Missing Lois - TOC Where we left off in Part 1...Lois opened the paper. The photo on the front page of the
Daily Planet was Clark bent over a grave, drenched in rain. He looked like he had lost his best friend. The headline read
Lois Lane Funeral Held Today. She swallowed as her hands began to shake.
Quickly, she scanned the article. Lois Lane and child died due to complications during childbirth. Clark Kent arrived back in town that day, just in time for the funeral. He knew nothing about Lois, her condition or the baby. The article was written by Perry White and she could tell he did not believe Clark’s protestations, “She never said a word.” Even the photo of despondent Clark was taken by Jimmy Olsen.
“No one in Metropolis believes his story. He not only loses you, but all his friends and his job. He returns to Kansas, Ms. Lane, a broken man. He takes over his father’s farm and never leaves Smallville, again. That is a photo of the death of Superman.”
Part 2 Tears dripped down her cheek. “He would never forgive himself if something happened to me while he was gone.”
“No, he does not.”
“Is this true? What Perry writes about what happened to us? About what they did?”
Mr. Wells looked away, unable to look her in the eye. She swallowed. It was true. She felt ashamed for human race, to have done something so wrong… And to a baby… her baby… their baby… to her. Clark would never forgive the people of Earth for this.
“And did his father really…?” She looked at Mr. Wells. Not Jonathan as well.
“After he heard about what Bureau Thirty-Nine did to you, he had a heart attack, yes.”
Lois closed her eyes, her heart breaking, a tear dripped down her cheek. It was her fault. Her death would crush Clark Kent and kill Superman. But if she went back in time and stopped that night… she placed a hand on her stomach. She couldn’t do it. There had to be another way. She needed time to think. Lois pulled herself together and wiped her eyes.
“Are you ready, my dear?” H. G. Wells stood up.
“I think I’ll have that cup of tea, now.”
He wavered unsure of the proper action. Finally, he went into the kitchen. She heard cabinets opening and closing. Eventually, he returned with another mug of tea.
Lois took a sip. That did make her feel better. “If I go back, can you guarantee me that the future will be as it should be? That Superman will return and we will live happily ever after?” She stared him straight in the eyes.
H. G. Wells swallowed and looked away. “There are no guarantees in life, Ms. Lane. Even with time travel, the outcome is not certain.”
“Then, no, I am not ready. We will have to find another solution.”
“Another solution?” H.G. Wells stammered, sitting back down on the sofa.
“You are asking me to choose certain death of one for the probable death of another. I am sorry, but I cannot make that choice, Mr. Wells.” She took another sip of her tea.
He blanched. Clearly, he had not thought about it in that manner. “You are correct, Ms. Lane. We will find another solution.”
Neither of them spoke as they drank their tea.
“If you went back and told Clark not to go with the New Kryptonians…” Lois suggested.
“What would you have me say to him? Should you leave, Ms. Lane would surely die, but should you stay, thousands of New Kryptonians would die. Do you want him to have to make that choice?”
Lois picked up the newspaper and reread the article. “Whatever we decide, it must be our decision. We can never let Clark see this story. He can never know.” She set down the paper. “I’d know what Rapunzel would feel like, if he ever saw it.”
“Do you think that Superman would lock you up and throw away the key, Ms. Lane?” H.G. Wells asked, skeptically.
“If he thought it would save my life...” She sighed. “We have roughly eight months. Surely with our resources, we can research another way to have us survive the complications due to…” She could not speak the word. “We need to find out what exactly went wrong. Why I don’t survive? If we can find a way to save me… us… we will save Superman in the process.”
“Yes, that is true.” H. G. Wells set down his mug and stood up. “Well, Ms. Lane, I’m afraid that kind of research can only be done by me. I will travel into the future and see what I can learn. Thank you for the tea.”
Lois shook his hand. “Anytime, Mr. Wells.” She smiled. “Thank you for giving me back my future. Our future.”
“Do not thank me on that just yet, my dear,” he replied with a slight bow. He let himself out the door and Lois settled down on the sofa to read the rest of the newspaper from the future.
***
Lois spent the rest of the day sleeping off and on. She ate take-out stir-fried chicken with ginger for dinner and was glad when it did not make a repeat visit.
By morning, she felt one-hundred percent better. She decided to forgo teeth brushing in lieu of a stick of strong cinnamon gum. She figured if she had an appointment with death, no point in worrying about dental hygiene.
As she stepped out of the shower, the phone rang. It was Martha, informing her that her flight had been delayed an hour due stormy weather; she was just boarding.
With H. G. Wells’ visit, Lois had completely forgotten that she had invited Clark’s mother for the weekend. She was sitting on her bed, wondering if she should still tell the woman her news, when her phone rang, again.
“Ms. Lane?” “H. G. Wells!” Lois was relieved. “What news do you have?”
“It’s too complicated to share over the phone. Can we meet somewhere private? I have a visitor with me who should not be seen in Metropolis.” His words were cryptic.
“Is everything all right, Mr. Wells?”
“Just fine, my dear.” “We could meet at Clark’s apartment. I have the key.”
“Yes, that’s good. As soon as you can come.” Lois grabbed her purse and ran out the door and straight into Star.
“Lois!”
“Star! I’m sorry, but I’m in a terrible hurry right now…” Lois stammered. Not now.
“Okay, Lois, we’ll talk later.” Star backed up against the wall, so Lois could pass. “Tell Clark 'hello' from me.”
Lois stopped dead in her tracks. “Clark?”
“Isn’t that who you’re going to meet?” Star tapped and shook her head.
I have a visitor with me who should not be seen in Metropolis. Clark! She hugged her friend. “Bye, Star. You’re the greatest.” Lois almost floated down to the stairs.
“Bye, Lois. We’ll talk about your secret later. I’ll pick up some pickles.” Star called down the stairs. “I don’t know what I was thinking, Lois. Not Clark. Sorry. His twin brother.”
Lois’s feet hit the ground with a thud. Not Clark. The
other Clark. She waved up at Star. How could she see the difference? At least, she had a heads up.
Lois arrived at Clark’s apartment with a heavy heart. Could she face the other Clark when she missed her Clark so much? Especially after H. G. Wells told her that she would never see her Clark again. She pulled his key out of her pocket, but the door was already unlocked. Slowly, she pushed the door open.
“Hello?”
“Sorry, Ms. Lane, we left the door open for you.” H. G. Wells called from the living room. “I should warn you that I brought…”
“Where’s Clark?” Lois asked. She walked slowly down the steps.
Alternate Clark stepped into view and he smiled at her. “Hi, Lois.”
Her heart skipped a beat. They really were identical. She grabbed on to the railing to keep herself from rushing into his arms. “Hi…” She swallowed. “Clark.”
“How did you know?” H. G. Wells gasped.
“I’ve got my sources.” Lois smiled. “Anyway, who else would have a key?”
“And we were so careful, too. I knew that it was a mistake bringing you here,” H. G. Wells said to the other Clark. “But after he heard what was to happen, he insisted on helping.”
“It’s okay,” Lois replied. “At least you didn’t bring Superman. That would have caused a riot.”
“I’ve been warned, Lois.” The other Clark grinned, holding up his hands. “I left the blue suit at home. I was allowed to visit only if I promised not to help anyone… except you.”
Lois really couldn’t resist being so close to him any longer. She walked up and hugged him. He was not Clark, she told herself. Not Clark.
“Congratulations,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m so happy for you and your Clark.”
“Thank you.” Lois stepped away from him and sat on the other side of H. G. Wells away from Not Clark. “What did you learn? Can we stop it?”
“Unfortunately, it is not at all easy, Ms. Lane. First, it turns out that you were right about taking you back in time, but for different reasons. It would cause a bigger worldwide problem. It’s seems a woman in your condition brought back in time to stop the same condition from happening to herself would cause what is called a time loop, eventually tearing the fabric of time as we know it.”
Lois released a breath she did not know she had been holding. She had already ruled out that answer to their problem. “OK. Now, what?”
“While I was researching time loops, I may have discovered the reason for the shift in your future.” H. G. Wells paused with a glance at alternate Clark. “Which is why I asked this Clark here for his help.”
“We need Superman to fix something?” Lois asked, confused.
“The easiest way I can describe the problem is to say that your love with Clark has been cursed.”
“Well, that explains a lot.”
“Unfortunately, I have to make more inquiries on how to fix it, if indeed I can.”
Lois looked between the two men. H. G. Wells appeared a bit embarrassed and Not Clark seemed uncomfortable. Something was obviously missing from this explanation. She waited and when they did not supply the answer she stated, “What are you not telling me?”
“Your soul and Clark’s soul seemed to be tied together through time.”
This surprised Lois. “Me and this Clark?”
“No, sorry, your Clark. You are soul mates. And somewhere along the timeline someone cursed your love. Until we can figure out how to break that curse, one of you is destined to die every time you…” H. G. Wells paused as his cheeks turn red.
“Every time we what?”
Alternate Clark mumbled, “Become intimate.”
“Oh.” They had definitely become intimate. “Oh.” She was the living proof. She placed a hand on her tummy. “You said that this Clark could help, how?”
“If you go to this Clark’s dimension the curse may no longer affect you.”
She swallowed. “You want me to leave my dimension? For how long?” Please, don’t say forever.
“Temporarily. At least for the term of your lying in period. This Clark would be there to help should any of the foreseen complications arise.” H. G. Wells looked at Lois with a satisfied smile. “We would need to lift the curse before you could return to this dimension or you would still face the dire consequences.”
“Wow.” Lois looked over at Clark. “You would do that for me?”
Clark smiled sheepishly. He looked just like her Clark when he smiled like that. She shook her head. Not Clark.
Lois stood up and started pacing. She stopped and picked up a photo of the two of them. “What about Clark? My Clark? I mean, what would my Clark think if he returned home and I wasn’t here? That I had disappeared off the face of the Earth while he was gone. I cannot do that to him. I mean, I really cannot do that to him. I’m covering for him at the
Planet . If I were to suddenly disappear, it would be like both Lane and Kent vanished into thin air. Which I guess would be okay. People would think we ran off together, until eight months from now, when he reappears with no knowledge of my disappearance. I mean what would he do?” She turned to the other Clark. “What would you do?” She took a deep breath.
Not Clark mouthed ‘wow’ to H. G. Wells. “You talk a lot.”
She brushed away his concerns with her hand. “Only when I’m nervous. I think verbally.”
“She does bring up a good point. Clark, what would you do if your Lois disappeared?”
“I’ve never met her,” other Clark replied. “She’s dead.”
“Vanished without a trace, I believe, was the official report,” H. E. Wells corrected.
“But if she weren’t dead and I felt for her what you and your Clark feel for each other, and she disappeared without a trace.” He stared at Lois. “I wouldn’t stop searching the world until I found her again, even if it took eternity.”
“Precisely. This plan is not going to work.” Lois went into Clark’s kitchen and started opening and shutting cabinets. “I might be saved, but Superman would be too busy searching for me to be any good to the world and Clark would still be crushed. The curse still wins.” She found some Dingdongs and tore open the package. “Anyway, how could I temporary disappear only to suddenly reappear…” She indicated a huge belly. “Or…” She rocked an imaginary baby in her arms. “How exactly would I explain that to him or anyone?”
Lois sat down on the sofa again next to the other Clark, biting into a Dingdong. She offered him the other Dingdong, but he declined. Out of habit, she rested her head on his shoulder with a sigh. Then realizing what she had done, she jumped back up and started pacing again. “Not going to work.”
“Ms. Lane, calm yourself, please. Let us think about this rationally.”
“I’m sorry. I know you are only trying to help, but my emotions have been all over the place recently.” She gestured wildly with her hands, before taking another bite of her Dingdong. Suddenly, a stillness came over her. “Now, I know why.” She pulled one of the dining chairs into the living room and sat down.
“And to think your Clark is going to miss this.” Other Clark raised an eyebrow towards H. G. Wells.
Lois sighed. “Yeah. How am I going to explain to him that I spent my entire…” She was still not ready to say the word out loud. “… with his twin brother?”
“Twin?”
“Brother?” Clark smiled.
“Something a friend of mine said.” She waved her hand dismissively.
“Twin? Hmmm.” H. G. Wells paused in thought. “It might work. Ms. Lane, what if you didn’t vanish into thin air? What if we left someone here to take your place?”
“If you say clone, I’m out of here.”
“Clone?” Clark looked confused.
Lois waved her hand again. “It’s a long story.”
“On Lois and Clark’s wedding day, she was kidnapped by Lex Luthor and replaced by a clone, who Clark then married instead,” H. G. Wells explained.
“Now, I understand the curse.”
“Stupid frog eating clones. It’s why Clark and I are not married now,” Lois snipped, taking another bit of Dingdong.
“Who is Lex Luthor?” Clark asked. “You’re not married?”
“Not officially.” She turned to Clark. “You don’t have a Lex Luthor in your dimension? Interesting.”
“No, my dear, I was not thinking about clones. I was thinking about an earlier version of you. A pre-conditional you, let’s say.”
“Excuse me?”
“A you from a couple of months ago before the Kryptonians arrived,” H. G. Wells explained.
“So, there wouldn’t be any of these time loop problems.”
“Exactly. I wouldn’t be replacing you with someone else, it would still be you. And when this curse thing is resolved, we can put you both back where you belong. Her in the past and you in the present.”
Lois thought about this solution for a minute. “Well, there is the me who had amnesia. Then when you put that me back, I would naturally not remember anything.” Lois leaned back in her chair. “That would explain a lot. I was pretty out of it when I had amnesia.”
“So, the plan is back on?” the other Clark asked.
“Yes. This just might work. Oh, wait, Mr. Wells. Who is going to teach non-cursed Lois about what’s been going on in my life since the clone incident? I can’t do it, because she’ll think I’m the clone who’s trying to kill her.”
“The clone tried to kill you?”
“Long story.” Lois shook her head.
“After discovering that Clark Kent was Superman, the clone fell in love with him and tried to kill off the competition. In other words, Ms. Lane here.”
“I have that effect on women, too,” Clark said sympathetically.
Lois smiled. She loved the way Clark teased her. The smile slipped off her lips with a clunk. Not Clark. Clark was on New Krypton with Zara. This was not Clark. How was she going to spend eight crazy months with Clark’s twin?
“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with this,” Clark spoke up. “It feels like we would be lying to Clark.”
“Do you think I feel comfortable about lying to Clark and putting a replacement in my spot?” she asked him, her voice starting to shake. “Do you think I’m just coming to visit your dimension? I have to leave him, my job, and my friends without knowing if I may ever be able to return. Clark and I promised to always tell each other the truth. He was as crushed by the clone incident as I was. If he were to find out that I deceived him on purpose, no matter the reasons, he might never forgive me. So, if you have any better solutions, this would be the time to bring them up.” A tear crawled down her face. “Clark is my whole world. I don’t do this to save just myself… us. I cannot have that photo Mr. Wells showed me come true. No matter the consequences. I cannot cause the death of Superman. I cannot kill Clark’s spirit. I cannot ever cause him that kind of pain. Ever.” She swallowed.
The other Clark knelt down next to her and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Lois. You are so strong, I forgot how difficult this would be on you. If this works, he will have no choice but to forgive you. I know I would under these circumstances.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, holding on to him.
“You will have to write a journal describing your life over the last few months for the other Lois to read when she arrives here, Ms. Lane,” H. G. Wells suggested. “Also, I would refrain from mentioning your condition. That might complicate things.”
Lois’s cell phone rang and she jumped up, knocking other Clark down. “Sorry, Clark. I’ve got to go. That’s Martha. Call me tomorrow morning. I just thought of a place to make the old switcheroo.” She opened her phone. “Hello, Martha?” She covered the phone with her hand. “Lock up when you leave.” She ran up the steps to the door. “You’re going to catch a cab to the city? Sorry, I meant to pick you up at the airport.” She ran out the door with a wave of her hand.
“And I thought Lana Lang was intense,” Clark said with a shake of his head.
“I believe it is that intensity that her Clark loves most about her,” explained H. G. Wells.
“I can see why. It’s quite overpowering.” Clark lowered his glasses and watched with his x-ray vision as Lois ran across the street to her car.
***
Lois and Martha walked leisurely down the street. They had just finished lunch at this little café, she and Clark had always loved. She sighed, taking another bite of saltine. She had grabbed a handful of the crackers before leaving the restaurant. The nausea seemed to hit her double as soon as she acknowledged the reason behind it, plus the smell of fish at the nearby seafood restaurant hadn’t helped.
She was ready to enlist Martha’s help with their diversion. She needed someone in this dimension who knew about the baby; someone who could tell Clark, if they never returned. As soon as Lois had made this decision, a strange feeling crept down her skin. She glanced around, suddenly paranoid.
“Martha, do you remember a couple of years ago, when the asteroid was going to hit Earth? Clark had amnesia,” Lois asked casually.
Martha laughed. “Do I ever. Jonathan and I had to remind him that he was...” She lowered her voice, “Superman. He didn’t believe us. Actually, he said it was running into you that made him finally remember.”
“Yes, he told me the same thing.” She grabbed Martha’s arm and turned her into the lobby of a skyscraper. “At the time, I was dating Lex Luthor.”
“Lois, where are we going?” Martha asked as they headed through an ‘employees only’ door. Lois pushed the button of a service elevator on the other side.
“I want to show you something,” Lois explained, digging through her purse. She pulled out a set of keys. They stepped into the elevator and she unlocked a secret compartment under the buttons. She plugged another key into the secret compartment and pushed the button that suddenly revealed itself. “Lex Luthor showed me this underground bunker he had made out of an old bomb shelter.” The door closed and they started to descend.
“Lois?”
“He had wanted me to hide away here as his special guest. I couldn’t.” Lois shivered. “I needed to be up top where the action was. Where the story was. Where Clark was.” She smiled. “I didn’t acknowledge it then, but I was already falling for him. Clark, that is.”
“Lois?”
The elevator clunked to a stop and they stepped into a slightly dusty concrete hallway.
“The old bomb shelter had been lined with lead,” Lois said, walking down the hallway and turning a corner and then another. She stopped at a door and turned the knob. The door opened onto the apartment that Lex had made for her.
Lois stepped inside and Martha hesitantly followed. It looked slightly like Lois’s apartment. “Creepy.”
“He had wanted me to have all the comforts of home.” She sat down on the sofa.
Martha stood in the doorway, unsure she wanted to enter any further. “Lois, why are we here?”
“I wanted to tell you something and, out of the blue, I got this feeling like I didn’t want to be overheard.” Lois shivered.
Martha sat down next to Lois on the sofa. “Are you feeling all right?”
“I’m OK.”
“Lois, why do we need to be in a lead lined room? Only Clark can hear through walls.”
Lois reached into her purse and took out another package of saltines. Tearing the crackers open with her teeth, she explained, “Kryptonians have the same powers as he does. And I don’t trust them. I have this sinking feeling like they are going to double cross Clark and I need to tell you something that they can never know. That they would use against him, if they knew.”
Martha raised a skeptical eyebrow at this information and glanced down at Lois’s shaking hands. “Aren’t they across the galaxy heading towards New Krypton?”
“Yes.” Lois bit into the cracker. “I know rationally that that is where they are, but still…” She shivered. “I can’t shake this feeling.”
Martha put her hands on top of Lois’s to stop them shaking. “Sweetie, you’re cold as ice.” She placed a hand to Lois’s forehead; it wasn’t hot. “Are you sure you are all right?”
“Just a little nausea.” Lois smiled. “It’s expected, I think, in the first trimester.”
Martha stared at her for a moment and then blinked. “You’re pregnant?”
“Yes, I’m pregnant.” It felt like a load of bricks had been removed from her chest, speaking those words for the first time. “Five weeks.” She smiled weakly.
Martha swallowed. “That’s still pretty early. Are you sure?”
Lois held up the saltine. “Little blue lines don’t lie.”
Martha hugged her. “Oh, Lois, this is so exciting. Clark will be thrilled.”
Lois’s lips began to shake. “I can’t tell Clark,” she whispered.
“I know, Sweetie, but he’ll be home soon enough. And what exciting news you will have for him.”
“No, Martha, I cannot ever tell him. If the New Kryptonians find out about this, they will think he deceived them. That he wasn’t serious about the wedding with Zara.”
Confusion clouded Martha’s eyes. “But when he comes back, he’ll be back for good. What will it matter to the New Kryptonians then?”
Lois’s hands shook. “I don’t know. I don’t know.” She stood up and started pacing. “It’s just a feeling I cannot shake. Like when he comes back, he won’t be alone.” She took another bite of her saltine. “And this nausea thing isn’t exactly subtle and it’s getting worse. Someone is going to notice. Either Clark or Perry or Jimmy or one of the New Kryptonians that follow Clark back. They will use it against him. I can feel it.”
“Now, Lois, you are sounding a little paranoid,” Martha said, humoring her.
Tears sprung into Lois’s. “You don’t think I know that. Sound, rational Lois has gone off into lala land. Martha, in my mind I know he won’t, shouldn’t be back for months, but in my heart, I’m afraid that it might be only days. I don’t want to leave.”
“Leave? Lois, Sweetie.” Martha took hold of Lois and brought her back to the sofa. “Why would you have to leave?”
“So, the New Kryptonians don’t use me against him.”
“Where would you go?”
Lois took a deep breath. “Martha, I want you to think back to the day you and Jonathan found Clark.”
“What?”
“Please, Martha, it will be easier to explain what I have to do this way. Close your eyes and think back to that day.”
Martha raised her eyebrows and shook her head, skeptically, but she closed her eyes.
“That afternoon, before you saw Clark’s meteor shoot across Shuster’s field, you had a couple visit you in your kitchen. I want you to picture them in mind. The man was handsome with brown hair and glasses and he drank up an entire cup of your buttermilk. The woman…”
“Oh, goodness!” Martha’s eyes flew open. “She was you. And Clark. How is that possible?”
“Last year before that crazy man kidnapped you and Jonathan to blackmail Superman, Clark and I met a little man in a bowler hat. His name is H. G. Wells.”
“The writer?” Martha gasped.
“Not only did he write about the time machine, he actually built one. He took Clark and I into the past, because some lunatic from the future was bent on trying to kill Superman as an infant.”
“Poor Clark. Why didn’t he tell us?”
“Well, Clark doesn’t remember the trip. I had learned about Superman’s true identity while in Smallville and it wasn’t at the right time or in the right way. So, when H. G. Wells returned us to the present, he returned us at the moment we left, making us to forget the journey. He refreshed my memory this past spring, when that same lunatic kidnapped me and Mr. Wells and dropped us into a parallel universe.”
“A what?” Martha was sitting at the edge of her seat.
“A parallel universe. Another dimension, where people’s lives are similar, but different. In that dimension, Lois Lane was dead and that Clark Kent never became Superman.”
“Oh, my.”
“Well, he didn’t become Superman, until I taught him how,” Lois modestly explained. “And, let me say, Martha, I have never respected you more than when I tried to recreate Clark’s blue suit. I'm no seamstress.” She laughed.
Martha joined in the laugher and patted Lois on the leg. “You should have seen some of those early costumes we tested. A green suit with a wing logo. A hot pink suit with orange shorts. Leopard print.”
They laughed for a minute.
“H. G. Wells visited me again, yesterday, after I spoke with you on the phone. He says the only way to save Clark, Superman, is to disappear. He’s going to hide me in that other dimension. That other Clark volunteered to watch over me and the baby until we can return.” Lois swallowed, putting her hand over the woman’s. “We will return, Martha, if we can.”
Martha looked pale. “Why are you telling me this, Lois?”
“I need someone to know. Someone who will look out for Clark. To tell Clark, if we never can return that we did this to save him.”
“Oh, Lois, I cannot…”
Lois’s lips shook as the tears crept down her cheeks. “Martha, don’t worry. I’ll write him a letter for you to give him, explaining everything. And when we come back, you can burn up the letter. No harm, no foul.”
Martha hugged her, her eyes damp with tears.
“There’s more.”
Martha leaned out of the hug to look Lois in the eyes.
“While I’m in the other dimension, we’re going to borrow me, an earlier non-pregnant me, to replace this me in the present day.”
Martha looked at her like Lois grew a second head. “Huh?”
“Well, if I just disappear into thin air, when Clark returns…”
Martha nodded. “He’ll worry himself sick.”
“Right. So, Mr. Wells is going to go back in time and take me from a couple of months ago, before I got pregnant, and bring that me here to replace this preggers me, who is going to the other dimension.”
Martha looked cross-eyed for a moment before shaking her head. “That’s confusing.”
“Yes, it is. Tonight, I’m going to write up a journal of the past few months. I need you to give this new me the journal and to tell her why she can’t remember any of the last few months. Oh, and I’ll give you a diskette of the stories I’ve written. Both as Lane and as Kent. Kind-of catch her up on what’s going on. Answer her questions, but not tell her the real reason why. Then Monday morning, if all works out like planned, she’ll go into the
Planet for me and be me until I…” She stopped herself. She was no longer a singular person. “…until we can return.”
“Lois, this seems a bit extreme for only a suspicion…”
“We are talking about the word of a time traveler, Martha.”
“Oh, right.”
“I know I’m asking a lot of you. But I also know you would do anything to keep Clark safe.” Lois took a deep breath. “Even not share this… any of this.. with Jonathan.”
This startled Martha. “But I share everything with my husband.”
“Please, not this. I know that is a lot to put on your shoulders. We are speaking in a lead lined bunker, Martha. I am a little paranoid. But trust me on this; that this is the best way to keep Clark safe. To keep your first grandchild safe.” To keep Jonathan safe.
Martha looked defeated.
“I’m sorry, Martha. I really am. If there was any way that I could stay, I would. I really wish I had better news.” Lois hugged her almost mother-in-law.
“Dear, you just told me the best news. When we get all this crazy stuff ironed out, I’m going to be a grandmother.” Martha laughed. “I do feel a little young for that title.”
“You think you feel a little unprepared. Wait until my mother finds out. She still thinks she’s too young to be a mother.” Lois rolled her eyes. She stood up. “Do you have any more questions? Or shall we go?”
“We’re not going to talk about this up there?”
“Once we leave this room, it’s like this conversation never happened. Are you okay with that?”
“Is this what your and Clark’s life is always like?”
Lois smiled. “You have no idea.”
***
They left the bunker and did a little shopping, before returning to Lois’s apartment. Lois had looked drained, despite the little activity of the afternoon. She told Martha that she hadn’t been sleeping well and excused herself to take a nap.
Sure enough, when Martha had gone in some fifteen minutes later to check on her, Lois was passed out on her bed. She had pulled a blanket over the woman and turned off the lights.
Martha went into the kitchen and to make herself some tea. There wasn’t much in way of food in Lois’s apartment, except bananas and yogurt. In the cabinet over the fridge, Martha had found Clark’s stash of junk food. It was a good place for him, being that he was the only one of them who could levitate.
She grabbed Lois’s keys and went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for dinner. She stopped by a phone booth to call Jonathan, but he did not answer. She was worried about Lois.
Martha had been watching her since she arrived that morning. Lois was plainly overworked and exhausted. Her hands shook throughout lunch and she could not stop nibbling on crackers. She glanced over her shoulder and became more jumpy with every passing car and pedestrian. Something was bothering her, plus she looked sick. When they had walked past the fish restaurant on the next corner, Lois had literally turned Kryptonite green and bolted across the street. She looked worse than she had after Clark had rescued her from Lex Luthor and ended up in the hospital with amnesia. She even looked worse than after he brought her back from the dead, when that man had kidnapped them last year. Something was definitely up.
Maybe, Martha should have been less surprised when Lois announced her pregnancy. So much had happened to Lois and Clark over the course of their relationship, Martha knew it could be anything. But a baby! That almost seemed too normal for the couple. She had been overjoyed that it was something so ordinary. So human. She was thrilled for Clark, because she knew he always wanted a large family, having felt so alone all his life.
Yet, the stress of discovering she was pregnant on top of all the strain of the past months had pushed Lois over the edge. She was seeing ghosts where none existed. Her paranoia had become quite acute. The woman was sure that Clark was in danger, even though he was thousands of miles away, trying to stop civil war from developing on New Krypton. Martha shook her head. Poor Lois.
When Martha returned to the apartment she checked on the still sleeping Lois. In the kitchen, she fixed chicken soup from scratch. Fresh veggies and chicken broth would do her a world of wonders. How long had the woman survived on bananas and yogurt?
As the soup cooked, Martha started to straightened up. She doubted Lois would mind – or even notice in her current state of mind – and Martha could think better with her hands busy.
Lois was so sure that H. G. Wells was going to turn up the next day and take her into this other dimension, if it even existed. What would happen to Lois if these events did not happen as she hoped?
Martha wiped down the coffee table and fanned out the magazines there. What would a psychologist think of this fantasy of Lois’s of being taking care of by a Superman in another dimension, just when she needed Clark most. Another dimension in which that Lois Lane was dead. It was almost too convenient.
Then Martha wondered what she herself would do if they did exist. It still seemed so surreal. Lois’s explanation of hiding in the other dimension seemed a bit extreme – a bit of an overreaction.
Could Clark really be in danger from the New Kryptonians, who had come to him for help.
As she straighten the pillows and blanket on the sofa, she felt crumbs. Off came the pillows and out came the hand vacuum that Martha found in the closet. An obvious addition to the apartment by Clark. He had inherited her tidiness. She wondered if Lois had noticed when it had suddenly appeared. Clark was smart enough never to give such a gift directly to his girlfriend.
She vacuumed up all the crumbs on top of the sofa and then knelt down and got under the sofa. She found a folded newspaper there and tossed it onto the glass coffee table.
When the sofa was back together, Martha needed a break. She made that cup of tea, she had wanted before heading to the store, and then sat back down on the sofa. The peace and quiet did her a world of good.
Martha picked up the newspaper to see what was new in the world. As she opened the folded paper, her mug slipped out of her fingers and crashed to the floor. Martha could not stop looking at the photo on the cover of the paper. Clark at Lois’s grave. She heard Lois’s footsteps, bringing her back to the present, and she quickly threw the newspaper back under the sofa.
“What was that?” the woman gasped.
“I’m sorry, Lois, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Feeling guilty, Martha stepped carefully over the broken pieces of mug and hot tea. “I dropped my tea.” She ran to get a towel.
“Everything’s all right?”
Martha leaned against the counter, out of sight of Lois, and took a few deep breaths. “I made dinner,” she said as she returned from the kitchen. “It will be ready in a few minutes.”
Lois chuckled. “You found food in my kitchen?”
“I had to go out.” Martha knelt down next the coffee table and started to blot. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“I never mind a home cooked meal.” Lois leaned against the wall. “Clark makes the most wonderful spaghetti. I could eat in with him every…” The smile died on her lips.
“I made sure one of his chores was to learn to be his Mom’s prep cook. Plus, the super speed helped in dicing veggies.”
“I bet.”
Martha took the wet towel toward the kitchen, when Lois held out her hand. “Here, I’ll throw it in the laundry basket.” She handed the towel to Lois. “I hope you don’t mind me disappearing into my room again, but I have a lot to accomplish tonight.”
“Of course. I’ll call you when soups on.”
“This can’t be much fun for you, Martha. Please, know I do appreciate all your help.”
Martha stuck a smile on her face. “My pleasure. I knew when you called yesterday, this wasn’t going to be a vacation.” She winked at Lois. “Anyway, you need to get your rest.”
“Thanks, Martha,” Lois said returning to her room.
Martha waited a full minute before returning to the sofa and taking the newspaper out again. She read the whole article.
Clark would not return until after Lois had died. It’s obvious – to her, at least – that Perry won’t believe Clark’s ignorance. She remembered Bureau Thirty-Nine; what that man had tried to do to Clark... and now... She covered her mouth.
Taking off her glasses, she wiped her eyes. Lois and their child dying would destroy Clark. She had never seen a man more in love.
Setting down the paper, Martha glanced over at Lois’s room. She could see why Lois had withheld this information from her. This was the real reason why she was running away.
This was the future from which she was trying to rescue Clark. And herself. And Martha’s grandchild. Martha's husband. She winced wiping the tears from her eyes, again. It was too much.
***
Lois had no idea how to pack for such a trip. The other Lois would need all her possessions at her disposal. She would have nothing but whatever she brought with her. There wasn’t an apartment of clothes she could use once she got to the other dimension.
She emptied her largest flower print honeymoon suitcase. Basics first. Underwear. Bras. Socks. Nightgown. Toiletries. A spare pair of shoes, flats. Loose fitting clothing. No suits. No jeans. A picture of her and Clark from the Kerth awards. He looked so handsome that night. A photo of her, Clark, Jimmy and Perry at a football game. They all looked so happy. Would they ever be that happy, again? A photo of her with her parents from last Christmas.
She would have to leave her laptop, which bothered her to no end. She grabbed a few notebooks from her desk, but then put all but one back. She could get notebooks in the other dimension.
She grabbed a stack of loose photos that Jimmy had taken of her and Clark that she had never gotten around to putting in an album. Soon, she’d have all the time in the world.
Lois looked down at the suitcase and was surprised at how empty it was. Normally, she took three to five suitcases with her on a simple vacation. It amazed her how little she needed to pack to leave this life that she loved behind.
She went into the closet and brought out another pair of shoes, a couple of sweaters, and a jacket. None of her favorite clothes that the non-cursed Lois might miss. She found her favorite book and a romance novel she had bought and never read.
In the other room, she could hear Martha murmuring on the telephone with Jonathan about their day. Or actually not really about their day.
They had lunch and did a little shopping. Martha had gravitated towards some baby items in one store and Lois had laughed, chiding her, because she and Clark weren’t yet married. Chagrined, Martha had moved away.
She would not be surprised to find a box of baby clothes available at a moment’s notice when she and the baby were able to return. They had then returned to Lois’s apartment.
Lois zipped up her suitcase and as set it next to her bedroom door, Martha knocked.
“Soups on,” she said.
Lois did not know how she would have survived this crazy weekend without Martha. She was definitely the best woman she had ever known. One wasn’t supposed to like one’s mother-in-law so well. She had been lucky. But how could she not love the woman who made Clark into Superman?
When she returned to her room after dinner, Lois took out several sheets of her stationary and sat down to write the most difficult letter of her life.
She started out by pouring out her heart to Clark, telling him how she wished their destiny could have been different. Then she launched into the apology and explanation portion of the letter. She told him of the curse and their fateful outcome had they stayed in this dimension. Of what she knew of his probable future, she only mentioned that in the current scenario he would arrive home too late to be of assistance.
She then explained their hope in realigning their futures. She then apologized for not being able to fix this one problem without him. She did not mention his father or Bureau Thirty-Nine. She couldn't.
She ended the letter by telling him how much she missed him and would always miss him. She kissed the letter and sealed it. She wished she could save him the pain of knowing their destiny, but it did not feel right to lie to Clark at the end, if all else failed. She only hoped he would never have to read that letter.
Lois pushed the sealed envelope to the far corner of her desk and started to work on her journal. She took that notebook she had saved from packing and started describing all she could remember of the last few months.
She started with the insanity of Lex Luthor, the clone, and Wanda Detroit. It was still painful to remember Dr. Max and her bout with amnesia. She had caused Clark so much pain. That was when she promised herself she would never knowingly or unknowingly cause him pain again. Then she described her disastrous high school reunion and how mini-Superman had tried to leave her for her own good. Again.
Just as they were readying their second wedding plans, Sarah, aka Zara, and Ching arrived. She relived her decision to let Clark go.
Then Lois arrived at the fateful night. She described their last goodbye using their exact words. She deleted only the eight hours of bliss they had shared. She ended by stating their mutual decision, no matter how tempted they had been, to save themselves until they were married. She reiterated this point on several of the following pages. On how it gave her hope for the future. She definitely did not need this non-pregnant her to activate the curse with any impulsiveness.
She ended the journal entries with a description of her last five weeks. The working of two jobs, the lack of support, and endless missing of Clark. She finally mentioned her breakdown at work on Friday and the calling Martha for help.
Lois had just shut the journal when Martha tapped on her door.
“Could you use a break? I’ve got tea and shortbread in the kitchen.”
“Oh, yes, that sounds good.” Lois smiled. “I just finished.” She sighed and picked up the sealed letter. “Burn it as soon as you can,” she whispered. “Don’t forget.”
Martha blanched at what she was given, but only nodded.
Lois hugged her. “Thank you, Martha. I wish there was another way.”
Martha swallowed. "Me, too."
***
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