Missing Lois - TOC Author’s Note: The “Lois” in Chapter 5 and 6 refers to alt-Lois. Canon Lois will be called “Lucy” to help lessen the confusion between the two characters.
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 = Lucy El's husband's name, or what Lois-Lucy and alt-Clark call canon Clark
- Lois = alt-Lois, wife of Lex Luthor
- Lola Luthor = ‘wife’ of Lex Luthor; alt-Lois, if not referring to Clois (Cloned Lois)
- Mr. Amazing = alt-Lois's nickname for Superman
- Sam Lane = alt-Lois's Dad, Lois's doctor & roommate
- Ultra Woman = the costume Lucy/Lois wore to Perry's 'Come as Your Favorite Superhero' party
- Mayor White = aka Perry White, former Editor-in-Chief at the DP
- James Olsen = owner of the
Daily Planet, Lois-Lucy's friend
- Barry Balson = Superman beat reporter for DP
- Lex Luthor = no explanation necessary, same bad guy as always, this time bald
- Junior = Lex Luthor, Jr., Lex's first born son, creator of the Neuroscanner
- Jaxon Xavier = Lex Luthor's son and spy at
The Planet, does website design and research for the paper
- Gareth McTinney = new EIC at the alt-DP.
- Mayson Drake = police detective, partner to Detective (in alt-world) Henderson, alt-Clark's ex-girlfriend
- Lana Lang = alt-Clark's ex-fiancée
***
What happened in Chapter 6: Part 5...The new EIC at the
Daily Planet Gareth McTinney asked Lucy before the morning meeting when she would be leaving on her maternity leave, announcing quite plainly to everyone – including Jaxon – that she was pregnant. She denied the claim and immediately left the meeting, calling Lois to come in and sub in for her as "Lucy El". Lois admitted that she had already done so the previous day when the pregnant woman wasn't feeling well. Clark was out in Bolivia rescuing people from a natural disaster that day so Lucy told Lois they should inform him of the switch at the first opportunity.
The next day, Lois still in the "Lucy" persona invited Mayson Drake, Clark's ex-girlfriend, to lunch. Clark thought this odd as the two women had never gotten along.
***
Part 6A few minutes after Lucy and Mayson left, Clark’s phone rang. “Clark Kent.”
“
Have you lost your flipping mind, Kent?”
“Perry, what’s up?” Did Lois say something about this past weekend to him?
“
Why did you cancel the girls’ police protection escort?”
“What?” Clark gasped. “I didn’t.”
Silence. “
If it wasn’t you…”
“When did the order get issued, Perry?”
“
Monday morning.”
“Lois called me Monday morning and said she was planning on locking herself in her room with her laptop all week and not to disturb her. But Lucy hasn’t said word one to me about missing her guards.”
“
You need to get to the bottom of this, pronto, Clark. If one of those girls… women…” His old boss’s voice broke.
“You don’t need to tell me, Chief. Look, Lucy’s at lunch with Mayson Drake right now, so she’s perfectly safe…”
“
With Mayson Drake?” Skepticism dripped from Perry’s tone. “
Those women hate each other, Clark.”
“Lucy arranged it. Maybe Mayson has some information on Intergang. She used to work for Bill Church, don’t forget.”
Silence. “
Bill Church is one of my oldest friends, Clark. If you’ve got hard proof…”
“Clark. Line two. Lois Lane,” Barry called from across the bullpen.
“Got to go, Chief. Lois is on the other line. I’ll check with her about the guards, all right.”
“
Clark, just make sure those ladies are safe.”
“You know I will, Chief.” He hung up and picked up the other line. “Lois?”
“
Clark?”
“Getting much work done?”
“
I’ve been trying to reach you since last night. Where have you been?”
He swallowed. Bolivia? “I had to run some errands.”
“
Can you come over, now? I need to talk with you.”
“Now?”
“
Please?”
“Give me fifteen minutes, Lois.”
She laughed. “
How about two?”
Did she know he was Superman? “Sure,” he said, slowly. “I can be there in two.” He grinned. She knew. What a weight off his shoulders.
Less than a minute later, Superman came in through the living room window. Lois was in the kitchen, making lunch and he came up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered.
“I’ve missed you, too, Clark,” she replied with a sigh. “But I’m afraid you’ve missed your Lois more.”
A thunderbolt hit his brain. This was Lucy. He turned her around. Big round tummy, certainly not his Lois.
Lucy smiled, weakly. “She said you didn’t recognize her, but I didn’t believe her until this moment. Guess, I owe her five bucks.”
His jaw dropped. That was Lois at the office. Lois, whom he had been working with all day. Lois Lane, who just went to lunch with Mayson Drake. He stumbled backwards. “When did you make the switch?”
“As I told you, I’ve been trying to reach you since last night.” Lucy nudged him aside and sat down at the dining table. “There’s a sandwich in there for you, if you’re hungry.”
He couldn’t sit and eat; he started pacing.
“Clark, please. You are giving me neck strain. Sit down.”
Superman stopped across from her, holding on to the back of the chair. “Does she know?”
“I’m sure she’ll let you know as soon as she does,” Lucy informed him with a smile.
“Did you know that she’s at lunch with Mayson Drake as we speak?” he told her.
Lucy’s sandwich stopped half way to her mouth, before she set it back down. “Mayson? Mayson doesn’t trust me. Why would they eat lunch together?”
“What? My ex-girlfriend and my present girlfriend? Gee, I have no idea what they might talk about.” Superman shook his head.
“Why do you think Lois wants to know about Clark’s relationship with his ex-girlfriend?” Lucy asked, picking up her sandwich again.
That stumped him for a moment. “I wouldn’t tell her about Mayson.”
“Ah, so she went to the source.” Lucy nodded, then grinned wickedly. “Hope she didn’t speak with Lana, too.”
Superman didn’t want to think about that possibility. “So, why aren’t you at work, Lucy El?”
She swallowed. “Nobody said anything to you?”
Superman shook his head, slowly. This didn’t sound good.
“Gareth McTinney asked me during the morning meeting yesterday when I’m leaving on maternity leave.” She watched him carefully.
“He
what?!” The Man in Blue was so angry, he was starting to hover.
“Basically, he announced I was pregnant to the newsroom.”
“I told you not to trust Mr. Olsen…” he snarled.
Lucy set down her sandwich. “He didn’t tell him, Clark. McTinney figured it out all on his own. James defended me! Read him the riot act about assuming that pudgy female employees are pregnant without proof.”
“He did?” Superman grinned, setting himself back down. “Good.”
“Unofficially, I’m on maternity leave and the role of Lucy El will now be portrayed by Lois Lane.
Your Lois Lane. Who was going crazy not being able to leave the apartment.”
“I take it you told her about the baby.”
Lucy didn’t dignify that statement with an answer.
“Guess so. How could you let her into the newsroom? She’s supposed to be researching Superman to get back on the paper.”
Lucy took a sip of her milk with a smile. “Sounds like she’s more interested in Clark Kent at the moment.”
He sat down next to her, grabbing an apple slice from her plate. “So, has she mentioned me? Asked you anything about me?”
“Superman? Nope. Hasn’t brought him up since Saturday. Although, she did mention Clark Kent, once or twice.” She smiled.
He sighed. “She’s really angry at Superman, isn’t she?”
“A bit. She enjoys working with you on Intergang, though.”
Superman glanced over at her, stealing another apple slice. “She likes working with me?”
“She likes
you, Clark.” She glanced at him.
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Liking me has never been the problem. Whether I’m Superman or Clark Kent, it doesn’t matter. We can’t be together. She’s still married to Lex Luthor. And an affair is an affair, no matter what.”
Lois stared at him and then exhaled a deep breath. “A couple of years ago Kal and I met this man – Eugene Laderman – who was convicted of murdering the abusive husband of his lover. Eugene was innocent, of course, and we proved it; the husband wasn’t actually dead it turned out. Anyway, I’m going to tell you what I told Kal, ‘It’s okay to have an affair when your husband is a brutal sociopath’.”
“No, it’s not, Lucy. It’s not okay.” Clark groaned.
“That’s what Kal said,” she murmured, a slight sad smile coming to her lips.
Clark looked her in the eye. “Your husband isn’t a brutal sociopath, Lucy.”
She took his hand and squeezed it. “I never said what happened between us was okay, Clark, and I never will.”
He nodded in agreement. It should never have happened and it would never happen again.
“But Lex
is a murdering sociopath, Clark,” Lucy continued. “He murdered Lola, among others. He kidnapped Lois and made her believe she was someone she wasn’t. And when she got her memories back, he tortured her, tried to brainwash her and held her prisoner for over three years. That isn’t a marriage, no matter what the courts or any legal document states. What happened between you and her
wasn’t an affair. It was the meeting of souls. The joining of souls.” She squeezed his hand again, reassuring him. “You’ve got to be honest with Lois and maybe together you can come up with a plan. Love will find a way, Clark.”
“Lois Lane doesn’t plan, Lucy, she acts,” he muttered, his lips pressed together. He wanted to believe Lucy, but deep in his heart he knew what he and Lois had done to Lex was wrong. No matter how horrible Lex Luthor was.
Lucy sneered at him, letting go of his hand. “Is that so? Fine. You just sit around and mope, Man of Steel. That will accomplish everything for you.”
“What is there to plan, Lucy? She’s married; I’m Superman. Never the two should mix.” Superman sighed. “I’m thinking of taking a world correspondent job that Gareth offered me.”
Lucy took hold of his hand, again. “Running away is never the answer, Clark.”
“I wouldn’t be running away; I’d just be giving her space to live her life without me. I’d still love her. I’ll always love her, just from a distance.”
Lucy took a bite of apple. “How is that not running away again?”
“It’s better for her anyway.”
“If you do that you’d essentially be dumping her,” she told him. “Don’t you think it would be better to make that decision together?”
“We’ve already broken up, since we aren’t allowed to be together. She’s free to see other men.” Superman swallowed. He hated the idea.
“And you’re free to wallow in despair.” Lucy shook her head. “She doesn’t
want anyone else. She just wants you. And she wants you to want her.” She sipped her milk. “Actually, I take that back. She has expressed interest in another man.”
Superman didn’t say anything, just scowled.
“Should I tell you whom?” She smiled. “You know him. Actually, he’s one of your best friends.”
“If you say James Olsen, I’ll head to the Arctic and scream my lungs out.”
“OK.” Lucy shrugged. “If you don’t want to know…” She glanced over at him.
He was surprised. Olsen was essentially a kid, a rich kid, but still a kid. “It is him? Really?”
She leaned closer to him. “His name is Clark Kent.”
“Ha-Ha,” he scoffed, but her words had lessened the tension strangling his heart.
Lucy picked up her dishes and carried them back to the sink. “You’re right. After her lunch with Mayson, she probably won’t be interested in dating him anymore either.”
Superman buried his head in his hands again. He was sure that between the two of them, the Loises would discover another way to kill him besides Kryptonite.
“Oooh, Clark. She’s kicking. You want to feel?” Lucy sat back down next to him and raised her shirt, exposing a huge round tummy.
Clark set his hand on top and felt the baby kick him. He sighed. He loved that baby.
“She’s missed you,” she whispered.
“And I’ve missed her.” He glanced into Lucy’s eyes. “Both of you.” For the first time since rescuing Lois, he was drawn towards Lucy, tempted to kiss her as his hand rested on her belly. A realization hit him. It was the baby; she was trying to bring them together. She didn’t like that they were arguing. He could sense the baby calling out to him telepathically. “Daddy.”
Lucy started. “What?”
Clark shook his head and removed his hand. He cleared his throat. “She thinks I’m Kal.”
“Excuse me?” she stammered.
“She thinks I’m her father. She wants us to kiss and make up. Stop arguing.”
Lucy grabbed his hand and placed it on her tummy again. “She’s speaking to you?”
Clark shook his head. “Emotions. Feelings. It’s not exactly words, per se.”
A tear dripped down Lucy’s cheek. “It’s not fair,” she whispered.
“She loves you, Lois. She wants you to be happy. She senses that you are happier when I’m around. She wants me to stay with you. Be with you and make you happy.”
Lucy placed her hand over his, another tear dripping down her cheek. “No. It’s not fair that Clark is missing his daughter speak to him like this.” She set her head on his shoulder. “Can you tell her that her Daddy loves her? And misses her, too?”
“I don’t know.” He closed his eyes and was quiet a minute. “I love you, Lois.”
“I love you, too, Clark.” She kissed his lips gently, then pulled away. “Thank you. You’re the best uncle ever.”
Clark opened his eyes and looked into hers. “I’m the worst uncle ever,” he grumbled. “Because I don’t want to be just her uncle. I want to be Daddy.”
Lucy closed her eyes, wincing at his words. She wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him close, holding him. “I know. And I’m so sorry, so very sorry, Clark. I wish you were somebody’s Daddy, too.”
“The baby wants to know why you’re so sad again, Mommy.”
Lucy swallowed. “Tell her, I’ll tell her when she’s older.”
He chuckled. “And so it begins.”
“You better get back to work, Clark,” she said, placing her hand on his again. Then she looked up at him. “You’ll be a Daddy someday, Clark, with your Lois. I know you will.”
“No, I won’t.” He sighed, standing up. “I want Kal’s life. I want a wife who accepts him for who he is, a daughter who speaks to him before being born. I want parents who still love him enough to tell him he’s wrong. And friends. And a home. I want to be able to kiss the woman I love whenever I want without feeling like everyone is watching. I want to walk down the street without everyone knowing my biggest secret. His life is perfect. I envy him.”
“Perfect? Ha! Kal’s life isn’t perfect. You know what Kal is dealing with right now? Last week someone kept exposing him to Red Kryptonite and his powers went haywire. He couldn’t stop when he landed and he damaged so many buildings around Metropolis, the Mayor told him to leave. He destroyed our kitchen with his heat vision trying to cook a frozen roast, because he couldn’t turn it off. His powers were at seven-hundred percent and he was afraid to touch me, because he hugged me one afternoon and bruised my arm.” Lucy held out her arm. “See the bruise? No, because this didn’t happen to me recently. It happened somewhere around ten to twelve months ago. But I know it happened, it’s happening as we speak. His wife has gone crazy and has fallen in love with his brother, but she can’t talk to anyone about it because it is wrong, so very wrong, and because he’s in love with someone else. Kal’s daughter doesn’t know who he is. And he doesn’t even know we’re missing. So, don’t tell me that Kal’s life is perfect, Clark. His life is far from perfect.” Lucy grabbed his hand and squeezed it, staring at him. “And yes, you will be a Daddy someday, Clark. Love will give you a way, if you believe hard enough. Stop being afraid. Give Lois a chance. You might be surprised by what she can take.”
Clark stared at her. “Kal hurt you? Bruised you with a hug?”
“It was an accident, Clark. Together we found out who was responsible. Kal has learned to ask for help when he needs it; so should you.”
Clark cupped her chin in his palm. “You are so precious. How can he allow himself to be around you?”
“He didn’t.” Lucy swallowed, looking away. “He’s avoided me.”
Clark nodded. “As he should.”
Lucy winced. “Avoiding a problem doesn’t make it go away. It just angers it and makes it want to slug you.”
He chuckled. “Oh? So
you’re the problem?”
“Clark, you will never be able to leave Lois, so you might as well tell her everything and work with her.”
“No, it’s better if she doesn’t know, Lucy. Together I will only hurt her more like Kal hurt you. I don’t know how Kal can do it; love you without fearing he will break you.”
“Lois is stronger than you know, Clark. She won’t break easily.”
“Every time she cries, I feel like I have shattered her.”
Lucy socked him in the arm. “Then stop making her cry. Tell her you still love her and give her the chance to solve your problems together.”
“I can’t.”
She hit him again. “Clark. You rushed right over here this afternoon, no qualms about telling her how much you love her.”
“You don’t understand, Lucy. If she ever were to get hurt again, because of me…” Clark stammered. “Red Kryptonite or not.”
“Isn’t that her decision, not yours?”
“You said the same thing about Mayson and look what happened to her.”
“She survived because of you.” Lucy grabbed his hands. “As did Lois.”
He kissed her knuckles. “I know you’re trying to make me feel better, Lucy, but the truth is both of them were hurt because I wasn’t fast enough.”
Lucy shook her head. “You?
You weren’t fast enough? Who do you want to be? The Flash?”
Clark chuckled softly. “Nah. I prefer the blue suit.”
“Don’t take the job, Clark. You’ll be miserable as a world correspondent. You need a base. Friends. A home.”
“Kal needs those things.” He let go of her hands. “And I’ll never be him, Lucy. I don’t have his strength.” He set a hand on her stomach. “Bye, beautiful.”
Lucy reached for his wrist, but he was faster. With a wave, he was gone out the window.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Clark.” He heard her speaking to him. “But without me, he’d be you. Do you know how many times Kal has given up? Tried to hang up the cape? Pushed me away for my own safety? More times than I care to recall. I am what makes him strong. Remember how it was before I came this summer? Is that who you want to be? Do you want to go back to that lonely existence? Lois will make you stronger if you let her. So, let her.”
Clark flew to the top of the tallest building in town, put his knees to his chest and wrapped his cape around himself. Lucy and Lois kept telling him to trust in love. Love would find a way, but he was a realist. Lucy had made him Superman and then she left him. Lois had made him Mr. Amazing, and she would leave him someday, too. When the novelty and reality and the danger of being with a superhero finally sank in, she would be out the door. Because once you took off the cape and tights, he really was only Clark Kent, a reporter with a heart of gold, an idealist, and champion of the underdog, a nobody. Not the kind of man a strong woman like Lois would want to come home to.
***
Lois and Mayson sat across the table from each other, contemplating one another. Lois took a sip of her drink and handed her menu to the waitress. She wasn’t quite sure where to begin. Or how well Lucy and Mayson knew each other.
“Clark took me here once for lunch,” Mayson told her.
“Really?” There was the opening for which she was looking.
“The day you got shot by Junior.” Mayson took a sip of her ice tea.
The shooting from the letters. Junior had come after Lucy? Had he figured out how his circuits had been overloaded, she wondered. “Oh.” She should have looked that up in the archives.
“How’s the shoulder?”
“Better. It twinges sometimes.” Lois had no idea which shoulder it was. “And you?” She had researched Mayson’s bombing. She knew she couldn’t go into this lunch completely blind.
“Running still winds me, so I avoid it.” She fake smiled. “Henderson’s been great and so has Dan.” She gave a real smile this time. Clark was right, she was happy.
“Glad to hear it.”
Mayson pressed her lips together and looked her up and down. Oh, not a good sign. “So, what do you want, Lucy? I know you wouldn’t invite me to lunch to catch up on old times.”
Wow, straight to the punch. Good. Lois liked this woman. “I’m worried about Clark. It’s like a piece of him is missing and I’m hoping you know what or where it is. He won’t talk to me.”
Mayson raised a curious eyebrow at this pronouncement and folded her hands together. “He seemed fine to me.”
“He’s changed since your car bombing, like he’s empty, hollow. I don’t know how else to describe it.” Lois shook her head, hoping Mayson bought whatever it was she was saying.
Mayson sighed. “Watching your girlfriend blow up changes a man, especially a man who thinks he ought to be able to have power over his own world.”
“What do you mean?” Lois thought she knew what Mayson meant, but she wanted to be sure.
Mayson raised a skeptical brow. “You know exactly what I mean, Lucy.”
The waitress came and brought their food.
Lois looked at Mayson innocently and dug into her salad. Ugh. The only vegetarian item on the menu. What was the point of being able to eat whatever she wanted without gaining a gram, only to have a secret identity who wouldn’t consume anything worth eating?
“Are you saying you hadn’t noticed that Clark’s a bit of a control freak?” Mayson chuckled. She was having a salad as well, but a Cobb salad with diced ham.
“We all like things our way, Mayson,” Lois reminded her.
She was quiet a couple of minutes while she ate. Lois waited, hoping it was because Mayson was organizing her thoughts. “I don’t know how much of our conversation he told you, Lucy.”
“He doesn’t like to talk about you, Mayson. That’s why I’ve come.”
“Even now?” This surprised the detective. “I was sure he was over me when I read about Ultra Woman…” Mayson shook her head. “I thought at the time that’s what Clark needed. Someone with whom he can be himself. Someone with whom he can lose control, without worrying about her safety. He’s scared of hurting us human women.” She laughed softly to herself, then stared Lois in the eye with a raised brow. “It must be the same with Kal.”
Gulp. That was right, she knew about Kal. Really knew. How much information had Clark shared with her? She still didn’t have that speed reading down to a science and wished she had looked at Lucy’s letters to Kal more closely. Lois felt like a deer crossing the road at night and Mayson was the semi-truck heading right for her. “He used to worry about hurting me by accident, but we worked through it. He’s very gentle.” She sighed thinking of Mr. Amazing.
Mayson glanced around and then leaned forward, lowering her voice. “Just between you and me – I promise I won’t tell another soul – but I’ve got to know, how wonderful is it to float with him?”
Lois’s jaw dropped. Exactly how intimate had Clark been with Mayson? Her eyes squinted. “Excuse me?” she practically snarled.
“You know exactly what I’m asking you, Lucy? If you truly are his sister-in-law, you’d know, too.” She took a bite of her salad and waited for Lois to answer.
Great. “I do know what you’re talking about. What I’m wondering is how you know about it?”
Mayson shrugged. “You’re the researcher, how do you think?”
Lois closed her eyes. She had to. Her jealousy was taking over and she was worried she might send a heat missile Mayson’s way. She took a deep breath and counted to ten. Mayson said she wanted to know, so she hadn’t actually been there… But had Clark floated with her, at some point, when they made out? She took another deep breath and counted to ten again. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to speak about her. She swallowed and finally opened her eyes.
“Jealous much?” Mayson laughed with a bit of sparkle. “Lois.”
*** End of Part 6 *** CommentsChapter 6: Part 7
