Missing Lois - TOC Author’s Note: I have altered the timeline of the show twice in this chapter. First, by extending the length of Lois’s murder trial (to months instead of days) and secondly, by moving Tempus’s John Doe Presidential election bid to its correct spot - after “Ghosts” and around the time of “Stop the Presses” (i.e. November 1996).
Story Notes: Story is set in alt-dimension
- Lucy El (Lois's secret identity) = pregnant canon Lois avoiding the curse by hiding out with alt-Clark
- Kal = what Lois-Lucy and alt-Clark call canon Clark
- Sam Lane = alt-Lois's Dad, Lois's doctor & roommate
- Jaxon Xavier = Lex Luthor's son and spy at
The Planet, does website design and research for the paper
- Barry Balson = Superman beat reporter for DP
- James Olsen = owner of DP, Lois-Lucy's friend, who is working with Lois to find Lex Luthor (and hopefully alt-Lois)
- Mitzi and, her son, Scott = some people alt-Clark met when he returned to Smallville
- Mr. Colborgh = Kent family lawyer
- Cat Grant = helping alt-Clark out with PR on his '50 dates' charity winners
- The only people who know canon Lois's true identity are alt-Clark, Sam, and Moonbeam (alt-Star). Alt-Clark told Mayson Drake that Lucy El is his sister-in-law and that he has a twin brother, but not about the other dimension. Mayson didn't believe him (thinking instead that Lucy was a con-artist).
***
We left off in
Chapter 3: Part 5 with Lois-Lucy having had to break alt-Clark out of Jaxon's Virtual Reality computer after he was tricked inside, thinking that Jaxon had something to do with Mayson's car explosion. Alt-Clark is now on vacation in Smallville, discovering that his folks had left him the old farmhouse and recovering from his break-up with Mayson (after she got injured in a car bomb set by Sean McCarthy). Lois-Lucy is still in Metropolis holding down the fort at the
Daily Planet as her substitute Lois back in her home dimension is on trial for murder. ("People vs. Lois Lane")
***
Part 6“Where is he?”
Lois looked up from her computer screen as Jaxon barreled down on her. “Where’s who?”
Jaxon glared at her. “You know who. You big burly bully of a boyfriend, that’s whom!”
The bullpen quieted down as all eyes focused on them.
“If you had done your job as researcher, you’d know, I don’t have a boyfriend, Jaxon. And if I did, I certainly wouldn’t be talking to you about him.” She turned back to her computer screen.
“Where is he, Lucy?” he growled.
“I don’t know, Jaxon. Have you checked Virtual World? He seemed to have enjoyed visiting there so very much.” Her sarcasm was not lost on him.
“He ruined my computer.”
“Serves you right for kidnapping him,” she said not glancing away from her screen.
“He heat-blasted my sprinkler system.”
Lois glanced up from her screen, her voice low, “Do you have any proof of that accusation?”
“I know it was him.”
“Ah.” She focused back on her screen. “I hadn’t realized you had become psychic, Jaxon.” Then she looked directly at him. “Do you know what I’m thinking?”
He took a step back. “I don’t have to be psychic to know what you’re thinking.”
“Good.”
“Have you seen this?” he said, tossing a photo of Sean McCarthy tied up with red computer cord.
Lois smiled. Good going, Clark. “So.” She tossed the photo back across her desk.
“That’s the exact same type of cord that was stolen from my computer lab last night.”
“Shall I contact Detective Henderson for you? I bet he’d love to know a connection that ties you to Sean McCarthy and Mayson Drake’s car bombing.” She picked up her phone. “Or should I just buzz Barry with your hypothesis?”
“I had nothing to do with Mayson’s car bombing.”
Lucy smiled and glanced at the photo. “Now, you do.”
Jaxon leaned over at her. “He ruined millions of dollars worth of computer equipment.”
She set down the telephone receiver. “I’m sure you were insured, Jaxon. And, again, do you have any proof that anyone in particular was involved? Was anyone caught breaking in on your security tape?”
“You know there wasn’t.”
She looked up at him. “So, I guess it’s just your word against his.”
“Who else could it have been?” he asked.
James walked by her desk at that moment and gave Jaxon a nasty look. “Is he bothering you, Lucy?”
She smiled at him. “Actually, he is, Mr. Olsen. I’m finding it hard to concentrate.”
“Jaxon.”
Jaxon held up his hands. “I’m going. I’m going.” He stomped back to his desk.
Lucy’s smile grew larger. “Thank you.”
“What was that all about?” he asked.
She handed him the photo Jaxon had left on her desk.
“Who’s that?”
“Sean McCarthy.”
“I’m sorry?”
“The man who planted the bomb under Mayson’s car.” She lowered her voice. “Barry heard that he was found tied up with a big red bow in Henderson’s office this morning. Attached was a card reading To: Metro PD, From: A Friend. Obviously, someone on the police force took a picture.”
“Do we have a vigilante in our midst?” James asked taking a closer look at the photo.
“Apparently. Good thing Clark’s away on vacation.”
“Good thing.” He grinned. “What was Jaxon so sour about?”
“Oh, it seems that someone broke into his computer lab and stole some red computer cord.”
“Like this cord?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And he thought it might have had something to do with you?”
Lois smiled, demurely. “He thought I might know something about it.”
“And do you?” James raised a brow. “Does this have something to do with what you couldn’t tell me, yesterday?”
“I know as much as he does, James. Just speculation and guess work. No cold hard facts.”
James stared at her for a moment trying to read between the lines. “Have you heard from Clark?”
“Not yet.” She turned back to her computer screen. “Have you ever heard of a company called L.I., Ltd.?”
“No.” He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. “Should I have?”
“Well, I keep coming across it. It was where Dr. Carlton, the Johnson brothers, and a couple of others we’ve come across recently got their funding. It seems to be based out of Singapore.”
“A shell corporation?”
“I don’t know,” Lois said. “It’s got its fingers in a lot of pies. Oil, gas, military contracts, computer software, drug companies, media outlets – including MNN – the space program, and even scientific laboratories. It has lots of money and it’s throwing it around.” She lowered her voice. “This is a guess – a big guess – but it feels a lot like Lex Luthor. These are the types of companies he’d be interested in.”
“Really?”
“If I gave you a list of companies from my L.I., Ltd. List could you cross reference them with the data you collected?” She glanced at him and batted her brown eyelashes.
Olsen grinned. “You don’t have to look at me like that to get my help.”
“Thank you.” She pulled a folder out of her pile and tossed it to him.
“All these?” he gasped. “OK. Now I understand the eye batting.”
Lois was already concentrating on her screen, again. “I have no idea to what you’re referring.”
James stood up and she stopped him with a slight touch to his arm.
“That was a good story about Mayson’s bombing you wrote for the evening edition.”
“Now, you’re just being nice,” he said, but his eyes had lit up.
“I still think you need to get a hobby. Have you thought any more about photography?”
“Only if you promise to model for me sometime.”
“I see no problem with you taking pictures of your friends.” She smiled turning away. “As long as you don’t run them in your paper.”
“That’s a promise.” He laughed, then held up the folder. “I’ll let you know what I find out.”
***
Clark walked up to the front porch with the last bag of groceries and waved good-bye to Mitzi and Scott. It was nice of her to offer to give him a lift home and dinner later in the week. Maybe, it was possible to come home again.
He unlocked the door and typed his mother’s birth date in the security pad. He was glad he had waited and not broken in the night before, as he had been tempted to. That would have been a rude awakening. He carried the bags into the kitchen and put the perishables into the fridge. Although it hadn’t been used in twenty years, the fridge had been cleaned and still worked. For now. He’d have to replace it soon. There was a lot of dust in the house, although he was not sure it was twenty years worth. He suspected that Mr. Colborgh had had the house cleaned several times since Clark had moved out.
Clark moved from room to room, picking up photos and odd and ends that reminded him of his parents. There was a basket next to his mom’s chair in the living room with her knitting still in it. He picked it up the yarn and gently blew off that dust. It was a small pair of blue, yellow and red mittens. He swallowed. She must have been working on them for him. She had always made him a new set of mittens for Christmas every year.
He went into his father’s office / shop. His father had kept a photo of Clark and himself on the desk. Clark sat down in the chair. That had been from their fly fishing trip that last summer. He smiled. His dad had been so proud of that fish Clark had caught. That had been a great trip. Just him and his dad.
This trip down memory lane was going to be harder on him than he thought.
Clark got up from the desk and went up to the bedrooms. He had had to leave everything, but a suitcase of clothes and the one photo, behind when he went into foster care, so his room looked almost the same as when he had left it. His baseball mitt still sat on his bookshelf with his old battered copy of H. G. Wells’
The Time Machine. He smiled. Maybe he should ask to have it autographed next time Wells was in town.
Thinking about H. G. Wells made Clark think about Lois leaving and going back to Kal with the baby. He sighed. He wondered how she was holding up, but he didn’t really feel like talking with her on the phone. He had an attraction to Lois which he could fight a lot easier if he didn’t talk to her or see her. When he heard her voice, he was drawn to her like a magnet. He sat down on his old bed and sent up a cloud of dust.
Clark had been wondering earlier, when he had spoken to Sam, if it were possible for a man to have hormonal changes when someone close to him was pregnant. Not with just any baby, but his baby. Not that Lois was pregnant with his baby, technically, but genetically he and Kal were a match. It was a crazy theory, he knew, but he’d love to have a scientific explanation for his odd behavior.
He had spent the night with Lois… well, in her room. Then she had shared the baby’s kick with him. He smiled; that was truly amazing. Then he had carried her in his arms to Paris and back. They had spent all that close personal time together and it had been wonderful. Friends wonderful, not romantic wonderful. He considered if that was why he had been so emotional, later, when he had spoken to Mayson. Of course, it may have something to do with that whole Man - Woman biological conundrum that Sam suggested. But it felt to him as if Lois were becoming his own version of Red Kryptonite.
From what Lois had told him, Red Kryptonite affected Superman’s emotions, intensified them. That was one of the reasons he had agreed so readily to Mr. Olsen’s suggestion of the vacation. He wanted to know if space and time away from Lois would clear his head. What he didn’t know was whether or not he’d be able to stay away for an entire week. By the time he returned to Metropolis, it would almost be October. Oh, shoot!
Clark jumped off his old bed and ran downstairs so fast that he left a cloud of dust in his wake. In his father’s office he found a calendar. Drat. 1976. The dates were all wrong.
“Let’s see,” he murmured to himself out loud, picking up a pencil. “If I corrected the calendar to show that Saturday was the autumn equinox…” He finished filling in the dates. Yep. Lois’s birthday was on Wednesday. And he’d miss it if he stayed in Smallville.
He sighed. He had to stay in Smallville. He was supposed to meet with Mr. Colborgh again on Wednesday to finish paperwork on the house. What was he going to do? If only he could fly and had super speed? He chuckled. This was one of those times when his super abilities allowed him to do everything he wanted to do. He smiled; happy for the first time all day.
Leaning back in his father’s chair, he laced his fingers behind his head. Now, what would be the perfect gift for the woman who had everything -- in another dimension?
***
The next morning at breakfast, Sam was still in a grouchy mood. He banged around pots and pans in an attempt to make scrambled eggs.
Lois sat down at the breakfast bar. “Something on your mind, Daddy?”
“Have you ever heard something that confirmed something that you already knew was true -- inevitable really -- but to hear the words spoken in such a way to confirm it…” He slammed shut a drawer and caught his finger. He stuck it in his mouth.
Lois remembered the day that her Clark had admitted he was Superman and the day she found out she was pregnant. “Yes.”
“Really? I thought that it was only me.” Sam pulled the eggs out of the fridge.
“What did you hear?” Lois’s reporter instinct was piqued.
Sam shook his head as if it was inconsequential. “Something that Clark said…”
Lois jumped up. “You’ve spoken with Clark?”
He winced. “He stopped by, yesterday afternoon while you were at work.”
“And you didn’t tell me, Daddy?” She reached over and slugged him in the arm, before sitting back down. “How is he?”
“Confused. And extremely naïve about love.” He rubbed his arm.
This stunned her. “He talked to you about Mayson?”
“What? This surprises you? Clark and I have become close over the past few months. I am like a mentor with life experience.”
“You?”
He shrugged off her skepticism. “I have some experience with women.”
“Lois’s mom left you when she was – what, nine? -- and you have yet to remarry.” Lois then thought about her father and his multitudes of sins and raised her hands. “Actually, strike that. You are a good man and a great dad. I’m sure you will find love again.”
“Thank you, Sweetie. I appreciate a load of horse dung like that at any time. I’m an okay man and a horrible father, the damage for which I am trying to restore with you. I’m too old for love.”
Lois decided to let that information hang. “So, what did Clark say to set your teeth on edge?”
“He called my daughter ‘his Lois.’ Like she belonged to him.”
“Ah.” Lois nodded.
“What’s this understanding ‘ah’ sound? You’ve heard him say this before?”
“It’s a good sign.” Maybe, Clark hadn’t given up on the concept of love. She smiled. “And yes, once in a blue moon, it slips out when he least expects it.” She reached out to comfort Sam. “It’s nothing personal… or even actually possessive. It’s his way to differentiate between us in his mind. Between me and her.”
Sam sat down next to Lois. “I haven’t gotten her back yet and already I’m afraid that I’m losing her to a man who walks around in tights.”
Lois laughed. “That’s just the father in you worried about his little girl. Think about this logically.”
“Logically?”
“What is Lois like? Anything like me?”
He nodded his head while rolling his eyes. “Headstrong. Determined. Independent. Stubborn. Pushy.”
“Let’s not go overboard with the love, here.”
“Sorry.” He smiled. “Oh! I forgot arrogant.”
“Does that sound like someone who will fall in love at first sight with a good, kind-hearted man, like Clark Kent?”
“You didn’t fall in love at first sight?” Sam asked, hopefully.
“God, no! I fought it tooth and nail. I didn’t realized how I felt about him until I was walking down the aisle to marry someone else. Then I was bound and determined to make Kal make the first move.”
“Did he?”
“Eventually. An inch a month. I didn’t know about his secret identity, so there was the whole confusion about him lying to me all the time. What I’m trying to say is that Lois is a fighter, like me. She won’t fall for Clark overnight, if for no other reason than that everyone will be rooting for him.” She patted Sam on the back. “You’ve got plenty of time.”
He took a deep breath and released it. “Thanks, Sweetie. That’s a load off my mind.”
Lois took a sip of her orange juice. “Did Clark mention when he would call?” She was starting to go through withdrawal. Her trial back home wasn’t going well. That slimy District Attorney actually called Superman to the stand and then treated him like a hostile witness. She bet that Clark forgot that she was on trial for murder back in her dimension and she needed her Kal-patch.
Sam shook his head.
Lois sighed. She’d just have to wait and see.
***
About mid-morning, long after the morning meeting, Lois sat at her desk, staring off into space. Actually, she was staring at Clark’s desk, wondering where he was and if he was OK. Jaxon was still giving her surly looks from across the bullpen; so much for his crush, but at least she knew that Clark wasn’t stuck in the virtual world again.
Her eyelids began to droop and suddenly she was flying through the air with Clark. Her Clark. He took her above the clouds, as he had done on the first day he admitted who he was and he kissed her with his cape wrapped around her to keep her warm.
Wake up, Lois! You’re beginning to drool.
Lois jumped awake and glanced around, wiping her mouth. Had anyone noticed her dozing? Anyone other than Clark? She smiled. She’d know his voice anywhere. There sitting on her desk was a pain de chocolat that hadn’t been there before. And a bouquet of flowers. She sighed. Taking a bite of the pastry, she then looked at the card. The note was written in his handwriting.
Sorry. Needed some air to clear my head.
How about dinner tomorrow night? Your choice.
C.K.Lois lifted up the flowers and took a whiff. He hadn’t forgotten.
***
“Alright,” said Mr. Colborgh, handing Clark another set of papers. “These are the last ones, then everything from the Trust will be yours.”
Had he been human, Clark would have been reading these legal papers and signing his name for two hours. Speed reading had cut that down to a fraction of that and if he hadn’t been impervious, he’d surely have a hand cramp from all the signing of his name.
Mr. Colborgh opened his bottom desk drawer and removed a small box. “One last thing.”
Clark signed his name one last time and handed the papers back to him, curious.
“Sherriff Fenster gave these to me to hold for you.” Mr. Colborgh hesitated and then pushed the box across the table to Clark.
Clark opened the box. Inside were his mom’s engagement ring and parents’ wedding rings. He closed the box. “They should have been buried with these.”
“I’m sorry, Clark, but your parents were cremated per the instructions in their wills.”
“Oh? But I went to their funeral.”
Mr. Colborgh swallowed. “They were too badly burned Clark. The coffins were just for show at the funeral. We buried them in urns. I’m sorry.”
Clark nodded and pocketed the box. “Thank you for letting me know.”
“How’s the house coming along?” Mr. Colborgh asked, purposely changing the subject.
“Slowly. I got all the dust out yesterday.” He chuckled. “For a second, I thought I caused a tornado. Every time I think I’m used to being back at the old house, I come across something else of my mom’s or dad’s and it’s like I’m ten again, waiting for them to return from the market.” He stood up and held out his hand. “Thank you, Mr. Colborgh. I appreciate all your help and discretion.”
“My pleasure son. It’s a great pleasure to have you back in Smallville. I know your parents would be proud of you.”
Clark smiled and for a split second he pictured his parents standing next to Mr. Colborgh gazing at him with pride. He nodded and left the office. He was ready to get out of town for a few hours. He was glad he made that date with Lois. He could use some laughter.
***
Clark knocked on the door to apartment 501. Sam opened the door. Clark smiled, hoping that he had forgiven him for the other night.
“Finally.”
Uh-oh. Clark came inside. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know. She won’t talk to me. She was fine last night, talking about the flowers you sent. Then this morning, she wouldn’t get out of bed. Said there wasn’t a point. Her life was over. And you didn’t let us know how to contact you.”
Clark was at her bedroom door an instant later. He knocked, but there was no answer. Lois was sitting in bed, her head lying against bent knees, tissues covering the comforter. She glanced up when he entered, her eyes red and puffy. “Clark! I’m guilty.”
“Guilty? Of what?” he asked sitting down on the bed next to her.
She wrapped her arms around him. “Of murder, you idiot.”
“Oh. The trial.”
“Yes, the trial. I can never go home, Clark. They want to execute me.” She started to cry again.
“Kal will never let that happen and you know it.”
She gasped between sobs. “Oh, I know it all right.” She sniffled. “He broke me out of jail. ‘Mad Dog Lane’ is on the lam. He risked everything he believes in for me. The D.A. suspects that Superman helped me escape. Everything is all wrong.”
“Mad Dog?” He pressed his lips together so that he wouldn’t laugh. “You?” He couldn’t hold the laughter in any longer.
“Yes, me!” She threw a pillow at him.
He threw it back. “OK. Out of bed, sour puss.”
She buried herself under her covers. “What’s the point?”
“We are going out to dinner. To celebrate your freedom, Mad Dog,” Clark said throwing off the covers. “Anything you want.”
She crawled over the bed away from him. “No!”
“Go take a shower. No more moping and self-pity for you.”
“No!” Lois hid herself on the other side of the bed. “My life’s over.”
“What do you want to eat? Anywhere in the world.”
Her eyes peered over the edge of the bed. “Anywhere? Anything I want?”
“Yep.” Clark leaned across the bed towards her. “Do you feel like dressing up?”
“No!” She ducked back down on the other side of the bed.
He crossed his arms and waited.
“I want a cheeseburger with the works. And a chocolate milkshake made with real ice cream.”
“Sounds like you’ll get indigestion; but if that’s what you want. So, be it. Any diner in particular?”
Lois’s eyes peered over the edge of the bed again. “There’s a great little hamburger joint I know in Philadelphia.”
“Philadelphia?” He thought for a minute. “I think it’s raining in Philly right now. Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“You go and shower, while I go change into something less formal.”
She noticed his suit for the first time. “You look nice, Clark. Any special occasion?”
He threw a pillow at her. “I always dress up when Mad Dog breaks out of prison.” He laughed and stepped out of the room.
A pillow followed him out into the hall.
“How did you do that?” Sam asked. “In two minutes, she went from night to day.”
Clark pointed at Sam. “I blame you.”
“What did I do?”
Clark went to the desk and lifted up Lois’s page-a-day calendar.
Sam blanched as his eyes went wide. “I forgot.”
Clark set down the calendar. “She wants to go out for hamburgers. I have to go change.”
“She doesn’t want to go someplace nice?” Sam was surprised.
“When you’ve been stuck playing a vegetarian for months…” Clark shrugged. Well, a public vegetarian. He and Sam had made sure she got plenty of protein at home.
“Right.” Sam nodded. “Thanks, Clark. You always know what to say to her. Sorry, about the other day. I overreacted.”
Clark laughed. “Good thing I have super speed. Just one thing, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Please, don’t call me ‘tights-wearing-freak’ anymore.” Clark grimaced.
“I probably, shouldn’t.” Sam grinned. “It might catch on.”
Clark groaned. “I hope not.” He stepped over to the windows and popped them open. A minute later, he was back in jeans and a t-shirt.
***
Clark shook his head as he watched Lois polish off her hamburger. They were at a hamburger stand on the beach in Key West, watching the sun set.
“I
am eating for two,” she mumbled between bites.
“It looks like you’re eating for four. I’m sorry about Philadelphia.”
“You were right. I didn’t feel up to a lightning strike tonight. My life sucks enough as it is.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “And this is a much nicer view.”
“You have a pretty good life, Lois.”
She held up her hand. “No. Tonight, I’m just plain Lucy. No history. No future. Just me.”
“Alright.” He smiled, taking a sip of his ice tea.
Lois spooned a chunk of ice cream from her shake into her mouth. “So, where did you go on your vacation?”
He held up his hand and smiled. “Tonight, I’m just plain Clark. No history. No future. Just me.”
“Ha-ha. Seriously, where did you go?” She took another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
He smiled. She couldn’t let it lie. “I had some things to work out for myself.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I’m sorry about Mayson, Clark.”
“Me, too.”
“No. I mean, I’m sorry, I stuck my big fat nose into your relationship. It’s my fault she broke up with you.” She took another sip of her shake. “Well, she’s an idiot, but it’s still my fault.”
He raised a brow. “She’s not an idiot, Lucy. And it’s not your fault. It’s mine. Jaxon’s right. I’m a horrible boyfriend.”
Lois growled. “Is that what that slug was up to in the VR?” She took hold of Clark’s hand. “Don’t listen to him. If you are anything like Kal, you’ll be the best boyfriend in the world. You are romantic, kind, generous, patient...” She grinned. “And you don’t mind a little insanity in your friends.”
“Speaking of Kal…” Clark said, setting down his drink and reaching into his pocket. “I know he’d want you to have this.” He set down a little box on the table and slid it over to her.
Lois gasped. It was a little black ring box.
“I don’t want you to think of it as a gift from me. Just think of me as Kal’s messenger.”
Hesitantly, she opened the box. Inside was a simple gold band. A wedding ring.
“I figured if you going to be Lucy El, wife of Kal, at least you should have a ring to wear on your finger from your husband.”
Lois picked it up and saw that something was written inside. She shifted it in her fingers in the dim light until she could read it. My Love Encircles You. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “Whose ring is this, Clark?”
He looked away. “My mother’s.”
She put it back in the box. “I cannot wear this, Clark. This belongs to your future wife.” She slid the box back across the table to him.
Clark picked up the box and set it down in front of her. “Lois, you are as close as I will get to a wife.” He stood up and started toward the beach.
Lois grabbed his hand to stop him. “No, I’m not.”
Clark continued toward the beach and she followed, still holding his hand. “This wasn’t an easy decision for me, Lois.” He sighed. “I’m not strong like Kal. Mayson getting hurt made me go crazy in a way I could not handle. Insane, really. If I felt this way when someone I just liked… just cared about was injured, imagine if it had been someone I actually loved? My Lois?” With only his eyes he spoke the word ‘you.’ “Innocent people could die.” He pulled her hand up to his chest as he looked out to the ocean. “Even if I found my Lois, and she turned out to be better than you, we still will never be together. I could not do that to her. I could not chance someone going after her to get at me.” He took the ring box out of her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. “This ring is from Kal. Not from me, Lucy. Please, think of it that way.”
“Don’t give up on finding Lois, Clark,” she pleaded. “I know we’re getting closer.”
“Stop. Just stop. My Lois is gone. I don’t want to drag you into this black hole. Perry, Sam and I have been spinning our wheels here for years; we’ll never escape. I don’t wish the same fate for you. It eats at you.” He flung his hand out to the ocean. “She is lost to the universe. She and I weren’t meant to be. Just accept it. It’s better this way.”
Lois grabbed his shoulders and made him face her. “Tell you what. If it makes you feel better, I’ll wear your ring. But I’m only holding on to it for you. I’m your safe deposit box. I will give it back to you when I return home or when we find her, whichever comes first. Deal?”
Clark wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you, Lucy. You give me hope.”
Lois hooked her arms around him. “There’s no way she could be better than me, you know that, right?” she teased. “Perfect for you maybe, but not better than me.”
He laughed, letting her go so he could look her in the eyes. “How could anyone improve on perfection?”
“Exactly.” She grinned, taking hold of his hand. They took a few steps in silence, before Lois continued. “Hey, did you ever get that slug to tell you more about his stepmother?”
“Oh, right. She’s some lounge singer Luthor met at the Berkistan Hotel.” Clark shook his head. “Lulu, Lorna, Luna, something like that?”
Lois stumbled, but he caught her. “Lola?”
“Yes, that was it. Lola, the lounge singer. Doesn’t really sound like Lex Luthor’s type, does it?” He laughed. “I guess, they all can’t be as wonderful as you.”
Lois took a deep breath and opened her mouth to say something, but he continued, “So, where do you want to go for cake?”
“Cake?” That was a detour in the conversation.
“What’s a birthday without cake?”
She groaned. “It’s a day I don’t get another year older.” Then she laughed. “Or another pound heavier.”
“You’re skin and bones as it is.” He grinned. “I’ll sing.”
Lois pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare!”
“Happy, Happy Birthday…” Clark started, but she let go of his hand and ran down the beach covering her ears.
***End of Part 6*** CommentsChapter 3: Part 7
