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Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Where we left off in Part 72 …

Lois took hold of his jaw and focused her gaze on his. “I always become angry whenever you keep something from me or lie, and I don’t want to be mad. I don’t want to be sad. I don’t want to make you sad. I love that you want to share the truth with me and, for now, that is enough. I’m telling you that whatever your secret might be, I love you so much, nothing could make me stop loving you,” she said, running her hands down his chest and kissing him. “And right now, I don’t want to talk; I just want to kiss you.”

Clark’s heart burst with ecstasy.

Nothing could make me stop loving you.

He wasn’t sure how to argue against that logic, but he needed to tell Lois the truth first. “Lois…”

She lifted up his hand, stuck his finger in her mouth and began sucking on it.

“Lois, please,” he moaned, his resolve weakening, his brain turning to mush, and his body to steel. He wanted so much for this Lois to be his, but he knew she rightfully belonged to her true Clark, and barring that, the Carlos in Brazil.

She moved his finger in and out of her mouth, as her thighs tightened on his. Sliding his damp finger out of her mouth, she arched back and let his finger skim down her throat to her chest. Two seconds later, he had her shirt unbuttoned and was reaching inside to caress her soft skin. She grabbed his head and brought his mouth to her chest.

“I love you, Chuck,” she murmured against his hair.

“I love you, too, Lois,” he whispered, hating himself for not being able to resist her charms enough to tell her the truth first.

Carlos had told Clark to go home, marry Lois, and create his own descendants for Utopia. “That woman isn’t minha,” Carlos had insisted. Lois wasn’t his. Well, the man was a priest after all.

“Minha,” he murmured, his hand brushing down her soft skin to her bottom. He lifted her up and moved her more onto his lap.

“Huh?” Lois mumbled, her voice hoarse.

“Minha. It’s Portuguese for ‘mine’,” Clark explained.

She grinned. “Portuguese, too. I doubt you’ll ever stop impressing me with that tongue of yours.” She pulled him in for a kiss.

He showed her what else he could do with that tongue.

Lois moaned. “Minha. I like it. I want you to call me that, because that’s what I am, yours, forever yours.”

He had to tell her. This couldn’t go any further until he said the words. As his hand slipped under her skirt and up her thigh, he whispered, “Lois, I’m…”

“Minha. Call me minha, Chuck,” she said, turning to lie down on the couch and bringing him to cover her.

“Minha, I’m…” Clark cleared his throat as the word caught there. “I am…”

A knock on his front door interrupted him. He glanced up and scooted down his glasses to see who it was. H.G. Wells stood on the other side.

*

Part 73

Herb waited patiently outside Clark’s apartment. He could hear someone moving around inside and he hoped he hadn’t arrived too late. He glanced down at the copy of the Daily Planet he had picked up from the future.

The door opened and Clark, casually dressed without jacket or tie, stepped out. He shut the door directly behind himself.

“So, Herb, please give me good news,” he said, dispensing with his usual pleasantries.

Herb got an uneasy feeling. He cleared his throat. “How are you doing, Clark?”

“Fine. Never better,” Clark said. “What did you find in the past?”

Since Clark didn't invite him inside, Herb walked over to the metal café table in the common area outside Clark’s front door, and sat down. With a sigh, Clark glanced back at his closed door before joining him. Without taking a chair, he crossed his arms and waited.

“When I traveled back to Smallville 1966, I discovered that indeed someone came from the future and into the past to kill this universe’s Kal-El,” Herb said. “Tempus.”

Clark absorbed this news soberly. His shoulders fell ever so slightly, and he nodded. “So I still haven’t escaped him, then. I will need to go into the past to save this dimension’s Kal-El.”

“No,” Herb replied, as he started to wring his hands. Now, he was getting to the difficult news. “Unfortunately, by going into the past to kill you… uh… this universe’s Kal-El, that is, Tempus set off a series of events…” He paused, not quite sure how to phrase what he needed to say. “Tempus accidentally erased himself from existence.”

Clark stood up taller and the light, which had started to fade from his eyes, returned. “Unfortunately?”

“Well, yes, Clark. In doing so, Tempus broke this universe’s timeline. We cannot go back further in time than the instant Tempus disappeared. His life was somehow tied to the Superman’s from this universe. That Superman must have saved some direct member of Tempus’s family, without whom Tempus cannot exist. Therefore, when Tempus killed Kal-El as an infant, he started a change of events in which that person was no longer saved to become Tempus’s forefather, or foremother.”

“Good riddance,” Clark grumbled.

Herb raised an eyebrow at this pronouncement.

Clark shifted his feet uncomfortably. “Well, the man did ruin my life after all.”

“Or,” Herb suggested. “Tempus may have given you a chance at a better life?”

Clark looked unconvinced. “So, this dimension’s timeline is broken.”

“Yes, I’m afraid so, my dear boy,” Herb admitted with sad eyes.

Clark’s eyes, on the other hand, seemed to brighten considerably. “Wait. Let me make sure I’ve got this clear. Because Tempus wiped himself out of existence we cannot travel into the past and save this dimension’s Kal-El, Lois’s true Clark?” He stared at Herb as if his very life depended on his answer.

Regrettably, it did.

Herb swallowed. “I’m afraid so, Clark.”

“So, I don’t have any competition for Lois’s heart? She’s mine, free and clear?” Without waiting for a response from Herb, Clark grabbed his hand and shook it with glee. “That’s terrific news, Herb. Well, no, not terrific all around, but you have made me very happy.” He turned to re-enter his apartment. “I should tell Lois!” Then he stopped as if by some fleeting thought. “No, first I need to…”

Clark ran off at the speed of… well, Superman. He came back a second later, shook Herb’s hand again, and disappeared once more, before Herb could call out for him to stop. With annoyance, Herb stood up and walked to Clark’s front door, barricading it from Clark’s return. He only hoped the man didn’t fly back and use his patio.

And return he did, two minutes later, in a gush of wind and with a small paper bag in his hand. Clark seemed startled to see Herb still here, let alone standing in front of his apartment door.

“We’ll catch up later, Herb, right now I have…”

“Company?” Herb interrupted. “Is Miss Lane in your apartment, Clark?”

Clark crossed his arms. “As a matter of fact, she is.”

Herb nodded. That explained Clark’s odd behavior, and why he hadn’t invited Herb inside. “And how is Miss Lane today?”

“Fine. Fine,” Clark said, trying to move past him. “Now, if you don’t mind…”

“Neither you nor Miss Lane were affected by the pheromone based perfume sprayed around the newsroom today, then?” Herb inquired.

“What are you talking about?” Clark asked before Herb’s words apparently sunk in. “Perfume? Yes… Pheromone… A chemical substance secreted by animals which produces a specific response to other individuals of the same species, usually related to a warning, food, or sex.” His eyes widened as he glanced down at his brown paper sack. His shoulders dropped. “No… No! It isn’t true!” He shook his head. “She forgave me. She loves me,” he said adamantly, pointing at Herb, before his voice dropped to almost a whisper. “Doesn’t she?” He raised his gaze to Herb’s beseechingly. “Doesn’t she?”

Herb shrugged. “Maybe she does. Maybe she doesn’t, Clark. I haven’t met her.”

“Are you sure about this?” Clark asked.

“Tomorrow’s Daily Planet,” Herb said, holding up the paper he had picked up on his previous stop.

Clark took the newspaper out Herb’s hand and walked back to the café table. “Perry would never allow this,” he mumbled, his eyes closing. “I should have known; it was too good to be true. She loved me. She wanted me.” He pointed back at his apartment. “She begged me…” His hand dropped. “I’m such a fool.”

“I’m sorry, Clark,” Herb said, setting a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

Clark buried his face in hands. “She’s never going to forgive me now.”

Oh, deary God. Was he too late? “Clark…” Herb said hesitantly. “You and Miss Lane haven’t…” He cleared his throat. “Haven’t yet… um…”

“Haven’t yet what?” Clark asked, before thankfully catching on. “Oh! Oh! No. Herb, I… we… I was waiting to hear back from you. We kissed and…” His eyes widened before he swallowed. “Oh, God, no! Lois will never forgive me.”

Herb exhaled with relief and sat down next to Clark at the table. He hadn’t thought that Clark and Lois had consummated their relationship, being that they were still alive and well enough on Valentine’s Day to be married, but one could never be sure about these things. “Clark, this is very important. You cannot…” He crossed his hands and uncrossed them. “— with Miss Lane.”

“I cannot…?” Clark gazed at him, perplexed.

Herb nodded encouragingly at him, but this time Clark didn’t catch on. “Consummate your relationship with Miss Lane.”

“Of course not, Herb! I would never do that to anyone in an intoxicated state, let alone Lois. If I had known she had been drugged, I would never have allowed things to progress as...” Clark cleared his throat, glancing away with a slight tinge of pink to his cheeks. “In light of today’s events that’s a very probable outcome.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m sure given time…” he started saying before a smile crept to his lips. “Which we now have, she’ll forgive me and we’ll move past this unfortunate development. It was an honest mistake. I thought she truly and honestly loved and had forgiven me.”

“No, Clark. You cannot ever consummate your relationship with Miss Lane,” Herb said as plainly as he could.

“Excuse me?” Clark said, rising to his feet as his fists remained on the table. His voice sounded ominous. “What did you just say to me?”

“You cannot engage in…” Herb coughed. He hated this part of the revelation. “You cannot consummate with Miss Lane.”

“Yes. Yes, I can, Herb, and, frankly, whether or not I do is none of your business,” Clark said with the intensity of Superman. “That’s between me and Lois.”

“If you consummate with Miss Lane, she will die,” Herb said.

Clark looked aghast. “No she won’t. That’s an old wives’ tale.”

Herb leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers together. “And how exactly do you know that she won’t, Clark?”

“It’s not like she would be my first,” Clark said with a pointed look.

“She wouldn’t?” Herb said with some surprise. “I thought…”

“Do remember that I was engaged to be married to… Lana,” Clark spit out her name. “— before I met you and Lois.” He picked up on that Lois and pointed at Herb. “The Lois and Clark from your dimension are married and, from the looks of it, quite happily so. Don’t tell me that they haven’t…”

“Yes, yes they are, Clark, very happily married. That Lois and Clark also traveled back in time to undo a curse that Baron Tempos had placed upon their eternal love. A curse which states that whenever Lois and Clark’s souls, in whichever life they are in, consummate their love, one of the two of them will die,” Herb explained. “And since you have invulnerability, you have a greater chance of survival.”

“Baron Tempos?” Clark repeated scoffing. “Are you telling me that in a past life Tempus cursed me, so that I can’t make love to my soul mate?”

Perhaps Herb should have left out Tempos’s name. “I’m afraid so, my dear boy.”

Clark shook his head. “Well, clearly the curse was lifted by the Lois and Clark from your dimension…”

“Regrettably, the curse was only lifted in my universe’s timeline, Clark. Each universe has its own timeline. What happens in one doesn’t necessarily reflect in another. What’s past is past, unless one has a time machine to go back and change it.”

“Good thing I happen to know a man with a time machine,” Clark said. “So, it looks like I’ll be fighting Tempus after all. When do we leave?”

Herb shook his head. “Clark, this timeline is broken. We cannot travel into the distant past to undo the curse. I’m sorry.”

A guttural sound emerged from Clark’s throat as if he were repressing a roar. “And you didn’t think this curse was something I should have been apprised of earlier? Say, when we first started discussing the possibility of rescuing the Lois from my dimension? Or before you brought me here under the guise of falling in love with this dimension’s Lois?”

Clark’s thunderous eyes flashed to his and the time traveler tugged on the collar of his shirt in discomfort, suddenly rather hot. Herb was never so glad to be addressing Clark Kent, who wore leaded glass spectacles, as opposed to Superman.

“It isn’t an easy fix, Clark, traveling back in time to one’s previous incarnations,” Herb tried to explain. “I thought it best to see if there was reason to do so, prior to undertaking such a journey. Any time I meddle in the past, there are possibilities of ripples into the future. For example, when we originally stopped the warlock from enacting the curse in my universe, by having Lois… uh… Lady Loisette agree to marry Baron Tempos in order to save the life of the Fox, or Sir Charles as Clark’s previous incarnation was known. Sir Charles was banished, unable to see his true love again. When we returned to their current bodies, their current timeline, the ripples of this one change caused Lois to be engaged to be married to King Tempus, instead of Clark.”

“King Tempus?” Clark said incredulously. “We don’t have kings in America.”

“Regardless,” Herb said with a wave of his hand. “We had let evil best good when it shouldn’t have, switching the balance of power, and we had to go back again in time to fix this error.”

“And you know this for sure? Are you positive, despite the fact that Lois and I are from other dimensions and our souls don’t match up completely, that this curse would still affect us?” Clark asked. “Couldn’t you just travel into the future and see if she…” His words dropped off as he picked up the copy of the next day’s Daily Planet from the table.

“Do you want to take that chance?”

“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it, Herb?” Clark said, staring at the paper, his voice a shell of what it had been a moment before. “We weren’t supposed to meet up for two more weeks, but you’re here now.” He crumpled the newspaper in his hands. “You came to stop me.”

Herb nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” Clark whispered with a hitch in his voice. “Thank you from stopping me from killing her.” He dropped his head into his hands in defeat.

Herb hadn’t quite understood how Lois and this dimension’s version of himself hadn’t disappeared with Tempus. It had been as if they were echoes of a past life left to repair the damage done by now non-existent Tempus. How had they remained in a past without a Clark in the future to draw them there? Was it a strange kind of time aftershock of a dimension in flux, a dimension without a past of its own? It had been one of those time anomalies, which was sure to keep him from sleep for many a night.

He recalled the sorrow and despair he had seen in the Lois of this dimension as she rocked dead baby Kal-El in her arms, tears streaming down her face. She had loved him, and it had broken Herb’s heart knowing that there was nothing he could do to change his death. Herb saw the same anguish in this Clark now. Clark appeared as if Lois had been snatched out of his arms and killed in front of him, and he had been powerless to stop it from happening.

Perhaps it would have been less cruel if Herb had told Clark of the curse instead of bringing him here to try his hand at wooing a free-and-clear Lois. Herb had truly thought that if he exposed Clark to the Lois she had been, before a Clark’s love made her the kind, loving woman who had made this man Superman, it would have made Clark realize that not all Loises were the same. Herb should have known better. Clark Kent isn’t one to give up, no matter how large the challenge.

Herb gave him a few minutes to grieve before clearing his throat. “When would you like me to return to take you back to your universe, Clark? I’m assuming you would like some time to put your and Superman’s affairs in order here, unless you’ve already done so.”

Clark’s head slowly rose from his hands. “I am not going back to my dimension, Herb,” he said.

“But… but… ” Herb stammered, at a loss for this decision. “You cannot marry Miss Lane, Clark. It is…” His voice faded. He hated that word but, in this instance, it seemed the best choice.

“Impossible?” Clark retorted angrily. “Perhaps it is, for now. Instead, you must return to your dimension’s future and find out everything you can about Tempus’s history, his genealogy, and any stories from his family tree that intersect with mine… er… the Clark or Superman from your dimension. I know the two dimensions aren’t the same, but it will give us a place to start looking. You will discover as best as you can how to undo this paradox and fix this broken timeline. If you cannot discover the answer, you will head into the past to the time of this Baron Tempos, use my dimension and solve the problem of that curse if you must, but find the antidote for the curse. Lois Lane and I will marry someday.” He paused and exhaled. “If she’ll still have me.”

Herb nodded. He had forced Clark into this mess, by bringing him to this damaged universe, the least he could do would be to extricate him from it as smoothly and painlessly as possible. “Do you mean to take her to your universe, if we cannot fix the curse here?” he asked.

“I’d rather not. I prefer my life here to the one back home. The same problems that stopped me from bringing the Lois from my dimension into the future still exist. Additionally, I’ve discovered that there is a lot more paperwork one must do when switching dimensions. I, as Superman, would hate to have to forge a fake existence for Lois as I’ve had to for myself in this one,” he said.

“She could always return as the long lost Lois from your universe,” Herb suggested.

Clark shook his head. “No, that would require her to bear an even more difficult burden, impersonating someone she’s not for the rest of her life. I would rather not have to do that to her.” He sighed. “But I’ll keep the idea of bringing her home with me open as an option of last resort.” He raised a brow. “If you are fairly certain that my dimension’s timeline isn’t damaged in a similar manner.”

Herb’s mouth opened to reassure him that it wasn’t, but then he closed it. It would be best to not to make that assumption. “I’ll be sure to double check that it isn’t.”

“Thank you,” Clark said, nodding his head.

Herb realized that he had his work cut out for him. Determining a way to save Tempus’s existence to undo the horrible wrong that the man had done to this universe when he killed baby Kal-El... “Clark,” Herb started hesitantly. “You do realize, don’t you, that if we do find a way to fix this universe’s broken timeline, it will also be possible to rescue the baby Kal-El, the true Clark of this universe.”

“I can’t give up hope, Herb. I love her more than I thought possible,” Clark said, staring at his apartment door. “I would do anything to make her happy, even save her true Clark from his current fate, even if he doesn’t wish it to be so.”

“What? Why wouldn’t her Clark want to be saved?” That was the most ridiculous idea Herb had ever heard. If there was one thing that Herb had learned about Clark Kent, his undying love for Lois Lane was up there with his undying love to help.

Clark started in on a most unexpected tale of discovering the reincarnated Clark in the Brazilian rainforest, where he was not only a masked hero by the name of the Jaguar, but also a…

“A priest?” Herb said in total bafflement. “A Roman Catholic priest?”

Clark nodded. “Padre Carlos runs the local orphanage.”

“Extraordinary.” It was the first occurrence that Herb of ever heard of where Clark’s soul hadn’t sought out Lois’s in one of its incarnations.

“He has told me that he doesn’t want me to go back in time to save his previous life, and that the life he currently leads is just as important,” Clark said, standing up and shaking Herb’s hand. “I don’t expect to see you until you have some results for me, which I hope will be soon.”

Herb knew from his research on this universe that it was eerily similar to that of his own universe, almost as if this alternate universe had been formed by Tempus’s attempt on baby Kal-El’s life. If that were true, in May 1994, a mere three months in the future, this Lois Lane could be engaged to marry Lex Luthor. The Superman from his universe had ended up caught in a Kryptonite cage during the wedding in early June. Herb decided he should save Clark from having to deal with a similar fate, if such circumstances also were to happen here. “I’ll check back with you in three months to see how you’re faring, and give you an update on my research.”

“That’s not necessary, Herb, but thank you,” Clark said.

“I’d hate for you to feel stuck in a universe that you hate, when…”

Clark raised his hand to stop this topic. “By bringing me here, you’ve already saved me from that fate, Herb, for which I’m eternally grateful. I’ve said from the beginning, I’d rather be in a dimension where Lois and I are just friends, than in one without her at all. Goodbye, Herb. I hope to hear from you soon.”

*

Clark steeled his nerves as he stood before his front door. He had no idea what he would be walking in on, but he knew one thing, for certain: his desire would kill Lois.

He turned back to ask Herb how long the effect of the perfume lasted, but the man had already disappeared. Clark hoped that Herb would return soon, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

It was just like Herb to touch on Clark’s old fears, inadvertently as it might have been, fears Clark had put to rest more than a decade before. He squeezed his eyes shut in agony. He could still have sex, but he couldn’t touch the one person who would change sex into love. He chuckled, despite not finding anything funny. It was just his luck.

He took another deep breath, reminding himself of two things: one, Lois was drunk on love and not herself, and two, if he allowed himself to be turned on by anything he saw inside his apartment, Lois would die. He might’ve chanced it if he knew he would be the one to die. At least, he’d be guaranteed to die happy.

Actually, there was a third thing. He couldn’t let Lois out of his sight. He didn’t know if the drug would cause her to be interested in anyone else. With him, at least, she’d be safe. He scoffed. Now.

Clark opened the door and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. So far, so good. “Lois?” he called out.

“In here, Chuck,” her voice sang from his bedroom.

He cheated. He tilted down his glasses and took a glimpse into his bedroom before even taking one step further inside his apartment. Lois was still clothed; in fact, she had buttoned up her shirt. Had the perfume already started to wear off? He slowly inched down the stairs.

Lois skipped out. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss.

No such luck.

“Hi!” she said in breathless manner, which reminded him of Marilyn Monroe’s.

Now that Clark knew she was drugged, the differences in her behavior seemed to hit him over the head. Her lack of curiosity or concern of where he had been and what he had been doing, had been the main distinction.

“Hi. Whatcha been doing?” he asked with some trepidation.

She grinned. “Come and see!”

Lois took his hand and led him into the bedroom. His armoire was open. Stacked on the bed were some of his short sleeve t-shirts, underwear, sweat pants, socks, pajamas, his tan slacks, several oxford shirts, and his tweed jacket. He looked to Lois for explanation.

“I’ve made room for me in your dresser,” she announced with glee.

Lovely.

Lois opened the drawers of his dresser to show him that she had indeed rearranged everything. There was now space next to his underwear and socks for her… he cleared his throat… unmentionables.

“I see,” Clark said, not knowing what else to say.

She had done something that mere hours before would have caused him cascades of joy; now, it seemed to cause his blood to freeze, especially knowing that she had to be drugged to find this a good idea.

“Remember how back when I stayed the night during the whole Barbara Trevino scare,” she said. “You suggested that I should start moving in.”

That wasn’t exactly what he had said. Actually, he had thought she hadn’t heard him recommend that should she keep a change of clothes at his apartment, just in case. Clearly, a part of her had heard him.

“I remember,” he replied.

“I mean, I love my apartment, but I’ve always felt it’s been missing something,” Lois said.

“Oh, and what’s that?” he asked as she leaned against his arm.

“You, my darling,” Lois laughed as if it had been obvious.

“Uh-huh.”

“Why don’t you put these items into a bag to take to my place?” Lois suggested with a flip of her hand to the clothes on the bed. “In case you ever need to spend the night again, and I’ll pick up some of my clothes and bring them here.”

Clark pushed down the emotional reaction this suggestion brought to the surface. “That’s a terrific idea, Lois,” he replied, despite his tone not matching the enthusiasm of his words. He knew that Lois was apt to burn his clothes in a bonfire as soon as she recovered. He kissed her cheek.

“Or,” Lois said, turning her whole body against him. “Should we make love first? Then take your stuff to my place and make love again over there. In the morning, we could bring my things here.”

“Unfortunately, making…” His voice faltered. “— love will have to go on the back burner for now. My source – the one who interrupted us earlier – has given us a lead on a big story.”

Lois pouted. “Can’t we just make love a little bit first?” Her fingers started to draw patterns on his chest as her lips kissed down his neck.

His brow furrowed. How did one make love only ‘a little bit’? “Lois…”

“Minha,” she corrected, breaking his heart as he knew she probably would never truly be ‘his’.

“Minha,” he continued, not wanting to argue. “Work first, pleasure later.” Much, much, much later, if he was lucky.

“Makes Clarkie a very dull boy!” Lois finished, punctuating her words with a poke to his chest with her finger.

“That may be true,” he admitted. “But if we all followed our hedonistic desires, minha, no work would be accomplished, the Daily Planet would fold, and we would be destitute.”

“That would be sad. I hate feeling sad,” she said.

“But helping people makes you happy,” Clark reminded her.

She smiled. “That’s true, but so does kissing you,” she said, demonstrating.

“Lois, please,” he begged, taking a step back.

Her pout returned. “Does this story involve helping people?”

“Lois, all your stories help people. It’s one of the things I love most about you, how you give your all on a story, how you never give up, and never rest until the story is written and the people are helped,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze.

“Really?” she said, a big glowing smile on her face.

“Really,” he said in truth.

“So, what’s our lead?” Lois asked, sounding the most like herself since he had come back inside.

Clark realized that the perfume’s power seemed to switch Lois’s drive from her work onto him. No wonder he hadn’t been able to resist her spell. No one had a work ethic like Lois. He only hoped that he could distract her long enough with the story. He wasn't optimistic though, as her hand curved around his bottom and she made a sound usually reserved for chocolate desserts she craved but didn’t allow herself to eat due to calories.

“Lois!” he admonished. He would be flattered, later, should he get a moment alone. “Do you know how distracting that is?”

She grinned and bounced her eyebrows at him. Apparently, she did.

“Okay, Lois. We need to search inside you for my partner,” he said, moving into his dining room and sitting down at the table.

She sat down in his lap and encircled him with her arms. “What a silly man you are, Chuck. I’m right here.”

Clark cleared his throat and stood up, so she’d fall to her feet. “My partner sits in her own chair,” he reminded her, pulling out a chair for her.

“But it’s so much more comfortable in your lap,” she complained.

He pointed to the chair. “Sit!”

She sat.

Clark returned to his seat and pulled it up to the table so that there was no room between the edge of the table and his stomach. “According to my source, this morning the staff at the Daily Planet was exposed to a powerful drug laced with pheromones, making all those infected feel head-over-heels in love,” Clark explained, hoping Lois would put one and one together and get two.

Instead, Lois clapped her hands together with delight. “How wonderful!” she gushed, scooting her chair closer to his to give him a kiss. “Everyone should fall in love. It’s such a wonderful feeling. I’ve never been happier.”

So much for subtlety. He decided to try another approach. “Lois, what about those people who might be attracted to the wrong people? What if a person was married, and she found herself attracted to someone who wasn’t her spouse? Someone might react in a manner that they normally wouldn’t. What if he was attracted to someone who wasn’t attracted to him? We need to help our colleagues. Someone could get hurt,” he said. “Like Ralph this morning.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “You don’t think I should have defended myself against that… that… monster?”

“Monster?” Clark repeated skeptically. It seemed like a strong term for the worm named Ralph. “Granted, Ralph treats women like scum, Lois, but I’m not sure if…”

“I had a nightmare about him where he… he…” Her voice rose higher in pitch until her head collapsed on his shoulder in tears. “Please, Clark, it was horrible.”

“You had a nightmare about Ralph?” he said, wrapping his arm around her, unable to stop himself from comforting her when she cried.

“Uh-huh,” she sniffled into his neck. “He broke into my apartment and pushed me down…”

“There. There. Lois, it was only a dream,” he reminded her.

“I tried calling to you… no, not you… Superman, but he didn’t come. You both had left Metropolis. Ralph knocked me to the floor and tore open my shirt…” Her tears poured out in earnest now.

Clark had the strange feeling he had made things worse and started missing infatuated Lois. “You dreamed about this?” he asked. That meant the dream had happened prior to her being exposed to the drug, because she hadn’t slept since the exposure. It was real. Not that the event itself was real, but the memory of the nightmare certainly was.

“Uh-huh. Months ago, when Superman was being run out of town,” she said through gasps. She wiped her eyes. “I can’t get it out of my mind. He just attacked me for no reason, and I couldn’t defend myself. Luckily, Jimmy… no, Jimbo showed up. He saved me.”

“Jimbo?” Clark repeated. Clearly, this had been only a dream.

“Yes, but he was acting weird, like he was in love with me or something. He kept calling me sweetie or dear and telling me how I was precious,” Lois rambled.

Clark knew the feeling. Suddenly, a thought came to him. Was this one of those psychic memories that Herb told him that Lois might have? Had her true Clark abandoned Lois during the heat wave, never to return? She had seemed so upset the night that Clark went to meet Herb, back in November; she had been so afraid that he would never return. Was this due to a memory? It would explain why Lois had hated Ralph since the first instant Perry had introduced him at work.

“I was thankful Jimbo saved me, but freaked out at the same time. I couldn’t understand why all these men were coming on to me,” Lois went on. “I wasn’t attracted to any of them as I am with you.”

Thank God.

If it was a memory, and Ralph had evidently set his sights on Lois… “I want you to sleep here tonight,” Clark suggested. He would sleep at Lois’s apartment.

Lois threw her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I was beginning to think that you didn’t care for me, Chuck.”

“Of course, I care for you, Lois. I’ll always care for you,” he said, wishing he could do more. He pushed these thoughts away. “Do you remember anything else from this dream?”

“Oh, my gosh!” she gasped in horrified excitement. “You don’t think this might be one of my psychic visions, do you?”

“I hope not.”

“Let me see,” she murmured, placing her hands to her head. “Oh! I can’t think. All I want to do is kiss you.” So, she did.

Clark was also familiar with this feeling. He pulled his lips away from hers and looked into her eyes. “Try.”

Her fingers started dancing across his chest again. “Maybe if we made out for a while, it would take the edge off and…”

“Lois,” he warned.

“Harrumph,” she said in frustration and pouted, crossing her arms. “I’m beginning to think you never loved me. If you really loved me, you’d be loving me right now!”

“Lois, I’m not going to discuss this with you right now. I’ll be more than happy…” he lied. “— to discuss this when you’re feeling better.”

She bit her bottom lip in that sexy way that she did that made him want to kiss her. “I’ve never felt better.”

“Lois, concentrate. Your dream,” he coaxed, taking hold of her shoulders.

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll concentrate better if you kiss me.”

“Now who’s lying?” he mumbled. He thought for a moment. Perhaps he could compromise without really doing anything that would endanger Lois by activating his desire. “What if I rubbed your shoulders?”

Lois grinned, jumping to her feet. “I’ll go get undressed and lie down on the bed.”

No! “We don’t have time for that, minha. Remember, we need to help our friends. We need to find out who did this,” he said, catching hold of her hand and giving her a gentle tug back against his chest. “We need to make sure that nobody gets hurt like you did in your dream.”

“Am I still your minha?” she asked softly, gazing up at him.

“Always,” he murmured, brushing her hair from her face.

She contemplated him for a moment, which stretched into two. He wondered what was going on in that crazy, besotted brain of hers.

“Huh,” she finally said. “When you touch me like that, you remind me of Superman.”

“I do?” Clark said with a gulp.

“It’s remarkable. I never noticed it before,” Lois murmured, still staring.

“What?” he repeated, getting nervous.

“You look a lot like Superman, too,” she said in a breathless tone.

Clark didn’t need Miss Loose-Lips Lois, which this pheromone induced version seemed to be, to tell everyone about his secret identity. She had been more than happy to tell him all her secrets, anything he asked actually. He was doubly glad that Herb had interrupted his confession on the couch. “If I recall, Lois, you said that I don’t look any more like Superman than Jimmy or Thomas Irig.”

“You’re much sexier than Superman,” Lois whispered, blowing into his ear and torturing him on many levels.

He was sorely tempted to test that theory. What would drugged Lois think if Superman appeared on his patio at this moment? He bet she wouldn’t remember Clark’s name. He tried to take solace in the fact that he was both men, but it didn’t work. “Better watch out, Lois, he’s got those Super ears of his,” he teased with a wink.

She shrugged and then leaned her head against his shoulder with a sigh. “So what. Superman already knows I’m in love with you. I told him so,” she said smugly.

Since when? He scoffed. Only Lois would be able to find a way to lie in this condition. He gently nudged her back into the chair. If he was standing behind her, rubbing her shoulders, it would be more difficult for her to kiss him.

“Oh. Oh!” she gasped suddenly, sitting upright. “I remember! Jimbo and I got married in the nightmare.” She shivered in disgust. “Ugh!”

He smiled. “Well, we can at least be rest assured that it wasn’t more than a dream then, Lois.” He doubted even a besotted Lois would fall for Jimmy’s cousin.

“Thank heavens!” She turned and faced Clark with a grin. “Anyway, I would much rather marry you.”

*** End of Part 73***

Part 74

What will Clark do now? Comments