Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Begin the Begin 10/?

A/N: Of course, as always, a big thanks to everyone who commented: Camy, Framework4, Ann, PJ, and Mary. You guys rock!!!

And, of course, a big thanks to Olympe without whom you would have seen a much more demure Ellen, who was so OOC I can’t believe I actually wrote her that way at all. After apologising for telling me that that was *not* Ellen, I got the story back on track. *huggles!!!*

I’d also like to thank Lexy for making the humorous parts that much better. The poking of Clark’s chest was all hers; possibly influenced by watching IGaCoY just before she read this.

Lois’s thoughts are italicised and enclosed by angle brackets (<>)
Asterisks enclose emphasis (**)

TOC

Part Ten

Clark Kent, the man who could stare down any and almost every criminal in Metropolis -- provided they weren’t packing kryptonite -- was being given a dose of his own medicine. Ellen Lane, who stood *at* *least* a foot shorter than Clark, was putting him through the wringer.

“Where is my daughter, Kent? Right now. You tell me *right* *now* where she is, or so *help* me, I’ll go *right* through you, and you *won’t* like that, my boy,” she demanded, poking him in the chest every time she stressed a word.

So *that’s* where Lois learnt that, Clark thought fleetingly, while trying to remember how he got on Mrs. Lane’s good side the first time they met.

“What the *hell* is going on here?” Ellen turned to include Lucy in her rant. Lucy’s eyes widened in horror at being dragged into this and she momentarily considered calling Lois for help, before she remembered Lois was unconscious. Damn.

“Uh, well...” she started to stutter an answer. Ellen Lane turned away from her, recognising that Lucy, as usual, wasn’t going to be very helpful. Lucy turned an icy glare on Jimmy who was looking at her in amusement.

“Oh,” Jimmy breathed as he realised he’d been caught, and his smirk quickly turned to a look of worry. He started to stammer and edge backwards, pointing towards the chairs along the walls. “I, uh, I’ll be over...there.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking mortified as he turned away. If he’d stayed looking in that direction, he would have seen Lucy smiling in secret at his adorable progress. Then, realising what she was doing, she shook her head and turned back to her mother’s ranting.

“I’m telling you *now*, Kent. If you don’t take me to Lois *right* *now*...”

“I take it you’re Miss Lane’s mother then, ma’am?” Carol asked calmly, coming up between Clark and Lucy, both of whom sighed with relief.

“Yes,” Ellen practically hissed.

“Mrs. Lane, would you like to follow me? Mr. Kent, I believe Mr. Olsen wanted to talk to you,” Carol said, nodding to Jimmy.

“Thank you, Carol,” Clark said. “Ah, Ellen...”

“*Don’t* call me Ellen, Kent,” interrupted Mrs. Lane menacingly, with her finger pointing accusingly, stretching up on her toes and pulling down on his tie so that she could get her face as close to his face as possible. “And *don’t* think this is over with. Once I’ve seen Lois, I want to *talk* to you, and I want to know *everything* that happened. You get me? *Everything*,” she said threateningly and strode off. “Come *on* woman! *Where’s* my daughter?” she called back over her shoulder.

“Good luck,” Carol muttered to Clark, discreetly rolling her eyes before jogging off after an extremely impatient Ellen Lane, who was checking every room that she came to.

“Ma’am? Mrs. Lane? You’ve gone too far, she’s back *here*,” she called, leading Ellen back up the corridor, and stopping just outside Lois’s room. Carol then underwent a change, putting herself in full Nurse Mode. “*Now*, there are some things you should know before you go in. *Firstly*, your daughter will be fine. She has cuts and bruises, and also sustained a nasty bump to the head, but is recovering nicely. She has been unconscious for a while, and we were worried, but she’s since started to come round, and is doing fine,” she told Lois's mother before staring her right in the eye. “*Secondly*, those people you were shouting at before, they are *friends* of hers, and deserve to be treated as such. Mr. Kent has been *very* worried about her and does *not* deserve to be shrieked at in the corridor, and so you will do me the courtesy of *toning* *down* your attitude, and making this hospital a nicer place for patients, staff, and loved ones. Am I clear?”

Ellen stared right back. This was *her* daughter she was talking about and those apes back there...and... And she would do just as she...

“Am... I... Clear?” Carol repeated, and you could feel the capital letters in her question.

“Crystal,” Ellen answered sweetly, before storming past Carol and entering Lois’s room. “Now, where’s Lois?”

“Thank you,” Carol said to the empty corridor, which seemed to have benefited from her lecture more than the woman it was intended for did. Lois was barely asleep, on the cusp of dreaming and waking, and the noise of the opening door almost brought her back to the surface.

“Clark? Is that you?” she asked softly, and her mother shook her head as she moved over to the bed. What *was* it with that man? Why was her usually intelligent daughter calling out for a man she’d only just met?

“Lois, it’s Mother. It’s me.”

“Mother?” Lois shook her head slightly, trying to get rid of the heaviness she still felt. *Not* a good move, she decided as she watched the stars spin behind her eyes, willing the room to stop spinning in tandem with them. “Sorry, just a bit spaced out here,” she whispered. “Where’s Clark?”

“Must be the medicine,” Ellen said, with a questioning look at Carol, who nodded. Happy that the patient and her mother were okay, Carol backed out of the room to give them a little privacy, leaving the door ajar in case she was needed.

“I’m okay, Mother, but where’s Clark? Is he still here?” Lois asked with a sleepy insistence.

“Lois, it’s Mother, I’m here now. You don’t need Clark.”

“What are you talking about? He’s my *soul* *mate*. Of *course* I need Clark,” Lois protested, moving now, trying to wake up properly while the meds gave fuel to some horrific visions. “What did you *do* to him?”

By then, Lois’s movements had become agitated, causing the monitors attached to her to squeal and beep alarmingly.

“Mother? What’s *happened*? Where *is* he?” she asked in a voice bordering on panic, hazy from being half-awake, but needing the man she loved, craving the comfort of having him close by.

“Lois, he’s...it’s *okay*, I’ll get him,” a worried Ellen Lane said quickly, striding over to the door, only to come face to face with Carol, who had been alerted by the monitors at the nurses’ station. She stood aside and let Carol tend to her daughter, before going out into the corridor and over to Clark, Lucy, Jimmy and Cat, who were talking, and hadn’t noticed Carol rush by.

Not caring if she interrupted, Ellen strode up to them and grabbed Clark’s arm, spinning him round. Clark was all ready to react when he saw who it was that had hold of him. “Kent, I don’t know what the *hell* you’ve done to my daughter, but she...Kent! Hey! Come back here!” she yelled at his retreating back, but to no avail. Clark had taken off when he saw Carol come out of the room and look up and down the corridor, before finally seeing Clark and gesturing wildly at him.

“Carol?” he said breathlessly as he skidded to a stop. “What’s happening?”

“What is it?” a disgruntled Mrs. Lane asked, coming up behind him.

“Clark, I’m sorry, but she needs you. I know what I said about letting anyone know about you, but she needs you in there with her. She needs to know that you are here and...”

“And that I’m not going anywhere,” Clark said softly, moving over to the bed, pulling the chair up close and sitting down. Reaching over, he took her hand, wrapping it tightly in both of his. “Lois, I’m here, honey. I’m here.”

Ellen stood at the door watching them, before she too came over and sat on the other side of the bed. Carol stood at the head of the bed, checking the monitors, and, finally satisfied that Lois was fine, she left them to it.

Lois's mother watched as Clark sat there, his thumbs gently tracing a pattern across the back of Lois’s hand. And she watched as Lois quietened, the sedative that Carol had given her and Clark’s gentle touch beginning to take effect.

“Clark,” she breathed, knowing his touch, knowing it was his hands that held hers.

“I’m here. I’ll always be here, Lois, always,” he said, lifting one hand and gently tracing down the side of her face. He sighed, feeling the eyes of Lois's mother on him. “I love her, Ellen. It’s as simple as that.” He finally tore his eyes away from Lois, and looked over at her mother. It was clear from the look on her face that she was deeply suspicious of Clark’s motives.

“I can see that,” she said with acerbity. “You love her now. But how long will *that* last? How long before you tire of Lois and go off with some *bimbo* and leave your family to fend for itself?”

“That will *never* happen,” Clark answered firmly. “Besides, she loves me too,” Clark told her, smiling as Lois snuffled in her sleep, moving imperceptibly closer to him.

“She loves you?”

Clark nodded.

“And would it be such a bad thing if she does?” Lucy asked from the doorway, having caught the last few words.

***

“Jimmy’s phone,” Cat said, having grabbed Jimmy’s phone before Jimmy could. “Hello Perry, how are you?” she continued politely, at the same time trying to wriggle out of Jimmy’s reach.

“Chief!” came Jimmy’s stressed voice, as Perry just about managed to stifle his laughter.

“Jimmy?” Perry asked. “Jimmy, are you there?”

“Chief, I’m sorry about that,” Jimmy finally said, having ensured Cat was now occupied ordering dessert. He sighed, amazed that for a while he had forgotten about the reason they were all there, the bruises and cuts he had suffered...and the fact that Lois was lying in the hospital.

“That’s okay, but someone needs to give me the number for the hospital, or at least the ward that Lois’s on. I’ve had a long talk with the ever perceptive Ellen Lane, and had to tell her about Lois, and I wanted to warn you...but none of you were obtainable!” Perry said.

“Too late, Chief, she’s here, torturing Clark,” Jimmy said, unable to resist a small smile at the thought of Clark being grilled by Ellen Lane. “She wanted to know why it took you to tell her, all the way from the Daily Planet, when we were all here in the hospital, just around the corner from her.”

“So she’s there? Talking to Kent?”

Jimmy nodded tiredly, the stress of the day finally beginning to catch up with him. “Jimmy?” Perry asked when he heard no reply.

“Wh... Oh, sorry Chief, yeah, she’s here.”

“With Kent.”

“Yep.”

“And how’s he taking that? Is he okay?”

“He’s doing okay considering the circumstances. He’s holding his own with Mrs. Lane, anyway.”

“And Mrs. Lane? Does she know?”

“Know what?” Jimmy asked.

“About them?”

“Well, all I know,” Jimmy said after a pause. “Is that Clark was going into Lois’s room as I left, and Mrs. Lane was following after him. Whether she knows that they are...together is anyone’s guess. Although, seeing how Clark was totally focussed on Lois, I should think that she knows all too well by now.”

“That could be interesting!” Perry said, his voice tailing off. “Oh well, it’s happened now, and I don’t think there’s anything that will split those two up, do you?” Perry asked, never once suspecting that Jimmy may have held a torch for Lois. “I mean, you could see the sparks between them, couldn’t you?”

“I guess so,” Jimmy said, knowing that it was true, however he felt about Lois. Clark and Lois fitted together, like a two piece jigsaw, something that would never happen with Lois and *him*. He sighed to himself, still trying to give her up one hundred percent. He was almost there, almost.

“Jimmy? Everything okay?” Perry asked into the silence.

“Mm? Oh, ah, yeah. Everything’s fine, Chief. Listen, the waiter is on his way back, with two tonnes of sugar filled goodies. I have to go now, but I’ll keep you up to date. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know if there are any changes,” Jimmy said, hanging up on Perry, distracted by the excited yelps of a boy at a nearby table.

At the other end of the line, Perry was left staring at a humming phone line, somewhat surprised, before a tired smile worked its way across his face. Jimmy was in for one heck of a night if he was with Cat. And, faced with that, he could forgive Jimmy for hanging up like that. He actually even doubted that Jimmy quite knew that he’d even done it!

***

“And would it be such a bad thing if she does?” Lucy asked from the doorway, having caught the last few words.

“Yes, well, anyway, what’s it got to do with you?” her mother demanded, worry for her elder daughter making her tone sharper than usual.

“Ah, Lucy, Clark, I just need to do my check-up, if you don’t mind,” Tim said from beside Lucy. Clark stood slowly, moving over to the door, but not before gently kissing Lois.

“I love you, Lois,” he whispered tiredly. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Mrs. Lane stayed where she was, hands on her hips. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said stubbornly.

“Ah, ma’am...” Tim began, before trailing off when he got the full blast of the *original* ‘Mad Dog Lane look’. Lois’s version was but a pale imitation. “Okay then. But I really would prefer it if you...” With a glance at Clark, who nodded, Tim gave up. “Okay.”

Out in the corridor, Lucy placed a comforting hand on Clark’s shoulder. “She’s going to be fine.”

“I know,” Clark said. “I know she is.” He managed a tired smile. “But having your mother second guess my every move...and then doubt that Lois loves me...it’s not helping things, Lucy.”

“Don’t blame me,” Lucy protested, putting her hands up in surrender. “She’s just my mother. I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.” Clark chuckled at her antics. Seeing that Lois was all right had restored his sense of humour.

Inside the hospital room, Tim was busy checking on Lois. Ellen stood off to one side, watching carefully. She wasn’t at all sure about this Tim character; he seemed much too young to be a doctor.

“She’s going to be all right then? That’s what Mr. White told me, but...Doctor, I’d prefer to hear it from you,” she said.

“She’ll be fine. She just needs to rest, and then she needs to go home with Clark.”

“Kent! Oh no, she’s not going home with *Kent*, she’ll be going home with *me*,” Mrs. Lane exploded.

“He’ll look after her fine,” Tim insisted.

“What does *he* know about what she needs? He doesn’t even have any medical training. *I* am a registered nurse,” Ellen stated.

“He loves her very much, and from what I’ve seen of Lois here, she seems to react to him just as much. She’s not really woken up properly yet, but she seems to know when he’s here, you know? She certainly seems to care for him a great deal...or at least that’s the impression I get.”

“From her while she’s asleep. You think that she cares that much about him...from seeing her while she’s asleep.”

“Ma’am, you get to know people. You get to watch a lot of people in this job, and you get to know when people should be together. And these two should be together. Clark really does love your friend here, ma’am...”

“My daughter,” Ellen said icily.

“Oh. Okay. Well, he loves her, ma’am, and it’s my belief that she loves him just as much,” Tim said, suddenly understanding the whole situation. “Anyway, I’m all done, and she’s doing fine. The sedatives I gave her should help her to sleep through the rest of the night, so you can go home and get some rest if you want.”

“Is Kent going?”

“Clark? I doubt it. He’s already asked me to set up a bed in here with her so he can stay. I, uh, I take it you’ll be wanting to stay, too, then?”

“You really think she cares about him as much as he *seems* to care about her?”

“Ma’am I...” Tim started to look trapped. He sighed and gave in; she was going to find out soon anyway. “Yes, yes I do. It’s not just from the way she reacts to him, but the way he reacts to her as well. Look, can I...”

“Just talk to me, young man,” the small elderly woman growled at the much larger young doctor, going back over to the bed, and taking Lois’s hand.

“Well, it’s just that...well, if there wasn’t something between them, if they weren’t together, and so completely and utterly together, well, would he have reacted so openly? Would Clark be so open about being so upset if she didn’t feel the same way? Surely if she didn’t love him, he wouldn’t have been so open about being so upset? Do you know what I mean?”

Ellen just stared at her daughter as Tim waffled, her tired eyes taking in her every feature.

“Okay, I’ll shut up now. Listen, she’s going to be absolutely fine. A bit sore for a while, but with the right care, she’ll be fine, Mrs. Lane. Anyway, I’ve got to finish my rounds, but I’ll check in on Lois again later, before I go off duty,” he said, shaking Ellen’s hand and leaving her alone with Lois.

“She’s fine, Clark,” he said as he passed Clark and Lucy in the corridor. “So is her mother. Clark, I think it might help if you give them some time together. As far as I could tell from the few minutes I met Mrs. Lane, she adores her daughter, and only wants the best for her. Did she know about you two?”

Clark shook his head, wondering how on earth Tim could possible believe that about Mrs. Lane. And Lois said that *he* always looked for the good in people.

“Didn’t think so. Look, it’s probably come as a bit of a surprise to her, but I think she’ll be okay with you. It’s obvious how you feel about Lois...and it’s pretty obvious how she feels about you, even in her sleep. You just need to give Mrs. Lane a bit of time to come to terms with it all.”

Clark tried to remember how his mother-in-law had acted around him the first time they met. It was hard to tell what her initial reaction had been. Sam Lane had entered the room unexpectedly about five seconds afterwards, and she’d spent the rest of the evening lamenting the past. She *did* ask Lois how well she knew him, though.

Inside the room, Ellen Lane smiled down at her daughter. “So, what have you gone and done this time? Honestly, I can’t leave you alone for a minute without you getting into one scrape or another.” She sighed as she watched her sleep. “And what’s this with Kent? He says he loves you, and that you love him as well. Lois...what did I always tell you? You can’t be in a relationship with a co-worker, not from your own section. Then again, you never did listen to me, did you? And it’s pretty damn obvious that he’s smitten with you, you can see it in the way he is around you, let alone from what he said. But you know men. It doesn’t last. They don’t last.”

Mrs. Lane reached over and straightened the blankets as she watched Lois in her sleep. A soft knock made her turn to see Clark’s tired smile peer around the door.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“I just want to sit with her again,” Clark said, coming over and taking his place beside her again. “I take it you’ll be staying here tonight?”

Ellen was silent for a moment, watching Clark as he smiled at Lois, their hands entwined. For the first time, she saw Clark, *really* saw him, and began to understand the bond between him and Lois. She felt a stab of jealousy as she watched them together and knew that she couldn’t stand to watch such a scene all night. Somehow, she had a feeling that Clark wasn’t going to be sleeping any time soon; at least not until Lois woke up properly.

“I was, but I think I’ll go home, and come back again in the morning. What about Lucy and the others?” Ellen asked.

“It’s all right; they’ve all gone home for the night.”

“Okay. Well, I’m off then. I’ll be back first thing, and you’ll call if...”

“Of course. Don’t worry, Ellen, she’s fine. I just need to stay with her tonight,” Clark said, glancing over at his future mother-in-law, before his gaze was drawn back to the woman he loved.

“I know you do,” Ellen said softly, ignoring the urge to bellow at him for using her first name. “Okay then, I’ll, ah, I’ll be off then.”

“Night, Ellen,” Clark said softly.

“Night,” Ellen said, and with another quick kiss for her daughter, she left Clark and Lois alone.

***

“Mrs. Lane? Are you all right?” Carol asked, having watched Mrs. Lane come out of Lois’s room and shut the door gently. She’d stood there for a while, before finally running a tired hand over her face.

“Hmm? Oh, ah, Carol isn’t it? Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just all catching up with me, and I guess I’m pretty tired, too. Listen, you know what happened, can you tell me how my daughter ended up in that bed?”

“I...well; I’m sorry Mrs. Lane...”

“Look, Carol, I used to work as a nurse myself, and I know the rules as well as you do,” Ellen interrupted, feeling exasperated.

“Then you’ll know that I can’t tell you about the accident. You’ll have to ask someone who was there, Mrs. Lane,” Carol answered.

“Please, call me Ellen,” Ellen smiled, hoping to soften the woman up.

“Ellen then, but I can’t. You’ll have to ask one of them, it’s not my place to say,” Carol said apologetically, still feeling restricted by the rules.

“Carol, look around you. Who am I going to ask? Lucy and the others have gone home, Clark won’t leave Lois’s side, and he’s half asleep as it is...you’re all I have. Please? I won’t tell anyone, but I just have to know. She’s my baby, Carol. I won’t sleep tonight as it is, but I might feel a bit better if I know how it all happened.”

Carol sighed as Deidre Walters strolled slowly down the corridor. “Look, my shift is almost over anyway. Go downstairs to the cafeteria. Give me ten minutes to get Deidre up to speed and then I’ll meet you down there,” she said, with a small smile. She could understand what Ellen Lane was saying, after all, if it had been Tim in there, lying in that bed...

***

Inside Lois’s room, both Lois and Clark were sound asleep, Lois in the bed, and Clark perched on the chair beside her, uncomfortable, but unwilling to let go of her hand.

***

“So from what Jimmy told me, the lady in the car behind them had a heart attack, fell onto the accelerator and into the back of Jimmy and Lois, who were then shunted into oncoming traffic. No-one’s fault really,” Carol told Ellen as they sat nursing a mug of coffee each.

“And Kent? When did he arrive?”

“I think Jimmy phoned him after he was looked at in the Emergency room, and Clark and Lucy and Cat got here as soon as they could. That boy loves her, Ellen. He really does love her. You have to admit that,” Carol said.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Ellen said tiredly. “Anyone with half a brain can see that. He loves my baby very, very much. What I need to know is whether he’ll *stay* in love with her. Or whether they break up and she gets her heart broken.”

“Ellen, that’s not going to happen, not how *they* feel. What they have, it’s too strong...”

“But we don’t know that, Lois might not...” She sighed as she felt Carol looking at her. “I know. She does, doesn’t she? She loves that boy just as much as he loves her,” she admitted to herself.

“Yes she does,” Carol said gently. “Ellen, you know she does. Clark wouldn’t be like this if she didn’t. He wouldn’t react this openly if she didn’t love him, too. You know it and I know it. He’d stay back, he’d still make sure she got the best, but he wouldn’t be so open about the way he felt. I know I only met him today, but you can tell.”

Ellen swished the dregs of the coffee around in the bottom of her mug. “Thanks for that Carol. Look, I’m going to make a move, but I’ll be back *first* thing in the morning. You’ll call me if...”

“I’m off too, but I’ve given Deidre your number, and she’ll call if she needs to, but she won’t have to. Lois’s fine now. Just sleeping it all off, and she’ll be up and about tomorrow, I promise you,” she said, reaching over to take Ellen’s hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. “Okay?”

Ellen smiled, much to Carol’s surprise. “Okay. Thank you.”

“You already said that.”

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