Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Missing Lois: Chapter 4 - The Rescue of Mrs. Luthor (10/14)

Missing Lois - TOC

Story Notes: This story is mostly set in alt-dimension, although visits to the canon dimension do happen from time-to-time. (such as this part, which is set entirely in canon dimension)
- 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
- Martha and Jonathan Kent = canon Clark's parents
- H.G. Wells – famed author – inventor of the Time-Machine – the man who brought canon Lois to alt-Clark

***

Where we left off in Chapter 4: Part 9:

Sleep had been avoiding her lately. She was worried about Clark and his trip to Singapore. And watching her dream Clark get all rosy-eyed about Christmas again made her just ache for him more. The other Clark was more like her; Christmas was more of a holiday to avoid than to participate in. They had bonded recently over not putting up a tree, not stringing lights, not drinking eggnog, and not buying Christmas gifts. She sighed, turned on her left side and closed her eyes.

Lois had no idea how long she had been asleep, when the phone rang. It hadn’t felt long, just a moment really, but long enough to give her that foggy mind feeling. She opened the door to Clark’s room and wandered down the hall to his folks’ room. She could hear the telephone ringing louder there.

With a yawn and a stretch, Lois pick up the telephone and murmured, ”Martha, check and see if you can get me a box of Double Fudge Crunch Bars, could you?”

“Lois?” her husband’s voice gasped.

Part 10

Gulp! Why was Clark calling? Right, he was always calling his parents.

“Lois?” He sounded desperate.

She hung up the phone and flew down the stairs, literally. Holding her stomach, she ran into the kitchen, jumped into her boots and pulled on her coat and gloves. How much time did she have? Two minutes from the instant she had hung up the phone, tops, probably less.

Lois opened the kitchen door and the wind and snow blew straight into her face. She pushed against it to get outside and then pulled the door shut behind her. She tried to fly to the barn, but the wind kept blowing her back to the house. She would just have to trudge through the snow. Bending her head down and wrapping Clark’s scarf over the bottom half of her face, she plodded on. Just as she arrived at the barn, she saw Clark’s familiar blue and red blur zip through the wall of white snow to his parent’s front door. She sighed in relief and entered the barn.

The barn looked the same as it always had. Where had she left the time machine? She felt around with her hands. How she wished she had x-ray vision. Gulp. Clark had x-ray vision and if he scanned the barn… she wondered if x-ray vision could penetrate the invisibility tarp. She guessed it would. She was going to have to fly off. Should she go back to the other dimension? Or should she travel through time? Where were those instructions that Clark had given her?

Lois dug through her pockets, eventually finding the paper. She took another step forward and bumped into the time machine. Yea! She reached down and pulled up the edge of the tarp, sneaking underneath. She wondered if the time machine would work with the tarp still on top. She was going to have to give it a try. She turned a knob. Nothing. Great, she leaned her head against the console. Why wasn’t it working?

A male voice spoke from the machine. “Lois Lane – DNA authorized and approved.”

“Crap.”

“Lois Lane - Voice fingerprint authorized.”

She swallowed and moved her butt into the driver’s seat and unzipped her coat. At least, the machine had turned on and was lighting up. She looked down at Clark’s instructions, but she could hardly read them under the tarp. She turned the time/date knob. If she moved just a couple of hours in the future, he would be gone and she would be able to return in relative safety to the Kent’s and not incur the other Clark’s wrath for returning early.

“Lois?”

Clark was outside the barn now.

“Lois!”

She sighed, wishing she could run out to him. “Please, Clark,” she murmured. “Know that I love you, but I can’t see you right now.” Lois pulled the lever as the barn door opened. The time machine dropped her through time Jello again and she was gone.

***

Five minutes earlier, Clark had leaned back in his chair. His story was filed and he had a couple of hours to Christmas shop. He still needed to find just the right thing for Lois. He glanced over at her, sitting nose to her computer screen, and smiled. He sighed. That other Clark was right. He was the luckiest man alive.

Lois turned to him and smiled. “Clark, what time are your folks getting in next Tuesday?”

He searched his mind, but it was a blank. All he could think of was her smile. He shrugged. “I can’t remember.”

“Could you give them a call and find out? I’m trying to schedule an interview with the Mayor.”

“OK.” Maybe he could get her to take off early this evening as well. He could make dinner reservations at his favorite restaurant, Chez Kent. Clark dialed the phone, but didn’t take his eyes off his wife. It was ringing off the hook. Where were his parents? He glanced at the television to see if that storm hit earlier than they were expecting.

“Martha, check and see if you can get me a box of Double Fudge Crunch Bars, could you?”

“Lois?” he asked. It couldn’t be Lois. He was looking at Lois. She was still at her desk. But he would recognize his wife’s voice anywhere. And who else would want a box of Double Fudge Crunch Bars, Lois’s favorite chocolate vice? Whoever it was was still on the line. He heard her swallow.

“Lois?” he asked again. He was getting déjà vu. Why was there a Lois Lane at his folk’s house. She hung up. Someone was definitely there. He stood up and loosened his tie.

“What’s up?” Lois asked.

“I’m worried about my folks. The storm and all and they didn’t answer their phone. I’m going to check it out.” He kissed her cheek. He hated to lie to her, although it technically wasn’t a lie. But he couldn’t tell her that she was also in Kansas.

Lois glanced up at him. “I hope they’re all right.”

Clark nodded and rushed straight into the store room. He threw open the window and jumped through it even as he spun into his blue suit.

It took him longer than usual to get to his folks’ house. The headwind was really strong. He didn’t see his dad’s truck as he slowed himself down to land on their front porch. He opened the front door. It wasn’t locked; that wasn’t like them. “Hello?” he called.

Silence. He scanned the house with his x-ray vision. No one was there. Had he been hearing things? No, he’d recognize Lois’s voice anywhere; plus she said ‘Martha’ and the chocolate bars. He closed his eyes and smelled. Cocoa.

Clark wandered into the kitchen. Sure enough there was a half-drunk cup of cocoa still sitting on the kitchen table. He picked it up and examined it. No lipstick. Hmmm. The Lois he knew wore lipstick and so did his mom. He lifted the lid of the pot on the stove. Chicken noodle soup from scratch. Yum. He looked around for the spoon to stir it, when he kicked something with his red boot. His mom’s big wooden spoon. He picked it up and dropped it in the sink, wondering why she had left it on the floor.

Examining the kitchen more carefully, he found a little unmelted snow by the kitchen door.

Suddenly he heard a male voice speaking from the direction of the barn. “Lois Lane – DNA authorized and approved.”

What was that?

“Crap,” Lois grumbled. Yep, he grinned, she was definitely there.

“Lois Lane - Voice fingerprint authorized.” The male voice, which he recognized as a mechanical recording, spoke again.

Clark opened the door and pushed his way outside. Raising himself into the air, he saw the footprints from the house to the barn clearly. Deeper than he would expect for someone his wife’s size, unless… He flew over to the barn. “Lois?” he called again. Why was this Lois hiding from him? He x-rayed the barn and saw her sitting on the driver’s seat of a time machine. But she looked strange, distorted, like he was looking at her through an old pane of glass.

“Lois!” He didn’t want her to disappear on him again. Glancing up at his voice, her coat shifted and he saw her rounded belly. A cold shiver passed down his spine. The heavier footprints. She was real. It hadn’t been a dream. He wasn’t crazy. She was real. He opened the barn door, but she wasn’t there. The time machine wasn’t there either. Had it disappeared already?

Out of the blue, he heard her sigh. Then she whispered, “Please, Clark, know that I love you, but I can’t see you right now.” He turned on his x-ray vision just in time to see her and the time machine disappear.

“No!” he shouted, reaching for her, but knowing he was already too late. “No.” He dropped to his knees. “No, Lois, don’t go.” His heart ached and his chest constricted. She was gone. She was pregnant with his child, she loved him, but she ran away just the same.

Why did this pregnant Lois keep doing this to him? Why couldn’t she see him? Was she a Lois from the future? If so, why did she keep visiting him in the past? Had something happened to him in the future, so she would need to come to the past to visit him? But if she was pregnant in the future, why had she told him that the child had been conceived the night before he left for New Krypton? Had he spent that night with a Lois from the future, not his current Lois? He shook his head. That was the craziest of ideas. And what in the world was she doing visiting his folks? Where were his folks?

The phone started ringing in the house. With a sigh, he returned to the house and picked up the phone. “Hello?” he said, feeling like all the joy had been drained out of him.

“Clark?” It was his Mom.

“Mom?”

“What are you doing there?”

“Why are you calling your own house? Isn’t Dad with you?” He scanned the house again as he spoke. “Who did you expect to pick up? My wife, per-chance?”

She gasped. “Clark, your father dropped me off at the market before heading to Joe’s Feed. We’re in town getting supplies before the big storm. I’m calling home because…” She took a deep breath, lowering her voice. “I just called you and Lois said you headed out to the farm. I was worried. What’s up?”

That story made sense. He shook his head. Why would he think that she was going behind his back? Because the pregnant Lois said, ‘Martha’ when he called.

“Clark?”

His head was spinning from it all. It couldn’t be real. His mom wouldn’t lie to him. “I called the farm to double check your flight reservations for next week and Lois answered the phone saying she wanted a box of Double Fudge Crunch Bars. I thought that was a little odd since my wife was sitting next to me at her desk at the time. So, I thought I’d fly here and check it out.”

Martha laughed. “That sounds just like Lois. A box of Double Fudge Crunch Bars. I should have known.”

“So, it was real? Somewhere out there in ether space is a pregnant Lois Lane?” He couldn’t believe it. His Mom knew about his mystery Lois.

“This really isn’t a telephone conversation, is it, Clark?”

“No. It isn’t,” he agreed.

“Can we talk about this face to face, next week, when we’re in Metropolis?” she asked, hopefully.

“Why? Are you expecting company?” he growled.

She sighed. “No, Clark, I wasn’t expecting company. I just thought your wife would want you back before dark. If you want to wait at the house that is fine by me.”

“Can I help you in town?” He didn’t really want to hang around the house at this moment. It felt too empty with Lois gone.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Clark.”

“You’re probably right, Mom.”

“Your father and I will be home in about an hour, if the roads aren’t too bad.”

“OK,” he stated, sitting down at the table, his head in his hands.

“Oh, Clark, are you sure you’re ok? You sound like you’re in pain.”

“I am, Mom. I feel like someone just yanked out my heart and stomped on it,” he murmured.

“Clark, I’m so sorry. I love you,” she told him.

“I know, Mom. I love you too. See you soon.” He took the phone and hung it up.

***

Martha hung up the phone and dug through her purse. She pulled out her emergency phone card. She dialed the Daily Planet and got Lois. “Hi, Lois, it’s Martha. Can I talk with Clark?”

“Isn’t he there with you?” asked Lois, quietly, concerned. “He just left for the farm.”

“Oh, I’m in town at the market. The snow is really coming down, I thought I’d call and let him know where we were in case he gets worried and tries to call. I know how he can get when we get bad weather.”

“The big worry-wart.” Lois laughed.

“I’ll just call the house and tell him where we are. Let him know, if he heads back to Metropolis before I can reach him, will you?”

“Will do, Martha. Oh, while I still have you on the phone, when is your flight next Tuesday?”

Martha relayed the details of their Christmas Eve flight and hung up. She sighed. She should never have told Lois to answer the phone. She shook her head; that was very short sighted of both of them. She went back inside and pulled a box of Double Fudge Crunch Bars off the shelf, adding them to her basket.

What in the world was she going to say to Clark? And where in the world did Lois disappear to? Or more precisely, when in which world?

***

Lois looked around the barn. It seemed the same, only no Clark standing at the doorway. She climbed out of the sleigh and looked around. Where was the invisibility tarp? It seemed to remain when the time machine moved. She walked around the sleigh and kicked the floor of the barn, but she didn’t catch her foot on anything. She sighed. She hoped it hadn’t gotten lost in time. Clark would just kill her if she lost it. H.G. Wells too, probably.

Her heart ached at seeing her husband so close; she hated running away like that. Lois hoped that he hadn’t seen her, but she feared that he had. Anyway, she knew he had heard her. She zipped up her coat and was amazed that she no longer heard the roar of the wind. Two hours forward, she had set the time machine, and it seemed like the storm was already over.

She opened the door to the barn and noticed that it was dark, but not dark. Not dark from storm clouds, just dark. The sky was dark like night dark, but the moonlight off the snow made it seem bright as day. Oh, no. She had set the time for more than two hours. She sighed. She hoped that Martha wasn’t too worried about where she had disappeared to. The snow had fallen in large drifts. How was it possible that more than two feet of snow had fallen in just one afternoon? How was she ever going to manage getting across it to the house? Without the wind, she might be able to fly over there. She looked up into the sky. It was so clear she could see the stars. Where had all the clouds gone?

Lois stepped back inside the barn and looked around. Yes, she was still in the Kent barn, in her dimension, not the alternate dimension. There was the hay and she could still hear the animals. That was weird. She went to open the barn door again, when she heard voices. She hoped they weren’t heading to the barn, because without the invisibility tarp she was sunk; no place to hide.

“Lois! Lois! Don’t run away from me.” It was Clark.

She gasped. He knew she was in the barn. Had he heard the time machine return?

“Tell me what that letter means?” he continued.

Letter? What letter?

“Clark, please. You were never supposed to see that. You would be better off if you had let me burn it.”

What was Lois doing there? Had he brought her stand-in to the Kents in the middle of a snowstorm? That didn’t sound like Clark.

“Then why did you write it?”

“If Lara and I had died in the other dimension, because of the curse, I wanted you to know the truth. I owed you that much.”

Oh, no! She gasped. That wasn’t the stand-in Lois, that was her. How far into the future had she set that infernal machine?

Lois moved back to the barn door and pushed it open a bit to look out. The couple had gone not towards the barn, but out towards the trees. The moonlight on the snow made it almost bright as daylight outside and she could see them perfectly. She watched them. Lois and Clark, back together again. It gave her hope.

“Don’t you owe me the truth, now?” he asked. “You don’t tell me what would have happened, Lois. Tell me, now.”

That future Lois fell on her knees in the snow, crying. “I can’t, Clark. I can’t tell you.”

A tear streamed down her cheek. That she could never do. She could never tell Clark about that horrible photo in the Daily Planet. The photo of him at the grave of his wife. Of what happened to them.

Future Clark knelt in the snow next to future her, and wrapped his arms around her. “If it is that bad, you shouldn’t keep it to yourself. It is a future that did not happen. You are safe, now. The curse did not kill you and it did not kill me. It was like a bad dream, Lois, tell me and the pain will go away.”

Lois leaned out of the barn to get a better look at the couple and future Lois gasped. She had been seen. Crap.

Future Lois pointed at her over Clark’s shoulder. “Go away! You can’t hear this. You cannot know what will happen to you. It’s bad luck. If you know your future, you may try to change something and then not survive. You need to go away now and stay the course.”

Lois felt a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold and snow. Future Lois had been talking to her, not to Clark. She nodded at future Lois and stepped back into the barn.

“You need to go back now,” future Lois continued. “You cannot know what befalls us.” She began to sob in earnest. “Or we might not survive.”

“Lois, I am not going anywhere,” Clark was saying to future her. “The world could open up at our feet and I would not leave you.”

A hint of a smile graced her lips as Lois walked back to the sleigh. That was what he had said when he had proposed. She took other Clark’s instructions out of her pocket and looked them over. She looked at the date on the console. Christmas Eve 1997. She had propelled herself over a year into the future. Oops. It had been dark under that invisibility tarp. She took her hand out of her glove and set her bare skin on the console.

The male voice spoke aloud. “Lois Lane – DNA authorized and approved.”

“What was that?” She heard future Clark gasp. Damn his super hearing. Damn that super loud time machine.

“It was nothing, Clark. Stay with me or the world will open itself up and swallow us whole.”

“I definitely heard something, Lois. Someone is there.”

“It’s just me, Clark. When I am gone, I’ll tell you the truth about the curse.”

Lois gulped. What truth about the curse? What was she talking about? They must have broken the curse or she wouldn’t be with Clark in this future. Was she saying that she, present Lois, was still cursed?

“Go. Go. Or the Earth will swallow you whole,” future her continued. She was still speaking to her.

“Lois, you aren’t making any sense. I’m not going to leave you and the Earth is not swallowing you.”

“Please, Clark, listen to future me. I know that you love me, but you can’t see me right now. She needs you to stay with her,” she whispered, correcting the date and time on the machine.

“Lois Lane - Voice fingerprint authorized.” The male voice of the sleigh announced.

“Oh, my God. That’s you and the time machine. This is where you disappeared off to that day in the barn; last year, when you ran away from me.”

“Yes, Clark, but remember, I always come back to you.”

Lois smiled, pulling the lever, glad that in the future she and Clark were together. She loved Clark and she always would. She wasn’t sure she could tell him the truth, even if he deserved the truth.

***

Lois returned to the barn. The wind was once again howling outside the barn. She double checked the time and date on the time machine before disembarking. Hopefully, Clark had returned to Metropolis, none the…. Oh, no. What had future Clark said? This is where you disappeared off to that day in the barn, when you ran away from me. He knew. He had heard her, seen her and knew. She sighed; so much for stealth mode.

Walking around the time machine, Lois again looked for the missing tarp. She pulled her glove out of her pocket and put it on. She didn’t want to take any chances of setting off that infernal time machine voice again. She would ask Clark to turn down the volume, when she returned to the other dimension. It was way too loud for sneaky getaways. She kicked something with her foot. The tarp. Thank God. She picked it up, but it got snagged on something and then she realized it was trapped under the time machine itself. Lovely. She would have to bring Martha out later to move the time machine and pick up the tarp.

Lois flipped the loose section of the tarp over the time machine as best she could and then headed for the barn door. She fixed the scarf around her nose and mouth again and pushed open the barn door. It almost blew out of her hand, the wind pushing it open. The snow was starting to pile up, but at least it wasn’t in drifts like it had been in the future. She pushed the barn door closed and plodded her way back to the house. She was tired, hungry and still cursed.

How had that happened? Hadn’t traveling into their past lives changed the future so she wouldn’t be cursed? How had she made love to her Clark a month ago if she was still cursed? She would survive, Lois told herself. And so would her daughter. Lois smiled. She and Clark were having a daughter. Lara. Her future self told her that if she stayed the course – returned to other dimension, she surmised -- she would survive. There would be no coming back early. No hiding out in Smallville until the baby was born. She had to return to the other Clark in the other dimension or die. How does one survive a curse? Was there a way to research that?

Lois stamped her feet on the back door stoop and opened the kitchen door. The warmth on her face from the kitchen was definitely welcome. She could smell soup and her stomach growled in anticipation. It had been a long morning since breakfast. She unfurled the scarf from her face and saw that she wasn’t alone in the kitchen.

Martha, Jonathan and Clark sat at the kitchen table, all of them staring at her.

***End of Part 10***

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Chapter 4: Part 11