Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Another Lois (20/25)

You can find the Another Dimension, Another Time, Another Lois[/i] TOC here.

Where we left off in Part 19 …

“Okay, let’s leave your dreams for the moment, Lois,” Star said, reassuring her. “Can you come back to the present for a minute?”

Lois took a deep breath and released it. “Yes.” A moment later she was calm.

“You said that you only discovered Clark recently. I want you to search your mind for the first dream, the first inkling you had about Clark’s existence. Let me know when you have found that,” the psychic requested.

“Okay,” Lois replied.

“Okay, you understand or okay, you’ve got it?”

“Both,” the reporter answered.

“Oh, okay then. Tell me about this earliest memory of Clark,” Star suggested.

“I’m in the woods. There’s another man there… two other men in fact. One has a mustache and glasses; he’s dressed funny like in a costume from a period play or something. He’s tied to a chair... only, not just a chair. It’s more like a chair on a sled. That’s just plain odd, because it isn’t winter but late spring, and there’s no snow. The other man has a beard and is also dressed strangely, but more like ‘Star Trek’ than ‘Little House of the Prairie’. Crap! He has a gun! He’s trying to shoot me.” Lois started to shake as her breath became labored. “There’s a baby in a bassinette... no, not a bassinette…” She could smell the dampness from the nearby creek, feel the warm breeze despite her goose bumps, and hear the silence where there had recently been crying. “The bearded man wants to kill the baby,” she gasped. “I have to stop him. We fight. The man tied to the chair cheers me on.”

[i]Lois could feel the soreness in her muscles as she kicked the gun out of the bearded man’s hand. Finally, she picked up a large stick and hit future man with it, knocking him out. She untied the man in the chair and threw the rocks off the baby. The green glowing rocks. Only, the rocks weren’t glowing anymore. She picked up the baby and cradled him in her arms. She could taste the tears running down her cheeks and lifted her hand to wipe them away. The baby in her arms was still, unmoving.

She started to hyperventilate. “Oh God! Oh, God! It’s Clark. The baby is Clark! And he’s dead. Oh, God! I was there when Clark was killed. It was the bearded man. He killed Clark!”

“What about the other man?” Star asked calmly. “Who is he?”

“H.G. Wells.”

“The author?” Even Star seemed skeptical.

“Yes. Tempus killed baby Clark by covering him with green rocks. Green glowing rocks, only they’re not glowing anymore.” Lois shook her head. “No, that can’t be right. No. No! That doesn’t make sense. If Clark died due to green rocks…”


Part 20

Lois dropped her face into her hands and began to sob. Clark was dead, really, honestly dead. She had been there when he had died. She had held his body in her arms. The pain of the experience pierced her like a dagger.

“Relax, Lois. What happened to Clark, happened a long time ago. Remember that you’re in a safe place where no one can hurt you,” Star said, repeating what she had said earlier, but her voice was at a higher pitch than it had been a few minutes before. “Do you want to go on?”

Lois took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Yes. I need to remember everything about Clark.” Though Star had told her – practically forced her – to relax, Lois’ brain felt like it was moving at a thousand miles per minute, trying to understand what she just had witnessed, putting together pieces of a new puzzle that had been hidden within this other puzzle. It was as if half of her mind was arguing with the other half about the truthfulness of that scene in the woods.

“Let’s not think about what happened to baby Clark right now,” Star suggested. “We already knew that Clark died in the past. You will remember about the day in the woods when you awake, but until then forget about baby Clark. For now, let’s go back to your dreams. What happened after Clark returned to the Daily Planet when his undercover stint at the Metropolis Star was over?”

It was as if Lois had just found the location to where the green glowing puzzle piece in her hands fit, only to discover the puzzle piece, the woods, the strange sled, the man with the gun, and the baby turn to dust and drift away in a gentle breeze. She looked down at her hands and wondered at the emptiness of them. There was a bitterness and a slight taste of salt on the tip of her tongue, but she had no idea why.

What had Star asked? Oh, right, what happened when her partner returned from his undercover assignment? “Clark and I continue to work together on stories and as partners. We’re best friends, nothing more. I give him a hard time about being a hack from Nowheresville, as usual. Socially, I go on a few more dates with Lex Luthor. He introduces me to people with whom I’d never had access to as Lois Lane, investigative reporter,” Lois said.

As she continued to describe her burgeoning relationship with Lex, Lois seemed, once again, to be pulled mentally in two directions. Half of her wanted to gush about Lex’s attentions while the other – more vocal half – screamed in the background. “Lex helps me with my career, opening doors, pointing me towards possible stories. He’s a great source. He’s different than Clark, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I know Lex enjoys my company and has no problem telling me so. It’s flattering that such powerful and well connected man finds me attractive and is interested in my work. Plus, I don’t feel like he’s hiding stuff from me, like I’m beginning to suspect that Clark is.”

“Why don’t we put aside how you’re feeling for Lex Luthor at the moment? What about Superman?” Star queried. “Is he still around?”

Lois smiled. Around, that he was. From day one, he had been around whenever she needed him and not around when she didn’t. The only thing was, what Superman didn’t realize, that she always needed him, even when she wasn’t in danger.

“After Superman rescued Linda and me from the Freon gas in the freezer, I didn’t see him one-on-one for a while. I’m still his go-to reporter whenever he has something he wants reported, and he always has a quote for me whenever I see him, but...” Lois shook her head. It wasn’t that Superman had disappeared, it was more like she wasn’t chasing him anymore. It was like his story wasn’t new and exciting… what was she thinking? Of course, Superman was exciting.

“After I had seen him giving all those exclusives to Linda… I don’t know, I guess I realized that maybe I’m not all the special to him. I still love him, but now I’m wondering if he returns my feelings or if I was just another reporter among many. These doubts intensify one day after he rescues a plane in France. Suddenly, he seems to be all over the world at once except Metropolis, when he used to spend most of his time here. I’m worried that I’ve done something to offend him and chase him away from town. Clark thinks I’m being paranoid and believes that Superman still remains loyal to Metropolis, but I’m not so sure.”

Lois watched as a new image or memory of herself filled her mind.

She ran to the scene of a just-ended hostage situation at a bank where she found Superman speaking to officers. It was the first time Lois had seen him in Metropolis in days. As she approached him, the criminal pulled away from police, but a moment later Superman stopped the man and threw the robber into the police van, knocking the man out cold. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Superman didn’t act like that. He was always polite and gentle, never wanting to hurt anyone, even the bad guys – no matter how much they were begging for it. Had something happened to him like when he had been hypnotized?

When Lois walked up to her hero to talk to him about what had just happened, he smirked at her. Smirked! Superman didn’t smirk. Then the man looked her up and down like he didn’t know who she was and as if he had just x-rayed through her clothes. She felt violated, not thrilled, by the action. What was up with him?

“I start having flashbacks to when Superman first arrived in Metropolis and I thought he didn’t remember me. Superman has always reassured me that he considers me one of his closest friends,” she explained to Star. His erratic behavior baffled her. “Now, I’m not so sure.”

The picture in her head changed again.

It was the next day, and Lois was working at her desk, when the strangest, most bizarre and wonderful thing happened. A messenger arrived with a note from Superman. The Man of Steel apologized profusely for his manners from the day before and wanted to see her.

“But then Superman invited himself over to my place for dinner. It’s so out of the ordinary, so unlike him, so forward. I was ecstatic! Finally, our relationship is going somewhere. About time!” Lois sighed. “But when he gets to my apartment he starts acting all weird again and spouting strange sayings like ‘might is right’. He definitely didn’t seem like himself. Then he practically pounced on me and kissed me! Superman never kisses me. I always initiate the kiss; he is too much of a gentleman. Whoever that man was in my apartment, I knew one thing right then and there: he wasn’t Superman.”

Lois pushed against Superman’s chest, trying to get him to stop kissing her, trying to squirm out from under him. He was bigger and stronger, and there was no way for her to defend herself. She was most thankful that the real Superman wasn’t anything like this guy. Superman’s strength in the body of a regular man – a man without the hero’s innate goodness – was a recipe for disaster, and she didn’t need to know how to cook to know that! Then a peculiar thing happened; peculiar as in a miracle, and Lois didn’t believe in miracles. Clark burst into her apartment… as if he knew she needed his assistance. The fake Superman told him to ‘go away’ and actually threw a punch at Clark. Then a second miracle happened: her partner stopped him.

That image of the fake Superman trying to hit Clark and her partner grabbing his arm froze in her mind. She looked at it, somehow able to walk around it, studying it from all angles. How? How could Clark do that? That fake Superman was at least as strong as the real one. How had Clark been able to stop the punch? Surely, the only person able to stop such a hit would be…

Lois gasped as another thought zipped across her mind. No! It couldn’t be.

She studied the two men in this frozen image in her mind. Both had the same height, same color hair – although styled slightly different, same skin tone, different clothes, and Clark wore glasses. Behind those glasses were…

“Lois? Are you saying there’s a fake Superman in your dream?” Star asked, confused.

“Yes, ‘cause the real one is… is…” Lois stammered. Her eyes flashed open and she got to her feet. Now that she was awake from the hypnosis, the memory from the Smallville woods returned, stronger, clearer, and with more detail. “Clark!”

She clutched her head as she recalled Tempus, laughing and saying, ‘Duh! Clark Kent is Superman!’

“Oh, my God!” Lois gasped. “I got to go.”

“Lois?” Star seemed surprised by her quick jump out of her trance. “Are you sure you’re all right? You should take a minute…”

“No,” Lois answered, nodding her head. She grabbed her briefcase and mini-cassette recorder. “I just realized I’m certifiably insane. I should go now.” She continued to nod at Star and then turned to the door.

“Well, you seem sane to me,” Star replied. For some reason, this didn’t reassure Lois.

“All this time I thought these dreams were repressed memories, but if they’re memories that would mean… No. No, it can’t be. He wouldn’t lie to me like that. It can’t be true. No,” Lois rambled, shaking her head. “No. So, the only explanation is that I’m crazy.”

Star looked at her dumbfounded. “Lois, who lied to you?”

“Clark,” Lois answered, opening the door.

Star didn’t expect that reply. “About what?”

“Everything!” Lois announced and left.

***

Lois couldn’t believe it. She had been so sure that Clark was real and that her dreams had been repressed memories, but with this new insight, she couldn’t see how he could be. She might as well accept the truth. She had irrefutable proof that she was insane, bonkers, nutso, crazy…

You’re not crazy, Lois, Clark said in that supportive tone of his. She could also hear the hesitancy in his voice. He was readying himself for her fury.

“I’m not crazy, Clark?” she scoffed out loud. “Hello? Not only am I hearing your voice, I’m responding to you.”

Arguing is more like it, he mumbled.

“Right, and I’m perfectly sane,” Lois replied with skepticism. She shoved open the front door of her building.

Lois, I understand that you’re angry with me. Why don’t you go back to your apartment where we can discuss this…

“Angry?! Angry? Why would I be angry with you, Clark?” she snapped, stomping down her front stoop to the sidewalk. She turned and started marching towards the Daily Planet. “You’re just a figment of my imagination, remember? How could I be mad at my own imagination?”

Because I didn’t tell you that I’m Superman.

Lois stopped and threw her hands up into the air. “There you are, Clark, with another one of your strange leaps of logic. How could you be Superman? That’s ridiculous. Superman is a fantasy character my mind created to let me… this me…” She patted her chest. “ – know the truth about Lex. Superman can’t be killed. One of my favorite aspects about his character is that he’s invulnerable. You, on the other hand, are dead. Ergo, you cannot be Superman. End of discussion.”

Kryptonite…

“Don’t even get started on that green rock mumbo-jumbo, Clark. Please!” Lois interrupted, adjusting her briefcase strap and continuing down the sidewalk. “Either you’re a dead superhero who lied to me, just like all the other men in my life, or I’m crazy. Which is it?”

You’re not crazy, Lois…

“Ah, so you’re admitting that you lied to me? That all this time, you’ve been speaking with me, whispering how much you loved me, everything you said was peppered with lies? Is that what you’re saying, Clark?”

Why don’t you go back to your apartment where we can discuss this without you yelling like an insane person on the street, Lois? Clark suggested.

Lois threw her hands into the air again and continued marching down the street. “Well, Clark, if the shoe fits…”

Lo-is, Clark groaned as he began to plead, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I’m Superman.

“You hear that world?” she called out to her residential street. “Clark Kent is Superman!”

Lois!

“What? You think anyone around here cares? Clark Kent is Superman! Clark Kent is Superman!” she shouted and then harrumphed. “Nobody, but me, knows who Superman is, Clark, and why’s that? Oh, yeah, Superman has chosen me – out of all the people in the world –to stalk in the afterlife. Right, and you don’t think I’m nuts. Ha!”

I thought I had ended up in hell, watching the woman that I love live her life without me, not need me, and survive just fine without me.

“You call that surviving?” Lois grumbled.

When you first heard me, I couldn’t believe it. I knew if anyone could figure out a way to rescue me from this fate, it would be you. Yet, there you were once again in love with the Suit and not the man, another fantasy. I needed you to trust me, believe in Clark. He paused as Lois got to the corner.

“Because it’s soooo much easier to believe in a man communicating with me from beyond than in a superhero?” she retorted.

If I had told you that Superman wasn’t a figment of your imagination, but that he was once a real, living, breathing man, because I’m him, would you have ever listened to me? Would you have believed in the real me… Clark – me? His voice seemed to catch in his throat. Would you have gone to Smallville to meet my parents, to figure out how I died, so we can save me from this fate? Or would you be off somewhere denying that I exist and making out with Scardino, while I suffered in agony in the back reaches of your mind?

“How many times do I have to tell you? I dumped Dan because of Dan, not because I fell head over heels in love with you,” Lois lied to both Clark and herself. “Well, there, see. Believing a ghost loves you is the first sign of dementia. The second, I’m betting, is when you find out he’s also a superhero.”

I knew I should have kept quiet. If hearing my voice makes you feel crazy, then I did this to you. Go on, Lois, live your life. I won’t bother you anymore, and you can be sane again.

“No!” Lois hollered, freezing her steps as his words froze her heart. He wouldn’t dare, not after he promised he wouldn’t leave her again. She took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to chase the anger from her voice as she pleaded with the voice in her head, “I’d rather be crazy with you than sane without you, Clark.” Dammit, he made her admit she was in love with a figment of her imagination.

Clark sighed. You’re not crazy, Lois.

Jimmy’s Mustang convertible pulled up to the curb next to Lois. “There you are!”

“What are you doing here, Olsen?” Lois growled by way of a greeting. Her little buddy really knew how to make an entrance.

“Detective Wolfe – and by extension Perry – was worried when you didn’t show up this morning for your debriefing at MPD HQ,” Jimmy explained. “I figured you left your car at the Lexor last night and might need a lift.”

Lois stopped and stared at him, her mind completely blank. It wasn’t like her to forget a meeting. It wasn’t like her to not check in with Perry. She couldn’t even remember if she had driven to the Lexor the night before or not.

You did, Clark softly reminded her.

~Oh, yeah.~ She nodded. “Thanks, Clark.”

“Ah… Lois? Are you feeling all right?” Jimmy asked, leaning over to unlock the passenger door. “Hop in.”

She looked at Jimmy and then at the closed passenger side door with a shake of her head. “No wonder I fell for you, Clark,” she mumbled, opening the car door and dropping in to the seat. “The men from Metropolis…”

“What?” Jimmy griped, having caught her expression. “What did I do now?”

“Would it have killed you to open the door?” Lois said, snapping her seat belt. She could hear Clark chuckling at the back of her head.

“You’re kiddin’ me, right? Mad Dog wants me to get out of the car, walk over to the other side, and open the car door for her?” Jimmy laughed. “You feeling all right there, Lane?”

Lois ran her tongue over her teeth and crossed her arms. “You know, Jimmy, you really know how to impress the ladies with that attitude.”

With a roll of his eyes, Jimmy glanced over his shoulder and pulled out into the traffic. “Look, Lois, I can tell you’re in one of your foul moods this morning, and before you decide to rip out my spleen with your fingernails, let me inform you that I got a three-Elvis reprimand last night after that little hissy-fit you threw at Perry. I’m your partner, not your keeper. Okay?”

She shrugged her response.

You should really try to be nicer to Jimmy, Lois, with everything he does for you and all, Clark suggested.

“Oh, shut up!” she groused, pressing her hands to her forehead.

Jimmy stopped at a red light and turned to face her. “You know, I don’t need this. I’m a darn good photographer and a half-way decent reporter on my own. Thank you very much.”

“Oh, can it, Jimmy. I wasn’t yelling at you,” Lois informed him, continuing to rub her temples.

“Then who in the hell were you yelling at?” he demanded.

“Clark.”

“Clark?” Jimmy sputtered. “Clark? As in CK from another time Clark? Lois, CK isn’t here.” For good measure, he glanced into the backseat to make sure.

“Yes, Jimmy, he is,” she whispered, looking down at her hands.

Jimmy pulled the car over to the side of the street and turned to face her. “Lois, there’s nobody here but us.”

Lois glanced up at him. “Clark is always with me.”

Are you sure you want to do this, honey? I can’t see this ending well.

She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Clark talks to me.”

“In your dreams?” Jimmy clarified.

“No… well, yes, but not only in my dreams.” Lois pressed her lips together nervously and chanced a glimpse at him.

“So, you hear his voice?” Jimmy asked, his own voice cracking. “He talks to you?”

She nodded.

“And what does he say exactly?” her partner inquired slowly.

“Lots of things. Mostly commentary, but usually he tells me how much he loves me and reassures me that I’m sane.” She rolled her eyes at that diagnosis. “When he’s not warning me to stay out of trouble, that is,” she said, smiling weakly. Jimmy would know what that was like.

“So, either he’s insane or he doesn’t know you at all?” Jimmy scoffed. “Or both.”

Lois nudged her friend with the back of her hand.

I know her too well.

“He says, ‘he knows me too well’,” she told Jimmy.

The young man gulped. “Did he just reply to what I just said?”

She nodded.

“How long have you been hearing Clark’s voice, Lois?” Jimmy asked tentatively.

“A couple of months, maybe longer. The first time…” She swallowed. The first time she could recall had been when Superman warned her about the bomb at the Wilder women’s trial. She raised her hand to her mouth. Superman. ~Oh, God! Clark, was that you who had warned me?~

Yes, Lois.

“The first time what?” Jimmy inquired, tilting his head to study her face.

Lois sighed, not wanting to admit the truth. Her tongue ran over her teeth and then she announced, “Clark noticed the smoke from the bomb at the Wilder trial, not me. He saved us, not me.”

“Well, better him than Scardino,” the photographer mocked.

My sentiments exactly.

“Clark,” Lois growled.

“What? What did he say?” Jimmy asked.

She waved the comment out of the air. “He doesn’t like Dan.”

“You do realize this whole conversation is totally insane, right?” Jimmy told her.

“Yep,” she agreed, watching Jimmy closely.

You’re not crazy, Lois. Stop saying that or someone will believe you.

Jimmy pointed at her. “Aren’t you the woman who tried to convince me last night that she wasn’t nuts?”

“Right again,” she replied.

Her friend stared at her trying to figure her out. “Did something happen, Lois?”

“I now agree with you,” Lois said.

“That in itself belongs on the wall of weird, but the bigger question is why?” He drew out this last word slowly.

“Clark revealed something about himself that couldn’t possibly, in the farthest reaches of the universe, be true, so…” Lois shrugged. “Ipso facto, I’m looney tunes.”

I’m not a figment of your imagination any more than you’re ‘looney tunes’.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Come on, Lois, neither of us believes that you are truly ‘looney tunes’, least of all you.”

“I’m dreaming about a dazzling, flying superhero who is trying to romance me, which would be all and good if these dreams were truly fantasies, but a voice inside my head that only I – and possibly one psychic – can hear has convinced me that my dreams are real, repressed memories. If that isn’t crazy enough for you…” Lois gazed at him with a raised brow, daring him with her eyes to ask her to continue. She hadn’t even gotten to the traveling back in time with H.G. Wells bit or the part where CK was Superman.

I’m thinking we can skip sharing those facts, Lois, Clark suggested.

“Why, Clark? Why should I leave out the really juicy bits?” she argued.

Jimmy’s eyes went wide and he gulped. “Because I don’t really want to hear them.”

Lois waved his concerns away. “They’re not sexual, Jimmy. Come on, this is me we’re talking about.”

Clark made a noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat. I don’t know, Lois, I always thought you and sexy went hand-in-hand.

“Really, Clark? Flattery will not help your position here,” she responded with slightly flushed cheeks. This voice inside her heard sure was a lot more forward than that sweet, awkward farmboy from her dreams. “Anyway, the woman you fell in love with, the woman who I am in my dreams and who I am now, are two completely different people.” She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms, a pout forming on her lips.

Lois, you’re the same woman, just your life experiences are slightly different. Take, for example, Lex Luthor’s death. In your experience, he died of a gunshot wound sustained during an ill-advised escape attempt while you were being held hostage at the Daily Planet by terrorists. The way I remember – and you will remember – the events are quite different.

She gulped as a warm bead of perspiration formed on her forehead. “Lex survived?” she gasped.

It’s amazing what a little heat vision can do to cauterize bullet wounds, Clark admitted modestly.

Lois felt like she was hyperventilating as the images from that night solidified into her mind. Only this time, Clark was there and, for some reason, that squirrelly kid who had stolen Superman’s globe. “Clark, are you telling me that… that… Superman saved Lex Luthor’s life?” she demanded incredulously. “That Lex didn’t die?”

With several short blasts of his horn, Jimmy maneuvered a u-turn from where they had been parked against the curb. “There’s no way I’m taking you to see Detective Wolfe,” he mumbled.

I’m never willing to let someone die, if there’s a way I can stop it, Lois.

“But… but, Clark, you do know who and what Lex was, don’t you?” she disagreed with his logic. “What he did?”

Trust me, Lois, I know full well of Lex Luthor’s misdeeds with the law and humanity, but Superman is not God. I don’t hold life and death judgments over the people of Earth.

“Clark,” Lois pleaded. “You can’t tell me that anyone would have known that you… or Superman could have saved him.”

You would have known, Lois. Maybe not then, but I still held hopes that your crush on Luthor would blow over, and you’d finally notice the man at the next desk, who absolutely adored you. Then someday, when you were ready and we trusted each other more, I would have told you about my abilities. At that time, you would have realized that I hadn’t saved Luthor when I could have, and I couldn’t let that failure stand between us.

“I would have forgiven you, Clark,” she whispered.

Gracious of you, Lois, but I wouldn’t have taken that chance… Clark sighed. And, well, truthfully I wouldn’t have forgiven me.

Lois looked out the window at that café she and Clark ate lunch at sometimes. It was just a couple blocks from the Daily Planet. Only she had never eaten there with him, because he didn’t exist. It was getting harder to argue to Clark, because she wanted to believe him… she wanted him to be real. But how could someone like Superman really have existed, been her best friend, and she never noticed? How could she ever call herself an investigative reporter again? How could she have failed him and let him die? Her shoulders slouched as her eyes squeezed shut, guilt filling her mouth with a bitter taste. “Jimmy, where are you going?”

“The office.”

“The Planet? Don’t I have to sign my statement for Detective Wolfe?” she said, pointing in the opposite direction to Wolfe’s precinct house.

“Lois, I can tell you’re going through something right now,” Jimmy replied with sympathy. “I don’t know if Sullivan pushed you over the edge last night, or if it’s a combo of stuff, but I know if we walk into MPD with you arguing with some guy that only you can see, you’ll never be able to be a serious reporter in this town again.”

Lois sighed and then explained, “I can’t see Clark. I can only hear him.”

I don’t think that is the issue here.

“I’m sure if we discuss this with Perry, he’d give you that extra week off you didn’t take from your vacation and…”

“Is that what this is really about? You trying to get your twenty bucks back from Perry?” she demanded.

Jimmy is being a good friend. Listen to him, Lois.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Me, safe at home for a week, not angering some new psycho into trying to kill me, not sticking my nose into someone else’s business, me not doing my job…” she retorted.

“I’m worried about you, Lois,” Jimmy replied.

She patted his arm. “Me, too, kiddo.”

Clark groaned. For the ninety-fourth time, Lois: You. Are. Not. Crazy!

Lois leaned over to Jimmy and whispered, “Clark doesn’t think I’m crazy.”

“‘Catch Twenty-Two’…” her friend responded. “… like in that old war movie. You couldn’t be proven crazy unless you said you wanted to be sent back into battle, because who in their right mind would want that? If you didn’t want to go back into battle, you must be sane. Yet, if you wanted to be sent back into battle, who in the army would stop you?”

It was a book before it was a movie, Clark corrected. By Joseph Heller.

She raised a brow at her living, breathing partner. “So, does that automatically make me crazy when the voice inside my head tries to convince me I’m sane?”

Jimmy returned her expression and added a grin, but didn’t respond vocally, as he pulled his car into a parking spot down the block from the newspaper.

Terrific.

“I’m not really insane, you know,” Lois told him as she got out of the car. “I just feel crazy sometimes. I just learned that Clark’s been lying to me and, well, I didn’t take it well. Actually, I got steaming mad.”

“Right. Lying to you,” Jimmy replied with a total lack of conviction, before mumbling, “Smooth move, CK.”

Tell me about it.

Lois threw her hands up in the air. “You know, Clark, if you want to haunt Jimmy for a while, so you two can insult me in private, feel free to jump ship at any time.”

Jimmy shot her a perplexed look.

I’m sorry, Lois. This is very frustrating for me. As much as I love you, I miss hanging out with Jimmy, Jack, and Perry too. You know, going to baseball games, to action movies, and car shows, just being one of the guys.

She rolled her eyes.

“What?” Jimmy asked.

“He misses you,” she translated.

“Misses me?” her real-life partner said with gulp. “Clark knew me?”

She flipped up one of her hands. “You two were apparently the best of buds.”

“Really?” Jimmy sounded like he didn’t know what to do with that information. “He’s not actually going to haunt me, is he?” he asked, eyeing her warily as they went into the lobby of the Daily Planet.

“Of course not,” Lois scoffed. “If he could, he would have left me by now.”

Don’t say that, Lois. I love you so much , I once wished we could always be together, every moment of the day. Clark laughed quietly to himself. I guess I should be more careful what I wish for, huh?

~Ha ha,~ Lois replied to the voice in her head. “Anyway, I asked him once if he could contact H.G. Wells directly – you know, in the great beyond – and he told me I’m the only one with whom he could communicate.” Her brow furrowed. “Of course that was before he talked to Star.”

They stopped to wait for the elevator, and Jimmy grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. “Star, Lois? H.G. Wells – the author?”

Lois waved off those juicy tidbits. “Never mind. It’s not important.” She heard Clark breathe a sigh of relief.

“Right. What exactly did CK lie to you about?” he asked as they stepped into the elevator. It was late enough in the morning that they were alone.

Lois, it’s enough of a stretch to believe that you’ve been contacted directly by a ghost, add in Superman…

She looked down at her feet, not knowing what to believe. If she trusted the validity of Clark’s story and her repressed memories, she had to believe that Superman had been real too, that Clark was really and truly Superman.

“Well?” Jimmy inquired after another minute of silence.

“He lied to me about Superman,” she replied as Clark groaned.

Jimmy ran a shaking hand through his hair. “What about Superman, Lois?”

She glanced up at Jimmy and exhaled.

No, Lois, don’t…

“That before Clark was killed, Superman was real.”

*** End of Part 20 ***

Part 21

Comments