Lois & Clark PG Fanfic Archive

Author: The German round Robin Team: Martina Koerber, Lynn Leffler, Petra “Tweety” Sauer, Doris Schmill, Petra “Pitty” Steuble, Nicole Wolke

Rated: PG

The sun of the September sun was low in the sky. Lois sighed and stretched. It was a beautiful evening late in September. They had taken off early from work and had planned to just take a walk together in Metropolis Park.

Of course, things didn’t always work as planned. Hardly ever when you had a husband moonlighting in tights.

She hoped that it wasn’t the beginning of the end. They actually had taken a full week off. Clark insisted that Kansas was most beautiful in fall. Thus far, they had certainly not exactly had much of a chance to enjoy the season although they had gotten a beautiful Indian summer.

A full week visiting her in-laws was something Lois was looking forward too. They had gotten along easily from the start. Something that couldn’t be said for her relationship with her own parents.

It was just a good week till her birthday, and that would find her back in Metropolis and facing her parents. She knew they cared, but … she wished that things weren’t so difficult. It had gotten better since she met Clark. He got along fine with almost anybody, even her mother … most of the time.

Sometimes Lois had idly wondered if things could have been different somehow. She knew that sometimes her folks had talked about having wanted to retire in Europe when her father had finished his army stint. She had been so little then, hardly remembered anything. Could it be true that she had spoken a bit of German in pre-school? She certainly hadn’t recognized any when Clark had tried his on her. He, of course, was fluent in it.

Those plans of her parents had never come to pass, of course. Maybe things would have been different. But people were still people, no matter where they lived …

She was brought out of her reverie by the familiar ===whoosh=== and soft thud of her husband landing just inside the bedroom window. She smiled when he came bouncing down the stairs in his “civvies,” jeans and a black T-shirt only seconds later.

She was about to rise and meet him in greeting when he was at her side already, bending over her and kissing her gently. Just having him around in jeans and T-shirt — and she liked him in that black one — she still forgot about faster than human speed sometimes.

She smiled up at him as their kiss finally ended. “Everything all right?

“Yeah. Fire put out, minor damage, no casualties. — Still want to go for that walk?”

“I’m glad … though I wish parents would be more consistent about teaching their kids not play with fire … And the timing was lousy.”

“Well, they’re kids … and parents make mistakes …they all do …”

Seeing the change of expression in his eyes, Lois knew what he was thinking. His double job and their wish to have children. Not wanting to let the mood get too gloomy, she poked his chest playfully. “Well, yours did a pretty good job. And just look at me. Mine certainly weren’t the greatest, but you said I didn’t turn out TOO bad. — Now, about that walk …”

She never got to finish her sentence, however, as there came a distinct knock from the door.

Clark gave her a questioning look. “Pizza?”

Lois silently shook her head. Clark shrugged and went to answer the door. The voice that answered his “Who’s there?” was a familiar one — in a pronounced British accent. Only one person, Lois thought, as Clark opened the door to admit their unexpected visitor.

H. G. Wells.

They let him to sofa. Lois felt both pleased and apprehensive to see him again. She had come to like the slightly eccentric time traveler, but his presence usually meant … a change in plans to say the least. Not to mention time, locations, even dimensions.

And tonight wasn’t going to be the exception, they were soon to find out. Asking if she still remembered her German, the older man had begun his tale. Her alternate dimension’s parents needed her help, they learned. She was a little surprised that her alter egos parents had indeed settled in Germany, the country her father had been stationed in for most of his time in Europe. But, as it turned out, things hadn’t been all that different. They had still gotten divorced and Sam was still not practicing medicine, but more filling the role of “mad scientists,” peddling in his various concoctions and working as an inventor on the side.

The alternate incarnation of Sam had been more successful developing his androids. Baby Gunderson had seen limited mass production, being utilized as a waitress in some of Munich’s various beer gardens. And that fact had gotten him the attention of various business partners, some of them of dubious backgrounds.

Money had always been scarce in the Lane household, and now that her alternate parents were trying to reconcile, united by the common cause to find their lost daughter, it was even scarcer.

They had tried to finance various expeditions to search for her although they had almost given up hope until that honorary citizen of Metropolis, Alternate Lois’s last known home, had ended up at there doorsteps a few months ago asking their help in his quest to find their lost daughter …and the woman of his dreams.

Their hopes roused anew, they had started another campaign down on the Black continent, Alt Lois’s last known whereabouts. And such campaigns were expensive.

Thus the offer to develop a male model, a “brother” to Baby Gunderson, had been too good to turn down although Sam had been a little wary of the man with their heavy Eastern accents.

Things had gone well and he had delivered on time. Only it turned out that the new prototypes didn’t meet his customers expectations. Like Baby Gunderson, model “Igor” was programmed to abide by their “employers” wishes, but had a safety relay that would prevent them from doing things that were truly harmful.

When contacted by his customers to remove said relay, Sam refused. The second request came in person, and from his notes, Alt Lois’s mother had learned that Sam was to reprogram the Igors to KILL, which, of course, he had refused. Two days later he was gone, never returning from his day at his lab.

Then things had escalated. Ellen had gotten a mysterious message by someone using the Russian name Janosh, but writing perfect German, demanding she was to contact their friend Superman if she wanted see her husband alive again … and that a lot of other lives were in danger, too, if she didn’t oblige. Of course, it was impossible to notify the authorities.

The incident had drawn H.G. Well’s attention as the alternate dimension’s history was threatened to be changed. At that important summit meeting both President Heston and Chancellor Heino were going to be assassinate if it were not for Superman’s intervention.

Only Clark’s alter ego had been absent in search of his Lois still and could not be contacted.

Remembering that his alternate counterpart had willing stepped in to save THEIR world, Lois and Clark agreed to join H.G. Wells in endeavor to rectify the alternate dimension’s history.

Their holiday was going to be quite different from the one they had planned, but a call to Clark’s parents only confirmed what they already knew: the older Kents wholeheartedly supported the idea and wanted them to help “that poor lonely boy.”

That settled, they found themselves deposited in a shady corner just off Alt Munich’s busy main pedestrian precinct. Wondering why it was so busy still despite being late in the evening, Wells had gently explained that that was due to a seasonal festival that drew visitors from all over the world. It might be hard to find accommodations, he had warned them before leaving in search of a Tempus incarnation that was upsetting yet another different dimension and requiring his attention.

Thus they were left to their own devices.

“The October Fest,” Clark was saying in the direction where their companion had stood but a moment ago.

“HG Wells, where are we,” Lois asked while looking around, only then realizing that he was gone. They were standing in a large square that was bordered by a busy street to the north. South of them, there seemed to be a pedestrian precinct. In the middle of the square, there was a fountain. The water was moved this way and that by the evening breeze.

“I’ve been here before,” Clark said. “Come on, let us go that way.” He pointed in the direction of the pedestrian precinct. “there is a hotel there and with a bit of luck, we might still get a room. It’s not going to be easy during the October Fest here.”

“October Fest?” Lois looked at him questioningly.

“That’s a festival they have here every year. Many years ago, when a certain prince got married, the whole town celebrated with them and since that time, they have this festival every year. Over time, it became the world’s greatest Volksfest.”

“How are we going to pay for the hotel?” Lois asked suddenly, stopping dead in her tracks. “Good question.” Clark came to a halt as well. “I guess our credit cards won’t work here.”

“And Well’s just dumped us here, not worrying about such trifles.”

“Well, he was busy. You know he was after that Tempus from the beyond the time vortex. I’m sure …”

“I don’t care about alternate Tempuses … well, actually I do … but he can go to hell with him right now. I mean … I mean … ” Lois was getting more worked up by the minute. “Wells just drops us off here and leaves. Does he expect us to sleep in the streets? It’s fall. It’s already gettingcool at night. In fact, I’m feeling chilly. — I know you’re Superman. But even Superman needs to sleep sometimes as I learned somewhere along the lines …”

She was in full babbling mode by now, and Clark had decided to just ride it out till she needed to take a breath. When she mentioned feeling cold, however, he immediately took off his sports coat, placing it around her shoulders. She stopped speaking for a moment, then added more quietly, “Thanks.”

“Better?” He asked, placing an arm around her and pulling her close into an embrace.

For a moment, there was some resistence. Then she melted into his embrace. Sharing a kiss, she felt his slightly warmer than human body emit heat and relaxed. When the kiss ended, a smile was back on her lips as she looked up at him. “Yeah, a lot … though maybe repeated treatment would intensify the effect.”

He laughed, only too willing to oblige. By the time they drew apart again, she was looking around them. The pedestrian precinct was still fairly busy, with people strolling along and others sitting outside in front of cafes and restaurants. People weren’t taking much notice of them, however. A little further up, singing and music could be heard. Lois looked at Clark questioningly. “A band?”

“No,” Clark shook his head, smiling. “Unless you want to call it a one-man orchestra. It’s a young fella, a student I assume, making some money on the side. He is playing multiple instruments …”

“Oh, one of those.” Lois smiled. Then suddenly grew serious again. “You know, I think I have an idea.”

“Lo-is. I may be Superman, but I am NOT going to give a performance of any sorts here.”

“You don’t have to.” She grinned, only in retrospect realizing that it had been hard to follow her thoughts. “C’mon.” She tugged at this shirt sleeve excitedly, pulling him back in the direction they had come from.

A few minutes later, they were back at the square at the side of which Wells had dropped them off. Lois was walking over to the fountain determinedly. “What are you up to?” Clark asked.

“Let’s just see …” Lois had reached the fountain and was bending over the rim. “Ah, some traditions are universal, even in another country in another dimension.”

Likewise bending over the rim of the fountain, he saw the collection of copper pennies and silvery shining larger coins. “Lo-is …”

“Clark, we need some funds. Even you agreed to that.”

“We can’t pay the hotel with pennies. And besides, it wouldn’t be right …”

“We’re just borrowing it, so to speak. You can pay back with interest later. Did you see that shady casino we passed? You know, where the people came out cussing? At least I assume that’s what they were doing …”

Taking a quick look around, she bend forward, dipped her hand into the water, and began to pick up some of the coins at the bottom of the fountain’s basin.

“You’re right. They were complaining,” Clark replied. “They felt they had been ripped off.”

Realizing what she seemed to have in mind, Clark’s mood brightened. After a look around of his own, he bend over the fountain as well and within seconds had collected the funds they would need to start out with. While they were heading back to the casino they had passed earlier, Clark slowed down again, though. Turning back, Lois looked at him. “Second thoughts?”

“Well, not directly. But it’s somebody else need to consider here, too. This world’s Clark — Superman — is widely known. I don’t want him to …”

“You’ll need a disguise,” Lois acknowledged.

“And where do you want to find one at this hour?” Not wanting to endanger his alter-ego’s reputation, Clark was beginning to have serious doubts again.

“Over yonder,” Lois said indicating a traveling hawker with his sales tray offering an assortment of cheap souvenirs along with baseball caps with different imprints on them and tacky sun glasses. Noting his hesitation, she quickly added, “Well, what served to protect your anonymity in your home town should suffice here.”

Three minutes later, some of their assorted pennies and Mark pieces had been exchanged for bright a purple baseball cap and a pair of large shades with embedded shiny plastic pearls. Clark was more than a little doubtful that this “disguise” would work. However, when they entered the dimly lit casino, they got no more then a few sideway glances.

People were too engrossed in their wagers with fate and fortune at the variety of slot machines lining all of the walls. Occasionally, an exclamation of joy was heard when a machine spit out a small stream of coins, but more often disappointment and disgust was vented. Clark unobtrusively lowered his shades by a fraction of an inch and and inspected some of the machines closest to them. “They are all rigged with magnets,” he whispered to Lois in a low voice. “Which seem to operated by remote control to permit an occasional win to keep customers interested.”

To confirm his theory, he inserted a coin into one the the slot machines and carefully watched the dials spin and come to a halt with his Xray vision. Nodding affirmation at Lois, he then proceeded to start at the slot machine at the far left, inserting the smallest amount required. A well-dosed shot of heat vision reversed the magnets polarity enough momentarily to allow him work the machines with ease and some super reflexes, pressing the right buttons just in time for the dials to stop in matching positons.

Soon a small crowd had gathered behind him and cheered him on as he worked his way down one wall and then another. Once, the owner of the establishment approached them, eyeing Clark suspiciously. Lois turned to him and said conversationally, “He’s good, isn’t he? A friend of his who used to come here frequently said you couldn’t win here. But my friend took up the bet. Guess he proved his friend wrong. — You know, I bet this would make a good story for a newspaper, too, don’t you think?”

At that, the casino owner gave a polite smile and made a rather hasty retreat behind the bar at the back of the room. In less than half an hour, Clark had won sufficient funds to cover their expenses and a few extras, as he assured Lois in a low voice. When they left the casino, Clark insisted on walking back to the fountain to replace the money they had “borrowed.”

They ended up sharing a long kiss at the fountain, then dropped the last of the pennies back into basin. Lois closed her eyes and made a silent wish.Watching her, Clark grinned. “I thought you were not into this’superstitious stuff.'”

“I’m not!” She protested. “Well, only a little.”

He hugged her tight, laughing. “I know. What did you wish for? Or is it secret?”

“Nah.” She shook her head. “I just thought how we had planned to go on vacation in Europe sometime, traveling normally, no super trips, just …And now we’re here, but …”

“We can still do it. We have enough money to rent a car.” “But we could fly. Here Superman Airways is even officially recognized. No need for the suit even. And flying would be faster when’ve picked up Sam’s trail.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Sam’s kidnappers didn’t fly off with him,” Clark grinned. “And using a car and traveling the same roads they may have taken,we might be able to pick up additional clues we might miss otherwise.”

There was some truth to that although Lois was sure that one of the reasons he wanted to travel by conventional means was his desire to accommodate her …. and spend that extra time with her. She smiled up at him, again pulling him close for a kiss. “Very logical. I love you, Clark Kent.”

They turned and for the third time began to walk in the direction of the hotel where Clark hoped they would find a room still. Suddenly Clark took a left and led Lois through a maze of small streets and alleys until they found themselves in front of a large hotel, the Bayrische Hof.

They were lucky. A reservation had just been canceled. The hotel was totally booked because of the many visitors. A page boy led them to their room. “Wow, what a view, Clark!” Lois exclaimed from the window. “You’ve got to see this.”

“What’s that?” Clark ask, sliding his arm around Lois’s waist and looking out over her head.

“Look at those churches. The steeples are all of different height. Why?”

Clark smiled. Lois always had to have a reason for everything. “How about finding that out while we tour the city?” Clark suggested.

“And what about the Lanes?” Lois turned in his arms. “My parents … well, not my parents, but Lois’s … well, my somehow my parents anyway …”

Clark stopped Lois’s babbling with a kiss.

“Are you nervous,” Clark asked with a smile when he finally allowed her to breathe again.

“Hmm … yeah, a little.” Lois sighed. “It will be quite a shock for my mother to suddenly see her daughter who they have thought her to be lost. How are we going to prepare them for this?”

“I guess it’s best if see her by myself first. Then I can at least tell her that you exist and that you are here. I don’t think it would be a good idea if we suddenly stood in front of that poor woman’s door unannounced.”

Lois nodded. “All right. Let’s get it over with. You go see my mom and I wait here till you come back, OK?”

Clark gave her another light kiss. “Sure, honey. See you soon.”

Ellen Lane hadn’t had a good day. And that didn’t have anything to do with her moodiness or the like. It was simply as if from the moment on when she had learned what had happened to Sam, her world was threatening to come to an end.”

Only a few weeks ago, she would have been happy. Suddenly after all the years of fear and despair, a ray of hope had shone into their lives, suggesting that their beloved daughter Lois, who had been kidnapped years ago in the Congo, was maybe still alive.

One day that nice young man had showed up at their door, a little shy, a little awkward, and yet most famous man of his time: Superman.

Of course, they had heard of him. What he told made their hearts that had slowly lost all hope beat faster.

He told them that he was going to set out and search for Lois, that he was sure she was still alive, and that he wouldn’t give up till he could bring her back to them.

If somebody else had said that, they wouldn’t have believed them. This young man, however, seemed to be so sure, so determined, and so optimistic. They couldn’t help but trust him.

That had been four weeks ago. They hadn’t heard from him again. They hadn’t really expected it, but Ellen wished deep down that there was a way to reach him.

Only Superman could prevent Sam’s death. That’s what the kidnappers had written. Just what was she to do?

She had made innumerable long distance calls to Metropolis. Perry White and Jimmy Olsen knew her voice by now. She didn’t even have to give her name anymore, so often she had called the Daily Planet to find out if anybody knew anything about Superman’s whereabouts. But nothing. Nothing at all. She was slowly running out of ideas. Who could she ask still?

She was just trying to make her way through the endless hold line at the American embassy when her doorbell rang.

Never had she been so glad to see somebody as that man in front of her door. “You??!!!” She yelled and hugged him close. “Superman! Oh, thank God that you’re there.”

“I am …” Clark start to reply. “I have desperately tried to get a hold of you!” Ellen didn’t let him get a word in, but spilled out all her worries at once. “Lois? Where is Lois? You’ve been looking for, haven’t you?”

“Ellen, please, I …”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t find her! I … I … I couldn’t stand that. Not after Sam … but you don’t know that yet. And Lois … Oh my God … She returns home after being gone for years …”

Clark sighed silently. ‘At least I know now who Lois got her babbling from.”

Reassuringly, he placed his hand on Ellen’s arm and gently pushed her into the adjoining parlor.

“Ellen, please don’t get upset,” he began to speak finally. “Everything is all right. Well, no, actually it is, of course, but …” Clark sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“I am not Clark. Actually, I am, but not the one you know.” Bit by bit he explained to the completely stunned Ellen where he came from and most of all why he had come to their world.”

“Without Wells, I wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t know that Sam is in trouble,” Clark was finishing his explanation. Ellen looked at him in silence for a moment. She wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or if this young man had actually really come from another dimension just for her and Sam’s sake.

“I understand,” she said nodding slowly. “Well, actually, I don’t but that’s …” “Ellen,” Clark interrupted her. “There is something else. “It’s about Lois.”

“Lois?” Ellen cried out excitedly. “Where is she?”

“Not YOUR Lois. Mine,” Clark corrected. “Lois is my wife, from my world, and she’s here in Munich as well.”

“Oh, yes … your Lois, of course …” Ellen said, trying to regain control. “Is she closeby? Will I get to meet her?”

“Well, actually, she has sent me ahead to try and prepare you for her being here. Knowing Lois, she’ll be wearing out the carpet pacing since we haven’t shown up yet,” Clark replied with a grin.

A hesitant smile appeared on Ellen’s face. Sounds like my Lois, she said. “What are we waiting for?”

Clark nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

And with a ==whoosh== he was out the window, only to land seconds later back in front of a startled Ellen, Lois in his arms.

Both women stood facing each other silently for a while. Ellen had tears in her eyes as she was looking at Lois, who resembled her lost daughter so much it was almost scary.

“Hi, Ellen,” Lois finally said hesitantly and approached her mother’s alter ego.

“Lois,” Ellen replied, swallowing hard. She tried again. “Hello, Lois,” she managed with an effort.

Lois’s heart was aching, feeling with the other woman. She crossed the remaining distance between them and hugged her tenderly. “I am sorry,” she said unhappily. “I wish I could help …”

Ellen pulled herself together. Thankfully, she hugged her daughter’s double once more. Then she stepped back carefully and took a closer look.

“That’s what my Lois would look like now … you are … I mean, she’d be …. so grown up.”

Lois laughed a litle. “Well, three years can make quite a difference. I even have a few gray hairs already, but I’m only telling you that confidentially.” She winked at her, hearing Clark laugh softly in the background.

He had kept to the side politely while the women where getting acquainted. He wanted to give Ellen the chance to adjust to the fact to have her daughter back with her, though not really.

Now since Ellen had regained control, he stepped up and reminded them quietly of the real reason of their being there.

“Ellen, we are here to find Sam. Please tell us everything you know about project Igor and what could help us find out who is behind this kidnapping.”

Although Ellen didn’t tell them much that they didn’t already know from Wells, they stayed well into the night. Lois had been rather wary when Ellen came back from the kitchen carrying a three bottles of beer along with the bread and sausage on a tray, the “Brotzeit” as Clark informed her although it was an unusual time of day for that kind of a meal.

Apparently, though, this incarnation of Ellen did not have an alcohol problem. She didn’t even finish her bottle. Instead she often just sat gazing at her daughter, or rather the alternate incarnation of her.

When she noticed that Ellen blushed, embarrassed for staring, she smiled at the older woman encouragingly.

The evening ended on a mellow note, the three of them sharing stories about Lois’s childhood, that were similar in some ways, and yet so different.

They parted at last on the promise that they would tell Ellen as soon as they found out anything new.

It was well past midnight when they arrived back at the hotel. Glancing at his watch, Clark said, “You know, back home, or the equivalent of it, it would almost be time to go online. Six hours time difference to the East Coast.”

“Clark, how can you think about going online and chat at a time like this? That poor woman … and Sam …”

“Well, they are writing tonight. Those people are quite good. You never know if they could give us some pointers.” “C’mon, there writing fiction about Superman.”

“And Superman is fiction?” Clark asked teasingly and pulled her into a close embrace, stifling any possible reply with a long kiss.

“Clark!” she finally managed breathlessly, protesting mockly while at the same time fiddling with his shirt buttons.

“Well, this IS to be our vacation. We’re married, at a romantic location, in a nice comfy hotel room, soft wide bed …”

“We didn’t even bring …”

“Maybe you didn’t. I made some … preparations.” Clark winked at her, producing the tiniest black lace teddy from his coat pocket.

“Clark …”

“You already said that,” Clark smiled, another kiss capturing her mouth while he scooped her up in his arms and zipped over to bed, ready to try out the comforts of their temporary home.

*****

The next morning, Lois woke late to the rays of the morning sun caressing her cheeks. Sleepily, she reached over to the other side of the bed, snapping to full wakefulness when she found it empty.

But just when she was afraid that her husband had left on another super feat, she heard his voice talk softly on the phone and then hang up the receiver.

He was at her side instantly when he noticed her stirring. He bent over her, kissing the sleep away gently from each of her eyes in turn.

“Good morning, love,” he said. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“No,” She shook her head. “The sun did. It’s high up already. What time is it anyway?”

“About 10.30 am … local time.”

“Gosh. Doesn’t feel like that to me.” She stretched, rubbing her eyes.”Could you do that again …?”

“Do what?” he asked.

“My eyes still feel so heavy … ”

“Kiss and make better?” he inquired, repeating his earlier gesture.

“Much better.” She smiled. “As for the time zone, this should’t be jet lag.”

“No, more dimension leaping lag,” he retorted drily. “And maybe we shouldn’t measure this in “our time” and “local time” …”

“In what then …” she asked, pulling his face down for another kiss, on the lips this time. “Waffy time, as in univeral constant?”

He smiled, intensifying his kiss. But then he broke away, his eyes taking on a faraway expression for a moment.

Picking up his change of mood, she looked up at him. “What is it? Emergency.”

“No, not really. Traffic jam … minor accident. This place is packed with cars.”

“And we still need to get one.”

“Yeah. That’s what I’ve been trying to do all morning. No such luck. I called at least three dozen rentals.”

“Well, did you tell them that Superman needed a car?”

“Superman …? Oh, I keep forgetting …”

” … that in this dimension, Superman is a reality, no secrets. You know,” she suddenly giggled. “Last night they may not have been writing fiction at all. What we did here … sometimes I wonder if they are writing history.”

“I hope they can’t mind read.” He winked. “It was a PG rated channel.”

“Well, maybe tonight the adults meet …” She winked at him seductively.

He replied with a smile and kissed her, then sighed and squared his shoulders. “Business before pleasure, though.”

In less than five minutes, Superman had secured that rental car they required and would be able to return at any of the car rental’s drop off points all over Germany.

Asked what car he had reserved for them, Clark wouldn’t answer her, though.He knew she liked fast … and a convertible. He hadn’t been able to be all that picky, though. Some she’d get, others she wouldn’t. He braced himself for the storm ahead, smiling disarmingly. “It’s a surprise.”

Then picking her up, he flew them to the car rental to collect their means of transport for however long their alternate dimension adventure would take them. With all the visitors in town, they had been lucky to still find a car that was reliable as well as affordable, for Clark didn’t want to take unfair advantage of this Superman’s privileges.

Before they could go to inspect their car, however, Clark found himself signing autographs to all the car rentals employees and staff … and any odd passerby.

When the stream of people had finally ebbed away, Lois looked around the now fairly empty parking lot. “Well, where is it?” she asked. “Right there, Mrs … Superman?”

Lois shot Clark a quick glance, then supplied. “Lane … Where?”

“Right in front of you, Miss Lane.”

“That …?”

She found herself staring at an old, but shiny looking Bug convertible.

“Yes, a Volkswagen.” Clark smiled cheerfully. “Fahrvergnuegen guaranteed. Company’s promise.”

“You mean, you knew …?”

“Yup. Only car available.”

“And they’re really reliable,” the rental owner supplied in his best English.

“And have personality,” Clark supplied helpfully.

“I know,” Lois said drily, walking around the bug inspecting it. “I have seen all those “Herbie the Bug” movies.”

By then she had reached the other side of the car and turning, her eyes fell upon the shiny red Porsche that had been hidden behind it.

“Oh, that’s the one really, isn’t it? Clark, you rascal …”

“No, I’m sorry Mrs. Superman … sorry, Lane,” the rental owner apolgized. “The Bug it has to be. We haven’t been able to get that Porsche to run in months.”

Clark, who had been doing a superspeed examination of the Porsche in the meantime, shook his head at Lois. “No chance.”

Lois sighed and resigned herself to her fate. Ten minutes later, they were back on the road, paperwork signed.

Trying to cheer up his pouting wife, Clark steered the bug towards the downtown. “Well, we can call it Herbie in honor of H.G. Wells …”

“And those movies …?” Lois still didn’t sound to cheerful. “Clark, I feel ridiculous. A bright yellow VW bug …”

“A bug convertible,” Clark reminded her. “And remember what the movie Herbie has been through …”

“All right, all right. You really like this car, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “I drove one while I was an exchange student in Germany. Just like this one.”

Men and cars. Lois sighed. But seeing the sparkle in his eye, she sighed. Clark had often been willing to sacrifice that much for her, she could hardly turn him down now, though she had wanted to exchange the thing at the nearest possible rental station. “You win. The bug … Herbie … it is. Our travel companion in this dimension.”

“Thank you.” He kissed her and gave her that radiant little boy’s smile he sometimes wore when excited about something, the smile she loved so much.

She smiled back at him. “You owe me one though. Give me that tour of the city you promised.”

“Let’s go cruising,” he agreed.

When driving into town, however, both had to realize, that even in a car this small it was next to impossible to get anywhere with the heavy traffic.

“And I always thought Metropolis had a lot of traffic!” Lois exclaimed with a sigh.

“Are the streets here always that busy?” “In the bigger cities of Germany, chaos is similar to what we have back home. Although on a smaller scale.”

“Here in Munich, though, it’s especially bad because of the October Fest. Visitors already start to pour in in the morning to eat and drink. In Bavaria, you eat ‘White Wurst’ this time of day,” Clark explained with a grin.

“Since last night, you keep constantly talking about that October Fest. Can’t we finally go there?” Lois pleaded.

“Today still. Promise,” he told his wife, sealing it with a kiss.

“But first I want to meet that colleague of Sam’s Ellen told us about yesterday.”

Clark had steered the bug safely through all the traffic and was looking for a parking space now.

Ellen had mentioned that Sam had worked with a professor from the Technical University the previous weeks.

Last night already, Lois suggested paying a visit to said Professor Mayr to find out more about Sam’s disappearing.”

He appeared to be one of the last people who had seen Sam Lane, and maybe he suspected who that Janosh could be.

Possibly the professor even had an idea where Janosh held Sam Lane captive. Lois and Clark were going to need any clue, however small!

After looking for some time, they had located the labs. In an emergency, calling the information desk at the university’s library was always helpful.

When they entered the lab, they looked at each other in surprise. The person turning out to be Prof. Mayr looked could have been easily mistaken for Dr. Klein.

He didn’t seem to notice they were startled, however, when he welcomed some in a friendly manner.

“How can help you? You already told me over the phone that you are looking for Prof. Lane. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you at all.”

Lois dug deeper, though. “Could you at least tell us, what Sam said or did when you saw him last?” She simply didn’t want to be passed over so easily.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was hiding something.

“Do you know what Sam was working on?” Prof. Mayr asked cautiously.

He didn’t want to accidentally tell them more than he had to, but he had realized he would have to give Lois something in order to get rid of her.

“He was working on androids as far as we know. Do you know who his customers were? These are university labs, so it can’t have been a private customer, right? Or was he privately sponsored,” Clark asked

“I can’t really tell you much about sponsors. Sam took care of that himself. I did notice however that he recently seemed to somewhat disconcerted.”

“You mean,” Lois immediately inquired, ” you observered any phonecalls or visitors?”

Prof. Mayr. started to perspire. He realized he had already said too much. With people like these two it was better to not say anything.

Clark noticed his discomfort immediately. Prof Mayr’s heart rate was accellerate and he nervously wiped his palms on his pants.

Maybe it was time to dig a little deeper. “What are you yourself working on now that Sam ist not here? Are you continuing his work?”

“Err … well … yes ,” Prof. Mayr admitted hesitantly.

“Then you should also know who he worked for. You will have to report on the progress to someone, don’t you?”

Proffessor Mayr was desparately trying to get out of this conversation. He was a scientist and not used to being interrogated.

//I have to get in touch with Janosh so he can tell me how to get rid of these two,// Mayr’s mind was racing. “I’m really sorry …,” he said nervously, making sure they saw him look at his watch. “I have an appointment now unfortunately and therefore can’t talk to you any longer.” He hustled them out the door, closing the door behind them before reaching for the telephone.

Clark took a hold of Lois’s and placed a finger on his lips. “Sshh, he is making a phone call now. Let’s see what I can pick up,” he whispered.

Professor Mayr hectically dialed a number. “C’mon, answer!” He murmured impatiently when the phone had been ringing a few times.

A male voice answered. “Yes?”

“This is Professor Mayr.”

“I told you not to call me unless it was an emergency!” the mysterious person at the other and of the line hissed.

“This is an emergency!” the professor whined. “I just had some visitors here asking about Sam Lane, and I think they know that I am connected to his disappearing.”

“Would you now also be so kind still as to tell me who it was who came to see you or do I have to guess that?” the voice inquired impatiently.

“It was Superman!” Mayr exclaimed frantically.

A sharp intake of breath could be heard. “Superman,” came the whispered response. “What the heck is he doing here? Doesn’t he …?”

“Well, I don’t know either, but it was him … with a woman. What am I to do now?” Dr. Mayr asked, getting desparate. “What if he comes back?”

“What did you tell him?” the voice asked edgily. “You didn’t tell him …”

A group of students passed by noisily, and Clark couldn’t follow the conversation any longer.

“Clark, what is it? What is he saying?” Lois looked at him desperately. How often had he told her already she shouldn’t talk when he was using his super hearing.

It was as if someone was driving a knife into his head then, and now with this crowd of people, Lois doubted that he was able to pick up anything.

“Damn,” Clark mumbled. “He hung up.”

“Whatever it was, there is no way we can find out now.”

Since there wasn’t anything more to learn from Dr. Mayer, both decided to get back into their car and to find Baby Gunderson, who was working in one of the city’s many beer gardens. Maybe she knew something.

A call at Ellen’s was all that was needed to find out that she usually worked at the English Garden, but was currently employed by the Scot’s Haggis at the October Fest.

“Good. At last,” Lois sighed. “But where are we going? Our car is back there.” Lois was pointing in a different direction.

But Clark was unhesitatingly walking towards the subway station. “Honey, we’d never find a parking space there.”

Lois blocked his way and started to tugging at his shirt playfully. “Wie could … you know …” She smirked mischievously. “Fly.”

“All right.” Clark was grinning now too. “How could I resist those eyes of yours and refuse you anything. ” Bending down to kiss her tenderly, he scooped her up into his strong arms and flew off towards “The Wies’n,” the October Fest.

When Lois let go of his lips breathlessly and took a look around, they were standing in the midst of a group of people. It smelled of roasted almonds, pretzels and beer.

A splendid team of horses pulling a brewery cart loaded with beer barrels was just making its way through the crowd.

“Clark, Clark! Look there!” Lois shouted excitedly. “Look what funny hats and pants they’re wearing.” She pointed at the cart’s driver and the people with him, who were wearing leather shorts and Bavarian hats.

“Lois, those are lederhosen. That’s what people wear around here,” Clark explained.

“Hmm … I bet you’d look good in those, too,” Lois winked at him. “Those make a sexy butt.:

“Lo-is,” Clark grinned back. “I thought I had one already.”

Lois’s hand briefly checked that. “Yes, you do,” she laughed, kissing him lightly. “Let’s go find Baby, and then afterwards enjoy ourselves here.”

Arm in arm they strolled across the October Fest. Her mouth full of cotton candy, Lois asked, “Where do we find Baby?”

“At ‘The Scot’s Haggis,’ which is a beer tent. But that is in the alley (?) parallel to this one, next to the other beer tents.”

“Wow, how are we supposed to find her here?” Lois asked when they were standing in front of the huge beer tent.

“Come, lets go inside. We’ll find her.” Clark took Lois by the hand, tugging her along behind him into the crowd inside the tent.

After a while, they found two empty seats at one of the many long tables in the huge beer tent.

“Are you hungry?” Clark asked, remembering that breakfast had been rather short this morning.

“You ask me that after I had all those glazed (burned) almonds and cotton candy?” Lois shook her head laughing. “No, after all that sweet stuff I don’t really feel like fried chicken or whatever it is the waitresses are carrying around here.”

Lois had a hard time shouting over the loud music that was being played live by a band inside the tent. //Well, it certainly helps set the mood here,// she thought not without amusement.

Curiously she watched as Clark talked to one of the waitresses.

She was trying to pick up at least a little of the conversation, but she was lacking the super hearing to make sense out of all the voices and the bedlam of noise.

“I asked her if Baby Gunderson was on duty already,” Clark explained when the waitress had turned her attention to the next customer.

To be able to better understand her husband, Lois leaned far across the table to him.

“Clark, I don’t have super hearing! With this amount of background noise, you’ll have to talk a little louder,” Lois shouted at him.

With a wide grin, Clark shrugged apologetically and leaned forward in kind until his lips were almost touching her ear.

He couldn’t help having his eyes travel down the VERY low cut neckline of her blouse.

“The girl told me Baby Gunderson started her shift this morning. She is going to send her over to us.”

“Oh, good.” Lois replied absentmindedly.

Clark’s breath at her ear sent a hot tingle down her spine. She felt irresistable impulse to touch his lips and to kiss him without ceasing. // Lois! Get a hold of yourself! Or do you want to launch an attack like that on your husband in public? //

Putting her hand on the back of his neck, she pulled his face close to hers. Only a fraction of an inch separated her lips from his. With an expectant sigh, Lois closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his.

“Who of you ordered the beer?” A loud voice made them draw apart.

In confusion, Clark looked at the waitress. “Oh, … err … yes, … I did ….that’s for me,” he stammered.

“It’s always the same,” Lois was swearing under her breath. “Either Jimmy or Perry or the phone, or now a waitress for a change! Can’t I just have some peace and quiet to kiss my husband every once in a while?”

When he heard her, Clark laughed out loud. “Honey, you can hardly have some “peace and quiet” in a beer tent.”

Determinedly, Lois again bent forward to her husband and silenced any further comment with a long passionate kiss.

“I think that this is the perfect setting for that!”

Smiling, Lois reached for the large beer mug sitting between them on the table and drank deeply.

Before Clark could make any reply, she turned her eyes away from him and waved at a young woman who was coming toward their table, carrying a load of beer mugs.

“Baby Gunderson! Over here!”

While the android was making her way across to them between the tables, Lois and Clark exchanged a meaningful glance. Just seeing Baby Gunderson was enough to remind them of that Christmas when Clark had almost died from that Kryptonian virus.

“Superman!” Baby Gunderson welcomed Clark excitedly. “Are you visiting here?”

For a split second, Clark was tempted to deny that he was Superman. It was just too strange that every here knew he was Superman, he thought.

“No, Baby Gunderson, not just visiting here,” he eventually replied. “We wanted to ask you something about Dr. Lane.”

Invitingly, he motioned her to join them for a moment.

“Which is why we came looking for you, Baby,” Lois continued. “Do you know who sponsored Dr. Lane’s research and development of new androids?”

Baby Gunderson gave Lois a wide-eyed look. “I know you!” she exclaimed. “You are the woman in those pictures of Dr. Lane’s! You are Lois!”

“That’s right,” Lois nodded, though a little warily.

“Then you’re back. They must be so happy.” Her android face broke into a very human-like smile. “Dr. Lane always talked about you. It was as though you had never left. Oh, you need to tell him to have me over.”

“It’s not quite that way … err …” Clark paused, not quite sure how to address the android. “Ms. Gunderson,” she supplied helpfully. “I have taken up a life of my own, you see. I moved out a year ago and have been steadily employed ever since. You see, I have been designed for versatility. I speak 38 languages — you may notice that neither my German nor my English has an accent — I can type, know several systems of shorthand, accounting. I have worked as an executive secretary even although ever since my sisters were made, I have mostly been hired to work in gastronomy. It’s a waste of resources and skills really, although I do enjoy meeting people. This here at least makes use of my language …”

Although used to his own little tornado’s babblings, Clark had been a little overwhelmed. It was Lois who regained her composure first. “That is very impressive, Ms. Gunderson,” she said evenly. “I am sure Dr. Lane would be proud of you. He cannot invite you over, however. He’s missing.”

“Missing! Now that’s terrible!” Baby Gunderson covered her her face with her hands, her voice and gestures an almost exact duPlicate of Ellen’s.

“And the poor Ms. Ellen! You know, I have lived with them, in their basement, till my sisters were made. They have had such an influence on me. My shift will end in just over an hour. I must see Mrs. Ellen immediately. It’s so good that at least you have come home, Miss Lois … You know, we’re practically sisters, too …”

“Not quite … and an influence, couldn’t I tell,” Lois mumbled half to herself.

“Well, it’s a long story, really, Ms. Gunderson,” Clark interjected quickly. “We can give you a ride to the Lane residence once your shift has ended. We are really here to help find Dr. Lane.”

“And to talk to you about the male android project.”

“Yes, Dr. Lane also worked on creating male android, but I daresay Model Gunderson has been the most successful by far. The male ones never reached production stage. I didn’t get to know any of my brothers except …” She paused, then sighed dramatically. “My poor brothers Igor.”

“Project Igor is what we wanted to talk to you about.” Lois tried to redirect the flow of the conversation.

“‘Project Igor’?!” She blew her nose into her white waitress’ apron noisily.

Clark took the android’s hand, patting it gently. “Your brothers Igor’s. We’d like to know what happened to them. Do you know? Where are they now?”

Baby Gunderson blew her nose a second time, drying off imaginary tears.

“Dr. Lane trusts me,” she began. “Although I have become rather independent, I may say, he still depends on me. I often help him out when he has company or customers and when Mrs. Ellen shouldn’t or oughn’t be there.

Igor was to be trained as a buttler. His design wasn’t as elaborate as mine and my sister’s, you see. And Dr. Lane had a couple of interested employers for my brothers.

Though, frankly, I didn’t like the employers he finally picked for Igors.”

“Yes, I did. Some weeks ago, when Mrs. Ellen was away at a seaside resort because of her migraines, these gentlemen came to meet Dr. Lane and the Igors. I didn’t like what they wore. Would you believe it, they refused to take off those fur caps even though it was 103 outside. Taking off your hat when you visit someone was one of the first things Dr. Lane taught Igor. And then all they wanted to drink was that clear, alcoholic beverage. And you don’t know how many glasses they broke that night. They kept throwing them over their shoulders. I, of course, had to clean up after them …”

“Mr Gunderson,” Clark reminded gently, “what was decided about … your brothers.”

“Oh, my poor brothers.” She blew her nose again. “Dr. Lane decided to apprentice them to those … brutes (I can’t help myself). They were to move up north with them, up to the cold north, to live and work among the Prussians, those barbarians. And, sure enough, they weren’t happy, but neither were their employers. They complained to Dr. Lane, those ungrateful, uncivilized …”

Lois had long since given up trying to extract the information. She had learned to stand back and let Clark take over. She was aware of her limitations, especially those of her patience.

Clark’s, however, seemed limitless. He was still holding Baby Gunderson’s hand. If Lois hadn’t known better, she could have sworn that Baby Gunderson was falling for Clark, and hard. She was looking into Clark’s eyes deeply, her eyes focusing on every movement of his lips as he tried yet again to bring her attention back to the subject at hand.

With a dreamy sigh, Baby Gunderson kept her focus on Clark’s face as she continued to recount the story. She had been housekeeping for Sam yet again when his mysterious — and rude — customers reappeared to make their complain in person. Ignoring Baby Gunderson as a nonperson, thereby hurting her feelings deeply, they had demanded that Sam change the Igors programming to do … the unthinkable. When Sam refused, they had threatened him in both Russian and English, one of them adding some curses in German of his own.

Two days later, Sam had received a mysterious phone call. Baby Gunderson had been keeping house while Ellen was getting her toe nails polished.

She had picked up and relayed the call to Sam’s lab, staying in the line out of … interest. She then turned on her playback mechanism, which gave Lois and Clark a word by word record of the conversation a week ago.

They learned that Sam was to report to Heidelberg by noon the next day, or else … the rest of the conversation being jammed by what Baby Gunderson identified as her equivalent of digestive noises.

When asked why she hadn’t told anyone about this, she simply answered that she had not been asked and that it was not polite to speak unless spoken to.

Recalling her earlier tirades, Lois rolled her eyes heavenwards, but didn’t say anything.

Rather, she tried to get her husband from out of Baby Gunderson’s “occupation,” for that by now was what she was doing literally.

It was Clark, however, who excused them and carefully removed her from his lap and back onto the bench. “I am really sorry,” he apologized, “But it has gotten late. We need to go.”

“My shift is almost over,” Baby Gunderson pouted.

“Well, we’ll still give you that ride, of course.”

“Clark, you forget that we have this REALLY tiny car …” Lois interjected.

“Oh, that wouldn’t be a problem,” Baby Gunderson replied. “You can drive and I will sit on Superman’s lap.”

“I’m sorry, Ladies,” Clark broke in. “But remember that car is halfway over town. And Superman Airways doesn’t fly two passengers.” A conspirational wink at Lois.

“That is true. And there may always be that odd emergency. Superman Airways isn’t really that reliable a means of transport,” Lois added quickly.

“But an exciting one!” Baby Gunderson looked as if she didn’t mind an emergency with Superman at all. “You know, I am designed to be fully functional in every way,” she added suddenly.

“Thank you for sharing this with us,” Lois mumbled loud enough for not just Clark’s ears.

Then in a lower voice she whispered to Clark, “What about an emergency … RIGHT NOW?”

Clark, never good at making excuses, let alone lying, glanced at her uncertainly. Though just an android, he was afraid to hurt Ms. Gunderson’s feelings. “Dr. Lane is a very skilled inventor, I’m sure. He does need our help, however. We therefore need to go.”

“Oh.” Baby Gunderson was clearly disappointed, letting her eyes travel over Clark’s form appreciatingly and unashamedly. Then with a sigh, she pulled out her receipt pad and, extending it to Clark along with the pen she produced from behind her ear, smiled sweetly at him. “Could I at least have your autograph, please?”

Perplexed, Clark obliged, remembering at the last minute not to sign as Clark Kent, but as Superman.

Lois was having an emergency of her own by now. She was clearly fuming. Deciding that it wouldn’t be good to fight fire with fire in this case, Clark wordlessly handed the receipt pad complete with autograph back to Baby Gunderson, adding a generous tip to make up for the business she had lost out on while talking to them.

Then he scooped Lois into his arms and fled the beer tent at more than human speed.

Once outside, they quickly mixed with the crowd and disappeared between two of the carny stalls. Lois wiggled enough in his arms until she could turn around enough to face him. Pulling down his face, she pressed her lips on his, kissing him hungrily and passionately.

He responded with equal passion. Not being able to act as husband and wife in public was taking its toll on him, too. When they finally broke the kiss, she looked up at him. “Do you think we have to go on to Heidelberg tonight? I don’t think I could stand continuing this investigation … and this charade right now,” she said, affirming her words with another long kiss.

“Well, this trail is about a week old,” he replied, then added. “And frankly, I couldn’t either.”

All her earlier misgivings forgotten, she beamed up at him. “Fine, then lets use the rest of the day to explore what this town has to offer … for us … alone.”

“Explore the city, huh?” Clark grinned at her “I could think of some other things to explore as well.”

“Easy Kent.” Lois gave him a quick kiss and grabbed his hand.

“Look, Clark, I want to go for a ride in that.” His eyes followed her pointing hand.

“On the Ferris wheel? You love to look down on the lights of the city by night, don’t you?” He smiled at her.

*****

“Wow! Look at all those bright colored lights. Look how they’re shining.”Lois was excited like a small child captivated by the magic of theChristmas tree’s lights.

They were sitting in the cart of the ferris wheel, high up above the October fest. Clark smilded at her. He loved her so much. He loved Lois’s passion, whether for her job or such little things as the bright lights of a carnival.

His eyes passed from Lois to something else. “Lois, look.”

Lois turned her head away from the sparkling lights and looked in the same direction as he. “What is that?” she asked, surprise in her voice.

“Those are the Alps under the setting sun,” he explained.

Night had already fallen over the city, but the setting sun was turning the mountains, which were only a hundred miles or so in the distance, into a myriad of brightly glowing colors.

“That seems so unreal.” Lois slowly turned to Clark.

The reddish light of the setting sun was reflected upon his loving features. “Und yet it is so wonderful,” she whispered while slowly closing the distance between her and Clark’s face.

He wasn sure what she was really referring to, the special atmosphere of the night or the parallel universe they were vistiting, but it didn’t really matter now.

His eyes glanced at her lips before closing when she kissed him gently.

Only when the other passengers left the cart, reality returned.

“And what are we going to do now?” Lois was still slightly out of breath.

How about walking back to the hotel? It’s such a wonderful night,” Clark suggested, laying his arm around Lois’s shoulders.

Without thinking, Lois placed her arm around Clark’s waist and hooked her thumb under his belt. “Hmm,” she mumbled while cuddling closer to him. “Do you know how much I have missed this?”

“What? … This?” Clark kissed her quickly.

“No … yes … but I don’t mean that. Just the two of us, no Daily Planet, no Superman, no work … well, we’re not quite without work now either, but at least for tonight we are.”

Going for walks, doing things other couples do. Normal things.”

“Lois, I wouldn’t call talking in a parallel universe not exactly ‘normal.'” Clark laughed. “But you’re right. I’ve missed this too.”

Arm in arm they were strolling through the streets of Munich by night.

Clark proved to be a walking tourist guide book. He seemed to know a storyto tell with every building. Lois simply enjoyed listening to Clark’s voice and not having to think of anything.

It was late at night when they finally arrived back at the hotel.

“Thank you, Clark, for this wonderful quiet evening,” Lois smiled while dropping down on the bed. She was happy, but exhausted.

“With such a nice and pretty woman at my side that is no wonder,” Clark grinned and snuggled close to her.

He started tickling her.

“Clark, what are you doing there?” Lois managed to say with an effort while, made to laugh harder and harder.

“You wanted to explore town with me. We did that.” Meanwhile, he was having a really hard time continuing to tickle her as she had started to return the favor.

“Well, and now it is my turn to explore what I intended to earlier already.”

“Guys always have to explore everything, don’t they, Farmboy?” Lois grinned.

“Only certain city girls,” Clark laughed.

He bent over her, beginning to kiss her passionately. Both Lois and he immediately forgot all about tickling each other, their hands instead beginning to tenderly roam across the other’s body, setting out an exploration of their own.

The next morning found them awake early in spite of the night’s activities. Lois made a face when the tickling in her dreams turned out to be part of reality as was the face that was bent over her closely, kissing her awake gently. Giggling at both the tickling and the contrast what Clark was doing to her face and further down, she finally threw up her hand in mock surrender, sat up and swung her legs out of bed.

After a quick breakfast, they got into their yellow beetle convertible and hit the road, but not without stopping by at Ellen’s. They promised to stay in touch. It was obvious that the older woman was having a hard time saying goodbye to this “twin” of her daughter she hardly knew.

She cheered up a little when Lois and Clark promised they wouldn’t leave without seeing her — and Sam — again. When they were about to leave, Ellen asked them to wait. After a moment, she returned with two bag lunches for ‘Brotzeit’ and a light carry-all bag.

At the questioning look she got, she blushed a little, smiling. “I thought you might need those. You … seemed to be traveling light.”

Peeking inside the bag and taking inventory of a change of clothes for each, pajamas, and all the little things that helped make home far from home, Lois smiled in return. “Thanks. It looks exactly like what we need.”

“I hope they fit. My Lois was a younger when she left as you know — although I doubt that you have gained an ounce of wait since. You got to eat, girl.” She hugged Lois gruffly, ruffling her hair. The gesture reminded Lois so much of her own childhood, the times when her mother was not intoxicated. She had to swallow hard at the lump forming in her throat. “I’m sure they’ll fit just fine, Ellen.”

“The shirts, of course, are Sam’s. Now, he’s a bit stockier than you, maybe, but you could …” Lois and Clark exchanged a meaningful glance. Babbling mode. ” … You kids just got to eat. Wonder what they’re having in other dimensions … And then, if your US is anything like ours …spongy bread … They do know how to bake bread here in Germany. Have you tried any? Oh, you young man said you were an exchange student here, weren’t you know? If your ‘here’ is like this, I mean …”

They could tell she was getting worked up. Lois looked at Clark, not quite knowing what to do. Clark was not oblivious to the sentiment of the moment either, but finally placed an arm around Ellen’s shoulder. Hugging her tight, he said quietly. “It’s a lot like ours. We’ve got to go, though. We’ll be in touch.”

Lois briefly hugged Ellen, then almost fled the house. Dropping the duffle bag and their sack lunches on the back seat, they got into their beetle and drove off in silence.

By now the sun had broken through the morning haze. Its light was reflectedand broke in the leaves of the trees they were passing. Clark pulled over to the side of the road and, getting out of the car, lowered the roof. When he reclaimed his driver’s seat, he bent over and kissed Lois’s hair. “The sun’s very becoming to you, you know?”

She smiled a little absentmindedly. “She’s so much like mom … and yet sodifferent. They’re divorced, too, but I wonder …”

“Just like this Clark had a very different childhood, and yet …” Clark mused.

Suddenly, she turned and tickled his side. “Let’s hit road. Or rather the ‘Autobahn.’ They have no speed limit here, do they? Too bad about that Porsche …”

“Lo-is!” Clark tried to sound exasperated while glad for her change of mood. “We would have needed to do a dozen casinos for that. And besides, you’ll be amazed what this one will do. As to your question: No they don’t. Unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately? Somehow, that sounds strange coming from a guy who does a lot of things beyond any kind of speed limit.”

Clark laughed at that. They had reached the highway by then. “You want speed, eh?” Clark asked, stepping down on the gas. “You better put on that scarf Ellen packed for you.”

The little car’s engine protested, but then shifted into higher gear obediently. Lois had to admit that compared to the cruising speed on an interstate, the speed the bug was making was still quite impressive. It was only when Clark reminded her that he wouldn’t have gone at top speed in an open Porsche convertible with her, that her pouting mood lightened. “Mother hen!”

She did enjoy looking out at the scenery, though, and settled back to enjoy the ride, glad that Clark seemed to know where they were going. Soon, however, he didn’t look that certain anymore, and when they approached a large gas station, it was his suggestion to stop and buy a map.

While he bought the map, Lois got two coffees from the vending machine, and then seeing that the gas station carried some international newspapers. Picking up a copy of the Daily Planet, she paid and then headed back out to the car. Clark looked up from the map as he took his coffee from her.

She leaved through the planet while sipping her coffee. Suddenly, something caught her attention. “Look Clark, this has an article about President Heston’s visit to Germany. Seems there have been some anonymous threats. This also has his itenerary, though without time references, due to tightened security, I presume. He was or is in Heidelberg and is then to go on to Berlin …” She glimpsed over the rest of the article.

Suddenly, she stopped, her mouth agape. “Clark, this article is by Cat Grant, The Planet’s chief correspondent and head of the European office in Berlin!”

Clark whistled in astonishment. “No more gossip columns for her, then. If she ever had one here, that is.”

Suddenly Clark heard Lois draw in a sharp breath. “Speaking of the gossip column …” She pointed out an article on the last page of the Daily Planet.

“Superman love-struck in Germany? Clark read the bold lettering. “Where did they get that for heaven’s sake?”

“Haven’t the citizens of Metropolis been wondering for some time why Superman hasn’t been seen in our skies for a while?” Lois was reading out loud. “The mystery seems to be solved at last. As a well informed source told us, Superman was visiting Munich the last few days, a mysterious, dark-haired woman at his side. Superman’s new love?”

“Oh no, the poor Clark,” Lois sighed. “No we even got him in the yellow press.”

“Well, I’ve waited to finally find a reason why it’s better for Superman to keep wearing a disguise. Up to now, everything went so smoothly, I was beginning to doubt that.”

Lois made a face, “Sheesh, this is getting worse. Listen to this, ‘Superman and his pretty playmate … PLAYMATE! … have been staying for two days at the hotel Bayrischer Hof. As a maid told us, both are “hardly ever coming out of their room’ …”

“Well, admit it, there’s something to that,” Clark grinned. “If I’d had my way …”

Lois giggled. “But reading about it in the paper is something entirely. It suddenly makes it sound so despicable.”

Clark’s face took on a dreamy expression for a moment. “Despicable …sounds good.”

Lois laughed and put the paper to the side. “Better concentrate on the road, though, Kent. Not that you have our precious end up in the ditch.”

They decided they would probably not be able to do anything about having hurt this world’s Clark’s reputation a bit.

In conclusion, Lois remarked they could hope that this Clark would find his Lois soon so that he, too, would be able to enjoy the fruit of his “despicable deeds.”

By now they had gotten fairly close to Heidelberg. It was really amazing how close things were together in this country. They had just been on the road a few hours, but had passed by too many towns to remember. This country was certainly densely populated.

“Maybe we should think of something else for Heidelberg, though, Lois?” Clark asked carefully as they were approaching the city.

Lois gave him a suspicious look. “Uh-oh … you don’t mean to say …? Oh, no, please don’t say that!”

Clark ducked. “But just think of this poor Clark.”

“Separate rooms?!!” Lois was dismayed. “This is VACATION!”

“Hey, nobody would notice if I made a dash for your room at superspeed every now and then, would they?”

Suddenly, Lois burst out, “Nah, Clark, nothing against your good intentions, but just imagine THAT becomes known! Then the story thus would be nothing in comparison.”

Clark grinning and was eagerly willing to give in. “You’re probably right. What do you think of another disguise then?”

“You mean the good old secret identity?” Lois asked.

“Exactly,” Clark replied. “That way we wouldn’t be followed by the press and maybe it would also make it easier for us to get some information.”

“Hmm,” Lois purred. “Finally married again. I would certainly like that.”

Clark chuckled. “Me too, honey, me too!”

“The only problem would be that people mustn’t recognize you. We need to disguise you a little.”

“Well, since Clark doesn’t wear glasses here in real life, how about some chique designer glasses?”

“Oh yes!” Lois exclaimed excitedly. “Some really showy glasses!”

About half an hour later, Lois and an unknown man left a small optometrist’s store in a suburb of Heidelberg. The man bore some resemblance to a superhero familiar to the reader, but his face was adorned by the spectacular creation of the art of spectacles design. Even someonein on the secret would have been hard-put to recognize this fashionable young man as the the hero in tights.

“I like them,” Lois said when they were back in the car. “An now Mr. And Mrs. Clarke should start looking for a comfortable small hotel.”

This was different from there time in Munich, however. Lois and Clark didn’t have to worry about finding accommodations this time.

In no time at all, Mr. and Mrs. Clarke were booked into a small hotel only a few minutes’ walk from the center of town.

“All right, what are we going to do now?” With a seductive smile. Lois dropped onto the bed in their hotel room. “We are in Heidelberg and have got a room, but not any idea what we really want to do here.”

For a moment, Clark was tempted to let himself be seduced by her smile and to join her on the bed. Then his eye caught on his reflection in the mirror next to the door, however.

“Lois, du you really think these new glasses suit me?” he asked doubtfully. “Somehow, I look a little tacky, with those, don’t I?”

A little disappointed that her husband hadn’t followed her silent invitation, Lois got up and stepped next to him in front of the mirror. “Honey, the purpose of a disguise is that people don’t recognize you that easily, not necessarily that you win a beauty contest with it.”

“Besides,” she stood on tiptoe in front of him and kissed him on the tip of his nose, “you look cute with those new glasses!”

Clark grinned contendedly at his image in the mirror and then started to talk about the reason for their stay in Heidelberg. “We need to find out somehow what led Sam here. Or rather who.”

“Do you think Sam is in town really? I thought you said the trail was already too old.”

Thoughtfully, Clark shook his head. “All of this doesn’t really make sence.What should Janosh want here?”

“We simply know too little about that Janosh still, Clark. Back home we’d sit down at the computer and try to find out something about him. Where does he come from? What are his goals? Who is working with him?”

“Well, here we don’t even have a laptop to log into The Planet’s computer with,” Clark sighed. “All we have is this issue of the Daily planet …”

“Cat!” Lois interupted him. “What do we do in Metropolis if we are out and need information? We call Jimmy!”

“Well, true? But …?” Clark asked somewhat confused.

“Cat! We call Cat. She can probably tell us many interesting details about Janosh,” Lois explained with a crooked grin. “Even if in this world, she’s the head of the Daily Planet in Europe, I’m sure she won’t be any less interested in certain shady and compromising stories than her equivalent in our dimension.”

“You’re a genius, honey.”

“I know.”

Enthusiastically, Lois leaved through the Daily Planet in search of the masthead. When she had found the number of the Berlin head office of the Planet, she reached for the phone.

“Lois, wait!” Clark exclaimed and took the receiver from her. “What are you going to tell her? ‘Hi, Cat, this is Lois! I have just returned from the Congo and am just spending a few days in Heidelberg still. Can you give me some information?'”

“Oh!”

“You are right. But lets simply tell her the truth then. She has probably heard about my visit to their Metropolis back then. Something like that makes rounds at The Daily Planet.”

After considering this briefly, Clark nodded agreement and dialed The Planet’s number. However, luck didn’t seem to be on their side. He was connect to the newsroom, even to Cat Grant’s office, but unfortunately only her assistant too the call there.

He told them that Cat was at the moment following President Heston’s tour of Germany and was going to cover his meeting with the French president in Freiburg.

“Freiburg? Where’s that?” Lois asked curiously.

“That is a town in the Black Forest, fairly close to the French and practically at the Swiss border,” Clark explained.

“I’m just amazed that Heston and Platini are meeting again such a short time before the Berlin summit.”

“Well, probably we don’t need to worry about that right now. It looks as if we need to go to Freiburg, though. I don’t really want to question Cat about Janosh on the phone and then have to explain to her why I want to know that.”

“Fly or drive?” Lois asked excitedly. She had enjoyed driving in the bug convertible even though she wasn’t going to admit that to Clark just like that, but nothing could beat flying.

“Well, we said we’d go easy a bit on poor Clark …” Clark began, then noticing the disappointed look on Lois’s face, continued, “But I guess we can’t really take that into consideration right now if we finally want to get ahead looking for Sam here. We’re flying, that’s faster.”

Lois threw her arms around his neck. “You’re the greatest!” She beamed. “You know my every little weakness, don’t you?”

“The question is though …” She grew serious again quickly. “Are we going to check right out again or are we coming back?”

“You know what, we call for an appointment with Cat so that we don’t end up going down to Freiburg for nothing in case she is not there. Then we do what we have to do and then come back here. After all, we are, as you rightly mentioned a few times, on vacation. At least we should do a bit of sight seeing later on,” he suggested.

“OK, flyboy!” Lois giggled, jumping into his arms. “Up, up, and away!”

The closer they got to Freiburg, the slower and lower Clark was flying so that Lois had a chance to get a look at the scenery. “Oh, look, what lake is that?” Lois asked curiously and pointed ahead.

Clark took a closer look at the place name sign. “Neustadt,” he read. “That is Lake Titisee.”

“They have really strange names here!” Lois laughed. “Oh, and look at those houses. I’ve never seen that before, either. Those are half-timbered houses, aren’t they? Oh, Clark! I just thought of something: Can’t we try to get a cuckoo’s clock for your mom? Then we’d already have a Christmas present for her. Oh, that’s a great idea. Though I’ve never started Christmas shopping this early …”

Clark looked at her with amusement. “Lois, are you all right? Or is the oxygen up here getting to your head? You’re babbling again.”

Lois blushed and slapped him on his arm. “I’m not babbling!”

Clark just laughed and decided it was time for some distracting. “Look,this is right in the middle of the Black Forest now. Directly below us is the Hoellental, ‘Hell’s Valley,’ and up ahead is Freiburg already.”

They were approaching the town cautiously while Clark looked around for a safe place to land without being noticed. “Hang on. I need to go fast now so that we don’t attract attention,” he warned Lois.

He didn’t need to tell her twice. She immediately snuggled even closer tohim, tightening her hold on him also.

When he carefully put her to the ground again, she returned his new fancy glasses, which he taken off for flying. “Here. Now you look perfect again.”

Clark faked looking offended. “What? Now I look perfect again? I thought I always do.”

“Oh, no, honey,” Lois whispered in his ear, placing a hand on his chest. “You look perfect when you …”

“Lois!” Clark blushed. “We are in public!”

Lois just laughed and took his hand. “Sometimes you can really tell that you grew up in the country! C’mon, let’s start looking for Cat. You agreed to meet her at the cathedral, didn’t you?”

They started heading there through a maze of narrow alleys that Lois really liked. When they reached the cathedral, Lois looked around for cat. Just then a familiar voice called out, “Lois! Lois, is that you?”

She turned and then drew in a sharp breath in surprise. The Cat who stood in front of her only barely resembled the Cat she new. She was wearing a suit — a knee-length one at that — and was wearing her hair up in a bun. She looked like you’d a expect a successful career to look and had nothing of the woman who had thrown herself at Clark.

“Cat?” she asked increduously.

“My God, Lois, I can’t believe it’s really you!”

As Lois shook her head, Clark came to her aid. “Well, actually, it isn’t really her although I said so on the phone. The whole story is somewhat complicated. Maybe we can sit down somewhere where we won’t be interupted, and then we can explain the whole thing to you.” Placing an arm around Lois, he added solemnly. “We need your help, Cat.”

Cat looked at him curiously, glancing from Clark to Lois and back again. She smiled slightly. Whether this woman was Lois or not, she was certainly lucky to have that guy!

“Are you hungry,” she asked. “Maybe we can go eat something while you tell me how I can help you.”

She led them to a closeby restaurant. “Too bad that you didn’t come earlier in the year. The asparagus from around here is fantastic. So soft, it almost melts on your tongue. Well, then at least try the wine. It’s grown around here and is really good,” she explained while studying the menu.

Lois and Clark looked at each other doubtfully, not quite knowing if Cat was going to believe the story about the alternate world.

When they were finally done telling the story, desert had arrived. Cat leaned back and laughed.

Lois and Clark were baffled. That kind of reaction they certainly hadn’t expect.

“Had somebody else told me this one, I would have said they’re nuts, butyou, Lois, I believe. You, or rather your alter-ego, has always had such weird things happen to her.” Then she grew serious again. “And now you wantto know what I know about Janosh. I hope you are aware that you decided to get involved with a very dangerous guy there.”

Lois gave Clark a meaningful look.

Immediately Clark turned to Cat. “What do you know about Janosh, Cat?”

While looking at Cat looked at Clark, she felt her mind beginning to wonder. / Wow, what a guy this second Lois had gotten herself there … /

With a wink that would have true to her alter-ego, she looked at Clark and breathed, “I’ll tell you anything …”

Sighing, Lois turned her eyes heavenwards. / Oh, no. And I had begun to think that here we’d have a Cat who you could could have a sensible conversation with. /

Untnoticed by Cat, Clark tenderly placed his hand on her knee and squeezed it lightly. Lois was pleasantly surprised that he hadn’t even noticed the change in Cat and was reassured.

“Cat?” Clark looked at her patiently. “OK, there are rumors that Janosh is involved with the Russian mafia. In addition, my source has confirmed that he is displaying an extraordinary interest in President Heston.”

“Do you know where Heston is at the moment?”

“Well, I’m not sure. But Chancellor Heino is scheduled to visit Heidelberg tomorrow afternoon … A good oportunity for Heston to put in another appearance … Maybe you’re lucky.”

Clark grinned at Lois. “Well, what do you think about us working things out? Our hotel is still booked, and we’ll have the morning to spend in Heidelberg.”

Lois gave him a radiant smile. “You can’t imagine how much I am looking forward to that!”

“Err,” Cat cleared her throat. “May I interupt you two turtle doves for a moment?”

Lois looked up with a grin. “Yes?”

“I just thought of something else,” Cat began. “You want to know some more about Janosh. Maybe I can help you.” Cat had leaned towards them and started to whisper.

“You can, really!” Lois was really excited. Finally somebody seemed to be able to provide them with some information.

“How can you help us?” Clark asked. “How can we find him?”

“Sshh, not so loud. I don’t want to get into trouble,” Cat explained quietly.

“I can’t really tell you where he is myself, but I have a friend who might be able to help.”

“What kind of a friend and where can we find him?”

“I can’t tell you yet who it is, but I can take you there,” she offered. “He is living in Heidelberg.”

“In Heidelberg? You’re kidding!” Clark could hardly believe his ears. They had been really lucky to make reservations for the hotel room already.

“Yes, that’s where he lives. And I could drive you to Heidelberg,” Cat volunteered. “But we might not have enough room in my car.”

“No problem. We have our own means of transport.” Clark gave Lois a knowing grin.

Lois, however, was more interested in Cat’s car for the moment. “A small car? Too small for three people?” she wondered out loud.

/ Cat and a small car. We’re definitely in an alternate world, / Lois thought.

“Well, yes, it’s a small car, but I’m sure you will like it.” Cat grinned mysteriously. The Lois she used to know had loved cars, and THIS Lois was so much like her.

Lois gave her an annoyed glance. She HATED surprises.

“Okay, Lois, I’m going to tell you before that look of yours kills me,” Cat laughed. “It’s a Porsche 911.”

“A … a Porsche!” Lois almost screamed. “Clark, can we go with her?” She looked at him beseechingly.

He grinned at Cat and then at Lois. “I’ll guess flying isn’t that interesting anymore when you can have it whenever you want.”

“Honey, I love flying with you and you know it.” Lois kissed his cheek.”But a Porsche and no speed limits … who could resist …?”

It was only a short walk to Cat’s car. Once they reached it, Lois walked around it, taking in its every feature, then touching it’s shiny surface with obvious reverence. “Lois, remember, it’s just a car,” Clark teased from behind her.

Lois, however, was so absorbed in admiring the car that she hardly heard his words. Cat joined her at the the passenger’s side, and pulling out her keyes, was just about to open the door when she suddenly slapped her forehead with the back of her flat hand. “Goodness, how could I forget! I have an appointment still!” She looked at Lois and Clark apologetically. “It might be about three hours. It is really important, though. If you guys want to wait around, I’m sure you will think of something to do while I’m gone.”

“Oh, Cat, that’s all right. Don’t worry about us,” Clark began. “We can just …”

“Clark!” Lois protested, anticipating Clark’s not wanting to inconveniencing cat and suggesting they’d rely on their own means of transportation.

Noticing that just his name and the way she said it spoke volumes, Clark decided it was better than to try and argue. At times like this he was grateful for the bond they shared that reassured him that she loved him more than anyone in the world, or anything for that matter … even a Porsche. He drew upon that now, then finished rather lamely, “We can just go for a walk and look around a bit …”

“You do that!” Cat had already turned on her heel and was about to head off. “I’ll meet you back here in three hours, OK?”

With that, she was gone.

Clark looked after her while Lois still stood gazing dreamily at the Porsche. Clark had a hard time getting her attention. When he had called her name three times in vain, he resorted to the means that always got her attention. He bend forward and kissed the one sensitive spot on the back of her neck that he knew would give her goosebumps all over — and get her attention.

Sure enough, she finally turned around to look at him. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if there was a touch of annoyance in her eyes, but then she smiled and, placing her arms around his neck, pulled him close, kissing away his doubts and any irritation he might have felt. When they finally drew apart, he smiled down at her. “Welcome back to earth, Mrs. Lane-Kent. You really like that car, don’t you?”

“Yeah …,” she replied dreamily, but then pulled herself together. “I’m sorry I didn’t pay attention earlier.”

He kissed her again. “You are forgiven. What shall we do with this extra time we have been given here?”

Returning his kiss, she said, “Well, I’m sure we can think of something ….” Then she caught sight of something. “Look there!” She exclaimed, pointing towards a souvenir shop just a short way down the alley. “I’m sure they have a cuckoo clock we could get your mom.”

“Oh, the clock.” He smiled and willingly let himself be pulled along by his excited wife. He loved her enthusiasm, her spontaneity. And at the moment she was thinking of the gift for her mother. He was glad that Lois and his parents got along so well. And just now Lois was excited to have thought of something she knew the older woman would like. This Lois he had grown to know and love no longer thought of herself and getting things her way first, but enjoyed giving as much as receiving.

They had reached the souvenir shop. It was really tiny, yet cluttered with all sorts of … items. Being close to the cathedral, it sold devotional objects as well as all kinds of trinkets that tourists liked to buy. Clark looked around the small store lined with shelves holding every kind of knickknack possibly imaginable. Presently, Lois reclaimed his attention.

She was standing eyeing a small cuckoo clock that the short stocky salesman in his lederhosen and checkered shirt had assured her was authentic. “What do you think?” she asked. Then when he had stepped over to her and was standing at her side, added in a low voice. “This is plastic … Is this the way they come?”

“Not quite,” Clark returned with a wry smile. “Here, let me show you something. Expertly lifting the adhesive price tag at the back of the clock just a little, he pointed at the tiny imprint. “It’s genuine … if you want something made in Taiwan.”

When she had recovered from her surprise, she was about to tell the shop owner exactly what she thought. Clark, however, placed an arm around her, silenced her with a kiss, then whispering in her ear. “I’ll show you where to get the real thing.”

“Thank you. We’ll think about it,” he told the store owner and replaced the clock to it’s position on the wall.

Once outside, he quickly guided Lois into an alley, handed her his glasses, and gathered her in his arm to launch himself into the radiantly blue afternoon sky. A few minutes of flight took them to a small village away from the tourist routes. On the way, Clark had still pointed out the Feldberg, the highest mountain in the Black Forest. Soon they had found what they were looking for. Returning to Freiburg, they still had two hours before they were to meet Cat back at her car.

They decided to explore the town some. The weather was great. It was actually so warm that all over people were sitting outside the cafes, enjoying the sunny fall day.

“What a nice town!” Lois exclaimed, looking around excitedly. “All these old houses and small alleys!”

They turned a corner, and were suddenly in the middle of Freiburg’s pedestrian precinct. “Look at that!” Clark grinned, pointing at the beautiful old town gate at the end of the street they were on. “Even McDonald’s made an effort to blend into the surroundings here.”

Lois nodded and laughed when looking at the restaurant’s unobtrusive brown billboard directly above the archway of the gate. “How fortunate,” she said. “Just imagine they had kept the sign in the usual red and yellow. That would have looked awful!”

She turned, suddenly giving a startled cry. “Oh, my God! What’s THAT?!”

Behind them, somebody was laughing. “Oh, you poor thing!” The approaching young woman’s exclamation, as she pointed at Lois’s wet feet, made up for her laughter a moment earlier. “Don’t take it so hard. Now you’re at least a real Freiburg ‘Bobbele.'”

“Bubble … what?” Lois asked back, not having a clue.

“Bobbele,” said the girl with a friendly grin. She extended her hand, saying, “Hi, I am Joan. I’ve heard you speak English. I am American myself. I am here as an exchange student for a year.”

Clark politely shook the hand she was extending toward him, and even Lois had recovered sufficiently by then to step out of the small ditch, shaking the water off her feet. “Can you explain what that is?” she asked, indicating the cause for her wet feet.

Joan grinned. “Those are the famous Freiburg ‘Baechle,’ the brooklets. ‘Baechle’ is the local term for a small brook. And it’s common saying that anyone getting themselves into one of those becomes a true ‘Bobbele,’ which is to say a real Freiburg citizen.”

“Well,” Lois said. “I’m not sure if I want to become a bubble something of a town where you constantly need to watch out where you step.” Looking around, she added, already in a better mood again, “Although it does look nice. On the other side, there is one, too.”

“Here in the inner city, you have them everywhere. Some are as small as this one, only about one foot wide. Others are only half as wide whereas still others are real ditches.”

“What a strange way to improve the appearance of a town,” Clark observed.

Joan laughed again. “Oh no, they’re not just there to look nice. Although, nowadays they actually are. Historically, however, they did serve a purpose. They were used to separate fresh water collected from rainfall from sewage. With that, Freiburg had a very advanced sewer system. Nowadays they are really just there for the looks. They have become the town’s trademark just like the cathedral here,” she said pointing towards the big church building behind them.

“Have you seen the cathedral yet? It’s very beautiful. Many books describe it as the ‘most beautiful church steeple of the middle ages.'”

“Yes, we have,” Clark said. “It’s really very beautiful. But what are we gonna do about you now?” he asks, turning towards his wife. Even if your wet feet have a historical background, you can’t tour the city for two hours like that. It’s warm today, but not that warm.”

Lois nodded at a loss for an answer as well. “What do you think about coming to my place?” Joan suggested. “I don’t have any more classes today and I live in a rather nice corner of Freiburg myself. We have a dryer at our dorm. There it won’t take half an hour for your clothes to dry. We can have a coffee in the meantime and afterwards go for a walk in the park by the pond.”

“Oh, that would be nice, Joan!” Lois replied enthusiastically. “I don’t think I would die from having wet feet, but it is kind of uncomfortable. And I would really like to learn a bit more about this town. If we set out on our own, we probably wouldn’t see have as much as with somebody who knows their way around here. We have to be back here in two hours, though.”

Joan said that wouldn’t be a problem. Since they needed to take the streetcar, they set out for the stop nearby. On the way there, Joan showed them the university that was situated in the middle of town and the old theater. She said that almost half of Freiburg’s population were students which was why the town did a lot to accommodate them. It was a town particularly good for bikers. There were bike lanes all over and people driving cars didn’t have that much fun in Freiburg. Fees for parking were substantial, provided one found a parking place in the first place. Therefore, most people left their car at home rather using cable cars or their bikes instead. That was much more convenient and, unlike in other cities, not expensive.

They didn’t need to wait long for the cable car to arrive and got to the stop where they needed to get off after just a ten-minute ride. Lois looked around curiously. They had left the old center of town and were now in a newer housing area. Even though they were more modern, the houses here still looked attractive. The only building that stuck out unpleasantly was a tall gray skyscraper, which was the one Joan was heading for. “Well,” she said, “the buildings for student housing aren’t always getting ample funding here in Germany. There is no tuition here as there is back home. The German government finances further education that is the universities themselves as well as libraries, student housing, etc. Therefore, more attention is given to functionality than to beauty. Living isn’t bad here though.”

Joan hadn’t exaggerated. The dryer did it’s job and it was indeed but a half hour till Lois was back in comfortably dry clothes. In the meantime, Joan made coffee, and they talked a bit about her studies here in Germany. She had been in Freiburg for half a year already with a group of other Americans, and she really liked it. The only problem was that she ended up speaking more English than German as most of the people living on the same floor were Americans. She had also made some German friends, however, which was helping here fluency in the local language.

When Lois was back in her dry clothes, Joan suggested going for a short walk in the park by the pond near-by. The pond was just around the corner and there was a tower there from the top of which they would have a good view over all of the city. Lois and Clark liked that idea, and thus they went for the walk as Joan had suggested.

The pond indeed was only a few steps away. The lawns between the dorm and the pond were crowded with people lying or sitting there sunbathing, reading, or just talking together. Joan told them that during the summer she had spent most of her time down by the pond, too.

There always was a light breeze, and it felt wonderful to just lie dozing in the sun. She had given up trying to study there, however. That had been hopeless. For that she rather went to the library.

They leisurely strolled along the pond. And passing, Joan showed them the small rose garden, which now in fall didn’t have as many roses as it did in summer. Then, however, Joan told them, the roses could be smelled even over by the pond although the large lawn stretched out between it and the rose garden.

Because it was so warm, many people were sunbathing on the lawn and a few courageous ones still ventured into the ponds waters, swimming or just wading in the shallows. They were just crossing a small suspension bridge, when Lois suddenly stared in wide-eyed amazement. A deeply suntanned man was coming towards them — he was stark-naked.

“Err … Joan …” Lois nodded her head in the direction of the naked guy.

Joan grinned. “Well, here you can see one of the issues most heatedly debated by the city government. For some reason, a group of nudists took a liking in the pond here, freely roaming the park the way God made them ever since. And since then this has been debated by the different parties; no decision if such should be forbidden has been reached. And until there is, the skinny dippers will continue to add color to the local scenery. Personally, I’m not so thrilled about that. I mean, elderly folks go for a walk here on Sunday afternoons, and families come here with their small children. It’s something we could really do without. But until the city government has reached a decision on this, I guess we just have to put up with it.

Clark laughed. “That’s really strange, nude people in the middle of town.”

They had reached the end of the bridge by then. Joan let them up a small vineyard, not without asking them to sample the ripe grapes. “Everybody is allowed to eat of those,” she said. “And they’re good, aren’t they?” Lois and Clark grinned, nodding with their mouth full. Having reached the end of the vineyard they found themselves at the foot of a small tower.

“We still need to get up there,” Joan said. “You’ll have a great view over the city from up there.”

“Oh neat,” Lois said, when they had gotten to the top.

The weather was nice on that fall day and they had a clear view into the distance. “What are those?” Clark asked, pointing towards a mountain range not too far away.

“Those are the Vosges,” Joan said. “Freiburg is very conveniently located; it’s only four hours to Milano; France is just a half hour away; and it’s also just an hour down to Basel at the Swiss border. In addition the Black Forest is just in front of our doorstep. In fall now, it’s especially beautiful. In winter you can go skiing in Switzerland. Now in fall there are wine festivals all over. It’s a bummer that you won’t be here for the big wine festival which, I’m told, is always a major happening. Then the downtown is crowded with people and there are wine stalls all over and live music is being played everywhere. It’s not as big as the Munich October Fest, but it’s nice and enjoyable with its quieter atmosphere.”

They stayed for a while longer looking out over the country. Finally Joan said, “I have to go now. I have choir practice. Do you still remember where to get on the cable car?”

“No problem,” Clark said. “We find our way back. You’re singing in choir?”

“Yes.” Joan laughed. “That’s another typical Freiburg characteristic. There are more student choirs here than in any other town. I hardly know any student who is not a member in at least one choir. It has almost reached cult status.”

“That’s nice,” Lois said. “And you’ve been really nice, too, to show us around like this. Thank you so much. I think we learnt more about Freiburg than we would have on an all-day sightseeing tour.”

Clark nodded. “Lois is right, Joan. Thanks a lot, too. I hope you’ll enjoy your remaining half year here in Freiburg.”

They shook hands on parting, and Joan went down the towers steps. Having reached the bottom, she briefly turned and waved up to them again. Clark had placed his arm around Lois, and they waved back.

“That was nice, wasn’t it?” he said, hugging here closer. “A real nice afternoon. I really feel like I’m on vacation.”

Lois laughed snuggling closer into his embrace. “Yeah, me too. Too bad that duty calls again. I’m afraid we have to get going so that we don’t end up having Cat wait for us.”

“We still have a few minutes,” Clark said. “I have decided not to return by cable car, but by Superman Airways. That’s a lot faster. In the meantime ….” he grinned, nuzzling her hair, “… I feel a little bit like I’m back in high school.”

“Oh really?” Lois said teasingly. “And how does that show?” Clark indicated the large wooden beam in the middle of the towers platform. The soft wood was covered over and over with engraved inscriptions like these, “‘Steffi loves Daniel;’ ‘S + B;’ ‘Birgit I love you.'”

“I feel the irresistible impulse to mutilated public property.” Clark sighed. “I’ve never done this before. But I would really like to.”

Lois laughed. “Well, it won’t hurt the tree anymore. And the beam is already so ‘mutilated,’ one more inscription won’t make a difference.”

Clark grinned, aiming his heat vision at a blank spot at the top of the beam that no youngster’s hand had been able to reach yet. Lois watched in fascination as he burnt a small heart shape into the wood, writing her name inside it. Then he added his own so that both names joined, sharing the ‘l’.

“Good,” he said, eyeing his handiwork with satisfaction. “Lois and Clark joined for all eternity. That’s the way I see the two of us.”

Lois tenderly kissed his cheek. “Thus a tiny little part of us remains behind in this world. I like that idea.” Clark put his cheek to hers and wordlessly pulled her close.

They stayed like that until Clark reluctantly let go of her, then picking her up into his arms instead. “Let’s go, Lois. Time to make our appointment with Cat.” They were back at the appointed place within seconds.

Lois was carrying a carefully wrapped genuinely handcrafted Black Forest cuckoo clock under her arm. When asked what they had been doing, she told Cat about getting a cuckoo clock. Cat gave an amused laugh, telling them they had probably been ripped off getting a cheapie fake made in the far East. Lois and Clark exchanged a knowing glance while Lois handed Cat the clock for inspection. Cat whistled in surprise. “You’ve got the real thing, and a beautiful one at that. How did you find it?”

“Oh … We … just were in the right place at the right time,” Lois said and Clark nodded agreement.

Then they piled into Cat’s car and set off to Heidelberg.

************** Clark was stowed away in the back of the car, half sitting and half lying on the seat that could hardly have been intended to carry a passenger. Lois was in the passenger seat and begging Cat to drive faster. After a while, Cat had had enough of Lois’s begging, pulled over to the side, and stopped the car.

“What are you doing, Cat?” Clark’s voice came from behind.

“Lois, you drive!” Cat had made up her mind and got out of the car.

“Oh my God,” Clark sighed, adding silently, / Fortunately, I’m Superman and can save us if need be. /

“Stop fussing, Clark,” Lois grinned. “Wow! Me in a Porsche, and now I’ll be driving, too!” Lois was really excited about the whole car thing.

Lois and Cat switched seats.

“Lois, what’s wrong? Why are we still here?” Clark asked.

Lois looked confused. “I can’t start the engine.”

Cat started to laugh. “Lois, the key is on the left side of the steering wheel.”

Clark’s laughter joined Cat’s, and Lois muttered something about German cars before turning on the engine.

A while later, Cat glanced over at Lois nervously, saying, “Lois, you know I feel like Cary Grant in “To Catch a Thief” when Grace Kelly was driving. Could you slow down a bit, please?”

Lois just grinned at her. “Let’s just pray that no little old lady drops her laundry basket in the middle of the road.”

Clark watched Lois drive from his uncomfortable seat. “Only 20 kilometers to Heidelberg,” he read on a sign, breathing a sigh of relief.

When they finally arrived in Heidelberg, Cat took the driver’s seat again, and a few minutes later, they were in front of a restaurant.

“We’ll find your friend here … in a restaurant?”

Somehow, that sounded very familiar. They found seats in a quiet corner of the restaurant, and a waiter came to their table.

“Bobby? Bobby Bigmouth?” Clark looked at him questioningly.

“Oh, no, my name is Robby.” Then spotting Cat, he grinned at her in greeting. “Cat, my dear, it’s been a long time. How are you?”

“I’m just just fine.” Cat beamed at him. “Bobby, I want you to meet my friends … and colleagues, Lois and Clark … Clarke. Lois, Clark, my friend Robert Grossmund.”

Robby wiped his hands on his apron, then extended it toward them. “Nice to meet you. There is a vacant table over yonder. You guys must be so hungry. They have big servings here, which is why I work here. Employees eat for free … Anyway, yours will be on the house, too.”

Lois and Clark exchanged a meaningful glance. Some things never changed. Slightly different name, different location and passport, but still the same guy essentially. Lois had a hard time suppressing a giggle when Clark whispered in her ear that “Grossmund” was but the literal translation of their Bobby’s nickname back home.

Robby decided to take an extended lunch hour and joined them at their table. He had helped them order a variety of choices from the menu. The servings were as generous as he had said they would be. Lois and Clark had wanted to share, but Robby insisted they order a serving each.

Soon the reason became apparent. They didn’t think too much of it yet when Robby helped his girlfriend Cat to finish her plate, but he wasn’t too shy about taking on theirs, too, when it was clear that they wouldn’t make it on their own.

While eating, Robby began to talk. It became clear soon that he, too, had his connections.

Lois, however, didn’t like someone else sharing her food even though she was full. Clark took tell she was beginning to fume. He put a restraining had on her leg under the table.

With an effort, Lois turned her attention back to Robby who had begun to tell them about his past, and he put great emphasis on the word “past,” involvement with an “organization” who made some profits on importing and exporting some not quite authentic electronic equipment.

He was hesitant to go into detail about the nature of said organzation, but the second bottle of wine they ordered, on Cat’s tab this time, helped to loosen his tongue.

The organization he had worked for was know as the “Russian Mafia,” which, in addition to shady business deals, also partially had political goals. They also collaborated with some of the local populace, mainly former East German bigshots who didn’t like the Western takeover. Some even wanted the Wall back up, that Janosh character being one of them.

Yes, he still had some contact, Robby admitted. They came handy sometimes. A guy couldn’t live on a waiter’s wage and tips alone always, in spite of the free meals. But he stayed clear of trouble.

Janosh was the son of East German Functionaries. Actually, he had been adopted by his father as he originally had a Russian father from his mother’s first, though not lasting marriage. Young Janosh had been East German’s ideal youth, wholeheartedly adopting the doctrine and making it his own. He was popular with the Free German Youth, East Germany’s young people’s organization. True to the working class tradition, he learned a blue color craft before going on to study, spending part of his time as an exchange student in the Soviet Union.

After finishing his studies, Janosh had become the become one of the heads in a factory that was part of the planned economy. Since very little planning actually was involved in a planned economy those, a manager’s position left time for activities on the side.

Rumor, Robby Grossmund went on to tell them, had it that Janosh had had a second career with the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police. No proof over that had ever surfaced, however, and thus Janosh kept his position after the turnaround in politics and the fall of the Wall and the iron curtain in general.

The East German economy brittled, though, and Janosh’s position had been no exemption either. As a result, he became self-employed, or that was the official version at least, dealing in Russian watches. People said he must be doing extremely well as he soon bought a house and own a fleet of expensive cars. Yet bereft of what he had believed in, he eventually sided with those who wanted to re-establish that which had given them security. Politically, he held out with the remnents of the former leading party. The rest of his activities were moved to the underworld.

When asked whether there was anything that would indicated that Janosh might be involved in trying to assassinate President Heston as Clark said one of his sources had claimed, Robby grew rather quiet. It was only after ordering him a double serving of Black Forest chocolate cream cake that he hinted that Janosh might be involved in such a coup, all the time reaffirming, though, that it was only rumors that he was relaying there. According to those “rumor,” an accident of such scale could upset the delicate balance of international politics, which Cat later confirmed. Things were less stable in this world than the one they knew, and Lois wondered if that wasn’t due in part at least to actors and other popular figure assuming leading roles in politics.

Robby couldn’t tell them anything specific as to the Janosh’s plans, though. They thus decided to try and follow Heston’s itenary, hoping to prevent the worst before it happened.

As the day had been full and the two previous nights rather short, they turned in fairly early after their dinner with Robby and Cat. They agreed to meet up with Cat at the Berlin summit in two days time.

The next morning they got ready for the long awaited sightseeing in beautiful Heldelberg.

Emerging from the bathroom in her jeans and T-shirt, Lois could feel an impressed gaze taking her in from across the room. “I know I look irresistible in jeans, but does that look have another reason still?” she asked mischievously.

Clark came to her, giving her a tender hug from behind while she was standing in front of the mirror.

“I don’t only have a stunningly beautiful wife, but she’s smart as well ….” Lois looked questioningly at his image in the mirror. “You picked exactly the right shoes for a stroll through the old town of Heidelberg.”

“Oh … cobble stones … I had a hunch. Well, let’s get going, I can hardly wait.

Upon arriving in the old part of town, Lois was really excited about the many cafes, the old buildings and finally …”Oh, Clark, I can see the castle! Wow, it’s beautiful and really impressive … Let’s go up there ….” Lois said eagerly.

They decided to walk, chosing a route that passed by beautiful old mansions and up to the castle.

Lois look around the castle’s courtyard. “Well, it is not that impressive here.”

They saw more or less damaged facades and an awful number of people.

“Clark, do they always have that many tourists here? And look, they seem to take pictures of almost anything that gets in front of their cameras.”

“No, Lois, that’s mainly the nice weather today. Even the local people come here then.” Lois still couldn’t quite follow that, but didn’t want to disappoint her husband by complaining.

“C’mon, honey,” Clark said, “I want to show you something.”

Clark affectionally squeezed her shoulder and led her into a narrow building. They climbed down a wooden stair case, and Lois looked around.

“Wow, a gigantic barrel!” Lois cheered.

“It holds 221,726 liters,” Clark said. “That is approximately 61,590.6 gallons.”

That could only come from Clark. “Approximately,” Lois echoed a little sarcastically.

“That’s calculating the gallon at 3.6 liters …”

“Of course,” Lois was pouting. “Have I ever told you it bugs me that you always know everything?”

Clark faked being insulted. “All right, just ONE more story about this one.”

“Oh, look at that!” Lois suddenly exclaimed excitedly. “What cute little dwarf is that?” She was pointing at a small statue.

“Perkeo” was written underneath.

I was just about to tell you the story of Perkeo …” Clark was still looking a little offended.

“Come here, Farmboy.” Lois patted his chest. “Tell me the story …”

Satisfied that Lois was that close to him now, he related the short tale “Perkeo the midget was the court jester and guardian of the barrel in the 18th century. According to legend, he died when he let himself be persuaded to have a glass of water instead of the wine he was used to.”

“I don’t know if I find the story funny or sad,” Lois mumbled under her breath.

“Hey, darling, let’s go outside again,” Clark suggested.

“All right.” Lois grinned at him.

Any trace of gloominess was gone from her voice. He sighed with relief. They climbed back up to the courtyard and on the right side up to the terrace.

“Wow! This view is incredible.” Lois was speechless. In front of her, there was the breath-taking view upon the old part of Heidelberg, the valey of the river Neckar, and the beautiful mansions. It was incredible.

“Look at that wonderful bridge and that archway …” Lois pointed out the Old Brigde and the gate.

“We really need to go there still.” Lois was really excited. She turned and looked at the ruin of the old castle. “It’s really pretty here, Clark.”

They set off to explore the castle in more detail. When they wanted to turn towards a dilapidated tower, which Clark referred to as a “magazine,” they saw a sign reading, “Do not enter – Danger of collapse.”

While they were standing there, looking at the loose bricks in dismay, an elderly man joined them.

Suddenly he addressed them in German. “It’s such a bummer …”

“I beg your pardon?” Lois didn’t understand one word.

Of course, he spoke German. How stupid of her to think that all the world would speak English with her just because things had worked so well thus far.

When she concentrated again on the conversation Clark was carrying on withthe eldery man, she noticed that the words “no money” and “soon too late” were often used by the old man, and “I beg your pardon” and “Excuse me” by Clark.

“Don’t you understand him either?” she whispered?

“Well, the pretty heavy accent of this Heidelberg ‘aboriginee’ gives me a bit of a headache, too,” Clark grinned.

When he thanked the friendly old man for talking with him and turned back to Lois, he had that certain concerned Superman expression on his face. “What did he tell you?” Lois asked.

‘Well, some of these towers are pretty run down and in danger of collapse.The city of Heidelberg is trying everything to maintain the ruins, but it costs an awful amount of money, and they are having problems to raise those funds …” Clark fell silent.

/ Well, apparently he doesn’t want to tell me more about it, / Lois thought. “Come let us go to that terrific bridge, Clark,” she tried to distract him. They started back toward the old town.

They passed by the Heiliggeistkirche, the Holy Ghost Church, as Clark pointed out in passing, towards the Neckar. “Clark, it cracks me up to see all these groups of tourists with their cameras around there necks.” Lois grinned. “And it looks as if there were chasing after that guy with an umbrella — and that in bright sunshine!”

“Lois, those are the tourist guides, they are carrying an umbrella so that people see them and don’t get lost.” Clark took in the scene and then began to laugh himself. “But you’re right, it does look really funny.”

Laughing and arm in arm, they strolled towards the arch of the old bridge.

“It’s really impressive, Clark. I really like your Heidelberg.”

They were standing on the old bridge now and were looking up to the imposing ruin of the castle.

Clark put his arms around her from behind. Lois pressed close against his warm, strong body. She felt his hot breath on her neck.

Oh, how much she loved this guy. It sent a shiver down her spine.

She turned in his arms and bent back a little to look into his eyes. “I love you, too, Lois,” Clark whispered.

And again that shiver down her spine. / This easily he can read my eyes. /

Slowly Clark’s lips came closer, and finally they were kissing passionately.

“Clark, I’m in heaven … let us stay here forever!” Lois sighed.

“I’m sorry to get you back to reality, but we need to hurry to still make it on time to that conference …” Clark looked at her with regret.

“All right, then let’s hurry before I start thinking of something entirely different here …” She punched his side affectionately, and they walked arm in arm back toward the old town.

They arrived at the Old Auditorium, a beautiful building that seated several hundred people. Since Cat had provided them with some press passes, they didn’t have any problem to get in. The meeting turned out to be a surprise, however. After speeches by several local officials and dignitaries, Chancellor Heino did enter the scene. After a short speech, he went on to welcome his honored guest from the United States.

Lois and Clark eagerly rose fromt their seats with the rest of the crowd as bodyguards appeared at the back entrance. The guest of honor turned out to be a former president rather than Heston, however. Chancellor Heino eagerly welcomed his longtime friend and former US President Elvis Presley. After some more speeches, the afternoon turned into an impromptu jam session that continued for hours.

Finding the choice of music to leave a lot to be desired, Lois and Clark eventually left the assembly unobtrusively. Returning to their hotel, they debated what to do for a while, eventually deciding to enjoy themselves attending a classic concert close to the castle and trying out one of the local wine restaurants afterwards.

The concert was held in the castle grounds set off against the incredible background of the illuminated castle ruin and the city with its many sparkling lights.

Lois fell more and more under the spell of this town and its atmosphere. She no longer wondered why it attracted so many tourists. Later, when they explored several of the town’s wine bars with their chairs and tables sitting outside in the middle of the lively pedestrian precinct, Clark practically had to force her to return to the hotel late at night.

Back at the hotel, Lois wanted to retire to the bath room when Clark said he had to take care of something really fast. He mumbled something about a “Superman thing,” and with a == whoosh == disappeared into the night.

When he returned half an hour later, there was a contended smile on his face. “Well, my super hero, what great feat have you accomplished? … No, wait … I don’t want to know really. Just come to bed with me. I want to reward you for it.”

Giving a throaty laugh, which she loved hearing from him, he was at her side within a split second, ready to make her wish come true …

*****

They left in the wee hours of morning the next day, getting into their bug and heading for Berlin.

“Do you want to drive?” Clark asked, holding out the car key to Lois.

Lois knew how much he enjoyed driving around in their little car.

Smilling, she shook her head, and Clark immediately made himself comfortable behind the wheel. “I am too tired still to concentrate on driving on these roads already. And I also want to see a bit of the surroundings here.” She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.

They were silent until Clark had gotten them onto the highway. Lois looked around her with interest, but grew bored soon.

From the highway, all they saw were woods and every now and then a town in the distance. The highway, however, usually kept away from the towns. Thus nothing much was happening.

This country was really densely settled, Lois thought to herself. There was fairly heavy traffic on the hightway despite the early hour of the morning.

They talked about sights they had seen the day before until they were interupted by the eight o’ clock news on the radio which they had turned on shortly after they left town.

“Berlin. Before the summit meeting of the ministers of the EC countries, this time enhanced by the presence of American President Charlton Heston, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow, security in the state capital Berlin has been tightened drastically.

The different heads of state are expected to arrive sometime today.”

Lois was about to say something when she was distracted by the next announcement.

“Heidelberg.”

She shot Clark a suspicious glance, remembering that he hadn’t wanted to tell her what he had been doing at night.

He was looking straight ahead onto the road, apparently in deep concentration.

“Several parts of the Heidelberg castle threatened to collapse, for example the magazine, were repaired by Superman in a lightening operation last night.

Superman has been seen several times in Germany over the last couple days, probably in preparation for the summit in Berlin.

The town of Heidelberg has been excited about this gesture. After surveying the site, it was decided that those parts of the castle could be opened to the public again immediately.

Lois turned to Clark with a big smile on her face. “Clark, that was terrific of you! I am so proud of you. It would have been a bummer about the beautiful castle, wouldn’t it?” She kissed his cheek as a reward for a job well done.

The news had returned their attention to the true reason of their journey. “How long are we going to drive?”

Clark glanced at her before concentrating on changing to the left lane to pass one of the countless trucks.

“Six to seven hours. Why?”

“Then we have enough time to plan what to do next,” she explained.

“Let’s summarize first what we already know. It’s not much, but maybe we’ll think of something that we haven’t seen until now.”

“Sam has build androids for someone named Janosh,” Lois said, counting on her fingers.

“Janosh, who has connections to Russia, wants those androids to kill. We know from Mr. Wells that an assassination attempt is made on Heston and Heino. The assassin can escape without being recognized.

She smiled at Clark. “This thing about tomorrow’s newspaper really has something going for it, doesn’t it?”

He remembered their encounter with Wells during their honeymoon and of what service the newspaper had been to them then and agreed with her.

“Well,” Lois continued. “There are several possibilities concerning this assassination. First, it has nothing to do with Sam and Janosh, what I can’t really imagine, though. There is just too many ‘coincidences. Second, Sam gave in and programmed the Igors to kill, which I can’t really imagine, either.

Or Janosh wants the president dead and has taken things into his own hands because Sam didn’t play along and wasn’t successful. Or he had somebody do the dirty job who then failed. But it doesn’t reallymake a difference whether he is the assassin or the instigator, does it?”

“Considering his political background and career, it is fairly obvious that he intends to re-establish the former balance of power. He can’t accomplish that by himself, meaning he needs a lot of money and people in the background,” Clark was contemplating.

“And we mustn’t forget one thing,” Lois added. “What does he want Superman for?”

Her voice caught, and she looked at Clark in alarm. “He wants to carry out a coup d’etats.” They both finished the thought.

Lois took a deep breath, then whistled quietly. “Wow! If that is right, then we got into something really big this time.”

“So the question is,” Clark said, pulling the car over to the side for a short break at a roadside restaurant, “how we can keep that from happening.”

“Judging from previous encounters with any officials, they’ll just laugh at us if we go to the police without any proof.”

They got out of the car and Clark led Lois to a small table at the back of the restaurant.

“Do you want a second breakfast? We’ve been on the road for quite a while already.”

Lois shook her head lost in thought. “No, thanks, just a coffee.”

Clark hurred and was back with the coffee after only a little while.

Lois the cup and blew on it carefully to cool it down a little. “Let’s assume that the guy who Mayr talked to on the phone was Janosh,” she thought out loud.

“Oh, did you recognize by the way if that was the same voice that Baby Gunderson played back to us?”

Clark shook his head. “No, it was somebody else.”

“Well, doesn’t really matter. He doesn’t have to do everything himself, I guess.

At least we can assume after the announcement on the radio and the mentioning in The Planet at the latest that Janosh knows that you are here.”

He demands that you show up in order for Sam to be released. So he will get in touch with you, one way or the other.

Let’s assume, though, our guess is righ, how does he want to convince you to participate in a coup? He has to assume that you won’t just join forces with him.

So he thinks he has something that he can use against you or he really believes his arguments to be so convincing that you won’t turn him down.”

They finished their coffees and went back to their car. Lois summed up. “There are two possibilities:

Either you stay under cover and we try to find out what Janosh has planned, which might not be easy, or you drop your cover and make an official appearance as Superman, thus forcing Janosh to act.

They looked at each other. They weren’t too thrilled about either option, but couldn’t think of an alternative at the moment.

“Well,” Lois tried to smile. “At least Cat should have been able to come up with some pictures of Janosh by now. Then we’ll at least know what the guy looks like who we’re dealing with.”

Clark lifted one hand off the stearing wheel, placing it on Lois’s. He knew she was worried about him. Who was to know what his opponents could use against him in this dimension.

“We’ll somehow manage to get Sam out of this unharmed and to put this bad guy away,” he said encouragingly. “Together we’ve always made it thus far.”

Lois looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. “Cat … what do you think of her?”

Clark looked at her curiously. He had no idea what she was getting at.

“It would have really amazed me if she hadn’t thrown herself at you in this dimension, too. Only that she was a bit more subtle than our Cat,” she said drily.

She bit the inside of her cheek in order not to laugh. The expression on Clark’s face was priceless. The look he gave her was totally stunned, and he had a hard time keeping the car on the road.

“She made advances on me?” he asked incredulously.

“Now don’t say you didn’t notice?”

Clark weakly shook his head. Lois squeezed his hand lightly. She was glad her husband wasn’t aware of the effect he had on other women at all.

He always thought that all the attention was solely aimed at Superman. That Clark attracted attention as well was completely beyond him; one had to just think of Mayson …

/ Thank goodness! That might go to his head, maybe, / she thought with relief, bending over to him to peck him on the cheek.

“What was that for?” Clark ask in surprise.

“May I not kiss my husband when I feel like and think of how much I love him?” she asked with a grin.

“Well, certainly! I just didn’t know that talking about Cat would make you kiss me. But we don’t want to talk about Cat anymore, as enjoyable as that topic was. We’re in favor of safety on the road.” He winked at her and then turned his attention back to the road. “See, Lois, we’ll be in Berlin soon. Now it’s beginning to be exciting.”

For a long time, they were driving on in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

“Clark, why do we always get caught up in something like this?” Lois said looking out to the side.

“I don’t know, Lois. I have no idea. Maybe that’s connected to our souls, just as we are with each other,” Clark replied, placing his hand on hers.

/ It’s really funny, / Lois thought. / We really seem to attract problems. Maybe that’s fate for us … as long as it ends well. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to Clark. /

Again they were quiet for a while. Then Clark broke the silence. “What do we want to do now?” he asked.

“Hmm, maybe we should go by The Daily Planet and try to find out what Janosh might be able to to use against you.” Lois suggested.

“It can’t be your second identify,” Lois continued. “Everybody knows about it in this dimension. Just what could it be?”

“Lois, I don’t know,” Clark sighed. “How could I. I don’t even know what my alter ego has been up to.”

“Well, well, those good boys from the country. Maybe he posed for certain calendars,” Lois was laughing. “He does have the body for it.”

“Lo-is!” Clark sounded shocked. “Would you think me capable of that? And how do you know, by the way, that he has the body for it?” Clark added.

“Well, for one thing, I sowed a costume for him once; secondly he lookslike your twin; thirdly you have a terrific body; and lastly,” Lois grinned, “I would like to have such a calendar of you.”

Now Clark was laughing as well. “Well, that could be arranged. But only if you’re in the pictures as well.”

Both continued laughing for a while and decided to keep that idea with the calendar in mind. After all, it was New Year’s in three months.

“Lois, we’re almost there,” Clark said indicating the silhouette of Berlin that was coming up ahead of them.

******************

Clark was steering the car through the confusing maze of streets of the city. They had decided to go to the Planet first.

The office of the Daily Planet was located in the East part of the reunited city at “Unter den Linden,” “Under the Linden Trees” as the street was called, and close to the Brandenburg Gate.

“Clark, what is THIS here?” Lois asked startled. “This is not a city. I just see cranes and one big construction site.”

“This is where the new center of Berlin is going to be,” Clark explained. “After Reunification, Berlin became Germany’s capital again. It was decided to revive the area around the Brandenburg Gate. During World War II, most of the buildings here were destroyed. The Wall was located exactly between the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, the once and future home of the parliament. This was a an area of death, literally sometimes, and thus nothing was built here during the years the city was separated.

Now that the Wall has fallen, there was a huge barren area in the middle of town all of a sudden. Around the Reichstag, they are construction a new government district. (?)

At the Brandenburg Gate, the old Paris Square will be reconstructed. Some large international companies like Sony and Mercedes Benz have new office buildings designed and built by architects such as Helmut Jahn here.

Clark pointed out a few of the half finished buildings and promised Lois to show her the OLD Berlin later.

*********************

They had parked their car in the parking lot of the Daily Planet and were now standing in the large newsroom of the newspaper.

They were waiting for Cat, who was in the middle of a phone call. “That’s all well, but why is she pregnant by her bodyguard yet again?” she was asking.

Lois and Clark looked at each other and grinned. Maybe they were in another dimension, but Cat would always be Cat.

When Cat noticed them, she motioned for them to wait in the conference room.

After a few minutes, she joined them, mumbling something about the strange lovelife of some of the nobility.

“Hello, Clark.” Cat smiled at him, then turning quickly to Lois. “Hi, Lois.”

Lois rolled her eyes, and Clark suppressed a grin. Lois’s reaction to women wanting to flirt with him were always great, Clark thought. / Just why does she think I don’t notice if women throw themselves at me. After all, I’m Not just from Kansas. /

“What can I do for the two of you?,” Cat asked them, but it was obvious that she was only talking to Clark.

“The cat is out to get the mouse again,” Lois mumbled well audibly for everone around.

In order not to become witness to a catfight right away, Clark put his arm around Lois and replied, “We need information about Superman and Clark Kent.”

“About you?” Cat looked confused.

Lois got out of Clark’s embrace and got herself a glas of water from the dispenser across the room. “No, not about Clark,” Lois explained, “but the Clark from this world.”

Lois had hardly left Clark’s side when Cat was already staning next to him. “I can certainly help you there.” She smiled at him.

Clark took two steps backwards. Then his super hearing told him of an emergency.

“I need to go. An accident on one of the construction sites,” he said an == whoosh == was gone.

“Phew, that was lucky,” Clark sighed with relief when he had gotten out of the office. “I don’t want to be in Cat’s skin right now and alone in one room with Lois. Lois’s anger hadn’t escaped him. “It’s a good thing that cats have seven lives.”

Clark had hardly disappeared when Lois turned on Cat. “Heavens, Cat, everybody knows that there is more coming and going in your bedroom than at a train station. Aren’t there any guys for you out there anymore?” Lois gesticulated wildly. “Do you have make on my husband now, too, still?”

“C’mon, Lois, don’t make such a fuss.” Cat tried to calm her, but Lois cut her off. “Not make such a fuss? I shouldn’t make a fuss when you throw yourself at my husband?” Lois was outraged.

“Lois, let me finish,” Cat started a second time. When Lois shot her a furious glance, she started laughing.

“What’s so funny now, please?” Lois was exasperated.

“That I’ve lived to see that. Lois Lane, the smart career woman, who always had her feelings under control, is really mad with jealosy,” Cat explained. “Because of a guy. Who would have thought that?”

Lois still looking at her angrily, Cat continued. “Lois, calm down. You have so much more than I.”

Seeing Lois’s questioning look, she offered. “You have a husband who has eyes only for you. He’d get the stars from the heavens for … literally.” Cat grinned. “And what’s left for me?”

“Nothing but a tiny flirt.”

Lois relaxed again. Cat was right as far as Clark was concerned. He really only had eyes for Lois.

Both women looked at each other silently for a while.

“You wanted information about Superman,” Cat finally broke the silence.

“Yeah.” Lois nodded. “We do. We already know a little, but …”

Just then Clark returned, not through the window as he had left, but leaving through the door of the conference room, straightening his tie a little still. Lois smiled when she saw him, stepping forward to meet him and melted into his arms. Cat seemed to consider starting another flirt for a moment, but then sighed almost inaudibly and, perching on the edge of the table waited for them to return their attention back to her.

When Lois and Clark reseated themselves at the table, she looked at Clark questioningly. For a moment, he returned her look startled before he realized that she had seen him take off as Superman and now wanted to know what the story was. “One of the cranes at the Parisian Spuare threatened to collapse. Superman got to it in time, though. Just minor damage to one of the buildings, no casulties.”

Cat sucked on the pen she had pen toying with. “Superman did, eh?” she asked with a suppressed giggle.

Only then did Clark realize that his usual way to relate things were out of place here. He smiled sheepishly. “Well, *I* was there soon enough to prevent further damage.”

“You did a super job there.” Cat couldn’t keep admiration out of her voice.”That calls for a reward …” She was closing in on Clark again, but then stopped herself.

“Which he will have,” Lois interjected, fire back in her eyes, though not as agressively as before. She put her arms around Clark and kissed him fully on the lips. Giving Cat a challenging look, she said. “This was the down payment. You’ll get the rest later.”

Clark grinned back at this beautiful wife, squeezing her just a little tighter. He noted with some amazement that the atmosphere between Lois and Cat seem to have relaxed somewhat. Then turning his attention back to Cat, he smiled at her. “You were just beginning to talk about Superman and Clark ….”

What Lois told them didn’t contain much they didn’t already know. After assuming his role as Superman, this dimension’s Clark had become even more lonely in spite of the crowd of people that often surrounded him. He was friends with Perry and James Olsen, but it was a formal kind of friendship. Lois lowered her gave, then tightened her arm around her own Clark protectively. They could only hope that this Clark would find his soulmate soon.

When asked if there was anything that could be used against Clark here, Cat shook her head. She had gotten to know Clark for a short time when he was new at the Planet and before she transfered to Europe. He had been withdrawn even then as just Clark. When he became Superman, he was fully aware that anyone assossiciate with him might be in danger. He had thus become even more of a loner. No enemies, but no close friends, either.

“Well, at one point, there was Lana,” Lois remembered suddenly. “Good thingshe is not around anymore.”

“Lana? What has she got to do with Superman?” Cat looked at Lois questioningly. “You are not talking about Lana Lang, are you?”

“As a matter of fact, I am,” Lois said. “Do you know her? I don’t think she came with right away when Clark first moved to Metropolis.”

“Yes, I know her,” Cat replied. “But not from Metropolis. She got a job with the Planet as a secretary a while back. She comes over here occasionally.”

“Poor Clark!” Lois exclaimed, exchanging a look with her husband, who smiled ruefully.

“In fact, she should accompany Perry over here to the summit. You might meet her …”

“Do you think …?” Lois and Clark exchanged glances, most of their communication taking place nonverbally.

“I don’t know … but maybe we should call.”

When they saw that she was lost, Lois quickly explained that they had been thinking what Janosh might be able to use to put pressure on Clark. That he would try to use Lana seemed rather unlikely since she and Clark probably weren’t close, but it was the only lead they had for now and they also wanted to make sure that Lana was all right if they could.

A call to the Planet at Metropolis didn’t turn up any further details, however. Lana hadn’t been in the office for two days, but that wasn’t unexpected as she had taken an extra couple days off to prepare for her trip to Berlin. She had said that she hoped Superman would be there, too, and wanted to try and set up a few connection to try and secure an interview with him if she could. Nobody knew anything definite, though, as she was completely on her own with that one. She was only scheduled to meet up with Perry at the banquet the following day.

Lois rolled her eyes when she heard that apparently Lana was still after this Clark. Hopefully finding his Lois would put an end to that, Lois thought.

Cat then filled them in on a few more details on the proceedings on for next two days. A festive banquet would be held the next day on the eve of the summit meeting. Only privileged members of the press would be allowed, which was why Perry had decided to attend himself to guarantee access for his newspaper. This had indeed paid off as they had gotten some extra press passes, and, yes, Cat could provide them with some.

The summit itself was to be held at the official residence of the German President Horst Tappert, Bellevue Castle. Security had been tightened, and hardly anybody would be able to access to the castle. The opening ceremony, however, was public and was to take place in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Lois and Clark exchanged glances, but Cat assured them, that security would be almost as tight as at Belevue Castle itself. The whole inner city would be blocked off from traffic. Things SHOULD be safe, but Janosh was dangerous, very dangerous, and unpredictable even Cat agree.

They decided, however, that there wasn’t anything more they could do that night. The day were already getting shorter, which reminded them that this was the first day of October already. Suddenly, Lois had to stifle a yawn and stretched. Thanking Cat for the debriefing, Lois and Clark rose from the table.

“Do you already have a place to stay?” Cat suddenly asked.

Lois and Clark shook their heads in unison. It was going to be very difficult due to the summit meeting, Cat informed them. Clark asked then if he could use the phone to make the reservations. Not wanting to check into a hotel as Superman and possible endanger all the guests and staff in case Janosh got wind of it, he tried to book Mr. And Mrs. Clarke into a hotel.

When he hadn’t been successful after half an hour still, Cat offered that they could stay with her. She had an apartment that took up a whole floor in a former factory building. At the moment, she was sharing with some punk musicians she had gotten to know, she told them. Lois politely but firmly declined for both of them, however.

Eventually, she learned that the only accommodation availabe was a youth hostel out in the Grunewald and close to Lake Wannsee. Not sure what youth hostels where, she listened to Clark’s account of his hosteling trips in Europe when he was a student, making a face at the mention of bunk beds and dorms. She brightened up a little again when Clark told her that he had been able to secure a family room they wouldn’t have to share at least. And, he added in a low voice, he was sure that something could be done about the bunk bed problem, too.

They did not decline, however, when Cat invited them to dinner at her apartment in Kreuzberg, silently agreeing that just eating with Cat should be fairly safe, although they briefly reconsidered when Cat told them that she and the punks had planned to cook together.

Lois and Clark both were somewhat tired from the long drive and also hungry, or at least one of them was, though Clark had gotten accustomed enough to the habits of his adopted world to feel the need for sustenance, too, although it wasn’t really physical.

They then got ready and went down to the Planet’s parking lot. Getting back into their bug, they then set out to follow Cat’s porsche to her apartment in Kreuzberg, having a hard time to follow her through the maze of streets and detours between the many construction sites. Cat had told them in case they got lost, her apartment would be close to the subway station Goerlitzer Bahnhof.

Lois had expected the worst about that evening. While still driving there, she had shared her worries with Clark. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to spend the evening with Cat AND some punks?”

Her husband had shrugged and answered lightly, “Why not? It’s something else for a change. And those guys are probably OK if Cat shares her apartment with them.

Lois remembered that comment when, a few hours later, they were really enjoying pleasant company in a group of six, sitting in Cat’s huge factory story apartment.

Inspite of her reservations, the food that Cat and her three room mates had cooked, had been delicious and the evening passed without any major mishaps.

Lois still couldn’t quite help feeling annoyed whenever Cat was making advances on Clark, but the short “talk” they had at the Planet that morning helped her to take Cat’s behavior a little more lightly.

The three punks were only terrifying by their appearance. Otherwise, they turned out to be rather nice and intelligent guys.

The conversation flowed lightly without any special highlights, and soon Lois as well as Clark had a hard time staying awake.

Even the comment by one of the punks that he’d like to fix Lois up with an Iroquois style haircut didn’t get her worked up anymore.

The couple parted from Cat and her room mates shortly before 11.30 pm. They knew they and Cat would see each other again the next night at the banquet. “What I wanted to ask you still,” Cat asked them on the door step, “Do you guys have enough money really?”

Lois and Clark exchanged a meaningful glance. That problem would come up the next time they needed to gas up the car at the latest. “We … err … well …” Clark stammered.

Smiling, Cat went back to the kitchen where she had left her purse to come back with a blank checks and a few money bills.

“The Planet has a generous travel expense budget. With the check you can get some money off the expense account tomorrow. I don’t need to worry that you get any funny ideas having a blank check, do I?” she said, winking at them.

“Thanks a lot, Cat,” Lois mumbled a little embarrassed. “We really appreciate that.”

She had to admit that this Cat obviously had some qualities her counterpart didn’t — or that Lois at least had never noticed.

Cat waved her off. “Don’t make a fuss about it, Lois! It’s not my money!”

Clark squeezed Cat’s hand lightly on leaving and then pulled Lois towards their car. He didn’t want risk taxing the uneasy truce between the two women even more by getting more deeply into the money issue.

“Thanks for the nice evening, Cat!” he called back up from the landing.

“Are you sure you don’t want to spend the night?” Cat’s question was obviously directed at Clark.

Before Clark had a chance to respond, Lois shot back at her, “Forget it, Cat! He is married! To me! Good night!”

With a wide grin, Clark gently nudged his wife ahead of him. / better get out of here fast before I end up getting to watch a catfight after all! / he thought with amusement.

“She just won’t cut it out. ” Lois was muttering softly under her breath. “I wonder if I’ll end up being at odds with every version of Cat all the time.” Shaking her head somewhat annoyed, Lois got into the car.

“What do you mean by ‘every version’?” Clark asked while getting behind the wheel and starting the engine.

“Well, every incarnation of her in every dimension,” Lois explained.

Clark laughed softly. “Probably it’s similar with you and Cat as with the two of us. Just as our souls are intertwined and drawn towards each other in love in every dimension, so you and Cat are probably destined to fight hammer and tongs, regardless of time and dimension.”

“Well, it’s not quite that bad,” Lois admitted with a grin. “But maybe we really were at each other’s throat as cavewomen.”

“I’d really like to know why you two can’t stand each other. Did you ever compete for the same guy or something like that?”

“Yeah, in a former life, and you were the one.” Lois replied with a smile and kissed his cheek. “Of course, I was getting you, and since then, we’ve been at odds with each other.”

Clark only shook his head and grinned.

“Seriously, though,” Lois continued, “I think it’s because we know each other too well, especially our shortcomings. And then there is something else, but that’s a long story I’ll tell you some other time.”

“Oh, some dark hidden secrets from your past you’ve kept from your husband! How could you!” Clark pretended very hard to be appalled, grimacing in mockpain as Lois laughingly poked his ribs.

“At the moment, though, simply one of her … habits … gets onto my nerves,” Lois continued seriously.

“And what’s that?” Clark glanced questioningly at this wife.

“Well, the way she makes advances on you even after our little ‘talk’ this morning. Doesn’t it bother you that she constantly sees fair game in you?”

Clark looked at Lois somewhat surprised. “You aren’t jealous, are you?”

With a challenging smile she leaned over to him. “Should I be? Are you interested in her?”

Clark stopped the bug at a red light and, shrugging in mock indecisiveness, replied airily, “Maybe she kisses better than you …”

In response, Lois pressed her lips gently to his. “Do you think it could be better than this?”

“Oh, I’m not sure.” The twinkle in his eyes belied his apparentlyunimpressed tone of voice. A second passionate kiss made him forget where he was for a moment.

“Clark, don’t you think you should drive on. The lights turned green,” Lois said against his lips and grinned.

“Oops!” Apologetically, Clark raised his hand to signal the driver behind them that he had already heard their honking.

Giggling Lois leaned back in her seat and looked at Clark, who was trying to concentrate on the road again. When she suddenly yawned widely, he looked at her with loving concern. “The day was quite tiring for you, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she replied rubbing her eyes. “The long drive really wore me out. Nothing against your enthusiasm for the car.” Lois patted the dashboard. “But promise that next time we’ll get a faster one.”

“Like a porsche, for example.” Clark laughed and parked the beetle in front of the youth hostel at lake Wannsee. “There we are, honey.”

They picked up the small carry-all bag from the back seat and checked in at the youth hostel’s reception desk. As Clark already had told her, he had at least been able to get them a family room having two bunk beds for them.

“It’s not the Hilton,” Clark commented when they entered the room. “But at least we have this room to ourselves although it normally sleeps four people.”

Lois eyed the room somewhat suspiciously. In addition to the two bunkbeds, there were four metal lockers, which resembled those used in the military a lot, and a small table with two chairs. For decoration, there was a bad watercolor depiction of the Brandenburg Gate on one of the walls.

Finally Lois took a deep breath and said weakly. “Be glad that the alternative to this one would have been staying at Cat’s. Otherwise I wouldn’t stay here for one minute. I feel like summer camp with the girl scouts here!”

Laughing, Clark dropped onto the lower bunks of one of the beds. “C’mon, it’s kinda funny, honey! You’re gonna survive for two nights. Where do you want to sleep? Top or bottom?”

With a telltale smile, Lois sat down on Clark’s lap. “Do you have to ask that still? I thought you’d know my preferences for now.”

Slowly, but resolutely, she pushed Clark back onto the bed and kissed him passionately.

But even before her husband could place his arms around her, she got up and searched through her bag for her pyjamas. “I take it they have community showers here only. So I’ll go looking for those. Don’t leave.” With that, she left the room.

When she came back after a while, she locked the door and tossed her clothes onto the second bunk bed. Clark had already curled up into a comfortable sleeping position in his bed and seemed to be in dreamland already.

Unimpressed, Lois turned off the light and got in with under his cover. “Nice joke, Kent! But I know for sure that you aren’t sleeping yet.”

As expected, Clark turned back onto his back at her words, thus allowing her to settle down onto him comfortably. “You asked me if I wanted to sleep on the top or bottom,” she answered his questioning look.

Clark laughed. “And we both know that that was a rhetorical question, didn’t we?”

Lois yawned at him. “Right.” She laid her head onto his chest. “I’m really sorry, honey, but I’m afraid we’ll have to continue this conversation tomorrow. All this driving has really done me in.”

And saying that, she closed her eyes and was asleep almost instantaneously.

At first, Clark thought that maybe she was getting even with him for the peck he had given Cat earlier, but listening to her even breathing for a while, he realized that she was really sleeping.

He sighed and did likewise a moment later.

*************

The next morning, they were wakened fairly early by a sound of footsteps tromping down the hallway right in front of their door.

Lois opened one weary eye and glanced at her watch. “Six o’clock? How come that there are people who can make such noise at this early an hour?”

“Well, there is an advantage to getting up early: We’ll have a lot of dayahead of us!” He looked at Lois inquiringly, hesitating a moment. “Lois?”

“Huh? What is it?” She mumbled and buried her head again against his shoulder.

“You took a shower last night, didn’t you?” He poked her a little since she didn’t seem to have heard him.

“Hmmm!”

“Lois!”

She turned her head and looked at him sleepily. “What do you want of me this early in the morning?”

“I wanted to know if they really have community showers here …,” he asked slowly.

“She cuddled back down comfortably. “They do. But guys’ and girls’ facilities are separate if that’s what you want to know.”

“Lois! That’s not what I thought!” Clark protest vehemently. He blushed and started to shift in bed uneasily. “It’s only that ….”

That had Lois wide awake suddenly. This was going to be interesting.

“What?”

“Well, I mean … community showers! And with teenagers!”

Lois giggled. “Don’t tell me that’s a problem for you!”

“I always hated community showers! I dreaded that in school after PE. You know how that is in the showers …”

“No, I don’t. Tell me …” Lois enjoyed Clark’s squirming.

“Oh, Lois, come on! You know … they always compare …” He fell silent, and Lois couldn’t stifle her laughter any longer.

“What did you do when youth hosteling during your student days while traveling?”

“Well, I alsways flew somewhere where nobody could see me, some remote creek or something …” he admitted embarrassedly.

“But Clark! Even if there wouldn’t be little boys around here, you wouldn’t need to be afraid of any comparison. You are perfect as you are, and anybody who says differently doesn’t know what they’re talking about — and would only need to ask me! Did I ever complain?” She gave him a long lingering kiss to convince him.

“Well, if you think I should, then I’ll go …” He said, still not sounding too convinced. Giving her one kiss, he rolled her off himself and got up.

“Do that,” Lois mumbled, cuddling down in the warm spot where he had been lying. “Take your time. I’ll stay in bed just a little longer …”

When Clark came back after about 15 minutes, Lois to his surprise, was dressed already after all. “And?” she asked him with a grin. “How was your shower? Did you survive?”

Clark blushed and changed the topic. “What about we skip breakfast here and get going right aways?”

They had hardly left the building, when Clark took Lois’s arm. “Wait, Lois! I’ve heard gunshots. That means trouble.”

“Does it? You know how often a gun is fired in big cities. It might just be ….” Lois said.

“That’s back home. Fortunately. they have laws here that regulate bearing arms. People normally don’t … I’ll check that out just to be sure … From the way it sounded, it echoed inside a large empty hall … like a production hall. It didn’t seem too far off ..Would you be OK going down to the Planet’s office by yourself and check if Perry or Lana can be reached?”

Lois nodded and with a kiss and her usual “Be careful!” send him off.

She watched him how he headed East before getting into the car and driving off, hoping to find her way back to the Daily Planet’s Berlin Office.

****************

Clark tried to concentrate to hear where exactly the gunshots had come from when he heard another shot. It wasn’t quite that easy to pinpoint since he didn’t know his way around Berlin that well.

Another shot was fired.

Clark located the shot coming from a old cable manufacturing factory. He tried to scan the building, but the lead sheathing on some of the cable forgotten on their large rolls in storage there made it difficult.

He approached carefully.

He had barely touched down, when he heard applause from behind.

“I’m impressed! I hadn’t thought it would really be this easy.”

Clark immediately recognized the man. It was the one whose pictures Cat had shown them in the DP’s newsroom the day before. The man because of whom they were here in this dimension: Janosh.

He gave him a cold look. “What do you want of me? What have you done to Sam? Where did you hide him?”

“Oh, so many questions at once.” Janosh sneered. “It really shows that you make a little extra on the side as a reporter.”

“Who did you shoot?” Clark asked and looked around.

“Oh that,” Janosh replied nonchalantly. “That was just a small necessity to get your attention.

“Then let’s quit playing and simply tell me where Sam is and why I am here!” Clark was slowly losing his patience.

“Well, Superman, I don’t really know what you think of politics, but we have our plans there, and we’re hoping you’ll be able to help us there,” Janosh replied pleasantly.

“If you think you could use me for little political games there, then you’ve made a big mistake,” Clark hissed.

He was seriously considering if he shouldn’t simply grab Janosh and drop him off at the nearest police precinct. If need be, he could try to provethat he had been responsible for kidnapping Sam.

Before he had made up his mind, however, what he was to do, Janosh signalled an accomplice who had been hiding inside the factory.

“Well, I’m not as bad as you seem to think I am. Since you seem so concerned about Dr. Lane’s welfare, maybe you want to see for yourself?” He pointed towards the factory building.

With all the lead, he couldn’t make out anything behind the walls. To see if Sam was really inside the building, he didn’t have any choice, but go inside.

Clark had hardly stepped inside the room Janosh had indicated when he sank to his knees. Before he could respond, the door was banged shut behind him and he lost consciousness without ever having a chance to look around.

Janosh rubbed his hands in satisfaction. “I didn’t think the Kryptonite would work so well. It’s sure worth it’s price!”

***********

Clark slowly regained consciousness to a hand insistently shaking him at the shoulder.

“Superman! I had been really worried.”

Clark was confused and tried to look around, but his vision was blurred. What he did take in was enough for the moment. He had found Sam Lane.

“There is Kryponite here somewhere. Can you see it?” He asked weakly.

Sam shook his head in confusion.

Seeing the blank stare Sam gave him, Clark sighed and dropped back against the hard floor, almost slipping from consciousness again.

A little while later, he became aware of something cool and moist on his face. He opened his eyes to look up into Sam’s concerned face. “How long….?” he tried, licking his parched lips. Each word was an agony, stabbing at his chest with each rasping breath he took.

“You’ve been fairly much out again for almost an hour,” Sam supplied, holding a glass of water close to Clark’s mouth while supporting his head.

Clark drank thirstily, but Sam would only let him have a few sips before withdrawing the cup. “Easy, son. Take it slow.”

Clark tried to concentrate. There was Kryptonite around, and in close proximity. He was sure of it. He had to get away from it. Soon. “Sam … the Kryptonite …”

“Krypton …? What about it? You’re on earth …” Sam gently pushed him back against the makeshift pillow he had made out of a blanket. It was worse than he’d thought. Clearly, he patient was hallucinating.

“No, Kryptonite … it’s a substance …” Clark had to stop as another spasm of coughing racked him.

Sam considered that for a moment. A substance that made Superman ill. He vaguely remembered reading something about that in connection with the madman who had accused Clark of leading an alien invasion. That, of course, would explain Superman’s present condition.

“I haven’t seen anything unusual,” Sam said. “Nor felt anything although it looks like you have some sort of radiation poisoning.”

“Not harmful to … humans …” Clark managed. “I’m afraid … I’m … going … to be sick.”

Sam supported him while he was. He almost felt relieved when Clark lost consciousness again. He then started to look around the room, looking for a substance he wasn’t even sure what it looked like.

*****

After getting herself lost several times trying to find a shortcut and a way around the traffic jams during rush hour in the morning, Lois finally arrived at the Planet’s office. She had eventually just taken a general aim at the radio tower at Alexanderplatz which she remembered to be close by.

Then when she had made out the cranes in the distance, she had found her way back to the Brandenburg Gate and the Planet’s office.

She had expected Clark to be there long since, for the drive of the youth hostel had taken her close to two hours.

In the beginning, she had only felt minor concern, expecting Clark to have been held up by one of the many minor and larger scale disasters that often required Superman’s attention.

Going through some of the Planet’s archive, she tried to come up with additional information relevant to their case, but wasn’t too successful …. other then finding out that staff secretary Lana Lang seemed to have tried to get Superman exclusives, not unlike she herself had in the early days. She did find it strange, however, that Lana did, seeing that she had not approved of Clark’s super stunts at all. Well, maybe Clark’s being famous had changed her mind. Seeing how determined he was to find his Lois, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

As the minutes passed by without Clark appearing, stretching into a half hour, and then an hour, Lois grew concerned. By the time an hour had passed, she was worried. She had that uncanny feeling that something was wrong with Clark, very wrong.

In between, she had a few times had a sense of his presence … as if he was reaching out to him. First she had pushed it to the back of her mind, putting it simply down to her longing to be with him. Now, however, she tried to focus on it. She quickly got up from the desk she’d been using and asked one of the secretaries for a city map.

Studying it, she tried to make out the industrial area Clark had indicated. She could only hope that Clark hadn’t gotten himself in trouble somewhere else. But then, she knew that somehow, she would find him, no matter what. She had before.

Spotting an area on the map, she quickly confirmed with Cat that it was an industrial area indeed, and then headed out.

*****

When Clark came to again, he was feverish, but his cough had quieted down somewhat, and he hadn’t been sick again either. He had been able to fill Sam in on the Kryptonite, but Sam hadn’t found anything. Clark tried to Xray the room, but found that his vision gizmo wasn’t working.

He then had questioned Sam about Janosh. He found out that Sam had indeed been called to Heidelberg, only to be taken hostage there when he refused to alter the Igors’ programming.

He knew very little about Janosh’s plans themselves. He thought Janosh was a madman, but a shrewd and dangerous one. He had had some of his people tinker with the Igors’ programming, but wasn’t sure how successful they had been as there was a safety mechanism that was hard to get around. There was no telling, though.

He had been talking about getting Superman’s “help.” Knowing that Superman had had contact to the Lanes had given him something to work with, hoping that Superman would show up to try and rescue Sam. What role exactly he wanted Superman to play in his mad game, he hadn’t told Sam.

When asked where Janosh was now, Sam told him that Apparently, Janosh and his man had left.

Sam had tried the door, but it was locked securely, and the room they were in didn’t have any windows.

There was nothing to do but wait … and hope. Clark drifted in and out of consciousness. In his weakened state, he couldn’t make out in which direction the Kryptonite was hidden. He only felt it was close and hurting him.

Sam tried to make his patient as comfortable as he could, though there was not much he could do. Sam felt helpless and frustrated that he couldn’t do more for his patient. He had met Superman … Clark … once when he had visited them a few weeks previously when he wanted to gather information about Lois. He had also told them that he had feelings for their daughter and would do his best to bring her back to them. Sam had liked the young man who was so unlike the superhero the press presented him as. He was quiet, almost shy, sincere polite, and respectful.

It hurt him to see him in such pain now without being able to help him. When he was conscious, Clark had tried to talk to him, telling him there was something to had know. He didn’t seem lucent, however, in spite of the urgency in his voice. He had been talking about time travel, dimension leaping, a Lois that was not Lois, and even brought science fiction author H. G. Wells into the story once, speaking of him as if he was a personal friend.

As time progressed, Clark lost consciousness more often, his breathing becoming shallow and labored. Both conscious and unconscious, he repeatedly asked for Lois, twice even referring to her as his wife. Sam had suspected that Clark’s interest in his was led by more than humanitarian motives, but it touched him how deeply the younger man seemed to care, to the degree that he thought of Lois as his wife, even though, if any of his earlier words could be trusted, he didn’t have any news about her.

Repeatedly, Sam searched the room for the unknown substance that made Superman so ill, but eventually gave up sat down next to Clark on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. He estimated that he and Clark had been in the room together for three to four hours. He couldn’t be sure how long the younger man would hold out, but he needed help soon. He hoped that somehow, since he had hinted at needing Superman, Janosh or one of his man would return in time to save Clark, but neither he nor Janosh could know how long that would be. They might well be too late.

Sam never was aware dozing off nor was he sure how much time had passed when he was wakened by a sound coming from the door. There was a scratching and poking, and soon it became clear that the log was being manipulated … as if the person had trouble getting the key to work.

Not knowing who or what to expect, Sam moved to pull Clark over next to him to the wall parallel with the door where they would be out of sight for a moment for whoever was about to enter the room. The jerking motion brought Clark to his senses, a low moan escaping him.

Just then they door opened. A long shadow was falling onto the bright rectangle the bright light from outside made on the floor of the dimly lit room. The person hadn’t entered the room yet, was just standing in the doorway. Then Sam could see the person move the arm and noticed that the hand belonging to it, held a longish object … A gun?

Sam was trying to decide on a course of action when Clark moaned again. Though it was barely audible, there was an immediate response from the person at the door. A voice, a female voice, utter one word, half cry and half sob, as the person rushed into the room. “Clark!”

With a clatter, the longish object dropped to the floor — a pocket-size umbrella. The woman was kneeling down at Clark’s side, very gently taking his head and, moving into a sitting position, cradling it on her lap. Feeling her hand touch his face, Clark’s eye’s fluttered open. Seeing her, he whispered her name, a smile weakly lighting up his face before he lost consciousness again. “Lois …”

Sam had watched in stunned silence, not believing his eyes. The woman that bent over Clark’s silent form had been completely unaware of his presence. Hearing Clark whisper her name, startled Sam back to his senses eventually. Unless the unknown substance was beginning to affect him as well and he was sharing the same feverish dreams as his semi-conscious patient, Clark had just confirmed what Sam’s eyes had told him, but his mind refused to belief: Lois, his lost daughter, was right in front of him, embracing the younger man, but oblivious of her father.

“Lois!” he exclaimed, a lump forming in his throat.

She looked up at him, noticing him for the first time. He didn’t react, however. Instead, she motioned toward the door. “We need to get him out of here. There is Kryptonite around here somewhere … closeby. Give me a hand.”

Tucking the blanket that had served as a makeshift pillow for Clark under her arm, she rose and started to try and pull Clark towards the door. Picking up on the urgency in her voice, Sam’s own concern for his patient returned, and he quickly moved to half pull, half carry Clark through the door and into the front room. Wanting to settle him onto the floor there again once they had passed through the door, Lois shook her head. “No, outside … in the sun.”

Only once they were outside and had Clark settled on the blanket and in the bright sunlight, did Lois take a good look at the man who had helped her. “Sam!” she cried out. “It’s good that we found you!”

“Lois, darling …” Sam could no longer hold back and reached out to draw her into an embrace. “You’re back … he found you … how …? He said he would … he wasn’t …” Then he tried to regain some control and, pushing her at arm’s length, took a look at her. “You look well, girl.” He managed a smile.

She had briefly returned his hug, but when he stepped back to go of her, she gently withdrew from his embrace. “Sam, I am not who you think I am.” Stopping any comments, she raised her hand. “It’s a really long story. I’ll explain later if there is time. But I am not your daughter, at least not in this dimension.”

“Dimension? You sound like … Then it wasn’t a hallucination?” He wasn’t quite convinced, though. “Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”

Any further questioning was postponed as Clark coughed and opened his eyes. Sam noticed with relief and amazement that, while he still was weak, some color had returned to Clark’s cheeks and his breathing was getting steadier and less labored by the minute. Lois was once again at his side and stroking Clark’s face gently. She first hushed him when he was trying to speak, but after a few more minutes asking him quietly, “Clark, the Kryptonite. Where is it?

Clark shook his head. “I couldn’t see it … but it was close.”

Against her protests, he tried to push himself up into a sitting position. Leaning against Lois for support, he waited until the dizziness had passed. “We need to find it … He might try to use it again.”

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t have a more plentiful supply of it.” Seeing his point, she agreed, though reluctant to let Clark join in the search. When Sam told her of his unsuccessful search, however, she grudgingly agreed, helping Clark to his feet.

Back in the front room, Clark hesitated, and some of what little strength he had regained, left him again. He reached out a hand to Lois to steady himself. Then, as if drawing strength from her, he squared his shoulders and walked to the entranceway, quickly scanning the room. Though his super powers had not returned, he was sufficiently recovered to make our the Kryptonite’s effect was emanating from. “Up there!” he announced, pointing at the room’s one dim light.

Looking up, Lois could just barely make out a shade behind the lamp’s dirty glass cover. If you didn’t suspect it, it would have appeared to be just another stain on the whitish glass shield. Clark moved forward, trying to float up toward the lamp. When he found that he couldn’t, he crossed over to pull the room’s sole table underneath the lamp. The effort combined with the Kryptonite’s renewed effect proved too much, however. Clark staggered and nearly fell. Lois was by his side immediately, leading him out of the room and back out into the sunshine. Clark only protested mildly when she made him lie back down on the blanket, leaving Sam to look after him.

Retrieving the Kryptonite was only a matter of minutes. Using her Swiss knife to unscrew the lamp shade, she removed the Kryptonite, carefully wrapping it in the piece of lead foil she had come to carry in her purse at all times. She then carefully screwed the shade back on, and upon leaving the room, used the hair pin that had served as an open-sesame to lock the door again.

Once back outside, they quickly got into the car. Not wanting to leave Clark’s side for one moment, Lois squeezed into the back of the bug with him, letting Sam drive. She instructed him to drive them straight back to the youth hostel, only stopping once on the way so that he could call Ellen.

Back at the youth hostel, they got Clark settled on the lower one of one of the bunk beds. Clark had sufficiently recovered to sit propped up against the headboard behind him. Remember that his Sam knew about his other identity, he assured him that we was feeling a lot better, almost all right again, except that his powers weren’t back.

Quickly consulting with Lois, however, they did decide that they wouldn’t be attending the banquet that night. Instead, Clark would rest in hopes of regaining his power by the next day since they could not be sure that Superman’s escape had thwarted Janosh’s plans. When she returned from the youth’s hostel’s lobby where she had called Cat from the coin phone, informing her that she wasn’t feeling well and that she and Clark therefore wouldn’t be attending the banquet, she gave Sam a smile. “How would you like to take Ellen to the banquet tonight in our stead after you picked her up from the airport?”

Sam was speechless for a moment, then started to thank her elaborately. Clark quickly interjected that they would be doing them a favor indeed as they could keep their eyes open for anything unusual. Smiling, Lois handed him the press passes that Cat had given them the day before. Gratefully, Sam smiled at the young couple.

Then sensing they needed time by themselves — and longing to have some time of his own back in the arms of the woman he loved — Sam took his leave. He had to try and find accommodations still before meeting Ellen at the airport, not knowing yet at the time that their stay in Berlin would be with Cat and her punker friends for lack of other lodgings. They agreed to meet at the daily planet early the next morning.

*****

After Sam had left, Lois and Clark, both being more exhausted than they had realized, had fallen asleep for several hours. The October sun was already low in the sky when the woke. After filling up with some candy bars from the vending machines down in the lobby, they went outside so that Clark could soak up some of the day’s last sun rays.

Noticing Lois’s concerned look upon himself, Clark assured her that he was feeling fine. Only his superpowers were slow returning. Lois looked at him contemplatively for a moment, she suddenly smiled. “I have an idea,” she suddenly announced.

“I had a hunch,” he grinned as she started to hustle him towards their car after a quick dash back to their room to pick up something that was a secret still.

Lois wouldn’t allow him to exert himself driving, getting behind the wheel herself instead. “I’ve seen one on the way back here,” she mumbled.

“Seen what?” Clark asked, his voice being drowned out by the sound of the engine coming to life.

She didn’t answer him until she was on the main road leading towards the downtown. “A solarium. Ever used one?”

“Not really,” Clark shook his head. “I could have the real thing anytime I wanted.”

“Pays to have wings, flyboy,” Lois teased him gently.

Clark could see that she was becoming more excited by the minute. “And it’s really relaxing, too. She continued. They have a combined sauna/solarium here. The real thing, a Finnish sauna. — You like that?”

“It’s said to be healthy,” Clark said cautiously.

“Exactly,” Lois smiled at him. “You know, it’s something we should have tried before.”

“But I want to be with you …”

“We’ll be together,” She smiled at him reassuringly, handing him a small rolled up item that she had kept hidden in the plastic bag before.

He smiled when he unrolled his swimming trunks, laying his arm around her and leaning his head against her. They drove on in silence until they arrived at the solarium. When she asked him if he thought the solarium might help him, he shrugged. “Dunno. As I said, I never tried it.”

“All right, we take it slow then. Ten minute solarium before the first round of sauna …”

After changing into their bathing suits, they had met back at the solarium. After 10 minutes on their respective sun benches, they collected their towels and followed the signs towards the sauna. The air was getting moister and warmer as they approached it. They had almost reached the entrance when Clark stopped dead in his tracks.

“Something wrong, honey?” she asked with concern. “I’m right here and that’s where I’ll stay.” She pulled him close, nuzzling his chest.

“You were right about us being able to stay together. It IS a mixed sauna all right. Some of my vision has returned … But they’re all stalk naked.”

Lois caught her breath, but then smiled cheerfully at him. “When in Rome, do as the Roman’s do.” She gently shoved him towards the sauna entrance with one hand while beginning to unfasten her bikini top with the other.

“Lois, what are you doing there?” Clark whispered shocked, wrapping his towel around her und pulling her into a corner.

“Clark, what do you think it looks like?” Lois looked at him in surprise. “I am getting undressed. In the course of our marriage you’ve seen that one time or the other, haven’t you?”

Clark raised his eyebrows and kept looking at Lois skeptically. She couldn’t be serious about going in there, naked into a room filled with strangers. Clark sighed deeply.

“Clark, don’t look at me like that. I know what you’re thinking, and that won’t keep me from going in there. And you’re coming with me.” She again pulled Clark towards the door.

“But Lois, they’re all naked!” Clark tried again.

“So what? Where is the problem?” Lois didn’t budge. “Have you never seen a naked woman?” Lois smiled at him mischievously.

“That’s not it,” Clark answered awkwardly. “Lois, there are other guys in there. What if … if they …”

Clark didn’t get any further because Lois interupted him. “Laugh? I’ve told you this morning already, there is no reason for you to be embarrassed. I had hope the community shower would … Wait a minute …” Slowly something was dawning on Lois. “Where did you take a shower this morning?”

Embarrrassed, Clark lowered his eyes and answered quietly. “I went for a swim in the Wannsee.”

“You’re flying around in tights, but don’t use community showers. “Lois cocked her head looking at him. “Clark Kent, you are a strange one.” Determinedly, she pulled him in front of the sauna door. “Off with those trunks. We’re going in there now, and you’ll see nobody is going to laugh.”

“What is it now still?” Lois asked when she noticed that Clark was still hesitating.

“Honey, you know how I respond to your body.” Clark was beginning to blush slightly. Lois shuddered slightly as always when Clark talked like that. “What if … if I …” Clark continued to share his worries.

“Self-control.” Lois grinned, pulling off her bikini pants. “Self-control is the only answer. Give me your swimming trunks,” she ordered gently. “You are going in there now. I’ll return our stuff to the locker room and then join you.”

And before Clark had time to think more on that one, he was standing naked in front of the sauna door while Lois was walking back to the locker rooms.

“Don’t be so shy, handsome,” came a voice from behind him. “Don’t be afraid, nobody is gonna bite you in there there. C’mon, off we go.” The voice belonged to an elderly lady who was on her way to the sauna, too. She pushed Clark inside. While he was still wondering if maybe a swift spin would take him back out of the sauna without being noticed, the elderly lady closed the door.

“C’mon, sit down.” The lady was indicating a seat next to her.

Clark spread his towel onto the wooden bench and sat down. Uncomfortably, he looked around. Two men of about Clark’s age were talking about the latest soccer results while an elderly gentleman in a corner was reading the newspaper. Three younger women in their early to mid twenties were sitting together, whispering to each other and giggling. Thanks to his returning superhearing, he was able to pick out part of their conversation, and it seemed that Lois had been right when claiming he didn’t need to be ashamed about anything.

He and his neighbor had started talking about traveling. Hearing that he was widely traveled, she was eagerly telling him about hers, and that now, since she was retired, she was finally able to spend the cold winter months on Mallorca, that island off the coast of Spain that by the number of German speaking people there, would have easily qualified as an additional German federal state, which some Germans actually considered it to be.

Slowly, Clark could begin to feel his body relax. The hot, humid air and the essential oils were having a positive effect on his body. Actually, this whole sauna affair was not quite as bad as he had imagined it to be. When he came in, everybody had looked up at quickly, welcoming him in a friendly manner, then returning to whatever activity they had been involved in.

Well, see, that’s something really, “Clark was telling his neighbor, “I see that …” But he didn’t get any further.

A murmur went through the sauna when the door opened and Lois came in. Both guys gave an audible whistle of appreciation while the girls eyed Lois’s figure enviously. Clark took a deep breath and appreciated every inch of her body.

Lois greeted people quickly, looked around, and then took a seat exactly opposite Clark between the gentleman with his newspaper and one of the younger guys. The two guys kept glancing in her direction surreptitiously, but she pretended not to notice.

‘A pretty girl,” Clark’s neighbor remarked, but he just mumbled something incomprehensible in reply. He had lost any interest in a conversation. He gazed at his beautiful wife. She had closed her eyes and was leaning against the wall. Clark could her her heartbeat slow down and almost feel her relax more and more.

/ Oh, this warmth is wonderful, / Lois was thinking sleepily. Only now she noticed how the tension of the last few ours and her worry about Clark had gotten to her. But for now, her life couldn’t have been any better. Clark was here with her, safe, and was watching her.

There would have been something, of course, that you make her life even better now. A mischievous grin appeared on her face when their eyes met.

/ Uh-oh, I know that look, / Clark thought worriedly. / What is Lois up to now? /

He got his answer immediately. In slow motion, Lois’s let her eyes roam down his body appreciatingly. It seemed to get hotter in the room. When Lois’s eyes met his again, she gave him flirtatious glances. Clark silently began doing the multiplication tables in Chinese.

As if unintentionally, Lois sat up straight and noticed with satisfaction that the man of steel had begun to perspire after all. But not only Clark was feeling the heat. The other occupants of the sauna seem to feel the electricity between Lois and Clark. Feeling out of place, one by one they took their leave.

When they were finally alone, Lois extended her arms to Clark. “First, Clark, lock the door,” she began in a low voice. “Then turn off the heater, and then …”Lois came a step closer.”Come to mama!”

She had hardly uttered the last syllable, when Clark was in her arms already.

When the two younger men came back for their second turn in the sauna and found the door locked, they grinned at each other and decided to have another cold shower instead.

***********

Lois and Clark had left the solarium a while ago and where driving around Berlin in their bug. “What do we want to do with the rest of the day?” Clark asked.

“Well, for one I’m starving.” Lois looked at her husband. “How about some of the local cuisine?”

Clark furrowed his brow in concentration for a moment, then smiled.

“I know just the perfect thing.”

“You do?” Lois eyed him a little suspiciously as he steered the car off the main road and into a side street.

“Trust me?” He managed that little-boy-hurt look she couldn’t resist.

Laughing, she pulled him over and kissed him. “Hey, careful … that was close. Those trees lining the streets is another thing that’s typical for this city.”

“So much for superspeed.” She ruffled his hair affectionately. “You know what your proximity does to me,” he tried very hard to sound complaining.”Oh, yes. I’m sorry. I keep forgetting. We really shouldn’t be doing this.”

“No, of course not,” he agreed evenly. He had pulled the car to the side of the street. “In a bull’s eye!” She grinned at him. They’re eyes met. “Nah!” They spoke as one.

“Good thing we hadn’t gotten the food yet,” Clark grinned some 15 minutes later. “Hungry still?” “I’ll never get enough …” She gave him a coquettish wink, only to be interupted by her stomach grumbling really loudly. “I never get enough of you, either.” Clark kissed her again. “But we need to do something about this one,” he added, indicating her still rumbling belly. “I’ll be back in two.” With that, he was gone.

When he came back, he was carrying several carefully wrapped and deliciously smelling packages. Sliding back into the seat next to Lois, he spread them out on their laps. “What shall it be first: ‘indigenous’ or ‘adopted.’?” “Hmmm … you decide.” She closed her eyes and opened her mouth expectantly. And felt a slightly salty taste in her mouth, and something that wiggled gently. Opening her eyes, she found herself looking into her husband’s laughing brown ones. “Glad you didn’t bite,” he said as the kiss ended.

Then quickly, however, he popped a bite of something hot and spicy into her mouth.

It tasted vaguely familiar … catchup … and curry. When she looked at him questioningly, he explained. “That’s currywurst. One of the local specialties. The meat is pork mainly … but the original recipe is a secret.”

They then ate in silence, or as silent as their repeated combined giggles let them be. Feeding each other with those tiny plastic forks was fun, but messy.

Lois quickly learned how to dip the roll that came with the wurst into the liquid catchup sauce, getting just enough on it so that it wasn’t dripping too badly, and then, bending forward, bite into quickly before it spilled all over.

It didn’t spill ALL over, but still enough, especially when she tried her newly aquired catchup dipping technique feeding Clark. The first course of their meai finish, they had a premature dessert of kissing away each other’s catchup stains around their mouths.

Still giggling, they began to unpack the next one. As the aluminum foil became undone, Lois picked up a spicy smell, mixed with the one of fresh vegetables.

Picking away the inner wrapping, she found herself staring at a gigantic …. sandwhich? “That is going to give me lockjaw!” she exclaimed.

“Nah, it won’t,” Clark was laughing. “It is permissable to press the top and the bottom together a little. Like this.” And done, he took a hearty bite into his.

Still eyeing him a bit dubiously, Lois did likewise. To her surprise, it was good, though, halfway thru, she realized something. “Clark, this has garlic in it!”

He grinned. “Is that a problem? Maybe we’ll have a bit more elbow space at the ceremony tommorrow.”

Lois then learned that the “sandwich” she was eating was a Turkish specialty, made of veal and fresh finely chopped vegetables in a breadshell, with a spicy garlic dressing.

“Some people here say it’s better here than the original back in turkey.”

When they were done, Lois wiped her mouth on a napkin and gave a satisfied sigh. “That was good. But I’m thirsty. I’ve read something about that special beer they have here …”

“Oh, ‘Weisse’, eh?” He made a face. “If you like fruit syrup in your beer …. But besides, I woudn’t recommend it on top of the Doner.”

“Beer with syrup …? Hmm …” Lois looked undecided. “But why don’t you think it’s good after the food?”

“Lois, that was yoghurt dressing with garlic we had there. You wouldn’t want the results tomorrow at the Schloss with standing room only … and no facilities.”

“Oh …” Lois grinned back. “I guess not. But what then?”

“Tell you what, let’s drive down to Ku’damm. I’m sure we’ll find something there.”

They started the car again and went towards the downtown, passing thru very different style areas on the way.

Lois was amazed by the different style of houses and architecture. There were old, turn-of-the-century, several storey tenament houses that had survived two world wars.

Then there were also the more modern ones build after the last war when the top priority had been to create adequate housing for the many people who had lost their homes during the war’s heavy bomb raids on the city as well as the numerous refugees from the regions that were now Russia.

The buildings from that era were functional, but not exactly what Lois would have considered inviting. “They remind me of rabbit hutches,” she observed.

“Well, we have those too … though the need wasn’t the same with ours.”

They then passed an area that had residential house and even a few mansions in between. Often, Lois noted, they had to take the scenic route because here, just as in the downtown part she had seen the previous day, there were construciton sites all over, though they were not quite as huge.

Every now and then, the passed areas with small garden plots and even smaller summer houses on them.

Clark told her that those were on longterm lease for the most part and that there had been a lot more of those when Clark had been here during his student days.

Many of those small garden plots had had to give way to housing areas, or office buildings. Lois noted some regret in Clark’s voice as he talked about the vanishing garden plots.

“I spent spring break here with a friend. His grandparents had one of those. They lived on it 2/3 of the year. I still kept in touch with Peter. He wrote me a few years ago that his grand parent’s plot was demolished in favor of a school and a supermarket. His grandparents died within a year of it. There hearts were with the small piece of land …”

They drove on in silence for a while. They were now approaching the world famous Ku’damm. Lois craned her neck to see better.

Looking ahead, she saw a building come up in the middle of a square. Clark explained that that was an old subway station that had been renovated to resemble the original one fairly recently. Then they passed the largest department store on continental Europe, surpassed only by Harrods in London this side of the ocean, as Clark as explained.

Clark had slowed the car down considerably. It was good that traffic was not heavy on the night before Reunification day.

“What is that?” Lois exclaimed suddenly. “that looks as if it’s about to collapse. Don’t they have the money to tear it down?”

“Oh, no. It’s rather that they’re short of money to maintain it properly,”Clark explained. “that church was destroyed during the war. It was decided to keep the ruin as a memorial and build a new one next to it. Hence the name: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.”

They had now passed the old ruin. Seeing the modern church building behind it, Lois was impressed by the bluish light emanating from it’s glass tiles. “It looks so pretty!”

“It is.” Clark nodded. Taking a right at the next corner, he made out a parking spot. “We’re lucky. They allow parking here at night. Wanna have a look.” When Lois nodded, he parked the car, and hand in hand, the walked back down the famous boulevard to the church.

They found the church doors open and went inside. The building was filled with a slightly bluish tinged light. They quietly sat down in the back of the church. Neither of them was particulary religious, but the atmosphere inside that church was special and filled them with peace.

Eventually, they got up and went back to their car. Clark explained about the double glass tiles that were illuminated from the inside, giving that special lighting, but then smiled. “But that’s just the technical part. The rest is … just atmosphere, I guess.” “Yeah …” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “It was so pretty …”

It had gotten completely dark by now and, like in Munich and Heidelberg before, Lois was under the spell of the city by night. Before getting back into the car, Clark had tried willing himself to lift off the ground, but only shifted his balance some. “I wish I could show you this place properly ….”

Having noticed his attempt, she smiled at him. “Don’t worry, flyboy. You’ve been doing just that.” Then, partially to distract him, partitially because it was true, she added, “Besides, we wanted to get something to drink, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, I remember. I’m sorry.” Then suddenly his face brightened again. “There’s just the right place, and it’s on the way home, too” “‘Home,’ eh?” Lois grinned in wry amusement, thinking of the youth hostel. “We could invite the neighbors to share our shower occasionally ..”

Lois then noticed that they drove fairly much straight down south. After about 10 minutes, they had reached another shopping boulevard. And then she saw a tall, somewhat strangely shaped building rising up ahead of them. To her amazement, Clark turned into the side street right next to it and parked the car.

“What is this?” She asked as she got out of the car. “You wanted something to drink, remember? This is called “The Beer Brush” “I hope without syrup,” Lois mumbled. “I’m sure that could be arranged,” Clark grinned. “They have a restaurant here as well a pub.” They ascended the stairs to the restaurant tower. Though not particularly tall, it did give them a good view up and down the street and onto the city lights. “Not as good as flying …” Clark said.

Lois noticed the undertone of concern in his voice. Having been exposed to the Kryptonite for a fairly long time, his powers were slow to return. She was sure he was worried about the next day. She was, too, if she started thinking about it too much. But she wouldn’t. Not now, not tonight.

Usually, his “batteries” recharged fairly quickly. Probably a good night’s sleep was all he needed. If not … well, then they would just need to be twice as careful and rely on their own shrewdness — and the official security forces. She had almost lost Clark today. She had learned to live each moment as it came. They had to, in order to preserve some measure of normality in their lives … and their sanity. For now, Clark was safe. And with her. That was all that mattered.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” she whispered, laying her arm around him and puling him close, kissed him.

When she became aware of her surroundings again, a waitress cleared her throat and was putting two rather tall glass filled with an amber liquid and a white head on top in front of them. Lost in her own musings, she had never heard Clark order their drinks.

“Clark, that’s quite a lot of beer,” she said when the waitress was gone. “I’m not sure I …” “Well, you don’t have to finish it if you don’t like it.” “I’m not worried about that …” “Just trust me. Try it.” Lois took a careful sip. Then another. And then drank deeply until the glass was half empty. Clark was smiling at her. “It’s good,” she said finally. “But it’s no beer. What the hell is it?” “Well, it’s stored in barrells, too. That’s where it name derives from, translated to “barrel soda.” But, of course, you’re right. It’s no bear. It’s apple soda. Another Berlin specialty.” “I like it,” she said, drinking some more, more slowly this time. “I’m glad.” He smiled. “I thought you would. I do too. It’s not too sweet.”

Then suddenly there was loud music coming from the stairway. The doors openend, and two punks carrying a ghetto blaster, stepped into the room. “I guess that’s the real thing this time,” Lois whispered, remembering the nice company they had enjoyed with Cat’s room mates the night before. The two punks surveyed the room, then obviously decided on a table. — And dropped onto chairs next and opposite to Lois. Lois was sure that these weren’t the people she had met last night, but total strangers. The greeting she received confirmed her impression. “Hey, babe,” the taller one of the punks said, reaching out a hand to Lois’s face.”

“You are a real cutie, aren’t you?” The punk gave Lois a lewd grin. “What do you think of me sitting a little closer to you?”

He pushed his chair closer to her and placed his arm around her possessively. She could smell the alcohol heavy on his breath when his face came rather close to hers. Seeing that Clark was about to get up and intervene, she shook her head at him lightly, indicating she didn’t need help.

With a friendly but determined smile, she took hold of the punk’s hand and pushed it away from her shoulder, giving his wrist a slight twist. She knew from her Thai Chi classes that he would hardly be able to escape her clasp without hurting himself rather badly. “I don’t think we are THAt well acquainted already,”

For a moment, the punk gave Lois a confused stare before trying to get out of her clasp.

His face drawn in pain, he raised his other hand to get a hold on Lois, but before he had time to think, Lois had gotten up and was our of reach.

“Clark this pub is a little too loud for my liking. Let’s go.!”

“You were great back in there, Lois!” Clark said when they had left the pub and were walking back to their car.”

“Thanks.” Lois beamed at him. “Maybe I should have gotten him to leave. But I thought that we might rather want to get comfortable for a while in our luxury hotel accommodations.”

Clark affectionately laid his arm around her. “Does that mean you’ve seen for today?”

“Of Berlin? Yeah. But …” With a telling smile she looked into his eyes. “I would like to get to know my tourist guide a little better still.”

“I think that can be arranged!” He bent down to her and kissed her gently and promisingly. “But you will need to pay him for his overtime,” he added with a grin.

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll be able to think of something!” Lois took hold of his hand and pulled him toward their beetle.

Driving back to the youth hostel seemed to take an eternity. Though they had lowered the top of their bug convertible as the evening was still mild, it seemed to be getting hotter inside the car by the minute.

Clark was having a hard time to concentrate on the traffic AND his wife.When they were passing by the solarium they had been to that afternoon, Lois suddenly frowned.

“Err, Clark …” she began a little awkwardly.

“What is it?”

“I … well … as much as I would like try the upper bunk of our bed …or all the others …” Lois looked at him worriedly. “Are you sure that you are already fit enough again to … I mean, after tonight in the sauna … well, you have not quite recovered from the Kryptonite, and …”

With a kiss, Clark stopped Lois’s babbling. “Lois, I may not be quite recovered again,” he finally replied with a promising grin, “and you might need to forego all … super stunts … tonight, but I think I feel fit enough to test all four beds in our room for squeaky springs.”

“Well, we’ll have to see if you’ll keep your promise,” Lois winked at him mischieviously.

“There is only one way to find out, Ms. Lane,” Clark laughed. “And you as an investigative reporter shouldn’t have too hard a time to find out. I’ve heard that exposing the most difficult case by uncovering the most minute detail is one of your specialties.”

“When you’re right, you’re right, Mr. Kent. I am the best investigative reporter specializing in exposure.” She breathed into his ear, beginning to undo the topmost button of her blouse.

Clark was watching his wife out of the corner of his eye.

“And as you know, Mr. Kent, when I working on a STORY, I hold on to it as a pitbull terrier onto a bone.”

She opened another button on her blouse. “My job requires a lot of uncovering and sensitivity.”

Another part of her beautififul neckline became exposed. Clark took a deep breath. How much longer was it to this youth hostel?

‘And I am only satisfied when I have also uncovered all the deep hidden secrets,” Lois continued while opening the last button of her blouse.

Clark looked over at Lois and his heart started beating more rapidly. She looked so beautiful. Since the sauna this afternoon, she wasn’t wearing makeup anymore, and the wind during the drive had tousled her hair.

The moonlight was dancing on her skin and enhanced her finely cut features and the curves of her body. He placed an arm around her and gently drew her close. “Lois Lane, I love your exposures,” he whispered lovingly.

“I love you, Clark,” Lois smiled at him briefly and began kissing his neck while ruffling his hair with one hand.

Clark felt his skin tingling in the spots where Lois had touched him. / If the youth hostel doesn’t come up fast, we will end up testing the seats of the bug rather than our bunk beds, / Clark observed silently.

When they turned into the next street, they were in front of the youth hostel. / Finally, there it is, / Clark thought with relief. / THIS WAY I can’t drive one moment longer. /

Lois had by now unbutton his shirt almost completely and began kissing the exposed skin. Somewhat distracted, Clark had to try several times before he was finally able to park the car in the last empty parking space on the hostel’s parking lot. When Lois noticed that they had arrive, she climbed onto Clark’s lab and began kissing him passionately.

After a while, Clark disengaged breathlessly from her full lips. “Lois, sweetheart, I know you are incredibly agile.” Clark breathed a kiss onto her nose. “And I really appreciate that, but it’s not very comfortable here, and the bug is not exactly spacious, either.”

“Why, but the roof is open,” Lois grinned. “And besides, the bunk beds are not much more comfortable and spacious, either. But you’re right, we wanted to test the mattrasses.”

She kissed him on the lips. Appreciatively Clark closed his eyes. / Those Lips, / he sighed silently.

“Well, come on then!” Lois suddenly exclaimed.

She had climbed out of the car and was almost at the entrance already. Clark, still thinking of her lips, hadn’t realized that she had gotten up.

But before Lois could open the door, Clark’s strong arms were around her waist, and his hands were gently stroking her belly. “Lois, I can move fast again,” he whispered into her ear, kissing it at the same time.

Lois leaned back against him. “Hmm, this is good.” She felt a pleasurable shudder running down her spine. “As long as you’re not faster than a speeding bullet.”

“Not tonight,” he answered.

Laughing, Lois pulled him up the stairs towards their room. Luckily, they didn’t meet anybody on their way there, for without a doubt, they would have been an interesting sight. Their clothes more off than on, they kept stopping to kiss and touch each other tenderly.

When the two turtle doves had finally reached their room, they practically fell through the door and landed on the ground. “Nice touch down, flyboy,” Lois giggled and pulled him close for a kiss. But before she could deepen the kiss, Clark withdrew slightly and looked her in the eyes.

“You’ll see how well I can touch,” Clark grinned and bent down to her.

Eventually, Clark slowly opened his eyes, and met Lois’s sparkling brown ones. “Well, the bed’s passed the test,” Lois remarked breathlessly. “Though I’m not quite sure with one of them.” She grinned.

“My little tornado!” Clark laughed and drew her closer into his arms.

Lois snuggled close to him and replied sleepily, “But not tonight anymore Clark.”

With that, she was asleep. Clark kissed her on the forehead before going to sleep himself.

************

After his experience in the sauna the afternoon before, Clark didn’t mind the community showers the next morning that much. Following a quick breakfast, Lois and Clark left the youth hostel and headed for the Daily Planet to meet Sam.

He was already waiting for them. Seeing them enter the newsroom, he raised the local newspaper he was reading. In the society section, there was a lengthy article about who had attended the presidential banquet. There was also a small mention of the attendance of one Sam Lane and wife Ellen.

“Morning, Sam!” Lois and Clark grinned. “We can see you had a good time last night.”

Sam grinned back. “You may say so. But I can tell you, the fun part was not the sofa in Cat’s apartment!”

“So if Janosh read the paper, he now knows that we managed to escape. But I would assume he already knew that.” Clark remarked.

“He surely knew that before today. I don’t think he would not have come back yesterday to check on you. He must have known that this amount of Kryptonite could kill you, and that can’t be what he wants, can it?” Lois was thinking aloud. “He needed you for something after all.”

“At least it’s good that Sam was mentioned in the paper. If Janosh tries to pull a stunt like kidnapping one of the Lanes again, at least it will raise suspicion now that everyone knows they are here.” Clark said.

“What was the police able to tell you about Janosh, Sam?” he inquired.

“Not much. They asked me about the kidnapping, you know, the usual stuff, why and when and where.” He winked at them because he remembered Lois saying the same thing about being a reporter once. “I didn’t tell them about you and the Kryptonite, though, just as we said. They went to the factory to look for traces. I got a call from them in the morning telling me they didn’t find anything.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Lois asked.

“Lois Lane being surprised by anything would be a first!” came a booming voice behind the three of them.

Lois whirled around and was caught in a big bear hug. “My God, which ever Lois you are, you sure are getting prettier every day!”

She giggled. “Thanks, Perry! And you’ve put on some weight since I last saw you, haven’t you? Being mayor is surely becoming you. And I’m sorry, but I’m not your Lois. I’m the other one.”

“So there is trouble again, right?” Perry asked. He surely caught on fast, but that was why he was so good as an editor of the Daily Planet.

“So what are you doing here at the Planet? Shouldn’t you already be at the Brandenburg Gate for the ceremony?”

“Actually, Lois, I came here for old times sake. Just wanted to check out the newsroom again, see if anything changed since the last time I was here.”

They were interrupted by someone else entering the newsroom. “Sorry, I’m late, mayor, but I had to…”The woman who the voice belonged to stopped dead in her tracks.

“Clark! And … Lois, I think it was?” Lana coldly glanced at Lois.

Lois didn’t want to dwell on Lana and turned back to Perry. “In fact, we’re happy that you’re here.”

“We are? “Clark shot her a questioning glance.

“Yes, we are. We need you to convince the officials of a planned attack on president Heston and chancellor Heino!”

“What have you gotten yourself into this time, kid?” Perry incredulously shook his head.

Lois and Clark gave Perry a short version of what had happened so far. With his connections to former president Presley, he should be able to inform the officials of the planned assault on the president. The only problem was that they didn’t know how and when the attack was to take place. At least he could make sure that security for the event was tightened. Taking Lana with him, he went to make the necessary phone calls.

Clark looked at Lois. She suddenly seemed to be miles away. “Honey, what is it?” he asked gently. She didn’t respond, and he touched her arm. Startled she looked up. “Huh, did you say something?”

“Where were you? You seemed to be … in another dimension.” His eyes twinkled.

“I was just thinking. We always thought Janosh wanted Superman to do something for him, probably for the attempted murder. What if he didn’t want him to DO something? What if he simply wanted him dead?” She looked at Clark. “What if he just wanted to make sure that Superman didn’t join the summit to protect the presidents? Make sure that he didn’t come between him and his plans for a coup d’etat? What better way to ensure this than to simply kill him? That would explain the amount of Kryptonite and the fact that he didn’t bother to check on you or even guard the factory. Kill Superman and you have one thing less to worry about.”

They simply stared at each other. That would make perfect sense. Janosh knew about Superman’s contact with the Lanes, so Sam had been the perfect lure.

“Well, so he was in for a big surprise when he realized that we escaped.” Clark dryly remarked. “The only problem we have is that we still don’t know what he has planned. We don’t know if we already changed the future by my surviving Janosh’s attack. Perhaps he won’t follow through with his plans.”

“How does he know you survived, Superman?” Sam asked.

“Well for once he probably read about you in the paper and figures that at least you escaped.” Lois explained. “And if he came back to check on you, he should have seen all the policemen who were searching the area.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to have survived, but I would think I’m newsworthy enough even in this dimension that it would be mentioned if something had happened to me.” completed Clark.

“Oh, right, I haven’t thought of that.” Sam sheepishly acknowledged.

Perry came back to inform them that security had been notified and tightened. They began to think about the various ways the attack could be carried out.

“I would assume,” Perry thought out loud, “he wants to kill these presidents, right? He wants to do it fast. In fact, he has to do it fast. He probably can’t come near them. That means we can rule out anything like knife attacks and stuff. That wouldn’t be the right style for a future statesman, would it? What about sharpshooters?”

They nodded in unison when Lois piped up. “What about a bomb?” She looked at Perry. “Do you know when security began to clear the area?”

“I have no idea. But you’re right! They have been working on the setup for the ceremony for days now. It would have been easy to install a bomb somewhere near the stage.”

Clark objected. “But that’s something security should have checked.”

Lois was rolling her eyes. “Clark! You know how it goes. They check it once and that’s it. What if he has some inside sources and waited till everything was searched before he hid a bomb?”

Since they had come to the conclusion that a bomb was the most probable weapon for the attack, Clark decided to check the area around the stage himself. He could do that from high up so Janosh wouldn’t be able to spot him in case he was around. They wanted to be able to surprise Janosh in case he didn’t know Superman was still alive.

Janosh would surely want to be around to see the effects of his attack, they assumed. It fit everything they had heard about him so far. So with a quick whoosh Clark whirled around, and Superman stood before them. Lois grinned. “Show off!” she whispered and kissed him softly on his lips. “Be careful!”

He took off and was gone faster than they were able to even wink an eye.

The rest of the group got ready to leave for the same destination. There was nothing they could do at the Daily Planet for now. They needed to be where the action was going to be – at Brandenburg Gate.

It took them nearly half an hour to get to the Brandenburg Gate as the streets had already been blocked off for traffic. But they were lucky enough to find a cab that brought them near the Gate at least.

While heading toward their destination, Lois was looking out for Clark. He should have been searching the area by now. But it was hard to make out as anyone. There was quite a crowd already gathered for the big opening ceremony, which would take start in just a few hours time.

“What now?” Sam asked. “We can’t just stay here and wait for something to happen!”

Lois was about to answer when someone stepped next to her and cleared his throat. “Hi Sweetie!” said a low, but familiar voice.

“Clark!” Lois whirled around. “I didn’t expect you … — what are you wearing?” she exclaimed when she looked at her husband, who was wearing a disgusting kind of Hawaiian shirt and a funny cap on his head. Attached to the cap were some tiny flags showing the stars and stripes and the colors of the German flag, black, red and gold.

“Well, I needed a disguise”, Clark said with a grin. “I couldn’t come here wearing the suit, could I?” He lowered his glasses and twinkled. In fact it weren’t HIS glasses anymore. He wore something that looked like a hybrid between sunglasses and those VISOR the Enterprise’s chief engineer in Star Trek had.

Lois grinned and smacked him playfully on his chest. “Yeah, right, Mr. I’m-prepared-for-anything! But tell us … ” she grew serious again, “did you find a bomb or something?”

A little desperate, he shook his head. “No. No bomb, no nothing. I x-rayed everything, but there wasn’t even a pin to prick someone. Either Janosh hasn’t been here yet to place a bomb, or he has different plans for the attack.”

Perry checked his wrist watch. “It’s less than two hours until the ceremony starts. What do you think? Split up in teams of two. You and Clark “, he said to Lois, “you try to find any flaws in security while Sam and I try to get to the president and the chancellor. Maybe we can talk them into re-scheduling or even canceling this ceremony.”

After another hour of checking the site, looking for suspicious men or snipers, Lois sighed deeply. “Clark, admit it! This is useless! I mean, you can’t hear Janosh, for there are too many people around. You x-rayed just about every person for weapons or a fuse.

“You are right,” Clark admitted. “let’s go find Perry and Sam. Maybe they have some good news.”

Unfortunately they didn’t. The officials said it was impossible to re-schedule such an event of political importance. Besides there was not enough proof for an attack that would justify taking such drastic action as canceling the ceremony.

Finally the ceremony was about to begin. Some musicians and singers entered the stage and got ready for their act. After a short introductory piece, an excited murmur went through the crowd as a speaker announced the American president, chancellor Heino and the other European heads of state … The crowd cheered as the statesmen entered the stage and took their designated seats.

Chancellor Heino stepped in front of the microphone and directed some welcoming words at the audience as well as his guests. “But before we start, I’d like to introduce to you an old friend of mine who was nice enough to join us today to honor our special guest , President Heston. He is going to sing the national anthem of the United States, and I will join him and accompany him on the guitar. Ladies and Gentleman, please give a warm hand for Mr. Elvis Presley!” Chancellor Heino gave a big hug to his friend Elvis who entered the stage.

Lois and Clark exchanged disgusted glances. “I’m just glad that we don’t have that many actors and musicians for politicians”, Lois said sarcastically.

“Yeah, imagine the President singing a folk song at his inauguration instead of making a speech!” Clark added with a grin while continuously scanning the crowd for Janosh, a weapon or a bomb. “Maybe we really altered the events and nothing will happen at all.” Carefully Clark levitated himself to look over the crowd and to x-ray the nearby buildings for sharpshooters for the thousandth time.

Elvis and Heino had just started with their performance when suddenly a man dressed in a uniform of a security guard emerged from the crowd and tried to get up on the stage.

“Clark! Over there!” Lois yelled.

Faster than a speeding bullet Clark headed for the stage and grabbed the man. It was Janosh.

The crowd cried out in surprise when Clark threw Janosh to the stage floor and tied him up with a microphone cord.

There was confusion among the security guards, and the guests jumped off their seats sensing some threat by the man now lying on the floor.

An angry, but determined voice was heard over the speakers. “Now, Superman! You think you’ve done your job again, don’t you?” Janosh had a mean grin on his face.

Clark, completely ignoring the mad man, motioned the security guards to get hold of him,. But before he was taken away, Janosh managed to say in a satisfied tone of voice: “You failed! There’s a bomb attached to my body that will blow up any second! That will be a light, and others will follow my cause! We will not fail.”

Without further thinking, Clark grabbed Janosh and took off up into the blue sky at super speed. There was an enormous explosion high up above when the bomb finally blew up, taking Janosh with it.

Clark felt the enormous pressure of the explosion, and the repulsion of it knocked his breath out of him for a moment. He realized if he hadn’t gotten Janosh off the ground in time, he would have succeeded in killing the presidents — and many innocent people with them — after all. It had been one life in exchange for many. Clark regretted the loss of any life. There had been no time, though, to save this one. And Janosh had been ready to kill, more than once. To the end, he had been a cold-blooded schemer. He had been deranged, that had become evident by his final words, but not enough so to not be held responsible for his plans and actions. It had been his choice to die for his cause, to go out with a bang. Had he succeeded with his scheme, his own fate would have been the same. Yet that was a small consolation. Life HAD been lost, and that was hard to deal with at

any time.

Clark took his time returning to the ground. The explosion taken care of any “pollution.” Janosh remains would never be found. He had wanted his ideals and power to spread beyond this country. While that wasn’t to be, in death, some of him was spread all over the world. Clark sighed and tried to get image out of his mind. At least he had been spared the task of stopping any remains from falling onto the crowd below.

He flew up a little higher still and towards the sun. The explosion had made him realize that he hadn’t quite regained all of his powers yet. He was still trying to get his breath back. The psychological effect, of course, was not to be denied. Doing a somersault in the air, he changed out of the bright hawaii shirt he had still been wearing and into the suit that felt like a second skin to him. The change of clothes also took away some of the defilement he had felt.

And Superman’s job wasn’t over. Even up here he could hear the crowd. The band had started to play cheerful tunes, but the incident had brought the crowd close to a panic, something the security guards were having a hard time holding at bay while searching for possible collaborators at the same time. Superman’s presense was needed. And then there was, of course, also someone else that needed his presence and reassurance. Clark knew she would be worried by now. He didn’t feel at all like the hero the crowd and statesmen below were making him, all recorded for history by the ever present media.

When a thorough search of the area had not revealed any further threat, the politicians had returned to the stage. The program was suspended for the time being as the task at hand was to calm the crowd and answer some of the questions by the press, the latter being free publicity for some of upcoming German election campaigns.

The heads of state took turns at the microphone giving short speeches of gratitude to Superman. When each had had their turn and Chancellor Heino was back at the microphone, inviting former US president Elvis to join him in an impromptu ballad in honor of the unsung hero Superman, Clark decided it was high time to make his appearance.

Lois breathed a sigh of relief when a familiar streak of red and blue came down from the sky and softly landed right next to speaker’s podium. With a brief bow, Superman took the microphone from Chancellor Heino and addressed the crowd. Lois wasn’t listening so much to the word’s as to her husband’s tone of voice. She sensed tension there and knew she had to get to him.

She turned to Perry, only to see him smile at her and wave over a security guard to take them to the back of the stage to wait for Superman to finish his speech. Although a mayor now and only loosely affiliated with the newspaper their Perry had sometimes said was his life, this world’s incarnation of him had a lot in common with her boss and mentor-friend. His perceptiveness was but one of those qualities. Perry had told her that he appreciated seeing her and her Clark together and that he hoped for something similar for theirs. He had also picked up on the bond between them. When, in the long minutes following the explosing high up in the sky, she had grown tense, wondering if her super husband was safe in body and spirit, she had felt the older man’s hand on her shoulder. As with the Perry back home, there was no need for words.

She smiled her gratitude at him as they reached the back stage area just as a roar of cheers and applause went through the crowd. And then her husband stepped down the metail stair case leading up to the stage and was with her, taking in her arms and holding her close. For an eternity, they just held each other. He was there, unharmed, and in her arms. All was as it should be.

Maybe not quite all. When she became aware of their surroundings again, the strumming of two guitars and two male crooning voices filled the air, being amplified a dozen times by the speaker systems all over the large square. Some of the lyrics were in English, the others in the harsher and more guttural German language. Lois made a face, and Clark shrugged apologetically. “I couldn’t keep them from wanting to compose an epic about me. They said they’ve wanted to make an album together for a long time and this seemed the perfect occasion.”

“Poor Clark,” Lois remarked wryly.

“Well, all the proceeds will go to charity,” Clark said with another shrug. “I guess it’s not much worse than the endless series of Superman socks, underwear, and pajamas … Still, I wish their taste in music was different.”

“You don’t need to listen to it,” Lois whispered close to his ear.

“I don’t intend to wait for a copy of the album being released here,” Clark replied.

“That wasn’t what I was thinking about. I meant the here and now.” With that she kissed him full on the lips, blocking the music out of their minds for a long time to be replaced by a tune of their own.

When they drew apart at last, Clark smiled down at her. “There are some fringe benefits to this, however. No more youth hosteling. The Chancellor’s attache is arranging for fitter accommodations as he put. He asked if the Kempinski down at the Ku’damm would be appropriate. Oh, and we have transportation back to The Planet’s office.”

With that, he pointed to one of the limosines parked in the backstage area. While Perry decided to stay on and listen to his buddy’s and partner’s impromptu recording session, Cat joined them for the ride back to the Planet’s Berlin headquarters. Lois and Clark chose the backseat and talked quietly. This time, Cat seemed to pick up on their need for privacy and was fairly quiet. Or maybe she just enjoyed the glamor of riding in a Rolls Royce, Lois thought.

She and Clark decided that five star hotel would be too exposed. After all, they had decided to try to keep this world’s Clark’s reputation as unharmed as possible. They, on the other hand, had no interest in separate rooms or suite. Though somewhat startled, the Chancellor’s attache had agreed to use his connections to find them less formal accommodations. He would leave a message with the address at The Planet’s office for them.

Lois settled back into her seat with her husband’s strong arm around her shoulder, determined to enjoy the rest of the short ride back to the Planet.

******

The time traveler pulled his clock from his vest pocket and adjusted his glasses. The world had been saved once more, thanks to Superman. They could now be returned to their own dimension as this one’s was about to return, even if only temporarily. He then flipped open the lid of the small black device he was carrying and adjusted the dials on the soul tracker. One glance at the readings told him that the anxiety levels were high still, though diminishing. Traveling thru time and dimensions always bore dangers and held unforeseen surprises. He hadn’t intended to put this Clark’s life in danger. He was glad that history had caught up with and rectified itself without major harm being done.

It seemed that this Lois and Clark were engaged in their own rectification right now, curing the effects the strain and tension of the past few days here had brought on them. At least that what the bio-readings on the two on them indicated: accellerated heart rate and breathing, body temperature raised just slightly while the anxiety level kept dropping.

The time traveler took of his hat and scratch his head briefly. During their many talks, this world’s Clark had told him of his travels during his student days, his fascination with different cultures, and his desire to share all that with his Lois if he ever found her. The Clark in the limosine had found his Lois, but did he have the time to share much of dreams with his beloved? Observing the two of them had showed Wells how little privacy, how little leisure time together the two sometimes had. He glanced back at his watch. There was time still, and in this case, time wasn’t really a major factor. They had once again saved a world. It was only just that they would enjoy some of the rewards.

He closed the lid of his watch and put it back in his pocket. Glancing at the soul tracker device once more, he noticed that their bio-readings were in perfect synch, as far as their different biological makeup allowed anyway. They should have almost reached the Planet by now. He turned off the dial and slipped the small device back in his coat pocket. Time was but one variable. He would see them later.

Digging for change in his pocket, the time traveler stopped at a newstand to retrieve a copy of the “London Times,” two days old though it was. It would keep him occupied while he waited, glad for the respite just as the two visitors to this dimension seemed to be. Glancing around, he spotted a small coffee shop across the street that seemed just perfect for a quiet afternoon … and probably night … of reading the paper.

******

When they arrived back the Planet’s Berlin office, some of the tension they had felt was gone, to be replaced by another kind that was accompanied by a strong desire to be alone. They politely declined Cat’s invitation to join them for dinner. Clark had given her a brief interview for the paper, but was in a hurry to join Lois who had decided to wait in their downstairs on the Planet’s parking lot. She rolled her eyes when she saw Clark emerge from the building with Cat in tow. She noticed with some satisfaction, however, that Clark very skillfully evaded her when she tried to slip her hand through his arm. Clark waved a goodbye to her, then was at Lois’s side and in the driver’s seat at superspeed.

He slipped the key into the ignition and started the engine. The bug hiccupped and coughed loudly, but the engine died. A second and third attempt produced exactly the same results, then the engine didn’t make any sound anymore at all. Clark got out of the car and went to the back to inspect the engine. Shaking his head, he returned to the front shortly afterwards. Placing a greasy hand on the rolled-down window next to Lois, Clark said, “Nothing even superpowers can fix here without spare parts. Looks pretty bad.”

“So much about German quality cars,” Lois muttered.

“Lois, you need to be fair …” Clark began.

“Problems?” came voice from the side. Attracted by the noise from the dying engine, Cat had returned to the Beetle and was standing now next to Clark, raising one foot up on the bug’s fender, revealing her long slender leg as her skirt slipped back. Clark extended his grease blackened right to meet and shake the hand Cat was about to place around his waist. Lois had to bite the inside of her cheek really hard not to laugh at the expression of surprise on Cat’s face. Looking from Cat to Clark, Lois caught the twinkle in Clark’s eyes and the boyish laugh when Cat eventually gave him a grin an winked back at him. She had to admit that this Cat was quite as bad as she remembered their own. But maybe their Cat, too, had changed over the years, or maybe she had been just been too prejudiced to see those back then. Lois know that she herself had changed and was a lot more willing to admit mistakes and shortcomings as she had been a few years ago, before Clark had entered her life.

She looked at Clark lovingly, covering his hand with hers. When they got back to their car, he had speed changed into a spare change of clothes they had in the trunk. Clark wiped his greasy hand onto his jeans before looking askance at Cat. “We need to get the car to a shop? Know one close by?”

Cat shook her head. “No. Besides today is a public holiday. You won’t find anyone to work on your car before Monday.”

Lois and Clark exchanged glances. Earlier during the ride back to the planet they had decided that they wouldn’t resort to flying since Clark had eventually admitted to the day’s activities culminating with absorbing the bomb’s explosion had left him feeling drained. Lois felt concern for her guy and didn’t want him to exhaust himself if she could avoid. With their mission in this world accomplished, she actually didn’t mind the thought of spending the rest of the time here as just an ordinary couple. Clark had promised he would show her still where the wall had been, and maybe explore the Wild East a bit. Without a car, though, that would be a problem.

“Well, you could, of course, borrow my car,” Cat interupted her train of thought.

Lois couldn’t believe her ears. This Cat REALLY had some rather remarkable qualities. “Would you, Cat? I mean, are you serious?” Lois asked incredulously, and even Clark looked at her in surprise.

“Sure, why not?” Cat shrugged nonchalantly. “I have two, but obviously can only drive one at a time.”

Lois and Clark had gathered their belongings and securely locked their beetle in no time at all. Lois could hardly contain her excitement about the prospect of driving the porsche again. She was fairly certain Clark would let her drive even though he know his way around better. He knew how much she enjoyed driving those small, speedy cars.

Presently, the approached the porsche. Cat didn’t stop, however, but led them on to the farthest back corner of the Planet’s parking lot. Lois looked around expectantly, but didn’t see another porsche, nor any other sports car. But maybe it was hidden from view by that large mercedes that Cat was approaching. Or maybe Cat’s second car wasn’t a sporty one, but that expense Mercedes limousine. Giving a mental shrug, Lois decided that driving a Mercedes wouldn’t be so bad, either. They passed the Mercedes, likewise, though. And then Cat came to a halt right behind it.

Lois gave Cat the second incredulous look in less than five minutes, echoing her word from earlier, though in entirely different tone of voice. “Are you serious …?”

If Cat noticed the disbelief and suspicion in Lois’s voice, she didn’t show it. Instead, she gave them a radient smile and waved her hand holding the car keys magnimously. “There it is.”

Lois and Clark had halted their step as one and were eyeing the … contraption in front of them. Lois vaguely remembered some of her early childhood picture books. Some of the depictions of cars in there had looked a little similar. A car it seemed to be, for at least it had four wheels, fenders, steering wheel, even four seats in it and a trunk, small though it was. But it looked like an overgrown child’s toy, and impression that was enhanced by its babyblue, though rather ugly color.

It was Clark who recovered his voice first. “That is … quite something. Is it still running? They don’t make them anymore, do they?”

“Yes, ship shape condition,” Cat said proudly, petting the roof of the little car affectionately.

The sound gave Lois another surprise. “That sounded like … cardboard almost.”

“That’s what it is,” Cat responded. “You see, it’s authentic.”

“Well, not just cardboard,” Clark hurried to add. “They also used plastics with it, and SOME metal in the essential places.”

“That’s very reassuring to know,” Lois retorted, not quite able to keep the annoyance out of her voice. If that was Cat’s idea for a joke, she had better stop it fast.

Cat, however, did not appear to be joking at all. She was proudly relating the little car’s history to Clark who was listening with growing interest. Cat was apparently in some club of enthusiasts for this kind of car and had even learded to do some of the basic repairs on it herself. Lois tried to imagine their own Cat in blue coveralls and working on a little babyblue cardboard and plastic car and failed miserably. She then tugged at Clark’s sleeve and whispered something about Berlin’s extensive public transport system into his ear.

Clark, however, only gave her a quick smile and a reassuring hug. Obviously, his interest and enthusiasm had been aroused. Before she had a chance to debate the issue further, Clark had accepted the keys from Cat, giving her a quick hug and warmly thanking her for her generosity.

And then Cat was gone and they were alone with there new means of transport. A few times during the last few days, Lois had wished to exchange their beetle for a different car. It seemed she had gotten her wish, but not in the way she had it expected to. What had grandma Lane always told them when Lucy and she were little girls? “Be careful what you wish for or …”

” … you might get it!” Clark was looking at her with a twinkle in his eye. “Didn’t you say you wanted another car?” Growing more serious again, he explained that car Cat had entrusted them with was a genuine Trabant, or “Trabbi” as the East Germans had nicknamed their cars. It was something typical, and he thought, quite appropriate for their exploration of some of the recent history of the formerly divided city. When he also added that he was sure that he would be quite rested and able to take to the skies again in a few hours, Lois gave in with a shrug, though declining Clark’s offer to drive.

Had the sound of the bug’s air-cooled engine already sounded loud and a bit unusual to Lois, the Trabbi’s sounds reminded her more of a choochoo train than a car. Sitting in the low seats had a distinctive and down-to-earth feeling to it, too, keeping them in touch quite literally with the ground beneath them, for they could feel every crack in and pebble on the street. Even Clark made a face when they turned off the main road and drove through a small side street covered with cobble stones. Lois envied him his not getting sore and stiff from sitting in the little car’s rather uncomfortable seats and being subjected to the jerking and kicking from the roads underneath. Clark cheerfully informed her, however, that they could consider themselves lucky not to be driving in the former East part of Germany when the Wall was still up as road conditions had been a lot worse then.

Lois took in their surroundings as they passed by. Clark admitted to not know as much about this part of the city as his visits to it had only been for the short duration of any super feats needing his attention back in their dimension. During his students days, he had only visited the city for a day while he was in Berlin as the East German government had charged what Clark wrily called “admission” to visit the city, forcing visitors to exchange a certain amount of West currency against the internationally almost worthless local currency. Living on tight student budget, such an excursion was fairly expensive, especially since any of the exchanged money that he hadn’t spent, he couldn’t take back out. Clark told her that he had stocked up on his Karl Marx literature on that visit, most volumes of which were still stored securely in that large trunk back at the farm in Smallville. Clark could, of course, had gotten around any “admission” by simply flying across the Wall, and Clark admitted having surveyed the city from up above at night a few times, but he wouldn’t take advantage of the gifts he had been given and do something that was against a country’s rules and regulations, unusual and unfair though they might be.

In addtition, he admitted to also having felt somewhat depressed by former East Berlin’s atmosphere of restraint and decay. His super hearing had picked involuntarily picked up conversations meant for nobody else’s ears by people being afraid of being spied on by the state’s ever present secret police. And the city itself had been an odd mix of a few magnificent buildings around the city’s center, modern though ugly apartment skyscrapers, and decayed buildings and ruins left over by the last World War in areas a little away from the roads official visitors usually traveled.

Lois could see of that still as they were driving along East Berlin’s roads. The streets over here were wider and everything seemed more open and spacious than in the West part of the city she had seen thus far. When one of the numerous construction sites forced them to turn off the main road and into smaller side streets, she occasionally could still see bullet holes in the side of buildings as Clark pointed out. The city, just like some parts in the West, seemed to be rapidly changing, however, and there were many areas where Clark said he was no longer able to tell a difference to the West.

Eventually they arrived at fairly wide street close to the main train station of this part of the city. For a moment, Lois was startled by the sight that met her eyes. On the one side of the street, for half a mile or so, a high wall obstructed the view of what lay beyond. It was not as gray and ugly as she had pictured the Wall, however, but covered with a variety of paintings and designs. Parking the car on the opposite side, they crossed the street and walked along it slowly. This was the real thing, Clark affirmed, though covered with works by various international artists, symbolizing the triumph of freedom over for decades of political oppression, near three of which had be guarded by the infamous Wall.

Standing right next to the Wall colorful though it was now was not without effect on them, and eventually they decided to drive back to the West to round off their excursion into the city’s past by a visit to the Wall Museum that was located right at the former border where Check Point Charlie had once provided the only official point of border crossing for Western Allies’ occupational forces into the East part of the city that officially had still been governed by all four of WW II’s victory powers. Lois found it hard to believe that Berlin had been under occupational status for a good forty years, but Clark assured that in the Western part at least, life for the Berliners had been about as normal as any other of West Germany’s larger cities.

The Wall Museum contained a large collection of pictures of and memorablia of nearly 30 years of Wall history, telling tales of families separated, of heroic escapes to the West, but also of about a hundred deaths lost in it’s shade, usually shot by border guards if an escape attempt was detected.

They left the museum in a somewhat subdued mood. History, though past, still held significance for the present, and had it not been for Clark’s intervention, it might have repeated itself. More than once in its course had one madman gained power and a following and taken scores or even millions of people with them in their eventual demise. Sometimes it only needed one man to make or break a world.

Lois looked at her husband. Clark was another man to sometimes carry the weight of the world — or many worlds on occasions like this one — on his shoulders. But he no longer needed to do so alone. She was their with him, and although she sometimes longed for a more normal and exposed life, if it came down to it, she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Superman and his responsibilities were but one part of the man she loved and had chosen to share the rest of her life with.

For tonight, though, safe for major earth quakes, meteor strikes, and the like, they were back on vacation just as they had planned to be before H. G. Wells had shown up at their doorstep though they had not planned to travel abroad. She shook her head slightly, clearing away the last of effects the still present shadow of the Wall had had on her. Placing a hand on Clark’s arm, she smiled at him. “What now?”

He looked at her startled for a moment as if returning from miles away, then returned the smile. “I’ve just been wondering … A fellow student I got to know on the university’s soccer team here …”

“You played soccer?! I bet your team made the first league.”

“Well, not really. You know I didn’t … I was second string only … stand-in for the goal keeper. But Guido, he was good. And his parents escaped from the East originally. I wonder if he still lives here.”

“Why don’t you try to find out?” Lois grinned at him, indicating the phone booth coming up in front of them. “I could use facilities someplace anywhere.”

Five minutes later, they were on the road again, heading in a generally northern direction. Wedding, where his former soccer buddy was living, was a district with a fairly large working class population as well as a number of foreign workers, Clark told her. When they arrived at their destination, Clark circled around the block several times in a vain attempt to find a parking space. They eventually found one several blocks away only.

Arm in arm, they started to walk back to were Clark’s friend live, stopping by a Pakistani restaurant for take-out on the way so as not to impose on Clark’s friend’s hospitality by their short notice visit. Suddenly, Lois stopped in her tracks and laid a hand on Clark’s elbow. “Clark, aren’t we forgetting something?”

“Huh?” he looked at her in surprise.

“You don’t really know this guy. What if he turns out to be … well … different?”

“His voice sounded the same …” Clark hesitated. “But, of course, your right. For a moment I forgot that this is an alternate dimension. He did recognize me, though. — Second thoughts?”

“No, not really. I just thought … things might be different here. What was your friend studying back in our dimension?”

“Aironautical engineering. He went to another university actually. West Berlin had two at the time, but the soccer team I was on was made up of both. Now that the city is reunited, there are three universities in addition to a number of vocational colleges …”

They had reached the entrance door of one of those several storey-tall tenement buildings that were typical for some parts of Berlin. This one, Clark explained, seemed to date from the 1920s or even a bit earlier. Lois wrinkled her nose suddenly. “Do you smell that too? Something burning? You’re not about to …”

Clark’s nostrils widened as he drew in the air more consciously. “No, nothing to be alarmed of. They still have coal heating partially in this part of town, I guess some people already find it chilly enough at night to fire up their stoves at night, and in spring and fall that’s particularly smelly.” He kissed her quickly, adding quietly, “No need for Superman’s intervention tonight.”

Just then their ring of the bell system was answerred and with a buzz, the lock was released. Taking a look at a large table of names on a board to the right of the entrance, Clark moved ahead. “It’s through there,” he said, indicating a door leading to an inner courtyard.

Lois was surprised to see another building rise up on the other side of the courtyard, blocking out a lot of the sun. When they crossed the yard and entered the other building, the basement door in there opened at the same time. Clark felt called to give a hand, though no super strenth was needed, to help the elderly lady emerging from the basement carry her supply of coals up to her fifth floor apartment.

Clark’s friend, they had been told, lived on the third floor. Lois was amazed at the speed the elderly still climbed the stairs with. She herself was slightly out of breath by the time she reached the third floor to find Clark waiting for her there, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. Lois poked his ribs in mock annoyance, then pulled him close, murmuring something about a reward for helping little old ladies in whatever dimension. They shared a long kiss before ringing the doorbell.

Clark’s friend in this dimension turned out to not have studied engineering but philosophy. As a result, his appearance and his interests were somewhat different than the Guido Clark remembered. This Clark also had not met him on the soccer team, but at a chess tournament. Otherwise, though, Clark assured Lois, Guido was every bit as nice as he remembered him to be.

Clark hesitated a little how to introduce Lois, then presenting her as Clark’s fiancee, hoping that Well’s theory that their souls were destined to find each other regardless of time and dimension held true also in this case … or this Clark might have some explaining to do to his friend later.

Guido was more than willing to share some of the stories of his childhood in the East while devouring the Pakistani food they had brought, a sure sign that a freelance philosopher in this dimenision was not more affluent than those back home. It was fortunate that the servings were generous so that Lois and Clark still get their fair share of the food.

When they were done eating, however, Lois began to shift position in her chair uncomfortably in spite of the exciting tales their hosts had to share. Eventually, she got his attention and upon his questioning look, told him she needed to wash her hands. Guido flashed her a smile and motioned her to follow him.

When she came back two minutes later, Clark could tell immediately that she was uncomfortable. Even though this Guido’s occupation was different, Clark recognized enough of the friend he knew in him to trust that Guido hadn’t made any advances on her. While Lois’s face was slightly blushed, the look on Guido’s face just showed confusion as he trailed behind. He was speeking German now, fast and in his native Saxonian dialect that even Clark had trouble following. He turned to Lois for information instead. She whispered. “He showed me to the kitchen sink. He doesn’t seem to have a bathroom.” Clark burst out laughing, whispering, “Who is the bashful one now?” back into her ear.

This time it was Lois’s turn to blush a darker shade of ready, especially when Clark turned to his friend and in German said something that sounded remarkably like, “Pee-pee.” Some things just were unifversal, she thought, though not the way they were often dealt with.

Guido didn’t laugh at her, however, just nodding his understanding before leading her to the right destination, which was half a flight up the stairs outside on the landing, but was otherwise adequate. Upon her return, Clark informed her that some of the older house dating back to the turn of the century sometimes came without a bathroom here still. Guido added that he had put a shower into where the pantry had been and was thus quite well equipped.

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly and without further misunderstandings. A call to the Planet informed them of location of their accommodations for the night, which turned out to be a small, but pleasant and comfortable boarding place in Zehlendorf, one of Berlin’s most prestigious and beautiful districts — and not too far from the youth hostel where they had spent the two previous nights.

Despite the fun they had had the two previous nights, Lois and Clark were glad to finally have a wide double bed again. They decided it was an occasion to celebrate. And they did.

*******

The Lanes had returned to Munich the previous night. The next morning., after authorizing Cat to return the debilitated Beetle to the car rental the following week day, Lois and Clark flew back to Munich where they expected Wells to pick them back up.

When they approached the Lane’s house for their final visit there, Clark decided to land a few blocks behind the cover of an old storage building. Clark changed back into the clothes he had originally worn when he arrived here. Although Superman wasn’t a secret here, Clark still felt somewhat uncomfortable wearing the suit when his duties as Superman didn’t require it.

They walked the last few blocks slowly. Both had grown this universe’s version of Lois’s parents. They were glad that Sam was safe and sound. If only …

The thought was never finished as Baby Gunderson cheerfully opened the door for them. Since it was her day off, she had stopped by to give Sam and Ellen the welcome they deserved and “to take proper care of them” as she put it.

Baby Gunderson had been pleased to learn that her brothers were safe. The police had at last discovered Janosh’s hideout the previous night. The fact that Janosh had had one of the igor’s infiltrate the entourage of Chancellor Heino, ironically working in exactly the position Sam had originally intentded them for, as personal attendant. The Chancellor having an android on his personal staff was news the media had loved, especially when, after being assured that Igor, with his original programming was quite safe and competent, the Chancellor had chosen to continue to employ him.

Upon their arrival back in Munich, Sam’s answering machine had already held several queries by customers interested in further developing and eventually mass producing the Igors as buttlers. Sam was happy and Baby Gunderson was happy with them, although she admitted to being subjected to the little subprogramming that simulated envy and jealosy. She said it didn’t feel fair that her line, although the more advanced product, had not reached that degree of popularity, clearly, in her opinion, a sign of sexism even in this day and age.

Clark was just trying for the fifth time in as many minutes to assure Sam that his encounter with the Kryptonite really had not left any lasting effect, when the door bell rang. Sam got up to admit the unexpected visitor. Then Sam stepped back in surprise. He found himself eye in eye with Superman.

The stunned silence in the room was broken from an unexpected source. Baby Gunderson gave a delighted squeal and rushed forward to hug Sam. “You did it! Thank you so much! You didn’t have to! But no, you taught me to just say “thank you” and enjoy. And since he’s here, you’re obviously sure of it. And, man, he’s sure perfect!”

Baby Gunderson had placed her arm around the surprise Superman and was pinching his side experimentally. “He sure feels real, too,” She added. “He is your best yet, Dr. Lane, I’m surre. And I bet he is fully functional, too. Too bad that two fully functional androids don’t make a baby android. But you’ll work on that, Dr. Lane, won’t you? And for now, I’m sure we can practice some. You know,” she turned back to the group gathered at the sofa, “I am programmed to receive pleasurable electrical currents, too, … from the sensors in ALL my extremeties. And he must be at least as well equipped as me.”

When Baby Gunderson was about to give another experimental pinch to another well-pronounced part south in his anatomy, Superman finally recovered from his surprise and disengaged from her stronger than human arms rather hastily, passing her and taking a few steps to the middle of the room. Seeing Lois and Clark seated on the sofa together with Ellen, comprehension finally dawned, and he turned back to Baby Gunderson with a half amused, half apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Miss, but I’m not what you think I am. You’ll have to have another talk with Sam about that one. I’m just Superman …. or Clark for my friends.”

Baby Gunderson looked at him out of wide eyes, then back to Clark and to Superman again. Realizing that she was the only one in the room who did not know they were visiting from another dimension, Clark smiled at her. “You told us back down in Munich you were good at math and physics too. Check out some books on the theory of parallel universes and time and interdimensional travel. It’s not that theoretical anymore. Sorry to have you disappointed, though.”

He grinned a welcome at his alter-ego. Although he had met him before, he still found it a little disconcerting to be in the same room with him, especially now since he was wearing the the suit. For a moment, there was another awkward silence, again broken by Baby Gunderson producing her ever-present autograph book. Superman obliged willingly, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly as he wrote the dedication.

“Yours, Superman,” Baby Gunderson read out loud when he handed it back to you. “Another fully functional one.”

Baby Gunderson gave Superman an appreciating look. “I never doubted that!” She was now giggling.

Lois’s suppressed giggles erupted at last, to be joined by both Clark’s chuckling and Sam’s baritone laughter. Ellen permitted herself a small smile though she was obviously somewhat embarrassed.

“Sam, why don’t you have a seat?” Superman said, indicating the couch. “I’ve been trying to think of an opener for this, and Miss … Gunderson …. has just provided me with one.”

When Sam was seated on the couch, an arm placed around his wife, Superman, with wink at Lois and Clark, spun around, coming to a halt again wearing the khakis he worn down in Africa, to be greated by a “Wow!” and an appreciating whistle from Baby Gunderson.

Alt-Clark smiled a little self-consciously. “Please forgive my attire. I came here as soon and as fast as I could. … How do I say this …? … As Baby Gunderson suspects, I am fully functional. Your daughter agreed to put that … and compatibility to a test as soon as we have taken the legal steps.” Quickly seeking to fill in the silence, he formally extended his hand to Sam and added, “I have found your daughter and formally request to marry her.”

He then quickly recounted his months-long search for his Lois, finally finding her in the remotest mission hospital, comatose and more dead than alive. He had spent several days and nights with her, much to the amazement of the hospital staff. Eventually, somehow his presence seemed to register with Lois. It had been weeks still till she had finally regained consciousness and smiled up in a pair of brown eyes she had never seen before. But alt-Clark said that long before that, he had felt something … something he could not really describe in words, connect between them. Lois and Clark smiled knowingly at him, silently reaffirming their own bond as alt-Clark continued his tale.

In the weeks that followed, his and Lois’s souls seemed to be drawn together. In her few waking hours, she had gotten to know the young stranger who was at her side whenever she woke. She grew to like and trust him, feeling drawn to him. As the bond between them grew, that liking and affection had grown to love. Lois Lane had been hurt before as she had told him and thus didn’t know how long it would take her yet to be able to finalize the marrage vows, but both had felt and agreed that that was where they were headed and what they wanted. It was only a matter of time.

Alt-Clark smiled then, and Lois looked from him to the husband at her side. Now it would have been even harder to tell them apart. The haunted look and the incredible loneliness were gone from Clark’s alter ego. Right now she could tell he was tense and a little nervous, no wonder since he was speaking to his prospective in-laws. In addition, there was just a touch of impatience and worry in his eyes as he spoke. She knew he wanted to be back with his Lois, and she didn’t blame him. But the quiet strength she new from her own husband was there. The change was subtle, but remarkable.

Lois, alt-Clark, told the Lanes, was still very weak, too weak to be moved, but Clark had finally deemed it safe to leave her side for a little while to come and tell them … and bring them to their daughter.

Up to that point, the Lanes had been too stunned to emotionally respond much, but then the dam broke. There were engaged in a heap of hugging and happy tears. When Ellen had sobbed her way through the kleenex box on the coffee table in less than five minutes, Baby Gunderson discreetly offered her the large sheet she had gotten from upstairs.

Lois and Clark took that as a sign to take their leave. Clark’s counterpart got up, however, to thank them for stepping in for him so that he could stay at his Lois’s side, something that might have saved her life, he thought. The two Clark’s parted as friends and brothers, any possible tension they might have felt over Lois gone. In parting, Lois suggested that he think of another disguise, something that she thought was essential to ensure at least a minimum of privacy in his future family life. With a smile, Clark handed him the fancy designer glasses he and Lois had bought at Heidelberg. Alt-Clark gave those a thoughtful smile, and then with a wink put them on.

Partining from the Lanes emotional, but quick, understably being preoccupied with the news of their long-lost daughter being alive and getting well … and hopefully married sometime in the future.

Lois and Clark smiled happily as they slowly strolled down the street under the warm October sun. “It’s good to finally see Clark happy,” Lois said, coming to a halt. Pulling Clark close, she kissed him. He returned the kiss tenderly, picking up on her sentiment regarding this world’s Clark. “They’re just beginning their journey,” he said in between kissess.

“But he has an idea where it might lead.” Lois grinned, pulling Clark close again. Their mood changed subtly, their kissing becoming more passionate. It was only after several minutes that Clark’s ears picked up the noises of a throat being cleared behind them repeatedly. They drew apart reluctantly to face H.G. Wells.

Pocket watch in one hand and soul tracker/time jumper in the other, Wells took a discreet look around, and, finding the street empty, motioned them to stand close. Lois and Clark obliged sharing another kiss as they felt the by now familiar tingle of the interdimensional relocation.

They opened their eyes in the living room of their own apartment. Everything was as they had left it. Glancing around, she registered the clock. Ten past six just as it had been when she had last looked at it several days ago … or was it? Maybe this was all a dream? But her husband in her arm was not, nor was the small carefully wrapped package with the cuckoo clock she could feel through her purse where it had been ever since Heidelberg. She pulled Clark close for another kiss, remembering the anguish of almost having lost him.

Just then came the sound of a throat being cleared again, and H.G. Wells stepped into view from behind Clark. As they drew apart, Wells looked at them. “I am most obliged for your help. But you better hurry. You have a trip to prepare for.”

“A trip?” Lois and Clark looked at him at confusion.

“Yes to Smallville, I believe. I returned you just in time to make the preparations.”

“That means … We’ll have another full week of vacation ahead of us!” Lois and Clark beamed.

“If you don’t mind. I could, of course, forward you …”

“We haven’t had a full two weeks of vacation except our honeymoon … ”

“Which diverting from plans, was spent … not traveling.” Wells fell silent politely.

“So … consider it a small token of my gratitude. Enjoy yourself, and remember, that the country is very … fruitful. And,” he added after a moments pause. “You two ARE compatible. — Now I must be on my way.”

Before Lois and Clark could respond, he waved a goodbye and with that was out the door.

Lois and Clark looked after him arm in arm. Then Lois pulled her husband close and, nibbling his ear, whispered into it, “Let’s run a functionality check.”

“Here or in Smallville?” Clark asked between kisses.

“Why not both?” Lois suggested and began to take off her blouse.

When Clark began to laugh, Lois looked at him in confusion. “What?”

“Mrs. Lane,” Clark began to explain his behavior. “Since we were to the parallel universe, you have developed an incredible speed in disposing of your top garments.” And faking a hurt tone of voice, he added, “Even Superman could envy you that.”

She looked startled for a moment before grinning and beginning to button up her blouse again. “Oh, now I understand.”

“I thought we … you and I … would go to the bedroom to …” But he did not get any further since Lois approached him and took hold of his hands. she first kissed each of his fingers and then placed his hands at the topmost button of her blouse. “Now I understand why superman is envious.” She paused dramatically before adding, “He wants to be in charge of taking off the top garments himself.”

“You are really perceptive,” clark grinnned while he pulled her closer and began unbuttoning her blouse.

“And not only that,” Lois answered, “also a lot of imagination. I can think of a number of other places in addition to the bed where we …”

she kissed him passionately, and instinctively he placed his arms around her and pulled her close.

“and those would be where, for example?” Clark asked trying to keep his bbreathing even. “as you know, I am always ready for such experiments.” He touched his lips to her neck tenderly.

“mmmhhh, I know.” Lois closed her eyes dreamily and thought of a few exoctic locations where they had made love. ‘It was only good that the Eifel Tower was closed to visitors at night,’ Lois thought, remembering their last dinner in Paris.’Or they would have enjoyed quite another view than that onto Paris.’

“There would be …” Lois began, and Clark looked up from her neck.

Before continuing, she breathed a kiss onto the tip of his nose. “the kitchen, your or my desk at the Planet, the elevator, and quite a few other places.” Lois gave him a mischievous grin. “but at the moment, my absolute favorite would be the loft on your folks’ farm.”

“Is it not too cold for that already? It is already the beginning of October and the nights in Kansas can already get quite chillly.” clark looked at her with concern. “And what about my parents?”

“I actually didn’t plan to have your parents there, but if you would like to have them, we could let them know.” she winked at him.

“Lo-is!” Clark exclaimed slightly shocked. The thought that his parents … He did not quite want to continue that thought. He felt himself blush.

Lois started to grin when she noticed his embarrassment. She placed his arms around her husband’s neck and pulled him close. “Don’t worry, Clark,” she breathed into his ear. “They would be proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Clark replied, still somewhat embarrassed. “I was serious, though, about the chilly nights in Kansas. You know that cold doesn’t bother me, but you …” Clark said with concern.

“Well, there is only one answer then,” she whispered into his ear.

“and that would be what?” Clark looked at her questioningly.

“Make sure I don’t get cold.” Lois laughed.

Before clark had a chance to reply, she placed a kiss on his lips. the couple stood in their living room for a long while, kissing and embracing each other, until Lois finally moved apart slightly. “Clark, honey, now be a good farmboy and show country life to a city girl. Think you could do that, Flyboy?” She asked with a mischievous grin.

Lois didn’t need to ask twice. Before whe could take another breath, clark had scooped her up into his strong arms, and with a === whooosh === they were on their way to smallville.

*****

“that was quite something when we were in that parallel universe in Germany a few years ago,” Lois sighed, closing her journal and placing it on her nightstand. A qhile ago already, she had begun to keep a record of their adventures in a journal. that was her way of distracting herself when she was worried while clark was again out to save the world.

“Mmmhhh,” her husband agreed, flopping down on the bed next to her. He had just come in through the bedroom window and had read the last few lines she had entered into her journal. “Only too bad we did not get another chance for a visit to the sauna.He grinned and pulled her into his arms.

“Seems to me you have taken a liking to mixed saunas and showers,” Lois teased him.

“Yeah, especially when one special woman is in the sauna or the shower with me.”

“Well, then let’s try that out right away,” Lois breathed into his ear seductively. “There is a little dirt on your ‘S’,”

For the remainder of the night, only the sound of the running shower could be heard.