Missing Lois - TOC Extra Disclaimer: I have once again borrowed song titles that I do not own in any way, shape, or manner. I do not take credit for these wonderful songs or songwriting abilities, only on the effect music wreaks on my characters. (Examples of the songs mentioned in the following scenes can be found at the end of the posting in case a reader is unfamiliar with the song.)
Story Notes: This story is mostly set in alt-dimension, although visits to the canon dimension do happen from time-to-time.
- Clark = Alt-Clark unless otherwise noted (such as when we are in the canon dimension, then 'Clark' is canon Clark)
- Lucy El = pregnant canon Lois avoiding the curse by hiding out with alt-Clark, aka Lois's secret identity
- Kal = what Lois-Lucy and alt-Clark call canon Clark (except in Lois's
'Dear Clark' journal where she calls canon Clark 'Clark' and alt-Clark 'Kal')
- Sam Lane = alt-Lois's Dad, Lois's doctor & roommate
- 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, now Acting Editor-in-Chief at the DP
- Ralph = yes, that Ralph. Sent to relax in Gotham City
- Dr. Bernard Klein = S.T.A.R. Labs scientist and Superman's 'doctor'
- Professor Jefferson Cole = S.T.A.R. Labs scientist who framed Lois for murder in canon dimension and then straitjacketed delusional Lois in alt-world
- The only people who know canon Lois's true identity are alt-Clark, Sam, Moonbeam (alt-Star) and now Dr. Klein. 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).
***
What happened in Chapter 4: Part 4:In Lois’s home dimension, canon Clark was perplexed that his wife had no memories of their night of passion before he left for New Krypton, only to have her remind him that if they had indeed made love that night the curse would have killed one of them.
After Wells returned Lois to the alt-dimension, she confessed to Sam that she still had feelings for the other Clark, but had control over these desires once again. Lois apologized to James for her behavior and he gave her back her job. He sent Ralph to Gotham City and made Cat Grant acting-editor. A new permanent editor-in-chief was to start at the beginning of the year.
***
Part 5Clark sat at his desk, typing up the details to a string of robberies on the Westside. Superman had been too distracted this month to deal with it. Cat Grant, now the acting editor, suggested that if he wrote the story about the robberies it would clue in the robbers that Superman was now on the case. He thought it an interesting tactic for deterring crime. The newsroom had been quite chipper with the news that Ralph was moving to the Gotham City bureau; Clark wasn’t the only reporter happy with Cat’s fresh approach. He sent the article to the printer and glanced at Lucy’s desk. It made his heart ache to see it so empty.
His phone rang. “Clark Kent speaking.”
“Finally, I reached you. Clark Kent, please, help me. I’m alive. You don’t…” The phone disconnected.
A chill shivered down his spine.
“Hello? Hello?” But the call was gone. She had sounded just like Lois, only not. He had gotten a couple of calls like it over the years, but this voice always gave him shivers. It reminded him of his nightmare about the woman chained to the rock.
Clark called down to the switchboard and then to the telephone company. There were too many calls entering the
Daily Planet to know which call it was or where it had originated. He told the phone company to send him a list of all phone calls that the
Daily Planet had received in the past two hours. Such a list was not possible. They could give him a list of outgoing calls with a court order. Never mind. Useless. He slammed down the phone. It broke. Great. With a sigh, he unplugged the phone and threw it away. He walked into the supply closet and got himself a new phone.
That voice.
“I’m alive.” Why would a caller say that?
He plugged in his new phone and was about to call Lois when she walked out of the elevator.
Cat stepped out of the editor’s office at that moment and started clapping. Suddenly, the whole bullpen exploded in applause. Lois paused at the top of the ramp and looked at Clark with a perplexed expression. Then he saw the light bulb come on in her eyes and she curtsied and blew kisses to the crowd, which made them disperse.
“What was that all about?” Clark asked as she approached his desk. “I thought you got fired.”
“Ralph. Obviously, I wasn’t alone in thinking he was a cretin. James rehired me on the condition that I don’t make it his worst decision ever.” She pushed her glasses up her nose.
Clark smiled. “It’s good to see you back here. I had never worked with a partner before, but as soon as you were gone, I…” His face fell. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“I missed you, too,” she whispered, taking off her jacket and sitting down at her desk.
“Don’t. Please,” he murmured under his breath, not looking at her.
“That’s not what I meant.”
He looked over at her and she smiled a friendship smile. He returned the smile. With a sigh, he refocused on his computer. Right, he had already completed his article. What was he working on? He could not concentrate. He still wanted her. How was he going to survive the next three months? Let alone the rest of his life.
Clark’s phone rang, again. Hesitating a moment, he picked it up. “Clark Kent.”
“Hi, Clark. It’s Dr. Klein.”Clark swallowed, glancing over at Lois. She was watching him. Listening.
“Clark?”“I’m here, Dr. Klein.”
“I just wanted to apologize again on behalf of S.T.A.R. Labs for that incident the other day.”Clark cleared his throat and turned his back on Lois. “You aren’t the one who should be apologizing, Dr. Klein.”
“Well, I received Lucy’s kind note of apology a few minutes ago and wanted you to know that S.T.A.R. Labs and I were still interested in working with you, if you were still interested in working with us… with me.” He paused, but Clark didn’t say anything, only turned back around to look at Lois. She was avoiding his gaze, but he could tell she was still listening.
“Eavesdropper,” he hissed.
“Excuse me?” said Dr. Klein, hopefully.
“I am still interested in working with you, Dr. Klein,” he finally said.
He heard the scientist exhale with relief.
“I would like to discuss this further with you, in private,” Clark continued.
“Of course. Of course, Clark. If you and Lucy would like…”“
NO!” Clark growled. “She’s not a part of this agreement.” He turned and stared at her. He spoke slowly and deliberately. “If she even sets one foot in S.T.A.R. Labs again, heads will roll.”
She smiled sweetly at him as if she hadn’t heard a word he said.
He heard Dr. Klein swallow.
“Whatever you say, Clark. I just thought in light of her circumstances…”Clark growled again.
“OK. We’ll discuss it later. Privately. Are you interested in meeting here or elsewhere?”Clark made arrangements with Dr. Klein and then hung up. He stood up and walked to her desk. “Are we perfectly clear?” he said to her.
“Crystal.” She looked up at him. “Can we talk, privately?”
“We have nothing to say to each other,” he said, taking his coat. “Alone.”
“No. You have nothing to say to me. I have plenty I wish to discuss with you.”
“Tough.” He started to leave.
“Clark.” She said his name with such pain, it made him pause his step. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“So am I.” He continued walking.
Lois did not even know why he was so angry. It did not bother him that Perry knew about the baby and thought it was his. Perry was a hopeless romantic and only wished happiness for Clark. He knew that Sam would not hurt Lois, because she was essentially his daughter. But S.T.A.R. Labs knowing about her condition was unacceptable.
When he had broken in and had seen her tied up with that Jefferson Cole trying to give her a shot, it brought to light all those fears that Lana had had for him…. And reminded him of that article in Mr. Well’s future newspaper. The one announcing Lois Lane’s funeral and what had happened to her.
If they wanted to test his abilities, see how he differed from humans, so be it. But Lois was different. She wasn’t just some alien raised on Earth, who could defend herself. She had been impregnated by him… basically him and that was far more interesting to scientists. How was her body changing, adapting? What would the baby be like? She was the lab rat they were really interested in. They wouldn’t really care about her or the baby. And for that reason, seeing her at S.T.A.R. Labs had terrified him far more than anything in his entire life.
***
Superman landed at Riverside Park. The waters were choppy and grey on that cold November day. He paced back and forth along the path next to the river trying to calm his anger. He didn’t like how his feelings towards Lois affected his control over his emotions. Another reason, he would never let himself get close to another woman again. Once was enough.
Dr. Klein, bundled up against the cold, arrived along the path. “Superman, I…”
Superman held up a finger and then scanned his doctor’s body for microphones or bugs. He was clean. Then he turned to the river and blew. Soon, there was a thick crust covering a section of the river.
Dr. Klein looked at the patch of ice with dread and swallowed.
“We’ll talk out there,” said Superman, lifting Dr. Klein up and setting him down in the middle of the frozen section of the river.
“Superman, I can see that your trust in me has been shattered. What can I do to rectify that?” Dr. Klein said, gazing nervously at the waves lapping at the edges of the ice.
“Tell me everything you know.”
“But I don’t know anything…”
Superman glared at him with a growl.
Dr. Klein corrected his statement. “You want me to tell you everything that Lucy told me?”
Superman nodded, his arms crossed.
“OK. She was a little incoherent. She made several conflicting statements. What I was able to discern was that she is married to your twin brother, Kal, and is roughly six months pregnant with his child.”
Superman winced. She had told Klein everything.
“She then said that
you were Kal and the baby was yours. But that Kal was lost in time.”
Superman looked at the scientist but said nothing, just waited.
“She said something about dimensions, about the other me at the other S.T.A.R. Labs and how she didn’t really exist.” Dr. Klein raised a skeptical eyebrow at that news. “Oh, and a woman named Lois who was your true love and that some ‘bad man’ – her words – had shot her… Lucy, her. Not Lois. She kept confusing herself with this Lois woman.”
Superman nodded his understanding of the distinction. “Did she mention why she came to see you?” This was the little fact that had been gnawing at him since he found her at S.T.A.R. Labs.
Dr. Klein swallowed. “Something about a Neuroscanner.”
Superman chuckled quietly to himself with a shake of his head. He hadn’t expected that, but it was typical Lois and her one track mind. She would – and did – risk everything to follow one minor lead.
Dr. Klein eyed him nervously. “I haven’t told anyone about the baby or about your brother. I figured that kind-of fell under the auspices of doctor – patient confidentiality.”
Superman looked at his doctor and believed he was telling the truth. “Thank you, Dr. Klein. It is the kind of information that would endanger her life if it ever fell into the wrong hands. And there are those, even at S.T.A.R. Labs, who would suddenly look at her as a guinea pig instead of as a human.”
Dr. Klein pressed his lips together, but then said what was on his mind. “I figured she might be human after she did nothing to defend herself against Cole.”
“She was having a bad day. Usually she’s a feisty little fighter; but, yes, she’s from Earth.” Superman sighed with a hint of a smile. “Once you get to know her, you can’t help but love her.”
“So, the baby is yours?” Dr. Klein inquired, his curiosity piqued.
“I’ve been told it to be impossible.”
Dr. Klein blanched, bringing his finger to his mouth in thought. Suddenly he started to pace. “I’ve been thinking about that, Superman, now that I know that your genetics are compatible to humans. I may have made a mistake on your last sample that you gave me. If you were to donate another fluid sample…”
Superman stared at him with his arms crossed. “It’s my brother’s child. There’s no point in retesting me, Dr. Klein. It is of no consequence as I plan on never becoming intimate with anyone, again.”
Dr. Klein stopped pacing, glancing nervously at the water’s edge. “Oh.”
Superman turned and looked at the Metropolis skyline at the shore. “When I told you about the smashed tin can of my last relationship, it turns out I was mistaken. That pain was a mere indentation, compared with how I feel now.”
“Perhaps if you were to speak to a licensed therapist…”
Superman growled.
“Perhaps not.” Dr. Klein watched as a chunk of the ice broke off and floated down the river. He swallowed, moving closer to the man in blue. “Clark, do you think we might move back to the shore, now?”
“Professor Cole wasn’t too badly injured, was he?” Superman asked quietly. “Is he planning on pressing charges against me?”
Dr. Klein looked at him in shock. “Of course not. He did take the matter up with the board of directors at S.T.A.R. Labs, but they voted against him.”
Superman turned and stared at him. “What matter would that be?”
Dr. Klein cleared his throat, looking again at the choppy water. “Do you think we could move to the shore first, Clark?”
“That bad?”
The doctor could not look him in the eye.
“I do not kill, Dr. Klein. When I discovered my abilities, I believed that I must be here for a reason and that reason was to help people, not to hurt them. I made a promise to myself that I would not take a human life. And I do not break my promises.”
“That’s good to know, Superman,” Dr. Klein said, his voice still wavering, as he watched another chunk of ice break off and float away.
“The matter that Jefferson Cole brought before the S.T.A.R. Labs board of directors, Dr. Klein?”
The ice creaked and the doctor moved even closer to Superman. “Oh. Oh. Oh. He wanted the Kryptonite sample to be available to all S.T.A.R. Labs scientists to be tested for other scientific uses… Oh, that’s a big piece of ice, Clark.”
Superman looked around and up at the sky, taking a deep breath, his red cape blowing in the breeze. “Warmer day than I expected, Dr. Klein. You were saying.”
“Or a weapon to be used against you, just in case… for Earth’s protection.”
“Ah. To protect Earth. How noble. And the board of directors voted against him, by what margin?”
The ice groaned and Dr. Klein grabbed Superman’s elbow. “They agreed that Tempus’s sample belonged to you and you alone. Eight to three. Please, don’t ask me for their names, Superman. If something were to happen to those three, it might change the votes of the other eight members.”
“I completely agree with you, Dr. Klein. I am merely curious why those three fear me.” Superman lifted the doctor off the ice and swiftly carried him back to the path at Riverfront Park.
“Oh, thank you, Superman.” Dr. Klein sighed in relief, before his knees wobbled and sat down on a nearby bench. He took several deep breaths and then looked up at Superman. “After your warning about Cole, I moved the Kryptonite and your blood work to my personal vault at the lab, fearing he might take such action.”
“I am glad that you take our partnership so seriously.”
“I do. I do. This partnership is an opportunity of a lifetime. I do worry about Lucy’s health. She has sought medical attention?”
“She is under the care of a trusted physician,” Superman replied, casually.
“I’m glad to hear it. Should any complications arise, I would be more than willing to lend my expertise to the problem. Not that there should be any problems.” He gulped and placed a smile on his face.
“God forbid,” Superman murmured, gazing out over the river. A large chunk of ice broke off from the ice bridge and bobbed up and down in the water for a moment before floating away.
***
Clark returned to the bullpen feeling much better about Lois’s safety. Dr. Klein had been the good man that she had said he was, whom they could trust. He smiled. He still did not want Lois to go anywhere near S.T.A.R. Labs and told Dr. Klein as much. Dr. Klein was but one of the scientists working there. He didn’t need her running into any other people from her past.
He sat down at his desk and glanced around. Where was she? Her coat was gone. He looked over at his desk. No note. He went to her desk and shifted the papers to see if he could find a clue of her whereabouts.
Barry came by. “I think Cat sent her home,” he answered Clark’s unasked question.
Clark barged into his acting editor’s office. Cat glanced up from her desk.
“Yes, Clark?”
“You sent Lucy home?” he growled.
She raised a brow. “Down, boy.”
“How could you send her home? She said that Mr. Olsen had rehired her.”
“He had. She looked a little pale and was practically falling asleep at her desk. I figured she wasn’t fully recovered from her illness, so I sent…”
A wind blew through her office sending all the loose papers into the air.
“… her home,” Cat finished to herself. She shook her head and returned to the copy in front of her.
***
Clark knocked on Lois’s door. Sam opened it and then let him in without a word.
“Where is she?” he asked.
“In bed.”
Clark headed down the hall. “Is she okay?” He swallowed. “She’s not disappearing again, is she?”
Sam shook his head. “She was having some belly pains. I recommended a couple of days of bed rest.”
Clark raised his hand to knock on her door.
“Come in, Clark,” she called.
He was at her side in an instant. “Lois?” She did look a little drawn, pale.
“What are you doing here, silly?” She smiled. “I’m okay, just a little tired. I just overdid it a bit these last few days.”
“I was worried,” he whispered, leaning his head against her arm. She caressed his jaw with her hand. “What’s this about pains?”
“Perfectly normal,” Sam answered from the doorway. “She just did too much lately, as she said.”
“Do you want me to scan your belly to see if everything’s all right with the baby?” He gazed at her with concern, taking her hand.
“What is it with you Kent boys and x-raying unborn children?” She shook her head.
Clark sat up and stared at her.
Lois continued, “I hear her heartbeat, Clark. She sounds fine.”
He glanced over his shoulder at Sam, who nodded and removed himself.
“Don’t upset her,” he called to Clark. “Doctor’s orders.”
Clark swallowed. How could he talk to her about Kal, accuse her of visiting him without upsetting her?
“How did your meeting with Dr. Klein go?” she asked filling the silence.
“We worked through some of my anger about the other day.”
“What were you angry with Dr. Klein about?” Lois asked, looking up at him with worry in her eyes.
Clark took a deep breath. Don’t get upset, he told himself. Don’t blame her. “Do you know how I felt seeing you tied up there, guns pointed at you, with them trying to inject you with who knows what?”
“Clark,” she murmured, pulling his head to rest on her chest as she held him.
He could hear the baby’s heartbeat more clearly. It relaxed him. “I feel like a fool for abandoning you for selfish reasons last week. I feel like the worst protector in the whole entire world. I feel like a heel for not listening to you about the Neuroscanner. I should have known you wouldn’t have let it lie.”
“I’m sorry, Clark.”
“Stop apologizing, Lois. Please. If I had told you my worries in the first place, this might never have happened. Let’s lay blame where it belongs; it’s my fault.”
“I am pretty stubborn. I need to work on that.”
He could hear a slight chuckle vibrate through her chest. It felt so nice to be this close to her again. Right. Natural. Calming. “Sam says it’s biological, this need to protect you.”
“What do you think?” Lois asked, running her fingers through his hair.
A quiet laugh escaped his lips. “It would be nice to have these uncontrollable desires explained away by science, instead of blaming fate all the time. Although, I don’t know if I appreciate being lumped in with lions and wolves and other wild animals.” He hesitated before softly speaking the next words to her. “One squeeze and I could have easily killed Cole. I know this because I was tempted. I have never been tempted to kill anyone before.”
“But you didn’t. That’s what makes you different from the wild animals, Clark. You can stop yourself before something bad happens.”
“If he had hurt one hair on your head…” His fist clenched.
“Thank God, he did not. My hair is sacred. One broken hair and it throws off the whole style.”
Clark laughed. Lois always knew just what to say.
“OK. Visiting time is over, you two. Lucy needs her rest.” Sam was back. Clark wondered how long he had been standing in the doorway watching them.
He sat up and placed a hand on her belly. “Take care, you two.”
Lois covered his hand with hers for a brief moment, then moved it away.
Clark wondered if she felt the electricity of that touch as he had. He kissed her forehead, wanting to kiss her lips but stopping himself, and then he dragged himself from her room. As he walked back down the hall, he could have sworn he heard her quietly singing “
Love Me Tender.” Cringing at her choice of songs, he wondered if she knew she was torturing him. He spun into the blue suit and was gone out the windows.
***
Sam shut the window and walked back to Lois’s room. He could still hear her singing. Glancing through the open doorway, he saw her gently stroking her belly.
Lois looked up at him and smiled. “The books say that they can hear your voice at this stage. So, I’ve decided to start singing to her.”
“May I recommend you wait until Clark leaves next time? He thought you were singing to him. He may be resigned to you returning to Kal; it doesn’t mean he’s happy about it.”
She winced. “Oops. That probably wasn’t the best choice in songs. Next time he’s here, I’ll start with
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
Sam nodded. “Good idea.”
“Sam, you know that Thanksgiving is next week.”
He smiled. “I noticed it on the calendar, thanks.”
“Well, I’m no gourmet chef and you’re no gourmet chef and Clark will probably be flying around putting out deep-fried turkey fires. He doesn’t have any family, your family is who knows where and, well, my family is in another dimension. So, I thought we could do something non-traditional for Thanksgiving.”
“Pizza and beer and a football game or three?” Sam looked hopeful.
“No beer.”
“Right.” Sam leaned against the doorframe with a sigh.
“I was thinking about all of us volunteering at the Fifth Street Shelter, if that’s all right with you.”
His smile spread wider. “I’d like that. Very much. That’s just what Lois would want to do.”
“Really?” Somehow, this surprised her.
“Yeah. Right after her mother and sister left, we weren’t really in the mood to be thankful, so she suggested we go somewhere to reeducate ourselves. That was the first year we volunteered at a homeless shelter for Thanksgiving. It kind-of became our tradition. It’s where she learned to make pumpkin pies.”
“That’s a skill I don’t have and could use.”
“I’ll give them a call and see about volunteering.” He took a step into the room and kissed her forehead. “Go back to singing. He’s gone and I like hearing your voice. It’s almost like Lois is back again.”
He left the room. A few minutes later he heard her start humming.
***
Superman sat on the edge of Lois’s roof, listening to her and Sam’s conversation below. He smiled. So, she wasn’t trying to step on his heart; she was singing to the baby. That was good. He could sit there all afternoon and listen to her sing. What a beautiful voice. He shook his head; he never knew Lois could sing so well. He wondered whether his Lois did, too.
He looked up at the sky. It looked like it was going to start raining at any moment and he had to get back to work. As he stood up, she started singing “
Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.” He smiled. Her singing was something he could easily get used to.
*** End of Part 5 ***Here are some links to videos of the songs mentioned in this part:
Elvis -
Love Me Tender BJ Thomas -
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head ***
CommentsChapter 4: Part 6
