by Starsky Hutch 76
Kristin Wells watched as Superman rose up from the hidden door leading down to the tunnels below their home. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to having that down there,” she said.
“Consider yourself lucky that Mxyzptlk took the real movie approach and only created enough setting for the shots we were in. If there’s been enough tunnels down there to support a whole society, the whole neighborhood might eventually have caved in.”
“I’m surprised you decided to keep them,” she said. “You’ve really been putting in a lot of work down there since we got back from the Fantasia.”
“Back when I was Superboy, I had tunnels like these leading away from my parent’s place in Smallville so that I could make my exit without anyone seeing me leaving the house in costume,” said Superman. “Over the years, I developed plenty of other ways of leaving unseen, but it’s kind of nice to have something like this now that I have a house of my own. Both for us and for Jasma, if she should ever decide to follow in her mother’s footsteps.”
“You sentimental old softy,” Kristin said.
“Guilty as charged,” Superman said with a grin.
“I’m glad you’re not too sentimental,” Kristin said. “I got a little worried when Lois reentered the picture. I know you had to choose her to keep her safe, but there’s a part of me that worried.”
“You didn’t need to,” Superman said with a wry grin. “While we were on the Fantasia, Lois took me aside to talk to me — to actually let me down easy just in case I was having any thoughts of starting up our old relationship again! This whole episode has caused me to think about things — about you and me. I don’t ever want us to lose what we have.”
“I don’t, either,” Kristin said.
“Then there’s something we have to do,” Superman said.
Superman and Superwoman stepped onto the jewel of truth and honor inside the replica of the Palace of Wedding in the area of the Fortress of Solitude dedicated to Kryptonian heritage. Overlooking them were the statues of Jor-El and Lara that Superman had moved inside for the occasion.
“In the name of Rao, who rekindled the sun, I take you, Kristin Wells, as my wife,” Superman said as he slipped the multicolored ceremonial bracelet upon her wrist.
“In the name of Rao, who shaped the moons, I take you, Kal-El, as my husband,” Superwoman said, slipping a matching bracelet upon his wrist.
They embraced and then kissed. “I love you,” Superman said under his breath as he held her tightly.
“I’m glad you brought me here for this,” she said in a voice thick with emotion. She then joked, “I still hope that Clark Kent is planning to make an honest woman of Kristin Wells, though.”
“Count on it,” Superman said. He pulled a box out of the hidden pocket in his cape and opened it. “This was my mother’s wedding ring,” he said. “It’s been in the Kent family for generations. Now I’m giving it to you.” He slipped his glasses on, smiling, and got down on one knee and said, “Kristin Wells, will you marry me?”
Kristin laughed and said, “Yes, Clark, I will!” She leaned down and hugged him to her and laughed, “Yes, I will!” before kissing him again. Even as she kissed him, her thoughts drifted back to the man she had left behind in the future. She would be making at least one more trip back to tell him she would not be coming back to him, and that she would be staying in the twentieth century for good. (*) It was not a trip she was looking forward to.
[(*) Editor’s note: See the epilogue of “Welcome to Luthorcon III,” DC Comics Presents Annual #4 (1985).]
The End