Lori and Clark – The New, New Adventures of Superman – MMC V 6 19/32
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:
Clark gently put a hand on her shoulder to keep her in the chair as he started to chuckle.
“What are you laughing about? It’s not funny. Why should he be forced to go through that?”
“I wasn’t speaking about CJ, Honey. I was talking about … you.”
She spluttered again and said, “*ME*? What do you mean?”
“I think that you’re afraid to let anyone else take care of him and he picked up on that and reacted to your unease.”
She gave that some thought and then said, “Okay, maybe, but, I just thought of something else. What if somebody notices something. He is a superbaby after all. What if somebody notices something … different about him?”
“Lo – is, you’ve seen my baby pictures. You’ve talked to my mom. Mom and Dad didn’t know that I was anything other than a normal child until my powers started to come on and that wasn’t until I was about ten years old. Nobody is going to notice anything. You have to let go and you can’t let CJ know how upset you are leaving him. He’s a smart little guy. He’ll sense that there is a problem. He won’t know what it is, but, he’ll know you’re upset about something and he’ll react, just like he did earlier.”
Clark moved over and peeked through the blinds to see Denise holding CJ and nuzzling his belly and he could see him laughing as a result. He called Lois over and said, “See? He’s just fine. Let’s let Denise have him for an hour or so. I don’t want to strain Perry’s patience too far, after all she does have a job to do and it isn’t being a baby sitter. Then we can let Diane have him for a while. Let’s let him get used to some other people while we are here to watch over it.”
“Oh, I guess we have to, don’t we.”
“Yes, we have to. It’s the only way we will be able to do our jobs, unless you want to become a stay at home mom.” He smiled as he watched her reaction. She was actually seriously considering his suggestion. Finally, the tug of war ended and she nodded.
She said, “Let’s let him get used to other people. That is the only way I’ll still be able to work.” She peeked out through the blinds. She saw Denise apparently singing to CJ. She turned back to Clark and said, “Do you think he’ll remember me?”
He put his arms around her from behind and soothingly he said, “I’m sure he could never forget you. Just wait, you’ll see.” They stood there for several minutes watching Denise with CJ. Finally Clark asked, “Ready to get back to work?”
She turned in his arms so that she was looking up at him. She nodded and said, “I guess so. How do you always know just what to say?”
He kissed her and said, “Just lucky I guess. It also helps that I know you so well.”
She nodded and stepped back slightly. She said, “Let’s go partner. We’ve got work to do.” She turned to the door and opening it led the way back to their desks.
And now:
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Chapter 18 – The Werewolf Robber
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 local designation - Prime
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As she was about to sit down she saw Denise holding CJ and moving his little hand in a waving motion and she heard her say, “Look CJ, there’s mommy! Wave to mommy!”
Seeing that Lois got a pleased smile on her face which almost morphed into disgust as she reached to turn on her computer, muttering, “Ugh, two weeks of e-mails and voice-mails to catch up on.”
After a while Clark came over to her desk and asked, “Anything earth shattering in your e-mail?”
“A couple of notes from Bobby and one voice-mail from Henderson. You?”
“About the same. What do you want to do?”
She asked, “Could you start the follow-up on Mensa. I’ll call Henderson and Bobby and see what they have for us.”
“You got it.” Clark returned to his desk and started making some calls, MetGen, Metropolis prison and the police following up on Mensa.
Lois called Bobby first. “Hi Bobby, Lois, whatcha got for me?”
“Lois, I thought you’d dropped off the face o’ the Earth. Where’ve you and that husband of yours been?”
“We just needed some time off.”
“How’s the baby?”
Lois was flabbergasted! “Whaa?? How, how did you know about him?”
“Oh, it’s a boy? I didn’t know that. I have my sources. You should know that by now.”
“Well, Bobby, you have succeeded in surprising me.”
“Anytime, Lois, anytime. I guess you’re calling because of my messages. Shortly after you guys disappeared a series of strange robberies started happening. This guy has attacked and robbed a number of women but there have only been a couple that have even gotten a look at him. They have a partial description from them. Based on that description they’ve started calling the guy the Werewolf Robber. I really don’t have anything concrete on him, just that I think he’s from LA. The cops out there were closing in on him so he took it on the lam. Like I say, he showed up here just under two weeks ago. You may want to talk to Metropolis’ finest for more detail.”
“Thanks Bobby, Check Burger Palace later. There’ll be a gift certificate waiting for you.”
“Thanks Lois! Say hi to that husband of yours and take care of that baby. Bye.”
“Bye, Bobby. Thanks.”
Before calling Henderson she checked with Clark. “How’s the follow-up going?”
“Not really anything there. Mensa is still practically catatonic. He apparently lost most of his memory when the Bummer-Be-Gone malfunctioned. He’s been in the hospital ward of Metropolis Prison ever since. What’d Bobby have for us?”
“He said that there’s someone called the Werewolf Robber who came here from LA.”
“Mensa’s going to be a dead-end. We might as well work on that.”
She lowered her voice and asked, “Why didn’t you know anything about him? You were doing patrols.”
He replied in the same hushed tones, “I was only here for short periods a couple of times a day.”
“Okay, I’m going to call Henderson. You want to listen in?”
With a chuckle he said, “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it. You and Henderson get along so well.”
She arched an eyebrow as she said, “I just like to keep him honest.”
“Lo-is, he’s the most honest cop we know.”
“Yeah, and I want to keep him that way.”
While he laughed out loud, she picked up her phone and dialed a number that through frequent use she had long ago memorized. When the phone was answered she heard, “12th Precinct.”
“Lt. Henderson, please.”
“Hold on.”
There was a series of clicks, then, “Homicide, Henderson.”
Lois said, “Bill, Lois.”
She could hear the surprise in his voice as he said, “Lois as in the famous Lois Lane?”
“Yeah Bill, Lois Lane. What do you have for me?”
“You’re finally returning my call? I left that message almost two weeks ago. Where did you go?”
“We took a couple of weeks off so that we could get to know our baby.”
It was a good thing that Bill was just reaching for his cup of coffee to take a sip when she dropped this bomb because if he had just taken a sip it would have been all over his computer monitor. He spluttered, “Baby??? Did you say, baby?”
“Yes, Bill, I said baby.”
Bill’s surprise was in his voice, but it became evident that he was teasing her as he continued; “Let me get this straight. Lois Lane, *the* Lois Lane that works at the Daily Planet, the one married to Clark Kent, that Lois Lane said that she has a baby. This isn’t someone impersonating her voice and pretending to be her just to give me a hard time?”
“Yeah Bill, it’s really me and yes I said baby.”
“The Lois Lane that I know would never speak a sentence having her name and baby both in it.”
“Bill, people can change you know.”
“I’m just having a hard time believing that the Lois Lane I know could change that much. How did it happen? Well, besides the obvious.”
“It’s a long story Bill. Clark’s cousin’s family was going on a medical mission and they asked us to take care of their baby for them while they were away. Soooo, instant motherhood.”
Lois couldn’t see it, but she could just imagine Bill shaking his head as she heard him sigh, “Leave it to Lois Lane to figure out a short cut to motherhood. I’ll bet you’re obsessing over the child, not wanting to let it out of your sight.”
Lois started to flush and sputtered out, “No, no, no I’m not! Not, not really, no. Well, maybe a little.” She could hear Bill laughing on the other end as she tried to defend herself. It didn’t help any that Clark, who had heard every word was grinning from ear to ear at the banter. She elbowed her husband as she glared at him. Returning to the conversation, she asked, “Well, what do you have for us?”
His teasing tone changed to one of seriousness as he replied, “Okay, I guess you can take only so much truth. Shortly after the two of you disappeared a crook showed up. He has an unusual MO. Only picks on young women, mostly waitresses. It hasn’t crossed over to homicide as yet, but, the way he’s going, it might not be long. You need to talk to Inspector Backstran, Ed Backstran over at Broadway Division. He’s Chief of the Robbery detail. Ben Romero, Sergeant Ben Romero has been working the case. He can fill you in on the details.”
Lois had been writing as Bill had been speaking. She said, “Thanks Bill. We owe you one. Ever since we got back, Perry’s been on our case to get him a big story.”
The easy banter stopped as Bill’s tone became serious, “You want to know how to repay me? Keep your distance on this one. You have a baby to worry about now. It’d also be nice if you’d bring him by some time so that I can get a look at him.”
“We’ll do that. Thanks Bill. Bye.” She hung the phone up.
Clark could almost literally see the wheels turning in her head as she placed the phone in its cradle. He said, “No. Now Lois, Bill had a point. We have a baby to consider now. What if you got hurt?”
She lowered her voice to a whisper only he could hear, “How could I be hurt with Superman watching over me?”
He also lowered his voice as he responded, “What if I’m called away for an emergency?”
“Well then I get to practice my Tae Kwan Do.” She put her hands on her desk and pushed herself back in her chair and stood. She headed for Denise’s desk and checked on CJ. He wasn’t making a fuss but when he saw her his smile got a lot bigger. She looked at him and asked, “How’s my baby? Are you being good for Auntie Denise?”
Denise smiled and said, “He’s a good baby. I remember when Ben was this age. He fussed a lot.”
Lois asked, “Do you want to give Diane a turn?”
Denise looked at CJ as if to say that she didn’t but then thought better of it and said, “Yeah, I guess I need to. I’ve got work piling up. Here you go.” She shifted him around so that Lois could take him.
As soon as he was in Lois’ arms she could feel him relax as if he had been tense the entire time Denise had held him. She rubbed his back in a soothing motion, in a way that she had learned he liked, and decided that she would need to talk this over with Clark later. She carried him over to Diane’s work area and asked if she still wanted to hold CJ for a while.
Diane readily agreed and took CJ from Lois’ arms and started getting to know him.
Lois walked away and CJ started to fuss. She turned back around and talked to CJ, “It’s okay little guy. It’ll only be for a little while. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right over there.” She patted his tummy which elicited a smile and said, “Now, you be good for Auntie Diane, okay?” She turned away again and this time when she walked away, CJ was okay.
When Lois got back to her desk she looked up the number for the Broadway division and called.
“Broadway Division. How may I direct your call?”
“This is Lois Lane with the Daily Planet. Inspector Bill Henderson suggested that I call Ed Backstran. It’s about the Werewolf Robber.”
“Hold please.” There were a series of clicks and then finally, “Backstran.”
“Inspector Backstran, Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Bill Henderson said I should call you about the Werewolf Robber.”
“Lois Lane, huh? Look, I know all about you and how you get in the middle of our investigations.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve helped Bill more times than I can count.”
“To listen to him you’ve been more problem than help.”
“Bill and I have a complicated relationship.”
“I’ll say. Okay, whaddya want to know?”
“Can we come see you? We’d like to get as much detail as possible about this case.”
“How about 10 AM tomorrow?”
“Ten will be fine. We’ll see you then inspector.”
After Diane had had CJ for a time Lois reclaimed her son and took him into the ladies room to breastfeed him. When she came out she said to Clark, “That’s a relief. It’s a good thing he was hungry. I was starting to feel uncomfortable. How are we going to do this? I need to feed him every three to four hours or I start to hurt.” As Lois was carrying him back to the bullpen CJ had fallen asleep so Lois put him back into his car seat and buckled him in.
“That’ll be one of the nice things about having him in the daycare center. All you need to do is hop into the elevator and in a few minutes he’s being fed and you are getting relief.”
Perry opened the door to his office and saw Lois and Clark at her desk talking so he called them. He watched as Clark picked up the car seat and carried it with him as they moved to the office.
Once they were inside and the door closed he asked, “Okay, what do you have to work on?”
Clark said, “I started the follow-up on Mensa, but that looks like a dead end. He’s in the hospital and it looks like he will be for the foreseeable future. We thought we’d work on the Werewolf Robber. We have a meeting scheduled with the police for ten tomorrow.”
“Yeah, the Star has done a couple of hit pieces against the police about that. You guys weren’t here and I didn’t have anyone I could assign it to. Eduardo has been on assignment and Jimmy went along to get pictures. I couldn’t trust it to Ralph. That boy could screw up a … well, you know what I mean. Okay, keep me posted.” He had been eyeing CJ asleep in his car seat and said, “Alice and I are going to have to have you guys over for dinner so that Alice can meet CJ. What are you doing Friday?”
Lois laughed and asked, “Don’t you think you ought to check with Alice first?”
Perry looked like a wily fox as he replied, “I’ll have you know that I already have. Can you make it?”
Lois looked at Clark and smiled as she said, “Sure Perry, we’d love to.”
Perry hadn’t taken his eyes off of CJ the entire time they had been talking. He said, “How much more do you need to do to get ready for your meeting tomorrow?”
“We should make a few more calls and plan our questions.”
“Why don’t you just leave him in here with ol’ Uncle Perry for a while? You can go make your calls and I’ll watch him for you.”
Lois said, “Why, Perry, you old softie! I never knew you were into babies.”
“It’s been an awfully long time since either one of my boys was this age.”
“Okay, we’ll leave him with you. Let’s go partner and let Perry have some one-on-one time with his honorary nephew.” They were both chuckling as they left his office.
After they had finished their preparations they went back to Perry’s office to retrieve CJ. Through the door Lois could see Perry playing peek-a-boo with CJ. CJ was squealing with delight. Perry had his back to the door so Lois opened it quietly. She pulled out her mini-camera and when the flash went off Perry realized that Lois had caught him at an unguarded moment. Lois chuckled and said, “I’ll have Jimmy print this up so that we can post an 8x10 on the bulletin board.
Perry huffed at her and then asked, “Everything ready for tomorrow?”
“As far as we can be. We’ll have to just wing some of it.”
“Okay, that’s settled. Why don’t you two get out of here? I’m sure there are still some things you need to do because of him that can’t be done while you’re around here. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
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