a pleasant meal. They saved the ‘shop talk until the meal was finished.
After dinner the conversation turned to the purpose of Bernie’s visit.
Bernie said, “Is Superman still going to come, since the dinner party has changed?”
Clark replied, “Oh, you mean will he still be here because of Herb? Herb knows Superman very well. As he mentioned a while ago, Superman loaned him a small ship.”
Bernie replied, “But, what about that other matter, er … person that was discussed?”
Lois said, “Oh, that … Well, you see, ah, Herb knows her also.”
Bernie, was somewhat mystified and looking over at Herb replied “He does?”
Lois answered, “Well, yeah, he does.”
Bernie asked, “Well, in that case, can we discuss the reason for this visit?”
Clark replied, “Oh, yeah, about that, ah, other matter, well, yeah we can discuss that.”
Bernie asked, “OK, so when can we expect them to arrive? I thought they would be here for dinner.”
Clark replied, “Well, that’s a long story. Why don’t we discuss your data and why it is so important?”
Bernie commented, “Well, OK, but I was hoping to discuss this with Superman. I realize that you and Lois are very close to him, but, this is kind of personal, if you know what I mean.”
Clark replied, “Yeah, we know what you mean, but he doesn’t have any problem with us discussing it.”
Bernie, giving in said, “Well OK. You know, I really felt bad when we obtained these results. I knew how much it meant to him. He said that he was in a committed relationship. He was planning to bring his ‘significant other’ tonight. I was looking forward to meeting her. Maybe by analyzing some of her tissue we will get a different result. I am confident of my data though, so unless there is a significant difference between her tissue and the sample we worked with before . . .. If I’m not mistaken, that came from you didn’t it Lois?”
Lois replied, “Yes, I volunteered to provide the samples.”
Bernie stated, “It was a real shame, the results we got on those analyses. It showed that there was a distinct incompatibility between the Earth human genome and the Kryptonian human genome. When he came to me for the results, I knew that he would be just . . . devastated, by what we had found. I really hated to give him that bad news. If only there had been any other way, another test to run that might have given a different result… I wish there was some way I could be proven to be wrong! It would make me ecstatic to be wrong. Actually, you know, we learn a lot from our errors. It would have made me extremely happy to have been able to tell him that he could father a child with an Earth woman.”
Lois said, “Well, in that case then, Bernie, I guess you should be *very* happy.”
Bernie, puzzled replied, “What? Why??”
Lois stated, “I’m pregnant.”
Bernie replied, “Well, Lois, congratulations, but we were speaking about Superman and his girlfriend.”
Lois replied, “That’s right, and I said ‘I’m pregnant’.”
Bernie, with a concerned look on his face replied, “Lois, I read all those stories that were in the “Whisperer” and all about the possibility of you having an affair with Superman, but, I think I know you and Clark well enough to know that they were all false gossip with no foundation. I have seen how you and Clark are together. I know that those stories were false.”
Lois looked somewhat pleased at Bernie’s obvious discomfort and replied, “Nevertheless, I *am* pregnant.”
Bernie, now very concerned at what he was hearing said, “Are you actually trying to tell me that you are having *Superman’s* baby? With Clark sitting here?!?! ..." He looked over at Clark and could see that he had a smile on his face. He looked back at Lois and said, "And he is going along with it? How can this be?” He looked back at Clark and he is still smiling. He started to get a look of understanding on his face and continued, “… Unless … Clark?”
Clark nodded.
Bernie, stunned, said, “OhmyGod. You mean that. … all this time … you … you are …. And Lois is …”
Clark replied, “Married to Superman. Right.”
“OhmyGod.”
Lois said, “Would you like a drink or something?”
Bernie replied, “No thanks, Lois. I just need a minute to take this all in. Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. You two have always been *the* definitive source for everything Superman. Herb, you knew?”
Herb, with a grin on his face, nodded.
Bernie then asked, “Wow. OK, so what do I call you? Superman or Clark?”
“Bernie, I *am* Clark. Superman is just what I do. It’s my way of being able to help people while preserving my private life so that I can live a normal life with Lois. Bernie, we revealed this information to you because we trust you and feel that we are friends. We are confident that you will not betray our trust.”
Bernie, now back on an even keel said, “Well, of course! I wouldn’t think of revealing this to anyone else. You can trust me. Now, when can you come into the lab so that I can do some new metabolic studies? Obviously something has happened. Either something has changed with Superm, uh, Clark or something has changed with Lois. Could you both come by the lab tomorrow?”
Clark said, “I think that, since we are going to be seeing you frequently, the way we need to handle this is if we call and make appointments to do interviews for an ongoing series of articles. I realize that it will be extra work for you, but, could you provide us with something each time that we can take back to write up and print?”
Bernie replied, “Sure, no problem. I can do that. I’ll look for your call tomorrow. Herb, when can I expect to see you in the lab again? Don’t you need to take some interim readings?”
Herb replied, “Well, no Bernie, I don’t need to take readings that often, it is monitoring all the time and has enough data storage capacity for many years of data and its power supply will outlast the data storage capacity.”
Herb finally came to the point of his visit. “Oh, by the way, the reason I am here is simply to say, congratulations. I was reviewing the book and saw this entry and simply had to stop by.”
“Saw an entry in a book? What book? You have a book about Lois and Clark? Herb, you and I worked on that detector some years ago. It was very advanced stuff dealing with the space/time continuum. An offshoot of that research could provide a means of travelling through time. Now you are talking like you have a method of looking into the future. Wait a minute. Herb Wells, Herbert *George* Wells? H. G. Wells? I never put that together. You wrote “The Time Machine”. Do you mean to tell me that you actually invented one?”
Herb got a slight smile on his face and said “Could be.”
“But, if you *are* H. G. Wells and if the research for the development of a time machine was done in my lab in 1989 and you died … will die … died, this is rather confusing, in 1946 then how did you get here in 1989 to help me … with … the … development?”
“Let’s just say that there are some mysteries about time travel that are very difficult to understand, let alone solve.
“Then, that’s why you don’t appear to age. How long has it actually, or should I say subjectively been since I saw you 10 years ago?”
“Oh, about six or eight months.”
“Oh … My … God. Can you show it to me some time? Can you ‘take me for a spin’? A little hop around the centuries?”
“Perhaps at another time Bernie. Right now we both have other matters that are pressing.”
“Oh, yeah, right. I need to prepare for tomorrow’s visit. I guess I need to say good night.”
Clark escorted Bernie to the door and thanked him for coming over.
Clark returned to the dining room. Herb had gotten up from the table. “This has been a delightful evening. I must say it was a pleasure seeing Bernie again. I really must be going now though. Places to go and things to do, you know.”
Lois and Clark both escorted Herb to the door and saw him out. Clark turned to Lois and as he was shaking his head said “Are you as confused about this evening as I am?”
Lois laughed, “Probably more.”
After cleaning up they went upstairs had a time of intimacy and fell asleep in each other’s arms. It had been a *very* interesting day.
Last edited by KenJ; 04/30/14 01:55 AM.
