Great chapter, but oh please, what has happened to Lisa???
Receiving roses was unexpected. Lois stared at the huge bouquet on the table in her room, and she found an unexpected smile blossoming on her face. She hadn't had much experience getting flowers; as a teenager, she hadn't had many opportunities for dating in the midst of her determination to succeed. Spending nights memorizing maps wasn't conducive to dating and relationships.
After she'd had her child, opportunities were even fewer. Lois couldn't recall ever actually receiving flowers and she was surprised at the unexpected jolt of joy she felt as she leaned forward to enjoy the unexpected smell.
I love that Lois loved getting flowers.
There was something odd about the smell, and as the morning light filtered through the window, she could almost imagine that she saw the roses glowing.
But hey! This isn't natural!
He didn't leave a card, Lois noted, but he didn't have to. Leaving flowers was gesture enough.
Maybe the flowers really weren't from Clark?
Perhaps she'd been wrong in pushing him away. She'd been attracted to him from the moment she'd seen him all those years ago. In many ways he was the perfect man; he was rich, he was powerful, and he was devoted to helping people. He was strong enough to protect both Lois and her child from just about anything the world had to throw at them. His treatment of Lana showed that he could be stubbornly loyal to those he cared about, even if that loyalty was misguided.
Yet there were complications. He was closed off and secretive. He lied easily and as glibly as a lawyer. He didn't yet know how to be a father, no matter how much he tried.
I love her weighing the pros and cons of having a relationship with Clark!
Glancing at the roses wistfully, she realized that her lips were burning. Perhaps it was time to have a discussion with Clark about just where exactly he expected the relationship to go, not in the long term, but more immediately.
I love the idea of Lois suddenly being very interested in getting together with Clark
right now! On the other hand, there is something wrong about this whole situation.
As she left the room, she noticed Lisa's door open. Lisa was coming down the hall, presumably from the bathroom. Lois smiled at her daughter and kissed her on the forehead.
She didn't notice Lisa stagger, or the glazed expression on her daughters face in the aftermath of the kiss.
No!! Lisa is affected by whatever was on, or in, the roses!
Leaning forward slightly, he said sniffed and said, “Have you done something different with your perfume?”
Lois shook her head. She'd almost think that his eyes were glazing over.
“Why don't you let me take you out for dinner?”
“This evening?” Lois asked. She'd been pushing him away for so long that the thought of getting to know him was a little frightening.
“Now,” he said.
Clark is being affected by that weird smell, too!
She bit her lip, and Clark said, “Lisa will be fine here with Joshua.”
Are you really sure????
“I was mostly angry at myself,” Clark said. “If I'd just been a little faster, a little stronger…if I'd heard the truck coming a little sooner I could have done something.”
“You were ten,” Lois said.
“I was already different,” Clark said. “I knew even then that I could do things.”
There was a stubborn tone to his voice that warned Lois to back off. Although it was clear to her that the accident wasn't his fault, it wasn't at all clear to him.
This is moving. And Lois is moved by him.
“I never wanted to be a mother,” Lois said.
Clark looked up, startled.
“I think if we'd never met I'd have found my dream career, and I'd have been a big success.” Lois went on. “I'd have earned trophies and awards, and I'd have had the professional acclaim I deserved.”
She had enough ribbons and trophies and awards at home from her teenage years to make her think things wouldn't have been any different as an adult. Lois knew what she was capable of.
“I might have won a Kerth or maybe even a Pulitzer prize.”
I love that Lois understands this.
Clark's fingers tightened on hers and he said, “I'm sorry…”
“At the end of the day, I'd have been alone,” Lois said. “Work would have been my life, and I'd end up watching sappy soap operas while eating chocolate ice cream.”
And she understands this, too!
“I had other options. I could have had Lisa and adopted her. I could have had an abortion.”
His sudden wince wasn't unexpected. For a man who'd wanted children his entire life, the thought of aborting his one chance at ever having someone with who to share his legacy would have been difficult.
“I had the choice,” Lois said. It had been important to her that she be the one to make the decision that was going to affect the rest of her life. “And I made it.”
“Lois…”
“This is the life I chose,” Lois said, “And you know…on the whole, I'm pretty happy with it. Part of the reason I never wanted children was because all I'd ever see in my own childhood was arguing and strife. My parents weren't any kind of role models. They weren't any kind of example at all.”
And I
love that she told him this.
“You've done a wonderful job with Lisa,” Clark admitted.
“So have you,” Lois said. She tasted the strange looking concoction on her plate and closed her eyes for a moment. Delicious.
“Sometimes I get a little jealous,” she admitted. “There are things the two of you share that I'm never going to be able to understand. I'm never going to know what it's like to be able to see the sunset on Jupiter, or hear an ant fart.”
“We can't actually…well, not Jupiter anyway.”
Apparently he could hear ants farting. Lois grinned at him, and he smiled slowly.
Love the observation about farting ants! And I love that Lois and Clark acknowledge what the other one has done for Lisa.
“It's already so late…she's already pretty much the person she's going to be. You were the one who showed her how to be the person she is today. I didn't have any part of it.”
“So show her who she is going to be.”
Great!
She noticed Clark stiffen beside her. “You didn't send Lisa anywhere did you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I can't see her anywhere.”
From the way his eyes were frantically flickering from place to place on the mansion and grounds below, Lois had a sinking feeling that something was terribly wrong.
Her child was missing.
Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Nonononononononooooooo!!!!
It's Lana, isn't it? She's taken Lisa?
Please come back soon and save Lisa, Shayne!!!
Ann
to find Lisa.