18
Lois arrived early for her session. <"Clark are you awake? I'm here at Dr. Deter's office. I've never been hypnotized before, and for some reason, I'm really nervous. I wish you were here with me.">
<"Morning, honey. You'll be fine, Lois. You are one of the strongest-willed women I have ever met. What a beautiful view of the earth I have up here. I wish you could see it with me.">
At the moment, the receptionist motioned to Lois that Dr. Deter was ready to see her. <"Clark, we'll chat as soon as this appointment is over. Love you.">
<"You too, honey. Be strong – be yourself!">
Deter, suffering from a slight queasiness from his evening at the Metro with Boyle, wore bloodshot eyes and a somewhat grizzled, slightly unkempt appearance. He greeted Lois, walked her into the office, and instructed her to lie down on the reclining chair.
"Lois, I can tell that you're nervous. I'm going to give you a small sedative to relax you. This therapy is so important; I need you to relax."
Lois, mentally agreeing with him that she *did* need to relax, still didn't like the idea of a drug in her system, especially after the other Lois' warning. "Is that absolutely necessary?" she asked as he quickly gave her two pills to swallow along with a glass of water.
"Lois, you must trust me if I'm going to help you," Deter said sincerely, with all the charm he could muster with a double-sized hangover.
He explained to her that during hypnosis, she would be aware of everything going on around her, but she would be in a relaxed state, allowing her subconscious mind to take over and speak to him. He pressed the record button on his tape recorder, and the session officially began.
"Lois, I'm going to start counting from 100 down to 1. Focus on my voice… as the numbers gets smaller, you will begin to feel more and more comfortable; your mind will be aware of your surroundings, but open, like a book with the pages turned back. At some point, when you are fully relaxed, your eyes will close. You will be able to remember everything about the past ten years of your life as if you were experiencing it right now. 100, 99, 98….."
<What a lot of bull this is,> Lois thought. Deter's voice *was* especially calming, though. And the sedative was just starting to take effect.
Deter's countdown continued. "90, 89, 88…"
<Just remember what Clark said, no one can make me say or do something I don't want to do….yawn…. feeling so relaxed…must fight it…>
"81, 80, 79… you are very relaxed now, Lois… 78, 77, 76…"
By the time Deter had counted down to 35, Lois appeared to be fully hypnotized and relaxed, her eyes closed, open to suggestion.
"Lois, if you can hear me, nod your head," said Deter in a very soothing tone of voice.
In response, Lois bobbed her head up and down.
"Lois, I want to think back to the time when you first arrived in Brazzaville. Do you remember that day?" At Lois' nod, he continued. "I want you to describe to me what happened to you when you got off the plane. You are in a safe place now, Lois. No one can hurt you – you're going to relive those memories as if you were watching a movie – you're an impartial observer."
Lois opened her eyes and began her saga, describing how she was grabbed as soon as she exited the airplane at Maya Maya Airport. She was undressed and blindfolded and never got a clear glance of her attackers. She remembered traveling in what was probably a jeep, and that she was lifted out of the vehicle after about an hour's ride. Her captors told her to disappear unless she was willing to risk her family's lives back in the States. She was then thrown to the side of the road. When she managed to untie her hands and take off the blindfold, she was deep in the jungle, with no purse, no suitcase, and only her underwear on.
"How do you feel, now that you realize where you are?" Deter asked.
"I feel scared - *really* scared. I'm thinking that 'Mad Dog Lane' has finally met her match. Perry had warned me it would be dangerous to travel here, but I was bound and determined to go. All of a sudden I'm in a survival mode. I am trying to follow the jeep's tire marks to retrace its steps. But unexpectedly there is a massive rain storm, so I find protection under a grove of Mango trees. I think it rains for hours. By the time it stops, I'm unable to find any tire marks at all."
"So… what are you going to do now, Lois?"
"I'm trying to listen to the sounds of the jungle, hoping they'll give me a clue as to which direction to walk in. It's really awful – I'm so wet, the mosquitoes are eating me alive, and I have nothing to cover myself up with. Gradually, I mark my trail so I can find my way back if I have to, and just pick a direction – what I think might be south, toward the sea – based on the sun's position."
"Now, Lois – previously, you told me that you eventually found some refugees at night and just started tagging along with them. That seems a little too easy. Is that what really happened, or have you made yourself forget some of the details?"
Lois' face became one of sheer terror. "No! No!" she exclaimed.
"Lois, no one can hurt you now. What are you seeing?"
"I'm upon a temporary refugee camp. It's nighttime. I hear a woman screaming, so I creep up, following the direction of her voice. No! Stop! Don't do that to her!" Lois became very upset, recalling what she saw – a Congolese girl being raped by one of the rebels.
"Why is she screaming, Lois? Remember, you're very safe. No one can hurt you."
"He's ripping the clothes off a young girl – she can’t have been more than 14 – he's overpowering the poor thing, throwing her to the ground, and forcing himself on her. I can't stomach the look of sheer terror in her eyes – even though it's dark; the look of horror and fear in her eyes is reflected back at me by the moonlight."
"What are you going to do, Lois? Are you going to try to stop him?"
"Of course I am! I'm jumping him and trying to kick box him in *that* spot so he won't be able to continue raping her. Thankfully the girl is getting away but I've misjudged the size of her attacker, and he in turn is coming after me."
"Lois – is he hurting you?"
"He's coming close – but I finally get a lucky kick in and I practically made a female out of him," she told Deter proudly.
"What happens next?"
"The rest of the women in the camp are coming over to me, very excited. They speak French, and mine is very rusty – but I get the gist of what they're saying. They can't believe that I was that crazy – or that brave. They ask me my name – and without thinking, I tell them that it's Linda, not wanting to give anyone my real name. Better to let everyone think that I'm dead."
"So the attacker just left, licking his wounds, so to speak?" Deter had a smile on his face; he had never met a woman as fearless and spunky as Lois Lane before.
"Pretty much. But they come back every night to the camp, and since there are more of them than me, unfortunately, I can’t take them all on. They leave me alone for the most part, because they're afraid of the "white terror" – me!"
"OK, Lois, since you were there ten years, let's travel ahead one year. Where are you and what are you seeing?"
"NO! That can't be!" Lois had an incredulous look on her face. "I don't remember this happening. This can't be real!"
"Lois, whatever you are remembering may have been suppressed, but your subconscious never forgets. What is happening to you?"
"I'm surrounded by refugee camp women – they are helping me give birth! I'm having a baby! I'm pushing – it's very painful. The women are smiling – they are saying they see the head – to keep breathing. Finally, I hear my baby crying! It's over. I want to see my child – they tell me that it's a little girl. They are cleaning her up and bringing her over to me – they're telling me that she's beautiful."
Deter was shocked. Even though he thought it might be possible that Lois had been raped as well by the rebels, he hadn't expected her to tell him this story! Damn, Thorul was right – there was more to the story than she remembered.
"Lois – what ethnicity is your daughter? Is she Caucasian or is she part Congolese?"
"I can't tell! I'm trying to look at her, but it's as if there's a veil in front of her. There are some men – they are taking her! I'm screaming 'No! No! Don't take away my baby!' – but they're grabbing her and they're taking off. "Omigod. They stole my child. I never got to see her."
Lois was sobbing now. Deter realized that he had gone far enough for one day – except for his promise to Boyle. How to segue to that from this? What horrible timing. This was probably the last thing he expected to hear from the very perky, beautiful Lois Lane; and since he still owned an ounce or two of compassion, he detested himself right at this moment.
"Lois, I'm going to count from one to ten now. When I reach ten, you will not remember anything from this session until you're subconscious knows that you are ready to deal with it. You will be relaxed and feel upbeat and happy. I also want you to remember this word: deadline. Can you repeat that word for me?"
"Dead…line," responded Lois.
"When you hear the world "deadline" spoken *only* by Mark Boyle, your editor, you will let yourself feel attracted to him without feeling guilty about it. You will not remember that you are married to Clark Kent when you hear that word. You will allow yourself to act on your emotions, also. Okay?"
"O…kay," replied Lois.
"Good. Now I'm going to start counting. Remember, when I get to ten, you will open your eyes and feel refreshed and upbeat. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Open your eyes, Lois."
Lois did as instructed, and smiled at Deter. "See, I told you I couldn't be hypnotized! I'm too strong-willed. I guess that's the end of these stupid appointments, right?"
Deter simply pointed at the clock in the room. They had started the session promptly at 8:00 a.m., and it was 8:45.
Lois did a double-take when she realized that forty-five minutes had passed.
"Lois, we just started uncovering some of your more unpleasant experiences in Brazzaville. We have much work to do."
"Why don't I remember anything?"
"As a protective measure, you have suppressed these memories because you aren't ready to handle some of them yet. I simply told your subconscious not to let you remember the sordid details until you are able to cope with them. When you're in the right frame of mind, you will recall everything."
<"Clark, I'm scared. I know now that something horrible must have happened to me in the Congo. I wish you were here to hold me.">
Clark, on duty at the ISS, "heard" the tone of Lois' communication to him, and it gave him chills. Mindful of the other Lois' warning about her Dr. Deter, he was uncomfortable for the last hour. Unfortunately, when Lois was unconscious, he was unable to communicate with her. It was apparent to him that her session had just ended.
<"Lois… honey… I would give anything to hold you in my arms right now. As soon as you get back to the Planet, and get a quiet moment, 'tell' me everything you remember.">
Lois was distracted by Dr. Deter telling her to make another appointment for Friday morning.
"I'm going to tell the receptionist to keep Friday, 9:00 a.m. open for you," he was saying.
Lois nodded, an eerie dèja-vu feeling overcoming her as she walked out back out to the waiting area.
As soon as she reached the sidewalk outside Deter's office, she drank in the fresh air and nearly ran to the nearest coffee shop, getting a "super-sized" mocha coffee with extra cream and even three sugars! She figured that since she needed to gain a few more pounds, she would can the artificial stuff for a little while longer.
<"Clark… are you there, sweets?">
<"Yes, honey. I think you should quit the Planet. Today. Don't go in. This is getting too dangerous. They've split us up, and now Deter is probably playing with your head, too!">
<"But Perry will be back on Monday. I only have to make it through three more days, and then things will get easier. And Bernie is working so hard to find that antidote so you can come home. I don't want to show weakness by quitting, Clark!">
<"Honey, honey, honey… sometimes doing the right thing is a sign of strength, not weakness. You could write a book about your experiences in the Congo and live off the royalties. You saved an airplane from terrorism on the way back to the States. You could do interviews on all the TV talk-shows. You're a celebrity waiting to happen. Why whip a dead horse at the Planet? Honey… you *know* I'm right, here.">
<"Clark Kent, I have wanted to be a reporter at the Daily Planet since I was fifteen years old! I'll be damned if some crooks are going to run me off the job! This is what I *do*! Three more days, sweets… then Perry will be back and things will be normal again. I can put up with Boyle's crap for three more days!">
<"I *did* marry the most stubborn, mule headed woman alive, didn't I? Lucky for you that I love you so much. I feel terrible that I can't be there to protect you, honey. Maybe Bernie will have good news for us tonight when we have the second videoconference?">
<"Sweets, Bernie would do *anything* for you. I have faith in him – now have some faith in *me*… please? I guess I better get to work now. I miss my personal bodyguard and airline service so much, though. When you finally come home, can we go back to Paradise Island for our second honeymoon? Life seems so simple when we're there, so complicated in contrast back here in Metropolis. I'm going to call your folks after work and see how they're doing. Love you, Clark. Have a good day.">
"You too honey… love you lots. I'm looking forward to seeing you at the videoconference tonight.">
Lois put a plastic cover on her large to-go coffee cup, and hailed a cab to bring her back to the Planet. On the drive there, she mulled over her hypnosis session and tried to make herself remember what she had obviously buried deep in her subconscious mind. What could be so horrible?
~~~~~
"Max Deter calling for Mark Boyle, please."
"One moment, please. I'll connect you to his direct line."
"Daily Planet, Boyle speaking. May I help you?"
"Mark, it's me, Max."
"Bloody hell! I've been waiting for your phone call! How did it go?"
"Interesting. She had another appointment with me on Friday at 9:00 a.m."
"Care to clarify 'interesting'?"
"I'm going to hold to professional privilege on this one, Boyle. You just have to remember the word 'deadline'!"
"Is that the trigger word you gave her?"
"That's it. I can't guarantee how long it will last, but when you say it, if Lois finds you attractive in the *least*, it will lift her inhibitions and she will allow herself to follow through with her feelings. The caveat is that if she's *not* attracted to you, it won't do a damn thing. At least you'll know, one way or the other."
"I'm glad I haven't paid you in full, yet. What about Kent?"
"She'll temporarily forget that she's married to him when you say 'deadline'. Good luck Boyle. Hey, see you at the Metro tonight?"
"Sure, unless a certain beautiful dark-eyed reporter decides she wants to spend the night with me. Speaking of the devil, here she comes. Wish me luck, Deter. See ya."
Mark's eyes followed Lois as she exited the elevator, walked down the stairs to the bullpen, and sat down at her desk. She checked her voice mail and then started to head over towards him – probably to find out if had any hot assignments for her.
"Good morning," Lois said, as professionally as she could muster. "Anything you want me to jump on this morning?"
<Besides *me*?> "Actually, Ms. Lane, we *do* have quite a deadline here," he said, with a smile.
Lois' eyes widened, as if she was seeing Mark Boyle for the very first time.
~~~~~
TBC
