Missing Lois - TOC Author’s Note: Canon Lois will once again be addressed as ‘Lois’ or ‘Kal’s Lois.’ Alt-Lois will now be called ‘Ultra Woman’, ‘Ultra Lois’, ‘the other Lois’, just plain “Ultra” or when she’s in the office ‘Lucy.’ Unfortunately, the characters who know canon Lois as Lucy will continue to call her ‘Lucy’ and Clark, Sam and Lois will continue to call alt-Lois ‘Lois.’ I’m trying to keep it clear, who is who. I apologize in advance for any confusion between the Loises.
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
- Lara = the name Lois has chosen for her daughter (after Clark’s birth mother)
- 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
- Martha and Jonathan Kent = canon Clark's parents
- 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
- Lola Luthor = ‘wife’ of Lex Luthor; alt-Lois, if not referring to Clois (Cloned Lois)
- Gareth McTinney = new EIC at the alt-DP.
- Dr. Bernard Klein = S.T.A.R. Labs scientist and Superman's 'doctor'
- H.G. Wells – famed author – inventor of the Time-Machine – the man who brought canon Lois to alt-Clark
- Mayson Drake = police detective, partner to Detective (in alt-world) Henderson, alt-Clark's ex-girlfriend
- Manni = Midwife from the Amazon brought to Metropolis to help Lois learn to nurse
- 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.
***
What happen before...Lois finally gave birth and almost died. She needed alt-Lois's blood to revive her. The baby is a healthy baby girl, Lara, whom both alt-Clark and alt-Lois dote upon.
Canon Clark has figured out that his Lois got pregnant before he went off with Zara and New Kryptonians, only to go off to the other dimension for the pregnancy. His mother told him that the woman he married is actually a 'substitute' Lois from the past, brought to keep Lois's life in order while she was in the other dimension.
Lois was having difficulties nursing, so Clark brought her a midwife from the Amazon to teach her.
***
Where we left off in Chapter 7: Part 7...Ultra Woman held up her hand, silencing him. “Everything from before this minute is over. Forgiven. I don’t want it mentioned again. I don’t want to think about it again. We begin now.”
“Got it.” Superman kissed her again.
“Where is my father? I want to start my romantic Valentine’s Day. And you need to wash up.” His girlfriend rolled her eyes. “What is that smell?”
Superman smiled, sheepishly. “I rescued a sinking fishing boat of the coast of Peru on my way to pick up Manni. That’s why it took so long for me to come back.”
Ultra Woman shook her head, taking a step back. “You, my dear, need a shower.”
Naughtily, he brought her towards him for another kiss. “My thoughts exactly.”
“I’m exhausted. All I want to do is go to bed.”
He kissed her again, whispering, “My thoughts exactly.”
Ultra Woman wrapped her arms around his neck. “How about this? We go to Smallville, pick up the time machine and go get Kal, bring him back to deal with her and any emergencies in our dimension and we go on one long vacation in his. Secret identities. Man and wife. Paris is calling us.” She kissed him.
“Sounds great. What about his temporary wife?” Clark reminded her.
“Oh, crap. Her.” She sighed. “You know this plan you and Mr. Wells hatched was way too complicated.”
Superman shrugged. “We achieved our goal. Everyone lived.”
“You never told me why Lucy didn’t want to go to the hospital. It couldn’t be just to keep your precious reputation intact.”
Superman pulled her tighter against him. “Trust me, Lois. You don’t want to know.”
Manni came out and handed Lara to Ultra Woman, then took Superman’s arm and brought him back into the bedroom. She pointed at Lois, sitting alone in the bed, staring off into space. The mid-wife patted him on the back and left the room, shutting the door.
Part 8“Lois.” Superman sat down on the bed next to her. “Lois?”
Without looking at him, Kal’s Lois scooted herself down and under the covers. He flew around to the other side of the bed. “Lois.”
She closed her eyes, pretending she wanted to sleep.
“I know you can hear me, Lois.” He knelt down beside her. “You almost died last night. You started hemorrhaging and Sam couldn’t stop it. I know you didn’t want to go to the hospital, because of what would have happened in your dimension. So, we took a chance. Ultra Woman donated a pint of her blood.”
Lois slowly opened her eyes, focusing on him.
“She exposed herself to Kryptonite at S.T.A.R. Labs and had Dr. Klein draw her blood.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “Why?” Lois whispered. “She hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you, Lois. She fluctuates between liking you and tolerating you.” He smiled. “But she loves Lara like she was her own child. And she loves me and she didn’t want me to have to live through your…” Superman looked down, swallowing. “She didn’t want to fail me.”
“Lara hates me,” Lois whispered.
“No, she doesn’t. Lara loves you.”
Lois’s bottom lip started to shake. “She loves you and she loves your Lois, because you can communicate with her. With me she just cries and cries.”
“All babies cry, Lois.”
“Clark, she cries every time your Lois hands her to me.” The tears fell in earnest.
“No, she doesn’t.”
Kal’s Lois turned her back to him. “Yes, she does, Clark. Please, leave me alone. I’m going to sleep.”
He ran his hand over her head. “Maybe you’ll feel better after you sleep.”
As he reached the door, her voice stopped him. “I miss him with every cell in my body.”
“I know.”
“Even without his extra abilities he was going to be the better parent. Now…” She paused. “You should have just let me die.”
Clark flew to her side, sitting next to her on the bed. “Don’t say that, Lois. Never say that. Clark loves you so much.”
“Maybe… until he finds out about us.” She reached out and touched his ‘S’ and then pulled her hand away. “He won’t ever forgive me for that.”
“It’s my fault. Blame me, if you tell him. You were drugged and suffering from Interdimensional Time…”
“Stop making excuses, Clark. I wanted you and I would have…” She sniffed. “Without excuses. I don’t deserve him. He has always loved me. Always. This will crush him. Without his love and Lara’s love, what’s the point in living?”
“Hush, Lois. Stop thinking like this, you’re making yourself sick. Kal loves you and he will always love you. If you choose to tell him and he doesn’t forgive you right away, send him to me. After he pummels me half to death, it will make him feel better.” He smiled. “And he’ll realize he won’t want to live without you.”
Lois placed her hand on his ‘S’ again. He covered her hand with his and ran his other hand down her cheek, cupping her jaw. She looked up into his eyes, then pulled her hand away. “Please, don’t dress as Superman around me, Clark. Please. I can’t see him anymore.” She turned away from him. “Leave now.”
“Lois.”
“Leave me alone, Clark. Just leave me alone.”
Clark got off the bed and took a deep breath as he stared at her. He couldn’t believe he had done that to her. To himself. To his Lois. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, leaving the room. He went out to Ultra Lois and Lara. Ultra Lois burped Lara on her shoulder, humming softly. He came up behind them and kissed the top of Lara’s head and his girlfriend’s cheek. “I love you.”
“You’re lucky I still love you,” Ultra said, turning to face him.
Clark half winced and half smiled, making a grimace and knowing full well he didn’t deserve her love. He hoped his girlfriend hadn’t been watching as well as listening.
***
Clark lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of his make-shift loft. Lara was a week old and her mother’s depression had sunken to an all time low. Lois refused to see Perry or James. Ultra Lois had invited them to dinner to introduce them to Lara. It felt weird to be around the two of them, the two Loises. Ultra Lois showed off the baby like she was Lara’s mom, while Lois stayed in bed.
Kal’s Lois slept a lot. She didn’t read. She didn’t watch TV. She just slept and thought, staring off into space. Clark guessed she had gotten out of bed to change diapers and walk around the apartment during the day, but that was about it. He should really ask Sam when was the last time he knew that Lois had showered. They had given him the night off.
On Valentine’s Day, the two of them and Manni and stayed to take care of Lara, while Lois and Sam caught up with their sleep. The next day, Sam took over and the superheroes got to spend the day in bed… mostly sleeping. Ultra Lois kept trying to convince Clark to ask her father if he would switch places with her at least twice a week, so she could get some sleep. Lara was keeping her awake at night with the crying. Clark refused to go there. He was not going to have a conversation with his girlfriend’s father about her staying over at the Clinton Street apartment, while Sam babysat. No way.
Kal’s Lois was still angry at him and he didn’t blame her. Clark had no idea what had come over him; why he had touched her face like that. No matter how much he tried not to think of her, tried not to think of that one night they had spent together, he did. He was still drawn to her, especially when he knew she was hurting inside. He wanted to help her, comfort her, but he knew just being there pushed her deeper into her black hole. It didn’t make things easier with his Lois, either. In the last few days, Clark realized the more time he spent with Ultra Woman, the less drawn he was to Kal’s Lois, so he spent as much time with his Lois as possible. He hoped he wasn’t smothering her with his attention. She didn’t seem to mind, though.
The dinner party had been awkward. Lucy El and Clark Kent weren’t a couple. Superman and Ultra Woman were a couple. But no one knew that Lois Lane was also Ultra Woman. Their dinner guests knew their Lois Lane was technically Lucy El now, so dinner was dinner without kisses, hugs, touching, the gazes between Clark and “Lucy.” Just a bunch of colleagues and old friends.
His girlfriend had carried Lara around, whenever she wasn’t in the kitchen, like a prize Pekingese. When she was in the kitchen, she passed Lara to Clark, who thrilled at having her. But he didn’t want to act like a father or uncle to her, especially in front of Perry and James. Also, Lois refusing to leave her bed made their dinner guests uncomfortable, made them feel unwelcome. It was just weird. Clark spent the whole night trying to act like someone other than himself, while still trying to be honest and truthful.
Clark would have to tell his Lois that dinner parties were out. He just couldn’t do that again. He took a deep breath and tried to sleep. It wasn’t coming. He closed his eyes and a soft Elvis tune floated into his mind. Slow dancing with Lois in her Ultra Woman suit, Kal’s Lois. He forced his eyes open. No! He would not allow himself to think about the night of the costume party. No. He fluffed his pillow and turned over. This time he was standing in an ice cold shower and the most beautiful, exquisite naked woman with long hair to her navel stepped in. He smiled and sighed.
Clark was on the verge of sleep, when he heard her calling to him. “
Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” He jumped out of bed and was in the air, in his pajama shorts; two seconds later, he landed at the Loises’ apartment. He ran into Lois’s room and picked Lara up, holding her to his bare chest.
“What is it, sweetie? I’m here, I’m right here.” He rocked her back and forth, back and forth. She was too young for nightmares. One had to have experienced life before one could be scared of it. Clark turned to see where her mother was; why she hadn’t responded to her daughter’s cries.
Lois sat in bed, rocking herself back and forth, back and forth.
“Lois?”
“I changed her. I fed her. I rocked her. I sang to her. I changed her again. Nothing. Nothing calmed her. She hates me.”
Clark grabbed a cloth diaper from the changing table and set it on his shoulder. Gently, holding her fragile head and neck, he set Lara on his shoulder and rubbed her back. She burped. He held her there and continued to rub her back. “I’ve got her, Lois. Go back to sleep. Go and be with Kal.”
“Something’s wrong. Tense. Off. He’s treating me differently. Distancing himself from me, but not. He still loves me, but he’s troubled by it.” Lois glanced over at him. “He’s treating me a little like you treated me before we found your Lois.”
“Honeymoon’s over?” The words just slipped out. Clark didn’t know why he said them. It probably had something to do with her reference to him. He felt her words and winced, before the sound hit him.
“Out! Just get out!”
Clark left. Once again he was going to have to treat his tongue for athlete’s foot. He shook his head. He wondered why his Lois didn’t come to comfort Lara, as she usually did, when Lois had failed. He softly knocked on her door and when there was no answer, he entered. Her bed was empty, unslept in. He sat down on her bed, closed his eyes and listened.
Ultra Woman, thank you!Ah, out and about, helping humanity. He smiled. His girlfriend. Clark lay Lara on the bed next to him and surrounded her on three sides, at a fair distance, with pillows. He lay down on the fourth side, resting a hand next to her cheek, so that they were touching. He watched Lara, who had finally fallen asleep, and waited for his Lois to show.
A little while later, Ultra Woman came in, removed some of Lara’s protective pillows and lay down on the other side of her. Clark opened his eyes and smiled at her.
“Good morning, handsome. Wait for me all night?”
Clark blinked his eyes and realized the light was brighter in the bedroom than when he had come in. “Morning already?” He rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He glanced down at Lara. She still slept, peacefully, happily.
“Whatcha doing here?” his girlfriend asked.
“Lara called to me, telepathically.”
“Really?” Ultra seemed surprised. “From across town? Wow! I’m impressed.”
“Lois had a hard night. Where were you? Off saving the world?”
She smiled. “A little bit here. A little bit there. I do my part.” She bit her lip and looked off to the side.
“Lois?”
Ultra swallowed. “Fine. I went to Smallville. Sorry. I was bushed and I needed a night off. I thought Kal’s Lois could handle it. I didn’t know Lara would call you.” She looked at his topless PJ shorts and smiled. “Or that you would come so attired or I might have come home, instead.”
“Smallville? What time is it?”
“Around seven.”
“Seven? Lara needs to be fed. Let me check if Lois is awake?” He sat up and x-rayed the wall. “No, she’s still asleep. Take Lara over there and wake her up, will you?”
Ultra Lois picked up Lara and carried her in to her mother. Several minutes later, she returned, spun into her nightgown and crawled under the covers with him. “Why didn’t I think of this solution?” she whispered, resting her head against his chest.
Clark kissed her. “Because I shouldn’t be sleeping at my married co-worker’s apartment, especially on a regular basis. How I’m going to sneak away from here this morning…”
“Stay. It’s Saturday. Have breakfast. Cuddle with me. Stay.” She kissed him again, her chest up next to his. “Stay.”
Clark smiled. “Well, if you put it that way…” He kissed her again, running his fingers down her short nightgown to her thigh.
She moved closer to him, continuing to kiss him. “Clark?”
“Hmmm.”
“I think the time machine is broken.”
Clark broke off his kiss and pulled back so he could see her properly. “Excuse me?”
“I tried to go to the Kent farm to tell them about Lara. Show them the pictures that Dr. Klein took.” Ultra pinched her lips together. “I couldn’t get the time machine to start. At all.”
“Really?” He seemed surprised.
“Does it take gas?” she asked.
“I don’t think so. Actually, I don’t know what it runs on. I never thought about it. Oh, God, all those little trips to the other dimension.” Clark swallowed. “Lois, how are we going to get her home?”
Ultra Lois shrugged. “That was one of the reasons I was trying to get over there… Last night was the last straw. Something is seriously bugging her. I cannot believe that she wouldn’t come and spend time with James and Perry, her two best friends. She wouldn’t even acknowledge them. I was going to go talk to Kal; try to convince him to come visit. Maybe even take her home.”
“Kal? Are you nuts? He doesn’t even know she’s here or that she was even pregnant! Anyway, he already has a Lois back at home.”
“I know. But I thought maybe Lucy’s developed another touch of the Interdimensional sickness…”
“Time Sickness.”
“Whatever.” She waved off her mistake. “She needs him. We can keep her alive, but her soul is dying. She needs him.”
“I know.” Clark knew he was not enough for Kal’s Lois anymore. She needed the real thing, not just her Kal-Patch.
“I was going to suggest he take a vacation with her, help her get her sanity back, and we’d watch Lara. And when they were ready to be parents in like… fourteen, fifteen years, they could come and take her back.” She smiled, weakly.
“Lois. Lara isn’t ours. She belongs to them.”
“I know.” His girlfriend pouted. “But I love her. I don’t want them to take her back. I want her to stay here with us, be our baby.” Her lips started to shake and she buried her head on his chest.
Clark closed his eyes and held her. “Me, too,” he whispered. He tilted her chin up and kissed her lightly on the lips. “You know what else I’d like?”
Ultra shook her head.
“I’d like us to be a couple. Together. For a year. Just us. No visiting Lois. No baby. No father-in-law roommate. Just us. Let us have some time to learn to be us, before we introduce other people into our relationship.” He kissed her nose. “I’d like us to have some time for your divorce to Luthor to come through and a wedding of some sort for us, before we start adopting children into this relationship. I mean, technically, it’s been less than a month since I found out you were Ultra Woman and hardly two months since Singapore.”
“That’s all?”
Clark nodded.
“I’m moving a bit fast?”
“Super speed. Slow down. Enjoy life…”
Ultra Lois kissed his chest and he swallowed.
“Spend time getting to know each other better.” His voice cracked as she continued to kiss him and he shifted positions so she could wrap her legs about him.
“Slow down,” she murmured.
“If you want…” Clark continued to kiss her.
“Practicing to be quiet?”
“Oh, definitely.” He smiled.
Ultra placed a finger to her lips. “Sshhh. Quiet.”
“As a church mouse,” Clark whispered.
They practiced being quiet all morning long.
***
A tear ran down Lois’s cheek and she caressed Lara’s cheek. The time machine was broken? She was stuck in this dimension? For how long? Was Mr. Wells ever going to come get her? “Oh, Clark. Help me, Superman. Help. I want to go home.” She closed her eyes, allowing another tear to roll down her cheek. “Rescue me, Clark. Please, come and get us.”
***
Several weeks later, at the Daily Planet
in Lois’s home dimension…Clark flipped through the information that Jimmy had just handed to him about all the missing CEOs. Interesting. His wife would want to know about this. He glanced around and into his field of vision stepped Star. Star? He hadn’t seen her since Lois moved from her old apartment.
“Clark.” She steamrolled right over to him.
“Hi, Star,” he replied, curious in where this might go. With Star it could go anywhere. “What’s up?”
“Is Lois here? I’m worried about her.”
“She stepped out.” He leaned against the corner of his desk. “Worried, why?”
“She’s in a dark place like a black hole. Despondent.”
Clark raised a brow at this statement. That didn’t sound like the woman who had attacked him this morning before breakfast. “Are you sure, Star?”
“She has been in misery all year, but it has gotten so bad recently, it’s overpowering me. With this dark cloud hanging over her aura, I couldn’t stay away any longer.”
“Misery? Lois?” This puzzled him. “I don’t think so, Star.”
“Really? Hmmm? I wonder what it is, then?” Star chewed on the tip of her thumb as she thought.
Clark smiled. Star was always diverting. He glanced back down at the research Jimmy gave him.
“I know what it is!”
Curious, he returned his gaze to her.
“It has to do with the baby I see in your…” Star started to say, before Clark whisked her away into the conference room, sitting her down at the table. “Future.”
“What about the baby?” Clark asked, staring straight into her eyes. Star wasn’t talking about this Lois. She was talking about his missing Lois. “Start from the beginning, Star. What do you know about this?”
“Well, it started last summer, when her aura changed.”
“Her aura changed?” OK. Half of what Star usually said to him he took with a grain of salt, aura reading being one such thing.
“One day, she passed me in the hall of our building, and I could have sworn she was pregnant. You can tell pregnancy auras because there are two of them.”
Clark swallowed, dropping into the chair next to her. “But… her aura changed?”
“Totally. The next day, I went to her apartment to talk to her about what I saw, and to bring her some chocolate ice-cream. She’s always running out.”
He nodded, encouraging her to continue.
“And pickles. But she didn’t want the pickles anymore. I had sensed she wanted them the day before… Anyway, I couldn’t read her at all. Her aura was completely altered. It was almost fifteen months younger. And when I looked at her, it was like her future was changing so fast it was a blur. And it wasn’t just her future. Everyone’s future changed, too, when I looked at her. Well, I’m sure it didn’t have to do with me actually looking at her, but I noticed it when I looked at her. Oh, gosh, was I getting motion sickness.”
“Everyone’s future changed?” he asked, clarifying. “Not just hers?”
“Of course, because I saw that Superman was coming back. You know how he’s always rescuing her. I had to call three clients and tell them they weren’t going to die after all. That’s not good for business, you know what I mean.”
He nodded, not wanting to believe her words. “Superman wasn’t going to return when he did, before Lois’s aura changed?”
“Oh, no.” Star waved off his answer. “He was gone forever. Never coming back.”
Clark gulped. “Never?” Lois was pregnant and Superman would never have returned. “Never come back?” he murmured to himself.
“You would have come back from your undercover assignment about a year, no less, later.”
Clark stared at her in confusion. He returned, but Superman didn’t. How would that be possible? Unless he lost his powers. Or no longer used them. The curse. It had to be the curse. Lois must have been fated to die. Alone, pregnant, and dead. He felt sick to his stomach. That was why she left. That was why she went to the other dimension. She couldn’t do this alone. That was what she didn’t tell his mother. That was why she wouldn’t tell him anything in the barn. His hands began to shake.
“Are you all right, Clark?” Star asked, trying to catch his eye.
He cleared his throat and nodded. That didn’t happen. Lois changed the future by going to the other dimension. “You said something about a baby in my future?”
“Did I?” Star looked at him, puzzled. “Oh, yes, there is definitely a baby in your future.” She nodded. “Your brother’s child.”
Clark’s mouth gaped. What? What about his child? Was Star confusing his child with the other Clark’s? If she was, then the baby survived the birth and the other Clark was taking care of it. What about Lois? Where was she? “You said that Lois was in a dark place? Do you mean death?” he asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
“Death? Hmmm. Possibly. Or depression. Or outer space. Or a dark hole. Or blind. It’s not always clear cut.” Her expression was apologetic.
“What did you think it was when you came here?”
“Depression. She misses you. She feels empty. Alone.”
“Can you contact her?” he asked, grasping at straws. “Can you give her, this Lois in a dark place, can you give her a message from me?”
“Doesn’t she still work with you?” Star asked, perplexed, glancing out towards Lois’s desk. “Aren’t you two married?”
Clark didn’t want to explain everything to Star. Either she understood what she was talking about or she didn’t. “That Lois isn’t under a dark cloud.”
“Oh.” She thought about that for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, I can try. What’s the message?”
Talk about on the spot. Clark swallowed. “That I love her and I miss her and I want her to come home.”
“But doesn’t she still work with you? Don’t you see her every day?”
He sighed. “Yes.”
“OK.” Star shrugged. “I’ll try to get a message to her – this Lois in the dark place – but I can’t make any guarantees.”
“I know. Just try.” Clark looked down to his hands.
Lois, where are you? Star put her hand on his. “You love her so much, I can see that. Your aura and hers, they’re joined, Clark. You need to pull her out of the darkness, don’t let her pull you in.”
“Thank you, Star,” he said, placing a smile on his face. This whole situation was surreal and throwing him off balance. And with this new vigilante Vixen making a mess of things, he needed to be one-hundred percent in control. Clark took a deep breath and released it. “I better get back to work.”
“Okay. Tell Lois I said, ‘Hi.’” Star grinned, standing up.
“I’ll do that, Star.” This time his smile was genuine. He returned to his desk and stared off in space. Fifteen months younger? Didn’t his Mom say they pulled Lois from the clone incident? That was just a couple months before he left for New Krypton. His mind swirled with time-travel math.
***
Meanwhile, back in the other dimension…Clark looked over at his Lucy El and smiled. They had had a fantastic weekend, traveling the world. Okay, maybe fantastic wasn’t exactly the correct word for it. They had been tracking this new superhero, vigilante, Vixen. She was fast, super fast. She had disappeared on them a number of times and they just wanted to talk to her. Vixen hadn’t been thrilled with Ultra Woman and Ultra Woman was even less thrilled with her. Lois hadn’t liked the way Vixen had wrestled with him in China. Vixen didn’t like that Ultra Woman kept asking her a bunch of questions.
His phone rang. “Clark Kent.”
“
Clark.”
“Hi, Sam.” He lowered his voice. “How is she? Everything…” He pursed his lips. “Normal?”
“
I’m not a pediatrician, Clark, but what I can tell from my research into the norms for her age, she falls into them.”
Clark exhaled. Lara was normal, so to speak, except for the telepathy of course.
“
Actually, that’s not why I’m calling.”
“What’s up?” he asked, although he had a strange feeling he knew what Sam wanted to talk to him about. They all had been avoiding the topic for weeks.
“
I’ve thought long and hard over this. Debated the pros and cons and I’ve come to the conclusion that Lara needs to stop breast feeding and switch to formula.”
This wasn’t what Clark expected him to say. He glanced at his girlfriend and he could tell she was listening to every word her father was saying. “We’ll be right there.”
Ultra Lois nodded, standing up.
“
Maybe that’s for the best. So, you can see what I’m talking about in person,” agreed Sam, hanging up.
As Clark stood up, he noticed Mayson walk in. He took a deep breath and shifted his gaze over to her. Ultra Lois caught his shift and glanced over her shoulder.
“Hi, Mayson,” she said with a smile. He never understood how his Lois and Mayson had always gotten along while Kal’s Lois and her were like vinegar and oil.
“Hi,” Mayson replied. “How’s everyone?”
Clark raised a brow. This wasn’t her usual greeting. “Fine,” he said hesitantly.
She looked at Lucy for confirmation and his girlfriend nodded. He glanced between the two of them, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand-up.
Mayson looked at Clark and lowered her voice, “Do you still have your visitors?” Before he could question her use of the plural, she brought a package out of her bag and handed it to him. “I saw this and thought of you. It’s nothing really.” She seemed almost embarrassed.
Clark raised a brow and opened the bag. He swallowed. A baby’s rattle in the shape of a gavel. As he pulled the item out of the bag, he glared at his girlfriend.
“Aww, Clark, isn’t that…” Lucy started to speak until he caught his expression.
“I know. It’s silly. But since you stand for truth and justice…” Mayson smiled with a shrug.
Clark did love it. And under any other circumstances, he might even think it adorable, but what he was wondering was why a baby’s rattle would make his ex-girlfriend think of him?
*** End of Part 8 *** CommentsChapter 7: Part 9
