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 and more regularly during this chapter.
- 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 alt-Lois's secret identity
- Kal = Lucy El's husband's name, or what Lois-Lucy and alt-Clark call canon Clark
- Lois = canon Lois (again); unless we're in canon dimension, then Lois could be referring to the substitute Lois borrowed from canon Lois's pre-amnesia time to fill in for canon Lois while she was in alt-dimension; or the ‘deceased’ wife of alt-Luthor
- Ultra Woman = originally the costume Lucy/Lois wore to Perry's 'Come as Your Favorite Superhero' party; now, alt-Lois
- Mr. Amazing = alt-Lois's nickname for Superman
- Wow Woman = alt-Clark/Superman's pet nickname for alt-Lois/Ultra Woman
- Sam Lane = alt-Lois's Dad, Lucy’s doctor & Clark’s roommate
- Lex Luthor = no explanation necessary, same bad guy as always, this time bald
- Dr. Bernard Klein = S.T.A.R. Labs scientist and Superman's 'doctor'
- James Olsen = owner of the
Daily Planet, Lois-Lucy's friend
- 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.
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What happened in Chapter 7: Part 4...Canon Clark knows that his fiancée (now wife) Lois went to the other dimension after they made love before he went off with New Kryptonians. She went to escape the curse and because she was pregnant with his child. He also knows that the woman he has been with since returning from New Krypton is a substitute Lois plucked from time to hold her spot.
Pregnant Lois has gone into labor.
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Part 5Author’s Note: Canon Lois will once again be addressed as ‘Lois’ or ‘Kal’s Lois’ or ‘Kal’s Lucy.’ She will still be called ‘Lucy’ when others who know her as that speak with or about her. Alt-Lois will now be called ‘Ultra Woman’, ‘Ultra Lois’, ‘the other Lois’ or just plain “Ultra” or sometimes a rare ‘Ultra Lucy.’ I’m trying to keep it clear, who is who. I apologize in advance for any confusion between the Loises.
Kal’s Lucy held on to Clark’s hand. “I’m OK. I’m okay. I’m OK,” she repeated, squeezing his hand tighter and tighter and tighter. She released a breath, relaxing against his shoulder. They sat next to each other in her bed.
“How’s the baby’s heart rate?” Sam asked from the doorway.
Clark lifted his hand from her exposed belly. “Sorry, I forgot to count. I was trying to calm her.” He wasn’t talking about the mother.
“Is she scared?” Lois asked, worried.
“Birth is life’s first adventure, sweetie,” Sam replied. “We all live through it and never remember it. Thank God.”
“She’s happy I’m here with you. She doesn’t want you to be alone.”
Sam threw up his hands at the slight. “Next contraction, time it and count heart beats, please.” He tossed Clark the stopwatch. “I’m going to go lie down. Call me with any major changes.”
They were alone for the first time in weeks, since his Lois had revealed she was Ultra Woman. “I’m sorry I’m late.” Clark kissed her cheek. “When did the contractions start?”
“Last night sometime. I haven’t gotten any sleep really.”
“Oh, Lois, I’m sorry.” He snuggled up against her. “Try to get some now, before the contractions get too close together. Sam said you still have a while to go.”
Lois sneered. “James was right. I am dreadfully unprepared. This isn’t something you can learn in a book. The pain has gone from discomfort to cramping to shooting to agony and I still have the worst to go.”
Clark kissed her head again. “I won’t leave you. Promise.”
“Even for nuclear war?” she asked, hopefully.
“Why? Have you heard something?” He grinned, knowing she was only joking. “Ultra Woman can handle anything that comes up,” he told her, hoping nothing came up. “This was why you came here, so you wouldn’t have to go through this alone.”
“Thanks for putting your life on hold for me… us… we appreciate it, Clark.”
“No problem. With Ultra Woman around, I can get a day off every once in a while… only…” He paused, unsure if he should voice his concerns to Lucy.
“Only what?”
“She hasn’t come face to face with any super bad guys. She’s mostly worked with me on rescues and natural disasters. I don’t know what she would do if she came up against someone like Lex Luthor, especially with their history. Would she be able to control herself, her anger without me there?”
Lois raised a brow. “What would you do if Lex came after me or the new Lucy or…”
He swallowed. “The baby?”
“Lara.” She smiled, taking hold of his hand. “I’m naming her after your birth mother.”
“Kal will like that.” Clark set his hand on her belly. “Lara.” His heart swelled. She was too easy to love. “I don’t know what I’d do if Lex or someone else came after her. You know I already love her like a daughter, I’d probably protect her as a daughter, too.” He looked away. “I hope never to be put in a situation where I have to choose the welfare of my child and killing someone.” But he knew what he would do; he would protect his child no matter what, no matter the consequences.
“If something happens to me, Clark, promise me that you’ll take Lara to her father. He’ll need her. You’ve got to set time right and return my stand-in to the past.”
“I know,” Clark whispered. “But nothing is going to happen to you, Lois . You can survive this. It’s just giving birth. Thousands of women do this every day.”
She elbowed him. “Don’t go there, Clark, please. Ow!” She rubbed her elbow. “When did you regrow your armored plating?”
Clark gulped. Not a good sign.
The phone rang. It was his Lois checking in. Ooops. His girlfriend was going to give him hell for leaving like that. He glanced down at Kal’s Lois and sighed. When he had heard her in pain, his instincts took over. He had to come. Actually, Clark couldn’t even remember changing into his Superman suit and then realized he hadn’t. He had broken one of his cardinal rules. Only fly as Superman. But Kal’s Lois hadn’t been calling for Superman, she had called for him, Clark Kent.
“Ow. Ow. Ow!” Lois screamed, jerking his hand.
“That was Lois,” Sam said back in the doorway a minute later. “My daughter Lois, I mean.” Yes, this name thing was confusing everyone.
“Oh?” Lois said, glancing up, breathing through her mouth. “Is she on her way?” Clark couldn’t tell if she was hopeful or wary. He wished there was some way to get his girlfriend to move past his one indiscretion with Kal’s Lois. Not that he had moved past it either. Betraying Kal would haunt him til the end of his days.
“No. I told her to hold tight. We’ll call her before we move to the hospital.”
“Oh.” Lois seemed disappointed.
“You didn’t hear the conversation?” Sam asked.
“No. I think I fell asleep.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Sam nodded, but his glance to Clark said he was worried. He left again.
Lois was quiet for a few minutes and Clark thought she had fallen back asleep.
“She’s never going to forgive me, is she?” Lois murmured.
“It’s me she’ll never forgive. You’re only human.”
“Ha-ha, Clark.” She reached up and caressed his cheek.
“It was before I met her. It only happened the one time…” Clark closed his eyes. It felt good when she touched him like that. Gentle. Sweet. Right.
“Making love to you she can forgive. After all, who could resist sleeping with Superman?”
He chuckled. “You’d be surprised.”
“It was the falling in love with you that your Lois will never forgive me for.”
Clark gulped. What was she talking about? Why did she keep saying that? He hoped she wasn’t getting Interdimensional Time Sickness again. “You didn’t fall in love with me, Lois. You thought I was your Clark, not me.”
Kal’s Lois turned her head so she could place a tender kiss on his lips. “Don’t sell yourself short, Clark. I didn’t set you up with Mayson only to keep your mind off me. It helped me stay away from you, too. You’re a pretty irresistible fellow.”
“You’re just saying that because you miss your Clark and I remind you of him.”
“A bit. But you two really are very different. Just like your Lois and I are very different.”
He swallowed. The two Loises were very different, but also very similar.
“Don’t worry. I know we weren’t meant to be. And I do love my Clark more.” Lois snuggled up against his shoulder. “I just wanted you to know that when we made love…” She sighed, taking hold of his hand. “I was making love to you, not him.”
Clark didn’t know what to do with that information. He didn’t think it was a good sign that his heart went flip-flop at the news. He didn’t know what he should say as he ran his fingers through her hair. He did love her, he always had and he always would. Like her, he did love his Lois more, but that didn’t stop his feelings for this Lois. Feelings he had since the first moment she kissed him a year ago. He felt he might be opening a Pandora’s box if he admitted out loud that his feelings matched hers.
Her breathing was steady and deep. Lois had fallen back asleep. Clark had always loved cuddling with her. Their relationship was more intimate in a completely different way than his relationship with his Lois. Kal’s Lois was slow, gentle, and thoughtful, where his Lois was indeed a hurricane, powerful, strong, yet playful.
Clark really did love his Lois. He beamed. If he had to tie it to one thing, it was that she had never been in awe of his powers and abilities… with one notable exception. She made him feel normal… no, not normal. Human. Just like Kal’s Lois had always treated James Olsen as an equal – no wonder the man was half in love with her – his Lois had always treated him as an equal, even when he knew she was far superior to him in every way.
Lois shifted in her sleep, moaned. Was she dreaming? Or was she reliving her stand-in’s day? What was going on in Kal’s life? he wondered. Since his Lois took over as Lucy El, Clark didn’t get to spend time alone with this Lois anymore. Didn’t get to hear about what was going on in her real life. He kind of missed Lois’s soap opera life tales. Sharing her life with him had always brought them a closeness he enjoyed. Not that he would ever admit it to her, because she could ramble on so.
Lois moaned again. “Clark.” She pulled his hand to her chest.
He moved his hand to her stomach to feel the baby’s heart rate and started the stopwatch with the other hand.
A few minutes later Lois relaxed again, leaning against his shoulder. “Clark, do me a favor,” she whispered.
“Anything, Lois.”
“Don’t let this baby be born today.”
“What?” he stammered. What was she talking about?
“I don’t want her born on the thirteenth.”
Clark chuckled. “I don’t think that’s really up to you. It’s up to her.”
“Well, tell her then.”
His chuckles turned to laughter. “She’s not going to understand, Lois. Time is a complex concept for someone who hasn’t even been born yet.”
She grimaced. “Go ahead. Make fun of the non-Kryptonian, then.” She pouted.
Clark placed his hand back on her belly. “She’s growing fainter, harder to read.”
Lois gasped. “Her heart rate?”
“No. Her mind. Her emotions.”
She moved his hand down to the bottom of her belly.
“Oh!” He jumped in surprise. “She’s changed position.”
Laughing, Kal’s Lois grabbed her belly with another gasp. “You’ve got to stop making me laugh, Clark.”
Clark smiled, sheepishly. “Sorry. Are you okay?”
Lois nodded. “Help me up. Time to walk and visit the ladies’…”
After the bathroom, they took a walk around the apartment three times before Lois made them sit back down. “I’m tired,” she murmured, battling to keep her eyes open.
Clark picked her up and carried her back to bed. She was asleep longer this time, almost an hour. So tired, she even slept through contractions. His Lois stopped by to check on everyone during this time. Correction, Ultra Woman stopped by. She set a cup of ice chips on the side table.
“How’s she doing?” Ultra asked, sitting down on the bed.
“Fine. Nothing strange or alarming so far. Just normal labor, I think,” he answered.
His girlfriend set her hand on Lucy’s belly, next to and touching his hand. He had forgotten he still had it there. The connection was instantaneous. They both gasped in delight as Lara filled them with happiness, love. Lara, his Lois and him were a family. Ultra placed her other hand over her mouth, her eyes filling with tears.
“Oh, Clark,” she whispered, her lips shaking. “She loves us. She loves us.”
Clark took Ultra’s hand off the tummy and held it in his hand, pulling her to him. “She loves them.”
Ultra Lois closed her eyes and nodded. “Right.”
He placed a kiss upon her lips. “I love you.”
“You wouldn’t leave me for them, would you?” she asked. “If you could?”
“Never been an option, Wow Woman,” Clark murmured, kissing her again. “I love you too much.”
Ultra smiled. “Just checking.” She took off her mask and wiped around her eyes. “We’ve got to find a more comfortable mask. This one is horrible to cry in.”
Clark snickered and she pushed him for laughing at her.
“I’ll be back later. Call me if you need me sooner.” She slipped her mask back on.
“Always.”
She blew him a kiss and disappeared.
He sighed; his girlfriend still took his breath away. How could he be so lucky that she loved him? It just didn’t seem fathomable.
“‘Wow Woman’?” Lois murmured, next to him.
“You weren’t supposed to hear that. I thought you were asleep.”
“Do I even want to know what she calls you?”
“Nope.” Merriment danced across his face. “But if you are dying of curiosity, I’ll let you ask Kal. He knows.” Clark mentally kicked himself, hoping she didn’t ask how Kal knew. Time to change the subject. “So, what’s going on with Kal? Anything exciting in the other dimension?”
“Did I tell you that some woman thought that Jimmy was Superman?”
“Jimmy?”
“Our James Olsen,” she clarified.
“You mean that researcher? That kid? Some woman thought
he was Kal?” He laughed.
“Ninety-seven percent computer match.”
Clark’s brow furrowed. “A computer said he was a ninety-seven percent match to us? Should I be insulted?”
Lois laughed softly with a smile. “Don’t worry. Kal thought it a high percentage as well. Her employer kidnapped her and me to extort Superman, after he overheard her talking to Jimmy. He tried to get Superman to do something illegal, but Clark saved the day.”
“I always do,” he teased.
“The other Clark… My Clark,” Lois said, cuddling against his shoulder. “Penny, the girl, discovered Jimmy was just an ordinary guy, but liked him enough to continue dating him nonetheless.”
“Lucky, Jimmy. Most women are disappointed when I don’t show up in the blue suit.”
“Those of us lucky enough to know Clark Kent aren’t.”
Clark kissed the top of her head. He didn’t need her talking about being in love with him, again. “So, what stories is Lois Lane working on this week?”
“Politics. Corporate corruption. The usual.” She pulled herself up to a sitting position. Taking a deep breath, she slowly released it. “There, that’s better.” She smiled at him, but he didn’t think it was a real smile. There was too much fear in her eyes.
“It will be okay, Lois. You can do this.”
“Thanks for being here, Clark.” Lois swallowed, looking away. “It makes me feel like he’s here, too.”
“He’d want to be here, if he knew. I know he would. He loves you so much.”
She started to cry. “Why didn’t we tell him, Clark? How could we keep this from him?” Kal’s Lois leaned onto his chest and grabbed his shirt. “I’m the worst wife ever.”
“Lois.”
“How am I ever going to go home? There is no way I will ever be able to convince myself to go back to that day? I hurt him so much. It was Luthor! All Luthor’s fault. He kidnapped me from my wedding. He made the clone who tried to kill me. Then he convinced me that Clark was a bad man when I lost my memory. Lex tried to make me kill him. I could just tear him in two…”
At the sound of fabric tearing, Clark glanced down at what was left of his shirt. “Lois, are you all right?”
“Huh?” Lois looked up at him, fabric in her hands. “How did I do that?”
“I don’t know. I thought you lost your super strength with the labor.”
“Me, too. I couldn’t even levitate myself out of a chair last night.” She doubled over. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” She screamed so loud, it caused his ears to ring.
“What’s going on in here?” Sam asked, running in.
“I don’t know. She was fine just a minute ago and then…” Clark said as Kal’s Lois started to float into the air. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.
“Oh, my back. Rub my back, Clark. All this sitting in bed is hurting my back.”
Clark looked at Sam for approval. Sam shrugged. “Allowed. Gentle.”
“My stomach.” She placed a hand over her mouth. “I think I’m going to be sick.” Clark let go of her wrist and she floated into the air again.
“I’ll bring you a bowl,” Sam suggested, leaving the room.
Clark nodded. Her normal labor just started going haywire. When Sam returned, Lois threw up into the bowl.
“You need to stay hydrated, Lucy. Have you had anything to drink today?”
Lois stared at him with blank eyes.
“No, I don’t think she has. The ice chips! Lois brought ice, Lois. Do you want some?” Clark lifted the cup off the side table and handed it to her.
Lois plucked a couple of ice-chips off the top and set them in her mouth. “They’re gone.”
Clark set his hand on her forehead. “Sam.”
Sam set his hand on her forehead. “This isn’t good, Lucy. Let’s take your temperature.” He stuck a thermometer into her mouth.
“I run hot,” Clark reminded him.
“She’s not you. Her body is trying to figure out what do to with all this stuff running through it. Hormones. Estrogen. And Kryptonian genetic material. What to keep, what to discard, what she’ll need as a new mother, what she won’t.” He pulled the thermometer out of her mouth. “One-hundred five degrees. Lucy, sweetie, you’re too hot.”
“I feel fine, except my tummy hurts.” She started rubbing her stomach again.
“Cool Bath?” Clark suggested. Sam nodded, leaving the room. Clark brought her the ice-chips. “Eat.”
Lois nodded and munched on ice-chips. They could hear Sam running the bath. She looked at Clark. “I’m scared, Clark.” Her bottom lip started to shake.
“You’ll be okay, honey.”
“Maybe we should call Lois,” she suggested. “I don’t think you should bathe with me.”
Clark’s mouth twist upwards as he chuckled. “Probably for the best.” He went into the other room to call his girlfriend, when he felt a swift breeze fly past. He turned and saw the windows fly open and Lois take a flying leap, but Ultra Woman suddenly blocked the exit, keeping Lois inside.
“Going somewhere, Lucy?” Ultra Woman asked her. Clark set down the phone.
“I’m going to kill him! Lex Luthor is the worst man in the world and he’s going to pay for all the torment he made me and Clark go through,” Lois shouted.
“I’ll agree with you there, Lucy, but this is neither the time nor the place.” Ultra Woman took Lois’s wrist and brought her back inside. “I thought that was you I heard screaming a minute ago.” She looked around her to Clark. “Need some help?”
He nodded, sticking his finger in his ear. It was still ringing.
“Got you good, did she?” Ultra Woman smiled.
“Think she was loud where ever you were? Try sitting next to her when she screams like that.”
“Good thing we soundproofed the apartment.”
“We were just about to put her into a bath to cool her down. Her temperature is at one-hundred and five. She suggested I call you for backup and then this.” Clark was dumbfounded. “She was fine five minutes ago.”
Lois pulled on Ultra Woman, trying to return to the window, then she doubled over, screaming. Clark was at her side, instantly. She strained against both of them, her feet not touching the ground.
“Lois,” Clark said calmly. “Lois, honey, you need to think about the baby. Think about Lara and Clark. You don’t want to do anything that might upset them. Or hurt them, do you?”
Lois strained against them a moment longer and then collapsed into a pile of tears. “No.”
He picked her up. “Let’s go sit in the bath, shall we? Nice and cool.”
At the bathroom door, Sam asked, “What’s going on out there?”
“Lucy’s just acting out her favorite scene from…”
Clark glared at Ultra Woman and she didn’t finish her sentence. He set Lois down, but she refused to let go of his hand.
“You promised,” she reminded him staring into his eyes. “I need you, Clark. I cannot do this alone.”
“You won’t be alone, honey,” Ultra Woman told her. “You’ve got me. He doesn’t need to see you naked.”
Clark’s eyes went wide at the thought and he shook his head, rapidly. He really didn’t need to be in the bathroom with a naked pregnant Lois and his girlfriend. No way.
“See. You know how turned on he gets by pregnant women.” Ultra Woman pulled Clark’s hand out of Lois’s and shut the bathroom door.
He turned to Sam, whose brow was raised by Ultra’s statement, and Clark cleared his throat. “I have no idea what she meant by that.” He really didn’t.
“What’s going on with her?” Sam asked.
“She wants to kill Lex Luthor.”
“No, Kal’s Lucy,” Sam clarified.
“Yup – that one.” Clark nodded. “One Lex Luthor will do in a pinch. Interchangeable, I guess.”
“I’m ready for that drink, now,” Sam said leaning against the wall and sliding to the floor. “Maybe we should let both of them have a freebie. Set them loose, see what they do.” He shrugged. “The world would be a better place.”
Clark shook his head. “I know you hate Lex Luthor as much as the rest of us, but that is no justification for killing the man. Now, if he had physically and irreparably harmed either one of them, I’d say all bets were off.”
“Clark, I know you feel a bond between you and Lucy’s baby. Imagine, she’s all grown up. You’ve raised her yourself with blood, sweat, and tears. And some psychopath that you introduced her to, takes her and hides her away for almost four years and you haven’t known whether or not she was alive or dead, or what else he might be doing to her. Now, tell me again, how I hate him as much as the rest of you?”
Clark gulped, burying his head in his hands. “I would have ripped the man in two,” he whispered.
“It’s not too late,” Sam told him with a nudge, but Clark shook his head. Ultra's father went on, “My daughter has more self-control than I ever would. If I had been locked up by a mad man for three years and then suddenly had super powers, he’d be a goner.”
Clark sighed. “Yep. She’s pretty special, that one.”
“Clark. Still my daughter.” Sam raised his brow at him. “I’m keeping an eye on the two of you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I’m telling you right now. I’m never going to go through this again. I know as the day progresses, it’s only going to get worse. I repeat, I am not going to do it again.” He stared right into Clark’s eyes.
Clark swallowed. “Message received, Dr. Lane, loud and clear.”
“Good.”
He looked down. As if it were likely, anyway. Clark sighed, again, thinking of that moment when Lara had bonded with him and his Lois. The joy in his Lois’s eyes, she was so happy, the feeling of them as a family. It would be worth it to go through it all again, to see that light in her eyes once more. Too bad it wasn’t in the cards for them. It would have been nice to have a family of his own someday.
*** End of Part 5 *** CommentsChapter 7: Part 6
