Seven Days of Superman

"Ha ha. Okay. Our reservations are for 6:30, so be there by 5:30 so that Lois will have enough time to give you the litany of things to do, phone numbers to call..."

Jimmy's eyes started to motion over Clark's shoulder before he said, in a positively cheesy grin on his face, "Hi Lois!"

"... and don't bother eating beforehand. We'll have something for you when you get there."

"Who's doing the cooking?" This was said with a mock look of horror on Jimmy's face.

"I heard that James Olsen! Just for that *I'll* do the cooking! What do think Clark, Ellen’s Spam souffle with spinach leaves stuffed with pureed black olives, smothered in a Alfredo cream sauce or Lucy’s No-Crust Vegetarian Pizza?"

The look on both their faces was reward enough. Lois turned on her heel laughing all the way back to her desk.

Clark leaned toward Jimmy and spoke in a sotto voice, "I'll throw in a pizza about ten minutes before you get there."

All comments and suggestions are welcome. Please let me know publicly of any blatant plot holes. Please let me know privately of any grammatical/spelling blunders.

Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:01pm EST
Metropolis
Dining Room at the Lexor Hotel

Even though it was overcast the cityscape looked beautiful. As it passed slowly by their window, Clark couldn't help but notice the pensive look in Lois' face. That and the fact that she had tortured her chocolate mousse for the last ten minutes without eating a bite caused him to raise a questioning eyebrow and clear his throat to get her attention.

"Oh! Sorry. I was off in the ozone wasn’t I?"

"Yes. I thought that was my job." Clark flashed her reassuring smile. He put his fork down and gave her his full attention. "What’s on your mind?"

"Should I feel bad, Clark?"

"Why should you feel bad, Lois? We finally have a night alone. No evil plots unfolding. No hot story to investigate. No two year old wanting yet another drink of water and yet another story to be read to him. Just a quiet evening dinner for two, atop the city's most expensive rotating hotel."

"That's it exactly. It's great that Lucy and Jimmy agreed to watch little Ivan tonight, but..."

"But you're wondering if it is alright to *enjoy* being away from Ivan considering that you feel like you're barely there for him during the week. This from the woman that spends every coffee break and half her lunches in the Daily Planet's Early Editions Day Care"

"I know it's been months since we've had any time alone, but I still feel like we don't spend enough time with him. We were so lucky that the adoption went through and we where able to bring little Ivan here to the states. But now that we have him we hardly ever see him. The hours we keep are atrocious...hectic...completely unacceptable if we hadn't been doing this for so long! Don't look at me that way. I know we spend nearly every waking hour together but mostly it's Daily Planet time or commuting time or stake out time or chasing bad guy time. Combine that with the world's hold on your time and there is no time for *family* time or us time." Lois finished with tears welling up in her eyes and her hands clenched.

Clark reached his hand across the table and slowly disentangled her hands and wrapped hers in his. The look in his eyes spoke volumes of the sorrow her words had brought to his heart.

"I know you have cut back as much as you can. And I know that your heart breaks when you have to ignore a cry for help. I'm not begrudging you that. The world needs you. I've never asked you to stop helping people, and I won't start now. But I've been looking at the last two years of our lives and something has *got* to change…."

And, as if on queue, Clark got that look in his eye. The world was calling her love away. The shocked look on his face told her this was no ordinary emergency. The investigative juices started to flow.

"What?"

"There is a old SS-5 nuclear missile heading for Washington D.C. It seemingly came from Cuba but at speeds not possible. Every counter-measure along the path has failed to stop or even slow it down. President Clinton has already been evacuated and they are trying to get the Members of Congress out of the city. There is no time to evacuate the entire city. It will hit in 7 minutes. Those things carried enough fissionable material to level the entire city and spread nuclear waste for miles around. I gotta go."

"GO. GO. Congress was having a late session to overturn President Clinton's veto of the new tax relief bill. If that bomb goes off we will lose most of the politician in the country." Lois' eyes got a mischievous look. "Maybe you should let it go off."

"Cute. I love you. Kiss Ivan good night for me. I will tuck him in later." And with that, he was gone.

Within seconds, a familiar sonic boom rattled the windows of the restaurant as once again the man she loved went off to save the world.

Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:27pm EST
The sky over Washington D.C.

The missile was headed straight for the heart of Washington D.C. It chewed up the air miles faster than most radar systems could track. Superman spotted the missile five miles above the city. Superman tried to intercept the missile, but the last moment it moved aside and veered away from him, almost like it was guided. A little over a mile and a half above the capital, he made contact with it. It exploded. It lit up the sky for miles. Distant viewers in Aberdeen, Maryland; Richmond, Virginia; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania remarked on how it cast a slight lime-colored glow. Outdoor thermometers registered one hundred twenty plus degrees for over 10 minutes as far as forty-five miles away in Frederick, Maryland.

Washington D.C. was 20 miles across and it became a memory in the blink of an eye. The White House was the epicenter. Destruction was swift and relentless. The fireball consumed everything in its path. The White House blacked for a moment before it was smashed to the ground. The titanium lighting rods on the Washington Monument melted a nanosecond later, quickly followed by the monument falling over like a child's stack of building blocks. And even those fragments were pulverized to nothing. The waters in the Reflection Pool were instantly vaporized followed by the Potomac River a heartbeat later. The Capital was gone, as was every monument in the Washington Mall. The statues of Lincoln and Jefferson were reduced to puddles of molten metal in a matter of seconds. Anything and everything that was not atomized became lethal projectiles. Tombstones from Arlington National Cemetery were found more than fifteen miles away stuck in houses and trees. Everything was instantly seared then shattered against the ground or each other. Even the subway systems proved no protection as all the oxygen in the area was instantly consumed by the raging firestorm that was once the nation's capital. Anything living never knew what killed it and would never be found.

Three point four million people ceased to exist in under a second. Six million more suffered everything from temporary blindness to second and third degree burns over one hundred percent of their bodies. What wasn't knocked over in the initial outward blast was brought tumbling down by the massive suction of air back into the area at several hundred miles per hour.

The farthest reach of the damage was the Electromagnetic Pulse. The EMP reached out its tendrils south to Jacksonville, Florida; Northeast to Quebec, Canada; West to Chicago; and East into the Atlantic. Everything electronic was fried into uselessness within twenty-five miles of the blast. Beyond that it was varying degrees of burnout and fluctuations. Nearly every single aircraft in the twenty-five mile zone came down whether they wanted to or not. Computerized trains rolled to a stop and the brains of hundreds of thousands of cars went dead. Pacemakers shutdown and critical systems fail. Anything computerized stopped. Technology just stepped back forty years.

But while the Metropolis’ power-grid struggled to keep going, Lois knew. She knew that her Love had died. She let out an audible gasp as her soul was ripped asunder by the separation of her other half from this world. Her mind and emotions battled over what to do. Her mind told her to go home and be with their child. Her emotions wanted to stop the Jeep right where it was, curl up and die. The mind won out, at last, for now.

Friday, October 8, 1999
4:30pm MST
Area 51
Operation Backstep

Project Leader Bradley Talmadge sat at the end of the debriefing room table. The group was solemn and quiet. In less than two days the world had been turned upside-down. "The US Armed Forces has cordoned off Cuba by sea and air. Nothing’s going out or in. Cuban President Fidel Castro claims to be as surprised as the rest of the world. The…"

Nate Ramsey chose to voice his opinion at this point. "Fat chance. That Commie ba…"

Dr. Olga Vukavitch cleared her throat loudly. Ramsey decided to back down a bit.

"That Commie ‘bureaucrat’ has been chomping at the bit for years to get back at us for what happened in the sixties. Personally I wish we had done the job right back then and *we* wouldn’t be sitting here having this little discussion."

"Well, maybe if you had helped him remove that animal Batista from power instead of ignoring the situation then he would not have turned to Comrade Khrushchev for help in the first place. Then maybe ‘*we* would not be having this little discussion’ at this time either."

"Listen here Mis…"

"Nathan! This is resolving nothing!" Ramsey and Talmadge locked eyes in a silent contest of wills. Talmadge won.

"The U.N. is calling an emergency session to investigate and determine what sanctions, if any, are to be implemented. The order to over-run the island has not been given and will not be given until they say so. However, most nations across the globe have already tried and found Cuba's attack on the U.S. indefensible and are strategizing on how to take advantage of the situation. Certain members of the world community are urging Cuba and other nations to continue the work of destroying the U.S. International tensions over the event are in continuous flux as the world edged closer to a worldwide conflagration. Here in the States it’s worse.

"Martial law has been declared nation wide. All Cuban Americans are being incarcerated and investigated. Retaliation against anyone of Hispanic decent is out of control. Emergency situation plans are being pulled out and dusted off. Special elections are being planned to replace the lost representatives. President Clinton is promising swift justice from his temporary headquarters in Fort Knox, TN. The dead, dying and injured tolls scroll across the screen of every working TV. Thousands are dying daily due to the lack of medical help. Across the world teams of relief people outfitted themselves to come to the help, but it won’t be enough. Fallout continues to drift north, killing hundreds of thousands in Delaware and New Jersey. Metropolis, New Troy has so far escaped the worst, but the Jet Stream is threatening to change direction at any time. New York City and Boston will eventually succumb as well.

"The President has ordered a Backstep as soon as we have figured out what happened. We have until tomorrow to do that because he doesn’t want to cut it to close. Here’s what we know at this time. Apparently an old SS-5 nuclear missile was fired from the Isla de la Juventud just off the coast of Cuba. All missile sites on that island were dismantled some thirty-seven years ago. All they could find at the point of "launch" was burnt ground and an some slagged metal components."

This brought up Dr. Isaac Mentor's eyebrows quickly. //Something familiar about that and where it was found.//

"Has anyone heard any word about Superman?" This was from Dr. Olga Vukavitch.

Dr. Isaac Mentor spoke up at this point. "Star Labs' Dr. Bernard Klein confirmed the presence of powdered Kryptonite was indeed found in the radioactive fallout. It has been speculated that the bomb was rigged with Kryptonite and that Superman was vaporized when it exploded." This last statement brought dismay to all faces around the table, with the exception of Ramsey's face.

"I've said it before. We can take care of ourselves. I knew that alien was going to be trouble the first time I saw him. The rest of his people proved that to be the case! I for one am glad he's gone. It was probably his fault that this happened in the first place. The Kryptonite in the bomb proves that he was probably the intended target all along."

The looks of dismay turned to disgust. Frank Parker turned to give Nate a piece of his mind "Of all the bone-headed, callused and out-and-out-stupid things I have heard you say I think that one beats 'em all. Do you really think we would be having this conversation today if Superman hadn't stopped that asteroid? Or when..."

Talmadge stopped listening to Frank as the phone rang. He picked it up and listened. Pointing toward Capt. Craig Donovan he said, "Turn on the television."

"What channel?"

"It doesn't matter. It's on all channels."

Friday, October 8, 1999
2:30pm EST
Metropolis
Star Labs

Lois swiftly drove around abandoned vehicles on her way to Star Labs. //Thank goodness Star Labs is in the opposite direction of the docks or I’d never get there!//

In the last two day the East Coast had been thrown into chaos. The warm coastal breezes had turned deadly with the fallout from the bombing of Washington DC. A fine silvery green mist traveled swiftly on the air currents, slowly covering everything in its path. Nowhere was safe. It was sucked into ventilation systems and settled into water reservoirs. It only took one inhaled particle to start the deadly radiation spreading in the body. Birds that flew into the cloud never came out. In its wake it left a ecological nightmare.

As the cloud traveled northeast, town after town fell to its relentless advance. The National Guard fought a loosing battle trying to evacuate the people out of harms way. Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland where the first major cities to depart from the land of the living. Little Delaware gave up it north most tip for the next hundred or so years in little under an hour. Central and Northern New Jersey bore the worst of the nuclear decimation, as far as lose of land are goes.

People fled using every means possible. Planes where the first to disappear after a couple of planes crashed due to over crowding and being mobbed on the runways. Next were trains for similar reasons. Bus companies stopped all service to most of New Jersey and New York City. Truck drivers were being offered exorbitant fees to safely transport desperate families from their life long homes. Families fled to the east and west to avoid the nuclear specter. The New Troy National Guard finally had to close the bridges between New Jersey and New Troy due to over crowding and to the threat of a possible shift in the wind currents. Metropolis became the new Mecca as ships continued to dock and take on passengers in quarters so cramped that it made Cuban refugee boats look spacious by comparison. It was impossible to get anywhere near the docks. Nearly a tenth of the death toll was due to drowning alone as people tried to swim to safety.

And New York City was next in line if the wind did not change direction.

~*~

Lois found it easy to get to Star Labs. She just hoped that Dr. Klein was still there.

Concrete barriers, three tiers high, had been erected around the front gate and side of the building facing the road. There wasn’t really any danger of the building being laid siege to, but the powers that be thought it a wise precaution. The guard shack designed to house one, now held three and all of them watched as Lois came to a rolling stop at the closest barrier to them. They moved not a finger as she unbuckled her son and carried him up to the entranceway.

"I’m here to see Dr. Klein. It’s an emergency!"

The shortest of the three found his voice first. "No-no one g-goes in exc-cept official Star Lab p-personnel."

Lois gave the man a look that could wilt the hardiest soul. Ivan covered his ears and buried his head in his mommy’s shoulder. He knew what was coming next.

"I am Lois Lane of the Daily Planet! I am here on official business with Dr. Klein! I demand you let me in!"

The tall, Gunter-looking, individual stepped forward at this point. "Oh, a reporter. With a brat in-tow. I can see that this is real ‘official’ now. Maybe we should let her. NOT!" The rest of the guards started laughing at this point. Ivan started to mumble "nononononononononon." over and over again.

Lois reached up a hand and stroked the back of her little boy’s head. Lois calmly stuck her hand in her purse and started to pull something out of it.

The first guard noticed and started to edge around ‘Gunter’ and feebly pointed at her. "S-she’s g-gotta g-g-g-g-g…"

‘Gunter’ spun around and his eye went wide, and started to un-holster his firearm.

Lois stopped and using just two fingers pulled out the antenna for her cell phone. Satisfied that it was not a gun the three guards relaxed a little. They were premature in their relief.

Lois dialed the number for Dr. Klein’s office and hoped that the Cellular service was up and going. It was. She explained to Dr. Klein the situation and immediately hung up. Seconds later the phone rang in the guard shack. ‘Gunter’ answered the call. As he listened he grew paler and paler. After about a minute of listening he quietly put down the phone and looked at Lois in a new light. He slapped the as-yet-to-actually-say-anything-guard and told him to escort Ms. Lane to Dr. Klein’s office.

"Never mind. I know the way." And with that turned on her heel and walked straight toward the entranceway. They fell all over themselves to press the button to open the door before she had to touch it. Ivan stuck his head over his mommy’s shoulder, stuck his tongue out at the guards, and made raspberry sounds in their general direction.

Lois admonished Ivan. "Now sweetheart, it’s not nice to make fun of the unemployed." She then laughed a hollow laugh and turned her thoughts on how she was going to get Dr. Klein to help her, in her own time of need.

~*~

The last day and a half had been hard on Lois. She had planned on telling Clark that they were expecting on the night he died. It was part of the reason she had been so fragile that night. It now was the one of the few things keeping her going. She adored little Ivan, but growing inside her was her last link to her husband and she was going to fight tooth and nail to make sure he would live and carry on in his father’s footsteps.

And to do that she was going to need help. Dr. Klein seemed the most likely candidate. He was the expert on Kryptonian physiology, even though he had said that they would not be able to have any children naturally. Everybody makes mistakes and she was so happy that he was mistaken.

Friday, October 8, 1999
2:45pm EST
Metropolis
Dr. Klein’s office.

Dr. Klein was usually a neat nick when it came to his office. He had to be. It was the only way he could find things. When Lois walked in she first thought she had the wrong office. It was in total disarray. Dr. Klein stood up immediately the moment that Lois walked in.

"Lois! I am so glad to see you and Ivan. I don’t get to many visitors and I am glad to see a friendly face. Sorry about the guards. Most of our regular ones have already left the city and pickings are slim…." Dr. Klein seemed lost in thought for a while and then he seemed to see her for the first time. His face blanched and he had to steady himself for a moment.

"Dr. Klein! Are you alright?"

"Such a sweet thing to say. Especially with what you’ve been going through! My word Lois! How are you able to put such a positive face forward at time like this? How can you stand the loss!?"

Lois’ face went ashen at the meaning of what Dr. Klein was saying.

"You knew?"

A slight smile crossed his face as he bid her to sit in the only free chair in the room, his. Ivan started flipping through a colorful stack of picture magazines. Dr. Klein paced the floor in front of her.

"I have actually know for years. I figured that eventually you or Clark would tell me all about it. I just wish he had known before…"

A silent tear slid down Lois’ face. "What gave it away?"

"Oh, it was pretty obvious to someone who makes their living observing people’s reactions to different circumstances. I could see the depth of your love for both of them and their love for you. After you got married it became obvious that you loved only one man and that man just happened to have two careers."

The tears started to flow freely at this point. Little Ivan got up and gave his mommy a hug and looked questioningly into her eyes.

Wiping the tears from her eyes and cheeks she looked solemnly into her son’s eyes. "It’s alright sweetie. Mommy’s not really sad just relieved. Go back to the pretty pictures." Ivan went back to the magazines, but kept a wary eye on his mommy.

"This makes it easier to tell you what I need to tell you. Dr. Klein I'm pregnant."

"You can't be! All the tests showed it to be impossible! Unless..." Dr. Klein’s eyebrows started to climb.

"Bernard Oliver Klein! I can't even believe you'd think..."

"NO! NO! NEVER! Well actually maybe…"

Glare.

"…but when I really think about it, it's not likely."

The look in Lois' eyes could have given even her husband’s heat vision a run for its money.

"Never would have crossed my mind. Nope. No-way."

The femme volcanal had been soothed…for now.

"What I was really thinking was that since I gave Clark those results I have learned a considerable amount about his physiology and I could redo the test…"

"You don’t need to. I am pregnant. With Clark’s child, just to set the record straight!"

"Like I said ‘Never a doubt in my mind’. Did you use one of those home pregnancy tests or is this gut instinct?"

"Both. After a solid week of heaving my gut I decided to take a test. It came out positive."

At that moment the door to Dr. Klein’s office flew open. A young man just a few years Jimmy’s senior burst into the room.

"Dr. Klein! Turn on your TV! You’ve got to see this!"

"What channel?"

"It doesn't matter. It's on all channels."

PART SIX

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday, October 8, 1999
4:59pm MST/2:59pm EST
+++++++++++++++++++++++

~NNL~

Donovan turned on the TV. A series of messages were being displayed on a psychedelic screen. In the upper left hand column was a timer counting down. It currently was at 58 seconds. The words and time were easy enough to read if you could ignore the dancing colors in the background.

Olga was the first to find her voice. She read the first part of the message. "…you will experience for yourselves the…"

~SL~

"…truth," Lois turned to Dr. Klein with a questioning look.

He returned an equally blank look and threw in a shoulder shrug for good measure.

~NNL~

"…and the truth will…"

Talmadge turned toward Frank "Sounds faintly familiar. Do you know the source Frank?"

"It's a paraphrase of John 8:32, from Eugene H. Peterson's THE MESSAGE. The King James Version states it as '…ye shall know the truth. And the truth will set you free.' Wait there's more."

~SL~

"…really tick you off.' Really tick you off! What kind of message is that!"

Dr. Klein pointed to the upper corner. "Look the counter has five seconds to go. Four. Three."

~NNL~

"Two. One. Zero." The screen went black and was immediately replaced by the image of a well-dressed man in his mid-to-late thirties contemplating his watch. Slowly he looked up and stated "My name is Tem…"

~SL~

"…PUS! It's Tempus!. I should have known that that no good, ego-centric, psychopath was behind this!" Lois lifted her head to the heavens and shouted, "Mr. Wells! Where are you!"

Dr. Klein looked at Lois like she had grown a second head. All the while Tempus continued talking.

"…without further adieu I give you the mastermind behind the demise of Superbore, Tempus!" The camera pulled back and showed Tempus looking at the blank space next to him.

~NNL~

"I think that guy is one French fry short of a Happy Meal if you ask me."

Frank couldn't help but grin at Ramsey's statement. **You can always count on Ramsey to turn a colorful phrase.**

But in the next moment no body was laughing. The sound of a hundred angry vacuum cleaners spilled forth from the speakers in the room. In the empty space next to Tempus a small brass colored disc appeared in mid air. It rapidly expanded into a squarish yet octagonal, metallic wall that had four triangular panels whose points met in the middle to form a curvy 'X' in the middle. It immediately opened, a ghostly blue-white light emanated from the edges of the panels as they pulled back into the sides of the 'wall' like something out of Star Trek. In the center of the leftover metal ring was a shimmering veil of energy. It was completely transparent in the center with floating dark spots around the edges. A man was visible on the other side of the veil. When he walked through it, it sounded like he was passing through a pool of water. It was Tempus! Just before stepping through he turned around and stuck his head back through the veil for just a moment, raising one hand in the air as if waving goodbye. He then proceeded straight through the ripples of energy. As soon as he stepped through a blinding blue-white flare of light issued out of the portal as the four panels closed in on themselves. Upon connecting with each other, the portal closed in on itself moving toward the upper left of the screen, about even with the top, right side of the second Tempus' head. It collapsed into a small ball of light that became a small silver metallic object roughly the size of a man's palm. Even before it had completely coalesced, the second Tempus was reaching back to catch it as it fell. He slipped it into his pocket and turned to face the cameras. The smile that grew on his face showed that he was not to be trusted.

The first Tempus wasted no time. "So, Tempus, tell all the kiddies in TV land how you were able to pull off this amazing feat of brilliance and daring."

~SL~

At the mention of kiddies Ivan turned his attention to the TV screen. "Who’s that Mommy?"

"He’s a very, VERY bad man, sweetheart. Just ignore him. He’s really just making fun of the adults that are watching. Go back and play with your Pagimon doll, Tara-a-Chu."

"Okay Mommy."

"Boy Lois, this guy is full of himself. Are you listening to this?"

"…what an apt description of my feat. It was all quite simple really. It's a tried and true ploy that gets the good guy every time. Cunning villain threatens mass destruction of a city. Thickheaded hero comes and tries to stop the weapon. Thickheaded hero gets vaporized by well-placed chunk of Kryptonite that the cunning villain places in with the fissionable material. In fact let's go to the close up of the momentous occasion."

At this point the screen is replaced with a remarkably clear video of Superman chasing after the missile. Tempus' voice can still be heard in the background.

Lois took a sharp intake of breath at the sight of her now dead husband. Dr. Klein put his are around Lois’ shoulder.

"Superman! You said that Daddy was really Superman and that he was dead!"

Lois put on the best pokerfaced look she had. "Yes sweetheart, Daddy was Superman and…and he is dead. But, remember what Daddy said about TV? This is like one of your videotapes. This is only a recording of Daddy. Daddy, Daddy is no longer with us. Come here baby, and let Mommy hold you."

Tempus continued brightly in the background. "As you can see Big Blue is still alive and well at this point. But as you can see he’s getting closer. Let’s have that close-up of the action." The view zoomed in as Superman got closer to the missile. Just before he made contact the view stilled. "Let's advance the film slowly." The film slowed to a crawl, showing Superman taking hold of the missile. You could see the muscles in his upper arms bulge and flex as he strained to change the missile’s trajectory.

Lois could stand the strain no longer. Even though she knew it was useless she cried out at the screen "CLARK! GET AWAY FROM THERE!" At this Lois turned Ivan’s head away from the screen so that he could not see what was about to happen.

"The missile was programmed to explode if it deviated from it’s own course. Normally this would not effect Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes but I was a step ahead of him. As the explosives slam the fissionable material together it releases a energy so intense that the missile casing is gone in no time at all thus exposing history's biggest killjoy to the Kryptonite that is mixed in with the uranium. The hybrid uranium-Kryptonite substance released sufficient enough radiation to destroy his invulnerability. THERE! Do you see the initial wave of energy enveloping him? It is at that moment that I, Tempus, was able to save the world and all futuredom from the most BORING individual to walk the face of history!"

"I want to SEE! I want to SEE!" Ivan squirmed in Lois’ grasp just in time to see the ball of fire engulf Washington DC. "Daddy go boom?"

When Lois didn’t answer right away Dr. Klein nodded in affirmation, "Yes, son. Daddy go boom."

~NNL~

Talmadge and Mentnor turned away from the screen as Superman dissolved into oblivion. Both in their own heart of hearts wished the hero Godspeed to whatever afterlife awaited him, even though they knew that they were going to do everything in their power to undo this wrong.

Olga covered her face and sobbed. **NO! NO! This is not fair. He is such a good man. He deserves more than this. He was the hope for the hopeless. We must not let this happen. I will not let this happen.**

Frank and Donavon just stared at the screen in disbelief. It was one thing to know someone was dead. It was quite another to witness it for yourself. The two turned to each other and they knew what the other was thinking. **No matter what it takes this is going to be undone.**

No one even heard Ramsey whisper silent thanks that it was quick and painless. Even though he thought the world would be better off without Superman, no man deserved to die that way.

Doctor Ballard eyes where the size of his glasses. "I don’t believe it."

Talmadge started to speak. "I know it hard to believe John, but he’s go…"

"No. No! I mean I don’t believe this is real footage."

Everyone turned toward Dr. Ballard.

"The image quality is beyond anything that we have, short of a satellite. And the angle is wrong for that kind of surveillance. There is no way that he could have this kind of footage. We’re talking thousandths of a nanosecond here. This must be faked!"

The image fades back to the Tempi.

~SL~

"This Tempus must have access to some pretty covert technology. I don’t know of anything that could give that kind of clarity."

This sparked Lois’ ire. "He’s a TIME traveler! He pilfers from time any gizmo or gadget he needs."

"Oh!"

~NNL~

Tempus, always aware of his audience’s short comings, was glad to explain it to them. "For those of you that DON’T know me let’s just say that you should buy stock in MemoLex. By the 25th century they make a dandy imaging system that gives new meaning to ‘is it live or MemoLex.’ I also popped ahead a few decades and believe me he’s dead."

Everyone started talking at once. "25th century…He’s a…time traveler…500 years!…Amazing…popped ahead decades!"

Talmadge brought order to the room. "People! People! Listen!"

The Tempus on the right had asked his counterpart a question. "… your not going to take any chances this time. How do you plan to ensure your vision of the future comes about."

The Tempus on the left leaned back, stared at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "Yes, even dead Superman is a thorn in my side. In the past I've always focused on just getting rid of the big, brawny oaf. But every time Lois Lane has always thwarted my plans, with a little help from Herb. Well, I've made sure that time-traveling do-gooder is out of my hair. All that’s left for me to do is get rid of Lois Lane and their super-brat and my revenge will be complete."

~SL~

"Oh no! What has he done to Mr. Well’s?"

"Who is this Wells you keep talking about?"

"H.G. Wells, the author! It’s a long story, remind me to tell you sometime."

Dr. Klein opened his mouth only to close it again and shook his head. **I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. I will be happier if I don’t know.**

"Super-BRAT! He knows! He knows I’m pregnant! Well if that time-tripping-twit thinks I’m just going to rollover and die he has another think coming!"

While the hormones raged on inside her mind, her glucose levels dropped and hard. She quickly put Ivan down and ran out the door to the nearest bathroom, retching horribly, with a worried Dr. Klein on her heels. They both missed completely what Tempus said next. Had they heard they would have known that there were bigger problems ahead.

PART SEVEN

~ Never-Neverland ~ "SUPER-BRAT!? You mean that Lois Lane Kent & Superman had a CHILD TOGETHER?" The right Tempus slapped both sides of his face in mock horror. "What about POOR CLARK?"

"Duhh! Clark Kent is Superman. But you knew that, of course."

"Of course. And we have proof -- don't we?"

The TV screen switched to side by side pictures of Clark Kent and Superman. Both where pictures of the men looking to the left. As the viewer watched, the pictures were morphed into each other in an unending loop. It was obvious to all that both the images were of the same man with different hairstyles and a pair of glasses.

As the pictures continued to change back and forth Tempus started to talk again.

"You see if I just killed him he would have become a martyr and Utopia could still come about by people carrying on his ideas. His half-breed offspring would still be able to carry out Daddy’s deluded form of morality thus condemning the future to order and reason. By showing that Clark Kent is Superman, I destroy Superman's character by exhibiting his lying, deceiving, manipulative side. The god has fallen off his throne and he can't get up! With the death of his wife and child I will have won!"

The screen faded back to the two of them, a smug look on both of their faces. The one on the right looked at his watch. "Gee, look at how times flies. I have an appointment to see me thirty minutes ago. Gotta run. I wouldn't want to keep me waiting."

The Tempus on the left pulled the small metallic object from his pocket punched a few buttons on the side and tossed it to in front of the Tempus on the right. It immediately opened as before and the first Tempus stepped right through. But before stepping all the way through Tempus turned around part way and wave goodbye to everyone giving them a jaded, "Tah." He quickly spun back around and went completely through the rippling veil. The time portal then shrunk into nothingness. Then there was one. He turned and contemplated the camera. It seemed that he was looking into the eyes of every viewer. A mirthless grin spread across his face.

"Well, I have places to go and people to kill." Then the screen went dark. Then Tempus' voice was heard once more. "I'll be back for the rest of you later." He laughed. It was a cold humorless laugh that chilled everyone’s spine. It finally tapered off and the latest news on the death toll and injured started to scroll up the screen.

"Turn it off."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday, October 8, 1999
3:30pm EST
Metropolis
Star Labs
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lois’ shoes were still trying to come out her mouth when Dr. Klein’s assistant, Taylor Winslow, came through at a full head of steam and showed extreme agility by not killing himself on the chair in front of the door. Ivan startled, then realized who it was. He flashed a toothy grin and waved at the young man. Taylor loved to play with Lois and Clark’s adopted son during the rare times when they brought Ivan with them. Taylor took the whole office in and not finding whom he was looking for turned breathlessly to Ivan.

"Say…where… is… Dr….Klein….or…your…Mommy?"

"Hi MISter TAYlor! Mommy’s tummy was feelin’ sick so she went to fro up in the baffroom. DoC-TOR Klein went to get her sompting to eat. Did you know that tummies can get sick without you being sick? Why are you breathin’ so hard? Maybe you need to essorzize. My Mommy sez…"

Taylor finally had caught his breath. "I’m sure your Mommy runs everyday. I was running really fast. Yes, I guess your tummy can get upset even when you’re not actually sick." **I can’t leave him here by himself! Someone might try and take him. ** He looked around and decided on what to do.

"Ivan, do you know how to play hide and seek?"

"Da."

"I want you to play a special kind of hide and seek. I want you to hide underneath Dr. Klein’s desk and hide from everyone but Mommy, Dr. Klein or myself. If anyone else comes in be very quiet and don’t move or they might find you. Then the game would be over. Okay? Do you understand?"

"Da! I hide from everyone but Mommy, DoC-TOR Klein or you."

"Good boy! I be right back."

~*~

Taylor was about to knock on the nearest Ladies room when Dr. Klein came around the corner. He was carrying an apple and some fruit bars and had the most flustered look on his face. He finally noticed Taylor just before mowing him down.

"Whoa there Doc. I take it that Ms. Lane is in here?" A horrid retching sound emanated from the room, confirming Taylor’s assumption.

"Uh yes. Could you stand guard while I go in and give her this to eat?"

"What’s wrong with her? Did she see what was on the screen?"

"Yes! It upset her terribly."

"I’m sure it would."

"What a terrible way to learn how Superman died!"

More sounds come forth from the bathroom. Dr. Klein temporarily remembered his current mission and headed for the door once more.

"You mean her husband, don’t you?"

Dr. Klein stopped dead in his tracks and turned a pale shade of gray. He looked back at his assistant with inquiring eyebrows.

"That Tempus guy. Didn’t you see he show how Clark Kent and Superman are the same person?

Dr. Klein shook his head.

"Man, everyone in the free world was just informed that Clark Kent is Superman! But for a time traveler he didn’t have all his facts straight."

"What do you mean?"

More retching.

"Hold that thought till I get Lois this food?

Dr. Klein barged through the door to the ladies room and several minutes later trailed behind a very pale but determined Lois Lane. She turned straight away to Taylor and demanded an explanation.

"I think we should collect Ivan and go someplace safer before we say anymore. This place won’t be safe very soon!"

"WAIT! Before we go anywhere I want some basic facts. What else did Tempus say and why is this place going to become unsafe?" Then a thought struck Lois. "Has the jet stream moved?"

Taylor gave into the fact that they weren’t getting anywhere without spending valuable time bringing Ms. Lane up to speed.

"No, it hasn’t shifted. But after what Tempus showed everyone no place is really safe for you."

"WHAT DID HE DO!" Lois’ color had rapidly returned to normal and threatened to match her burgundy outfit.

"He showed that your husband and Superman are the same person."

"He’s tried that before!"

"Trust me it was very convincing. But, like I was telling Bernie, if he is a time traveler he doesn’t have all the facts entirely straight. He said that he was going to kill you and your super-son. Don’t you think he would know that Ivan is not your natural son?"

"He said son?"

"We’ll he said ‘brat’ but I was trying to be nice."

"Yes, Tempus is a time traveler. And yes he does have his facts straight. I’m pregnant."

Taylor let out a low whistle. "So you’re carrying Superman’s child. Cool!" Taylor realized what he said, "I sorry for your loss."

Lois gave him a sarcastic, "Thanks." She heaved a big sigh. "This is not how this is supposed be. This is not the way Mr. Wells said it was going to be."

"Mr. Wells?"

Dr. Klein grabbed Taylor by the shoulder and looked him straight in the eye and said, "Trust me, son. You don’t want to know."

PART EIGHT

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday, October 8, 1999
5:30pm MST
Never-Neverland
Operation Backstep
+++++++++++++++++++++++

"I told you that Superman was the target. Or should I say Clark Kent. Imagine, an alien living among us like a normal person. Disgusting. Who knows how many others there are? I always knew that Kent was too good to be true. And that Lane wo..."

Talmadge had had enough of Ramsey’s attitude for one meeting. "Nathan! This is no time for that. Frank you get to go to Metropolis and find Clark Kent or Superman. Do whatever you have to do to stop this Tempus character. It looks like the future is in your hands."

Everyone got up and to leave. Frank turned to Olga and said, "Talk about your no pressure situations."

"True, Mr. Parker, I do not envy your situation. However, I might be of some help in dealing with President Castro. Cuba’s relationship with the United States hasn't always been a smooth one. I think that he might be a little more forth coming with a Russian representative there."

"You’re right. I’m going to need all the help I can get on this one. Besides, you know I’ll take any opportunity to work with you as closely as possible," he said with a big grin.

Olga rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Does anything ever get past that ego of yours, Mister Parker?"

"Not if I can help it."

~*~

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
8:30am MST
Never-Neverland
Operation Backstep - Frank’s Quarters
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Talmadge knocked on Frank’s door and let himself in. He handed Frank two thick manila folders. "This is all the intel we have on Lane and Kent. Tempus is an enigma. He appears to have been erased from existence. All inquires turn up blank documents or gaps in information. It’s like any and all references to him have been surgically removed from any source. Lane and Kent are a different matter. They are both well know for their stand for truth and justice. They are supposed to be close friends of Superman, which makes sense in light of Tempus’ claims. They’ve been married for three years and have a four year old adopted son, Ivan Nyktrkovich Kent. You can read the rest for yourself.

"Ivan Nyktrkovich? John, Son of Nothing? The orphanages over in Russian show no imagination."

"Yes. The adoption finally went through about 6 months ago. Cute kid. It’s all in there. You’re scheduled to back step at noon today."

Frank took in the thickness of the folders and shook his head. "It’s a good thing I only have to look at things once, otherwise I would be reading until tomorrow." They both laughed hollow laughs. They both knew the seriousness of this mission.

"Frank, since we are dealing with a possible time traveler, you may have to bend some of our rules. Not that that has ever stopped you before."

Frank didn’t even bother to hide his grin.

"I couldn’t care less if Superman masqueraded as a dentist as long as he kept giving us hope for a brighter future. Under no circumstances are you to reveal his identity to anyone on the team, including me. His secret is of vital importance to the world, and so I want it to remain that way."

"Yes, sir. I had already planned on not saying anything to anyone…sir."

Talmadge’s cheeks framed the smile upon his face as he turned to go. He snapped his fingers and turned back. "One other thing. That devise that Tempus was using, make sure that we get a working copy of it."

"It sure looked a lot easier to handle than the sphere."

"That’s why we want it."

"You’ll get it sir."

~*~

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
8:30am EST
Metropolis
Star Labs +++++++++++++++++++++++

It didn’t take long for word to leak out that Lois Lane and her son where at Star Labs. The only thing that had not leaked out as Lois’ ‘condition.’ By morning every entrance to the compound was surrounded by the media. All flavors were represented, from tabloids to television-paparazzi to professionals. Every phone in the place was ringing off the hook. Film crews in helicopters circled above trying to get a shot. It was a feeding frenzy. And they all wanted the same thing. Lois Lane a.k.a. Superman’s wife.

They started arriving shortly after Tempus’ broadcast, effectively blocking Klein’s and Taylor’s attempt at spiriting them away. So they holed up in the building. Most people in the building were sympathetic to Lois’ plight. Superman had put Star Labs on the map. Many of their projects got funding simply because Superman had trusted them to help him. Others, felt no such loyalty. They were the first to try and sneak people in. Dr. Klein put a stop to that immediately. He ordered round-the-clock guards at every entrance. It was a standoff. And it stayed that way until morning. Then the government arrived.

~*~

Two large, GI helicopters landed on the grounds just behind the Star Labs. About sixteen troops, each with a 3-9 patch on their upper arm, poured out followed by one man that seemed to exude confidence and insanity all at the same time. His name tag simple said ‘DIRECTOR.’ His eyes blazed with anticipation as he made his way to the large double doors in the back of the building. Two men in the rear carried a rather large metal box between them. The guards at the doors took one look at the fully automatic arsenal walking their way and decided that discretion was the better part of valor. They ran into the depths of the building and hit an emergency alarm along the way.

The armed troop marched through the screaming hallways, looking for someone or something. A technician picked the wrong time to run out into the hallway and plowed straight into one of them. When he opened his eyes, he had half a dozen weapons trained on him. The Director stepped forward. He gave a simple hand signal and the weapons disappeared and the technician was lifted gracelessly off his feet. He leaned forward to clearly see the name tag and to make sure that he could be heard over the din.

"MR. CHUCK PLETE, WHO IS IN CHARGE."

"DR. BENARD KLEIN, SIR!"

A sour look passed across his face and stuck, "Figures."

"WHAT!"

"TAKE ME TO HIM."

The technician shook his head. He knew what this man probably wanted and he was willing to delay the inevitable as long as he could.

The Director smiled. In one swift motion he placed one hand behind his back and his other behind Chuck’s head. The next thing Chuck knew there was a rather large gun pressed up against his temple.

"TAKE ME TO HIM OR DIE. IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO ME."

Chuck fainted. A small dark spot spread across the front of his pants.

The Director rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as he dropped Mr. Plete to the ground and stepped over him. A hand gesture later they were on the move again, looking for Dr. Bernard Klein.

~*~

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
9:00am EST
Metropolis
Star Labs
+++++++++++++++++++++++

After several minutes and several failed attempts at finding the doctor, the armed group grabbed the nearest guard and forced him to take him to the alarm control system. Once there, the Director had the alarms turned off, after a little persuading. Nothing permanent, just some new holes in the ceiling. With the alarms off he told the guard to put him on the PA system.

The Director’s voice boomed through out the building, "Dr. Bernard Klein. This is the Director of Bureau 39. I have a search and seizure order, issued by the U.S. Government, for one Lois Lane and her son. If you do not bring them to me in front lobby of this building in ten minutes, I will start maiming one civilian for every minute you are late." The Director turned toward his men and said, "Grab them," referring to the five civilians in the room. They then proceeded to the front lobby.

~*~

Lois paled, "I’d know that voice anywhere. It’s Trask."

Dr. Klein nervously asked, "Who’s Trask? What does he want?"

"Trask is member of a government ‘special forces’ unit that most of the government doesn’t even know exists. He’s also insane. He believed that Superman was a threat to the Earth. A scout for an alien invasion. We’ve had several run-ins with him over the years. He proved especially thorny when the New Kryptonians actually did invade several years ago. He has never believed that they all left. And he was absolutely livid when the U.N. allowed Superman to stay. Since then he has tried everything possible to get rid of Superman. And now he is after me. And he will maim or kill anyone that gets in his way."

"We can’t let him get away with this! I will not turn you over to him!"

"Bernie, you really don’t have a choice. I’ll go. I can’t have the injuring of innocent people on my conscience anymore than you can."

Lois leaned down to pick up her sleepy little boy when Taylor placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let me carry him."

"Thanks."

Taylor gathered the child in his arms like a rag doll. Half asleep, Ivan wrapped his arms around Taylor’s neck.

"Let’s go."

~*~

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
9:09am EST
Metropolis
Star Labs - Front Lobby
+++++++++++++++++++++++

As Lois, Klein, and Taylor walked into the front lobby, Trask grinned from ear to ear. He had triumphed at last. Not only was Superman gone but now he had his offspring to mold into his own image.

PART NINE

Lois squared her shoulders and walked straight up to Trask, loathing in her eyes. Without warning, she slapped him across the face with all she was worth. Trask’s face snapped to one side.

Given her small stature, Trask was impressed with the power behind her blow.

Lois looked at her hand. She was amazed that she caught him off-guard.

The rest of Trask’s men brought weapons to bear.

"Stand down. We have nothing to fear from the wife of Superman. If that Tempus character is to be believed I think she is with child. And to prove my point." Trask motioned the box carriers over to his side.

The box was roughly a foot square and had a seam at its halfway point. The men struggled to get it on its stand, before taking their places with their comrades, weapons ready. Trask, without taking his eyes off Lois, reached over and undid the large metal clasp in the front of the box. With one hand he raised the heavy lead lid. A green glow escaped from it's confines.

Even before the lid was halfway up, Lois grabbed at her middle began to loose her balance. "I…hope…there’s…a…spe…cial…place…in…*hell*…for…Lu…thor…for…dis…cover…ing…Kryp…to…nite!"

Trask lowered the lid again, laughing as he did. He was forever indebted to Lex Luthor for finding the first chunk of Kryptonite. He was still annoyed with himself for not thinking of coming back to the area where they found the ship to look for unusual rocks.

**Oh, well. I have the proof I need.** He pointed to Lois, "Prepare her for transport. Take the traitorous doctor as well."

"Why me?"

"Because you are the resident expert on Kyrptonian physiology. I want to make sure that this alien half-breed comes to term. I have plans for it."

"Trask if you think I'm going to…" Lois didn't get very far. Trask just lifted the lid completely and she dropped like a stone. Once Lois was secured, he closed the lid.

"Yes, I think you are."

Dr. Klein found his voice and pointed toward Ivan, "What about Ivan? Is he now going to loose his second mom?"

"Well, you know what they say Bernie, 'Life is hard.' But if you really are worried about his future…" Trask calmly raised his gun and took aim.

Taylor, seeing what was about to happen, tried to turn away, but was too late.

The shoot rang out.

Lois' eyes went wide and she screamed through her gag.

Klein looked on in horror as the bullet impacted on the innocent body, Ivan's sleep continuing for all eternity.

The bullet continued on, barely impeded by Ivan's little body. Taylor didn't even have time to realize what had happened. He flew back and hit the wall. His eyes had lost their glow before even he made it all the way to the ground.

"Whoops! Sorry, Bernie, Looks like you going to have to get a new assistant."

Dr. Klein's eyes hardened with rage. With an anguished cry, he charged Trask. He never made it more than three feet before one of the soldiers picked him off.

Lois just closed her eyes and sobbed.

Trask turned on the soldier in question, "YOU IDIOT! He was unarmed! Do you really think a fifty year old man could have hurt me? You are demoted…"

Trask never got a chance to finish his tirade. A sound started to emanate from out of thin are. A very familiar sound. A time portal opened just three feet from him. A man stepped through the shimmering veil of energy. It was Tempus.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
9:30am EST Metropolis
Just outside Star Labs
+++++++++++++++++++++++

{This is K’nat Wilson from LNN. Let me give you a recap of recent events. Just over an hour ago military helicopters landed behind the main Star Labs here in Metropolis. Storm troopers filed out and entered the building. With the exception of the alarm system going on, then off, nothing has been heard until about five minutes ago. That was when gunshots were heard from in the building. Several of the external security guards tried to gain access but were met with armed resistance. The gunfire seemed to be coming from the front lobby. One of our cameramen is now attempting to get a look inside one of the front windows. Let's go to camera two."}

The picture jerked about a bit as the cameraman tried to stealthily get to a main window. He slowly raised his camera and himself up until he could get a clear shot of the interior. When the station started giving K’nat a rundown of what the camera was seeing, he continued.

{It appears that there have been some causalities inside the building. We can see four people on the floor, one bound and gagged…Its Clark Kent’s, a.k.a. Superman’s, wife, Lois Lane! She’s being guarded by some military soldier…There’s another body just to one side of the individual that seems to be in charge…Can you zoom in on his name tag?…It simply says Director. The body on the floor appears to be eminent scientist and director of the Metropolis branch of Star Labs, Dr. Bernard Oliver Klein. Once known as Superman’s personal physician.

Oh my…! Against the far wall is slumped the bodies of man and a small boy! Yes, you heard me right they’ve killed a child! We’re trying to get sound going. Wait! There’s something going on in the middle of the room! It appears that we are going to get another glimpse of Tempus. We have sound? What is Tempus saying?}

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
9:48am EST Metropolis
Star Labs - Front Lobby
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Tempus stepped through the time portal and surveyed his surroundings. He reached back and grabbed the collapsed portal as it fell to the ground. He nodded his head in approval at the carnage and the bound and gagged Lois Lane, totally ignoring the fact that every weapon in the room was trained on him. He finally settled his eyes on Trask and smiled broadly.

"Lo-is. Jason." Tempus greeted them. "I see they made you Director. I always knew you had the right stuff."

"I'm afraid that you have me at a disadvantage. I know you call yourself Tempus, but beyond that I don't know you from Adam."

"I sure know you. The first man to realize that Superman was such a bore. Its such a shame your career was cut so short."

Trask's hand started to reach behind him, nearly of it's own accord. "Short?"

"How many times do I have to go through this? Originally, Wayne Irig, of Smallville, KS, sent a sample of the as yet unknown substance, Kryptonite, to some lab in Wichita, KS. The lab alerted the Feds, which is how you found out about it. You came into town and raised such a ruckus that the Kent's called Clark to come and investigate. You discovered that Clark Kent was Superman just before you were shot trying to shoot him in the back. You originally died in 1993. But I stopped that from happening."

Tempus gloated there for a while until he realized that Trask wasn't going to take the bait. Sighing, he continued.

"The day following the big storm, when the big oak tree fell over, revealing the Kryptonian meteorite, Wayne mailed his package. I just made sure it went to Lex Labs in Metropolis, instead."

A muffled scream emanated from beneath Lois’ gag. Tempus turned and smiled.

"The truth hurts, doesn’t, Lois." He chuckled at his on joke. "Before Lex *discovered* Kryptonite and bought the mineral rights to Schuster’s field, I helped myself to the choice pieces. I have quite a collection. You should see it some day."

"Why did you help that loser Luthor, instead of me? With your help I could have killed Superman years ago!"

"Believe me, I tried. But every time you get your hands on Kryptonite, you do something galactically stupid and get yourself killed. You must have a curse or something. It’s really quite sad," he feigned sympathy. "Besides, if I had helped you at the outset, we all would be asteroid dust by now."

"We could have taken care of it ourselves."

"No, you couldn't. Superman had to take care of it because it was his fault in the first place. Something about his warp bubble snagging the little bugger out of it's orbit on his way here. But enough chit-chat. I've come for Lois Lane.

"I'm afraid I can't let you have her."

Tempus whipped out a strange disk shaped weapon and aimed it at Trask. It looked vaguely like a gun without a barrel. "Oh, but I insist."

Trask's face broke out into a smile. He gestured around the room, obviously indicating the firepower aimed at Tempus. "I think I have you outgunned. Why don't you hand that and your little 'time window' over to me and I will seriously think about letting you live."

Looking around himself, Tempus smiled and gave a stylized bow, "I guess you have me right where I wanted you." Tempus turned the device around handing it to Trask grip first. As soon as it left his fingertips, he threw himself the floor, covering his eyes. A searing flash of pulsating light filled the room for about two seconds. Everyone in the room dropped to the ground in an epileptic fit. Everyone but Tempus and Lois.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
9:55am EST Metropolis
Just outside Star Labs
+++++++++++++++++++++++

The cameraman, caught the full effect of the light show for all the world to see. And then promptly fell over in spasms. He was joined by nearly two billion viewers and most media support staff.

K’nat, unaware of what the cause was, knew only that there was a strange moaning in his ear piece. Seeing the cameraman collapse to the ground, he dragged his own cameraman with him to see what was going on in the lobby. Hoping that the feed was still transmitting, he continued rolling.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
9:56am EST Metropolis
Star Labs - Front Lobby
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lois had taken her cues from Tempus and had been spared. She watched in anxiety as Tempus slowly got up and came her way. He reached down and undid her gag. She wasted no time in asking what had happened.

"The Trojan 360 is a wonderful little device I picked up in the 21st century. It was, will be used by Law enforcement agencies across the United States of North America for several years until it is outlawed for not being non-violent enough. It basically over-stimulates the brain and short circuits it for a while. It only kills one out of every thousand people exposed to it."

Tempus turned around and kicked Trask in the groin for good measure. "Cretan!" He delighted in Trask's already drooling face, contorting in pain.

"I simply couldn't let him have you. In order for my plan to be complete, you and your child must die."

Lois looked up at Tempus with an anguished face. "Why Tempus? Why? Why wasn't it enough to kill…to kill Clark? You've succeeded in ruining my life. I won't be able to go anywhere without being hounded as Superman's widow. Our child will never know a normal childhood. How can I raise him to respect others when no one will respect him? What more can we do to you?"

Tempus turned on Lois and hoisted her to her feet. He flung her into a nearby chair. For the first time in her life, she could see the hate seething behind Tempus' eyes.

"DO! WHAT MORE CAN YOU DO!? LET ME TELL YOU!"

Tempus started pacing the floor, stepping over the odd body or two. "If I don't kill you and your son Utopia will still exist, though not in form that Herb so enjoyed. It will be you and your son that will be lauded all over the place. Even if I do kill you, it really is not enough. The memory of Superman and Lane and Kent and what you stood for is still enough to trigger Utopia. Even if I allowed your son to be raised by Trask and be brainwashed by him, he will eventually read of the original Superman and the exploits of Lane and Kent. He will turn against Trask, kill him and set himself up as protector of the people and Utopia will still come about! What is a villain to do?

"That's why when I am done killing you, I will kill everyone Superman has ever rescued. A daunting task you might say? I could spend a lifetime just tracking down the people in Metropolis alone. So my plan is simple. In every town that has ever reported a Superman rescue, I have planted an anti-matter device. They come quite cheap if you know guys who know guys. I know that it may be a little overkill, but you've said it before, I'm psychotic. And all I have to do is press this button right here."

Tempus laughed as he showed her what looked like a glorified car alarm. It contained one raised red button. His laughter was winding down when Trask started to regain his senses. Shaking his head and flexing his fingers, he quietly picked up his gun and took careful aim. He fired. Tempus fell flat on his face and on top of the red button.

Televisions across the globe went to static as hundreds of cities, towns and villages winked out of existence.

Part: 10

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, October 9, 1999
11:55am MST
Never-Neverland
Operation Backstep
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Frank walked to the Sphere. It stood nearly three stories tall and was just as wide. Its royal blue color had a disarming quality to it, but Frank knew better. That thing had killed him, split him in two, stuck him in a temporal loop, and hurt like nothing he could describe. But every time he went back, *he* made a difference. Sometimes he felt like running, but after all these months he had come to accept the fact that he could make a difference.

**Besides, how many people could say they saved Superman?**

Dr. Mentnor turned to Dr. Ballard and asked, "When will he arrive?"

"We're sending him back the full seven days, Sunday, October 2, at 12:00pm MST. That should give him time to find Clark Kent and get Olga off to Cuba."

"Reactor at 60%," Olga reported.

"Hey, Ballard. Did you get a chance to work on the guidance system, yet? I would like to at least end up in the same state as my target this time."

"I tweaked it in the opposite direction this time. It makes no sense to go that direction in the schematics, but then I don’t understand why half the things we try end up not working."

"You fill me with such confidence."

"Reactor at 70%."

"I'm hoping to land in the city park. I figure that that will get his attention."

"Reactor at 80%."

"Frank, we just got report of communications across the globe going out. Something about cities disappearing in balls of white light. We have got to get Tempus back here alive to find out what he did."

"Reactor at 90%."

"Not to worry, sir. I'll bring him home.

"Reactor at 100%! Engage!"

Frank hit the red engage button and every nerve ending in his body lit on fire. He watched the clock unwind time as he fought the joystick to stay within the guides. As the clock backtracked to Wednesday, October 6, 1999, 6:17pm MST the power readouts momentarily dipped, the lights flickered, and for just a moment he felt like his brain was going to shut down. Then the temporal readout began to crawl. Instead of hours passing like seconds, they where taking tens of minutes and with each passing moment the moments took longer and longer to unwind. The sphere was easier to handle but it was like it was mired in temporal molasses. Frank looked at his oxygen and power gauges and began wondering which would run out first.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
8:03am EST
Metropolis
Centennial Park
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Frank started to see gray around the edges of his helmet's visor. He'd drifted back in time for more than a day. The reactor was going to outlast the oxygen by enough to suffocate him. He was in Metropolis, like he'd planned. Had been there for nearly a day. He saw people and things pass by the sphere in reverse, slow motion as time tried desperately to unwind itself. The Sphere was sitting in the park, across from the Hall of Justice. It was still trying to accomplish the end point of the journey, Sunday, October 3, and so was still immaterial. But it would never arrive. It had take over a minute for the clock to change from 10:03:24am to 10:03:23am MST and Frank wished that the last thing he saw wasn't a dog un-taking a leak on a nearby tree.

Olga came, unbidden to his mind. **I'm sorry I never got a chance to convince you how much I really loved you. Goodbye….**

Warning bells started going off and the sphere's reactor readings dropped to zero. The last message he saw before the door popped open said something about 'Running out of virtual memory. Shutting down temporal program before critical memory failure.'

**Thank you, Ballard!**

Frank stumbled out of the sphere and ripped off his helmet. He sucked long drafts of air into his desperate lungs. His oxygen-deprived blood soaked the much needed air up and gave his brain a buzz that forced him to sit for some time. He wasn’t sure how long he’d sat before he realized that someone was trying to get his attention. It was a twelve-year-old boy.

"Hey, mister! Are you alright? Where did you come from?"

"**Well, it worked before.** "It’s alright. It’s just a promotional for a movie."

"If this is for a movie promotion, then where are the cameras?"

Frank put on his best smile and tried to come up with a plausible reason for the lack of camera. A woman came over and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Herb! Stop bothering the man. Do you want him to have to do that all over again?"

**Herb!**

"But! But…!"

"I’m sorry sir. Herbert is always asking questions and challenging things."

"That’s quite alright ma’am. It’s people like your son that keeps the rest of us on our toes. You wouldn’t happen to know the location of the nearest payphone, would you?"

She pointed over his right shoulder and bid him a good day. She then started to lecture her son on the finer points of not talking to strangers. Frank grinned and made his way to the phone.

Frank’s arrival was observed by more than the people in the park. Across the street a pair of bespectacled, aging, eyes watched the whole thing happen. The years had not been kind to this individual. But events had nearly come full circle. It was time to make one last stop before the circle was complete, or at least they hoped so. It was time to go to Smallville.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
10:03am MST
Never-Neverland
Operation Backstep
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Olga was talking to Frank about his latest medical result’s when he disappeared into thin air. Warning alarms started going off. A back step had happened.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
8:24am EST
Metropolis
Centennial Park
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Frank stopped at a vending machine and picked up a copy of the Metropolis Star. The main heading intrigued him. 'President Acknowledges Posing For Nude Art.' **I don't remember that from the last timeline.** Mentally shrugging he looked at the date. As he knew it would, it read October 4. He had little over two days to stop the destruction of Washington, save Superman, pick up the time traveler, and find the location of the bombs planted in hundreds of major cities across the globe.

Frank muttered to himself, "No problem," and shook his head. It was going to be a long day. Especially since he’d been up for the last thirty-six hours. He dialed the switch-board for Operation Backstep.

"How may I direct your call?"

"This is Conundrum."

Part 11

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
8:00am EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Ave.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lois was feeding Mickey, their four-year-old Pomeranian, when the phone rang. She yelled down the hall, "I'll get it!"

The voice on the other end of the line was deep and husky, "Hey, babe."

Lois' voice turned silky and seductive. "Hello yourself; tall, dark and muscular. So when are you coming to see me? My husband's out of the house, and I can put the watchdog outside for a while."

"Poor guy. Does he know that you're seeing a guy in spandex and a cape?"

"Oh, no. He's the sweet, innocent type. I have him wrapped around my finger."

"Oh, really?"

"Completely."

A young African-American man popped his head into the bedroom. He was holding a squealing, squirming, nearly naked, three-year old in his hands. Mickey started running around the both of them. "I caught this one trying to make a break for it, ma'am. What should I do with him?"

"What do you think, Keith? Boil him in oil? Dangle him over a pit of hungry T-Rexes? Or have him spend the day at my Mother's?"

"Who are you trying to punish? Me or him? Do you realize that since we started protecting your extended family, I've had to swap out your mother's agent every week? She goes through them like Kleenex.

Lois' mouth started to curl and she began to giggle. "I'll let his father handle this. Come here, little man."

Keith let the tike go. The little boy came running over to his mother and jumped into her lap. She handed the phone to him.

"Alex, do you remember what you are supposed to do when I'm not at home?"

"I'm to keep an eye on Mommy and do whatever Mommy or Mr. Jackson says, sir."

"That's my little man! Now give Mommy a kiss, and get ready to go. We don't want Uncle Perry to get mad at Mommy, do we?"

"No, SIR!" He hopped off Lois' lap and made for the door. About halfway there, he heard his Mommy clear her throat. He did an about face, ran back, kissed her, and bee-lined it out the door.

"I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thanks, Keith." She was talking to thin-air, as he had already taken off after his other charge.

Lois turned back to the phone, "So, when are you coming home?"

"I should be finished cleaning up the nuclear accident here in Japan by lunch, your time. I'll meet you at The Planet."

"I'll see you there."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
10:33am MST
Never-Neverland
Operation Backstep
+++++++++++++++++++++++

"Go ahead, Conundrum."

Frank's voice came droning out of the speaker phone, in the main conference room. "A time-traveler, by the name of Tempus, is going to nuke Washington D.C. in two days and take Superman out with it. And then, just for kicks, he will blow up nearly every major city on the face of the planet."

Talmadge looked at the phone like it bit him. "A time-traveler!" Then the true situation hit him. "Two days! Why did we wait so long to send you back?"

"You didn't. You sent me off at 12:00pm, October 9. When I hit October 6, at 6:17pm, the Sphere started to slow down. It took me nearly thirty hours to get back this far."

Olga exclaimed, "You must have been running very low on oxygen by then!"

"You ain't just whistling Dixie, Olga. By the way, Ballard, your virtual memory failsafe was what finally kicked me out of the chrono-stream. If it hadn't been for that, I'd be a corpse right now. We need to put in a panic switch which will do the same thing. I was sucking trace particles at the end. Oh, yeah. The changes you made to the guidance system worked like a charm."

"So, tweaking it in the opposite direction did the trick. It doesn't make sense to do that in the schematics, but then most of the things we try that end up working don’t make sense. Your rate of speed may be another factor. I'll see about intentionally slowing the trip down for the next back step. Do you know what caused the Sphere to slow down?"

"Haven't a clue. I figured you could get that out of the telemetry when you pick it up. It's across the street from the Metropolis Hall of Justice, in Centennial Park."

"Were there any other unusual effects, Conundrum?"

"I still seem to have my top layer of skin, and I'm not bleeding anywhere. As soon as I hit the slow lane, the pain dropped down to practically nothing."

"We should definitely see about slowing his rate of travel. It could be a key factor in allowing others to backstep, should the need arise."

"Gee, Olga, trying to get rid of me so soon?"

"I was only looking after the project's well being."

"Su-ure. Whatever you say. Where's Nate? He's being awfully quite. It's not like him. Especially considering how he feels about Superman."

Everyone turned and looked at one another. Talmadge was the first to speak, "Nate who?

"What do you mean 'Nate who?' You know, Nathan Ramsey, head of security."

"Conundrum, you know very well I've been head of security here since this project started. Really, now is not the time to play games."

"Who was that?"

"That was Jason, Jason Trask."

part 12

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
8:38am EST Metropolis
Centennial Park
+++++++++++++++++++++++

**Trask, Jason Trask.** The name was familiar and recent. Frank sifted through his storehouse of photogenic information and nailed it in moment. Jason Trask, director of the mysterious Bureau 39 and nemesis of Superman.

**What was *he* doing as Head of Security for Operation Backstep?**

Frank’s musings were interrupted by Ballard’s voice trying to get his attention on the phone.

"I’m sorry, Ballard, I was distracted, what did you say?"

"I was asking if you had noticed any other changes?"

Frank looked at the paper he was still carrying. He looked at the sub-heading and first paragraph. He looked again at the date to make sure it didn’t read April 1. It hadn’t changed. Martha Kent, adoptive mother of Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman, was the President of the United States of the Americas. "Just a moment." He quickly thumbed through the paper and became more depressed with every page. Finally, he let the paper drop to the ground, closed his eyes, and muttered a very low whoa. After a moment or two he finally spoke into the phone.

"Yeah, I would say there were some changes. I remember Bill Clinton as being the President of the United States of America, singular. Cuba was not the 61st state and definitely not a vacation resort. Jason Trask is the Director for Bureau 39. And the Soviet Union no longer existed, among other things."

Frank heard a gasp on the other end of the line that could only have come from Olga.

"Frank, can you hold for a moment?" Talmadge asked. Then the line went quite. **They put me on hold? This cannot be good.**

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
10:47am MST Never-Neverland
Operation Backstep
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Frank’s words dropped like lead weights from a hot-air balloon. Olga had let out an audible gasp. She could not grasp that Mother Russia was gone. Jason laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Talmadge looked around the table, "Well, people?"

"He could be delusional. Remember the one back step that created a socially malevolent version of him? Or the time he regressed to ten years of age? It is possible that he could be suffering from a form of delusion."

"True, Olga, but in each of those cases, he was consistent in his behavior and exhibited noticeable changes in opinion. I don’t see this in this case, but we’ve only been on the phone with him for a short time and are not able to observe him. I know Frank and I have not always seen eye to eye on things and he doesn’t respect authority very well, but I can’t see him making *up* someone to take my place, just because he doesn’t like me." Jason motioned to the guard outside the glassed in conference room. He told him to find out everything could about Bill Clinton, Nathan Ramsey and Bureau 39.

"There’s always another possibility."

Everyone turned toward Ballard.

"This may not be *our* Frank B. Parker."

"What do you mean, John?"

"You all know when Frank goes back, random chance events will change. Like a racehorse that won before the back step will lose when it races again in the new timeline." Heads bob up and down around the table. "This is my theory, what if every time Frank gets sent back, we actually get a different Frank Parker?"

Donovan had been struggling to keep up, but that statement did him in. "What?!"

"The Frank Parker that arrives is not the same one that left from the future. He is just a really close duplicate from a slightly different quantum reality."

Only Dr. Mentor seemed to grasp what Ballard was saying. "Of course! The quantum slit theory!"

Ramsey and Donovan looked at Dr. Mentor as if he had started spouting Greek. Ballard and Mentor took pity on them.

"Dr. Mentor is referring to is Hugh Everett's Many World or Branching Universe Theory. In this theory, whenever a measurement takes place, the entire universe divides as many times as there are possible out comes of the measurement. All universes are identical except for the outcome of that measurement. He reasoned that if you take the quantum slit experiment to it's natural conclusion, then, branching or parallel universes exist." Ballard hoped that this would clear things up. It didn't.

Trask and Donovan chorused a resounding, "*And?*"

Sighing, Dr. Mentor took a stab at it. "Say you have a box, and in that box is a cat. The cat is perfectly alive and well. You close the lid. You can't see the cat any more. You take a high-powered laser and fire it through the box. Is the cat alive or dead? You don't know. Not until you open the lid and look in. The question has always been; Is the cat alive or dead? You can't know for sure until you open the box. According to Everett's theory, both are true. In universe A, the cat is dead. In universe B, the cat is alive. And it's not until you open the lid do you find out what universe your in."

This time everyone around the room nodded in agreement, though some nodded slower than others.

"What John is trying to get at is that each time a random or even a planned event happens, all possible outcomes actually do happen and spawn a universe of it's own. So in one universe a horse wins. In the universe next door it doesn't. So when Frank goes back he doesn't go back into the universe where that horse win, he goes to the universe where it loses."

"So what happens to the universe where the horse wins?"

"I don't know Donovan. Either every universe gets a different Frank Parker or each time Frank goes back he leaves that universe forever and in that universe Operation Backstep finally fails. Or probably both, considering what I just said. Either way, it is essentially the same Frank Parker that we all know and love, only a random event or two is different.

"So what happened this time?"

"It's possible that the other time traveler did something to upset the quantum balance of the Backstep process. We can't even guess until we get the Sphere back and examine it."

"I agree." Talmadge took the phone off hold. "Sorry about that Frank."

"That's OK sir. I don't mind at all standing around in a prison orange suit, in the middle of a park, with people gawking at me. It's a nice change of pace from being locked up on the compound and having security gawk at me."

Donavan stifled a laugh while Jason put a hand to his mouth to cover an out of control grin.

Frank paused for a moment and asked the obvious question. "Well, does anyone have an idea why I remember different things than everyone else?"

Talmadge went over everything that Drs. Ballard and Mentor put forward.

"Oh! Schrödinger's cat!"

"Yes. Quite."

"So, you agree that I am Frank B. Parker, but not necessarily your Frank B. Parker?"

"Yes."

"And even though there are some differences, there's no reason to assume the Tempus of this quantum shade won't act any differently?"

"Yes, the mission is still a go."

**Good, I've always wanted to meet Superman.** "How soon can you get a team here to pick up the Sphere? I've been up for over thirty-six hours and if I have to deal quantum physics and temporal anomalies then I need to get some shut eye and soon."

"Frank, we can have a man there in about four hours to take over the securing of the Sphere. Then you can get some rest and go after Tempus. While you're resting we'll get you the necessary intel on everything you need to know about the players in this quantum reality. We'll send Olga with the information as soon as we get it. Contact us later where you want to meet."

"Roger that, over and out."

Frank hung up the phone and went back to the Sphere to retrieve his gym bag. Finding a nearby public restroom he changed out of his suit and put on his regular street cloths. He looked around for an outdoor café within sprinting distance of the Sphere. **Decisions. Decisions. Well, there's The Stuffed Croissant; Missy's Deli; the Komrade's Kountry Kitchen; or Casa de James? Must be really authentic Mexican food there. NOT! Einy meiny mieny moe, in to Missy's here I go.**

7 Days of Superman 13

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
8:34am EST
Metropolis
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lois Kent, Alexander Kent, Agent Keith Jackson and Agent Nancy Smith all made for a cozy fit inside the two toned, silver flamed, double sliding door, mini-van that Lois drove to work each day. Lois really missed her Jeep Cherokee, but it just wasn't spacious enough to fit a child safety seat, Agent Keith Jackson, Clark and herself at the same time. She finally relented when, during a particularly nasty car chase, Alexander was nearly trapped in the Jeep when it rolled. When she started shopping for a new vehicle, offers came out of the wood work. Five separate dealers made offers of free rentals for as long as her mother-in-law was President and as long as they were allowed to advertise that the President's grandchild was being driven in one of their vehicles. Lois turned them all down flat, in an article on ethical business practices of the local car merchants.

After weeks of shopping, Lois turned on-line, with a little help of Jimmy, and found the mini-van of her dreams. After buying it, the federal government took it, structurally reinforced it and replaced all the glass with the latest in bullet proof material. When they were done it could have withstood a side collision with a 1955 Dodge. The gas mileage was pathetic, but apparently there are certain governmental allowances for that kind of thing. It was also outfitted with the latest in communications gear and a certain amount of surveillance equipment. It was the police ban radio that came in handy this morning.

{Alpha Mike Echo Tango 12 this is Base reporting in. A large blue sphere has appeared in Centennial Park. Can you confirm? The closest ground units are 15 minutes away due to two traffic snarls downtown. A Metro bus and a UPS truck decided to rumba in the middle of the intersection at Main and Savage and a water main broke at Swiss and Johnson. Reports of sever casualties at both locations. Big Blue is still in Japan so we can’t count on any super-help today. This could take a while. Over}

Air Met 12’s response was lost in controlled chaos that erupted in the mini-van. Keith saw the ‘breaking-news’ look in Lois’ eyes and knew there was going to be a change of plans. Picking up his lapel mike he started barking orders before Lois even had a chance to open her mouth.

"Eagle II, this is Eagle I. There may be a compass breaking in Centennial Park. Femme Volcanal would like to check it out. We will drop off Mother’s Helper and Lex-a-Chu at the next convenient corner. Please pick them up and deliver them to their final destination. Over"

"Roger that, Number One. ETA to pickup is 30 seconds after drop off. Eagle II out."

"Roger that, Eagle II. Eagle III, please be at the ready by Centennial Fountain. Look out for heavy traffic at Main and Savage and Swiss and Johnson."

"Roger that, Number One. Eagle III out."

A groan could be heard from the backseat. Keith turned around and gave a questioning look at Agent Smith, even though he knew exactly what she was going to say. She had been with his detail for only a month and was quickly being disillusioned.

"Yes, Agent Smith?"

"Sir, I’m sorry but I thought when I joined the Secret Service that I would be…well…you know." She gave a sideways look Alexander. She didn’t want to say anything in front of her three year old charge sitting next to her. Especially since he obviously had a crush on her.

"Agent Smith, there are many aspects of our job that are neither glamorous or thrilling, but it has been a quiet month."

Lois swatted Keith in the arm.

"Hey! I’m only telling it like it is. She’ll learn soon enough."

"I think she resents her moniker more than anything else."

"Exactly! Can’t we find a better name than Mother’s Helper?" lamented Agent Smith.

Keith thought for a moment and a wicked gleam graced his eye and a matching grin creeped up on his face.

"Okay, since you do not like your humble leader’s naming conventions we will ask another member of the team to give you a name. What ever name they suggest, you have to keep. Agreed?"

"Agreed!"

"Alex, what name would you give Agent Smith."

Alexander was amazed that it would be him to name the beautiful Agent Nan Smith. Nan was flabbergasted and started hoping for something better than ‘pretty woman’ from the three year old. Lois was having a hard time containing her laughter. She started to change lanes to get ready to stop.

"You better hurry, sweetheart. I will be letting you and Agent Smith out soon."

"I’m thinking." And he was. He had his tongue stuck out to one side. After several moments the tongue went back in and he turned to Agent Smith. The adoration in his eyes spoke of the deep and heartfelt crush the little boy had on her. His voice had a dreamy quality to it when he spoke.

"Nanny. It has your real name in it and it is a real word."

"But…but…"

"Nanny it is." Keith activated his lapel mike. "All units Mother’s Helper is now know as Nanny, out."

"Roger that."

Agent Smith groaned. Keith smiled.

Part: 14

++++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
9:03am EST
Metropolis
Centennial Park
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lois and Keith pulled up on the shady side of the park and walked across the grassy fairways toward the big blue ball. Long before Keith could make it out, Lois was already examining it. She started to increase her pace.

Keith was running just to keep up with her, "Mrs. Kent. Mrs. Kent. LOIS!" This finally got her attention. Keith slowed to catch his breath.

"What?!" Lois' ire was up until she saw Keith huffing and puffing. She quickly came to his side and nearly knocked him over. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him upright with ease. "Keith, are you alright?"

"Am *I* alright?! What's up with you? You were doing a fair imitation of the Bionic Woman back there." Keith dropped his voice, "Has something happened to your 'talents?'"

Talents. That was Keith's term for Lois' acquired ‘abilities.’ A couple of months after Lois and Clark had married, Lois started to notice that she was…changing. She had more energy and could get things done faster. She hadn’t come down with anything in weeks, either. It was the day that she got a nasty paper cut that they knew something was up. It had happened early in the day and by bedtime that night it was completely healed. The next day they talked to Dr. Klein and he ran several hours worth of tests. His conclusions startled them. She was pregnant and she was becoming Kryptonian.

@@@@@@@@@
Late 1994
Metropolis
Star Labs
@@@@@@@@@

"Apparently, your body is trying to accommodate the child growing in you. It wouldn’t gestate in a wholly human body, so Clark’s Kryptonian DNA is causing recombinant biofeedback, effectively restructuring your body into a more habitable host."

Lois and Clark both had a deer-in-the-headlights look about them. Lois shook her head asked, "Could you say that in English, Bernie? We thought you said that we couldn’t have children."

"I didn’t take into consideration the possibility of genetic re-sequencing. I mean, I didn’t think about Clark’s Kryptonian DNA enforcing its needs upon your body. Actually, you’re quite lucky."

"How so?"

"Clark could have been a water breather. You could’ve ended up with gills!"

Clark gave Dr. Klein a withering look. "So, you’re telling us that my Kryptonian DNA is causing Lois’ body to become genetically Kryptonian."

"Yes."

"This isn’t a bad thing honey." Lois turned to Dr. Klein, "It’s not, is it?"

"How should *I* know?! This is all virgin territory to me! All we can do is watch and wait. Lois, I want you in here at least once a week to keep track of any ‘changes.’ I also want you to keep a journal of everything out of the ordinary."

Lois snorted at that. "Bernie, I'm married to Superman! And I am an investigative reporter! Every day is out of the ordinary!"

"I think he means in relation to your body, sweetheart."

"Oh. Ok. But once a week! How am I to get any work done? I can’t afford to spend several hours a week being put through torture!"

"Lois, you misunderstand. The tests I have in mind will take less than an hour to run. Most of it will be just testing your reflexes and the occasional blood and urine samples."

"I knew it! You’re going to turn me into a pin cushion! I…" Lois never got a chance to finish the thought. Clark had grabbed her, picked her up and swung her around in several circles, all the while kissing her with such passion that by the time they separated she was breathless. Star Labs and Dr. Klein melted into the background. There was only his eyes looking deeply into hers. She looked up into them and saw adoration and awe just pouring out of them. When he spoke, it was in a gentle whisper.

"We’re going to have a baby. A little piece of you and a little piece of me. What a miracle!" There was a tear in his eye as he said these things. Lois was moved to tears herself. She never thought she could make him this happy. Tearing herself from his face, she turned to Dr. Klein.

"I will be here for those tests."

~*~

In the months that followed, they found out a couple of things. One, Kryptonian pregnancies take a lot longer than Human ones, to the tune of ninety weeks. The other is that the genetic alterations seemed to level out at the beginning of the third trimester. Lois was on par with Olympic athletes her size and half her age. She could hear and see farther than normal, but nowhere near as well as Clark.

According to Dr. Klein, Lois’ ‘condition’ was permanent. She would always be partially Kryptonian. He even speculated that it could even advance if she were to have another child. Lois had blanched at the thought of another ninety week stint. But as Clark held her as she held the tiny blue bundle of joy, she secretly hoped to have another child someday.

@@@@@@@@@
The Present
@@@@@@@@@

"If my ‘talents’ have changed I can only think of one thing that could cause it."

Keith waited a moment until he realized that she was not going to continue. "And that is…?"

Lois startled out of her reverie, and looked straight into Keith’s eyes, "I rather keep that to myself until Clark gets here. Come on, let’s go look at that blue thingy."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
9:07am EST
Metropolis
Centennial Park
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Centennial Park. For all that one could do there, the Old Fountain was the favorite place of all ages. Young children usually tossed their first wishing coins in it. Older children splashed the water at each other on hot summer days. Teens found it a convenient meeting/starting off point for the evenings escapades. Lovers found it terribly romantic and the elderly fondly remember days gone by. One could get the impression that the Old Fountain was always available for those that needed it. Today was no different than any other. Or so it seemed. Today, it seemed like a meeting place for suits with sunglasses.

Frank sat outside Missy's and kept one eye on the Sphere. He marveled at the lack of attention it appeared to be getting. "You'd think objects popped out of thin air on a regular basis here." Frank smirked, "What do you think?" he asked of his not-so-happy reakfast 'companion.'

The young twenty-something just sat there brooding for a moment. "It could have something to do with you pulling a gun on me and removing the film from my camera! Mr. White will not be happy about that!"

"I am sure he will get over it." Frank grinned and turned his attention back to the Sphere. His 'friend' tried to quietly get up. He didn't get very far.

Frank reaffirmed the presence of his firearm under the table with a light tap, "Don't even think about it."

"As if you'd really shoot me if I did. Even I know that the NSA has protocols to follow in 'detaining a potential mission risk.'"

Frank raised his eyebrows in a question.

"My father's in the 'business.'"

Frank responded rather lack-luster, "Really."

The photographer sat back down, crossed his arms and, contemplated his now out-of-film camera. When Frank turned his back again, he subtly pressed a combination of buttons on his watch. **Come on, be listening.**

Frank noticed movement near the Sphere. From this distance it looked like a young woman in her early thirties and an African American looking all the world like a Secret Service agent. **Must be Lois Lane-Kent.** "Come on, junior. Time to go meet the rest of the gang."

Part 15

A sound that rivaled the worst feedback possible started to invade Lois’ head. It was so distracting that she barely heard Keith talking to her.

"Lois, we have company. And he's got Jimmy with him." Keith spoke into his lapel mike and had the others standing by. He noticed Lois’ pained expression and gave her a questioning look.

"You can’t hear that horrid sound? It’s nearly deafening and it’s getting worse."

Shaking his head, he looked around and realized, "Jimmy’s signal watch. That must be it. Don’t worry, they're almost here." As Frank and Jimmy approached, Keith caught the attention of the young man and tapped his own watch. Jimmy nodded slowly. Keith responded by shaking his head and then indicating Lois with a tilt of the chin.

Frank, thought for a second that he was in a baseball game, and that he was about ready to get struck out. His hand started to go for his gun as he saw Jimmy move his hands. "Keep your hands where I can see them."

"Oh for goodness-sakes! He's just turning off the signal watch to keep me from going deaf."

"I don't hear anything."

"Well, trust me, I can." Lois winced in pain and grabbed both of her ears.

"Okay, junior, but no funny stuff."

Finally, Jimmy played with his watch and Lois visibly relaxed.

"Gee, Lois, when did you start hearing things at the ultra sonic level."

"Just now, apparently. Jimmy, are you going to introduce your friend or leave us in suspence."

"*He* is *no* friend of *mine*."

"I am agent Frank B. Parker and I am with the NSA. I need a moment of your time Ms. Lane."

Lois took a long look at Mr. Parker. **Something vaguely familiar about that face.** She extended her hand to him, "It’s Mrs. Kent and anything you have to say to me can be said in front of Agent Jackson and Mr. Olsen."

Jimmy got a smug look on his face.

"What I have to say is of a ‘sensitive’ nature 'Mrs. Kent' and a matter of national security. Since I’m new to the area, I don’t know who I can trust and who I can’t."

Indicating Jimmy Lois said, "Mr. Olsen here has been a friend of ours for the last eight years and is the God-father of our son. Agent Jackson has been our primary Secret Service man since Clark's mother became President of the Americas three years ago. As you well know, they find out a lot more than the public ever find's out…"

"You got that right."

Lois gave him an annoyed look, then continued, "…so you can take my word that anything you have to say to me you can say in front of them."

"If you insist. First, we believe a man by the name of Tempus is going…" Frank never got a chance to finish his words.

"*Tempus*! That no good, ego-centric, psychopath. I can think of no one in this world that I hate more than him."

"What about Lex Luthor?"

"Who?"

**This quantum shade is *so* different.** Shaking his head, Frank continued, "Maybe later. Let's get back to Tempus. In two days we think he is going to nuke Washington D.C. and effectively re-decorate the East Coast in early fallout. Second, he plans to expose your husband, Clark Kent, as Superman." This time Frank waited for the reaction. He wasn't disappointed.

"Expose my husband as Superman! That is the most preposterous thing I heard of!" Lois and Jimmy both started laughing and Keith managed to suppress a grin.

"He has quite good evidence to back it up." This got even more laughs. Frank was now very perplexed.

"I'm sure he does. All he has to do is play the speech Clark made shortly after Martha's inauguration. After discussing it with those that knew, he felt the time was right. We would have protection the rest of our lives due to Martha’s political position. That and with the ever increasing scrutiny of some 'reporters,' keeping a dual identity was going to become next to impossible. So, he announced to the whole world that he was Superman. Where have you been hiding?"

Frank sighed, "This is just great. I'm supposed to keep this big secret and everyone knows." **Wait a minute. If I didn't know and my counter-part in this universe did know, and we possibly switched places…I hope he finds out that Martha Kent is not the President before he opens his big mouth.** Taking a deep breath, Frank muttered under his breath. "I knew something like this was going to happen. This has got to be the worst Backstep…"

Lois, however, over heard what he said. "Mr. Parker, you are not making any sense. Why is Clark’s Superman identity a big secret? And what is a 'Backstep?'"

He shook his head, as if to clear it. "I'll get to that in a moment. Let me finish. Third, he plans to kill you, Mrs. Kent, and your super child, which doesn't…"

"Alex! Oh, no!" Lois looked like she was going to bolt straight to the Daily Planet, but paused as she remembered that Agent Smith was with her son.

Frank threw up his hands in frustration.

Keith started to marshal his resources. "Nanny, CODE RED! I repeat, CODE RED! One-Sick-Puppy is on the loose. His target is Lex-a-chu. Eagle III split into two teams, Chocolate, Mousse, go back up Nanny. Éclair, Long-John, meet up with us." Keith turned toward Frank, all business. Even though Keith scrapped the bottom of the height requirement necessary for field work, he could be a fairly intimidating individual when he needed to be. This was the Keith Jackson that faced Frank Parker now.

"Mr. Parker, I suggest that you tell us *everything* you know and make it quick."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. Okay from the top…"

part 16

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
12:30pm EST
Metropolis
Daily Planet, Conference Room
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Clark paced back and forth across the conference room floor, trying to grasp everything he had been told. "So, let me get this straight. An agent, from the *time-traveling branch* of the NSA, has come back in time two days to inform us of a *possible* plot by Tempus to kill me, blow up Washington, kill both you and our *child,* and cause the *unsubstantiated* destruction of every major city across the globe?"

Lois nodded enthusiastically. "Yep."

"And the reason he is not one hundred percent certain is because he’s actually from a parallel universe that is a quantum shade of our universe, where Mom is not the President, most of the planet doesn’t know the Secret, and our counter-parts have an adopted son named Ivan."

"Yep."

"And said agent is sleeping in our guest bedroom?" he asked Keith.

"Yes, sir. It seemed prudent at the time. Mr. Parker was exhausted and, at my suggestion, Lois offered him the guest bedroom. That will allow us to get started as soon as he gets up and keep an eye on him."

Clark sat down and put his hands over his face and rubbed really hard. "All I wanted was a normal life. At least he’s not from Carla Kent’s and Lewis Lane’s universe." After a couple of moments Clark looked up and put on a weary smiled. "I guess when you’re Superman, you have to take the weird and unusual as normal. What do we know about Mr. Parker?"

Keith handed Clark a dossier. Clark glanced through it at super speed.

"Sounds like a real man’s man. Photographic memory. A Navy SEAL. CIA Spec Ops Division. Decorated for valor in Desert Hammer. Captured and tortured in Somalia. Oh, this is nice. ‘Was remanded to the Division of Mental Services in South Carolina after experiencing violent paranoid tendencies.’ Is this true of this Frank Parker?"

"I didn’t have the information before Mr. Parker started his ‘siesta.’ I plan to ask him later."

"Do we have a picture of him?"

Keith looked back on the table and picked up a picture. "Sorry, sir. It must have slipped out earlier."

"That’s alright, Keith. Let’s have a look." The second Clark saw the picture, he took a deep breath.

Lois moved quickly around to Clark’s side. "We thought that Frank looked familiar. Do you recognize him?"

"Yes, he looks like a younger version of Fred Carper."

"That’s the same conclusion we came to. We’ve tried to get a hold of the Carpers earlier but the farm hand said that they were out of town on business and wouldn’t be back until the sixth."

"And according to Mr. Parker, that will be too late."

Lois got a frustrated look on her face. She hated to have her goals blocked. "Right."

Clark tried to cheer his life-mate’s mind, "Maybe there will be time to visit them on the morning of the sixth."

Lois smiled at her husband’s attempt to make her feel better. But, somehow, she doubted that that would happen. "Considering our ‘guest,’ should I reschedule our dinner with Lex?"

"You can’t do that ma’am. He’s leaving on that trip that he’s been planning since ‘forever,’ remember?"

"Oh, you’re right. Sorry. Must be getting forgetful in my old age."

Clark flashed a smile at Lois, "Now you know very well that your cells have started to ‘slow and stabilize’ like mine since we’ve been married. ‘Old age’ shouldn’t be a bother to you until you are at least in your hundreds!"

Lois smiled a genuinely sincere smile back at him. "Thank goodness! I’m glad we are getting a chance to see Lex before he takes off. You and Lex have been friends since childhood and this will be our last chance to see him for a long time, honey." And with that she gave Clark a not-so-innocent kiss on the cheek.

Keith cleared his throat. Not that he didn’t enjoy the love that the two shared, but sometimes they did forget the more pressing issues when they got that *look* in their eyes.

"You know, Keith? Sometimes you’re as bad as Jimmy."

Keith didn’t even try to suppress the grin on his face, "I try, sir. What shall we do about Mr. Parker?"

"As the First Gentleman of the land is fond of saying, ‘If he gets up before we eat, fine. If he doesn’t, there’s more for the rest of us.’ I figure we’ll just let him sleep until he wakes up."

"Sounds like a plan, sir."

Lois, Clark, and Keith went their separate ways: Lois and Clark to their respective desks and Keith to check up on Agent Smith.

~*~

Lois looked over at Clark, **Do I tell him what I suspect or wait until I have a chance to talk to Dr. Klein? If I am pregnant, then I’m probably in my second month, which leaves another twenty months to go.** She sighed, **Oh, I don’t know if I am up to this again. Alexander has been such a precious jewel to us and he has always wanted a little brother or sister, but Kryptonian pregnancies are so long! What am I thinking, if I am pregnant, of course I will carry the baby to term. And it will be easier this time, now that the world knows that Clark is Superman. No hiding in frumpy clothes, no lying to my mother, and no covert missions to Star Labs. Martha and Jonathan will be so happy, as will Clark.**

She picked up the phone and dialed Dr. Klein’s personal line.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
6:30pm EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Alexander breathlessly dashed from the den and looked wildly about. "Mr. Jackson! Ms. Smith! Save me! Save me!"

A dark and ominous voice emanated from the darkened recesses of the den, "Mr. Jackson can’t save you, my little rug rat. I banished him to another space/time continuum! As for Ms. Smith, let’s just say she’s sleeping an eternal sleep. First, I’m going to get you, then your Mom!"

Just then the door bell rang. Alexander ran to the door and flung it open. Standing before him was a man in his early thirties. He sported jet black hair and chocolate brown eyes, which hid behind a platinum blue pair of glasses. He was attired in blue jeans, an earth tone plaid shirt and a denim jacket. You could barely see the braces attached to his cowboy boots. The only things that gave away his disability was the cuffed crutches he leaned upon.

"Uncle Lex! Save me! Save me!" Alexander ran behind the legs of his savior.

Bracing himself on one crutch, Lex lifted his other to warn off the pursuer. "Thou shall not lay a hand on this handsome young lad. He is under the protection of Super Lex!"

Brought up short by the blunt end of a crutch, the villain stood and pondered his predicament. Raising his hands in defeat, he finally spoke, "You win this time, Super Lex, but the boy *will* get the tickling that he deserves." Breaking out in a huge grin, Clark welcomed his longtime friend, Lex, into the house. Alex kept his ‘uncle’ between him and his Dad. Clark playfully growled at his son which caused Alex to run shrieking toward the kitchen, where his Mom was.

"I’m glad you're here, Lex. How’s your mom?"

Just then Lois walked out the kitchen and flashed both men with a big smile. Lex looked at her grinned, "She’s doing fine, Clark. Just fine.

"You, Lois, look absolutely stunning."

Lois blushed, "Flatter1 I was hoping that your mother would have come tonight. I was hoping to finally meet her. From the way you describe her, I’m sure we’d have lots to talk about."

Lex shook his head, "You know Mom. I can never get her to stay in any spot for very long. Even now, in her sixties, she’s investigating an orphanage scandal in Moscow. I will send her your regards, as always."

Lois and Clark both nodded. Lola Ellison had been a free-lance reporter for the last two decades, though most of her stories were sent to the Daily Planet. They figured that someday she would blow into town and surprise them all.

"So, tell us about this trip you’ve been planning for so long. You've been so secretive with the details."

"We-ell, if you *must* know…"

Part 17

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
8:28pm EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

"…and then I hobbled away without anyone being the wiser!"

"Yeah, and I got blamed for it! I had to spend all the next Saturday painting the barn, cleaning out the hayloft, and shoveling out the cow pens!" whined the Man of Steel.

Lex was having a hard time keeping from laughing, "I know, haha… you wouldn’t speak to me for nearly a month!"

"Only after your mother made you ‘fess up! And she let you off so easy!"

"Oh, I don’t know about that. You try cleaning the kitchen floor with a toothbrush, on just your elbows and hands!"

Lois was laughing so hard that she could barely get her words out, "But how did your Mother know? I mean it staggers the imagination that you were able to do what you did, what with you being handicapped and all! I…"

//CHIRRRRP\\

Lois stopped talking and jerked her head up in the direction of the sound. Clark heard it too, but was surprised by Lois’ reaction.

"You heard that?"

Lois put on her best ‘innocent’ face. "Heard what?"

"A cell phone, ringing, upstairs." Clark stared at his wife across the table. Just then Alex started to walk down stairs, his eyes heavy with sleep.

"There’s a very loud cricket phone in the guest room, and it woke me up."

**Saved by the child.** Lois immediately got up and gathered her son in her arms, like he weighed nothing. "Shh. It’s alright. Mommy and *Daddy* will take care of it." Lois gave Clark a glance that pointed him to the guest bedroom. She started to take Alex back to bed.

Clark checked the room with his hearing and could hear that Frank was stirring. "It sounds like Mr. Parker is finally waking up."

Lex paled slightly and started to get up, "I…um…need to go."

Lois and Clark both stopped and looked at their friend. "But you just got here. Surely, you can stay for a little longer?"

"NO. I mean, I have a lot of packing left to do." Lex quickly retrieved his jacket and hastily put it on. He knew he shouldn’t, but he looked back anyway. His eyes settled on Lois and Alex. He slowly walked back over to the two. It looked like there were tears forming in his eyes. He avoided Lois’ eyes completely and focused on Alex. "You take good care of your Mom when your Dad is not around. Okay?"

"Yes, sir, Uncle Lex."

"Will you do me a favor? Will you run up the stairs to your room for me one more time, for old times sake?"

"Sure." Alex wiggled out of he Mother’s arms and dashed up the stairs. He moved a little faster than was normal for a child his age, but then again he was Superman’s son. Alex waved at his ‘uncle,’ "Goo’ night. Uncle Lex!"

Leaning on one crutch, Lex waved back, "Good-bye, Alexander Kent."

Lex looked wistfully at the boy, **Run, Alexander. Run while you can.** He turned back to Clark, "I’ll try to get a hold of you real soon."

"You take care now."

"Give my best to Grams, and tell her that even with this ‘nude pose’ crap that her opponents have dragged up, I am sure that she will win, hands down."

Clark just shook his head, "I know she did it, but that was *long* before she even ran for mayor of Smallville. And it was a gift for Dad, for goodness sakes!"

"They’ll use anything they can get their hands on. You tell her to be careful."

"And don’t you forget to put the heavy duty grips on the bottom of your crutches. I wouldn’t want you to fall overboard."

"You’re just like my Mom, Lois. Don’t worry. There’s little danger of that happening where I’m going to go."

The doorknob to the guest bedroom started to turn. Lex increased his speed to the door and waved a final farewell.

Frank leaned over the balcony and stared at the closing front door, "Who was that?"

"An old friend. I’m afraid we haven’t had the chance to meet, yet, Mr. Parker. I’m Clark Kent. Did you sleep well?"

"Like the dead. I hope I didn’t snore."

Clark looked at his wife, "I didn’t hear a thing. Did you?"

Lois realized that Clark had not been distracted by any of what just went on. "Well, if you didn’t hear anything, I sure didn’t."

"Great, does everybody in this family talk in circles?"

Clark grinned at the man, "Actually it’s much worse than this at times."

**Might as well jump into the fire.** "So, who was on the phone?"

"How did you…?"

Lois pointed to her head, "Really sharp ears."

Shaking his head, Frank felt that there was more going on here than met the eye. "That was my partner, Dr. Olga Vukavitch. She’s stuck at Lambert Field, in St. Louis. All air traffic is on hold until a severe weather front moves through. Her flight will be delayed for at least an hour or two, Which means that she won’t be getting here for another five to six hours. She’s bringing me some supplementary ‘historical’ data related to this back step."

"Why don’t I just go pick her up? Call her back, and tell her that I will meet her by the baggage pickup. I’ll take an extra raincoat with me."

Frank pulled out his cell phone and made the call, explaining the situation to Olga and gave Clark her general description, and where to meet her.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
7:56pm CST
St. Louis
Lambert Field
+++++++++++++++++++++++

An un-familiar whoosh-thud sounded under the overhang on the top level. Quickly making his way down the stairs to the baggage claim area, he approached the M-15 area. Looking for a medium built, reddish blonde woman carrying a black briefcase was next to impossible to find in the glut of people milling about looking for something to do while the airport was shut down. He, in the Suit, was easy to find. He felt a light tapping on his shoulder. He turned around and received the shock of his life.

"Mrs. Carper!"

Part 18

Olga looked over her shoulder, expecting to find someone standing behind her. Finding no one looking directly at the super-hero, she assumed he was addressing her. She corrected him, "Actually, I am Dr. Olga Vukavitch. Do you prefer Mr. Kent or Superman?"

Superman looked at her intently. **It must be the eyes. The hair is different, and the face is not aged, but the resemblance to Mrs. Carper's eyes is remarkable. Just like Frank Parker resembles Mr. Carper.** Clark just realized that she had asked him a question. "While I am in the Suit, I prefer Superman. I do like to try and keep the two aspects of my life separate."

"Understood. Shall we?"

He offered her the raingear, which she immediately donned. Then they were off.

~*~

Their departure was accompanied by the oohs and ahhs of the terminal-bound people. But among them was one that knew the significant bench mark this was in the order of things. At the top of the handicap ramp, a pair of aged eyes watched the take-off. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed. It rang only once. The voice on the other end was ragged and anxious.

"Well?"

Only a trace of her mother tongue remained, "Everything is happening as it did. The airport should be opening soon and I should be there by morning. We will meet with Mr. Andrews at the farm in the afternoon. And then we have to hope that Superman survives and finds us."

"I wish we could warn them ahead of time. I wish we could spare Lois, Keith, and Alexander."

"I always knew you were a softy, Mr. Carper, even back then. I wish it could be different, but you remember what happened when we tried to make a change, we nearly lost Lola. We have to let this happen as it did. If Mr. Kent survives, then we can decide on the next course of action, with his help." Trying to bring some humor back into her voice she said, "I will see you in the morning, Mr. Carper."

You could almost hear the grin on the other end of the line, "I look forward to seeing you too, Mrs. Carper."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
8:51pm EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Frank made his way down the stairs to the first floor. He meandered around their living room while she attended to Alexander.

**Ni-ice. Very nice. Reporters must make more than chrononauts.** Frank walked over to the mantel and looked at all the pictures on it. There were pictures of the President and the First Gentleman, both with clothing on, Frank noted with a chuckle. One of a man leaning on a crunch, holding a infant. The back of the picture indicated that it was Alexander’s namesake that was holding him.

One in particular caught his attention. It was a picture of a man and woman standing in front of a little house with a white picket fence. The back of the picture simple said, ‘The Carper’s in front of their new home - Sept. 1980.’ The thing that drew his attention was the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Carper looked very familiar, especially the Misses. Just as he was about to take a good look at it, he was attacked from behind.

The assailant was merciless. Frank was quickly brought to his knees, as his attacker had hit him square in the hamstrings. Rolling over, Frank grabbed his foe and wrestled with him on the floor. Frank tried valiantly to keep the perpetrator from his throat, but in the end was not able to withstand the dogged determination of his assailant. Lois walked in at this point and tried to save Frank.

"Mickey! Bad dog! Bad dog! Come here this instant!"

Mickey hastily stopped licking Frank’s face and hid behind the chair next to Lois. Lois extended her hand and yanked Frank to his feet.

"Whoa! You got a pretty strong arm there, Mrs. Kent."

"It comes from arm wrestling Clark for the remote."

Frank just grinned, "So how long do you think it will take him to get to Saint Louis and back?"

Lois looked at her watch, "He’s already been there and is on the way back by now. I would estimate his arrival in about fifteen minutes. Much faster than that and Dr. Vukavitch would have more than wind whipped hair."

"I see."

"Is there anything I can get for you? Coffee, tea, orange juice?"

"How about some bacon and eggs?"

"You either don’t know about my cooking, or you’re a very brave man."

"How about a Pop-tart?"

Part 19

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
9:45pm EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

//Whoosh-thud\\

Frank had been pacing the floor, waiting for the return of Superman and Olga. Frank was not a jealous man. He just cared deeply for Olga and didn’t want anything to happen to her, even if this wasn’t the same Olga that he had grown to respect and admire. He was still marveling at the fact that every time he had backstepped, he had come back to a different Olga. They weren't really all that different. According to Ballard, when he slipped a quantum cog, he was going to a universe that was essentially identical in every way. Only minor things had changed. So, in effect, he had already fallen for at least a dozen different quantum-shades of the same woman, who were, in reality, identical. And he had worried about each of them the same. So this one would be no different. He could just envision the Tempus of this parallel universe doing something completely different, and placing her life in jeopardy. He would never forgive himself if any thing happened to any of her. This one was just as important to him as the last one was. He was so deep in thought that he missed completely the sound of their arrival.

Lois clued him in that they were here. Olga had a thrilled and exhilarated look about her.

"Finally!" Taking Olga to one side, he started asking her questions, "Are you alright? What happened? What took so long?" **Why do you look so happy?** That last thought made him look daggers at the Kryptonian.

Whatever bubble Olga had been riding on burst under Frank’s interrogation, "MISTER PARKER! I am quite alright, thank you. As to what happened, it was marvelous, wonderful. It was, was…I should let *Superman* explain." She looked at Superman will admiration in her eyes.

Lois saw that look in Dr. Vukavitch’s eyes. Hero-worship. Pure, unadulterated hero-worship. She knew that there was no harm in it, usually, but it still caught her unassuming husband off-guard.

Clark had just finished spinning into his civilian clothes when all eyes settled on him. He never really liked being in the limelight, whether in front of three or three hundred. "The flood waters from a nearby river had washed out a section of road near Terra Haute, Indiana. A bus carrying wrestling team stopped before running off the edge, but didn’t have time to back out before the waters had washed out the section behind them as well. I put Dr. Vukavitch in the bus and carried them into town. I spent about five to ten minutes phoning in the story to the Tribune-Star. Nobody was hurt--only shook up a little."

"It was marvelous! I never knew flying could be so, so…wonderful! And the picking up the bus! Such gentleness. You are a very lucky woman, Mrs. Kent."

Lois gently, but possessively, grabbed Clark’s arm and leaned on his shoulder. He looked into her eyes as she looked into his. "Yes, I am."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
10:00pm EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

It was going to be an early morning, so Olga took the next shift in the guest bedroom. She had been up all day and flying for a good portion of it. Even though the flight and rescue with Superman had been exhilarating, she finally was coming off the adrenaline high and was ready to sleep. Keith came over to stay in the house while Clark left on patrol. Lois went to bed soon after. Even a Supermom needed to get her rest. That left Keith and Frank to be the only watchers in the house. Keith went about checking alarms, sensors, and secret stashes of ‘protective items.’ Frank set about reading everything that Olga had brought him. Research had been kind enough to give a brief summary of the Historical highlights of the Americas, going back several centuries. He skimmed, for the most part. What Frank was really interested in was the profiles on the Operation Backstep staff and the members of the Kent household.

Nathan Ramsey and his brother were both arrested twenty-five years ago for attacks on the Soviet embassy in New York. They were both model inmates, but each year they were denied parole because they were unrepentant of their crimes. They had been members of the McCarthy Loyalist from the outset. **Goes to show that some people never change.**

Jason Josiah Trask was the valedictorian for the Harvard's Class of 64. His only sister was married to a lawyer in Vermont. **Which is different from my universe. Our Jason's sister disappeared in 1968, apparently abducted by aliens, which was why he was out for Superman's scalp.** He was twice decorated as an operative for the FBI and was head operative for ten years running. He quit the FBI to become Head of Security of Operation Backstep. He'd saved several of the Backstep members a number of times. **What's this? A personal note from Trask.**

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Frank,

I know you don't know me, but I knew your counterpart well. He and I have not always seen eye to eye on things. In fact, I have rarely ever met anyone so obstinate or pigheaded. He was also compassionate and caring. He knew the meaning of teamwork and loyalty.

If you are even half the man that he was, we should count ourselves fortune to have you on board. If we never get you back to your own universe I hope that I can put behind me the differences that he and I had and give you the benefit of a doubt.

Sincerely, Jason Trask

P.S. If you tell anyone I wrote this, I will throw you in the holding cell faster than you can say conundrum.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Frank chuckled and quietly tossed the paper into the fireplace. It quickly went up in flames. Frank shook his head with a grin on his face. **Well, this Jason seems to be an alright guy. Though he won't be as much fun as Ramsey.**

Frank continued his reading. The rest of the team seemed consistent to his universe. Except for himself. **I was never decorated for valor in Desert Hammer, which sounds like our Desert Storm. During that time I was involved in a covert mission in the old Soviet Union. Other than that, this world's Frank Parker and I could be the same man. Now, what's going on with the Kents?**

This world’s Superman didn’t debut until January of ’94, just before the Nightfall Asteroid was due to crash into the Earth. Clark Kent’s accomplishments, besides being Superman, were quite impressive. He has won several Kerths and was jointly awarded a Pulitzer with his partner and wife, Lois Kent, on the fall of Intergang (which, thanks to Superman, they had a very large hand in.) They where married on October 6, 1994. In July of '96, Alexander Arthur Kent, named after close friend, Alexander ‘Lex’ King Ellison, was born. Later, when Clark revealed that he was Superman, it also came out that Lois' pregnancy was ninety weeks long. Frank let out a low whistle. **No wonder Superman's tough! It takes longer for Kryptonians to be put together than an elephant.**

President Martha Kent was elected in a landslide victory in 1996, after a hasty re-vote when President John Doe/Tempus was arrested and imprisoned for murder and a variety of other things. She had been Senator of Kansas for two terms and Mayor of Smallville for five years. Her running mate was Dan Quayle. She showed a remarkable ability to bring order and peace to almost any situation. She was much loved and respected.

As was her husband. The First Gentleman, Jonathan Kent, was known the world over for cutting to the heart of any matter and fairness. He was as sought after as the President to help settle disputes, both domestic and foreign. Most of the social programs initiated during his wife's presidency were at his request.

John Doe/Tempus was an enigma. He popped up out of nowhere and took the country by storm. He actually became President for a whole week before it was found out that he was controlling the nation with futuristic technology. Shortly after his arrest, he disappeared. According to his cellmates a man from the future came and got him. The time-traveling aspect of the man was kept from the public eye.

Bureau 39 was a department of the FBI at one time, created to support the Air Force’s Project Blue Book. When Blue Book was shut down in the late ‘70s, Bureau 39 was disbanded. Until Superman showed up. It was then reopened until, after he defeated Lord Nor of the New Kryptonians in hand-to-hand combat, it reached the conclusion that Superman posed no threat to national security.

**Funny, no mention of Lex Luthor. That could very well be the reason that Superman showed up later in this universe.**

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday, October 4, 1999
11:33pm EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Keith finished his inspection of the house and sat down across the man from another future. Since Frank was totally absorbed in what he was reading, Keith used this as an opportunity to study the man. He saw before him a man that looked older than his years. Of course, that could be due to the fact that he had repeated gone back in time and so had actually lived more days than the rest of humanity. But the number of missions would not explain the haunted look that crossed Frank's face every once in a while. **What must it be like to see your comrades and sometimes your whole world die in front of you, knowing that you are the one that has the power to bring them back? How many times has he snatched a soul from the very hands of God, as if to say, 'Not yet. Let them have another chance,' and God has graciously allowed it to happen?** Frank had a responsibility that Keith would never want to have. To him, Frank and Clark had that in common. Both had saved the world countless times. The only difference was that Clark got the accolades for his actions and Frank only received the thanks of a handful. Clark did it because that's who he was. Why did Frank do it? Because he was ordered to? Or because he knew it was the right thing to do? Perhaps, both.

Which then was the greater hero?

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
12:07am EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Frank finally put down the papers and folders. He leaned back his head and closed his eyes. A low moan passed through his lips.

"Can I get you something, Mr. Parker? Cup of coffee?"

"A beer would be nice."

"No can do. No alcohol like that in the house. The best I could produce would be a glass of wine."

"That's right, Lois' mom is an alcoholic. I am surprised that they have wine."

"There are just some dishes that *have* to be served with wine, according to Mr. Kent."

"I would have to agree. Okay, how about a glass of white. I'm not too picky about type and year."

"Can do." Keith disappeared for about five minutes and came back with a single fluted wine glass.

Frank took a sip and nodded appreciatively. "Very good."

"It was a present from the French President when Superman saved his life from an assassins bullet while he was visiting our fair city. It was a very fine wine from his personal stock."

"Nice." Frank got thoughtful and finally decided to broach a subject that had tickled at his mind since first meeting Keith, "So, what is it like being Superman's body guard? I figure it would be a smooth assignment."

"I *wish!* Technically, I am Lois' bodyguard. Agent Smith is Alexander's. If Clark had to go off and be Superman I take over protecting Lois. If Lois takes off with him, I help out watching Alexander. It works out quite nicely most of the time, but we have our moments." **Actually, Lois has moments, I get headaches!**

Frank and Keith chit chatted for about an hour on a variety of things. Frank found Keith to be a wonderful source of information about this universe’s past. Frank couldn’t help think to himself, **Man, what a different world these people lived in. No Vietnam War. Solidarity between the US and the USSR. Tricky Dick Nixon as the Father of Racial Unity. It would really be interesting to have lived here during the last thirty years.**

"I’m going to try and catch another forty winks."

"I’ll get you some spare pillows and blankets. I’m afraid that the couch is all that is left."

"It’s a lot better than some places I have slept. Could you do me a favor?"

"Within reason."

"Could you find for me any information on Lex Luthor and William J. Clinton."

"I’ll see what I can do. Any particular reason?"

"They were important people in my universe. I’m just curious, that’s all."

"Okay. Now, I’ll get those pillows and blankets."

part 20

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
6:07am EST Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Clark came back after one in the morning but was called away twice more during the night. It had been a quiet night, all things considered. It had given him time to think over what may lie ahead. Tempus had always been a thorn in the side of his family. He'd told Tempus once that his ethics would disappear if he ever threatened Lois or Alexander again. And he'd meant it. He did not believe in killing and went out of his way to ensure the safety of those around him, but he would defend his family no matter what the cost. The thought of Tempus hurting Lois or Alexander made his blood boil. Tempus would rue the day that he threatened either of them again.

Frank, on the other hand, had spent a fitful night dreaming. His thoughts had been filled with evil time-travelers and parallel worlds. None of them quite like his own. His last dream was the most vivid. He was trapped underground and the air was becoming increasingly fouler. In the distance he could hear someone calling a name. It wasn't his name, but it sounded vaguely familiar. Frank woke with Mickey on his chest, his nose and the dog's snout just inches from each other. Clark came in with a tray with an assortment of breakfast items. He picked Mickey up by the scruff of his neck and set him on the floor. Clark had his best smile on.

"Good morning, sleepy head. Did you get plenty of rest or did Mickey ruin that for you?"

The reply was mumbled but after years of living with Lois, he new that ’auee,' was 'coffee.'

In a flash, Clark brought back a coffee service. Ignored all the garnishings, Frank deftly poured himself a cup and drank it straight. Putting his hand between Clark and his eyes he grumbled, "Could you tone that thing down. You could blind somebody with those teeth!"

Clark pressed his lips together in a cheery smile and thought, **Just like Lois.**

"Better. Morning to you too, Mr. Kent."

"Please, call me Clark. Feeling a little more human?"

Holding the coffee cup up, Frank nodded, "Yes. This is the best coffee I have ever tasted. What brand is it?"

"It’s a blend that I get down in Columbia, South America. It’s not too expensive."

"Especially when you can fly down yourself and avoid all the import taxes."

Clark blushed a little at that. "I still pay the local taxes. It’s not like it’s duty free."

"Still cheaper than picking it up at the local grocery store, though."

"True. And it definitely came in handy while Lois was pregnant. She had the *strangest* cravings. Swiss chocolate, Brazilian cashews, and German sauerkraut, together. It was disgusting…."

About that time a riot of noise came barreling down the stairs in the form of a dark headed, three year old boy. He leapt into Clark’s arms and gave him a big wet kiss.

"Good Morning, Daddy!"

"Good Morning, Squirt! We have company this morning. This is…" Clark didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence.

Alex had turned and was already checking out the stranger. He looked at Frank closely, then looked at the picture on the mantel, then back a Frank. Finally he finished his father’s sentence for him, "Mr. Carper! What happ’n’d to you! You look young!"

Frank was dumbfounded. Clark came to his rescue. "This is Mr. *Parker*, Alexander. You’re right though. He does look like a younger version of Mr. Carper."

As Clark was saying this he walked over to the mantel and took down the picture in question. Crossing back to where Frank was standing he handed the picture to him.

"This was taken about five years ago, outside Mom & Dad’s house. The Carper’s have been taking care of the place since Mom made it into Congress. Do you have any relatives in the Kansas area?"

Frank took a long look at the picture. It really did look like a picture of him, if you added twenty-five years. In many ways he looked like his father did before he died. Silvery-gray with pure white at the temples and wrinkles gained from years of exposure to the sun. But it was the eyes that really sealed the idea. They looked just like his. The same was true of the woman that stood next to Mr. Carper. He'd seen those eyes a hundred times. He had seen them in the face of the woman he admired most in the world, Dr. Olga Vukavitch. The hair was in a tight perm, but you couldn't mistake the eyes behind the glasses. There was a scar across her left cheek. **I wonder what caused that?**

Frank came back to the present and gave his answer, "None that I know of, but I would sure like to meet these people."

Clark took the picture up in his hand and thoughtfully looked at it. One time friends had become strangers to the Man of Steel. "So would I. So would I."

Part 21

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
7:37am EST Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

"She has the right to know! And not because she's my mother!"

"How many people do you really think she will be able to save in less than a day? Ten, maybe twenty thousand? Millions died in the last timeline..."

"In *your* universe!"

Frank slapped the table with open hands, "*YES,* in *my* universe! We don't even know if Tempus has even targeted DC this time. This is a *whole* new universe with a *whole* new set of rules! Do you want your mother to be branded a fool or worse for evacuating the wrong section of the East Coast?! All we do know, thanks to the Caped Wonder, is that there is a force field around a quarter mile section of the Isla de la Juventud, just off the coast of Cuba. The *same* island and the same area that we found the slagged metal ring in my universe. All that proves is that Tempus is here!"

Before Clark had an opportunity to continue his argument, Lois rounded on him, "I'm still not happy that you went, on your own, down to Cuba, without telling any of us! What if it had been a trap! What if Tempus had been ready for you? Sometimes, Clark, I wish you'd be more careful." Lois turned back to the counter and stared at her coffee cup.

Clark quickly got up and wrapped his arms around her. "You're right, I should have told you where I was going. Maybe even brought Keith with me, but its not like I got anywhere near the little island. I hovered at about two miles and scanned the area. I picked up the field's thermal signature as it repelled the rain as it struck the field. Besides, all I could see was sand and trees. With a little x-ray vision I noticed some devices around the perimeter of the force field, but they didn’t appear to be projecting the field itself. There’s an industrial sized time window in the middle of the field, which I suspect is also the source of the force field but we can’t be sure until we get a closer look." Clark slowly turned Lois in his arms and looked deep into her eyes. He could still see the worry in them, but he could also see forgiveness as well.

Olga paced the floor as she pondered this latest bit of information, and sat down in disgust, "The problem is that we are dealing with a man that has access to far greater technology than we do. The fact that it generates heat at the point of contact does not bode well for an easy entry."

Frank was a man of action and all this talk was getting on his nerves, "I think we've sat here long enough. I say we go down to this little islandette and get Tempus before he knows what hit him. We have the jump on him by a day and a half."

Lois was in complete agreement, "That’s the spirit! It time to teach that time-traveling travesty a thing or two!"

Keith had been standing back, sipping his coffee, watching the whole thing. Leave it to Lois to jump in where angels feared to tread. Even though she had become more careful since Alexander's arrival, she still took chances. Especially since she started gaining Kryptonian abilities. She couldn't catch bullets and she couldn't fly, but she could hold her own at a brawl at Ace 'o Clubs any night. Keith suspected that she was pregnant again, but she hadn't told Clark and probably wouldn't till this was all over.

He just shook his head and put his two cents in, "I will stay with Agent Smith to guard Alexander. Additional agents will be stationed throughout the house. I realize that Tempus can come into any room without using a door, but at least that way we should have a chance if he tries something."

"In the last time line, Tempus didn't go after Lois or Ivan until after he had killed Superman. Let's just hope that this universe's Tempus is thinking along the same lines."

"Amen to that, Frank. Amen to that."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
8:39 am EST Gulf of Mexico
+++++++++++++++++++++++

In October of 1963, Hurricane Flora hit Haiti and Cuba killing thousands and causing major property damage. The USAs sent hundreds of relief workers and supplies to the stricken islands. Many businesses freely gave thousands of dollars of building materials and food to help the effort. Some even went so far as to send representatives along with their supplies to ensure that they got where they were supposed to go. While there, they scoped out the business potential of Cuba. Several resort owners found a new home. Within the following decades, resort after resort was built on the island. Following them were the casinos and other like minded endeavors. By the 90's, Cuba outstripped Las Vegas and Reno as the gambling center of the world. At night, its lights can be seen from the tip of Florida's peninsula. It was nicknamed the Neon Isle that Never Sleeps.

The Isla de la Juventud shared a similar fate, though it had larger areas of undeveloped coastline. One place in particular seemed to attract no one. It was in the same quarter mile area that Clark had found to be covered by the force field. That is where the foursome was headed.

If anyone had looked up they would have seen a curious sight. Three people flying arm-in-arm through the sky. Superman had Frank under one arm and Olga under the other. What they didn't see was that there was a fourth, Lois, riding on his back with her arms around his neck. The foursome landed just outside the force field area.

Shaking her head, Olga had a perplexed look on her face, "Are you sure that this is the right location? I don't see anything and it seems to me that there's nothing to be gained here."

Frank was in complete agreement with her, "Yeah, no wonder they never built around this area. The land isn't even fit to build on. It’s a barren wasteland."

Clark regarded both of them and then looked at what they were looking at. It appeared to be a perfectly normal beach with some rocky outcroppings and a nice dune. The surf lapped lazily up the immediate coastline. It looked perfect to build a beach house. He turned to Lois and asked her opinion.

"I don't know. It's like I'm seeing two different images superimposed over each other. One is of a normal beach, with grass, trees, and sandy beach. The other looks like a wasteland, barren and inhospitable. There's also a curious undertone of a voice, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It seems even below my threshold of hearing."

Clark tuned into the sub-harmonic frequencies and discovered that there was messages being broadcast in a continuous loop. And they were in Tempus’ voice.

{The land isn’t even fit to build on.}

{Are you sure this is the right location?}

{It’s a barren wasteland.}

{There’s nothing to be gained here.}

{You should really leave this place.}

"We should really leave this place." Olga turned and started to walk away, with Frank following closely behind, both somewhat trance like. Clark super sped in front of them and grasped them hard by the arms.

"Fight it! These are just subliminal messages! Come on, snap out of it!"

The two struggled to fight what they were hearing. The source of the messages were the string of devices around the perimeter of the field that he had spotted earlier. Using his heat vision he zapped as many as he could find. He also checked out the time window. It was strongly anchored in the ground several feet up and angled toward the sky. Tempus was nowhere to be seen.

Olga and Frank showed signs of recovering from the subliminal onslaught.

"Good work, sweetheart! I don’t hear the undertone anymore, but I can still see two images. Well, one out of two isn’t bad."

"Let’s see what I can do about this force field." Clark reached out and touched the field. It was warm to the touch and offered some resistance. As he pressed his hand further into the field the temperature at the point of contact became exponentially higher, as well as did the resistance. Soon Olga, Frank and eventually Lois, had to fall back away, the heat became so great. The edges of Clark’s cape started to catch on fire. Clark was exerting enough forward push to move a battleship and yet was not able to get more than a foot into the perimeter. Finally, he backed off.

"That is definitely going to be a problem." Clark started to speed-search the entire area and could find no way in.

"Maybe Dr. Klie…" Lois never got a chance to finish her thought.

**NANNY!! HELP! DADDYYyyyyyy---!!** The telepathic scream nearly knocked Lois and Clark to their knees. Taking only a fraction of a second to recover, Clark was gone, leaving multiple sonic booms in his wake. But he knew he was too late. Alexander was gone.

Part 22

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
8:08am CST Smallville
Kent Farm
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lex Ellison lay writhing in the middle of the room, screaming, his hands grabbing the sides of his head, his eyes wide with the horror of images that only he could see. His mother, Lola, was holding on to him as best as she could. She didn’t know what was happening to her boy, but it was scaring the life out of her. It started with Alexander’s telepathic scream. They had both heard the scream, but it had triggered something in Lex that had sent him into spasms. First, he said his head hurt. Then, he could no longer hold himself up on his crutches. Then, he just kept repeating the word ‘no’ over and over again.

The scream had brought Lex memories that had not been there before. Thirty years worth to be exact. Suddenly, everything that had happened to him in his life was in duplicate. The new set was more disturbing and angst-filled than the first set. Something had changed, and it was hitting him like a tidal wave of emotions and images. He remembered it all. Yet, it had just happened. His life had been rewritten.

Kevin Anderson watched, unable to do anything. His already heavily scarred face twisted as he agonized over the fate of the young man. He didn’t understand what was going on. He knew something was wrong. He could feel it building in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Then, it struck him. Something must have changed.

Lex’s body collapsed in Lola’s arms, his chest heaving as if he had just ran a marathon. His eyes still had that haunted look about them. After several minutes, Lex disentangled himself from his mother’s arms and started to drag his crippled body over to were Kevin was seated. As quickly as his aged and scarred body would allow, Kevin got up and met Lex halfway. They looked into each other’s faces. They had both been there, yet Lex had seen it all, and Kevin could only imagine what it must have been like. Both said the same name in a harsh whisper, "Nanny."

The Carper’s, and even Lola, looked at the two of them. Lola spoke up first, "What about Nanny? She died trying to protect you."

Lex looked up at his mother’s face, tears streaming down his face for the one-time friend, "NO! She wasn’t supposed to die! The jacket had cleared the window the first time, and the explosion never reached the room. She wasn’t supposed to die today. And Kevin, look at your face. How long have you been that badly scarred?"

Kevin looked at Lex like he had just slapped him. With effort and a somewhat slurred voice he responded to his longtime young friend, "Thinthe that day that Temputh took you. I wath terribly burned by the plathma grenade. It mutht have been terrible to thee the thingth that you thaw that day. But you thould know all thith."

"That’s my point. Until just moments ago, I didn’t! You didn’t have a scarred face or a lisp."

"Then how come you remember it and the rest of us don’t?"

"I know. He must have already been in the time window, Fred. He must have been in contact with the energies of the window just as the change occurred."

"Let’s just hope nothing else changes, or we may never be able to set things straight. We’ll just have to remember to save Nanny, too."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
9:04am EST Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Agents Jackson and Smith were quietly discussing the different scenarios that Tempus might use to get at Alexander. They had come up with several good counterattacks. Their charge was sitting in the middle of his room playing with his Lex-a-Chu and Tara-Chu action figures when the sound of a hundred angry vacuum cleaners split the air. Alex covered his ears and Keith and Nan stood there taken aback by the sight. Nan had never seen a time window before and Keith had only seen videos. The real thing was a breathtaking experience. Keith recovered first and made a dive for Alexander. He reached him just as Tempus stepped through.

"Keith! So good to see you!" Tempus spotted Nan, "*Who* is this ravishing beauty?"

"The name’s Smith. Nancy Smith. And I’m about to clean your clock, time-traveler!"

Nancy charged at Tempus, fully prepared to knock him back into whatever century he came from. But he was ready for her. Tempus tossed a small object at her. She bobbed and weaved to avoid it, but it still landed on her, attaching itself to her jacket. It emitted an electronic chirp. Then another. Then another. Each one was faster than the one before it.

"It’s amazing what you can find at Mercs R Us. That little dandy is a plasma grenade. It has a fifteen second timer. When it goes off, it will incinerate or ignite anything within a thirty foot radius. I expect it will renovate a large portion of this house quite soon."

Without hesitation, Nan ran for the nearest window. The chirping was getting faster. She was trying to remove her jacket as she ran. Finally, she got it off. She balled it up and tossed it at the window. Tempus took this opportunity to snatch Alexander. Hoisting the kid over his shoulder, he made his way to the time window. At the same time Keith made a grab for Alexander’s outstretched hands. Just barely grasping Alexander, Keith was able to pull Tempus off balance, causing him to drop Alexander. Both men had Alexander in their grip, Tempus on one side of the portal, Keith on the other. Alexander was beginning to know what the rope felt like.

The jacket had nearly cleared the sill. A random breeze blew the jacket sleeve in just the right manner to allow it to snag on a nail that had worked its way loose after all these years. Nan raced to the window to loosen it. The chirps were almost indistinguishable from one another.

Keith was losing the tug-o-war.

The chirping had changed to a constant tone. Nan had just freed the sleeve and let go. She was already in the process of turning, when the tone ceased. It was enough to distract Keith, and he lost his grip. It went off. As Alexander was being pulled through the time window, he saw the look on her face as the orange ball of fire consumed her. She only had time to open her mouth, but none to scream. In the blink of an eye, she was gone, incinerated into nothingness. In his mind, he screamed over and over for his father.

Keith, on the other hand, missed seeing her go by a couple of heartbeats. Picking himself off the floor, he turned, only to see the fireball heading his way. He leapt through the time window. He had just cleared it when the plasma ball hit. A searing jet of plasma made its way through the closing portal and hit Keith along one side of his body, quickly burning away clothes, hair, and flesh. Out of his good eye, he thought he saw a beach. Then, he blacked out. ~*~

Part: 23

. A red and blue streak sonic-boomed it’s way Northward across the Eastern seaboard, setting alarms off along the way. President Kent was notified of it. They needn’t have bothered. She, along with everyone else in DC heard the sonic booms overhead. She hoped that Lois and Alexander were okay. She stopped what she was doing and said a silent prayer of strength for her son.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
9:08am EST
Metropolis
Hyperion Avenue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Heartbeats later, Clark arrived, his mind wild with fear. The back half the brownstone was gone, the adjacent building were partially destroyed too. There was no sign of Keith, Nan or Alexander. Just the bodies of fallen agents. He felt a strange shimmer go through his memory, but disregarded it. His son was gone. He heard a groan come from the wreck that was once his home. Fast a lightening he found the source. It was Mousse. He picked him up by the arms and hoisted him up in front of him. Mousse’s feet dangled slightly. Clark had no time for niceties. "WHAT HAPPPENED TO MY SON!"

Mousse was almost overwhelmed by the raw power that Clark was exuding. He knew that he would have deep bruises on those arms, assuming that he survived until the next day. "I…don’t…know. You’re…hurting...me."

Clark immediately dropped the man only to have to grab him again to keep him from falling. He swept him off his feet and placed him in a chair. After putting him down, Clark ran his hand through his hair, "Sorry. Can you tell me anything."

"There was a sound coming from Alexander’s room. It sounded like a hundred angry vacuum cleaners. Before I got halfway up the…" The agent stopped talking. The look on Superman’s face was like none that he had ever seen before, and he hoped he never would again. It was the face of someone bent on the destruction of another. It was a look of pure, unadulterated hate. His eyes almost glowed with it. He looked like a man gone mad. And then, he was gone.

A roar was heard around the city, followed by the sound of multiple sonic booms. Windows shattered for several blocks around the demolished brownstone on Hyperion Ave. Those who were far enough way could have sworn that the roar was a word. That word was ‘TE-EMPU-US.’

A red and blue streak shot up, up, and away.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
9:08am EST
Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Superman had just left a minute ago. His take off had knocked them off their feet. Lois had not bothered to get up off the ground. In her mind she played over and over the terror she had heard in her head. She was staring off in the direction her husband had left in. Tears were streaming down her face. Her little boy was gone, she couldn’t feel him anymore. "He’s gone." The despair was evident in her voice.

Olga knelt down beside her, "Clark?"

"Alexander. Alexander is gone. He screamed and screamed, and then he was *gone*!" Lois got up and started to advance on Frank, "You were wrong, Mr. Parker!" She sped over to him, hauled him off his feet, and shook him like a rag doll, "*YOU* *WERE* *WRONG!*" Lois collapsed to her knees again, taking Frank with her. She started to sob the same thing over and over again. Olga leaned down and pried Lois’ fingers from Frank’s jacket and gathered her in her arms.

Frank didn’t know what to say. He was so out of his depth. He hated not having the answers. He just didn’t know what was going to happen next.

Straight above them he spotted something coming. By the time he realized they were at ground-zero it was too late. "INCOMING!" He turned to pick up the two ladies and dive for cover. They were still falling to the ground when it hit.

~*~

Superman had nearly cleared the Moon when he had finally come to a complete stop. He turned and faced the Sun, the source of his strength and power. He basked in its glory for as long as he dared, then started his decent. He willed himself to fly faster than he had ever flown before. He started to feel the gentle embrace of the Earth’s gravity field as he reentered its influence. He gave into it, letting it pull him even faster toward his target.

It was not the Man of Steel, the hope of millions, that was flying back to the Earth. This was Clark Kent and he had become vengeance personified. There was nothing left of the faithful husband and loving son, there was only the shell of a man whose flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone had been ripped away from him. Only one thing was on his mind during the trip back. Tempus. The very thought of him only fueled the waves of searing hatred that coursed through his soul. Time and time again he had deviled Clark and his family. He had tried to kill Clark as a baby, kill Lois and Alexander during the 96 elections, and almost succeeded in the public execution of Martha and Jonathon Kent when they publicly denounced him after his landfall win. Like a curse he kept coming back. Clark had told Tempus that he would see Superman’s ethics disappear if he ever threatened his family again. And now, Alexander was gone. Clark couldn’t feel him anymore. He didn’t feel anything anymore. All he wanted right now was Tempus. Tempus was going to pay, and pay dearly. Even Andrus had confided to Clark that Tempus was going to be consigned to Eternity when they took him back to the future. That must have never happened. Or if it did, he had just escaped, like he always did. Clark was determined not to let *that* happen again. This was the end-of-the-road for the time-traveler. The only thing between Clark and Tempus was the force field.

The edges of his cape started to smolder as he hit the atmosphere. He willed himself to fly even faster.

~*~

The heat energy released upward from the point of impact vaporized a half mile hole in the clouds straight above. The force field, however, held. It flung Clark a mile into the air. He landed inland with a resounding thud.

From her vantage point, Lois took a deep breath and sobbed, worry for her husband written all over her face.

~*~

The seismic repercussions of the strike rippled across the island. On the far side of the island, buildings swayed and people were knocked off their feet. Thankfully, due to the subliminal machines, no major buildings were built within miles of the force field. The destruction was minimal, but the geography of the immediate area was definitely rearranged.

The ground liquified and trees toppled over. Boulders and outcroppings saw the light of day for the first time in centuries.

Lois, Frank and Olga barely escaped with their lives. The ground liquefied under their feet. They leapt to a nearby boulder that was actually a seabed outcropping. As the water rushed in to fill in the newly rearranged coastline, they stayed high, but not necessarily dry.

The edge of the field was now in the water. As the water washed up against it, steam would rise up from the edges. It looked like it was trying to stay even with the tossing waves. Every time the water dipped, the field quickly closed the gap with a resounding sizzle. They could now see inside the field without a problem. The time window was still anchored to the land. It looked like it hadn’t budged.

After about twenty minutes the ground seemed to settle. They ventured off their boulder and swam the shore distance to shore. Lois set out for the inland, looking for her husband. Olga followed after her, while Frank checked out the force field for any new weaknesses.

Part: 24

Falling.

He’d been falling forever. There seemed no end to it. The darkness swallowed him up whole. He welcomed the darkness. No one to count on him. No one to depend on him. No one to fail.

Suddenly, the falling stopped. He laid on an indistinct surface. He looked 'up' and saw nothing. Nothing but darkness. A distant voice called to him, "Get up."

"No."

The voice became more distinct. It was his mother's. "Clark Jerome Kent, you get up this instant! Alexander is depending on you!"

His heart tightened at the name, "He's dead!"

"You know that’s not true! You still feel Lex, don’t you? Maybe if Lex is still alive then so is your son," his father said.

"I'm here." Lex Ellison's face faded into view. Alexander's face appeared above Lex's and seemed to hover slowly around Lex’s face. Clark noticed how similar the two were now that all he had to go on was their faces.

"Lex? Alexander? I don't understand!? What's going on."

They spoke as one voice. "I can't tell you. You have to figure it out for yourself." The voice was a strange combination of toddler and young man.

Clark's dark world started to bleed away into bright light. The faces slowly faded away. They were replaced by two faces, one was Lois' face, and the other’s was Mrs. Carper’s. They were surrounded by a halo of light. He could barely make them out. They were talking but he couldn't hear their words for all the ringing that was in his ears.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
9:32am EST Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud inlandbr> +++++++++++++++++++++++

Olga repeatedly pleaded with Lois to slow down. She was finding it impossible to keep up with her. Lois was equally frustrated with having to slow down. Finally, Lois took matters into her own hands, literally. She raced back, scooped Olga into her arms and carried her the rest of the way. Reaching deep within her, Lois put on a burst of speed that nearly took Olga's breath away. In a moment they were where Clark had fallen. His uniform was sooty and the cape was half burned off.

Olga took a moment to get her bearings. Having caught her breath, she became all professional. "His pupils are asynchronous and disproportionately dilated, he looks dazed. His pulse is racing."

"That’s normal for him."

"Oh. Well, aside from that I think he has a concussion." At Lois’ questioning look, Olga explained, "He did hit that force field pretty hard. I’d say his power reserves are tapped."

"Then we need to get him into direct sunlight! He should start to heal quickly then."

Olga attempted to lift Clark and quickly found out another reason that he was called the Man of Steel. He weighed a ton.

"Allow me. It’s all a matter of leverage." Lois grabbed Clark by the feet and began to drag him. Olga quickly lifted what was left of his cape so that his head was not jarred anymore then it had to be. She noticed that he didn’t seem as heavy. In short order, Clark was basking in sunshine.

"Now we wait."

"We don’t have time for that!" Lois seized him by the shoulders and shook him.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
9:54am EST Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Frank sat back and watched as the force field repeated closed the gap made by the rise and fall of the water. The sizzle seemed to happen when the water hit the force field, not when the force field hit the water.

**Well, it looks like we get wet,** he thought. He waded into the water and dove under the field. Coming up on the other side he walked over to the were the field was and tried to touch it. His hand passed right through. "Cool! A one-sided force field. Boy, would Uncle Sam like to get his hands on this."

A familiar voice spoke behind him, "He will... in about a hundred years... after the refugees of New Krypton arrive. Don’t go too far, or it will spit you from here to the other side of the island."

Frank whirled around and came face to face with Tempus. The Tempus of this world wasn’t much different than the one from the last one. Same smarmy, snake-charming grin; same look of pure evil in his eyes. Frank slowly started to move his hand behind his back.

Tempus started to shake his head from side to side, "Frank, Frank. I’m the bad guy. You’re the reluctant hero. You’re not as morally sphinctered as the Big Blue Boy Scout. I know you will do anything you can to stop me. So go ahead, grab for your gun. Make my millennium." Tempus quickly produced a small, but undoubtedly lethal, gun-like device. It had two tiny prongs protruding from its ‘muzzle.’ "Its name is longer than it is. I just call it The Equalizer." Tempus’ voice changed, taking on the air of someone demo-ing something on the Shop ‘til You Drop Channel. "On its lowest setting, it makes a great weenie roaster. On it’s highest…" Tempus took aim at something just to one side of Frank’s body and fired. By the time Frank turned around, the tree that Tempus hit was already a smoldering pile of powder. "…it can reduce any waste material to ash in under a second, but I think you get the point. A time traveler is a terrible thing to waste."

**Time traveler?** Frank frowned and brought his hand out where Tempus could see them. "So, how do you know who I am?"

"Such a kidder! Why you’re non-other than Franklin Bartholomew Parker…" Frank winced at his full name, "…born August, 1970. A Navy SEAL, decorated for valor in Desert Hammer, and most recently, chrononaut for Operation Backstep. I was waiting for you to show up."

Part: 25

"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. I hope I haven't wasted your time." Frank's tone clearly indicated that he was neither sorry nor worried. "So, Tempus... What kind of name is Tempus, anyway? Did your parents not like you or something?"

Tempus arched an eyebrow. "You military types get so cranky when your toys are taken away. Hand over the gun."

Frank reluctantly handed the weapon over.

Tempus' smiled at the ease at which this was going. It was the kind of smile that would not put give you a feeling of safety. "You're everything your bio said you were: arrogant, defiant, and insolent. Qualities that we share, but I make them look good."

"Yes, but I'm not the one trying to blow up Washington."

"Washington? Why in the world would I want to blow up the only bastion of pure, unadulterated greed on the eastern seaboard? It's got sex. It's got violence. It's got power. It's the entire state of California wrapped up in one tight little package. Why even Martha Kent is being exposed, which, on second thought, is nothing I really want to envision, anyway."

"So, if Washington isn't your target, then what is?"

"Gee, I thought all you suits in the CIA had to have some brains. I guess I was wrong."

Frank was about to question Tempus' ancestry, when it finally dawned on him. "Superman. You never intended to destroy any city. You knew that he would go chasing after any missile whether it was aimed at Washington D.C. or Stella, Nebraska."

"And the agent wins the kewpie doll! You're not as dumb as you look, Frank. Actually, I was aiming in the general direction of the Daily Planet, but your guess was close enough for government work." Tempus laughed at his own joke.

"Then why take Alexander?

"You know, Frank, you're starting to bore me." He motioned for Frank to lead the way back to the time portal.

~*~

The trip back to the beach was a strange one for Clark. Lois and her clone had been talking in unison as did Mrs. Carper and her twin sister. It was really hard for him to know who to look at. The ringing had come back with a vengeance, making it near impossible to understand what they were talking about. And what they were saying didn't make any sense. Something about Porsche peels, thyme travails series, and Ex-Lax. It was all so confusing. If only the ringing would stop, then he would be better. At least the clone and the twin were gone now. And it looked like they were going to stop and rest again, which meant Mrs. Carper would have to check him out. It was weird; for a librarian, she sure knew a lot about medicine. He also couldn't remember her ever looking this good in recent years.

~*~

"That's good, Mr. Kent. Just sit down and rest a bit. Let me look at your eyes again." Olga checked his pupils, tested his reflexes and checked the same things that she had checked every ten minutes for the last half hour. The pace was driving Lois nuts, but Dr. Vukavitch insisted on giving Clark chances to just rest and soak up the sunshine. They spent most of the walk back discussing ways of getting through the force field, time travel theories, and Alex.

"The sunlight is starting to help. His eyes are tracking again, but he is still having a problem understanding me. Most of the external physical trauma is healed. At the rate that he is improving, he should be near normal in thirty minutes to an hour."

"Earth normal or Clark normal?"

"Clark normal."

"That's still a long time from now and we may not have that kind of time."

"That may be true, but we have little choice in the matter. Even Kryptonian physiology needs time to recuperate."

Lois sighed. She knew Olga was right. Clark needed time that they didn't have. **If only…** Lois heard a voice. A voice she hoped never to hear again and yet a voice that could lead her back to her son.

The same time that Lois was trying to listen, Olga was trying to tell her the need for staying. Both had agendas that the other was unaware of.

"We shou…"

"SHHH!"

"…ld prob…"

"Shhh! I'm trying…"

"…ably st…"

"… to super hear and…"

"…ay herev an…"

"…when you are this close…"

"…d… What are yo…"

"…its like a knife straight through…"

"…u trying to tell…"

"…my head. Would you please just…"

"…me?"

"…shut up! Its Tempus! Shh!" Lois listened carefully and picked up the end of the conversation between Frank and Tempus. She tried to focus in visually, but there was no clear line of sight. "Come on! Tempus has Frank."

"NO!"

Lois clasped her hands over her ears, "Ahhhh!"

Olga clasped her hands over her mouth and whispered, "Sorry."

Lois shook her head and nodded emphatically, "That's okay, I understand." She picked up Olga and made hand gestures to Clark to follow. They were back at the beach in thirty seconds. Just in time to see Tempus pushing Frank through the stationary time portal.

Olga put her hand over her mouth, her stoic Russian exterior melting away as she witnessed the disappearance of the one she cared about. She knew that this wasn’t ‘her’ Frank Parker, but then again, neither was the last one. All she knew was that her feelings for this Frank were no different than any other. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. And now she might not have the chance.

~*~

When Frank broke the surface of the temporal curtain a familiar feeling washed over both Lois and Clark. Alexander! He was alive!

A tiny voice popped into Clark’s mind. It held both hope and fear, ((Daddy?))

((Yes, my little man, Daddy is here.))

Confusion and hurt poured through the connection, ((You didn’t come for me!))

Clark’s heart was torn apart by the feelings and thoughts of his son. ((I will always come for you, no matter how long it takes. Never doubt that. I lov…)) and the connection was gone again. Tempus had just finished passing through the portal. The link closed like a guillotine on Lois’ and Clark’s minds. Lois turned and caught Clark’s eye. They needed no telepathy to know what the other was thinking.

They were going to get their son back.

Part: 26

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 23, 1962
10:14am EST Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Alexander ran over to the makeshift tent where a still form lay on a simple blanket. Unsuccessfully containing his three year-old enthusiasm, he not-so-gently shook the person’s good shoulder. "Mr. Jackson! Mr. Jackson! Daddy’s coming! Daddy’s coming!"

The man gasped and slowly turned around. There wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t ache. The painkillers that Tempus had provided were beginning to wear off. His entire left side was scarred and burned. In some of the worse areas you couldn’t tell where the dark skin ended and the clothes began. Alexander felt really sorry for the man and hoped that Mommy and Daddy could help him. When he tried to smile you could see too much of his teeth on the one side. "Thath goo Alecth. Ah knew he would come for uth. Can you get the hyhothray? Ith time for another injecthon." It hurt so bad to speak, but he needed the painkillers so desperately.

Alexander nodded his head and ran to get the hypospray. Alex had a hard time looking at him when he talked. It was much easier to pretend that he was wearing a Halloween costume when he didn’t talk. Alexander scurried back with the hypospray. "Here you go, Mr. Jackson."

Keith simply nodded his head up and down.

Then they heard the soft warning sound of someone entering the portal.

~*~

When Frank *first* walked through the portal, it didn’t seem like anything had changed. In the distance he could see the grassy knoll and hear the crashing of the surf on the beach. But when he turned and looked at the beach, it was the way it was before Superman had struck the field. In fact, it looked a little further away than it did before. There were fewer trees, and the air smelled fresher. And the sun was definitely brighter. That and the fact that a sixty-foot missile was pointed straight at him caused him to stop dead in his tracks. When Tempus came through, he stumbled into him. Frank took the opportunity and tried to punch the man. The next thing he knew, he was flying through the air and landing on his back. Alexander ran over and helped Frank to his feet.

"Nice try, Time Boy, but you really don’t want to do that again. If you do, I’ll kill the boy. Don’t make me regret my curiosity."

Giving Alex a conspiratorial look and shuffling the boy’s hair a bit, Frank turned and regarded Tempus up on the platform. "Regret *your* curiosity? I thought you were the big bad time traveler, able to *pop* backwards and forwards in the chronostream at will. Who am I to counsel the all-powerful Tempus, Master of Time?"

Tempus caught Frank’s sarcasm and lobbed it back at him. "Apparently, what they say is true; sucking up *is* hard to do."

Tempus decided to cut to the chase. He started down the steps and walked over to the missile. He opened the control panel, "Earlier, you said that I was trying to blow up Washington. I take it that Superman must have intercepted the missile over the Capital. Oh, how ironic! Clark Kent is responsible for blowing up his adoptive parents. This is too good!"

"I hate to burst your bubble, but the President did survive. And it did look like the missile was heading straight at the White House." Though Frank was a fairly good liar, he decided to stick to the truth, as he knew it from his parallel universe,

Tempus’ face fell. "Well, you can’t win them all." He started to re-check the controls, making sure that all the settings were correct. The interface to the guidance system had a lot of flashing lights and colored buttons. Alex edged over to see what Tempus was doing. Tempus spotted him out of the corner of his eye. An uncharacteristic look came across Tempus’ face. It was wistful and envious at the same time.

Tempus stopped and turned toward the boy. Alex backed up quickly. Tempus got down on one knee and held out his hand. "Do you want to see controls? No funny stuff. I promise." Tempus said this for Frank and Keith’s benefit as much as for Alex’s. Alex nodded his head up and down and then looked back at Keith. Keith locked eyes with Tempus and tried to read what was there. There was a sadness there that Keith could not even imagine coming from the soul within. He could tell that Tempus meant what he said. Keith nodded his permission. Alex cautiously took Tempus’ hand and allowed the time-traveler to lift him up so that he could get a better view.

~*~

Frank walked over to where Keith was lying down. This was the first time he had seen him since they had parted company that morning. It seemed a lifetime ago. The man that lay before him was barely recognizable as the man that he had met only yesterday. If they didn’t get him some real medical treatment soon, he would die.

Keith looked up at Frank and was thankful not to find pity or disgust in his face. The painkillers were working well enough to provide some mobility. He slowly sat up, leaning heavily on his good side. He motioned Frank to come sit by him.

Frank asked in a quiet tone, "When are we? The sun is too bright and the air to clean for us to be in 1999."

Keith swallowed hard and then spoke, "Octoer twenty third, nineteen thixty-two."

"October 23, 1962?"

Keith nodded.

"In my world, it was on that date that the Cuban Missile Crisis happened. The Soviet Union was stockpiling nuclear missiles in Cuba as a counter measure to NATO having missiles in Eastern Europe. President Kennedy threatened to retaliate if they weren’t removed. This date was the closest we ever came to launching. It would be something if this was just a coincidence that the Tempus of your world picked this date in history. Either that or this is just one of those dates that is important across the timelines."

Keith just nodded again. He indicated the interaction going on between Tempus and Alexander. Tempus’ entire demeanor had changed. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself, showing Alexander all the different controls and what they did. His face was soft and there was no trace of madness in it.

Keith shook his head, **I wonder whatever happened to him to make him hate Superman so much?**

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
9:35am CST Smallville
Kent Farm
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lex Ellison hobbled around the room agitatedly, "I can’t believe my flight to Cuba was overbooked! I lost my seat to some Mint Girl teenybopper! This totally throws a wrench in our plans! Now I can’t tell Dad how to change the trajectory of the missile. And he is going to die again!"

Kevin Andrews sat back in his chair, shaking his head, "Thuperman will find a way to thop the mithile without our help. He’th been forewarned."

Fred Carper sat on the sofa with his head in his hands, "I still can’t believe that I missed Tempus completely. If he’d been just a couple of inches to the right I would’ve winged him and Clark wouldn’t have had to kill him. How were we supposed to know that he had the missile rigged with a dead-man switch?"

Lola Ellison was pacing back and forth at a fevered rate, "This waiting is driving me nuts. After thirty years of waiting you’d think that one more day wouldn’t matter much. But every minute that goes by allows the time stream to change a little more. Lex seems to be the only one to remember all the changes. Nan wasn’t supposed to die. Keith wasn’t supposed to be injured. And Tempus didn’t show Lex the controls in the first timeline. I’m just afraid that we’re all going to just fade away like Andrus did."

Olivia Carper put her arm around Lola’s shoulder and squeezed it tight, "I know, Lola. I know. But isn’t that what we are hoping for day after tomorrow? Aren’t we hoping to set everything straight? I know that the last thirty years haven’t been easy on any of us." She reached out and grabbed Fred’s hand for support. "I have loved being Fred’s wife for the last twenty-five years, but to set the timeline straight so that you and your son can have your lives back is well worth it. I know you want Lex to be restored. It’s going to be hard, but I think it’s going to be worth it."

Lex came over and braced himself against his mother, "It’s been great getting to know Dad in ways that no son has ever gotten to before, but I would rather have him teach me baseball than learning it with me."

Lola’s eyes started to tear up. She thought of all the years that Lex knew right where his father was, but was unable to talk to him, to confide in him about the terrible future that lay ahead. Of all the years, waiting for H. G. Wells, Andrus, or even Superman to come for them. But they never did.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
10:37am EST Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Olga had a smile on her face. Mr. Parker had done it again. "Well, somehow, Mr. Parker got inside. Maybe he swam underneath."

Clark used his x-ray vision to look under the water. Fish swam freely from one side to the other of where the force field would have been. Scanning up the shoreline he could see where Frank must have walked out. "That looks like what he did. Tempus must have caught him off guard. Let me try something."

Clark was feeling better. The ringing had stopped, and he could understand what Lois and Dr. Vukavitch were saying. He realized now that he had again mistaken her for Mrs. Carper, but he was sure now that it really wasn’t a mistake. He hadn’t shared his musings with the rest of them, yet. Now was not the time to get into it.

He focused his heat vision on a section of ground just below the force field. His heat vision was harder to use than he thought it would be. As he turned up the intensity to melt the sand under the field, the pain in his head became more severe. He ignored it, though. Time was of the essence.

Having melted the sand and dirt, he thankfully shut off his heat vision and super-cooled the molten mass. With Lois’ help, he lifted up the glassy chunk of beach. As they lifted, Olga gingerly tested to see if the field bent around the glass. It didn’t. The field shot straight to the ground on either side. Olga went through first, followed quickly by Lois and Clark, who had to turn inward toward each other like the little figurines in cuckoo clocks.

"Don’t forget to put it back in such a way so that we can get back out."

Lois grunted out, "Do we look like complete idiots, Olga?" Once their burden was placed dead center of the field Lois turned to confront Olga. "I mean, really now! We’re world class reporters!" Lois shifted her position a little, clearly getting ready to lean up against the field. "Do you really think that we’d forget to leave a way oOOOOUUUUTTTTT?!!!" Lois’ voice trailed off as she was propelled nearly halfway across the island.

"Excuse me a moment." And with a flash of blue, Clark followed Lois’ trajectory.

Olga quickly turned around and made tracks away from the field, "I think I’ll go look at the time portal."

Part: 27

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 23, 1962
10:24am EST
Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Tempus put the finishing touches on the trajectory and armed the missile. With one press of a button he would launch a new future for all mankind. Then he heard the soft warning sound of someone entering the portal. They were here. Tempus felt up his sleeve and grinned. His surprise was in place. He was ready.

Tempus was just lifting Alexander up to close the control panel lid when a resounding, "LET MY SON GO!" boomed forth from the portal opening. The command was deafening, and there was no ignoring the implied 'or else.'

Tempus and Alexander turned as one to look at the time portal. Alexander shrieked with joy, "Daddy!"

Alexander performed one of those impossible wiggles that only three-year-olds can. He slipped from Tempus' arms and bounced up the stairs of the platform. He leapt into his father's arms and wrapped himself around the neck of steel. Alexander's joy was doubled when he saw his mother walk through.

Tempus' face reverted back to the cynical and maniacal visage that everyone expected of him. Only his eyes betrayed the flicker of disappointment he felt as Alexander rejoiced in the reunion with his family. "Oh, please! Next we’ll be joining hands and singing Kumbaya."

"I like to sing!" Alexander added enthusiastically.

Lois shushed her son and took him from his father's arms. Olga made her way through, only to find the platform overly crowded. Clark walked down the stairs, never taking his eyes off Tempus.

"Lois, help Olga and Frank carry Mr. Jackson to the portal. You and Alexander are going through with the rest of them. *I* will deal with Tempus." Clark used Superman's command voice.

Lois reached out a hand and touched her husband's shoulder. "Clark...?"

Clark still refused to look anywhere but Tempus' eyes. "He's gone too far. I told him what the consequences would be if he ever threatened my family again."

Lois moved around to stand in front of him. She held Alexander in her arms. Both looked at him. In the past she had always trusted him to do the right thing. Only this time she wasn't sure what the right thing was. Tempus was the worst villain that they had ever dealt with. And every time they thought he was gone, he would pop back up again, like a bad penny. Alexander didn't understand the look on his father's face. He had never seen so pure a hate as he now saw in his father's eyes.

Clark looked down, keeping Tempus in his peripheral vision. Clark's voice softened as he spoke to her, "Lois, take Alexander. Please, just go. Don't make this any harder than it already is."

For the first time she wondered what was on her husband's mind. **Surely he's not thinking…** A worried tone crept into her voice, "Clark…?"

Finally, Clark gave his wife his full attention. "I know what I need to do. Hurry." He bent over to give her parting kiss on the forehead.

It was all Tempus needed. With a flick of his wrist a strange multi-chambered gun snapped into his hand. A red dot appeared on Clark's forehead.

"Clark!" was all Lois got out as the sound of a weapon reached their ears.

Keith and Frank saw the motion and reacted. Frank pulled out his spare gun, took aim and fired. Keith's training exerted itself over instinct. Ignoring his body's screams of protest, and before he realized what he was doing, he leapt at Lois and Alexander, trying to cover as much of them as he could with his body.

A heartbeat before Tempus had successfully triggered the weapon, he felt the burning sensation of Frank's bullet burying itself in his shoulder, spinning him around.

The weapon, a 21st century Gossamer 64 Needler, released its load. Twelve tiny slivers of hollow metal, tipped with the deadly green substance, hurtled toward their targets, waiting to discharge their payloads.

Frank fired a second bullet. It found its home in Tempus' right lung. Tempus looked up in surprise as he started to fall.

More than half of the needles inserted themselves into Keith's back. At first he didn't think he had been hit. There was no burning, no thump of impact. Just a series of tiny pricks. A feeling of warmth spread throughout his body as the fluid made its rounds in his circulatory system. He was aware that he had fallen, but he didn't care anymore. Soon pain was a distant memory. Blackness consumed him.

Lois and Clark both attempted to dive out of the way, while at the same time trying to protect Alexander. One green tipped sliver made a glancing penetration of Lois' neck, and was on the way out when it got stuck. Lois pulled it out. Barely a pin-prick of blood showed where it went in and came out. What she saw next made her completely forget about it.

One zipped through Alexander's hair and struck Clark in the chest. Clark hit the ground immediately.

Alexander was crying and Clark was lying at her feet. Torn between making sure her son was all right and seeing to her injured husband, Lois welcomed intervention in the form of Frank Parker. He had already checked on Keith, finding no pulse. "Why don't you check on your son while I help out Superman?"

Lois was quickly able to ascertain that Alex wasn't hit. She turned to see how Frank and Clark were doing. Frank had just pulled out the needle, tip and all. Clark started to come around. He was a little unsteady. Frank offered a supportive hand. "Whoa there, big guy. That must be some powerful toxin."

"I think it was more the Kryptonite than anything else. It was weird. I felt like I was going into a really deep sleep."

Lois came up and gave him a big hug, tears flowing freely. "I thought I was going to lose you. Especially after what happened to Keith."

They all turned and saw that Olga had already covered Keith's face with a blanket. She was trying to tend to Tempus' wounds, but he was being difficult. She was trying to get him to stay still. He was trying to get their attention.

Tempus had lost a lot of blood and was coughing it up as well, but he still had a smile on his face. "Nice shot…[cough]…Mr. Parker…[cough]…but I get the last laughff…" and Tempus faded away.

They looked at each other wondering what Tempus could possibly mean by that when a force field snapped into place around the missile and the time portal. Then they heard a chirp. Then another. Then another. It started out slowly at first, but increased in frequency. It was coming from Tempus' left-breast-pocket.

Alexander recognized the sound. His little eyes went wide. He started to tug on Lois' leg. "Nanny! Boom! BOOOOMMMM!!!!"

Clark quickly found the source. It was a remote control with a timer display. It was counting backward from five.

"MOVE! NOW!" Lois grabbed Alexander and Olga. Clark grabbed Frank. Not knowing what to expect they put as much distance as they could between them and the chirping control in the remaining seconds before the count-down reached zero. Currently, Clark wasn't much stronger than his wife, and he knew that if Tempus had rigged the missile to detonate, they would never get far enough away to escape the blast. It would be a lost cause, but they ran anyway.

The missile's engines started to fire up. It was going to launch. Clark had to try and stop it. Clark turned to Lois and Alexander and touched both their faces. "I love you. I'll be back. I promise." And with that he sped back to the missile.

Lois rubbed her neck and then hugged Alexander close and did something she rarely did anymore. She prayed.

~*~

Shifting his vision to thermal, he struck the field and traced back the thermal wave back to the force field's projector. Finding it, he reduced the generator to a slag of metal. By this time the missile was already moving. Clark jumped on the missile, and it carried him through the time portal. As it passed through, the heat from its engines melted the portal behind it. All that was left was a slagged ring of metal and plastic. Their only ticket home was gone.

part 28

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:17:25pm EST Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

The missile roared out of the portal with Clark riding on its back. It no sooner cleared the portal, melting it to slag, then Clark felt a familiar presence nearby. It was his brother, Lex! ((What are you doing here?))

((Saving your sorry butt. If you don’t let go of the missile soon, you'll change its course, setting off the failsafe.))

Clark quickly let go, allowing the missile to speed away. A look of panic crossed his features. The combined stresses of being exposed to Kryptonite, super-speeding to the missile, taking out the force field generator, and emerging from the time window to find an inky black, moonless night, left Clark nearly powerless. His reserves were depleted. He started to lose altitude rapidly. Lex flew over to him, grabbed him, and gently set them both down. Clark couldn’t get over how good Lex looked in

the royal purple suit with emerald green highlights. It had a stunning effect. He normally wore a diamond shaped emerald green mask to complete the look. Even though everyone knew he was Martha Kent’s son, he still wore it. He said that it looked cool. But he wasn’t wearing it now, which was unusual. Instead, there was a sad smile on his face.

There was something about that face. It looked just like Alexander's when Clark had taken off to tackle the missile. As though lightening had struck him, he staggered under the memory so fresh in his mind. Clark understood. He remembered the darkness. The rotating faces. Everything made sense now! He looked directly into his 'brother’s' eyes. "My little man? Alexander? How? Why?" Clark’s face held nothing back. He was totally overwhelmed and confused.

Lex’s eyes started to tear up. "Yeah, *Dad.*

It’s me. Welcome home." And then, Lex wrapped him in a bear hug. "Welcome home."

Something was nagging at the back of Clark's mind. After a moment, he broke the hug. "Oh Alexander! I never came back, did I?"

The young man before gave him a wry smile.

"Please, call me Lex. You’ve been doing it for the last thirty years, I don’t see any reason to change it now. As to never coming back, I have a theory about that but we really don’t have the time to go into that now. Let’s just say that when you first came through the portal I didn’t know if I should hug you or deck ya."

Clark laughed. It was strange knowing that his little brother was also his son. He was glad to see that his son had grown up to be a fine young man. Then it struck him. He grabbed Lex by the shoulders. "Wait a minute. Obviously Frank and Olga became Mr. and Mrs. Carper. You grew up as my brother. Where's your mother? Where’s Lois?"

Lex's face fell. "I've wondered how to tell you this for the last decade or so. And I still don't know how. There's no easy way. She died…back in 1962."

"NO!" Clark recoiled from his elder son. He reached out with every fiber of his being and found…nothing. Clark’s eyes took on a pained and hollowed out look. His voice was equal to his look. "She's gone." His knees gave out and Lex swiftly caught him, holding him close. They both cried. One for the pain that he had caused. One for the love he had lost.

They stayed that way for a while before letting each other go. Clark gave Lex a questioning look. "How?"

Lex turned and scanned the sky. "We don’t have time for this. We have to stop that missile."

Clark’s face darkened. "HOW?"

Lex sighed. "It all started to go downhill after you left. I still shudder when I think about that time." ((Open your mind. This is going to be a rough ride.))

Clark steeled himself for the onslaught of the Lex's memories. The images washed over him like a tsunami, so intense the emotion and the speed at which it was delivered. ((Slow down!)) Lex didn’t let up. ((We haven't the time.))

@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Tuesday, October 23, 1962 Gulf of Mexico Isla de la Juventud beach
@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Olga’s face fell and her voice trembled as she uttered a strangled cry. "The portal! How are we going to get home?"

Frank placed his arm around her shoulders. He was worried, too, but he wanted to be strong for her. Then an idea struck him. "Tempus! He must still have his personal portal on him. We can us that to get home!"

The four of them moved en masse toward the lifeless time traveler and their fallen comrade. They moved Keith to one side and placed rocks over the body. Lois' movements showed a definite loss of motivation by the time they had gathered enough rocks to cover him. She had even dropped a few clumsily.

They decided that since Lois knew him best, she would say some parting word's over Keith. "Keith Jackson was a good man and husband. I don't know what he did to deserve us, but we were glab, err, glad to haf…" **Come on Lois, wake up!** "…*have* him for a friend." Lois' face looked very relaxed, but her eyes were terrified. She staggered once and started to crumple to the ground.

"Mommy!" Alexander rushed to her side quickly, vainly trying to catch her. Frank did the same and together they were able to get her to the ground gently. Lois struggled to lift her head, but was unable. Her limbs wouldn’t respond anymore. Only her eyes moved. She found Alexander’s face and locked onto it. ((Sweetheart, I love you. I will always love you. You listen to Mr. Parker and Dr. Vukavitch, and do what they say. Remember, Daddy said that he would come for you. He always keeps his word.))

Tears where streaming down Alexander’s face.

((DON’T GO! DON’T LEAVE ME, MOMMY! First Nanny, then Mr. Jackson, then Daddy! DON’T YOU GO, TOO!))

Lois’ mind was beginning to shut down. It didn’t feel bad, sorta warm and comfortable. ((I don’t want to go, my little man. I…))

((NO! NO! NO!)) "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" And with that, Alexander took off running.

Frank took off after him while Olga stayed by Lois’ side. Lois looked deep in her eyes. There was no need for communication of any kind. Olga understood. She gently stroked the side of Lois' face. "You know he loves you, he just can’t cope with this right now. Mr. Parker and I will take good care of him, no matter when we end up. And if we can, we will undo this mess so that none of you will have to suffer. I…" Olga stopped talking. The light had gone out of Lois’ eyes. She had joined Keith in the land of darkness. Olga laid her hand over Lois’ eyes and closed them. She slipped off Lois’ wedding band and engagement ring to keep for Clark.

~*~

Frank was hard pressed to catch up to the little boy. He only did so because his legs were a lot longer. "Alexander! Please! Stop!"

"GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Frank grabbed him by the shoulders, turned him around, and scooped him up in his arms, holding on as tightly as he dared. Alexander thrashed and yelled. He reared back and beat Frank on the chest over and over, all the while yelling how he hated his mother for leaving him. Frank knew he was going to be sore and bruised.

There was the beginning of real strength in those tiny arms. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know if there was anything *to* say. He just let Alexander beat his frustrations out on him until the child gave out. Alexander slumped against Frank’s chest and continued to whimper into his neck. Frank reached up and gently stroked Alexander’s head and back, shushing him as he slowly made his way back to Olga. By the time he reached her, Alexander was fast, if not fitfully, asleep. Frank carefully passed him to her and began the task of finding enough stones to cover Lois. He took his time. They had all the time in the world.

~*~

Hours later, they had yet to figure out Tempus’ portable portal. It had been in Tempus’ right-breast pocket when Frank had shot him. Ironically, it was the device that had deflected the bullet enough to puncture Tempus’ lung. The bullet had made a simple dent with a trailing scar in the casing. Besides those incidental markings it might as well have been a polished lump of metal. There seemed to be no visible controls or seams on the outside of the little contraption. After a while, they gave up, laid it among their meager gatherings, and started to forage for food. About an hour had passed when they heard

Alexander scream.

~*~

Alexander had tossed and turned in his sleep. He dreamed of beeping machines and explosions. He dreamed over and over again of Mommy and Daddy and how they were taken away from him. He dreamed about icky green needles and guns, people burning and dying. No matter where he turned, people were dying or dead. He didn’t want to be here anymore. The dreams just wouldn't go away. It was more than a little boy could bear.

His thrashing caused him to roll over closer to the stack of supplies and materials that Olga and Frank had stacked nearby. Alexander jostled the pile that held Tempus’ portal device. He rolled far enough to have his face touch the cool, marred, metallic surface. The device issued forth a soft chime.

((TEMPORAL GATEWAY 453FVG HAS B-BEEN DAMAG…))

Alexander started to rouse from his fitful slumber. ((What?)) Unfortunately, he moved his head and broke contact with the mechanism. Silence reigned. He lifted his head and made to get up and stumbled a bit, causing his hand to land firmly on the inert portal. It issued another soft chime.

((TEMPORAL GATEWAY 453FVG HAS B-BEEN DAMAGED. SELF-DIAGNOSTIC WILL BEGIN.))

After the horrendous nightmares, it was no wonder that Alexander screamed. Olga quickly swept him up and carried him some distance away. Frank picked up the portal, but it looked no different than normal. There were no more chimes, but it did feel warmer to the touch. Frank put the device down and they waited in the distance. After several minutes Frank picked it up and it seemed to have returned to normal. Once they had assured the little boy it was safe, Alexander hesitantly touched the device again. It chimed.

((SELF-DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE. MEMORY L-LOSS HAS OCCURRED. ID VALIDATION M-MODE ACTIVATED. STANDBY FOR ID S-SCAN.))

Alexander got a confused look on his face. "It’s thinking at me. I think its saying that it's broke." Alexander squirmed a bit and giggled. "Hahaha… that tickles!"

Frank’s made ready to snatch the thing from Alexander's hand. "What tickles?"

The small device chimed again.

"The metal thing tickled my hand. Wait. It’s thinking some more."

((ID S-SCAN COMPLETE. DNA DOES NOT M-MATCH N-KNOWN USERS. MEMORY L-LOSS SUSPECTED. WILL SCAN FRAGMENTS OF MEMORY FOR CLOSEST M-MATCH.))

The machine seemed lost in thought for a while.

After what seemed like several minutes the device chimed again.

((SCAN COMPLETE. CLOSEST M-MATCH IS TO TEMPUS LUCAS LANE. M-MATCH TWENTY-TWO POINT NINE PERCENT. SECONDARY M-MATCH TO ANDRUS MARTIN KENT AT TWENTY-TWO POINT FIVE PERCENT. PLEASE CONFIRM ID S-SCAN.))

"It thinks I’m Mr. Tempus Lane or Mr. Andrus Kent. It wants me to pick one."

"Since we know that it worked for Tempus last, tell it you’re Tempus."

"But, isn’t that lying?"

Frank closed his eyes for a moment.

"Technically, yes. But this is only a machine. If it wants to think you’re Tempus, let it. There’s no harm in that. Especially if you cross your fingers behind your back."

Olga, who was standing out of Alexander’s direct line of vision, shot daggers at Frank with her eyes. Frank just grinned.

Alexander had a tough time crossing his fingers using only one hand. Frank eventually helped him, when Olga adamantly refused.

((Yes, I’m Tempus Lucas Lane.))

((THANK YOU.))

The top surface shifted to reveal three sets of controls: date, time, and location.

"YES!" Frank picked up Alexander and twirled him around in a circle. He then attempted to enter the coordinates, but as soon as he took the control out of Alexander’s hands, it sealed over again. Frank was ready to chuck the thing into the nearby sea.

"Wait! Give it back to Alexander. I have a hunch."

Frank handed it back, and it immediately activated again. Olga smiled, triumphantly.

The ‘where’ was a snap, Metropolis. The ‘when’ was a different matter entirely.

"Why don’t we just arrive when I was originally scheduled to arrive, Sunday, October 3, at noon."

"That would give us less than a day before your earlier self arrived. We cannot arrive before your arrival the first time Mr. Parker. We don’t know what will happen when your earlier self encounters you in the Sphere’s chronostream. Before, you have always encountered a slightly different you and *that* you has disappeared, presumably in his own Backstep. In this scenario, you and this universe’s Frank Parker will co-exist. It’s possible that he will disappear, you will continue to exist, and then your earlier self will arrive and we will have two Frank Parkers, something I would like to avoid if at all possible.

" Frank grinned at her. "Why? Then we could have twice the fun." Frank wiggled his eyebrows at his last remark.

Olga ignored the innuendo and plowed her way forward. "It is also possible that the earlier you will not arrive at all, because you already exist here. That would set up a paradox of unknown proportions. We just can’t run the risk.

Conversely, we can’t wait too long or we run into the problem of Agent Smith being killed and Alexander being kidnapped. We really don’t have a choice. We need to wait until after your earlier version arrives and then deal with the double Parker problem when the time comes."

Frank nodded in agreement and started whistling the ‘Double-Mint Gum’ jingle. Olga resisted the urge to throw her shoe at him. Frank told Alexander to enter October 4, 1999 at 9:00am, Metropolis, Central Park. ~*~ Frank and Olga gathered whatever they could carry in the emergency shoulder bags . Then they said their good-byes the eternal sleepers. All Alexander could do was cry.

Frank and Olga both swore they wouldn't allow this to happen again.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 23, 1962
1:53pm EST Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Once everything was set, Frank had Alexander give the device a toss. It obediently opened into the by now familiar time window. However, Frank did notice an odd spark of electricity making circuits around the perimeter of the time portal. Frank grabbed Olga’s and Alexander’s hands and held them tightly. "Just in case, let’s step through together." And as one, they hit the shimmering field in the center.

The last thing Alexander 'heard' was ((W-WARNING! W-WARNING! POWER FAILURE IMMINENT! TARGET NOT ATTAINABLE. ENTERING EMERGANCY M-MODE.))

"Uh-oh!"

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, October 23, 1962
1:54pm EST Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud - A bluff near the beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

A frustrated groan escaped the lips of the red-headed man. "You nit-slog! You waited too long! They made it through!" He turned to the blonde-headed man and barked an order. "You, check the historical matrix. See what changed this time. I am surrounded by flubbers!"

The blonde stood his ground. "There's no need to be belligerent, Senior Peace Keeper."

Red rounded on the man. "If you hadn't lost your portal, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place."

The blonde ducked his head and started checking the historical matrix. In only a few moments, he had the results. "Minimal damage done. We actually gained some ground, this time. Lane and Jackson have been put out of commission…"

"I knew that."

"…and Alexander is being raised by the Elder Kents again. Only now he's the 'younger' brother by half a year instead of being the 'older' brother by six, like he was in the original deviation. At least he's not crippled by that Kryptonite sliver anymore. As an added bonus, Agent Smith is saved by Lex at the last possible moment."

"So…you're saying that losing Tempus, maiming Jackson, and having a pregnant Lois Lane in a deep coma is a fair trade for saving a Secret Service agent and getting an emotionally scarred Alexander back with the Elder Kents?"

"No, Senior Peace Keeper. I was just saying since Agent Smith is Lex's soulmate, this just cements the future that they are supposed to have. He'll be a few years younger, that's all.

The Senior Peace Keeper rolled his eyes. "You've always been the incurable romantic. *Soulmates*. Scan further. Make sure there are no hidden surprises."

Blondie checked the matrix again. His mouth twitched to one side. "Uh-oh."

Part: 29

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:19:47pm EST
Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

The flow of images stopped. Clark staggered at the sudden cessation. His brain was attempting to assimilate this new information and slow down to normal. He and Lex had ‘exchanged’ information that way before, but nothing so emotionally charged and never at that speed.

Clark started to choke up. Again he sank to his knees but Lex didn’t bother to catch him this time. Clark’s heart was torn. He mourned the loss of his wife and the shattered childhood of his son. He could not fathom how Lex could have dealt with all trauma he experienced. Clark opened his eyes and looked up at the man his son had become. He could now easily see the child in the face of the man before him.

Clark was to first to break the silence. "How…how did you keep that all bottled up inside of you all these years? To lose so many people that you cared about in so short a time. Mom and Dad knew that something terrible had happened to you before you came to us, but you never talked about it. I still remember the nights that you would wake up screaming, but Mom could never get you to talk about it." Clark trailed off, a puzzled look on his face.

Lex looked at Clark. It was so hard to consider him as his father; he’d known him as his brother for almost as long as he could remember. And yet, he had memories of being crippled, being raised by Lola ‘Lois’ Ellison, and being Clark Kent’s best friend. At least he had been able to save Nan this time.

It was those memories of another life that had kept his soul afloat. At first he thought that it was just a fantasy world that he had made up, but over the years he realized they were something more. They were a hope that this could all be undone. He would much rather be this man’s son than his brother or friend. That’s why he had studied everything he could on time-travel and temporal mechanics. The Carper’s had been a big help in that regard.

They had all tried, at one time or another, to make changes to the timeline. They had learned one important lesson: they could not. At least, they couldn’t change anything significant. Every time they had tried, they were prevented in some way. Usually, it just didn’t seem the thing to do. On the few occasions that they where able to shake the inner doubts, weird ‘accidents’ would happen, like when they ended up in Florida in 1970 when they first stepped through the portal. After a while they gave up and decided to wait until Clark came back from the past and then try to undo this mess using Operation Backstep. Olivia and Fred had already worked out the changes that Ballard would have to make to the Sphere to keep it from leaving this quantum shade and avoid Tempus’ temporal force field. That’s why the Sphere originally had shifted to this universe in the first place. It couldn’t get past the temporal force field set up on Frank’s world so it kept moving from one parallel to the next, following the path of least resistance until it ran out of power and it ended up in this universe.

But before Clark and Lex could discuss all this, they had a missile to stop. "I’ll tell you all about it after I disable the missile. Can you fly yet?"

Clark cast a glance and the starry sky and tried to levitate. He barely made it off the ground. He shook his head. He wasn’t going anywhere.

"Okay, you stay here and I will go after the missile."

Fear crossed Clark’s face. "NO! I will not lose you a second time!"

Lex looked fit to be tied. "Clark listen closely. I’m only going to say this. There is a missile heading for the heart of Metropolis. *You* are incapable of flying. I remember how Tempus programmed it in the first place. I plan to change its heading so that it will explode in space."

"You’re not going by yourself."

The look on Lex' face pained Clark’s heart. He'd seen that look before on both Lois’ and Lex’s faces. At least he now knew why. "Fine. If it will make you happy, you can mentally piggyback with me."

Clark was not happy about it, but he realized that he had no choice. He cleared his mind and reached out and ‘tagged’ Lex’s mind. He could now see himself from Lex’s position. He saw a man as vacant in heart as he was in mind. ((Let’s go catch a missile.))

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:21:30pm EST
Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lex scanned the sky for the thermal trail of the missile. Clark had to resist the temptation of being a backseat driver. Everything Lex saw, he ‘saw’. It was not like he could independently look out his son’s eyes. They both saw the missile at the same time. It had just crossed across the East Coast of Florida. It was moving at speeds not possible in this day and age. Lex quickly caught up with it, sort of. The missile was designed to avoid any object that came near it. It was already evading all the counter-measures that the military was throwing at it, which was making it an awfully hard target to get to. Lex’s main problem was to get within its detection field and stay there until he had implemented his plan.

With each counter-move, it slowly revealed a pattern movement. After a short time, Lex was able to out-guess it and slipped in close. Around the same time, the military stopped taking pot-shots at it, now that they could tell one of the President's sons was in the game. This made sticking with the missile a lot easier. The control panel, however, was on the underside of the casing. This made it very hard on Lex. He had to fly upside-down, keep close to the missile, and focus on removing the panel in such a way as to not change the missile’s trajectory.

He shot a couple of bolts of heat vision at the hinges and then super cooled them, until they were brittle. As he opened the panel, it snapped off, plunging into the waters below.

((Are you sure you remember what Tempus showed you when you were three?))

((Are you saying that you don't trust me?))

((Well…))

((Blue is for altitude, green is for longitude, and yellow is for latitude. Basically I am going to re-program the altitude to have it strike a 'target' fifty miles above Metropolis. At that height, its explosion should be harmless. Ought to make for one heck of a light show.))

((Okay, but at the first sign of trouble, you get your hind-end out of there, pronto.))

((No problem-o.))

Looking at the console was all it took to bring back the memories of how to program the flying death wand. He changed the blue read-out from zero to fifty. The main read-out said "Thank you. Have a nice day." Lex peeled off and watched as the missile changed heading and made for the reaches of the upper atmosphere.

((Good job, Lex. Come pick me up, and let's go home.))

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:35pm EST East Coast
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lex picked up Clark and started to head back toward Metropolis. The moonless night gave way to a miniature pale green sun. The missile had exploded. The problem was that instead of it being high up in space, it was only at the top of the Stratosphere. Lex was the first to notice that a hole the size of Rhode Island had been blow in the only protection the Earth had from the deadly UV radiation of the Sun, and its center was straight over Metropolis. The resulting blackout from the EM pulse and the spreading green, radioactive particles only added to the anguish of the two Kent men.

Part: 30

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
7:47pm CST
Smallville
Kent Farm
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Nan and the Carpers were waiting for them when they arrived. They had heard the news and feared they had lost both men. Nan covered her mouth, running toward them even before they landed. She grabbed Lex and gave him a warm hug. But Lex wasn't in a hugging mood. He swiftly pulled away and moved into the house. Nan looked over her shoulder at the threesome. Seeing her quandary, Olivia shooed her after him.

The Carpers moved toward Clark, gentle smiles on their faces. Fred stretched out his hand and firmly grasped Clark's in his. "Welcome home, Super…" As had always been his custom, since this Clark had dawned the cape, he had started to call him Superman. To Fred, he would always be Superman as long as he wore the Suit. It just seemed right, no matter how often Clark had insisted otherwise. Now, however, Fred's greeting died on his lips. He took in the gaunt look of Clark's face, the haggard drupe of his shoulders. Lex had told him. He knew about Lois. Fred's face paled as he stammered. "I…I'm so sorry."

Clark ripped his hand away from Fred’s. "Sorry? SORRY?" Clark’s face was a study in cold fury. "You’ve been ‘friends’ of the family for as long as I can remember. You were the first non-family members to ‘discover’ how special Lex and I were. *Now,* I know why you had such a sad look on your face whenever you saw Lois, Olivia. Or should I call you Olga?"

Olivia looked down. "Olivia is fine."

"Now, I know why you cried as much as Ellen when we got married. You weren’t crying out of happiness, but in sorrow! We even made you both Alexander’s godparents." Clark ran his hand through his hair. "Why? Why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you try to stop this?"

Fred tried to explain. "We did try. God knows we tried. Something had been preventing us from making any changes. Something has always stopped us. Most of the time, it just didn’t seem the thing to do."

**It just didn’t seem the thing to do. That sounds familiar.** "The Subliminator."

"The what?" came Olivia’s query.

Clark’s face had softened considerably. "It sounds like you have been under the effects of the Subliminator."

"You mean that device that Tempus used to win the election against your mom?"

"Yeah, but the way it was used on you doesn’t sound like his style though. It’s too subtle for his liking. I just don’t understand." Clark shook his head in dismay.

Olivia heard the weariness in his tone, understood his confusion, and remembered his grief. The sorrow in her bespectacled, ancient eyes reached out and touched Clark’s heart. "Clark, I’m so sorry." She reassured him, "Lois went quickly. She wanted you to have this."

Olivia agedly reached up and started to pull the thin silver chain over her head. Clark had never seen her without it around her neck. She had never let anyone see what was on the end.

Finally, she removed it. It held a white gold band and a diamond solitaire engagement ring. He would have recognized them anywhere. He had sealed his vows with them to Lois six years ago. Upon seeing them, he started to cry. Olivia gently placed them in his hand. He accepted the band and held it up to his tear filled eyes and tried to focus on the inscription inside. After wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, he could read what he had written so long ago. "To Our Eternal Love - Clark." He had engraved it himself; combining his microscopic vision with his heat vision.

His face crumpled. It was the tangible proof that he had lost her. The heart of steel was shattered.

Olivia's soul ached for the superhero. She had been devastated after the loss of her first husband. It took a long time before she allowed anyone to be close to her. Frank Parker was the first to get in under her protective shell. After being trapped in the past for more than five years, she finally gave up on being rescued and accepted his proposal.

The last twenty-five years of their life together had been wonderful, but it would be selfish to prevent Lex from having a chance to have a normal life. They had already talked about it. They really had no other choice. They would try to fix what went wrong.

~*~

Try as he might, Lex could not believe he had made so stupid an error. He had been kicking himself all the way back from the East Coast. Even seeing Nan at the end of the trip didn’t make him feel better. He went into the house and plopped down on a kitchen chair.

"Lex, what happened? I thought you remembered how to program the missile," Nan asked gently.

"So did I. So did I. I'm not sure what went wrong. The readouts looked fine. All I can think of is that maybe it measured in kilometers instead of miles. I don't know. All I *do* know is that most of the East Coast is in darkness. Anyone with a pacemaker is probably dead. And to make matters worse, there's a cloud of Kryptonite laced, radioactive fallout spreading halfway across the globe on the jet stream right now." Lex paused for a moment and then continued. "Oh, and let's not forget me telling Clark how his wife died. That was a real joy. All in the span of a couple of hours. Not bad for Supersap!" Lex's self-loathing had reached a pinnacle.

"Don’t call yourself that! You couldn’t have known." She tried to lighten the mood. "Besides, you saved my life, so you're not a total screw-up."

Lex looked Nan deeply in the eyes and smiled. He loved it when she tried to brighten his spirits.

He had fallen in love with her the day he met her. Both times. First as the three-year-old Alexander--less than a month ago, real time; thirty years ago, by his memory. The second was just a little before that.

@@@@@@@@
Six months earlier.
@@@@@@@@

Nan had been temporarily assigned to the detail that came to check out the Metropolis pending an official visit from the President and Jonathan Kent. Lex met her on one of his patrols, educating a mugger on the error of his ways. He had heard the struggle and cry for help and was coming to the rescue, when she stepped around the corner of the alley. He stayed above and watched the scene unfold.

She was just as he remembered her: five foot three with long, flowing chocolate-brown hair and marbled blue eyes. Her size was her disarming feature. That lithe frame of hers carried a wicked set of martial arts skills that could best someone three times her size. She much preferred hand-to-hand combat to pulling a gun. She loved the adrenaline which flowed through her veins at such times. Plus, she got a real kick out of taking down brutes the size of sumo wrestlers. And she loved to taunt her targets.

"Hey! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size? Like a three year old."

The man dropped his intended victim and tossed his knife from hand to hand. "I think you’ll do just fine, sweetie."

In a sing-song voice Nan called out, "Help. Help, help." -- just like the damsel-in-distress from a Ray Stevens’ song.

It was all Lex could do to contain his laughter. With a wry grin, he watched as Nan swiftly rendered the would-be-mugger weaponless and incapacitated.

With her foot firmly on his throat, she mused out loud, "Now, what do I do with you?"

Lex came floating down from above. "Allow me, Agent Smith." As soon as he said her name, he knew he had made a mistake. He had distracted her and she nearly lost her footing.

"Defender! I didn’t know you were in town, but I guess that makes sense since your mom is coming." She gave him an inquisitive look. "How did you know my name?"

Lex switched to high gear. After a couple heartbeats, he had an answer. "Keith. Keith Jackson told us that some additional agents would be in town. He named the agents and only one of the names was feminine. Since you're wearing a Government Issue wardrobe and the most decidedly feminine, I put two and two together and got you."

Nan smiled at the explanation. Unlike some of her contemporaries, she was not above acknowledging a nice complement when it was offered.

As Lex picked up the mugger, they walked to the nearest police precinct and dropped their bundle off.

It was the beginning of a wonderful relationship.

Lex had been in a state of denial since then. He had flatly refused to talk to the Carpers about the budding friendship every time they brought it up. He knew they were just trying to keep his heart from being broken. He didn't care. If they were going to reset the timeline back to the way it was, he was going to spend as much time as he could with her.

And their time was running out.

@@@@@@@@@
The Present
@@@@@@@@@

Clark opened the kitchen door behind them and added his agreement. "She’s right. I was there with you, remember? I saw everything you saw and it all looked fine," Clark reminded him. "There was nothing on the readout that indicated kilometers instead of miles."

Lex was about to argue when the phone rang. They all stared at it like it was going to bite them. Lex picked it up. "Hello, Kent's Farm."

The voice on the other end took a sharp intake. "Lex? Oh, thank the good Lord above. Sweetheart, I was so worried when the ground troops reported that you were last seen flying alongside the missile. I thought I’d lost you. Where are Lois and Clark? Where’s Alexander?"

The phone hung limply in Lex’s hand. He looked pleadingly into his one-time brother’s eyes. His voice was a rasp. "I…I can’t tell her. I can’t hurt her like I did you."

Martha’s voice started to sound worried, "Lex? Lex are you there?"

Clark quickly took the phone from Lex and talked to his mother. He knew that nothing would keep her from coming to him if he told her the truth. It took everything in him to calmly tell her that the last time he saw Lois and Alexander they were fine, safe with Dr. Vukavitch and Agent Parker. He told her not to worry and that they would understand her not being able to get away. There was so much to deal with, considering the explosion. He said his good-byes.

"I suspect she knew I wasn’t telling her the whole truth, but this will stall her until she can deal with it."

Fred Caper winked, smiling in reassurance. "Maybe she won't have to. Not if we can undo this mess. Mrs. Carper, will you tell Clark here our plan?"

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:24pm CST
Smallville
Kent Farm
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lex thought that Nan would be the hardest to convince. She actually turned out to be quite the advocate. She was a well-trained member of the Secret Service. The well-being of her charges was paramount to any personal concerns. Who was she to deny Lois and Keith a second chance at life and Lex a normal childhood? Just because she had finally found the most wonderful man in the world didn’t mean that she could be so selfish as to want to keep him. Besides, if everything worked out the way the Carpers planned, she would have no memory of any of this.

She held Lex’s hand as the decision was made. They were going to go back in time to stop Tempus before any of this could happen.

No one said anything about the single tear that trailed down her cheek.

~*~

"Do you still remember the number?"

"Do *I* still remember the number? You must have forgotten that I have a photographic memory."

"Then why have you started to forget our anniversary?"

A frown passed across Fred’s face. "Once! I forget one time, and do you forgive and forget? Nooooo. I’ll have you kno…"

Olivia Carper leaned over and kissed her husband. When they separated, she smiled and said, "Just dial the number."

Fred gave her one last dirty look and dialed a number that he hadn’t used in over thirty years. It rang.

The same perky voice as always picked up the phone. He could faintly hear the smack of chewed gum before she said anything. "How may I direct your call?"

"This is Conundrum."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:30pm CST
Smallville
Nearby grove of trees
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Nit had just finished relaying what was all said.Blondie turned to Red. "We can’t allow this to happen. It will ruin everything for centuries!"

Red regarded his companion. "We also weren’t supposed to let the missile blow up in the stratosphere! Clark must have somehow interfered with our control of Lex. I say that we allow them to do what they want, up to a point. They will not flubix all our hard work."

Red turned from his men and looked back at the farm house. **They are not going to undo what we have done. The future depends on it.**

Part: 31

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Thursday, October 7, 1999
8:34am CST
Smallville
Kent Farm
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Clark got up with the sun to allow himself a full hour for soaking up its life-giving energies. He now felt like a new man, both physically and emotionally. The possibility of saving Lois and getting his little Alexander back invigorated him. The first thing he was going to do was take that missile of Tempus’ and toss it from here to the other side of the moon, and if Tempus just so happened to be strapped to it, even better.

Clark arrived back on the farm to find Lex and Nan just as he had left them, leaned back in the porch swing, holding each other. This was his one regret. To rob his son of this. If everything went as planned, only Clark would remember the loss.

He resisted the urge to stroke his son's hair, and pushed his hand through his own instead. **Were the lives of millions worth the love of a few?**

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Thursday, October 7, 1999
8:00am MST
Never-Neverland Operation Backstep
+++++++++++++++++++++++

The five of them landed in the middle of the compound. They were greeted by the Operation Backstep team and several enthusiastic guards. The two groups looked at each other, not sure as to who should make the first move. The team had been prepared by last night's call, but the sight of their teammates, old and gray, had stopped them cold. Talmadge, ever the leader, moved forward to shake Fred and Olivia’s hands. "Welcome home, Frank and Olga." He turned to Olivia. The years had not been kind to her, but he still recognized the sparkle in her eye and the warmth of her smile. "You look good, Olga."

Olivia swatted Talmadge on the arm. "Flatterer!" She looked at her colleagues. "It’s so good to see you all again. I realize that we seem to have aged so much in last two days, but it’s taken us thirty years to get to this point. And please, call us Olivia and Fred. It’s the only names we’ve known for a long time."

Jason Trask stepped forward to shake the superheroes’ hands. "Ever since the Nightfall Asteroid, I’ve always wanted to meet you two gentlemen."

Both men blushed a little. Lex took the initiative. "It was nothing, sir. We just pushed it in the direction Dr. Phil Atkliph told us. At first we thought he was nuts, pushing it toward the Earth, but, as you know, that extra speed caused it to miss the Earth by a good couple hundred miles. After that, it was a piece of cake to push it into the sun."

The group continued to chat for a while before Fred started to get anxious. Even after all the years, Fred still hated wasting time. "I know we owe a lot to these two, but we really need to get on the stick if we're going to keep Europe and Western Asia from glowing in the dark."

~*~

In just a few minutes, the group found its way into the conference room. Trask cast his eyes around the crowded table, taking in the dynamics of the congregation.

Donovan joined Fred -- they had a lot of catching up to do. Olivia sat near them, with Drs. Ballard and Mentnor, going over the ramifications of what they were going to have to do to the Sphere. Clark and Talmadge were discussing the latest attempts at discrediting his mother. And Lex and Nan stood in a corner, just holding each other. Everyone was talking at once, creating an awful din.

Having confirmed her plans with the two men, Olivia decided that it was time to get the meeting going. She cleared her throat a couple of times with little success. Lex let loose a 'mild' whistle. Clark winced and the rest just put their hands to their ears. She turned to Lex and winked. "Thank you, Lex. I knew I could count on you."

Olivia got to her feet slowly and began pacing as she spoke. "In a nutshell, we failed to stop Tempus' launch of the missile. Not only that, but Lois Kent was killed, and we found that the timeline had been radically changed. Lex Kent should be a little boy and not the grown man he is before you now.

"It is our sworn duty to protect the interests of the United States of the Americas, as well as the world in general. We need to go back again. Only this time, we have to save Lois and Alexander, as well. We owe Superman that much."

Trask voiced the obvious question, "But what about all the good that the Defender has done over the years? What about the Nightfall Asteroid?"

Fred spoke up in defense of the plan. "In my own universe, Superman, by himself, stopped the asteroid. As to the rest of Lex's rescues, I don't know. If we are successful, only one person will ever know, and that’s the person we send back."

Trask was warming up to the role of being the devil's advocate. "That’s another thing I don’t get, *Fred*." He turned to the room at large, "Why are we sending Superman back? I don't want to speak ill of the most accomplished chrononaut that we ever had, but I thought Capt. Donovan was the fallback if Frank failed."

Donovan sucked in a breath as Fred winced at the remark, but Fred put a hand on Donovan’s arm so that the young man would hold his tongue.

Trask was right. Frank had failed. He had failed to stop Tempus, failed to stop the missile, and especially failed to protect Superman and his family. Fred covered his face with his hands.

Olivia glared at Trask while she patted her husband on the back. "I realize that Craig is the backup, but time is critical. If we fail to penetrate Tempus’ temporal force field, we are going to need someone that can move at super-speed to intercept Lex and the missile and prevent him from programming it wrong. We just can’t risk it. It must be Clark that goes back. We failed him once: we don't want to do it again." Olivia took her seat next to her husband and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Clark moved placed a light hand on his friend's shoulders. "Don't call yourselves failures. You protected my son. You have also given me the strangest opportunity a father could ever have: the unique knowledge of knowing how my son will grow up and develop. If I understand you correctly, I will remember both timelines. I will cherish the memories of the brother I once had and the friends that helped make life a little easier.

His voice rose as he addressed the room. "The rest of you, and even myself, have no idea the sacrifices that are being made here today. Fred and Olivia's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary was two days ago. They are sacrificing their happiness to give my family and the world a second chance."

Olivia nodded in acknowledgement. She and Fred had chosen their wedding day to commemorate his arrival into their universe and her life. But since then, they had collected a lifetime of memories: swimming in the rain on their honeymoon, eating potluck at the Smallville Congregational Church with Martha and Jonathan, agonizing and oftentimes regretting their decision not to have children, delighting in the 'newfound' abilities of Clark and Lex. And the million and one times they had shared their love for each other. All those moments, they freely gave to Clark and his son. She knew their sacrifice would be remembered.

But Clark wasn't finished talking. He moved over to Nan and Lex and took their hands in his. "And these two are sacrificing a future together. If everything goes according to plan, Nan will be forty-six years old by the time Alexander is ready for college. Even if they manage to find each other, it would never be the same." Clark regarded his son's eye's, "I wish it could be different. I am so sorry. So very sorry."

"I understand, Dad. I've understood for years. I just wish there was some way to make this all work out for everyone."

~*~

Olivia Carper, John Ballard, a hoard of computer programmers and a handful of technicians worked all day and into the night to make the changes that they hoped would bring them success. The changes seemed simple enough, just hard to implement. Thousands of lines of code had to be scanned and minor tweaks to the temporal control rods had to be made.

Finding the dimensional shift mechanism had been a stroke of luck. It appeared to have three positions, and it was sitting in the second position. The alien script above the positions seemed to indicate the first position as being the ‘off’ setting. Their knowledge of the language was still incomplete, but they had a fifty/fifty chance. There was no real way of knowing.

They put the Sphere back together and started priming the reactor for the next day. They bid the guards a good-night and crawled into bed.

~*~

Olivia found Fred in his old quarters, sitting in the lounge chair with his favorite book loosely resting in his lap, fast asleep. It was H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine. He had nearly finished it, again, when sleep had overtaken him. She gently removed it from his hand and began to place the well-worn bookmark to keep his place when it struck her.

This was the last time. The last time to take care of him. The last time to see to his needs. The last time to cover him up and gently kiss him on the forehead. This was their last night together.

Instead of kissing him, she gently shook his shoulder until he woke up. He looked up at her eyes. He knew this was the last night, too. She placed a finger on his lips, quietly took him to the bedroom and together they reaffirmed the love that they had for each other.

~*~

Lex and Nan got married before noon. This was not what either of them had wanted for a wedding day, but if this was going to be their last day together, they wanted to be together in all ways. The ceremony was performed by the base chaplain. Clark and Fred stood for Lex, while Olivia stood up for Nan. The newlyweds spent the day traveling west around the globe, witnessing the sunrise over and over again in beautiful and exotic places.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday, October 8, 1999
3:24am MST
Never-Neverland Operation Backstep
+++++++++++++++++++++++

[[This is a message for Stan Featchum. It's a quiet night, let's go shoot some pool.]]

Stan turned to Steve. "It's a quiet night, let's go shoot some pool."

Steve looked at Stan like he had lost his mind. "Are you nuts?! Trask would have us demoted in a heartbeat. Where did you get an idea like that?"

"I don't know. It just seemed like the thing to do."

[[This is a message for Steve Bahr. You're right. Trask will never find out. Let's go.]]

Steve got an odd look in his eye. "You're right. Trask will never find out. Let's go."

[[This is a message for Stan Featchum. Best two out of three gets dinner from the loser.]]

"Best two out of three gets dinner from the loser."

"You're on."

Stan and Steve left their post near the only entrance to the control room. As soon as they had turned the corner, two figures super-sped into the room. It was Red and Nit.

Red closed to within an inch of Nit's face, speaking in a barely audible growl. "This is your last chance. If you botch this one I will *personally* remove your temporal stabilizer. Don't forget that your very existence depends on how well you do in the next few minutes. Have I made myself clear?"

Nit vigorously nodded his head and set about linking to the Sphere's onboard computer and modifying the program. Red grinned to himself. Now it was time for his part of the mission.

What he was about to do was no easy feat, but that is why he had been chosen to lead this mission. He was one of the few Kryptonian Alphas in the Peace Keeper force. Only Alpha’s could successfully pull this stunt off without any serious side affects. Betas usually got muscle cramps and raging headaches. He started to internalize his energies, speeding up his molecular structure to super-speed. His entire body began to vibrate to the point where you couldn't make out details anymore. His body seemed to hit critical mass and slipped into noncorporealism. He was intangible. He passed through the wall and glided over to the Sphere itself. He reached inside of it, solidified his hand and shifted one of the temporal control rods a fraction of a millimeter, just enough to change the temporal harmonics of the chronofield. He also switched the dimensional shifter to the third position. **No reason to make things more complicated than they already are.** When he was satisfied, he phased his hand and rejoined Nit.

He sat for the remainder of their stay. Phasing always burned a lot of energy. Nit finished in a short time. Red checked his work. The kid did a good job. He favored Nit with a smile.

Red lifted a small cylinder to his mouth and spoke into it. "Jel-Nor to Andrus. Mission accomplished. Mataius and I will return to you shortly."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday, October 8, 1999
10:04am MST
Never-Neverland Operation Backstep
All because a little boy was taken back in time some thirty years. He was beginning to wonder if Alexander was destined to grow up out of his own time.

~*~

Clark was just finishing suiting up when Lex and Nan showed up. Their faces were rife with emotion. No one knew how to say good-bye.

Clark stared at son. "I told you I would come back. Now I get to keep that promise. I just wish now I didn’t have to."

Lex started to tear up and grabbed Clark close. When he finally spoke it was barely audible to Clark. "Just save Mom." Lex rubbed his eyes and quickly backed away to Nan’s side. Clark simply nodded, not trusting his voice right then.

Fred took Clark’s hand and shook it. "It’s been a pleasure to know you, Clark. See you on the other side of the timeline."

Clark smiled at Fred’s reference to the ‘other side.’ It had been decided that Clark should arrive just after Frank did so that at least this Frank Parker would have the opportunity to meet this universe’s Olga Vukavitch and have a chance at getting back together. Now that they knew Tempus’ exact plans, they could afford to shave the window a little closely.

Clark turned his back on his life long friends and family and slowly made his way up the steps to the Sphere’s cockpit. The technical support staff checked everything twice in the Sphere, making sure Clark was correctly hooked up, wanting to leave nothing to chance.

John conferred with Clark. "We have you set to arrive on Monday, October 4, at 10:30am MST. That should give Frank plenty of time to arrive."

Olivia stood beside Ballard and smiled. "Reactor at 60%," she reported.

Fred regarded all the activity with a wry grin. It was strange to be on the outside, knowing that this would all disappear. He hadn’t really looked at it from the Backstep team’s perspective before. In effect, they where assigning themselves to oblivion every time a Backstep happened. It was definitely a bizarre feeling.

"Reactor at 70%."

Lex and Nan looked into each others eyes, only moments left to them. They joined hands.

"Reactor at 80%."

Fred sidled up next to Olivia and took her hand into his.

John took over the count-down. "Reactor at 90%." He looked up to Fred and asked him if he would like to do the honors.

"Sure. If everything goes right, I won't ever have the opportunity to do this again." Fred waited until the indicator reached the necessary mark. "Reactor at 100%! Engage!"

The two couples kissed each other just as Clark hit the red engage button. It was the last thing they did.

And then time started to unwind in a barrage of images. Lex and Nan got un-married. The missile un-exploded and started to travel back to Cuba. Lex un-programmed the missile. The time window un-melted and formed into the portal that Clark and the missile were flying back into.

And time froze.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
6:17:24pm MST
Never-Neverland Operation Backstep
+++++++++++++++++++++++

The team had been in a meeting when the alarms went off. A Backstep had occurred. They all looked at each other in confusion. Frank and Olga had been on assignment from the last Backstep. This could only mean that Frank had failed. Their future selves must have had to Backstep again, but Donovan was still with them, so Frank must still be alive. The team scrambled for the hanger.

Just before entering, they heard a tremendous crash. Sounds of the shearing of metal and arcing electricity emanated from the cavernous room. A heart-wrenching cry pierced their ears, as well as their souls. They stopped cold right at the hanger door. There were now *two* Spheres in the hanger. Both of them were sitting in the middle of the now ruined gantry. The five inch thick, quartz glass window had been shattered on one of them. Trask automatically drew his gun and prayed that it would be enough. They waited to see what would happen next.

~*~

After Clark hit the red engage button, every nerve ending in his body tingled. He had a new respect for Frank Parker. If this made him uncomfortable, it was no wonder that Frank had found it painful. He was bombarded with images of time unwinding itself. He was actually remembering events in reverse order. It would probably drive the average person mad experiencing effects before the causes. He was also aware of the clock as time unwound itself. Hours slipped away like seconds. Moments after he had hit the engage button, the clock stopped backtracking and the Sphere stopped with a lurch. The readout said it was Wednesday, October 6, 1999, 6:17:24pm EST.

Time had frozen, as had the Sphere. But that only lasted a moment as the Sphere violently shifted position one last time. Clark found himself suspended sideways. Clark looked again at the clock. It had started to advance. **Wednesday, October 6, 1999 6:17:25pm MST. 6:17:25pm MST…that means 8:17:25pm in Cuba…I haven't gone back far enough…Lois is still dead!!!!** Clark felt again the despair at his loss. "LOOOOIIIIISSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

~*~

Superman released himself from the harness and fell to the wall. The Sphere had landed hard against something and had rolled to one side. He got up and made his way to the exit window. He could have sworn that he had heard himself screaming Lois’ name, but it came from outside the Sphere. It didn’t matter, he had a missile to stop and his family to save.

He pressed the control that released the window, it fell straight to the floor. He floated down to the ground, ready to give the call sign.

He looked up. The sight that met his eyes turned his blood cold. Trask was here, and he was armed.

~*~

Clark determinedly pulled himself together. There was still a missile to stop and his son to save. Clark quickly got out of his harness and made his way to the shattered window. He pressed the control and the window frame dropped to the ground. He climbed out, ready to give the call sign.

He looked up and saw 'himself' advancing on Trask. The pure hate on the other’s face and the red glow building in his eyes set off warning bells. **I’m..he’s going to kill him!** Clark's mind slipped into super-speed mode.

He flashed back to the time when InterGang had made the clone of him. He had ended up fighting him on an Old West set. The clone had attacked him with heat vision. He had quickly analyzed the clone's heat vision and set a counter frequency beam which would interfere with the clone's beam. Eventually, the clone tired and Clark was able to overpower him.

Clark hoped he could do it again. He shot in front of Trask just nano-seconds before the super hot beams of destruction would have intersected with the man’s head. The twin beams that leapt from the double's eyes started to close the distance to Clark's chest. By the time they were two-thirds of the way to him he had already determined their frequency and created a counter beam. What he hadn't taken into consideration was the intensity. The doubles heat vision was slowed down but so overwhelmed Clark's counter beams that he was forced to shut-down his own heat vision to prevent the feedback from damaging his eyes. But it had achieved the desired results. He had lessened the brunt of the beams and caused his double to expend an enormous amount of energy. The beams that struck him in the chest were still terribly strong, but not enough to overcome his aura.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the attack was over. His double shook his head for a moment as he realized who had just saved his enemy's life. The double advanced on Clark with blood in his eye.

He was scarcely able to contain himself as he spoke, "That...That *animal* killed…is going to kill my son…" The double could barely get out the last half of his sentence, "…I-Ivan, and *t-torture* Lois."

Clark looked from his double to Trask and back. His mind narrowly registered the name of the double's son. His face grew pale as he saw 'himself' reliving those last few moments.

"After Frank and Olga failed to stop Tempus' missile, Trask found Lois and Ivan holed up at Star Labs. I got there just after he had found her. He had Kryptonite! I couldn't *do* ANYTHING!" Tears freely flowed from the double's eyes. He pointed a finger at Trask. "*He* had two of his goons hold me up and a third pull my head back so that I wouldn't miss a thing."

The double turned back to Clark, "The Kryptonite was affecting Lois, too, though I didn't understand why at the time. Trask seemed to revel in this. Dr. Klein's assistant, Phil Atkliph, held Ivan, burying the little boy's head under his chin to keep him from at least seeing Lois in pain. Trask systematically tortured her for several minutes. She begged him to stop. *I* begged him to stop. Dr. Klein had had enough. He challenged Trask about his cruelty, telling him to at to at least have the decency to remove Ivan from the room. Trask said…" the double choked for a moment then continued, "He said, 'Life is hard. But if you really want me to remove him, so be it…' He shrugged his shoulders and then simply swung, took aim and f-fired. He *sh-shot* Ivan, point blank, right through the back of the head! The bullet hit with such force that it continued on into Phil and killed him, as well." Clark's doppelganger grabbed onto him for support. "There…there was nothing left of my little boy's face!" He shook Clark as he continued to speak, "*NOTHING!*…nothing but blood...nothing but blood..."

He collapsed into Clark's arms and sobbed for a short time until he could get himself under control. Clark held him closely, his heart breaking as he contemplated what his reaction would be if the same had happened to Alexander. He could understand why he attacked Trask. Clark had only toyed with the idea of killing Tempus, but hadn’t. But if Tempus, or anyone, for that matter, had done to his family what had been done to this man's…he didn't know. He knew that Tempus was directly responsible for Lois' death, but he hadn't witnessed it personally. He just didn't know if he could be another man's executioner.

Superman got his second wind and continued. "Dr. Klein jumped Trask and was shot dead before he could even reach him. Trask t-took Lois away, promising to take good care of her and the baby! She was pregnant! Finally, after so long, she was pregnant. *That's* why she was susceptible to the Kryptonite! She was carrying my child!" It was impossible not to be affected by the mixture of joy and anguish on his face. But he was not finished.

"He left me shackled to some Kryptonite and had his men leave. When we were all alone he walked over to me and lifted my chin so I would have to look him in the eyes. He said, 'I could kill you, but that wouldn't be fun anymore. I have your wife and spawn. You can't touch me. I will leave standing orders that if you so much as sneeze in my general vicinity, I will have them both executed. I-OWN-YOU.' And then he walked off, laughing. The staff came in and freed me of the Kryptonite. By the time my powers were back he was long gone.

"I don’t know who or what you are but *he* is NOT going to do that to me or my family again. NOW, GET AWAY FROM HIM, HE'S MINE!" The coldness of his last statement sent shivers up and down the spine of everyone in the room. Especially Clark.

Trask had grown paler and paler during the entire exchange. He knew that this 'Superman' was from Frank Parker's universe or at least one very similar to it, but that didn't lessen the impact of his revelation. Somewhere, deep inside his soul, lay a monster that, for some reason, had never awakened. **Given the right circumstances,** he mused, **anyone can be a monster.**

Trask attempted to talk. He took a deep breath. "I'm so sorr…"

It was the wrong thing to do. The double roared and threw himself at Trask, only to be caught in Clark's steel grip. Clark was barely able to contain the raging Superman. After a short struggle, Clark threw him off.

Clark continued to stay between Trask and Superman, trying to reason with his counterpart. "I am the Clark Kent of this universe. This is not the man you think he is. But there *is* a missile and I have to get to Lex before he programs it wrong and costs millions their lives. Will you come with me?"

Superman looked like he had be physically assaulted, so strong was his reaction. "LEX? LEX LUTHOR! He's alive, and you’re working with him as well? What kind of sick, twisted world have I fallen into? Next you be telling me Kyle Griffin is mayor of Metropolis!"

"The Prankster? No, he's still in jail for trying to kidnap my mom. Lex is my son and we are wasting time here. I promise you a full explanation, after we prevent the missile from exploding. Will you come with me?" The last came out more like a demand than a question.

Grudgingly but slowly, he nodded his head "Alright."

And with that, twin sets of sonic booms were heard trailing away.

Part 32

Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:17:20pm EST
Gulf of Mexico
Isla de la Juventud beach
+++++++++++++++++++++++

The time had almost come. The circle was nearing completion.

Lex watched the portal from a distance. The time he had been waiting for all his life. He was going to save his Dad and Washington D.C.. The fate of the future rested on his shoulders.

He was petrified. A bundle of mixed emotions.

**What if I mess up? What if I don't remember the reprogramming sequence correctly? What if I end up killing Clark, myself and several million people? Then Keith and Lois will still die and Frank, Olga and my younger self will be marooned in the past.** These were the thoughts that umbled around in his head as he heard the veil of time split and announce the impending traveler.

The missile roared out of the portal with Clark riding on its back. It no sooner cleared the portal than Clark disappeared off the back of the missile.

"We did it! We sent Clark back in time!" Then it dawned on him. "But...I'm still here!" Lex searched his 'alternate' memories and found no differences except the disappearance of Clark. "Clark didn't go back far enough! That means...Mom is still dead."

Nothing had changed, except that he didn't know where his father was. Keith and Lois were dead. The Carper's were still in Kansas, and he was still the 'brother' of Clark Kent instead of his son.

Lex turned his face toward the heavens, his voice raged with emotion. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US!? WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NORMAL LIVES!? Why can't You leave us alone?"

~*~

While Lex railed against his Creator, the missile continued onward. Three sets of eyes watched as it streaked away, leaving the purple and green clad hero behind.

Jel-Nor ran his hand through his red hair. **Oh, for a dose of the stoicism of my *pure* Kryptonian heritage!** "Now, I can understand why you are the way you are, Mateas. You're as much a nit-slog as your ancestor was. Andrus, activate the Subliminator and get his gluteus on track."

The blonde-headed young man quickly retrieved the device from his utility belt.

[[These messages are for Lex Kent. 'Mustn't forget about the missile.' Delay five seconds. 'I bet since this missile is from the far future it uses kilometers instead of miles.' ]]

Lex shook himself out of his madness and knocked himself in the forehead. "I almost forget about that missile." He was nearly caught up with it when he had a sudden revelation. "I bet that sucker is set for kilometers instead of miles, being from the future and all."

In the distance Jel-Nor smiled. **This is going to work out.**

Andrus was distracted from enjoying his leader's smile by the sudden mental nudge of one of his instruments.

{{TWO KRYPTONIAN META-BETAS ARE APPROACHING. ID SCAN IN PROGRESS.}}

"Senior Peace Keeper?"

Jel-Nor didn't like the tone in Andrus' voice. "Yes?"

{{WARNING! WARNING! DIMENSIONAL INCURSION HAS OCCURRED! THE APPROACHING KRYPTONIAN META-BETAS ARE BOTH CLARK KENT. THE QUANTUM SIGNATURE, AS WELL AS THE PHYSIOLOGICAL AGE OF THE TRAILING ONE DIFFERS FROM THE FIRST.}}

"We have a problem."

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
8:20:50pm EST
Atlantic Ocean
+++++++++++++++++++++++

The two Kryptonians sped, side by side, across the country and the Gulf in silence. Clark regarded his 'other' self. He hadn't noticed it before, but there were fine wrinkles around his counterpart's eyes and the brow had a few more worry lines than his. There was also an odd handful of silver hairs in among the black. It was obvious that his twin had lived a harder life than he had. Clark was unsure if he should ask what had happened.

Of course, if they couldn't figure how to send him back, he would have a long time to find out.

~*~

Superman was flying on auto-pilot as he followed the younger version of himself. His life had become a Greek tragedy. He had waited so long to be reunited with his wife and child, only to have both of them snatched from him by a mad-man. He shook his head, hoping to sift all the pieces into place.

To the rest of his world, Frank Parker had entered his life only two days earlier. For Superman, however, thirty years had passed by. But the Kryptonian could easily recall all the details as though it had all just happened. He remembered Lois telling him about her first encounter with Mr. Parker.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Thirty-eight subjective years ago, in a parallel universe.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

He'd been away in Japan when Frank arrived. Lois had been the first to find him. She had been eager enough when he told her that Superman was in danger, but had turned into a stone wall when he tried to convince her that he knew that Superman was also Clark Kent.

"Mrs. Kent..."

"That's Mrs. Lane-Kent."

"O-Kaay. Mrs. Lane-Kent, everyone knows that your husband is Superman. Why are you trying to deny it?"

Lois raised her eyebrows in apprehension. "Everyone knows?"

Frank nodded his head up and down.

She turned to the nearest passer-by that looked approachable. He was an average looking man with wire-framed glasses, short dark hair, and a well-defined beard with a tuft of white at the chin. "Excuse me, sir? But do you know who Superman really is?"

"Sure."

Lois looked stunned. Her thoughts were incredulous. **Did I miss something in this morning's newspaper!**

"He's Kal El, from the planet Krypton."

**Whew!** "Well, I guess everyone knows that. What I meant was, do you know his secret identity on Earth? Assuming he has one."

The man raised his eyebrows. "Ma'am, if I could tell you that, I could probably become the richest man in the world. Assuming, of course, that he has a secret identity. But even if I did know, I probably wouldn't tell. It would serve no purpose other than ruin the good man's life."

Lois smiled broadly. "Thank you."

The man grinned back. "Have a blessed day."

And so, Frank Parker realized he was in the wrong universe.

Lois and Frank traveled back to Hyperion Ave in relative silence. Lois could he was more than a little shaken up by the revelation.

Shortly thereafter, Lois paged her husband using the 911 code. Barely a minute later, he came through the French doors of the kitchen at such speed that Frank didn't have time to register Superman's presence before the chrononaut found himself suspended off the floor by the vice-like grip of the Man of Steel. Lois assured him that Frank was okay and that he was here to help.

Frank related to them that on his world, Tempus had kidnapped their son and killed the bodyguards just shortly before launching a missile at the heart of Metropolis. The Defender had caught up with the missile before Clark and had attempted to disable it. He apparently jostled the missile too much in ripping the control panel off and caused it to explode over Washington DC.

And Clark had witnessed it all from a distance. He had watched his brother, mother and father all killed with one errant flick of the wrist. The explosion propelled Clark halfway across West Virginia.

A couple of days later Tempus twisted the knife even further by revealing that The Defender was actually Lois and Clark's kidnapped son, Alexander Kent, stranded back in the past and, for irony's sake, entrusted with the Kent's to raise as their own.

~@~

Frank's revelation gave Lois the impetus to tell her love that she suspected she was pregnant She had been waiting until the morning of their anniversary, knowing that once she knew for sure there was no way she could hold out on him. The test was but a formality; women know these things. She was going to take the test and tell him during their anniversary dinner, but now seemed like a good time considering that her husband's spirits were bolstered by the possibility.

And that's when the argument started.

"Clark, I will not be treated as an invalid just because I am pregnant!"

"Lois, you're not being reasonable!"

"I'm not being reasonable? I'm not the one that wants to enforce ancient rural customs on me! Women, I'll have you know, usually work right up until the last week of pregnancy! Erin, down in legal, even went to an awards ceremony the day after she was due, and she had a beautiful baby!"

"Erin was not contemplating tangling with a mad man, either."

Lois got that determined set to her jaw. "*You* are *not* going against Tempus alone!"

"Mr. Parker will be with me!"

Lois' eyes targeted Frank's and dared him to open his mouth. Which, of course, he did.

"I have to side with your husband on this one. You shouldn't go."

Lois looked like she was going to pop a blood-vessel. "Of course! What should I suspect from a government agent."

Frank knew that she would not listen to reason so he pulled an emotional rabbit out of his hat. "The baby could die."

Lois didn't even bat an eye. "I could be struck by a car tomorrow, and the same result would happen. I refuse to be shackled by 'what if's!"

"You don't understand. You are no longer immune to Kryptonite. In my universe, our Lois nearly lost her baby because of an exposure to Kryptonite. *You* are carrying a half-Kryptonian child! *You,* by virtue of the pregnancy, are becoming partially Kryptonian yourself. At this stage of the pregnancy, prolonged exposure to Kryptonite would surely kill the child growing inside you. And it wouldn't do much for your health, either." Frank paused for effect. "You can't afford to take the risk."

The look of shock on their faces let him know that they had been unaware of the Kryptonian metamorphosis. Lois nodded her head in resignation. The Husband of Steel enveloped her in his arms and let her know, in more than just verbal ways, how much he appreciated her sacrifice.

They agreed that Lois and Ivan would go to Star Labs for protection.

~@~

Superman's flight warbled for a moment as he regretted that decision. **HA! Fat lot of good that did! If only I had taken them with me, they would still be safe.**

~@~

Shortly thereafter, Superman and Frank traveled to the Isla de la Juventud and found a way to the time-portal. They found themselves back in 1962, in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The struggle with Tempus was brief, but unsuccessful. Tempus fired his needler at the same time Frank fired his gun. Both found their targets. Frank's bullet pierced Tempus' heart at nearly the same time that one of Tempus' needles slipped behind Frank's ribcage and punctured his aorta. Several needles struck Superman, as well.

Tempus' death triggered the launch of the old missile, but the Man of Steel was in no shape to stop it.

With his last remaining minutes, Frank carefully and quickly pulled out all the deadly spines from Superman's prone body and dragged himself as far way as possible. By the time Superman awoke, the missile was long gone, the time-portal destroyed. Frank breathed his last as Superman was being prodded by a Cuban soldier demanding to know what was going on.

~@~

It didn't take much to escape the Cubans. He allowed them to lock him up and in the middle of the night, he let himself out through the barred windows.

The first thing he did was go to Smallville. It seemed the logical place for H. G. Wells to find him. But the time traveler never showed up.

When he first arrived, he introduced himself as Jerome Lane. He kept to himself and did odd jobs for room and board for the first year. He even watched his parents wedding via X-ray vision.

Eventually, when it was apparent that Mr. Wells was not coming, he moved on. He kept to out-of-the-way places so as to limit the chances of corrupting the time-line.

He stayed away from big cities, especially Metropolis. He knew that he couldn't resist helping people in danger.

He also couldn't bring himself to witness Lois' growing up years. That is, once she was born.

~@~

Time passed. Years turned into decades. True to Dr. Klein predictions, he didn't age much. He pointedly avoided being anywhere that his younger self would be.

The last years were the hardest. He would be halfway around the world and feel Lois needing him and it took everything in him to ignore them. More than once he found himself nearly in the city before pulling out and leaving.

Finally, the day came. Frank and his younger self had just left. He shadowed Lois and Ivan from the time she left Hyperion Ave. until she got to Star Labs.

And then he waited.

He had to know if time would repeat itself or if some twist of fate would eradicate the last thirty-eight years. It was not to be. He waited a mile above Cuban airspace, watching the time-portal. The missile erupted from its center right on time.

He trailed it from about twenty miles out. When it reached it's zenith, he tried to super-cool it, but he was too far away. While it was still over the Gulf, he tried to vaporize it. It started to glow red, and as soon as the outer shell started to slag, it blew. The concussive force knocked him halfway back to the States.

No cities were destroyed, but the radioactive fallout was starting to circle the globe.

He went to Star Labs to get help from Dr. Klein. He found Trask instead.

He couldn't bear thinking about it again.

Better to think about the present, no matter where he was.

~*~

After determining that Lex was no longer near the Isla de la Juventud, Clark and Superman flew off toward Florida. In the distance Clark could see the missile avoiding the counter-measures. Lex was having a devil of a time catching it, just like the last time.

Superman indicated the distant figure. "Your son?

Clark did a double take. "How...?"

Superman winked at his doppelganger. "I'll tell you later. Let's give *Lex* a hand. I'll run interference. And whatever you do, don't let him rip off the control panel. And for simplicity sake, just call me Jerome."

Clark nodded and took off.

~*~

Lex felt like a pinball in an arcade machine. He jerked one way, then the other, trying to catch the missile. Every time he got close enough, it would change heading. But he couldn't afford to use super speed to catch-up to it. He couldn't afford to catch it at all. The smallest change in its trajectory that was not self-induced would cause it to explode. He had to use minimal force in order to accomplish his goals. He had to match its speed and trajectory if he was going to accomplish his task. Which would be easy, if the missile wasn't trying to line-dance with the counter-measures the military was throwing at it every few seconds.

He was plotting his next approach when the missile's path leveled out. **What the...?**

((Thought you could use a little help.))

Lex swung around and spied Clark in the distance. ((Clark!))

Clark zipped to his son's side. "It's good to see you again...son." He smiled broadly and pulled Lex close. He didn't see Lex' expression.

Lex pulled back. "You know?" Clark nodded. Lex thumped himself in the forehead. "Of course, you know! What happened? You were supposed to go back and stop all of this! What went wrong?"

"I don't know. We must not have changed the temporal harmonics sufficiently to penetrate Tempus' temporal force field. I came her to warn you about the missile. It's set for kilometers, not miles. In the last timeline the missile blew at around thirty-two miles up."

Lex looked confused. "But, I've already guessed that it would be set for kilometers. I plan to set it for one-hundred kilometers straight up from its current longitude and latitude."

"Let's make it four-hundred, just in case."

"Where are all the counter-measures?"

"We have a friend helping us out." Clark twisted around and pointed back to a speck about two miles away. Lex zoomed in on it and gasped in surprise. He looked pointedly at his 'father.'

Clark grinned. "Missile first, explanations later."

~*~

Together, the father and son team worked out a strategy. The trick was to be stationary as it passed by, then instantly match its course. Lex shot ahead about six miles and Clark herded it toward him. It worked like a charm.

In short order, Lex had the control panel off and re-programmed the missile. Soon, it was on its way to the inner edge of space and oblivion, where none could be harmed.

Several minutes later, a greenish ball of light lit the Northeastern seaboard and disappeared out of sight.

Three sonic booms were heard heading west.

Part: 33
Working - Resolution

Wednesday, October 6, 1999
7:45pm CST
Smallville
Kent Farm
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Clark, Jerome, and Lex arrived at the small farmhouse on the edge of a fallow Kansas cornfield. Three individuals were waiting for them. The news of the explosion was still playing on the unattended television inside. Once again the Sons of Krypton were the heroes of the day.

Nan, who had been rushing up to greet them, pulled up short when she saw the two Supermen next to Lex. It was only due to the aged condition of her companions that they didn't run into her. All three stared back and forth between the two for a moment.

Fred summed it up in two words. "Oh, boy."

~*~

First Jerome told his story then Clark related everything he knew. The retelling didn't make it any easier for either of them.

Olivia concurred with Clark's tale. "I knew something had gone wrong when the ring around my neck disappeared into thin air, but by then, Lex had already gone."

Clark reached inside his suit and pulled out a thin silver chain. It held the white gold band and the diamond solitaire engagement ring he had given Lois so long ago. The sight of it still pulled at his heart.

Lex reached out to put an arm around Clark's shoulder. Jerome hung back, nervous.

The phone rang. They all stared at it like it was going to bite them. On the second ring, Clark picked up the phone. "Hello, Kent's Farm."

Three sets of super-ears heard the sharp intake of breath on the other end. "Clark? Oh, honey, I am so sorry. Jonathan and I will be there in just under an hour."

"There's no need."

"What? Surely you don't want to be alone at a time like this?"

"It's kind of complicated, Mom. I don't know how much they told you but there's a still a chance to save her. We're getting ready discuss the options now."

"We? I wasn't sure how to ask this, but there where three distinct blips on the radar screen over Kansas. You and Lex make up two of them. Who is the third? And what's this about Lex being your *son*!

Clark gave the phone a wry smile. It wasn't the first time his mom had tracked him down using radar.

He gave her the abridged version on what had happened and promised her that she would get a full explanation later.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
10:17pm CST
Smallville
Kent Farm
+++++++++++++++++++++++

"Okay, it's settled. We leave straight after Fred makes the call. Assuming he remembers what the number is. Do you still remember the number?"

"Do *I* still remember the number? Apparently you have forgotten which of us has the photographic memory."

"Then why did you forget our anniversary last year?"

A frown passed across Fred's face. "Once! I forget one time, and do you forgive and forget? Nooooo. I'll have you kno...mph!"

Olivia Carper shut her husband up with a kiss. After they separated, she grinned and said, "You've forgotten how to recognize a joke."

"O-liv-i-a..."

Most of the group was enjoying the married banter. Except Jerome and Nan. Both had been quiet for most of the discussion, but they became more restive with each passing moment.

They both sat on the floor on the other side of the room: one, contemplating losing the man she loved; the other, the possibility of never getting home again.

They already knew that for their timeline to return to normal, Tempus must fail in his attempt to kidnap Alex as a child and be stopped from firing the missile. They were pretty certain that the modifications to the temporal harmonics of the chrono-field had been accurate, but for some reason, they didn't work. They had compared the reading from the original Sphere with the one that Frank had arrived in and had extrapolated the changes necessary. They would know more when they got back to the base.

What they weren't certain of was how to get Jerome back to his world. It was obvious that the changes made to his Sphere didn't allow him to stay in his universe. It had behaved like Frank's did the first time. They must not have found the dimensional shift mechanism, but again, they wouldn't know that without examining Jerome's Sphere. They hoped that by setting the Sphere up like the original one, he would end up back in his world like their original Frank Parker. The trick was whether Operation Backstep could handle a simultaneous launch of two Spheres.

If it couldn't, then they where going to have to send Clark back alone and wait until Jerome came through again to send him.

Assuming that Clark was able to accomplish his mission successfully.

Jerome had reached his limit. "Just dial the number already. I want to get this over with and get home to Lois."

Nan agreed, with a quiet voice. "Yes, let's get this over with."

Lex was at her side in an instant, holding and comforting her. He assured her that he had not forgotten what he was losing.

Olivia made her way to Nan. She gestured for the young people to stand up. "You're right. We should get on with this."

Clark had a look of sorrow on his face. "This has to work this time. I don't think I could stand to break your hearts for a third time." Clark twisted around and addressed Fred. "Make the call."

Fred reached for the phone but was stopped by another voice from outside the kitchen door

"Don't pick that up, Mr. Carper. Or should I call you Mr. Parker?"

Clark flipped on the porch-light and threw open the door. He found two strangely dressed men "Who...Andrus?"

Andrus turned to Jel-Nor with a surprised look on his face. "How?"

Jel-Nor ran his hand through his close-cropped red-hair and then shook his head in contempt, **Neophyte!** "Obviously, you will meet in at a later point in your life."

"Oh!"

"Yes, when Tempus tried to..."

Jel-Nor thrust his hand up in a stopping gesture. "Don't! We will deal with it when the time comes. Foreknowledge can be a dangerous thing. Your past, his future. You understand?"

Clark's smile quirked a little as he nodded his head in agreement.

Jel-Nor paused for a moment as if waiting for something. It never came. "Well, are you going to invite us in or are you going to just stand there and gape at us?"

Clark hastily moved aside and gave an exaggerated bow of entrance.

The sarcasm was lost on Jel-Nor. Andrus tried hard not to smile.

Clark quickly followed them in. "We have company." He continued on a more serious note. "First, who are you? Second, why should Mr.Carper not make that phone call? And third, how do you know how he really is?"

"I assume that most of you already know Andrus?" A chorus of nods was his response. "Good. I am Senior Peace Keeper Jel-Nor..."

"NOR!" Jerome reacted violently to the name. He super-sped at Jel-Nor, only to be stopped by the Peace Keeper's hand around the his throat. Jerome tried, unsuccessfully, to free himself for several moments. Both Clark and Lex tried, as well, to pry Jel-Nor's fingers from around Jerome's neck. They failed miserably.

Jel-Nor stood there, the very definition of the immovable object, with a bored look on his face. He tired of the game and decided to put an end to it. "If you are quick finished making fools of yourselves...?" Clark and Lex stopped their efforts. "Good." Jel-Nor directed his next comments to Jerome. "Now, I can continue to hold you like this while I continue, but since I like to gesture with my hands that might prove uncomfortable to both of us. I suggest that when I let you go you explain why you were about to be rude to me and then we can get on with why we are here. Agreed?"

Jel-Nor relaxed his grip enough to allow Jerome to nod, which he did. Jel-Nor dropped him.

Jerome backed up several inches and rubbed his neck. "When the New Kryptonians arrived on my world, Lord Nor tried to kill me and conquer the Earth. He and several of his followers killed several people before they were stopped.

Jel-Nor was totally amazed. "In this universe, the House of El and the House of Nor have always be been stanch allies."

Clark looked confused. "The New Kryptonians?"

Andrus jumped to the rescue. "According to history, Lady Zara and Lord Nor married and together ruled New Krypton in peace until..."

Jel-Nor barked out a strange word, which Jerome recognized as the Kryptonian word for total silence. Andrus instantly stopped talking. "They don't need to know that. Anyway, my ancestors did not need to find the lost heir to the House of El at that time. But we are getting away from why we are here."

"And that would be...?"

"To stop you from using Operation Backstep to screw up our plans. We've worked too hard to get the timeline the way it is now and we are not letting you screw it up, again."

Clark was indignant in his response. "We've lost people that we love and care about! We've jumped through hoops trying to restore it and you're telling me that you've been behind the scenes, stopping us at every turn. Are you going to tell me that you allowed Lois and Keith to die, robbed Lex of a normal childhood, and messed with Frank and Olga's life, just to have things work out the way *you* want it? What right do you have to mess with our lives?"

"Before I explain, I have someone that you will want to see first." Jel-Nor touched a control on his wrist and stood back, gesturing the rest to stand back. A time window opened in their midst and three people stepped out.

"LOIS!"

"MOM! KEITH!"

"Sir!"

Mateas barely had time to get out of the way before his two charges were mobbed by the throng of people in the Kansas kitchen. If anyone had stopped by they would have swore a family reunion was going on. And they would be right.

Clark and Lois grabbed one another and twirled around, completely unaware of the rest. They embraced and savored each other's presence. They kissed tenderly, yet passionately. Finally, Lois moved her head back and brushed the tears on her lover's face.

"I missed you so badly."

"I thought I would never see you again."

"I'm here to stay."

"I'll never let you go."

Lex cleared his throat. "May I cut in?"

At the sight of Lex, Lois burst out into tears. "Alexander! Oh, sweetheart! I've been as desperate to see you as I was your father. I'm so sorry, honey! I didn't want to leave you! I would never have left you if I could have helped it. Please, please, tell me you don't hate me."

Lex swallowed hard and looked at her lovingly. To him it had been thirty years ago, but to her it had probably been days since his hateful outburst. He cupped her face gently in his hand. Words were not enough. He reached out and touched her mind, sending wave after wave of love, adoration and well-being at her. In his mind's eye he became the tiny little boy he once was and jumped up in her mental lap and threw his arms around her neck. ((Mommy, I love you. I'm so sorry for hurting you. It took me years to understand and by the time I met you as an adult, I had long since forgiven you. Will you forgive the frightened child I was?))

((Yes, my little man. Of course I forgive you.))

Their mental hug melted back into reality. They both wiped the tears for the other's cheeks. There was only one dry eye in the room. The wet blanket scowled and muttered something about emotional drivel on this messy Terran world.

~*~

Nan, Fred and Olivia rushed over and talked to Keith.

"What happened? The last time we saw you, you looked more like a piece of toast!"

"I felt like one, too, Fred."

"So what happened?"

"After you 'buried' us and left, Jel-Nor and his team retrieved our bodies and took them to the future.

"The 'poison' that Tempus was using was actually a stasis drug. It reduces the body to a barely-alive state and maintains it for a period of several days, depending on the dosage. But after a while it begins to wear off.

"Tempus coated the needles with powdered Kryptonite so that it would penetrate Clark's and Lois' skin. Clark's body, being much denser than Lois', didn't allow the needles to penetrate far enough to allow a full dose to be injected. It *was* the Kryptonite, more than the drug, that affected Clark. If it had penetrated deeper or if more of them had hit him, he would have been unconscious for days. Lois' needle went all the way through, so she didn't get a full dose either, but she didn't have Clark's resistance. Her body is not fully Kryptonian, yet, so she succumbed to it after a time.

"Tempus' intention was to inject both Clark and Lois with the drug and leave them. The powdered Kryptonite was held in place by a biodegrade adhesive that would last about a day or two. The Kryptonite would then start to circulate throughout the body. It would have killed Clark before the effects of the drug would have worn off. Lois would have survived, but the baby would have died. He was then going to take Alexander and raise him as his own.

"Apparently, early in Tempus teen years, his younger brother, Alex, used to pretend that he was Superman. One day, he got it in his head that he could fly and so opened his second story window and jumped. Even though the Protectors heard the cry, they couldn't get there in time. The little boy's neck snapped, killing him instantly. Tempus witnessed the whole thing. They found him cradling his brother's crumpled body. He blamed the arriving Protectors for not being fast enough. Eventually, he focused all his hate on the first Protector, Clark Kent.

"That's why Tempus hates Superman so much. H. G. Wells just happened to pop up in the wrong place and the wrong time. Tempus spun a tale of wanting to meet his famous, many times removed Aunt Lois and Uncle Clark Kent, and the rest is history."

Fred and Olivia were still chewing on this when Nan asked her question. "But what about the damage to your body, Keith? You look better than you ever did!"

"I wish I could tell you. The time travelers here have been rather close mouthed about the whole deal. I don't know."

~*~

Jel-Nor, Andrus and Mateas stood aside watching the whole thing. Jel-Nor shook his head at the sight of his two, teary-eyed, subordinates. It was enough to churn his stomach.

"Alright. Alright. Enough already. Can we get on with the explanations?" he pleaded.

Clark pivoted to regard the man the had saved his wife and friend, yet insisted that events remain as they were. "Thank you for returning our friends and family, but why mess with our lives? Why mess with the timeline in the first place? We're not pawns in some temporal chess game!"

Everyone from the present was surprised when Lois came to the time traveler's defense. "Just hear them out. Their reasons are sound, if not justified."

Jel-Nor gave a semi-gracious smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Kent. Why don't we all move to the living room. I'm getting tired of standing, and this is going to be a long story."

~*~

Jel-Nor regard his Padd. "It all started with Tempus. We had been just behind him for months and we were about to trap him when he somehow acquired another time window." His voice became shaded with sarcasm as he eyed Andrus. Then he continued. "But that also allowed us to track him whenever it was activated. He then instigated his most devious plot. To kidnap the first son of Superman.

"In the original time line you didn't have a brother. Superman was created to save space shuttle, Prometheus. Over the course of the year your relationship with Lois became closer. Then Lex asked her to marry him. You foiled Lex Luthor's plan to blow up the Daily Planet and found Luthor's fingerprints all over the devise. He went to prison for life based on the evidence supplied by his cohorts.

"Shocked that you came so close to losing each other, you, Clark, swallowed your pride and told her you were Superman and that you loved her. Lois forgave you for keeping the secret from her and several weeks later you got married in October 6, 1994.

"Soon thereafter, Lois became pregnant with the first Krypto-Terran hybrid, Jonathan Kent..."

"You mean Alexander." supplied Clark.

"No, he means Jonathan. It will all make sense when he's finished." Lois admonished her husband.

"As I was saying...Lois gave birth to Jonathan Kent nearly two years later..."

Jerome's jaw dropped. "*TWO YEARS*!"

"Actually, it's ninety Terran standard weeks, give or take a month. Can I continue?"

Jerome, still mind-numbed by the information, nodded his ascent.

"In October of 1999 Tempus knocked out Keith Jackson and Nan Smith, destroyed the house and kidnapped Jonathan, taking him back to the Isla de la Juventud, 1962. There he set up a missile and a temporal portal to October 6, 1999. He launched the missile.

"He then dropped Jonathan off at the Kent's farm in 1962. Because Tempus is a lover of irony, he implanted in Jonathan's mind that his name was Lex and told the Kents the same thing. They raised him as their own.

"Clark's ship arrived in May of 1966. 'Lex' is now seven years old. Clark has a big brother.

"Fast forward several years. It's March 23, 1972. Can anyone tell me what is significant about that date?"

Lex, Clark and Fred all three start to talk at once. Fred won. "Lex and Clark wanted to go fishing at the pond just off Schuster Road. Jonathan was busy and so he asked me if I could take them. Lex and Clark heard a car tire blow and a splash. There was an overturned car sinking into the pond by the time we got there. There were four people in the car. A husband and wife and their twin sons. The man and woman had been knocked unconscious, as well as one of the boys. The other boy was frantically trying to get out.

"Between the three of us, we were able to get them out." Fred grinned at the two young men. "They were pretty strong even back then.

"The last name of the family was Luthor. One of the boys was named Alexander."

Jel-Nor nodded. "Right, except this time you weren't there, Fred. It was only Lex and Clark. Jonathan already knew that the boys were pretty special so he let them go on their own. Lex was nearly thirteen years of age and Clark was six. Lex and Clark were able to save them all by themselves. They were local heroes and had gotten their first taste of saving people. And their first taste of having to cover up for their special abilities."

"So whatever happened to Lex Luthor. In my universe he was just as vile as the original one of this universe."

Jel-Nor deferred to Andrus. "He lives in Metropolis. He is married and has five children. He works at the All-Saints Evangelical Free Church on Forsythe Street as the treasurer."

"I know that church. Every year it runs a soup kitchen at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a very prosperous church with a tremendous outreach to the community."

"In the original timeline, and I expect it to be so in your universe, Alexander Luthor was orphaned that day. He was thirteen. He had not yet accepted the faith of his father at that time and so turned bitter and self-independent. He swore that he would never depend on anyone or anything again. He took to the using the nickname 'Lex.' In the new timeline, Alexander gave his life over to Christ at the age of sixteen and dedicated his life to serving others and helping them find the faith that he had."

Jerome started to laugh. "I find it hard to believe that Lex Luthor is a 'Holy Roller.' He can't be on the up and up."

"Whether you believe it or not, it is true. Now, if Jel-Nor can continue."

"Several more years went by. Clark arrived in Metropolis. With no Lex Luthor, Prometheus launched without a hitch. Lois began to suspect that there is something special about her partner and Clark tells her about the family secret.

"With Lois and Martha's help, Superman and Defender make their first appearance with the advent of the Nightfall Asteroid.

"And everything is as it was with the exception of naming their son Alexander Nathan Kent. This was to honor the sons of the first family they helped save.

"October, 1999 rolls around again. Tempus again kidnaps Alexander, but this time Lex saves Keith and Nan and the house, but lets Tempus take the boy.

"The missile launched back in 1962 finally arrives. Lex tries to stop the missile and dies trying. The resulting explosion decimates Washington DC and kills most of Congress and the President and the First Gentleman. The cycle is complete, except for one problem. Operation Backstep.

"Operation Backstep is used to undo this kind of mess, but they didn't know about the temporal force field that Tempus was using. The Frank Parker of this universe switched places with the Frank Parker of Jerome's universe.

"This set off another chain of events. This time Frank, Olga, Lois and Keith got trapped in the past with Alexander. Tempus was killed and Clark went riding through the time portal with the missile. Alexander was struck in the neck by one of Tempus' slivers. It lodges in-between the vertebra, nicking the nerve bundle responsible for walking. Alexander passed out, but Lois using her enhanced hearing is able to detect a heartbeat.

"They tried to use Tempus' time window, but it was damaged when Tempus was killed. It only got them to Florida in the 1970s. They get help from a passerby and are airlifted to Miami, here they find out that the sliver cannot be removed without endangering his life.

Fred just had to know something. "Why Florida 1970?"

Jel-Nor sighed. "The power cells were damaged. It takes energy to move mass through time and space. There is a safety feature built into the device so that you will always land on land. It will sacrifice temporal energy to ensure this. Florida was the next piece of land in a straight line to Metropolis. It cut twenty-nine years off so that you could land on solid ground.

"Anyway, the five of you made it to Smallville and found various jobs around the town and took pseudonyms. It was my understanding that Olga chose the names."

"So that's why I ended up with the name of a call-girl out of some 70's song. Lola Ellison." Lois snorted. v "It's better than Wanda Detroit." Jerome added. "You don't want to know."

"Mrs. Kent, you're getting ahead of me."

"Sorry."

"To continue. Lois lost the second child due to a car accident early in the pregnancy.

"Clark and Alexander became good friends. Clark was his 'official' protector.

"1972 arrives. This time Fred and Andrew a.k.a. Keith go with the boys fishing and rescue the Luthors.

"Lois and Clark met as before, only this time Clark is the only one to tackle the Nightfall Asteroid. They name their first-born son after Clark's best friend Alexander Nathan Ellison.

"1999. Tempus kidnapped Alexander, but there is no Lex to save them this time. Keith jumped after Tempus and Alexander and gets plasma burned. Nan was killed, and the house was destroyed.

"This is when we came in. We travel back to 1962 and cause the sliver to miss Alexander, hitting Clark. Lois and Keith get hit too.

"The future changed. We spent most of our time trying to prevent the Carpers and Lex from fowling up the modified timeline."

"Why is that? Why is it important that Lex and Clark grow up as brothers?"

"In the distant future, having Lex and Nan marry in 1999 allows for at least one billion lives to be saved that weren't saved before. He and their descendants make that possible. Was the lack of a childhood worth the lives a billion?"

That stopped everyone cold. Clark had come full circle. He had his soulmate for a wife, and Lex would have his. He looked at his son.

Lex shook his head. He was satisfied with his sacrifice. "Go on."

"Lex is able to rescue Nan. Lois and Keith are 'buried' and Lex has a horrible childhood. But because he was bathed in the energies of the time window at a crucial point, he now is able to tap into neighboring timelines and console himself.

"Does this happen often?" Lex queried.

Mateas spoke for the first time since he arrived. "More often than we like. It usually drives the individual mad." Realizing what he said, he amended his statement. "You have a very stable mind. As you say, 'Don't sweat it.'"

Jel-Nor glared at Mateas and proceeded. "When Clark and the missile arrived, Clark fell off due to the effects of the Kryptonite, the drug and the fact that it was night on this side of the portal.

"Lex tried to stop the missile, but because Clark was psionically present with Lex we couldn't use the Subliminator to warn him of the miles versus kilometer issue. So we got Kryptonite fallout over Europe and Asia.

"Whoops. Sorry." Clark made every effort to look contrite.

"This caused Operation Backstep to get involved again."

Jel-Nor paused and etched a bow to Olivia. "Dr. Vukavitch, I salute you and your teammates. The settings for the temporal harmonics were flawless. It would have penetrated Tempus' force field if I hadn't modified it."

Olivia grinned from ear to ear. "I *knew* that they were right! What about the dimensional shift mechanism?"

"Unfortunately, you got that one wrong. He probably would have ended up in somewhere in Kala-El area of the paniverse if we had left it where you had it."

"Thank goodness for that. One time in that world is enough."

Jerome's raised an eyebrow.

Lois responded for her husband. "If we have the time, we'll tell you later."

Jel-Nor resumed. "After our 'modifications,' Clark ended up back here, with an unexpected guest. The rest you know. Any questions."

Jerome stood up. "Yeah. How do I get home? By this time Metropolis is toast and my Lois is probably dead."

"Getting *you* back is not in our job description."

Lois marched up to Jel-Nor and stood right under his nose. "Listen, the least you can do is take him back home and help him out. He's waited nearly forty years to get back to his Lois and he helped Lex and Clark stop the missile. You *owe* him at *least a ride home!"

Clark had telepathically brought Lois up to speed earlier about Jerome. She had felt so sorry for him. She gave Jel-Nor the 'look.'

Jel-Nor thought, **She is everything that the history Padds say and more.**

Andrus stepped up to. "Sir, I volunteer to take him back."

Mateas did likewise.

Jel-Nor knew when he had a full scale mutiny on his hands. "Alright, but you are not going alone."

A small cheer went up from the gathering.

It was decided that everyone needed a good night's sleep before they said their final good-byes.

center>Epilogue 1

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Thursday, October 7, 1999
8:30am CST
Smallville
Kent Farm
+++++++++++++++++++++++

After sunrise, the Kryptonian contingent spent the early morning reveling in the life-giving energies of the Sun. Once Jerome, Jel-Nor, and Mateas had fully recharged, they discussed strategies with how to deal with the missile in Jerome's universe.

Lex and Nan had set a date to tie the knot on January 1, 2000.

Lois and Clark and Fred and Olivia spent the morning talking over what their plans for the future.

"Olivia and I will probably return to Operation Backstep, in about a month."

They all laughed at that. No need to tempt the team to 'fix' things.

"We're going to start picking out baby names. And help Lex and Nan with the marriage arrangements."

"What are you going to tell the public about Lexand Alexander?"

Lois laughed. "According to Andrus, we tell them the truth. Alexander was kidnapped by a time traveler and left in the past to become my brother. Considering our history, the public will take it well."

Fred cast a look out the kitchen door. The time travelers and Jerome were heading back to the house.

"I think it's time."

~*~

The group met out in the backyard. Lois, Clark, and Lex bid Jerome goodbye.

Andrus waved goodbye. "See you earlier."

Jel-Nor had worked most of last night on modifying his time window for dimensional travel. He tossed it in the air and it obediently opened. The center part was a swirl of purple and red that more closely resembled a vortex than a pool of water. "We need to go, now."

The four of them walked through and the window disappeared.

Nan turned to Lex and asked, "Do you think they will be okay?"

Lex opened his mind to the myriad of temporal threads open to him. He traced their path and allowed the flow of that timeline to wash over him.

"Yes, I think they will be."

Epilogue 2

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Thanksgiving day, 1999
Hyperion Avenue
Dimension down the block
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Lois and Clark were putting away the dishes. The feast had been fabulous, he had cooked.

"Lois?"

"Yes, Clark?"

"I just wanted to hear you call my name again."

Lois grinned. "I will say your name as often as you want, Clark."

"How do you think Alexander and Nan are doing?" Lois refused to call Alexander by his name.

"From what their Andrus told me, I have a feeling they will live happily ever after." **At least until 2041 when the Last World War breaks out.**

Clark reached around Lois and rubbed her abdomen. "How are you feeling *momma*?"

"I would feel a lot better if I didn't know it was going to take ninety weeks to hatch this."

Clark checked on the front room. Ivan was out like a light.

"Ivan is asleep..."

"Are you thinking what I think your thinking?"

"Yes. I find pregnant women irresistible. Especially *married*, pregnant women."

"Well, I'm married, pregnant and available."

"O-oh, the perfect kind."

Clark whisked her up in his arms and carried her away.

END

Authors Notes.
There are so many people I would like to thank for helping me with this. Especially my beta readers, Elisabeth and BethyEm. My loyal UBB readers and a myriad of FOLCs. I borrowed several ideas from several stories. I have long since forgotten which ones. Some time during 2001 I will track you all down and add you to this section. Until then, you know who you are, and if you volunteer your id I would be most grateful.

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