By Skip Davis <CHDavis@pinacor.com>
Rated PG
Submitted September 1999
Summary: What if Clark had made different choices in his love life prior to coming to Metropolis?
***
Lois looked at her finished story. She was going to expose a popular on-line dating service that was being used as a front for a prostitution ring. The article got her thinking about her own dating history of late. Oh sure, she had gone out with senators and business leaders, but they were usually so she could get an interview or some information for a story she was working on. There had been that DEA agent, Dan, but he was just a little too weird for her. Especially the gifts that he would give her. What I really need, Lois thought to herself, is a hero, someone who can be strong and tender at the same time.
***
"We are gathered here today in the sight of God, to join this man and this woman in the bonds of holy matrimony. The couple will now exchange their vows."
"I, Clark Jerome Kent, do take you Lana -"
"Clark is something wrong?" Lana Lang looked in to her soon to be husband's eyes to see if possibly he was getting cold feet.
"Lana honey, I have known you since grade school, but I don't know your middle name."
Clark was obviously embarrassed.
"Clark, I'm sorry, I guess I just took for granted that you knew it. My middle name is June, I was named after my mother's sister." A short dark haired lady in the third pew smiled at this announcement.
"Now can we continue?" the minister asked.
"Of course Reverend. I, Clark Jerome Kent, do take you, Lana June Lang, to be my lawfully wedded wife…"
***
"Lois, great job on that web prostitution scam." Perry was walking up to Lois' desk. "I've got an assignment for you if you're interested."
Lois looked at Perry, suspiciously. "So where do you want me to go this time, Iceland?"
Perry broke into one of his warm southern smiles, "How does Hawaii sound to you? We just got a report that a cruise ship that was on its way from Japan to Honolulu was in the path of a Tsunami."
Lois looked at Perry stunned. "My god Perry, how many casualties were there?"
"That's the real story, there weren't any casualties, the tidal wave never reached the ship. According to the captain, the wave just seemed to freeze about 100 yards from the ship, and then evaporate. Nothing but steam. According to passengers and crew members, there was just a small rocking of the ship, but nothing else to even suggest that there had been any danger."
"Could it possibly have been a hallucination?" Lois asked.
"No, I already had someone check, and there were reports of a large scale seaquake that could very easily have caused a giant tidal wave like the one that was reported. Now the ship is due to arrive in Hawaii the day after tomorrow. I'm sending Olsen with you, and I want you to interview everyone you can and try to get to the bottom of this."
***
"Where did you go Clark?" Lana was lying on the bed in the black teddy that Clark had bought for her when he was in Topeka earlier that month.
"I thought I heard something outside, I thought it might be that some of dad's cattle got loose again."
Lana looked at Clark thoughtfully. "Clark, we need to talk. I know that you weren't out checking on your dad's herd. We've known each other since kindergarten, honey. We've been each other's best friend for just about forever, and I don't know about you, but I can't remember a time when I wasn't in love with you. Clark, I've seen you grow up, and I've watched you change. I don't know everything about you, but I do know that there is more to you than meets the eye."
Clark looked at Lana, wondering how he could ever have thought that he could keep his secret from her. "Lana, I think we need to sit down, this may take some time."
***
"So, Mr. Payne, you say that you saw what happened?" Lois thought that this was probably some loon looking for his 15 minutes of fame.
"Yes," the short baldheaded man said. "I was on the rear deck, looking at the stars. I'm an amateur astronomer, and the middle of the ocean is a perfect place for star gazing."
Lois wondered if this guy had ever gazed at stars with someone that he loved.
"Anyway, I was looking to the east, when I saw what I thought was a shooting star, you know, a meteorite. Anyway, as I was watching, this meteorite just stopped, dead in the sky. That's when I noticed a strong breeze that came from that direction. I didn't even know about the tidal wave until later, but from what everyone told me, the shooting star and the tidal wave happened at about the same time."
As Lois and Jimmy walked away, Jimmy looked to Lois, "So, do you think that Mr. Payne's story has anything to do with the tidal wave?"
"Are you serious Jimmy?" Lois stopped and looked at him. "A shooting star that stops in mid air and causes a wind that stops a tidal wave and then causes it to disappear? Come on, we have to submit what we do have to Perry so it can make the morning edition."
***
"So, I really don't know the full extent of my powers."
Lana sat in Clark's parents' living room as they filled her in on Clark's history. "You mean that you don't even know if you're human?" Lana sounded more sad than shocked. "I never realized how hard it must have been, keeping this to yourself all this time."
"I wanted to tell you when we started to get serious, and then when I proposed to you, I had planned on telling, but that was about the time that my powers started to fully develop, and I wasn't sure what I could do and what I couldn't. I mean, I don't even know if we could have children together."
Lana noticed that Clark became somber when he thought about not being able to have a family with her. "Clark, I love you, and even though I didn't know everything about your history, it still doesn't change how I feel about you. Maybe someday we will find out where you came from, and maybe our children will be able to be proud of their super dad." Lana was not going to let the man she loved feel sorry for himself. "As far as your going out and using your powers to help people, and save lives, I wouldn't want you to change that for me."
***
"Lois, I've found at least six other cases where natural disasters were somehow avoided without any logical explanation. The really weird thing is that in three of the cases, there were reports of some sort of flying object like Mr. Payne's shooting star, at the time of the disaster." Jimmy was leaning on Lois' desk as she typed on her workstation.
"Jimmy, I still find it hard to believe that there is some force out there that monitors the world for people in trouble, and then flies in to help avert disaster."
***
"Clark, thank you for helping with the shopping." Lana had her arms full as Clark put the groceries in the back of their SUV.
"Honey, I know that preparing Christmas dinner for both of our families is a major chore, I'm just glad I can help. Listen, I have to go over to the Smallville Gazette to put the final touches on my editorial, but once I'm done I'll be home to help you prepare for tomorrow."
Lana leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, "OK, but don't take too long, I've got a surprise for you when you get home."
Clark looked up at the sky and gave his wife a quick warning, "Be careful driving home, it looks like some nasty weather coming." Suddenly Clark's attention was diverted as he leaned to kiss his wife goodbye.
"What is it Clark?" Lana noticed that he was listening to something that she couldn't hear.
"On the TV in Spencer's Appliance Store, there's a dam down in Panama that may break and flood a village. I have to go see if I can help."
Lana looked at her super husband and gave him a gentle warning, "Go ahead, just please be careful."
***
"Yeah Mom, I know you and Daddy wish you could be here. Anyway, thanks for calling, and have a Merry Christmas." Lois hung up the phone and took the mute off her TV so she could finish watching It's a Wonderful Life. "I wonder if I'll ever find my Jimmy Stewart," Lois wondered to no one in particular.
***
"Ashes to ashes and dust to dust." Clark heard the words as the preacher spoke them, but he just couldn't seem to focus. He felt the hand on his shoulder before he sensed his mother's presence.
"Clark, sweety, why don't you spend the night at our house, so you won't be alone."
Clark was near tears, "I should have been there, Ma. I can do all of these things, I save people all over the world, but I wasn't around when Lana needed me."
"Clark," Martha scolded, what if you had been here in Smallville, you still wouldn't have been in time to stop what happened. The roads were icy, and Lana tried to avoid hitting those kids when her car went out of control. It's just the way things happen some time."
Clark knew his mother was right, but as he walked away from her, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he should have done something. Again he felt a hand on his arm. Clark turned to see Doc Pritchard. "Doc, thanks for coming."
"Clark, I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to save them."
It took a moment before it registered with Clark, "What do you mean them?"
"Clark," Doc said, " I thought you knew. Lana had been in earlier in the day. I had told her that the two of you were going to have a baby".
***
"Lois, you know that story we did on the tidal wave?" Jimmy was drinking a Coke as he stood next to Lois' desk, "Well, I've been checking the internet, and there hasn't been any strange natural disasters that have been averted since just before Christmas. It's like whoever was doing it went into retirement."
***
"Clark, are you sure that you don't want to stay? This has been your home since you arrived." Jonathan Kent was sitting on the back porch of his farm house talking to his son.
"Pa, it's been six months since the accident, and I really need to get away. Everything I do, and everyplace I look, reminds me of Lana, and the family we could have had together. I just need to start over, someplace where no one knows Clark Kent."
"Well, son, you know that no matter what happens, you always have a family that loves you, and will be here for you."
Clark wrapped his arms around his father as tears ran down his eyes, "Yeah Pa, I know."
***
"Lois." It was Perry White's booming southern drawl. "Wait up a minute."
"Listen Perry, can it wait? I'm running late, and I don't want to miss my plane to Cape Canaveral." Lois turned towards Perry and noticed the tall stranger with the eyeglasses walking with Perry.
"This will only take a minute. I want to introduce you to the Planet's newest reporter. Lois Lane, meet Clark Kent."
THE END