Again there was silence. Star sighed. "Ok, Clark. Looks like I will have to do it."
Suddenly a light shot down and enveloped Clark who was lifted into the air, and then dropped to the ground seconds later.
Lois rushed over to him. "Are you ok?" She helped him up.
He looked at her, and then kissed her. "I remember everything."
He hugged Star and Chloe. "Ok let's get this sorted."
"Jor-el…" he demanded. "You can end this now. Leave my father alone."
Jor-el finally replied. "It is not me who ends his life. I decided not to…"
"Who is it?" Clark asked in a panic.
"I do not know how things will play out." His Kryptonian father replied.
"Star, what can you remember?"
"I just saw Jonathan lying in your arms on the farm. It may not be his heart; maybe he is murdered." She explained.
Clark grabbed Lois. "Meet us at the Talon." He announced to Chloe and Star. " Don't let on that we know anything." He sped them home.
They arrived within seconds. He placed Lois down. "Lo, we need to let things play out how they should otherwise we may not find out who kills dad, meaning his life could be in danger in the future."
Lois nodded, and grabbed Clark's hand as they entered the Talon together. People were already starting to arrive even though the results had not been announced. There was a hopeful buzz around the room that Jonathan would be able to defeat Lex Luthor.
"Clark…" Jonathan shouted as he pushed through the crowd to see his son. "Are you and Lois ok?" He asked concerned.
"Yeah why wouldn't we be?" he asked, not aware his parents know about their time travel exploits.
"We know, Clark…" he whispered in his son's ear.
Clark stood back, and waited for the lecture. "Lois, you should hear this too." He announced resided to the fact.
"We can talk about it later. We are happy about it, but you do understand that there will be ground rules." Martha interrupted to calm Clark down.
Star and Chloe soon arrived. "Lois, I have been thinking… Let's go upstairs and I will probe your mind to see if we can find out what happens."
Lois agreed, and they headed upstairs whilst Clark and Chloe stayed with his parents to keep up the appearances of normality.
Star made a link almost immediately. She realised that Lois was with Clark at the Kent Farm, as the police milled around in the background.
"Well, at least, it is over now." Clark replied. "I just thought we had ended it 16 years ago. Hopefully this time!"
She noticed Martha, and then Jonathan sitting at the kitchen table in the background talking to the sheriff.
She came out of her trance, puzzled. "It looks like we have already changed history by being aware of what is going to happen. But something is not quite right and I cannot put my finger on it."
"Try again to see if you can see more." Lois suggested.
"I only got that snap shot and there was nothing else. To be honest this pregnancy is really affecting my abilities." Star replied. "I guess we are just going to have to wait and see what happens."
For the next few hours, they monitored the situation closely looking for any sign that something was amiss. His dad won the election race by a landslide and there was no indication of any problems with his heart.
When the celebrations, they all headed home but Clark was on a heightened state of alert because if anything was going to happen, it was going to happen at the farm. Even though Star had seen a flash-forward of Jonathan after his supposed death, she was convinced that something was going to happen.
There was a familiar figure waiting by the house when they pulled up. It was Lex, who was obviously drunk.
It all happened so fast that Clark could not stop his father from getting out of the car. "I will sort this!" Jonathan said as his father climbed out of the car. Clark scanned Lex, but he was not armed, so he calmed down a little and he scanned the surrounding area, and nothing.
"Lex, what can I do…" But before Jonathan could finish his sentence, a shot rang out in the air, and entered Jonathan's chest. It all happened too fast for Clark to react. His father collapsed into his arms, his breathing labored and his heart beat was failing…then after a few seconds, his heart stopped altogether. All attempts to revive him were futile.
He heard his mom sobbing uncontrollably next to him. Suddenly Clark felt his anger rise, as he needed to find the perpetrator. Lex was the obvious suspect but he was unarmed and he had passed out just as the shot rang out. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a figure into the distance speeding away through the nearby wood at super speed. He placed his father down, and gave chase.
The figure had stopped in the distance. Clark caught up with him.
"Brainiac! I thought we had destroyed you. Well prepare to be wiped out." Clark said as he charged him.
But he was brought to a sudden halt by a force field. He turned around to see Garth, Rokk and Imra standing next to him. "Kal-el. Let us deal with him. This is our mess and we will fix it." Imra said, trying to calm him down.
Rokk came up to him. "Take Jonathan Kent to the Fortress. Ask Jor-el for his help."
Clark acted immediately and swept back to the farm, before leaping into the air with his father. Martha and the rest of them were left wondering what was happening.
Clark gently placed his father on the console within the Fortress. "Jor-el, I need your help. Please save my father. You could take his life, so you must be able to revive him."
"Kal-el, my son. But there needs to be a balance in the universe, so if I save Jonathan Kent, someone else will have to lose their life."
"I cannot cope without him."
"But in the alternate universe you still reached your destiny." Jor-el announced.
"Let me rephrase it… I do not want to cope without him."
"There is another way…" Jor-el remarked.
"Take the Legion Ring." His father explained as the ring appeared in front of him. "It will take you back to seconds before Jonathan Kent is killed by Brainiac. You need to act fast to save him without anyone seeing you. You will then jump back here once you have stopped it to prevent any more time paradoxes."
Clark activated the ring, and found himself feet away from his father. He saw Brainiac speeding towards his father. He charged him with all the force he had, taking him into the spot in the woods where the Legion had appeared.
Seconds later they appeared. Clark shoved a dazed Brainiac towards him. "Deal with him, will you?"
Clark did not have a chance to see what was happening when he jumped back to the Fortress. He panicked when he noticed his dad was not there.
"Where is he?" he demanded to know.
Jor-el replied. "He is back at the farm, alive and well."
"Thank you for your help. I will not forget it but one more thing… please leave Lois and I alone. I love her, Jor-el and I want to marry her."
There was silence for a second. "Kal-el, Lois Lane is your soulmate and although you were not supposed to unite for a few years yet, I will accept it." Jor-el's voice boomed out.
Clark sped back to the farm where he found a shell-shocked Jonathan holding on to Martha. "Dad, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I would just love to know what happened. Lex tried to kill me and passed out."
"No he didn't. It was Brainiac but he should be gone for good by now. Let's go in the house and I will explain. We can call Lionel and tell him to come and pick Lex up." Clark smiled, as he hugged Lois.
The police arrived as gunshots have been reported. They interviewed Jonathan but then decided there was no investigation to undertake and left.
Lois and Clark were sitting talking in front of the fire.
"So what are we going to do now?"
"How about we sleep on it?" Clark added.
"Well, we are going to have to sleep separately, aren't we?" Lois sighed.
"I suppose so. Can we go for a walk?" he smiled at her. He grabbed her hand, and led her past his smiling parents who were talking to Star about what had happened.
It was a cold, but cloudless night allowing the stars to light up across the night sky. He sat Lois down on a log near the woods, and knelt down on one knee. He pulled something out of your pocket.
Lois beamed, aware of what he was planning to do. "Lois, I love you whatever time we are in…will you marry me." He announced with emotion.
"For the third time, yes I will." She hugged him and they sat down and talked for ages, planning their wedding.
Finally they headed back to the farmhouse to break the news. There were shrieks of excitement echoing all around the room.
"When are we planning the big day?" Martha asked them.
"Well since we have been engaged for 16 years, we figured another couple of years wouldn't seem long." Lois laughed.
"Mom, it is going to be a long engagement. We are too young at the moment. When we get settled in life and a career, we will set a date." Clark explained.
Star piped up. "Can I at least help you to organise an engagement party?"
"Star, you read my mind… literally." Lois commented.
"Just a word of warning: I will not be offering any more readings to either of you." Star announced to the happy couple. "The last 16 years have proved to me that the future is not set in stone, and it is up to you both to steer your own destinies."
Later that night, Lois and Clark sat on the porch swing. "I wonder what our future holds." She said softly
"As long as you are in it, I don't care." He kissed her….