Time Flies

(when you're goofing off in Utopia)

This is just a campy little thing I came up with while on vacation this summer... any resemblance to Pam Jernigan and her real life friends Chris Mulder and Tara Weaver is *strictly* coincidental. :-)

Okay, so this all really happened, believe it or not. I mean, I still kinda can't believe it, and it happened to me. I dramatized it a bit for this story, you know, describing people's emotions and all, and so this is my interpretation of events, but all the actions are described as accurately as possible... well, you'll see.

Five months later, I wasn't nearly so intrigued, and that's where this story properly begins...

Chapter 1 - From Thin Air

"It doesn't work!" Pam growled in frustration. She paced the length of the cluttered lab, working out her excess energy.

"It ought to," Chris replied, pouring over the plans again. "Superman built a working time machine from this drawing, so we should be able to, too." The drawing in her hands was actually a copy of the original, which she'd located, with great difficulty, in a museum basement.

"Yeah, but we're not exactly following the plans," Tara pointed out absently. She was absorbed in a delicate adjustment of two components on the time engine. Their joint invention was sitting innocently on a workbench, oblivious to their frustration.

"We didn't want to build an oversized toboggan," Pam reminded them unnecessarily. "It shouldn't make any difference. We need the time engine," she thumped it for emphasis, earning a warning glare from Tara, "and a containment radius, which we have, and it should bloody well work."

"It will," Chris reassured her, glancing up from the plans. "We just have to figure out how to adapt it to our needs. We've already had *some* results, after all - it did glow, briefly."

"Okay, I think I got it," Tara announced, straightening up. "Are we ready to try again?"

"Why not. It won't work anyway," Pam commented in morbid cheer. She positioned herself alongside her friends in the circle denoting the system's containment radius. "What's the destination this time? Chris, it's your turn to pick."

The professor considered briefly. "Hmm... I think I'd like to see Clark Kent. Most of the statues show Superman, but Clark has to have looked somewhat different - I refuse to believe that Lois Lane was as much of an idiot as she's made to seem, not to mention the rest of Metropolis."

"You got it." Tara fiddled with the controls. "There - Daily Planet, the year after he got married. We should show up in a supply closet, so with any luck no one will see us."

"And with any luck, we'll be able to get back," Pam chimed in. "Because I don't know what we'd do for a living back then, and eventually I'd miss my boyfriend."

"Relax, kiddo." Chris grinned. "We'd set up shop as inventors somewhere."

"And we could get to see Superman fly," Pam commented, getting into the spirit of things.

"And watch Babylon 5 as it was broadcast," Chris added, excited by the prospect.

"Yeah, and we could 'predict' events, and everyone would think we were geniuses..."

"Well, we are geniuses," Chris joked in a pompous tone.

Tara watched her friends in tolerant disgust. "Guys... calm down. If this works at all, it will work both ways. We are not going to be stuck there."

They looked almost disappointed for a moment before Chris perked up. "But we could visit for a little while."

"Well, of course," Pam agreed happily. "No reason we couldn't stay for a little while - maybe an episode or two..."

Tara rolled her eyes heavenward. "You guys are crazy," she muttered in a familiar complaint.

Pam grinned. "True, but you're still hanging around with us - what does that make you?"

"Our mature influence," Chris laughed.

"Well, you need someone sensible around," Tara replied, unfazed by the teasing. "Now, are we ready?"

"Yes, ma'am." Pam dashed off a snappy salute, setting off another round of giggles before she and Chris calmed down and got back into position. Chris doublechecked some connectors on her side of the time engine, then nodded to Tara, who flipped the main switch.

A weird, undulating glow briefly filled the room, then died as a shower of sparks flew from the time engine. The three experimenters stepped back from the now-smoking engine.

"Rats," Tara muttered, stepping forward and waving smoke away, trying to discover the failure.

"Rats," Pam echoed loudly. "Nothing happened. I really thought it might work this time."

"Ah..." Chris emitted a strangled noise. "I think it did. Sort of. Look."

The two students looked where she was pointing, and felt their jaws drop. Standing on the far side of the lab, wearing 1990's style clothing and very confused expressions, were two reporters for a great metropolitan newspaper.

Chapter 2 - Introductions

Tara was the first to recover from the shock. "Ohmigod. You're Lois Lane, and I'd bet anything that you're Clark Kent. Oh god, I'm gonna disappear any second now."

Lois frowned at this non sequitur, and demanded angrily, "Where am I, and what's going on?"

Her partner, however, was merely looking puzzled. "Clark," he murmured, as if testing out the word. "Yes, I guess that sounds right. I really don't remember." He flashed a charming grin that had Pam gripping a table to stay upright.

Lois glared at him. "Don't admit that. You don't know what they're up to, you can't trust them!"

Chris finally regained her voice, although it was still unsteady. "Um, well, you can, really. Hi, I'm Chris Mulhaney, this is Tara, and Pam. We've just had an unexpected result from an experiment, but we can fix it," she reassured them hastily. "I'm sure we can fix it. It just might take a little time. A couple of hours, max."

"Um, yeah," Pam managed to agree. "I think I know what happened, actually. Should be simple enough to fix."

"It worked one way, it'll work the other way," Tara assented fervently. "I'll work on this as if my life depended on it, believe me."

Chris put on her best reassuring smile. "We'll get things under control in no time. But in the meantime, I think you'll be more comfortable in the lounge, down the hall. Pam, could you show them the way?"

"Good idea," Pam nodded. "I'll even give you money for the vending machines."

Clark and Lois inspected the three women for a long moment, then Clark nodded slowly. "That seems reasonable." He gestured for Lois to preceed him towards the indicated door. She hesitated, glaring at everyone, but slowly acquiesed. Pam scurried to the door to open it for them and lead them down the hall.

Chapter 3 - Getting to Know You

"...so that's the machines, here's the money, there's a couch and a kitchenette... if you need anything, just yell down the hall, we'll hear you - it's Saturday so no one else is in the building." Pam rattled off, breathless from excitement.

"Thanks, Pam," Clark smiled. She smiled back, a little too brightly, and fled back to the lab.

Lois wandered around the room, inspecting everything. "I want to know what their game is."

"I don't know," Clark shrugged. "They seem to be what they say they are."

"Some scientists whose experiment went a little ca-ca," Lois summed up, skeptically.

"Where do you get those expressions?" He sat down on the sofa, stretching out.

"I don't know," she answered, testily. "See, that's the problem. I don't remember my name, I don't remember where I'm supposed to be, I just know it isn't *here*." She kicked the end of the sofa for emphasis. "Maybe I should get out of here and have a look around."

"Well, I think we should wait here at least a while. Give them a chance to fix things. No need to rush into anything."

She eyed him suspiciously. "And why should I stick around with you, anyway? Maybe you're part of this, in some convoluted way..."

"I'm not." He assured her with a sincere expression. "We should stay together because, well, we just should. And we should wait here for a while to get more information, so we can get a plan, and not just go charging off."

"A plan," she scoffed, standing near the door. "I can come up with a hundred plans."

"Good," he replied, unperturbed. "You do that. We might need them later."

She snorted, but after a moment's hesitation, she wandered back further into the lounge area, and sat next to Clark on the sofa. "All right. I'll stick around for the time being, but only because you obviously could use the help," she explained magnamaniously.

He smiled. "Thanks."

Chapter 4 - Overreacting

"Oh god, I'm gonna disappear."

"Tara, could you stop saying that?" Chris inquired with gritted teeth. "You are not going to disappear."

"You've got my ancestors down the hall, Prof," Tara moaned. "If they're taken out of history, then poof! I cease to exist."

"No, you don't," Pam contradicted as she re-entered the lab. "If you were going to, then you would have already. There's no delay here, any permanent changes would register immediately. You're not gone, so you're not going to be gone."

"Exactly," Chris concurred. "I've been thinking about this. We haven't seen any changes--"

"Or at least if we have, we haven't noticed them; we might be in a new world and just *think* it's the one we're used to," Pam pointed out helpfully, and shrugged at Chris' look of mild disgust. "It's possible, you know."

"Well, even so, Tara is still here. So that suggests that even though we've taken Clark and Lois out of history, we can put them back where they belong. In fact, we already have."

"I'm sorry, I don't find that reassuring," Tara replied. "It's not your life on the line, here."

"Sure it is," Chris stated. "If Superman never had kids, all of history would be radically changed, and that includes all of us. Since we remember him, it all happened."

Tara looked less than convinced by that argument, and Pam decided to turn the conversation to more practical matters. "Well, enough about theory. Let's fix this thing so we can send them back; that'll solve our problem. Tara, I'm thinking we need to reverse the polarity, since it sort of worked in reverse..."

She moved towards the time engine, and after a brief pause, Tara joined her, concentrating solely on the technical problem at hand.

Chapter 5 - Sweet Nothings

Lois swung her leg moodily as she sat, hunched forward, on the lounge's only couch. "Why are you so cheerful?"

Clark opened one eye from his reclining position on the other side of the couch. "I don't know, actually," he admitted. "It's just that this seems like some sort of vacation."

"Not to me. What are they doing down there?"

"We'll find out soon enough, I'm sure. In the meantime... why borrow trouble?"

She snorted, but after a moment's silence she shrugged and turned to face him. "Alright, I'll try to relax. And I am curious - do you think we know each other?"

"Well..." he hesitated. "I think so." He sat up straighter, assuming a more serious expression. "You seem familiar to me, somehow."

"You too," she admitted, almost shyly, unconsciously leaning forwards. "So you think we're... friends?"

"I hope so," he replied, moving slightly closer to her. "If we're not, we ought to be. Friends, I mean."

His face was now too close for her to see all of it comfortably, so she settled for focusing on his lips. Nervously, she licked her own lips, and was rewarded by a soft gasp from him that boosted her confidence. "Or maybe," she purred, "maybe more than friends?"

"There's no way to know," he replied, thoroughly distracted from the conversation. He leaned forward, intending to complete the incipent kiss.

Abruptly she jerked away, becoming aware of what was going on. She flushed bright red as she realized how she'd been behaving, and that brought him to his senses as well.

"Geez, I'm sorry, Lois, I don't know what came over me." He stood, and began pacing, while she remained seated, her head down until she had control of herself once more.

"It's alright," she reassured him, keeping her voice steady through a concerted effort of will. "It was just a chemistry thing, nobody's to blame. We'll just have to be more careful, that's all."

"Right. Strictly business."

"Right."

Chapter 6 - Interviews

A knock on the lounge door broke the tense silence. After a moment, the door opened, and Chris entered, smiling nervously. "Hello again... doing alright in here?"

"Fine," Lois smiled brightly.

"Fine," Clark concurred. "How are things going on your end?"

"Pam and Tara think they've got things figured out, and they're working to correct them now. They said it would be a little while yet before they were done, so I thought I'd let you know that." The older woman's smiling reassurance had a calming effect.

"So what sort of machine is it they're working on?" Lois inquired with a forced indifference.

"Well, it's a time machine, actually," Chris admitted with a smile. "We weren't sure it would work at all, but then when it did, it didn't work the way we thought it would. Instead of us going back in time, you two were pulled forward."

"A-ha," Lois muttered. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"So where or when did you plan to travel?" Clark asked intently. "Because I can't remember the first thing about myself, and I've got to tell you, it's disconcerting."

Lois glared at him again, but refrained from further scolding.

"Oh," Chris said, surprised. "I didn't realize... how weird! I don't know what I should tell you, then. Well, we mentioned your names, already." She paused, thinking furiously. "You two are reporters, in fact you're partners a lot of the time, but I don't think I should tell you any more."

"That's it?" Lois demanded, her voice rising. "Who are you to decide what we should know and what we shouldn't?"

Clark held out a restraining hand. "Lois, she's just being careful."

Chris moved just the slightest bit closer to Clark, keeping a watchful eye on Lois. "You'll be fine, Lois, I promise. We know you get back to where you belong... because, well, you're kind of famous; if you were missing from history the change would be noticed. So we know you'll get back okay."

Lois looked somewhat mollified. "I don't suppose you'll tell me what I'm so famous for?"

"Ah, no," Chris affirmed hastily. "Nope, can't risk disrupting the space-time continuum and all that... well, um, I've got to get back to the lab, see you soon, bye..." Still talking, she let herself out of the lounge.

Chapter 7 - Analysis

As the lounge door closed, Lois, still looking faintly smug, looked over at Clark. "So, what do you think?"

"She was telling the truth," he replied absently. "Otherwise, her pulse rate would have been higher."

Lois frowned. "How could you tell her pulse rate?"

He shrugged. "I just watched the vein in her throat, and zeroed in to listen. No big deal."

The frown deepened to a scowl. "You're making that up. I can't do that."

"You can't?" He seemed surprised. "Are you sure? Try it on me."

With only a trace of a blush, she focused intently on his neck, but after a moment she looked away, disgusted. "Nope, all I can hear is the snack machine humming."

"Oh." Clark looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, like I said, it's no big deal."

Chapter 8 - Try, Try Again

"No, I think the switch has to be set to the top position," Pam argued.

Tara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It has to be set at the bottom position, Pam. Otherwise, the capacitor won't charge properly, and we'll have another short-out. See?"

Pam studied the area indicated. "Oh, right," she said, in a tone of dawning understanding. "Yeah, I see it now; you're right. I'm glad you caught that. Sometimes I get confused when we get down to the circuit level."

"Well, you're better than I am on the theory," Tara pointed out, willing to give credit where it was due.

"Cut the lovefest, already," Chris commented good-naturedly, re-entering the lab. "Is it ready to try yet?"

"In another 15 minutes, maybe," Tara opined.

Pam looked at her advisor in sympathy. "How'd you do, talking to legends?"

"It was, it was... wow." Chris paced the lab, infused with nervous energy. "But there's one thing a little weird. They don't seem to remember who they are."

"They don't?" Tara looked up in alarm. "You don't think it's permanent, do you?"

"Hmm," Pam commented absently, "they did seem more than naturally confused when they showed up..."

"I was thinking, though - you know that when I was looking for the plans, I dug up every reference to the time travels that I could find, right?"

Pam nodded. "I saw some of the stacks you went through, and I know now more than ever - research is not the job for me."

Chris ignored the interjection. "And most of the legends surrounding Clark's earliest time travel adventure say that when it was over, they both forgot about it. They remembered it later, but the time travel itself had some sort of amnesiac effect. Maybe that's what's at work here."

Tara looked skeptical. "So we're supposed to assume that when they get back to their own time, they'll remember everything again?"

"I think so," Chris nodded. "They may even forget this whole episode, but I don't want to count on it, so let's not tell them anything, okay?"

Pam shrugged. "Suits me. And I guess even if they don't remember on their own, once they get back, they'll have lots of people around to remind them of things..."

"Oh yeah?" Tara was back at work on the machine. "Someone's going to remind them they're in love, and to have kids and lay the groundwork for Utopia?"

Chris smiled. "I don't know that they'll need that much reminding..."

Chapter 9 - Aren't You Special?

"So you just stare at something, and it comes into focus?" Lois asked.

Clark shrugged. "Basically. I can't describe it other than that."

"Okay, then..." She picked a spot on the far wall of the lounge and stared. After a few moments, she squinted. Finally, she shook her head in disgust. "It's not working, I can't do it. All I can see is the wall, same as ever."

"Really? Huh." Clark seemed puzzled by her failure.

"Maybe I should wear your glasses," she suggested.

"I don't think so," he disagreed, taking them off. "They don't help. Actually, they get in the way more than anything; I can't figure out why I wear them."

Lois examined his newly naked face. "Oh, I don't know - you look awfully cute in them, maybe that's why. Not that you don't look good without them", she added hastily.

"Anything to make you happy," he declared, putting the glasses back on.

She looked self-conscious, and hurried to change the subject. "Okay, so what do *you* see when you look at that wall?"

He turned to look, pulling the glasses halfway down his nose, and reported "I can see that the paint is chipping, and that it used to be painted cream-colored instead of green. And... whoa!" He fell silent, frowning.

"What is it?"

"I think I can see the wiring - like, inside the wall!"

"Really?" Lois was intrigued, glancing back and forth between the still-solid wall and Clark, trying to discern what muscles he was using.

"Yeah, and insulation, and... now I think I'm seeing outside the wall - there's an empty room, looks like a class room-"

"Well, they did say we were in a college building, so that's not too much of a stretch." Lois pointed out.

"And beyond that there's a lawn, and some kids playing on a swing set."

"Man, I wish I could do that." Lois seemed depressed. "I must be handicapped or something."

That startled him, and he turned to face her again, pushing up his glasses and blinking automatically to correct his focus. "What? No, I don't think so."

"Well, I certainly can't do that seeing through walls trick!" she pointed out reasonably.

"Yeah," he allowed reluctantly, "but I'm sure there are things that you can do that I can't. We just have to discover them."

"Oh, don't patronize me," she snapped, but she looked rather pleased regardless.

"I assure you I hold you in the highest respect," he avowed.

She smiled sassily, stepping closer to him. "And how do you know that, hmm? Oh, god, I'm doing the flirting thing again." Her smile dropped away, but she didn't move, gazing up into his eyes. "Why do you suppose I keep doing that?"

He grinned. "I don't know, but I like it."

She rolled her eyes. "Typical male."

"No, really," he persisted, more seriously. "We obviously don't remember any of the facts about our lives, but some things remain. I mean, we still know English, for one thing - and pretty good English, too, so maybe we are writers. And maybe," his voice dropped seductively, and he reached out to loop his arms around her waist, pulling her close enough that their bodies touched "maybe feelings remain, too."

She smiled uncertainly, bringing her own arms up to rest on his broad chest. "I do seem to have feelings for you," she admitted, dropping her gaze to his shirt button. "But I don't think we should do anything about it, not until we know what our real relationship is. I mean, look, we're both wearing wedding rings--"

"So maybe we're married to each other," he suggested, lifting her chin with his finger and leaning down until their foreheads touched.

She tilted her head back far enough to see him clearly. "And maybe we're married to other people."

He sighed, and stepped back, releasing her. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We just don't know."

"And until we do," she concluded unhappily, "we shouldn't do anything we might regret later."

Chapter 10 - Dithering

"What if this doesn't work?" Pam asked contemplatively, as she and Tara finished their modifications.

"You just convinced me that it *would* work," Tara retorted. "Don't go changing your story now."

"What do you mean, kiddo?" Chris asked in concern.

"Well, it's nothing concrete, and I'm probably just borrowing trouble. But we obviously don't have this all figured out yet, and I just want to cover all the bases. So I'm thinking, maybe we ought to try it just on Clark first. He's indestructable, right? so it couldn't hurt to just try it on him first..."

"Then again," Chris pointed out, "he's essential to our history; his descendants made Utopia possible. He's irreplacable. Lois, on the other hand..." she hesitated. "Well, he could still have children without her."

"Yeah, but they wouldn't be the same children," Tara replied, "and I'm afraid I have a stake in that."

Pam shook her head. "The more I think about it, the more I regret I brought it up. I don't think we can make this decision."

Chapter 11 - Shall We Dance?

The door from the hall swung open, and Lois and Clark reflexively moved further away from each other. Tara's smile faltered as she took that in. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?"

"Nope, not at all," Clark smiled broadly to cover his guilty reaction.

"Interrupt? Us?" Lois laughed, her voice unnaturally high. "Of course not, don't be silly. Isn't she being silly, Clark?"

"Silly, definitely," he nodded, forcing a laugh and waving a finger in the air for emphasis. "That would be the word."

"Absolutely," she agreed brightly. "So," she abruptly switched to a more serious, almost pleading expression. "Do you have any news for us?"

Tara smiled uncertainly, unsure what to make of this performance. "Um... yeah! Yeah, we do, actually. It's all fixed up and ready to go."

"Great!" Lois headed for the door, and Tara jumped to get out of her way. "Well, what are you waiting for, let's go!"

Clark shrugged an apology to Tara and quickly followed his partner down the hall. Tara took one more look around the room in puzzlement, then left, shutting the door behind her.

Chapter 12 - Into the Mist

"So, you're sure this thing is fixed?" Lois asked the moment she re-entered the lab. Clark and Tara trailed into the room in her wake.

"Yes, absolutely, it's definitely fixed... although..." Pam's voice trailed off.

"Although?" Lois prompted impatiently.

"Well, we haven't tested it, so it *could* be dangerous." she admitted reluctantly.

Clark frowned. "Just send me then." He stepped into the re-worked containment radius.

"Clark!" Lois glared at him. "What are you doing?"

"It could be dangerous, Lois," he said firmly. "And I don't want you hurt."

She considered this for a split second, then stepped forward to join him. "Sorry. You're not going anywhere without me." He looked as if he might argue this, but she grabbed him and kissed him before he could get a word in.

It was such a thorough kiss that it took Tara a few seconds to hit the switch. The weird glow once again filled the room, and when it cleared, the visitors from the past were gone.

Chapter 13 - All Better

In the Daily Planet second floor supply room, Lois and Clark materialized, still wrapped in a warm embrace. As they finally disengaged, Lois leaned back with a dreamy smile on her face. "I've been waiting hours to do that..." A perplexed look crossed her face. "Clark..."

"What, honey?" He was distracted, looking around with a vaguely puzzled air.

"I don't know. I just felt... weird, for a second there, like I didn't know you."

"I felt... something,'" he agreed. "I couldn't say what, though."

Lois lost interest in the subject. "Well, I'm sure if it were dangerous, we'll find out soon enough. In the meantime...". Her eyes sparkled as she lifted her face to invite another kiss, which he smilingly gave.

Chapter 14 - Watching the Watchers

In the hall outside the second floor Daily Planet supply room, Pam eavesdropped shamelessly and with a big smile on her face. Motioning to her compatriots, she led the way down the hall to the copy room, where they could more easily blend in with Planet employees.

"It worked!" she exulted quietly. "They're back, they're fine, they don't remember a thing about us!"

"We are so lucky," Tara emphasized. "Do you realize how disastrous this could have been? We have to destroy this time machine, it's just too dangerous."

"You're right," Chris agreed solemnly. Then she broke into a grin. "But since we're here now, we have to find a tv!"

Pam grinned broadly in response. "I brought money for a hotel, and we can get a TVGuide in the lobby!"

Tara shook her head, and her friends chorused along as she pronounced: "You guys are crazy!"

The End