Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Another Lois (22/25)

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

Where we left off in Part 21…

Lois gasped. Oh, God! What had she done? She had dismissed Clark’s feelings, his pronouncement of love, as some school boy crush? She buried her face into her hands and began to sob. How could she have been so cruel? She had loved him, yet she had rejected Clark because she didn’t think he loved her as much as she loved him. What a fool she was!

“Oh, Clark! Clark, I’m so sorry,” she cried. “You deserve someone better than me.”

The door of the conference room opened and Perry walked in.

Lois looked up at them through her tears. What now? “I can’t take anything else right now, Perry. Please, just leave me alone.”

Perry knelt down in front of her. “Are you all right, darlin’?”

“Peachy,” she grouched. “I just rejected Clark and broke his heart for no good reason, no good reason at all. I’m a bitch with a capital ‘B’.”

He raised a brow. “Lois, are you saying that you sent that voice inside your head away?” her boss asked softly. She could hear the hopeful tone ringing in his voice.

“No! Back… back in our other life. I loved him, but told him I didn’t, because I thought he didn’t really love me or that he was just trying to get me to refuse Lex’s offer… or something…” she tried to explain. It was hard to see him through her tears and hair. “I don’t know.”

“And what offer would that be?” a female, crisp British accent said from behind Perry.

Lois pushed back her hair and looked at the petite brown-haired woman standing there. She hadn’t realized that Perry had brought anyone into the room with him. “None of your damn business.”

“Uh…Lois?” Perry cleared his throat. “This is the doctor I told you about. Lois Lane, Dr. Arianna Carlin.”


Part 22

Lois pointed at the woman. “I know you, don’t I?”

Dr. Carlin raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“You seem familiar.”

“Dr. Carlin was the doctor I told everyone to talk to after the hostage thing a year ago,” Perry explained.

Lois focused on the woman. “Yeah, I remember you now.”

“Nice to finally meet you, Ms. Lane. I’ve heard such nice things about you,” Dr. Carlin replied in an overly sweet tone.

“No, you haven’t. People don’t say ‘nice things’ about me,” Lois retorted before turning to Perry and hissing, “I’m not talking to her. I don’t need a shrink. I’m fine.”

“Ms. Lane, in my experience it’s the people who say that they’re ‘fine’ that need help the most,” interjected Dr. Carlin.

Lois looked the woman up-and-down and returned her gaze to Perry. “I have better things to do with my time.”

“Lois, darlin’, I think the world of you, honey, but it isn’t normal to hear voices that no one else can hear,” her boss said with a pat on her shoulder. “Or to think that the world would be completely different if your boyfriend hadn’t died or to have flashbacks to this other life that make you scream out in terror and collapse on the ground.”

“I’m sane,” Lois growled. “And they aren’t ‘flashbacks’, they’re memories, and I can’t believe you told her about that!” She was pointing at the good doctor again.

“Your boyfriend died?” Dr. Carlin asked, her voice sounding hollow.

“Yeah, a long time ago.”

Dr. Carlin swallowed. “Would you like to talk to me about him?”

“Not particularly,” Lois responded in disbelief. Did people pay for this crap?

“Lois, you’re going to talk to Dr. Carlin,” Perry said in his ‘I’m the boss’ voice. “You know I’m not one normally to meddle in the lives of my reporters, but I’m doing more than strongly suggesting that you take her up on her offer this time. You didn’t listen last time, and I didn’t push you, and look where you ended up. I’m putting my foot down. Three sessions and we’ll go from there.”

“Three?! [i]Per-ry, I’m not crazy. I don’t need a head…” Lois said, but mostly to Perry’s departing backside. “And what’s this about never meddling in your reporter’s lives? You’re always meddling! Who told Dan he should take me to bed?”

After the Chief had shut the door with a wave, Dr. Carlin pulled up a chair and sat opposite Lois. “I hear you’ve had a rough day.”

Don’t talk to her, Lois. She isn’t who she says she is.

~I wasn’t planning on it, Clark,~ Lois snapped, and then sighed, burying her face in her hands. ~I’m sorry. You’ve got to know, I didn’t know you were serious. I mean, not really. I thought you were trying to stop me from marrying Lex. I thought you were…~

We’ll talk about that later, after she’s gone. Don’t tell her anything about me. Anything. Don’t trust her.

Lois studied Dr. Carlin, leaning back against the seat cushions.

“Perry tells me that you’ve had a rough couple of months. Why don’t you tell me about it?” Dr. Carlin suggested.

“How about I don’t?” Lois crossed her arms. “I don’t trust you.”

“Perry trusts me,” Dr. Carlin replied, leaning forward. “He trusts me enough to ask me to come down here to talk to you. You trust Perry, and you trust Perry’s judgment, don’t you? Why don’t you trust me, Ms. Lane? Is some voice inside your head telling you I’m not trustworthy?”

Lois gulped, and her eyes widened.

Don’t answer that. It’s a trick question. She’s trying to get you admit that you’re hearing voices.

At Lois’ silence, Dr. Carlin sat back upright. “Okay, let’s talk about what happened a year ago, since we never got around to talking about it back then. Why don’t you tell me about Lex?”

Lois’ sour stomach made a lurch and she pulled her knees and feet onto the couch.

Ask her, how she’s on a first name basis with Lex Luthor?

“Did you know Lex?” Lois asked innocently.

Dr. Carlin smiled. “Yes, we’ve met.”

Ask her, ‘how?’ Clark suggested at the same time Lois asked, “How?”

“Socially. I know people on the board at Luthor Hospital,” Dr. Carlin explained.

She’s lying.

~Why would she do that?~

Trust me; she’s lying.

“I understand you and Lex were seeing each other, and that night the terrorists took over the Daily Planet, he was here because of you,” said Dr. Carlin, clearly leading Lois in a certain direction.

“Yes, he was here because of me, and no, he wasn’t killed because of me. He was killed because of his own arrogance. He was shot trying to escape while I was visiting the ladies’,” Lois informed her. “When I returned, we were handcuffed, back to back. He bled to death, leaning against me.” She pressed her lips together with a slight shake of her head.

Tell her what he told you before he died.

“His last words were that he loved me.” She had been thinking for months, since her meeting with Toni, that Lex had lied to her. Now, considering how Lex had proposed to her in her life with Clark, she wasn’t so sure. Maybe Lex really had loved her.

Come on, Lois. Whatever Lex thought love was, and what love really is, are two different things entirely.

Dr. Carlin blinked. “Lex told you he loved you?” she repeated with skepticism.

Lois raised a brow. “Does that shock you? That someone could love me? I’ll have you know, men fall in love with me all the time.”

One man; two, if you count Scardino. The rest are psychopaths and megalomaniacs, Lois.

~Yeah, well… shouldn’t that be: one man and one superhero?~ she retorted.

We’re one and same, Lois, Clark said. She could just picture him pressing his lips together to keep from laughing.

~Oh? You and Scardino are one and the same? Maybe I shouldn’t have broken up with him after all.~

Very funny.

~I thought so.~

“Is something funny?” Dr. Carlin asked her, watching her.

“No,” Lois replied simply, a smile still brushing her lips.

“I didn’t realize that you and Lex had been dating all that long,” Dr. Carlin said, returning to their earlier topic.

She seems overly interested in Lex’s dating habits, don’t you think?

~I was thinking the same thing, but then again psychiatrists are notoriously nosy. Still…~ Lois pressed her lips together. ~I wonder what she’d think about Lex’s proposal?~

That’s none of her business, Lois. Let’s keep your relationship with your ex-fiancé out of this.

~Fiancé? What do you mean fiancé, Clark? Ex or otherwise.~ Lois stood up and started to pace. ~Last I remembered, you were going to send Superman to visit me. I planned on telling Superman that I loved him and since you’re Superman… Why would I have accepted Lex’s proposal, Clark? I didn’t love Lex. I loved you. Hell, all of you, since I believed to be in love with both halves of you. What happened when I confessed my feelings to Superman?~

Lois, this isn’t a good time to be thinking about that, Clark reminded her. His voice was calm, but she could hear a rough edge to it.

~A good time? A good time? You just told me that you – Superman, you – lied to me when I told you I loved you.~

That isn’t exactly what happened, Lois, and Superman doesn’t lie. Anyway, didn’t you lie to me when you told me – Clark, me – that you didn’t love me for more than a friend?

Lois waved the issue out of the air. ~Yes, but I lie all the time and… and I didn’t think you really loved me. Anyway, I’m no truth-toting superhero.~

Yeah, well, it still hurt.

She winced and her shoulders fell. “I know, I know…”

“What do you know, Ms. Lane?” Dr. Carlin asked.

Lois had forgotten that she was there. “That it seemed like Lex and I hardly knew each other,” she answered, pressing her eyes shut as the images, the memories once more rushed into her head.

Lois walked around in her living room, casually. Although, how could one really be ‘casual’ in one’s own living room, wearing a hand-picked, floor-length, silk nightgown, while waiting for Superman?

No more t-shirts and old boxers for her. She learned her lesson back when Mr. Make-Up had come after her; it had been bad enough that Clark had seen her wearing those old duds. The weekend after Mr. Make-Up was arrested, Lois had rushed out and bought a whole slew of sexy nightgowns to wear should Superman ever need to rescue her late at night.

She picked up an old edition she had found of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, one of her favorite novels. She started flipping through it, thinking about her conversation with Clark on the bench that afternoon and how it almost reminded her of Mr. Darcy’s first proposal to Elizabeth, except she didn’t hate Clark, like Lizzie despised Mr. Darcy at that point in the story. Lois had felt sorry for Clark, being so scared of being adrift in Metropolis that the poor man actually thought himself in love with her. She sighed as she felt a breeze blow through her apartment.

Lois looked over her shoulder and saw Superman standing just inside her window, his arms crossed and his face firm with intensity. “Superman,” she whispered in way of a greeting. He always made her breathless. She stood up and approached him, a blushing smile coming to her lips.

“I heard you wanted to see me,” he said, not moving away from the window.

“Yes, come in. I’ll just put on a robe,” she stammered, suddenly self-conscious of this sheer-feeling nightgown she had chosen. She turned to head towards her bedroom.

Superman stepped closer to her. “Unless it’s lined with lead, Lois, it’s a waste of time.”

His words froze her, and she turned to look at him. She expected such a line from his uncouth clone, but the real Superman was usually much more of a gentleman than to remind her that he could look through her clothing at any time. She looked down at her nightgown and felt naked standing in front of her hero, which would make her confession all the more difficult. “I guess so.”

Superman didn’t say anything as he gazed at her, his arms still crossed.

“Well, I’m just trying to figure out… I have a lot of changes going on in my life,” she said, moving closer to him and keeping her eyes focused on his. He seemed much more human, less intimidating, when she didn’t look at his Suit. “I just want to make the right decision, and I can’t do that until I know how you feel.”

He glanced down a brief moment and appeared unsettled by her gaze.

“Superman,” she whispered, setting her hands on his crossed arms. “Is there any hope for us? You and me?” Staring into his eyes, she felt a wave of emotion, stronger than she had for any man, save Clark. It was like that first adrenaline rush she had felt for the hero upon meeting him, when she had known in an instant that she and Superman had a connection, a unbreakable bond that would tie them together forever. “I’m so completely in love with you. I can’t do anything else without knowing.”

Superman exhaled and looked down and away. When he raised his head again, he did so with a slight shake, and she knew what his answer was going to be. “Lois, I do care for you, but there are things about me that you don’t know, that you may never know.”

No. No. No. Her heart pounded. She couldn’t lose both her partner and Superman in one day. “That doesn’t matter; I know you. I don’t mean ‘you’ the celebrity or ‘you’ the superhero. If you had no powers at all, if you were just an ordinary man, leading an ordinary life, I would love you just the same. Can’t you believe that?” As she spoke the words, she knew she meant them.

His eyes gazed at her sadly. “I wish I could, Lois, but under the circumstances, I don’t see how I can.”

Lois turned away. His rejection of her words, of her trust in him, of her in general stabbed so sharp that she needed a moment to find the strength to convince him that she did love him enough. But in that moment, she felt the breeze of his departure. She turned back to her window, and he was gone.

How had Superman known that she didn’t love him with all of her heart, like she had told him that she did? Could his x-ray vision see directly into her heart and see Clark’s heart there? Was that how he knew that she didn’t love him more than an ordinary guy, in an ordinary suit, leading an ordinary life? Was her love for Clark the ‘circumstance’ to which he referred?

“Superman,” Lois murmured as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

“Lois?” Dr. Carlin interrupted her thoughts.

She was already annoyed by the constant interruption by the woman. “What?!”

“Why don’t you sit down and tell me what just happened?” suggested the doctor, holding out her hand to Lois.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lois sputtered, her feet frozen to the floor. Had something happened when she had her memory flashback? She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“You disappeared on me for a moment there,” explained Dr. Carlin.

Lois’ eyes bugged. “I dis… disappeared?”

She doesn’t mean literally, Lois, Clark reassured her.

“Do you think you can actually disappear, Lois?” the psychiatrist asked her.

“Of course not,” Lois said with a gulp. Sure, she had witnessed Clark fading away when baby Clark was exposed to the Kryptonite and Tempus disintegrating into nothing when he erased himself from time, but why would that mean she believed it was possible for it to happen to her too? Especially whenever she fell into one of her memories of her other life?

“What you’re demonstrating are signs of post-traumatic stress: short-term memory loss, erratic behavior. I can help, if you let me,” Dr. Carlin tried to persuade her, speaking with a soothing tone.

An embarrassed, nervous smile tugged at Lois’ lips. ‘Short-term memory loss’? ‘Erratic behavior’? Yep, she had experienced both of those things lately.

Lately? How about on a daily basis?

~Editorializing my thoughts again, Kent?~ she grumbled to that voice inside her head before replying to the doctor. “Okay, I admit my life isn’t tiptoeing through the daisies, but I didn’t ‘disappear’…” Thank God! “I was thinking about something.”

“Lois, you can’t ignore what took place during the hostage crisis here,” Dr. Carlin reminded her. “Perry tells me that you witnessed your best friend die when her car exploded just six months ago and, more recently, you were kidnapped by that man on the island. Then, just last night your childhood friend tried to sacrifice you in some kind of ritual. This is why the board and Mr. Stern hired me on as staff psychiatrist, to talk to everyone about their problems and lower stress in the newsroom. I’ve been waiting for over a year for you to come and knock on my door.”

Lois smiled sheepishly. Okay, she lived a rough life, but she wouldn’t be half the investigative reporter she was, if she didn’t.

The good doctor seems well-versed on your life, Lois, I wonder why that is.

Her embarrassment slipped off her face as she raised a curious eyebrow. “You seem to know quite a lot about me. Are you a fan?”

“I’ve been keeping my eye on you. After what happened with Lex, I was sure you and I would be talking sooner or later,” explained Dr. Carlin. “Behavior, like yours, could – if left untreated – turn violent. Tell me, have you had the desire to strike out at anybody recently?”

Lois pressed her lips together. ~Only her.~ “No.”

“Hmmmm.” Dr. Carlin thought for a moment. “Tell me about ‘Superman’.”

“What?! Did Perry…?” Lois snapped, pointing out of the conference room.

“When you came out of your trance, you said ‘Superman’,” Dr. Carlin explained.

“I wasn’t in a trance,” Lois corrected.

“Perry thinks that this psychic that you mentioned to him – Star? – put you in some kind of trance and convinced you, possibly via hypnotism, that Lex survived the terrorist take-over of the Planet because of some superhero that you call ‘Superman’. So, I repeat, who is Superman? What does he mean to you?”

Perry thought that Star had brainwashed her into believing Clark was real? That was preposterous!

Is it? If you had met Star back around the time you first starting hearing my voice, it would be a more understandable explanation to what was going on with you than your time-traveling theory. With all that you and I’ve dealt with over the last few years, a brainwashing psychic who makes you seem crazy isn’t a big stretch.

Clark had a point there, but she still felt bad that Star, who had done nothing but try to help Lois, got tied up in this mess.

“Star didn’t hypnotize me until this morning, when I asked her for some assistance with some repressed memories,” Lois informed the woman, sitting down on the sofa and picking up her briefcase. “If Perry doesn’t believe me, he can listen to the tape I recorded of the session for my reference.” And safety. She hated being hypnotized without someone there to watch out for her. Lois held up her mini tape recorder, which she had removed from her bag.

“What else did this psychic tell you?” Dr. Carlin asked, leaning forward.

Lois waved Star’s involvement out of the air. “Uh… just some stuff about the dead man who wasn’t really dead and his ex-wife and some women who were me, but not really, and…” an old Clark and a new Clark. “It didn’t make any sense.”

Dr. Carlin’s eyes widened and darted to the mini tape recorder in Lois’ hand. “I would like to hear that,” she mumbled.

Why?

“That’s not on this tape,” Lois said, popping out the cassette and putting it in her pocket. She saw Dr. Carlin’s eyes follow her movements. Clark was right, she couldn’t trust this woman. She just wished Clark would tell her why.

With a resigned sigh, the psychiatrist leaned back in her chair. “So, Lex loved you. Did you love him?”

Lois rolled her eyes and dropped her briefcase back on the ground. This woman was like a scratched record. She was proving Lois’ theory about therapy being a waste of time with every repeated theme. “No, he was a womanizing creep.”

“Then why were dating him? Because he was rich?”

“No…” Lois was getting tired of this line. Was this what everyone thought of her? Probably. “Okay, fine, I learned about his deviant ways just recently, but even so I didn’t love him. I hardly knew the man. It was flattering that such a well-known, powerful humanitarian was interested in me, my career, and my opinions.” She shook her head. “God, why would I ever agree to marry him?”

“What?!” gasped the doctor.

Lois waved the topic out of the air. “Something someone said in a dream…” She sighed, gazing across the room, not wanting to think about Lex any longer.

She could picture the day she and Clark had worked in this room on the Messenger explosion, when they had discovered Dr. Platt’s theory had been correct. They had hugged in their excitement. When she closed her eyes, Lois could almost feel Clark’s arms encompassing her. It was the best hug. There was something about having his arms wrapped around her that made her feel safe and protected… even then. His enthusiasm at solving his first investigation had rubbed off on her and they were soon both laughing with such glee. She remembered how he had stepped back and asked her to dinner; she had hesitated at first, but then pushed past her fear and said ‘yes’. She remembered the butterflies, the anticipation… her attraction. She winced. “Lex ruined everything.”

“How?” asked Dr. Carlin.

But Lois wasn’t listening to her. Her mind was far away, in another time.

She marched into Lex’s penthouse. Her life felt like it was over, and she had promised Lex an answer, so she might as well get it over with. Superman had rejected her, and she had stupidly discounted Clark’s love. Now, she and Clark could hardly say a civil word to one another.

They were on opposite sides of the spectrum on their opinions of Lex. She didn’t know why he hated Lex so. A usually articulate Clark couldn’t say anything more definite than insults and name-calling. It was strange. Was he jealous? Maybe she had misjudged Clark and his motivations the other day in the park. Had she been wrong about Clark’s feelings? Had he really been in love with her? How well would they have worked as a couple anyway? They were constantly arguing, fighting, yelling, and screaming. Weren’t those the very qualities she had hated in her own parents’ marriage?

Wasn’t that also why Lex’s marriage proposal seemed so appealing? Because they never had an uncivil word? They either agreed on everything or they persuaded the other, calmly, collectively to the other’s viewpoint. That was what a marriage was supposed to be, wasn’t it? Working together.

Lois could still feel the weight of Lex’s heavy engagement ring on her finger. It felt heavier on her heart. She had never changed Lex’s mind about anything. He had been the grand manipulator in their relationship, plying her with false comfort, lies, and flattery to get her to see what he had wanted her to see.

Excuses, she scoffed with a shake of her head. Every reason she had given herself not to love Clark, of why their relationship wouldn’t work, was just an excuse. She had been scared, worried of loving and losing. She had told herself that it was better to be in a relationship with companionship than love.

“Have you ever loved someone and knew you’d love them your entire life, whether or not they ever loved you in return?” Lois asked Dr. Carlin. Only Clark had ever made her feel that way… Well, and Superman. She felt like rolling her blind eyes at the obviousness of it all.

That’s how I feel about you, Clark confessed. And I made some pretty bad decisions because of it too.

“Once,” Dr. Carlin answered. “I loved him as much as any woman could love a man, and even though he divorced me, I still love him to this day.”

Divorced? Dr. Arianna Carlin is somebody’s ex-wife?

Lois could tell that Clark was leading her somewhere, trying to show her clues, so that she could figure out the puzzle on her own, and it was damn exasperating. Why did everything have to be some big secret for her to piece together and uncover? If he knew the answer, why didn’t he just tell her already?

~Wait a minute. Ex-wife? Are you trying to tell me she’s the ex-wife that Star warned me about? The ex-wife that would try to kill her? Is this why you don’t want me to trust her?~

Clark didn’t answer, but she felt a warmth surround her as if Clark had given her one of his smiles. She must be on the right track. Now, how could she…?

“Did he ever remarry? This ex-husband of yours?” Lois inquired.

“No,” Dr. Carlin practically snarled. “But he became obsessed with another woman and started to change his life to include her.”

“Started to?” Lois continued to probe.

“He…” The doctor smiled like a Cheshire cat drinking a bowl of cream. “… met with an unfortunate accident. He relies on me fully now.” Then, where there had been a smile a moment before, a stern scowl appeared. “Yet, still he’s obsessed with her.”

Lois felt a chill slither down her spine. Ex-wife. A dead husband that wasn’t really dead, only partially dead. An ex-wife who wanted her dead. She gulped. She needed to get out of there. She looked down at her wrist where her watch usually was.

“My, look at the time. I think our hour is up, Dr. Carlin. This has been most helpful. Thank you. I feel better already,” Lois said, rising to her feet and moving slowly to the door.

“Where are you going, Lois? It hasn’t been an hour yet,” Dr. Carlin informed her.

~Really? ‘Cause it felt like more than two hours to me,~ she thought to Clark. Lois pointed over her shoulder to the conference room door. “Well, you don’t mind if we take a break now, then, do you? I really could use a trip to the little girl’s room. Excuse me.” She turned and ran out of the room. As she turned the corner, she smacked right into Jimmy.

“Jimmy, thank God!” Lois gushed and then remembered he was the one who had turned her in to Perry earlier. No, she wouldn’t share her full revelation with him, but she did need more information. She glanced back towards the conference room and, moving them further away, lowered her voice, “I need you to find out the name of Dr. Arianna Carlin’s ex-husband. He may be deceased.”

“Lois, you’re investigating your therapist?” he confirmed skeptically.

“She said that he met with ‘an unfortunate accident’,” she replied.

“Oh. Oh! I see. Okay,” Jimmy said, nodding. “I’ll get right on that.”

“Thanks. I’m also waiting on either a fax or a phone call from Clark’s parents, verifying my story. You need to tell me right away if either comes in, okay?”

Jimmy smiled indulgently at her. “Sure, Lois. I’ll do that.”

He doesn’t believe I’m real, Lois, I doubt he believes my folks are real either.

~Well, then, won’t he be surprised when your parents call?~ she told Clark. “Thanks, Jimmy.” She patted his arm. Hopefully, she could stop this murder attempt on her own. What had Star told her? The dead man, who wasn’t Clark, would return. Lois would die – or someone confused for her – and then time would go back, causing Clark – Old Clark, her Clark – to die for good. She needed to stop this chain of events. She needed to talk to Perry.

Lois knocked on the Chief’s door and he waved her inside.

“Carlini’s? Yes, what’s this about you not delivering to the Daily Planet any longer?... Uh-huh… I see… That’s not important… send another delivery boy… I’m having the fettuccini with the fresh tomato and basil sauce, light on the oil, heavy on the garlic bread… Terrific!” Perry hung up the phone. “Afraid to make deliveries to the Daily Planet! Ha! Are we scary people?” he asked her rhetorically. He leaned back in his chair. “So, Lois, all cured?” He glanced at his watch. “That didn’t take long.” His brow furrowed. “Did you leave in the middle of a session, honey?”

“Perry!” Lois said, going on the defensive. “Dr. Carlin is trying to kill me.”

Subtle.

Her boss folded his hands together with his fingertips touching. “Did she tell you that, Lois?”

“Of course not, Perry. It’s a long story, and I’ve got to get back in there before she starts having suspicions that I know. Star told me a couple of days ago to watch out for the dead man’s ex-wife,” Lois explained and then shot her arm out towards the conference room as if to connect the dots.

“Uh-huh, and Arianna’s ex-husband is dead?” he inquired.

“She said that he met with ‘an unfortunate accident’. I’ve got Jimmy working on it,” she said.

“You’ve got Jimmy working on a harebrained theory that some psychic cooked up? Lo-is…”

“I’ve got Jimmy following a lead on a possible death threat against me. Clark says she’s untrustworthy and definitely the one Star warned me about,” Lois clarified, interrupting her boss.

“Uh-huh. If Clark knows who the ex-husband is, why doesn’t he just tell you?” Perry asked, humoring her.

“Tell me already, Clark,” she growled, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

“He says that I wouldn’t believe him, if he told me,” she said, passing on Clark’s message.

“Uh-huh. You tell Clark, I don’t believe him now,” Perry retorted. “Or Star ever!”

Lois pressed her lips together and placed her hands on her hips. “Star did not brainwash me, Perry. I’ve been hearing Clark a hell of a lot longer than I’ve known Star. Secondly, Clark can hear you just fine; I don’t have to relay messages to him. And, thirdly, if you don’t believe in him, why are you sending him messages?!” She reached into her slacks pocket and removed the cassette from her mini tape recorder. She tossed it on his desk. “Here is the session Star and I had this morning when she unlocked my memories. She told me a couple of days ago that Clark contacted her to check out my future, and she was so worried about what she saw, she came straight up to find me…”

“Now, Lois, honey…”

She held up a hand, asking him to let her finish. “Star told me that soon the dead man will return and that I will die.”

Perry’s jaw dropped as if he was at a loss for words.

“Then Star told me that it was the dead man’s ex-wife who would kill me, only she ends up killing someone who looks like me instead.”

“What would Arianna’s motive be in wanting you dead?” Perry inquired.

“I don’t know! Are anyone’s motives for trying to kill me justified? Don’t answer that.” Lois thought for a minute, snapping her fingers. “She… she… she said that her ex-husband got obsessed with a woman shortly before his accident, maybe I’m that woman.” Stranger things had happened.

Perry shrugged. “Normally, I’d think that was a bit of a stretch, but with the number of psychopaths you’ve angered over the years, it’s possible one or two of them became obsessed.”

Lois raised a brow. “One or two?”

You’ve had more than that in this year alone, and it’s only September.

“What I mean to say, Lois, is that description doesn’t narrow down our list of suspects, does it? Especially, if said suspects include the dead,” Perry said. “Now, having said all that, it doesn’t mean I believe that our resident psychiatrist is out to get you. It sounds to me like Clark is making you a bit paranoid.”

Great.

“You know, Perry, just because I may be little bit paranoid, doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there trying to kill me,” she screamed.

The office door opened and Dr. Carlin walked in. “I hope I’m not interrupting. Lois, this doesn’t look like the powder room to me.” She took hold of Lois’ arm. “Come on, let’s finish our talk.”

Lois shot the Chief a knowing expression as she tried to stop Dr. Carlin from escorting her from the room.

“Arianna, Lois is under the strange impression that you want her dead,” Perry informed the doctor.

“Per-ry!” gasped Lois, in shock. How could he tell Dr. Carlin what she had told him in secret?

“Why, Lois, that’s ridiculous!” replied Dr. Carlin. “What on earth gives you that idea?”

“Clark told her,” Perry informed the psychiatrist.

“Per-ry! Confidential sources are confidential,” Lois reminded her boss.

“Not if they’re dead and communicating with you from the other side, Lois,” he said. “You need help.”

“And I’m obviously not going to get it here!” she rebutted.

“Lois, I’m not trying to kill you; I’m trying to help you. Let’s go back into the conference room where we can talk in private,” Dr. Carlin suggested calmly, leading Lois from Perry’s office. “I’d like to know more about this Clark fellow.”

Of course she would.

“Why?” Lois demanded, pulling her hand free from Dr. Carlin’s.

“I’m curious why he dislikes me so,” said the psychiatrist.

Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it was because she shot me with a Kryptonite bullet and tried to frame you for it.

“She did, what?!” Lois stammered, turning to Dr. Carlin with horror. ~Why would she do that?~

Dr. Carlin pushed her into the conference room and shut the door behind her.

Because she blamed us for Lex’s death.

Lois froze and leaned against the door, swallowing a new supply of bile. “Lex died? I thought he survived being shot.”

The doctor stared at Lois and took a few steps back. “Lois, of course Lex died. Don’t you remember?” She looked both scared and angry, her voice hollow.

Lois’ brow furrowed. Why would the doctor be scared of Lois? Why did she sound nervous? It seemed a reversal of the woman’s earlier demeanor.

Because she blamed Superman for not saving Lex’s life, and she blamed you…

“And she blamed me, because he loved me,” Lois finished Clark’s sentence, focusing her eyes on Dr. Carlin. “You were once married to Lex Luthor.”

Dr. Carlin smiled, her eyes cold. “Yes. Yes, I was, and he loved me… until you came along…”

“Lex didn’t say anything about being married,” Lois said, not in real life and not in her other life, where they were engaged to be married. “He said I was the first woman he had ever loved.”

“I’m the only woman Lex has ever loved!” roared Dr. Carlin, rushing at Lois.

Lois blocked her both with a half-front roundhouse and a punch with the palm of her hand, knocking the woman against a side-table and sending her crashing into the lamp that had been there. “You’re insane!”

Dr. Carlin looked up from the table and hissed, “You’re lucky I’d do anything to make Lex happy.” She bled from cut on her cheek and from the corner of her mouth.

“Lois, open this door!” Perry ordered from behind her, as Lois was still leaning up against the conference room door.

She stepped away and let her boss and Jimmy in. “Dr. Carlin is nuts, Perry. She attacked me.”

Perry looked between Lois standing in a defensive position next to the door and back to where Dr. Carlin sat bleeding on the floor, next to the broken lamp. She had a new cut on her arm that hadn’t been there a moment before, which gave her the appearance of a fragile, innocent woman.

“I attacked her?” stammered Dr. Carlin in disbelief, wiping the blood near her mouth, with the back of her hand. “We came in here and she hit me out of the blue, claiming I was trying to kill her.”

“She attacked me! I was defending myself,” Lois explained.

“Lois Lane is a paranoid schizophrenic and needs to be taken to the Luthor House for the Mentally Unstable,” Dr. Carlin announced. “ – where she won’t be able to hurt anyone else and she will get the best care possible.”

“No!” Lois screamed, turning to Perry and pointing at Arianna Carlin. “I’m not crazy. She attacked me. She’s Lex Luthor’s ex-wife!”

Her boss looked at the doctor, who shrugged and told him, “She’s hearing voices, she thinks I’m trying to kill her, and she thinks that Lex is still alive and out to get her.”

“I don’t think that Lex is still alive. I know he’s dead. If anyone here is delusional, lady, it’s you,” Lois retorted, before a sense of dread tickled down her spine.

Lois, Lex! Lex is the dead man who isn’t really dead.

Perry placed a gentle hand on her arm as Lois’ mind started to swirl with this new possibility. “Lois, honey, you told me this morning that Lex didn’t die during the terrorist hostage thing last year and that he bought the Daily Planet.”

“You imagined that Daily Planet had been bombed and that my dead cousin Jimmy had been hurt,” Jimmy reminded her.

“Maybe a few days of rest and relaxation is just what you need, darlin’,” Perry continued.

“I’m not crazy!” Lois yelled, having difficulty concentrating on what was happening in the room and this new complication in her head. ~How can Lex be alive, Clark? He was dead before the terrorists left the building.~

Perry held up his hands. “I’m not saying that you are, honey. I’m just saying you need a few days of rest. I’ll get you out of there as soon as I can,” he said.

“Out of where?” Lois demanded as two security guards, who had been pushing their way through the crowd of reporters outside the conference room, grabbed her arms. “I’m not crazy!”

“Honey, you attacked Arianna for no reason.”

“In self-defense! I’d rather go to jail than to a padded cell, Perry. You know that,” Lois said, trying to pull free from the security guards.

“Take her to my office until the orderlies from the Luthor House arrive,” instructed Dr. Carlin, climbing to her feet and approaching Lois’ boss. “I’m so sorry, Perry. It’s all my fault. I should’ve insisted on seeing her before now. I just hope it’s not too late.” She lowered her voice. “Don’t worry, we’ll put her on suicide watch.”

The security guards pulled Lois through the crowd of her colleagues as she continued to profess her innocence, “I’m not insane. You’ve got to believe me! I’m not crazy.”

Wally shook his head, walking away. “That’s what they all say.”

***End of Part 22***

Part 23

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