Happy Ficlet Friday!
This latest installment of my “Try Not to Change Anything” Series takes us all the way to 1993, just a few months before Clark starts at the Daily Planet. Small changes can lead to big consequences – but not all of them are bad.
One thing of note for this story – Lois and Clark have not seen each other in a while. Specific reasons will be explained in another ficlet but, suffice it to say, they were trying to prevent their relationship from leading them to make even bigger changes to the timeline than they had already made.
Oh, and this one is a bit longer than 1000 words. Sorry, not sorry.Kerth Challenge #4: A mysterious package is left on Lois' doorstep. What is it? Who left it there and why?
Big Changes Come in Small PackagesBy AmandaK
Lois bit her bottom lip anxiously as she alternated staring between the phone and the slim package on her kitchen island. She didn’t know what to do. Could anything be done? Probably not. It was already there, already decided. But it wasn’t supposed to happen. Not yet.
The day had started out normally enough. She’d been busy on a story, meeting source after source, compiling notes and data. She was on to something big – and not something she’d done the first time around either.
Those stories were almost boring. They had to be written of course, so she buckled down and did them over again. If they happened to be better than they were before, that was hardly her fault. She didn’t have perfect memory of all of her stories but, typically, in the course of re-investigating, she was able to recall certain facts which, originally, hadn’t come out until after her story was written. And if those facts happened to make their way into her stories now, well… she could just blame H.G. Wells.
Even so, it was a thrill to work on something completely new – something she had missed before, something exciting. She dove in with extreme focus, barely noticing the random calls of congratulations from the bullpen. She didn’t stop to wonder what they were about.
Now she wished she had. A little warning would have been nice.
She’d arrived at her apartment building and Mrs. Tracewski had informed her that a package had arrived for her – something important which had required a signature. Lois had thanked the older lady for signing for it and headed up, finding the slim, cardboard envelope propped against her door.
She hadn’t thought much of it at first, dropping it on her island and going about her normal routine. It wasn’t until she had settled in, changing into comfortable sweatpants and an old Smallville High jersey, and grabbing an apple for a late afternoon snack while vaguely considering what to order for dinner, that she’d seen the package again and decided to investigate.
She’d recognized the content for what it was without fully removing it from its sleeve. Shoving it back inside, her eyes wide, she’d reached for the phone and dialed without thinking.
He hadn’t been there, of course. He was in Borneo or Timbuktu or some other such place. But Martha had promised to let him know that she had called as soon as she heard from him.
She wasn’t supposed to call.
They hadn’t seen each other or even spoken on the phone in nearly eight years. Had it really been that long? Birthday and Christmas cards, plus the occasional ‘thinking of you’ postcards, were all the communication they’d had. She’d hated the distance between them but she also knew it had been necessary.
He had been right. There were too many temptations, too many moments when they had argued for ‘just a little change,’ and too many big changes just waiting to be grasped. And she had needed the time and the space to rediscover herself as someone who didn’t need anyone else to be able to rise to the top.
It had hurt so much.
But it had been necessary. She could see that now as everything had fallen into place just how it needed to be, if not exactly as it had been before. They were only a few months away from his return and his big debut. No big changes. Nothing they couldn’t just blame on H.G. Wells.
So why was this happening now?
“Lois?!”
She heard his voice before she fully registered the sonic boom and woosh that had preceded it. Spinning around, she stood there, stunned to see him after all these years. He was dressed in cargo pants and a blue long-sleeved shirt with a beige, multi-pocketed vest and a boonie hat which looked slightly comical perched atop his glasses.
Before she could finish taking him in, he pushed the hat back to hang by its tether around his neck and put his hands on her shoulders, a worried frown creasing his forehead. “What’s wrong? Are you alright?”
Lois blinked, not sure what he was talking about. “I’m… fine…”
Clark dropped his hands, looking confused now. “Fine? But you called my mom. She said you needed to talk to me, that it was urgent.”
Lois shook her head and bit back a smile, realizing how her call had been misinterpreted. “Well, I do. And it is. But I figured you’d just call me back. I didn’t expect you to come flying to the rescue. But, since you’re here…”
She stepped into his arms and he willingly embraced her. It was like coming home. She was surrounded by his scent, which had long since faded from his jersey. His arms felt sure and strong around her. His heartbeat pounded just a little fast in her ear as he came down from the adrenaline rush which had brought him to her apartment.
“Oh, wow,” she breathed into his chest. “I’ve missed this so much.”
She felt him nod and tighten his hold on her, but he didn’t speak. If he was anywhere near as overwhelmed in the moment as she was, she couldn’t blame him for not being able to find his voice. They stood there for several moments, simply basking in each other’s presence. How had they gone so long without this?
Eventually, Clark leaned back to look at her but didn’t let her go. “Lois, what happened? Why did you call? I thought we agreed to only call if there was an emergency.”
“It is an emergency… sort of.” Lois bit her lip, feeling a bit sheepish for summoning him all the way from… wherever he had been. “I mean, I’m not in danger or anything. But something happened and I didn’t know what to do. And you’re the only one I can talk to about this.”
“About what?” Clark was clearly confused.
Lois took a breath and forced herself to slow down. “Something’s changed.”
“Changed? A lot of things have changed, Lois.”
“It’s not a little change though. It’s a big change. And I didn’t mean for it to happen. I didn’t even know about it. Someone else must have… it was probably Perry. I bet it was Perry. And now it’s happened and it’s huge! I mean, this is really, really big.” So much for slowing down.
Clark was smirking and clearly trying not to laugh. “I missed your babbling.” Lois glared at him but kept her mouth shut, lest she start babbling all over again. “Seriously though. What has happened?”
Lois just pointed to the package on the island. Clark looked at it, then back at her, and then picked it up slowly. He paused before looking inside, glancing at her to be sure she was okay with him peeking at her mail. She nodded.
Sliding a finger inside the sturdy envelope, Clark withdrew a crisp, official-looking certificate. A brief glance was all it took for him to gasp and raise his eyes back to Lois in surprise.
“Is this what I think it is?”
Lois nodded.
“Lois!” In an instant, the package and its contents were back on the island and Lois was back in Clark’s arms. He spun her around in a circle and pulled her into a tight hug, a brilliant smile adorning his face. “Congratulations, Honey! You did it! I always knew you could!”
Lois couldn’t help but smile at his praise, even as part of her brain continued to niggle with worry. She stepped back, out of his arms, to re-center herself. “But, Clark, don’t you see? This is huge.”
“Of course it’s huge! It’s a Pulitzer!”
“No! I mean yes. It is a Pulitzer. That’s the problem. I’m not supposed to win a Pulitzer yet. I hadn’t even won a Pulitzer before… you know. It’s a really big change and I didn’t mean for it to happen. Honest. I didn’t even submit a story this year. I’m not even sure which story it’s for. Like I said, Perry must have entered me. I wasn’t paying attention to the nominations or even to the winner’s announcement, which must’ve come out last night, but I’ve been so busy with this new story I’m working on and… Oh, Clark. What am I gonna do?”
While she rambled, Lois had wandered from the kitchen, into the living room and sat down on her gray, leather sofa. Clark raised an eyebrow at the furniture but didn’t question it as he sat down beside her and rested his hand on her thigh. “You are going to get that certificate framed and hang it on the wall next to that cabinet over there where you hide your four Kerths. And then you are going to revel in the fact that you are the youngest investigative journalist to win a Pulitzer.”
Lois tried to smile up at him, but she was still concerned. “What about the changes? This is so big.”
“Yes. It’s a change – a big change,” Clark admitted. “But it’s not a bad thing. Your career has been accelerated from the start. We’ve known it would be since you were ten. You couldn’t just pretend you didn’t already have eight plus years of professional writing experience under your belt. You carry that with you. And you’ve made it work for you. You won your first Kerth when you were little more than a cub reporter.”
“Only because I didn’t let Claude steal my story this time,” Lois pointed out.
Clark nodded. “Right, and we agreed that some changes were necessary.”
“Even if they lead to even bigger changes in the future? Like a Pulitzer?”
“Yes, even then. This isn’t completely life-altering. It’s just an award, Lois.”
Lois looked at him like he’d suddenly grown two heads. “Did you really just say that?”
Clark grinned. “Okay, it’s not just an award. It’s a Pulitzer!” He swept her into another hug. “I’m so proud of you!”
Lois finally allowed herself to feel excited. She laughed and hugged him back. Resting her head on his shoulder she asked, “Will you come with me to the awards dinner?”
Clark stilled and sobered a bit. “I don’t know, Lois. I’m not technically supposed to be in Metropolis until September. I shouldn’t even be here now.”
“It’s just one night,” she argued.
“But we agreed that we should stay apart – to rediscover ourselves, to prevent really big changes.”
Lois sighed and traced circles on his chest as she leaned against him. “And we have – for eight years. But you’re here now, and I don’t think I can go back to pretending I don’t need you in my life. Can you?”
Clark breathed slowly and Lois wondered if he was memorizing her scent as she was memorizing his. “I guess not. But what would we tell everyone? We’re not technically supposed to meet until September.”
Lois looked up at him, bemused. “Did you really think you were going to be able to walk into your interview in September and pretend we don’t already know each other? Like I’m just going to treat you like a hack from Nowheresville? Like Perry’s not going to notice the chemistry between us. You know he didn’t get to be editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet –”
“Because he can yodel. Yes, I know.” Clark cut her off and then rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I guess I didn’t really think that far ahead.”
Lois grinned and patted his chest. “Well, then it’s a good thing you’ve got me to think ahead for you. Come with me to the awards dinner. You have a tux, don’t you?”
Clark rolled his eyes. “I can get one. We still haven’t decided what we’re going to tell everyone.”
“We’ll just tell them the truth.” Lois shrugged. “You’re a childhood friend, visiting the big city for the weekend and I wanted to show you a good time.”
