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: This part of the Story is set in the alt-dimension
- Clark = Alt-Clark unless otherwise noted
- 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
- James Olsen = owner of DP, Lois-Lucy's friend, who is working with Lois to find Lex Luthor (and hopefully alt-Lois)
- Cat Grant = helping alt-Clark out with PR on his '50 dates' charity winners and social columnist at the DP
- Ralph = yes, that Ralph. Acting Editor-in-Chief at the DP
- Mayor White = aka Perry White, former Editor-in-Chief at the DP
- 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).
***
Where we left off in Chapter 3: Part 9:He should go home, Clark told himself. He sighed, leaning against the counter. He didn’t know if it was the effects of the pheromone perfume or something else, but his apartment was the last place he wanted to be at this moment. Especially if he knew Lois was waiting for him, wanting him, in the next room. He buried his face in his hands. ‘Go home,’ his inner voice warned. ‘She’s someone else’s wife.’ He closed his eyes and relived that kiss on the dance floor. When he opened his eyes, he was standing at her bedroom door. He opened it and went inside.
Lois rubbed her temples again. Her head was throbbing and it had nothing to do with the pheromone perfume she had been dosed with the night before. It was like the day Superman arrived. Everyone in the newsroom wanted to know about Ultra Woman, everything about Ultra Woman.
She and Clark had come so far in their friendship over the past four months, only to end up right where they had started. The sexual tension had returned. Terrific. Lois closed her eyes, trying to block out the noise in the conference room and beyond. Memories of dancing with Clark the previous night slipped back into the forefront of her mind.
Her body moving with his.
His body moving with hers.
The deep breathing.
The sweat.
The moaning.
The pleasure.
Skin against skin.
Again and again and again.
The kisses that had started at her mouth and… she released a slow, steady breath.
Lois knew she would never be able to listen to Elvis again without thinking of Clark, without craving Clark’s touch, this Clark. Ever.
***
Part 10Cat had slid into the seat next to her as she sat down for the morning meeting. “Did Clark say anything to you about Ultra Woman?”
“No.” Lois repeated for the hundredth time. “If you want to know about her, ask him.”
“Wonder where he is this morning?” Cat purred, looking around for him.
“India. Train derailment,” Lois replied shortly.
“Yeah, right.”
Lois rolled her eyes, picked up the TV remote in the center of the table and turned on MNN.
Superman arrived on the scene about six a.m. EST, shortly after the derailment and has been working non-stop to help save as many of the passengers, many of whom were buried in mud, as can be saved.She clicked off the TV.
Ralph finally arrived at the meeting. “OK. OK. People. This Ultra Woman person is our only story. Is she from Krypton? If not, where did she come from? Is she here to stay? What is her relationship with Superman? Details, people. I want the details. Where did they go after the mayor’s party? What is her secret identity? He had one, so we can assume she does too. Who’s talking to Clark?”
“Clark told me when I gave him the invitation that were he ever to talk about his date, I would get the exclusive,” Cat announced.
“Good, Cat, you tackle Clark when he gets back from India.”
“Gladly,” she purred.
Lois rolled her eyes.
“Lucy, what are you working on?”
“Clark called me at the crack of dawn this morning, before he left for India, told me about Miranda and asked me to follow the money. Find out who was financing her,” she replied. That seemed like as good a place to work as any.
“Obviously, he has all the answers we need for our top story on Ultra Woman. Let’s hope someone else doesn’t beat us to the scoop because our ace reporter doesn’t want to talk about his private life.”
Lois bit her tongue so the words she wanted to scream at him didn’t emerge. Slime.
“Photos! People, did any of you actually remember to bring a camera with you to the mayor’s party?”
Silence.
“Great! Biggest news since Superman and we don’t even have a photo. Mr. Olsen!” Ralph gasped, taking a couple of steps back. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
Lois glanced up and saw James enter the room. He threw five photographs on the table. “I took some pictures, Ralph. Hope they help.”
She grabbed the closest one to her and examined it. Ultra Woman was flying Miranda to the security team. Ultra Woman didn’t look half bad in the photo. She passed it to Cat. Someone passed her another photo. Ultra Woman and Superman were holding hands and hovering in mid-air above the police and Miranda. She glanced over at James. “Great shot.” She smiled. He returned her smile.
Another photo eventually got passed her way. In this one, Ultra Woman was dancing with Elvis Perry. She laughed and shook her head. Another photo showed her and Superman – the right one – dancing. Ultra Woman and Superman were looking at one another with intense expressions. When the last photo circled around to her, she wanted to tear it to pieces. It showed her slugging the jerk who wouldn’t let her leave the dance floor. Her punch wasn’t that hard… not Super Strength hard, but this photo showed definite air beneath his heels. Super. She pressed her lips together and raised an eyebrow at James with a shake of her head.
“What! Not one photo of Superman kissing Ultra Woman! That’s the story, people.”
“This isn’t the
Daily Whisperer, Ralph. Superman’s love life is a side bar at best,” corrected Mr. Olsen. “Celebrity gossip is not front page news at the
Daily Planet.” Yea, Jimmy!
After the meeting, James Olsen stopped by her desk. “You didn’t like the photos, did you?” he asked.
“James, they were amazing! What I didn’t like was you going back on your promise of not publishing photos that you took of your friends, like Clark, in your paper?”
He dropped an envelope on her desk. “I hope this eases your anger at me. These were the ones I didn’t give to Ralph.” It was a thick envelope. He had written:
For Clark, Private across the front.
“James? You in the habit of following Clark about on his dates?” she asked quietly. “That could be hazardous to your health.”
“Oh, I wasn’t photographing him, per se. I didn’t even recognize Clark until they started flying about the dance floor. He was wearing this full mustache. I was photographing her.” James slid into the seat next to Lois with a sigh. “Ultra Woman is amazing, Lucy. You should have seen her. Beautiful, full of joy, laughter, and spunk. From the moment I first saw her until she left, I couldn’t stop taking photos of her.”
“May I?” she asked, indicating the envelope of photos. James nodded.
“I know she won’t have anything to do with me, because she’s obviously head-over-heels in love with Superman. But I’ll be happy to admire her from afar.” He sighed, again.
“Sounds like you got a good dose of
Revenge… er…
Animal Magnetism, yourself.”
“Excuse me?” James was confused.
Lois looked quickly through the photos and pulled out one from near the bottom with Ultra Woman confronting Miranda. “From what Clark told me on the phone this morning, this blond Superwoman, Miranda, sprayed the party guests with a pheromone perfume called
Animal Magnetism -- or as I call it
Revenge-- that made people lose their inhibitions and fall in love.”
James looked excited. “So, Ultra Woman might not be in love with Superman after all, but just under
Revenge’s spell. I might have a chance?”
Lois patted him on the arm. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up, James. It doesn’t create feelings that weren’t there to begin with, it just loosens people’s natural mental barriers to those feelings, according to Ultra Woman. Evidently, she’s met up with this Miranda person before.” She stopped at a photo of Ultra Woman and Superman in a tight passionate embrace. She covered her face. Had they really made out like that in public? She swallowed. “It looks like she and Superman have some pretty powerful feelings there.”
“Yeah.” He sighed, again. “I was surprised Clark would act like that in public. He’s going to have tabloid reporters following him around again.”
“Maybe he thought no one would recognize him because of the mustache.” She surmised. “You, Clark, Cat, Perry, everyone got to go to the party of the year and I stayed home handing out candy to the three kids from our building.” She lowered her voice. “I guess that’s what us old married folks do.”
James laughed. “Maybe you and… your husband can go together next year.”
Lois looked down at the ring Clark had given her, twisting it around on her finger. “I doubt it.” She was going to keep Clark and Kal far apart. If her Clark ever saw these photos,
Revenge or no, she’d be dead meat and so would this dimension’s Clark.
“I’m sure Perry will make it an annual party after the success of this year.”
“Kal’s not much of a dancer.”
“Oh.” James seemed curious. “His name is Cal? Is that short for Calvin?”
Lois smiled. “No, K-A-L.”
“Kal El? He’s not from around here, is he?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Far, far away.” She glanced over at James; he was staring at her hands, her ring. “So, James, you never told me, how you dressed for the party. What superhero did you go as?”
“I was Clark Kent,” he murmured, glancing away.
“Oh. You went as Superman, too.” She nodded.
“No. Clark Kent. I wore a suit and glasses, wore my hair pulled forward over my forehead like him. Any reporter as good as he is counts as a hero in my book.”
Lois’s jaw dropped. “Do you mind if I tell him about your costume?” she whispered. “Because, James, that’s quite a compliment. He’ll be honored that you think that way. Between you and me, I think you intimidate him a little bit.”
“I intimidate him?” James scoffed.
“Well, you do own the
Daily Planet; you’re so young and to have accomplished so much. Plus, what you say here goes. You’re his boss’s boss. Good job, knocking Ralph down a peg this morning by the way.”
“You should really treat him with more respect, Lucy. He is your boss.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “Yes, he’s my boss, I’ll grant you that. But I only respect people who’ve earned it. Ralph hasn’t earned it.”
“Do you think you could do a better job?” he asked, curiously.
Lois thought about her dream from the other night. It had been her second day as editor of her
Daily Planet. “Yes. Yes, in fact, I do.” She nodded with certainty, then she remembered how annoyed her Clark had been with her for dismissing his story. He had stopped talking to her. She missed him, so much, and then last night at the party… The baby kicked her and she set her hand on her stomach. “But I don’t want it. All that stress, long hours. Ugh. I don’t sleep enough as it is.” She smiled. “It’s hard on any marriage. Plus, I’d miss my friends. My friends who go to super parties and don’t invite me. I really should get new friends.”
James laughed. “I’ll invite you to the next shindig I go to. I promise.”
“No, please, don’t. I was only joking. I’m really not shindig material.” She really couldn’t wear an evening gown and be unstylish, baggy Lucy at the same time. “And if that’s what happens at just your run of mill costume party, I think I’m safer at home.” She shivered for an added effect. “Who knows what I would have done if I had been exposed to that perfume?” She thought of that kiss on the stairwell; that wasn’t because of any pheromone perfume. That had been her, Lois, with all her wits. “I get lonely sometimes and miss him so much… Kal’s a jealous man, James. Very jealous.” She glanced down at the pile of photographic proof of her cheating. “Best if I stay home.”
James nodded and wandered off.
Alone for the first time since she arrived at work, Lois’s mind returned to the night before. To Clark kissing her. To her kissing him. What had gotten into her? She knew it was wrong. Everything inside her told her it was wrong, but then why had it felt so right? Like they were two souls joining into one? As if they were made to fit together. And they had fit together so well.
No! That was her Clark, with whom she was made to fit... Not this Clark. It was wrong. Very wrong. Yet, she was drawn to him. Wanted him. Craved him. Longed to be with him again. To kiss him again. To have him hold her again. Touch her again. She hadn’t had that in so long. Memories of her dimension were wonderful, but they were just that… Memories.
Long before Miranda’s perfume had made them send home the border guards of their carefully drawn line, she had felt the powerful pull this Clark had on her. Back when she met him that first time and kissed him that first time. He wasn’t hers then either. Only this time, she was the one who wasn’t available. No, she hadn’t been available then either. Neither of them had been. Neither of them were available now. His Lois was still out there, waiting for him to rescue her. What had she done? Her head began to throb again.
Where in the hell was H.G. Wells and why hadn’t he come to take her home after the murder trial? This was all his fault.
***
Clark didn’t arrive back at
The Planet until mid-afternoon. He snuck in and slipped into the chair next to Lois’s desk, wearing the mustache from the night before. She glanced up and suddenly, he was there, and she gasped.
Lois reached out and touched his fake mustache with a smile, remembering how kissing him with it on felt so different, ticklish at first, but not bad. But then her hand fell as she gazed into his eyes; the pain she saw there, stabbing her. Clark must know, as she did, that it never should have happened and it never could happen again, no matter how much they wanted it to.
“So, how bad is it?” he whispered, after clearing his throat.
“Very. Cat’s going to pounce on you as soon as she sees that you’re back.”
“Great.” Sarcasm dripped from that one word.
“Ultra Woman is the top story. No one was able to find out anything, so far as I can tell. So, they’re banking on the exclusive you promised Cat,” she said, pulling open her purse and passing him the package of photos. “James took some pictures last night. These are your personal set. We should burn them as soon as possible.”
Clark opened the envelope, glanced at a photo and then closed it again. “Whoa!” He blanched.
“Bad, huh?”
“I’ll look at these later,” he said tucking them into his pocket.
“Recommended.”
“I can come over about eight and we can look at them together,” he suggested with the hint of a smile.
“Ha. Ha. Very funny. Not without a chaperone, big boy.” She looked at him over the top of her glasses. “Not alone, anyway.”
“I can’t stop thinking about… her… Ultra Woman.” He sighed. “She took my breath away.”
She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. “Stop. Stop it, now. I am married to Kal. I always will be.” She looked into his eyes with the yearning she still felt from the night before. “Ultra Woman will never return.”
“I’ll miss her,” he whispered, looking deep into her eyes. “I already do.”
Lois melted under his gaze. “She misses you, too, Clark.” Then she pressed her lips together and turned away. “Which is why she can never return.”
***
Clark gave that exclusive interview to Cat about Ultra Woman, an hour later, just to get everyone off his back, so he could write up the story on the train derailment in India. He had to come up with a back-story for her of some kind. Apparently, she was also from Krypton. Her parents had also sent her to Earth as a baby, same as his.
He didn’t want his dimension to know about New Krypton; if it ever got out that he was keeping it a secret, it would validate all of Tempus’s claims about him. He didn’t need that.
Cat had wanted to know Ultra Woman’s secret identity, where had she grown up. He had smiled and said that if he told her, it wouldn’t be a secret any more. Then he had admitted that he didn’t know what it was. She asked if he had x-rayed under her mask and recognized her. He told her the truth. That he had never even thought about that. About their relationship, he said obviously Miranda’s perfume had affected them and made them lose control like the others at the party. Ultra Woman had decided that they needed to take a break from each other for a while and see how they felt without the influence of the love potion.
What had he thought about that? Cat had wanted to know. That’s when he made a mistake, he had told Cat the truth. He hadn’t meant to; he started out telling her the official story, that he also thought it was a smart thing to do -- to take a break from their relationship. All new relationships need time at the beginning. Then, from across the room, he heard Lois laugh at something and it stabbed him like Kryptonite, knowing he could never have her. Cat had seen the pain on his face. She had reached out and touched his arm.
“She’s my destiny,” he had whispered. “I had her for one brief moment and now she’s gone.” Then he had blinked his eyes, realized to whom he was speaking and begged her not to quote him. Pleaded with her. Cat had just smiled like the Cheshire Cat, who had also gotten a bowl of cream. He told her that he was still suffering under the effects of the perfume and wasn’t in total control of his feelings for Ultra Woman, but that he would be better tomorrow.
“Of course,” she had told him, not believing a word of it.
He worried for about thirty seconds about what Lois would think when she read whatever Cat decided to write, if she hadn’t been listening to the interview already. Then Clark remembered that she already knew everything he had told Cat. She knew that he loved her and would do anything for her. She knew that he was suffering because he couldn’t have her. But they both knew it wasn’t meant it to be. And once again, he had to deal with that reality. Kal had the perfect life and his own life sucked.
After Cat left to type up her story, his mind floated off to a conversation he and Lois had had while walking to work the other morning.
“Clark.” She had paused to take a sip of her smoothie.
“Hmmm.” He hadn’t really been paying attention. This was the part of the day she liked to tell him about what was happening in the other dimension. He usually only listened with half an ear to her incessant ramblings about Kal.
“Which is real? This life here with you or that life in my dreams with the other you, you know, the man you call Kal?” She had looked at him with wide eyes over her straw.
He had shook his head. “Excuse me?” Had she just referred to Kal as the ‘other’ him?
“That dream life, I know in my mind it is supposed to be my real life, but…” She had hesitated, not wanting to voice what she was feeling.
“But what?”
“But this life, here, with you. This life feels real.”
“They are both real, Lois. Are you feeling all right?” He had placed a hand to her forehead. Normal.
“I’m feeling fine, Clark, just sometimes a little confused. It’s as if I have amnesia and you are just treating me as a friend until I get my memory straight. Then every night in my dreams I remember a little more about what our life was like before the accident.”
“What accident?” he had asked trying to understand her logic.
“Exactly! Was there an accident that wiped away my memories?” She had looked at him expectantly, like her life hung on his answer.
He had thought about what she had been saying. She did sound a little spacey that morning. “When you say that I’m ‘just treating you as a friend’ as opposed to what? Are we not friends?”
“Yes, of course, we’re friends. Best friends.” She had smiled. “You are the only person I can trust in this wacky world.” She had taken hold of his arm.
“Then?” Where was she going with this?
“Oh. It’s nothing. I’m probably being crazy.”
“That, I’ll agree with.” He had grinned.
She had socked him in the arm, but then was quiet for a full block. Lois was never quiet. “Well, as opposed to more.”
He had smiled at her. “We are more than just friends, Lois, if that’s what you’re wondering. You’re the only person in Metropolis for whom I would lie.”
“Would you lie to me, Clark?”
“I hope not, Lois.” He had smiled, again. Had he lied to her? Not that he could recall.
“Are you the man of my dreams?” she had asked, looking at him expectantly. His heart had skipped a beat. She had certainly been muddled. She must not have gotten enough sleep.
“I would like nothing more than to be the man of your dreams, Lois, but…” That’s when he had heard the alarm bells. An apartment building had been on fire. They had needed his help. He hadn’t even needed to explain.
“Go! Go!” She had urged him.
“We’ll talk more about his later,” he had told her, leaving a kiss on her cheek.
But with their crazy lives, they hadn’t gotten back to her strange confusion of that morning.
Was that why she had wanted to kiss him up on the roof? Because – for some reason – she was confusing him and Kal? She wasn’t bewildered anymore. She had told him straight out that they could no longer be alone together. He had gone from the only man she could trust in Metropolis to persona non grata. Or… Clark swiveled around in his chair to look at her and swallowed. Was it that she could no longer trust herself with him?
Clark let his mind ponder this thought for a minute. Or two. Or five. Then he tried to shake the thought from his head. She was married to Kal, not him. His life as Superman would be over if it ever got out that he was even fantasizing about another man’s wife. With a sigh, he turned back to his computer to type up his story on the train derailment in India.
***
Clark sat up in bed. He had been tossing and turning all night, thinking about Ultra Woman. A week had passed since the party and he still could not get her out of his mind. She coursed through his veins like superheated blood. He clicked on the light next to his bed and buried his face in his hands. He glanced up at his loft and then forced himself to lie back in bed.
“Go to sleep,” he told himself. “She will never be yours.” He had told himself this, every night, but for some reason, this night it didn’t work. When he closed his eyes, he could feel her lips brushing against his. An instant later, he was up in his loft.
He shifted a few boxes out of the way. One of these days, he was going to have to put his Lois’s belongings in storage. Clark liked having them close. He flipped open one of the boxes, pulled out a sweater, and held it up to his nose. He could still smell a hint of her perfume. Perfume.
He set the sweater back in the box and opened the middle drawer of his extra dresser. He pulled out the envelope of photos that Kal’s Lois had given him a week ago. As soon as he had gotten home, he had put the pictures away. He knew if he had looked at them, he wouldn’t be able to stay away from her. It had been too soon and they were both too vulnerable. He didn’t want to think about Ultra Woman. At work, it was near impossible to avoid the topic. Everyone still wanted to know about her… about them.
Ralph asked him daily, if he had heard from Ultra Woman. When was she going to return? Clark could only shrug. His public heartache had been tabloid fodder since Halloween when Cat’s exclusive had hit the papers. The
Daily Planet’s headline had been “Metropolis Falls in Love with Ultra Woman” – a play on the whole Miranda’s love potion story. Cat’s side-bar headline had been, “Ultra Woman Breaks Clark Kent’s Heart.” The word ‘destiny’ had indeed come up in the article; she had also mentioned the possibility of him still being affected by the potion, but blew it off as speculation. Perry would have edited it out. But Ralph was no Perry.
He could no longer spend any time at all with Lois, alone or otherwise, as all women in his life were under public scrutiny. When he had tried to walk with her to work one morning, the slimey tabloid reporter, Leo Nunk, had followed them. Apparently, Lois knew Nunk from the other dimension, so it took some convincing and his super speed not to let him rattle her into punching him. Lois was becoming more wild with this forced separation. She was having as hard a time battling her private feelings for him as he was. He had always been her “Kal Patch,” and for a week they could have only a few guarded conversations at work. She wouldn’t speak to him on the telephone for more than a couple of minutes. He could tell that she was going through Clark withdrawal.
Clark flew with the pictures to his dining room table and pulled them out of the envelope. Mr. Olsen obviously had it bad, poor fellow. Clark shook his head. He didn’t know what it was about Lois, but she collected suitors like some men collected baseball hats.
In a photo of them eating, she was laughing. He couldn’t remember what he had said. Clark closed his eyes. He pictured Ultra Woman laughing, then she picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. Oh, right. He had gotten mustard on his fake mustache. That was endearing. He opened his eyes.
Wait a second. When had they gotten sprayed with the perfume? He didn’t remember seeing Miranda during the first half of the evening. He picked up the photos and quickly scanned them. There! While they had been dancing, after he returned from the diner, there was a blond Superwoman that could have been Miranda. But that would mean… he swallowed.
That would mean that Lois had tried to kiss him, up on the roof, before she had been spritzed by Miranda. He set down the photos; that couldn’t be right. Perhaps, she had gotten an earlier dose as well. Yes. He couldn’t believe she would want to kiss him without help. No, it was the perfume that drove her to accept his advances. And since then, she was having difficulties rebuilding that wall between them. If he believed otherwise, he would go crazy.
What was he thinking? He was already going crazy. Up at three a.m., looking at photos of a woman he could not have. He picked up the pile of photos. He should have moved them to Smallville at his first opportunity, so temptation wouldn’t be so close. As he shoved the photographs back into the envelope, a couple fell to the floor.
There was one – not of Ultra Woman, but of Lucy. She was sitting at her desk, staring off into space. He wondered of whom she was thinking? Kal, of course; who else? He took all the photos and looked at each one to see if there were any other Lucy photos. There were a total of three. Mr. Olsen must have added them by mistake. The other two photos of Lucy were taken when she was out of the office. She was at a restaurant. Mr. Olsen must have taken her to dinner. A part of Clark didn’t like knowing Lois had parts of her life he didn’t know about. She was smiling in one and in the other she was looking off, over his shoulder. He went back to the photograph of her at work. He pulled that one out of the pack. He would keep that one here.
Flying back to the loft, he returned the photos to the middle drawer. When he dropped in the envelope, he pulled out the Ultra Woman mask. He closed his eyes and held it up to his face. It smelled like she had spent all night dancing, yet the material was cool and soft, just like Lois’s skin. His eyes flashed open and he dropped the mask back in the drawer. Yep, the Ultra Woman suit would be going to Smallville, too.
Clark dove off the loft and stopped himself before hitting his bed. He fluffed his pillow, turned off the light and lay down on his belly to sleep. He tossed and turned and tossed some more. There was no way he could sleep with Lois pulsing through his veins. He hadn’t been to Smallville in a few weeks and he should get that stuff out of his apartment. The sooner, the better.
Three minutes later, he was showered, dressed in the blue suit, and lifting off with the first set of boxes from his loft. Maybe he’d even set up a Lois Lane Memorial room for his Lois with all of her stuff. If he did that, he would have to get a second security system, because if anyone broke into his Smallville house and saw that room… Clark shook his head. He didn’t know what would happen, but he imagined it would be something similar to Lana Lang’s worst nightmares for him.
He was long gone when his home phone rang and rang. His machine picked up.
“Clark! Clark? Where are you? I had another nightmare. John Doe is Tempus!”Shortly before five o’clock, Superman returned from delivering the last set of boxes. The alarm was set and the Ultra Woman photographs and suit were locked away in a safe his parents had installed when he was young. They had never used it, but they had wanted it just in case.
It felt good to have all that stuff out of his apartment, out of his easy reach. He went to the kitchen for some orange juice and found that photograph of Lucy staring off into space, her glasses hanging from her fingertips, and a hint of a smile on her lips, still sitting on his table. Mr. Olsen was much too good of a photographer, catching her unaware like that. In this photo, she looked more like Lois than she did like Lucy. Clark really should remind her about not taking off her glasses at work.
A blinking red light caught his attention. Someone called while he was out? He could think of only one person, but he pressed the play button anyway. Her anxious tone made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
Clark stumbled backwards and sat down on his couch. Tempus! A man he hadn’t even known had tried to ruin Clark’s life and kill him for his own fame and glory. Clark hated him down to a cellular level.
John Doe? John Doe? John Doe! The third party candidate in the Presidential elections in her dimension. It might as well have been a bad dream with all the help he could offer from this dimension. If he went to her, all he could do was comfort her, listen to her fears. But there was not a single solitary thing either of them could do about it. They were here and Tempus was in her dimension. They would have to hope and wait until Kal could take care of him.
A large part of him struggled to stand up and fly to Lois’s apartment. But Clark held it at bay. Going to her, holding her would be too big a risk. He could not trust himself alone with her; she was too much of a temptation, especially vulnerable as she was… as he was. If they kissed again, Clark doubted either of them could stop. Once was a mistake, twice… twice was a decision. He swallowed, but he could not just ignore her message. It made him feel like a cad, but he would call.
“Hello?” Lois sounded asleep.
“Hi, Lois.”
“Clark! Oh, Clark. Why didn’t you…”“You know why, Lois,” he interrupted. “Are you feeling any better?”
“No.” He could hear her pouting.
“I’m still in love with Superman.”“And he still loves his Ultra Woman.” He wished she wouldn’t do this to him. It pierced his heart like Kryptonite.
“His… Clark! Tempus has brainwashed everyone in my dimension into thinking that he’s a darn nice guy.”“In twenty-four hours? How?”
“In less. I know two things: Tempus is evil and John Doe is a darn nice guy.”“Wow. Even you? What are you and Kal doing to stop him?” He sighed. This was another fruitless conversation, but it helped her vent.
“We’re still trying to work out how he’s doing it. But he’s gone from nothing in the polls to beating Garner in less than six hours. I don’t know how we’ll figure this out in time. Election day is tomorrow.”“Today, actually,” he corrected. “Ralph wants me covering the Madsen defeat. His words, not mine.” He glanced at the clock. “I better be getting going.”
“What about Tempus?”“What about him, Lois? We are here. He is there. If you have any ideas on how we can help Kal without letting Tempus know you’re here and pregnant with Superman’s child, I’m willing to listen.” He paused, but he could hear nothing but her growing anger as she ground her teeth and her pulse quickened. “I’ll check in with you later.”
Defeated, she whispered.
“OK. I’m sorry I bothered you.”“Lois. Don’t think that way. You know you’re not a bother. I’ll always listen to your worries. I’m just trying to set realistic, achievable goals here.”
“What am I to you then?”“My sister-in-law.” He hated to put it so bluntly, but it was true.
She didn’t say anything for a moment.
“I know. It’s just that it doesn’t feel that way.”“We shouldn’t talk about this,” he murmured, his heart breaking with every word.
“The more we don’t talk about it, the larger it becomes.”“I love you. I want you. I would be there, right now, holding you and kissing you, if you weren’t married to Kal. In love with Kal,” he retorted. “There, did that make things better?”
“No,” she whispered. Great, he had made her cry.
“I’m sorry, Lois. Please, forgive me. This is hard on me, too. We’ll get through this. Something will snap you back to reality, return you to your old self. We just have to find out what it is.”
“What about you?”He sighed. “I know my fate. I’ve always known it.”
“Oh, Clark…”“Good-bye, Lois.”
***
Clark was glad for one thing. It was a busy news week. Charlton Heston won reelection in a landslide. An earthquake in California and a Midwest snowstorm kept Superman out of Metropolis for three days. Life was easier for him if he kept busy; being Superman kept his mind off Lois.
He spent his nights in Smallville, enjoying the silence the old farmhouse afforded him, yet surrounded by all of his Lois’s things. Clark had cleared out his old bedroom, donating anything he could to charity, but keeping a few old mementoes. He hung up all her clothes in the closet and placed her photos around the room. It almost felt like she was alive… like she could walk into the room at any moment…
He sent his stories to Ralph over the wire service. Every time he checked in with his editor, Ralph was only interested in one story: Ultra Woman. And Clark had to admit once more that he hadn’t heard from her.
Clark called Kal’s Lois when he could; every morning and evening. She accused him of avoiding her and he couldn’t deny it. She missed him. It didn’t help that her dreams were filled with Tempus taking over her dimension. But at least the stress of Tempus distracted her from thinking about him. When he returned from California, Lois was almost back to her regular self, except for the dark circles growing under her eyes. She no longer looked at him with longing across the newsroom, for which he was eternally grateful.
It had been a week since the election, two weeks since the costume party, and Clark had finally gotten a full night’s sleep in his own apartment. He still longed for Lois with his entire body and soul, but it was more manageable without her yearning for him in return. It was quiet in Metropolis and Clark happily went to bed early. He still had plenty of sleep to catch up on.
***
Clark flew through the air. He was in a hurry. Someone was calling his name. Clearing the clouds, he could finally see her. Chained to a rock in the middle of the sea, like Andromeda, a blindfold around her eyes, stood a beautiful woman, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her long, deep brown hair blew in the wind. He could see her, but he could not reach her. The winds kept pushing him back.
Her voice called out to him. “Clark Kent. Please, save me. Hear me, Clark. Find me. Help me, Clark. Without you, I am dead.”
The closer he came to the rock, the further away it was, the softer her voice.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed from the heavens, striking her with a bolt of lightning.“No!” Clark yelled, sitting up in bed. It was just a dream, a nightmare. Yet he was breathless and his hands shook. He covered his face with his hands.
He had had this dream before, but never had the woman been so near that he could see her face. It was Lois. Only it wasn’t Lois. Lois didn’t talk to him like that. It felt wrong. It was her, but not her all at once. She was in danger and he couldn’t save her – that part of the dream was always the same. This time she had been hit by a lightning strike. That was new, different, more horrifying. Each time he had had this dream, she called out to him to save her and he never could reach her in time.
Clark climbed out of bed and walked into his kitchen for a glass of water. He was leaning against his kitchen counter when he saw an angel descend from the heavens onto his patio. An angel dressed only in the top half of pajamas.
“Lois!” he gasped, rushing to her. “What are you doing here?”
“Clark,” she could hardly speak his name as she entered his apartment. Her face was damp with tears and collapsed against him. “He’s gone. He’s gone.”
Clark picked her up and carried her back to his bed. Covering up her shivering body with extra blankets, he held her. Knowing she could only be speaking of Kal, but also knowing that she was too distraught to be questioned further. When she had finally stopped sobbing, he asked, “Where has he gone, Lois?”
“He’s lost in time,” she murmured, turning around and resting her head against his bare chest. “Tempus tricked him into a time window and then it exploded…” She started to cry again.
Clark felt her pain, but he could not sit there any longer with her so close. Her hands holding him and her tears dripping down his bare chest. He felt naked in just his pajama shorts. “Excuse me, Lois.” He slipped out from under her.
“Clark!” She reached out to him.
He swallowed and stepped into his closet. He returned a moment later, dressed in sweatpants and t-shirt. Then he sat down next to her. She grabbed hold of him again and pulled her towards her, burying her head in his chest once more. He resisted one more minute and then wrapped his arms around her once again.
When she was able, the whole story poured out. Lois explained to him about all the new reforms Tempus was enacting while turning himself into America’s first dictator. She explained about Andrus, the peace keeper from the future, and how he had asked Superman for his help in capturing Tempus and returning him to the future for trial. Then how Tempus had tricked Superman and sent the time window spinning out of control. “I reached out for him, but Tempus held me back. I couldn’t reach Clark and the window just sped away from me into oblivion. Then Andrus turned to dots and disappeared, like he no longer existed. Superman is gone and now our future is gone, too. I don’t see how I’m ever going to get him back.”
Lois looked up at him, then her eyes went dark. “How dare you sit there and look like him and not do anything to help. This is all your fault. If only you had helped earlier.” She balled up her fist and punched him in the jaw. Then she collapsed against his chest, crying once more.
Clark sighed and rubbed his jaw. He looked down at her fist and x-rayed it. Nothing was broken. She was lucky. That was some punch. Not that it hurt, but he had certainly felt it, straight down to his heart. At least, she wasn’t trying to kiss him, like she had the last time Kal died. He swallowed again, trying to block those thoughts from his mind. He had no more resistance left. One kiss and he would be gone forever.
Eventually, Lois fell back asleep, nestled in his arms. Clark just sat there holding her, comforting her. His heart suddenly felt empty, like he was a hollow shell of the man he had been before she had come to him that night. He knew she was distraught and did not mean any of the things she had accused him. He needed to prove to her that he was a man she could believe in, who wouldn’t let her down, ever again. Clark had no idea how he could ever prove that he was worthy of her.
She was still asleep when Clark left for work that morning. He called Sam and let him know where she was, having come to him in the middle of the night with another nightmare about Kal. He left out a pair of sweatpants for her to wear home, if she so desired.
Clark sat at work, going through the motions, not really feeling up to writing about anything that day. It was hard to work when he had left his heart at home. He kept looking at her desk, hoping beyond hope that she had pulled herself together enough to come in to work, but he knew he was just setting himself up for disappointment. He’d be lucky if Lucy ever showed up again. Without Kal, Lois would lose hope. Without hope, what reason would Lois find to care about what happened to her or what anyone thought about her? He had to find a way to give her hope, if only for the sake of the baby, and that would be his way to prove to her that he was worthy of her.
As he sat as his desk, enduring yet another lecture from Ralph, he saw a strange little man in a bowler hat come out of the elevator. His spirits lifted. H. G. Wells. Clark stood up from his desk, walked away from Ralph and up to Wells.
“Clark,” H.G. Wells said. “Lois needs you.”
Clark nodded. She sure did. “I just need to stop by my apartment and then we can go.” The two men entered the elevator together.
***
Superman landed on the patio to his apartment. He zipped inside. Lois was sitting at his dining room table. It looked like she had just gotten up.
“Clark!” She jumped up and ran into his arms. “Kal’s still alive. H.G. Wells is looking for him, right now. He may still be alive.”
“I know,” he said, setting her down and stepping away from her. She was still only wearing a pajama top. “H. G. Wells is here.”
“Here?”
“For me. He has asked me to help stop Tempus, while he is searching for… your Clark. Excuse me.” He went into the bedroom, took a valise from the closet and started filling it with clothing.
Lois stood in the doorway, watching him. “Thank you, Clark.”
Clark nodded as he went into the bathroom and returned moments later. She still stood in the doorway. She didn’t move as he tried to go by. She smelled so nice and was wearing so little. “Please, Lois. Don’t do this to me. Not now.”
She took two steps back, enabling him to pass.
He went to his desk drawer and removed two photos he kept there. One was the photo of Lois that Mr. Olsen had taken and the other was the ultrasound photo – to remind him for whom he was fighting. He slipped these into the valise as well. Then he turned back to her. “Do you need a lift home?”
“Home?” she asked. He could see the hope filling her eyes.
“Lois Lane’s apartment, here, in this dimension. That home,” he corrected himself.
“Oh.” She looked down at her pajamas and bare feet. “Yes, I guess, I do.” She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He stood there for a moment and just stared at her, before wrapping his arms around her. “I’m doing this for you, you know.”
“I know, Clark.”
“I would do anything for you, Lois,” he whispered, closing his eyes and placing his cheek next to hers. “Anything.”
Her voice quivered as she spoke. “Clark, I may be better at faking it than you are, but…”
Clark cut her off with a kiss, lifting her into his arms. They were high above the city, before he came up for air.
“You shouldn’t do that, Clark,” Lois whispered, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m a sucker for men who fly.”
Clark smiled.
A moment later, they landed in the living room of her apartment. He set her down and Lois leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Take care. I cannot afford to lose another Clark.”
“I know,” he whispered, kissing her forehead at the hairline. “I’ll come back to you, Lois.” A moment later he was gone.
***The End of Chapter 3***
Continued in Chapter 4 - The Rescue of Mrs. Luthor***
CommentsChapter 4: Part 1
