Chapter Seven
Lois swore it was the best meal she’d ever eaten, but then again, she’d been living on food rations for the last two years. When the waiter came by to ask if they were interested in dessert, she looked at Clark who gave her the green light to go ahead and splurge. Her love for chocolate seemed to be the one thing her coworkers had been willing to share about her.
In several minutes, two chocolate mousses were delivered to their table, along with two steaming cups of coffee.
“Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a decent cup of coffee and any kind of chocolate? Over two years, that’s how long!” Lois exclaimed, a look of almost – lust – in her eyes, as she held her spoon above the waiting-to-be-devoured chocolate mousse. “Clark, close your eyes. This isn’t going to be a pretty sight.”
Clark burst out laughing at that. “Why, Lois? Don’t you think I’ve seen people eat dessert before?”
“Not like this,” she said. “Please, use those super-eyes of yours to focus on something else. Become a Peeping Tom for the next two minutes,” she joked. “I promise, I won’t tell anyone.”
Clark got serious for a moment. “Lois, I’m not going to judge you by your eating habits. I understand how long it’s been since you had a nice dinner, and you more than deserve to enjoy it. If it’s any help to you, I’m a big junk food eater. Lucky for me, I have a super-metabolism, or I’d be…” Clark stopped talking, realizing that he had inadvertently opened a can of worms.
“..or you’d be fat, like me. Right?” Lois snapped.
“Lois…you’re not *fat* anymore! You’re …voluptuous. Sexy. Desirable.”
“Sorry, I’m overly sensitive about the subject, and I probably always will be,” Lois said in an apologetic tone of voice. “Old habits die hard. Ok, I’m breaking into this mousse…..MMMMMMMMM,” she squealed, after swallowing her first spoonful. “This is so good, it’s unbelievable….”
“It’s the *best*…we’re in France, the *home* of the chocolate mousse,” Clark agreed. “And this coffee is delicious too.”
As the table was cleared and the check was presented to Clark, Lois became pensive.
“Clark, if this Tempus guy just kidnapped me and moved me three years into the future, that means technically, I’m still 27, not 30. Right?”
“That’s true, although it would be nearly impossible to prove it, Lois. Your birth certificate says 1967,” Clark pointed out.
“And during the three years that I wasn’t around, my mother and sister died. Not only did he keep *us* apart, he caused my mother to drink herself to death and prevented me from going to both my mother’s and my sister’s funerals. Isn’t there any way for me to get those years back? Couldn’t you go back in time and prevent him from abducting me?”
“I wanted to do that but Herb told me I couldn’t change the past, I could only observe it.”
“But Tempus changed the past by taking me out of my world,” Lois argued. “If he can do it, why can’t you?”
“It’s complicated to explain. You see, I was alive in 1992. Tempus wasn’t. If I go back and change events then, it affects my life – my present and future – as well. One can only change the past or the future if you weren’t a part of it. Does that make sense?”
“I guess so. But then…I wasn’t part of the second half of 1992 thru 1995 when I was left in the jungle. Therefore, if I could go back to 1993 and see my mother, I might be able to prevent her from drinking herself to death. And I could prevent Lucy from getting on that plane that day, too, because technically – I wasn’t part of the timeline. Am I right?”
“Hmmm….you may have a point. But regardless, Lois, I don’t own the time machine. Herb does. We can ask him about all this the next time he shows up.”
“So you have no way to contact him then?” Lois persisted. “No inter-dimensional beeper?”
“That *would* come in handy… but no,” Clark replied. “We’re just going to have to play the waiting game. Last time I saw him he said that he’d pop by in a few months to see if I had found you yet. Do you want to start heading back to camp now?”
“Not really…who wants to leave Paris? But I do have a class to teach tomorrow, and I have some big decisions to make. I suppose we should get going,” Lois said ruefully. “I had a wonderful time, Clark. Before we leave, though, tell me something. Why do you believe in soul mates? You mentioned that I was your soul mate before…”
“Well, the Lois and Clark in the other world said that one of their adventures, traveling back in time with Wells, was to save one of their past life incarnations of themselves.”
“What? First it’s parallel worlds, now you’re talking about past lives. Are you some kind of ‘new age’ freak?”
Sidestepping Lois’ snark, Clark continued. “Apparently, our souls – or at least *their* souls- keep incarnating over and over again, and each time, they end up together. No matter what body they’re in, they end up together. Their souls recognize each other. I think that’s why we feel so comfortable with each other even though we just met. We’ve been together forever, and always will be.”
“I never would have dreamed that Clark Superman Kent would have been such a romantic,” Lois stated. “I never thought much about soul mates, or past lives, for that matter. This life is enough for me to handle,” she quipped.
“We will have plenty of time to talk about this more, Lois. Let’s get back to camp, and we can just get to know each other better a little at a time. I’m not here to pressure you into being with me. You need to figure out what *you* want to do. Whatever you decide, I’ll back you 100%,” Clark promised.
“Fair enough, Clark. And believe me, I’m flattered – and flabbergasted, really. Who would have thought that *I* could be Superman’s ‘soul mate’?”
“Lois…do *you* believe in the concept of soul mates? I get the impression that you’re a bit cynical about this,” Clark observed. “You have to admit that we share a rapport and a comfort level that usually take months or even years to develop. Don’t you find that a bit strange?”
“Clark, I have a wall up around me when it comes to men. I’m not used to them finding me attractive, and I had assumed that I would be a career woman, that love relationships were for only thin women. It’s going to take me some time to even believe that you’re really interested in me *that* way. I’m just being honest with you,” Lois explained. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay, I’m just happy I found you and if nothing else, I hope you’ll come back to Metropolis and we can start that partnership – your name on top, of course!”
“I’m going to give it a lot of thought, for sure, Clark. Good-bye, Paris,” Lois said as Clark gently lifted Lois off the ground. Floating above the Eiffel Tower, he pulled his cape out of his jacket pocket and wrapped it around Lois and the boxes of new clothes she was carrying.
“Are you warm enough?” he asked Lois, smiling.
“Oh yes. You radiate some type of heat….when I get next to you, I feel like I’m bathing in sunlight. It’s the only way to explain it,” Lois replied.
“Well, the *sun* is the source of my powers, and I have some type of …aura…that gives me invulnerability and also protects my clothing from burning up due to friction when I’m flying fast,” Clark disclosed.
“It feels really wonderful,” Lois admitted. “And, so are you.”
“Ditto,” Clark replied, kissing Lois lightly on the lips. “I had a great time tonight, spending time with you.”
It was midnight when they arrived back at camp. Clark placed Lois down in front of her tent, and hugged her gently. He moved in to give her a good night kiss. Lois placed her hands on Clark’s cheeks and held his head as she tenderly kissed him back.
“Good night, Lois. See you in the morning,”
“Night, Clark. Thanks again for everything,” Lois murmured back as she watched him float away into the night. <Wonder where he’s going to be sleeping tonight?>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lois had just finished teaching her first class. Initially, it had been strange to be teaching English to French-speaking children, especially since her French was rusty, to be sure. However, after two years, it was second nature to her. It would be hard to say good-bye to these kids, for sure. But in the back of her mind, she felt it was probably time to get to Metropolis and try to put her life back on track.
As she headed back to her tent to take a little break between classes, she noticed a jeep pulling into camp. It appeared that it was heading towards her – the person on the passenger side was waving wildly. Lois was surprised to see that it was Eduardo Cue, her reporter friend from Les Depeches de Brazzaville.
“Miss Lane? May I have a moment of your time?” ‘Eduardo asked, stepping out of the vehicle holding a stack of newspapers.
“Sure, Eduardo. Come on in my tent. What’s up?”
Sitting down on the makeshift bed together, Eduardo remarked, “I give you so much credit for living in these conditions for two years, Lois. You’re going to have a helluva story to write when you get back home.”
“Well, I haven’t decided yet if I’m going back home, actually,” Lois remarked.
“I take it you don’t get to read the papers out here.”
.`
“No, no delivery service. Have to go into Brazzaville to find out what’s going on in the world. Nice of you to bring me the news,” Lois replied, looking at the stack of papers he held in his hand.
“I wanted you to see this stuff first, and if you want, I’ll be happy to print your side of the story for you. I guess you and Superman took a little trip to Paris yesterday?”
Lois took the papers and scanned thru the headlines. It was mostly scandal sheets, yellow journalism at its best, but the AP had picked up the story as well. Various photos of her and Clark outside the Armani store. Headlines ranging from “Superman has new press agent” to “Superman buys clothes for missing reporter Lois Lane” to “Superman’s new girlfriend: missing reporter Lois Lane” to finally “Superman likes BBW’s – breaks four year dating fast.” ”.
“Omigod,” Lois exclaimed, crunching up the papers and throwing them on the floor. “They recognized me. I’ve been missing for five years and somehow, someone recognized me. There’s no pictures of me around. How did they figure it out?”
Eduardo placed his hand on Lois’s shoulder for comfort. “Lois, you were a well-known journalist. People admired your work. You can’t expect that your own contemporaries wouldn’t recognize you. Once this got out to the wire services, it was big news. I know you wanted to stay anonymous, but it’s not possible anymore. Why not let me tell your story?”
At the point, Clark appeared at the tent’s entrance. “Lois, is everything OK?”
Eduardo stood up. “Superman, Eduardo Cue, it’s my honor to meet you. I’m with Les Depeches de Brazzaville. I came to warn Lois here of the media onslaught on all the wire services and the gossip sheets. You can see what Lois’ opinion of the articles is by the crunched up newspapers on the floor,” he said, point to the heap on the floor by the bed.
Clark grabbed them and sped-read thru them. “Lois, I’m so sorry. I was afraid of this. I haven’t been seen with a woman since Lana and I broke up, so I guess this is big news.”
Lois turned to Eduardo. “What’s a BBW, anyway?”
“Well, on the internet dating services, it stands for ‘big, beautiful, woman’. There are men that go to BBW dances specifically to meet-“
“Fat women, I get it,” Lois said, tears welling up in her eyes. “So now I’m Superman’s BBW girlfriend. Great! Doesn’t matter that this is the best I’ve ever looked in my whole life…”
Eduardo turned to Clark. “I asked Lois to let me tell her story to the world. She has so much to be proud of, living and teaching here for the last two years. The truth will stop those tabloids right in their tracks!”
“I agree with Eduardo, Lois. Your cover’s been blown, and I’m so sorry about that. Why not tell the world about your experience here?”
“Clark…how do I explain my missing three years, though?” Looking at Eduardo, she continued, “I seemed to have jumped from 1992 to 1995, with no recollection of what happened in between. What do I do about that? People are going to ask…”
“Amnesia. That’s a catch-all for all ‘missing time’ stories, isn’t it?” Eduardo advised her.
“I guess so. OK,” Lois agreed. “So let’s do it. Interview me,” she said with a faint smile.
“It will be my pleasure,” Eduardo replied.
TBC…Wednesday
