Lori and Clark – The New, New Adventures of Superman – MMC V 6 10/32
By Ken Janney
Warning: This story is rated PG-13.
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
Previously:
While the bust was going down Special Agent Gilly had been in communication with the office. After it all went down, Gilly pulled Lori and Clark aside and gave them some more information. “Based on the information collected in Detroit we didn't just bust this group. This was a synchronized operation. We’ve had teams hitting all of the local headquarters at the same time. Apparently three of them were warned. They cleared out before our people got there. There was information in the files collected from Buzz which compromised the operations in twelve cities besides Detroit and Metropolis. We missed in Chicago, Atlanta and Santa Fe.”
After adding the new details to the initial story they filed it.
The news of the capture of the gangs was front page news for over a week as more and more details were revealed and the Planet’s top reporting team was on top of it the entire time.
As a sidebar there was a note that the prices for illicit drugs on the street had spiked. In some places they were ten times normal.
When things were finally settling down, Clark flew Lori to Rome for dinner to celebrate. When they arrived back home they settled in the living room.
They settled on the couch and snuggled up together. Lori said, “Well, another story, maybe another Kerth nomination. Will it ever end?” She started to giggle.
Chuckling, Clark said, “I sincerely hope not!”
Looking up at him she asked, “Well, what do we do to top this one?”
He replied, “I don’t know. We might have to save the world.”
“Well, I don’t know about saving the world, but, right now I want us to go upstairs and go to bed.”
“Yeah, a good night’s sleep will do wonders.”
With an arched eyebrow and a wicked little grin she asked, “Who said anything about sleep?”
The next thing she knew they were upstairs.
And now:
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Chapter 9 – A Romantic Dinner
March 2090
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124 Alt-Prime
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In November Elizabeth Lane and James E. B. Stuart were married in the church that the Lanes attended in LA. It was a lovely wedding. Lori was Liz’s Matron of honor and Clark was Jeb’s best man.
After the honeymoon Liz moved to Metropolis and joined Jeb in working for the Superman Foundation.
In January, after they had wrapped up the Detroit syndicate story, Lori and Clark had gone in to see Jon for her check up as she had been doing every six months since their wedding. This time there was no question. Slowly her aura had been changing color and this time it showed up as a rich wine purple.
Jon said, “Okay, Mom. Let’s pull up the results from Lois’ tests and compare them.” He hit a few keys and brought up the stored data. Doing a side by side comparison it was evident that the color of Lori’s aura matched that of Lois when she was first pregnant with Jon. Jon pointed to the screen and said, “I don’t know, but to my eye, the colors look identical. I’d say that at this point the physiological changes have progressed to the point that you can have children.”
Lori looked at Clark and said, “That confirms what we already discovered. The changes have reached the point where the pendant now has given me all of your powers.” She turned to Jon and said, “Thanks Sweetie.” She moved over and gave him a hug and a kiss.
Jon said, “You’re welcome, Mom.” All of the kids had gotten into the habit of calling Lori Mom when it was only family around. If they were in public since they all looked like contemporaries, age wise because of their Kryptonian physiology, they called her Lori like she was a sister-in-law.
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One month later
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Lori was pregnant, she was sure of it. Wearing the pendant kept her from feeling the nausea and all of the other early signs, but, she had been tracking her cycle and she knew that she had missed. It had to have happened after they finished working on the Detroit rackets story.
Clark was out on a rescue and Lori was scheduled to meet with a source so she left a little early and stopped at a drug store to pick up a home test kit. These kits had been improving over the years and there was very little question, if it indicated a pregnancy, you could be sure you were pregnant. Before she was scheduled to meet her source she stopped in a ladies room and used the tester. Sure enough, that test confirmed what she already knew. She couldn’t wait to tell Clark, but she wanted to do it the right way. In the past, her first pregnancy had come as a total surprise. Sam, their youngest, had been conceived on her birthday many years ago. This was going to be the first of the next generation. She was determined that this time, if it was a boy, his name would be Clark Junior.
After meeting her source and getting the low down on the latest city government corruption story she headed back to the Planet. Clark was there when she returned and he was typing up the story on the latest Superman rescue. She walked over and perched on the corner of his desk. Today she had dressed in a rather long skirt. It reached all the way to her ankles but it was a wrap skirt and when she sat on the corner of his desk and crossed her legs, which she did slowly and sensuously, the skirt fell open at the slit revealing her leg almost all the way to the hip.
So engrossed was he in what he was doing, Clark hadn’t noticed Lori’s approach. When he didn’t immediately react, Lori felt a flash of disappointment. She had gone to all of this effort to be sexy and seductive and he hadn’t even noticed. It wasn’t until she addressed him that Clark stopped typing and looked at her. She decided to forgive him when he did, because his reaction was all that she had hoped for. His mouth opened in a gasp and all he could do was sit there looking at this very shapely leg display and enjoy the view. Lori leaned in and stroked the side of his face in that special way that they shared and then, cupping his chin, lifted his head and face to look at her. She asked, “How did it go? What was the emergency?”
He swallowed and replied, “It was a capsized sailboat about ten miles out.” He pulled back slightly so that he had a nice view of her legs again before continuing, “After I righted the craft and made sure it was sea worthy I picked up the crew, which turned out to be a family and put them back aboard. I pushed them in and helped them to a mooring in a slip at the marina in Hobbs Bay.” His eyes traveled from her legs, taking in her whole form before finally reaching her face again as he concluded, “They got wet, but, no one was harmed.”
Lori said, “I’m glad to hear that.” She looked around to make sure that there wasn’t anyone within earshot and then leaned in and said with a conspiratorial tone, “I want to give my flight power a real tryout. What say we go to Paris for dinner?”
He whispered back, “Are you sure you’re ready for that long a flight?”
She replied, “No, but, you’ll be there to catch me if there’s a problem. Come on, be a sport. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
He chuckled and said, “When could I refuse you anything? Okay,” he switched to a whisper, “dinner in Paris it is.”
As she slid down off of his desk she had a Mona Lisa smile. So far so good. Her plan was to tell about the pregnancy while they were finishing a romantic dinner. She moved over to her own desk and typed up her notes from the meeting she had had with her source in city government. It was already late in the day when this exchange had occurred so it wasn’t too long till they were ready to quit and head to dinner.
When it was time to leave they both locked their work stations and Lori picking up her bag they headed for the elevator. They took the elevator to the basement garage and moved over to Lori’s Jeep. Lori unlocked the car and they got in and drove home. On the drive she asked, “Do you have any favorite places in Paris?”
“There’s this little sidewalk café on the left bank of the Seine. They serve a Boeuf à la Bourguignonne that is to die for.”
Lori said, “My mouth is watering already. I can’t wait.”
When they got home they both dressed for the occasion and then spun into their uniforms. They took off from the back yard where the trees gave them some privacy. First they went straight up until they were out of sight from the ground and then they headed east. It didn’t take all that long to reach Paris and Lori’s powers didn’t falter in the slightest. She was smiling in triumph as they landed in a park behind a screen of bushes. They spun back into their dinner clothes and strolled to the café that Clark had mentioned. It was a balmy evening in Paris and the atmosphere was perfectly romantic with La Tour Eiffel in the distance and the Seine nearby. The candle flickered in the light breeze as they had their Boeuf à la Bourguignonne. For dessert Clark suggested a Chocolate Soufflé and was surprised when Lori opted for a raspberry crepe instead.
As they were eating their dessert Lori asked, “Do you know why I’m having the crepe instead of the Soufflé?”
With his tongue obviously planted firmly in cheek Clark replied, “You’re getting tired of chocolate.”
She gave him a look of disbelief before saying, “As if that would ever happen. Guess again and this time, be serious.”
Clark replied, “Was the rest of the meal too rich for you?”
She tried again, “I had something to tell you and I decided to just give you a clue so that you could figure it out on your own. I want you to think back. What is the only reason that I would willingly give up chocolate?”
With a look of dawning comprehension which turned to pure joy, he asked, “Are you …”
With a grin so big it threatened to split her face she said, “Yes!”
A herd of elephants couldn’t have kept him in his seat. He sprang up and knelt by her side taking her hand in his. He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. Then he stood and pulled her up into an embrace and kissed her soundly.
When he broke from the kiss he looked around and the other patrons were all looking at them. Still holding her he said to them, “We’re having a baby!”
The other patrons started to clap.
Clark called over the waiter and said, “A glass of wine for everyone.” When the wine had been distributed he said, “To babies,” and lifted his glass in toast. Lori lifted her glass of Perrier as her toast.
After he was seated again Lori softly said, “I need to set up an appointment with Jessie when we get back.”
Clark said, “Wow, yeah, she’s going to be your OB of course. She’ll have the privilege of delivering her baby brother or sister.”
She said, “If this is a boy, I want to name him Clark Junior.”
Leaning back in his chair and giving her an ornery look Clark said, “Okay, but, if it’s a girl, I want her named Lois.”
Lori laughed, “Tit for tat. Okay, if that’s what you want. Lois it will be.”
Clark paid the check and they exited and took a stroll along the Seine, occasionally stopping to watch the barge traffic.
Finding a rather secluded area under a bridge they spun into their uniforms and took off for home with Lori flying under her own power.
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The next day Clark called a family council for 7:30 that evening. When everyone had arrived they all gathered in the spacious living room, which was becoming increasingly crowded as the family grew.
Clark started things off. “We have a number of things to discuss. Jon, why don’t you fill us in on your progress on the antidote?”
Jon stood up and said, “Sean, Jessie and I have been working on that ever since they got their MDs. I still don’t see any possibilities along the line of an antidote. If it were like an infection there might just be a possibility, but, this problem is one of radiation. It increasingly looks like the only antidote is avoidance, either by disposal of any sample we come across or just steering clear. At least we have empirical evidence that the spouses, presumably because they were originally Earth human, are not affected and continue to be immune even when their physiology has been modified by exposure to the Kryptonian aura. They continue, through the use of the Star Sapphire Kryptonite/red Kryptonite pendants, to have their powers and their powers are unaffected even during exposure. At this point I would suggest that if any of us come into contact with green Kryptonite – call in the ‘reserves’ and let your spouse handle the Kryptonite. The use of the sauna room is effective in facilitating the recovery process. We used it with Pop after he had that encounter with the robot.”
Clark said, “Thanks Jon. What are we going to do with those samples currently in storage?”
Jon replied, “Already taken care of. Jen came in and helped me remove them all from storage. First we sealed all of the containers with our heat vision so that there wouldn’t be any leakage then we took them up and launched them all out of the system. My suggestion would be that if any of us encounter any Kryptonite and have to call in the reserves that they don’t even bother to wait until they have a lead enclosure, just throw it up high and fast in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic so that it goes out of the system and not into the sun.”
Clark said, “Well, so far we have been able to keep the powers of our spouses our secret, but, it may be time for them to come out into the open. Lara has been covering LA. Mike, do you want to come out in the open and start helping? By the way, I liked your uniform. Teal blue suits you.”
Mike started to laugh, “Yeah, we had all talked it over and decided that we would keep the same color schemes within family groups, but, I couldn’t feature a pink cape like Lara’s so I stuck with teal for everything.”
Clark, with a chuckle, said, “No arguments out of me on that. I’m just glad that my Suit came first. If it had been Lois I would have died of embarrassment if my Mom had tried to set me up with a pink outfit to match hers. Who would have taken me seriously? Have you chosen a name?”
Mike replied, “No, not as yet. I’ll have to wait and see what strikes me.”
Taking the floor again, Clark said, “Lori has something for us, Lori.”
Standing up Lori said, “Well, I guess the simplest way to do this is to ask. Jessie, when can I come in for an office visit?”
Pandemonium broke out. All of the girls mobbed Lori and took her off to another room.
The guys all stood there mystified, looking at each other with questioning expressions. After a couple of minutes Clark took pity on them and said, “Guys, Jessie’s the Obstetrician in the family.” He gave that a few seconds and then added, “Guys, this isn’t a routine office visit, we’re expecting!”
Now that he had told them plainly, they all understood and all gathered around to congratulate Clark.
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When Lori went in to visit Jessie it was determined that there were no problems and that on the next visit they would do an ultrasound to check on progress.
Jessie said, “Well, Mom, you remember the drill. Go easy on the alcohol and caffeine. Even though there is a lot of caffeine in chocolate, just go easy on it. Next month we should be able to tell if it’s going to be a boy or a girl. What are you hoping for?”
“Well at this point it’s evenly split between boys and girls. Neither of us cares what it is as long as it’s healthy. We did decide that if it’s a boy he’ll be named Clark Junior and if it’s a girl she’ll be named Lois.”
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Clark went with Lori when she went for her next appointment.
Jessie’s assistant, who just happened to be Maria, Jon Kent’s eldest daughter and therefore Lori’s granddaughter, prepared her Grams for the ultrasound. A minute later Jessie came in and said, “Okay, let’s just see what we can see.” She took the emitter and applied the gel and started running it over Lori’s lower abdomen. The picture was displayed on a monitor as she did this. When she found the baby she moved the emitter around to get different angles. She was speaking as she was doing this, “Okay, it looks like we are right on track. I’d say we are at about ten weeks. Let’s see … ahh … there … there we are … yep … I guess you’re going to be using the name … Clark Junior. Congratulations Mom, it a boy.”
Lori had been holding Clark’s hand the entire time the procedure had been underway and she squeezed his hand when Jessie gave her determination. She looked at Clark and said, “I just knew it would be a boy.”
Clark looked at Jessie and Maria and said, “Let’s keep this a secret, okay? We want to tell everybody ourselves.”
Chuckling, Jessie said, “Don’t wait too long. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep this a secret.” She leaned down and gave Lori a hug.
Maria started cleaning Lori up and a few minutes later they left the office.
That Friday Clark called a family conference. When everyone had been gathered he said, “You’re all probably wondering why we called you all together. We have an announcement to make.”
Lori took over and said, “The next generation is on the way and will be started with a boy. We’ve decided to name him Clark Junior.
A cheer went up and all gathered around to congratulate Lori and Clark.
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