"Wait! I have to explain something, Ms Lane," interrupted Dean. If this Lois Lane was anything like the one his partner was used to playing, he had to get a word in edgewise here before she started babbling uncontrollably.

"Somehow (I really don’t understand how this works), some of what you have experienced as real life, I have acted out on my TV show. I knew about the blackmailers and Jason Mazik & the diary of Tempus because that story was our second season finale. I would like to avoid telling you anything about your future, but for all I know, my being here is going to change your future from episodes in your life that I’ve already been in, so maybe it won’t make any difference anyway.

"You see, at the very end of our second season, after Lois has - er, you have recovered from the effects of being frozen and thawed, she goes for a walk in Centennial Park with Clark. And he proposes to her. We didn’t know how she - er, you - were going to react, so we actually filmed three different endings for that episode."

"Well, gee! I don’t know how I would react either. But if Clark tried proposing to me, and kept a secret like the fact that he’s Superman, too, from me, one thing I do know is that I’d be -"

"Mad?" Dean spoke the word at the same time as Lois.

"Yes, mad, very mad! How could you - I mean, he, expect me to agree to spend my whole life with him, if I didn’t know everything about him?"

"Now wait a moment," Dean interrupted again, "I’m not married, but I do know that you don’t necessarily know everything about a person before you marry them. That’s part of what a marriage is about: learning about each other intimately."

"Intimately?"

"Well, yes. I mean, well, maybe Clark did make a mistake in not telling you first, but well, it has certainly led to some interesting conversations as a result. I mean, it will for you. I mean - oh hell, I don’t know what I mean! Anyway don’t you remember? Hasn’t Clark been trying to tell you something really really important these last few weeks, but he keeps getting called away. Argh! these tenses are getting so confusing! I don’t know what will be in his mind when he proposes to you before telling you the secret. I think if I had truly been in his position, I would have done the easier thing first - proposed, that is, and planned on telling you the secret straight afterward. But I can tell you that in my universe’s version of this story, you already knew already anyway."

"Excuse me? I’m getting confused. You’re saying that Clark will propose to me without telling me he’s Superman, but that I already know? Well, I certainly know now! And what was that about having filmed different endings to the season finale?"

Dean explained, haltingly, and mixing his tenses wildly, how the writers had allowed for three different endings to the season finale, where in one, Lois had said yes, in another she had said no and in the third she had not said anything, but just looked surprised.

"But then how did you know that I knew Clark’s secret?" Lois asked. She seemed to have realised that she had to take this whole series of events in her stride. Perhaps later she would have a moment to go gibberingly mad over the whole thing.

"We’ve already started filming the fourth season, Lois," explained Dean. "I already know what your response is going to be. I think that’s what I meant when I said that this is sort of like time travel, as well as dimensional travel. I know that when you tell Clark that you can’t marry him yet because the revelation is a bit too much of a hurdle for you, he is going to get all pouty and upset. He’s not quite like me, because when you say ‘No, not yet,’ he’ll only hear the "no" and ignore the "not yet".

"What do you mean, "he’s not quite like you"? You two certainly look the same! And believe me," Lois admitted, "I’ve done some looking." Suddenly she blushed at this confession.

Being the TV star he was, Dean was used to being ogled by women, but this was different. He was used to working with Teri Hatcher, who was considered (on his world, at least) one of the world’s sexiest women. But Teri was married, and was therefore off-limits. Lois Lane, on the other hand, was neither married, nor he suspected, if he really pushed, off limits. ‘This could get interesting,’ said a small part of his brain. ‘Shaddap,’ he told that part of his brain. ‘This woman has just had a series of shocks to her system, and she doesn’t need that sort of treatment!’

"That reminds me Lois, something I wanted to ask you..." Dean broke off there. He had been about to ask Lois what it was like to actually have super powers, but he quickly realised that Ultra-Woman was in this Lois’ future, and he really didn’t want to spoil everything for her. He had to change tacks fast!

"Um, would you like to see my time-machine?" He groaned aloud at the way that line sounded.

"Is there a problem, Dean?" Lois was concerned now.

Dean grinned disarmingly at Lois. "Why is it that when I’m writing scripts for this show, I never have difficulty writing for these characters, I feel like I understand them, but when I’m actually supposed to be Clark, I sound so corny?"

"Hang on a moment, I thought you said you were an actor?"

"Well, yes, but I’m also a writer and I want to get into directing, and I’ve actually written two scripts for ‘Lois & Clark’ that have been produced."

"‘Lois and Clark,’ eh? That’s what the show is called? Not just ‘Superman’? I like the sound of that!" Lois smiled.

"Well," explained Dean, the show is supposed to be about the relationship between the two of us, er... I mean you, I mean..."

"Don’t worry, I think I understand." Lois interrupted. "So, we actually do have a relationship, do we?" To Dean’s surprise, Lois put her hand on his knee.

"Um, Lois?!" his voice broke disconcertingly. "What are you doing? I’ve just told you that you’re going to be proposed to by Clark, and that you guys are supposed to be having a rel- relationship," he stuttered, "and you - you do understand I’m not him, don’t you?"

Lois, for her part, was feeling quite dazed. The doctors had given her some medication since she had been snap frozen and thawed, and the pills were having quite an effect on her. She found her mind going off on all sorts of odd tangents. She wondered to herself whether this Dean person was as like Superman and Clark as he appeared. She wondered whether Clark (her Clark, she thought with a mental giggle) had given any thought to sex with her, and whether making love with him would be different for her than it was with a human. Whether he planned to prepare her for this, or if she was just supposed to find out on her wedding night? She wondered to herself whether or not the suit would or could come off. Then she noticed that Clark ... er... Dean, she corrected herself, was looking at her with those puppy dog eyes that both men shared, and that he seemed quite concerned, waiting for her response.

"Sure I do, Honey," Despite the little thrill that went through him at being called Honey by someone as beautiful and sexy as Lois was, Dean suddenly noticed that Lois’ voice was slurred; she almost sounded a little like Teri playing Wanda Detroit. "But I’ve always wondered how that suit comes off, and what it would be like to make love to Superman, and you’re about the closest I’m likely to get, right?"

"No! No, wait! Lois, this isn’t right!" Dean jumped up off the sofa, and moved swiftly to the other side of the room. Lois slumped down into the sofa as soon as her support was gone. Dean moved back to her again, and helped her up. Sitting on his heels before her, he looked at her carefully, and realised that there was something wrong. "Lois? Are you alright?"

She stared at him vacantly, and not quite knowing what to do, he found her bathroom (thinking to himself, ‘Ah, this place really does have a bathroom, does it?’) and went to wet a face cloth to help bring Lois to her senses. On the cabinet, Dean noticed a bottle of pills and looking more closely at the label, realised that Lois must have taken some of these drugs. "Lois?" He called from the bathroom.

"Wh..." she murmured.

Coming back out into the living room with the damp face cloth, Dean asked Lois what the pills were. The face cloth helped to make her a little more alert and she explained that the doctors had given her the drugs, but that given what had happened, they weren’t entirely sure how she would react to them. Suddenly she realised what she had been doing, and sat up straighter.

"Oh god, oh god, I didn’t imagine that did I? I really was coming onto you a bit strong, wasn’t I, Dean? Oh god, I’m so sorry. I guess these drugs have taken away my inhibitions! Oh god, I didn’t say that out loud, did I?"

"Lois," interrupted Dean. "Don’t worry about it. You obviously need to rest. Why don’t you go lie down till you’re feeling a bit better and then we can work out what I’m going to do with myself."

Lois looked at Dean, sitting there in the Superman suit, and realised that he had come to her, because he simply didn’t know where else to turn. It made her feel as caring (maternal? she thought with a small surprise) as she had ever felt in her life. Something about Clark/Superman/Dean seemed to bring that out in her, she supposed.

"Sure. Why don’t you, um, make yourself at home here. Fix yourself something to eat. These drugs are really getting to me. I don’t know how long I’m going to sleep for, but I feel tired enough to sleep forever. I’ll get you a spare pillow, and you can sleep too if you want."

Dean looked at Lois questioningly, and she started, realising what the look meant. "On the sofa! On the sofa!"

‘Darn!’ thought Dean, with a grin to himself.

Late in the night, Dean woke, again, just after drifting off. He wasn’t sleeping well, and the knowledge that he had to be lucid the next day wasn’t helping. "Damn!" he swore softly, punching his pillow again. His body was so aware of the beautiful woman asleep in the bedroom, and he knew it wasn’t right to do what he was considering, but he found himself getting up, and padding barefoot from the living room to Lois’ room. ‘I’m just checking up on her,’ he tried to convince himself. But when he saw her asleep in that bed, totally dead to the world, he found the temptation of the bed (not the woman!) too great. ‘I’m so tired, that I’m sure to sleep like a log too. It won’t disturb her sleep if I just lie on top of the covers, surely!’ Almost without thought, he found himself lying next to Lois, and drifting off to sleep. His last conscious thought was something along the lines of ‘If my friends could see me now!’

"Dean!" screamed Teri. "What’s happening?" They could hear people screaming and shouting below them. It was obvious that the whole contraption was out of control. Then just as suddenly as the upward movement had begun, it stopped. Teri looked at Clark and with an expression of sheer relief buried her head in his shoulder. She sobbed audibly. "That was not fun," she whispered. "Please hold on till they get us down from here."

"My pleasure," replied Clark, almost a little too quickly. Having decided to keep his true identity a secret, he was surprised at how quickly his deception had almost ended!

He was now suspending them in the air, the harness still attached, but the ropes not supporting his body. To the observers below, the cable failsafe mechanism had saved them. However the operator of the harness knew differently. He had been unable to control the upward journey and was amazed when the pair had stopped their ascent. He could also see the slackness in the cable above them. Those two were being suspended in the air by something other than that new, wonderfully unique cable.

Clark was concerned about the harness anyway after the almost-emergency, and took the opportunity of Teri not looking to have a closer look. What he saw horrified him. The entire rope system was under too much sudden stress and was about to fail. How could he get out of this with no-one the wiser to his identity?

Fate came to his aid, for as the harness ropes began to split and separate, one of the counter-weights attached to the end of one of the ropes swung suddenly upwards. The only technician near enough to see what was actually happening up there, took the brunt of the flying counter-weight and was knocked from his platform 10 feet in the air down to the sound-stage floor! Clark was able to secretly use his powers to cushion the man’s impact in such a way that when he landed it was gently and onto a pile of unused ropes, so that the landing was not as bad as it might otherwise have been. Then mechanism housing the pulley system at the top of the cable decided that it’s job was complete, and as all the ropes in pulleys raced down to follow the technician, Clark realised that he was the only thing between Teri Hatcher and a similar demise! He had no choice but to use his powers to save her, and so, hoping that in the confusion that was occurring down below no-one would think to ask how the rescue was achieved, he flew himself and Teri to the lately evacuated platform.

As he deposited Teri on her feet, and indicated that they should climb the ladder down to the sound-stage floor, he watched the emotions playing over her face, so clearly. She moved from bafflement to disbelief to wonder. Clark could almost see Teri’s brain ticking over. Neither of them said a word about what had just occurred. As they neared the ground, Clark and Teri became aware of the situation down there. The technician had been surrounded by medical officers. Despite his soft(ish) landing, the man was unconcious. Clark checked him out and found no concussion, and realised that the man must have fainted! The baffled doctors came to much the same conclusion but suggested that he should be taken to a nearby hospital for observation until at least the next day.

By then, Clark and Teri had reached the floor, and they were approached by another medical officer. Teri appeared to be in shock; she was pale and her hands were shaking. Although the doctors could not find anything specific wrong with her, they suggested to the director and crew that given that the harness was unusable until it could be repaired, and that call-sheet for the remainder of the day required only flying scenes, which meant that the whole day was a write-off, Teri and "Dean" should also be given the rest of the day off.

Clark offered to drive Teri back to her home, and quietly led her towards his trailer, where he could get out of the costume and back into Dean’s clothes.

As soon as they were out of earshot of the rest of the crew, Teri placed a restraining hand on Clark’s arm.

"What happened back there...? Did I imagine it in the confusion?"

Stalling for time, Clark replied with a question of his own. "What did you think happened up there, Teri?"

Teri paused, trying to find the right words to describe something which she had always known was impossible.

"You... you aren’t who I thought you were, are you? You’ve been behaving oddly all day. What is going on here?"

Clark realised that he needed to come clean at least to this one person, with whom he was going to have to be working rather closely.

"You’re right. I’m not Dean Cain," he began bluntly, hoping to get this revelation (at least) over as quickly as possible. He declared quietly, "I’m Superman."

"Ohmigod!" Teri gasped, and promptly reacted to all the shocks of the day by fainting.

Much later, Lois began to drift towards consciousness, aware of another warm body beside hers. Still fuzzy-minded because of the drugs, she glanced over to see who was there, and was most pleasantly surprised to find Superman sleeping soundly next to her, wearing not much more than his underwear. She didn’t recall much of the previous night’s events at first, and couldn’t believe her luck! She decided that didn’t want to know what he was doing there, but she couldn’t resist the opportunity to kiss him lightly on the forehead.

Dean turned over with a mumble too low to decipher and, much to Lois’ delight, he wrapped her in his arms, and fell deeper asleep. Lois had no idea what was going on, but she was thrilled. Her body began to betray her and she couldn’t resist snuggling up closer to the man of her dreams. Wrapped in a man’s arms for the first time in many years, her body still knew what to do and began to respond to his warmth and presence. But the drugs were still in control of her body. Soon Lois, comforted and contented, drifted off to sleep again.

Eventually the night began to turn to day, and with the first sounds of traffic, on the street outside, Dean began to awaken. He was so surprised to find himself cuddled up close to Lois that he sat up, startling Lois into wakefulness too.

"Wha -?!" they both exclaimed at the same time. Dean grabbed for the sheets to cover himself just as Lois did the same thing.

The events of the previous afternoon and evening rushed back into Lois’ mind with a forcefulness that made her shut her eyes and hold her temples.

"Lois? Are you alright?" Dean was worried.

"I’m fine." She was short-tempered because of the headache she just knew was about to attack her. "Dean, isn’t it? You wouldn’t believe the dream I had last night."

"Actually, Lois, given what’s been happening to me recently, I think I would."

Getting off the bed, Dean went to the bathroom and came back with some Tylenol and a glass of water. Lois looked at him gratefully, before swallowing the medicine in one gulp. Then she motioned that he should leave the room to let her get dressed. Dean headed back to the living room and was standing looking at his suit with distaste, wondering what he should do about getting some clean clothes, when Lois followed him out there, now in her schlumpy robe, and realised what he was thinking.

"Well, first things first, I guess we have to get you some clothes to wear, since you aren’t Superman, Dean. I can get into Clark’s apartment and get some clothes for you, but I don’t think you should be seen in public until I get out there and back. While I’m gone, you’d better call Perry and tell him that neither of us can make it into the office today?"

"Wait, Lois, what are we going to be doing today then? Can you take time off work that easily?"

"Oh, that’s not a problem. I’m due a lot of holiday - I just never seem to need to take time off, and Perry’s been on my back about that recently, so I don’t think he’ll mind if I don’t turn up today. As for what we’re going to do, well, I thought you wanted some help getting home? And I know I want to see Superman back where he belongs!"

"And Clark too, I suppose?"

"What, does everyone on your planet read minds?"

"Well, not really. But it was fairly obvious which way your mind was headed, Lois."

"Anyway, Dean, my plan for getting you back where you belong hinges mainly on working out how the machine works that brought you here. You - er Superman, that is, told me that you had kept the plans for the machine that he drew up in a safe place. You wouldn’t happen to know where that might be, since you know him so well?"

"The plans? You mean you expect them to actually work?" Dean was very surprised.

"Well? And why not?" Lois was bemused. "The machine that brought you here worked didn’t it? Why shouldn’t it work again, once we understand how to control it?"

"But the machine is only a prop," Dean explained. "How can it possibly work? It isn’t real!"

"Not on this world, Dean... It must be very strange on your world, but here, we don’t have to understand how everything works, we just accept it."

"Hmm," mused Dean. "I suppose you’re right. In my world, we wouldn’t accept a person walking around in this suit," he touched the spandex suit on the sofa,"let alone flying around in it!"

"Speaking of which, I’m sure you don’t want to sit around in your underwear all day. I’ll go get you some of Clark’s clothes, and we’ll get to work on getting you home, eh?"

"Um, yeah. While you’re out, I’ll cook us some breakfast and ring Perry." Dean wondered where he might find the number for the Planet, but assumed that he’d be able to find it somewhere.

"Cook? Breakfast? Wow! what a treat!" Lois thought that this man may not have been her Superman or the Clark she knew so well, but he certainly was talented! "If you know the way Clark thinks so well, you might also like to think about where Clark may have stored the plans, too."

With that Lois headed for the bathroom and a quick shower before leaving for Clark’s apartment.

While Lois was gone, Dean took the opportunity to look around Lois’ place. He knew that even if he couldn’t make Teri believe what was happening to him, he’d still be able to offer some very useful input into her character depiction, even if it was only in the next episode he wrote for the series. He was fascinated to learn what Lois’ interests were in music. And he smiled broadly when he discovered her stash of basic cookbooks. It had always surprised him that Lois, knowing her weakness in this area, didn’t appear to have done anything to gain more skill in the kitchen. Maybe she was just waiting for the right man to cook for! In the kitchen, he also found that the pantry was well stocked, as was the refrigerator, so he had no problems making a healthy and filling breakfast for two.

Given the schedule he’d been keeping at home, he decided to treat this time as a bit of holiday, and despite the need to get home hanging over his head, he thought he would take it easy.

As Dean wandered through the apartment, he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to call Perry. He couldn’t find the number anywhere, and ended up having to call Information to be able to call the place he supposedly worked! But once that was out of the way, his thoughts turned to wondering where Clark would have hidden the plans to the time machine which he had built. Nothing had been said about a hiding place in the script that Dean had read from, but then suddenly it clicked! A hiding place? Of course! The secret compartment in his wardrobe. Where else would he have put it?

Dean called The Planet again, and got Lois’ mobile number and then called her, catching her just as she was about to leave Clark’s place.

"Lois, go back into Clark’s room and open the wardrobe. See the tie rack there? Remember what you told me about what I consider to be props actually working here? Pull down on the tie rack."

"Oh my god!"

"Lois? What is it?"

"It’s just..." Lois was momentarily lost for words, an amazing thing for Dean to witness, even by phone. "Well, if I ever needed proof that you were telling the truth about Clark and Superman being the same person, here it is! I can’t believe that he’d keep these suits here!"

"Lois! Lois!" Dean interrupted to stem the babbling before it really took off. "I need you to look around in there to find the plans for the time machine. That’s the only place apart from maybe Kansas that I can think of the Superman might hide them!"

"Kansas? Why would Superman hide anything in Kansas?"

"Smallville, Kansas, Lois... where his parents live - you know?"

"Oh my god! You mean that Jonathon and Martha Kent are also from Krypton?"

"Lois, no! Wait. Come back here when you find the plans and I’ll tell you what I can."

By this point, Dean just wanted to work on getting home. He was pretty much unconcerned about changing what would be the future for Lois, making it different from what he and Teri had played out in script form all those months ago. ‘And anyhow,’ that voice in his mind told him, ‘you don’t really know how much Lois was supposed to know, only that she had figured out - or been told - the secret before Clark got the chance to tell her before proposing to her.’

Dean’s thoughts were interrupted by Lois’s discovery of the plans that Clark had indeed hidden in the secret section of his closet.

"Dean? I don’t know about this... these plans look awfully complicated. I don’t know whether we’ll be able to build this machine by ourselves. Do you think we should get some help from Dr Klein at STAR Labs?"

"Lois, no, I’d rather not get anyone else involved in this unless I have to. I don’t want to change your future or anything like that. I don’t think Dr Klein knows the secret - at least not at this stage. But don’t worry anyway. I have my machine here - I just don’t know how to use it!"

"You have it here? Where?"

"I hid it in the alley-way behind the Daily Planet when I arrived. I’m hoping the plans will also have instructions on how to work it and how to set it so I can get back to my place again!"

Lois told Dean she would be back at her apartment with the clean clothes and the plans as soon as she could, and hung up the phone.