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, Lucy’s doctor & Clark’s roommate
- Ultra Woman = originally the costume Lucy/Lois wore to Perry's 'Come as Your Favorite Superhero' party; now, alt-Lois.
- Mayor White = aka Perry White, former Editor-in-Chief at the DP
- James Olsen = owner of the
Daily Planet, Lois-Lucy's friend
- Lex Luthor = no explanation necessary, same bad guy as always, this time bald
- 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.
- Barry Balson = Superman beat reporter for DP
- Leo Nunk - same scum as in canon, only now available in alt-dimension
- The only people who know canon Lois's true identity are alt-Clark, Sam, Moonbeam (alt-Star), Dr. Klein and alt-Lois. 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.
***
Where we left off in Chapter 6: Part 8...Clark shook his head. Why was everyone obsessed with Ultra Woman again all of a sudden? Slow news cycle?
“Morning meeting!” Gareth called walking out of his office. Clark grabbed his notebook.
This just in, a runaway subway train has passengers terrified in New York City… Clark glanced up at the TV screen. He then looked at Lois, who was staring at him, curiously. He looked over at Barry. “Tell Gareth I’ve gone to cover the subway in New York.”
Barry laughed and waved. “I’ll cover for you, partner.”
Clark took one last look at Lois and then darted toward the supply closet.
“Good luck,” he heard her whisper. He sighed. It would be great if Lois just knew. If he just stopped hiding the fact from her, she would learn about it easily on her own without him telling her. Then she would know. He sighed. Then he couldn’t flirt with her anymore. He wouldn’t be able to be around her, because he knew the instant she knew – after her anger died down, that is – she would be all over him. There would be no way he would be able to avoid Hurricane Lane, when she made landfall. And Superman’s image of a clean-cut all-Kryptonian-American boy would be right out the window in a heartbeat.
***
Part 9Lois watched as Clark darted out of the newsroom. She grabbed her notebook and followed the crowd to the conference room. Another day, another story. What kind of spin could she put on it?
Gareth bounced around the room and finally called on her.
“Well, it looks like Clark’s working on the runaway subway train in New York story. I’m still doing research on Intergang for that piece we’re working on.” She paused, waited for the room to quiet. “Want to hear something funny? Leo Nunk called Clark this morning.”
“Who’s that?” Gareth asked. He was allowed a faux pas like that. He was still new to Metropolis.
“Head sleazeball for the
Daily Whisperer,” someone informed him.
“What did he want?”
“He wanted Clark to comment on reports that Ultra Woman was back.” Lois laughed, like it was the funniest thing ever.
Dead silence, except Lois’s laughter. Then an explosion of chatter as the bomb went off. How fun! Lois grinned.
“Quiet!” Gareth yelled. “There were rumors last Halloween about Clark and this Ultra Woman character, right? What did Clark say to Nunk?”
“He thought it must have been a vigilante in an Ultra Woman suit. He said he didn’t think she’d ever come back.”
“Spoken like a man spurned,” another reporter added.
“Any truth to these rumors? Is it a vigilante?”
“No.” This was Jaxon, right on cue.
Lois smiled and placed her hand to her face to cover up her expression.
“It’s not a rumor. She’s back. She stopped by my apartment last night.”
“In your dreams, Jaxon,” someone retorted.
“No, I wasn’t dreaming, Carlos. She wanted to get in touch with my father.”
“Wait. Isn’t your father Lex Luthor?” Gareth asked.
Jaxon nodded. “She said that she had a message for him from a mutual acquaintance. When she got his address, she just flew out the window. This wasn’t just someone in a suit. It really was Ultra Woman.” He whistled. “And, boy, was she hot.”
Lois felt like ice-cold jelly dripped down her back. Creepy, Jaxon.
“Thanks for the heads-up, Jaxon. So, who was the message from?” Gareth asked, staring at Jaxon, eyebrows raised. “Obviously not Superman. He doesn’t know she’s back.”
“I don’t know.” Jaxon swallowed nervously. “They didn’t tell me.”
“Find out! What is she doing back in town? Why is she contacting Lex Luthor? Who is their mutual acquaintance? Is she on the side of good or has she gone bad? Check on the possibility of the vigilante angle.”
“Don’t call my Dad bad,” Lois heard Jaxon mumble under his breath.
“I can check shops for Ultra Woman suits,” Lois volunteered. Ultra Woman gone bad? She would have to stop that rumor right away.
“Great! You work with Barry on this.”
Lois nodded toward Barry. He saluted her back.
“See what sightings, if any, anyone has had. Get on this, people!” Gareth clapped his hands and the meeting disbursed.
Lois ran to her desk and called Lucy. “Hey, babe,” she said as soon as Lucy answered. “You owe me ten now.” Then she explained what had happened that morning.
“
Moonbeam called. It seems like Luthor’s lawyer is ready for a meeting.”
“Already? That’s quick.” Lois frowned. “I’m not going to be optimistic.”
“
With Luthor it’s not recommended.”
“Thanks for the message. I’ll call her.”
“
Did you return the suit?”
“Yeah, but I think I’m going to need it again before long.” She hung up and called Moonbeam.
***
Lois spent all weekend traveling around the country as Ultra Woman. She went out to L.A. to check on her sister Lucy. While there, she saved a small passenger plane when the engine started smoking, and picked up a couple of drug dealers, whom she delivered tied with a bow to the police. She wasn’t ready for direct contact, yet. While in L.A., she found some good quality knock-off Ultra Woman costumes. It could come in handy, not always having to wear the same one.
In Mexico, she stopped a hit from the drug cartel, returned a wallet from a pickpocket, and saved a family from a burning home. But she didn’t want to go anywhere where she might run into Superman. Ultra Woman wasn’t following the news and chasing the big stories. She wanted little news items, something with some plausible deniablity to them so she wouldn’t stick out. She saved a cat from a tree in Brooklyn, stopped someone from jumping off the bridge and bought a hotdog. Stopped a carjacking and a home invasion in Gotham City. Lucy had told her of a so-called hero in her dimension that covered Gotham City; no such luck here. Rescued an ice skater who had ventured too far on the lake in Chicago and bumped a stalled car off the railroad tracks outside of Seattle.
***
Clark arrived late at the office on Monday morning. There was a train derailment outside of Boston during the morning commute and he had rushed to help. He felt bad, once again, at not being able to walk Lois to work. He didn’t like her going about without protection, his or the police’s. He understood her position of not wanting to constantly be under guard, but he didn’t want her anywhere where her ex-husband could get to her. It put his mind at ease that he knew that Lucy was staying home, resting, and avoiding the public. He hadn’t been able to visit them all weekend due to mudslides in India and an earthquake in Turkey. It had been a very busy weekend. At least he hadn’t been plagued with dreams of Lois. He had slept like the dead.
Jogging into the bullpen, he found a small crowd of people standing outside the conference room. He slid up to Lucy and asked what was going on; then, before she could answer, he heard Lex Luthor’s voice. He turned then really focused on the occupants of the conference room. Lois and Moonbeam sat on one side of the conference table, while Lex and presumably his lawyer sat on the other. Lois was sitting quietly, ramrod straight, her long dark wig on and slightly covering her face, her head tilted down as Lex yelled at her. Clark cringed, wishing he could go in and rescue her.
“What’s going on?” Clark repeated his question to Lucy, the real Lucy. Lois knew about the meeting in advance, obviously. Moonbeam and Lucy were here. Lois was dressed in one of her Lois Lane’s business suits. This public meeting spot was apparently of her choosing.
“Luthor’s counter demands for the divorce,” Lucy murmured under her breath.
“What were her initial demands?” Clark asked, guessing the answer.
“Her freedom.”
“And?”
“That’s all.”
Clark grinned for a split second and then looked at Lex ranting, as he clearly was demanding something in return. Not that he deserved to get it. “What does he want?”
Lucy shook her head. Either she couldn’t tell him or she wouldn’t tell him there. Clark turned his attention back on Luthor, concentrating on what he was saying. Lex noticed him at that moment as well, and the hatred in the evil man’s eyes – which honed in on Clark – could be felt by all.
“Him! He’s the reason you don’t love me anymore. He’s the reason you left me. Him! I’ll make it known to the entire world that he stole you from me.” Lex punctuated every indication of Clark by pointing at him. Without ever hearing a word said – as only those with super hearing could hear him – they all knew he was talking about Clark.
Clark turned away. He didn’t need to be the center of more office gossip.
“He really hates you.”
Clark turned to the speaker. Jaxon. “What did I do?”
Jaxon looked at him in disbelief.
“Besides rescue Lois from him? Lex was the one who held her hostage for three years.”
“She married him of her own free will,” Jaxon reminded him.
“When she had amnesia. When she got her memories back, he wouldn’t let her go. He tried to brainwash her and blinded her, so she couldn’t escape.”
Jaxon stared at his father in the conference room. “Did Lois ever tell you when she started to remember?” So, Jaxon thought of her as Lois Lane now. He no longer believed the lies his father had told him about her being Lola.
“We haven’t talked much about her captivity…” They didn’t converse much. Actually, Clark was looking forward to a day when they were on the same page, when they could stop arguing and could finally talk again about something other than themselves. Like they had when they left Smallville. He had really enjoyed talking with her that day; it had almost felt like they were a normal couple. They also talked when she was in her Lucy persona and they could talk about work, but it wasn’t the same.
“She had been reading the
Daily Planet at breakfast. I was there, trying to convince my father to give me more money for my VR computer, which he always makes me beg for in person. And she turned to us, interrupted us in fact, which she had never done before and said, ‘Hey, I know this man, this reporter, Clark Kent.’”
Jaxon had his full attention and the attention of everyone else standing there.
“Excuse me?” Clark was stunned. He had never met Lois before Singapore.
“That was father’s reaction as well. How could she know you? She didn’t know anyone, except him and the people he had introduced her to. He even pointed out to her that it was your first story in the paper, because it had said something like ‘introducing Clark Kent, newest member to the
Daily Planet staff’ in the byline.”
Clark remembered that story. “The closing of the old theater?”
Jaxon shrugged; either he hadn’t read it or didn’t remember. But Clark did. He remembered that byline very well. No reporter forgets his first story published in the
Daily Planet.
“She said something like, ‘But I know him. I knew he would write well’.”
Clark felt a chill. Lois knew him, knew he was a writer, but not his writing? Suddenly, his whole universe felt like it tipped. Had he met her before Singapore? If so, where? Why did he not remember her?
How could he not remember her? Or was it just the ranting of a woman who had lived through a traumatic event? Had she just confused him with someone else? He glanced at Lucy, but she shrugged. She had no idea what Lois had been referring to either.
“Lois couldn’t remember how she knew you, but she wouldn’t give up the notion that she did. It got into her head that there were things in the world that she should know, but didn’t. When she gets something into her head, you can’t drive it out with a nine-iron.”
Clark nodded. That certainly was true.
“She read everything you wrote with such an appetite, it was like it was chocolate.”
Chocolate, Clark smiled. Lois certainly did love her chocolate.
“And when she read that you were looking for the missing reporter Lois Lane, she knew, just knew, that was her. She got it into her mind that you would find her and rescue her. Until that point, she didn’t think she needed rescuing. Father stopped letting her read the
Daily Planet after that. Then I heard that she started bribing the maid staff to bring her a copy. I personally thought she had lost her mind. I still thought she was mental, even after she came back here, until father said he wanted to own the
Daily Planet. Then I knew; she must really be Lois Lane.”
Jaxon had everyone’s rapt attention before that faux pas, now he had their anger as well. First started the glowers, then a few grumblings, and it finally came to a head when someone threw a stapler at him.
“What?!” Then Luthor’s son realized what he had let slip and gulped. He took a few steps back and then started to run, several of the reporters followed him.
Lucy leaned over to Clark, “James now has his grounds for termination.”
All Clark could do was nod. He was staring at Lois. Had he rescued her at some point before Singapore? He shook his head. Lana had never wanted him to interfere. He had wanted to help people, before he became Superman, but Lana thought it would draw unwanted attention to him and his abilities. Lois was staring at him, too. That was when he heard her voice.
“
Oh, Clark. What are we going to do?” He heard her voice, inside his head. How was that possible? He glanced at Lucy.
“Did you say something?” he asked her.
Lucy shook her head.
Maybe Clark only thought he heard her. He looked back at Lois, but she was no longer gazing at him, instead she was conferring with Moonbeam.
Lex left the conference room with a smug expression on his face, and as he walked past Clark he said, “Stay away from my wife, Kent.”
Clark threw up his hands as if to say he hadn’t touched Lex’s wife. Only he had. He had touched every inch of her body and wanted to do so again. He glanced over at her. Her eyes seemed dead. Lex had really done a number on her. The more he got to know Lex Luthor, the more he hated him. And he usually didn’t hate people; disliked, yes, hate, no.
He stepped into the conference room. “Are you okay?” he asked.
Lois didn’t even look up. “This isn’t a good time, Clark,” she murmured under her breath.
Clark nodded and left the room. After what Jaxon had told him, and everyone around them, it was probably a good idea to leave a wide berth between them. But her eyes looked so empty. He hated seeing her like that. He just wanted to hold her and tell her that everything would be fine. But he didn’t know that; he had no idea when everything would be okay again.
***
Lois nodded to Lucy as she and Moonbeam left the conference room. “I’ve just got to use the facilities. Why don’t you hail us a cab? And I’ll be right down.”
Moonbeam nodded and headed toward the elevator as Lois went down the hall to the ladies’ room. Lucy followed her. Two minutes later, Lois as Lucy El emerged and returned to Lucy’s desk.
Clark rolled his chair over to her. “Are you okay?” he whispered.
“No. But I will be.”
“I’m going to make sure she gets home safe.”
Lois nodded. Probably for the best if Clark wasn’t right in front of her, because all she wanted to do was hold him and cry. She watched him disappear down the hall towards both the restrooms and the supply closet, wondering if he was also following Lucy to get another chance at the baby. Lucy had said the baby thought he was Kal. Did the baby call him Daddy, like she called her Mommy? Lois remembered it had the other night. A part of her screamed out in pain at that thought and she closed her eyes.
Lois picked up her phone and dialed.
“
City Hall.”
Glancing around, she lowered her voice. “Is Perry White available? Tell him Lois Lane is calling, please.”
There was a moment, then Perry picked up the line.
“
Hi, darling. I was just thinking about you. What’s up?”
“I hate it that you’re always right.”
Perry chuckled. “
What am I right about this time?”
“That I am bad for him.”
“
What happened?”
“Lex won’t grant me a divorce,” she whispered. “If I proceed with the divorce decree, he’s going to add Clark as a co-plaintiff and accuse us both of infidelity, publicly.”
“
But you haven’t slept with Clark.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “I know, Perry. I’ve known that Clark is Superman since the weekend before last. But it doesn’t matter if I have or hadn’t – Lex would still ruin him. He promises if I drop the divorce and agree never to see Clark again or any other man for that matter, he’ll allow me my freedom to live and work where-ever I want. Lex’ll even stop trying to kidnap me and won’t smear Clark’s good name. I just have to stay married to Lex.”
“
Does Clark know that you know?” Perry asked.
“Really, Perry? That was the important fact gleaned from what I just said?”
“
I’m sorry. You’re right. What does Clark think?”
“I haven’t told him, yet, Perry. But I’m going to have to leave Metropolis. That’s the only way. Maybe the
Daily Whisperer will hire me, since I won’t be able to get my job back at your old paper without leaking secrets I’m not willing to share.”
“
You’re still the best reporter I know,” he told her. “
You’ll figure something out. Hey, what about giving Gareth McTinney that first story you sent me? At least, you’d get your old job back.”
“What are you talking about, Perry? How would offering him that story get me my job back?” Lois shook her head. Perry must have a screw loose.
Perry was silent for a moment. “
Never mind. It was a crazy idea anyway. So, you’re going to dump Clark?”
Lois glanced around and lowered her voice. “I don’t see how I can dump someone I’m not even allowed to date, but yeah. I wish there was another way, but there isn’t. It just wasn’t meant to be for us.”
Perry coughed. “
I hate to disagree with you on this, but you’re more wrong than Elvis marrying Ann Margaret.”
“Perry.”
“
But it’s your life and you get to screw it up.”
“Thanks. Even if I could get my job back, I’d still have to leave town. I’m bad news.” She sighed. “Maybe Lucy would hire me on as her nanny.”
Perry laughed so hard, she could hear him slapping his knee. “
You with kids? No, I don’t think so.”
She felt like he had slapped her across the face, instead of just his own knee. She wanted to argue with him, but this wasn’t the venue for such an argument. “Bye, Perry.”
Lois was just hanging up, when Gareth set his hand on her shoulder. “Lucy, do you think I could speak with you in my office for a minute?”
“Sure, Mr. McTinney.” She swallowed, nervously, had he heard any of her conversation with Perry? Great going, Lois.
Gareth left the door of the office opened a crack, which she found interesting, and offered her a seat. He sat down on the edge of his desk. “I’d like to apologize for what happened the other day at the meeting, Lucy.”
Oh, that’s what he wanted to talk about and why he left the door open. Paying homage to the antiquated notion that a man and a woman couldn’t be alone in a room with a door closed without hanky-panky being assumed, even an office of windows. Since her boss knew that she was close personal friend with not only Clark Kent, but also the owner of the paper, he was planning on treading lightly with her.
Let’s see, she was a pudgy woman accused of being fat enough to go on maternity leave. Cue body slouch, embarrassment and humiliation. Lois looked down and away from Gareth.
“I was wrong to assume that you were…” He coughed. “I mean, I should have handled my inquiries differently, more quietly, not in such a public forum.”
“Uh-huh,” she mumbled, still not looking him in the eye. She started shaking her foot as a nervous twitch.
“You’re good friends with Clark Kent, right?” Gareth asked.
Lois glanced up, curious about his line of questioning, but then immediately looked away.
“I mean, of course, you are work colleagues, but the hearsay around the newsroom is that you’ve known each other a long time.”
“Yes,” she responded. “We met back in college.” That was the history that Lucy told her. Vague, non-specific, perfect answer for someone in conversation with a boss who made her feel uncomfortable.
“Did you go to Kansas State as well?”
OK, this was a little more specific. Was he just making polite conversation or had he checked on her background and found that it didn’t exist? What kind of details did he want? She shifted in her seat.
“No.” That was the easiest answer. Lucy had informed her that Mayson had done a quick background check on Lucy El months earlier and found no one of her description had attended Kansas State while Clark was enrolled.
“How did you meet?”
Oh, crap. She hadn’t any idea what to answer. Neither Clark nor Lucy had told her a cover story to use. When in doubt, the best lie was thinly veiled truth. “We met at Mid West U. Kansas State was playing Mid West and I’d taken a five hour bus ride there from the city with a friend of mine, Molly, who wanted to visit her boyfriend.”
“Uh-huh.” Gareth leaned forward, wanting more.
Crap. Why did she pick this story? Perry. It was his fault for putting it on her mind. Lois looked away, honestly mortified and embarrassed. She glanced over her shoulder and out the door to her desk, where she wished she could be sitting at that very moment.
“Go on,” Gareth coaxed her. Damn. Wrong answer.
She forgot everyone was obsessed with Clark Kent, aka Superman, and wanted to know everything about him. Lois glanced back at the opened door and lightly blew, closing it. She didn’t need the bullpen hearing this tale.
“Molly ran off with Ryan, her boyfriend, and I was stuck on a strange campus, knowing no one, alone. I went to the game; I was a sophomore, new to journalism. I thought maybe I’d try to write a sports story for Met U’s student paper, that’s where Molly and I went. Clark was quarterback for Kansas State. He played a good game; they won, I remember.” She released her breath, not really wanting to go on with the story. She went quiet, not wanting to remember what happened that night at Mid West. The loud screams, the drunk fans, the chaos, the crowds, the jostling, the music pumping out of the frat houses, the bright lights against the dark sky, the cold wind that made her shiver through her light jacket.
“What? You went to locker room and got an interview with him? Struck up a conversation with him, something like that?” Gareth asked, going completely in the wrong direction.
“No.” The images of that night were just as strong as if it happened the previous day. It had been late, she had missed the bus back to Metropolis and didn’t know if Molly had caught it or not. She didn’t have a place to stay. It was cold and getting colder, bitter cold for mid-October. She shivered. She had wandered around the campus, hoping to find some academic building she could crash in when that group of drunk Mid West fans had stumbled across her. Stumbled indeed, they were plastered drunk. Some of them had faces painted in Mid West colors and they were angry as hell that their team had not only lost to Kansas State, but also to Met U, the previous week. And she had been wearing her Met U sweatshirt. She had ran, but not fast enough. They had caught her and held her down in the bushes. She had screamed.
“Lucy?”
Lois glanced up at Gareth McTinney with tears in her eyes. “He saved me from being raped by a group of drunk frat guys,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.
Whatever story he had expected, this wasn’t it. He swallowed, not knowing what to say.
Lois’s eyes glazed over as she remembered what happened next. “He appeared out of nowhere, my hero. They tried to fight him, but he was too strong, eventually they ran off and it was just the two of us.” She pointed to a slight mark on her head by her hairline. “That’s from that night. He must have heard me scream, been nearby, I don’t know. I never asked him. He asked me if I was okay, I don’t know what I said. Gibberish, probably. I told him my name was Lucy when he asked.” That part was also true. She hadn’t wanted to tell him her real name, so she had given her sister’s.
“He had wanted to take me to Mid West University Hospital or contact security, but I couldn’t… couldn’t…” She placed her hands over her face, removing her glasses to wipe away her tears, then replaced them. “He carried me to a late night pizza parlor, where we ate pizza and drank hot tea. He said he was afraid I was going to go into shock from the cold and everything; he even gave me his letterman jacket to wear, Kansas State.” She smiled. “I thought he must be pre-med, but he said that he was a junior in journalism, like me, on a football scholarship, full ride. Kansas wanted him to go pro, but he wanted to write and travel the world, help people. I told him I liked the puzzle, finding the answer, the who-done-it, searching for clues. We closed the pizza place down. I didn’t have anywhere to go and he didn’t want me wandering the campus alone in my sorry state. It was really cold by that time, but he stayed with me. Walked around campus, until I couldn’t stay on my feet any longer. We sat down on a bench and he held me, keeping me warm, despite me having his jacket. I guess I fell asleep. When I awoke an hour later, I was at University Hospital, here in Metropolis, with no idea how I got there, with someone paging my father. My hero was gone.”
Lois swallowed, glancing up at Gareth, who’s jaw was scraping his chest. Oh, crap! Had she just told him that whole story? She had never told anyone that story before, except Perry. She had written it out for him and tried to sell it to him freelance as her first story. He had rejected it, of course, but encouraged her to keep writing. That was when they had met. She needed to fix this. This was supposed to be how Lucy El met Clark Kent.
Clark Kent! Oh, it was him. She
had met him before. He really was her hero as she kept calling him. She placed a hand to her head to try to stop it from spinning. That was how she had gotten back to Metropolis so quickly, he had flown her. Lois wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Anyway, I tracked him down and thanked him. We started corresponding back and forth. We became great pen pals. He even introduced me to Kal. Kal El, my husband.” She placed what she hoped looked like a real smile on her face. “Clark’s the best friend I’ll ever have.”
“That’s some story.” Gareth was finally able to find his voice. “You should write it up and we could publish it under a history of Superman bit.”
“No.” Lois dried her cheeks. “No. I’ve never shared that story with anyone before, except Perry White and…” She shook her head. “I cannot believe I just told you. Please, no. I can’t. Please, understand. No.”
He patted her shoulder. “I understand.”
Lois stood up, nodded to Gareth and walked out of his office. She had to get out of there. Her brain was spinning. She
had met Clark years before; it must have been almost nine years earlier. Her hands began to shake. She still had his letterman jacket. She had tracked him down, found his name. It had been pretty easy, he was quarterback for the Kansas State football team. She had wanted to contact him, thank him, return his jacket. But it was too much, she couldn’t speak about that night. The horror, the pain, the fear. She had taken up karate after that to battle her fear. She wrote it down, figured she could thank Clark through her words, but it never got published and she had just pushed it back in her mind, like she pushed his jacket into the back of her closet.
That night at Mid West was why she always had to be in control. Why she dicated when and where and how she had sex with a man. It always had to be her decision. It was why she told Lex she would die before letting him take her by force. She had promised herself never to let a man have power over her again. And from that day that Clark first rescued her onwards, she hadn’t. Not sexually at least. Until Lex. But it had always been an illusion, this sense of control. She never had really had it at all. And now as Ultra Woman, a man could never take that power away from her again. It was time to take action and make her life her own again. She only had to figure out what it was she really wanted and how to get it.
Lois stumbled to her desk and picked up the phone and dialed Clark’s home number. Her father picked up. “Daddy.”
“
Yes, Princess? Is everything all right?”
Lois took a deep breath. “Yes. Do you still have my stuff from college or did you donate it somewhere?” She held her breath in anticipation.
“
All the stuff from the house ended up at Uncle Mike’s. Your college stuff might be there, it might not.”
“Can you call Uncle Mike and tell him I’m coming by at lunch?” she asked.
“
He’ll be thrilled. He’s been dying to see you.”
“Me, too.” She placed a smile on her lips, hoping it translated through the phone lines. “Thanks, Daddy. Bye.”
Lois hung up and went to get a drink of water. It was all too much. Why had she told that story to Gareth, of all people? Why had Perry dredged up that tale? She hadn’t thought about that night in years. Clark Kent was her hero all along. No wonder his name pulled her out of her amnesia, part of her subconscious remembered her hero from that night at Mid West. How in the world could she leave him now, when she had been searching for him all of her life?
*** End of Part 9 *** CommentsChapter 6: Part 10
