Missing Lois (aka Season 5) -
TOC Chapter 7: And Baby Makes Four - 13 Parts
Disclaimer: Inspired by the characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and portrayed on the
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman television series, developed by Deborah Joy-LeVine. Many thanks for the above-referenced writers and to the other writers on the show for their inspiration. The plot of this story is entirely my own.
Author’s Note: The “Lois” in this part refers to alt-Lois. Canon Lois will be called “Lucy” to help lessen the confusion between the two characters.
Part 1Clark lay next to Lois, breathing heavily and, for the first time that he could recall, sweating. Making love to this Lois, his soul mate, was the most incredible experience of his life. She made his nerve endings sing. Each time was like his first time. No, not his first time. His first time had been with Kal’s wife. Each time he made love to his Lois was like making love to her – this woman in his arms – again for the first time. New, exciting, breathtaking… amazing.
He could easily close the blinds and never leave this room again. He loved gliding his fingers over her skin – every inch of it. And he had, Clark smiled, touched every inch of her skin – time and time again. First with his kisses, then with his hands, and then… then with his bare skin. For the rest of his life, he would kick himself for being so stubborn and pigheaded. How had his body survived the last six weeks without making love to this woman? His girlfriend scooted closer to him and rested her head on his chest.
“Oh, my God, Lois. ‘Wow’ doesn’t even come close to this feeling,” he told her, kissing the top of her head.
“Now you know why I call you Mr. Amazing.” She smiled, running a finger down his bare chest.
“So, am I still amazing as your equal?” he asked, quietly.
Lois rolled on top of him. “Who says you’re my equal?”
Clark lifted her off him. “Time out! Quarterback needs a break.”
She leaned up against him and breathed into his ear, causing a whole new series of nerve endings to shout with joy. “Quarterback needs to go out for more protection.”
He turned towards her. “Already?”
Lois nodded. “I doubled up, unsure what our friction might do.”
Clark kissed her. “Mmmm, friction. We could always go without. Dr. Klein says…”
“Do you mind if I don’t risk my figure to Dr. Klein?” Lois interrupted. “I just got this body and I’d like to keep it looking like this at least until we can get married. And since I’m married to two other men right now that could be awhile.”
Clark was silent for a minute as he ran his fingers through her hair. “Lois. What did Kal-El tell you?”
Lois froze. “I don’t want to talk about that, Clark. I shouldn’t have said anything to Martha. I was just angry at him for raising my hopes.”
“About what?” Clark knew what, but he needed to hear her say it.
A tear crept down her cheek. “About us. About our possible future.” She gazed at him and saw her pain reflected in his eyes. “Martha told you?”
Clark nodded. Yes, Martha – Kal’s mother – had told him that his Lois had been pregnant with his child before the car accident. It couldn’t possibly be true he knew, because Dr. Klein told him he couldn’t father children. But his love shouldn’t have had to shoulder that burden herself.
Lois closed her eyes and leaned her head again his chest. “Martha shouldn’t have said anything. I was trying to save you that pain.”
“I am Superman, you know. I don’t know why my so-called friends keep hiding the truth from me. I can handle it,” Clark grumbled. He was hurt. It hurt that none of his friends thought he could handle bad news or disappointments. He lived bad news daily, both as Clark Kent – investigative reporter – and as Superman.
“No. You can’t, Clark. That’s why you need me.”
“I need you,” he said wrapping his arms around her. “Because I can no longer breathe without you.”
“Good thing I can’t die.”
“Yeah.” Clark went quiet. He wished she wouldn’t joke about that. Lois had had too many close calls recently. The most recent occasion still smarted. “Stay away from Kryptonite. I don’t know what it will or will not do to you, you freak-of-nature. I don’t want to take any chances.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Why would Kal-El scan your body in the first place?” he wondered.
“Who knows? It was like he couldn’t believe I was your Lois until he saw that I was pregnant.”
What did Kal know that he hadn’t told Clark? Did his Lois become pregnant in the future? “Were you?”
She shrugged. “Who knows? My period started the next morning after the accident.”
Right. He remembered now. Yet, those words stabbed him like a Kryptonite knife. “Or because of the accident. It was my fault. I killed our miracle baby.” He turned away.
Lois turned his face back towards her. “This is why we keep things from you, Clark. It wasn’t your fault any more than it was mine or the snow plow driver’s or Mother Nature’s. And it is still possible that I could have lost it anyway. It was still early. And it’s also possible that Dr. Klein was right and Kal was wrong. Maybe you can’t have children.”
Clark knew Lois was trying to reassure him, to make him feel better, but this ache inside of him remained. “No. Kal’s never wrong.”
Lois smiled. “Everyone makes mistakes. Even the great Kal-El.”
“Why would he automatically check if you were…” He swallowed. He couldn’t speak the word. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Lucy.” They both said at the same time. And then they laughed. Lucy! Clark shook his head. She invaded every part of his life.
“Lucy had said something about running into Kal-El, but that was the weekend I rescued you from Singapore.” Clark distinctly remembered Lois joining him in the shower. She had been just what he needed while dealing with the grief of failing Lola – her clone. Lois’s long brown hair caressing her backside. Her lips smiling at him, despite her eyes not being able to see him. Her hands taking hold of his hands, pulling him closer as the water cascaded over her flawless skin. He cleared his throat. “I was a little distracted.”
Lois smiled lovingly at him. “Were you?”
He moved her up against him, kissing her. “Still am.”
“Down boy,” she said, pulling away from him. “We’re out of protection, remember?”
“Arg. Maybe Dr. Klein can develop something that can withstand our friction.”
Lois grinned with amusement. “I’d like to be there when you bring up that topic.”
“Ha-Ha. I don’t want you anywhere near him.” He was completely serious.
“What if Lucy El has a technical question that comes up in research for a story?”
“Then you tell me and I’ll ask him. Don’t go near him, especially as Lucy El.”
Lois put her elbow on the pillow and propped up her head with her hand as she asked him slowly, curiously, “Why?”
Clark sighed. “Because Lucy went crazy. Delusional crazy, really, before Thanksgiving. And she went to see Dr. Klein about…” He swallowed, not really wanting to talk about what Junior had done to the woman he loved. “Something. And because she had no self-control, she ended up telling him all about Kal-El – my twin brother and her husband – and her baby.”
“So, me visiting without a basketball tummy would bring up too many issues.” She nodded, understanding.
“Also Dr. Klein is liable to go running to the hills.” Clark chuckled softly, a little embarrassed. He hadn’t meant to frighten the man. Or maybe he had. Finding Lucy at S.T.A.R. Labs was one of the scariest moments of his life. “We have an understanding. He stays away from Lucy. I don’t kill him.”
“Wow!” Lois swallowed. “I thought you don’t kill people, Clark.”
“I don’t, as a rule. And neither should you now.”
She rolled her eyes.
Clark continued. “But when it comes to Lucy and the baby’s safety all rules go out the window.” He would protect them to the death. His or anyone else’s.
“You still love her,” Lois whispered. He could see that the realization of this fact caused her pain as she closed her eyes tightly.
“Lois, look at me.”
She turned away.
Clark wrapped his arms around her. How could he make her understand the difference between how he felt for Kal’s Lois and how he felt for her? “Lois, I will always love her and protect her. Lucy is you. Your twin. But I’m in love with you. Always have been. Always will be.”
Lois glanced at him over her shoulder, studying his face. She wanted to believe him, he thought, but he didn’t have her one-hundred percent convinced. Was that because she knew? Could she possibly know that a part of him still loved Kal’s Lois, was still attracted to Lucy, and always would be? But this Lois, here in his arms, was the one woman with whom he wanted to spend eternity. She must have found the answer she was looking for, because a moment later she faced him again and started kissing down from his ear to his shoulder. “You better love me, Clark, because I’m going to be around a long, long time.”
Clark groaned. “You are driving me crazy, Wow Woman!”
“That’s my job, Mr. Amazing,” she whispered and then jumped out of bed. “I’m going to shower. We should really be heading back to Metropolis. Two days is long enough for Clark to mourn Lois, don’t you think?”
He sat up. “We’ve been here for two days straight?”
She grinned and sashayed out the door, naked.
Five minutes later, he joined her in the shower.
“Clark, I thought we were out of protection?” Lois said not able to resist as he kissed her and pulled her close.
“We
were. But I couldn’t let you take a shower alone, now could I?”
The phone was ringing when they got out of the shower. Clark quickly dried off and zoomed downstairs.
“
Tell Ultra Woman enough already. The seismic activity in Kansas is rising.”
“Hi, Lucy.” He smiled.
“
I need you guys to come back. I’m bigger than a blue whale here. What’s-her-name needs to take over or my water is going to break on the newsroom floor.”
“Oh, right. Sorry. We got distracted.” A feeling of pleasure came over him as he grinned. He would be distracted for the rest of his life.
“
James has been able to convince Gareth that I’ve been out of work due to the Intergang threat. And let her know that Perry’s a mess”
“I forgot about Perry,” Lois whispered, suddenly by his side.
“
And unless you want the baby to live at James’s penthouse after it’s born I need some super contractors to fix our apartment.”
Just like Lucy to keep them focused on what was important. She had known he had needed these couple of days, but now it was time to get back to work. “We’ll be home soon, Lucy,” Clark told her, pulling Lois to his chest.
“
And Lex Luthor called.”
Clark swallowed. “And?”
“
He wants Lois’s body.”
Lois grabbed the phone. “Call Moonbeam. She should be all over that. I have it in my will that my father gets control of my body.”
“
Just keeping you informed. Your funeral is on Saturday. The mayor will be speaking and wants to know if Superman can say a few words.”
“We’ll talk about his later, Lucy,” Clark told her. He didn’t want to think about Lois’s funeral. The raw pain, the anguish of what they had done to him when they faked her death, was still too close to the surface. “She’ll be at work tomorrow.”
“
No more tremors, please.” Lucy laughed.
“No guarantees,” Lois said, hanging up the phone and tugging at Clark’s towel. “Now, where were we?”
“How are you going to keep your hands off me at work?” He laughed, racing up the stairs.
Lois shrugged. “Think you’re so irresistible, do you? I was able to stop myself from jumping your bones for a couple of weeks now. Shall we see how good your willpower is?” She said, floating above him.
He floated up to her. “When it comes to you, none whatsoever.” And he pulled her in for another kiss.
***
“I’d like to thank you all for coming out to pay respects to the best investigative reporter I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing,” Perry said from the podium placed near the open grave at the cemetery where Lois Lane’s old headstone was located.
Lucy, Clark, James, Sam and Moonbeam sat together in the front row. Cat Grant, crying her eyes out, Ralph, Gareth, Barry and even Jaxon sat in the rows behind them. Most other people who Lois had worked with at the
Daily Planet, top citizens and politicians she had interviewed over the years, and other acquaintances, gawkers and Superman groupies filled the rest of the rows.
Clark leaned his head on Lucy’s shoulder and held her hand. He looked genuinely broken up about Lois’s death. But, in truth, he knew this funeral was to finally have a proper burial for Lola, the clone who helped him find the love of his life. His crazy love, who gave up her old life to spend the rest of her eternity fighting crime with him.
Ultra Woman was hovering near-by, keeping an eye out for Lex Luthor’s entourage. They guessed he would try to disturb the funeral. He had already screamed bloody murder and had tried to get an injunction against Moonbeam and Sam for taking possession of the body. His lawyers had gone wild in court trying to get access to the body for their own autopsy, also denied.
Lois had hoped her body would be ruled a suicide so Lex wouldn’t be able to receive the millions in life insurance she knew he had out on her, but no such luck. Murder – homicide by bomb. A signature Joe-the-Blow contract-killing for Intergang. Lose some, win others. Then again, if Lucy El and Clark Kent could prove a tie between Lex’s company, L.I., Ltd, and Intergang that might be enough to stop the insurance companies from paying a dime to her ex.
When Lex had learned the hit was made by Intergang, he had launched an all-out civil war against them. Clark didn’t like wars of any kind, but a war between evil factions – as long as no innocents were killed in the process – was far more acceptable than a normal war. Unfortunately, since neither Lex Luthor’s henchmen nor Intergang’s thugs had any predilection to keep civilians safe, more often than not the general public was caught in the crossfire of this war.
So, while Clark sat mourning a woman he had known just a couple of hours – Lois Lane’s clone Lola – Ultra Woman made sure no one tried to disturb her funeral.
Perry wiped a tear from his cheek. He had gone on with Lois Lane anecdotes for fifteen minutes already. “Lois was like a daughter to me or since, she has a father who doted on her, a niece. She was a gifted storyteller and a fabulous singer, who made me cry or laugh with both her words and her voice. She was a virtuoso at the card table, quick for a ruse, and a true friend. I had just gotten her back and I’ll miss her forever. Her light went out far too soon, extinguished by the very people she fought against her entire career, organized crime. If ever I knew anyone who would go out fighting, it was her. It’s the way she would want to be remembered. So, in her honor, I would like to announce the Lois Lane Task Force, which will fight against organized crime and corruption in Metropolis.” Perry looked down at an envelope in his hand. “As an extra tribute, I was thinking of giving Gareth McTinney – editor-and-chief at the
Daily Planet a copy of the very first article Lois ever sent to me to be printed in tomorrow’s paper.”
Clark heard a gasp and then a blasting off sound, which could only have come from Ultra Woman. He looked around, but she was high up in the air.
Even Perry looked up, surprised. He stared at the envelope in his hand and shook his head. Setting it down on the podium, he continued, “But after taking another look at the story, I’ve reconsidered. Though, in hindsight, it is an extraordinary bit of investigative writing, Lois needs to be remembered, not for who she was at twenty, but for her current brilliant work. I’ve petitioned the attorney general for access to her computer files on behalf of my friend James Olsen at the
Daily Planet for her rumored last exclusive article on Ultra Woman. I understand that she left her friends, Clark Kent and Lucy El, sole access to her notes, papers and writings in her will, and I hope that someday to be able to read that last article. Unfortunately, according to the justice department, her laptop was badly damaged in the explosion and I fear that last article will be lost to us forever.”
“Subtle,” whispered Lucy to Clark. He smiled at her, wondering about his girlfriend’s first article and why it caused such an explosive reaction from Lois when Perry mentioned it.
“I should go talk with her,” he murmured.
“Aren’t you supposed to speak after Perry?” Lucy reminded him.
Clark swallowed. Torn between eulogizing the woman who saved his love or consoling his true love.
“My friend, Clark Kent, has a few words he wanted to say about Lois.”
Clark stood up, his option chosen for him. He was uncomfortable speaking about Lois in the past tense when he knew she was very much alive, so he had worded his eulogy accordingly.
As he shook Perry’s hand, his friend pulled him close. “I want a word with the two of you when you have a minute.” Then the mayor looked up into the sky, shading his eyes.
Clark nodded at this request and cleared his throat. He wasn’t a big fan of public speaking, as Kal-El was, preferring to let his articles to do his talking for him.
“I did not know the woman in the box before me very well; we had only just met – just started to get to know each other as friends, when she was killed. Murdered. Taken from this world much too soon. I had promised her I would protect her, rescue her, and I had not been able to fulfill that promise. And for that I will be eternally sorry.” A tear dripped down his cheek. “I admired her bravery, selflessness, and her loyalty to her friends. I, for one, wish I had had the opportunity to get to know her better.” Clark stepped away from the podium and picked up a handful of dirt to toss on the coffin. “Good-bye, Lola,” he whispered, letting the dirt run from his fingers. “Thank you for rescuing her again. You are a true friend.” He set his hand on the casket and sighed. The coffin slowly started descending into the grave.
“Stop! Stop, right now!” Lex shouted, storming through the crowd.
Ultra Woman swooped down and physically stood between him and the grave. Clark came and stood next to her. Out of the crowd Mayson appeared.
“That’s not my wife!” Lex screamed, pointing to the descending coffin. “Until I see the body with my own eyes, I will not believe my wife is dead. Legally, I’m still her next of kin.”
“Mr. Luthor,” Mayson said, stepping forward. “Lois Lane’s body was identified by both her father, Sam Lane and Clark Kent here.”
“It’s a cover up. They are hiding her away from me, so I can’t get her back.”
Clark spoke up. “I am not hiding Lois Lane anywhere, Lex. Only you did that. Lois is right here.” One of his open hands aimed at the coffin, the other indicating Ultra Woman and Lex.
“Isn’t Mr. Luthor in violation of his restraining order, Detective Drake?” Ultra Woman asked.
“Legally, restraining orders cannot be enforced after death,” Mayson said glancing around. “But on this occasion, I’m willing make an exception. Mr. Luthor, I am asking you to put fifty feet between you and Ms. Lane’s body.”
“You can’t do that! This is her funeral. I’m her husband. I have every right to be here.”
“To disrupt it?” Clark asked, brow raised.
“All right, then. I’m also enforcing the restraining order against you in the kidnapping of Lucy El. You are in the violation of that one as well,” Mayson reminded him. “Or perhaps I should just arrest you for that crime right now.”
“You should arrest her for the murder of my wife. She was there and she didn’t do anything to stop it,” Lex said pointing at Ultra Woman. “Some superhero.”
“Excuse me?” Ultra Woman raised a skeptical brow at Lex. It barely cleared the top of her mask.
“I read the articles in the paper. You were quoted in saying that you found my wife on that bomb mat and instead of rescuing her, you left to help other people.”
Clark ground his teeth. If Lois let go of her fury at him, all could be lost. He closed his eyes.
He’s baiting you. Don’t let him get under your skin.Lois looked at him with such intensity, he felt kissed without ever feeling her lips. “Mr. Luthor, I am not going to argue with you at Lois Lane’s funeral. I saved people that day and I’m sorry one of them wasn’t her.”
“You let her die, so you could steal Superman from her. Everyone knows he was in love with her.”
Ultra Woman gave Clark a long glance; he smiled at her with a slight shrug. She turned back to Lex. “Goodbye, Mr. Luthor.” Then she moved away from him.
“Fifty feet, Mr. Luthor,” Mayson repeated, pointing away from the gravesite.
“There used to be a time you could buy yourself a judge in this town,” Lex grumbled under his breath.
As Ultra Woman passed Clark, her hand lightly caressed his, and she whispered, “Someone must be doing something right around here.” Lois always knew just what to say to make him love her even more.
“This isn’t over,” Lex yelled as uniformed police officers dragged him away.
Clark turned to Mayson. “Thank you.”
She smiled at him. “You know how I hate law breakers, Clark.” She glanced over at Ultra Woman and then covered her face so her words wouldn’t be caught on camera. “Speaking of which, when you have a minute, I need to speak with you, privately.”
Clark sighed with a groan. “What did I do now, Mayson?”
Mayson glanced again at Ultra Woman and repeated softly, “Privately, Clark.”
“Fine, I’ll call on you later.”
“Thank you.” She turned to Ultra Woman and held out her hand. “I’m Mayson Drake.”
“I know who you are, Detective Drake,” Ultra Woman said, shaking her hand. “Lois told me that you’re quite a fan.”
Mayson glanced uncomfortably at Clark and blushed.
Clark shot a terse look at Ultra. She nodded and took off into the air.
“Anyway, call me, Clark,” said Mayson moving into the crowd.
Clark watched her go, wondering what she wanted. He saw her meeting up with a man with shaggy hair and a silly tie, instantly not liking him.
“Daniel Scardino,” he heard Lois whisper from the sky. Ah, that was why he didn’t like the guy. One of Lois’s ex-boyfriends.
The funeral was breaking up after Lex’s disturbance. Clark turned back to Lola’s grave and watched as the grave diggers started filing in the hole. Suddenly, he felt a hand slipping into his.
“Take me home,” Lucy said. “My back is killing me. I hate folding chairs.”
Clark looked at her, concerned. “We’re getting close now.”
She nodded. “I’m ready to go home now.” Lucy didn’t mean her apartment, which he and Lois had fixed over the last two days. She meant her dimension.
“I know. Soon.”
Sam joined them. “What do we have to do to be rid of that man for good?”
“Time and patience, Sam,” Clark told him.
Lucy looped her free hand around Sam’s elbow. “Every day we get closer, Sam. Clark’s right.”
“Speaking of which, we have a visitor whose arrival we need to plan for in earnest now.” Sam lowered his voice. “The four of us need to sit down and discuss this in detail. A discussion that is long overdue.”
“You’re right, Sam. I apologize. All these delays were my fault.”
Sam nodded. Clark wasn’t going to get any disagreement on this fact from this crowd. He felt horrible about his behavior over the past few weeks. He needed to replace the card he given Sam at Christmas. He feared he had not lived up to that promise very well. He doubted a promise to marry his daughter as soon as her divorce from Lex was finalized would give the man peace of mind either. Perhaps a promise to love her forever and to try his best never to cause her pain again would do.
Lois had told him that she was having Moonbeam continue with the divorce proceedings. She had put it in her will, because even in death she didn’t want to be married to him. She also had set in motion to have her name legally changed; the paperwork filed the day before the bombing. She knew the checks and balances usually meant a lack of communication between branches of government. Her death would not stop either her divorce proceedings or her name change from going legally forward through the courts unless someone compared social security numbers, dates and names, which was why she had logged her name change out of state. She had thought out all these minute details in advance and planned them well. All because he had told Lucy that Lois Lane never planned, she just acted. Open mouth, insert foot.
Soon, Lois Lane would no longer legally exist and Sally Jo Lannet would. Then after the divorce was finalized, Lois said Sally Jo would change her name again to Louisa Lucia Lannet, aka Lucy Lannet. Then she could finally marry Clark Kal-El Kent. Thereby, making Lucy El legally her name. No more fake papers and IDs.
Clark stopped and looked into the air, hoping to see her. He just realized that his girlfriend had proposed marriage when she told Cat that Superman and Ultra Woman were married as infants. Some crazy, yet real Kryptonian custom that Lucy had failed to mention to him, but not to his Lois. Ultra Woman had asked Superman to marry her. How could he say no to a woman willing to die to have him in her life?
*** End of Part 1 *** CommentsChapter 7: Part 2
