Missing Lois (Season Five) -
TOC Chapter 4: The Rescue of Mrs. Luthor - 14 parts
Disclaimer: Inspired by the characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and portrayed on the
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman television series, developed by Deborah Joy-LeVine. Many thanks for the above-referenced writers as well as all the writers on the show for their inspiration. The plot of the story is entirely my own.
Author’s Note: I have altered the timeline of the show in this chapter by moving Tempus’s John Doe Presidential election bid to its correct spot between the “Ghosts” and around the time of “Stop the Presses” (i.e. November 1996).
Story Notes: This story is mostly set in the alt-dimension, although sometimes we visit the canon 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
- Jaxon Xavier = Lex Luthor's son and spy at The Planet, does website design and research for the paper
- Lex Luthor = no explanation necessary, same bad guy as always
- 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)
- 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
- Tempus = extremely bad dude from the future, bent on destroying Superman (both of them)
- Martha and Jonathan Kent = canon Clark's parents
- 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).
For a longer plot summary, please click here:
Synopsis of Chapters 1-3To refresh your memory on the last part, click this link:
Chapter 3: Part 10***
Part 1Sam was sitting at the breakfast bar, drinking coffee, when Lucy walked in dressed for work.
“Good morning, Daddy,” she hummed, kissing his cheek.
He stared at her as she grabbed a muffin off the plate and took a bite. Lucy hadn’t called him Daddy since she learned of his involvement with Lex Luthor, and she certainly would never have kissed his cheek. She didn’t look right. Too chipper.
“I’m starving this morning. The baby must be growing like a weed. Did Clark call? Do you know if he’s picking me up today?”
“Lucy, Clark’s not here. He went to rescue your dimension from Tempus. Remember?” Sam tried to explain. But her eyes looked more drugged than puffy from crying. “Lucy, did you take any medicine? That wouldn’t be good for the baby.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Daddy. Of course, I haven’t taken any medication.” She took another bite of the muffin. “That’s right. Clark is looking for Kal. Kal’s my husband.” Then she put her finger up to her lips. “Secret.” This announcement did not seem to bother her in the slightest. Something was definitely up.
“Why don’t you stay home today, Sweetie? You look like you could use the rest,” he encouraged.
“My, you are talking in riddles today, Daddy. I missed work yesterday and the day before and Ralph is a yeller. I don’t want to be yelled at, so I better be on time today. With Clark out of town, someone has to go to work to cover for him.” She lowered her voice. “Do you think anyone else has figured out he’s really Superman?”
Sam took her arm and sat her down. “Sweetie, everyone knows he’s Superman.”
“Oh, I wonder why I thought it was such a big secret? Huh?” She shrugged and took another bite of muffin. “Gosh, this is dry. Do we have any juice?”
Sam pointed at the fridge.
She jumped off her stool and went to get herself juice. “Maybe that’s not the secret. That feels like the secret. Hmmm. Juice!” She poured herself and him a glass.
“Thank you, Sweetie.”
“I know what the secret is!” she squealed, causing him to spill his juice. “No one is supposed to know Clark is Kal, the father of my baby!” She raised her hands in disbelief. “I cannot believe I forgot that was the secret.”
“Clark is the father of your baby?” Sam gasped.
“Told you. Secret.” She put her finger to her lips again.
Sam shook his head. She was obviously in shock. “Kal is Clark’s brother, Lucy. His twin brother. They are not the same person.”
“They aren’t the same person?” She looked at him like he grew an extra arm out his head. “No. Get out of here. I mean, I knew he had a split personality going on with Clark Kent and Superman and everything, but he’s actually two people pretending to be one person with multiple personalities? This is front page material, Daddy. Thanks for the scoop.”
“No, Sweetie. Clark is Superman. But so is Kal. No, that did not come out right. How am I going to explain this to you?” Sam put his head in his hands. His head was beginning to throb.
“There are two Supermans?…. Supermannequins? Supermen? Supermen! Wow! Daddy, this is a bigger scoop than I thought possible. I better get to
The Planet right away and type this up or Lois Lane isn’t the best investigative reporter this dimension has ever seen.” She stopped and grinned. “And, of course, I am.” She went to flip up her hair with her hand, but she only flipped air, because her hair was cut short. “Daddy, when I did I cut my hair? I used to have such beautiful hair. Where did it go?”
“You got a haircut. You thought you were looking a little shaggy.” Sam’s mind raced. He was going to need back-up. The only back-up he had was in another dimension. “Crap.”
Lucy gasped. “Daddy. Your language! Baby on board.” She pointed to her belly.
“Sorry, Sweetie.” He took hold of her arms and sat her down at the couch. “I need your help. Can you tell Daddy who else knows about Kal? Wait, Moonbeam!” He ran to her red telephone and dialed. It rang off the hook, no answer. Some psychic. He returned to where Lucy was sitting on the couch. “Does anyone else in this dimension know about Kal?” He nodded encouragingly.
Lucy thought for a minute. “Mayson. Clark told Mayson. Of course, she didn’t believe him. I mean, who would believe such a story. Hell, I don’t. Oh! Maybe I should. I mean, Mayson blew up right after he told her. Is it possible that you can blow up if you don’t believe everything Clark tells you?” She put her hand to her lips. “Wow! Superman is all powerful.”
Mayson was not a viable option. “Anyone else, Sweetie. Did you tell anyone else about Kal? Perry, perhaps? I know what good friends you are with the Mayor.” He nodded at her.
“Did you know that before he became Mayor, he was my boss. True story.” She nodded. “He’s also half Elvis. Another true story. But no, I didn’t tell him about Kal. I should. Kal is such a great guy. I should tell everyone.” Tears started streaming down her face. “Why didn’t I tell Perry? He’s like my best friend, next to Clark, Kal and Jimmy and you. I shouldn’t forget about you. I really need some women friends.”
“Jimmy? Jimmy who, Sweetie? Did you tell Jimmy about Kal?”
Lucy smiled a giant smile. “Yeah, I did. Kal is so great I had to tell someone. Did I tell you that on the honeymoon, he…” She giggled, covering her mouth.
“I don’t need to hear about your honeymoon, Sweetie. Tell me more about Jimmy.”
“You know Jimmy, Daddy.” She pushed him on the arm and he stumbled across the room. “My boss James Olsen, publisher of the
Daily Planet.” She pointed up to the ceiling. “He has the penthouse apartment here. That Jimmy; only he likes to be called James, now, for some reason. He knows all about Kal. Well, he knows that Kal exists. Does that count?”
Sam stood up, rubbing his arm. Was she starting to develop super strength, too? That would be a bad combination with flying and delusional.
“Lucy.” He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. “Lois.” That seemed to get her attention. “Lois, Sweetie.”
“Sam. What’s going on? Any news from Clark? And don’t call me ‘Sweetie.’ You haven’t earned it.”
Ok, Sam thought, calling her Lois was the key to her sanity. “Lois, I’m going to go upstairs and talk to James Olsen, publisher of the
Daily Planet. Do you think you could wait here for me? I’ll be right back.” He used big hand gestures.
Lois looked him up and down. “Why are you treating me like a child, Sam?”
“Because you are delusional, Lois,” he said, bluntly. “Sorry, that came out rather harsh.” But he could already see her anger growing.
“Delusional?
I’m delusional?”
“Lois, think about Clark.”
Lois shrugged. “What about him?”
“What do you think about him?” Sam asked.
“I think he’s a great guy, but he’s no Superman.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “Oh, that man. Those blue tights. Yummy!”
Oh, great. Delusional was back. “Lois, stay here. Wait for me, right here. Okay?” Sam ran out the door and over to the elevator and pushed the button repeatedly until it arrived. “Penthouse. Top floor.” He pushed the top floor button. When the doors opened he ran to the one door on this floor and started banging. “James Olsen? Mr. James Olsen?”
“Who’s asking?” A voice from an intercom asked.
“It’s Sam Lane, Lucy’s doctor. I need help and Clark is out of town. She’s gone into shock and I cannot control her.”
James Olsen opened his door. “What’s wrong with Lucy?”
“Kal, her husband, disappeared the day before yesterday. Clark went to find him, but the shock of losing Kal has sent Lucy over the edge. Yesterday, she was comatose; today delusional. Help me, please. I cannot control her.” Sam begged.
“You’re a doctor, can’t you give her a sedative?” James suggested, grabbing his coat.
“No, I can’t.” Sam could think of two reasons a sedative would be a bad idea. One, the baby. Two, he didn’t think it would work with her current metabolism. “Please, hurry. I’ve left her alone in the apartment.” Then he fully realized he had left her alone in the apartment. “Oh, crap! Meet me there!” Sam ran back to the elevator; luckily it hadn’t left the floor.
James was right behind him. “How did Kal disappear, again?”
Sam could never lie on his toes like Lois could, but he certainly couldn’t tell this man the truth. “He has a top secret job, hush-hush. They informed her the day before yesterday about his disappearance.”
“Ralph was ballistic. He had been talking to Clark and Clark just stood up and walked out of the newsroom. And then he didn’t come back. No word or anything. I’m glad to hear there was a good reason behind it. I’ve been trying to reach him since yesterday morning.”
The elevator arrived on the fifth floor and Sam and James rushed to 501, but the door was ajar. They walked inside but didn’t see her. Sam ran to her bedroom, then the bathroom; both rooms were empty.
“I left her on the sofa. If she gets out like that, all could be lost. Clark is going to kill me. Tear me limb from limb if anything happens to her.” Sam fell onto the sofa. “She’s got top secret information up there.” He tapped his head. Not to mention the top secret baby growing inside her belly.
“You know, I believe you, Dr. Lane. Where do you think she might have gone?” James asked.
Sam remembered her flying into the apartment on Halloween. “Anywhere. Clark is going to kill me. Wait! She was dressed for work. Maybe the
Daily Planet. She said that since Clark was out of town, she had to cover for him at the paper.”
James shook his head. “She is delusional, if she thinks she could cover for Clark.” He fished into his pocket and pulled out his car keys. “I’ll drive down to
The Planet and see if I can find her.”
***
Lois walked into the bullpen, just in time for the morning meeting. She slipped into the conference room just as the last person was closing the door.
“OK, people. Has anyone found out where Clark disappeared to? He walked off the job, the day before yesterday, and no one has seen him or Superman since. Anyone? Anyone?”
Everyone just shook their head.
“Lucy!” Ralph yelled. “Thanks for joining us. You know Clark better than anyone. Where is he?”
Lois started to cry. “He’s gone. Clark is gone. He went out the window and it just got smaller and smaller and smaller until it disappeared. I’ll never see him again!” The tears were streaming down her face.
“Something happened to Superman? This is front page stuff!” Ralph squealed with delight.
“What happened, again, Lucy?” Cat asked, putting her arm around her. “You aren’t making sense.”
“I love him so much and I never got to tell him... He’s gone.” Her eyes focused and became cold. “Tempus did this! It’s all his fault,” she growled. “Oh, Clark!” She buried her head in her arms on the table.
“What? Tempus is back? This is huge! Oh, I can see the headlines, now:
Superman is defeated by Tempus!”
Lois’s head snapped up. “What?!” Her eyes glared at Ralph. “What did you say? Kal is gone and all you can think about is your lousy headline?” Surprising everyone in the room, she dove across the table without touching it and tackled Ralph.
James Olsen opened the conference room door. “Lucy, NO!” He ran over to her and pulled her off.
“You are so fired, Lucy! Get your stuff and leave this instant,” Ralph screeched with a cough. “Good riddance.”
Lois tried to pull herself out of James’s grasp, but the baby chose that moment to kick her. She grabbed her stomach and stumbled backward, knocking them both over.
“Give her a break, Ralph! Her husband disappeared and Clark went to find him,” James scolded, pulling himself and then Lucy off the floor. “She’s in shock from the grief. She wasn’t even supposed to be at work today.”
Ralph coughed. “You mean Superman’s not really gone? Tempus was not involved?”
James rolled his eyes, murmuring, “Lucy’s right. You really are an idiot.”
“Lucy’s married?” Jaxon gasped from the back of the room.
“Someone actually married her?” Cat murmured shaking her head.
James put one of her arms around his neck and Barry Balson took her other arm and helped drag Lois out of the conference room. James sat her down in Clark’s chair.
“Barry, can you get her some water?”
“Right on it, boss.”
“Lucy? Lucy, are you all right?” James asked.
Lois glanced up, noticing him for the first time. “Has anyone heard from Clark? Is he back? Is there any news?”
James shook his head. “If anyone can find Kal, Lucy, Clark will.”
She nodded. “He promised me, he would. And Superman doesn’t make promises he can’t keep.” She leaned her head upon his shoulder and wept.
***
Clark sat on Lois and Kal’s… Clark’s sofa. He had done it. He had captured Tempus, stopped him from blowing this dimension to smithereens, yet he still felt empty. Lois and Kal were typing up their story at the
Daily Planet and H.G. Wells was returning Tempus to the future.
He felt horrible. He had no willpower against Lois at all, even this stand-in Lois. He had almost kissed her and she had almost kissed him back. He had lost any resistance he had built up against her. It was obvious looking at the photos in this room and hearing how this Lois talked about her husband, how happy they were and how much they loved each other. And here he was, trying to steal this man’s true wife and child for himself. He knew the Lois he left back in his dimension would have to go home one day, so that this stand-in Lois could be returned to the correct spot in this dimension’s timeline. He didn’t need H. G. Wells to remind him that if the stand-in didn’t get returned, the Lois visiting his dimension would cease to exist. It had been pure folly on his part to allow himself to fall for her in the first place.
Martha Kent came downstairs and waved him into the kitchen. “Jonathan is lying down. He didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“I haven’t slept in weeks,” Clark sympathized.
She reached over and hugged him. “How is Lois?”
“Ecstatic now that she found Clark…”
“Not that Lois, Clark,” she said, going to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of juice. “The Lois I sent to you this summer.”
Clark had completely forgotten that Lois had told him that Martha knew about her trip.
“A mess.” He smiled.
“I bet.”
“She talks about Kal… her Clark all the time. She really misses him. Oh, wait!” He zipped out to his overnight bag and returned with the photographs. He took one last look at them and then handed them to Martha. “Here. She’d want you to have them.”
Martha gasped with a squeal of delight. “Is this the baby?”
He nodded and pointed out the head, arms, and bottom. “This was at four months. The legs are tucked in on the other side. She’s quite a little soccer player.”
“Kicking already?” Martha was glowing. “Do you know for sure that it’s a girl?”
“Just a feeling on Lois’s part.” He shrugged. “She won’t let me…” He touched his glasses.
“No, probably not in the baby’s best interest. We can wait.”
“And, yes, it kicks Lois all the time.” He nodded with a smile. “And healthy. Lois tracked down Sam Lane and he’s been her doctor. He’s been keeping a good eye on her. Making sure she eats, sleeps, and behaves.”
Martha laughed. “I can’t believe she’d tolerate a leash.”
“She’s getting used to it now. Keeping the morning sickness under wraps was no fun.” He explained to her about Lois’s secret identity as Lucy El, wife of Kal El, and flipped to the other photo.
“I’ve never seen her look so…” Martha searched for the right word. “Frumpy.”
Clark laughed. “Well, she chose Lucy’s baggy style to cover up the pregnancy and for comfort. We’ll see how well it worked; she only just started to show in the last few weeks. I… we didn’t need extra questions buzzing around the newsroom.”
“Of course.” Martha nodded. “I wish I could share these with Clark…”
“No!” Clark said a tad too forcefully. “It’s too late.”
She looked at him with a raised brow and sat down at the table.
“She’s six months pregnant,” he tried to explain. “The baby’s getting bigger by the day. I know Clark would take her back in any condition, but how would she explain that to everyone else? With everything the Lois stand-in has been through in the last five months, no one’s going to believe that she’s been hiding a baby, too. Plus, this Lois obviously isn’t pregnant, not six months pregnant.” Clark stopped himself from rambling any more. He sat down next to Martha.
She took his hand in hers and patted it. “What makes you think you can try to pull a fast one on me, Clark Kent?”
His jaw hung open. His mom used to say that to him. His chin started to quiver, “Mom… Martha...” He swallowed. “I’m not holding Lois hostage.”
“I’m glad to hear it. But…”
“But I need her,” he whispered, lowering his head. “My life is empty without her.”
“Oh, Clark, I’m sorry to hear that,” Martha said and she truly did look sorry. “But she’s not your wife.”
“I know. I tell myself that every day.”
“Oh, dear.” Martha shook her head. “You’ve fallen in love with Lois.”
Clark looked at her. How had she known? He really must check his forehead for that tattoo.
“Sweetie, it’s written all over your face. I knew from the first moment that Clark -- our Clark -- started talking about her that he was in love with her. I see it with you, too. She has had quite an effect on you two.”
Clark smiled. “She calls us her Kent boys.”
Martha laughed. “Oh, how I would have loved for Clark to have had a sibling. But Jonathan and I were just happy when one baby fell out of the sky.” She sighed. “Clark, can I trust you to do the right thing?”
He nodded. “She wanted to come home after the honeymoon, but then the stand-in Lois got arrested…”
“How did you know about that?”
“Lois knows everything that happens in this dimension, because she has all of the stand-in’s memories.”
Martha’s jaw dropped.
“Every night when she sleeps,” Clark continued. “…she relives this Lois’s memories in her dreams. The stand-in is her, only a couple of months younger. As long as we plan on putting this Lois back in her correct spot in the timeline of this dimension, the true Lois will continue to have these memories and…” He hesitated. “She’ll continue to exist.”
“So, you do know she has to come back?”
He nodded. “We also are going to need this Lois’s consent to get her to go back to the worst day of her life. I refuse to do it by force.”
She patted his hand. “You’re a good man, Clark. You’ll find someone of your own.”
“Lois is determined to find my missing Lois.” Clark looked down, not hopeful.
“Who better to find Lois than herself?” Martha laughed. “She’s a stubborn woman, Clark. When she gets it stuck in her head that she’ll do something…”
“It usually gets done.” He laughed.
“I have something for her,” Martha said. She went out to the other room and returned with a plastic bag.
Clark glanced inside. It was a framed copy of Lois and Clark’s wedding photo. “She will love this.” He swallowed; the glass fragments of his broken heart floating around in his chest. “Thank you.” He heard someone at the front door and stood up, pushing the photographs across the table. “Please, do not say anything to Clark about this, Mom… Martha.”
“They’re back?” She put the pictures in her pocket.
Clark nodded.
Martha jumped to her feet and rushed into the living room. “Jonathan, they’re back!” she called upstairs to her husband.
Clark followed her and put the bag that Martha had given him into his valise.
“You can call me ‘Mom,’ if you want to, Clark. I wouldn’t mind having you for a second son.”
Clark hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.” He let go as Jonathan jogged down the stairs.
Jonathan stood next to his wife, murmuring, “What was that all about?”
The door opened and in walked Lois and Kal. It was a strange feeling for Clark to see someone else who was also obviously himself. Kal ran inside and hugged his parents. Clark stood off to the side, not wanting to intrude on this family moment.
Kal then turned to him and stretched out his hand. “You must be Clark.”
“As must you.” Clark nodded and shook his brother’s hand.
“Thank you for coming and protecting my family while I was gone.”
Clark glanced over at Lois and smiled. “My pleasure. You have a wonderful family.”
“Well, my boy,” H. G. Wells said coming inside. “I think it’s time to get you back where you belong.”
*** End of Part 1 *** CommentsChapter 4: Part 2
