Thanks to everyone who left feedback for the last part. I hope you'll enjoy this part just as much as the last one. If not more, because, after all, Lois and Clark are together now 
And this time I won't separate them anytime soon.
Special thanks to my betareaders Dandello, Schnuffichen, Classicalla, Tahu and LaraMoon. Each of them is very helpful in their own way. Thanks girls! TOC From Part 1:Start with the language, he reminded himself and he crossed the street, listening carefully for any conversation around him. Suddenly, he heard the screeching of brakes and the sounds of a car. He jumped back, landing on his butt in the process. The headlights blinded him and he covered his eyes with the hand that he didn’t have firmly pressed against his still hurting side. A car door was slammed shut and he heard someone approaching him.
“Are you okay?” a female voice asked worriedly. Then when she realized that he wasn’t going to die, she furiously screamed, “Can’t you look before you cross the street?” It was silent for a beat, and then the woman took his hand and moved it away from his face. “Oh my God, Clark!” she whispered.
Separate Lives
Part 2:He looked up at her, still blinking against the bright light. She was beautiful, he could tell that much. He stared at her, dumbfounded and unable to breathe. Much less could he say something coherent and thus he didn’t speak at all. Her face fascinated him, attracted him, and made his knees grow weak. If they hadn’t already been weak, that was. She had long brown hair and the most amazing eyes he had ever seen. Her lips looked delicate and he knew that he wanted to touch his lips to hers. She returned his glance, affectionately. He found it even harder to breathe. His heart rate increased as he threatened to drown in the dark pools of her eyes. Was it just wishful thinking or did she feel the magic of this moment as well?
He could barely keep himself from closing the distance between them to kiss her. But he knew it wouldn’t be right. He didn't even know this woman. What was she going to think if a stranger kissed her? For a moment though he thought he was seeing the same longing in her eyes that threatened to drive him crazy. Silently he pleaded with her to make his fantasy come true. But why would she kiss him? He admonished himself for even dreaming of something like this. Obviously, he hadn’t only lost his memory but had also gone mad. The fact that she had given him a name slowly fought its way through the haze of his mind. She had called him Clark. He was pretty sure that it had been him whom she had addressed with this name.
The fascinating woman laid an arm around his shoulder to help him up. “Clark, where have you been? I’ve been searching for you for days now. I thought you had left me. I thought you ran away.” She studied his body as he was standing. “You didn’t run away, did you?”
Concern was written all over her face. He had to look awful judging from her expression. No wonder she hadn’t kissed him, he mused wryly. Angry with himself, he forced his concentration back on reality. This wasn’t the right time to dream about women. He tried to remember what she had asked him, but he had just been too distracted to really listen. But no matter what it might have been, one answer was the right answer to everything in his current state.
“I… I don’t know,” he replied. His own voice sounded strange to his ears. Had he ever heard it before? He wasn’t even sure it was his.
“You don’t know?” the woman asked, startled. She studied his appearance, her glance wandered over his body. He felt exposed, almost naked. It was as if she was seeing through him, to his very core. He wondered if she could read his mind. Did her mouth fall open because she became aware of the emptiness inside his head? Or because of the undue thoughts? Clark decided that he was seeing things. “You’re injured!” she exclaimed with shock. “Clark, what has happened to you?”
He stared at her, his mind had gone blank. Or was it still blank? He couldn’t tell for sure. Slender hands touched his shoulders, chest and abdomen. He flinched as they moved over his hurting side and he couldn’t bite back a cry as she pulled his shirt up to have a closer look. She gasped and a rush of worried murmurs escaped her lips. He didn’t understand a word. All he saw was a beautiful woman who seemed to know him, who cared for him. And suddenly the memories of the man in the alley surfaced.
“…need to help,” he said hoarsely, not trusting his own voice. “Someone lying, bleeding… alley over there.” He gestured in the general direction and realized that he wasn’t sure if he could find the way back. But he was going to try, no matter what. “Come on…” He reached out for the woman who had called him Clark, took her hand in his and dragged her back into the direction where he had come from.
“Clark, wait!” she protested and held him back with a force he wouldn’t have expected in such a slender woman. Or was he so weak? “Tell me what happened,” she said demandingly. Though her voice sounded relatively soft, something about her stance told him that she was tense to the utmost. Whatever worried her so much, her tension had only gradually receded since he had run into her car. He sensed that she wasn’t in the mood for discussing things. He had no idea why, but instinctively he changed into defensive mode.
“Please…” he paused where he would usually have filled in a name. But no matter how intensely he looked into those deep brown eyes, he couldn’t remember her name. “Help me,” he continued. “There is a man in that alley; he will die if we don’t do anything.” Clark tried to explain and gave her what he hoped was a puppy-dog look. It seemed to work as her expression softened. For a moment she seemed to be caught in an inner battle, but then she relaxed visibly.
“Show me the way,” she said and followed him as he went on.
On his way back, he didn’t recognize anything. All the houses looked old and damaged, one resembling the other in such a way that he wasn’t able to tell where he needed to turn into one of the smaller streets. There were signs but they were covered with grime and it was impossible to read the names. It wouldn’t have helped him anyway, he had no idea what the alley was called. His sense of direction was buried under waves and waves of dizziness. And the longer he went on, the worse it got. He fought with a heaving stomach and felt wiped out like probably never before. His side was hurting badly and his head was still throbbing. He had to admit to himself that it was no use. He swayed on his feet and sank against a wall in order to remain upright. He desperately tried to go on, but he fought for breath.
“Clark!” the woman exclaimed and soon was with him. He felt her hand on his forehead and closed his eyes as the world spun around him. Cold beads of sweat covered his skin and he shivered in the chilly air.
“Need to help,” he whispered, annoyed at his own weakness and his conscience screamed to move on, to rescue whoever was in that alley. “Need to help,” he repeated and groaned in frustration. He barely noticed that the woman patted his shoulder reassuringly and started to search her handbag for something.
“…Henderson? Yes, this is Lois… I’ve found Clark… yes… I don’t know… he’s hurt, but it doesn’t seem to be too bad. He says that an injured person is lying in some alley in Suicide Slum. But he is in no shape to show me the way. I’ll bring him back to my car now and take him to the hospital,” the woman, whose name was obviously Lois said into her cell phone. She hastily ended the call and grabbed him just as his legs were threatening to give way under him.
“Clark, can you hear me?” she asked worriedly and waited until he had blinked away the dizziness and met her glance. “Let's go back to the car now. I’ve called someone who will help the man in the alley. Now, you’re the one in need of help. Come on, big guy, we’ll get you to a hospital.”
Clark was almost sure she had said this before, but he had to have missed the meaning of her words. Now that she repeated them, he suddenly found his heart beating in his chest madly. His breathing became shallow and his gut seemed to be tied in knots. He felt sick to his stomach. His body started shaking and it wouldn’t be long before he passed out. Another strong wave of dizziness hit him, but this was different from the spells he had experienced earlier.
“No,” he breathed, fighting the urge to throw up. “No, no, no hospital.”
His own words surprised him more than he could say. He didn’t even have any idea why the mere word hospital raised a panic in him that was in no way justified. It wasn’t like there were any bad memories surfacing now that Lois had mentioned a hospital. No tubes, no syringes, no scalpel or anything at all that would explain his fear. Truth to be told, his mind was completely blank but for the shivers that were still coursing through his body. Other than that there was nothing palpable to this discarnate angst that was taking hold of him. But the sensation was convincing enough to make him tremble in his shoes.
“I’m fine,” he said, defending himself and somehow he managed to let his voice be louder than a hoarse whisper.
“Clark, you’re injured,” Lois said in a no-nonsense voice that would certainly suffice to make anyone else obey without asking further questions. It did nothing to make the angst-ridden Clark change his mind.
He just shrugged her words off. “It’s nothing, Lois, really.” Something still urged him to get back to the alley, though he consciously knew that he wasn’t going to find it. In fact, he wouldn’t have the strength to insist on not going to hospital if he kept on trying to reach the poor guy. His tiredness fought an adamant battle with his need to help until his sore body was victorious. “Just take me home, please,” Clark muttered in defeat.
For a moment he thought he had given himself away. Maybe this woman didn’t know where his home was, if he even had one that was. He couldn’t let her know about his present situation. If she thought that he had hurt his head she would drag him to hospital regardless of any protest. He couldn’t risk that, not when he was planning on surviving the day without suffering from a heart attack. He tried to give her what he considered a stern look in reply to her stubbornness. He didn’t need to be told that this woman knew what she wanted. And he was quite sure she usually got it.
At any other time he probably would have lost a battle of will against her, but fear was a strong ally, at least in this case. Otherwise, it was paralyzing him and he wished that the woman called Lois would take him by the hand. He would follow her anywhere as long as it wasn’t the hospital.
Lois’ brows were furrowed as she looked at him and he could tell that she didn’t feel comfortable with taking him home. He could practically see her thinking, which was kind of strange since he had met her for the first time, so to speak. She frantically searched for a way to make him go to hospital, but there was also something else. She seemed to be glad to have him back, or was he seeing things? He probably was; he didn’t even know her.
<Just let her take me home,> he prayed silently, awaiting his sentence.
Lois didn’t know what to think. She was trapped in a storm of emotions and she couldn’t get a grip on what was going on. Clark was hurt, which made her sad and angry with the person who had caused him pain. She had spent four days unable to tell whether she was mad at him or not. She was still not sure about that matter. He looked like he had had a rough time, which didn’t mean he was completely innocent. But there he was, trembling like a leaf and asking her to take him home. She hadn’t scared him off. He wanted to be with her, and he asked her for help.
Strange as it was, she was almost relieved that he didn’t look perfectly healthy. Everything about his appearance told her he hadn’t run away from her. She had been wrong about this all along. The thought made Lois’s heart beat faster, though she also knew that it meant she had been unfair to him once again. But one thing was certain - Clark hadn’t left her on purpose. Actually this was all that counted.
Her conscience screamed its protest as she felt glad at the sight of Clark in distress. It wasn’t because she wanted him to suffer. She would rather have him smiling and not utterly confused as he seemed to be now. But as long as he wasn’t gone, she knew that everything else was easy to handle. At least she thought so. But Lois could sense his fear - it radiated from him almost infecting her as well.
He didn’t seem to be hurt too badly. Lois studied his face again to see any hint of hidden pain. All she saw was a scared man. She couldn’t leave him here and she wouldn’t take him to the hospital, not when he so obviously didn’t want to. She had made more than enough mistakes with him. It wouldn’t harm him if she took him back to his apartment. After a cup of tea and a nice hot shower, she could still take him to a doctor.
“Come on, Clark. Let’s get back to the car,” she said and gave him a soft prod into the right direction.
“You’ll take me home?” he asked and the anxious tone of his voice tore at her heart. Even if she had still wanted to take him to the hospital, she couldn’t have done it. Whatever had happened to Clark, it had to have been a nightmare. He needed a friend and that wasn't something he was going to get in an emergency room.
“Yes,” she replied reassuringly and squeezed his hand lightly.
They went back towards the car in silence. Lois noticed that he looked back over his shoulder repeatedly. His expression had something rather desperate to it and Lois realized that he was suffering from his inability to get to the injured man back in the alley he had told her about. How had she ever been able to miss how kind and caring this man was? Why had she called him naïve when he really only had a good heart?
“Henderson will get him help,” Lois tried to convince him and patted his arm as he slowed down. Clark turned around again as if he still wanted to get back. “The emergency services will surely find him, Clark. Don’t worry about him so much. You did everything you could do. He will be in capable hands.”
Clark glanced back at her. His expression seemed so desperate, like a silent cry for help. Lois wanted to embrace and soothe him. Clark somehow wasn’t himself, at least not the optimistic ever-smiling version she had come to love dearly. And yet it was him. Just like she had seen him so many times before, helping people who were in trouble. Even if he had plenty of problems of his own, he still cared for others. That was another reason why she couldn’t imagine going on living without him. Lois remembered what he had done to save her from Lex Luthor, though she had been anything but grateful for his efforts then.
She only needed to look at him now to know how much she loved this man. He limped and held his side. His teeth were gritted against the pain and still he wanted to go back to help someone else. She had missed him so badly. Had she honestly thought that he had run away because he didn’t return her feelings? She had been wrong, so very wrong. A lump built up in her throat, leaving her breathless as she thought about what a life without Clark might have been like. She felt like she had gotten a second chance
Impulsively, Lois turned around. Startled a bit, Clark backed away. “I missed you so much, Clark. I thought you had left me,” she whispered and slowly she stepped closer to him, embraced him and leaned her head against his broad shoulder. It was so good to be in his arms, far better than she remembered it being. She could stand there with him like this forever. Lois looked up and saw the faint, insecure smile on his lips. A little clumsily, he ran a hand through her hair and down her neck, further down until it came to rest on the small of her back. It was all the encouragement she needed. Lois stepped on her toes and touched those wonderful lips with hers.
<Play along,> Clark thought. <Pl…>
He couldn’t have been kissed like this before. He certainly would remember. There was no way he could forget such lips. Clark felt like he was in Heaven. Forgotten was the fear and all the insecurity of the past minutes. This felt just right, like this woman was made for him. Suddenly it didn’t feel so bad anymore to have no memory of what had happened before he had woken up in that alley. It wasn’t necessary; this was all the memory he wanted to have. She smelled like a rose on a warm summer morning. He could see it: dew covering the blossom and the first sunlight reflecting in it, sparkling in a thousand different colors. Kissing Lois was like coming home and at the same time it was the most exciting adventure he could think of.
She pulled away, far too soon. “I’ll take you home, now,” she said blushing as a beautiful smile played on her lips.
Clark would have liked to say the three magic words. I love you. But he didn’t know if this was a good idea. She hadn’t said it either. He couldn’t really think of a reason why a woman would kiss a man like this if she wasn’t in love with him. But right now he had no idea of the consequences these simple words might have. As long as he didn’t know what kind of a man he was, he couldn’t risk telling her something that he might regret later. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t regret it. He had felt drawn to this woman from the first moment he had seen her. He thought he had fallen in love with her, head over heels. It seemed too soon to him. After all, he had only just met her. And yet he knew her almost his entire life.
He wondered what kind of relationship they had. She had kissed him for real, so there had to be something. Friendship? Was she his girlfriend? Could she be his wife? His heart raced as this idea came to his mind. How wonderful would it be to be married to this woman? He stared at his hands. There was no ring. Clark let out a silent sigh. She wasn’t his wife. What a shame.
To be continued...
